I have arrived

What is important in life!

2008-04-27T22:40:00.002-05:00

My friend’s father died this back home this past Thursday. It got me thinking!
Holly crap, what if, God forbids, this happened to me! My dad is getting old.. he has his health issues, and as we say in Arabic “lives are in the hand of God”. You never know what will happen! At least my friend who is an Arab-American, at least he is a US citizen which grants him the freedom to travel and he was lucky enough to be home few weeks ago and he saw his dad just then, but me…. Since I am waiting for the freaking green card I can’t leave!

I have not seen my parents since 2004 when they came to the states for one month visit. Have not seen my brother and sister since 1998! 2 of my uncles died, my favorite aunt died and I could not go to say good bye! Is this fair? And for what? For a dream that is evaporating in front of my eyes? For a dream of becoming an American? For what? Is this the price I have to pay on top of working hard in the states and paying my taxes and obeying the law?

This is ridiculous…it scared the hell out of me, what if my dad or mom get sick? What would I do? Do I go home and be with them, and risk losing all of what I worked hard for in these 13 years of being here? I have done everything right, and still to do everything right you have to follow some outdated and stringent rules.

I thought about it on my way back from my friend’s place.
I have decided, that to hell with the American dream if it comes down to be with my parents in the time they need me the most. Neither America nor any place in the world is worth the satisfaction and the smile of one of my parents.

I hope that those idiots who put these stupid rules, I hope they one day somehow get to feel what people like me go through and make these choices!

A Social Experiment

2008-03-03T19:19:00.002-06:00

A Social Experiment

I have been working on a small social experiment around here.
I selected 3 places that I usually go to with some friends, and over a period of time I introduced my self using a fictional character called Mike who is from Germany. I used this Mike name for about 2 weeks then I flipped back to my real Arabic name (Mohamad) and of course my real identity. During that time, I did an EXTRA effort to go and meet new people, while my friends acting as a cover to me. Now you have to understand that I used that on different people, randomly. The results were AMAZING.

In the case of Mohamad from Jordan:
I managed to break the ice sometimes, start a somewhat good conversation but could not keep the pace going that way for long and out of 7 or 8 people I randomly met I think I actually made a good connection with one who was genuinely interested about talking to me and interested about me: Mohamad from Jordan.

In case of Mike from Germany:
OH MY GOD. I think I could have befriended half of the town with this name. Immediately people were interested to meet a European, asking questions about why am I here, how long etc. Tons of questions about beer of course!! (which, I lied my way through of course). The interest was enormous, people asking to meet up later to go play Football, one guy even invited me over for dinner with his wife! I got 3 girls to volunteer their phone numbers!!!! All because they thought I was Mike from Germany!

I have to say, Germans are not more fun than us Arabs, but it appears people have there own prejudices that kick in right away once they hear a name that in there mind associate with things they either hate or fear.

I thought it was an interesting experiment, and wanted to share it with you my friends.

For the record, I have a great group of American friends around here who I would not trade for the world!

Frustration

2008-01-24T18:42:00.000-06:00

Frustration according to Merriam-Webster as: a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs.

Wow, who ever wrote that definition was right on the mark. Granted I don’t think I am suffering from CHRONIC sense, but by God I do have unresolved problems, one after the other. The worst feeling is when you fight through a problem, and just when you are about to break through, just then…. Things come down tumbling down.
God I hate that.

Anger and Caring

2007-11-24T11:31:00.000-06:00

I have been approached by several friends on different occasions who told me, Mo.. you need to slow down. You need to calm down and stop being angry.
I was kind of shocked that my friends thought I was an angry guy most of the time, but then they started recounting occasions in which I was easily angered by some actions wither by other friends or by just random people.

After thinking about it, I came to this conclusion: My friends are right. BUT, don’t I have the right to be upset at the stupidity of others toward me and the rest of the world? Hmmm

Then last night came, me and my best friend are at his place late at night and we started talking about this again! Apparently my impatience with moronic actions is the topic of the hour! We talked and talked and talked….and he said something that I never considered! He said, ”Mo the reason you get angry is you treat people with respect, and when they don’t show the same consideration and respect you get pissed, you know why? Because you care, you SHOULD STOP CARING”

I jus thought about it this morning again, and he is absolutely right, I care too much about people in my life despite the fact they might not care the same way. I am considerate to there opinions and feelings because this is what I think a good brother, friend, co-worker and fellow human being should do but in the same time they just DON”T care.

So from now on, I will try my best to not give a fuck and not care and see what new development can happen!!!

Life's troubles

2007-10-08T05:30:00.000-05:00

Life’s troubles

It’s 5:15 AM, and I have just sipped my first sip of coffee for the day. It’s quite and my mind literally empty. I know I have a busy day at the office.. a site meeting at 8, 2 proposals need to be out.. a report due this Wednesday that we have not even touched! And more and more….

But I find my self just, over relaxed I think! Listening to the noises of insects outside my window, the occasional cars passing by….and it’s so relaxing and peaceful. In 2 hours all of this will be gone, lost between the hustle and bustle of our modern daily life..

I have a cousin back in Suba (Hebron), his name is Ziad, smart as hell, but he chose to not continue schooling and decided to become a Sheppard!!! Why? I asked?, He said, weather I am rich or poor I will find some food to keep me surviving, but at least as a Sheppard I don’t have to deal with a lot of life’s problems.. I am with my herd in the mountain, what ever God gives me from theire milk, wool and meat is what I will be making that year and done. I thought he was crazy, but the more I get older the more I am thinking…. God damn it.. Ziad was right.

Abd Al Rahman

2007-09-01T10:02:00.000-05:00

A Hero

Few months ago, I stated that I will start telling everybody about some of my heroes. Today I will tell you about one extraordinary hero of mine… his story sounds like it came out of an adventure book.

Yes, he was prince ladies. He was the grandson of one of the greatest Caliphs (Kings) of the Umayyad dynasty. From their capital in Damascus, they ruled the earth. They founded the first Islamic empire. There domain stretched from the wall of China to southern Spain.

Years passed and our young prince grew up in the palaces of Damascus, having the time of his life. Until one day, the “Black Banners of the East” showed up on his door steps. A revolution broke out in the east and spread toward the west… to Damascus.

The Caliph of that time sent the first and second army to defeat the rebels, but to no avail. They were lead by a terrifying Persian commander… (Abu Muslim AL Khurasani), he left no one, and had mercy on no now who had any sympathy to the Umayyad dynasty.

Soon our prince had to leave; the rebels were targeting the royal family and killing all of its members. He ran o Egypt. He took his wife, his children, his sisters … and his twelve years old step brother. They hid in a small village by the Nile…. One day the enemy found out there location…. And our prince took his younger brother and told him to run…. He left his family and children with his faithful and loyal servant, and ran.

They jumped into the Nile and swam…. By the middle of the river…. His younger brother got tired and decided to go back to the other side…. Where the enemies were waiting…. Our prince shouted no no… come back…. But the young boy won’t listen….he made it back to the beach…and without a delay… the enemy put the young boy to the sword.

Our prince was left alone in this world. He walked and walked… to the west he kept walking. One year later….he landed in Spain. Within 10 years, the young prince took over Spain and re-continued the Umayyad dynasty in the west, while his enemies in the east established the Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad.

Our prince led the Muslims of Spain in a long and epic struggle to unite… and then, to defeat the European enemies in the north and reassure Islam’s control over this part of Spain. If it was not for this man, the Islamic civilization would have not blossomed in Spain.

But all these glories came at a heavy price, by the end of his life he said:” People envy me because I am a man with a mighty army and beautiful palaces, who controls a vast domain. They don’t know that since the fall and murder of my people in Damascus I have had only 4 days of happiness. The rest of the days of the past 30 years, I lived in anguish, fear, and wars. Tell those who envy me to be thankful to God, for at least they can sleep without a fear of being killed while they are sleeping”

But the Prince, missed his old home and palaces back and in the east… he brought the first palm tree into Spain and planted it in his palace in Cordoba. So my friend if you ever make it to Spain and you see these amazing palm trees in the south of Spain, remember the young prince who was running from Damascus more than 1300 years ago and thank him.

May God have mercy on this Prince: Abdu Al-Rahman Al Dakhil
Abdu Al Rahman The Conqueror

A Happy Eulogy

2007-08-28T07:20:00.000-05:00

Let the trees weep and the sky darken… let the world know that another good man has fallen a prisoner to Eve’s daughters ….

Today I inform you that my dearest friend… best cheese cake maker ever, hands down…. is… engaged…

We met twelve of years ago at the computer lab at UMKC, and ever since we became good friends. We bitched at the world together… we planned the demise of our enemies together… we were EDIT’s… (Evil Guys In Training). Me, Him, and others… we were few… an evil happy few (this excludes Mhamoud Khan, Javed, and Nitin because they thought they were evil but they were not, we had them there because of affirmative action, just for the record)

Then my lad moved to Chicago to attend the Academy of Evil Philosophy and Sciences. The move to Chicago did not change things at all… we still met on regular bases, smoked cigars, drank coffee, smoked more cigars. talked politics, smoked argeeleh (Hookah)… bitched at this and that…. But then he met her…. And sadly my fellow readers.. he became civil… he changed.. I thought I could save him… but the dark side of the force was strong with her….. and thus he fell in love.. and got engaged…

Dear Dr. Cookies…. I shall never forget you my dearest friend… and when you guys argue about the color of the paint you are planning for the living room and she kicks you out… let it be known… there shall be a spot for you on my sofa… (bring your own pillow though… seriously)

Congratulations!

KC...KC....

2007-08-24T06:58:00.000-05:00

So I am finally 99.9% settled down in my new place. And I love it.
Ok so except of my over sexually active upstairs neighbors then every thing is awesome. I had to wake up Saturday morning to this…. Let’s call it Gentle Force kicking the wall next to my head and when I woke up and gained my senses I was able to hear the noises….. I was kind of pissed, but to the credit of the dude up stairs, he kept going, and going, and going, and going,,, …..!!!!!!

But seriously, I love living again in the city, I am out almost every other night of the week, I am catching up with friends, meeting more and new people… finally my exile is over man. I feel a live.

Anyway, now that I am settled I should be able to work more on my blogging so be ready for Mo to invade the cyber space again:)

Peace out….

Back To KC

2007-07-08T13:21:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Mo is moving back to civilization. I am moving back to Kansas City from a long ass diaspora that lasted almost 3 years. Living in Lawrence, has not been that bad at all honestly, beats living in God forsaken Topeka.

So on the 28th day of the month of July, prepare to welcome an old fella back. Kansas City…. I can’t wait.

Grandizer

2007-05-15T06:23:00.000-05:00

Ok, so today I have decided to share with you a very important part of my life back in the days. Yes I am about to tell you know about my favorite cartoon character when I was a kid.

Yes it is Japanese of course, and The shows name is Grandizer. He is the man with the plan, the man of his domain. Ok so Grandizer is a hugerobo with higly advanced technology that comes to earth with it’s owner Duke Fleed, who is a prince from another planet. Yet, Duke’s plant ( the planet Fleed) was destroyed by the evil forces of planet Vega.

So Duke Fleed comes to earth, meets a great scientist Named Dr. Amoon, and this scientist adopts him. The Duke lives on earth under another names which is Dieskie.

Rest assured, the evil bitches of planet Vega come to conquer earth, and who will stand in his face, YES you have guessed right Duke Fleed and a group of humans who will benefit from his knowledge of advanced sciences to build there own super duper aircrafts.

Aaaaah yes, as kids, we wasted countless hours everyday debating everything that Grandizer did the day before. Countless fights erupted between us, because when we wanted to play Grandizer at school all of us wanted to be the strong and confident Duke Fleed, and no one wanted to be the evil Vega or any one of his generals. Yes I saw blood spelled in the name of “I don’t want to be Vega”.

I used to work for the computer lab at UMKC. I had a picture of Grandizer behind my desk. One day this gentleman walks in, with an older lady with him. The second he saw the Grandizer picture, he went nuts. Well it turned out that Grandizer was shown on TV in Canada, when this gentleman grew, but it was called Glodorak and it was in French (yes, I was disappointed too, how can you have a mighty and powerful image if you are speaking inky winky dinky frenky French?). Long story short, we became really good friends. The man thought that he was the only believer in Grandizerinism in the U of S A. He was not alone.

You Shall Move Thy Buttocks of Thy Couch

2007-05-11T06:18:00.000-05:00

So, yours truly decided that it is time to lose weight and get in shape. So I started waking up everyday in the morning at freaking 5 AM and go out walking and in some cases (yes it’s true) running for about half an hour to an hour. Not too bad at all, I started watching what I am eating, trying to make a better effort in choosing healthy choices. YET I have not lost an ounce!!

And who can I blame this time!!!! Well surprisingly I shall blame my self. Ok so I did try to eat better things (dose not mean I always did that), but the problem is I still eat a larger quantity than what I probably need. Wow I am such a retarded genius! I figured it out all by my self.

So here it is, Oh skinny people of the world: fuck you*, for you don’t have to deal with being overweight and out of shape.

* This fuck you statement dose not apply to any one in my immediate family nor my friends, nor any skinny person, per say, that I never met and I don’t know since it won’t be fair to judge someone without knowing him or her. This fuck you statement applies only to skinny people who are assholes and to certain members of my extended family (don’t ask why I just hate them). This statement also apply to you if your name is Ringo, and you live in the Philippines, and you are getting married soon, and you have not invited me yet, then double fuck you.

At the Doctor Office

2007-04-07T10:46:00.000-05:00

Ok so I decided to go ahead and see the doctor the other day. I walked into the office and somehow I was transferred into to a third world country medical system or so I thought….

I am not saying the place was nasty and little kids were dieing every where, no no it was not that bad .. but I had to wait for 2 hours… 2 full hours before I got to see God… I mean ..the doctor.

I planned to be out of the office for an hour, I figured 15 minutes to his office, 30 minutes in his office then 15 minutes back to work. Instead I realized that I am not going to meet a doctor, I am going to meet God almighty himself..

Well, I managed to leave the place without hitting no body, because after all the doctor was an Indian… he is still running on India standard time… thus I forgive him, it's against his nature to be on time.

The Next War

2007-04-02T18:03:00.000-05:00

So, how is everybody feeling about a new war in the gulf?
Two battle groups are in the gulf already and a third just left San Diego. A massive build up in Iraq, and more deployments into Afghanistan. Soon the Iranians will be surrounded on three fronts, and if Russia joins the party it will be a nightmare scenario for the Iranians.

I don’t know what to think of this.
On one hand I am a Muslim and I am upset that another Muslim nation is being prepared for slaughter. But on the other hand I see what the Iranians are doing in Iraq, I saw there betrayals to the Arabs before, and there efforts to spread the Shia theology in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon and I feel uneasy about there actions.

Iran keeps singing the songs of unity and harmony, but her actions are nothing of harmony and unity. Iran’s actions are so similar to Israeli actions of spreading instability and wars in the area to a point that I start thinking, are they really acting in the best interest of Islam or the best interest of IRAN.

I respect the Iranians for one thing, they know what they want and they are going for it. They want to be the super power of the middle east, they want to be the dominant military and political power, they want to spread their theological standards between the Sunnis in the area, weather they are Arabs or not. Non of these aims have anything to do with the Islamic unity. What they are doing is basically weakening an already weakened nation and dividing us even more between us.

I blame the Arabs and the Sunnis for giving Iran this chance and for giving –in turn- the Americans and Israelis a chance to make a case against Iran. The emergence of the new Persian Empire as a major threat to the region and to Sunnis in general was a direct result of our weakness and divisions as Arabs and Sunnis.

We let Saddam fall, the one man who was able to scare Iran and put an end to it’s dream of exporting the revolution. I bet some people in Saudi Arabia and Egypt are remembering the old Arab proverb: I was eaten the day the white bull was eaten. Ask an Arab and he/she will tell you the meaning.

The war is coming no question about it, and another Muslim nation will be destroyed. I am saddened despite the fact that I am Sunni and I am angry at what the Persians have done in Iraq, after all, they believe in the one god like me. But the fact is, the Iranians are looking for their own interests as Shias and Persians, not as Muslims. If this is the case, it will be natural for us Arabs and Sunnis to look for our own interests too.
Sadly, we are uniting against the Shias faster than uniting against the Israelis, our main enemy and the source of most of our troubles. Sadly, this won’t be the first time. Few Muslims realize that Sultan Salah Al Dien, the liberator of Jerusalem signed a truce with the crusaders so he can have time to fight the Shias in northern Iraq and in Egypt. Even Salah Al Dien looked at the Shia threat as a bigger problem than an outside danger.

As for me, I will remember what the prophet Mohamad (PBUH) said about the end of days:” There will be time, where disasters will fall upon you like pieces of dark nights. No one of you will know who is right and who is wrong”. I am so confused, I will let God take care of it, time and history will be the judge. But before that, I will pray that God bring pain and sadness to the starters of wars whom ever they are and where ever they are, for they have made this planet a sad place to be in.

Thirty!!!

2007-03-02T18:30:00.000-06:00

I am thirty years old today… shit… I am OLD… yes my cyber friend; today officially I am an old man. Starting today I will be asking for the senior citizen discount at Old Country Buffet, then I am going to ask for a handicapped parking card for work, and if they say no, then I am suing! I am not sure on what ground, but I will hire me a good lawyer… he will figure out a lie for me!

The interesting thing is that today when I woke up, and I woke up early just like any good senior citizen, first thing hit my mind was home!!! I mean back in Jordan!! I was asking my self, wow, I have been out of my country for more than 1/3 of my life and for what? Is it worth it? I found my self reaching to the computer and logging to a web site with pictures and songs from Jordan! And even though I was born in Palestine and consider my self a Palestinian, but I found my self looking to pictures of the Jordanian Flag with stormy feelings, mixed, and twisted like a Midwestern tornado ravaging my heart, my mind, and my soul. Until now I am not sure about the answer … is it worth it or not!

I found it interesting that the first thing I thought about was earning to my country! It was not a feeling of oh my God I am old! Nor it was I can’t believe I am 30! I think the reason simply is that I had a whole freaking year to think about being 30!!! So I am not excited nor upset nor looking at it in any negative way, to the contrary to that! I think I am now… older… wiser… and sooner… calmer and more mature.. oooh well about the mature thing… I think I will wait until I am 40 for that:)

Clueless

2007-02-24T11:06:00.000-06:00

ok.. I want to write somehting but I am clueless about what to write.... HELP

Mess.O.Potamia

2007-01-13T09:47:00.000-06:00

Iraq is the biggest blunder the US ever did, the biggest disaster ever bar non. Even Vietnam dose not compare to this. In Vietnam, defeat meant losing one ally, in Iraq defeat means losing the empire. All the moderate Arab regimes, and Israel will be history soon if Iraq is not fixed. I believe in the concept, You brake it, you fix it. But the fact is that the US has no way in hell to fix anything anymore.

Iraq is paying the price of the regional powers ambitions:

The Sunni Alliance:

Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are looking for a united Iraq under a Sunni control, no democracy, they are in many ways trying to go back to the situation before, without the Bath Party.

The Shia Alliance:

Mainly Iran and it's ally Syria. These 2 odd couple are looking for 2 different things. While Syria is an Arab state with minority Shia in control of the government, Iran is a Persian state with majority Shia in the helm. Yet Syria the "Secular" finds it convenientto ally it self with Iran fearing the US presence in Iraq, basically "my enemy's enemy is my friend". While the Persian Religious Iran, finds it convenient to ally with the Bath party in Damascus (which is the same party that ruled Iraq during Saddam's era!! And Iran had to fight against them for 8 years) for 2 goals, to complicate things in Iraq andto use Syria as a gate to the Shias in Lebanon.

This alliance of convenience is breakable, and I think it's the west's best bet to weaken Iran. The goal of this alliance is mainly to keep a united Iraq but with a pro-Iranian government. I am not sure that the Pan-Arabs in Damascus will be very happy in the end. Iran is "Persianising" Iraq as we speak. I am sure these idiots in Syria will live to regret there support to Iran. The

Kurdish-Israeli Alliance:

While this alliance is not the most known one, yet it's the most effective so far. It's goal, is to break Iraq into 3 states, with the Kurds gaining there independence. Israel has been supplying and training the Beshmarka so when the day come, they will be ready to move on the kill quickly. A Kurdish state in Northern Iraq means instability in northern Syria, Western Iran and southern Turkey. It will weaken the position on the Iranians and Syrians in any future gamble and/or peace talks.

And in the end there is the US and England, who if I may say screwed up royally. At least the above Alliances know there goals and are working on them, while the US is still trying to "define the mission"!!!!!

BILLS

2007-01-10T19:51:00.000-06:00

I hate paying bills. I just paid $320 in credit cards bills only, I have not even figured out the freaking utilities yet… I feel like I just got smacked on the head, fell over, hit the ground and just when I was about to stand up, a train came and hit me head on, again. DAMN it.

I believe that there is a conspiracy by the government to keep the average American busy with these damn bills. As long as we are busy slaving away to keep up with the bills we have no time to pay attention to all of the bullshit the government is doing. Ok Ok.. I know this is not true, but damn it I need to blame somebody…..These damn bills are like an unwanted disease that instead of fighting it, it grows on you and you decide to just live with it.

Who ever came up with the idea of bills is a sick mother fucker that I hope he ruts in hell. If I ever meet him, I am going to whip him 100 lashes, then I am going to through salt on his open wounds, after this I will do to him what the Israelis did to one of my cousins, I will bring a backhoe, tie his arm to his back, then tie the arm into the backhoe then move it up slowly so he can feel the damn pain and his own joints as they are breaking. After all of this, I will pile a huge amount of bills, and burn the mother fucker in them.

Aaah I just read the torture part, it sounds sick and scary, but still I think he still deserves it. Fuck’m.

I AM BACK

2007-01-06T11:19:00.000-06:00

My hibernation is DONE. And I am back.. starting tomorrow Mo the blogger is back.. be ready world… be ready.

Friday After Thanksgiving

2006-11-27T20:03:00.000-06:00

My Friday after thanksgiving.

So thanksgiving is over, and everybody is back from vacation. Everyone at the office was giving me crap about why did I work on Friday! You see, I really did not work, I did worth crap, I was on the email with my friends emailing and chatting, I was walking around the office talking to people and bitching about this and that.

Well, I do take this back, I did do some work, but it was so quite and peaceful at the office that in 45 minutes I finished enough work that would usually take me half a day?
To give you an idea of the discussions I had over the email, below you will find an exchange of emails between me and another friend who is Republican Jew, yes I know hard to believe! But we are pretty good friends and we love to get at it talking politics, religion, philosophy etc.

Enjoy! It all started when Mike emailed me…..

Mike:

Take a read through Ray Hanania's column below. While I think he hasalways been harsher on the Israeli's than I think he should be (and ofcourse He would think I'm not hard enough on the Israelis), as always he brings somewhat of a balanced view to the situation, with somerealistic views that both you and I espouse.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3329865,00.html

Mohamad:

I agree, 2 states solution is the only viable option. I don't know if you had heard about it lately, but in Jordan we arehaving a huge controversy lately regarding the one state option. Theradical Israeli parliament member from the Russian-Jewish party justbrought back the issue that Jordan should be the new home of thePalestinians. And I guess the result was an immediate crack down from the Jordanians on the Palestinians and limiting the traveling from west bank into Jordan!!! It's a missed up world my friend, honestly I am starting to think theend of days are coming...How is your eye doing? Still bruised and blackened by the elections?!hahahah

Mike:

That is nutty. I know from all the polls I see, the overwhelmingmajority (not 51%/49%, but a true wide majority along the lines of70%/30% on average) of Israeli's (Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze) favor 2 state solution. Sorry to see that another radical is once again ruining it for everyone else. I hope King Abdullah eases up on the travel restrictions real quick. Yea, definitely got a black eye from the elections. But it all went down pretty much as I thought it would. Except for my friends who I spoke to before the election, most don't believe me when I said the Republicans would lose the House and the Senate, that Talent would lose in Missouri (as much as it broke my heart, I hate McCasskill). I am just glad that stem cell passed in Missouri. Funny how it passed by the same percentage that Talent lost by. The Republicans got what we deserved. That's right. You heard me say it. We got what we deserved!

Mohamad:

News Alert!!!! It has been reported that hard core republican advocate Mr. L. hasbeen hit on the head with some large object that caused him to lose hisrepublican mind. Despite other unconfirmed reports that he "got high"during a fund raising event in Joplin, Missouri, which caused thistragic melt down of his brain. Mr. L. was quoted saying "TheRepublicans got what we deserved" in a secret meeting according to RJN(Republican Jews News). Mr. L. has not confirmed nor denied theallegations.

Mike:

Slanders, lies, and half truths. I will deny any of the belowallegations in a court of law. You will be hearing from my attorney(Mrs. L.) very shortly. Boy, are you in for it now!

So, if you think I still needed to take the day off, you might have changed your mind by Now!

Good memories

2006-11-19T17:23:00.000-06:00

These past few days I have been meeting so many people from my past it’s ridiculous.

Last week, my friend Jai who I have not seen him in 8 years, calls me out of the blew, we start talking and talking. Then we bring up name of a Lebanese – Armenian friend of ours, we were inseparable back in collage… Serge. One thing leads to the other and we both go on line and while we are on the phone we search Serge’s last name, thousands came out, I guess his last name is popular in Armenia!!! We gave up, then Jai goes, let’s try his wife’s name: Tsuler. Tsuler ROCKS by the way, she is best cook ever and the worst driver ever.. but we still loved her like a sister to us in collage. Next thing we know we have a number, and Jai is like to hell with it I will try it anyway! We call and sure enough it was Tsuler on the other side…. It was truly amazing! Serge has 2 sons, I was excited.

Then few weeks back, my friend Nitin, calls me up and he goes, he I want you to talk to this guy, I was like ok… and this voice came through.. familiar but could not recognize it… then it hit me.. Fareed the afghan man!!! I was shocked. He got married and moved to St. Louis then to Washington DC and lost track of him 6 years ago!

Last week I am in a street in KC, I am walking and I hit this guy in the shoulder accidentally by the entrance of a restaurant. I look up to say sorry, and it’s Tim. The man who convinced me that hunting is cool!!

This week, I am looking through Myspace profiles on line and I see this picture of Nuran!!! She left to Egypt 2 years ago. So I email to say hi, next I know we are talking and she is back in town .. she has a job here too. Hahaha it was just weird to think of Nuran and my younger brother Ahmad as adults with jobs sorry man, they were like the kids on the bock!

In the last few weeks some how out of the blew I connected with more than 9 people from collage days that I lost track of them and some how wither by design or accident I ended up meeting them!!!

Good memories…. Good friends, .. Good Time… Good times.

My neighbors.

2006-11-15T20:02:00.000-06:00

I love reading Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christi novels. I read most of Agatha’s work, and I have the original illustrated edition of Sherlock Holmes. So when this new mystery represented it self I decided to follow the logical and detective philosophy used always in the writing of the Ms. Christie and Mr. Conan Doyle.

The Mystery was… who is our upstairs neighbor.
I have met most of our neighbors, nothing big, just the usual hi and bye in the morning. Except our up stairs neighbors. After deep investigation and examination, I have decided that they must be male strippers. Yes, as shocking as it might sound. Following, is the evidence.

1) They are never around during the day.
2) They are males because they have HUGE grill on there balcony, and plenty of beer bottles.
3) They get loud at night… late at night.
4) And the silver bullet…. They take showers in weird ass hours, like at 3 and 4 and 5 in the morning.

Now I know you might be asking what the hell are you doing your self listening to your neighbors at 3, 4, 5 in the morning. Well smart ass.. if you have been reading carefully you have noticed that I placed reason No. 3 before reason No. 4 for a purpose, which is to indicate that when they get loud, I wake up.

So, herewith, I have placed my theory to you my dear readers, and I am welling to listen to any suggestion. But for me, this Mystery is SOLVED. I am going to smoke my pipe and revel in my genius.

Crappy week

2006-11-10T18:21:00.000-06:00

Yup my dear readers, it has been one hell of a crappy week. Not as bad as when I was in Topeka, thanks to God, but still pissed me off.

First I got sick, as you might have known by now if you have been a good reader and read the previous blog!! So this took part of my energy.

Then I go to a job site, in which by the time I left it, all hell broke loose I guess and pissed off one of the contractors because I “asked too many questions”. Well excuse me, I thought this is part of my damn job you moron.

And today, the icing on the cake. Another job of mine, which is so simple and stupid, we end up some how with a miscommunication and with a contractor and a client who don’t like each other and tried to get us into the mess… and despite me trying to stay out o it, I went into it, and not only that, I fucked up and wanted to give an extra hand than what we were suppose to do. Me and my boss, we agreed we are going to go there and do a certain thing. Well, I told the technician in the field to go a step a head and double check something. Well, guess what happened. The contractor got pissed off, he calls the engineer, they get into a fight, the engineer calls my boss, they get into a fight, my boss gets pissed off.. and.. yup.. shit flows down stream. It all piled on my head.

I take solace in the fact that my boss got mad because he had 2 other huge disasters on his hand and was trying to keep calm, and then this guy comes up and yells at him.. it was the last straw. So I know it’s not personal.

So anyway, it’s over now, I hope… I know I am going to hear about it on Monday somehow, but ooh well, shit happens.

As for now, I am going to go out and have my self a good freaking Friday night.
Damn right. Who is coming!?
And by the way, I just feel like saying this in case he is reading, Ringo, I fucking hate you man.

Sick

2006-11-08T19:30:00.000-06:00

So I have been sick for 4 days now, worked half a day today and Monday because of that , (hey I am not bitching I realize being sick at home beats being at work) but the problem was that the weather was so great and I was so freaking miserable and nothing to do.

I decided that I got to get better by tomorrow, so I decided to try the treatments that I used to hear the elders of the family talk about when I was little boy and used to think they are nuts for even thinking that, so I gave my self few shuts of salt and water treatment, every time I put that salty water in my mouth and let it go enough to hit my tonsils I feel like the life was squeezed out of me, and don’t ask about what color was the crap that came out of my mouth, it had the color of bloody hell.

Then I decided to continuo the treatment by toasting a piece of bread till it got really dry then folding it into one giant piece then swallow it, I guess it’s suppose to widen the gap between your tonsils and push them back and make it easier to breath, which it did just fine, but with unbelievable pain and in the process I realized I scratched the sides of my tonsils, and at that point I realized what kind of pain I will experience when I drink the 3 lemons I just squeezed. But I drank them anyway.

Now it’s has been 2 hours after I did that and I just woke up, last thing I remember I was shouting and cursing and yelling and then there was darkness. But things seem a bit better, I think I am gonna end up with a voice close to that of Darth Vader but who cares.
I am a live!!!

The Mother of All Trips Part 2

2006-11-02T19:14:00.000-06:00

The Mother of All Trips Part 2
(FUCK YOU people of Chicago, and To Hell with the NEW Stupid no smoking laws)

So we got into the hotel, and we are dead tired. The Hotel is pretty fancy; I was impressed from an architectural and engineering point of view.

We walked in there, and behind the reception desk there was the most beautiful creature ever. She was just adorable, with an eastern beauty. I could swear she was an Arab or Iranian. Her name tag read Sarah. We come close, and I knew from MG’s head movement that he is going to make a move.. I just know the guy for too long. I was thinking, dude this is going to be interesting. She asked all of the usual questions, where from and where too yada yada…

So MG who is taking care of the hotel reservations, starts talking to her, next I know they both are talking about how they are planning to spend the new years in Rome?!!! I am thinking… ROME??? She was like ya I am going with my best friend to Europe this new year but not sure where to spend new years. MG goes: I going to be in Rome, it’s amazing! And she gets all excited and goes ya this is what I thought but we were not sure, and she started asking why he is going to be there bla bla bla!!! Hahahahaha. But all power to him he went frontal assault.

We ended up going to our room, rested, I prayed and got ready. Got my Cigars out.. I was dieing to smoke one through out the trip. MG showered and dressed , and we decided to go hit the town.

So go back to the main lobby and Sarah, the receptionist was still there. Since we had no clue where to go, I went to ask her if she has any suggestions. So she comes up with the name of this place and describes the way. I honestly forgot the name because I was just mesmerized by her eyes!!!!!!! I knew one thing, when we turned our backs and walked away she was checking us out. I saw that in a big freaking mirror on the sealing.

We walked out the hotel and I was like: MG, I bit you, she is going to show up at the restaurant later tonight. MG looked at me and he is like Ya sure!!!!!!

We walked few blocks and we were smack in the middle of Downtown Denver. I was amazed of how beautiful downtown Denver is. KC is going to need another 50 years to catch up with Denver NOW.

We found the restaurant. We started checking it out from outside. These couples were outside smoking. We asked them if the place was any good and they go oh ya amazing, great… we told them we were from out of town, and they go ooh ya we too. So we asked where are you guys from? they said: Chicago. So MG goes: oh wow fellow MIDWESTERNERS. They go: oh really where from? Kansas City, we said. And there was silence!!!
NOTHING. They said nothing. As if we named a cursed city or something and then these 2 morons gave us this freaking look, as if we are like 2nd class citizens or something. The woman goes: oh Kansas City … that is not too bad! NOT TOO BAD you filthy Chicago whore. Fuck you… and fuck all of Chicago. KC rocks u sons of bitches. We might not be the world class city Chicago claims to be, but at least we are not bunch of freaking New York City rejects. Ok.. we don’t claim to be the world class and international city that you claim you are and then treat people like shit like you do. At least in KC we are not freaking segregated the way you have segregated your city you racist sons of bitches. At least in KC, we talk to each other and smile to each other like human beings. We are the true Midwest. We are the heart of America. Chicago can go fucking join Canada for all I care. What have you got on us you liberal bastards!! You got Al Capone (a criminal who you had to import him from Italy) and a TV host who is from the south… Oprah is not from Chicago... that’s it… not even a decent football team. The Chiefs offensive line could run all over your city and take over it in 2 days you wimps. I bit money on it.

When I heard the woman says “Not too bad”, I just went nuts. I went in Arabic: bent el sharmootah, ma btestahey. Meaning: The daughter of the whore, she has no shame. I was about to give them a piece of my mind. MG goes in Arabic: No please, no troubles man. We had a short exchange of words in Arabic, and I think the couple realized we were pissed. So they backed off. So we just walked into the place, cuz I was freaking hungry, and angry.

Had a decent dinner, but then.. we both got all the sudden so tired.. it was weird. Nevertheless, we decided that we are smoking the Cigars. It hit us then that no one was smoking in the place. We realized that they have the no smoking laws in the town. We figured we could go and find a place with a deck and smoke there. So we started searching. We found several places with nice decks outside, but we could not smoke!!! We have to be 25 feet from the edge of the property!!? We were like : word!!

Ok, so I understand that smoking is a health hazard and this and that. I am an occasional smoker usually, smoke when I am stressed out. But come on.. to ban smoking from public places it’s segregation. Not fair. If you want to ban smoking at least come up with some real alternatives man. If I can’t smoke within a confined space, then why I am not allowed to smoke out side the place. This is BULLSHIT. From here and from this location on the world wide web, I am M.T.I. is announcing this shout into the conscience of the world… Oh Smokers of the world.. UNITE, Oh Smokers of the world Rise.

Anyway, we gave up. We were walking back to the hotel, and we passed by the restaurant in which we had dinner in. and Guess who was setting by the window with her equally attractive girlfriend… YOP… Sarah. I was like MG… do you see what I see. He looks in a total surprise and looks to me: You bastard, you were right. What are going to do?! I looked at him: We are going to walk in there and we are going to say hi and pull 2 chairs and set on the table. He starts laughing, but I guess we were like fuck it if we can’t smoke then at least we can talk to some nice girls. So we walk towards the restaurant and…. THEY WERE CLOSED AND not letting no body in. I WAS LIKE you got to be shitting me. We tried talking to the guy on the door, but man he was a dick.

We thought of going to the window to knock on it… but we were like dude this is just to desperate, fuck that.

Next Morning, while we were getting ready to leave, we saw her on the counter AGAIN. We said hi, and she goes, so where did you guys had dinner… we said at the restaurant you told us about.. She was like: oh really!!! We said ya, on our way back to the hotel we thought we saw u there… she said nothing .. she smiled. Then asked MG if he is going to be in Rome for real on new years, MG was like sure. She goes, well I guess I might see you there then!!! It was weird dude.. at this point I was like hm I better pull out…. I honestly don’t know what happened between them… but MG came back looking at me saying.. “dude.. screw this, she is crazy!!! Fate my ass”

Well, I took his words on there value. Not first nor the last time I am going to meet a crazy woman.

We head out to Utah.. in which we had to go through the hell hole of Wyoming. Soon I will follow with the Utah portion. To these who say Mormons can’t party… You are right.. sorry Salt Lake….

The Mother of All Trips

2006-10-29T13:32:00.000-06:00

The Mother of All Trips

Yes, indeed it was a trip worth a thousand trips.
We drove through the great states of Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, and Washington and of course as you might know If you had read my previous blog through the CURSED state of Wyoming my God kick it out of the Union. I still think America would be a better place without Wyoming. ( see my blog from 10/22)

Anyway. The reason behind the trip was that MG decided to move to Seattle. He has been talking about it for a while and honestly I was like ya ya ya.. sure. Then out of the blue, he calls me from Washington to tell me that he had just rented a place. And that’s when it sunk in, I was like shit… my only Arab friend is going to leave? MY brother just moved 2 months ago, Danish moved about a year earlier.. I was like shit …. What is going on? Muslims are fleeing this town or something?

Since the trip was in the month of Ramadan in which I fast during it. I checked with the religious authorities (that would be my father) and decided that it is permissible for me to break my fast as long as I m traveling. And so… it was.. that on the morning of Friday the 13th of October of the Gregorian year 2006 , which matched the 21st of Ramadan of the year 1427 after the “Hijrah”, that we decided to start the trip.

Friday the 13th

MG spent the night at my place in Lawrence and we left my place at 10:00 AM. His car was JAMMED, I could barely fit in. of course I could not push the seat back because MG with his great wisdom CHOSE to place his printer behind me. I was tempted to take it out and break it and then buy him another one in Seattle. But I did not. I realized it’s too much work to actually put the stuff that is on top of it back in place after I threw it out.

The view from the Wheatfields, thew flowers were there already ..

We went to Wheat Fields Café (n Vermont and 10th), we had breakfast over there and head out. It was as Haroon would put it “Glorious”. I had a Mediterranean Omelets, with French toast and a cup of Mocha. Aaaah it was nice. MG had something similar I guess….

Driving through Kansas was not bad at all. I knew most of the towns, if not all of them. I went to a lot of these dinky winky little towns in Kansas when I worked in Topeka (wow I guess Topeka gave me something useful… aaaah no it did not.) we got on I-70 Highway, and charged. By around2:30 we were in Hays, Kansas.

I know Hays PRETTY good, I had to stay in it for couple of weeks while working on a project down there. Nice little town, not much to see, they have Ft. Hay University in there, K-State research facilities for cows and stuff.. that smelled like hell from the highway and pretty much that’s it.

Looked & smelled good at that time... damn you Hay's

We went to this tiny Chinese restaurant in there and had lunch. We were kinda tired but ooh well… now… once we ate that stuff. We realized something ain’t right!... both of our stomachs started hurting. We figured we get some coffee and it will take care of it. So, we bought mocha and latte’ from this drive through only Café in Hays. YES!!!! coffee, drive through only, and who said Kansas has not reached the 21st century. In Your face you damn liberals.

Once we got on the highway, aaaah all hell broke lose dude, Our stomachs started playing drums right and left. Sound effects that Guns & Roses would feel jealous of. I admit mine was louder than MG but he held his ground too. Next we know, we were stopping every few miles to…. Perform a certain biological activity. The weird thing is that….. we were in reverse situation man. I could not stop performing the activity while MG was praying to god to help him to perform due to the pain In the stomach.

But we charged.. and 15 miles outside Colorado borders, the pain calmed down with me.. but MG was still in “no releasing” situation.

Got to the Marriot Hotel in down town Denver. We walked in there….and….we both were in awe… we saw Sarah.This will be the subject of my next blog.:)

Fuck Wyoming

2006-10-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

FUCK WYOMING

This freaking state should be kicked out of the damn Union.
Yes, I have said it.

The 2 Mohamads embarked on a great and legendary trip to the great state of Washington less than 1 week ago, the trip took 3 days and it was amazing. I will be talking about the great memories in my next blog. BUT first I have to get the venom out of my system. I have to talk about the most depressing and the worst 7 hours of the trip and these 7 hours are nominated to be some of the worst time of my life. These7 hours were spent in the horrible state of WYOMING.

Let me give you some information about this shitty hell hole.
Wyoming: Population of 493,782 as of the year 2000, that means that there are less than 5.09 people per square mile. NO SHIT. I bare witness to that.

You see, we drove out of Lawrence, Kansas to Denver. It took ¾ of a day. This part of the trip was as Andre would say:” Good times”. I will be elaborating about it as I mentioned above soon in my next blog.

Next morning we entered the territory called Wyoming.

There was nothing, literally nothing. The first 5 miles had some farms but then, just desolate, empty space. No humans, no animals. Open weird depressing desert. I mean come on, when some one who was raised in a desert like me call a place a desert and he hates it then it has to be bad. It saw most if not all of the southern Jordanian desert, and a good portion of the Saudi desert, and believe me, they have more character and beauty a 1000 times than the best thing we saw in Wyoming.

Seriously people, we were clinically depressed for the first 4 hours, we did not talk AT ALL. Well I did burst in few curses about the damn place, I felt like shit. MG did too… he just kept driving and not a single word. Until we got to the only inhabited place on the highway in which we saw HUMANS… a species of creatures that this horrible place almost made us forget that it existed and we are part of it.

We had a horrible lunch there, it was not that bad, let’s say.. it was eatable.
At that point we realized that we have 2 more hours to get the fuck out of this hell.
We looked at each other, we took a deep breath. MG took a sip of a cold Mocha drink he just got. I took a sip of Red Bull. We looked at each other again. And we realized that we can do it. We have no option, no way in hell we are staying a night in this place. We are haling ass son.

We put a Jordanian patriotic song in the CD player. If you have to know it’s called: Jeshana Jaish Al Watan: Our Army, The Army of the Homeland. I recited the prayer of patience. And we charged to salvation.

MG, to his credit, floored the gas pedal. I mean FLOORED it. In the whole state, I did not see a single police car. And as the Arab opportunists that we are, we took a full advantage of it. We kept encouraging each other, calculating the distance left to get out of Wyoming every few minutes. And then, there was light…. the huge sign welcoming us to Utah.

Aaaah, I never thought I will b so happy to see a Mormon the way I was at that point.

40 years from now, I will be setting somewhere back home under a fig tree sipping tea. My grand children will talk about a place called Wyoming, in which CNN just said that the US government is planning to convert it to a new Guantanamo Jail because it’s so horrible. I will look into there eyes and say to them: “I survived Wyoming”

P.S. Special thanks to Mr. Hani J. of Salt Lake City, for his hospitality and his immediate physical and psychological care that he gave us after this ordeal. Long live Salt Lake and Taffilah City.

The Pillars of Cartmanism

2006-10-12T22:48:00.000-05:00

I would like to introduce you to a new philosophy, that is developing and in some places it had reached to the level of a brand new faith. This faith is uniting people of all types of life. Black, whites, Chinese and Japanese, Arabs & Jews. Aaaah take the Jews out I guess.

Well, this new faith is Cartmanism, named after it’s founder the Great Erik Cartman, The man with the Plan, the man of his domain, the brain, the soul, the hope of generations to come.

In here I shall put introduce you to the pillars of Cartmanism.

1- NO body is fat, people are just big boned.
2- Casa Bonita is the best place in the world.
3- Hate your friends.
4- Kyle is the source of all evil in the world.
5- The bigger jerk you are the more respect you get, hence the people will respect your
Authoratah.
6- You shall hate Hippies.

This is but a glimpse into this great philosophy. If you like it great. If not… well screw you guys I am going home.

The Rose of All Cities

2006-10-12T06:17:00.000-05:00

Zahrat Al Madaen, The Rose of all Cities
Madeenat Al Salah, The City of Prayers
Biet Al Magdes, The Holly House
Al Quds, Jerusalem

All these names are titles and names given in Arabic to Jerusalem. No other city of the Islamic world has so many names, not even Mecca and Al Medina, the holly cities of Arabia. And Jerusalem is worth it, and deserves more.

Jerusalem has been engraved deep within the Arabic and Muslim conscious. Unlike Mecca and Al Medina, Jerusalem had to be defended so many times through out the ages. Unlike Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem needed painful sacrifices. The Romans, the Crusaders, the Mongols, the British… all of them came to take this holy city. Thousands of our ancestors fought and died for this city. With every generation that died defending the walls of this holly place, something was written in the DNA of these men, and it kept coming through one generation to the other. There stories, sacrifices, and love to this old place.

Americans laugh at the notion that blood is being spelled in the Middle East right now over a city. I say, if you have walked the old streets of Jerusalem like I did, if you have walked the mighty gates of the old city, if you saw the grave yards of your ancestors, thousands and thousands of martyrs from many generations surrounding the city like I saw, you will understand why this city means so much. It’s not hatred that ignites the fire of resistance in the hearts of it’s people, it’s not ignorance towards others like they keep repeating on FOX news. It’s LOVE to this city. It’s faithfulness to our ancestors and there memories.

The West cried when New York was attacked, and rightly so. I was sad to see such a city attacked in such a barbaric way. But what the whole world is failing to see is that we The Arabs, in general and the Palestinians specially, have been living a September 11 daily for the last 30 years. Our blood has been spelled, our cities have been ravaged and more importantly the Rose of All Cities was raped.

If you want to feel the pain that every Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian (whether Muslim or Christian Palestinian) feel when he sees Jerusalem under occupation, then think of your pain on 9//11, multiply that by 1000, add to that your worst day in your life, multiply that by another 1000 and then and only then you might start to feel a portion of what we feel. God knows, every time I see the Rock of the Dome, my heart falls, my throat dries up, my eyes tear up, and I have this feeling of unworthiness, I wish I was not born in this era, the era of weakness and defeat.

My only solace are words I read in the Qur’an the other day: ” If you are hurting, remember that they were hurt before. And these are the days, we exchange them between people…. Don’t be weakened in your resolve, and don’t be saddened, for you are the victorious ones if you believe in ME.”

Challenges

2006-10-05T22:47:00.000-05:00

Life is full of challenges. You always hear these words repeated by everybody, your parents, teachers, Imams and Priests. But what do they mean and why?

The “what do they mean?” part I believe is easy enough to answer, a challenge could be anything that you face in your daily life. A challenge is a fluid concept. What is a challenge for me might be a piece of cake to you. I am sure some one like, let’s say Donald Trump, has a different set of challenges than Bill Gates, or “your humble servant”: Me.

Each one of us has his/her unique set of conditions which in turns generate different types of challenges, problems to solve, issues to discuss, problems, etc.
Some people might have some similar problems, but they are never exactly the same. Each one of us has his own circumstances and history that will, no matter what, generate different set of problems, even though they might seem to be similar in general terms.

Don’t forget that these challenges and the way we deal with them will create there own set of new problems and challenges too. Some people deal with problems from there roots; others just solve the main issue and never get down to the source of his/her troubles. I honestly believe that the way you deal with your problems can be a major source of your own troubles if you are not swift and decisive. Granted there are certain matters in which wisdom and deliberate patience would work much better than decisiveness and speed. Each situation is unique and should be treated as it is.

Now, what about the WHY?

I honestly thought about it today when I was on top of a 30-feet high ladder climbing to reach the top of a new masonry wall. The ladder was pretty crappy and unstable, and I was thinking “shit! I am going to fall down and freaking die”, but as you can see my dear reader, I am made it just fine. Once I reached the top I was able to see a far distance all the way to St. Joseph, MO. And the view was breath taking.

But back to the “why” question. I believe it has 2 answers:
1- So the strong and the one with more well power will advance in this life.
2- And to give taste t our life: DRAMA people, it’s all about drama.

I am sure that great men of the past who faced major challenges, rose above the rest of us-the average ones- and became great men because everybody realized the amount of challenges and hardships these men faced. Men like Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Lincoln, and my personal hero: Mohamad Ibn Abi Amer. Not many people know him in the West but to me he is the man of his domain.

These great men were distinguished with their deeds, and their challenges were greater than many people ever faced, yet, they were able to deal with them and defeat them.

And the second reason is what most of us need these challenges for. YES: need these challenges. These problems and dramatic events in our lives are what give our lives meaning and reason to keep going. They give us a taste of success when we conquer them, and taste of disappointment when we fail. The inner satisfaction of “I was able to solve this problem”, and the resolve to determine not to be defeated again when the problem beats you.

Imagine your life without these problems, without these challenges and troubles. BORING. But I realize, and trust me when I say this, some of these problems are so hard and so challenging they might come to the brink of braking your well and patience. I have been there so many times, I even was about to give up on God’s mercy, but some how things worked out and I conquered these problems, by the aid of the almighty. I really like to think so at leastJ so I guess keep your faith in God, or something, your self or what ever you want to believe in and keep charging against these challenges one at a time. I am sure 60 or 70 years from now you will set down and look back at these days and say:” ah I lived a full life”.

So these are my 2 cents on this subject, any more ideas?!

Matters of the Heart

2006-09-28T23:42:00.000-05:00

Man reached the heavens and discovered its deep secrets. He explored the oceans and its mysteries. The deep mountains of this earth and its treasures, yet, man stand still, unable to discover the matter of hearts.

What makes a man fall for a woman, what makes a woman fall for a man? Why? How? How can a person love someone to the point of pain? Like they say “love you so much it hurts?” indeed strange are the matter of heart.

Is it a genetic thing? Is it the human instinct to live in groups? I know sounds funny but who knows it might be some deep animal instincts after that create the most beautiful feeling a human being can experience! It has to be something deep within our psyche that makes us act and behave this way. BUT WHAT IS IT? No one knows.

I can see one or two of my friends (no name pointing here) who will say it’s all about the physical desire of the human body. To this I say: get a freaking life. It might be part of it but not the whole deal, we are not animals after all, even some animals appear to have empathy and love in between them. I would give the human race, despite all of our short comings, more credit. It is not the physical pleasure that keep the elderly together through health, sickness and death in many cases. It has to be something deeper.

Ok this is out of the blew, but could it be that Dr. Evil was saying the truth when he said to Mini Me:”You complete me”. Could it be that a person dose not feel complete or somewhat fulfilled without the presence of another person in his/her life to share his sadness, happiness, success and failure! May be that’s it! Not sure still. In that case then all what you need is a group of people around you, in other words Friends. But you do not miss your friends the way you miss your significant other, you don’t talk to them the way you talk the special on in your life. Then what in the name of God is it?

I remember an old Egyptian movie I watched back home, in it a bread maker is talking to his friend about love and he says “when you feel that a knife is cutting through your skin, down to your heart, and your heart is squeezed yet you have the biggest smile on your face and the look of satisfaction in your eyes, then you are suffering of what people call love, I call it the disease of the heart. The problem with this disease is that there is no cure of it. Time will cover the wounds, but will never heal them.”
Deep word coming out of a bread maker, eh?

Putting Jihad on Coffee

2006-09-24T00:06:00.000-05:00

Ok so the month of Ramadan started officially today in most of the Islamic world. For those who are not familiar with the annual drama surrounding the month in the Islamic world… you will be surprised of the arguing that Muslim states get into about the holy month, just like bunch of kids . Libya had issues with Saudi Arabia, then we are not fasting with them, we will start day before them or a day after them. And so on of this non-sense.

Now back to me, since this blog is about me. You see my dear reader, yours truly is what you can call a Caffeine addict, YES I said it. I am addicted to caffeine and I can’t live without it. I like it in coffee, straight dark nasty tasting American coffee, or the Gayish Italian coffees ( mocha, lattes, etc.) . Of course I worship Arabic coffee, don’t mistake it with Turkish coffee… the Turkish coffee is prepared like the Arabic but with out the spices. That’s why Arabic coffee kicks ass. The spices gives it a kick like no other.

So, every Ramadan I start m very own Jihad to try and get rid of my addiction. And this year it was no different. YES Coffee makers of the world, “I have put a Jihad on You, Durga Durga Durga”.

So this morning, the first day of the month, I woke and did not move from my bed for 5 minutes, the result was that I went into what I would like to call a comma, or I think it was. I woke up 3 hours later pretty missed up. I realized what happened. I did not drink coffee within 5 minutes from waking up like I am usually used to, and my body just fell apart. And now since my usual dose of caffeine was late, my body was reacting to it. I felt like SHIT.

I managed to move from my bed by 11 AM, crawled to the shower, and ran few errands in KC. On my way to Lawrence, I honestly did not feel my face nor my legs. I walked into the apartment at 3:00 PM and crashed to wake up 3 hours later with empty look in my face. I was darn tired, I needed my Caffeine.

Made the drive to KC to have Iftar (Breaking the fast) with my friend at the Holy Land Café. I was unable to even carry on a decent conversation with the guy. I was OUT of IT. And then the moment of truth came. At 7:15 PM KC time, the mercy of God almighty came down upon us the Muslims of this earth and the sun started to set down. And I drank my damn coffee. I kicked back, I ordered an argeelah (hookah), it helped leveling my brain a bit more, then they started playing Um Kulthoom (classical Arabic singer), not enough, I knew what was missing in the equation, MORE COFFEE. Another pot of hot Arabic coffee came out and this time it was ll for me… and I drank it in no time. Aaaaaah Thank You God. I was able to feel my body and my face again.

My advice to you, do not put a Jihad on coffee. It’s tough, it’s tough.

Contractors

2006-09-20T19:06:00.000-05:00

5 Things I hate about construction workers:

1- Liars: will say anything to get away with what ever they are doing
2- Ignorance: they don’t learn nor they WANT to.
3- Profanity: They make sailors sound like angels.
4- Uneducated: Most of them never finished high school
5- Substance Abuse: Alcoholics and drug addicts.

5 Things I respect about construction workers:

1- Hard working: They will work there butts off to get the job done
2- Willing to talk and communicate
3- Honest about there feelings (they are very honest about how much they hate me)
4- They love what they do
5- They love what they do…. You got to be in love in what you do to be able to do this job.

Meetings

2006-09-17T12:49:00.000-05:00

I hate meetings (at the work place that is), I hate them from the bottom of my heart. They are a waste of freaking time, last month we had a meeting that lasted 2 hours about non chargeable time and how we should avoid being non chargeable, the catch is these 2 freaking hours we spent were non chargeable too.

The other day we had a meeting in a construction site between me my boss and our client the contractor, 3 hours of yelling and arguing and nothing came out of it, we knew going into the meeting what every side going to say and we knew that no one will back down, so then why in the hell have this meeting??!! the only thing it achieved is it enforced our belief that the contractor is an asshole, and it slowed work for 3 hours, and I ended up all muddy and pissed off (it rained few days ago and it was freaking 103 degrees , u do the math). The way I see it is either do what we say or they can leave, we are not running a freaking democracy in here.

I say we need to have a meeting regarding these meetings and see what can we do about this, who wants to join?

Inner Kid

2006-09-05T20:14:00.000-05:00

I have a new theory and I would like to share it with you people. The theory is as follows, I don’t care who you are, how old ,or how wise or what not.. everyone of us is a kid at heart.. has an inner child that was reduced with the years because his/her body grew bigger and older. But inside every and each one of us there is a child that is ready to jump out and act funny and silly.

The only difference now is that this inner child is a selective child. This child will not come out and have fun without a motivation, without something or someone that would provoke some memories or emotions. It could be a loved one that you love so much that you want to have as much fun and happiness with that person as you had in your childhood. It could be a place, maybe your parents house or your old school?? My father acted so out of his quite nature when ever he went to Palestine and saw the Figs trees around our village south of Hebron, for few days my dad will seem 20 years younger and would let us (the kids at that time) do things we could never even dare to ask him to let us do back in Jordan I guess his homeland provoked these feelings to come out.

I don’t care how heavy handed you might be, how tough and how much you try to reflect the image of the quite wise one, I am sure that deep inside there is a kid at heart who is ready to come one out when the time is right. So listen to me my friend, whom ever you might be; let your innocent, childish old self come out again.. once in a while at least.

Purest Form of Beauty

2006-08-31T22:32:00.000-05:00

This horse name is Al-Taj (The Crown) a Saudi Horse

Every one has a different idea of what is absolute beauty. To me… it’s a pure Arabian horse, running free in the desert. Nothing in the whole world is more beautiful than that, in that seen of the Arabian horse- that I think I was lucky enough to see it on regular bases while growing up- I saw all beauty in it’s true form.

Pride, honor, simplicity, and strength and more, all of these meanings you see them in a free Arabian horse running free in it’s natural habitat, the desert. Yes, the brown hot and isolated desert, for one simple reason, it’s the purest form of habitat and the one and only that would give you absolute sense of peace. In that peaceful habitat the most beautiful creature can run, and with every step that creature takes, he plants a seed of it’s beauty in that desert, with every step that horse takes he reflects his nature on the people of that desert too.

If you have not seen a pure Arabian horse running in the desert before, you have not seen the purest form of beauty yet my friend.

New Beginnings

2006-08-09T21:47:00.000-05:00

It is official, I am DONE moving, I am not a refugee any more:) and this week is full of new beginnings!

I had a long ass saga, first, I moved out, stayed at my brother's place in KC for a week while working in Topeka. Then, last weekend, moved into the new place...helped my new roommate move his stuff too which took most of the day. by the end of Saturday we were wiped out.. I could barely feel my legs. BUT I was DONE:)

so this was the first beginning... I love the new place.. kicks ass,, nice complex... it's in Lawrence true but hey I like it so far.. Lawrence is a cool town to live in and it's only 30 minutes drive to my new office:)

Yes, this takes me to the 2nd new beginning... I transferred back to the lenexa office:) no more Topeka for Mo...and guess what I LOVE it.. it's amazing when you have a boss that you respect and admire because you know for a fact he supports you and will always have your back....it's amazing how you feel!! things are run smoothly and easier than ever... everybody is nice and helpful!! the office dose have it's politics but hey it's entertaining to me:) so this was the 2nd new beginning...

Now the 3rd one which can be counted as a sub new beginning.. which is I am actually STARTED working closely with the geotechnical side in the office!!!! The engineers there are so supportive and easy going that.. I am speechless... I am excited as a man who just own the lottery.... I hope I don't get Jinxed because God knows I had my share of bad luck these past 2 years....

so for now.. I am optomisitic... somewhat...feeling a bet better about the future and God willing things will be better.....:)

I have put my faith in God and I will see what will happen... aaaah a sigh of relief :)))

Wa akher da3wahum an al hamdu lellah rab al 3alameen.

Aqaba from the Sky

2006-07-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

So I was missing around Google maps, and I decided to see if I would be able to see Satelite images for Jordan. So I get on there, set it on Hybrid mode and typed Aqaba, Jordan. The name of the town I was raised in. And there it was, the beautiful Red Sea right there.. I moved the mouse around and zoomed in a little more.. and guess what! I was able to recogize the buildings and the beatch. I was amazed .. this is the Aquamarina Hotel.... this is the Royal palace... they have added lots of buildings to the compound since I last saw it 8 years ago???

Then this is the Grand Mosque right by the beatch, down the street by the sea I can see the Hashimite Square, we used to go there every Thursday night and play soccer or just hang out. Some guys might bring ut there Symsymya (a musical instrument native to the red sea areas) and we would sing and play until the police show up to kick us out for being out so late!!!

I could not believe it.But then I started looking around... and I realized many things had changed, the old Army Camp by the port is gone, my brother told me so, but it did not hit until I saw the huge area that the anti Aircraft Guns used to fill leveled down! also gone was my fathers business right behind it. He had a huge garage full of Bulldozers and trucks, and now it sets empty, i can tell few trucks are standing there but it's gone.

I rush back to the city it self and I realize that it had changed... new nighborhoods are added. My nieghborhood used to be the last neighborhood between the city and the Airport, nothing was between my nieghborhood and the airport but open desert, and now??not one but 2 nieghborhoods are between us and the airport. I can see the Aqaba International Airport very clearly, huge!!! I don't remember it this big??

I was struck, my tiny city, is not tiny any more, I zoomed out and I looked at the whole picture and I was amazed, they have leveled down entire mountains to the east of the city to open more space for development, I am talking MOUNTAINS, not hills??? I have been away from home for so long that for a second it did not look like home at all, it looked alien and forgien to me, but then,... I zoomed back to my nighbohood.

I saw the tiny mosque that I used to pray with my old man in every Friday, and just 2 blocks to the east.... I saw our house. I could recognize the shape of our house, and our nighbors, and finally Home is not alien anymore to me.They might change the nighbohoods, new streets and new buildings, but the bottom line is... they did not change my beloved home and that is all what matters to me:)

Elegy for Beirut

2006-07-23T17:32:00.000-05:00

Beirut is burning and the world is watching. Why? Because you are the jewel of the East, the pride of the Orient. They have raped you yet again my beloved Beirut, the bastards of this world have done it again.
Hebrone.

July 22-23, 2006

Elegy for Beirut

By ROBERT FISK

BEIRUT -- In the year 551, the magnificent, wealthy city of Berytus - headquarters of the imperial East Mediterranean Roman fleet - was struck by a massive earthquake. In its aftermath, the sea withdrew several miles and the survivors - ancestors of the present-day Lebanese - walked out on the sands to loot the long-sunken merchant ships revealed in front of them.
That was when a tidal wall higher than a tsunami returned to swamp the city and kill them all. So savagely was the old Beirut damaged that the Emperor Justinian sent gold from Constantinople as compensation to every family left alive.
Some cities seem forever doomed. When the Crusaders arrived at Beirut on their way to Jerusalem in the 11th century, they slaughtered every man, woman and child in the city. In the First World War, Ottoman Beirut suffered a terrible famine; the Turkish army had commandeered all the grain and the Allied powers blockaded the coast. I still have some ancient postcards I bought here 30 years ago of stick-like children standing in an orphanage, naked and abandoned.
An American woman living in Beirut in 1916 described how she "passed women and children lying by the roadside with closed eyes and ghastly, pale faces. It was a common thing to find people searching the garbage heaps for orange peel, old bones or other refuse, and eating them greedily when found. Everywhere women could be seen seeking eatable weeds among the grass along the roads..."
How does this happen to Beirut? For 30 years, I've watched this place die and then rise from the grave and then die again, its apartment blocks pitted with so many bullets they looked like Irish lace, its people massacring each other.
I lived here through 15 years of civil war that took 150,000 lives, and two Israeli invasions and years of Israeli bombardments that cost the lives of a further 20,000 of its people. I have seen them armless, legless, headless, knifed, bombed and splashed across the walls of houses. Yet they are a fine, educated, moral people whose generosity amazes every foreigner, whose gentleness puts any Westerner to shame, and whose suffering we almost always ignore.
They look like us, the people of Beirut. They have light-coloured skin and speak beautiful English and French. They travel the world. Their women are gorgeous and their food exquisite. But what are we saying of their fate today as the Israelis - in some of their cruellest attacks on this city and the surrounding countryside - tear them from their homes, bomb them on river bridges, cut them off from food and water and electricity? We say that they started this latest war, and we compare their appalling casualties - 240 in all of Lebanon by last night - with Israel's 24 dead, as if the figures are the same.
And then, most disgraceful of all, we leave the Lebanese to their fate like a diseased people and spend our time evacuating our precious foreigners while tut-tutting about Israel's "disproportionate" response to the capture of its soldiers by Hizbollah.
I walked through the deserted city centre of Beirut yesterday and it reminded more than ever of a film lot, a place of dreams too beautiful to last, a phoenix from the ashes of civil war whose plumage was so brightly coloured that it blinded its own people. This part of the city - once a Dresden of ruins - was rebuilt by Rafiq Hariri, the prime minister who was murdered scarcely a mile away on 14 February last year.
The wreckage of that bomb blast, an awful precursor to the present war in which his inheritance is being vandalised by the Israelis, still stands beside the Mediterranean, waiting for the last UN investigator to look for clues to the assassination - an investigator who has long ago abandoned this besieged city for the safety of Cyprus.
At the empty Etoile restaurant - best snails and cappuccino in Beirut, where Hariri once dined Jacques Chirac - I sat on the pavement and watched the parliamentary guard still patrolling the façade of the French-built emporium that houses what is left of Lebanon's democracy. So many of these streets were built by Parisians under the French mandate and they have been exquisitely restored, their mock Arabian doorways bejewelled with marble Roman columns dug from the ancient Via Maxima a few metres away.
Hariri loved this place and, taking Chirac for a beer one day, he caught sight of me sitting at a table. "Ah Robert, come over here," he roared and then turned to Chirac like a cat that was about to eat a canary. "I want to introduce you, Jacques, to the reporter who said I couldn't rebuild Beirut!"
And now it is being un-built. The Martyr Rafiq Hariri International Airport has been attacked three times by the Israelis, its glistening halls and shopping malls vibrating to the missiles that thunder into the runways and fuel depots. Hariri's wonderful transnational highway viaduct has been broken by Israeli bombers. Most of his motorway bridges have been destroyed. The Roman-style lighthouse has been smashed by a missile from an Apache helicopter. Only this small jewel of a restaurant in the centre of Beirut has been spared. So far.
It is the slums of Haret Hreik and Ghobeiri and Shiyah that have been levelled and "rubble-ised" and pounded to dust, sending a quarter of a million Shia Muslims to seek sanctuary in schools and abandoned parks across the city. Here, indeed, was the headquarters of Hizbollah, another of those "centres of world terror" which the West keeps discovering in Muslim lands. Here lived Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Party of God's leader, a ruthless, caustic, calculating man; and Sayad Mohamed Fadlallah, among the wisest and most eloquent of clerics; and many of Hizbollah's top military planners - including, no doubt, the men who planned over many months the capture of the two Israeli soldiers last Wednesday.
But did the tens of thousands of poor who live here deserve this act of mass punishment? For a country that boasts of its pin-point accuracy - a doubtful notion in any case, but that's not the issue - what does this act of destruction tell us about Israel? Or about ourselves?
In a modern building in an undamaged part of Beirut, I come, quite by chance, across a well known and prominent Hizbollah figure, open-neck white shirt, dark suit, clean shoes. "We will go on if we have to for days or weeks or months or..." And he counts these awful statistics off on the fingers of his left hand. "Believe me, we have bigger surprises still to come for the Israelis - much bigger, you will see. Then we will get our prisoners and it will take just a few small concessions."
I walk outside, feeling as if I have been beaten over the head. Over the wall opposite there is purple bougainvillaea and white jasmine and a swamp of gardenias. The Lebanese love flowers, their colour and scent, and Beirut is draped in trees and bushes that smell like paradise.
As for the huddled masses from the powder of the bombed-out southern slums of Haret Hreik, I found hundreds of them yesterday, sitting under trees and lying on the parched grass beside an ancient fountain donated to the city of Beirut by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid. How empires fall.
Far away, across the Mediterranean, two American helicopters from the USS Iwo Jima could be seen, heading through the mist and smoke towards the US embassy bunker complex at Awkar to evacuate more citizens of the American Empire. There was not a word from that same empire to help the people lying in the park, to offer them food or medical aid.
And across them all has spread a dark grey smoke that works its way through the entire city, the fires of oil terminals and burning buildings turning into a cocktail of sulphurous air that moves below our doors and through our windows. I smell it when I wake in the morning. Half the people of Beirut are coughing in this filth, breathing their own destruction as they contemplate their dead.
The anger that any human soul should feel at such suffering and loss was expressed so well by Lebanon's greatest poet, the mystic Khalil Gibran, when he wrote of the half million Lebanese who died in the 1916 famine, most of them residents of Beirut:
My people died of hunger, and he who
Did not perish from starvation was
Butchered with the sword;
They perished from hunger
In a land rich with milk and honey.
They died because the vipers and
Sons of vipers spat out poison into
The space where the Holy Cedars and
The roses and the jasmine breathe
Their fragrance.
And the sword continues to cut its way through Beirut. When part of an aircraft - perhaps the wing-tip of an F-16 hit by a missile, although the Israelis deny this - came streaking out of the sky over the eastern suburbs at the weekend, I raced to the scene to find a partly decapitated driver in his car and three Lebanese soldiers from the army's logistics unit. These are the tough, brave non-combat soldiers of Kfar Chim, who have been mending power and water lines these past six days to keep Beirut alive.
I knew one of them. "Hello Robert, be quick because I think the Israelis will bomb again but we'll show you everything we can." And they took me through the fires to show me what they could of the wreckage, standing around me to protect me.
And a few hours later, the Israelis did come back, as the men of the small logistics unit were going to bed, and they bombed the barracks and killed 10 soldiers, including those three kind men who looked after me amid the fires of Kfar Chim.
And why? Be sure - the Israelis know what they are hitting. That's why they killed nine soldiers near Tripoli when they bombed the military radio antennas. But a logistics unit? Men whose sole job was to mend electricity lines? And then it dawns on me. Beirut is to die. It is to be starved of electricity now that the power station in Jiyeh is on fire. No one is to be allowed to keep Beirut alive. So those poor men had to be liquidated.
Beirutis are tough people and are not easily moved. But at the end of last week, many of them were overcome by a photograph in their daily papers of a small girl, discarded like a broken flower in a field near Ter Harfa, her feet curled up, her hand resting on her torn blue pyjamas, her eyes - beneath long, soft hair - closed, turned away from the camera. She had been another "terrorist" target of Israel and several people, myself among them, saw a frightening similarity between this picture and the photograph of a Polish girl lying dead in a field beside her weeping sister in 1939.
I go home and flick through my files, old pictures of the Israeli invasion of 1982. There are more photographs of dead children, of broken bridges. "Israelis Threaten to Storm Beirut", says one headline. "Israelis Retaliate". "Lebanon At War". "Beirut Under Siege". "Massacre at Sabra and Chatila".
Yes, how easily we forget these earlier slaughters. Up to 1,700 Palestinians were butchered at Sabra and Chatila by Israel's proxy Christian militia allies in September of 1982 while Israeli troops - as they later testified to Israel's own court of inquiry - watched the killings. I was there. I stopped counting the corpses when I reached 100. Many of the women had been raped before being knifed or shot.
Yet when I was fleeing the bombing of Ghobeiri with my driver Abed last week, we swept right past the entrance of the camp, the very spot where I saw the first murdered Palestinians. And we did not think of them. We did not remember them. They were dead in Beirut and we were trying to stay alive in Beirut, as I have been trying to stay alive here for 30 years.
I am back on the sea coast when my mobile phone rings. It is an Israeli woman calling me from the United States, the author of a fine novel about the Palestinians. "Robert, please take care," she says. "I am so, so sorry about what is being done to the Lebanese. It is unforgivable. I pray for the Lebanese people, and the Palestinians, and the Israelis." I thank her for her thoughtfulness and the graceful, generous way she condemned this slaughter.
Then, on my balcony - a glance to check the location of the Israeli gunboat far out in the sea-smog - I find older clippings. This is from an English paper in 1840, when Beirut was a great Ottoman city. "Beyrouth" was the dateline. "Anarchy is now the order of the day, our properties and personal safety are endangered, no satisfaction can be obtained, and crimes are committed with impunity. Several Europeans have quitted their houses and suspended their affairs, in order to find protection in more peaceable countries."
On my dining-room wall, I remember, there is a hand-painted lithograph of French troops arriving in Beirut in 1842 to protect the Christian Maronites from the Druze. They are camping in the Jardin des Pins, which will later become the site of the French embassy where, only a few hours ago, I saw French men and women registering for their evacuation. And outside the window, I hear again the whisper of Israeli jets, hidden behind the smoke that now drifts 20 miles out to sea.
Fairouz, the most popular of Lebanese singers, was to have performed at this year's Baalbek festival, cancelled now like all Lebanon's festivals of music, dance, theatre and painting. One of her most popular songs is dedicated to her native city:
To Beirut - peace to Beirut with all my heart
And kisses - to the sea and clouds,
To the rock of a city that looks like an old sailor's face.
From the soul of her people she makes wine,
From their sweat, she makes bread and jasmine.
So how did it come to taste of smoke and fire?

Things that makes me smile (Inspired by a Real Blog)

2006-07-19T18:52:00.000-05:00

ok, so i was going to write a fiery blog about the bullshit in Lebanon. You think I am mad about it.. you bet your ass I am. But... just before starting to write, I read this blog that I follow on friendsters and it made me change my mind for 2 reasons,
1) I have been talking a lot about things that are pissing me off lately so it's time for some positive feedback,
2) Saying what I want to say will not change what is happening but it might actually get me more frustrated.....

So these are my favorite things in life:
-Talking to my folks.. specially my father... I love that man.. he is my rock.
-Coffee..Arabic coffee was sent from heaven according to Me.
-My sister's laugh...
- My brother Mahmood's jokes.. he cracks me up.
- A GOOD Cigar
- Praying late at night.... sounds weird I know... it's cuz i am full of contradictions....
- Marcel Khalifeh Music , makes me feel as if my nation will survive this bullshit.
- Collecting anything about President Jamal Abdu Al Nasser of Egypt. Why ? cuz he did not put
up with anybody bullshit....
- Reading (Agatha Christie is AWSOME)
-Soccer
-Having one on one time with my friends.... every time I learn something new about them that way and makes me appreciate them better, and takes a load off my chest... THANK YOU Dre for the conversation the other night.
-and Marcel Khalifeh AGAIN....listen to this one

these things are random and with no order... but they bring a smile to my face.. make me feel better... give me strength to go through this life.... I guess now my friends you know a bit more about me:)

First run

2006-07-11T22:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, I did it.. 30 minutes of movement.. Notice I did not say running, but I "moved" non stop for 30 minutes.. between jogging, running and walking i think I covered it all... Not what I was hoping for but hey I moved 30 minutes more than what I would have if I did not get INSPIRED by haroon's words so I guess thank u Ayo:)

either case this is a work in progress, I wil keep you posted throughout the next 12 weeks:)

I am going running

2006-07-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, you heard right... , well I guess I should say u read right since you are reading this, but either case my dear friends, I am going running.

It all started over a nice dinner at the Bluestem on Saturday night. when I was talking to Ayo (AKA Haroon). He is training to enter a half a marathon in 12 weeks. one thing lead to another and I was inspired. Haroon showed me the way...aaaaaaahhhh(you should hear inspiring music now)

ok so I do smoke my argeeleh and cigars and cigarettes sometimes.... well ok I am big so what ... aaah ya did I mention I have not ran in like 3 months... ok ok so WHAT.. I am doing it.. I am going running and that's the end of it..in 12 weeks... Yours truly shall run the streets of KC for 13.1 miles... and I am planning to run, not to walk.. crawl.. or move on 4.. nop I shall RUN.

SO.....I went to famous Foot wear and got my self a nice ass Adidas running shoes.... it's called "Galaxy M" I honestly see nothing galactic about it but I guess if Adidas makes it then they can name it what ever they want to. Personally I might call it "CRAP M" short for Crazy Running APparatus M but again that is only me.

and now I am ready to rumble... IF you read no blogs from me within the next 96 hours... then I had a heart attack and I am dead... in this case.. I would like Matt Roach to sing "Dust in the wind" by Kansas...and Ringo I hate you so much but you can come to my funeral. it's ok.. I won't hit you this time.

Family

2006-07-09T10:59:00.000-05:00

OOOh family, what would we do without them. We can't live with them and yet we can't live without them. You argue with them, fight, and disagree, yet in the end of the day you run back to them. You run back to your brother..sister... mother and father..for advice, assistant, and shelter!

but why do we do this?

Is it our natural animal instinct to run to the biggest group around to shelter us and help us to survive? or is it because you believe that the probabilities of these particular individuals to betray you or hurting you are considerably reduced compared to other people without this blood relations to you?WHY?

Is it the natural love bond nurtured between you and the rest of your family through your childhood? is it your mother's milk? your father's words of wisdom, your siblings pranks? or is all of the above combined?

any ideas? just wondering.

?

2006-07-04T14:47:00.000-05:00

You want other peeps to be able to post on your blog like this? :) Or did you just want to add us cooleos to your links on the side. Just checkin.... I've never posted on another person's blog before! This could get interesting.

2006-07-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

My Soulmate

My soul mate,I would like to introduce you my friends to my soul mate, she is elegant, thin, quite most of the time, talks only when I ask her to talk.. and every time she makes any voice she pleases me with it. Our relationship is not a committed one at all, I only like to be around her when I am frustrated or upset. Days and maybe weeks might pass without me talking to her or even coming close to her, but when I am sad and down and need some cheering you can bit that she is there for me.

She does not complain at all for the long days that I ignore her and act like I have never seen her at all, although she hangs out in my place all the time. Yet the day I need her and call her.. she is always there for me.

My soul mate ladies and gentlemen is My Argeeleh (AKA Hookkah)May God have mercy on whom ever invented this great device and reward him heaven, Amen.

Legal Disclaimer

The oinions expressed above are just random ideas about the Argeeleh that I wanted to represent in a funny manner, it does not in anyway, shape or form represent my idea of an ideal soulmate or what I think of how I would like my soul mate to be, nor disrespect to women.. ok is this disclaimer legally valid now?

2006-07-03T19:11:00.000-05:00

Topeka

This is a poem about a town

It’s name I loath

Stupidity and ignorance,

In it roam both

It’s called Topeka,

May the lord above curse,

With floods and thunder,

May it’s existence be burse.

It brings depression, sickness and more

It makes you madder than a wild boar

If you thought you’re hardcore,

Topeka will, trust me, bring you to the floor.

2006-07-01T17:17:00.000-05:00

"A day that shall live in infamy"

The French beat the Brazilian!!!! WHAT the fuck dude?!!!!!

well I do have mixed feelings regarding this, I am a fan of Brazil, but in the same time I did not want them to win the world cup this year. I am getting sick and tired of them winning everytime!But AGAIN (and notice how confused yours truly my dear reader) I was hoping they will lose the battle gloriously at the final game against the mighty Germans, not the freaking French??? oooh lallaaaa who will spare us the French arrogance now!!!

The only consolation I might have is that the leader of the freaking French is a Freakinng Arab (Zien Eddien Ziedan), so in other words, it took an arabian lion to lead the sheepish French to victory over the brizilian leopards.

As long as Germany makes it to the end, I will be happy.

2006-06-26T20:10:00.000-05:00

Mo has arrived...
be afraid.. very afraid:)