Niagara Falls

For Valentines Day I took my S.O. to Niagara Falls. In three months that she's been here, she has visited 8 states and Canada! WOW! In my 30+ years of living in the US I have visited only a handful more than that! Lucky her! We first visited the Canadian Side. We were there for an entire day...then spent 1/2 day on the American side. This is my forth trip to the falls, my first to the American side, upstate NY, and in the dead of Winter. It was SO cold but oh, so much fun. I will let the pictures do the talking......enjoy!

Rainbow to greet us as we walked along the boardwalk on the Canadian Side!

We were so close we could practically reach out and touch the water! But don't reach too far out...you'll end up at the bottom of the falls with 258,000 L per second of water falling on you!

We went up in the the Skylon! Amazing sights and you could still hear the falls! Boy was it windy up there! http://www.skylon.com/ We could see Toronto and it's famous CN Tower off towards the North. Below is Niagra Falls, NY. Yes there is a town with the same name in upstate NY! On the left is the famous Rainbow Bridge which houses a US/Canadian border crossing.

We watched the sunset!

Tomorrow you'll get to experience the US side of the falls!

Hero's Walking Among Us

With all the sadness coming out of many places around the world, it's heartwarming to read stories such as these. Knowing many firefighters personally and working alongside them, I know they would all do the same thing...after all who in their right mind would run INTO a buring building.

Here's the news story....
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/12/40_years_worth_of_thanks/?s_campaign=yahoo

'Mom cooks me like a turkey in the oven.....

....I felt fire. It burned my back,' " he read. "'She hurts me with a screwdriver all the time.'"

Reyna Valentino, 40, a mother of five, faces life in prison on allegations that she burned her 4-year-old daughter in an oven, used a hot nail or screwdriver to singe her eyelids and beat her 5-year-old daughter's leg with a pry bar


What things to appear in public are much different than what they really are. I never will understand how people could do this to others, nevermind their own kids. Some people are not fit to be parents:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090206/METRO/902060381/1409/METRO

Would you classify Ms. Suleman the single, unemployed "mother" of the recently born octuplets as a child abuser. I do! She seriously has NO business bringing more kids into the world.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_re_us/octuplets

Getting the "you know what" scared out of you

Email exchange at work:


To: Dist. List
From: Dist. List Colleague
Subject: Holiday Decorations around the office

Have you guys noticed that a lot of the open space cubicles contain a heavy amount of holiday decoration this year?

I guess you could call me the grinch because I think too much decoration becomes tacky very fast and not festive or fun.

I stayed late one night recently and at around 7pm while walking from the men's bathroom to my office I passed a motion sensor snowman that noticed my presence and started to play a song, move its arms, and it started to talk. It scared the crap out of me as I thought I was alone. My late at work silence was suddenly broken by a snowman robot out to disturb my peace and solitude. Not festive or fun for me.

The company fire department guys seem to agree with me. Below is their article on how too much decoration can create a fire hazard because cotton balls (used to be fake snow) are very flammable. Decorations with lots of paper or lots of electrical connections also can increase the likelihood of a fire.

Did you notice that in front of YFA's office is a whole cubicle wall done up entirely in wrapping paper with a bow?

What do you all think about the increase in decoration this year?
Good thing? Bad thing?
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My reply:

I am sick of the neocons. I am sick of getting a partially meets expectations To give blog readers a reference to what that meant by this. We recently had our yearly performance reviews....but of course I didn't get that low of a review, I got an exceeds expectations! Cream of the crop!). I am sick of working so hard! I am sick of being sick! But most of all I am sick of the religious zealots trying to impose their beliefs on me. If it was me putting up decorations HR would be all over me!!! Let's go around and take them all down!! And that snowman, I put a candle under him…he's long gone! I ruined a brand new pair of pants because of him!




Yep, the snowman got me too! Late at night, no one in the office and that darn thing starts to inflate and sing. *@#&. No I didn't ruin a pair of pants...but my Glock was staring him in the face. Yes a snowman got me to unholster!

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The follow up from the sender of the first email:

I like how you tell it like it is YFA.
No mixed messages. No spin.
More power to you.

You may be right too about what are proper and not proper decorations.
If we do winter decorations with gift wrapping paper, then can we do this again for Diwali?
Can we go crazy and decorate for Diwali? Or what about for Kwanzaa?
Or what about for Hannukah? Or Eid al Adha?

Who decides which decorations can go up and during which holidays? Does HR know?
Is it writing down in an HR policy anywhere which holidays we can decorate the hallways for?

I say allow office decorations for all of them or none of them.
- Colleague R

P.S. Down with snowmen that talk or move around and scare me.

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Got to give him props...this R is well cultured. He knew about Eid al Adha....but then again he tries to get off of work by claiming to be a diciple of every single religion.

Before the Boy Bands....

of the 90's, there were the boy bands of the 80's...which I grew up listening to! I got to attend the New Edition concert...one of my first ones. I won the tickets from a radio station. I was the 96th caller!!! I went crazy on the radio. 4 tickets! They were in such high demand I could have made a nice profit from them...but no way was I going to let them go!

Yeah, make fun of me all you want..but back in the day this was got you a dance with the pretty girls at the school dances! I was in 6th grade and the radio stations were blasting out these tunes....ahhhhhh the memories.....how fast life moves. What I would do to go back in time and relive a few days from that era of my life!

New Edition




And I wanted this played at my wedding...but my wife would have for sure vetoed this request.



Like I told you, no laughing at them or at me!

Bravo Ladies!

As much as I hate just regurgitating news stories.....I felt it important to spotlight the major accomplishment of these ladies. Not only are they providing a great service to their communities, but they are breaking down walls that in the past have prevented them from such occupations. I know that USAID provides millions of dollars for other projects, but I was saddened to not see their name as part of their initiative. Maybe in the future they will look to fund this endeavor.



From the article: "The women take home JD50 each per week during the training period, but will be paid JD540 per month, as well as social security and health insurance, for the duration of their employment in the project." Not too bad for a extremely poor community. Many of the selfless women, plan on using that money to support their families. But it's not only the money. These ladies have definitely raised their self-esteem and proven to themselves as well as others how capable they are of doing this job. They have made me proud and earned my respect and admiration.

Hopefully these heroes will help rid our country of mines and then take these skills to other countries.

Miss Independent.......

Wanted to share one of my favorite songs....

Work....

I swear I have the coolest job ever!

My schedule today……

9:16a.m. Arrived at work
9:21am while computer loads, I head downstairs to get a latte
9:22am – 11:03 Read blogs, jordantimes.com, other news media websites
11:03am-11:45 IM with my sister
11:45am Lunch time. We walk to local biker bar across the street. It’s 26F outside and we turn into icicles on the way. The only time it’s safe to go is during the workday…but you’d think that who would hire those scary bikers, so they should be there all times of the day. Enjoy my turkey ruben and sweet potato fries
2:00 return from lunch
2:00-2:45 Read newspaper I brought back with me
2:45 leave the office and drive to café for coffee break with three colleagues
3:30 Return to office…and run into some coworkers who snidely remark after seeing us in our coats, “oh, you guys just coming back from lunch”. On the way up on the elevators, I press our floor, floor 5 and then press the button for every single floor. One guy gets out on floor 2 to take another elevator because he’s in a hurry to get back to his desk on the 5th floor. When his elevator stops on floor three, the doors open and he finds yours truly waiting to hop in! LOL. Of course I hop in and hit the buttons for floors 4, 5 and 6!
3:35 Get back to my desk only to find an IM sent at 2:55 from my boss…..”Where are you, bro?”…I’m like, OH $#!^….“I’m right here bro, need me to come upstairs?”….. “No, you can do it from your computer”…..he just wanted me to check a document.

3:36 reply to some email

4:00 IM from boss….”Where are you, bro?”… “I’m in my office, what’s up?”…..”Go home”...”OK boss”

Wrong Number.....

Wow.....been a very long time since I was here...

Somehow my work phone number is linked to some telemarketing company's phone. I don’t know how this can happen since 1. I am behind a switchboard at my company, 2. the number is unpublished, 3. the number when I call an outside number doesn't show my individual number, but some abscure number like xxx-777-7777.

Ever since I started my job I've been getting random calls. We’re talking 3 to 5 “return” calls per week. The people on the other side of the phone, think that I called them a left a message, when in reality I hardly every use my work phone to call anyone. I try to explain to these callers that I am the only one who uses this phone and that I didn’t call them or that this is a reputable company that doesn't have/need that sort of marketing. They don’t want to hear any of it…they only say, ”why does my caller ID show your number”. And with that sort of proof, how can I convince them that I didn’t call them or that no one has used my phone to call them. Unfortunately it's not that easy.

I’d rather not have to change my number, as all my business contacts have this number, the massive amout of paperwork required to change it and then the actual task of having to order new cards and stationary is more than I want to burden my admin with. So I put up with it and more likely than not, if a number in the area code where I work shows up on my display when my phone rings, I just don’t answer and let the voicemail system take over. Once they hear my voice and name, they realize they probably made a mistake and don’t leave a message. But today it went to an entirely new level…..

I went to lunch, came back and had this message on my voicemail….

Said with a heavy Hispanic accent……”Listen bro, I don’t know who the heck you are, but you gotta…you better ssstttop F****** calling here, M****F*****! Alright!! If you F****** call here again meh (man), I am going to come to F****** New Jersey, pay you a visit and beat your F****** A**!! If you don’t believe me try again M*****F*****!!!!!

I don't even live or work in NJ. I don't have any phone number connections to the state of NJ. Even though my sister lives there, she use a phone number with an area code from a different state altogheter. I have the dude’s phone number on my display. I am thinking about calling this tough guy and giving him some of his own medicine. I’m thinking of telling him, yeah this is Mike Smith (but will use my co-workers real name) and here’s my address (again using my colleagues home address)! LOL. I will then proceed to tell him you think your so tough, I am waiting for your sorry A** to get here so we can settle this like men!

Ramadan Across the Globe

More pictures at:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/observing_ramadan.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7

McCain is a sleazeball

Is it haram....

...to skip fasting so that you can donate blood? In a personal plea from the governor to the president of my company, the governor has asked him to send out similar plea to get as many people to donate as possible at our regular onsite blood drives scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday.

There is currently a blood emergency, where supplies of blood for tranfusions are at dangerously low levels at most a few hours. I am O- which is in high demand as it can be given to anyone. With over 6000 units of blood collected in the past 3 years at my company's blood drives, helping well over 20,000 people, you can see where every donor counts and how being the largest employer in the state, huge amounts of blood can be collected. I donate every 8 weeks and unfortunately Thursday is my next scheduled one.

So you can see my problem. What do you think? Skip a day fasting so that I can donate.

Congrats Serena!

Simply one of the greatest tennis players of our generation! Congrats 2008 US Open Champion! Match Score, 6-4, 7-5!

I have always been a fan of Serena Williams and her older sister Venus. They have really made the sport fun to watch over the past 10 years. Yes, I admit I watch tennis, on TV nonetheless. Ha ha, laugh all you want. It is very exciting!

It's the Williams sisters have really made it exciting to watch. They have won many major championships in their long storied tennis careers. They have come a long way from their humble beginnings, Serena being born in Flint, Michigan and raised in Compton, CA (aka, most dangerous inner city/inner suburban are in the United States). You are lucky to make it out of there alive, so you can imagine what it means to sit on top of the world as the number one seeded womens tennis player!

Her tennis ability is second to none and I never tire from watching her play. The grunts I can do without though...but that seems to be so popular now, even the men are starting to do it ;-)

$11,582 per Month Car Payment

You read the title right, you can own this car for a paltry $11,582.00 per month:

Or if you prefer Maybach’s, this one is ONLY $7,075.00 every 30 days:

That is double my mortgage payment. What the heck! But hey it’s all about being seen on the road. With the Mayback, I would have to hire someone to drive it... I mean find someone to pay ME to drive ME around. My brother’s would definitely do it.

If you read the post about the M3 game my bro’s and I play, http://yourfavoriteanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/03/oh-no.html
I got another text message just a little while ago from somewhere in the dairyland of Wisconsin and Chicago..but no picture was attached....so no points were awarded. R claimed it was zipping past him weaving in and out of traffic. If I know my brother, he would have been right behind him doing the exactly same thing, first because he enjoys that type of driving and second to snap a picture to send to us. I think he’s pulling our legs. I'll have see who has the gold, sliver and bronze (and also the coal) medal positions in our lil' game. I'll probably be the one wearing the lump of coal around my neck.

Hard life for Arab Americans

Wow, I knew things were tough, but not this tough. How these guys just don't pack up and head back home, I don't know. I could never do what they do, especially being that far from my family......masakeeen, indeed.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080818/METRO08/808180351

N.Y.C.

"......i'm getting pages out of new jersey from courtney b
tellin me about a party up in n y c
and can i make it damn right
i'll be on the next flight
payin cash first class sittin next to vanna white......" Ride with Me lyrics. Nelly.

I could never, ever live in NYC, but LOVE to visit. Will go to Times Square and maybe visit Lady Liberty. It rained the entire drive until it was time to cross over the Tappan Zee and the sun comes out to welcome me! The traffic was crazy....took 1.5 hours to move 1 mile. OUCH! Good thing NJ has cheap gas. I think it's 3.53 or so per gallon.

Traffic Deaths

Traffic deaths in Jordan, 9xx per year while in the US they are 41,xxx per year.

Number of cars in Jordan are probably <1,000,000> 100,000,000 and I would bet > 150M.

Help Give Free Mammograms

Hope none of you or you loved ones ever have to suffer from this horrible ailment. Over the past few years breast cancer has touched me too close to home....mothers and sisters of good friends and several women I work with have been diagnoised. They are lucky because it was discovered early on, but for many, the yearly mammograms are too cost prohibitive.

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on ¡donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com How about bookmarking and clicking it everyday?

On behalf of the the many, thank you!

I found $1000!!

As I was walking into my office this moring, I saw an envelope on the ground that I picked up. Everyone who works in the office buildings where my office is located parks in the same parking structure (or multi-level car park for those of you that are Brits) and it's behind the secuity fence, so not just anyone can park there. I figured I would be able to find the rightful owner.

I glance down at the envelope and discover there's no name! Now what?!?!?! The envelope was already opened so I lift the flap and what do I find...two checks already endorsed. For a quick second I thought of laundering the checks and going shopping in New York City this weekend! New suit, a few tickets to a show, and a nice dinner....all on someone else's dime! Yeah, sounds fantastic!! But there are cameras all over the place and definitely at every turn in the structure. Quickly back to my senses...if they pull the security tapes they would see me picking up the envelope and my fingerprints are all over the checks. Scratch that idea.

I get to my office and search on the online address book and there are no matches. I read who the check was from and realized it's payable to someone from the housekeeping crew. And as those people don't make too much money to begin with (or what I thought, hell $1000 per month...that is a lot!!) and it being the beginning of the month, I am sure they had bills to pay THIS weekend. So I really needed to get these checks to them before noon as our company works 1/2 day on Friday. So I go around asking the other cleaning people if they know such and such a person. No such luck. After roaming the halls aimlessly for two hours and many of my colleagues giving me dirty looks, as if to say get your lazy @$$ to work, I can't locate the rightful owner anywhere. My mind wanders back to New York....it's daring me to go to the onsite credit union and cash them. Come on, you know you want too! New York, THIS WEEKEND! I am fighting the urge...fighting with all my will. I can't go through with it...I've see what the inside of a jail looks like. For $1000, no way. Not even for $100,000,000,000.00 Well for that much maybe, but no way in hell for a measly $1000.

So in the end, I resorted to giving the envelope to the security guards in hopes they could find the rightful owner. Hope the owner got his checks back. But I should have left my name wth the guards...there might have been a reward. Might have been at least enough to buy a coffee come Monday.

Clever Inventions

Lock Cup - Anti-Theft Coffee Cup. Are you tired of others stealing your coffee cup? Well now there’s a solution. The Lock - Cup has a hole which prevents most people from using it. Only the owner of the cup can use his/hers shaped key to close the hole.

TRAVELER’S PHRASE BOOK T-SHIRTIf you are traveling a lot and don’t always know the language of the country you are visiting, then this T-shirt is for you. It has a phrase book printed on it so just point a finger at the pictogram you need and then point it twice at the question mark, which means, “Where is it?” and in no time you have found what you were looking for… or not.