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Yesterday night I passed by the Qualitynet branch in Eureka. My first experience, they are nice friendly people. The guy tried to help me out as much as possible but due to the fact I was a Shownet customer and had a Satellite/DSL combo, I have to go to the main branch in Khaleejeyeh Complex. I did finish most of my paper work though. At one point he was calling this one guy who had more info about my situation, and he was like “I hope the guy answers, there is a big game today”. I was like big game? what big game? He was like Barcelona and Real Madrid are playing. I found that very funny and luckily the guy did pick up. I am sure if the guy hadn’t picked up my first impression about Qualitynet would have been much different.

The reason I went with Qualitynet was the price. For KD32 a month, I get a 512KB connection and a free DSL modem. This is with a 1 year contract which you can pay in monthly installments. I was planning on going with Fasttelco at first though. I had spoken to an FT salesman at Al-Ghanim Electronics, the guy told me FT had a double your bandwidth option also. It would cost me the same price, KD32 if I paid the bill online. Disdavantage is I had to pay KD20 for a DSL modem but the advantage was, this one a month by month contract not a yearly one. After leaving the salesman at Al Ghanim I decided to pass by the main FT office. When there I asked them again about the double your bandwidth option, they told me it existed but ONLY if I did the yearly contact which I had to pay the full amount all upfront. He told me if I wanted to go month by month I would only get a 50% increase. That meant 384KB instead of 512.. not enough. So, I decided to go with Qualitynet.

Yesterday while chatting with Tivo Guy over lunch about my DSL options, he mentioned UCC. I was like UCC? Never heard of them. Turns out UCC is Gulfnet which is Kuwait.net. I thought they had died a few years but turns out they are still alive. So later on in the evening I got to Shownet to cancel my account (finally got it over with) and the guy there was tells me that they have a new DSL only service in collaboration with.. UCC. Interesting how when you hear about something for the first time and then suddenly hear it again. Turns out Shownet is an official GulfNet DSL distributer and they are packaging showtime packages with Gulfnets DSL offerings. I ofcourse refused to have anything to do with Shownet anymore and said no thank you. So UCC is United Cable Company which is GulfNet which is Kuwait.net.

After I left the office yesterday I went home and picked up Nat. I told her we are going to Aramex to pick up the PSP. She was like didn’t they say 8AM tomorrow? I was like whatever, they get the packages tonight, we camp at Aramex till they get them. I was like worse case we have a bunch of magazines that arrived at Aramex last week, we pick those up and read them while we wait. So we get to Aramex at 7PM and right as I am about to open the door of the car, Aramex call me. They tell me my package arrived and I can pick it up. I was like thanks, I am right outside! We pick up the PSP, park on the side of the road and we start tearing up the boxes. Luckily our PSP came with a starter kit which included a car power adapter.

We switch on the PSP, and first thing I start looking for are dead pixels (dots on the screen which don’t change color). There was a speckle of dust on the screen I tried to remove with my finger when I realized that the tiny speckle was a dead pixel. I was like this is it? For some reason I expected it to be bigger, but because the PSP screens pixels are very fine, a dead pixel is barely noticeable even when the whole screen is black. I ended up finding 2 dead pixels, one on the first row and one in the middle right of the screen. Both not noticeable even when looking for them.

We got the Spider Man 2 movie with the PSP so that was the first thing we played. I was totally blown away, the image was extremely clear, sharp and the colors very accurate. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I am no stranger to technology but the screen was like nothing I had seen before. I then put the game WipeOut Pure and let Nataly play till we got home. Once home we were able to try out the other games and get a better feel of the PSP.

My only disappointment is in the sound department. The built in PSP speakers are not good enough. I don’t know what I was expecting but I know I wasnt expecting speakers you would find on a gameboy. With the earphones on though you get totally immersed in the game.

The good things about the PSP? The screen definetly is the coolest thing, when lying in bed at night watching SpiderMan 2, for a brief moment with all the lights off you would think you lived in the future. Its like having a plasma screen that fit into your hand. The load times of the games were unnoticeable. On paper 10 seconds feels a lot but in reality its hardly noticeable, except for the game Tony Hawk were load times were longer then 10 seconds. The battery life was high, I spent 2 hours atleast playing with the PSP and then put the system on standby and today morning I checked and it was still at 90% charge. Also incase you have a spare battery swapping them is very easy.

In conclusion, as I mentioned on Miskan, there is no PSP vs DS war. The war is over. There really wasn’t a war to begin with. While the Nintendo DS is catering for under 18s the PSP is catering for people aged over 18. They are two different machines for two different groups. I will probably definitely get a DS but like my gamecube it will probably gather dust in the cupboard. Click here for a picture of my PSP with my PDA and phone.

Ok so as I said in my previous post my PSP is in Kuwait. After trying to contact them from 2PM, I was just able to get a hold of someone now:

Me: When can i pick up my package?
Aramex: Package is in Ardiyeh (the main operations facility).
Me: Can I pick it up from there?
Aramex: No, everyone wants to pick it up from there but you cant, its not allowed. You can only pick it up from our Kuwait City office.
Me: Ok when can I come over and pick it up?
Aramex: I don’t know, there are over 800 packs and they have been sorting them out since 1PM
Me: O..K… but when will I be able to pick up my package?
Aramex: Usually around 6PM but we will send out SMS’s when they arrive
Me: OK so at 6 I can come pick up my package?
Aramex: inshalla
Me: Thank you good bye
Aramex: bye

Time for men to put aside their trousers and ties and dress in the comfy dishdasha for a Kuwaiti clothing experience. Women can wear the traditional “daraa” which is a long, loose gown usually worn at home, for an elegant yet comfortable look. For those who are not sure they want to invest in a dishdasha or daraa, the AWARE Center will provide a selection from which to borrow for the evening, and a local vendor will sell ladies daraas.

A hot buffet dinner will be served at 8 pm and AWARE staff will demonstrate a variety of traditional clothing. Price per person: 2 KD. Advance registration with payment is recommended since seats are limited. Call 533-5260/80 for more information.

Today I had Burger King for lunch and was able to try the new Spicy Chicken Royal sandwich. Its been out for a while now but I hadn’t had the chance to try it till today. I have to say, I was very impressed. I think this might be my favorite sandwich of the week. I ordered the Spicy Chicken Royal sandwich with cheese combo plus a regular burger as a side order. Its not extremely spicy and if you like the Zingers at KFC then I would definitely recommend this sandwich. It actually has a similar flavor to the Zinger except without all the grease. I couldn’t find anything flawed with the sandwich except for the fact the cheese wasn’t really melted well. I prefer my slices of cheese melted on my sandwich and not just placed there. The final score for this sandwich, a high 4.5 out of 5.

Tivo Guy asked if there was another service other then Aramex’s Shop & Ship. The answer is yes, there is, MyUS.com. I haven’t personally used it but my old boss did. The prices are more expensive then Aramex but the packages are delivered by DHL, and you have more control over your mailbox. For example, you can tell them to ship your magazines once a month but packages as they come. You can also for example ship the packages on your command. That means you can fill up your box and when you think you have all your stuff you give the order to ship. You also have the option to insure your packages, a good option when ordering items like laptops and expensive gear. Again, this all comes at a price.

4lb’s of weight with Aramex would cost you KD7, while with MyUS would cost you KD12. Aramex also has a one time setup fee of KD10, and then its free annually. MyUS has a setup fee of KD10 but it has an annual fee of KD40 for 12 months, or KD5 monthly.

If you are totally fed up with Aramex, there is another option, but are you willing to pay the price?

[Link]

According to our “secret” source. There is free wifi available at The Palms, Kuwait University, and the Kuwait Airport.

This post is dedicated to Simply Stinni. BMW Films came out I think 2 to 3 years ago. They were short movies directed by famous people and starred famous people. For example the movie “Star” was directed by Guy Ritchie and starred Madonna. The budget was provided by BMW and each film had a different story then the other and different actors, except for one, Clive Owen. He played the same person in all the movies, a driver. Here is a summary of the movies from BMWfilms.com

Brace yourself for intricate plot twists, riveting car chases, and a dose of wit. All eight short films of The Hire, created by Hollywood’s finest talent, are available now for downloading and streaming.

These brilliantly produced films star Clive Owen as the driver. Hired for his superb driving skills and unshakable poise, the driver encounters unexpected obstacles that put his abilities to the test. Watch as each film reveals new depths of character, intrigue, and cinematography.

There are 8 movies in today. All free to download. Make sure you watch the Season 1 films.

[Link]

There is free wifi at Häagen Dazs at Souk Sharq according to a recent post by nibaq. Further investigation has revealed that this is just temporary. By next week the connection there will NOT be free. So take advantage and to those of you attending todays blog meetup, have fun.

There’s an auction on Ebay for the thrill seekers out there. Tornado Attack, LLC and ‘Team Tornado’ is auctioning off the “co-pilot” seat in Tornado Attack One to secure your spot in an expedition which will conduct a tornado chase and put you in the eye of the storm. The TA-1 vehicle started life as a Baja trophy truck and has gone through a $250,000 upgrade that allow it withstand an F-4 tornado (158-260 mph). [Link]

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Since my new phone does not have bluetooth or GPRS anymore, I am going selling my Sony Clie PDA. The model version is UX-40. It has a 480×320 resolution screen, a keyboard with backlight, bluetooth with an option of upgrading to wifi, a built in VGA camera to capture pictures of videos, an excellent web browser, you chat on msn, use ftp, telnet, vnc whatever you want, it takes memorysticks, you can watch movies on it, its basically like a tiny PC. Out of 10 I would give my PDA a condition of 7. I am considering selling it for KD70 which is fairly similar to how much they are selling for on ebay, actually I think mine is even cheaper. I still have the box and manuals all in excellent condition. If you are interested contact me. Here are some pictures.

This is a repost

I found the coolest thing at Fantasy World last week, half pipes and bike ramps. Ok they weren’t real size in fact they were tiny. The different type of ramps were Flick Trix bikes. They are small bmx bikes you ride with your fingers and you use the half pipes and ramps to make tricks. They were selling them REALLY cheap, turns out no one was buying them so they had to knock down the prices. A large half pipe for example costs KD1.200 while a BMW bike only 300 fils. I got 2 bikes and 1 half pipe to try it out, and the thing is huge, much larger then I imagine. Today I am going to go to get other types of ramps and bikes. Very cool stuff here is a picture of my half pip with the 2 bikes. [Picture]

Turns out there is a group of StarWars fans who are standing in line outside a movie theater in the States.. but the movie won’t be playing at that theater. The movie will be playing at a nearby theater and they were asked to move and stand in line outside that theater but the fans refused. They believe the movie should be played at the theater they are standing outside of and they are determined to stand in line for another month and a half till the movie comes out.. although it wont be playing at that movie theater. [Link]

UPDATE: Read the comments under the article on that site. Really funny..

Just got back from a BBQ party. Its 11PM, we got there at 10. 1 hour is all I could handle. The party was at a friends place, a guy I have known since I was in highschool. A very nice guy that knows too many people. Me on the other hand I currently have 8 numbers on my phone, 4 of them are related to me. I am not a social person and I don’t like meeting new people. There were tons of cool looking people at the party, but making new friends takes time and effort, both things I lack. So an hour after coming to the party, me and nat got bored and left. An hour at the party is good, last time we went to a party at Hilton Resort, we left after 3 minutes.