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I am at work and I am online using Qualitynet dialup again. It turns out that although Fasttelco brought back online most of its services yesterday night, their Kuwait City users will remain without Internet for another day or two. All phone numbers starting with 24 still do not have Internet access.

Dear Mark,
We would like to extend our sincere apologies for the difficulties you may have encountered with our Internet and Data services on 28th Jan 2006.

The problem was due to a major failure at Ministry of Communication Building that impacted our services.

We would like to assure you that series of measures have been taken to avoid such incident in the future, while a total restoration was carried to have our service back to normal..

If you are still encountering any problems please do not hesitate to contact us.

We regret any inconvenience caused to you in this regard and take this opportunity to thank you for your understanding and patience.

Best Regards
Customer Service
Qualitynet
For Support Call 804444

What a day, my Internet stopped working last night and I figured it was something with my account. Today morning I came to work all ready to check my email and turned out we didn’t have Internet here. At first the word was our internal server was down but then the word reached to us that everyone in Kuwait was having Internet issues. As many bloggers have posted it turned out that there was a fire in the building hosting the servers of the 3 main ISP’s in Kuwait and this disrupted the service. Things are better now though and both Qualitynet and Zajil/KEMS have their services back up. The bad news is that our agencies ISP, Fasttelco, got hit the worst and according to TivoGuy they had most of their stuff burn down. Fasttelco has assured us though Internet would be back up in 3 days time but I think it might take longer.

So until we get Internet back up I will most probably be connecting online from work using a qualitynet dialup account like I am doing now. Its a bit retro but better then nothing.

One interesting thing I realized was without Internet I did stuff I used to do before when I never had Internet. For example I read 3 newspapers today morning and then spoke to Nibaq on the phone for at least 20 minutes… the longest I had spoken to him on the phone since back when we were in high school trying to setup a Duke Nukem multiplayer session!

Yesterday I went with Nat for lunch at Le Relais de l’Entrecote in Al Fanar mall. I’ve past by the place from outside numerous times before but I was never interested in going in because the place looked really boring. Nat had been there before and both Nibaq and Rampurple seem to frequent it often so I figured I would give the place a shot.

Firstly its important to note that l’Entrecote serve only one dish and its steak with fries, so if you are expecting a menu with a sellection of dishes you will be disappointed. When I first went in and sat down I felt kind of let down. I was expecting l’Entrecote for some reason to be a lavish restaurant (I guess because of its name and location) but it actually felt cheap. The tables were small, light and flimsy, and they were covered in white paper sheets similar to the ones used at those sea food places in Fisherman’s Wharf. The only thing is that at the sea food places you are smashing crabs open on the table, at l’Entrecote you are not doing anything close to that so I don’t see the need for the cheap looking paper sheets. First impressions weren’t that good.

The head waiter came to our table after we were seated and asked us how we liked our meat to be done, we both said well done and he then asked for our drinks, I had a coke and Nat had a small bottle of water. He scribbled down our order on the paper sheet on the table and left… so thats why they use paper sheets, how creative (I’m being sarcastic here). Two minutes pass by when the waitress comes with 2 bottles of coke and no water, we tell her its supposed to be 1 coke and 1 water (pointing at the scribble on our table for proof) so she goes and gets the water. A few minutes later our salad arrives and its the most boring salad ever, its just lettuce, nothing else. I dig into it since I was hungry and surprisingly the salad dressing was pretty good. When we were done the waitress asked us if she should serve our main meal. I was bit surprised again, that was pretty quick, it had only been 15 minutes since we came in and ordered, how did our steak get done so quickly? I guess since they only serve one meal they can always be preparing the food non stop even before someone orders a dish.

The main dish arrived and it was a pretty simple setup. Half the plate was fries, the other half sliced up steak with some sauce on it (See picture above). I liked the arrangement, and the food looked pretty appetizing so I dug in. The food was good, the meat was tender and the sauce was really tasty. Even though I had ordered my meat well done it was a bit pink on the inside, I didn’t mind it but I know some people wouldn’t eat the meat if its a bit pink and thats why they order it well done, so, they kinda fucked up there. The fries was good specially if eaten with the sauce. When we were done with our plates the waitress came and gave us a refill. Everyone gets one refill, its like when you order the milkshake at Johnny Rockets. They bring you your glass filled with milkshake plus an extra steel container with more milkshake in case you need one more refill. At l’Entrecote they bring you a steel dish with extra fries and meat in case you need one more refill, pretty cool.

Finally we were done with our lunch. The whole process took less then an hour which was pretty impressive since I hate staying long at a restaurant (I am a come in, eat and then leave type of guy). We get the bill the total was around KD14 including the two drinks, but I am having a hard time figuring out if thats a decent price or not. The location of the place being Fanar Mall and the name being French gives the place a bit of elegance. But the setup inside and the presentation of the food and even the food itself points more towards casual dining. I think a total of KD12 might have fit the bill better.

Overall I didn’t find the place that interesting or special. I didn’t enjoy the seating inside, the table setup looked very cheap and the fact that the place only has one dish really makes it hard for me to give this place a really high rating. The food was good and filling so thats where the majority of the points will be coming from but it won’t be enough to give it anything higher then a 3.5 out of 5.

I have been watching Prison Break for the past few days and I am now up to episode 8 of season 1. So far I find the show very nerve racking. You know how when watching movies where prisoners are trying to escape and you are always on the edge of your seat hoping they wouldn’t get caught? Take that feeling and multiply it by 24 because every episode of Prison Break is like that. I don’t have any nails left since I have been biting them too much. I don’t think the show is anything extraordinary but it does make me want to come back to it just to see whats going to happen. Anyway, Prison Break is now playing on TV Land if anyone is interested.

Other shows I am currently watching:
Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 1)
Grey’s Anatomy (Season 1)
Lost (Season 2)
24 (Season 5)
Desperate Housewives (Season 2)

Note: From the above mentioned shows only Curb Your Enthusiasm is not showing on TV Land.

I was googling something from my parents PC next door and I realized that Google on their computer looked different then mine. Seems like google has redesigned the search results page but I can’t view it on my mac at home. I just used VNC to connect to their computer and get a screen shot. I checked Digg someone also posted about this but they are calling his screenshot a fake. Check out my screenshot [Picture]

Fastr is a really addictive game which I have been playing for the past hour.

Fastr is a game that uses flickr images. It loads ten images that all share a common tag, one by one, and you guess what the tag is. When you guess right, the tag will turn blue. Then you can watch the pictures until the next set begins. The faster you guess, the more points you get. The points are reset every five minutes.

In one round I was able to score in the top 5, its really easy to play and its very fast. Type your guess and if it doesn’t turn out right quickly delete your word and try again. [Link]

[source digg]

Nintendo just announced the new slimmer cooler looking DS. The new DS “Lite” is less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter. The new DS Lite also features brighter screens.

The Nintendo DS Lite gets released in Japan in March followed by a US and worldwide release soon after. The new design looks way better then the bulky orignals and I am now tempted to sell my current DS and get a new one.

[source Joystiq]

Ok, the site update is now 99% complete. All the major stuff have been taken care of. Please do a hard refresh so that your browser loads up all the latest code and images. You can hard refresh by holding down the shift key and then hitting the reload button in your browser.

Recommended

Burger Challenge
Applebee’s
Bredz
Burger Boutique
Eighty 6 Bistro
Fauchon
Fuddruckers
Hashi
Gaucho Gril
Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Johnny Rockets
Munch
Napket
Nino
Papa John’s Burgers
Prime & Toast
Ruby Tuesday
Slider Station
Sheraton Hotel
Smoke House
The Burger Hub
The Butcher Shop
The Little Oven
The Meat Co.
Wimpy

Food
Cafe: Poshcafe
Chilidog: Nathans Vs Hardees
Chilidog: Johnny Rockets
Chilidog: Fuddruckers
Chinese: Caesars
Chinese: Wildfire
Chinese: Wok Master
Fast Food: Burger King Hammour Royale
Fast Food: Burger King Spicy Chicken Royal w/ Cheese
Fast Food: Hardees Chili Lava
Fast Food: Hardees Turkey & Swiss Sandwich
Fast Food: KFC Fish Zinger
Fast Food: LoFat
Fast Food: Malak Sajj
Fast Food: Marrybrown
Fast Food: McDonalds Best Breakfast in Town
Fast Food: McDonalds Italiano Burger
Fast Food: McDonalds Spring Rolls
Fast Food: Naif’s Puri Fillet
Fast Food: The Pizza Company
Fast Food: Sbarro Sausage & Pepperoni Stromboli
Microwave Meal: Chicken Masala
Microwave Meal: Beef with Classic BBQ Sauce
Microwave Meal: Beef Patty Sandwich Builder
Microwave Meal: Manicotti
Microwave Meal: El Charrito Grande
Microwave Meal: Fried Chicken Meal
Microwave Meal: Chicken Fingers
Other: Baskin Robbins Crunchy Shake
Other: Blenz Coffee
Other: Choowy Goowy Cookies
Other: D*lush
Other: Go Nuts Donuts
Other: Kobe Burger by Auskobe
Other: Lorenzos Chocolate Cheese Cake
Other: Orange Drinks
Restaurant: Al Mayass
Restaurant: Al-Muhallab Seafood
Restaurant: Baba Taher
Restaurant: Burger Bar
Restaurant: Cheeburger Cheeburger
Restaurant: Fauchon Café
Restaurant: IKEA’s Chicken Masala
Restaurant: Le Relais de l’Entrecote
Restaurant: Ricardo – Sheraton
Restaurant: Shatea Al Watyia (Oum Habib)
Restaurant: Slider Station
Shawerma: Al-Ghader
Shawerma: Badar Al Badoor
Shawerma: Burgan
Shawerma: Dodo
Shawerma: Happy Duck
Shawerma: IKEA
Shawerma: Kabab Al Hajat
Shawerma: Mishref Coop Restaurant
Shawerma: Mr Subs
Shawerma: Ranoush Juice – London
Shawerma: Salmiya’s Jewels
Shawerma: Sajj House
Shawerma: Shawermer
Shawerma: Shoo? Shawerma
Shawerma: Villa Fayrouz Express
Shawerma: Weekend
Sushi: Kei, Maki & Kamikaze
Sushi: Maki Restaurant

Movies
Dragon Wars D-War
I Am Legend
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Transformers
Die Hard 4.0
Smokin’ Aces
Big Nothing
The Prestige
Dirty Sanchez – The Movie
Feast
Long Way Round (mini series)
The Sentinel
Hard Candy
American Gun
Stay
Waiting…
Walk the Line
Munich
The Island
Band of Brothers (mini series)
Serenity
Broken Flowers
Lord of War
Saw II
Oliver Twist
The Brothers Grimm
City of God
Jarhead
The Matador
Fucking Åmål
Ichi the Killer
Shutter
Revolver
Straight into Darkness
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wedding Crashers
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Simple Lies
Dark Water
Constantine
Elf
Creep
Heights
Kill Bill 2
Mysterious Skin
Hot Shots
Hostage
Ocean’s Twelve
Hellboy
Kingdom of Heaven
The Big White
Ôdishon
Inside Deep Throat
The Skeleton Key
The Business
Waterworld
A History of Violence
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids
Happy Endings
The Bourne Supremacy
The Village
Kicking & Screaming
Unleashed (Danny the Dog)
Be Cool
Ladder 49
Green Street Hooligans
Swordfish
Oldboy
The Devil’s Rejects
Team America
Soul Plane

Automotive
Mercedes E200 [Day 1] [Day 2]
Toyota Corolla
Mercedes SLK [Day 1] [Day 2]
Infiniti M45 [Day 1] [Day 2]
Infiniti G35 [Day 1] [Day 3]
Cadillac BLS
Cadillac CTS
Cadillac Escalade

Other
The Ultimate Water Review Part 2
The Ultimate Water Review Part 1
Zegna iJacket
Canon G11
Archos 7
Apple iPhone
A-Z Maps
N-Bar
AKG K81 DJ
Crest White Strips
Motorola V3x
WD Passport Drive
Philips BodyGroom
Mac & More (Marina Mall)
IPEVO free.1 Skype Phone
Denon AVR-2106
International Veterinary Hospital
Harmony 880 Remote
Jazeera Airways – My Experience
Logitech X-230 Speakers
Sennheiser PX100 Headphones
Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball
The PSP Review
The Sultan Center Website
iPod shuffle

I found a website yesterday that sells pirated DVD’s and CD’s online here in Kuwait.. and they deliver! The website sells DVD’s for KD1.5 ($5) each and they seem to have a decent collection. I don’t know how much the CD’s go for but I am guessing either the same or less. Payment is made on delivery and the delivery is free of charge. [Link]

Update: There is another site that will also deliver DVD’s to your home, but they require you to buy atleast 3 DVD’s at KD2 ($6) each. You also place the order by phone and they seem to have a large collection. [Link]

I just finished upgrading my blog to the latest wordpress and I also went ahead and changed the look of the website.

I don’t like change and I hate it when people redesign their sites. You get so used to something and then overnight things change and its usually not a smooth transition. I tried not to change too much in the structure, I tried to focus more on making things clearer and easier to read while also adding some color to give it some life. The old look was really starting to feel pale and I was really starting to dislike it. I needed a change and I figured now would be the perfect time.

There are still some minor issues I need to fix but in general this is how the blog is going to look like. I will be working on various font options in the coming days and hopefully that will work out nicely. I wasn’t able to test the site on various browsers and systems so if you encounter a problem please tell me about it so I could try to fix it. Thank you.

Note: Please do a hard refresh (hold down shift and click on reload) to clear out my blogs old files. That should solve minor problems.

I finished watching the mini series Band of Brothers yesterday and I now understand how the hell it got a 9.6 out of 10 on IMDB. Band of Brothers isn’t a TV show, its an epic. Its like Lord of the Rings except they made ten of these not three. The show stars some cool actors the most popular being David Schwimmer (Ross from Friends), Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Donnie Wahlberg (ex New Kids on the Block, Mark Wahlbergs brother).

“Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers’ journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these young men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear.

They were an elite rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered enormous casualties, and whose lives became legend.”

The mini series is made up of ten episodes, each directed by a different director. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are also the executive producers. The series is really incredible, everything about it from the great acting, the compelling stories, the amazing directing to the bewildering realism. The quality of this “tv show” can stand up against the best Hollywood blockbusters out there easily. The first episode was the slowest since you are still being introduced to the many many main characters of this series, but after that things really pick up and start moving really fast. The series is visually stunning with beautiful consistent tonality through out. The final episode nearly made me move to Austria, its really beautiful.

But now that I finished watching the show I am having a hard time watching my other shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives… they feel so LAME! It was a good and a educational experience, I loved it. It gets a 5 out of 5. Its only the second time I give a full 5 for something, the first was the Shawerma from Sajj House.

You can buy Band of Brothers on DVD from Amazon

A simple but detailed guide to eating sushi. A lot of interesting stuff including information on Fugu, the fish Homer once had in an episode of The Simpsons where he got poisoned at the sushi place. I wonder if any place in Kuwait serves Fugu? Tons of information and all very interesting and informative. [Link]

I know who Johnny Cash is, I mean I had heard of him and I think I know how he looks like. What I didn’t know was that one of my favorite Nine Inch Nails songs was originally played by Johnny Cash. The song I am talking about is called “Hurt” and I just heard Johnny Cash’s version and its pretty cool. So I just spent a full $1.80 and downloaded the The Legend Of Johnny Cash album from AllOfMp3.com. Check out the two different version below. They are not the full songs just a preview, the Nine Inch Nails one kicks in late in the song which you can’t hear in the preview below but I found the live version which is more active the first minute then the regular one.

Hurt – Johnny Cash
Hurt (Live) – Nine Inch Nails

Update: Ok it turns out Johnny Cash took the song off Nine Inch Nails, not the other way around! Wiki has more info. [Link]

Update 2: Watch the Johnny Cash – Hurt video. [Link]