My 2 Cents!

Dropbox: More than a File Sharing Application!

2010-04-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to send a friend a large file that was exceeding your email attachment limit? It has happened to me quite a few times, when I wanted to send photos or video clips I took at a kid's birthday party to the parents. If I got lucky and managed to attach it to my email, often enough it bounced back because the recipient's email service provider didn't accept such large attachments!

I came across this wonderful web application called Dropbox, where users can upload files and send a link to others to download. The person who receives the link does not have to have a Dropbox account to access the file. Each user gets up to 2 GB of free storage space (more space is available for a fee)!

After I decided to write a help file for this web application for one of my course projects, I discovered that Dropbox is more than a file sharing application. Upon downloading Dropbox software onto your computer, it generates a folder that you can use just like any other folder. But the wonderful thing is that whatever you keep in this folder is accessible through Dropbox website, your other computers, or mobile devices that have the Dropbox application installed. There is no need for you to carry your files in a flash memory anymore!

Also, Dropbox keeps track of changes you make to your files in the Dropbox folder. So basically, it works as a backup system. You can undelete or recover earlier versions of your files! Dropbox saves a history of your files for the last 30 days; you can pay to extend this period.

Dropbox is a good example of Internet-based shared resources--or cloud computing--but security is a concern. You may not want to use Dropbox to store sensitive information as you do not know who has access to your documents at the other end!

A new release or a new software?

2010-01-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I switched to OpenOffice.org for my everyday word processing needs. The reason behind it is very simple: my new laptop didn't come with Microsoft Office installed!
OpenOffice.org was a suitable alternative with many of MS Office capabilities and it was free. Besides, I had MS Office installed on my older laptop, in case I needed it.

I think MS Word 97 was the first word processing software that I ever used. And then there came Word 2000, and after that, 2003--which I kept on using for many years to come! When I think back, I do not remember having much difficulty transitioning from one version of MS Office suite to the next. Obviously, each new release had new features, but the main graphical user interface (GUI) stayed somewhat the same so the intermediate to advanced users could find their ways around it faster and with less effort.

Well, "there comes a time when we heed a certain call" (and by "we", I meant "I")! Obviously, it was not by choice that I had to start using MS Office 2007 at school! And did I wish I had a chance to familiarize myself with it prior to the class!?

This new release is by far the most changed version of MS Word I have ever seen. The GUI is completely new! They have changed the location of the menu items and toolbars dramatically! Even finding simple commands like "Save As" has become a chore! They call this new toolbar the "Ribbon"--an entangled one, I guess!

Obviously, just like any other Microsoft product, Word 2007 is not free of glitches either! For example, I was trying to change the font of one sentence and it changed the font of the entire document for me--and this happened three times in a row! I had also difficulties with inserting page breaks and numbered lists.

OK! Enough of sarcasm!
I must admit, I like the added color and the fluidity of the menu items! It has become more dynamic and visually appealing.
Maybe if I wasn't under pressure to learn this new release and produce a presentable document in one short hour, or if I didn't care for its more advanced features, I would have had better things to say about it.

Regardless, I believe there should be a limit on the amount change introduced in a new software release.

A Review: Say You're One of Them, by Uwem Akpan

2010-01-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

Say You're One of Them is consisted of five relatively short stories about lives of children in war-torn African countries, such as, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria. Each story focuses on one of the social, religious, or cultural conflicts and portraits them through the eyes of children.

The first story is about extreme poverty and child prostitution. The second story is about child trafficking. The third and forth stories focus on religious civil war and its effect on children. And the final one is a terrifying ethnic cleansing story based in Rwanda.

When you think about it, a whole continent has been led to ruins by severe natural resource exploitations, cultural and religious invasions, AIDS, wars, etc.; Not much infrastructure exists, and corruption--an inevitable consequence of extreme poverty--is evident in all levels of the society.
Reading this book, I often found myself wondering how these children could make sense of the madness that was happening around them! How they could isolate and protect themselves so that they did not follow the path of their parents! How these children could build a better future for themselves with all the violence, abuse, betrayal, poverty, ..., in their lives!

On a personal note, as horrifying and heart breaking as each story was, since they were told by children, I rarely found myself teary; nonetheless, I was deeply saddened by every one of them.
I didn't find the local dialects used throughout the book very intriguing. It broke the flow of the story for me. Also, I'd wished the book covered only one story, so that the author could have elaborated more on the characters and took the reader deeper into their lives.

As much as I don't like to say that "reading about other people's miseries makes us appreciate the things that we take for granted", it truly does! Things like, roof over our heads, food on our tables, clean water running in the pipes, safe streets, education for our children, etc., these are the dreams of millions of people over there!
I just wished everyone on our planet could enjoy our basic standard of living.

All in all, I found this book very eye-opening.

Don't back up, backup: A cell phone story!

2010-01-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

Back in November, as I was trying to add a new contact to my cell phone, I temporarily lost my contact list! What happened exactly on that day that angered the Gods of cellular phones is still unknown to me!

I don't know about you, but I have stopped memorizing people's phone numbers long time ago, so retrieving these phone numbers could have been a major pain in the neck!

After searching the Internet for an answer on how to retrieve my data, asking from friends, and staying on the phone forever to talk to a customer support from my service provider, I finally listened to the advice of a friend and restarted my cell phone, and thankfully, my contact list reappeared!

That incident made me realize how vulnerable I am in this area and that I needed to somehow backup my data and transfer them to somewhere safe. So I decided to go to the manufacturer's website and figure out a way to download my cell phone contact list to my laptop.

After spending what looked like an eternity searching by keywords, going from one page to the next, and browsing FAQ lists, I finally found a few related topics. To my disappointment though, the answers were very ambiguous, there was not a clear starting point, and no pictures were included to help me get to the right answer faster!
For example on one page it said: “Click on Backup or Restore button depending on what you wish to do”. I couldn't recall seeing a Backup or Restore button on my cell phone! So I started searching vigorously every feature that my cell phone had, to no avail!
Somewhere else it said: “Click the Transfer my Phonebook to Another Phone button”! And I was thinking: “Where exactly is this button located?” .
On another page it said: “Please do not connect your mobile phone to your PC until instructed to do so by the initialization wizard”!
And I quietly asked: “What? Initialization wizard? Oh!”. That was when I figured a software existed somewhere! But, did it give me the name of that software? NO! That would have made my life too easy!

So, I went back to the box that my cell phone came in to see if there was a CD included, and the answer was another NO! I started guessing the software's name and resumed my search on their website! And finally, I found it under “Software and Drivers” and noticed that it was for SALE for 60 USD! Of course! What was I thinking?

Obviously, the next “logical” step was finding free alternatives on the Internet and running the risk of downloading all sorts of spywares and viruses to my computer with that free software!
Or, taking the time and manually entering each and every contact (which I hope to do one of these days).

But, I did learn a lesson on that day; That, "Backup" is the keyword for my peace of mind, electronically speaking!

A Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

2010-01-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

After much hesitation, I finally decided to give it a read. It turned out to be a completely different book than I had imagined. From the buzz around it and the comments of those who had read it, I had the perception that Outliers is another one of those motivational "you-can-do-it-too" success-story books... but to my astonishment it was anything but!
This book is not about "cut a picture of a bike and imagine riding it, until your grandpa buys it for you!". In this book Malcolm does not glorify successful people nor does he implies that just about anyone could be as successful as self-made billionaires!

He explains through numerous examples, research, and hard data that success is dependant upon many important factors, from personality traits to cultural habits and beliefs to racial background to birth dates!

In part one, the book describes that in order to be successful at a professional level one has to put in about 10,000 hours. But is it that simple? The opportunity for accumulating 10,000 hours is not offered to everyone, some people are "luckier" than others in this regard... for example, if a child is into hokey and is living in Canada and is born in January, February, or March, that child has a better chance of realizing that dream than those born later in the year! Or if a youngster, born in the 50s in the U.S, is provided and seizes the opportunity to work with a computer for numerous "free" hours in the 70s, that teenager will become a Bill Gates or a Bill Joy (co-founder of Sun Mircosystems)! Of course there is no denial that the individual has to have the required talent, motivation, and will power to get there, but such opportunities are/were not present for just about anyone!
The book also emphasizes on the importance of parenting, pleasant social behaviour, and being "in the right place at the right time".

In part two, Malcolm looks at success through a wider lens. He examines the critical--and sometimes catastrophic--role that cultures play on individuals. In one case he explains how a cultural inappropriateness of challenging authority resulted in a deadly plane crash! A Colombian flight about to land in NYC was out of fuel, but the co-pilot could not bring himself to challenge the flight control centre for making them wait!
He goes on to explain how people from southern China are more hardworking than the rest due to cultural belief of "no pain, no gain"!

Malcolm wraps his book by telling the story of his mother, a Jamaican immigrant to Canada. He explains how his mother was lucky enough to be born at the right time, to have the right shade of color(!), parents, community, culture, and was willing to seize the opportunities and face the challenges...

Outliers is different than many of its counterparts--an outlier in itself!
This book can be depressing at times--with stories about those smart individuals who had to face harsh realities of life, like, wars, economical depressions, less caring families, etc. It can cause a "Oh woe is me" reaction at the end (so beware)!
On a positive note, it has nicely pointed out the main ingredients of success.
Overall, I liked it and would recommend it.

Book Reviews

2010-01-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

I have decided to write short reviews on books I've read in the past little while.
Here they are in no particular order. Feel free to leave comments, as always.

1- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
2- Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
3- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
4- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
5- Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser
6- Unbowed by Wangari Maathai
7- Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner
8- The Septembers of Shiraz by
9- Reading Lolita in Tehran
10- The Help by
11- Enrique’s Journey by
12- The Glass Castle by
13- Five Quarters of the Orange by
14- The Luncheon of the Boating Party by
15- The Forgotten Garden by
16- Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
17- Love in the Time of Cholera
18- The Measure of a Man
19- The Power of Now
20- The End of Alphabet
21- The Forgotten Garden
22-...

A new wave: Google Wave!

2009-11-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

About a week ago I received an email from a friend--a software architect--who was encouraging me to join Google's newest invention: Google Wave. He was very enthused about how it eases communication and collaboration among people in many levels and very persuasive that I should give it a try. I must admit that I was very hesitant and skeptical at the beginning , mostly because I didn't want to create another account and memorize yet another user name and password. Soon enough though, I discovered that I can use my already existing Gmail user name and password to log into Google Wave. So, I logged in and started playing with it immediately. Here, I am gonna share a few things that I have learned about it so far.

What gave life to Google Wave, according to Google team, was the fact that email, in its present form, was created some 40 years ago. So they thought: "What would it look like if it were invented today?". Basically, they combined many existing applications, such as, email, chat, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and called it Google Wave!

A "wave" is like an email and creating it is just as easy. What make it interesting are its other powerful features. For example, after creating a new wave, users have the option of adding several gadgets to it--such as, maps, photo albums, polling tools, flowcharts--with a simple drag and drop action. Users can search the web by clicking on Google Search that is on wave's menu bar (there is no need to open another browser).

Apart from the standard text formatting tools (like, different fonts, text sizes, text colors), users can add hyperlinks to their text too. Users can also add their twitter or blogger accounts to their waves and read, tweet, leave comments, or reply without leaving wave.

Google Wave is a powerful tool for planning group projects and brainstorming. Participants in a wave can leave comments anywhere in the message or edit the content. Since wave is a real-time hosted communication, participants can view a comment as it is being typed in.

Its other powerful feature is playback. Users can simply click on the playback button and watch who created the wave or added each comment and at what time. This is very useful for following sequence of discussions when there are too many participants and comments in one wave.

There is an introductory video about Google Wave that gives a quick overview of some of its features and benefits. Google Wave is still in preview phase, so some of the features do not function properly yet. It is not readily accessible to the general public either. If interested, you can fill out an application and wait for Google to send you an invitation to join. After joining, you can also invite your friends--it is a collaborative environments after all! Note that it may take you a few days to get this privilege. Currently, one can only invite up to 8 people.

Just like any other newbie, I still need some time to familiarize myself with this tool. However, as a believer of Google and its innovative products, I am quite certain that Google Wave will become the next widespread communication tool of our time.

As Google team says: "Happy waving!".

Slowing Economy: A Curse or A Bliss

2008-02-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of talk these days about a possible recession in the US economy.
Crashing housing market, weakening dollar, and unbelievably high oil prices are some of the main factors for believing that a recession is just around the corner.
Unemployment rate has risen since couple years ago, especially in sectors closely related to real estate. Consumer price index has gone up, retail sales are fluctuating as more people cling to their cash and don’t spend it on non-vital items. The feds are panicking, cutting interest rates faster than ever to stimulate the economy, which in return will cause inflation... All you hear is about a gloomy future that is about to arrive.

It is a scary image, but you can look at it in a different way.

Housing market crash can be a blessing for first time home buyers. For people like me that watched the housing prices shoot to the sky like a rocket before we had a chance to hop on it, it is a wonderful time. We can shop around with no pressure knowing that if we buy tomorrow rather than today, we may even get a better deal! Rate cuts also work to home buyers advantage: lower rates equals affording nicer homes.

As for the weakening dollar: OK! It is not fun traveling abroad with a weak dollar. But, it is bliss for people in the export business. It means US made goods are cheaper to foreign buyers now. more demand for US made goods equals more jobs and more money, or at least in this sector.
There is also another advantage to have a weak dollar and it is the cost of outsourcing. Outsourcing costs more to the US employers now than a few years ago. It may make more sense to them to subcontract projects to US firms.
Also, US labor will be cheaper to foreign employers; The foreign investment will start coming in and more people will be hired as a result! It is already happening, Air Bus is manufacturing in the US, and there are rumors that BMW and VW are also coming to establish factories here.

As for the high oil prices, I admit that this one is a big issue and affects everything from grocery prices to airline tickets. However, people are forced to minimize their unnecessary commute which has a good side effect in terms of pollution and green house gas emission. They are also forced to re-evaluate their choices when they want to buy that SUV.
In a broader picture and a farther future, high gas price is also helping the environment, as the industry is now trying harder to find a better fuel to replace gasoline. There is a lot of research going on on this subject, from electric energy that is already in production all the way to biofuels, which is made from converting carbohydrates to ethanol and biodiesel!

So all this means that the future may not be that gloomy.
But even if a new recession occurs like its many predecessors, the US government always finds a way to recover; be it the approval of projects like construction of Empire State building in 1930s recession era or preemption of yet another war in the Middle East!

Let's hope the economy recovers before the latter happens...

Talent, Passion, and Harmony

2007-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a long time since I started re-evaluating the choices I have made regarding my profession.
I can't remember what initiated it, I think it was when I started feeling less and less satisfied with my job a few years ago. Every morning I would drag myself out of home to work dreading the day, as if I was going to a forced labor camp!

It was somewhere around that time when I first looked for personality and aptitude tests; I began reading books and articles about how one should choose a profession. I attended workshops and sought career counselling.

Those tests and books and workshops were useful, generally speaking. I mean they were good at labeling groups of people and occupations; But, honestly nothing definite came out of it for me, because I usually landed in the boundary of two or more categories. I never ended up in an extreme end of any definition. Well if I did, there would not be any need for all those speculations from the start!

In the hope of finding a clue, I dug my childhood memories, then I talked to my parents and brother, then I did some soul searching, then I sat down with my husband and made him describe me, my strengths and weaknesses. I read some more books, took some more tests, then..., you get the picture!

Alas, after all that hard work there was no revelation awaiting me.

But this extensive research was not completely unfruitful either. What I am about to outline here is what I learned from this journey: The main ingredients for a balanced life and a successful career, "Talent, Passion, and Harmony". I will describe each one in more detail.

Talent, is the natural ability or quality of a person, something that s/he can do with no effort. Something we call it a gift. To have a successful career, one has to have a talent in that area. As an example, one can't be a renowned mathematician without being talented in math. This is quite straightforward and doesn't need more explanation.

Passion, is a burning desire one feels for something, in our case a field of work. The strong tendency for working in that area is evident in every aspect of the person's life. There is no boundary between work and home, job and hobby. To that person they are all the same. Time is meaningless when he is working, because to him working is playing. Now if talent and passion come hand in hand, it will be a match made in heaven! This is the distinguishing factor between one who is good at something and one who is exceptional.

Now the third ingredient, Harmony, comes to play. Harmony is the congruence between the work and other aspects of a person's life. What I mean is that the work, its environment and requirements should be compatible with other wants and needs and obligations present in life of a person. This is really important for ultimate happiness of that individual.

For example, consider a female attorney who is involved in a big lawsuit in the company that she works for. She has to fly all the way across the country to attend courts and present cases. She likes her work and is very good at what she does. At home though, she has two little children who she loves so dearly. Every time she has to fly away on business, she gets torn into pieces. Every time she questions her choice of profession and evaluates her options... Do you see what I mean? The ultimate happiness of this person, who is very talented in her field and have a strong passion for it, is dependant on this third ingredient. Her work and life are not in harmony, and no matter how much talented or passionate she is about her work, she won't feel content.

I remember when I was younger and still in school, if someone would suggest that I should pursue a teaching career, I would get really offended! My feminist side would kick in instantly and I would criticize them for stereotyping women in particular professions. Now that I am a mother, I understand what they were trying to say! They were talking about the missing harmony between personal and professional lives of women in some other fields.

This is as much true for men; you just need to look around to find some examples.

So my final point is that regardless of gender, if you want to choose a profession for yourself or advise younger ones in doing so, keep the bigger picture in mind. Pay great attention to talent and passion, but at the same time look a bit further into the future and visualize the person's work and life, and the harmony between the two.

Wood vs. Brick

2007-11-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

You probably have seen some of the devastating scenes of recent wildfires in southern California.

The first day we escaped the town, we were following the latest news about the wildfires on TV in our hotel room. In the midst of fear and anticipation one particular image was burnt into my memory, it was a scene of a standing fireplace on piles of ashes. Just like a war-torn flag in an empty battle field; Like an eyewitness, it was telling the world of the bravery and brutality that had happened there. The brick fireplace was declaring to the world that there stood a home not too long ago!

It was also telling the world something else, something very simple and basic! That I, "The Brick", can survive the wildest of wildfires while my rival "The Wood" can not!

So I wondered, in an area that is threatened by wildfires for about 5 months out of a year (due to low humidity and hot winds blowing from the deserts), why do home developers and urban planners insist on building wood-frame houses?

Sure there are many advantages to a frame house, but there are as many to one built of bricks! I am not a civil engineer and don't have much expertise in this field, but seems that the main reason that homes are built of wood in this area is that the Pacific Coast is an earthquake prone region and it is believed that a wood-frame house flexes with earth movement thus survives the quake (although a study in university of Buffalo, NY somewhat begs to differ: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6487930).

But, are wildfires less dangerous than earthquakes?

Generally speaking, there is some time to escape the fire. Experts can predict where the fire is going towards and they evacuate the area in advance and save lives. Earthquakes, on the other hand, happen fast and without any warning, that makes them more dangerous. Nevertheless, for affected individuals the monetary damage of a fire is far greater than earthquakes. If one survives a quake, one can still find valuables and belongings between the rubbles. But, nothing survives in a fire! Except for a brick fireplace!

Looking at some scientific data about the earthquake areas, it is evident that south western corner of California is far from the earthquake fault line. And because the ground is fractured in this part of the world, the chances of quakes transmitting to this area are little. But wildfires happen almost every year in this area and once every few years one of them becomes a mega fire, like the one we just had.

So until scientist and engineers can find a building material that is economical and can survive both fire and earthquake, why not make homes out of something that can at least survive the fire, like hmm, bricks!

Sugar, Sugar In The Bun

2007-10-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

Do you remember this line from the Snow White story? "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest fair of all?"
I have come up with a line that applies to our lives much much better. It goes like this: "Sugar, sugar in the bun, who is the fattest fat of tun?"

Those of you, who have tasted food outside of North America, know what I am talking about. The food tastes too sweet here, don't you agree?

I was hungry this afternoon and wanted something quick to suppress my hunger. There was a piece of French bread on the kitchen counter top (whole wheat version, as we try to eat healthy!!!); without hesitation, I tore a piece and put it in my mouth! "OH MY! Is this really bread?" That was my first reaction. I honestly turned over its nice paper wrapping to read the label and make sure that it was in fact bread and not some kind of pastry! And then had to read its ingredients to find out how much sugar was in it. Obviously since it was so sweet, I couldn't stop eating it. Talking about addiction, ha?

I remember a while ago we went to a famous chain pizzeria here in So Cal for the first time. I ordered a Carne Asada pizza, which is made of grilled steak, chilies, different kind of cheese, fresh tomato and cilantro. Yummy, right? Yummy until I took the first bite! The crust was so sweet that it dominated the taste of all of its other delicious ingredients. Imagine eating steak with a piece of muffin! Doesn't sound tasty anymore, does it?!

But why o why the food makers put all these extra sugar in everything they make? Why "spicy" ketchup, "vinegary" vinegars, and even "salty" pickled gherkins taste so sweet here?
When everything tastes so sweet, it does not really matter if you have French bread for lunch or pizza! They only look different!

I am one of those people who love to have a bit of pastry with tea or coffee. But, how can I enjoy a piece of, let's say chocolate-raspberry tart (one of my favorites), when so much extra sugar has entered my body without my permission!? And if I insist in having that piece of heaven, I have to cut back on my main meals or live with the guilt.

Did you know that the average American eats about 115 lbs of sugar per year? 115 lbs!!!? No wonder I am gaining weight this fast! And no wonder there are 24-hour fitness centers everywhere. This is for sure a not so easy way to burn off these extra calories that enter our body with or without our knowledge!

I wished someone had calculated the amount of money an average American is spending on fitness membership, dental care, health care, weight loss products, skin products, and wardrobe make-overs (because of size change) all due to this involuntary sugar consumption. I guess if you multiply it with 300 million people, it becomes an astronomic number! Doesn't sound too bad for the economy, after all!
Obviously, we can't put a price on the shattered self confidence, the torture of going on a diet, the health risk of obesity, and the time! Yes, the time you have to be on the treadmill away from whatever it is you like to do, shedding these extra pounds off!

Now the real question is what shall we do about this problem?

One thing we can do is to go back in time and find the person who discovered sugarcane and just make him undo his discovery!!!
How about if we all start growing our own food and making everything from scratch, like how our grand-grandparents were doing it?
Or an easier way is to ask the food makers not to put sugar in their food! If they don't listen, we all move out of this continent! Hopefully, they would get the message then!
Or we can pay extra attention when grocery shopping. This means spending more time while shopping and possibly spending a bit more money on high quality items. But then, what about when we dine out?

Oh, man! We are doomed! Let's get back on our treadmills.

Friends!

2007-09-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

Friends! What a simple, yet complicated word! The Webster dictionary defines it as "One attached to another by affection or esteem"; and Wikipedia describes it as "Two or more people who are in a mutually pleasing relationship engendering a sentiment of camaraderie".

But, do these convey the real meaning and depth of friendship?

Friend and friendship, in my opinion, are such complicated, multi-leveled, beautiful, and divine terms that it is really hard to describe them by stitching together a series of words!
Friends are those who no matter how long or how far they are apart from each other, as soon as they are united, they pick it up from where they left off. They share their joys and laughter, tears and sorrows; they cheer each other on the way to success, and are there for one another at times of setback. They inspire and lend a hand to one another. They accept each other for what they are with all their strengths and shortcomings.

But, what is this bond made of that can survive the passage of time and distance? What is this mystical relationship that makes one "Give Head" over it, as Shams did for Rumi! Is it because of a mere likeness of physical experiences or backgrounds? Or due to harmonious brain waves? Or is it something beyond all these, something quite spiritual?
What is that sense, that vibe, that energy that one gets when one meets a "friend" for the first time? Those who believe in reincarnation of souls explain that souls that used to live together in one life time tend to reincarnate together. That's why two people like (or dislike) each other at the first encounter, because at a subconscious level they know each other from another time and place!

Obviously, everyone has a spectrum of friends; those closer to the center are those that we trust or endear more. It is amazing that some new friends, regardless of their age, race, or gender, end up in the middle of the spectrum right away. Again what is the root cause of this intuitive selection?

This whole subject is really fascinating. It is difficult to verbalize the source of this selection, or the nature of this bond. And after all, it really doesn't matter. Let's just be grateful for having this amazing ability to bond with one another as human beings and for being able to experience such a profound emotional relationship.

I am thankful to have a marvelous group of people as my friends. You are in my thoughts, always.

To you my friend, wherever you are, Cheers!

Free Within Limits!

2007-07-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

A friend sent this link about how Australian government wants to evict Muslim radicals from their country, and I couldn't help myself but write about it.
(http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/australia.asp)

This is such a controversial topic. When I was reading the article, I could agree with most of their points but was not happy with some of their comments! I could see why they were so boldly asking Muslim hardliners to just "Take it or Leave it"! I was also so raged by how they were claiming that "This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE"... I just wanted to shout at the top of my lungs that: hey! This was not your land, your country... it had a previous owner! And they had their own language, culture, and lifestyle! How do you like it if they come out of their reserves right now and just ask you to adapt to their culture, learn their language, respect their GOD, or just leave?! But of course they can't, since they don't have the political power, financial means, or media support.

But I didn't shout on that day! Simply because, I don't agree with Muslim hardliners. I have lived in a country that is ruled by Islamic laws and have seen what it means to have a parliament that only passes bills aligned with Shari law or courts that base their judgments on it. A parliament that doesn't have the power to make a law that is beneficial to millions of people of the country if it is a tiny bit in contrast with the Islamic laws, and, a judicial system that would try people based on laws from centuries ago, from another culture and country altogether!

There was a similar dispute going on in Canada a few years ago. Some Jewish and Muslim groups were asking the Canadian government to allow them have their own family law system. It was a scary period, and thanks to the bright minds of the law makers of that country and the protest of thousands of people, it didn't happen.

But, what would happen if countries like Australia, Canada, or USA allow this dual law system: one parliamentary law and the other one Shari!?
It would mean that a fanatic father of a nine year old girl can force her to marry another man. An abusive husband can ban his wife from traveling, working, or even studying. He can legally take multiple wives! In case of a divorce, the mother can't have the custody of her child if the child is older than a few years. If a married woman is involved in adultery, she would be sentenced to death by stoning. Women inherit half of that of men. If a woman murders a man her sentence would be death, plus the blood money she has to pay to the victim's family. But if the reverse happens, the man can pay half of the blood money to the victim’s family and walk free! Yes, because a woman's life is valued as half of a man's.
These are just a few examples only related to family matters, but enough to make a point.

Of course these hardliners want such a system; it will make these countries like heaven to them. They can live in a modern country and take advantage of all the social benefits, while they practice their backward way of life. Simply, they can have one's cake and eat it too!

No! This won't happen, dear radical residents. The country you chose to live in is a free country. It is free for both men and women! It is free, but doesn't mean you can bring your Stone Age law system to these countries. Yes, it is Free Within Limits!

About Me?!

2007-06-22T01:04:00.000-07:00

I was trying to fill out my profile for the blog, and got to the question "About Me". I automatically started writing, but after a few short seconds I stopped. Because it looked more like a resume! Because I had written about my profession and education, and the fact that I am a full time mom now. There was nothing about myself in there!

Then the real question popped up! Who am I? What defines me? Is it what I do now? Or what I have done in the past? or my future plans? Is it my education? Is it my family? Is it my personality? my nationality? my likes or dislikes? Why did I start writing about 'WHAT I am' and not 'WHO I am'?

I started by blaming today's society, saying that it is because we are living in a career driven world. Who you are equals what you do! It is very unlikely that when you meet new people the question of "what do you do for a living" is not brought up. Everyone wants to stick a label on you: "OK! This guy is an engineer, that guy is a business owner, the other one is a lawyer". And probably some will mentally put a dollar value right beside our names in their physiological database!

But then I thought maybe this is not because of today's society! Perhaps cavemen introduced themselves as: "Hi! I am a buffalo hunter" or "I am a deer hunter"!
Maybe this is because of our upbringings. The question of "What do you want to become when you grow up" is one of the popular questions being asked from very young children. Having a particular career was burnt into our brains at very young age such that it has made us identify ourselves with those labels!

But what if this way of thinking is built into our system even before birth! What if this is human nature that forces us to be so career driven? Or better said goal driven; Otherwise we would have still lived in caves, right?

Then again, maybe it is not because of any of the above! I think the real issue is something else. I believe if what you do is really what you love to do, then you and your career are so inseparable that when you want to write ABOUT yourself that's all you can talk about. Because when you talk about your career, you are actually talking about your passion and that becomes you!

Whatever the real reason is, I still need to think hard to fill out the blanks in "ABOUT ME".

Easier than I thought!

2007-06-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

After months of speculating the idea of having a blog, and weighing the pros and cons... I, finally, decided to give it a shot! And Voila! Here I am on the web, live and writing in just a few short minutes! :-)

This idea was first presented to me by my hubby (He always insisted that I should write)! And then later, one of my best friends suggested that I should have a blog recording the daily activities of my son. But what made me try it was as an email with a link to a friend's blog. When I read his article, I thought this is a real nice way of sharing your views and opinions with your friends and getting their feedback! I had never thought about it that way... (http://www.designcabana.com/blog)

So here I am.

I will try to write about things that I feel worth sharing. And you are very welcome to add comments and give feedback.

Happy reading and writing everyone :-)

Behnaz