Search: “ace”

Today I got a long rectangular box with a dozen cupcakes from a new place that opened up in Fanar called Juju’s Cupcake. All the cupcakes looked stunning and within seconds they disappeared. Everyone just wanted one. I don’t have any idea on the prices and although the box has a website address, jujuscupcake.com, the website is still not up. If you are interested though you can call them on 5722999.

Picture above taken by 7oO7oO

Over a year ago I got the Sennheiser PX100 headphones to replace my Shure E2s canal phones. The Shure’s although really great weren’t very practical for office use since putting them on was a hassle and at work I am always being interrupted which meant I had to keep taking them on and off. Thats when I decided to go with the PX100 headphones and the sound was really great but, I ran into problems. The PX100 were open air meaning they let sound in and they also let sound out. People around me could easily hear what I was listening to and I could hear them. This is why I researched for new closed headphones.

I found a nice bunch of headphones including the amazing the Beyerdynamic DT 990 which I was ready to get until I found out they had an impedance of 250ohms which meant I needed one heck of an amp to power them.. not very iPod friendly. After days of research on Headfi.org I realized the headphones for me were the Austrian designed AKG K81 headphones. They were closed air, had a good amount of bass and a very decent sound stage. They were also 32ohms which meant would run off my iPod very nicely and they were very affordable at $95.

I have been using the AKG’s for a few months now and I love them. They are very comfortable and the sound is superb. For the price I paid I don’t think I could have gotten anything better. I think they are the best headphones you could get for under $100. But, its not perfect. The headphones just barely fit me. I don’t have a large head but I am guessing Austrians have a small one because I have the headphones expanded to the max and they just barely fit. So if you have a big head I wouldn’t recommend the AKG. Final score is a 4 out of 5.

Today morning I went riding with Marzouq on the Gulf Road. The weather is great so I am trying to take advantage of it as much as I can. Other then riding my bike I am going to be taking the roof off of my Wrangler (after National Day due to foam season) and I will also be going out riding.. on my bicycle. I haven’t ridden my bike since early last year way before I got my motorbike so I figured I would start again now since the weather is good again.

I went to Ace Hardware, picked up an electric air pump and came back home to pump some air into my bicycles tires. After filling it with air I decided I would take it for a small spin around my parking lot just to see how it felt.

It felt incredibly strange. Because I now ride a motorbike, riding my bicycle just feels completely way off. The seat is uncomfortably hard, the bicycle is super light, the riding position is different and the strangest thing of all.. I have to actually PEDAL! After taking the bicycle for a few spins up and down the floors of my buildings underground parking I was exhausted and had a headache. I couldn’t even ride properly! Since my motorbike weighs around 170KG and my bicycle like 12KG I was literally throwing it around turns.

Tomorrow I am going to try riding my bicycle around Salmiya, if it turns out to be a crappy experience like today I will probably end up selling it. The whole point of the bicycle was to go urban exploring but now since I have a motorbike license I can just go get myself a dirt bike.

I watched The Prestige yesterday night at Marzouqs place. It was a really really good movie specially when compared to The Illusionist. The movie is over 2 hours long but its one of those movies you just wished it was even longer.

The Prestige Vs The Illusionist and Christian Bale Vs Edward Norton. No contest here because The Prestige has a much better storyline with an interesting although controversial twist at the end in addition Christian Bale’s character is more exciting. Even the other supporting actors like Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine were performing at their best. But really its the story, the idea behind The Prestige that set this movie apart from The Illusionist. The problem with The Illusionist is that very little happened and there was very little magic. The Prestige on the other hand is full of events and you get to see a ton of magic tricks and best of all they even show you how they were made, something The Illusionist was lacking.

The main plot deals with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman who are both magicians. Early in the movie an event takes place which results in the two hating each other. The whole movie is about them competing against each other.

For the final score I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. Without spoiling the movie for anyone who hasn’t watched it, the reason it didn’t get a full 5 out of 5 was because of the ending, it just wasn’t as real as the rest of the movie.

Oh and fuck Thomas Edison!

I got the following in my email today:

Cinemagic Kuwait Launches Weekly Short Film Screenings
“Short & Sweet”

(Kuwait 05/12/2006) Cinemagic Kuwait are organizing “Short & Sweet”, a schedule of weekly short film screenings. The screenings will commence on Wednesday, February 21st, and run throughout the year. The events will take place at the Cinemagic Courtyard in Bait Lothan, Salmiya, and will run between 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.

The screenings will bring together a collection of short films from all over the world including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland, Brazil, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait. Each week we will screen a different selection of short films of varying genre, nationality, and style.

For its part, Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of filmmaking

Attendance for the event is free of charge, but seating is limited. Snacks and refreshments will be served throughout. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me at the numbers below.

Yazan Al Ghazzawi
PR & Marketing Manager
Kuwait Cinemagic

Tel: (+965) 574 3253
Cell: (+965) 722 2416
www.cinemagics.com

This years Dog Show will be held once again at the British Embassy Gardens on Friday 16th of March 2007. Last year it was a lot of fun for so we will for sure be going back this year. In last years show Geo won second place in the Best Puppy category and this year we are hoping to win in other categories including Best Tail Wagger, Most Adorable Dog and Most Obedient. These competitions aren’t anything serious its all just a lot of fun. If you have a dog you should try and make it this year. For more information click [Here]

Here is my post of last years event.

Thanks Stallion for reminding me

Was approaching Seef Palace today when I noticed smoke and some traffic. When I got closer I saw a Blazer smoking and a bunch of guys trying to put the fire out. I guess the fire extinguisher law can come handy once every blue moon.

I got an email yesterday from the owner of Shoo? Shawerma asking me to go back and try their shawermas now. He had read my extremely negative review of Shoo? Shawerma and decided to explain the situation to me.

It turns out they had a problem with the shawerma master and they ended up firing him and replacing him with a new more qualified guy. He also told me the reason their shawermas are more expensive then other places is because most places uses Indian beef which is 600fils a KG while they use Brazilian beef which is KD1.300 a KG. But with the firing of the shawerma master they decreased the shawerma price down to 300fils and they changed the menu.

So next time I go to Sultan Center I will pass by Shoo? Shawerma and give it another shot and then either update my review or keep it the same.

Yesterday I took a day off work so I could go to the Pierre Marcolini event at Hilton. It started off with lunch at Teatro followed by a chocolate presentation at the Song Bird cafe at 2PM. The presentation which I thought would be boring turned out to be pretty cool and informative. It was like watching an episode on Discovery Channel on how chocolate is made except the presenter was Pierre Marcolini himself. I guess it was like watching the Teutul family talk about how they made choppers minus all the shouting and banging.

I now understand the difference between good chocolate and bad chocolate. The presentation was a walk through on how Pierre Marcolini chocolate is made. It turns out they are the only ones in Belgium who actually create chocolate starting from the cocoa beans all the way to the chocolate bar. Its a long process but in the end you get the best product. They even passed around chocolate in its various unfinished stages so we could smell and at one point taste.

Once the presentation was over me and Nat went up to Pierre and had a little chat with him. Since he only spoke French, Nat was my translator. I made her ask him if he had a favorite commercial chocolate like Crunch, Mars, Twix etc.. He replied telling her that he didn’t eat commercial chocolate but every now and then he would try new products just out of curiosity. He also told her he does like eating chocolate from small chocolatiers in France and Italy. We then asked him what he thought of Kuwait. He told us he had just been in Japan and now he was in Kuwait and the difference in culture is huge and he loves that. He said he loves experiencing new cultures because he learns new things. For example now that he has visited Kuwait he is considering making chocolate with coffee.

He was a very friendly guy with good sense of humor so the whole thing was really enjoyable. In the end they gave us some chocolates as a thank you for coming gift and we then left the place. It was a cool experience and I am glad I went.

Why can’t places in Kuwait have decent websites? Speed Zone is a used car dealership located on the Gulf Road opposite Showbiz. They always have interesting cars parked out in front of it and so when I found out they had a website I was excited. I don’t pass by Speed Zone often so I figured I could keep track of all the cool cars they get via their website.

Turns out I was wrong, their website is a mess and contains practically no information whatsoever. I even checked the Arabic version of the site figuring it might be more complete and still ended up with nothing. It would be cool if they had a live webcam over looking their cars but thats asking to much when they don’t even have a photo gallery.

Also whats with the weird spelling and grammar. They have an animated flash saying “Speed Zone which you can’t catch up”. What does that mean?

Check this out also taken from their site:

prief about Speed Zone
This is Speed zone company on Kuwait which care about speed & luxury vehicles. we will provide the new cars, motorcycle and their spare parts which will give you the optimal performance and speed, so don’t miss our site it would be up to date with the new stuff so catch it up or you will miss it with speed zone.

I really hope they fix things because they do get some really cool cars all the time and their site isn’t doing them any justice. [Link]

I just got the following email from a reader:

AbdulAziz wrote:
I’m a frequent visitor of your how shall I put it colorful site in both topics and presentation. I was shocked to see the topic about the Harley crash … I was the first to witness the accident the guy was right in front of me when he flipped due to bad judgment by the lady merging onto the street …. However, I called the emergency service 777 … just wana share my disappointing experience with them … it took 6 tones for them to answer keep in mind it should not take more then 1….. once they answered I Said guys a bike just flipped come over and make it quick on Khaleej Road opposite Hard Rock café…. They acknowledged and took my name incase it was a prank call …. They called back 8 minutes later and asked me if he needed an AMBULANCE …. Why the hell was I calling u …. After I emphized that he did they hanged up and called 10 mins later …. They asked where he was and said that they are at the place but there was no accident … I said again please check … they called and hanged up for about 15mins just double checking ….. anyways I got pissed and starting raising my voice …. Apparently they were at the HARD COOK restaurant and not Hard Rock.

Just wanted to share this with you … hopefully none of us would need their services.

Took a day off work to enjoy chocolate day. Today is the chocolate event at Hilton and I am going to leave in a few minutes for the 12:00 lunch. 12PM, thats brunch or lunch? Anyway it should be fun, will try to take some pictures.

Oh and I got a call a few minutes ago from U Shop We Ship. My package which shipped on February 9th (another harddrive) from the US arrived to Kuwait today. Thats just crazy. I placed the order for my harddrive from Amazon on the 8th, the package then shipped and arrived to my USWS mailbox on the 9th, then it shipped from my US mailbox on the 9th and now the package is here in Kuwait by the 11th. I don’t think it could get faster then this.

Whats up with my luck? Thursday I suddenly felt like pizza and ordered from Papa John’s only to end up in a fight with them because over an hour and half had passed and my pizza hadn’t arrived yet. I decided I would never order from Papa John’s again.

Tonight I placed an order for pizza from Dominos. I placed an order at 8:33 and they told me I would have it within 30 minutes. 9:03 the pizza was still not delivered. 9:11 I get a call from the driver, he is around a block away from my house, less even like 100 meters away. He was lost and I explained to him how to get to my place. Take a right and get onto the main road, then take a left and another left. Very easy directions…

Thirty minutes later and the guy was still lost. Everytime I told him to take a left he takes a right, go straight he takes a right, U-Turn and he takes a left. The guy was a complete idiot. I just called and canceled my pizza, told them its been over an hour snce I ordered the pizza and over 30 minutes on the phone with the delivery guy and he still can’t follow directions.

I just called Papa John’s and ordered a pizza from them. I can’t be pissed at both Papa Johns AND Dominos… I have to still eat pizza from somewhere…

note: The guy was an Arab and I was talking to him in Arabic so it wasn’t a communication barrier.

Also while writing this post the Dominos manager called me and apologized. Told me what happened was unacceptable and that before anything they want me to be happy. He told me he would call the Dominos branch now and have them resend me the pizza and it would be for free. I told him thanks but I had already ordered from Papa John’s and thanked him for his call. He was like what can I do to make it up to you, I told him by calling me and apologizing you made it up and I would order from them again the next time. He apologized again and I thanked him and hung up. Thats good service.

update: Papa Johns told me the pizza needed 45 minutes, it arrived in 40. They must have sent me their best driver because he didn’t even call to get directions. Glad my pizza curse is over with.

A friend of mine in Lebanon just posted pictures and info on my favorite shawerma place called BouBouffe. The shawerma place is located in Lebanon, near ABC in Achrafieh and its been there since the 70s. [Link]

Placed order with Papa Johns at 8:30. Promised would be delivered within 45 minutes. Called back at 9:20 telling them pizza hadn’t arrived yet, they told me within 10 minutes. Called back at 9:35 telling them pizza hadn’t arrived yet, they told me they will check on it and get back to me. Called back at 9:45 telling them pizza hasn’t arrived yet even though I called twice. They transfered me to manager who told me he will call back in 2 minutes. Its been 5 minutes and no call back yet and I need to leave the house.

update: called back at 9:55, spoke to manager again told him he had told me he would call me back in 2 minutes and he hadn’t. He told me he spoke to Salmiya branch manager and he is probably trying to call me now and he is getting a busy tone. I told him no I have call waiting if he was trying to call me I would know. I told him I need to know when my pizza will get here because I need to leave. He was like if you have to leave I can’t do anything about it. So I was like then cancel my order, he was like fine. What the hell, what lame customer service is that.

Then a few minutes later I get a phone call from the Salmiya branch manager telling me my pizza will be late. I told him why didn’t you call me half an hour ago when the call center manager told me you would call me. He was like I had to call the driver. I was like you need 30 minutes to do that? I was like anyway I canceled my order. He was like ok and I closed the phone.

I would never order from them again. Why?
– They should have been apologetic instead of blaming it on traffic
– Its Thursday night and they know there is traffic so why tell me 45 minutes in the first place
– After my first call they should have called the driver and found out how long he needed
– After they told me they would call me back they should have called me back
– At the very least they should have offered me the pizza for free, its been over an hour and a half and the pizza is going to be cold anyway
– The two managers I spoke to were not friendly enough