I went to a friend’s place yesterday to help with a bbq! It was a lot of fun to say the least! We made the burgers, cut up the vegetables, and prepared what was needed for the good night watching the world cup. And all this while it was still hot outside, but it was so much fun we didnt care much about the heat. The one thing I wanted that I didnt have for the longest of time is a Marinda! How long has it been since I’ve had a Marinda! Seriously! It tasted so good, since I put it in the freezer earlier so it could get cold quick while I was cooking the burgers and hot dogs for the guys!

The Sweet Taste of Marinda!!

This is grounded australian beef extra lean! So it tastes better when you slowly bbq the meat! (Available at Sultan Center)

Mixing the meat with the salt, spices, and herbs to make a great tasting burger. Bundling into big clumps!

Making the right size patties that will satisfy the hungry beasts outside the kitchen!

I cant really show everyone the end result because it was devoured so quickly!

This is the fire for the bbq that we had a difficult time with! But my friend was getting it started even if it killed him! hehehe! And we were coughing like crazy because of the smoke and I think my slippers melted and I burned myself a few times from the coals flying around.

After enjoying the food, the good company, and a good game I was exhausted and it was showing. I could barely hold my head up while watching the Sweden vs. Paraguay game. So I went home at the end of the game, and just relaxing during the drive and smelling like smoke and food. It was funny. I was full and comfortable. As soon as I got home I took a nice long shower, sat with the family, got on my pc for a little bit, and I went to sleep around 2am and I didnt wake up until 2:45pm on Friday! That is exactly what I needed! Now if only it was a little cooler I would be riding my bike!

I went the other day to Marina Mall after having a quick visit to the dentist. And it wasnt a bad visit to the dentist, but I dread going to the dentist for any reason! And after I was done I went for a quick visit to Marina Mall since it was empty. I wanted to take a look at a couple things at the One, but on the way there I stopped inside the Apple Center just to see how rediculous the prices of their products are.

So after finding out the price of the MacBook I decided to try finding how much the other places sell the MacBook for based on Mark’s previous information gathering on the MacBook Pro. Thank you Mark. These are prices for the matt black MacBook

Apple Center
590KD = $2034.00

Solize
Not Available

Kamal Al Sultan
Not Available

zMacShop
550KD = $1896.00

And none of them have it in stock yet, everybody told me another week or two. So anyone with their right mind would by it online and wait for it. Since they are using the usual Kuwait pricing scale when selling these products.

I just found out I have two speeding tickets on my record! I was happy I asked a friend to check for me. You could check online by seeing your civil ID number. Im not sure which website, but I will find out.

The funny part is both tickets are given on the same day. One was for 40 K/h over the speed limit and another for 30K/h over the speed limit. Im not sure what’s the fine going to be. But how come I had to find out if I had a ticket or not, Im lucky I was thinking about it! No wonder nobody pays! Its because nobody notifies the person involved! I have a feeling that here is mistake because how could I get two tickets in the same day (Jan, 9th). But if the ticket isnt too bad Im too lazy to argue with the stupid police, because they will probably be talking out of their ass and lying so it isnt worth the headache of arguing.

I knew from discussions with other people that Kuwait is a facing water shortage and an electricity shortage. Now I keep hearing more and more, and I know of people where the water has cut off from some houese. So for the past week I have thought just to keep tabs on this and see where it goes, because this is an immediate problem and it will affect our everyday lives.

So the list of areas where people have told me the water has stopped in their houses:

• Bayan
• Dahia Abulla Al Salem
• Qurain
• Surra
• Rawdah
• Misseela
• Fahaheel

Some of those areas are where multiple houses have been affected. Then I read the other day in the newspaper about these water tankers being sold for 20 to 25KD for the whole tank on the black market. Those used to be 3.500KD and 4KD. So that is a drastic jump from what it used to be. But I saw all the water tanks saying they are selling for 5.5KD which still seems reasonable. So what I did for past three days is call the number on a tanker and ask how much a tank was and they always asked me for the area. So twice I mentioned Mishref, once Shuweikh, five times Nuzha, and twice Shamiya. Out of all those phone calls the one from Shuweikh, one from Nuzha, and one from Shamiya qouted me the black market price. This was just calling around and seeing who is doing this! They are doing this so blantantly! Just saying it on the phone, and it doesnt seem like anyone is doing anything about it.

The problem is that our water and electricity facitilities have not been updated since the late 70s or early 80s. And our population has grown two fold with our usage has grown with it. And now we have reached this crisis of water shortage and electrical shortage, with no surplus of either. And it would take another 2 or 3 years to build a water facility or eletrical facility so we will be facing this problem again next year. This is going to be an interesting year or two, I hope they see and find a solution quickly.

I visited the One on Friday, I was looking to buy a simple desk and taking a look at some couches for my cousin. There was one couch that I really like which is this one, because you sink all the way in. Usually this kind of couch is soft sides and cushion but this one wasn’t. The one I tried which was soft was in the UK a few months ago, but the tag price on that was 450KD.

And then I saw this one couch which is hanging up there and I had the sudden urge to sit on it, probably because it was inaccessible. Hehe.

While I was taking pictures this sales person came in front of me to tell me taking pictures is against company policy. I told him I’m taking pictures to show a relative, which I was, and then he told me again company policy so then I said I don’t work for this company and its my money that I am spending! Its overpriced and they are giving me attitude!

The thing I do every once and while when I go to the one is sit on as many couches as possible to find the most comfortable one. I dont know who else does that, but its for testing purposes! hehehe!!

I have been trying to stick to a good diet of food, and excercise.. not necessarily depriving myself of food, but working out if I do endulge myself. But to go to the gym or swim I need to eat light for lunch. So after a nice workout I get hungry quick, and I usually just eat a ton of cucumbers and go out. This has been going on for the past week and a bit. Everyday for lunch I have been having grilled fish because its light and healthy, and it tastes good but its getting a little repetitive. Then one day I had laham machboos which thuroughly satisfied me and I really didnt move after eating! And it felt good to eat, and I didnt really go to the gym that day! Or move for that matter! hehehehe. And a lot of times I would have watermelon for dinner since its basically sugar and water.
Today I want to sit down and enjoy the game. So I called Papa Jones and ordered me a BBQ Chicken Pizza! And yes I feel good about it! Yes I do!

Update: I spilled bbq sauce all over my dishdasha, and I couldn’t care less because I am full and happy. hehehehe. Now to continue watching the game! 

What is the usual couple like in Kuwait? I was wondering that because a few people I know are married or getting married. And some of these people are bit free or a bit conservative just differing on a few things. But for the first time the other day I went over to my friend’s apartment who is newly married and his wife as out so it was safe for us to come over! Hehehe! His place was nice and simple, it needs a little bit more furniture or some simple accessories but that’s the best part! Going around and picking these things are fun in my opinion.
When I was in Marina mall on Friday around 1pm it was so much fun seeing normal people, and lots of couples without the usual riff raff that I try to avoid. I was pleased to see that it felt like a normal place unlike the usual packed full of guys type mall. And everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and it felt like I wasn’t in Kuwait for a bit! So I think I will be visiting at these times if I wasn’t at the Beach! I’m happy to see things like this because it gives a sense of normalcy in the hectic life of a couple in Kuwait. Whenever I see two newlyweds together going out, and doing stuff it’s really cool. A friend of mine got married about 4 years ago now, and sometimes I see him and his wife at Johnny Rockets and they are have a good time. With people like this in Kuwait there is always hope things will improve.

Holy Crap today its hot as hell!! Its windy and sand storms everywhere! All these posters for the candidates have fallen into the streets! Its insane! I thought the temperature might go down because of the wind and sand storms, but I was wrong!!! It was 48C in the car when I was driving just now!!! Its getting hot! Damn! I have the A/C in the landcruiser at full while I waited inside the office for the car to cool down a bit! The steering wheel was still hot, but driveable! Im going to retint the car and this time Im going to tint the windshield! Instead of the cheap stuff I have on it right now! This is rediculous!

I love riding so much I dont care when I ride, but there is a very thin line of safety in Kuwait. I ride pretty comfortably and stay in my lane cruising down the highways or the seaside. Im always trying to avoid traffic. If cars are stopped at a light I will slowly move to the front of the pack so I can get away from the vehicles. I do this to keep myself safe so I can ride away from the pack of cars and enjoy myself. But I have run into problems doing this before. When I move to the front of the pack I usually ride at a very slow pace, because people are very unpredictable. One time someone decided they wanted to open the trunk so they suddenly opened the door, and I came to stop just before the door opened! You always have to prepare for the worse and I knew it was a mistake on the man’s part. But another time this happened the man did it intentionaly and gave me a dirty look! Trying to set an example of better riding manners in Kuwait is difficult.

I have had incidents when women would cut four lanes across without looking where they are going and almost hitting me. I’ve managed to get out of most of these situations, and some were close calls. And even when you tell these women to look where they are going they just ignore you thinking your hitting on them! Its annoying, but I live with it because I love riding so much. I wont let others ruin it for me.

Riding in the morning is preferable because there are no cars, but I cant do that every morning. And its difficult to find a comfortable place to go cruising on the bike during the afternoon, but I still go. The problem I had before the heat came along are all these idiots who are pulling stunts in the middle of the highway. I wont lie I like seeing stunts, but not the way these guys do it. They cause a havoc in the middle of the road making everyone come to a complete stop and act like its cool. I usually saw people trying stunts in huge parking lots in the US and sometimes in the highways for short periods of time or even in secluded roads. But these guys pull stunts in busy streets in the middle of traffic causing more traffic jams. And all this without wearing a helmet! They really do have a death wish riding without a helmet, because they will end up as road pizza.

So I have came up with a list of Hazards in Kuwait.

Hazards:

1) Veiled women driving (no peripheral vision)
2) Sand or Gravel on the road
3) Mud spots (water mixed with sand, water from the sprinkler systems)
3) Oil on the road (leaked from cars)
4) Lorry’s carrying debris in the back

When riding always make sure you have an air cushion around you. Meaning your not surrounded by vehicles so you can get out of a bad situation quickly. Always try to have routes planned out in your head so you have exit plan if you need it. I hope this information is useful to people to certain extent. Im going to keep posting information about different riding technics to help people ride in the Middle East or other places.

So I went for a ride the other night with some people from TriStar Motorcycle, which was very interesting to say the least. But I will be posting about that later. I had a previous post about the Ducati RR, which is the Ducati Moto GP bike for sale. Well TriStar motorcycles are the dealers of Ducati, KTM, BMW, and maybe a few other names Im not sure of. But since we Jafar Behbehani was there for the meet I decided to ask him how much he would sell the Ducati RR for. Since I was thinking “maybe” I could get it if its coming out next year. If I save up a lot (which probably I wont do). I know ducatis are expensive, and I know it would be a very limited bike. I was thinking in the 10’000KD or 12’000KD. I know I was dreaming, but a man can dream. Then he told it is going for 20’000KD! I was in shock, I almost choked on the food. I was like what! Then he asked if I wanted him to get me one. I was like nooo thank you, but if you have any left over I dont mind you letting me ride it for a day hehehe. Now thats way out there! But like I said piece of art!