One of the worst things an Airliner can do, is not give a confirmed YES or NO, when it comes to Pet travel from Kuwait. Many Indians / Non Indian who have pets at home in Kuwait would love to take them to India and back. and if the passenger can afford, then why not?…..

The Air India website   http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/Webpages/Pets.aspx (which gets redirected to, when we click on Indian Airlines on google) is quite clear about the fact that they take pets and even allow them on cabin(if properly harnessed) but the offices in Kuwait have a different answer..

1. They said there is no way they will allow pets in the cabin.
2. They said, Pet carriage depends only on the carrier that will be coming on the “day of travel”. and the staff will only come to know 1 day before the date.

Now my question to anyone there in IA or AI is … isnt it troublesome for the passenger and his family to know and make last min arrangements if the carrier isnt the one that carries pets. Secondly, we have to do import/export procedures in Kuwait for our pet which takes about 3-4 days and also a cost of 30 to 40 KD. Wont time , money and effort go waste ?  ….  this is so unpractical!!!  

Finally, i have been trying to speak to someone in the IA office and everyone has no proper answer. and finally they said to speak to their country manager.. who doesnt even come to work on time. they suggested i call at 11.30 pm to see if has come. i called at about 12(providing him grace time). and he is still isnt in and they dont know what time he would be in …… UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!

So if you are in Kuwait and have pets… dont bother flying with AI/IA … its a run around for your time and money!!!

After scouring the flea markets and finding only the old style heavy singer sewing machines, I was about to give up hope when some genius let me know that Lulu Hypermarket had what I was looking for. I rushed there to only reach to this dilemma- which of these machines should I pick up?!

Here are the prices:

BM 350O – 54.600

BM 2600 – 40.700

BM 3600 – 49.000

XL 5060 – 69.500

XL 6050 – 78.500

XL 5050- 56.500

I tried to find online reviews about these machines (all Brothers) but only found out that there are a bunch of printers produced under the same name with similar model numbers. Anyone who bought a sewing machine at Lu

Mob, or Shrovetide, football as it as practised in Medieval England had no limit to the number of players and no actual rules, often turning into riots. The sport was so violent and problematic that the Lord Mayor of London actually banned the sport in 1314

Football was repeatedly banned by royal decree 30 times, between the years 1314 and 1667

Option 1: Sneak it in with Dry Food

1) Buy a packet of treats that you think drives your cat crazy. (Trust me, there is a treat out there that will make your cat jump hoops for, you just have to find it). I haven’t seen these in the store around, they coulda worked too, but no fret, this way works like a charm as well.

2) Feed her the treats one by one where you hold the treat a little above her mouth making her open it, aloowing you to drop the treat into her open unsuspecting mouth.

3) Give her treats a few times until you hide the tablet along with her treat and let go of them simultaneously. My poor cat was suckered into all her meds with no torturous squishings and prying mouth open techniques.

Option 2: Sneak it in with Wet Food

1) Again find the most expensive yummiest looking cat food like this or this.

2) Mix the tablet well into the food so that it smells/looks like it belongs in there.

3)  Don’t give her/him all of wet food. Just give enough so you can see her gobbling (it’s got to be so tasty that it’s they type he/she gobbles down) the tablet. Lesser the better, because it then remains a treat and she won’t get bored of it the next time its tablet time.

And tadaaaaa two stress free ways to trick your loved pets into taaking their meds that you can alternate between!

The tests include 50 tests as depicted in the screen shot below. Here’s the link to a 15% discount to any other service you visit them for.

Don’t stay paranoid, Go get prodded! Let us know hows their services k?

Since football flu sprung on the 11th, a friend has been entertaining us on facebook with ancient football trivia almost at the rate of a fact a day. Eye brow raising, sometimes jawdropping and often times troubling facts about the game that has now evolved into something that almost alot of us love, and that some to this day unheathily obsess about.  I will continue posting one every day so you can have time to digest them and so I can be secure in the knowledge that I have something to post tomorrow

A 16th Century poem entitled “The Beauties of Football” translated from Old Scots:

Bruised muscles and broken bones,
Discordant strife and futile blows,
…Lamed in old age then crippled withal,
These are the beauties of football

 ”Enjoy the game” as my friend says!

Anyways, back to the actual topic. FIFA’s website not working… sad sad sad looking at the fact that they had years to develop it with an amazing budget!

Check out screenshots taken Saturday just before midnight.

And then I remembered Rayboy had gifted me the Genius G pen 4500 for a Christmas or a birthday! Genius! I whipped it out from the recesses it was tucked away in and plugged it in! It works excellent!

Genius G pen M712 x and m508 does not have any information online but the others:- The Easypen i405, Genius G pen 4500, Genius G pen 560, Genius G pen F350, Genius G pen F509, Genius G pen F610, the M609X, the G pen M712, the Mouse pen 8 x 6, the Mouse pen i608 and the pen sktch 9 x 12.

Some cool features of the Gpen 4500

• Cordless pen has 1024-level pressure sensitivity for all kinds of thickness control
• Supports Messenger handwriting function. Make Internet chatting unique and free.
• The two buttons of the pen can be programmed as the mouse left and right buttons.
• G-Pen 4500 has a programmable “Hot-Key” area for the office and Internet. Use it with the pen device for super shortcuts

While the G pen series are really affordable and also conveniently available at Sultan center at an affordable price, the Wacom series are a little more expensive and not too easy to find in Kuwait. Though the PL series on which you can work directly on the interactive TFT display really took my breath away. Besides Wacom there are several other reputed manufacturers such as UC-Logic, Aiptek, Calcomp and Dynalink but I’m not sure if these are available in Kuwait. Anyone seen ‘em around?

ok guys.. and gals sorry about the lack of posts from me. However Flamin Carrot’s been doing a great job keeping everyone updated about the world’s happenings. So do comment away!!….

I have been personally down with a major dose of food poisoning after having a simple sharwama from “Kuwaitana(now totango) in Salmiya. i did doubt that something of the chicken sharwama didnt look good, either it looked too pale or over roasted.  So Friday- Saturday and Sunday went reallllly bad!!!!! with splitting headaches, growling tummies to what not!!!…

Luckily i had eaten only half of it, before i realised something was wrong. yesterday i decided to pass by the restuarant. It was closed at about 3 pm. to my shock i still see the meat on the grill .. just wrapped around with plastic. i wonder how old it was!!!!!! and they went on reheating it !!!!

Someone must sue them!!!… i might visit them today to give them a piece of my mind! Today, im much better though Weak!… Now i got a hundred mails to respond, loads of people to call… and much more… but will be posting shortly.

I fell in love with them the first day I ate them. Couldn’t stop. Seriously. Had to share them with someone. My sister was the only person who responded to a garbled message about who wanted to try out my latest discovery. Funny though, she should have known me better to never resopnd to those messages, ha! Actually drove the 5 minute towards her to have her check out this my latest discovery. She agreed it was addictive and we went through the whole bag.

The next day was pure torture. She had an overall really really bad tummy though she ate just 25% of the bag. I, on the other hand, went through the other 75% of it and had a bad case of stomach cramps/ gas the next day. I refused to believe it was the chips and when my sis called me up from work the next day I outrightly defended the chips and called her stomach weak and floppy. Yes, floppy. I refused to believe the best tasting chips I ever had included a worse consequence than a hangover the day after.

Unfortunately, the next few times I bought it, it was the same result. I googled it today and it turns out a few other people have complained about the same already…. Have you tried it yet?  What do you think? If not, go to Sultan Centre (Hawalli, it’s not in Farwaniya) and try them out and let me know how you feel tomorrow. For the sake of the pallette, people.

 Extremely important advice and recommendations to be passed on to wives, girlfriends, fiancés, mothers, sisters, daughters, etc. (to all women in general) These rules are to be communicated prior to the World Cup inJune/July this year…

2. During the World Cup, the television is mine, at all times, without any exceptions. If you even take a glimpse of the remote control, you will lose it (your eye).

3. If you have to pass by in front of the TV during a game, I don’t mind, as long as you do it crawling on the floor and without distracting me. If you decide to stand nude in front of the TV, make sure you put clothes on right after because if you catch a cold, I won’t have time to take you to the doctor or look after you during the World Cup month.

4. During the games I will be blind, deaf and mute, unless I require a refill of my drink or something to eat. You are out of your mind if you expect me to listen to you, open the door, answer the telephone, or pick up the baby that just fell from the second floor… it won’t happen.

5. It would be a good idea for you to keep at least 2 six packs in the fridge at all times, as well as plenty of things to nibble on, and please do not make any funny faces to my friends when they come over to watch the games. In return, you will be allowed to use the TV between 12am and 6am, unless they replay a good game that I missed during the day.

6. Please, please, please!! if you see me upset because one of my teams is losing, DO NOT say “get over it, its only a game”, or “don’t worry, they’ll win next time”. If you say these things, you will only make me angrier and I will love you less. Remember, you will never ever know more about football than me and your so called “words of encouragement” will only lead to a break up or divorce.

7. You are welcome to sit with me to watch one game and you can talk to me during halftime but only when the commercials are on, and only if the halftimes score is pleasing me. In addition, please note I am saying “one” game, hence do not use the World Cup as a nice cheesy excuse to “spend time together”.

8. The replays of the goals are very important. I don’t care if I have seen them or I haven’t seen them, I want to see them again. Many times.

9. Tell your friends NOT to have any babies, or any other child related parties or gatherings that requires my attendance because:

a. I will not go,

b. I will not go, and

c. I will not go.

But, if a friend of mine invites us to his house on a Sunday to watch a game, we will be there in a flash.

10. The daily World Cup highlights show on TV every night is just as important as the games themselves. Do not even think about saying “but you have already seen this…why don’t you change the channel to something we can all watch??”, the reply will be: “Refer to Rule #2 of this list”.

11. And finally, please save your expressions such as “Thank God the World Cup is only every 4 years”. I am immune to these words, because after this comes the Champions League, Premier League, Italian League, Spanish League, etc etc.

12. Thank you for your co-operation.

Regards,

Men of the World

 Honestly, I’m gonna be watching the matches mainly for the below images. The real treat for the women is on this link http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/10/world-cup-2010-hotties-wh_n_603058.html#s98796

 

So as we all know, Rayboy, our dear irreplaceable and indispensable IT Genious of all things virtual and great has been busy scouring the sands of Kuwait seeking the sleekest solutions for his beloved and unending list of clients.

I protest.

As a co-writer of this blog, I hereby declare that I shall withhold posts of varied nature pertaining to information wanted by YOU, my one and only reader; unless the terms are met. No info of ongoing sales, no updates on two certain sharp clawed but amicable cats, no….  ….. whatever on earth I subject you to occassionally.

Terms and Conditions

Statcounter or feedjit shall be made available by a certain Rayboy to a certain Flamin’ Carrot (P.S. Imma be changing my pseudonym soon so don’t get too confused)

Hmmm? What say you? Yeah thats it. I should demand more huh? Okay.

Statcounter AND feedjit shall be made available by a certain Raboy to a certain Flamin’ Carrot (P.S. Imma be changing my pseudonym soon so don’t get too confused)

Everything is on sale right now! It’s the month of not saving a fils and maxing out your credit card! Turns out a few of my friends didn’t know about some of these sales, so I thought I’d share it with y’all.

Centrepoint showrooms in Al Rai, Fintas and Hawalli are on the last week of their one month sale. The Salmiya showroom is no longer on sale. Li-ning in Salmiya off Baghdad Street (Near Marina Mall) has a 50% sale that’s gonna last another 3 weeks. They have better prices and variety for sports wear than Centrepoints Kappa had or so it seemed. Ikea, we know is on sale, through its facebook ads as well as from every second billboard that they have hogged up all over Salmiya.  I know some of the Habchi & Chalhoub stores like Carolina Herrera will be on sale next month.

Anyone else know any stores worthy of some checking out that are on sale?

Browns the green. Censors the sun. Clogs the nasal passages. Tickles the allergies. Blinds the Drivers. Devoid of purpose. Ambles. Or does it?

If you’re in Kuwait, no, you can’t miss the dust storm. I park and rush towards the building. But even as I walk indoors shaking myself free of the dust, I know I can’t get rid of it all. Some of it has already embedded itself deep inside me, and I’ll never leave Kuwait without having a part of it nestled inside, hatching.

Flamin’s Ramblins

P.S: Sure doesn’t help that I’m writing this at the end, but here’s a listen for while you read http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxVJXM3Ltt0&feature=related

When I joined the company I work with now about 4 and a half years ago, the one thing that tortured my nomadic soul was the 14 days off in a year I would get. I still tried to travel, but much of the adventurous me was successfully surpressed into a dying ember tucked away in my left toe.

Last year when the gossip of the new labour law made the rounds, just one thing caught my ear. It wasn’t the increased minimal salary which probably brought hope and comfort to thousands of people here. It wasn’t the promise of more maternity leave for the women who wanted to get with the reproducin’ already. It wasn’t the increased amount of sick days off to 10 days from the 7 we used to have. Okay, well that did make my head turn and grin a little more maniacally than is socially permitted.

It was the fact that now henceforth it would not be the standard 21-days-vacation phase that I would soon slip into as an employee of 5 years, but 30 whole days. 30 days. 30. Thirty. THIRTY!  (I just got so excited about it I almost spilt my glass of water onto the keyboard. Meh.)

You wonder why I be excited about this now, even though as you (my one and only reader out there) may recall that I posted the Kuwait Labour Law in January. Well, the fact of the matter is that like many companies, ours dont pay much attention to what the rest of Kuwait is doing. We still work Saturdays and Thursdays. We… We… …. Well, the one day weekend is big enough a deal for us all to conjoin focus on that fact through horrified eyes! Oh yeah, and we’re still “encouraged” to keep our passports with them which I for one, honestly haven’t argued with because I think mylengths of carelessness might mean that I could misplace it meself.

So that’s why the 30 days had me calculating and smiling sans reason at my monitor or other inanimate objects oh so randomly. I just found out that while we decide to calculate Jan and Feb as 14 days off; we take March to December as 30 days off which still adds up to 29 days off this year!

 12 months / 14 days = 0.9 days x 2 months = 1.8 days

12 months/ 30 days = 2.5 days x 10 months = 25 days

So I have 26.8 days left, woohoooo!

Now since I inexplicably suck at match on Sundays and perhaps Tuesdays as well you can check this out and either comment about how much leave you get this year or you may even, dare I say, correct my math today

POST BY: Flamin’

1) Demand your indemnity

2) Accept whatever crap indemnity you are getting if it is even 50-75% of what you are supposed to. The crap involved with shoon is a long and trying journey and will dwindle the money you get in the form of lawyer fees to 50% or 75% anyway (if not lesser)

3) This should probably be numero uno on the list, but leaving on a good foot will get you so far, and further- You might get more of that indemnity than bullsh*t.

4) Delete the history on your browser. I know exactly what you were tryin’ to look up on www.hidemyass.com, buddy.

5) Clean up your vehicle before you give it off. Seriously, whatevers under your back seat, it’s gross. Especially when unidentifiable!

6) Make sure that your computer is formatted or something so the next person there does not sign into your msn, or get revealed your “facebook activities” ugh!

7) Remember to spray some of this on the inside of one of the drawers of a colleague you particularly dislike. That’d teach ‘em everytime they open the drawer buahahahhaah!

If you are using a company phone number, message everyone and tell them to no longer contact you on this number. If the next person using that line receives calls at 3 in the a.m your reputation may just run amuck, mista!

9) Do NOT aggravate the IT department or they WILL sell your password for a cup of coffee.

10) That last month/ week you are there let them have the best of you. Don’t be the grouch that you can very well be, but let them see the super funny, energetic, helpful teamplayer that they are going to sorely miss when the office is dead quiet and the silence begins to haunt them!

Hmmm, anything I miss, peeps?

A dinner at Seven Bars on Thursday,and a sportsmans dinner at the British Embassy on Friday; Derek Whyte, former scottish football player and Rob McCaffrey, British Television presenter have both been spotted around Kuwait raising awareness about the hospice they are raising funds for.

Former Celtic and Middlesbrough defender Derek Whyte presents Premiership football throughout the Middle East on Dubai based Showtime Arabia  can be found here http://www.robandderek.com/

The show, titled Rob and Derek Live at Meydan, will see the pair joined by a host of big names in the football industry, providing fans with an in-depth analysis of the biggest games from June 11 to July 11.

It’s not just my sister calling me from the landline to the cellphone (when it just goes beep beep beep or the jihaz muglaq (sp?)…. It’s also when I’m at work trying to call clients and suppliers cellphones from the landline so I can save my monthly quota of calls to spend on my social life. People who have tried calling my cell from a landline often suggested that I might be happily wandering off searching our arid desert for treasures during work hours since my phone was jihaz muglaq, when I have innocently been sitting in my office reading T.S. Elliot working.

Ever since they opened up free calls from landlines to mobiles the traffic has undoubltedly increased. The lines are ever more conjusted, says a source. An update of the current system is underway but it looks like it’s a matter of a few more months….

I was just glad to know it wasn’t just me, and that at least something is done about it. There’s supposed to be a problem with international calls as well, but I haven’t had any trouble yet, have you?

So you know when there’s two days left for your hakama to expire, and your mandoop tells you that if there’s any fines you’re going to have to bear it unless you give him 2 passport size photos this very evening at 1700 hrs and not a second later?

Well the following information serves useful when you end up in a situation like that, and unsure of which studios glamour up the photos to give you that flawless complexion that your Mac studio fix does not.

I headed to Indian Salmiya because I knew they charge way lesser and sometimes even give the copies in way lesser time then the other places. There are two studios on Issa Qatami street on that block # 10 past the Amman/ Thakkar restaurants; and I tried out the second one.

 The place was called Studio Digital Plus and the guy was an utterly rude grouch. They charged 1.500 for 12 passport size photos in 45 minutes, he grumbled sourly. I went into the studio part of the shop quite annoyed and called up a friend and asked if he knew how long other studios would take. 4 hours he said, or 5 if you’re unlucky. I went ahead and clicked the pics and decided to try out a few other places as well.

First stop, Bushairi on Baghdad Street. You will get them at 5.30, said the receptionist. 3 K.D for 8 photos.  There was a really nice lady there, I believe she owns the place as her picture was framed above the receptionists table. She tried to find out if they could give me the pictures more expeditiously but it turned out that the person who could’ve made it happen had already gone for lunch. It was 12.00. Oh well, I would’ve tried them out.

Next stop, Photokina. Next to Shaab Park on that narrow street you can get on from Gulf road. 5 K.D for 12 pictures. I would get them at 5.30 as well, unless I decided to get them clicked at Hawally, near Tunis street, where it would be an hour. I know the traffic around there, aint the best and decided to head back to collect the pictures from the grumpy fella.

On the way there, I check out the other photo studio called Photo Plus.  K.D 1.500 for 12 pictures, all in 15- 20 minutes. No lunch break? I ask the young guy with raised eyebrows. No, ma’am, was the terse reply. He picks up the camera after I am seated and does the whole, “look this way, that way, higher, a little to the left” unlike the first guy. Then he shows me the pictures on his camera immediately, again unlike the first guy. I leave satisfied, they look so much more promising.

I pick up the sets and it’s clear which one’s are better. Photo Plus are totally worth it.

• Assistant IT Engineer(need to know Formating, Installation of windows & other applications, cabling & networking, must have a driving license.)

I haven’t had such a lazy day since eons, or even since the word eons came into existence. Such a fried day, only like Friday can be. I can’t pull any late nights tonight as I work Saturdays, and even though I work late Saturday mornings it still doesnt help you pull off a successful Friday night with proper closure.

More and more companies are giving in to everyone getting Saturdays off. I honestly don’t mind working Saturdays, as long as it’s from my couch in front of the tv from whence working doesn’t feel like work. The grass on the other side is always greener is a phrase that can be applied to business as well; I love to work from home- and always feel like I’m more productive since it’s on my own time.

So one lazy evening surfing from the couch for tomorrow begins a new week of change at work and other routines. Will consider sharing it with you in the next post. Now for some KDD ice cream and Sex in the City marathon until I fall asleep. Ah bliss.

Recently, our telephone at home was shutdown and we get this message, that “Your phone has been disconnected due to non-payment”. Now more than the phone itself, i was freaked out about not having internet at home and it caused me to either rush to the nearest exchange or check it out online. Zita(my wife).. suggested we check it online. So after about 20 mins of searching for the MOC site, we didnt really find anything there. So we checked out www.e.gov.kw and found that we could pay online!….

I was worried about the process as government sites hardly work! and steps involved, since it was in Arabic. but we used google to translate every word that was in arabic. and managed to get the bill paid using KNET. it was a Six Step Process.

1. Sign in using your Phone and CivilID.
2. Check your balance pending.
3. Pay via knet, the same amount pending or more than whats pending.
4. Enter your Email for a receipt.
5. Pay with your debit card, and confirm
6. Await Receipt on screen and Email

i thought i had to wait till MOC checks the balance, but we checked the telephone and wow it was instant!!!!

For a direct link to the service, click here : http://e.gov.kw/MOC_en/Pages/eServices/MOC_AR_EService_BillsQuery.aspx