Oogoo is an app that was recently launched that allows you to calculate the value of your car with just a few clicks. It could be a very useful tool when trying to figure out how much you should sell your car for. Depending on your car Oogoo will give you the option to either sell your right away or to list it for sale. I valuated a Lexus and got the option to sell the car on the spot, then I valuated an Audi and it only gave the option to place an ad for it so I guess it depends on if it’s a fast-moving car or not.
Oogoo also has a number of other features including a used car section and a section for checking out prices of new cars at the dealerships. The app is still new but shows potential. I used to like exploring used cars on Q8car but with their last redesign, the site has become a navigation disaster so really hoping a good alternative pops up. If you want to download and try oogoo, click here.
I was just organizing some photos on my Mac and was moving some images into my “Vintage” folder when I noticed one of the photos in the album had Pearl Marzouq written on it. It was a photo of my parents (pictured on the right) with my aunt and uncle having dinner at the restaurant in what I presume to be the early 70s.
I had forgotten I had this photo and then I remembered just a few weeks ago I had spotted an ad for the restaurant in a 1972 issue of The Daily News. I need another trip to Lebanon so I can go through all the photos and see what other treasures I could find.
Below is also a photo of Pearl Marzouq taken in 1971 after construction. It was designed by SSH, the same architects behind JACC. I’ve tried getting more photos from them but they’ve been unresponsive so if anyone can help me get access to their archive, please let me know! SSH were behind a lot of big projects in the 70s including Messilah Beach Hotel and half of the buildings in old Salem Mubarek Street.
Yesterday I read a story about a guy who drove his 1982 Mitsubishi Galant from Kuwait to Delhi, India during the 1990 invasion. The family still owns the car today and the son is now trying to restore it. If that wasn’t interesting enough, there is a similar story of another guy who drove his 1984 Mitsubishi Galant from Kuwait but to Kerala, India, and also still has his car today. Both cars seem to be the same color and they both might have been in the same convoy of cars that left Kuwait to India by road during the escape.
The journey from Kuwait to India took around 110 days and involved driving through Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan before finally reaching India.
The 1984 Galant and the owner Mathunny Mathew seem to have gotten more coverage online. There is a video interview with the owner on YouTube but it’s in Malayalam so I couldn’t watch it. But, there is another very cool video on YouTube where the Petrolhead Motor Garage guys attempt to start the car. It’s not in English but there is very little talking, it’s mostly them taking apart the engine to try and start the car which is a total rust bucket. It’s a chill video and I’ve embedded it above.
I love stories like this so if you know of anymore, let me know!
A lot of you might have noticed some issues in the food industry over the past year or so. Maybe your food is taking longer to arrive, maybe you’ve noticed more errors with your orders, or maybe you no longer see your favorite staff at a restaurant anymore. What a lot of people might not know is that the local restaurant industry is currently going through a crisis and here is why:
When the pandemic hit last year, restaurants were forced to shut down so a lot of staff left the country and a lot got fired and left as well.
When Covid restrictions were eased and restaurants started to reopen, many had fired their employees and needed to rehire. But, no new employees could be brought into Kuwait, and old employees with valid visas couldn’t come back to Kuwait either.
This caused a major scarcity of employees and meant that whatever employees were left in Kuwait were now much more valuable.
One large company for example started offering double the salaries to poach employees from other smaller companies. A lot of employees also started jumping ship to any restaurant that offered them more money causing high turnovers in the industry.
Many businesses couldn’t afford to pay the new higher salaries or even if they could, couldn’t find the right staff or the number of staff they needed. So a lot are currently understaffed and some companies are being forced to temporarily (or permanently) close some of their weaker performing locations or concepts so that they can move their staff to their more successful ones.
A lot of restaurants went out of business over the past year because of the pandemic and it’s sad. The above are just some of the issues from the restaurants’ side but delivery platforms also have their own set of issues as well.
Platforms have fewer drivers due to many leaving but also have more orders than before due to people being home more. The result is slower delivery times and slower customer service.
I know nobody wants to get their food cold or find pickles in their burger when they specifically asked for no pickles. But hopefully, this post explains why things aren’t perfect right now, and people can be a bit more patient with restaurants and delivery drivers.
I was going through some of my old bookmarks and found an article I had saved years ago on the backstory of how Elevation Burger came to be in Kuwait. It was written by Ali Ashkanani, one of the local owners of Elevation and it gives an interesting behind the scenes look into the opening of the brand in Kuwait. It’s worth reading and it’s not too long so check it out here.
The MOH has started registering and validating vaccinations that were taken outside Kuwait. This is mostly targeted towards Kuwaiti students who are studying abroad as well as residents who are currently stuck outside Kuwait.
Ministry of Health, State of Kuwait is accepting the Vaccination Documents issued abroad to be registered and validated by Public Health Department, so that it will enable all those vaccinated abroad (with Covid 19 Vaccines approved by Ministry of Health, Kuwait) upon approval, Register in Immune APP and enjoy the same benefits /privileges as those who are vaccinated within the state of Kuwait.
If you’re outside Kuwait and vaccinated, validate your vaccination by clicking here
A few years ago, I posted about digitizing your old videos using a video capture device that plugs into your computer. It’s a great way to convert all tapes, but the downside is you needed the actual tape player. If you just had videotapes but no means of playing them then the capture device was pretty much useless. This was my dilemma, I had an old Betamax tape of a school ski trip and no means to play it. I considered buying a Betamax player but the cheapest I found was 50KD and so wasn’t going to be worth it for just one video.
Someone ages ago told me Al-Nazaer converted videos but since all their stores closed down years ago I couldn’t just visit them and ask them about it. So last week while feeling nostalgic I decided to call their head office in Subhan and ask about it. Turns out they have a small media academy in Hawalli that was still functional, and that’s where their digital conversion studio was located.
I headed straight to the studio with my Betamax tape and headed to their conversion studio. I asked if they could convert Betamax tapes and they said yes and took my tape and played it on their screen so we could check and see if it was working. A few seconds later my 11-year-old self popped up on the screen.
It was the first time I had ever seen myself as a kid in the 80s on video and it felt SO WEIRD!
During the 1990 invasion, we took most of our family videos to Lebanon and stored them away in our family home without any means to watch them. So no one in my family has watched any of our family videos that were filmed in the 80s for 30+ years. Since I had no idea what was on this video and since I had never seen myself on video as a kid, it felt like I was watching a video of myself in another dimension. That’s the best way I could describe it in words, it was a very strange feeling.
But anyway, back to the subject of converting videos, Al Nazaer can convert any video format to digital. So camcorder videos like Hi8 or miniDV, VHS tapes and Betamax tapes are all no issues. The cost of converting depends on the kind of tapes you have and how many you want to convert. They charged me KD10 to convert a single Betamax tape and I got the footage on a DVD as well as a digital file. The more tapes you have the better price. Their studio is located on the first floor of the building across the street from Muhallab Mall. Their phone number is 1888900 and here is their location on Google Maps.
There is an instagram account called @beach_finder35 and it’s a guy that goes around with a metal detector trying to find buried treasures in the desert and beaches. So far he’s found old coins, military buttons dating back to WWI, bullet casings over 100 years old, a ton of rings, and lots of other interesting stuff. It’s really fascinating. He even posted about an old water well that used to be used back in the old days and still functions as a water well today. I love it so check out his account @beach_finder35
Back when I was looking at automatic coffee machines, one of the brands that I was checking out was JURA. I hadn’t heard of them before since I hadn’t seen the brand in Kuwait but according to reviews online they had the best automatic coffee machines on the market. Automatic coffee machines are machines that make your coffee at a press of a button. They can grind your coffee, heat up and froth your milk and then mix it all together for you.
Al-Wazzan who carry the La Marzocco commercial grade coffee machines are now the dealers for JURA. Prices locally seem cheaper than Amazon UK. The JURA A1 for example costs 383KD on Amazon but 290KD locally while the JURA E8 costs 759KD and 550KD locally.
This year’s curfew was completely different from last year’s. I think mostly because there was less fear since we’ve all been dealing with Covid for the past year and are more informed on it, while last year the whole thing was still a mystery.
One thing I noticed this year was how every area had different activities going on like at one point I think Surra had a carnival during curfew. In Salmiya once the cars disappeared everyone came to the old souk where I live and turned the streets to mini badminton courts. I didn’t post about it on my social media or on the blog at that time because I didn’t want to bring it any unwanted attention, but it was so much fun. There were even mini badminton courts drawn in chalk all over the streets. It was kinda like a block party.
If you don’t want to drive around looking for a guy selling fireworks at a random roundabout there are three local websites in which you can order fireworks from. All three sites have a ton of different kinds of fireworks for sale and they all have the prices listed.
This new project by Mabanee (the same people behind Avenues) looks like it’s going to be pretty cool located within Jaber Al-Ahmad City.
The comprehensive development will include a modern, architectural design in a community feel, with several components including 276 residential units and facilities and services to accommodate its residents and visitors including parks, schools and a retail component consisting of international retail and F&B brands. Aventura is expected to open during the first half of 2024.
Going by the video it looks like a neighborhood you’d find in Dubai or Europe with proper sidewalks, bike paths everywhere, and lots of greenery. Ah sidewalks, how I wish we had them in my neighborhood.
If you order a laptop from the US or Europe it would generally come with an English-only keyboard. So people who require Arabic get Arabic letters printed or stuck on the keyboard which is fine unless you have a backlit keyboard. If you just printed Arabic letters on a backlit keyboard you wouldn’t be able to see them in the dark so when I found out about laser engraving a few days ago, I was a bit surprised it was something that was so easy to do and also available in Kuwait.
Laser engraving as you can see in the video above basically cuts out the letters on your keys so that the light can pass through them as well. There is a store in Sharq area called Sharq Center which does it and charges KD15 for it. The process takes only 15-20minutes so you don’t have to leave your keyboard or laptop there overnight. If this is a service you’re looking for then check out their Instagram account @sharq_center
Recently I started having lower back pain and after visiting the doctor I decided based on his recommendation to work on improving my posture, mostly when sitting in front of the computer. Like most people, I tend to hunch over the computer and I wanted to stop doing that so the first thing I did was get a posture corrector strap. A posture corrector strap kinda looks like a gun holster you see detectives wear on TV shows under their suits, just minus the gun. Although it did its job in keeping me from slouching, it wasn’t comfortable to wear for long periods, and depending on what you’re wearing, it could be visible.
I then found out about the Upright GO 2 through a friend of mine, a tiny device you stick to your back and monitors your posture. Whenever you start slouching it buzzes. My friend recommended it so I ended up ordering one for myself.
The Upright GO is super easy to set up. All you need to do is attach it to your back and then connect to it via Bluetooth and an app on your phone. You then sit or stand upright and hit the calibrate button in the app and that’s it, you’re set. It takes around a second or two but once the device calibrates it starts recognizing your movement when you slouch or hunch over. Anytime you exceed a certain angle threshold for more than a few seconds, the device buzzes gently to make you aware that hey, you’re hunching over.
The device is really tiny which is why I used my AirPods for scale in these photos. It’s also very lightweight and so whenever I stick it on my back I can’t tell it’s even there. The reusable adhesive on the back of the device uses a medical-grade sticky silicon, and in my case, it lasts for 7 days. After the 7th day, it no longer is as sticky and I swap the adhesive with a new one. The device came with 10 adhesives so it should be good enough for nearly 3 months of use since I don’t wear it on weekends.
Does it work? Yes, it does!
After using it now for two weeks I noticed my posture has improved. Not only that but because I hate the buzzing so much, even when I’m not wearing the Upright GO I still have the fear it will buzz. There is a bit of PTSD involved because even when I’m not wearing the unit, out of habit I expect my back to buzz anytime I hunch over. So I’ve mentally started recognizing when I start to hunch over and right away straighten up.
The Upright with the help of the app tracks your posture throughout the day and in my case, I recognized I am worse when I’m at the office. When I’m home on my computer I have a very ergonomic TOM chair that offers great back support and keeps me sitting up straight. When I’m at the office I sit on a regular chair with no back support so I tend to slouch and hunch over my laptop. But looking at my data over the past couple of weeks I can see that I have improved overall.
There are two versions of the Upright GO, the original version which is larger, has a shorter battery life and cheaper, and the Upright GO 2 which has a longer battery life, is much smaller but also slightly more expensive. I bought the Upright GO 2 for $99 from Amazon but I noticed it’s now selling for $79 and I’ve even seen it as low as $69. An extra pack of adhesives costs $9. If you don’t want to stick it on your back there is a necklace you can buy that attaches to the Upright GO but I haven’t tried it. The Upright comes with a small case that holds an extra adhesive and it’s where you are meant to put the unit when you’re not wearing it. Battery life on the Upright GO 2 is 35 hours so I only charge it once every few days.
The Upright is not something I’d wear for more than a couple of months at a time, it’s a behavioral training device and as I get the hang of not hunching over I’ll stop wearing it. When I see myself starting to hunch over again I’ll star wearing it again. If you want to get one, here is the link to Amazon.
Every year the Palestinian Cultural Center holds an exhibition with a lot of handicraft and embroidery available to purchase. But, due to the pandemic that’s been put on hold and this year instead of an exhibition, there will be a four-day shop (a pop-up).
The Palestinian Culture Center aims to support needy families and preserve the rich and vibrant culture of Palestine. It does this by encouraging ladies to continue a beautiful handicraft, embroidery, which has been in Palestine for hundreds of years and ensuring that the tradition is carried on to the younger generation.
The Center has been in operation since the early 1970’s in Kuwait and then moved to Jordan after 1990. Today, the PCC, has over 450 women from the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan working on these beautiful pieces. For these women, the payment they receive is a great support for their families. The PCC also aims at supporting education and helps various schools and education programs in Palestine as well as needy families.
As a charity organization we use a simple rule in all our pricing. Thirty-three percent of the sale cost of an item is given to the woman that produces the work, thirty-three percent goes towards covering the cost of the item, and the remaining amount is distributed to schools, orphanages and needy families mostly in Palestine.
So if you’re looking for something to do during the day, the pop-up runs from today until Wedneday. For more info check out the Palestinian Culture Center Instagram account @palestiniancc
