Search: “sti”

Sultan Center just started a new form of advertising using bluetooth. If your phone’s bluetooth is on while you are shopping in Sultan Center you might get a animated ad sent to you by them. Its an interesting concept but I think its annoying more then its a good thing. The only way not to receive these ads is to turn your bluetooth off which is a hassel if you are gonna do this everytime you go shopping there. If you want to check out an example of an ad they sent my phone click [here]

I always thought cutting open a heart would be a cool experience.. well I tried it awhile ago and it isn’t. I just got Geo a lamb heart from Sultan Center to have with his dinner and its hard to explain how cutting open a heart feels. Its not smooth and silky like regular meat, its more plasticky and squijee (if there is such a word). When you slice up a heart it makes this squish sound, its really not a pleasent experience. Anyway Geo loved it and I think its his new favorite thing.

This is a video of some teens playing Europe’s “The Final Countdown” except this must be the most awful cover of the song! Sadly the guy still sounds better then me when I do Karaoke .. [Link]

The other morning I was looking for my PSP which was on the charger and I couldn’t find it so I figured Nataly might have taken it to work or something. Then while I was about to leave for work I found my PSP with Geo my dog! It seems he found my PSP tucked into its soft cushion case on the table and mistook it for one of his toys and took it down to his play area where he was busy chewing the case. Luckily the PSP was fine and after wiping Geo’s drool from the case it was also unharmed.

Today morning I had my ipod sitting on my foof pod on my Mac which sits on the floor and I was busy copying songs onto it when all of a sudden I hear a bang and Geo running off. Turns out he was playing with my iPod and it fell onto the floor. No harm done and I continue to copy songs. Finally I was about leave and I took my ipod and I was looking for my foof case and I couldn’t find it. At first I again figured Nat took it because she sometimes uses it for her digital camera but I noticed her camera was still on the table. Then it hit me, it was with Geo, thats why he ran away! So I went downstairs and I was right, Geo was sitting there chewing my foof pod.

Its hard to get angry at Geo because he can be really cute. In the mornings for example he usually wakes me up before my alarm by climbing onto my bed and licking my face so that I could take him down for his morning walk. Its cute but if the last time I took him down at night was 10PM that means he comes and wakes me up at 6:30AM which isn’t cute anymore. It seems he can only hold his bladder for around 8 hours so if I am too lazy to take him down right before I sleep at 12 I usually pay for it by having him wake me up super early in the morning.

Yesterday night I finally realized how much he had grown. When you live with the dog 24 hours a day its hard to notice how much he has developed but yesterday I finally noticed. I was playing with him in his play area when I noticed this small hole in one of the large boxes he has. I had cut out that hole back when I first got Geo so he could pass through it while playing but looking at the hole now I can’t imagine how he fit in it. He can barely fit his head in it now and that made me realize that Geo really has grown since we got him back in February and I can’t wait till he grows even more..

I can’t wait for the K800i to get released, it has 3G, a 3.2MP camera and a web browser for viewing regular HTML websites. Its also has a second camera for video calls although I doubt I would ever use that. I am currently using the K700i which is really sluggish and buggy but when I got it, it was half the price of the K750i which I figured was a good deal. But ever since I bought the phone I have been regretting it. At least now I learned not to go stingy when it comes to buying a phone. [Link]

I just took an AQ test to measure my extent of autistic traits. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis but eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. I scored a 26. [Link]

Yeah I have seen her pictures recently but its a whole other experience when you actually see a video of her. She has really gained a lot of weight. [Link]
Good thing Tara Reid still rocks.

I used to make these cookies back when I was in university. They used to come out really good and everyone always nagged me about when I would bake some more. I forgot what brand of brown sugar I used but for the actually chocolate chips I used to use the brand Baker. I haven’t made the cookies since I came back to Kuwait because I can’t find decent brown sugar and I can’t find Baker chocolate chips which sucks. Anyway here is the recipe, I forgot where I found it:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) white sugar
1 1/4 cups (270 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups (525 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons (6 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (375 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

————

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter. Add the sugars and beat until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time making sure to beat well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using. The cookie mixture will be moist and hold together.

Using two tablespoons, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough (38 grams) on the prepared baking sheets. Do not flatten cookies. Bake on the center rack of oven for 12 minutes, or until golden brown and still soft when gently pressed.

Makes about 48 cookies.

In November I posted I wasn’t going to have Subway again because their sandwiches were starting to taste really weird and crappy. Well today I went back to Subway and I have to say it was my best experience with them in a long time. The sandwiches tasted really good and it looks like they started using their old ingredients again. They also started making chocolate chip cookies again, this time they are selling them 3 for 400 fils and they are a bit larger then they used to be. Sadly though their older cookies tasted better, the new ones although look and taste better then a lot of cookies (costa and breadz for example) are still not better then my current top 3 which are Choowy Goowy, Fuddruckers and Hardees.

My favorite sushi place in Kuwait is Kei but honestly I hadn’t tried sushi anywhere else here until yesterday night. Once you get used to a sushi place its difficult to eat sushi somewhere else because the dishes differ and your favorites in one place might be a completely different experience in another. Thats mainly the reason I have been hesitant to try any other place. Another advantage of eating at the same sushi place all the time is the fact that you make friends with the people who work there and if you are like me and only sit at the bar then you get to make friends with the most important person at the sushi place.. the sushi chef or “my bartender” as I like to call him. Our bartender is always creating new and exciting dishes for us to try including my favorites so far a sushi pizza and most recently maki desert which involves banana, mango, crab and some other ingredients wrapped in rice and seaweed. Yesterday night though I was invited to Maki and I wasn’t expecting it to be any good since Nat had been there before and given it a rating of 1.5 out of 5. My own experience last night was on the other hand a very good one.

Maki is a very trendy looking place that feels like a pub minus the beer taps and whisky bottles. From the minute you walk in you forget you are in Kuwait, which is a good thing when you want to get away from things. The interior is very cozy and the tables are closely packed together, not as close as Al-Boom but still very close. We sat next to the door, which is probably the best location since you could see the people coming in. Our host was a regular at Maki and he ordered a very large assortment of appetizers for us. My favorites were the Negimayaki, which consists of sliced beef rolled with spring onions surrounded by teriyaki sauce. I think it looked very appetizing and interesting, kinda like tiny potted plants.. My other favorite was the deep friend chicken with plum sauce. For main course our host also ordered a wide range of dishes including a maki dish that was named after him called the Issa. My favorite dishes from the main course were the Fusion, the Fusion 2, Issa and Ghandour. They were all REALLY incredible dishes. The Fusion’s were sushi wraps, but the wrapping paper is their own creation and tasted really good. The Issa and Ghandour were maki dishes and they were really superb, maybe the best maki dishes I have ever had.

The service was good and very friendly. The owner of Maki is Lebanese and the manager and main waiters are also all Lebanese which is similar to how Casper&Gambini and Waterlemon are. The problem I had with the place is that near the end of our evening they started playing Arabic music really loud which I didn’t find cool at all. If it was a pub I would have finished my drink and walked out and down to the next pub, but in reality its a Sushi place and there is no pub anywhere near.

The pricing is decent and compared to Kei, Maki is more expensive but just by a tiny bit. You can check out their prices yourself and compare it to your favorite place by downloading the menu from their website. I also noticed that Maki isn’t what I would call an authentic Japanese experience. They do have your regular maki’s and sushi’s but the regular dish I tried which was the Crazy Maki tasted normal and bland. Its their special dishes with their secret sauces and ingredients that are exceptional but they are what I call modern sushi.

Maki is located in Salmiya behind Diva’s. Its easy to find and if you want to pass by make sure you reserve since I went there on a Sunday night and the place was fully packed. At the end of the month they are opening a new location in Marina World in that thing I don’t know what you call it.. you know when you stand outside at Marina Crescent and you look right you see that large structure with colorful lights? Its the thing located between Marina Crescent and Hard Rock Cafe. Anyway they were opening there which should be cool.

I really enjoyed Maki and I would definitely start going there but I also won’t be ditching Kei anytime soon. Both places offer completely different experiences and dishes and I would rather have both then to choose either one of them. I am going to give Maki a 4.5 out of 5. It lost points on the Arabic music. You can check out more pictures and details on Maki by visiting their website olivermaki.com. Next week I will try Edo since they tell me its really good and will post a review once I do.

I think I busted Nat’s PowerBook. My creative director got a new power adapter for his Powerbook since his adapter’s head was mangled up, I decided to take it off his hands and its been with me for like 2 weeks now. I don’t know what I was thinking but for some stupid reason today I decided to see if it still worked, and I just went ahead and plugged it into Nats Powerbook. It didn’t work but when I went back and plugged Nats power adapter it also didnt work! Now I think I might have damaged her Powerbooks power socket or maybe short cicuited something. So last month I broke our dogs leg and this month I broke her Powerbook.. I hope she doesn’t believe in the 3 strikes and you are out rule…

Note: Picture above is of the adapter I plugged into Nats Powerbook…

KUWAIT CITY: A furore broke out at the Kazma Football Club recently following a football match between the Kazma and Qadsiya Clubs when some football fans mobbed two “provocatively” dressed women, reports Al-Watan daily. The scanty clothes of the two girls, who had reportedly come to watch the match, instigated some youth present there to molest them, say sources. It took the intervention of securitymen to bring the situation under control, they add, indicating “some of the youths were taken to the police station.” Many people, however, protested that the fault actually lay with the girls whose manner of dressing was “against custom and tradition and even against the Islamic sharia.” Questions now remain as to where the organizers were and why the girls were allowed to enter the stadium? – Arab Times

Here is a scan from an Arabic newspaper with 2 pictures. [Link]

Firstly I didn’t censor the pictures with a black marker, the newspaper did. Secondly I am curious to know what these two girls were thinking. You wouldn’t wear what they were wearing to Marina Mall yet alone a stadium filled with thousands of male teens. Even if the two girls were over dressed they would still have gotten harassed! Maybe they figured whatever, they were going to get harassed anyways so might as well make the most of it. You hear a lot about incidents like this that happening all over Kuwait but this is the first time I see pictures attached to a story.

Back in university I used to have a real hard time trying to pull an all-nighter. I probably managed to pull it off only a handful of times and I had a car accident two of those times driving up to university.. and I used to live around 500 meters away! Seriously I drive better when I am wasted or drunk then if I am sleepy. Anyway here is a ink to a site with tips on how to pull an all-nighter. [Link]

Yesterday I went to the first dog show ever held in Kuwait which was organized by PAWS. The event took place in the British Embassy gardens from 2 to 6PM and it was open to everyone even if you didn’t have a dog just as long as you signed up ahead of time and paid the KD2 entrance fee. The weather was perfect a lot of sun and a little cold breeze.

The British embassy is really nice and their garden is huge. There were a lot of stands selling stuff from used books and dvds to sandwiches and and soft drinks. It was Geo’s first time out to a public place since the me stepping on his leg incident over a month ago so he was very excited to be out surrounded by other dogs and children. I have to say Geo must have been the most playful and friendliest dog there. Their were other friendly dogs at the event but all of them at one point or another got upset by another dog or person and tried to attack/bite or bark back. Geo on the other hand never got upset with anyone.. even the dogs who tried to bite him.

There were easily around 40 to 50 dogs at the event yesterday if not more. You had a lot of good-looking dogs like my favorite which was a Sheepdog and you also had some previously rescued dogs that were mostly mutts. Speaking of rescued dogs, there were a couple of puppies during the event that were wearing “Adopt Me” bandanas, they were puppies and dogs that didn’t have homes and could be adopted by anyone interested in them. Geo had a lot of fun playing with two of them, actually as usual, Geo runs and jumps up and down by himself thinking he is playing with the dogs but they actually just sit there and watch him.

The events were fun to watch, Geo of course as I mentioned yesterday came in second place in the Best Puppy category, the puppy that came first was a German Shepherd and Husky mix and looked really cute. Maybe if Geo was 2 months younger he would have had a better chance at getting first place but yesterday he looked oversized compared to the other puppies. I didn’t get a decent picture of the puppy that came in first but I was checking the PAWS website and I found the puppies picture there, his name is Bear and he in the one on the right [Picture].

The US ARMY K9 unit was there and performed a fun show for everyone. I will talk about that in more detail once I post the video of their show maybe later on today or tomorrow. Anyway overall it was a really fun event and I would for sure participate again next year. I got to meet two Kuwait bloggers at the event, Stallion and iDip, they turned out to be a lot different then I expected them to be.. in a good way of course. I also met 3 readers of the blog, which is always a nice experience. I had a lot of fun and it was really exhausting for everyone but definitely a lot of fun. Check out the pictures from the event. [Pictures]

If you are interested in adopting a dog then check out the PAWS website, they have pictures and information on all the dogs they have available. [Link]

For the next three months Alghanim Automotive will be the main sponsors for the website. As you can see they have purchased the banner space on the top of the sidebar and they might be swapping their ads every 2 weeks or whenever they have a new offer.

Alghanim Automative are the dealers for Cadillac, Chevrolet, Hummer, Opel and Saab and around every two weeks I will be invited to try out a certain car. That should turn out to be really fun since I haven’t done anything like that before. Most importantly they will not be interfering in the reviews which is also a cool thing.

This support by Alghanim Automotive is a good thing for the site because the money from this deal will be reinvested into the website. I met the Alghanim marketing team last week and they are a nice young group who are great fans of the blog so I am glad to be working with them.

The next few months will be very interesting and filled with surprises so enjoy the ride.