Search: “sti”

It looks like today is going to be about TV shows. When you look for one thing you end up finding other things. This article I am linking to is written by Dr. Marc Siegel who is an internist and an associate professor of medicine at New York University’s School of Medicine. He talks about Greys Anatomy last episodes of season 2 and how accurate the events that occured on the show would be compared to real life. If you haven’t watched the episodes in question don’t follow the link because there are spoilers. [Link]

update: It seems its now requiring users to login to LA Times. So I copied pasted the article and you can read it below.

Yesterday night I went to the bakala (local word for very tiny mini markets) under my building to get KDD Silver icecream. To my surprise the guy didn’t have any left, just the Gold one. So I went to the second bakala near by and he also didn’t have Silver. Luckily there are like 20 bakalas in a 5 meter radius behind my building (I love Salmiya) so I went bakala jumping trying to find one that still had Silver left. Luckily I found a box full at the 4th bakala and decided to buy it all and take home. Don’t know if this is a problem around Kuwait or just in my street but maybe the country is running out of Silver??

update: just went and got myself a Raspberry Lolly

I have been looking for an alternative to Aramex Shop and Ship for a long time now and haven’t been able to find one. Don’t misunderstand me, there are other options to Aramex which I have even mentioned before, but none provided me with everything I needed. They were either cheap but slow or fast but expensive, or even lacked some of Aramex’s basic features like package tracking. Now though I think I found another better option and its called U Shop We Ship.

I found out about it from a user who commented on one of my older posts and I decided to check it out. The first thing I did was check out how much the shipping would cost for an item that weighed 1KG and I compared it to Aramex and they both turned out to be priced identical. I then started to read more about their service and it turns out not only do they have all the features of Aramex but they also have additional stuff. Here are my favorites:

You have the option to destroy unwanted mail
You know how sometimes you get a stupid envelope which is just a bill for some magazine and you end up paying like KD2.5 for it. Well with U Shop We Ship (USWS) if you find junk mail in your mailbox you can have them destroy it for you.

They offer immediate shipping
You can have them check your mailbox and mail you stuff either once a week, twice a month or once a month AND you also have an option to have an item shipped immediately no matter what your shipping frequency is by paying a certain fee. This could be worth it when ordering a big item like an ipod or laptop and you really want it as quickly as possible. Just to clear what this means is say you have your shipping frequency set to once a week and it turns out they check your mailbox every Monday but your item arrived to your mailbox on Tuesday, instead of waiting till next Monday to have them ship your item you can have them ship it right away on Tuesday.

You can pay for your packages online
This is the coolest feature, something I have been wishing Aramex would do. I hate carrying cash with me, I am a plastic type of guy and so I hate it when Aramex delivers a package and I need to have an unknown amount ready to pay the guy. With USWS you pay for your packages online using either Knet or Visa. This feature sold me instantly.

I just got my account setup with them and I am going to try it by buying the Philips Bodygroom and mailing it to my new mailbox. Oh and you can change the shipping frequency yourself from the prefrences menu once you login and you can also change your login password, two things you also can’t do with Aramex. Their Kuwait office number is 4724673 but you can only sign up from their website. [Link]

Note: You not only get a US mailbox but also a UK and UAE mailbox. They also use Skynet Worldwide Express to ship the packages.

update: BusyNow pointed out to me that in their FAQ they have a discount section which mentions a variety of ways of getting discounts on shipping, something which you would never get with Aramex. [FAQ]

Back in February of last year I published a post titled “Mac & Small” and in it I talked about how small their branch at Galleria 2000 was and how over priced their items were. Well yesterday I passed by Mac & More’s new branch in Marina Mall and I have to say they are no longer small. The place looks really cool and huge.. and thats the only positive thing I can say. It seems when they moved from Mac & Small to Marina Mall they didn’t get any new merchandise. The place is empty and I mean empty. When you first walk in there is one MacBook Pro on display and one MacMini connected to a generic brand of LCD screen.. imagine not even an Apple Display! Once you walk into the rest of the shop you will realize that was it, no more Apple products.. the rest of the store is just a large shelf full of iPods and a wall full of generic iPod skins which you can find at any other Mac store in Kuwait including Mac City which is located in Virgin at the other end of Marina Mall. Even the tiny zMacShop have brands like Marware and Foof how come Mac & More don’t have anything cool?

Price wise… Mac & More is the most expensive Apple dealer in Kuwait.

The store is visually very impressive which misleads you to believe you will find many great things there, but once you go in and look around and can’t find anything, you wonder what the hell are these guys selling… iPod covers?

update: If I was to review the store again now I would have to say they have improved things a lot. Firstly they have a lot more products and a lot more brands, their prices have also decreased, maybe not as cheap as US prices but they are closer to UAE prices. I would probably give them a 3.5 out of 5 now.

I first found out about F4T from q8techdrive‘s blog a few days ago and then yesterday out of the blue they delivered their menu to my office. So today morning me and some friends ordered some food from them and it turned out to be pretty good. Their menu was a turn off, its too cluttered, hard to navigate and full of useless text on the history of each food item when they could have used that space to put the ingredients. After finally figuring out what to order we gave them a call and they told us they would be over within 40 minutes, 30 minutes later the food arrived. I ordered the Halloumi Heaven which was recommended by q8techdrive and Entrepreneur, while my friends ordered the Tender Turkey Sandwich, Fries and the Sweetcorn Chicken Salad. I found the Halloumi Heaven not bad, like a 7/10. The Tender Turkey was supposingly really tasty while the Sweetcorn Salad not that good. The fries is regular fried fries but was really good also. Unlike LoFat, F4T does provide you with nutritional values although they are a rough estimate. Anyway I can’t give it a full review based on one sandwich I had but atleast you get some idea. It seems like better food then LoFat although not as healthy. Then again healthy food is usually no match for unhealthy food.

I really dislike F4T’s menu and website style, its like wannabe cool/trendy which is a disaster. They have a website where you can download their menu from. The link to the menu is on the far right just incase you couldn’t find it. [Link]

I was supposed to watch Lucky Number Slevin but the downloaded copy I had turned out to be corrupted so I decided to watch Stay. I had downloaded it a while back but wasn’t very keen in watching it but since I didn’t have anything else I went ahead and did.

The movie stars Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, where Ewan plays the role of a psychiatrist who is trying to stop one of his patients from committing suicide. Things start to go weird and confusing and he tries to get a grip on what is real and what isn’t.

The movie wasn’t only weird and confusing to Ewan but also to me. I don’t mind “strange” movies and I don’t mind being puzzled trying to figure out whats going on, but the problem with Stay is that in the end when everything finally comes together and all the questions answered, you realize that the past 90 minutes were really not worth the ending. I am not going to ruin the the movie and tell you what happens in the end but I can tell you that it didn’t leave me shocked but more like “huh this is it? How lame.”

The movie felt slow at some points but the acting was great and visually the movie looked cool. In general I like Ewan McGregor as long as he isn’t singing and Naomi Watts when she isn’t running around the jungle looking for King Kong. It could be the movie wasn’t weird enough to make the ending good or maybe its the other way around, but whatever the case, I didn’t have high expectations of the movie to begin with and so wasn’t left too disappointed.

I dropped the review score for LoFat yesterday to a 3.5 out of 5 because as some people mentioned, LoFat doesn’t provide any nutritional information nor the amount of calories in their meals. This kind of information is important for people who are watching their weight and should be provided.

Anyway today some people from my office placed an order to LoFat at 11:30AM, by 2PM they still hadn’t delivered the food so we had to cancel the order. This isn’t going to effect the original rating since they have been delivering on time in general, I just don’t know what got into them today..

I had lunch at Marina today and I passed by Mac & More but they were still not open. The opening is at 6PM but here are some shots I took. I also passed by Fono to sign up for mPay when I noticed my Motorola V3x is now KD110 which is 10 dinars cheaper then when I bought it a week ago…

Mac & More preview 1
Mac & More preview 2

Yesterday evening two large bags filled with food were delivered to my home. A new place opened up called LoFat and they wanted me and Nat to try out their food and maybe post about it on the blog so they could get some publicity. I don’t think I have ever refused free food and I wasn’t going to begin now so I agreed and a few hours later their delivery guy delivered 2 large brown bags filled with goodies.

They sent us a lot of food which was really cool, they sent us beef wraps, veggie wraps, turkey wraps, a grilled chicken sandwich with cheese, unfried fries, 2 Tiramisu’s, 2 brownies, 2 chocolate chip cookies and 2 oatmeal cookies.

The first thing I did when I set the food on the table was to take a look at the prices in the menu. I was expecting to see some ridiculously high prices for food items of very small quantity but surprisingly everything cost under KD1.750. Nat came into the room and the first thing she noticed was how good everything smelled. Even though the delivery guy had lost his way to my apartment the food still arrived warm and fresh.

The biggest delima now was where to start from, so many choices to choose from but in the end I decided to start off with the unfried fries. 30 minutes later and more then half way through Desperate Housewives (Season 2 Episode 22) we had finished eating. I think we overate, you know you hear low fat food and you just can’t stop eating. I loved their fries, I don’t know how they are made, I think they are steamed and then grilled or something, they tasted really good and the best part about them is they are not fried. The grilled chicken sandwich was also really good and Hard Rock Cafe should take their recipe since they can’t seem to make a simple thing like a grilled sandwich taste good. I really didn’t like the veggie wrap since I am not into this weird stuff, I don’t even know what it was, I think it tasted a bit like falafel or something. I also didn’t like the low carb turkey wrap since it was wrapped in lettuce, a concept I don’t believe in. I think lettuce wraps should be banned. The beef wrap was ok, Nat liked them more then me but the deserts were the best. I didn’t try the Tiramisu since I don’t like coffee but the brownies.. wow… thats some really good stuff. I really loved their brownies and I can’t believe they are low fat. Their cookies were also good but the oatmeal cookie costs 500fils which I find too expensive.

I really wasn’t expecting the food to turn out good because when I think healthy and low fat I think of stuff like the veggie wrap and lettuce wrapped sandwiches which I don’t find appetizing at all. But the grilled chicken sandwich with the hot melted cheese is definitely the thing I would order the next time. The brownies I think are the best I have had and knowing that they were low fat doesn’t make me feel guilty for having them. The cookies… well you know where my heart is on that one. I think Nat enjoyed the food more since she ate more then me (a first). I always get pissed at her since she doesn’t eat much and now I know her secret, just add the word low fat to her meal and watch it all disappear.

I will scan their menu later on and upload it to the blog but for now I just have their delivery number which is 7666733. I will try to have the menu up tonight. (check below)

For the final score I will have to give them 3.5 out of 5. The grilled chicken sandwich and the Brownies were really good and the unfried fries should be available in more places. I really didn’t like neither the veggie wrap nor the lettuce wrapped turkey wrap, but I won’t include them in the review since I hate them in general and not only in this restaurant. If anyone decides to order from them make sure to order the fries and the brownies. Finally their prices are also very decent.. except for the 500fils oatmeal cookie, I still don’t get that.

The menu is available [Here]. Their delivery number is 7666733

update: I droped the score down to 3.5 because as some people brought it to my attention, they don’t mention any kind of nutritional information nor the amount of calories in the food. Something that is important for their target customers.

I don’t know if you guys heard about this, the news is a few days old but it just got more interesting today since I found a video for it.

Basically what happened was BBC interviewed the wrong person live on TV, they were supposed to get this technology expert to come in and talk about the legal battle between Beatles’ Apple Corps and Apple Computers but somehow they messed up and they ended up bringing a taxi driver on the show instead and they interviewed him thinking he was the technology expert. Anyway I found a site now that not only has an article on this incident but actually has a video of the interview. Its really funny. [Link]

Note: Notice the guys face when the BBC chick introduces him

A while back K.thekuwaiti posted about how to get video calling on MTC to work. Basically they are on trial period now and you can video call for free, the only problem is trying to find someone to video call.

If you have a 3G phone with video calling capabilities then all you need to do is send an SMS to the number 99999 with the word vc in the message and you should get a reply back telling you that video calling has been activated. If you get a message back and video calling is still not working, then turn off your phone, take out the battery and simcard and then put them back together. I had to do this to get 3G working on my phone and now I have a little 3G icon on my phone.

I tried video calling yesterday with K.thekuwaiti since he is the only person I know of that has video calling and it felt like video chatting using MSN. I don’t think I would use video calling to chat with a friend but I think I would use it to call a friend up and show him something. Like I could be at a party and I could call a friend up and show him with video what was going on at the party, that sort of thing.

Maybe once more people I know get 3G phones video calling could turn into a norm…

Ok since I had a lot of free time yesterday I was able to discover the Motorola V3x inside out. I had a lot of time to play with it, customize it, change it etc.. and I am happy that I got it just still stunned by the operating system. The V3x operating system is weird, sometimes I feel that it is too basic while other times I marvel at its customizability. There are some things I don’t understand why Motorola didn’t simplify or make easier to use, its just weird but over all it reminds me more of the Sony Ericsson OS more then the Nokia which is a good thing for me.

A really cool feature in the phone which helped make my move over smooth is the fact that you can reorder the menu system. Since I am used to my Sony Ericsson K700 I was able to reorder my Motorola menu to match my K700. Meaning on my K700 when you first came into the menu the Messages option was in position number 5 which is the second row middle icon. On the Motorola it was by default in position number 7 which is third row left side. Using the Main Menu personalizing option under settings I was able to place the Messages icon in position number 5, Settings in position 12, Internet in position 2 etc.. This made my move to the V3x much smoother, I felt right at home quickly. Even under the Messages menu I was able to move the SMS Inbox up to position number 2 and move my Voicemail inbox down to position 3. I really love this feature.

The worst feature in the operating system has to be when changing the ringer volume. Even if my phone is on silent, even if the keypad sound is turned off, no matter what I do, everytime you try to increase or decrease the ringer volume from the system menu you get loud ear piercing beeps which in a quiet office (or even a loud one) is very fucking annoying. Its very embarrassing and rude.

So far everything seems cool. The operating system is way faster then my K700 (aren’t all) and its probably the same speed as the K750 or a tiny bit faster which is really good. It doesn’t have any major features, the camera is 2MP which is the norm and it has 3G and video conferencing which i doubt I will ever use. But, I think thats what I like about the phone… that its a phone. All I really need to do with a phone is make and receive phone calls, send and receive SMS, synchronize my numbers with iSync (you need this plugin) and take pictures whenever I need to (usually of product model numbers in stores or price tags). This phone allows me to do all that with great ease and speed. The fact that I can charge my phone using any standard USB cable and the fact that I can mount the phone on my computer like an external hard drive are extra bonuses.

This phone is just a phone and so far it seems like it does everything right. Will use it for a week or two before writing a review on it.

A friend is selling her PowerMac for a really good deal. The Mac was purchased last July from Solize and is in like new condition. The PowerMac has been used maybe only 4 or 5 times for video editing. Here are the specs:

– 2.3 Ghz, Dual Processor
– 1 GB RAM (upgradable to 8GB)
– 250 GB Harddisk
– Super Drive

Asking price: KD650

If you are interested or have any questions leave a comment below and she will contact you. More pictures here and here.

update: PowerMac has been sold!

Today morning I checked the comments on my post from yesterday called The V3x and I read a comment by Omar who said I could find the V3x for KD120 which is basically the same price as the phone on Amazon. So I called Fono up and asked them if they had a version with only an English keypad and they said yes, so awhile ago I went and picked up my phone from Fono. First impressions.. well I realized how ugly and out dated my Sony Ericsson K700 is. The phones OS does seem confusing but I am guessing its because I have been using Ericsson for most of my life. The coolest feature on the phone is the fact that I can charge it using my Nikon’s USB cable. The data/charging port on the V3x is your standard USB input found on most USB devices like external harddrives and digital cameras. Very practical. The screen inside is gorgeous, very sharp and huge! Gonna finish up some urgent work and then fiddle with my phone a bit. I hate new phones since I am always worried about scratching them..

update: just tried video calling with K.thekuwaiti, I feel so futuristic now

update 2: to get it working with isync you need to install a plugin which you can find [here]

Here is another picture I took of Geo yesterday. In this shot you can see his Dog-e-Tag, I have to say when I first got it a few months back I thought it wouldn’t last a week with Geo. He spends most of his time biting it and chewing it like a baby-sucker and the tag is still in excellent condition. Its unscratched, undamaged and just needs a washing.. its extremely durable.