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Welcome to the new and improved site. I know it still looks the same and some of you might not even have noticed a difference but that’s because I wasn’t interested in a complete revamp. The blog has become very recognizable with the bright magenta on top and black background, changing it would be like Coca-Cola suddenly going blue. What I did with this redesign is improve on the old design and fix things that needed to be fixed.

Firstly the biggest change is that the site now looks exactly the same on any browser on any OS. Previously it looked slightly different depending on what browser on what OS you were using. The only difference now is for some reason on FireFox on a Mac the titles on the tabs under the header are in bold. But that’s it everything else looks the same. I’ve widened the site but not by a lot so that if you’re viewing the blog from a netbook you don’t need to scroll left or right to see the whole width of the page. It fits perfectly.

Secondly the ads. The most important change is that there is no longer an ad on top of the posts. I’ve decided not to put an ad there and have instead kept all the ads on the far right. This way I’ve created a clear and distinct line between what is an ad and what isn’t. Everything on the left is me, it’s my space and I say what I want. Everything on the right is paid for. I’ve changed the shape of the ads and made them slightly smaller so they look a lot neater now. I’ve also had all the advertisers reduce the physical size of the ads by half so that the site loads even faster now then it previously did.

I’ve also changed the color of the header slightly and made it a 100% magenta which is slightly brighter than the previous header. I then changed all the other magenta on the blog to match, so all the links and buttons etc.. are now slightly brighter. Oh and when you hover over the tabs under the header, the button now turns white instead of black. Looks cleaner this way.

I’ve really done a ton of minor changes here and there. For example the titles of the posts are now 100% black instead of dark gray, the comments under the posts look A LOT neater now and I’ve also removed the number next to peoples comments. There was a bad habit previously in which people replied to each other by post number. For example “I have to agree with post 23, Britney Spears is hot”. Now people will have to refer to each other by name or nickname. Another issue with the comment numbers was that if there was a comment in moderation before post 23 and I approved it after someone responded to post 23 then post 23 would suddenly become post 24 and the person who commented in reply to post 23 would look stupid.

Oh another important change, I’ve removed the tab on top called “Archive” which used to contain all my post categories and have instead listed all my categories on the side. Those of you who’ve been visiting my blog for a few years now will realize that’s how it used to be before my previous redesign. I find it a lot more useful having it in the sidebar and I am hoping it will encourage more people to dig into my blog and engage with my older posts. I’ve posted soo many things over the years and a lot of them are still interesting to this day so its worth making them available. I’ve also shifted the “Site Tools” up because I feel my twitter and facebook group are worth visiting and so need to be highlighted more. I’ve moved the other bloggers list to the bottom of the side bar so that way the more interesting blogs I find the more I will be able to fit. The side bar used to also have a gray background which I removed, makes things a lot more airy and less suffocating.

So in conclusion, the blog loads faster, looks neater and is just an improved version of the previous design.

For their new HD TV commercial, Toshiba attached some of their HD cameras to a weather balloon along with an arm chair and sent it up to space. Looks pretty peaceful up there. [YouTube]

Here is a link to the making of [Link]

I just received my first package with DHL today and I have decided they will be my primary shipping courier from now on and here is why.

1) I was able to sign up, open an account and pay for it all online and in a few minutes

2) Their mailbox is located in Ohio which means I no longer need to pay the 8.375% New York sales tax

3) It seems they ship packages the next day which means my package doesn’t sit in the mailbox in the States for long

4) They have EXTREMELY detailed tracking (check this)

5) Because they have extremely detailed tracking I can use the iPhone app Delivery Status to keep track of my packages

6) They’re fast. Package shipped December 2nd, arrived to Kuwait December 5th, cleared customs and was ready to pick up on the 6th

7) They don’t deliver but they have 4 pick up locations, Khaleejia in Kuwait City, Ardiya, Fahaheel and Camp Arifjan. The Ardiya branch is open till midnight everyday except on Friday they close at 9. The Kuwait City branch closes at 9 every day.

8) You pay based on weight and the size of the package doesn’t effect how much you pay

9) It’s KD3.5 for the first half kilo and then its KD2.5 for every half

Now to clear something up. Like Aramex, you also have to pay customs for packages over $100. The stories about Aramex making up this 5% to make more money is not true. But, unlike Aramex, with DHL you pay 5% customs and KD3.5 handling fee. With Aramex its just a KD1 handling fee. Now the advantage of DHL is they clear the package the same day while with Aramex it currently looks like its taking over a week.

I picked up my Drobo today and I paid KD31 shipping and KD8 for customs and handling. Overall I found DHL cheaper than Aramex. Why? Because you save on the New York sales tax, because you pay based on actual weight and not volumetric weight and because you pay KD2.5 for every half KG instead of Aramex’s KD2.750.

If you want to sign up for an account here is the link to their website [Link]

Note: Ignore the shipping price that’s displayed in your DHL account when tracking a package. My Drobo according to the online invoice was going to cost me KD70.57 in shipping fees but that was based on volumetric weight which was calculated to be 11.02 kg. Before I picked up my package they put it on the scale and it weighed 5.5 kg and thats what I paid for.

I got the following email today with a link to the trailer above:

I’m one of the people who are working on a Kuwaiti film, and we would love to post the trailer on your blog so we can get feedback from the viewers before we move to the next step of production. We are a group of Kuwaiti youth who are interested in Film-making and cinema. We are trying to make serious Kuwaiti films, but since we are doing it ourselves and without any form of support, we need all the help that we can get.

I really like the fact that more and more people in Kuwait are getting interested in film and it’s great these guys took the time to work on this movie. But, I am going to give my opinion now on this trailer and I will try not to be too harsh. I just watched the trailer and found it too long and unexciting. There also is a ton of cheap special effects and the whole thing looks like a B-rated Ramadan TV series. Now I know they didn’t have any form of support and I am guessing no budget but why think of an epic movie that would need a budget and cast equal to Lord of the Rings? They should have gone with a movie that focused more on the story and characters instead of the special effects and large battle scenes. The film Sharq for example focused around a handful of characters, no special effects and no expensive hard to shoot locations.

Now that I’m done giving my opinion whats yours? [YouTube]

A few days ago someone in the forum mentioned that he passed by the animal section of the Friday market and found it closed. I figured that’s great news, they finally did something about the animal cruelty that was taking place there.

Turns out I was very wrong. Today I found out that what really happened was the municipality shutdown all the shops by force and not because of animal cruelty but because of rent issues. Not only that but since the shops were closed down 2 weeks ago they haven’t been allowed to reopen and all the animals were left inside to die!

…the business owners are helpless as the animals howl and cry for food, with every passing day the stench of death growing ever stronger…

…All the animals are inside the stalls, and most of them have died due to lack of water, food and air. These animals have been in cages within the stalls for 15 days and they have not seen any light, nor eaten anything…

Instead of making things better, they killed all the animals. Fantastic. Here is the link to the article on Al Watan Daily. [Link]

Update: A friend of mine passed by the Friday market with his wife today after reading the post to see what they could do. They spoke to a few owners and it turns out the Al Watan Daily’s story is not true. Here is the correct information:

– The municipality did shutdown the shops

– The shop owners ARE allowed to open the shop to clean, feed and air their animals

– Some shop owners were neglecting their animals and it’s NOT the municipality that’s stopping them. Some owners are just insensitive and are just leaving their animals to die

Basically unlike what Al Watan Daily reported, the municipality isn’t stopping any shop owner from taking care of the animals. I don’t know why a leading English newspaper would print misinformation like that. In any case animals are still being left to die by some shop owners who should be fined or prosecuted. For more details you can visit my friends blog where they have more information and pictures [Link]

I started barbecuing during Ramadan but since the weather has improved a lot more people will start barbecuing now. Actually by visiting Sultan Center you can tell its BBQ season since the Sharq branch for example is now highlighting BBQ equipment when you first come in. So here are some tips by me if you want to start barbecuing:

The Grill
One of the best grill brands you can get in Kuwait is Weber. Sultan Center, Ace Hardware and Sears carry Weber brand grills. From the three Sears is the cheapest while Sultan is the most expensive. Problem with Sears though is they don’t have a large variety of grills nor accessories. Ace Hardware on the other hand is just slightly more expensive than Sears but have the largest variety of grills in Kuwait with a ton of accessories. I picked up the 18 1/2 inch Weber grill pictured above for KD34 from Ace. It was KD36 at Sultan and KD33 at Sears. There are cheaper Weber grills and a lot more expensive and bigger ones but if you don’t want to spend you can find some no brand grills for under KD5.

The Coals
Two best places to buy coals are Sultan and Ace Hardware. Again I found Ace Hardware cheaper and they alsonhad a larger variety of coals some of which you can see in the picture above.

Fuel gels, starter cubes or lighter fluid?
Personally I hate waiting for the coals to get ready so I use a combination of starter cubes and fuel gel to light up my coals. Gel is better than lighter fluid since it doesn’t leave any smell or flavor behind. Both Sultan and Ace sell fuel gels, both cost KD2.200 but the one at Ace is a better brand plus if you’re picking up your grill and coal from there you might as well pick up the gel. For cubes Sultan has them while Ace doesn’t. Another tip, have a blow dryer handy since it helps speed up the process considerably. I got a cheap one for KD4 from Carrefour and combined with the fuel gel and cubes I could have a grill ready in 10 minutes.

Accessories
Both Ace and Sultan have a large variety of accessories. If you want a chimney starter to help speed up the coal burning process then you need to get it from Sultan Center where they have two models to choose from. For gloves, BBQ tools, cleaning brushes etc.. I’ve mixed and matched from both Ace and Sultan, it’s really personal preference and both have cheap and expensive options to choose from.

Burgers and more
I’ve been making some great burgers with fresh Sultan Center meat patties. Just go up to the meat fridge and tell the employee you want burgers. They will ask you what kind and what weight, I usually go for the 95% lean and a 200 grams patty for me while a 100 grams one for Nat. I don’t make them add any spices although you can ask them to, I prefer adding my own spices at home. For chicken taouk I get it marinated and ready on skewers from Dean & Deluca. 1KG is for KD2.500 compared to Sultan’s KD3.900. It’s really good and the only thing I do to it is swap the green peppers for fresh mushrooms before I grill them. Finally for kebabs I get them from the butcher which is located between La Baguette and Dodo on Baghdad Street in Salmiya. He makes two kinds, one with onions the other with garlic, I prefer the onions version. 1KG is for around KD2.500 and he prepares it for you while you wait. I can’t recommend any other items to BBQ since I haven’t tried anything else. Actually I did try to BBQ a steak but didn’t like the result because I think I chose the wrong type of meat. If you can recommend me something that would be great, just leave it as a comment below.

And that concludes my BBQ post. The prices I mentioned above are 99% accurate, my memory isn’t that great and I round up numbers so if they don’t turn out to be exactly the same don’t shoot me. If you have any tips, suggestions or questions just leave them below.

This is a pretty cool video thats currently making the rounds on the internet. Shot in one take by students at a university in Montreal, Canada. [YouTube]

I haven’t been to Signor Sassi in London but I just came back from the one here in Kuwait and I was pretty impressed. They haven’t opened yet, they’re still testing but everything is pretty much ready and they will be soft opening on Sunday with the official opening in early October. I met the Signor Sassi owner since he’s in Kuwait making sure everything is perfect for the opening and he was very nice and friendly. The location that’s opening on Sunday is the Gulf Road one which is located in the same place as Fish Market and Fusion. The 360 Mall location won’t be opening for another 2 months at least. In case you haven’t heard of them before, Signor Sassi is a popular Italian restaurant located in Knightsbridge. It’s run by the same people behind the award winning San Carlo.

I’m back in Kuwait finally. Just an update about the Jeep garage they never ended up emailing a cost estimate since they ended up repairing the a/c at no cost. This is the email I got the day before yesterday:

Dear sir,
At the ouset, I would like to wish you a very good day. I would like to inform you that we have completed the service of your vehicle & also we repaired the a/c of your vehicle. We cleaned your a/c system & we road tested your vehicle & it is working fine. Also I washed the vehicle & kept for ready for delivery. The total repair charges coming to 58.00 KD/-.

Also assuring you our best of services always.

Thing is the problem with my a/c was that it was making a very loud sound and it would let in the smell and air from outside even if I had it to circulate internally. Not too sure what a cleaning would do but I guess will see tomorrow if that fixed the problem.

Update: Picked up the Jeep, its perfect! They did end up fixing my AC and it now finally sounds normal. They also did a pretty good job of cleaning it, the interior is spotless. Not bad, wasn’t expecting this.

Here is the link to the making of for those of you interested. [Link]

I’ve posted a ton of times about Animal Friends and how they’re doing a fantastic job rescuing all these animals in Kuwait. The last time I posted about them was when they rescued the bear and it seems with that rescue they’ve gone and restructured and created a new organization. Animal Friends is now a subsidiary of Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat or in short, K’S PATH.

Animal Friends have been doing a lot more than they had originally set out to do which was rescuing dogs and cats so they’ve decided to clarify their programs and goals. Animal Friends League of Kuwait will continue as normal, rescuing animals, providing shelter, and making adoptions. All other issues, like farm animals, exotic animals, marine life and more will be handled by K’S PATH.

The video above is their introductory video of their previous activities. They’ve also set up a new website at kspath.org. They are still a non-profit organization that runs on donations so please help them out by clicking [Here]

Yeah its a long name but it helps with the geek factor. I’ve been wanting the Oral B Triumph for some time now but the local dealer never got the one I wanted which comes with the Smart Guide.

What is the Smart Guide? The Smart Guide is the little device that’s pictured above. Your toothbrush connects to it wirelessly and transmits various information about your brushing technique to help you brush properly while also making it more fun. First off it tells you how much time to spend on each quadrant of your teeth before shifting to the next one. It also tells you if you’re applying the right amount of pressure onto your teeth or gums by flashing a warning when it thinks you’re being too rough. Finally and most importantly, when you are done brushing correctly you get a smiley face on the Smart Guide as a reward. The live feedback system while brushing made me want the Triumph since I like information even if its coming from a toothbrush.

The price of the regular Triumph is KD42 in Kuwait after discount but it DOESN’T come with the Smart Guide. On Amazon the Triumph WITH the Smart Guide is for only KD34. I picked up the KD50 special edition version which comes with 2 tooth brushes and 2 Smart Guides, one for me and one for Nat which saved me a bundle. Will post a more in depth review once I get to use it for awhile.

Oral B Triumph 9900 Toothbrush with Smart Guide KD34 [Amazon]
Oral-B Triumph 9950 2 handle pack with 2 Smart Guides KD51 [Amazon]

Just found this local online shop that carries some cool Grendizer and Sanshiro figurines and I am already regretting it since I now want to buy a whole bunch of things. The prices seem pretty reasonable which is making my life difficult. I must resist! [Link]

Smoke House is a place I heard about recently from a friend. They opened up just two months ago in Mahboula and I posted about them a few days ago. Everyone who visited the place had good things to say about it so I got there with high expectations only to feel let down once I saw the place.

Smoke House is a very tiny restaurant with a very lame looking exterior and a pretty uninspiring interior. There is no love at first sight here more like what the frak brought me to this place! I passed by with a friend of mine and when we arrived 2 out of the 4 tables were occupied. We sat down and were greeted by a very friendly waitress and were given the menus to look over. I quickly decided to go with a chili cheese fries for starters, a Smoke House Burger (medium well) with cheese for my main dish and a side order of mashed potatoes with gravy. My friend ordered the lamb chops with a side order of coleslaw and sweet corn and butter. For drinks I decided to order root beer since I noticed one of the other diners was drinking root beer out of an A&W root beer jug so I decided I would have one also.

My burger arrived awhile later and I was totally shocked. It had to be the best burger presentation I had ever seen and I don’t mean just in Kuwait. The plate had a very gourmet like presentation to it and the burger looked very appetizing, I quickly took my shots before I bit into the burger. The burger didn’t come with any lettuce or tomatoes just a bit of thinly sliced onions and cheese. I think I’ve mentioned this before but I don’t think lettuce or tomatoes belong in a good burger, it takes away from the flavor which in this case was great. The patty was thick (not too thick) and very juicy. The bun was soft, looked wonderful and although was surrounded by some juice when it arrived it wasn’t soggy. The only negative thing about my burger was the fact the cheese wasn’t melted properly.

I went to Smoke House expecting a good burger but I didn’t expect this. I’ve decided to give this burger a 4.5 out of 5 making it the highest rated burger in my burger challenge so far. The root beer I ordered by the way tasted like crap. Turns out they weren’t using A&W root beer just their mugs but the waitress was nice enough to swap it with a regular coke and I wasn’t charged for the root beer. Other than that issue the sweet corn and butter was great, the coleslaw was very good, my friend’s lamb chops were supposedly also delicious and the quantity was huge. For dessert I had an apple pie and I ended up really liking that too. They really need a nicer and much larger place but according to the waitress if they do good for 6 months then they will be opening up a bigger place which makes good sense. The prices are also very affordable if anything maybe a bit under priced and I liked the way they dealt with my complaint, very professional. I’m actually going back there tomorrow with another friend and I am going to try and convince myself to have something other than the burger, maybe their Philly cheese steak. Good stuff.

Smokehouse is located in Mahboula
The cost of the Smokehouse Cheeseburger is KD1.950

Update: It seems they’ve changed their burger! Not sure why anyone would do this but their new burger doesn’t taste the same as the one in the review.

There is a digital art showcase that’s being held at The Exhibition for the next two days. Here is the information I received by email:

Ugly, But Beautiful
Date: February 26-28
Time: 4PM-12AM
Location: The Exhibition

Beauty is something rational, everyone has their own taste of it. Ugliness, on the other hand, is one’s own opinion.

When you look at an image that is full of beauty and structure, you find it beautiful because you are living a structured life. You rarely see things placed randomly, as a result you say an image is ugly without knowing that ugliness has its own beauty.

That is why we can say something is ugly, but beautiful at the same time.

‘Ugly, But Beautiful’ is Remon Yousef’s means of making you see how ugliness can have its own beauty.

Remon Yousef, a Lebanese graphic designer currently working in Kuwait, will be showcasing his artwork to the public for three days only.

All artworks are for sale.