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Event: 5th Annual Exhibition of Architecture
Host: Kuwait Architectural Student Association [KASA]
Type: Exhibition of the students work
Date: March 9th to the 13th, 2008
Location: Al-Raya Complex, Sharq district, Kuwait City

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I just found out that Dj Uruj will be leaving her show the Night Ride. At first I thought management had fired her but it seems it was on her own accord. Maybe she couldn’t handle all the negativity? Whatever her reason is, I guess this is good news for all the listeners.

Some readers in the forum have been experiencing account access issues when using Fasttelco. When you login into a website (FaceBook, Gmail, Forum), it informs you that you have been logged out and then you have access to someone else’s account (and vice versa). There are screenshots in the forum of a user being redirected to several different gmail accounts and even gaining access to post under different user-names.

If you are unable to use another ISP to access your sensitive information, I suggest using a proxy, vpn or anonymizer (such as Tor) to bypass the Fasttelco cache server. For those who already logged into sensitive websites; login using a different ISP (or the methods suggested) and change your password.

This is most likely due to the Fasttelco cache server (which stores information locally to speed/conserve bandwidth) incorrectly passing data. If you are a user of Fasttelco, call up the help desk and demand that the cache server be disabled until they can fix it.

Link to the topics [here] [here] [here]

Thanks 36o!

-Posted by K.

Al Mayass is a very popular Lebanese and Armenian restaurant in Lebanon but for some reason I hadn’t heard about it until it opened up here in Kuwait. Since I’ve been hearing only good stuff about the place I decided to try it out and see what it was all about.

Al Mayass is located inside the Shiik Resort which I think is a pretty strange location because I can’t imagine girls in bikinis walking by conservative families on their way into lunch not end up being a problem. Anyway once you walk into the place you will notice it doesn’t look very Lebanese but thats not a big deal since the colors and design of the place is leaning more towards Armenian. What would be a Lebanese look anyway? I don’t think we have one for restaurants.

I only found three problems with the Al Mayass and one popped up right at the beginning. Its not actually a problem more like a nitpick. I found the napkin too small to properly place over the lap. If I am complaining about napkins then you already have an idea on which direction this review is heading. The second problem followed nearly instantly, they don’t have soup on the menu. I was eager to start off with their lentil soup since it was cold outside and wanted something to warm me up. I even asked the waiter about it hoping they had a soup de jour which wasn’t on the menu but he apologized telling me they sadly didn’t have soup on the menu. I think this is a permanent thing and not just temporary which is disappointing.

We then went ahead and ordered a bunch of cold and hot appetizers including hummus, hummus with meat, labne with garlic, tabboule, batata harra (hot potato?), cheese beurek and ras asfoor which translates to bird head although the dish is actually meat chunks. For our main course we ordered chicken taouk and kabab with cherry.

One by one the dishes started to arrive and everything was tasting great. The hummus with meat was probably the best I had ever had and the batata harra was also really great although pretty filling. The cheese beurek is basically a cheese puff and from all the appetizers is the only one I wouldn’t order again. We ordered two cheese beureks at KD1.500 a piece but they were really tiny pieces, each the size of two matchboxes placed side by side. Actually now that I think about it I wouldn’t order the ras asfoor again since that dish cost KD5 and really wasn’t that great.

Once we were done with our appetizers our main courses arrived. The chicken taouk (KD4) was good and very tender but really didn’t grab my attention as much as the cherry kebab (KD4.5). I hadn’t had cherry kebab before but a friend of mine told me I would love it and he was absolutely right. The cherries turned an ordinary dish found everywhere into something much more interesting. The combination of kebab with the sweetness of the cherries resulted in a very flavored kebab which I would definitely want to have again.

By the time we were done with all the food we were pretty full but we still went ahead and ordered the Mayass knefeh which needed 15-20 minutes of preparation time. I guess the waiting period raised my expectations because usually my knefeh gets served instantly but to wait 20 minutes for one meant it had to be really special. It wasn’t, the knefeh tasted like regular knefeh although it did come in a different shape from the usual. My feelings are its just not worth the wait, if you want it make sure you order it while your main course is being served.

Overall I liked Al Mayass even though I am not usually a fan of Lebanese grill. I usually find Lebanese kebab and taouk dishes pretty dry and bland but the cherry kebab has sparked an interest with me. The Lebanese waiters were very friendly without being the talkative type and their service was fast. The lack of soup is a disappointment and the prices of two of the dishes I ordered were expensive. As you can tell though if I am picking on the size of the napkin its because there isn’t much to pick on. The place is great and is probably the only Lebanese restaurant I would want to visit again. The final score is a 4 out of 5.

My friend the blogger Stallion attended the Anti-Segregation Rally that was held yesterday and has posted a short write up and pictures from the event. You can check his post by clicking [Here]

With the writer striker almost over, the big question is “when are shows coming back?”. Luckily TvGuide has a list of what is in store for us.

Some highlights:

24
Season 7 likely postponed until January ’09.

Desperate Housewives
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Grey’s Anatomy
Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Heroes
No new episodes expected until fall.

Lost
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Six additional episodes could air this season.

Nip/Tuck
Season 5 concludes Feb. 19. Production on the show’s eight-episode sixth season expected to start up this summer. Airdate TBD.

Prison Break
Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Saturday Night Live
Could be back on the air as early as Feb. 16.

Overall most shows will not be returning till fall or later, others will release their pre-strike shows and begin production soon. [Link]

Posted by Nibaq

As promised, here is the breakdown of current DSL speeds/prices (as of InfoConnect 2008):

If you are looking speeds of 2mb or higher .. you can’t beat Qnets pricing (infoconnect special). And in addition to a free wireless router you also get a scratch (instant prize) and raffle (Mini) coupons for every 20kd spent. I upgraded my connection to 4mb and ‘won’ a extra couple of weeks on my subscription through the scratch coupons.

For those interested in speeds of 1mb or lower; Zajil is the clear choice with their aggressive pricing structure with 1mb at 300 KWD (almost 1/3 the price of last year).

Apparently, there is a new DSL company called Wasel, which has recently been placing advertisements in the newspapers. And while they might be advertising offering DSL, they don’t have a booth at InfoConnect or even a website; We don’t have much information on their offers.

-Posted by K.

*Prices listed are collected from Brochures, Official Websites and Sales Representatives .. prices displayed are for yearly subscriptions.

Its advancements like this that makes me look forward to the future. [Link]

via gizmodo

A friend was telling me that the old buildings in front of Seef Palace that contain all the trendy restaurants and shops is going to get demolished. Supposedly the government doesn’t want these kind of places in front of the oalace and will be demolishing the buildings and probably replacing them with a large park. My friend heard about this from his friend who owns a store there whom they’ve already approached asking him to close down.

I know the owners of Slider Station and Pink Moon Boutique check my blog so maybe they can confirm this story.

update: According to the owners of Slider Station and Pink Moon, their building will not be demolished but the group of shops and restaurants closer to the roundabout where Shay W Nana and Berts are located will be.

Tagine is the new Moroccan restaurant that opened up at The Palms. I haven’t gone to it yet but after reading Desert Girl’s review I am not as excited to try it out. [Link]

I was flipping through a book on the history of Kuwait called “The voice of the Oud” when I found a photo of a kid who looked exactly like me. The book is full of amazing old photos of Kuwait and here I was in one of the pictures. I checked the date of the photo and it was 1983 and taken in Mubarakieh outside the carpet souk where I used to tag a long with my dad every Friday morning.

I scanned the photo and emailed it to my mum just to be sure that the picture was of me when i was a kid and she called me to confirm that it was. I think its pretty cool especially since the book has a ton of cool shots of old Kuwait. The girl in the picture was my neighbor who is no longer in Kuwait and I am also no longer chubby although I am still very white.

I was never too sure about the exact numbers but I just found this on the KNPC website:

Ultra (Green): 98 Octane, 90 fils/Ltr
Super (Gold): 95 Octane, 65 fils/Ltr
Premium (Red): 91 Octane, 60 fils/Ltr

[Source]

update: The reason I wanted to know how much octane is in what type of gas is because the manual for my bike recommends 98 octane while the manual for the Wrangler recommends 87 octane.

The Emir Sheikh Jabir passed away two years ago on this day and a reader emailed me suggesting I share this song with everyone. The song is called “The prince of our hearts” and here is some information on it by its creators:

This song is dedicated to the late Prince Jabber. Also to Prince Saad, Prince Sabah, and Prince Nawaf. A mix of Arabic,R&B and Rap.

Although, Prince Jaber passed away on January 15 2006 “May He Rest in Peace”, he still remains firm in the hearts of Kuwaitis, arabs, and foreigners. This song was written, produced,and was sang by Luqman Sherriff A.K.A MiracaLz, Hany Baker A.K.A The_Kuwaiti_Don, and Salman A.K.A Morice. Combining R&B, Smooth Rap, and a new style of Arabic R&B.

I didn’t like the song but I don’t listen to this style of music anyway, you can download the mp3 and watch the video [Here]

The video embedded in the post above is a different song by Ahmad Al-Hajri which I just found on YouTube.

Thanks Zaid

DJ Uruj from the night ride on FM99.7 just read everyones negative comments about her in an old post and has replied back with the following:

Gee you guys, didnt know I was that bad….. “a voice that cracks and rasps, and pitches up and down all the time, like she has a continual sore throat?Definitely not a voice for radio. She also has a strange sense of humour…..”

My goodness me…..I have tears in my eyes now…..lol….but seriously, i can see that this was two months ago…..what do you guys think of my show now…..please let me know how I can improve it without being insulting…..am looking forward to your comments…..and the name is Uruj Saeed…..not a pseudonym, its my real name…..!!

She also posted the following:

Hey everyone, listen up, there’s going to be a show tomorrow on hate mail in which i will mention this blog, so do tune in…..and dont take offense, its just for kicks…..:)

So if anyone here has feedback on how DJ Uruj can improve leave a comment below. I personally think she can’t be fixed but since no one listens to 99.7 anyway I don’t think it matters. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Thanks Stafa