Search: “cop”

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.

This is the last of the 3 part series. In this video we travel from Fahaheel to Abu Halifa and then take a tour of a grocery store from the inside. What’s cool is you get to see some old packaging like the old Aero chocolate packs that used to be brown, some old KDD packs, and a brief glimpse at my favorite corn flakes, Country Corn Flakes. Good stuff. [YouTube]

In case you missed them here are the first two parts
Fahaheel 1988
Abu Halifa 1988

Thanks Simon

Due to the great success of the video Abu Halifa 1988, they’ve released the sequel, Fahaheel in 1988. [YouTube]

Thanks Simon

Some random footage someone shot of Abu Halifa back in 1988 before the Gulf War. There is something eerie about the video. [YouTube]

A reader just made me aware of a section on the Cinescape website where they’ve listed some of the movies banned by the Ministry of Interior Information. The list is more like a “Need to watch” list except for the movie “Cop Out”. It’s probably a good thing that the ministry banned that movie… [Link]

Thanks Salah

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

The Question

Fahad,

I have a question. This may sound really stupid. But, other than weight concerns. What other reasons are there for eating healthy?
What I mean by that is lets say someone does not have any weight issues. What benefits does eating healthy offer them? Apart from like getting all the required nutrients perhaps.

Like if someone is not fat and dont get fat, why shouldn’t they eat sugar? Or why shouldn’t they eat lots of fat? Or white bread? Or cookies? Cakes? Big Macs? Fries? Sodas?

I mean we always look at this from a caloric and weight loss/muscle gain perspective. But, beyond that, what are the long term impact on health of eating well beyond just getting all the required nutrients?

Can you talk a bit about that.

– Ed

The Answer

Well Ed, I am cleared to tell you how much wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

“Ed: I often wondered about this phenomenon. Do tell.”

A woodchuck could chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could, but really, who gives a damn about a woodchuck?

On a serious note, I found this question too significant to include in the comments below my last post. I will be answering Ed’s questions in the order I see fit.

Getting an international driving license in Kuwait has to be one of the easiest things to do. It’s a very simple 15 minute process. There is more than one place in Kuwait to get this done but I went to an office that was located in Kuwait City, in the same building as Centro Electronics on the first floor. It’s on the corner right behind Souk Al Kabeer and the office is called Gulf Automobile Association.

All you need is a photocopy of your current Kuwaiti driving license (back and front), your civil ID copy (back and front), your passport copy (photo+name page). You also need two photos (3×6 size) and KD10. The international driving license costs KD8 and they charge you KD2 as a service fee.

Once you pass by the GAA office you give them the papers, they fill out a form and then ask you to wait a few minutes for them to type it up. Ten minutes later you leave with an international driving license. Pretty sweet. They’re open from 8:30AM to 1PM and then from 4:30PM to 8PM. For directions on how to get there, here is the [Map]

I started getting a lot of emails after my Zinio post asking me how I am getting my apps from the iPad app store without using a US credit card. Well, in case you missed it, I already posted a step by step guide [Here]

Update: Here is a step by step walk-through…

1) Go to maximuscards.com and purchase an iTunes card
2) Open up iTunes and go to the iTunes store
3) Make sure you’re not signed in to your Kuwait account
4) Scroll to the bottom of the store and make sure the US flag is showing on the bottom right. If its not click the flag and choose US.
5) On the bottom of the iTunes store you will find a bunch of text links
6) Click on “Redeem”
7) Copy and paste the code Maximus Cards emailed you
8) Then choose create new account and follow the instructions (enter a US address)
9) When it comes to payment options there should now be an option called “none”, click that
10) Continue till the end and you should end up with a US account without having to use a credit card

When you run out of credits in your account you need to follow steps 1 to 7 and then for step 8 sign in the account you previously created. Below are screenshots showing the steps above.

Now if you aren’t interested in purchasing anything from the US app store but instead just want to download free apps that aren’t available in the Kuwait store (like CNN, Amazon and eBay) you can follow the steps below:

1) Make sure you’re not signed in to your Kuwait account
2) Scroll to the bottom of the store and make sure the US flag is showing on the bottom right. If its not click the flag and choose US.
3) Buy any free iPhone or iPad app from the US store
4) When you are asked to login create a new account
5) Enter a US address and choose “None” for payment method

Amazing first-person shooter view footage of Dutch marines boarding and capturing a hijacked container ship. [YouTube]

via

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

Your world rocked in 3, 2, 1….

And we’re back with part 2 of my original post (Herro Prease!) that seemed to cause more racial and homophobic controversy than health and fitness orientation and guidance.

Taste Buds
I’m often criticized for my diminishing taste buds. When on a strict diet, the food consumed tends to taste awful and total caloric intake is extremely low. I’m eating 6-8 small portions per day of gooky old-fashioned oatmeal, funky-smelling boiled eggs, cold and barely chewable chicken breasts, tasteless and dry brown rice, and a lightly sweetened protein shake that tries its best to taste like a Johnny Rockets milkshake, but is actually one notch above dirt, and dirt can taste like ice cream when dieting.

So Masta of da Universe, if taste bud BAD, how can we trust you, haaaa!?
Have you ever sat next to a person who has been dieting more than 3 weeks? He/she will stare at you eating that burger and those fries. Moreover, they’ll tell you how to lightly dip your food in ketchup. What’s even more annoying, they’ll screw you over for not eating your entire meal; I should know, since I’m that annoying person. Lastly, I base the meals I eat on the ingredients used and how I feel after consumption. Through trial and error, I’ve discovered how long it takes my body to clean itself out if I just ate a fatty and carby meal.

Breakfass!
I am not a morning person at all. I hate the sun and anything associated with looking at the sun. I’ll even wear sun-glasses indoors in the morning, and I could care less if it made me look douchey. (If anyone has any job offerings somewhere cold and dark, please let me know.) In the meantime, I can’t deny the sensation of breakfast food. Once in a while, I’d wake up early on weekends and just have this strong urge to ditch my gooky oatmeal and boiled eggs for some tasty restaurant-served breakfast food. Before I begin, you need to take these points into consideration:

• Upon waking from 8-10 hours of sleep, our bodies are deprived of nutrients and water.
• Our inner functions tend to work optimally in the A.M., providing a challenge to any calorie intake; you can actually get away with a large thick pizza for breakfast and it’ll have a hard time storing itself as fat (assuming your healthy and fit).
• Eating breakfast at a maximum of 1 hour after waking up will provide your metabolism with a boost from heaven. The earlier you eat breakfast, the better.
• Eating breakfast more than 90 minutes after waking up will skyrocket your chances of obesity by 150%!

If I was forced to keep just one app on my iPad it would have to be Zinio. Zinio has made me owning an iPad logical. I’ve already posted previously about the fact that I didn’t know what exactly I would use the iPad for but with Zinio its become very clear… magazines. I love magazines and I hate books (short stories are fine). Maybe if I was stuck on an Island with just a library I would take up reading but with my already hectic life I need to make the best of my time and books just take too much of it. It’s the same reason I don’t watch many movies, for the same amount of time it takes me to watch 1 movie I could watch 4 episodes from my favorite TV show. The problem we have in Kuwait is magazines are expensive costing KD3 and up per issue every month. In the US you could subscribe to a full year for the same price we pay for just a single issue here. I’ve tried subscribing to US magazines and having them shipped with Aramex but magazines can be heavy and in the end I was paying 10$ a year to subscribe to 12 issues of a magazine and then paying KD3 or KD5.500 to ship a single issue to Kuwait.

With Zinio I no longer have that problem. Zinio originally was a website which allowed you to subscribe to digital versions of magazines so you could view them on your computer. Now they’ve created an iPad app which allows you to view the magazines on your iPad. The magazines on the iPad look like the print version except it has a few advantages. For example I was flipping through an article in Car & Driver about a car and on one of the pages I noticed an icon, when I clicked the icon it opened up a gallery full of pictures of the car.. ones that weren’t available in the print version. Other nifty features is the ability to open the contents page and then click on the headline of the article you want to go to or view all the spreads as thumbnails and then select the spread you want to see. There was a Honda ad in the magazine with a button click here for a test drive, when I clicked the button it played a video commercial of the ad (which was actually a good one). You can also view the magazine as a spread (two pages side by side) or if you hold the iPad vertically you can view the magazine page by page. You can zoom into the page to enlarge the copy by other double tapping a location or by pinching the screen. Another cool feature is the fact that you can view a purely text version of the magazine in case you’re having issues for some reason reading the regular print version. Articles in the text format can also be emailed to friends or to yourself to print out and you can even control the font size.

When you run the app you have three main sections, featured articles, your library and shop. Featured articles is basically samples of articles from some of the popular magazines which you could read for free. Your Library is where all your magazine issues are stored. You can view your magazines either by titles or by date. It’s very organized and easy to navigate. Finally the shop section is where you can flip through the magazines available to subscribe to and order them. Once you download a magazine you don’t need Internet access to view them. Magazine sizes vary from around 20MB to 40MB per issue. The prices for most US magazines like Car & Driver, Maxim, Cosmopolitan etc.. are around $10 to $15 for a yearly subscription (similar to their print counterparts) while some magazines that are European imports cost a lot more. You can use your Kuwaiti credit card without any problems.

The Zinio app is free and available in the App Store (on both the iPhone and iPad). Here is a link to the Zinio website where you can check all the magazines they have available with their prices. [Link]