Search: “cop”

I take the Gulf Road every morning to work and every evening back home. I also take the Gulf Road on my way to the gym and back. Every single freakin day I have to put up with jerks on the road trying to hit on chicks. The Gulf Road is just 3 lanes and if there is a car with a girl in it then you find a car on the left of hers and a car on the right of hers filled with a guy or two driving at the exact same speed as the girl (or girls). It’s ridiculous! Sometimes there would be a car in front of her as well and maybe a car or two behind also trying to get some action. These idiots block the whole Gulf Road driving at a slow pace hoping to get the girls number or whatever (I have no clue how that works) while everyone else is forced to drive at an abnormally slow pace behind them.

It’s not just guys that are the problem, sometimes you get these group of girls with a ton of makeup on giggling and laughing in the car with the windows open driving slow actually wanting the guys to hit on them. It really pisses me off. Where are the cops? Why don’t the cops do anything? Why don’t they assign the female cops (pictured above) to the Gulf Road and have them take vengeance?? Instead of installing new speed cameras on the Gulf Road they should figure out a way to stop these morons.

Sorry I’m venting but I just got home after getting stuck in traffic because of some jerks.

I’m not a big fan of True Value (I prefer Ace) but I was there over the weekend looking for something when I found two interesting items.

The first is this fire safe/waterproof external hard drive. The idea is that you back your stuff onto it and in case your apartment catches on fire your data would be safe. Price was expensive at around KD180. It costs KD113 on Amazon without shipping and the thing is heavy but I doubt that shipping with Aramex would cost more than KD30 or KD40.

The second interesting thing I found were Daisy brand air rifles. They had the Daisy 840 Grizzly rifle for KD39 (KD12 on Amazon) and the Daisy 880 with Scope for KD49 (KD16 on Amazon). They looked pretty nice.

Posted by Fahad

A lot of people crucified Core Fitness thinking that our 20-minute version of a workout was for everybody. As per what Mark has stated earlier, our 20-minutes were meant to cater to those who a) don’t have time for high-volume conventional training, b) new to the world of health and fitness, c) are the center of mockery and scrutiny because they’re too fat and d) hate to pursue health and fitness, but need to lose some weight due to health and Sharm Al Shaikh reasons.

To shed some light on our 20-minute workouts, we are merely a single idea in the fitness industry. We don’t defy ourselves as the be-all and end-all of exercise; we represent a technique that combines both convenience and intensity in one package. One big huge gargantuan awesome incredible package.

Gradual Transition

Back in January when Mark signed up with Core Fitness, I honestly thought the dude was a hopeless case. He looked motivated, but acted kind of lazy. Mark wanted to get in and out and just live life outside of the gym. Gradually, he kept on coming for more and asking for harder diet plans. He even low-carbed his meals without inquiring with me, and refrained from cheating for over a month (which is something I wouldn’t even think of doing).

I remember the day he sluggishly walked into my office. Last Thursday, the dude walked in with his shoulders back and his chest high, ready for what’s next.  I presented him with the idea of signing up for 60-minutes. What shocked me the most is his prompt reply; I even had a list of come backs in order to negotiate him into 60-minutes. Conclusively, Mark now dedicates 5 days of his week to gym and MMA work; he has officially caught the fitness-bug.

By Popular Demand

In order to cope with the  “high volume” and the “we-have-more-than-20-minutes-to-spare” fitness crowd, we at Core Fitness developed a training technique roughly 3 times as intense as our initial 20 minutes, but with 40 more minutes of pain and agony. Keep in mind that we would like our clients to stick to the 20 minutes, so expect 1-hour training to be our way of saying “Today, we will give you 60 reasons why you should stick to 20 minutes. FUL.”

Offering Healthy Lifestyles Since 2008

Does anyone remember the last time Mark posted a burger review? Go ahead and look back at his posts. Taco Bell was a total bust, but they do have a semi-healthy menu. The Abercrombie and Fitch post was LOLingly homorific, but I’ll give him credit for finally setting a target. And what does every strict dieter do? Post about their next cheat meal.

It’s safe to say the fitness-bug he caught also effected his posts, including activity oriented articles and topics pertaining to how people can achieve a healthy lifestyle without sacrificing their current one (Michel Dines in Hell).

The point is, Core Fitness offers lifestyles and not just a means to an end. We at Core want you to be healthy, stay healthy and live healthy, since health and fitness is our business. We promote diversity with our clients by asking them to try out what the market has to offer, and only then can they differentiate a Core Fitness workout from a conventional one. The point is we do lose clients like any other business, but we rarely fail to permanently stamp them with healthier lifestyles.

All top-notch health clubs and gyms in Kuwait already have 60-minute personal training services far before Core existed, but how many of them offer you individualized lifestyles and a training technique?

Training Services

Mark’s currently enrolled in Muscle Building, since he earlier decided to dedicate 30-minutes of post-workout treadmill cardio work to his already activity-infested routine. Mark and cardio don’t mix at all, and I couldn’t convince him to do 10 minutes (I swear to God). Those 30-minutes were his idea.

For the 60-minute personal training workout, we offer 4 training categories specified below:

– Muscle Building

– Fitness Boxing

– Fat Loss

– Sports Performance

20-Minutes is still our Bread & Butter

For those of you contemplating on signing up, I’d advise you begin with at least one 20-minute workout membership to get the feel of the technique. The intensity of our 60-minute workouts are no joke and require a certain level of physical fitness experience. We designed it to transition our current 20-minute clients who have already been through the short torture.

Follow Mark’s foot steps and gradually increase workout intensity and meal planning. You’ll look good, feel good and hopefully live longer assuming a bus doesn’t run into you anytime soon.

For more questions and inquiries concerning timings, prices and location, feel free to contact Core Fitness at 22520407 starting at 12:30 pm to 10 pm, or contact me via my blog here.

Posted by Fahad

The blog Q8geeks spotted the above job opening. I really don’t want to know what this job involves… [Link]

A reader shared a link to pictures of the making of the Kiswah (the cloth that covers the Kaaba) which I hadn’t seen before. You can check out those pictures by clicking [Here]

Here is also bit of info I found on Wikipedia on the Kiswah:

Every year the old Kiswa is removed, cut into small pieces and gifted to certain individuals, visiting foreign Muslim dignitaries and organizations. Some of them sell their share as souvenirs of Haj. Earlier Umar bin al-Khattab would cut it in to pieces and distribute them among the pilgrims who used them as shelter from the heat of Makkah. The present cost of making the kiswa amounts to SR 17 million [U.S. dollar = 3.75 riyals]. The cover is 658 sq. metres long and is made of 670 kgs of pure silk. For embroidery 15 kilos of gold threads are used. It consists of 47 pieces of cloth and each piece is 14 Mts. long and 101 cms broad. The kiswa is wrapped around the Kaaba and fixed to the ground with copper rings. [Source]

Thanks t-num

If any cops are watching this I think it might be easy to catch this guy since his username on YouTube is 6025176 and I am taking a wild guess here but that could actually be his phone number. [YouTube]

Back in May I linked to a PDF taken from a 1969 issue of National Geographic and spoke about the Villa pictured above because I loved the design of it. Well a reader just landed across my post and commented the following:

Hi, this is our house, it used to belongs to my father and 2 brothers, Mohamed, Nasser (my late father) and Faisal Al-Duaijani. It was built and finished in 1968 and we moved into it when I was 5 years old after previously living in Do3′a (Farwaniya now).

The house is located at the intersection of the 4th ring road with Damascus street in Al-Rodah and it was sold to Mr. Al-Mokeazeam (cant recall his first name.. sorry) back in 1985. There was some modifications done to it, they completed the 3rd floor and closed the balconies which really made it lose its futuristic (at that time) looks. The villa was also shown in (Tarbiya Wataniya) elementary school book back in 1979 as one of the landmarks of Kuwait with my uncle Faisal shown standing in the first floor balcony. The villa just next to it was built and owned by my aunt and her husband the late Mr. Jasem Al-3otaiby. It had the same features and it still exists (also with some modifications) but it was sold directly to Al-Banwan family which i guess they’re still living in it.

I’m sorry I can’t recall the name of the architect and I’ll try to ask about it and give tell you if I find out. From what I recall we had big disputes with him about the mocked copies of the villa, the one in 3deliya and the one in Khaldiya about the exclusivity of design and rights to it which believe it or not was stronger back in the 60′s & 70′s than today!!

Aaahh, I’m 45 years old now, where did the good old days go??!!

Thanks,
Abdulla

I just read about this on Autoblog and thought it was a pretty cool idea and one they should apply here in Kuwait as well.

Police in Abu Dhabi take traffic violations very seriously, and they’re reportedly adding a new tool to their arsenal – public shaming. After the evening news bulletin, videos will be shown of various traffic offenses along with the fines and penalties they incur. They have already lined up 30 such video violations and plan to run the series for a month.

It would be cooler though if the show was more like the popular reality American TV show COPS. [Link]

I passed by the old photographer this weekend. In our previous meeting I had asked him if there was anything that can be done to help him out and he had told me he needed a few days to think about it and a few days had passed and I was curious to what can be done. I was already brainstorming a few ideas in my head trying to think about what can be done to help him get back to his feet but I really couldn’t come up with anything long term. So I passed by again and we had another long chat.

He’s 80 years old and not in the best of condition. He has an employee he doesn’t trust, a store that only does photocopies, and he makes just enough income to feed himself and put a shelter on top of his head. He told me that he thought about restructuring his shop, to get into digital photography or at least upgrade his machine in the store. But he told me it would take to long for him to start making profit and he’s 80 years old and doesn’t have that much left to live. He then told me he thought about going back to his village in Lebanon but what would he do there? He doesn’t have anyone. His family all passed away, he has a half brother who he hasn’t spoken to in years but he’s also very old. He doesn’t have anything to go back to. He then moved onto the subject of death and how his family all passed away without every going on a hajj. He told me he doesn’t want to die without ever going to hajj.

I don’t know much about the hajj or how much it costs or if he actually can go being so old (I’m sure there are some kind of groups where young people help the elderly or something). If anyone would like to help me send the old man to hajj or at least if someone can post details on what the trip involves and who I could contact for information that would also be helpful.

In case you missed the previous posts here are the links:
In Kuwait since 1959
Update on the old photographer

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their support. Other than the tons of comments offering assistance I got a lot of emails and calls offering to help the old guy out. Regarding his residency that’s been sorted out. He’s just been running around a lot trying to get it done and as an 80 year old traveling by bus from location to location it can be extremely exhausting in this weather.

I passed by him tonight to get a better idea on how we can help him out and I honestly still don’t know what we can do. The only service his shop currently offers is photocopies for 100 fils. I was there for 2 hours tonight and only 1 person came in to get a photocopy done so that’s not really a source of income. There are two things he seems to be bothered about, one is the fact that he doesn’t have a store sign. The second is the fact he bought a small Minolta DiMAGE X1 for like KD10 from this lady who was traveling and he can’t get it to work. It took me a few seconds to figure out the battery needed charging and she hadn’t given him a charger with it so that’s why it wasn’t working. I need to find a battery charger for it and then teach him how to use it. He doesn’t have a computer so not sure what he is planning to do. Oh and I also brought along my laptop with me and introduced him to the internet. It was pretty weird trying to explain how the internet works and helping him pronounce Google which he kept calling Googen.

Anyway I’m going back again on Wednesday, I told him to think about what he needs or what would help him out and he promised to think about it and get back to me on it. While there he insisted on inviting me to a cold drink which was an RC Lemonade which I thought was pretty old school. I’ll make sure to keep everyone posted if there is anything we can do but for now I think everything should be ok.

I was wondering around tonight when I stumbled across an old photography store. Some pictures in the display grabbed my attention and when I looked inside I spotted an old man sitting reading the Koran and two other interesting photos. I decided to go in and check the photos out and I ended up spending around an hour there talking to the old man.

I won’t mention the photographers name or the shop location since I want to give him his space and privacy but he’s a Lebanese guy who ran away from an abusive father and took the bus and came to Kuwait in 1959. He hasn’t left since… not even once. He worked a variety of jobs here and there and in the end became a journalist and took some really great photos, some of which many of us have come across in one point in time or another. He ended up opening up his own photography shop and it’s been there ever since. Today the shop doesn’t sell anything, he doesn’t have any customers nor even a store sign. He broke the sign ages ago because to keep it up he would have to pay a fee of KD25 a year which he didn’t want to. He sold all his negatives to a newspapers years ago for KD200 and has a few photos he kept which he was selling framed for KD25 a piece but someone bought his photo and then made copies and started selling them for KD1 so that income stopped.

While there I spotted some old cameras behind an extremely dusty display that looked like it hadn’t been open since the 80s and my God what a beautiful camera collection. He had cameras from the 70’s and early 80’s still boxed brand new! He even had the beautiful rangefinder Konica S3 from 1974 which I had purchased used off eBay for KD60 last year, except he had a brand new one all boxed up and priced at KD45! He also had two brand new Nikon F3’s from 1980, a Vivitar 35EE, a Vivitar 35EF, Mamiya 135AF and boxed up Hasselblad but I couldn’t tell what model it was. I really want to buy them all but I don’t think he wants to sell them. He’s pissed off at the whole world, he’s depressed, he’s really old and he doesn’t want to sell anything. He told me 5 months ago his residency expired and he’s now living in Kuwait illegally. He feels that he’s been forgotten and no one cares about him or remembers him. How could someone who’s been in Kuwait for 50 years non stop still require an ikameh to live here? It made me realize that if I lose my job tomorrow I would have to leave Kuwait as well except I am young and I could always move to Lebanon and start a new life or something but this old man, where would he go? He’s easily at least 80 years old, he doesn’t have any family, never married, no relatives and he hasn’t been to Lebanon in over 50 years neither does he want to go back…

I had to leave but told him I would come back again since I wanted to listen to his life story and maybe give him some recognition with my blog. I also promised him the next time I go back I would bring my laptop along since I was telling him about the Internet and he told me he had heard about it but had no idea what it was. I told him I would come back and show him since he seemed eager to know how it worked and who invented it and how it looked. I asked him what time to what time I could find him at the shop he told me 24 hours. Turns out he lives in the shop.

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

The first day of Ramadan was a total bust. True epic failure. You guys would’ve been disappointed at the horrors that took place at my family’s futoor table.

Yet, like the phoenix, I rise again and avail in favor of sticking to my plan like every other dedicated fitness enthusiast, which lasted a few seconds right after the kanafa, atayef and cheese cake arrived, where I yet again continued to disgrace my will and testament in keeping my mouth shut and saving dessert for later.

Of course a few cups of sage, thyme, ginger, white tea, gymnema sylvestre and peppermint post pig-out should minimize the gut-damage, at least in accordance to my mother.  On a side note, I’ll be discussing more about those 6 herbs and how they can benefit you when indulging in belt-widening carby and fatty mixtures from hell.

This Post’s About Dessert BTW

I guide you how to eat dessert responsibly, I throw in a few jokes, then you follow my advice by eating dessert responsibly and we all live happily every after. The usual Q&A is available for any necessary inquiries in regards to the subject or any other relevant areas in fitness, health and nutrition.

Snacking Rules:

*Dessert should never go above 300 calories.

*Each snack should contain all macro nutrients, including junk-nutrients such as sugar and fat. Inclusion of all macros balance out the snack, providing a more subtle release of blood sugar.

*This is bullet point #3 and isn’t remotely relevant to the subject at hand.

*Snacks are to be consumed 2.5-3 hours after a meal or before a meal.

I posted a couple of days back about how AlQabas newspaper stole an image from a Bahraini blogger and published it in the newspaper. Well just an update, Aysha the blogger will be contacting a lawyer who will be sending a letter to AlQabas. Depending on the response they get they will then decide what action to take. Personally I am curious to see what the outcome of this will be.

On another note, I emailed the editor of Arab Time asking him if he was aware of various cases in which they copy pasted posts from local bloggers into their newspaper without giving any credit. I haven’t gotten a reply yet.

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

I would first like to apologize for my long absence from the world of blogging and greatly appreciate all my supporting readers for being patient and understanding. Moreover, I’d also like to send my sincerest apologies to those of you who have emailed me but haven’t recieved a reply. I’d like to thank you all for putting up with my crap and style of writing, which by-the-way will only get worse. I’ve stated this a million times. If you’re not cool with my writing nature, then don’t read me. I should warn you, though; you’re going to miss out on some epic nutrition advice.

Before I begin preaching, I’d like to clarify how this guide will work:

1) I’ll list down all the basics of Ramadan eating and training to provide a brief understanding for the readers.

2) The reader will then post his/her goal, physical stats (height, weight, bf % if available) and Ramadan lifestyle (exercise timing, family gatherings, favorite/worst foods, etc).

3) I will then reply with a customized optimal plan for that reader’s goal

4) Other readers/haters who are too lazy to comment/hate can read/[go-kill-themselves] the Q&A’s below so that they may personally implement on their own.

The Q&A below will serve as a guide to unanswered questions anyone might have about Ramadan. Please refrain from emailing me since the goal of this post is to publicly educate through the written facts/opinions/experiences and the associated comments.

Credibility and Experience

It took me around 3 Ramadans to fully understand how my body works when it comes to losing fat and maintaining muscle when fasting. From eating small portions of food to indulging in every calorie dense food item, I’ve realized the only way to survive Ramadan is by doing the exact same thing.

1^st Attempt: I dieted in Ramadan, performing 30-60 minutes of cardio 2 hours prior to breaking my fast, and weight lifting 1 hour after a light futoor, followed by a light dinner and a light suhoor.

Result: Managed to lose 10kg in 1 month.

Damage: Managed to lose a lot of my hard earned muscle. Fail.

2^nd Attempt: I gorged on endless calories, weight-lifted with less intensity and did absolutely no cardio.

Result: Gained 5kg.

Damage: 5kg of fat; but I kept my muscle. Epic fail.

3^rd Attempt: Dieted 3 months prior to Ramadan (low calorie intake, 60 minutes of cardio, 30-45 minutes of weight-lifting). Stuck to the same level of calorie intake and workout-intensity in Ramadan, eliminated cardio completely.

Result: Nothing. Kept my muscle, maintained my superb condition.

Damage: Refer to the above. Boo-Yeah.

I’ve already posted about the Zinio magazine app on the iPad before (pictured above) and about how great it is and if there was only one app I could have on the iPad that would be it. Sadly though, not all my favorite magazines are available to subscribe to on Zinio… or at least not available yet. So what’s the solution?

You’re going to have to download magazines illegally.

Magazine subscriptions are cheap with the majority costing around $10 a year and I’ve already subscribed to over a dozen but the ones that aren’t available in Zinio I just download pirated copies of the magazines for free.

To do that you need two things, a PDF reader on the iPad and links to sites that post those magazines for you to download.

PDF Reader
I use GoodReader (pictured above) on the iPad to read my PDF magazines. The reason I went with GoodReader over other PDF readers is because it’s cheap, it handles large files extremely well and also because it has a ton of features. Some of the cool features are the ability to upload files into GoodReader directly from your web browser on the computer over wifi, the ability to drag and drop files into GoodReader from iTunes and the ability to download files from the Internet directly into GoodReader via an internal browser. Not only that but you could take a bunch of files, zip them up, upload them into GoodReader and then unzip them within the app. The only downside to GoodReader is the extremely ugly app icon.

Magazine Sites
There a ton of sites but the ones I use the most are the following: World Mags, Get Magazine and Magazines Download. Now just an FYI before you click the links, those sites also have PDF’s of certain magazines that are banned in Kuwait so close your eyes when you see them.

That’s all there is to it. Most of the magazines available in Zinio are also available at those sites as well but, since subscription fees are very cheap on Zinio I would highly recommend you subscribe to them instead.