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My Asus Eee 900 arrived today from the States and its amazing. I had seen the previous version of the Eee with the smaller screen but the new 8.9inch screen with the higher resolution is wayyyy better. Like most Eee users have mentioned before, the keyboard is tiny which is going to take time to get used to. Currently I am touch typing this post from my Eee and I am doing fine except every few words I hit a wrong letter or two.

The size of the actual laptop is really tiny as you can tell from the picture above. Its a one lap laptop! I have the 20GB version of the Eee that comes installed with a custom Linux OS and I think its really cool so far. Boot time is like under 30 seconds and FireFox is runs great. I am really loving the Eee.

The Eee cost me KD140 and you can purchase it from Amazon:
Asus Eee 900 with Windows [Link]
Asus Eee 900 with Linux [Link]

A really cool photo set of soda bottles, cans and logos dating from the 60s through to the 80s. Coca Cola launched their classic bottle awhile back but someone should tell 7up to do the same thing. Their can design pictured above from the 70s is extremely funky. [Link]

A friend just signed up for the Alshaya secret shoppers program. I don’t know if its new or not but the work involved sounds pretty cool. Basically as a secret shopper you are required to shop at Alshaya stores every week and then write about your experience. You also get two meals at Alshaya restaurants every week worth KD14 which you also need to write about. Based on your feedback Alshaya then try and improve their service.

The pay seems pretty decent too once you get more experienced. New shoppers get paid KD75 a month while silver shoppers get paid KD150 and gold shoppers get KD300. I think more bloggers should participate in this since bloggers spend a lot of time writing about their experiences anyway.

How do you sign up for it? You can’t. Its a secret program which not many people are supposed to know about (ooops!). My friend was able to sign up because he knew someone who was already a secret shopper. So ask around I guess or give them a call and try your luck? I think its really great they have a program like this and more companies should do it if they aren’t already.

In the morning I noticed there was a pigeon outside one of my windows. I didn’t think of it much until awhile ago I noticed it was still there. I figured I would scare the pigeon off so with the lights in the room closed I creeped up to the window with my flashlight and then suddenly shone the light onto the pigeon and banged on the glass. To my horror I saw the most disgusting thing ever. The pigeons right eye looked completely fucked, it was really gross and I was standing there just like 10cm away from it from the other side of the glass. The pigeon didn’t even fly off it just stood there staring back at me. I took some pictures of the pigeon and if you want to see it you can although its kinda gross, just click on continue.

My friend found this empty bottle of Jacksen on the road and took a picture of it. I thought Jacksen was banned from the market back in 1996 but I guess that was just a rumor. I wonder how many readers here know what Jacksen is used for…

update: oops its Jacksen not Jackson.

A friend of mine just made me aware of an Amazon website called Warehouse Deals in which they sell open-box, refurbished or slightly damaged merchandise from Amazon.com at huge discounts. I’ve just flipped through the site briefly and looks like there is a good bunch of deals. [Link]

Some students at the French School of Kuwait attempted to all freeze at the same time a la “Frozen Grand Central” except the result didn’t turn out that good really. At least they tried, maybe the next one will be better. Forward to around 4 minutes into the video, thats when they freeze. [YouTube]

Thanks Yass

One of my favorite things about Munich was the food. I was eating non stop through out the day since their food is very hard to resist although it would be easy for the majority of you since most of their dishes are pork based. I took pictures of my dishes whenever I could and if you click on continue below you could see some of them. As you can see most are sausages with potato salad. The one above was taken at the Augustiner Beer Garden.

I took my Nikon FE with me to Munich as I mentioned before I traveled. The camera is nearly 30 years old and the pictures I shot with the camera also look like they are nearly 30 years old. It’s an amazing effect and I have really fallen in love with this camera. I loved carrying the heavy weight around and then manually focusing on a shot before snapping it. I took 91 pictures in total but here is a link to my favorite ones. Notice it even made the very modern BMW World look 30 years old. [Pictures]

Although my plan was to stay in Munich forever thats easier said than done. I am now in the Frankfurt airport waiting for my flight back to Kuwait. I really need to learn German. (Posted from my Nokia E61i)

I just heard from a friend they’ve started power cuts in Kuwait. My friend didn’t have electricity for 6 hours today! I hope this isn’t going to be a habit. In Lebanon we get power cuts but come on its Lebanon, the country doesn’t have any money and worse comes to worse the weather really never gets that hot there. In Kuwait on the other hand the government DOES have money so they can build more power plants and the weather gets extremely hot in Kuwait which means a home without AC is unlivable.

Today I finally had a day off work and I managed to properly see Munich and I am seriously in love with it after today. I have a ton of pictures and videos to share but since I am coming back to Kuwait tomorrow will do that when I come back but for now I leave you with the shot above.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet about Munich is the weather. It’s FREEZING, the temperature during the day is like 9 degrees and ever since I came its been raining a lot. Thats why when I passed by Puma in the evening and found their official Volvo Ocean Race gear I had to get a jacket. Pictured above is the official PUMA Race Team jacket which has a Gortex shell, a high collar and a packable hood. I wore it on the way back home in the rain and it was just fantastic.

I also managed to find Adidas Jeans by Diesel. Diesel and Adidas teamed up for this new line of jeans and the Adidas Originals store next to my hotel had some in stock. I ended up getting the pair pictured above. I am having a hard time shopping in Munich since everything closes early (8PM). By the time I finish with work and decide to do some shopping I don’t have time. Even supermarkets close at 8!

While walking back to my hotel today in Munich I spotted a weird Z4. At first I thought it was very tacky customized Z4 but then I realized it was actually the new unreleased 2010 model. The car was camouflaged pretty well with black body work and tape but as soon as I figured out what the car was I quickly took out my camera and turned it on. By then the traffic light had turned green so I was only able to take two shots.

It was pretty cool seeing an unreleased test car but sadly only a few car freaks will appreciate this! For me this was an amazing experience, I spend soo much time checking car blogs and magazines and seeing “spy shots” just like this all the time. Now that I was able to take these same kind of shots feels pretty great. Below are the two pictures which I managed to shoot, they are in full resolution.

2010 BWW Z4 Rear
2010 BMW Z4 Side

update: This post made Jalopnik, yay!

A reader of the blog sent an email to inform me that Dean & Deluca will be opening in Kuwait before the end of the year. According to the reader the upscale gourmet food grocery store will be brought to Kuwait by Alshaya and that they are working overtime to try and have the place opened by Q4 of this year. I don’t know the accuracy of this information but if its true it would be something to look forward to. Alshaya launched the Dean & Deluca Cafe in Dubai early this year but they haven’t opened their store yet.

Thanks SJM MUKI