Sunday, January 29, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Ohoud was kind enough to tag me:
I'm thinking:
Five Facts About me:
-Today is my birthday!!
-I'm clustophoeic.(don't know if I spelt it right,but tight places freak me out)
-I am very disorganized.VERY.
-I love the outdoors.
-Black is my favorite color.
Three things I like about people:
-Sense of humor.
-Genuinity.
-Honesty.
Three things I hate:
-showing off.
-discrimination.
-when a person is not in charge of his own life.
Voila!!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Once upon a time,there was a rebel living inside of me.
Once upon a time,I was on the winning end of every fight.
Once upon a time,there was a strong person named ME.
ME exists no more.
Here I am wiping my tears,and trying to wake up the dead.
But the teenager has long begone.
The fighter has lost and dropped her arms.
I just hate the new me.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Take a good look at his father/her mother.I have just recently realized how true this is.We grow up to be our parents,no matter how hard we try not to.Every time I scorn my kids I catch myself gazing at my index finger pointed towards them and I remember this line I heard in a movie:When did I grow my mother's finger?The words I say just echo in my ears and take me back to my childhood.All of a sudden I'm on the other side of the finger and and mom or dad are lecturing me about something.Their words are recorded in my mind and I just echo them with no editing.Of the things I hated most as a kid,was how I was made to come to all the conclusions myself,how I was tricked or emotionally blackmailed to realize my mistake,and now I do it all.And I scream and punish then reason and hug and sometimes apologize,but at one point it hits me,this is not me,that's her,my mom,that's her way,and those are her words,and I'm just acting old scenes all over again.I am not complaining though..she has made things much easier for me,both her and dad.They have shown me the way and then let me go.I had a million ways to choose from and I went back and chose their way.Something inside me tells me that its ok,they have raised such great kids,(not me,my brother and sisters),who are this much loving and this much giving,and that assures me that in their footsteps I shall not be lost.
I also watch my husband and his father,watching football or discussing politics or fixing a broken tool,and I am sure my theory is right.He,hubby,is growing up to be his dad.And I can't complain about that,I have a great father in law.But watching them together,and seeing how fatherhood has changed my husband,I realize how there are certain things in life(mostly raising your own kids) that shape the person you really are,and mould you into a modern version of your parent.They act alike,feel alike and think alike.And I love watching them together,I just hope that my kids will always be close to us like both of us are close to our parents.
And to everyone who's about to get married,think carefully,can you really live with a young version of your mother/father in law for the rest of your life?
Saturday, January 21, 2006
It's a common household issue,fuel prices.Wether you use diesel,gas,kerosene or even electricity,the costs of heating up a house in winter is remarkably high,and forms a substantial part of the running cost of any house.Everyone is looking into newer ways of fighting the cold months of winter,and nothing is really making that much of a difference!Even fireplaces,I have checked with some people who are using them and they say 7a6ab(wood logs )is not that cheap either.Electricity is not feasible either since the pricing is exponential,the cost per watt increases as your consumption increases.The other day I met with a swiss engineer who was participating in a confernce in Jordan about energy issues and he explained to me a method of creating energy from the earth that has left me speechless.I could not find anything about his specific company over the net but I found a lot of useful information on the use of earth energy and geothermal energy,that has made me hope that one day ,we will reach that stage that some houses in switzerland and scandanvia have reached of consuming zero energy apart from that taken from earth ,they neither pay for electricity or anything to heat and light up the house nor run any electrical appliances .The whole system ,as I understood at least,revolves around the basic knowledge that the earth is cold in its uper layers and hot in the lower layes,so the deeper you dig the hotter it gets.And what they do is that they insert pipes quite deep in the earth and the water inside these pipes heats up enough to transfer the heat upwards and create energy that is used for all of the above mentioned purposes.This can be done in seperate plants each dedicated to a certain building or centrally where you have one huge plant that distributes the energy to a housing or commercial compound .And this of course is renewable and clean environment friendly energy.
The cost to create such a plant in his estimate is no moe than 30% more than regular heating methods.Personally I doubt this figure is true,especially in the beginning when the system is new and untried in areas like Jordan and the middle east.Now I don't know old old these methods are,this might be more common than I think,and maybe more people and countries are using it efficiently now,but I have to say that I was really impressed with this system and I really hope someone would take the initiative and try to apply it here in Jordan .It would be such a relief from all that energy costs that we spend monthly.And maybe one day we will not be worried wether the diesel will be enough to last us through the cold night or wether mr. seekawi the diesel guy will agree to come and fill up our tanks late at night when we've just discovered that we ran out of solar(diesel)!
click here to read more about earth energy systems:
Thursday, January 19, 2006
I got this email today and thought it's soo funny:
Subject: FIRST DATE If you didn't see this on the Tonight show, I hope you're sitting down when you read it. This is probably the funniest date story ever, first date or not!!! We have all had bad dates.. but this takes the cake. This just tells you how tough it is to be single nowadays. This was on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. Jay went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize! She said it was midwinter... snowing and quite cold... and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon. They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte. They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere! Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her pee beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car. They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to pump handles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold. Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about "what is taking so long" with a reply that indeed, she was "freezing her butt off and in need of some assistance!" He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize, hands down... or perhaps that should be "pants down." .And you thought your first date was embarrassing. Jay Leno's comment . "This gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
..when EVERYONE is interested in the stock market!
I am not trying to compile a list but it just bugs me how everyone claims to be in on all the wheeling and dealing in the stock market..you could be getting a salary of 120jds a month and buying stocks..it just makes me wonder,isn't this gambling with your bread and butter money?
Monday, January 16, 2006
To start with,I have to say that I was always good in school.I have always had good grades and my mom used to go to ijtima3 el ahali to hear the same thing over and over from all teachers,if she studies a bit harder she would be the first in her class,I never cared enough though!AND I PERSONALLY DOUBT THAT TOO ,so why bother!!You see,cheating techniques was never a big issue for me,while it was for so many others.Quite the inventors they were!
I remember to this day the voice of Madame Lutfi,shouting out loud :salam you will remember me 7atta akher 7ayatek inti ma btist7i!!all that for hiding my french notebook under the table and sneeking a look during the exam?I would have passed it without looking,I would have got a good grade too but that day for a reason I could not comprehend I wanted a full mark so bad.I also probably wanted the thrill of a cheat ,you know the danger,the suspense,the secret!So I was caught and scandaled!Big deal,no wonder after passing my Certificat and Brevet exams (Official french exams with certificates from the french center)she was real shocked at how good I did in boththat she expressed her shock to anyone who would listen.But this is nothing next to the time that I faked a whole test for my friend.
It was my best friends birthday yesterday and I called her up.She lives in Chicago now and we haven't seen each other in years.We talked and talked and this cheating incident came up so I decided to write about it.It was the most dangerous school adventure and I have committed it in the name of friendship.I am glad I did,and if my daughter or son do something like that one day I will TRY and understand and not get all parenty about it.(God,I hope I don't find out),here goes:
Nadia had a piano test that day,and she needed to study and practice for it,it was probably grade seven for her or something really important so she decided to skip school.And it was agreed that the religion exam due that day will be presented by me!!How on earth did we come up with such ideas?And where on earth did we find such confidence that (saff el talet i3dadi baa)will all stick together and not tell on us?I asked all the girls not to mention that Nadia was off when miss siham came for 7odoor w ghiab!and no on did.So step one was a success.Then comes the religion class.We had an american priest for a teacher that year and he handed in the papers to be distributed to the back rows where I resided for the most part of my twelve school years.( I am such a different person now:rather nerdy I dare say).For the first time ever ,he had the papers personalized with our names on them,and miraculously both mine and Nadia's papers landed in my hands.I wrote my answers in 5a6 mshalbak and hers in 5a6 mfarra',waited to the end of class when he was begging us to return the papers and stop writing and handed in both.Following class,both me and Nadia are sitting in anticipation for the corrected papers and he starts this lecture how he found out that a lot of girls cheated.That he has proof and how he attached each two cheaters appers together and sent them down to Sister 7ilo,the principal.Then he started distributing the rest.Of course we were sure that was the end of the world and that our papers will not show up.It was rather a shock to see that the last two papers were ours.We both got a full mark,we both had the same spelling mistake,we both wrote christainity I before A or vice versa ,to this day I don't know whats the right spelling.And to this day I can't believe he did not find out,we were never caught, and we were never given in by other friends and class mates.A certain feeling I have tells me that he did know and being a priest and knowing that we are really good people on the inside he decided to give us a chance.But why did he tell on all the others?beats me.Well,I did it for Nadia,and I know if I needed Nadia to do this for me she would ,no questions asked.And to me that is all that matters.So ,Nadia,Long live our friendship,and ,old classmates:Thanks for the solidarity,if a bit too late.(18 years bass!)
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Sometimes I feel that customer service is non-existant in Jordan.Everyone wants to sell his merchandise,and will do the impossible to market it, but very few shops care enough to build up a regular clientelle who will come back time and again.I have had my share of bad experiences up till yesterday,so now I realize maybe I shouldn't generalize all that much.
A few days ago,I was in a shop called (Company's)in Mecca Mall,and I want to mention their name because I like to give credit where credit is due.I bought a trouser suite I liked,and the first time I put it on the back pocket was ripped.I thought maybe it was my fault,perhaps I snatched it with something sharp,but I realized that the other one was also about to tear,it seems the seeming was too tight around the pockets.I took it back ,without much hope in having it fixed.The employee,Fadi,was really nice and polite,he promised to show it to the manager and get back to me.He called me back next day to tell me to come and change it.Earlier I'd thought to myself,at least he's polite and trying to help,even if he can't do anything about it I won't be upset.So him being this supportive and explaining the whole thing to his manager and showing him how this in not my mistake,now that's what I call customer service.
On the other hand,a few years ago,my oven went crazy,it was my daughter's first birthday and every cake I tried to bake was a failure..turns out the oven is going off in the middle of the baking process.It is an american make and sells for triple the price of an average oven.I thought it should last me a life time.I called the company and they sent someone over,he said it will cost 150 jds to fix:the price of a small oven!I was shocked ,I've had it for a little over a year and the warranty had just expired.I asked him to check with his boss and he never got back to me,after several phone calls and no useful answers,I decided to send an email to the mother company in The States,and this I did.Two days later,exactly two days later,I get this phone call from the owner of the company.He was upset about the e-mail,he reasoned that it's not his problem that american companys don't care enough about the middle-eastern market and don't conform their products to our electricity fluctuations.He said :"THIS IS MY LIFE ,THIS IS MY MONEY,I CAN'T PAY FOR THE MANUFACTURERS MISTAKES" so I explained why I had to send the email,I said:"BECAUSE THIS IS MY LIFE,THIS IS MY MONEY ,AND I'M NOT READY TO THROW IT AWAY"It turns out that the mother company was ready to send me the spare parts from USA ,I had to wait two weeks and they sent them to me,and had the Jordanian agent fix the oven at no charge.As much as it displeased the owner,he had to do it,when he was given superior orders.Will I ever recommend this oven to anyone?yes,indeed,it's an excellent oven,unless you buy it here ,in Jordan.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Take my hand,
I shall help you through
Our long walk
In the dark.
We shall walk really slow,
Lighting candles as we go.
I don’t promise you light,
I don’t promise you sunshine,
But the candles , will glow,
Bright enough to lead our way,
Warm enough to make me stay,
And hold your hand till the end of day.
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