In the Dark

Have you ever wanted to recharge your mobile phone in complete darkness?!, feeling your way for the slim wire, recognizing the charger by feeling the tip?!. if you do that, stop for a moment and think after you do about how well you think of yourself for this accomplishment that most of us do.

Or have you ever felt something under your bed cover and carelessly you move it to hear the sound of a precious item hit the ground?, your glasses or watch maybe?!. Did you ever try to shut the alarm on a weekend morning that mistakenly went off and ended up spelling the half full cup of water on the side of your bed?!.


One incident I remember is that once in a cold night, trying to sleep, I just couldn't get the bed sheet to cover me properly, turning it around and around trying to figure the right way to put it, I found out that it will never work, the cover was folded!!!!

It happens, but it could not if we just thought of turning on the light, In a time where we are all invited to think out side the box, I invite you to make maximum usage of what's inside, we keep stumbling in the velvet darkness of our lives Ignoring that touch of enlightenment provided by those who tried before us!.

Google server Error... Finally

A colleague of mine was searching for the definition of Vine when this happened, I think you can see such event once in a lifetime.... (click Image for larger view)

The terminal... Guest star "Me".

"Hello Adi, I need to talk to you, you need to travel to Ethiopia for a meeting with a potential customer".

Packed and ready, few days later, the day of departure, I opened the demo laptop and Oops,... its the blue screen of death, My flight is in 3 hours, hold on I got email, I got 10 hours...Good.

Prepared another laptop, went to get my ticket... it was not ready yet, The customer promised that my visa is at the airport, waiting for me to come in my shining armor, riding a unicorn and coming for the rescue, "You have to go now... the flight is at 18:00 not 20:00, you will receive an SMS with the ticket No. on the way.

On the road now, TEET TEET, I got it, 2 numbers, no other data, I called the sender, Its Terminal 2 with Gulf Air, got there, and it wasn't terminal 2 and neither Gulf air, disappointed but in a hurry I got to the right place. an ambitious young guy behind the ticket counter looked at me and said:
-Him: you are going to Bahrain!
-Me: I know that
-Him:Where are you continuing afterward
-Me: Addis Ababa"... I answered with a smile, It means "the new flower" the highest city in Africa, with a cool weather and no diseases.

All I had was my passport, an invitation letter and a promised visa, the RJ employee nicely told me that they can't let me on board without a visa, but finally they let me in but after signing a paper indicating that I am traveling upon my own responsibility, I headed to Bahrain with excitement.

I arrived to Bahrain's airport, the plane started to go down over water, scary but promising. After the safe landing and the really strong brake that threw me in the air hanging with a seat belt, I went to get my boarding ticket, " the plane is at 4:15 ... 8 hours from now", I was told to come back at 12:00, I went up to the duty free area; the only slightly entertaining place in any airport.

Seconds passed like hours, hours like days, I did all the required work and it didn't pass 11:00 yet, got medication for my sore throat. At midnight I went back to the ticket counter they told me to come back at 1:00 am, I spent that hour fantasizing about taking off my shoes.

I went down stairs again, the airport representative printed my ticket, "hold on he said, where is your visa?" I explained that I have an Invitation letter and the visa is waiting for me at the airport, they refused, I made calls to Jordan, Lebanon and Ethiopia to put my manager and our partners in the picture, I gave the phone to the person in charge at the airport to talk to my manager after I woke him up it was a short conversation, but still no is a no.

I asked the airport employee to call Ethiopian airlines and ask them whether or not I had a visa, he agreed but kept me waiting for 3 hours , he came back, made me sign a paper that I am traveling on my own responsibility and gave me the ticket, My flight was delayed from 4:15 to 4:45, thank god this happened because I was at the gate at 4:20.

Got on the plane which was not what I would call "Tidy" I never heard of a "very strict economy" airplane ticket, where it is free seating... have you?

Finally I got some sleep, when all of a sudden a really strong light woke me up, it was so intense and so warm, I opened my eyes to see the most amazing view ever, sunrise over and ocean of clouds, it was like the emergence of the obvious truth.

Once we approached Ethiopian airspace the land was like millions of green carpet pieces of all shades of green, with dark black soil than appeared from above in spite of its small size, small rivers emerged from lakes, going distances to merge with other small that finally feeds almost half of the longest river in the world "The Nile" I was so excited to go there and see in closely.

I got to the airport and Voila ... There was no visa, the customer sent someone to solve the issue but he disappeared, my passport was taken from me and I just waited at the terminal for 15 hours, in the first 3 hours I was contacting the other person who arrived to Ethiopia, the airport staff told me they are sending me to Bahrain the same night, If that happened I would wait at the airport for around 18 hours until I go back to Jordan.


I convinced them that I can go to Lebanon and that I can manage from there to go back to Jordan, they approved, but refused to give me back my passport " got it back later but when I was on board".

I kissed my passport ... there is no place like home, things went really smooth at the Lebanese airport and the flight was good as well, I went back by car to Jordan it took less than 5 hours, it was so good to be home but still because I couldn't achieve the mission I went for, I still wish I can go back and give it a retry.

Lesson learned: Travel can be good for weight loss!.

People I have been

1- The shy kid who was attached to the teacher

2- The boy who broke all his toys while trying to "fix" them ... other things at home had there share of fixing as well.

3- After I ran out of toys I created a hobby of collecting empty cement sacks and burning them " I used to BBQ hot dogs on like that"

4- After I got caught by the guard, and he told my parents I got a hobby... that was tennis, and Joking

5- I became the slapped by reality boy!!!... or you can say a heavy metal fan... and my Jokes became better, plus in some parts reality can be a wonderful thing

6- I became the ambitious university student that worked hard to have a competitive value over other fresh graduates.

7- I was welcomed by reality , Hard work is a must, stress is something I got used to, No pain no gain so stand!... got bored of jokes so I started to make jokes that no one would understand

8- People around me got used to my jokes, so I made a blog and I'm going through a "9" phase...I hope shall end soon.

9- I became a filthy rich man ...but also a very modest person who loves charity work to avoid taxes... a man can only hope :) !!

In the memory of ...

Bad news comes in suddenly, not waiting for our approval, free time or emotional preparation.

One of the best professors ever, He taught me Circuits and Machines, two of the most boring subjects in life, but yet he managed to make them seem interesting, he was open to all suggestions and really strict, he used to say " I don't go easy on you because you will become engineers, and there shall be no mistakes there".

It was hard passing his subjects, but I can proudly say that I am a student of Dr. Hamed , May God bless his soul.!

The Windmills of your mind...

a song I was annoying all my colleagues at work with, it was my ring tone, the song i like to sing aloud and like to listen to!... quite an obsession.

The amazing part of the song is that not only it talks about endless things, but can also have endless translations mine is below:

Part I : Life and thoughts are continual and unending and constantly moving and changing.

Round,

Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending on beginning,
On an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain,
Or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning
Running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple
Spinning silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind!

Part II : We go through life searching and traveling on often with little in the way of knowing just what it is we are searching for but still moving forward relentlessly even when there is little guidance (light) to help us find our way and this in turn helps keep our thoughts moving endlessly.

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/60848-1

Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of it’s own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half-forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes of it’s face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/60848-1

Part III: Our past is always with us and in our minds sometimes like a familiar sound sometimes virtually haunting us but all in all helping us along the road of life and keeping us moving continuously in the same manner that a windmill turns without stop when there is a breeze or wind. Substitute mind for windmill and think of the things going on around us(the breeze of thoughts and ideas), as what keeps our mind (windmill) moving.

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/60848-1

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly?
Was it something that you said?
Lovers walk along a shore
And leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway
And the fragment of a song
Half-remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over
You were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/60848-1

The solved contraversy of islamic identity!

This video doesn't speak of the glorious history of the Islamic nation-which no one denies- It reflects the current image of Islam... its about time for people to start thinking about what they are and not about what they were, It also shows that Islam has much in common with other religions.

Thanks for my friend Ashley who shared this video.

Another Day Squeaks away...

Suddenly A nice feminine voice goes "stars shining right above me ... night breezes seem to whisper you love me" I can see now, Another Day has begun...

After snoozing the nice alarm many times until it becomes really annoying I realize that I have to wake up , Now I remembered who I really am... Another working class hero, A little better than being another lonely broken one.

Up I sit and hear a squeak from the bed that will be abandoned soon, off for the daily morning routine, opening the bathroom's door signed by the long squeak, followed by other short discrete squeaks while opening the tap after I realized that I'm so sleepy that my eyes are squeaking.

Dressed and ready to conquer or found a way to convince myself so, I go out and press the elevator button to hear the elevator squeaking its way up with a slight jingling sound ... wishing it's Santa coming to rescue.

A taxi ride with no conversation takes place on the way, where me and the cab driver make a mutual agreement to act as if whatever that's running on the radio is more important than any other thing we might ever discuss.

A working day has begun, most of people aren't here yet, I turn on my computer and hear the far away beep of the monitor, prepare my morning coffee and do whatever it is they pay me to do!, I have today and today only to show them what I am made of ...the old mouse squeaks during the process as if it is a living mouse screaming for help.

Now its break time, I head with some friends to the nearby mini market, and then to the nearby garden bench.

Some strangers are sitting close to us, or are we the strangers?!, We talk about the same things we talked about yesterday and will talk about tomorrow... discussions based on broken dreams and the remaining high hopes, the garden bench squeaks us goodbye when the break time ends and we head back to work.

Work is over, I go home by bus, Taxi, Walking or I get a ride... it doesn't matter I just wanna be there, back to the welcome squeaks of the elevator and the discrete squeaks of the tap ... A daily phone call takes place, providing spiritual comfort, I go to bed, try to change the world in the dark jungles of my mind, and I hear a welcome back Squeak from my bed ... who am I?!!

The End

Creativity in a time of financial crisis... Part 2!

This is the new art collection done by Farah Nasrawi, and the creativity continues....

Untitled


Zakhrafah on Ceramic plate - work in progress.


Close up of zakhrafah on ceramic plate.


Foot sketch in indian ink


Caramel asleep again


Front door (fly screen) of her home before it was demolished... She in that house for 24 years of her life..

End product of the ceramic plate, exhibited at "The Commers" Exhibition at the Al Serkal House, Sharjah

Titled: I've got my hands tied

Click here for

Creativity in a time of financial crisis! pt.1

Jordan as seen by a Telecom expert

I had the chance to work with a telecommunications expert from Sweden ...when he had to go back to Sweden I asked him what did he think of Jordan, he told me that he will forward an email he send to a friend of his...There you go:

Amman, Jordan

Amman is a very mountainous city, built on 7 hills. It’s a modern city which has grown very fast to a population of more than 2 million inhabitants. Public transport is poor. Driving is an adventure. The better-off people live in very large houses and apartments compared to Europe. Nice architecture, houses are built of sandstone, which is cheep, as well as labor. A lot of workers come from neighbor countries, e.g. Egypt, and Syria. Most upper and middle class people have maids, mostly from Asia, plus gardeners to look after the apartment blocks. Land and house prices have raised a lot over the last few years, partly due to the Iraqi immigrants. The immigration from Iraq has now been restricted after that about a million refugees came because of the war.

The difference between rich and poor is noticeable; there are slum areas in the outskirts of Amman. Large Palestinian refuge camps can be seen also in many places in the country side.

People are extremely kind and helpful, especially to foreigners. Many people speak English.

Wherever you go in the country there are rich historic places. I’ve seen John the Baptist place, where Jesus Josefsson was baptized; Mount Nebo where God pointed out the Promised Land to Moses (Mose Backe); Petra, a fantastic place made by nature; Jerash, an old Roman city and several other ancient places.

I have been sitting in the Dead Sea, lived Bedouin life with desert safari and sleeping in tent, been guided through a huge development project in Aqaba where they build hotels, apartments and houses for a growing tourism. They are also building a golf course. By the way, I once played golf on sand and putting on browns outside Amman. I’ve played bridge a few times in a club in Amman

The food is nice and rich of fruit and vegetables. Alcohol is expensive. Petrol is cheep, but electricity and water is expensive. Fresh water is a scarce resource; Jordan is the fourth poorest water country in the world. The river Jordan is continuously decreasing in size and the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth (about 400 meters below sea level) gets lower, people in Syria, Israel, Palestine and Jordan use too much water private and for agriculture. A large project is under way, to lead water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, and get electric power and purify the salt water to get fresh water.

9 people i have been

1- The shy kid who was attached to the teacher

2- The boy who broke all his toys while trying to "fix" them ... other things at home had there share of fixing as well.

3- After I ran out of toys I created a hobby of collecting empty cement sacks and burning them " I used to BBQ hot dogs on like that"

4- After I got caught by the guard, and he told my parents I got a hobby... that was tennis, and Joking

5- I became the slapped by reality boy!!!... or you can say a heavy metal fan... and my Jokes became better, plus in some parts reality can be a wonderful thing

6- I became the ambitious university student that worked hard to have a ore competitive value over othe fresh graduates.

7- I was welcomed by reality , Hard work is a must, stress is something I got used to, No pain no gain so stand!... got bored of jokes so I started to make jokes that no one would understand

8- People around me got used to my jokes, so I made a blog and I'm going through a "9" phase...I hope is shall end soon.

9- I became a filthy rich man ...but also a very modest person who loves charity work to avoid taxes... a man can only hope :) !!

9 stupid things we all did!!!

1- You believed that a certain pen brought good luck in exams

2-You waited a long time for your 5 minutes of fame and screwed it up

3- You walked fast to the kitchen and realized that you have no idea why you went there in the first place

4- You felt bad in a good day or good in a bad day

5- You acted disgusted from a type of food that you have never even tried

6- You made an ugly first impression with someone and became best friends

7- You had stomach ache and ate something you know for sure will make things worse

8- You didn't tell you parents that you are sick so you can go out

9- You invented a technique so you won't forget your keys, mobile and wallet, but you ended up forgetting to apply the technique!!!

The Secret to Being Happy!!!... if you want

To be a happy person you shall evaluate what you have first, maybe after all you are happy but you just don't know it!

Then If the answer is no , you must change something , the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

Thanks to Rami who provided me with the ultimate happiness Diagram...

Tales of mere existance!!!

Reality is cold, boring, but who thought that reality can also be funny, Tales of mere existence has showed that this might happen with a little bit of creativity! ... Enjoy :)

This one is about how we find thing to do just we we have something important to do:



and here is another one ... enjoy



XTTEBFQW2DD6

9 Fairytales that would be ruined if technology Existed

This Post was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Movie -a good one actually- There was a part where Sherlock Holmes talks about controlling a machine remotely by sending a wave command ... "This is the future ... Mr. Holmes said" I smiled and went wild with my thoughts...

1- If the the 40 thieves applied a voice recognition security system on the Sesame Gate, Ali Baba would have never been able to open it... and thus one story goes down.

2- Cinderella and her prince would have to meet on facebook where he shall send her an event invitation, she says "I can't" he asks "why?" and comes to the rescue!!!.


3- Snow white's step mom's mirror would never stand a chance in front of the new LED TV .... "LED TV on the wall ... who is the clearest of them all?!".


4- What would you like more.... a windy Magic carpet or a first class plane ticket?... goodbye Aladdin!!!.


5- Alice would have been watching TV and trying hard to look like a superstar instead of eating mushrooms and hallucinating!... poor Girl!


6- The sleeping beauty would have never been awaken since her Status is always "Appear Offline".


7- All the three little pigs would have built sandstone Houses because they know it's the strongest from strategy games!


8- The beast would be a programming guru and the beauty would have 3000+ followers on twitter... zero chance for them to meet!


9- Jack would have never got on that bean tree because when he call his mom on her cell phone to ask her if he shall do the trade or not.. she ill tell him to cut the crap and come home!

This was Amman!

This was taken from an article in Arabic language written by Ibrahim Jaber Ibrahim, I hope you enjoy this collage of memories about Amman ... please note that i did few changes to the original text to make sure the meaning remains the same ... Enjoy

This is for who knew Amman 40 years ago or maybe more, back then ... our names sounded prettier, Women where more feminine,The smell of cooked Okra used to sneak out from the windows of houses and the "Jovial " watch on the wrist of an old man was the house's newest and most expensive gadget.

Back then , Rain drops were more enriched with water, and the 8:00 pm news were less saturated with blood, the taste of sunshine in our mouths was better and the road to "Al Musdar" was less crowded with Trucks carrying furniture, Back then when school girls hid there femininity on the pages of there science notebooks .

At that time , Sameera tawfik's dimples where the most obscene scene on TV, The bus ride was for only 2 Piasters , Daily magazines used to publish all the names of the students who passed the general high school exam "tawjihi". There was a time in Amman when the gutter used to collect rain water in barrels and story writers used to publish gathered story collections.

Back then when wedding sweets were distributed in thin glass cups called "matbakaniat", and at dawn when the housewife used to pass a glass of tea from behind the door to the garbage man who wiped away the sweat on his forehead and enjoyed the shadow of a nearby wall while sipping the tea.

There was a time when "Northern Shouna" was the end of the world, "Think and Win" was the most important TV competition show, and we never knew that there was a fruit that has the same name of the shoe cleaner "KIWI" we also never imagined that one day we will pull the telephone from its roots and put it in out pockets.

Qdamah - roasted hommous- was given as a prescription for stomach ache and kids used to kiss the hand of their neighbor on the morning of feast.

Back then... when the Chinese soccer shoes where on the top of the wish list of good students, "news of the week" for its owner "Abdulhafeez Mohammed" the most important and the boldest newspaper ever, Germany was the land of dreams and the photo of the singer Sabah on the back of the hand mirror hung against the wall.

When people woke up on the sound of "Mazen al Qubbaj" or "Samra Abdulmajeed" and at noon they heard "Kawthar Nashashibi" ,and waiting impatiently for "Ibraheen Al Samman" in the evening.

The local TV station used to close everyday just like any shop or restaurant , The "Ahli" entertainment city was the place where all rich people used to go to,A trip to Swaileh needed preparation for 2 days and The Jordanian University was a lonely one.

When the red "Bic" pens were the only way to express the burning love emotions before mobile Phone were even invented, when book stores used to sell special paper for letters that had flower drawings and the real flowers were only sold at Jabal Amman, The high class neighborhood , and when passports were made in hand writing.



People used to travel to Syria by train , it was a shame for a man to wear a shirt with short sleeves, Most of houses had Iron baking ovens,where mothers used to bake bread every morning... Hearing the bills of the sheep was the sign that the Shepperd who sells milk is in the neighborhood and the widowed neighbor used to sit all day long against the outside wall carrying her grief with one hand on her cheek.

People used to congratulate and give condolences to each other with a large sac of sugar, mothers used to bathe their kids using plastic gallons and bread sticks was the right gift to bring when visiting an ill person.

Internet was beyond our imagination, If you talked about eye contacts to someone you would be considered an atheist worthy of death, and if you show people you messenger you would have had followers thinking you are some sort of super hero.

There was a time where days were appealing and the cold weather made the kids hands turn red, life was more cold, more poor but it was always green, and we dare too ask ... why do the apples have a different taste?