Search: “sti”

I’ve had my Wrangler for 4 years now exactly and I’ve noticed an interesting trend with my dealership after they merged with Al Mulla who are renowned for their terrible service centers.

– An oil and filter change originally used to cost me KD8. I would pop into the quick service center and come out 30 minutes later. It was still called Behbehani Motor Company here.

– An oil and filter change later became KD12. I would pop into the quick service center and come out an hour later. This is after Behbehani Motor Company and Al Mulla merged.

– An oil and filter change now costs me KD16. I now pop into the quick service center and come out two and a half hours later.

Yesterday I passed by a new concept store which my friend set up called i love souk. It turned out to be a pretty cool store that sells a bunch of random funky items like design books, vintage clothing, accessories, artwork and more. They’re also authorized dealers for Lomography and American Apparel.

They’re located outside Al Corniche Club to the left of Athletes Foot right on top of the Al Sabah Art & Design gallery. Their main ilovesouk.com website is still not up but there is a small section with pictures about the store on the Al Sabah Collection website which you can check [Here]

A friend of mine got a hold of some cupcakes by Blossom’s Bakery and I think they’re the best cupcakes I’ve had so far. Sadly I understood she no longer takes orders or delivers but you can still check out her blog for a ton of pictures of some really great looking cupcakes. [Link]

Asking price? A ridiculous KD20,000! You could probably buy two from eBay for that price and ship them to Kuwait (ok maybe not two but still) or just wait until the local dealer gets them and sells them for around KD11,000. [Link]

The blog is currently being prepared to be moved over to the new server on Rackspace. The forum is going to be shut down until the move is completed and there will be no posts on this blog until Saturday.

If you leave a comment from now till Saturday on this blog there is a chance it won’t be there once the blog is up on the new server. Sorry for any inconvenience, it should be a quick and painless move.

Update: Ok the forum is now on Rackspace. Its no longer mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com/forum you now can access it by going to forum.mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com

Update2: The blog is now on Rackspace. Took only around an hour thanks to Rami.

Update3: My email is still down at the moment.

Update4: Email is working and by the looks of it everything else on the blog. The move is complete, I just have a few things related to the theme and the forum I need to adjust. Rackspace my server provider emailed me and then called me because they read on my twitter I was having minor issues. They read my twitter and then called me! Thats fanatical support!

I found out about this online BBQ store from Buzberry and I think the idea is pretty interesting. But there are a few things I would fix like adding pictures of the products, better descriptions, decreasing the delivery time to a few hours instead of 48hours, and lowering the minimum order down to KD5 or something instead of the current KD20. Adding an option to have them BBQ the stuff for you in case you don’t want to go through the hassle of doing it yourself would also be cool. [Link]

Can we get solar farms instead??

The Ministry of Electricity and Water in Kuwait has confirmed its participation in Earth Hour 2009. The ministry will provide the campaign with all the required consumption statistics before, during, and after the event. Also, the streets’ lights management in the ministry has confirmed switching off two light bulbs per street light in about 11.6 Km of the total length of the Arabian Gulf Street, one of the most famous streets in Kuwait, without affecting the public safety. This length represents around 60% of the total street’s length.

The Ministry of Electricity and Water find this event a good opportunity to show the bad consequences of over energy consumption in the community and its effects on the environment.

Thanks Yousef!

Starting from the 26th of March The Scientific Center will be playing the new IMAX film called Journey to Mecca. I first heard about this movie from a blogger called Ahmad who posted about his experience on the movie set as a camera assist. Well the movie is now completed and it will be premiering in Kuwait on Thursday. Here is the synopsis I was sent:

Journey to Mecca is an IMAX dramatic and documentary feature that tells the amazing story of Ibn Battuta, the greatest explorer of the Old World, following his first pilgrimage between 1325 and 1326 from Tangier to Mecca. His perilous journey resonates with adventure while presenting an unforgettable picture of Islamic civilization during the 14th century, culminating with Ibn Battuta’s first Hajj. The story is book-ended by a close-up look at the contemporary Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca that draws three million Muslims from around the world. English narration of the film is done by Ben Kingsley, the acclaimed and internationally renowned actor.

I was also sent a timetable for the movie times which you can download as a pdf by clicking [Here]
Here is a link to the trailer. [Link]

The price of the ticket is KD3 for adults and KD2 for children.

I’ve never been to an IMAX movie yet but one movie I do want to watch that luckily is still playing at The Scientific Center is Fires of Kuwait. I’ve been wanting to watch the documentary ever since it got released back in 1992 and I still haven’t watched it!

Thanks Hind!

Justine Orme from Innovative Foods in New Zealand is one of the suppliers for the Dean & Deluca store in Kuwait and he just posted a comment under one of my Dean & Deluca posts. Basically he’s been asked by Dean & Deluca to supply them with more products and he wants to know what you guys think is missing or what you would want to see more of? For example he is already looking for Salami, Venison and other cold cuts in New Zealand to supply to Dean & Deluca along with Brie and a wine substitute to use in cooking like the one served on Emirates. Is there any other gourmet item you are interested in or want but can’t find? Just leave a comment below.

Personally I would like to see Camembert cheese (not prepacked), more choices of black olives, a good premium chocolate spread and some good Turkey salami.

Looks like the new police Dodge Chargers are getting ready to go into service. Someone shot a video of a bunch of police Chargers parked outside the Mulla Behbahani service center in Al Rai. I first posted about the Dodge Charger back when the MOI were still deciding between which car make to go with so it’s interesting to see the progression in time from testing to the final release stage. [YouTube]

January 2008 – MOI testing new police cars
July 2008 – Dodge Charger is finalist
September 2008 – Kuwait orders 150 Dodge Chargers

Video by 8YuKoN8

A reader commented under one of my posts that one of my favorite shawerma places in Kuwait, Badar Al Badoor changed their name to Bazar Al Bazoor. According to the reader, when it came to renewing their license their sponsor wanted them to pay KD10,000 just for the name “Badar Al Badoor”. They told him no way and decided to change the name. Everything is still the same except the place is now called Bazar Al Bazoor. It sounds really funny now but in Arabic if you remove the dots over the letter “za” you get Badar Al Badoor again.

I really hate how trees are not given enough importance in Kuwait. Everywhere else in the world the planting and growing of trees is encouraged but here in Kuwait we cut them down, dig them out or landscape the hell out of them until they look “cute”. Yesterday a friend of mine living in Salwa told me about how the authorities came into Salwa and started destroying trees planted on government property. I thought that was very sad until I saw some pictures a forum user posted and now I’m furious!

I’ve seen the same thing happen near my place in Salmiya. There was a parking lot that had planted trees on the pavement around the lot and the authorities came and cut the trees and left. The square sand boxes where the trees used to be are still there just without the trees. Whats so bad about planting trees on government property? Why can’t the trees be left alone?

Thanks Ramez for the pictures!

Verity Cridland who I posted about before here has been uploading some more old photos of Kuwait from the early 60’s. One of the pictures that grabbed my attention was the one above of a car flipped over which I found interesting since it could very well be the oldest picture of a car accident in Kuwait. Here is a link to the picture [Link]

Thanks Verity!

The other day I posted about a new place called SmokeHouse, well their website just came online today and you can check out their full menu there. I don’t think I’ve ever tried smoked food so I am interested in trying it out. This is from their About Us section:

The ‘Smoke House’ is Kuwait’s first restaurant specializing in American southern style BBQ. We offer a premium selection of hickory Smoked and Barbequed meats all served with our signature ‘Smokehouse’ sauces. We use our own secret rubs and marinades and then slow cook our meats to bring you the best tasting smoked BBQ around. We also provide authentic southern style sides and delicious desserts. Whether you dine in, have your food delivered or request our catering services we guarantee you’ll be back for more.

The site sadly doesn’t include pictures of the place but it does have a map with directions. Will try them out this weekend and then post a review of their burger. [Link]

I was checking out Nemo’s blog when I found her post on a cafe located in Omneya complex in Salmiya called Book Cafe.

This is the description taken from the Book Cafe facebook page:

A quiet place
Provides you with Taekwondo, physical and mental relaxation
To think deeply, to read a book, to discuss a draft
My place is the beginning to achieve a place for you in the world
Start here

Judging by the pictures the place looks cool (color matches my blog) and the idea seems interesting but not too sure about the location. Nat also brought up a good point that usually when you want to read a book its more comfortable to read it while sitting on a sofa not a dinning room table. So bean bags or cozy sofas might be more suitable…

You can check out more pictures on Nemo’s blog [Here]
Here is the link to the Book Cafe’s facebook page [Link]

Picture taken by Nemo