While in NYC I wanted to get a shave and a quick hair cut, my problem is that I have gotten used to how they shave in Kuwait. With a single blade and they do it very well, honestly I haven’t found very many places that know how to shave your beard and give you that cut that the barbers in Kuwait do. Well I have known about The Art Of Shaving for a very long time and some of those stores have barber shops, not all of them do. It started off as a mom and pop business that grew to several locations across the US and was bought out by Proctor and Gamble who spread it all across the US and with them barbershops.

It has this old Gentlemen’s club feel to it and they have some fantastic products, especially their aftershaves which put out the fire on my skin after a shave. I shaved here once in February and the Barber was Puerto Rican and his name was Azreal, so I called and the guy was there. To say that he was an Artist with the a single shaving blade is an understatement, this guy was good, he was so good that I really enjoyed the shave and booked to come back a week later. For me its a pleasure to get a shave, you lay down, close your eyes get a warm towel and you get rid of that very annoying itch on your neck and cheek. He used the shaving cream and oils from the line of products that I like, and I always end up getting a few things from them on the way to take back to Kuwait with me.

They call their Barbershop the Barber Spa, and it deserves to because these guys are really good and talented. If you are ever in New York stop by the Art Of Shaving on 520 Madison Avenue, best place for a man to get a cut and shave. And I always want to buy some of their blades even though I rarely shave at home, still they have some great products which I use with my barber in Kuwait.

You always hear about the A380 and the double decker plane from Airbus and how many Emirates Airlines ordered from them. Recently I had a chance to fly on one from New York City to Dubai. I heard some conflicting reviews about it so I wasn’t sure what to expect but my expectations were not high. Usually I like flying on the Boeing 777 LR as they are comfortable planes with a very good configuration and long range for for those DXB to US trips.

Now for the first time on the plane I was impressed, it felt like I was going into a building, the thing is huge, no joke, it fits a lot of people. The Average plane fits between 180 to 250 passengers on long haul flights but the Emirates A380 can handle 644 Passengers which is an insane amount 143 of those passengers were in business class which I was a part of. You walk in you can feel that it was a bit cramped but also cozy at the same time, the seats were comfortable and go completely flat. It was a 13 hour flight that got a bit interesting because of a technical delay but the staff managed to keep people happy and we made our connection at the end. Overall there were a lot of short comings that would make me not want to get on an A380 again, it was an experience that I would not like to repeat.

My Overall Opinion:

• You are handling over 644 passengers and business class which is usually 40 seats increased to more then threefold to 143 passengers, and they didn’t increase the staff in the same capacity.
• You don’t get that personal touch that you expect in business class, its still there in first but it feels like you are just part of the cargo in business.
• Asking for a glass of water took 25 to 40 mins when usually it takes them 5 to 10 mins max.
• Overall the experience wasn’t that good, the price for A380 is even a bit more expensive then a normal plane yet you don’t get that extra service.
• Basically you are paying for Business Class seats with economy service, you really get lost with the crowd.
• The Entertainment system in Emirates is excellent as usual, that isn’t even under question and I hope they keep it up.
• The bathroom was another design disaster, usual business class is 2 to 3 bathrooms for 40 to 50 passengers, and in this case it was 4 bathrooms with two that the air staff closed so basically two bathrooms for 143 so initially it was 35 to 1 bathroom but in this case it ended up to be 71 to bathroom which you can imagine was a nightmare.
• All of this was just one thing to take into consideration, when you land into any country with 643 passengers the lines at passport control and customs is a huge disaster, even when passengers from First & Business Disembark from the different walkway then Economy we all end up together outside which is a huge amount of people and the number of bags is a also humungous. Basically its as if you are dealing with three planes landing at the same time.

The A380 may have been a success for Airbus with Airlines but it isn’t an experience I would want to repeat to anyone or one that I think is a success for individuals. As a business case its fantastic for airlines, basically packing more people in and the whole plane was full so they will be making more money, for now I’m going to stay away from any flights on that plane and I will try my luck with the Boeing Dreamliner. Boeing may have been very late with the 787 Dreamliner but that is one plane that I am looking forward to flying on. They designed it so it would be more spacious for the person riding and bigger room, more headspace, overall more spacious and more effecient way of flying. So they improved the flight experience of the travel unlike the A380.

Recently while traveling in Europe I wanted to see what options I had to get a data roaming packages and I always annoyed with overcharges. Looking around TEP Wireless seems to have the solution I needed, I wanted a Mifi type device that I could take with me wherever I am going and have internet the moment I land. They used the Huawei device for the connectivity which is standard use by telco companies.

What they are good for?

If you are traveling through multiple locations through Europe and need internet connectivity, they provide a good solution. Keep in mind that the service is based on the carrier such as Vodafone, Orange, or O2, not their own native network. If you want a smartphone when you travel you can also rent it from them but there are a few short comings which I will point out below. Overall for mobile network they did the job.

What they aren’t good for?

I was looking to get a chip for an iPad or iPhone, or a chip for BB service while roaming. They don’t provide this service which would have been very useful, they provide you a full smartphone or blackberry but not the sim card by itself, so with a Blackberry its useless, your groups and emails are synced to the device not the sim.

Overall:

For 75 GBP I had roaming internet at a very 2 to 6 MB speed which is very good, but when the cell service is bad you don’t get any connectivity. I had it working in a few remote locations which isn’t bad, and the device worked fine but after a few hours of being on it would hang so I would have to restart it every few hours but thats a problem with the device. I think its worth it if you are roaming a lot and need data connectivity, but if you are only based in the UK you have other options.

Being disconnected from internet when you have a lot of activities feels slightly strange. Its not that I was completely disconnected, just that I couldn’t really use the internet available very well since it worked at a snails pace. I tried using the internet at the hotel but it would time out a lot and take a lot of time to load normal items such as my email and very light browsing, I tried downloading an attachment but that took so long I had to cancel it.

I was lucky that I got a Vodafone UK Prepaid chip which works fantastic in Europe with Data, just top it up comfortably and even Data works while roaming in Europe in even remote locations but it wasn’t enough to go through my RSS feeds, but I could go through my emails and get on Twitter & GooglePlus. I am loving the Google Plus application on my Android, really streamlines it and gives you lots of options for uploading when roaming. Even the Vodafone UK Roaming chip is 100 times cheaper then Data Roaming on your Zain Chip and much better service and connectivity, I do wish that Zain Services improve until it reaches the levels of Vodafone, but doesn’t look like it any time soon. And before I had a problem with my RSS Feed being over 1000, but now that has gone way past 1000, I think its close to 12000 articles and it would take me at least 3 months to bring it down, and my problem is that I HATE using the “Mark All As Read” button.

Lebanon is known for its service, restaurants and night life, I probably haven’t seen any people with so full of life and wanting to party and go out 24/7 seriously, I for one can’t keep up with them. There is an after club for every club and then lounging in some beach type club the next morning, and always the best of service in any restaurant, and they love rebranding the same places every year and coming up with new concepts for the same place and keeping it fresh. I had some work and break trips to Lebanon over the past 6 months and had the chance to experience the hotels and their services thoroughly on many different aspects, and levels, from personal service to cost of room service. These are the four five star hotels that I had a lot of experience with and the ranking is from best to worst, from top to bottom in all the categories.

Below is the list of hotels by ranking and which one I prefer to stay in:

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome Hotel Beirut
• Phoenicia Beirut

Concierge Service: Le Gray out did everyone in every scale for level of concierge service, if you are willing to pay they can get you into any place and any reservation or anything you had in mind even in very short notice and keep following up with you which is fantastic, that is what made Le Gray the best of the list for me, what set it apart from the rest.

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome
• Phoenicia

Hotel Interior: The Four Seasons Interior is very fresh, very much like the rest of the chain but from a touch of Lebanon

• Four Seasons
• Le Gray
• Phoenicia
• VenDome

Hotel Rooms Size & Quality: Le Gray has rooms which are about 20 to 30 % bigger then Four Seasons but both have excellent quality

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• Phoenicia
• VenDome

Hotel Room Service: Le Gray and Four Seasons both had amazing food

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome
• Phoenicia

Hotel Location: I like walking around and Le Gray had the easiest access to shops and restaurants around it without the need for a car.

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• Phoenicia
• VenDome

Hotel Cost: From Most to Least Expensive

• Le Gray
• Four Seasons
• VenDome
• Phoenicia

The I DRAW CARS Sketchbook & Reference Guide is an indispensible tool for students, designers, hobbyists, artists and car enthusiasts. We’ve designed the ultimate car design field guide by pairing commonly used industry reference materials with a ubiquitous and iconic moleskine-style sketchbook.

I have always thought about being an vehicle designer or an industrial engineer, some one who gets to design those amazingly cool cars. Matt Marrocco and Adam Hubres are two designers/engineers who work in this industry and wanted to provide a book and tool that can help people develop this skill. I love that they have gone with the Moleskine look for this book and they have put a lot of effort into it, all the different perspectives and designs. I for one have zero skill in drawing even though I sketch a lot in my Moleskine so I pledged right away, I love that they have a sketch over section so I can improve my horrible skills and I would love to add this to my collection. If you like this sort of thing check out their website and then head over to Kickstarter to pledge for the book. I hope this is a first edition and they come up with other design books soon.

Link: IDRAWCARS
Link: Kickstarter

A little over a month ago I went to Canada and before that I had to apply for a Visa and to my surprise it takes a little while to get the Visa because you have to send it out of town. And they are very particular about all the details to make sure your Visa goes smoothly, and if there are any mistakes your back to square one and the timer resets back to zero.

Details:

• New Passport Pictures (They will check if its like your passport pics and if its more then 6 months old they will ask you to take new ones and send them, so take new ones when you want to apply)
• Give 3 weeks or 21 working days for you to get the Visa
• You pay a bank fee to process the Visa and send that form as well
• They ask for your 3 month Bank Statement
• The Visa processing center is in Abu Dhabi not in Kuwait

On another note they were very nice upon arrival, pretty much everyone in Canada was very nice during our visit and helpful. I got a lot of pictures I will be posting up at a later time, and when we were there it was during some Hockey games and they are intense about their Hockey.

After years of use they finally decided to upgrade the place, I know they charge about 10 KD for entry if you don’t have a business class seat, I’m not sure what fees they get from the other airlines but I’m assuming its a lot of money at this point. You would think they would make improvements at least on a yearly basis but that isn’t the case. Luckily they do have free internet but honestly its so insanely slow it really kills, they should upgrade it since people are consistently using it. At least this time around the couches are relatively comfortable compared to the previous ones, those were falling apart and needed to be changed, but I think there are too many single couches around the whole place and only large couches on the side which are too few.

This is a very intersting article for the most liveable and loveable cities in the world, and below is just some of the reasons why they do love or don’t love a city. I found Dubai and Jeruselem to have very interesting reasons, I enjoyed the article, where would you love to live and why would want to be there. Click the link below for a ll the details.

Rankings: the best and the worst

New York

The only city that gives me a thrill every single time I walk through it. Fast, furious, brash, cosmopolitan yet completely self-absorbed, it is the perfect big city.

Rio de Janeiro

An extraordinary cocktail of pleasure and pain, beaches and favelas, condos and shacks, Rio is one of the most beautiful, most tolerant and most varied cities on earth. Unfortunately, its high murder rate discounts it from traditional best cities lists. But what a cityscape.

Istanbul

The fulcrum of the delicate balance between Europe and Asia, Christianity, secularism and Islam, Istanbul manages to be both one of the most beautiful cities on earth and yet accommodating to huge and constant change. It is a young, international, wildly commercial city with an extraordinarily vibrant street scene, open 24 hours and genuinely alive.

London

London seems to have the ability to reinvent itself. It has been a magnet for immigrants for centuries and remains a place where the poor can make something of themselves and the wealthy can enjoy their money. Its infrastructure is crumbling, its property overpriced and its weather dull but London’s cultural life is astonishing and most of its museums are free.

Rome

It might be more than 1,500 years since Rome was a proper world city but its allure lies in a blend of history, chaos, beauty and infinite layers of culture.

A few that don’t make the grade

Moscow

Impossible to traverse on foot, infinitely rude, corrupt, understandably alcoholic and seriously traffic-clogged, Moscow needs work. It does have some beautiful bits, from the Kremlin through to the masterworks of revolutionary modernism but the legacy of the communist police state hangs heavy.

Dubai

Everything that could go wrong with a city does here. It is, in fact, a place with no “here”. A succession of malls, highways, hotels and hideous towers, it has spent its history announcing its arrival but hasn’t a clue what to do when it gets there.

Birmingham

Once it was the workshop of the world, an astonishing morass of industry that somehow threw up a powerful, elegant Victorian city, which has been completely destroyed. Its decline has been less complete than that of, say, Detroit or Flint but it manages to be uglier nevertheless.

Jerusalem

I know, I know – beautiful, holy, history lingers in its every shady corner. Yet the treatment of Arabs as second-class citizens, the ghastly security wall smashing through its edges and the omnipresent guns have spoilt it. Jerusalem is the perfect example of why tolerance is so critical to a city.

Link: Financial Times

He is an Artist in SoHo selling in front of shops from his Van and he had some amazing Marvel and DC work done. I love Comic Art and I saw an Amazing Batman that I wanted but I said I would pick up after we were done getting a few things but by the time I got back it was gone.

Talked to him about getting some personal ones done after finding the images I had in mind. Back and forth with the guy and we agreed to 450 for 4 paintings and he came up with some really cool stuff.

The guy didn’t have a cell phone but he had an email which was something new to me. He bought a new phone and topped off the minutes and got back to me on the progress of the paintings. I ended up giving him $20 to top off his phone so he could talk to me when he is done with the work.

Asked him to work on a Superman, Batman, and two Optimus Primes and came below are the amazing the results. I love New York for this reason you get to meet some very interesting people and it is a city which attracts artist and creative people.