I used to go to comedy shows on a weekly basis in the states or whenever we can, there are always new up and coming comedians who take the stage and make you laugh. A few years ago we had Axis of Evil come to Kuwait and everyone loved it, the show was completely sold out, the guys were fantastic. Coming back after a few years are Maz Jobrani and Ahmed Ahmed in the new show “You Think You Can Laugh”. The two you additions to the show are Dean Edwards and Sugar Sammy, I haven’t heard of them before but I knew it was going to be good. We took the VIP tickets for 40 KD which were very much worth it, just close enough you can see them and their facial expressions, just far enough so they won’t target you. The people who brought this comedy group to Kuwait again is called Element 8, they did an amazing job the first time around, and this time they brought this great comedy line up to Kuwait.

The show started off with Ahmed Ahmed who was introducing people and warming up the crowd, he did a fantastic job breaking the ice and funny as usual. Then there was Sugar Sammy who is probably one of the funniest guys I have seen yet, he is Indian and he left no topic untouched I was laughing so hard I almost fell off my seat. Dean Edwards was the third guy up and this guy was a bundle of energy, he was amazing, he was singing like Michael Jackson, impersonating Eddy Murphy, copying Chris Rock and he was all over the place it was fantastic, he just wouldn’t stop. Then Maz Jobrani comes on and takes the crowd away, it was hilarious and he just wouldn’t stop about Arabs and Persians. The best out of the four in my opinion was Sugar Sammy, and I loved Dean Edwards I just couldn’t stop laughing. The show was fantastic, the two hours flew by so quick we all wanted more. Honestly they should have more comedy shows in Kuwait they would sell out all the time, people love it and their is an acceptance for it, we are starving for good shows such as these, my hat goes off to Element 8 for putting this together.

I had my car worked on recently with a few modifications, and they repainted a part of the car so I no longer had any protection up front. So I decided to get it done at HuperOptik since they did a great job last time, and a the protection on the Landcruiser is holding up to the beating of roads across Saudi and other baren countries. Dropped off the car in the afternoon, they were working on a few cars and one more was outside.

There was one Porsche Panamera S being worked on for tint and protection, they were done with the tint and installing the protection at the time. This is the first time I see a Panemera up close and I kind of like it but really don’t like the rear of the car, the interior looks amazing though. I could tell it belonged to woman because it had a lot of jingly items inside the car, and some pink ribbons. They were also doing tint and protection on a Ferrari California, I really love the look of this car, they were installing protection at the time when I dropped off the car. The reason I like taking my car back to them isn’t just about the product but about the way they handle the work on the car, making sure to cover all the sensitive areas, and the difficult part on my hood is working on the carbon fiber which requires a sensitive touch. I was told to pick up my car the next day at 6 pm, which isn’t too bad.

A few different book piles here and there, some I have gone through and a lot I haven’t but now the problem I have is the pile of books that I have read. There are a lot of books that I want to keep and a few I don’t want to keep anymore. The thing is I will never throw books away even if I don’t want them anymore, usually in the states I used to trade them in at the bookstore or I give them away to a used book store or someone that can make use of it.

I haven’t found a place such as this in Kuwait, I have looked around a bit but not sure where to look exactly. I want to give the books away but I’m not sure if they would be appropriate in a public library, or how well they would be treated in the English section. I just want to give them away to a place that could make use of them or sell them, some are reference books and some are fiction & non-fiction books. Anyone found a used book store that would take books?

Kuwaiti female police officers during the graduation ceremony of the 36th batch of police officers at the Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah Security Sciences Academy today 24 March 2010 . Only women who have a university degree can graduate with a diploma in police officer studies and will acquire the position of Lieutenant

This is honestly something to be very proud of, at last Kuwait is moving forward in this field. I’m sure there are a lot of females who are motivated to join the army and police, and I think they can only make things better in this aspect. Some of those women look like they are ready to shoot and ask questions later, and some look bigger then the men. Some of the females have higher ranks because they graduated from University and then went into military education which automatically gives them a higher rank then a lot of the men.

Thanks Bader
Link: Flickr

I knew they were opening a new showroom in Shuweikh but wasn’t sure when, they got the shipment of bikes two weeks ago and other items being organized into their showroom. When I drove up even the signage change, now there is a big KTM sign out front. The usual assortment of Austrian orange machines inside the showroom is looking good, I was looking for the RC8 but they told me it was taken out for a test drive. Now for their first machine they took the RC8 and turned into a test bike, they brought the orange one over just like the rest of the machines.

I loved seeing a clean showroom like the new KTM Showroom, for those who want to check it out its behind City Center. They weren’t fully stocked yet for accessories but had a nice assortment, I’m just asking for a Akrapovic Exhaust system for my RC8 for a decent price. The only thing lacking from my RC8 is a little sound everything else is perfect with that lovely V-Twin. They are open from 8:30 am to 1:00pm and 4:00pm to 8:30pm, I was there are about 8:30pm and they stayed open with people passing by checking out some of the bikes.

This is just ridiculous, I got a clamp on my tire when I stepped out of the car for exactly 3 mins, I walked in to get measurements for a dishdasha and walked back and saw the cop running away. He was literally running away to his car, even when I called out to him he looked back and jumped in the Ford Excursion and took off. I was in the city by a street called Salhiya Street which is close to where the old Samsung store is now called Centro, there is also a Casio store there, just opposite the tall communications tower (Burj Al Tahreer). When I was looking for parking I circled the area twice looking for parking with nothing available, so instead of blocking traffic I decided to park on the sidewalk thinking that I wouldn’t be too long and I was out quick to see that scene.

I could understand the fine, and I will pay it as I was parked illegally but so was 30 cars behind me which turned the road into a one lane road instead of two and lanes and some parking. Now why do they have to inconvenience people to get the clamp off, and the correct process to get it done is very annoying. You have to wait for Ministery of Interior office to go pay the bill their which is only open in the morning, then you have to wait for the guy to unlock the clamp which can take anywhere between 2 hours to the next day which you will not know. I called a few people and got someone to help me out and told me to sit tight, I had the car on and I was listening to music and bbming people. I was honestly not in a bad mood but it was a waste of time. He called back and said a police car will be back in 10 mins, he even knew the details of my car from what they were told. Now I have been through the legal process of the clamp, and it isn’t a deterrent from parking illegally. In the states I made the the mistake of parking in a handicap spot when I first move there and cop came over and gave me a $360 ticket and I never parked in a handicap spot ever again, I even when to the judge to make the payment over installments which they were more then happy to do. In this case it was a 5KD fine and the police car came after 65 minutes while I had the car on and sitting inside having a conversation with a friend on the phone. And I continued on my way and thanked him for opening even though it was the guy who ran off earlier. I was fine but it looked like he was walking the walk of shame for some reason, maybe because he was called back to unlock it. I’m lucky who called a friend but what about people who can resolve this quickly, give a simple quicker process but for a higher fee and people will pay. I don’t blame the police but the law that does not make any sense instead of motivating people to go about it the right way and the other matter is the nonexistence of parking in the city but thats another issue.

Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

Our environment in Kuwait has taken a beating the last couple of years and our government has done nothing to improve it. This is an initiative from a group in Kuwait supported by this world wide event to get Kuwait to participate and make it known that we do care. I’m not the biggest environmentalist by far, but things have really gotten out of hand in Kuwait and we feel the effects of Global Warming more then anyone else, it just keeps getting hotter and hotter. We need more efficient power plants, real electric billing so people stop putting spot lights in their house like its a Hollywood premiere, Kuwait the only country in the world which subsidizes 95% of the price of power and they don’t even get paid. Let people feel the use of electricity and they will use it less. Even our sewage system and water desalinization plants are coming apart. Kuwait is seriously on a track for an environmental disaster if drastic measures aren’t taken soon.

Suzuki GSXR 1000
Price: 4500 KD
Warranty: No Warranty
Suzuki

Yamaha R1
Price: 4500 KD
Warranty: 3 Months
Yamaha Al Salem

Kawasaki ZX-10R
Price: 4200 KD
Warranty: 1 Year
ZED Motors

Ducati 1198
Price: 6400 KD
Warranty: 2 Years
Tristar

Aprilia RSV4 R
Price: 4990 KD
Warranty: 1 Year
Bike World

KTM RC8
Price: 5990 KD
Warranty: 2 Years
Bike World

BMW S1000RR
Price: 5640 KD
Warranty: 2 Years
TriStar

Right now in the market you have a lot of choices for machines, from Japanese, to Austrian, to Italian, they have all evolved into the creatures that they are today. This is probably the best selection of motorcycles available in the market period, with a choice of service providers. Some sell motorcycles with a passion and some churn them out like cattle. I have managed to get most of the prices of these machines with their warranty periods, and in my opinion warranty is very important. Out of the bunch Yamaha and Suzuki are the worst and they don’t really care because those machines sell themselves, but oddly enough they have gotten a lot more expensive then they were before. Who would have thought you can buy a full thorough bread Italian beauty for the same price of Japanese engineered machines. Each one of these bikes are suited for a different person, they are all far from the same but I’m still surprised when I was asking around. I’m a huge fan of Ducati and it is still one of my most favorite machines to ride, you feel like your riding a machine with an attitude of its own. KTM came out of the corner punching with the RC8, no one expected a machine such as this from the small Austrian firm. Now out of all of them the best value for riding machine is the Aprilia RSV4-R, everything about it is Italian, the engine, the look, and the attitude, it exemplifies the evolution of Aprilia and it has more meaning then the machine itself. Out of all of them I think the Aprilia is the best value for machine, why go for a Japanese with a bad service save for ZED Motors when you can go for an Italian for a 400 KD difference. When I buy my motorcycle I want it to be from the guy who sells motorcycles not a guy who sells a Corolla and a motorcycle, out of all of the companies I would honestly only approach Tristar, Bike World, and ZED Motors. But still what a lovely menu of machines.

Update: Updated the price of Ducati and included the S1000RR, now thats a full menu.

I have a package from MyUS shipped through DHL which came in with 4 Hard Drives, a motherboard, some ram, and 4 Blu Rays. All the Blu Rays are animated movies, Green Lantern, Dante’s Inferno, Halo Legends, and Justice League Crisis On Two Earths. I have come to the conclusion that you can only buy cartoons on Blu-Ray or DVD into Kuwait so they won’t stop it. Bt I was wrong, it has been two days since they said they would get clearance and I told them its only a cartoon why would you stop it. They really drive me nuts, and they wonder why there is so much torrent downloads in Kuwait, people are honestly willing to purchase but if you make it this much of a headache then they won’t buy online. Put a 5% tax that has to be paid and that is it, no inspection nothing, Customs is supposed to make money for the country rather then waste time inspecting toys and other items. It will probably be clear in a day or two but this is seriously very annoying, and I just bought these because I like these animated movies so much that I decided to buy them. They don’t care about the other items, I have had more electronics shipped in in one box before without it being stopped at all but for movies they stop it.

I tried Pinkberry a few months ago and I remembered that it was good and I haven’t gone back there since. This past weekend we went for breakfast and after that we passed by Pinkberry for desert, I was pleasently surprised. It was damn good and I was really hungry for something sweet. They have two flavors that I tried, Pomegranate and Original, I went for the combination of both and it tasted damn good. They have some fruit and candy toppings but I just wanted it plain, didn’t feel like any toppings. People had some odd combinations but they seemed to like it. Later in the day we took the kids to the new Fantasy World in Avenues which was fun, and I thought to take them to Pinkberry for a little desert before heading home. When we went down stairs the line was at least 20 meters long so we decided to go else where. The food and quality is fantastic, the only problem they have is the system and how slow they are, they don’t seem systematic and really need to make these combinations faster even if people want to try. But it seems that people like them so much they are willing to wait and stand in this long lines.