Every year I work on the new educational magazine for the office. We had two of them only, one for Canada education, and the other one for New Zealand education. I normally do the research, and prepare the counselling materials that come to my mind from the many questions students ask me about. Then work with a designer and a translator then the printer, and abracadabra the magazine is out. This year we decided to have a global education magazine, containing information about all the main educational destinations in the world. We thought that our students deserve the best. So the research started by hiring two interns who worked mainly on the materials, whilst I was working on the counselling materials. my son took over the project and was discussing the various bits and peices with the various people. The printing cost, the designing cost, the translation cost, the pictures, the content and any other things needed for the magazine. The main thing is we are showing our students the best in each country and how to get there.
The project started in June, and for the past four days four of us were checking the integrity of the materials and the validity of the information. Google was a great help, google translate was also open as a window, and the good old wiki was extensively used. We had the first print that my son prepared with the designer, it made 222 pages in total. So the drill was I look at the print, my son looks at the english part on the screen, the translator looks at the arabic part on his screen, and content validity checker on the third screen, my screen was open as the final authority. I didn't realise that so much information was in my brain, and I thought that alzaheimer had taken a good part of it :), as usual, we had to standardise many information, Removed many more, and added more valuable content, also we found that few sections were not in the first print, which means the designer was half asleep when he was preparing our masterpiece (sorry HUSSAIN), so we had to relook at each page and confirm it's truth or untruth then we cross read the arabic and english to make sure that our arabic students are not missing out on the good stuff.
All I want to say here is that after we spend over 200,000 dirhams, we are going to distribute to our students one of the best educational magazine there is. My son is seriously thinking of Pulitzer and also working hard on the trademark.
If any of you want a copy please email me and I will be happy to send you a copy. Of course I will value your comments and contributions for our next edition.
Happy reading
Wednesday 29 December 2010
Monday 27 December 2010
Old school versus the new school
A very interesting discussion came about today between my house guest and I. She is young and enthusiastic and I am old with old thinking style. She is a real intellect and wants to make a difference in this world. I on the other hand is stuck to my thoughts that the children of this generation are laid back (I call them the facebookers and twiters’ kids).
Anyway, what really enthused me is that she thinks that the new school of thoughts can only take over when we (the old generation) die; i.e. the new generation will set idle waiting for us to die then they will implement their new ideas and new thoughts, and improve the world. This also means that we the teachers will never see the results of our hard work in upbringing this new school generation as they are worried that if they start to apply their thoughts (which to begin with were instilled by us) we will be upset. And why will we be upset? She says that we the old school are the main creators of the red tape, this stops the new school of thought to apply their thinking and improve the situation.
Ok, what is this situation that requires change? I mentioned for example that if Bahrain allowed my husband to enter Bahrain, I would never have moved to Dubai, she said that due to the red tape this had happened. We the old school want authority, and want to have our opinion heard, them the new school are the owners of the "teamwork", the owners of "tweeting", the creators of "facebooking", all of these platforms allow people to talk and criticise. Thus red tape prevents them from venturing out and disallows free thoughts and free movements of intellectuals. She says that the red tape is the main reason for the brain drain from various Middle Eastern countries.
I must agree with that, even though I will not be alive to witness this change, I am very happy that my kids’ generation will not have to face what I faced.
when I mentioned to my house guest that I had 18 house moves in my 30 years of living overseas, she almost fainted, as her mum (my friend) moved only twice during those years.
I must say something here though, I can be an expert in moving, I must start a movers company and leave it as a legacy for my kids' kids in case the new school of thought people were not able to apply their thinking.
Anyway, what really enthused me is that she thinks that the new school of thoughts can only take over when we (the old generation) die; i.e. the new generation will set idle waiting for us to die then they will implement their new ideas and new thoughts, and improve the world. This also means that we the teachers will never see the results of our hard work in upbringing this new school generation as they are worried that if they start to apply their thoughts (which to begin with were instilled by us) we will be upset. And why will we be upset? She says that we the old school are the main creators of the red tape, this stops the new school of thought to apply their thinking and improve the situation.
Ok, what is this situation that requires change? I mentioned for example that if Bahrain allowed my husband to enter Bahrain, I would never have moved to Dubai, she said that due to the red tape this had happened. We the old school want authority, and want to have our opinion heard, them the new school are the owners of the "teamwork", the owners of "tweeting", the creators of "facebooking", all of these platforms allow people to talk and criticise. Thus red tape prevents them from venturing out and disallows free thoughts and free movements of intellectuals. She says that the red tape is the main reason for the brain drain from various Middle Eastern countries.
I must agree with that, even though I will not be alive to witness this change, I am very happy that my kids’ generation will not have to face what I faced.
when I mentioned to my house guest that I had 18 house moves in my 30 years of living overseas, she almost fainted, as her mum (my friend) moved only twice during those years.
I must say something here though, I can be an expert in moving, I must start a movers company and leave it as a legacy for my kids' kids in case the new school of thought people were not able to apply their thinking.
Monday 20 December 2010
Higher education cost in the UAE
I attended a conference with NAPO on the future of education in the UAE. I enjoyed the conference very much. One of the lectures was very interesting and an eye opener, the speaker mentioned the cost of higher education in the UAE, and the figure per EFT is startling. Thus I have some suggestions here if applied properly may reduce the cost tremendously.
1. To increase the participation of local industry in the education field. For example in USA and other advanced countries the major companies fund some projects or buildings at the higher education institutions in that country, and many awards or buildings are named after the company or even the person that donated the funds from the community. The reason they do this is because these higher education institutions are the ones that contribute to the society and bring out the best in the young adults. This requires a whole new strategy and a team of people either from the local government or a special company to be set up for this purpose. As you may know local companies do not pay tax, and do not contribute to the society at all, and on top of this they higher imported labour that actually take out money from the country and send it overseas, the country thus loses. This will be their contribution to the society.
2. Allow foreign students to study at the higher education institutions, for example there should be a quota of say 8-10%. These students will be paying commercial fees and the colleges and universities will benefit, plus it would let the local student learn from the hard working of these foreigners and probably work harder.
3. Share the faculty between the colleges and universities and do satellite campuses.
4. Insist on graduate outcomes. Rather than just % GPA
the thing is< who is listening.
1. To increase the participation of local industry in the education field. For example in USA and other advanced countries the major companies fund some projects or buildings at the higher education institutions in that country, and many awards or buildings are named after the company or even the person that donated the funds from the community. The reason they do this is because these higher education institutions are the ones that contribute to the society and bring out the best in the young adults. This requires a whole new strategy and a team of people either from the local government or a special company to be set up for this purpose. As you may know local companies do not pay tax, and do not contribute to the society at all, and on top of this they higher imported labour that actually take out money from the country and send it overseas, the country thus loses. This will be their contribution to the society.
2. Allow foreign students to study at the higher education institutions, for example there should be a quota of say 8-10%. These students will be paying commercial fees and the colleges and universities will benefit, plus it would let the local student learn from the hard working of these foreigners and probably work harder.
3. Share the faculty between the colleges and universities and do satellite campuses.
4. Insist on graduate outcomes. Rather than just % GPA
the thing is< who is listening.
Friday 17 December 2010
Gender diversity
Gender diversity
Belgium has the lowest gender pay gap followed by New Zealand then Poland then denmark. GCC countries have less than 1.5% women on boards and 78% of Mena banks do not have women board members those that are there are not hired on merits.
Nasser Saudi chief economist of DIFC authority says that they are announcing a joint venture with Hawkamah and Madura institute for development of women leaders as they enter boardrooms, and forming of a network of women entrepreneurs. He said there is lack of education in fields that will allow women to excel in corporate management, he also said that “We educate women and then park them at home? What a waste?”
On the Same day as this was written in the papers there was a meeting between Sheikh Mohammed and the GCC ministers of education and the Arab bureau of education discussing a host of education related issues. The ministers came here to be in the 21st general conference.
Queen RANIA raises funds in a charity dinner in Bahrain for her project "madrasati Palestine women's network” with Sheikh SALMAN who by the way chairs the most important conference in the gulf on education (annual conference for Educators)
Also yesterday Dubai Academic City held their education forum discussing research and developments and improvements in education.
All of this happened in one day only. If we scroll through the dozens of newspapers, magazines, radio podcasts, TV news, emails from Arabian business etc, you will find so many initiatives on education, and so many talks about improving it in our world. At the same time you find a stupid policeman whipping a woman in the streets of Sudan despite the profit’s saying that we should respect woman and carry them like water on a plate.
Who are we kidding? I am not a pessimistic person, and everyone says that I have so much positive energy, however when I read all of these items and attend the conferences and the seminars I become more and more pessimistic in seeing any improvements, maybe not in my life time? Maybe the kids of my youngest daughter will see a change?
What do I want to see? I don't want to see efforts and money spent here, there, and everywhere on conference and seminars. I don't want to see a non unified efforts on improving the lives of women, I don't want to see charity dinners to raise funds (the meal itself can feed a lot of poor and hungry stomachs) I don't want to see ministers meeting, and what they discussed never gets cascaded to the people who are actually doing the work. I don't want to see individual initiatives to empower children, men or women? We need an educational revolution, and we must start from the top down?
For example, have you seen an email from a minister in your life? I surely haven't seen one, despite sending many to their secretaries. Have you seen a reply to a letter from a top person in an important place? Nop, have you been able to showcase your idea without fear of it being stolen and applied? Nop again
If I was the government I will be living in the streets for people to talk to me and ask me things, I will have secretaries (like the movie letters to Juliet) who will answer letters that the public had sent to me and never be guards that prevent people from talking to me. I will have networks by neighborhood, and listen to kids, and see projects that children designed as maybe they are the ones that can change the world.
But I am not the government; most of our governments are scared that if they walk in the streets people will ask them for money? Or will shoot them? And as the saying goes, if you fear something it may happen to you. So why fear? And why anticipate? Why not imagine that those who are going to stop you in the streets are people with ideas that will improve the lives of other people? Why not have a Chanel where people go and say their ideas and initiatives without red tape, and without fear of losing their intellectual property. Many why's, with no possible answers.
Belgium has the lowest gender pay gap followed by New Zealand then Poland then denmark. GCC countries have less than 1.5% women on boards and 78% of Mena banks do not have women board members those that are there are not hired on merits.
Nasser Saudi chief economist of DIFC authority says that they are announcing a joint venture with Hawkamah and Madura institute for development of women leaders as they enter boardrooms, and forming of a network of women entrepreneurs. He said there is lack of education in fields that will allow women to excel in corporate management, he also said that “We educate women and then park them at home? What a waste?”
On the Same day as this was written in the papers there was a meeting between Sheikh Mohammed and the GCC ministers of education and the Arab bureau of education discussing a host of education related issues. The ministers came here to be in the 21st general conference.
Queen RANIA raises funds in a charity dinner in Bahrain for her project "madrasati Palestine women's network” with Sheikh SALMAN who by the way chairs the most important conference in the gulf on education (annual conference for Educators)
Also yesterday Dubai Academic City held their education forum discussing research and developments and improvements in education.
All of this happened in one day only. If we scroll through the dozens of newspapers, magazines, radio podcasts, TV news, emails from Arabian business etc, you will find so many initiatives on education, and so many talks about improving it in our world. At the same time you find a stupid policeman whipping a woman in the streets of Sudan despite the profit’s saying that we should respect woman and carry them like water on a plate.
Who are we kidding? I am not a pessimistic person, and everyone says that I have so much positive energy, however when I read all of these items and attend the conferences and the seminars I become more and more pessimistic in seeing any improvements, maybe not in my life time? Maybe the kids of my youngest daughter will see a change?
What do I want to see? I don't want to see efforts and money spent here, there, and everywhere on conference and seminars. I don't want to see a non unified efforts on improving the lives of women, I don't want to see charity dinners to raise funds (the meal itself can feed a lot of poor and hungry stomachs) I don't want to see ministers meeting, and what they discussed never gets cascaded to the people who are actually doing the work. I don't want to see individual initiatives to empower children, men or women? We need an educational revolution, and we must start from the top down?
For example, have you seen an email from a minister in your life? I surely haven't seen one, despite sending many to their secretaries. Have you seen a reply to a letter from a top person in an important place? Nop, have you been able to showcase your idea without fear of it being stolen and applied? Nop again
If I was the government I will be living in the streets for people to talk to me and ask me things, I will have secretaries (like the movie letters to Juliet) who will answer letters that the public had sent to me and never be guards that prevent people from talking to me. I will have networks by neighborhood, and listen to kids, and see projects that children designed as maybe they are the ones that can change the world.
But I am not the government; most of our governments are scared that if they walk in the streets people will ask them for money? Or will shoot them? And as the saying goes, if you fear something it may happen to you. So why fear? And why anticipate? Why not imagine that those who are going to stop you in the streets are people with ideas that will improve the lives of other people? Why not have a Chanel where people go and say their ideas and initiatives without red tape, and without fear of losing their intellectual property. Many why's, with no possible answers.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
Global village fraud
I haven't been to global village since 2007, everybody keeps bragging about how nice it is and how we can find bargains blablabla, but I kept on resisting it, the last time I went we ended up spending on rubbish, and the food that we ate gave me stomach ache for days afterwards.
Anyway, I had to go tonight as the kidls insisted, There were five of us, so I gave the ticket girl fifty dirhams, and asked for the receipt! She gave me a thirt dirham one? I asked her it's not the right one, she said that she punched the wrong button, so I accepted it as I didn't want to creat a scene. Then when we entered, the girl at the entrance scanned the tickets to open the gate for each one of us, and kept the tickets. I was wondering why she kept the tickets, I realised later on that she must have kept them for a reason, then I saw her retrying to the ticket stall and handing those same tickets to the girl at the counter. Why? Well, to me, they are trying to pocket some of the money. I am not sure why the management changed the rules. In 2007, we used to receive pre numbered tickets, that has a raffle drew, this time (of course I am not sure what happened in the previous two years) the tickets were not numbered, and we couldn't keep them, so those that worked there could try a scam without the management knowing about it. Of course not many people would want their receipts so you could be paying the ten dirhams to the girl and not to the administration of the global village. Someone should figure out a better way to remove the possibility of any fraud.
I am not going to talk about the merchandise on sale at each country's village, nothing of real value, and most if not all is of similar quality to what is available in Dragon Mart, except the price, here it is double. I must say though that the games machines were not crowded, and the food was tastier, also the cheeses and olives on sale in Palestine and Lebanon, was of superior quality. On another note, I had to buy me a pair of flip flops, and a pulley, my shoes where not comfortable enough, and the stuff that we bought were too heavy. Of course the area the village is built on is huge, so anyone would feel tired, especially if one buys stuff that is low in value but high in weight.
Anyway, I had to go tonight as the kidls insisted, There were five of us, so I gave the ticket girl fifty dirhams, and asked for the receipt! She gave me a thirt dirham one? I asked her it's not the right one, she said that she punched the wrong button, so I accepted it as I didn't want to creat a scene. Then when we entered, the girl at the entrance scanned the tickets to open the gate for each one of us, and kept the tickets. I was wondering why she kept the tickets, I realised later on that she must have kept them for a reason, then I saw her retrying to the ticket stall and handing those same tickets to the girl at the counter. Why? Well, to me, they are trying to pocket some of the money. I am not sure why the management changed the rules. In 2007, we used to receive pre numbered tickets, that has a raffle drew, this time (of course I am not sure what happened in the previous two years) the tickets were not numbered, and we couldn't keep them, so those that worked there could try a scam without the management knowing about it. Of course not many people would want their receipts so you could be paying the ten dirhams to the girl and not to the administration of the global village. Someone should figure out a better way to remove the possibility of any fraud.
I am not going to talk about the merchandise on sale at each country's village, nothing of real value, and most if not all is of similar quality to what is available in Dragon Mart, except the price, here it is double. I must say though that the games machines were not crowded, and the food was tastier, also the cheeses and olives on sale in Palestine and Lebanon, was of superior quality. On another note, I had to buy me a pair of flip flops, and a pulley, my shoes where not comfortable enough, and the stuff that we bought were too heavy. Of course the area the village is built on is huge, so anyone would feel tired, especially if one buys stuff that is low in value but high in weight.
Monday 6 December 2010
Social Network
How many of you watched this movie? Well,I did last night, I bought it will be one of those boring documentaries, but to my surprise it was so thrilling, that my kids and I were watching it with great interest. How the idea of facebook had developed, and how it was stretched to attract every human being on this earth (if I have one, then everybody else would have had one to), also how the product proved to be one of the best ideas on earth after sliced bread.
However I am sure the rest is history, but I must dwell on the point that intrigued me from the movie. How many can be the single reason for people to drift apart, and how it can make us manipulate each other, and how it can turn friends into enemies. I am not naive, I know this for a fact, as it happened to me in many shapes and forms, and it happened many times that now I cannot really care anymore about losses as much as I care about losing friends. Friendship (that single most important relationship) that takes years to flourish can come to an end in a flash of a second because of greed. Why are we greedy? Why do we think that we are better than anyone else including our friends? Is money so important that we are ready to be alone in this world?
Many questions with no answers, probably the enquiries above resembles what the new authors say about the quantum system that we humans live in, apparently we have multiple level systems that we live within, each one of them is unique and each one of these systems is correct, but we cannot function without all of them put together. Even history, it's not one history, but every possible history. Can this be true? Well I will tell you more once I finish the book that my 18 year old nephew leant me, the book is called "the grand design". First few pages are intriguing, don't know about the rest.
Sleep well.
However I am sure the rest is history, but I must dwell on the point that intrigued me from the movie. How many can be the single reason for people to drift apart, and how it can make us manipulate each other, and how it can turn friends into enemies. I am not naive, I know this for a fact, as it happened to me in many shapes and forms, and it happened many times that now I cannot really care anymore about losses as much as I care about losing friends. Friendship (that single most important relationship) that takes years to flourish can come to an end in a flash of a second because of greed. Why are we greedy? Why do we think that we are better than anyone else including our friends? Is money so important that we are ready to be alone in this world?
Many questions with no answers, probably the enquiries above resembles what the new authors say about the quantum system that we humans live in, apparently we have multiple level systems that we live within, each one of them is unique and each one of these systems is correct, but we cannot function without all of them put together. Even history, it's not one history, but every possible history. Can this be true? Well I will tell you more once I finish the book that my 18 year old nephew leant me, the book is called "the grand design". First few pages are intriguing, don't know about the rest.
Sleep well.
40th anniversery of UAE national day
I am not sure how many of you were on the roads the night of the UAE national day? Well I had some errands to do and what I saw horrified me. Something like this only happens in uncivilsed areas of the world! Kids spraying the pedestrians, cars decorated including the glass all around the car, people dressed haphazardly and supposedly in flag colours? All of this is fine! But to obstruct traffic and have the poor police chase after the culprits and the innocent is not something we are all proud of.
So please everybody hear my suggestion and let's do this for next year: let's have a real carnival, we will call it the 40 great years of the UAE. We will build things around our cars, and have the national guard play music, have some real fireworks and show our cultural identity. Of course only those that pre register and have a built up car with a pre approved design can Join the carnival. Members of the public can watch, or participate by blowing wessels, dressing up in costumes or just be there to cheer their teams. We can sell memorablia and build cars that resemble our national icons such us Burj Alarab and Burj Khalifa etc.
I think the police should look after this carnival and I think we need to start from now to develop the idea. Many countries have carnivals, Spain, Brazil and argentine is amongst some of them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carnival_in_Rio_de_Janeiro.jpg
I can help in any way to stop the madness of the night of the 2nd of December.
Thank you
So please everybody hear my suggestion and let's do this for next year: let's have a real carnival, we will call it the 40 great years of the UAE. We will build things around our cars, and have the national guard play music, have some real fireworks and show our cultural identity. Of course only those that pre register and have a built up car with a pre approved design can Join the carnival. Members of the public can watch, or participate by blowing wessels, dressing up in costumes or just be there to cheer their teams. We can sell memorablia and build cars that resemble our national icons such us Burj Alarab and Burj Khalifa etc.
I think the police should look after this carnival and I think we need to start from now to develop the idea. Many countries have carnivals, Spain, Brazil and argentine is amongst some of them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carnival_in_Rio_de_Janeiro.jpg
I can help in any way to stop the madness of the night of the 2nd of December.
Thank you
Banks with no SOUL
I am complaining about some of the drastic measures that banks in the UAE take to recover their funds.
Noor Islamic bank is one example of extortionate behaviours that we can live without. I think they need to change their names, as what they are doing has nothing to do neither with Islam nor with being human. I would call them “murky Sprite Bank” and would encourage people to start re-naming the banks to names that represent evil, or devil or anything but light or Islam.
Of course you would like to know what happened. They took a close person to me to prison in the midst of negotiations for postponement of the mortgage repayment without any consideration to who the person is, his background, his ability to repay, his position or even being a father of three kids. This bank has no responsibility and no conscience, and in my opinion should not be open to the public and even offer any sort of help to grew.
Us the public are victims of bankers, we work hard to make do in our living, and the bankers are like a saw, they benefit if they are paying, and they benefit if we are paying. I think that the central bank should evaluate the behaviours of bank before they put the country in trouble. In USA if a person declares bankruptcy no one can touch him/her, he or she live as a happy man/woman, however in our part of the world, a person cannot even tell the banks that they are doing something wrong as they will straight away be able to hand over his/her collateral to the police, and put him in jail.
When is the third world going to change, when are we going to start respecting our people, and understanding that we are individuals with problems. I would agree with those who took a runner and left the country over night, as if they didn’t then they would be playing chess with my close person in jail as we speak.
I am only writing this letter to vent my frustration. And for help if you have any.
Noor Islamic bank is one example of extortionate behaviours that we can live without. I think they need to change their names, as what they are doing has nothing to do neither with Islam nor with being human. I would call them “murky Sprite Bank” and would encourage people to start re-naming the banks to names that represent evil, or devil or anything but light or Islam.
Of course you would like to know what happened. They took a close person to me to prison in the midst of negotiations for postponement of the mortgage repayment without any consideration to who the person is, his background, his ability to repay, his position or even being a father of three kids. This bank has no responsibility and no conscience, and in my opinion should not be open to the public and even offer any sort of help to grew.
Us the public are victims of bankers, we work hard to make do in our living, and the bankers are like a saw, they benefit if they are paying, and they benefit if we are paying. I think that the central bank should evaluate the behaviours of bank before they put the country in trouble. In USA if a person declares bankruptcy no one can touch him/her, he or she live as a happy man/woman, however in our part of the world, a person cannot even tell the banks that they are doing something wrong as they will straight away be able to hand over his/her collateral to the police, and put him in jail.
When is the third world going to change, when are we going to start respecting our people, and understanding that we are individuals with problems. I would agree with those who took a runner and left the country over night, as if they didn’t then they would be playing chess with my close person in jail as we speak.
I am only writing this letter to vent my frustration. And for help if you have any.
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Public figures are public ownership
Public figures are public ownership
I had a real headache, my neck got the cramps, and my eyes were tearing. Please don't trigger me as I will explode.
No wonder we are classified as third world countries, we as members of the public, and those in higher places are secluded from each other by an invisible wall. If we even thing of approaching those in the higher up places we have to jump though many hoops, even then we are not successful. No wonder we will stay as third world, no progress at all, as each and everey person in the public may have a fantastic idea to progress the country, he or she are apphensive, as fear of being laughed upon today, and his or her idea applied tomorrow is more than a reality. Or he or she will not be heard, and of course few of us have idea pads in our bags, were we note those little light bulbs that come to our mind.
I must start with a contrast as being a researcher its not good just to blabber without any basis; In western countries people can go and see any public figure with no apprehension, they can email them, write to them or go to the parliament to talk. If you had any grievance or any other important thing that you needed to say, then public figures will have to see you and resolve the issue.
In our part of the world no one really notices and no one cares. However, if you happen to be one of those people who are dreamers, and you decide that you do want to contact a public figure for something you have a process to follow. First you will need to cut through the giant monsters, that too if you get to these monsters, the phone system will not direct you to the person you need, and the "contact us" button goes to a deep black hole, so by the time you get to what you wanted, you would have sworn that you will never sleep again so you don't dream!!
What a shame, we spend millions on technology that we don't UAE properly, and we cut corners when it comes to customer service. Also what really annoys me is that, no one really complains abou this, or maybe we do but it doesn't get there. And they are saying that us in the third world die early due to heart attack!!! Well of course we do, we explode as no one hears our ideas and our opinions.
Ok, so do you want to know now what I went through trying to reach a top person for an idea that is boiling in my head? Read the above, for the past 7 months I tried, nothing, and when I finally got the email and the number, the giant monsters said no you cannot.
Thank you
I had a real headache, my neck got the cramps, and my eyes were tearing. Please don't trigger me as I will explode.
No wonder we are classified as third world countries, we as members of the public, and those in higher places are secluded from each other by an invisible wall. If we even thing of approaching those in the higher up places we have to jump though many hoops, even then we are not successful. No wonder we will stay as third world, no progress at all, as each and everey person in the public may have a fantastic idea to progress the country, he or she are apphensive, as fear of being laughed upon today, and his or her idea applied tomorrow is more than a reality. Or he or she will not be heard, and of course few of us have idea pads in our bags, were we note those little light bulbs that come to our mind.
I must start with a contrast as being a researcher its not good just to blabber without any basis; In western countries people can go and see any public figure with no apprehension, they can email them, write to them or go to the parliament to talk. If you had any grievance or any other important thing that you needed to say, then public figures will have to see you and resolve the issue.
In our part of the world no one really notices and no one cares. However, if you happen to be one of those people who are dreamers, and you decide that you do want to contact a public figure for something you have a process to follow. First you will need to cut through the giant monsters, that too if you get to these monsters, the phone system will not direct you to the person you need, and the "contact us" button goes to a deep black hole, so by the time you get to what you wanted, you would have sworn that you will never sleep again so you don't dream!!
What a shame, we spend millions on technology that we don't UAE properly, and we cut corners when it comes to customer service. Also what really annoys me is that, no one really complains abou this, or maybe we do but it doesn't get there. And they are saying that us in the third world die early due to heart attack!!! Well of course we do, we explode as no one hears our ideas and our opinions.
Ok, so do you want to know now what I went through trying to reach a top person for an idea that is boiling in my head? Read the above, for the past 7 months I tried, nothing, and when I finally got the email and the number, the giant monsters said no you cannot.
Thank you
Tuesday 16 November 2010
"The Joy of Reading"This is not my story: check this link http://storiesforeveryone.com/
Pedagogical Project
“The Joy of Reading”
__________________________________________________________________
Barbara’s blossoms
When Barbara woke up on December 4, it was a day like any other. Dad had already left for work. Mom told her to hurry—she was late again! Then, with a hug and a kiss, Mom was off to her job.
Barbara tucked her lunch into her schoolbag, put her jacket on and then slowly took it off again, and sat back down at the breakfast table. She was tired. She had spent too much time reading under the covers last night with a flashlight. She just wanted to sit for five more minutes, eat a banana, and think about the book she had been reading.
The phone rang just as she was taking her last bite of banana.
“Mmmpf,” she answered, then, “hello!”
“What does ‘mmmpf, hello’ mean?” asked a deep voice.
“Th-th-that means… I’m sorry, this is Barbara!” Barbara mumbled, embarrassed.
“Th-th-that sounds better already,” replied the deep voice. “This is Saint Nicholas, wishing you a happy Name Day!”
“Wh-wh-what?” stammered Barbara.
“Since when do you stutter?” laughed a familiar voice.
“Gosh, Grandpa!” Barbara sighed, relieved “You really fooled me!”
“Did I manage to do that again?” Her grandfather giggled happily. “Best wishes, my dear! What did you get for Name Day?”
Barbara didn’t answer. Neither Mom nor Dad had remembered her Name Day. She hadn’t even remembered it herself. The same thing happened last year, too, she recalled.
“Ooops,” she mumbled, “I don’t think we celebrate that.”
“Oh!” said her grandfather. “We’ll change that today! I hereby declare today a school holiday and invite you to come over to spend it with me! If you hurry, you can be here in half an hour! See you soon!”
She heard a click as her grandfather hung up. Barbara stood in the hallway, perplexed. Surely she couldn’t just skip school. Grandpa probably just wanted to annoy her parents again. He liked to do that. He believed that people worked too much in today’s society, and only did it so they could buy themselves silly things they didn’t need. Barbara had to laugh as she thought of the funny arguments Grandpa had with Mom. Grandpa didn’t take the arguments seriously, but Mom would hit the roof.
Barbara loved Grandpa, and that’s why it didn’t take her long to make up her mind. She dropped her schoolbag, bolted out of the house, grabbed her bicycle, and rode over to his house.
It was a mild morning, much too warm for December. It had rained overnight, but now the sun was shining and the wet leaves smelled good. Grandpa was waiting in front of his small house carrying his old sheepskin jacket, which Mom kept trying to get him to throw away.
“Come on!” he called. “Put your bike away. Let’s take a walk through the garden.” Typical Grandpa. A walk through the garden! For this, she had risked getting into all kinds of trouble with her parents and at school. Grandpa was already plodding toward the orchard without waiting for her. Barbara leaned her bicycle against the shed and ran behind him.
“Pick out the nicest twigs with the fullest buds and I will cut them for you,” said Grandpa when she caught up with him.
“Wh… why?” asked Barbara.
“You are stuttering again!” Grandpa grinned. “I will tell you why we are cutting twigs—because today is Saint Barbara’s Day!”
Barbara stood still and looked at Grandfather skeptically. Was this another one of his jokes? But Grandfather looked more serious than usual as he leaned against an apple tree and said, “You know, people forget all of the little things that are important in life. Each name has a meaning, otherwise we would all be called ‘refrigerator’ or ‘oven’!”
Barbara had to laugh. She had never thought about this. She found some names pretty, others boring or silly. But the idea that they had meaning had not occurred to her.
“What does Barbara mean?” asked Barbara, holding her breath for a moment.
“In Latin, it means the stranger or the barbarian. That’s fitting for you, isn’t it?”
Barbara grimaced. “Nothing else?” she asked.
“Yes,” her grandfather answered.“It was also the name of a strong young woman who has long been honored as a saint. She lived 1,700 years ago in Nicomedia, a city in what is now Turkey. She is said to have been very beautiful and wise, this Barbara. She was also Christian, which was dangerous, because Turkey belonged to the Roman Empire and the Romans persecuted all Christians. Barbara’s father was a wealthy merchant. He had absolutely no understanding of her faith in Christ. He thought she should marry, and that was that. But she refused. He became so frustrated with her that he locked her into a tower. But in that tower, her inner strength grew even more. At last, her father became so furious that he handed her over to the Romans.”
“What? Her own father?” Barbara looked at her grandfather in disbelief.
“Yes, her own father! Some fathers become very cross when their daughters don’t do as they are told!”
“And what did the Romans do with her?”
“Well, they demanded that she renounce her faith. Which, of course, she didn’t.”
“And then?”
Grandpa furrowed his brow and scratched his head a bit uncomfortably. “She was sentenced to death and died very bravely. Soon thereafter, the legend says, her father was struck by lightning.”
“Serves him right!” said Barbara.
“Yes, I think so, too!” said Grandpa. “Now you know that your patron saint was a very brave woman. Among Christians, she is known as a protector of the imprisoned and the dying. Youcan be proud of her!”
Barbara nodded.
“And what about the twigs?”
“We will cut those now in honor of your Name Day. Then, you’ll put them into a vase, and they will bloom at Christmas as a symbol of the strength that Barbara received from God.”
They cut a bouquet of apple and cherry twigs in silence. Later, they drank hot chocolate and had a long conversation about Barbara’s name and many other names. It was the nicest day Barbara had ever spent with Grandpa. Before she left his house, he wrote her an excuse for missing school. Barbara placed her twigs into a vase and checked them carefully every day. And then, just before Christmas, the first ones bloomed, delicate white flowers in the midst of winter, reminding her of her namesake and the love of her grandfather.
Barbara Veil
Silke Lefler (org.)
A simply wonderful Christmas – A literary advent calendar
New York, North-South Books, 2006
________________________________________________________________________
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are a group of teachers with some experience in the area of storytelling and we would like to share our project – The Joy of Reading – with everyone who is in touch with children and young people in general but above all with everyone that enjoys reading.
This project consists of sending stories for free on a weekly basis. So this particular e-mail and the ones that will follow it in the next weeks are intended to share some small stories with you. All the stories we send have some values within: respect for nature, tolerance, tenderness, responsibility, solidarity and many more. They all aim at developing the reading skills among young people, as well as allowing some moments of reflection and dialogue about topics connected with human values, which seem to have been somewhat forgotten in these times of materialism and hedonism.
We thank you for your attention and hope you will welcome this project (which, it is important to say, does not have any profitable aims).
If you know anyone interested in receiving the weekly stories by email, please let us know by sending their emails to us.
Please let us know your opinion about the project.
Yours faithfully
The Pedagogical Team
stories4a@storiesforeveryone.com
“The Joy of Reading”
__________________________________________________________________
Barbara’s blossoms
When Barbara woke up on December 4, it was a day like any other. Dad had already left for work. Mom told her to hurry—she was late again! Then, with a hug and a kiss, Mom was off to her job.
Barbara tucked her lunch into her schoolbag, put her jacket on and then slowly took it off again, and sat back down at the breakfast table. She was tired. She had spent too much time reading under the covers last night with a flashlight. She just wanted to sit for five more minutes, eat a banana, and think about the book she had been reading.
The phone rang just as she was taking her last bite of banana.
“Mmmpf,” she answered, then, “hello!”
“What does ‘mmmpf, hello’ mean?” asked a deep voice.
“Th-th-that means… I’m sorry, this is Barbara!” Barbara mumbled, embarrassed.
“Th-th-that sounds better already,” replied the deep voice. “This is Saint Nicholas, wishing you a happy Name Day!”
“Wh-wh-what?” stammered Barbara.
“Since when do you stutter?” laughed a familiar voice.
“Gosh, Grandpa!” Barbara sighed, relieved “You really fooled me!”
“Did I manage to do that again?” Her grandfather giggled happily. “Best wishes, my dear! What did you get for Name Day?”
Barbara didn’t answer. Neither Mom nor Dad had remembered her Name Day. She hadn’t even remembered it herself. The same thing happened last year, too, she recalled.
“Ooops,” she mumbled, “I don’t think we celebrate that.”
“Oh!” said her grandfather. “We’ll change that today! I hereby declare today a school holiday and invite you to come over to spend it with me! If you hurry, you can be here in half an hour! See you soon!”
She heard a click as her grandfather hung up. Barbara stood in the hallway, perplexed. Surely she couldn’t just skip school. Grandpa probably just wanted to annoy her parents again. He liked to do that. He believed that people worked too much in today’s society, and only did it so they could buy themselves silly things they didn’t need. Barbara had to laugh as she thought of the funny arguments Grandpa had with Mom. Grandpa didn’t take the arguments seriously, but Mom would hit the roof.
Barbara loved Grandpa, and that’s why it didn’t take her long to make up her mind. She dropped her schoolbag, bolted out of the house, grabbed her bicycle, and rode over to his house.
It was a mild morning, much too warm for December. It had rained overnight, but now the sun was shining and the wet leaves smelled good. Grandpa was waiting in front of his small house carrying his old sheepskin jacket, which Mom kept trying to get him to throw away.
“Come on!” he called. “Put your bike away. Let’s take a walk through the garden.” Typical Grandpa. A walk through the garden! For this, she had risked getting into all kinds of trouble with her parents and at school. Grandpa was already plodding toward the orchard without waiting for her. Barbara leaned her bicycle against the shed and ran behind him.
“Pick out the nicest twigs with the fullest buds and I will cut them for you,” said Grandpa when she caught up with him.
“Wh… why?” asked Barbara.
“You are stuttering again!” Grandpa grinned. “I will tell you why we are cutting twigs—because today is Saint Barbara’s Day!”
Barbara stood still and looked at Grandfather skeptically. Was this another one of his jokes? But Grandfather looked more serious than usual as he leaned against an apple tree and said, “You know, people forget all of the little things that are important in life. Each name has a meaning, otherwise we would all be called ‘refrigerator’ or ‘oven’!”
Barbara had to laugh. She had never thought about this. She found some names pretty, others boring or silly. But the idea that they had meaning had not occurred to her.
“What does Barbara mean?” asked Barbara, holding her breath for a moment.
“In Latin, it means the stranger or the barbarian. That’s fitting for you, isn’t it?”
Barbara grimaced. “Nothing else?” she asked.
“Yes,” her grandfather answered.“It was also the name of a strong young woman who has long been honored as a saint. She lived 1,700 years ago in Nicomedia, a city in what is now Turkey. She is said to have been very beautiful and wise, this Barbara. She was also Christian, which was dangerous, because Turkey belonged to the Roman Empire and the Romans persecuted all Christians. Barbara’s father was a wealthy merchant. He had absolutely no understanding of her faith in Christ. He thought she should marry, and that was that. But she refused. He became so frustrated with her that he locked her into a tower. But in that tower, her inner strength grew even more. At last, her father became so furious that he handed her over to the Romans.”
“What? Her own father?” Barbara looked at her grandfather in disbelief.
“Yes, her own father! Some fathers become very cross when their daughters don’t do as they are told!”
“And what did the Romans do with her?”
“Well, they demanded that she renounce her faith. Which, of course, she didn’t.”
“And then?”
Grandpa furrowed his brow and scratched his head a bit uncomfortably. “She was sentenced to death and died very bravely. Soon thereafter, the legend says, her father was struck by lightning.”
“Serves him right!” said Barbara.
“Yes, I think so, too!” said Grandpa. “Now you know that your patron saint was a very brave woman. Among Christians, she is known as a protector of the imprisoned and the dying. Youcan be proud of her!”
Barbara nodded.
“And what about the twigs?”
“We will cut those now in honor of your Name Day. Then, you’ll put them into a vase, and they will bloom at Christmas as a symbol of the strength that Barbara received from God.”
They cut a bouquet of apple and cherry twigs in silence. Later, they drank hot chocolate and had a long conversation about Barbara’s name and many other names. It was the nicest day Barbara had ever spent with Grandpa. Before she left his house, he wrote her an excuse for missing school. Barbara placed her twigs into a vase and checked them carefully every day. And then, just before Christmas, the first ones bloomed, delicate white flowers in the midst of winter, reminding her of her namesake and the love of her grandfather.
Barbara Veil
Silke Lefler (org.)
A simply wonderful Christmas – A literary advent calendar
New York, North-South Books, 2006
________________________________________________________________________
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are a group of teachers with some experience in the area of storytelling and we would like to share our project – The Joy of Reading – with everyone who is in touch with children and young people in general but above all with everyone that enjoys reading.
This project consists of sending stories for free on a weekly basis. So this particular e-mail and the ones that will follow it in the next weeks are intended to share some small stories with you. All the stories we send have some values within: respect for nature, tolerance, tenderness, responsibility, solidarity and many more. They all aim at developing the reading skills among young people, as well as allowing some moments of reflection and dialogue about topics connected with human values, which seem to have been somewhat forgotten in these times of materialism and hedonism.
We thank you for your attention and hope you will welcome this project (which, it is important to say, does not have any profitable aims).
If you know anyone interested in receiving the weekly stories by email, please let us know by sending their emails to us.
Please let us know your opinion about the project.
Yours faithfully
The Pedagogical Team
stories4a@storiesforeveryone.com
Monday 15 November 2010
A story
Ok let me tell you a story. I am not a story teller, but this one had kept on revolving around my thoughts so I have to get rid of it.
Om Hussain and Om saeed, two women, same age, same health problems; Both have knee pains, back aches, their heel has Plantar Fasciitis, their fingers are painful, and to add to this both were at spa for treatment. Both are rich and both are happy, their lives had a meaning and both will not replace it for anything else.
Om Hussain, has 6 kids, the youngest is 20, most were married with grand children, her husband died a year ago from Cancer. Om Saeed has 3 kids, the youngest is 18 and none of them are married. The first one owns a house, and travels twice a year for her holiday, the latter also owns a house and travels all the time but not for holiday.
Om Hussain’s kids studied at home, they all have blackberries and Ipads, and their grandchildren also know how to use them. Om Saeed kids studies abroad; they also own blackberries, Iphones, and Ipads, no grand kids to use them yet.
So far so good?? Normal story I would say, however there is a great difference between the two women, Om Hussain never studied and never worked in her life, she had dedicated her time for her children and husband and now to her grand children. Om Saeed was an international student all her life and had worked from the age of 19, she had also dedicated her time to her work, children and husband.
Om Hussain never had to worry about money, and eventually she inherited her late husband’s money. Om Saeed had to think of how to earn more to support her family and herself, as both her husband and her were not living in their own country, so both have to work really hard to make ends meet.
What is the moral of the story? I don’t know really, I think God is the one that decides the amount of money one can have, it doesn’t matter how one will get that money, whether by self work, or other means, if we are to be rich it’s his doing, and if we are to stay poor its his doing too. Thus, what should we really do? Is it destiny? I am not sure, is it luck? Oh well, you know what I always say about luck? I don’t have to repeat it here. However I need a reply from all of you. Do we as women need to tire ourselves and have the books in front of our eyes day in and day out, do we have to run like horses to earn a living? Or should we just depend on our husbands?
Om Hussain and Om saeed, two women, same age, same health problems; Both have knee pains, back aches, their heel has Plantar Fasciitis, their fingers are painful, and to add to this both were at spa for treatment. Both are rich and both are happy, their lives had a meaning and both will not replace it for anything else.
Om Hussain, has 6 kids, the youngest is 20, most were married with grand children, her husband died a year ago from Cancer. Om Saeed has 3 kids, the youngest is 18 and none of them are married. The first one owns a house, and travels twice a year for her holiday, the latter also owns a house and travels all the time but not for holiday.
Om Hussain’s kids studied at home, they all have blackberries and Ipads, and their grandchildren also know how to use them. Om Saeed kids studies abroad; they also own blackberries, Iphones, and Ipads, no grand kids to use them yet.
So far so good?? Normal story I would say, however there is a great difference between the two women, Om Hussain never studied and never worked in her life, she had dedicated her time for her children and husband and now to her grand children. Om Saeed was an international student all her life and had worked from the age of 19, she had also dedicated her time to her work, children and husband.
Om Hussain never had to worry about money, and eventually she inherited her late husband’s money. Om Saeed had to think of how to earn more to support her family and herself, as both her husband and her were not living in their own country, so both have to work really hard to make ends meet.
What is the moral of the story? I don’t know really, I think God is the one that decides the amount of money one can have, it doesn’t matter how one will get that money, whether by self work, or other means, if we are to be rich it’s his doing, and if we are to stay poor its his doing too. Thus, what should we really do? Is it destiny? I am not sure, is it luck? Oh well, you know what I always say about luck? I don’t have to repeat it here. However I need a reply from all of you. Do we as women need to tire ourselves and have the books in front of our eyes day in and day out, do we have to run like horses to earn a living? Or should we just depend on our husbands?
Thursday 11 November 2010
Fruits and Gadgets
What's with the fruits, blackberry, apple, pomegranate, orange etc? All of these fruits are nutritious, tastes great and are always available (due to strong export market), also these fruits are not expensive, and one of them is mentioned in Quran as being the fruit of heaven. You are going to ask what's with Suad becoming a health and religious guru all of a sudden.
I am galling about the use of fruits in technology, the companies that started this trend have done really well as the names have stuck to our mind, and to tell you the truth I am sort of hooked to these fruits, oops, I meant gadgets.
With BB only life had become easier, and now with the Ipad it's even more so. I don't need to carry my laptop, I don't need to have pen and paper, the trees are saved and the environment is happy too. And with the introduction of pomegranate people are going to be liberated. You don't need to have equipment and projectors in the office, and you do not need a TV to be stuck on your wall at home or on a table. See this link( http://66.160.159.84/a1/39/a1393f1110ca2143f81dcff845c6706e/ba124807/a139_w_2.3gp?c=138266865&u=256773044&s=BK8qeQ ).
Orange, being a very good telecom company, whenever I go to Europe I will only hook my phone with it, as it's fast, cheap, and reliable.
One thing comes to my mind, where does this stop? Do we really need these gadgets? Are we going to improve our life and our brains by using them, or are they merely new ways from corporations to make more money off us?
I am a great believer of innovations that improves human beings’ lives, as well as making sure that I use them to improve my own life and create a better lifestyle. However those around me are not as happy as I am, why? Because I am constantly on my gadgets, using them, checking them and having the freaks if I don't receive a BBM, or the wee light doesn't blink!!!! I think when that happened that the world had forgotten about me
Well, what is the point is of is blog? I am trying to find out how many Arabs are actually using these services? I am sure many; the 500,000 blackberry users in the UAE were mostly Arab kids. Most importantly I need to know how many Arabs have actually created any gadget of this sort. I don't think there is any? If there is please let me know, as I would like to meet him and her and give them a big hug for improving my life.
I am galling about the use of fruits in technology, the companies that started this trend have done really well as the names have stuck to our mind, and to tell you the truth I am sort of hooked to these fruits, oops, I meant gadgets.
With BB only life had become easier, and now with the Ipad it's even more so. I don't need to carry my laptop, I don't need to have pen and paper, the trees are saved and the environment is happy too. And with the introduction of pomegranate people are going to be liberated. You don't need to have equipment and projectors in the office, and you do not need a TV to be stuck on your wall at home or on a table. See this link( http://66.160.159.84/a1/39/a1393f1110ca2143f81dcff845c6706e/ba124807/a139_w_2.3gp?c=138266865&u=256773044&s=BK8qeQ ).
Orange, being a very good telecom company, whenever I go to Europe I will only hook my phone with it, as it's fast, cheap, and reliable.
One thing comes to my mind, where does this stop? Do we really need these gadgets? Are we going to improve our life and our brains by using them, or are they merely new ways from corporations to make more money off us?
I am a great believer of innovations that improves human beings’ lives, as well as making sure that I use them to improve my own life and create a better lifestyle. However those around me are not as happy as I am, why? Because I am constantly on my gadgets, using them, checking them and having the freaks if I don't receive a BBM, or the wee light doesn't blink!!!! I think when that happened that the world had forgotten about me
Well, what is the point is of is blog? I am trying to find out how many Arabs are actually using these services? I am sure many; the 500,000 blackberry users in the UAE were mostly Arab kids. Most importantly I need to know how many Arabs have actually created any gadget of this sort. I don't think there is any? If there is please let me know, as I would like to meet him and her and give them a big hug for improving my life.
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Banks with no SOUL
I am complaining about some of the drastic measures that banks in the UAE take to recover their funds.
Noor Islamic bank is one example of extortionate behaviours that we can live without. I think they need to change their names, as what they are doing has nothing to do neither with Islam nor with being human. I would call them “murky Sprite Bank” and would encourage people to start re-naming the banks to names that represent evil, or devil or anything but light or Islam.
Of course you would like to know what happened. They took a close person to me to prison in the midst of negotiations for postponement of the mortgage repayment without any consideration to who the person is, his background, his ability to repay, his position or even being a father of three kids. This bank has no responsibility and no conscience, and in my opinion should not be open to the public and even offer any sort of help to grew.
Us the public are victims of bankers, we work hard to make do in our living, and the bankers are like a saw, they benefit if they are paying, and they benefit if we are paying. I think that the central bank should evaluate the behaviours of bank before they put the country in trouble. In USA if a person declares bankruptcy no one can touch him/her, he or she live as a happy man/woman, however in our part of the world, a person cannot even tell the banks that they are doing something wrong as they will straight away be able to hand over his/her collateral to the police, and put him in jail.
When is the third world going to change, when are we going to start respecting our people, and understanding that we are individuals with problems. I would agree with those who took a runner and left the country over night, as if they didn’t then they would be playing chess with my close person in jail as we speak.
I am only writing this letter to vent my frustration. And for help if you have any.
Noor Islamic bank is one example of extortionate behaviours that we can live without. I think they need to change their names, as what they are doing has nothing to do neither with Islam nor with being human. I would call them “murky Sprite Bank” and would encourage people to start re-naming the banks to names that represent evil, or devil or anything but light or Islam.
Of course you would like to know what happened. They took a close person to me to prison in the midst of negotiations for postponement of the mortgage repayment without any consideration to who the person is, his background, his ability to repay, his position or even being a father of three kids. This bank has no responsibility and no conscience, and in my opinion should not be open to the public and even offer any sort of help to grew.
Us the public are victims of bankers, we work hard to make do in our living, and the bankers are like a saw, they benefit if they are paying, and they benefit if we are paying. I think that the central bank should evaluate the behaviours of bank before they put the country in trouble. In USA if a person declares bankruptcy no one can touch him/her, he or she live as a happy man/woman, however in our part of the world, a person cannot even tell the banks that they are doing something wrong as they will straight away be able to hand over his/her collateral to the police, and put him in jail.
When is the third world going to change, when are we going to start respecting our people, and understanding that we are individuals with problems. I would agree with those who took a runner and left the country over night, as if they didn’t then they would be playing chess with my close person in jail as we speak.
I am only writing this letter to vent my frustration. And for help if you have any.
Sunday 7 November 2010
Follow up on the traffic incident
Today my son took his passport from the court, he is happy, but the whole incident should never had happened, the police person made a mistake, and he should told off. I am going to write a letter to the police headqourter about this, as we should not have a problem of this nature happening again, it's a complete embarrassment to the country if those that apply the rules do not know the rules to begin with.
And this policeman should be asked to pay all of our expenses. And also should compensate my son for his month long lack of productivity and depression.
Where to start though?
Good luck to us
And this policeman should be asked to pay all of our expenses. And also should compensate my son for his month long lack of productivity and depression.
Where to start though?
Good luck to us
Trafic incident with great ramification
Traffic incident with ramifications.
I was travelling, my son was helping in our exhibition, and for the first time we distribute 14 boxes of magazines in the first 2 hours, so he decides to return to pick up more of them, he comes home, says hi/bye to us, we leave to the airport, he leaves to the expo. When I switch my phone on again I receive a string of BBMs from him, that he has been in an accident, not his fault, and a small one, the police drags him to the station, takes his passport, pull the car to the station, and tells him off, anyway after that he hires a pickup, puts the the boxes in it, pays the money and goes to the exhibition. And for the next three days he takes taxis, and tries to find out from here and there what the hell he did wrong so they confiscate the car.
To make the long story short, I accompany him to the court today. I left home at 8, arrived there at 9, waited a bit, the the judge called him and the other driver. The judge charged the lather driver a fine of 1200 dirhams and told my son that he is free to go!!!!! I.e he is innocent, my son's face went blanc, and I was devastated.
What was the problem then? Why did we have to endure thisnincedent? And why did we have to spend all this time? And money of course
Apparently the police dept have different interpretation ofnthe traffic law that says that a visitor to a country can drive with his home driving licence I. A rent a car. Or he can obtain an international licence and drives anyones car. My son was driving my car, and his licence is transfereble to UAE licence without a test, which means he can drive with it, but the policeman didn't stuffy hard enough when he went to the police college, he must have studied enough to pass the exams.
Anyway, I went to recover my car, they told me that I have to pay the 300 drihams toeing money. I did. Then they said I have to picknupnthe car from their wqrehouse and pay another 150 dirhams. I asked where is the warehouse as I am not a good road traveler. He drew a map that even the most experienced driver couldn't reach it, and that too in the most traffic jammed area in the UEA. I had a bomb inside me but I didn't known that it was going to blow up that hard. I shouted at the person and asked to see the manager of the place. He directed me with a shock on his face. I went up, and as usual there were like a hundred people witting to see the manager, I shouted again that I had to see him, and it's urgent, so they directed me in. When he manger saw my face he must have realized that trouble is here, he asked me to sit down and explain, so I went through the steps and ended at the map. I said why did this happen and what are my rights as a citizen? Do I have claims, can I sue the policeman whondid this to my son and I? He said, just bring the paper where the judge said that my son is innocent, and he will sue the policeman! I went back, brought the paper and gave it to him, he called e bigger boss and all the experts on traffic law, they confirmed that we didn't have to go through this. So they took my son Intheir car and went to the wrehouse to pick up a dirty looking car? As it was in the sun, heat and dust for over two weeks.
At the end of all this, my son and I calculated how much this had Cost us in terms of time ( very important) and money. Also the loss of productivity as my son loves that car and was thinking about it all the time, also he could t do his work, and the loss of students, as those magazines would have been distributed and wd could have gotten more students, or as I always put it, more money for the country. We never saved any money in the UAE, nor did we ever send money overseas, in actual fact we receive money from overseas for our work. All that money is circulated and spent in the UAE, not anywhere else.
In conclusion, the cost is over 100,000 dirhams.
Who is responsible? I am not sure
I was travelling, my son was helping in our exhibition, and for the first time we distribute 14 boxes of magazines in the first 2 hours, so he decides to return to pick up more of them, he comes home, says hi/bye to us, we leave to the airport, he leaves to the expo. When I switch my phone on again I receive a string of BBMs from him, that he has been in an accident, not his fault, and a small one, the police drags him to the station, takes his passport, pull the car to the station, and tells him off, anyway after that he hires a pickup, puts the the boxes in it, pays the money and goes to the exhibition. And for the next three days he takes taxis, and tries to find out from here and there what the hell he did wrong so they confiscate the car.
To make the long story short, I accompany him to the court today. I left home at 8, arrived there at 9, waited a bit, the the judge called him and the other driver. The judge charged the lather driver a fine of 1200 dirhams and told my son that he is free to go!!!!! I.e he is innocent, my son's face went blanc, and I was devastated.
What was the problem then? Why did we have to endure thisnincedent? And why did we have to spend all this time? And money of course
Apparently the police dept have different interpretation ofnthe traffic law that says that a visitor to a country can drive with his home driving licence I. A rent a car. Or he can obtain an international licence and drives anyones car. My son was driving my car, and his licence is transfereble to UAE licence without a test, which means he can drive with it, but the policeman didn't stuffy hard enough when he went to the police college, he must have studied enough to pass the exams.
Anyway, I went to recover my car, they told me that I have to pay the 300 drihams toeing money. I did. Then they said I have to picknupnthe car from their wqrehouse and pay another 150 dirhams. I asked where is the warehouse as I am not a good road traveler. He drew a map that even the most experienced driver couldn't reach it, and that too in the most traffic jammed area in the UEA. I had a bomb inside me but I didn't known that it was going to blow up that hard. I shouted at the person and asked to see the manager of the place. He directed me with a shock on his face. I went up, and as usual there were like a hundred people witting to see the manager, I shouted again that I had to see him, and it's urgent, so they directed me in. When he manger saw my face he must have realized that trouble is here, he asked me to sit down and explain, so I went through the steps and ended at the map. I said why did this happen and what are my rights as a citizen? Do I have claims, can I sue the policeman whondid this to my son and I? He said, just bring the paper where the judge said that my son is innocent, and he will sue the policeman! I went back, brought the paper and gave it to him, he called e bigger boss and all the experts on traffic law, they confirmed that we didn't have to go through this. So they took my son Intheir car and went to the wrehouse to pick up a dirty looking car? As it was in the sun, heat and dust for over two weeks.
At the end of all this, my son and I calculated how much this had Cost us in terms of time ( very important) and money. Also the loss of productivity as my son loves that car and was thinking about it all the time, also he could t do his work, and the loss of students, as those magazines would have been distributed and wd could have gotten more students, or as I always put it, more money for the country. We never saved any money in the UAE, nor did we ever send money overseas, in actual fact we receive money from overseas for our work. All that money is circulated and spent in the UAE, not anywhere else.
In conclusion, the cost is over 100,000 dirhams.
Who is responsible? I am not sure
Monday 1 November 2010
The Mall
I can hardly remember when was the last time I had gone to a mall in a complete relaxation and shopped, ate, had coffee, had ice cream, had more coffee, prayed, went for a massage etc.
last weekend a group of friends spent the whole of saturday in a shopping mall in Dubai. We left my phone inside my bag on a silent mode. We walked and talked for a while, had lunch, did shopping, went for a very relaxing feet massage, and did stuff tell the evenning. I dont know about you, but something like this is far away from my mind since the last few years. Is it age? is it being busy? is it because my mind is focused on working and only working?
I noticed that since many people are planning their own work and embarking on their own projects and companies, maybe I didnt notice this before, but certainly there is an increase in small businesses being established these days then ever before. I am sure when I was little i didnt see a grocery shop in every corner in my neighborhood, all of us used to walk a distance to the closest grocery shop next to the baker, bought our favourite sweets (jelly beans), had our drink and bought the hot bread with the nakhkhaj or bajela and of course ate half of it before reaching home. even my sister was burnt by this grocer when he was trying to switch the kirosin fire off the huge pot of bioling eggs. (I went with her to the hospital, as my mum and dad were away on a trip, this was when I think I was barely 11) now if you go to the same spot you will see like a hundred grocery shops, and more than one baker. The choice is huge, and the number of entrants into the SME market is wider than ever. Thus, if we are all engaged in SME's, and none of us are having the time to go shopping and relax, who on earth is doing the buying?
can someone reply to me?
last weekend a group of friends spent the whole of saturday in a shopping mall in Dubai. We left my phone inside my bag on a silent mode. We walked and talked for a while, had lunch, did shopping, went for a very relaxing feet massage, and did stuff tell the evenning. I dont know about you, but something like this is far away from my mind since the last few years. Is it age? is it being busy? is it because my mind is focused on working and only working?
I noticed that since many people are planning their own work and embarking on their own projects and companies, maybe I didnt notice this before, but certainly there is an increase in small businesses being established these days then ever before. I am sure when I was little i didnt see a grocery shop in every corner in my neighborhood, all of us used to walk a distance to the closest grocery shop next to the baker, bought our favourite sweets (jelly beans), had our drink and bought the hot bread with the nakhkhaj or bajela and of course ate half of it before reaching home. even my sister was burnt by this grocer when he was trying to switch the kirosin fire off the huge pot of bioling eggs. (I went with her to the hospital, as my mum and dad were away on a trip, this was when I think I was barely 11) now if you go to the same spot you will see like a hundred grocery shops, and more than one baker. The choice is huge, and the number of entrants into the SME market is wider than ever. Thus, if we are all engaged in SME's, and none of us are having the time to go shopping and relax, who on earth is doing the buying?
can someone reply to me?
Seeing a person you know in prison - a story from my fictional brain- but the court details are for real.
Seeing a person you know in prison
I was praying to god to save my kids from any problems that may lead them to be prosecuted or jailed. The bank was not quick enough to give me the bail money so I had to use my sharp tongue to make the manager come out of his tower to facilitate the withdrawal from my account. Drove to court in a haste. Even though the person I was trying to bail is not a relative, the mere fact that I know that person was a sufficient reason to leave my busy schedule and drive all the way to the court. Apparently the landlord of this person's staff apartment which since have been vacated and handed over, had falsified documents to say that the rent was not paid and made a law suit against him. The courts do not take facts, they will entertain any request as there will be a charge for this and it sone way of making money. So if an ant goes there and files a law suit against me, I will be summoned, I cannot ask for the grounds of the law suit, as this is secondary.
Anyway, apparently the landlord had even falsified the address and gave wrong information about this person, the name was given Then to the police, and they caught him and put him in the temporary prison awaiting to take him to the main prison. They didn't even allow him to open the trunk of his car to get his wallet and the rest of his documents.
Anyway, after hunting for a car park and begging few people to provide me with coins in exchange to my five dirhams, I found the jail and saw this very polite, highly educated and intelligent IT person in jail, He is the age of my son and for a fraction of a second I felt total dismay to the system. And again I prayed to God not to put my kids in a similar position.
The process in the courts was so complicated, one would have assumed that he had told them that some one is coming to pay the bail money, regardless of course they were calling me something like every second and saying that if the money doesn't arrive before one pm they will transfer him to the real jail. So once I reached they sent me to a room in another floor, I asked for the person whom I need to talk to, who said that I have to wait for the judge, then I said why can't I pay while waiting for the judge, he agreed; off I went to the bank at the courts basement. The queue was as long as the seine river, with no one behind the counter, I kept on looking at my watch to see if it's one yet? And the cashier is still not there, I asked the six staff members of the bank, they said that they don't know where she is, and if I want to complain I can go to the manager of the bank, the manager pretended that he heard me but he didn't, I went back and the queue had become even longer, it seemed to me that everybody in Dubai has some sort of case against them.
Then someone phoned me saying that he is the lawyer of my colleague, oh so he has a lawyer? I thanked my stars as that would be the only way the process could be simplified. The lawyer took me to another counter that actually accepts cash from the people, but that counter had no sign on it, thus this person would be sitting there twiddling his thumb and the girl at the bank tries to find an excuse just to take a breather. Complete and utter madness. When they mention E-government I laugh now, as what is happening here has nothing to do with E it's a covered up unemployment. The government needs to wake up and corrects this. Luckily I dont have lots of dealings with any goverment department otherwise I think I will start to have diabetes high blood pressure and all the illnesses associated with being upset, stressed and angry.
I hated that day, I am serious in praying to God to save my kids, even though they are Arabs but they never had to face such situations, call them spoilt, call them pampered, call them sheltered I don't really care, I just don't want them to be subjected to unnecessary bad situations. The economic crisis in the country had changed every ones attitude. This land lord for example must be owing lots of money to real estate companies, and the only way to pay back is by cheating the less advantaged. Thus the economic crisis had breaded crocks, and these crocks are not asked for proof when they make a law suit against anyone. So tomorrow it could be me, or you. Just be very careful and cover all your bases, or go to the mattresses as the God father would have said.
In my opinion, the court should ensure the correctness of the case prior to accepting it and wasting everybody's time, if they did that we will have less people working there with more efficient process. But who am I to even utter this word?
I was praying to god to save my kids from any problems that may lead them to be prosecuted or jailed. The bank was not quick enough to give me the bail money so I had to use my sharp tongue to make the manager come out of his tower to facilitate the withdrawal from my account. Drove to court in a haste. Even though the person I was trying to bail is not a relative, the mere fact that I know that person was a sufficient reason to leave my busy schedule and drive all the way to the court. Apparently the landlord of this person's staff apartment which since have been vacated and handed over, had falsified documents to say that the rent was not paid and made a law suit against him. The courts do not take facts, they will entertain any request as there will be a charge for this and it sone way of making money. So if an ant goes there and files a law suit against me, I will be summoned, I cannot ask for the grounds of the law suit, as this is secondary.
Anyway, apparently the landlord had even falsified the address and gave wrong information about this person, the name was given Then to the police, and they caught him and put him in the temporary prison awaiting to take him to the main prison. They didn't even allow him to open the trunk of his car to get his wallet and the rest of his documents.
Anyway, after hunting for a car park and begging few people to provide me with coins in exchange to my five dirhams, I found the jail and saw this very polite, highly educated and intelligent IT person in jail, He is the age of my son and for a fraction of a second I felt total dismay to the system. And again I prayed to God not to put my kids in a similar position.
The process in the courts was so complicated, one would have assumed that he had told them that some one is coming to pay the bail money, regardless of course they were calling me something like every second and saying that if the money doesn't arrive before one pm they will transfer him to the real jail. So once I reached they sent me to a room in another floor, I asked for the person whom I need to talk to, who said that I have to wait for the judge, then I said why can't I pay while waiting for the judge, he agreed; off I went to the bank at the courts basement. The queue was as long as the seine river, with no one behind the counter, I kept on looking at my watch to see if it's one yet? And the cashier is still not there, I asked the six staff members of the bank, they said that they don't know where she is, and if I want to complain I can go to the manager of the bank, the manager pretended that he heard me but he didn't, I went back and the queue had become even longer, it seemed to me that everybody in Dubai has some sort of case against them.
Then someone phoned me saying that he is the lawyer of my colleague, oh so he has a lawyer? I thanked my stars as that would be the only way the process could be simplified. The lawyer took me to another counter that actually accepts cash from the people, but that counter had no sign on it, thus this person would be sitting there twiddling his thumb and the girl at the bank tries to find an excuse just to take a breather. Complete and utter madness. When they mention E-government I laugh now, as what is happening here has nothing to do with E it's a covered up unemployment. The government needs to wake up and corrects this. Luckily I dont have lots of dealings with any goverment department otherwise I think I will start to have diabetes high blood pressure and all the illnesses associated with being upset, stressed and angry.
I hated that day, I am serious in praying to God to save my kids, even though they are Arabs but they never had to face such situations, call them spoilt, call them pampered, call them sheltered I don't really care, I just don't want them to be subjected to unnecessary bad situations. The economic crisis in the country had changed every ones attitude. This land lord for example must be owing lots of money to real estate companies, and the only way to pay back is by cheating the less advantaged. Thus the economic crisis had breaded crocks, and these crocks are not asked for proof when they make a law suit against anyone. So tomorrow it could be me, or you. Just be very careful and cover all your bases, or go to the mattresses as the God father would have said.
In my opinion, the court should ensure the correctness of the case prior to accepting it and wasting everybody's time, if they did that we will have less people working there with more efficient process. But who am I to even utter this word?
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Why would people falsify documents?
I think I mentioned before that I receive over 300 emails a day. About 50% of these emails come from disparate people looking for jobs, Nigerian crocks, real estate companies and other junk mail from china or forwards from friends. The other 50% is real mail from schools and students. So my first task is to separate the mail and delete the unwanted to get on with the rest of the urgent replies. Some emails I have to flag as I need to find out answers but some I can clear very quickly as I already know what to do.
Anyway, I received an email, which I assumed it was junk, so you know what happened to it, then after two days a similar one came, again the delete button was pressed. But when I got it as a forward insisting on a reply, I opened it, checked the attachment and not knowing what the person wants, I replied to say that I had deleted the email as I didn't know what they wanted. In a flash of a second they replied saying that I should confirm that the certificate that was attached in their first emil was issued by us, and that I need to certify it. So I looked again at the attachment with horror this time, to see how on earth I issued a certificate to a person? This doesn't make any sense as first we do not teach any thing, and also we are not certified to issue certificates. So I looked closely and noticed that our address was somehow showing at the bottom of the so called certificate! Weird really, as his is not even the way we write our address, this must have been copied from an advertisement or a flier that we distribute regularly.
I replied to them, saying that we are not allowed to issue certificates nor are we certified to teach degrees. And that they need to talk to the school directly. They asked me to give them the name of the school. Now I am going to change my name to Google! So of course you would guess my reply to her. Then again she emailed me saying if I had ever met this person who had falsified her document? I said no, but just to make sure I ran a search on our database to ensure that I am saying the truth.
The real worry is, the company this person had given her certificate to had actually enquired about it, but do all companies actually ask? I am not sure about this, as I for one assume that people are telling the truth, why would anyone make up a story about graduation, wouldn't it be found later on if he or she cannot perform the job they are applying for? What about people who pay others to attend exams on their behalf, or people who ask others to write their assignments and give them money for it, and those that ask us to write their PHD proposal for them or their personal statements, etc. All of this is apparently a done thing.
Falsifying a document for a typist is ok as no one will be harmed by slow typists, but for doctors, financiers, accountants, engineers and all the other disciplines that by not knowing how to perform the tasks one can actually kill others. Is money that important so we would do anything to get it without any consideration to the truth? What happened to humanity? What happened to being honest no matter what? What is the problem if one had actually gone to a school and had actually graduated, why would one spend all of this money to obtain shady certificates?
Like everything else. Life is becoming very different to the one we know, what do you think we should do to correct it, everyday I find these issues and thank my god for the person who is me, I hate lies, I hate pretence and I hate to receive anything if I am not entitled to it. And I really hope that I had instilled these characteristics in my children, as if I hear that they had cheated in their exams I am not sure which nerve in my brain is going to explode.
Hope none of you is harmed by a non-certificate-holder dentist.
Anyway, I received an email, which I assumed it was junk, so you know what happened to it, then after two days a similar one came, again the delete button was pressed. But when I got it as a forward insisting on a reply, I opened it, checked the attachment and not knowing what the person wants, I replied to say that I had deleted the email as I didn't know what they wanted. In a flash of a second they replied saying that I should confirm that the certificate that was attached in their first emil was issued by us, and that I need to certify it. So I looked again at the attachment with horror this time, to see how on earth I issued a certificate to a person? This doesn't make any sense as first we do not teach any thing, and also we are not certified to issue certificates. So I looked closely and noticed that our address was somehow showing at the bottom of the so called certificate! Weird really, as his is not even the way we write our address, this must have been copied from an advertisement or a flier that we distribute regularly.
I replied to them, saying that we are not allowed to issue certificates nor are we certified to teach degrees. And that they need to talk to the school directly. They asked me to give them the name of the school. Now I am going to change my name to Google! So of course you would guess my reply to her. Then again she emailed me saying if I had ever met this person who had falsified her document? I said no, but just to make sure I ran a search on our database to ensure that I am saying the truth.
The real worry is, the company this person had given her certificate to had actually enquired about it, but do all companies actually ask? I am not sure about this, as I for one assume that people are telling the truth, why would anyone make up a story about graduation, wouldn't it be found later on if he or she cannot perform the job they are applying for? What about people who pay others to attend exams on their behalf, or people who ask others to write their assignments and give them money for it, and those that ask us to write their PHD proposal for them or their personal statements, etc. All of this is apparently a done thing.
Falsifying a document for a typist is ok as no one will be harmed by slow typists, but for doctors, financiers, accountants, engineers and all the other disciplines that by not knowing how to perform the tasks one can actually kill others. Is money that important so we would do anything to get it without any consideration to the truth? What happened to humanity? What happened to being honest no matter what? What is the problem if one had actually gone to a school and had actually graduated, why would one spend all of this money to obtain shady certificates?
Like everything else. Life is becoming very different to the one we know, what do you think we should do to correct it, everyday I find these issues and thank my god for the person who is me, I hate lies, I hate pretence and I hate to receive anything if I am not entitled to it. And I really hope that I had instilled these characteristics in my children, as if I hear that they had cheated in their exams I am not sure which nerve in my brain is going to explode.
Hope none of you is harmed by a non-certificate-holder dentist.
Friday 1 October 2010
Tamakkan? what do you think it is?
Abu Dhabi is starting to look after its inhabitants and put them on display to encourage everybody to become an entrepreneur. Tamakkan is an Arabic word that means enable, so basically if one starts a business or wants to start a business and wondering what to do, and you live in Abu Dhabi, then you will need to attend these sessions, they have been running for a year now. I attended two of them so far and find the idea really great as it puts individuals who had achieved something under the spotlight and make the others inspired. Also the show invite few lecturers to talk about subjects that is relevant to marketing ones business or product.
Last week's event was nice as the three people that came each added a different flavour to the show:
1. Grant talked about the 30 seconds elevator speech. basically we all have to practise to say What we do as a business in 30 seconds, and present ourselves to individuals, say in elevators, in the shortest and most informative way, and also to always have a business card handy. meaning back to basics, as word of mouth is very important.
So here is my 30 seconds of your life:
"My name is Suad I am an academic consultant I help students to go abroad, here is my business card in case u have someone who wants to study and needs help. What about you?"
Or "My name is Maryam I run an art school, here is my business card, we can turn you into an artist in less than a week. What about you?"
2. Bob Lipset discussed social media (Facebook and others) and how to use to grew your business
20 ideas:
Write your info down or record it as we forget it so carry a note book or an ipad.
Eavesdrop. Listen to what people say any where then find out if you can help them and create what they want
Do something new. Sign up for a class take up a new hobby listen to music, just so you meet people
Write down what annoys you. You are not alone so if you want things that are different then other peopl may also want different
Take two ideas and put them together
Think beyond the obvious
Get physical release those endorphins
Get the blood flowing
Hit the corniche (its a fantastic place in Abu Dhabi by the way)
Learn to salsa
Lazy people have lazy ideas, while Aggressive people have aggressive ideas
Get an outsiders opinion
Need to bring in a fresh perspective
Just listen to your customers suggestions
Change your routine, as New surroundings can thrill you with new experiences
Take a different way to go to work
Try something different
Listen to music or something else
Take a shower, think, Let your mind wonder and get creative during the shower (wet brain storming)
Make a list as this becomes a hard copy of your thoughts and ideas
Be a book worm knowledge is power
Absorb everything about your subject
Unrelated concepts create new ideas
Sleep On it before saying it or doing it, you can actually create new ideas when you wake up
Ask google! you may get help
Doodle (mind mapping) mindless doodling on paper any thing, Key words, ideas, circles, squares etc
Forget every thing you know, If you are stuck then hire professional help
the final speaker is with the owner of Jones the grocer, who talked about how he managed to capture the license to operate the restaurant and how painful was the process of creating the first store, it took resilience, survival and confidence and most importantly imagination. The "do it yourself" attitude helped of course, and then he invited us all to have free coffee and a cake in the restaurant, as we were all hungry, he must have made heaps of cash that night, as we all had our dinner (paid for it ourselves) and then the coffee was free. i tell you guys, this was the most imaginative thing this entrepreneur had done; he knew that most of us drove from Dubai, and missed dinner, a win-win to all of us.
Last week's event was nice as the three people that came each added a different flavour to the show:
1. Grant talked about the 30 seconds elevator speech. basically we all have to practise to say What we do as a business in 30 seconds, and present ourselves to individuals, say in elevators, in the shortest and most informative way, and also to always have a business card handy. meaning back to basics, as word of mouth is very important.
So here is my 30 seconds of your life:
"My name is Suad I am an academic consultant I help students to go abroad, here is my business card in case u have someone who wants to study and needs help. What about you?"
Or "My name is Maryam I run an art school, here is my business card, we can turn you into an artist in less than a week. What about you?"
2. Bob Lipset discussed social media (Facebook and others) and how to use to grew your business
20 ideas:
Write your info down or record it as we forget it so carry a note book or an ipad.
Eavesdrop. Listen to what people say any where then find out if you can help them and create what they want
Do something new. Sign up for a class take up a new hobby listen to music, just so you meet people
Write down what annoys you. You are not alone so if you want things that are different then other peopl may also want different
Take two ideas and put them together
Think beyond the obvious
Get physical release those endorphins
Get the blood flowing
Hit the corniche (its a fantastic place in Abu Dhabi by the way)
Learn to salsa
Lazy people have lazy ideas, while Aggressive people have aggressive ideas
Get an outsiders opinion
Need to bring in a fresh perspective
Just listen to your customers suggestions
Change your routine, as New surroundings can thrill you with new experiences
Take a different way to go to work
Try something different
Listen to music or something else
Take a shower, think, Let your mind wonder and get creative during the shower (wet brain storming)
Make a list as this becomes a hard copy of your thoughts and ideas
Be a book worm knowledge is power
Absorb everything about your subject
Unrelated concepts create new ideas
Sleep On it before saying it or doing it, you can actually create new ideas when you wake up
Ask google! you may get help
Doodle (mind mapping) mindless doodling on paper any thing, Key words, ideas, circles, squares etc
Forget every thing you know, If you are stuck then hire professional help
the final speaker is with the owner of Jones the grocer, who talked about how he managed to capture the license to operate the restaurant and how painful was the process of creating the first store, it took resilience, survival and confidence and most importantly imagination. The "do it yourself" attitude helped of course, and then he invited us all to have free coffee and a cake in the restaurant, as we were all hungry, he must have made heaps of cash that night, as we all had our dinner (paid for it ourselves) and then the coffee was free. i tell you guys, this was the most imaginative thing this entrepreneur had done; he knew that most of us drove from Dubai, and missed dinner, a win-win to all of us.
Friday with the new ipad keyboard
I am just doodling here as I am trying to know how to use this new keyboard that my friend's daughter had bought for herself.
The keyboard looks nice and handy to have, not too heavy, and it costs only 50 pounds.
So basically if you buy an ipad, you need to have the plastic transparent sheet to stick on the screen, you need a pouch for it so you cannot scratch it, you need a little cover to protect it, you need an ear plug, and now the key board. You also need to buy every bit of software that is required to have a decently working ipad, and when you want to download stuff you need a special account to pay for these stuff.
I dont like to think how much money these companies make out of us. So if I really want my ipad to be functional I have to have a bag full of goodies to carry around with me and guess what? the reason for buying the ipad is to be light while travelling. However still its my nicest gift to myself ever, now its liberating as I dont need to use pad and pen during meetings, the team can get on with the work while driving back from my meeting, time of the essence and at the same time I am saving the planet from using paper.
So what can Apple do to reduce our purchases? i guess nothing?
The keyboard looks nice and handy to have, not too heavy, and it costs only 50 pounds.
So basically if you buy an ipad, you need to have the plastic transparent sheet to stick on the screen, you need a pouch for it so you cannot scratch it, you need a little cover to protect it, you need an ear plug, and now the key board. You also need to buy every bit of software that is required to have a decently working ipad, and when you want to download stuff you need a special account to pay for these stuff.
I dont like to think how much money these companies make out of us. So if I really want my ipad to be functional I have to have a bag full of goodies to carry around with me and guess what? the reason for buying the ipad is to be light while travelling. However still its my nicest gift to myself ever, now its liberating as I dont need to use pad and pen during meetings, the team can get on with the work while driving back from my meeting, time of the essence and at the same time I am saving the planet from using paper.
So what can Apple do to reduce our purchases? i guess nothing?
Friday 24 September 2010
Far easier to spend our money than to make it
I sat my alarm last night to wake up at 7 in order to go to this conference this morning. Woke up startled this morning as it was really hot and I was covered with sweat head to toe. I realized that I had slept without air-conditioning last night. I had two sleepless nights the last two days. Do not know whether it's due to the new slimming tablets I just started to use or because I am too busy to sleep. So I guess when I went to sleep last night I must have been too tired to check that the AC was not on.
Showered and changed quickly, had my breakfast, left the house and noticed that a white flower is floating on the wee fountain so I picked few more and scattered them around the fountain place, they looked really nice but while doing this I spelled my coffee which I grabbed in a haste to go to my car, so went back home and washed my hands, cleaned the hand bag and dabbed my pants with a towel to clean them from the coffee stains. I jumped into my car, called my daughter in New Zealand, and told her that I miss her. She is coming back for her holidays in a month time, still she gave me the list of stuff to do for her, change her standing order, send more money for the new phone, change her tickets, do her room, I noted these down so I dont forget them; I checked my mail, my BBMs and my messages while driving, it was a clear road. Of course I took the wrong turn on the highway so I had to pass Salic! Reached there and parked on the second level. I always try to park where the alphabets make sense. So my car was in the three rows KLM. Easy to remember I think?
I went straight to the conference hall in DUCTAC and attentively listened to the speaker. Yes I remember him from the previous conference. These are the guys that tell you that you can make 10000 dollars a day by working on the internet and have a 90 days vacation a year and own a home in every country of the 300 that you will spend your vacation in every time. The trick is to give them on the spot some money so they could show you how to do that. Who on earth will have that amount of money on a Friday morning and that too at the end of the month? Unless they tell us on the invitation that we need to carry heaps of cash with us. Of course with my my rush earlier on I forgot to take my water with me so this made me spend 4 dirhams for a tiny bottle of water. There you go, the 10000 dollars just got reduced by one before I even made it! As the french will say, oh la la.
Left the conference, went shopping for grocery at Carrefour, first time I go to Carrefour on a Friday morning, it was like they were distributing hot cakes for free. I don't think Dubai had anyone walking in it's streets as it seemed the whole of the population was at the supermarket. Maybe they are all like me, I mean we don't have time to grocer during the week, so I want someone to tell me when is the best time to go grocering during the week where you can hand pack your apples without hitting the hands of the other twenty people gathered around that apple place. Luckily I had written down a list this time so I don't have to hunt buy. Met a friend (of course shopping like me) and at the same time pushing the wheel chair of his stroke stricken father. The father by the way was a banker who built the best banks in Dubai and had chaired a few before he became ill. I don't want to have a strawberry tart placed on my lap if I was on a wheel chair God forbid, so kiddos be careful don't do that to me! Anyway to make a long story short the trip to the supermarket was over, another reduction in the 10000 dollars by 617 dirhams. I went to have my take away coffee (latte skinny) and of course the girl didn't ask me the size so she gave me the small one, left the cafe with my two pettieboures tucked carefully in one of my grocery bags and here we go again I spelled some of the coffee on my hand and the trolly this time, went to find my car.
Where did I park? Oh yes the acronym came to my mind straight away. KLM. Aha, but the car is not there? Was KLM of ground floor or another floor? So I did it again. I should have said 1KLM to my ageing brain! Went back inside, used the left this time, found my car. Great. Now it seems that the whole population is leaving the mall, cars were peeping and horning and jumping lanes in order to leave the mall, why is everyone in a hurry? Oh maybe Ernesto opened their skull and injected them with the 10000 dollar a day idea so now they are all rushing to get on with it, I think that they had all forgotten that they can be killed in a car crash before they see the first dollar.
I checked my missed calls, oh the first one must be a saudi student who is thinking that if he cannot receive his offer letter on my rest day then life will stop. The second missed call was from my friend, so I talked to her on the way home. Reached home and straight away corrected my notes from the conference and emailed them to my kids, rather than talk to them over lunch about it, nice! I think these ipads are fun. Had I written these notes on a piece of paper then they will never see the light again, typing them straight on the notes pages on the iPad makes it easier to edit and email. Yesterday for example I was in a meeting in Abu Dhabi, I took my iPad out, wrote my notes (believe me I wasn't trying to impress) and straight away sent them to the staff member who was going to action them. Neat, I love Apple, they made my life easy, I am now typing this on the iPad while resting a little.
Anyway, I am not trying to give you my daily diary here, Or how to spend your friday mornings, or to convince you to buy an iPad, I am merely trying to tell you that it is far easier to spend money than to make it.. I have to stop this blog now as my elder daughter is giving me a lecture on why I dont have to have lots of paintings and pictures hung in my bedroom.
Showered and changed quickly, had my breakfast, left the house and noticed that a white flower is floating on the wee fountain so I picked few more and scattered them around the fountain place, they looked really nice but while doing this I spelled my coffee which I grabbed in a haste to go to my car, so went back home and washed my hands, cleaned the hand bag and dabbed my pants with a towel to clean them from the coffee stains. I jumped into my car, called my daughter in New Zealand, and told her that I miss her. She is coming back for her holidays in a month time, still she gave me the list of stuff to do for her, change her standing order, send more money for the new phone, change her tickets, do her room, I noted these down so I dont forget them; I checked my mail, my BBMs and my messages while driving, it was a clear road. Of course I took the wrong turn on the highway so I had to pass Salic! Reached there and parked on the second level. I always try to park where the alphabets make sense. So my car was in the three rows KLM. Easy to remember I think?
I went straight to the conference hall in DUCTAC and attentively listened to the speaker. Yes I remember him from the previous conference. These are the guys that tell you that you can make 10000 dollars a day by working on the internet and have a 90 days vacation a year and own a home in every country of the 300 that you will spend your vacation in every time. The trick is to give them on the spot some money so they could show you how to do that. Who on earth will have that amount of money on a Friday morning and that too at the end of the month? Unless they tell us on the invitation that we need to carry heaps of cash with us. Of course with my my rush earlier on I forgot to take my water with me so this made me spend 4 dirhams for a tiny bottle of water. There you go, the 10000 dollars just got reduced by one before I even made it! As the french will say, oh la la.
Left the conference, went shopping for grocery at Carrefour, first time I go to Carrefour on a Friday morning, it was like they were distributing hot cakes for free. I don't think Dubai had anyone walking in it's streets as it seemed the whole of the population was at the supermarket. Maybe they are all like me, I mean we don't have time to grocer during the week, so I want someone to tell me when is the best time to go grocering during the week where you can hand pack your apples without hitting the hands of the other twenty people gathered around that apple place. Luckily I had written down a list this time so I don't have to hunt buy. Met a friend (of course shopping like me) and at the same time pushing the wheel chair of his stroke stricken father. The father by the way was a banker who built the best banks in Dubai and had chaired a few before he became ill. I don't want to have a strawberry tart placed on my lap if I was on a wheel chair God forbid, so kiddos be careful don't do that to me! Anyway to make a long story short the trip to the supermarket was over, another reduction in the 10000 dollars by 617 dirhams. I went to have my take away coffee (latte skinny) and of course the girl didn't ask me the size so she gave me the small one, left the cafe with my two pettieboures tucked carefully in one of my grocery bags and here we go again I spelled some of the coffee on my hand and the trolly this time, went to find my car.
Where did I park? Oh yes the acronym came to my mind straight away. KLM. Aha, but the car is not there? Was KLM of ground floor or another floor? So I did it again. I should have said 1KLM to my ageing brain! Went back inside, used the left this time, found my car. Great. Now it seems that the whole population is leaving the mall, cars were peeping and horning and jumping lanes in order to leave the mall, why is everyone in a hurry? Oh maybe Ernesto opened their skull and injected them with the 10000 dollar a day idea so now they are all rushing to get on with it, I think that they had all forgotten that they can be killed in a car crash before they see the first dollar.
I checked my missed calls, oh the first one must be a saudi student who is thinking that if he cannot receive his offer letter on my rest day then life will stop. The second missed call was from my friend, so I talked to her on the way home. Reached home and straight away corrected my notes from the conference and emailed them to my kids, rather than talk to them over lunch about it, nice! I think these ipads are fun. Had I written these notes on a piece of paper then they will never see the light again, typing them straight on the notes pages on the iPad makes it easier to edit and email. Yesterday for example I was in a meeting in Abu Dhabi, I took my iPad out, wrote my notes (believe me I wasn't trying to impress) and straight away sent them to the staff member who was going to action them. Neat, I love Apple, they made my life easy, I am now typing this on the iPad while resting a little.
Anyway, I am not trying to give you my daily diary here, Or how to spend your friday mornings, or to convince you to buy an iPad, I am merely trying to tell you that it is far easier to spend money than to make it.. I have to stop this blog now as my elder daughter is giving me a lecture on why I dont have to have lots of paintings and pictures hung in my bedroom.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Egovernment? i am not sure
You are going to be starteled when you read this blog as we all think that we have completely goner electronic when it comes to dealing with government. I don't think so. Take tha national I'd card for example. We have to download the form and take it ourselves to the various places and wait in the queue to process it. Then wait for over a month to receive it. What about payment online? We still suffer fromthis. I have to go to a building to pay my pcompany phone bills. This last one was with du of course and to think that a phone company has every thing to do with the Internet but they cannot handle B2B operations.
Also in Bahrain one has to jump a thousand hoops to get a passport renewed! Forget the licences, Leases, visas and all the shebang that is attributed to the necessities of life.
I lived in the west for a while. So in the eighties I was studying in Southampton, my brother needed to get a replacement for his son's birth certificate. I rang the birth registrar, they sent me a form, filled it, posted it, few days later I had it in my mailbox. Easy peasy. Last year my husband's passport needed renewal, I downloaded the form, filed it, sent it by courier, three weeks later got the new passport! How easy is this? Imagine if you have to do this here. First you have to endure the heat, then you have to find parking then of course the queues and the faces that look at you as if you are an alian from outer space, one cannot but wonder why on earth do these people bother to go to work every morning? Unsure really.
The banks is another joke. Sometimes I wonder if I am trusting my money with woody wood picker. Every thing one needs to do one has to go tothe bank. My bank in New Zealand never saw my face all my transaction are handled in a remote way and visiting the branch is not something thati need to do at all unless I wanted to chat to someone! I once bought two houses off plan and got a mortgage signed while I was at mydosk indubai and the houses were in
Hamilton. No exaggeration my friends. I never saw the agent nor the banker or the lawyer. My house in Dubai took 5 months to be registered.
Where is the E-government
Also in Bahrain one has to jump a thousand hoops to get a passport renewed! Forget the licences, Leases, visas and all the shebang that is attributed to the necessities of life.
I lived in the west for a while. So in the eighties I was studying in Southampton, my brother needed to get a replacement for his son's birth certificate. I rang the birth registrar, they sent me a form, filled it, posted it, few days later I had it in my mailbox. Easy peasy. Last year my husband's passport needed renewal, I downloaded the form, filed it, sent it by courier, three weeks later got the new passport! How easy is this? Imagine if you have to do this here. First you have to endure the heat, then you have to find parking then of course the queues and the faces that look at you as if you are an alian from outer space, one cannot but wonder why on earth do these people bother to go to work every morning? Unsure really.
The banks is another joke. Sometimes I wonder if I am trusting my money with woody wood picker. Every thing one needs to do one has to go tothe bank. My bank in New Zealand never saw my face all my transaction are handled in a remote way and visiting the branch is not something thati need to do at all unless I wanted to chat to someone! I once bought two houses off plan and got a mortgage signed while I was at mydosk indubai and the houses were in
Hamilton. No exaggeration my friends. I never saw the agent nor the banker or the lawyer. My house in Dubai took 5 months to be registered.
Where is the E-government
Friday 20 August 2010
Fathers, fathers and fathers!
There are fathers who love to go to wars, there are fathers who love to create wars, there are fathers who prefer peace than wars
There are fathers who worship work, others who only love themselves and many who care about their families.
There are some who write books, some who read books, and some who despise any sort of print and writing and declare that its all to do with propaganda.
Some who work really hard to support others, and some who want to make a difference in this life? Some go to mosque but have no idea why, and some go to mosques to worship God, and some go to mosques to meet people and have new friends.
Some fathers become presidents of their country; some become presidents of their companies, and some only job is to create companies.
A lot of fathers just struggle in life to achieve something, and a lot of fathers do not have to struggle at all, things just seem to work out for them. Some worship women, some marry one woman only and some want to marry all the women in the world. Some have no idea why are they created and some make it a point to prove that they are idiots. Some love politics, some love poetry and some love songs, but some sing songs.
The list above is not exhaustive, nor does it undermine men in any way, I couldn’t sleep so I started to analyse reasons why one father is stuck to his daughter. This father couldn’t work, couldn’t read, couldn’t do anything at all since his daughter went away to complete her studies, so unknowing what to do, he started to create problems at home, over things that are non-existing, and made up so many excuses of why he cannot live in that country and how he has to go away to start building his future. He cried on hearing the voice of his daughter, he had nightmares about her getting into trouble or being involved in something that is not appropriate. He fought with everybody, and left the country to go and stay with her "for a while only" until he figures out what he should do with his future, he made everybody think that he must be suffering from some sort of stress or depression, and that was the reason for his abrupt departure from his work and his house. Obviously everybody assumed that there is a problem between his wife and him, and people at work started to look from the side of their eyes to the wife, and what a horrible monster she was to give all these problems to her poor husband. Unknowing of course that there were no problems at all, and the whole act was just a camouflage for wanting to be next to his sweetheart daughter. So in which category do we place this man?
Of course the daughter loves him dearly, and his other kids do so too, and the wife as well, however for him he only loves this one daughter for some reason. He Cannot close his eyes if she is not close to him, he texts her to know if she is fine, and calls her every now and then to ensure that she didn’t go under a truck , I am kidding of course. What I really mean is that, can someone be so affectionate to one member of the family and is unable to declare it? Or is he shy that the family will not understand? Well, now that it is obvious to them, I dont think they will be worried any more or have to think hard on whether they did something directly or indirectly to hurt him. All doubts are removed, this man adores his little girl and wants to make sure that she is safe, and nothing disrupts her studies. If it was me, I would say that out loud, there is nothing to be worried about, I want to be close to my daughter, and what is wrong with that?
There are fathers who worship work, others who only love themselves and many who care about their families.
There are some who write books, some who read books, and some who despise any sort of print and writing and declare that its all to do with propaganda.
Some who work really hard to support others, and some who want to make a difference in this life? Some go to mosque but have no idea why, and some go to mosques to worship God, and some go to mosques to meet people and have new friends.
Some fathers become presidents of their country; some become presidents of their companies, and some only job is to create companies.
A lot of fathers just struggle in life to achieve something, and a lot of fathers do not have to struggle at all, things just seem to work out for them. Some worship women, some marry one woman only and some want to marry all the women in the world. Some have no idea why are they created and some make it a point to prove that they are idiots. Some love politics, some love poetry and some love songs, but some sing songs.
The list above is not exhaustive, nor does it undermine men in any way, I couldn’t sleep so I started to analyse reasons why one father is stuck to his daughter. This father couldn’t work, couldn’t read, couldn’t do anything at all since his daughter went away to complete her studies, so unknowing what to do, he started to create problems at home, over things that are non-existing, and made up so many excuses of why he cannot live in that country and how he has to go away to start building his future. He cried on hearing the voice of his daughter, he had nightmares about her getting into trouble or being involved in something that is not appropriate. He fought with everybody, and left the country to go and stay with her "for a while only" until he figures out what he should do with his future, he made everybody think that he must be suffering from some sort of stress or depression, and that was the reason for his abrupt departure from his work and his house. Obviously everybody assumed that there is a problem between his wife and him, and people at work started to look from the side of their eyes to the wife, and what a horrible monster she was to give all these problems to her poor husband. Unknowing of course that there were no problems at all, and the whole act was just a camouflage for wanting to be next to his sweetheart daughter. So in which category do we place this man?
Of course the daughter loves him dearly, and his other kids do so too, and the wife as well, however for him he only loves this one daughter for some reason. He Cannot close his eyes if she is not close to him, he texts her to know if she is fine, and calls her every now and then to ensure that she didn’t go under a truck , I am kidding of course. What I really mean is that, can someone be so affectionate to one member of the family and is unable to declare it? Or is he shy that the family will not understand? Well, now that it is obvious to them, I dont think they will be worried any more or have to think hard on whether they did something directly or indirectly to hurt him. All doubts are removed, this man adores his little girl and wants to make sure that she is safe, and nothing disrupts her studies. If it was me, I would say that out loud, there is nothing to be worried about, I want to be close to my daughter, and what is wrong with that?
Sunday 15 August 2010
Flash! oops did I go to sleep?
Driving back from Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon, suddenly I got stunned by the flash of the radar, looked at the speedometer and oops its closing on 160 KM per hour. Oh my god, I am a drive-o-phobic person (unsure if there is such word or not, I am sure you know what it means though, my heart pounds, and the palm of my hands drips with sweat when I drive especially if alone on the highway; in actual fact i need to have a towel next to me to wipe of the rain dropping from my hands. So I never drive over the speed limit, what am I talking about, I never drive over a 100 on the highway, just to avoid that feeling, and always try to drive away from the trucks, as they are the monsters on the roads that bring the daymare to my life (as in nightmares).
So my explanation to myself is that I must have gone to sleep as it was really hot, the sun was glaring and I was fasting too which didn’t help, this reminded me of that time when I used to work in a company and had to drive 45 KMs a day to and fro. In those days the roads to perdition (to work) were single lanes, nothing on either side except the sand, and even the camels used to wonder on the highway, so I trained myself to drive while sleeping, and it worked very well, every day I increased it for more minutes, the drive was lovely full of day dreams and magic, I used to dream of the high-rises that now exist on either side of the road, and the multiple lanes that will allow me to be on my own so I can continue to sleepdrive without hesitation. Sometimes I think that the waves of my dreams must have hit the heads of the people that own Dubai and they started the frenzy of buildings, until all these buildings showed up and the roads got so congested to the extent that no one including myself would be able to drivesleep or sleepdrive or whatever you want to call it. Now I am dreaming of cars that can detect dangers on the road and drives away from it. I will be the first person that will buy such car.
Being drivophobic makes me hate to be driven by anyone else, I cannot really hire a driver as I will be watching his or her every move and that way I will never focus on what I need to do ( BBM, TXT, EMAil, tweet or facebook) which is what I do while driving now. The other day I heard that a plane crash happened in New Zealand, and when they checked the phone of the pilot, they noticed that the last thing he was doing prior to the crash is text someone, I thought that was odd, as normally aeroplanes fly on autopilot, so a person hooked to a phone is safe on an aeroplane, but it doesn’t seem so, as this pilot had died. Now I have to change my strategy and stop typing too? Is that going to be the end of my 60000 thoughts a second? Of course not, as soon as I heard this I started to use the voice-note- recorder on the BB, and then emailed it to my daughter so she can transcribe it into a page. She told me off as she knew that I did that while driving. Thus whatever I do they will find out. Maybe the best thing is not to take the phone with me in the car? Or maybe I should courier my phone everyday to the office to stop this madness completely? What do you think blogpals? Tell me honestly.
So my explanation to myself is that I must have gone to sleep as it was really hot, the sun was glaring and I was fasting too which didn’t help, this reminded me of that time when I used to work in a company and had to drive 45 KMs a day to and fro. In those days the roads to perdition (to work) were single lanes, nothing on either side except the sand, and even the camels used to wonder on the highway, so I trained myself to drive while sleeping, and it worked very well, every day I increased it for more minutes, the drive was lovely full of day dreams and magic, I used to dream of the high-rises that now exist on either side of the road, and the multiple lanes that will allow me to be on my own so I can continue to sleepdrive without hesitation. Sometimes I think that the waves of my dreams must have hit the heads of the people that own Dubai and they started the frenzy of buildings, until all these buildings showed up and the roads got so congested to the extent that no one including myself would be able to drivesleep or sleepdrive or whatever you want to call it. Now I am dreaming of cars that can detect dangers on the road and drives away from it. I will be the first person that will buy such car.
Being drivophobic makes me hate to be driven by anyone else, I cannot really hire a driver as I will be watching his or her every move and that way I will never focus on what I need to do ( BBM, TXT, EMAil, tweet or facebook) which is what I do while driving now. The other day I heard that a plane crash happened in New Zealand, and when they checked the phone of the pilot, they noticed that the last thing he was doing prior to the crash is text someone, I thought that was odd, as normally aeroplanes fly on autopilot, so a person hooked to a phone is safe on an aeroplane, but it doesn’t seem so, as this pilot had died. Now I have to change my strategy and stop typing too? Is that going to be the end of my 60000 thoughts a second? Of course not, as soon as I heard this I started to use the voice-note- recorder on the BB, and then emailed it to my daughter so she can transcribe it into a page. She told me off as she knew that I did that while driving. Thus whatever I do they will find out. Maybe the best thing is not to take the phone with me in the car? Or maybe I should courier my phone everyday to the office to stop this madness completely? What do you think blogpals? Tell me honestly.
Wednesday 11 August 2010
My love in this life, sea life
I am not sure why people forward emails, maybe they think that the recipient doesn’t know the information, or would like to know more information, or maybe just to stay in touch. Like businesses really, if they are not in our face we will forget about them (far from the eye, is far from the heart as they say). However since I moved back to Dubai, I didn’t have enough time to check all the forwards, so I created a folder on my outlook that is called "forwards from friends" ingenious really:) and I only go there when I have some time to spare which is really rare, with my phone ringing all the time, and the 300-400 business emails that I have to reply to, and the shopping with the kids, and for the house, and the social agenda that doesn’t end. Sometimes when I am returning home at night I get worried that I will have an accident, as my head spins and my eyes closes, I wonder why am I doing this, but I only remember at the end of the day when I am fully tired. Anyway, so in those rare moments when I have time I do check your forwards friends, please don’t be upset with me.
And when I like what they send, I will post it here for you all to see too (when you have the time, that is)
A preamble for this post
Three years ago I was still a member of the Dubai ladies club. It was my favourite place on this earth. The beach was always empty, and I would either be swimming in it, or just lying on those long bed-like-chairs reading a book or just meditating. In those moments many things cross my mind, so I thought of a novel, (I always wanted to write something but didn’t know what it was) the novel involved the sea, and the life inside it, with a mix of people going there and solving the sea lives problems. Of course I never came around to writing it, one day I will, I promise, it will be the next better-than-harry potter book, and you will all receive a copy signed by me.
So whenever I receive forwards on sea life I reminisce on my novel, and that is why I am posting this post:
These are the images shot for an underwater film created using revolutionary technology. The film took four years to shoot and costing a staggering £45 million to produce. But it's easy to see why: 500 hours of unedited film were shot using remote-controlled mini helicopters, divers, hydrodynamic cameras dragged behind boats and top speeds, and carefully tied poles.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781956000005DC-762_634x547_popup.jpg
Just going for a little flight: A long-beaked dolphin is caught on camera by a mini helicopter as it leaps from the water in an unspecified location in one of the images from the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-0778331D000005DC-303_634x416_popup.jpg
Behind the scenes: A mini helicopter hovers above a whale during the four years of filming
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-077833E0000005DC-165_634x420_popup.jpg
Health and safety?: A diver moves carefully through a sea of jellyfish…..
The film, Oceans for Pathi, is set to be launched this year. Cameras have penetrated shoals of hunting tuna fish and flown just metres above dolphins as they leap from the ocean. The film-makers also captured a sand-level view of tiny turtles hatching and scurrying to the ocean.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-0778322D000005DC-161_634x352_popup.jpg
Sand-eye view: This eerie image of horseshoe crabs scuttling on a beach was part of the 500 hours of unedited footage
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-0778322D000005DC-161_634x352_popup.jpg
My, what big fins you have: A diver appears dwarfed by a sunfish in footage from the film.
It took two years of planning before 15 cameramen could even begin filming Oceans for Pathi, which will be out on general release on 27 January 2010. The crew filmed in 50 locations across the world and captured 80 species of fish, dolphins, whales, squid, lizards, crabs and turtles. The secret to the production is its revolutionary filming carried out in a bid to get within the ocean's most intimate events.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07783304000005DC-462_634x430_popup.jpg
Cuddles: A walrus with its baby in another image from the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781DDF000005DC-262_634x411_popup.jpg
Cannonball!: Sea birds dive bomb the water in search of fish
A watertight, hydrodynamic box was built to house a specially designed digital camera. The box was then drawn at top speed behind a boat, capturing dolphins as they darted through the water. The camera was also attached to a long pole and tied across the front of the boat, enabling directors Jacques Cluzaud and Jacques Perrin to film laterally at speeds of up to 15 knots. A remote-controlled mini helicopter hovered silently above the directors' prey and divers made 75 expeditions to capture 500 hours of unedited film.
Head first: An Adelie penguin diving from an iceberg in the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07782FD1000005DC-303_634x405_popup.jpg
Hold that pose: Two Weddell seals turn their inquisitive eyes on the camera in footage from the film
Two Californian sea lions look as though they are dancing through the reefs in the footage
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-077834EA000005DC-556_634x326_popup.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07783584000005DC-192_634x504_popup.jpg
The scale of the production was matched by the directors' vision for the film.
'In an attempt to tell the story of the oceans, we sought to open doors other than those of statistics: those of a fantastic and magical tale, the marvels of the little world of the coral reefs, the heroism of dolphins in full charge, the gracious dances of the humpback whale and giant squids, the horror of the attacks made on the oceans and to their creatures, the incredible spectacle of the sea unleashed in a titanic storm, the silence of a museum of extinct species,' said co-director Jacques Cluzaud.
Scientific director Sephane Durand said: 'The directors' dream was to swim with fish and dolphins, to track their underwater movements and ocean crossings whatever their speed, their evolutions, their acrobatics:
Fancy meeting you here: A humpback whale appears out of the astonishingly blue ocean to peer into the camera in another shot from the film, which cost £45m to produce
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781503000005DC-767_634x469_popup.jpg
As the world turns: A ball of horse mackerel in a scene from the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781BCF000005DC-207_634x392_popup.jpg
A dinghy is dwarfed by a crane hoisting a camera over the water to film a whale
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07783838000005DC-342_634x428_popup.jpg
leave you with these photos to imagine my novel guys.
And when I like what they send, I will post it here for you all to see too (when you have the time, that is)
A preamble for this post
Three years ago I was still a member of the Dubai ladies club. It was my favourite place on this earth. The beach was always empty, and I would either be swimming in it, or just lying on those long bed-like-chairs reading a book or just meditating. In those moments many things cross my mind, so I thought of a novel, (I always wanted to write something but didn’t know what it was) the novel involved the sea, and the life inside it, with a mix of people going there and solving the sea lives problems. Of course I never came around to writing it, one day I will, I promise, it will be the next better-than-harry potter book, and you will all receive a copy signed by me.
So whenever I receive forwards on sea life I reminisce on my novel, and that is why I am posting this post:
These are the images shot for an underwater film created using revolutionary technology. The film took four years to shoot and costing a staggering £45 million to produce. But it's easy to see why: 500 hours of unedited film were shot using remote-controlled mini helicopters, divers, hydrodynamic cameras dragged behind boats and top speeds, and carefully tied poles.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781956000005DC-762_634x547_popup.jpg
Just going for a little flight: A long-beaked dolphin is caught on camera by a mini helicopter as it leaps from the water in an unspecified location in one of the images from the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-0778331D000005DC-303_634x416_popup.jpg
Behind the scenes: A mini helicopter hovers above a whale during the four years of filming
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-077833E0000005DC-165_634x420_popup.jpg
Health and safety?: A diver moves carefully through a sea of jellyfish…..
The film, Oceans for Pathi, is set to be launched this year. Cameras have penetrated shoals of hunting tuna fish and flown just metres above dolphins as they leap from the ocean. The film-makers also captured a sand-level view of tiny turtles hatching and scurrying to the ocean.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-0778322D000005DC-161_634x352_popup.jpg
Sand-eye view: This eerie image of horseshoe crabs scuttling on a beach was part of the 500 hours of unedited footage
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-0778322D000005DC-161_634x352_popup.jpg
My, what big fins you have: A diver appears dwarfed by a sunfish in footage from the film.
It took two years of planning before 15 cameramen could even begin filming Oceans for Pathi, which will be out on general release on 27 January 2010. The crew filmed in 50 locations across the world and captured 80 species of fish, dolphins, whales, squid, lizards, crabs and turtles. The secret to the production is its revolutionary filming carried out in a bid to get within the ocean's most intimate events.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07783304000005DC-462_634x430_popup.jpg
Cuddles: A walrus with its baby in another image from the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781DDF000005DC-262_634x411_popup.jpg
Cannonball!: Sea birds dive bomb the water in search of fish
A watertight, hydrodynamic box was built to house a specially designed digital camera. The box was then drawn at top speed behind a boat, capturing dolphins as they darted through the water. The camera was also attached to a long pole and tied across the front of the boat, enabling directors Jacques Cluzaud and Jacques Perrin to film laterally at speeds of up to 15 knots. A remote-controlled mini helicopter hovered silently above the directors' prey and divers made 75 expeditions to capture 500 hours of unedited film.
Head first: An Adelie penguin diving from an iceberg in the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07782FD1000005DC-303_634x405_popup.jpg
Hold that pose: Two Weddell seals turn their inquisitive eyes on the camera in footage from the film
Two Californian sea lions look as though they are dancing through the reefs in the footage
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-077834EA000005DC-556_634x326_popup.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07783584000005DC-192_634x504_popup.jpg
The scale of the production was matched by the directors' vision for the film.
'In an attempt to tell the story of the oceans, we sought to open doors other than those of statistics: those of a fantastic and magical tale, the marvels of the little world of the coral reefs, the heroism of dolphins in full charge, the gracious dances of the humpback whale and giant squids, the horror of the attacks made on the oceans and to their creatures, the incredible spectacle of the sea unleashed in a titanic storm, the silence of a museum of extinct species,' said co-director Jacques Cluzaud.
Scientific director Sephane Durand said: 'The directors' dream was to swim with fish and dolphins, to track their underwater movements and ocean crossings whatever their speed, their evolutions, their acrobatics:
Fancy meeting you here: A humpback whale appears out of the astonishingly blue ocean to peer into the camera in another shot from the film, which cost £45m to produce
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781503000005DC-767_634x469_popup.jpg
As the world turns: A ball of horse mackerel in a scene from the film
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07781BCF000005DC-207_634x392_popup.jpg
A dinghy is dwarfed by a crane hoisting a camera over the water to film a whale
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/04/article-1233217-07783838000005DC-342_634x428_popup.jpg
leave you with these photos to imagine my novel guys.
The way governors think?
Dont you all wish sometimes that you are a different person with a different nationality? I dont mean to insult my western friends, so apologies in advance if this will sound demeaning to you western boys and girls.
Day before yesterday I was waiting for my group in a hotel, so (as my usual self) I started chatting with the girl who was in the lobby, and asked her what she is doing here, she said that they are flown all the way from USA to provide technological and scientific programmes for the kids during Ramadan. A programme that starts at 9 PM and goes on till 1 AM. Of course two things came to my mind straight away, kids should not be up that late, even if its Ramadan, and second thing why bring a group for a month and host them at a 5 star hotel to provide this sort of entertainment to our kids? When there are thousands of companies that were established by people like me and other men and women who borrowed money and risked their lives to provide for the country? I haven’t seen that programme tendered at all? And to just bring a group for it from overseas is not acceptable at all. Then this morning in another country and another setting, I hear that they would pay for the foreigners fully if they are giving a service to them. And I have been providing a service to this place since 8 years and no talk happened about any payment. All work that I did was for charity I guess?
And later on in the day my other western friend told me that she had sent her bill to the group she brought to my office to pick my brain but they didn’t pay her yet! And all these years I have been booking appointments for people, taking them there and letting people pick my brain for a bill that has a ZERO amount.
Which brings me to this discussion: either that I should change my look and my accent (maybe) to make others feel that I am a westerner (probably remove the shaila too) , hire a westerner to go for the meetings ( which I cannot afford) or quit what I am doing? As no matter how hard one works, and how sincere the work is, no one will value what one does and what one can provide unless you look different.
Good morning everybody, in actual fact, I just woke up and have a change of heart now, maybe I dont want to publish this blog, as it would show weakness in me that doesn’t actually exist. I told myself last night that maybe I should only work with individuals and forget about the governors as I am not sure how they think, or who advises them. For example my friend last night was asking why not have a local there do the job of this other person who is not a local (forgive me for being vague a bit, this is in a foreign land where an entrepreneur is hired rather than jetting a local person from here, totally agrees with my first paragraph) so I said that someone must have done a cost/ benefit analysis and found out that if they did that, the cost to them is triple, and this place that I am talking about apparently has very strong auditors who know what are they doing. They must be giving a sound advice to the governors. But in the mean time this same place spends millions on buildings and staff to do a job that we do for them without costing them anything at all? Weird I guess? I cannot see the reason behind this really, so if one of you understood what i am trying to achieve here and knows a bit of background then please help?
Day before yesterday I was waiting for my group in a hotel, so (as my usual self) I started chatting with the girl who was in the lobby, and asked her what she is doing here, she said that they are flown all the way from USA to provide technological and scientific programmes for the kids during Ramadan. A programme that starts at 9 PM and goes on till 1 AM. Of course two things came to my mind straight away, kids should not be up that late, even if its Ramadan, and second thing why bring a group for a month and host them at a 5 star hotel to provide this sort of entertainment to our kids? When there are thousands of companies that were established by people like me and other men and women who borrowed money and risked their lives to provide for the country? I haven’t seen that programme tendered at all? And to just bring a group for it from overseas is not acceptable at all. Then this morning in another country and another setting, I hear that they would pay for the foreigners fully if they are giving a service to them. And I have been providing a service to this place since 8 years and no talk happened about any payment. All work that I did was for charity I guess?
And later on in the day my other western friend told me that she had sent her bill to the group she brought to my office to pick my brain but they didn’t pay her yet! And all these years I have been booking appointments for people, taking them there and letting people pick my brain for a bill that has a ZERO amount.
Which brings me to this discussion: either that I should change my look and my accent (maybe) to make others feel that I am a westerner (probably remove the shaila too) , hire a westerner to go for the meetings ( which I cannot afford) or quit what I am doing? As no matter how hard one works, and how sincere the work is, no one will value what one does and what one can provide unless you look different.
Good morning everybody, in actual fact, I just woke up and have a change of heart now, maybe I dont want to publish this blog, as it would show weakness in me that doesn’t actually exist. I told myself last night that maybe I should only work with individuals and forget about the governors as I am not sure how they think, or who advises them. For example my friend last night was asking why not have a local there do the job of this other person who is not a local (forgive me for being vague a bit, this is in a foreign land where an entrepreneur is hired rather than jetting a local person from here, totally agrees with my first paragraph) so I said that someone must have done a cost/ benefit analysis and found out that if they did that, the cost to them is triple, and this place that I am talking about apparently has very strong auditors who know what are they doing. They must be giving a sound advice to the governors. But in the mean time this same place spends millions on buildings and staff to do a job that we do for them without costing them anything at all? Weird I guess? I cannot see the reason behind this really, so if one of you understood what i am trying to achieve here and knows a bit of background then please help?
Thursday 5 August 2010
Third World lack of confidence? What do we do about it?
I am sure you all know what I am talking about. Since November 2007 I got my BB and had enjoyed tremendous freedom and mobility; I was travelling and at the same time keeping my business running. The amount of time I saved and the number of gains I secured because of it are not quantifiable, also being linked all the time with my children who study overseas by chatting with them all the time whether on MSN or BBM kept me in contact to the extent that I didn’t feel the need the distance between us nor did I worry about them at any point in time. My team in the office were also constantly in check, so if I needed to ask for something or needed them to do something urgently I was only an email away.
However all of this freedom is about to go, just because the guys at TRA and RIM cannot find a solution to the security issue. Now that this word is introduced I opened Pandora’s Box and of course we must reflect on the subject of national security. What does it mean? Is the country worried about 500,000 business men and women who are trying to add value to the country's economy? Is the country worried that us the business people are in contact with our children and families while trying to add value to the economy and doing this in stress-free mind? Is the country worried that being stress-free will actually endanger the country?
I dont think this is what bothers the country. To me, I dont mind if the country checks all my emails, mms, sms, bbms, emails, phone conversation etc. I dont mind if I have bugs around my house. In actual fact I will be happy if they do this as it will provide me peace of mind knowing that there are people who are worried about our security. Do you know that I become worried and terrified when I enter an airport that doesn’t check our things because there could be a terrorist amongst us who will either kill all of us or damage property; I would rather have the country do the proper checks and balances to keep us all safe. If the country says to me that I have to go and provide my finger prints and reveal all my life's secrets, I would do that tomorrow, in exchange to freedom and mobility. The latter is too important for me and my business. I consider what I am doing is so important to the country and its inhabitants, as otherwise most of my clients (the students) may lose time as they will not be able to study on time, so if in exchange I reveal a bit of my private information then who really cares? And mentioning private information is really a funny subject. If you google my name you can find out everything about me, the only this that is probably missing is the colour of my underwear, and even that is available from my credit card purchases. So our information is public and our lives are public, and even what we do for living is public as we show it on our websites hoping that people who need us will find us. And to prove that we are real we have to put our photos, and all of this is public too.
Did you know? I didn’t want to say all of this, rather I wanted to say that we will always be a third world, as we dont know how to solve business issues. TRA could have secretly talked to RIM and solved this matter in a very civilised manner the same as what the first world had done. Did we all think that the people who are using BB in the west are saved from this? No please you are all naive if you thought so, everybody in the world has a security surveillance imposed on him or her. When we lived in New Zealand they introduced a driving license with a chip (smart card) this chip is linked to radar that tells a machine somewhere, your whereabouts and the explanation provided is that in case someone is lost they can find him or her? Well, that was in the first world? Did anyone utter a word about it? Also in US all bags are screened before and after the flight has landed. The garbage is checked by the green police in Germany, and if they see a piece of paper they try to trace it to the house it’s thrown from then the person is fined.
What I am trying to say here is that, please people dont be upset, and we should all try to save our third world countries from acts that could harm us and our generations, and if we all thought that BBMs could endanger national security we should have said this before TRA had discovered it. In actual fact I received some BBMs that are not proper and I was upset about it. I think we as people living in the third world really lack confidence; we should not be scared to say what is on our mind in order to protect the people and the country.
I love my country and I would do anything to protect it. Come on Etisalat, find us a replacement that continues to save our time, or do the talk that the western world had with RIM (we have many advisors from the west, so why not use them for this to compensate the hefty salaries that they pocket every month)
However all of this freedom is about to go, just because the guys at TRA and RIM cannot find a solution to the security issue. Now that this word is introduced I opened Pandora’s Box and of course we must reflect on the subject of national security. What does it mean? Is the country worried about 500,000 business men and women who are trying to add value to the country's economy? Is the country worried that us the business people are in contact with our children and families while trying to add value to the economy and doing this in stress-free mind? Is the country worried that being stress-free will actually endanger the country?
I dont think this is what bothers the country. To me, I dont mind if the country checks all my emails, mms, sms, bbms, emails, phone conversation etc. I dont mind if I have bugs around my house. In actual fact I will be happy if they do this as it will provide me peace of mind knowing that there are people who are worried about our security. Do you know that I become worried and terrified when I enter an airport that doesn’t check our things because there could be a terrorist amongst us who will either kill all of us or damage property; I would rather have the country do the proper checks and balances to keep us all safe. If the country says to me that I have to go and provide my finger prints and reveal all my life's secrets, I would do that tomorrow, in exchange to freedom and mobility. The latter is too important for me and my business. I consider what I am doing is so important to the country and its inhabitants, as otherwise most of my clients (the students) may lose time as they will not be able to study on time, so if in exchange I reveal a bit of my private information then who really cares? And mentioning private information is really a funny subject. If you google my name you can find out everything about me, the only this that is probably missing is the colour of my underwear, and even that is available from my credit card purchases. So our information is public and our lives are public, and even what we do for living is public as we show it on our websites hoping that people who need us will find us. And to prove that we are real we have to put our photos, and all of this is public too.
Did you know? I didn’t want to say all of this, rather I wanted to say that we will always be a third world, as we dont know how to solve business issues. TRA could have secretly talked to RIM and solved this matter in a very civilised manner the same as what the first world had done. Did we all think that the people who are using BB in the west are saved from this? No please you are all naive if you thought so, everybody in the world has a security surveillance imposed on him or her. When we lived in New Zealand they introduced a driving license with a chip (smart card) this chip is linked to radar that tells a machine somewhere, your whereabouts and the explanation provided is that in case someone is lost they can find him or her? Well, that was in the first world? Did anyone utter a word about it? Also in US all bags are screened before and after the flight has landed. The garbage is checked by the green police in Germany, and if they see a piece of paper they try to trace it to the house it’s thrown from then the person is fined.
What I am trying to say here is that, please people dont be upset, and we should all try to save our third world countries from acts that could harm us and our generations, and if we all thought that BBMs could endanger national security we should have said this before TRA had discovered it. In actual fact I received some BBMs that are not proper and I was upset about it. I think we as people living in the third world really lack confidence; we should not be scared to say what is on our mind in order to protect the people and the country.
I love my country and I would do anything to protect it. Come on Etisalat, find us a replacement that continues to save our time, or do the talk that the western world had with RIM (we have many advisors from the west, so why not use them for this to compensate the hefty salaries that they pocket every month)
Monday 2 August 2010
Sibling's frictions
I must go back to school and study psychology; I really don’t understand the behaviours of today’s children. Why are kids in the same home fight? is that because they are jealous of each other, is it because they want to extract the love of their parents just for themselves, does the way parents deal with their kids affect the kids' relationship so they become hostile towards each other? Or it’s just a matter of personality difference or the clash of their stars? (If you believe in horoscope and Chinese animals of course)
last night I arrived home a bit late as I was invited to a dinner at one of my friend's house (I am not deviating from the subject to talk about the variety of food that we ate and the size of the women that were in that house and how they eat, this will be the subject of our discussion in another blog) and my son and daughter had had a fight over the way my daughter drives, apparently she almost got herself killed by not watching her blind side while driving. Had you listened to the story of either side you will think that each one of them had only listened to the end of the sentences that were exchanged and not to the crux of the matter. Why did they only listen to what they wanted to listen to? Is it because they hated each other? Or is it because they had different mind sets? Is one of them very stubborn to accept criticism? Or the other one is sensitive to what he or she hears? I need answers to these questions. To me I want a home that when I reach to I find paradise on earth, I want to have a happy atmosphere where the waves are not disturbed by stones thrown at them. What my kids do not know is that the ripple effect of the thrown stone is endless and is maintained in the universe until the time ends. And on the day of justice that ripple will be held and they are both asked to why they fought? Their voices will be heard where everybody that is gathered there will be able to judge who is at fault. I guess all we need to do is to make ourselves aware of every word before it is said and engage our ears before our mouths are opened. Dad used to tell me that God almighty gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason that is to listen twice then talk. I think this is the reason for fights, people do not listen, we only listen to what we want to listen to and forget that the sentence is not complete and should not warrant a fight as we actually never listened to it. I don’t know if you read poetry or not, but people used to blame Omar Alkhayam for being atheist when he was in actual fact a scholar. One of his poems says “God did not threaten those that drank but he threatened those that prayed “; meaning the person that read half the verse would think that God discouraged people from prayers and encouraged drinking.
Beware of half sentences people.
last night I arrived home a bit late as I was invited to a dinner at one of my friend's house (I am not deviating from the subject to talk about the variety of food that we ate and the size of the women that were in that house and how they eat, this will be the subject of our discussion in another blog) and my son and daughter had had a fight over the way my daughter drives, apparently she almost got herself killed by not watching her blind side while driving. Had you listened to the story of either side you will think that each one of them had only listened to the end of the sentences that were exchanged and not to the crux of the matter. Why did they only listen to what they wanted to listen to? Is it because they hated each other? Or is it because they had different mind sets? Is one of them very stubborn to accept criticism? Or the other one is sensitive to what he or she hears? I need answers to these questions. To me I want a home that when I reach to I find paradise on earth, I want to have a happy atmosphere where the waves are not disturbed by stones thrown at them. What my kids do not know is that the ripple effect of the thrown stone is endless and is maintained in the universe until the time ends. And on the day of justice that ripple will be held and they are both asked to why they fought? Their voices will be heard where everybody that is gathered there will be able to judge who is at fault. I guess all we need to do is to make ourselves aware of every word before it is said and engage our ears before our mouths are opened. Dad used to tell me that God almighty gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason that is to listen twice then talk. I think this is the reason for fights, people do not listen, we only listen to what we want to listen to and forget that the sentence is not complete and should not warrant a fight as we actually never listened to it. I don’t know if you read poetry or not, but people used to blame Omar Alkhayam for being atheist when he was in actual fact a scholar. One of his poems says “God did not threaten those that drank but he threatened those that prayed “; meaning the person that read half the verse would think that God discouraged people from prayers and encouraged drinking.
Beware of half sentences people.
How history affects the lives of people
This was the title of an article in gulf news last weekend. So I didn't create it if you are wondering. Well let me go to the story without further ado. My friend's son wanted to register his marriage in one of the courts here. The person at the customer service desk asked him about his religion and his sect, and the bride's religion and sect. And since they were from different sects, the customer service person asked him to renounce his sect, or he cannot marry the girl. The man wrote on a piece of paper that he must renounce it, and asked him to go to another counter. The girl at the other counter was astonished from the harshness of the sentence, didn’t know what to do as it was the first time she hears of such thing; so she tells the groom that he needn’t do this, instead he can write that he will not swear at the other sect, and that will do it. She writes the sentence and he signed it (all of this on the same piece of paper of course), again they go back to the first counter. He in turn didn’t like what was said, so off he sends them to meet the manager of the court, whose face turns red, and takes the paper, rips it (or something of the sort) and ask the groom to come back another time.
Of course the other humiliating thing here is that the bride was also exposed, as her father who is from a different sect, had divorced the mother few hundred years ago ( exaggeration!) and at that time the court ruled out that the kids will be in the mother’s custody. So the guy at the counter says that this is not on, and that we should go back to that judge (who could be dead now) and ask him why he did that, and demands that the father comes to the court to give the daughter away to be married. The girl innocently told him that neither she nor the mother know where he is, so he said “of course, your mother must have divorced him because of his sect??!!” now this is another story in itself and worth writing another blog about it dont you think?
I cannot recall the rest of the story, the reason I am telling you about what happened is to show you how historical events have affected the marriage of this couple. The boy who had been brought up in a foreign country and who is totally oblivious to the fact of what sect to believe in and doesn’t actually care as it doesn’t really matter for him or his bride. What would the world say about us? why do we hang on to the triviality of what happened in ancient times and forget the rest of what that era had actually given us, from medical to scientific to poetry to artistic discoveries, why are we stuck to just one side of the story about our history, why would we stick to this side and grew an industry that only focuses on the parts that actually insults people and their thoughts? Why would religion be a question that needs to be declared to anybody? Isn’t religion a personal thing? I would follow what the westerners say all the time “between friends we should not discuss religion or politics”. There are millions of other pressing issues, and once we remove religion from the equation, I feel everything else will be solved; it’s the domino effect that I am looking for. Of course this behaviour is not only prevalent in marriage, it has similar effects on jobs, friendships, writing, publishing, opening business, going overseas to study, promotions if one is already in a job etc etc.
You see how historical events had affected people's lives?
p.s. the boy decided to do a civil marriage at his embassy to cut this crap and get on with life as it should be.
Of course the other humiliating thing here is that the bride was also exposed, as her father who is from a different sect, had divorced the mother few hundred years ago ( exaggeration!) and at that time the court ruled out that the kids will be in the mother’s custody. So the guy at the counter says that this is not on, and that we should go back to that judge (who could be dead now) and ask him why he did that, and demands that the father comes to the court to give the daughter away to be married. The girl innocently told him that neither she nor the mother know where he is, so he said “of course, your mother must have divorced him because of his sect??!!” now this is another story in itself and worth writing another blog about it dont you think?
I cannot recall the rest of the story, the reason I am telling you about what happened is to show you how historical events have affected the marriage of this couple. The boy who had been brought up in a foreign country and who is totally oblivious to the fact of what sect to believe in and doesn’t actually care as it doesn’t really matter for him or his bride. What would the world say about us? why do we hang on to the triviality of what happened in ancient times and forget the rest of what that era had actually given us, from medical to scientific to poetry to artistic discoveries, why are we stuck to just one side of the story about our history, why would we stick to this side and grew an industry that only focuses on the parts that actually insults people and their thoughts? Why would religion be a question that needs to be declared to anybody? Isn’t religion a personal thing? I would follow what the westerners say all the time “between friends we should not discuss religion or politics”. There are millions of other pressing issues, and once we remove religion from the equation, I feel everything else will be solved; it’s the domino effect that I am looking for. Of course this behaviour is not only prevalent in marriage, it has similar effects on jobs, friendships, writing, publishing, opening business, going overseas to study, promotions if one is already in a job etc etc.
You see how historical events had affected people's lives?
p.s. the boy decided to do a civil marriage at his embassy to cut this crap and get on with life as it should be.
Wednesday 28 July 2010
What a day
It was the first time in my life that I Visit one of those settings where people arrive and say hi to a distinguished person, we stood up everytime a person entered, walked to the distinguished person, shook his hands, then he turned around and shook the hands of every person in that majlis. When you sit down again, after like 30 seconds you stand again to shake the hands of another comer, sit down and there it goes again. Of course the arabic coffee comes to you, with the coffee men walking like slodiers with a rythem, if a Muallaya was playing they would look like dancers (I actually imagined them do so :)) very funny, then the same coffee men change to tea men, really nice, hot, strong tea is served in wee coffee cups. I had all of those that they served to me. Of course people would come just to have a look at this distinguished person, I am not sure if they all were like us, I mean needing something from him, I doubt it, anyway, at the end we conduted our business and left. The whole way back (while playing solitair on my battery-dying-BB)I was just visualising those men seated in that 50 odd people room standing to shake the hands of the new comers, drinking tea and coffee served by dancing soldiers. I am not sure how to explain my feeling, but I must tell you that I am confused.
if there is justice in the world, no one would visit any one as no one would need a favour from anyone.
if there is justice in the world, no one would visit any one as no one would need a favour from anyone.
Saturday 24 July 2010
The Girls at the higher colleges
I am not sure why I forgot to write about this, for some reason it just seems that the event I went to was not material enough to be mentioned. In actual fact it was a very clear example that we are not doing the right thing in our education system. Now i am sure that i didn’t mention it because i wanted it to sink in and to think about it a little bit more.
Sometimes in May, I was invited to provide some insights into overseas internships and summer programmes to the girls in one of the higher colleges of technology. It was a good day, the drive was brilliant, and the sun was not killing me. I took my time, and reached few minutes prior to the event. I had to talk to two groups of students. The first group was 80 students, and the second one had only 20 students. Never expected it to be a full house but it was.
Well I will not delve on what I explained to them, I will just mention here the reasons they had given me of why they cannot go overseas. one, their parents do not have the money to send them abroad; or it is not safe to go abroad, or the foreigners will discriminate against us, or they will not be able to wear a scarf over there, our English is not up to scratch so we will not know what they are saying. The or’s went on and on, full of negativity to the extent that I started to believe that maybe this is true? Of course it’s not true. I told them that my parents let me go abroad in the 70's, did they not love me enough then to send me overseas? Also I said that I cannot believe that the parents do not have the money. All of us in the uae are thrifty, but we spend our money on the wrong things, for example, i would rather give my son a slx Mercedes to kill himself with rather than train him during the summer, so when he looks for a job later he is not told that he is fresh grad. Also i would rather let my daughters loose in the shopping malls than train her on something that she will not have time for later on in life.
Unbelievable excuses that proves that us the parents need to have our brains drained and a new type of thinking poured inside it to be able to upbring our children in a world that develops so fast and changes faster than the speed of light. However how can we do this? I dont know?
And since us the parents make up the members of the government too, then of course we are not able to equate our education system to that of the western world, and continue to spend more money than necessary when we send our kids over seas ( that is if we agree to send them).
Well, help me solve this please.
Sometimes in May, I was invited to provide some insights into overseas internships and summer programmes to the girls in one of the higher colleges of technology. It was a good day, the drive was brilliant, and the sun was not killing me. I took my time, and reached few minutes prior to the event. I had to talk to two groups of students. The first group was 80 students, and the second one had only 20 students. Never expected it to be a full house but it was.
Well I will not delve on what I explained to them, I will just mention here the reasons they had given me of why they cannot go overseas. one, their parents do not have the money to send them abroad; or it is not safe to go abroad, or the foreigners will discriminate against us, or they will not be able to wear a scarf over there, our English is not up to scratch so we will not know what they are saying. The or’s went on and on, full of negativity to the extent that I started to believe that maybe this is true? Of course it’s not true. I told them that my parents let me go abroad in the 70's, did they not love me enough then to send me overseas? Also I said that I cannot believe that the parents do not have the money. All of us in the uae are thrifty, but we spend our money on the wrong things, for example, i would rather give my son a slx Mercedes to kill himself with rather than train him during the summer, so when he looks for a job later he is not told that he is fresh grad. Also i would rather let my daughters loose in the shopping malls than train her on something that she will not have time for later on in life.
Unbelievable excuses that proves that us the parents need to have our brains drained and a new type of thinking poured inside it to be able to upbring our children in a world that develops so fast and changes faster than the speed of light. However how can we do this? I dont know?
And since us the parents make up the members of the government too, then of course we are not able to equate our education system to that of the western world, and continue to spend more money than necessary when we send our kids over seas ( that is if we agree to send them).
Well, help me solve this please.
Saturday 10 July 2010
Emails forwarded by my friends
I am not sure why people forward emails, maybe they think that the recipient doesn’t know the information, or would like to know more information, or maybe just to stay in touch. Like businesses really, if they are not in our face we will forget about them (far from the eye, is far from the heart as they say). However since I moved back to Dubai, I didn’t have enough time to check all the forwards, so I created a folder on my outlook that is called "forwards from friends" ingenious really:) and I only go there when I have some time to spare which is really rare, with my phone ringing all the time, and the 300-400 business emails that I have to reply to, and the shopping with the kids, and for the house, and the social agenda that doesn’t end. Sometimes when I am returning home at night I get worried that I will have an accident, as my head spins and my eyes closes, I wonder why am I doing this, but I only remember at the end of the day when I am fully tired. Anyway, so in those rare moments when I have time I do check your forwards friends, please don’t be upset with me.
And when I like what they send, I will post it here for you all to see too (when you have the time, that is)
A preamble for this post
Three years I was still a member of the Dubai ladies club. It was my favourite place on this earth. The beach was always empty, and I would either be swimming in it, or just lying on those long bed-like-chairs reading a book or just meditating. In those moments many things cross my mind, so I thought of a novel, (I always wanted to write something but didn’t know what it was) the novel involved the sea, and the life inside it, with a mix of people going there and solving the sea lives problems. Of course I never came around to writing it, one day I will, I promise, it will be the next better-than-harry potter book, and you will all receive a copy signed by me.
So whenever I receive forwards on sea life I reminisce on my novel, and that is why I am posting this post:
These are the images shot for an underwater film created using revolutionary technology. The film took four years to shoot and costing a staggering £45 million to produce. But it's easy to see why: 500 hours of unedited film were shot using remote-controlled mini helicopters, divers, hydrodynamic cameras dragged behind boats and top speeds, and carefully tied poles.  Just going for a little flight: A long-beaked dolphin is caught on camera by a mini helicopter as it leaps from the water in an unspecified location in one of the images from the film  Behind the scenes: A mini helicopter hovers above a whale during the four years of filming  Health and safety?: A diver moves carefully through a sea of jellyfish….. The film, Oceans for Pathi, is set to be launched this year. Cameras have penetrated shoals of hunting tuna fish and flown just metres above dolphins as they leap from the ocean. The film-makers also captured a sand-level view of tiny turtles hatching and scurrying to the ocean.  |
Sand-eye view: This eerie image of horseshoe crabs scuttling on a beach was part of the 500 hours of unedited footage
My, what big fins you have: A diver appears dwarfed by a sunfish in footage from the film.
It took two years of planning before 15 cameramen could even begin filming Oceans for Pathi, which will be out on general release on 27 January 2010. The crew filmed in 50 locations across the world and captured 80 species of fish, dolphins, whales, squid, lizards, crabs and turtles. The secret to the production is its revolutionary filming carried out in a bid to get within the ocean's most intimate events.
Cuddles: A walrus with its baby in another image from the film
Cannonball!: Sea birds dive bomb the water in search of fish
A watertight, hydrodynamic box was built to house a specially designed digital camera. The box was then drawn at top speed behind a boat, capturing dolphins as they darted through the water. The camera was also attached to a long pole and tied across the front of the boat, enabling directors Jacques Cluzaud and Jacques Perrin to film laterally at speeds of up to 15 knots. A remote-controlled mini helicopter hovered silently above the directors' prey and divers made 75 expeditions to capture 500 hours of unedited film.
Head first: An Adelie penguin diving from an iceberg in the film
Hold that pose: Two Weddell seals turn their inquisitive eyes on the camera in footage from the film
Two Californian sea lions look as though they are dancing through the reefs in the footage
The scale of the production was matched by the directors' vision for the film.
'In an attempt to tell the story of the oceans, we sought to open doors other than those of statistics: those of a fantastic and magical tale, the marvels of the little world of the coral reefs, the heroism of dolphins in full charge, the gracious dances of the humpback whale and giant squids, the horror of the attacks made on the oceans and to their creatures, the incredible spectacle of the sea unleashed in a titanic storm, the silence of a museum of extinct species,' said co-director Jacques Cluzaud.
Scientific director Sephane Durand said: 'The directors' dream was to swim with fish and dolphins, to track their underwater movements and ocean crossings whatever their speed, their evolutions, their acrobatics.'
Fancy meeting you here: A humpback whale appears out of the astonishingly blue ocean to peer into the camera in another shot from the film, which cost £45m to produce
As the world turns: A ball of horse mackerel in a scene from the film
A dinghy is dwarfed by a crane hoisting a camera over the water to film a whale
My, what big fins you have: A diver appears dwarfed by a sunfish in footage from the film.
It took two years of planning before 15 cameramen could even begin filming Oceans for Pathi, which will be out on general release on 27 January 2010. The crew filmed in 50 locations across the world and captured 80 species of fish, dolphins, whales, squid, lizards, crabs and turtles. The secret to the production is its revolutionary filming carried out in a bid to get within the ocean's most intimate events.
Cuddles: A walrus with its baby in another image from the film
Cannonball!: Sea birds dive bomb the water in search of fish
A watertight, hydrodynamic box was built to house a specially designed digital camera. The box was then drawn at top speed behind a boat, capturing dolphins as they darted through the water. The camera was also attached to a long pole and tied across the front of the boat, enabling directors Jacques Cluzaud and Jacques Perrin to film laterally at speeds of up to 15 knots. A remote-controlled mini helicopter hovered silently above the directors' prey and divers made 75 expeditions to capture 500 hours of unedited film.
Head first: An Adelie penguin diving from an iceberg in the film
Hold that pose: Two Weddell seals turn their inquisitive eyes on the camera in footage from the film
Two Californian sea lions look as though they are dancing through the reefs in the footage
The scale of the production was matched by the directors' vision for the film.
'In an attempt to tell the story of the oceans, we sought to open doors other than those of statistics: those of a fantastic and magical tale, the marvels of the little world of the coral reefs, the heroism of dolphins in full charge, the gracious dances of the humpback whale and giant squids, the horror of the attacks made on the oceans and to their creatures, the incredible spectacle of the sea unleashed in a titanic storm, the silence of a museum of extinct species,' said co-director Jacques Cluzaud.
Scientific director Sephane Durand said: 'The directors' dream was to swim with fish and dolphins, to track their underwater movements and ocean crossings whatever their speed, their evolutions, their acrobatics.'
Fancy meeting you here: A humpback whale appears out of the astonishingly blue ocean to peer into the camera in another shot from the film, which cost £45m to produce
As the world turns: A ball of horse mackerel in a scene from the film
A dinghy is dwarfed by a crane hoisting a camera over the water to film a whale
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