I know exactly what I need...

Here is a useful gift idea. My birthday is not until July, but there is graduation gifts and hopefully new real job gifts :P

I need this flying alarm clock. I think it would be much harder to find the key if the room is darker. Nehaha



Via: Hal's blog

Since we are on this subject. Sony Ericson cell phones have the most alarming alarm clocks. You can even set up to five alarms at once. another reason to not buy a Nokia.

November...

If anything...this month is the month that was stolen from my life.

I have spent it on my kitchen table with my laptop and endless stacks of papers and textbooks. I have learned so much in this month. I am just not sure where to apply all those business concepts I have accumulated. Fingers crossed Dana would get that job... and see if all of this cramming of information and assignments was necessary...

Missing- was The Black Iris of Jordan blog for almost a week. It was mysterious enough to make me start to think that he was blocked by some authority figure. But then again...if anything he should be adopted by those authorities...

I discovered Yamli today...just one of the greatest ideas coming to live...making life easier for hundreds of Arabic typing literals just like me.... I shall post more about it. I am really curious about who started it and how are they planning to make money out of their online presnce..plus I am sure I will find plenty of entertaining materials about using this applications..YAMLI ROCKS

I am too wiped out by now... This month was a true hardcore work month...I hope that life takes a better turn. December is promising a lot of reconnecting...a lot of learning...a lot of decisions...and maybe a chance to take back life

I need some time apart from my laptop...my sick laptop

Can’t wait to start reading Love in the Time of Cholera....

Facebook as a bridal catalogue

I don't know how most of you feel about this, but for me one of the weirdest most awkward things in my culture is bride hunting. Weather you are being approached or asked for "reference" about someone in specific, and most creepy when you are asked to refer someone you know to complete stranger. i have to admit it is the creepiest when you are approached...

I think many Arabs out there are thankful for Facebook as it saves them a lot of effort as it allows a good "preview" of the possible bride to be. If the dude and his "KHATABE" are lucky, the girl would have an open public profile, or at least close picture of her face available for the public. Then, they can through her list of friends "investigate" if their circle of friends and her circle of friends are connected at some point through a common person (a common girlfriend is the best alternative) THEN an opportunity to approach the candidate rises !

I am serious. A lot of moms out there are behind the monitor browsing through the pictures on Facebook for possible candidate who they will contact her to arrange for when they can come over an have a cup of coffee with the family.

For some people, they go the extra step on signing in into their daughters accounts, go through their profiles and their friends profiles and "help" those nice guys out there finding there perfect bride. Their daughter's accounts has got to have some "listed friends" who are recently graduate Arab females, hopefully not yet spoken for and who are not looking to do any post-grad studies. Hey, you can even filter your search at Facebook by region and by university lol

On the other hand some men, do not put there loved ones through such trouble, because, and I quote some random dude from Montreal " It is easier and sometimes easier on the pocket (cheaper) to find a bride from back home and bring her to live here"

Personally, I made my peace with this, and know that there is nothing I can do, I sometimes even give up, and put up a good word for a girl who I knew. But most of the time I pretend I don't know this person and save myself from any future headaches and such

I don't understand, why can't the guys who are looking for a partner just approach those girls. Get to know them, and then maybe start something. I am sure most of them does not even trust someone else's taste in shirts. Why is it alright to marry based on someone else's taste?

This topic has been coming up a lot in my conversations, as my Facebook list of friends was recently investigated.

Go back in time...cyber space time

Do you have a website that you like but it does not exist? Do you miss the old layout of a website but can't enjoy it anymore because the website is updtaed?

For those who answered YES, you should try the Wayback machine from the Internet archive website. I like to use it to track the development of websites from the day they started up to now. I love to observing how far web development have come along, and how e-commerec has changed website layouts and functions.

You may not be able to access all buttons on your selected website as some links will not be funtioning, and it takes forever todownload pages with some graphics...

This is how sad did the Hotmail page looked like WAY back in 1996. I think Internet time should be calculated like dogs or cats years. An Internet year prbably counts for 5 normal years.What do you think? I think 5 is more than enough!

Kool, kidz friendly e-banking :)

I came across this kids online banking website the other day, it is part of ING Direct Bank, one of the largest virtual banks in the world. I thought some of the readers might like to introduce it to their children. You should, this portal is educational and fun :)

Planet Orange is a website which advocates financial literacy and teaches children the importance of saving and financial planning at an appropriate level for their age. ING Direct got the inspiration to start this portal from customers’ emails requesting information on how to teach their children about financial planning. According to ING Direct this website supports its vision of “leading America back to savings”. Planet Orange acts as a resourceful tool for parents, teaches and children and young adults to realize the need of learning and discussion the topic of personal financing which opens the door to personal financing education at homes and at schools.

The winner of Financial Literacy Award website has a children-friendly design and layout that introduce users to a fun, simple, yet very educational experience. It also offers a level of sophistication that connects with parents and teachers.

The website has a dynamic structure and allows interactivity through two main characters, Cedric and Amy, who guide the user to different sections (continents) of the website. In each section, children are faced with a financial situation similar to what they could face in life such as unexplained loss of money without budgeting.

Just a thought: Why did not I have something like this growing up? I was so bad with personal finance as a teenager to the degree that my dad had to set down and have a talk with me about my debit card usage. His exact words were: "Dana, baba, ATMs are different from a Pac-man machine or a video games where you play and win redeemable coupons. You see baba, you don't win the money, truth is I WORK FOR IT."