Search: “mis”

I missed out on GulfRun this year but from what I’ve heard it was even more fun than last years. Lots of action and I am just waiting for everyone to start posting their pictures. Tonight at 11PM Watan TV is actually going to broadcast GulfRun 4 so if you want to check it out just tune in.

Update: Pictures are [Here]!

Update2: Its 11:12PM and it still hasn’t started, there is another show on so I guess the timing I got was wrong.

Food wise there were only two things that stuck out for me in Cairo. The first is the burger at the Four Seasons, the second is the spicy chicken fillet at McDonalds.

When I first had the burger at the Four Seasons tea lounge in Cairo (opposite the Zoo), it came with blue cheese which I thought overpowered the burger. So when I went to have it the second time I asked them to replace the blue cheese with cheddar and it made a world of difference. The burger turned out to be great and if I was to rate it I would probably give it anywhere between 3.5 and a 4 out of a 5. Highly recommended. (Burger picture above)

The spicy chicken fillet at McDonalds was another surprise. I don’t know why we don’t have it here in Kuwait but we should since we’re missing out on a great chicken sandwich. Unlike the McChicken, the spicy chicken fillet kinda looks like Burger King’s Chicken Royale but tastes like KFC’s chicken Zinger. So basically its the best of both worlds and honestly everything else I had in McDonalds in Cairo tasted terrible so the chicken fillet is the only way to go.

And that’s about it, there wasn’t anything else I had in Cairo that stuck out.

I purchased an oven from Abyat a few days ago. Yeah it sounds strange buying an oven from Abyat and not a place like Alghanim or Eureka but I was looking for a built in oven for my new kitchen and I found a really great looking Gorenje oven from the Ora-Ito collection and for a really competitive price at Abyat.

So yesterday they call me up to deliver the oven. I tell the driver how to get to my place and within 30 minutes he comes over with the new oven and leaves.

So today Abyat call me up to deliver the oven. I tell the driver how to get to my place and within 30 minutes he comes over with the new oven and leaves.

I didn’t mistype, it was déjà vu. It seems they made a mistake and they delivered my oven twice. I now have two beautiful ovens in my kitchen but not for long. I called them up and told them about the mistake they made. They were surprised but very apologetic and will be coming by tomorrow to pick up the extra oven. I like Abyat, its no Home Depot but its close enough.

Legendary Kuwaiti actor Ali Al-Mufidi passed away today morning in Jordan. He originally used to work in television before he moved to acting and quickly rose to fame after staring in the popular show Darb Al Zalag.

Here is a link to YouTube where you can over 200 clips of him. [Ali Al-Mufdi on YouTube]

He will be missed.

Back when I was taking pictures for my Miskan project I passed by the Kuwait Stock Exchange and ended up taking some cool pictures. Since the stock market is a popular topic at the moment I figured I would upload all the pictures I had taken that day so people can download them and use them. I’ve gotten a lot of emails from magazines and newspapers asking for the hi-res pictures so here they are all compressed into one zip file.

Download stock market pictures (4.8MB)

In return, please credit the blog if you end up using any of the photos.

Alain Robert (Spiderman) who is famous for climbing famous skyscrapers around the world was in Beirut last week. He climbed the famous Phoenicia Hotel but the whole thing was too commercialized. He had permission from the hotel and the whole event was staged as a publicity stunt for Gillette. Not as interesting as his other climbs, very disappointing. [YouTube]

Just found this interesting photoset on Flickr which contains photographs that were taken in Kuwait around 1950. All the pictures were scanned by David C. Foster from the photograph album of Francis Hadden Andrus. The picture above is of Yousef Ahmad Al-Ghanim on the left and Tom G. Mohney on the right. [Pictures]

Update: In case you missed it the shot below was featured on SomeContrast.com awhile back. Its a picture that dates back to 1956 and is of the first Porsche in Kuwait. The owner Murad Behbahani is sitting behind the wheel, and his brothers Mohammed and Redha Behbahani next to him. In a way it’s kinda similar to the shot above. [Link]

Miss Ghesquiere sent me a link to this video 5 days ago of a teacher in one of the local schools singing the Bird song but I didn’t find it funny until I watched the latest Family Guy episode below. Pretty cool teacher.

My friend had her Yahoo account taken over (her mistake) and now all her friends are getting the following email from her:

hello,
I hope this message meets you in best of health, Pardon my mistakes because I am in a hurry writing this, I had traveled to Nigeria for official purposes, Unfortunately for me all my money was stolen at the hotel where I lodged, I am so confused right now,I do not know what to do or where to go,I did not bring my phone here,I have access to only emails, please can you send me $3000

I find that really funny but on a serious note has anyone ever had their Yahoo email taken over and then had the password reset again by Yahoo?

Aramex just delivered my D90 camera. I ordered it once it got released late last month as a replacement for my Nikon D70 which had started showing its age. I originally purchased the D70 for my Miskan project back in November 2004 to replace my aging Sony F717. I still love my D70 and it still performs really great but its developed a problem that’s common to the D70’s where it has trouble reading the memory card. Although I hate zoom lenses I ordered the D90 with the kit lens. Since I will be trying to shoot short movies I figured a zoom lens would definitely come in handy. I still have my eyes on the Nikon 20mm f2.8 lens and the Nikon 85mm 1.8f lens. Maybe for Christmas…

Note: The Nikon D90 w/ kit lens is available on Amazon for KD350 [Link]

I just found out about this and think its amazing news for Villa Moda and all the other local start ups. It just goes to show that great local ideas are great ideas anywhere in the world.

Majed al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti lifestyle retailer known in the fashion world as the “Sheik of Chic,” has teamed up with the government of Dubai to create a global brand development strategy for his Villa Moda enterprise.

The Dubai International Finance Center, or DIFC, was to announce Monday that it had taken a majority investment in the multibrand high fashion retailer, where Sabah will remain as chairman and creative director. The exact amount of the investment was not disclosed.

I think Dubai is a perfect partner for Villa Moda but its depressing because Villa Moda is a Kuwaiti based idea and operation and it would have meant more to have Kuwait finance Villa Moda. But I guess its not only about the money, Dubai have a vision, Kuwait’s vision is… Dubai? [Link]

Thanks Mish!

A reader called Omar emailed me a very startling email about his experience with Sultan Center. Now I can’t verify if this is true or not because I don’t know Omar but the pictures look pretty legit to me. This is what he had to say:

I bought two After Eight dark chocolate bars from Sultan Center last week. I opened one and after taking my first bite I almost puked. I checked the expiry date on the sticker and it said 31/10/08. I then decided to peel that sticker only to realize that Sultan had covered up the real expiry date! The chocolate had expired on June 2008! I am heading there right now to make a big scene about this, but I doubt I will get very far.

Who prints and sticks these labels, is it Sultan Center or another company does anyone know?

Update: Omar passed by Sultan Center and it seems the labels are printed by the American supplier, this is what he had to say:

Thanks for posting this Mark. After I sent you the pictures I went to Sultan and asked to meet the manager. A pleasant Indian guy came over to talk to me. He is the floor manager (working in Sultan for 9 years). I showed him the expiry date and the real expiry date underneath. He was truly shocked and not feigning. I can usually tell when people are faking. After the initial shock set in, he got extremely apologetic, saying that he�s worked here for 9 years and never came across something like this. He agreed that this is not an honest mistake and is FRAUD!

We then went to check the rest of the stock, unfortunately it was all sold out (so sadly a few more people are gonna experience moldy chocolate at its finest). The floor manager took my details and promised that the “big” manager will call me soon.

30 mins after leaving Sultan I get a call from a very apologetic, sweet talking Lebanese guy who identified himself as The Manager. He apologized a million times, and also admitted that this was not an honest mistake. However, Sultan is not the source of the fraud. Apparently the �ministry of something� here in Kuwait insists that food products come with that Arabic sticker from the source, and should be tagged before clearing customs. So the “American Food Supplies Inc. ” which provided Sultan with the chocolate (already with the sticker) is the one to blame. They have been using that company for over 10 years and are truly shocked. To prove to me they are serious they will keep me updated of the proceedings with the American supplier. He also asked me to come back so they can compensate me for my troubles (whatever that means). I will go see him tomorrow.

I must say, I was expecting complete indifference by the management, but I am pleasantly surprised that they took the matter very seriously. If the stickers really are applied by the supplier, before they reach customs, then Sultan is not the source of the Fraud. Can anyone confirm that those stickers are in fact applied before they reach customs?

Has anyone by any chance seen a store still selling the original iPods? I suddenly have the urge to get one. I found one still shrink wrapped in the box on eBay but I think its going to end up selling for over $300 easily which is more than what I am willing to pay for one. If a store in Kuwait still has one though they might be willing to let it go for cheap. I remember back in the day Eureka was selling the 5GB one for KD220. I wonder if they still have them in stock somewhere gathering dust?

Update: Wow, found an old post on Gizmodo where there was a competition called “Show us your iPod”. I don’t remember this but it seems I submitted a photo of my iPod mini autographed by the iPod inventor Tony Fadell and it actually was a finalist in their giveaway competition. Don’t know how I missed that, its from back in 2006.

Update 2: While I am being all retro here. The picture above is of Nibaq taken back in November 2002. I took the picture so we could submit it to iLounge for their iPods around the world gallery. Back then they didn’t have any submission from Kuwait. [Link]

Lately I’ve been in the mood to watch a lot of old stuff. Currently I’m watching the old tv show called Newhart which I vaguely remember watching when I was a kid. For some reason I find the show very comforting to watch.

There are also a bunch of classics I’ve still haven’t watched which figured I’d get out of the way while I am at it:
Dr. Strangelove
Grease
Paths of Glory
Rain Man
Spartacus
Trading Places

I think whats pushed me to start watching old movies is the lack of decent movies nowadays. Nothing I’m watching is turning out to be anything extraordinary. Where is the Apocalypse Now of today? Thats what we’re missing.

Tonight I swapped out my Wranglers speedometer gear since the original stock one thats installed wasn’t working properly with my 33inch tires. My speedometer was off by around 10-20km/h and it was also effecting the transmission shift points. Installing the new speedo gear was pretty easy but it felt very claustrophobic under the Jeep. Now I need to figure out how to test the accuracy of my speedometer…