Search: “sti”

Etisalat the only ISP in UAE has recently started blocking YouTube. I always thought UAE was more “open” than Kuwait with all the alcohol, prostitution and a lot more westerners yet the ISP seems more conservative then the Saudi Arabian government. Last year they blocked Flickr which was EXTREMLY popular with all the creative photographers in UAE and now they blocked YouTube. Etisalat just really sucks. [Link]

I have an Exabyte VXA-1 tape drive which I want to give away for free. It takes 33GB tapes and they are very very reliable. You could shove the tapes into a freezer or dump them into boiling coffee and you would still be able to retreive the information from them. The version of the tape drive I have is external and connects using Firewire. The price of this tape drive brand new is $1,099.

I am giving the drive away for free because I am having problems with it. I don’t know if its a software problem or hardware problem. I passed it to TivoGuy and he was able to get it working but when I tried using it on my Mac it would sometimes backup the data and sometimes it would give me an error. It could be from the backup tapes, it could be a software problem or it could be a hardware problem. I am not sure and I don’t care. If you want the tape drive just leave a comment below. You will get it without any tapes and without the firewire cable. If more then one person wants the drive then I will give it to the geekiest one.

For more info on the drive click [Here]

An interesting article that lists 10 points that help make a problogger. I personally have three points I follow: Post often, posts must be interesting, and posts must be short. [Link]

Just watched two funny commercials. One is for Energizer the other is for FedEx. Both won bronze at the Cannes Awards this year.

Energizer Beard
FedEx Stick

Hard Candy was one of the movies I was looking forward to watch this year but sadly it disappointed me. Going into the movie I really didn’t know what it was about. All I knew was what I got from the trailer and that is a young girl meets an old guy over the Internet and then they meet up and things go wrong. Based on what I knew and what I was expecting, fifteen minutes into the movie and the whole thing takes a surprising 180 degree turn which was probably the coolest part in the movie. After that things just dragged for me.

One thing I have to say, the movie is visually stunning. The colors and styling in the house where most of the story takes place is really cool. The movie on the other-hand I felt was too long although the ending was very short. The movie finished and I was still trying to figure out what had happened and making sure I understood things correctly. Anyway I really can’t say much about the movie because I wouldn’t want to ruin any surprises. I am also going to advise you NOT to read the plot summary or ask questions about the movie and just watch it knowing very little. That way you will be in for a nice shock. For me the movie didn’t live up to my expectations and thats why I am giving it a 3.5 out of 5.

I got a phonecall from the USWS owner yesterday asking my opinion on something. At the moment when you sign up with USWS they ask you if you want your mailbox checked once a week, twice a month or once a month. He wanted to know if we (USWS users) would rather have it this way..

Instead of a set frequency, WE get to decide when we want our stuff shipped. Say you order a bunch of stuff from Amazon, they ship it to your USWS mailbox as 3 boxes. 2 boxes arrive today and the third is still on its way. Once the third package arrives (say the next day), you go to your USWS account, select the 3 packages and click on ship now. Your packages then get shipped the same day. Currently if you tell them to ship a package right now you pay $20, they will be removing that charge.

Another example, say a magazine arrived to your mailbox today but you are planning to order stuff from Amazon next week. You can decide to keep the magazine in your mailbox until your Amazon packages arrive and then you can have them shipped all together and that way you save on shipping.

Another example is say you have 5 packages in your mailbox, you can decide to ship 3 now and leave the other 2 there to be shipped later whenever you want.

Am I being clear here? Basically they will get rid of the shipping frequencies and the 20$ ship now fee. They will let you decide when YOU want your packages shipped and then ship it when you tell them to. I personally find this a lot cooler since its faster and more affordable for us. Instead of having them ship 1 magazine and have me pay KD2.5 for it, I would rather attach the magazine to another heavier package and save on shipping. I also love the idea of having my packages shipped the same day they arrive if I want and at no extra cost.

If you are a USWS account holder please leave your feedback below. Let them know if you prefer this method or prefer the older one.

Yesterday I was invited for another test drive by Alghanim Automotive. I was hoping they would give me some small crappy car so I could give it a bad review and show everyone that if the car sucked I would say it sucked. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Yesterday I took the new Cadillac BLS for a drive and it was far from being crappy.

I picked up a gorgeous silver top of the line BLS from the dealer and drove down to the Gulf Road. The BLS is the smallest car Cadillac makes and the one I drove came with a V6 2.8L Turbo engine pumping out 250HP so it was fast. As soon as I hit the Gulf Road I got a call from a friend who had spotted me. He asked me if I was turning into Jermey Clarkson and he then asked what car I was driving since it looked really cool. Now this came from someone who drives an M3 so you can imagine how good the car must look. Pictures actually don’t do justice to the hard edged geometrically cut car so you need to see it in person to really appreciate its beauty.

I closed the phone with my friend and blasted down the Gulf Road. The Cadillac BLS I was driving came with a 6-speed automatic and paddle shift. I am used to the F1 style paddle shift where you use your fingers to change gear but the Cadillac BLS is the one where you use your thumbs instead. It felt awkward at first but I quickly got the hang of it. The interior seems to follow the styling cues of the new Cadillac Escalade which is a really good thing since it means its very un-American. Everything felt very plush and sophisticated and I just love that in a car.

After a long drive I parked the car and took some shots of the exterior and interior. When I was done I drove back to the dealership and handed them the keys. Cadillac really have come a long way when it comes to aesthetics. There is no other car in the market that looks like a Cadillac, its got a style all on its own. The only downside I could think of with the BLS is the engine sound. I would have preferred a louder grunt from a 250HP engine but I guess many people would rather have a quiet engine than a loud one.

The price of the fully loaded Cadillac BLS is KD11,995 which makes its more affordable than a similarly specced BMW or Mercedes. Its a pretty cool car for a sedan.

Why is it nearly impossible for an expat to get the Kuwaiti citizenship? I am saying nearly impossible because I know of some Lebanese who were given the Kuwaiti nationality which means its not totally impossible.

I wasn’t born in Kuwait (my brother and sister were) but I did grow up here and my parents have been in Kuwait since the early 70s. So why is it I can’t become a Kuwaiti citizen? If I was living anywhere else for this long I would have already been a citizen of that country by now. Here on the other hand I still need a visa and a sponsor so I could just stay in Kuwait.

If today was July 24, 1990 and a week from now Iraq was going to invade I would stand ground and try to fight off the Iraqis alongside the Kuwaitis. I like Kuwait, I like NBK, I like KDD, I like oil, I like Entertainment City and I like Mama Aneesa, so why can’t I become a Kuwaiti? [Link]

update: There is now a further discussion taking place in the [Forum]

Re-cut trailers refers to a re-edited film trailer that is created by re-editing footage from that film, or possibly just from that film’s trailer. Re-cut trailers have become a popular internet phenomenon since fall of 2005. In almost all cases, these re-cut trailers derive their humor from casting the film’s plot in a different light- these fake trailers present the film as something that it is very much not. For instance, a film with a murderous plot is made to look like a light and happy film, or vice versa. [Link]

Interesting… [Link]

So after work today I went and met with KTM magazine who are located near my office. I wasn’t nervous or anything just really curious to what was in store for me. I met with 2 guys and we sat down and spoke a bit about their magazine. We also spoke about the digital versus print thing and I told them how I don’t find magazine interesting anymore. After that debate we spoke about me and how I would contribute to their magazine. They recently re-branded and with the re-branding they are also restructuring and they are getting new writers and they want me to write for them.

We spoke about what kind of writing I would do and we brainstormed some subjects I could write about and the result turned out to be very interesting. I can’t say what kind of writing I will do or what the subject is but I can say its like nothing I have written before and I am really excited in doing it. I took a risky direction but its more fun this way (for me and you) and its something completely new to me so don’t expect any food reviews or anything predictable like that.

Finally we spoke about the financial end of the deal which is always an awkward and uncomfortable subject for me. We spoke about what Bazaar had previously offered me and then they asked me how much I wanted and I told them. They agreed and my first article is now due August 15th.

Thats it basically, it should be fun.

So yesterday was my day off. I didn’t go in to work or do any posting, instead I decided to stay home with Nat who was still exhausted from her evacuation. Thanks to everyone who left comments welcoming her, she will most probably post about her experience today. One thing I realized is that leaving Lebanon isn’t a problem, its the Syrian airport that is.

According to a Kuwaiti lady Nat spoke to at the Damascus airport, it seems some Kuwaitis are really pissed off at the Kuwait embassy. According to that lady, the Kuwaiti embassy dropped them off at the airport with the promise they would be able to find a plane back to Kuwait but she had been in the airport for 2 day and she still is on the waiting list. There are also no representatives from the Kuwaiti embassy at the airport either, they were just dropped off and left alone. Hopefully the lady is back in Kuwait now and that there are no more people stuck like that at the airport.

update: just spoke to a friend who arrived yesterday from Damascus. She told me that she was able to get on an earlier Jazeera flight because they has 16 seats free so I guess there shouldn’t be any more Kuwaitis stuck waiting for a vacant seat.

Nintendo has a burnt GameBoy from a building bombed during the first Gulf War that still works. [Link]

She called me up at around 1AM telling me one of the cab drivers she was talking to earlier in the day called her and told her that drivers found a diversion around one of the roads they bombed yesterday. He told her if she wants he could take her to Syria for $500. I told her it was her decission to make and that I was half asleep and wanted to go back to sleep. She told me she was going to do it and the driver was going to come pick her up at 11AM, he is coming from Syria to pick her up.

So a few minutes ago I message her asking her what she is doing and if she is packed yet since it was nearly 10AM and I know she leaves things till the last minute. She messages me telling me she is at the Syrian border which pissed me off. I called her up and told her this is no time to joke around but she tells me she IS at the Syrian border. Turns out the driver picked her up at 8AM and when I called her up she had just crossed the Lebanese border and about to enter Syria.

Her cellphone signal was weak so I couldn’t talk to her much but I will post updates when I get them.

update: she crossed the Syrian border

update 2: Nat messaged me at 1:40PM telling me she was at the airport and to call her. I call her up and she sounded a bit freaked. She told me the airport is over crowded and she can barely move. She told me she couldn’t even find a trolley to put her bag on. She was also feeling dizzy since she had been in the car since 8AM and there was no AC so her head was spinning everytime she stood up. Her flight is at 9PM and she can’t find a magazine stand or anything nearby. She is resting now before she goes looking for the Jazeera Airways stand.

Seems like an interesting idea. Its located in the alleyway in front of Palm Palace near Marina Mall. Looks like its opening soon.