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This has to be one of the coolest gadgets I’ve purchased in a while. I was looking for a camera I could set up in my apartment back in Lebanon so I could monitor my place while I’m here. Originally I had a budget of around $200 and started my search on Amazon. Within a few minutes I found out about the Foscam pictured above which had some pretty good features. The camera connects to your home network over Ethernet or WiFi, pans horizontally 300 degrees and tilts vertically 120 degrees, it has IR-LED for night vision, two way audio, remote viewing via a web browser and most importantly… it cost only $99! There must have been a catch but after reading the reviews I couldn’t find anything wrong with it and I placed an order for one.

The camera wasn’t that difficult to set up, I just plugged it into my network via Ethernet and ran an application that came with the camera that showed me what IP address the camera was using. I double clicked the IP address, it launched the browser and that was it. I could then watch a live video feed or change the settings. First thing I did was create a username and password and then set up the camera to work via my WiFi network. It was flawless.

Another cool thing is the fact there are a bunch of iPhone apps that work with the camera, I downloaded one called Foscam Surveillance which costs $4.99 and allows me to control and view the camera from my iPhone from anywhere in the world. It’s amazing and even the night vision mode works perfectly. It turns on and off automatically depending on the light in the room but you can also turn it on and off manually.

I’m going to purchase a few more of these cameras so I can place them all around my apartment in Lebanon and even in the garden. It can be used as a security camera and has the option to automatically take snapshots when it detects any movement and then email the shots to you. The night vision mode works at a distance of up to 8 meters which is also very cool.

If you’re interested in this camera it’s available for around KD27 on Amazon. Here is the [Link]

I was at Geant in 360 Mall and noticed they’re now carrying the brand Dyson. Dyson make some of the most beautifully designed products and I’ve always wondered why no one had brought them to Kuwait. I didn’t spot many products, just two actually but hopefully they will be getting more. I spotted the Dyson 10″ Desk Fan (pictured above) and it was selling for KD93 (costs KD82 on Amazon). I also saw the Dyson DC19 Vacuum Cleaner (pictured below) and it was selling for KD114.

As I mentioned the other day, if the Shake Shack beef patties aren’t as good as the patties used back in the US then we will end up with just a fake Shack. But I just found out via Buz Fairy that Shake Shack will be using the same beef they use in the US. Buz Fairy is currently in Dubai and while there she got to meet and speak to Shake Shack’s culinary manager Mark Rosati and he told her they were getting the beef from Creekstone Farms which is the same source from which LaFrieda (their US supplier) get’s their meat from. Now because its the same source but a different supplier I don’t think it’s going to be 100% the same but I doubt it would be different enough for me to be able to tell the difference.

Luckily Shake Shack Kuwait isn’t even close to opening yet so I won’t have a problem sticking to my diet.

Update: Here’s Buz Fairys review [Link]

Local movie maker Abdulrahman Alaskar emailed me saying he just found out his short movie titled TOKAI just got banned by the Ministry of Information from being screened at the Kuwait International Film Retreat that’s being held tomorrow. They haven’t given him any reason but if you search YouTube for “tokai kuwait” you can find and watch the movie (it’s in two parts). Once you watch the movie you can kind of develop your own theory on what their reasons for banning it might be. I would have embedded the videos or links in this post but I got worried if I did that then the MOI might ban my blog as well. Here is the synopsis for the movie:

TOKAI (street cleaner) is a short documentary that offers a glimpse into the lives of thousands of street cleaners who sweep the streets of oil rich Kuwait. In a country of abundance and wealth, these men earn menial salaries, as low as $50 a month and eventually regress into the forgotten inhabitants of the Middle East.

It’s a sensitive topic that’s for sure but do you think it merits a ban? I hope it all turns out to be just a misunderstanding.

Update: The Kuwait Film Retreat will still screen all banned films at the Hilton Hotel in Mangaf on Friday during the day. The Kuwait Film Retreat supports Kuwaiti filmmakers and will keep supporting them no matter what obstacles arise.

Back in January I signed up to the Orbit ShowTime service and I although the signup process was very smooth I was worried their customer service would be problematic since when I had Showtime back in 2005 any issue I had they would tell me to pass by their main branch in Dajeej which was unpractical and annoying.

Well I ran into a problem recently with my Showbox receiver, it kept rebooting randomly every 5 minutes or so which was very annoying. I reset all the settings, upgraded to the latest software did whatever I could to try to get it fixed myself and nothing worked. I finally gave up and decided to give OSN a call, I was expecting them to tell me to take the receiver to their workshop in Dajeej which is why I tried to fix things myself but instead I was told a technician would come over on Monday (that was on Saturday). Sunday (the following day) I get a call from the technician telling me if I was free that day he could pass by. I was like no problem but did they tell you what my problem was? He was like you aren’t getting a signal. I was like no my Showbox keeps rebooting. He told me no problem he would replace it for me and a few hours later he did come over and swap my receiver with a new one.

Everything is working perfectly now and I didn’t even have to drive out to Dajeej to get my problem solved!

So I posted yesterday that I’m going to be working my ass off with cardio, gym and an extremely unappetizing diet to try and hit 12% body fat by the end of the month. But then today I spotted the above picture on a weight loss supplement, the guys “Before” fat percentage is what I want my “After” to be! Don’t know if this is depressing or funny.

Last week I was checking my facebook account and noticed the local Tamiya dealer (My Toy) started a weekly competition where people could win a Tamiya TRF 501x race buggy. So, I entered the competition and didn’t win BUT I did get an email asking if I would be interested in reviewing the new TRF 502x and I said yes of course.

It’s been two years since I last built a Tamiya car so I was pretty excited to pick the car up. Along with the 502x frame they’re lending me a servo, tires, lipo battery, brush-less motor and ecu. Basically everything I need to get the car built and running except for a radio controller and receiver since I will be using my own. Oh I also picked up fluorescent pink paint since I think a bright pink racing buggy with a black rear wing and black wheels might turn out pretty cool. Below is a picture of how the pile of boxes above will end up looking like once I am done.

Note: In case you’re an RC fan I have a section dedicated to RC stuff [Here]

As I mentioned last August, Shake Shack will be opening in place of Le Pain Quotidien at The Avenues. Since then I’ve been waiting and waiting for PQ to close down and I just found out they’ve now gone ahead and closed. This means they should start construction on Shake Shack right away and hopefully open up very soon. For those of you who live in Dubai, Shake Shack is opening up at Mall of Emirates this Thursday.

I think we’re going to be super lucky here because I highly doubt we’re going to have to wait in line for their burgers in the same way you don’t have to wait in line at Magnolia Bakery in Dubai. Below are pictures of the lines at both Shake Shack and Magnolia Bakery in New York. I waited 40 minutes in line at Shake Shack just to place an order!

What I still don’t know though is who will supply Shake Shack in the Middle East with the beef. In the US the beef is supplied by the famous Pat LaFrieda but I previously emailed them asking if their beef was Halal and they said it wasn’t. Hopefully by now they’ve worked some sort of deal with LaFrieda regarding this but will have to wait and see.

A friend just emailed me the following:

Thought you might be interested to know that I just left Symphony building and there are HUGE pannels of glass flying off the building, cause by the wind, and crashing into the parking lot. I tried to take a closer look but the whole area has been closed off and the fire department is on their way. From what I saw though one car got hit and is quite badly damaged and there were 3 other large peices of broken glass laying in various places in the parking lot

As usual if anyone has pictures email me them so I could post them here.

Thanks Ali

Update: Here is a picture of the damaged car sent in by a reader called Abdul Hameed. According to him this happened a couple of months back as well and that time the glass window landed on his friends car.

I’m still working out three times a week at Core Fitness, it’s been over a year now and since summer is around the corner the only way to look ripped at the beach and showoff my abs is to shed some body fat. At my best my body fat percentage was 14% but that was before the Benihana lawsuit and since then I think I’ve gone back up to 15 or 16%. My abs are currently hidden behind a layer of fat and to get them to show I need to be under 12% so I’ve put that as a target to hit by the end of this month. I don’t know if that’s possible or not but I asked Fahad for help and he’s updated my diet to help me reach my goal.

I’ve actually been on a diet for over a year now and for the past 6 months and I’ve only been eating grilled food for lunch and dinner with Friday being an eat whatever I want day. It was hard enough but this month it’s going to be even harder. I am no longer allowed to eat taouk for example or have tabbouleh or even munch down on olives. Instead for lunch and dinner it’s now the following:

Pick 1 Carb Source:
– 1-cup of White Rice
– 1 Baked Sweet Potato (no white potatoes)

Pick 1 Protein Source:
– 10 oz Chicken Breasts (not Shish Tawook)
– 10 oz Lean grilled or raw fish (hammour, white fish, tuna, squid, shrimp, calamari)

Salad
Bowl of greens (no tabbouleh, or any dressing… just raw greens!)

Sauces Allowed
Tabasco, Red Rooster or Yellow Mustard

This month is going to be horrible. I don’t think I’m even going to cheat on Fridays since after suffering the whole week I don’t think I want to ruin it with a big fat juicy burger or a mouth watering chocolate dessert! Will see if I can hit my target or not and post another update at the end of the month.

Update: Found a lunch meal that fit into my new diet, it’s the “Only Salmon” platter from Sakura Express. According to Fahad “The meal’s loaded with omega-3 and fish oil (which are both great).”

Local weather guru Mishaal Al Roomi has the following weather warning:

The weather is turniing unstable with increasing clouds. By Sunday, the winds will be very high ranging from 25 to 45 km/h with gusts up to 60 km/h. I don’t suggest rather I advise strictly no off shore activities starting Saturday afternoon and especially starting Sunday. We all know what happened as a result of the last Sandstorm; we had three casualties and couple are still missing. To avoid such dissapointment and grief; please be updated with the weather. Q8Weather will be live with you at all times during this “sarayat” or “unstable” season.

Everyone is advised to keep updated with the forecast. We all have internet around us nowdays and I will be updating Q8Weather several times a day to meet your convenience and more importantly your safety.

If you have any inquiries please do not hesitate to contact me; [email protected] or [email protected]

Mishaal also has a message regarding the earthquake rumors which you can read on his website [Here]

April might be the final month for Cinemagic’s rooftop movies since they usually stop playing movies once the weather gets really hot. Since the evenings now are still cool you should really take advantage of this.

Saturday, April 2nd at 7:30pm
MICMACS
Director: Jean – Pierre Jeunet
Country: France
Release: 2010
Genre: Comedy | Crime
Running time: 105 minutes
Language: French | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Director, , Best Cinematography, Best edit
Rated: R

Saturday, April 9th at 7:30pm
SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE
Director: Chan Wook Park
Country: South Korea
Release: 2002
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Running time: 129 minutes
Language: Korean | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Actor, Best Film, Best Director
Rated: R

Thursday, April 14th at 7:30pm
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Director: Victor Fleming
Country: USA
Release: 1939
Genre: Adventure | Fantasy | Musical | Family
Running time: 101 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 2 Oscars, 5 other wins and 8 nominations
Rated: PG

Saturday, April 16th at 7:30pm
AWAY WE GO
Director: Sam Mendes
Country: USA
Release: 2009
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Running time: 98 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: Nominated Best Actors, Best Film
Rated: 15+

Thursday, April 21st at 7:30pm
JAR CITY
Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Country: Iceland
Release: 2006
Genre: Thriller
Running time: 93 minutes
Language: Icelandic | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Cinematography
Rated: 15+

Saturday, April 23rd at 7:30pm
WATER
Director: Deepa Mehta
Country: India
Release: 2005
Genre: Drama
Running time: 117 minutes
Language: Hindi | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Film, Director, Cinematography, Script
Rated: PG

Thursday, April 28th at 7:30pm
THE HEADLESS WOMAN
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Country: Argentina
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Running time: 87 minutes
Language: Spanish | English Subtitle
Awards: Cannes, in competition, Best film, director, actress
Rated: 15+

Saturday, April 30th at 7:30pm
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST
Director: Daniel Alfredsson
Country: Sweden
Release: 2010
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Running time: 147 minutes
Language: Swedish | English Subtitle
Rated: R

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. There is a KD1 charge for the venue fees which includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

This two events got canceled last week since the track got covered with sand so it’s being pushed to this Saturday April 2nd at Pro Kart.

Karting Speed Max Challenge 4 Hours
The first event is a 4 hour karting race. 40 drivers will compete in scoring the best time with 5 drivers racing every heat and the winner continuing on to the final race. The race starts at 4PM and ends at 8PM. The race is open to the public and it’s free of charge!

Dolphin Karting Cup
The second event is an event for juniors aged 5 to 8 year-olds. This race event starts at 3PM and is also free of charge.

For more information on these events and a map to the location plus contact numbers you can visit the Pro Kart website [Here]

If you’re a long time reader you probably know that there is cookie flavor at Choowy Goowy called Mark&Nat. We had been invited by Choowy Goowy back in 2006 to create our own cookie and after experimenting with a bunch of different variations and trying them all out we ended up with Oreo cookies which got labeled Mark&Nat.

So last night I was browsing the web when I suddenly spot the most amazing thing ever… an oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie. It was simply a full oreo shoved inside a chocolate chip cookie, I quickly posted it on 248PM and then sent a BBM to my buddy Essa of Choowy Goowy and I was like dude you got to take an oreo cookie and shove it inside a regular chocolate chip cookie and send me some. I then made sure I didn’t eat any carbs all day today and once I got back home from my gym I found a bunch of oreo stuffed cookies waiting for me. I had 3 cookies and I think they were REALLY good. I am now trying to convince him to actually produce them and sell them as the new and improved Mark&Nat oreo cookies. So if you’re reading this Essa, please sell these cookies!

Some of you might noticed the blog went down and up a few times today. The reason for that is I had a problem with the server. I’ve actually been having a problem for around a month now, the site was feeling sluggish and it was going down often for a few minutes at a time. Well thanks to the Rackspace technicians where my server is hosted, they managed to find the problem.

Because the blog gets so many visitors a day small issues are big issues and in my case it turned out my “Related Posts” plugin was the small issue that turned big. You might have noticed before that when you click on a post, right below it you would find a section called “Related Posts” which would contain links to previous posts on a similar subject. Well the previous plugin I had that created those links stopped working so I installed another one around a month or so back. Turns out the new plugin I installed wasn’t programmed properly which resulted in the plugin using all my server resources to the point where the server was becoming unresponsive and required a reboot every so often hence the down times.

How bad was the plugin? The server resource utilization dropped from 121.82 load average down to 0.60 load average just by disabling it! That’s a humongous difference. So now the server is back to normal, it’s a lot faster and more responsive. I’ve also installed Super Cache as well so that should also take the load off from the server.

Everything should now be better than normal.

Update: Just realized why the server went to hell all of a sudden today and not earlier. Turns out the rumor about Jackie Chan passing away came back to life today. Since I’ve previously posted about it I got around 10,000 people come in from google using the search term jackie chan passed away since my link comes up first.