Too Many Minds

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

January 2011 - For History

25 Jan: Business meeting in Zamalek, overview of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, small numbers trying to reach Tahrir, with fail, 6 Oct brdg was clear, went back to office, got the news about the demonstrators from a friend every now and then

26 Jan: Office following FB, still yet did not know anything about how Twitter works, then home following the news, internet was falling down bit by bit

27 Jan: Same as 26th with less internet access can't remember what else I did, probably meeting with same people reviewing 25th meeting, midnight going back home with Ahmed Younis saying today we do not have SMS service, all data was down

28 Jan: Prayers, went around to check starting points announced, nothing except Abbas elAkad, took 6Oct brdg to mohandeseen to check out other starting points, on the way more people were heading to Tahrir, got a few videos and left

Checking were the police had blocked and came back to demonstrators to tell them about it, while doing that I went from Kitkat, Imbaba bridge, 15th May brdg then back to 6oct

On the way back people stopping on the brdg, I stopped for about 45 mins, trying to go down from where the police truck was burnt later and got a handful of tear gas, followed the instructions and left back to private office to rest and meet someone I couldn't reach and check some news

By dusk, I decided it will be like 25th and no one will be able to go into the sq. and we failed for the day, I took my wife, kid and my wife's sister to drop the last off at her house next to Ma3had Nasser hospital, korniesh shobra

Trying to go back home, Shobra had started to burn, trying to take alternative routs, I came across a few demos near Arkedia and then in Gala2 st.

Still not sure what to do I headed back home fearing my family loss

29 Jan: Went to buy supplies, following the news, the mosques started to call for support before Asr prayer and during Asr they said we all go down by dusk, then they called to immediate response, and we started to fill the streets, by the Nasr City police station was burnt, spent the night with neighbors till 5 or 6 in the morning

30 Jan: Woke up early, went to attend a meeting with a group of supporter who do not spend the night, reach a bit late, attended 20 mins, got nothing and was briefed later, went to Tahrir, talked with a lot of people, going home later very supportive, no internet yet

Went home, slept for an hour, went down again for legan sha3beyah

31 Jan: Went to in-laws, dropped of my kid, went to Tahrir, same same

1 Feb: That's another post

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Answering Marx

I have been speaking with a lot of communists, I really understand what they are calling for, however I really disagree with a few points of what I've heard till now.. maybe I haven't heard enough or from the right people, however, I will take you through what I understood, what I am for and what I am against and my reasons for the same..

Surplus value, a term I've been recently introduced to, excuse my ignorance, but from all what I read that each person would be taking his needs only.. over that should be accumulated to open more factories, businesses.. etc. although I did not get who will be doing these choices I thought of two options:
- Government
- Representatives of the public

Government (a.k.a. Governmental Capitalism)
In this option it increases the power of governmental officials to extents that was monitored in Leftists countries that attempted to do that, also clearly illustrated in "Animal Farm" by George Orwell of the natural consequence of that route

Representatives of the public
Exactly the same as capitalists, they will be doing the same job and will be explaining for themselves that they are the key factor in this growth and naturally they deserve more than the others

Alternatively, we currently have a system that we can easily build on.. Main characteristics:
- Re-evaluating the contribution of each parameter of production to arrive at a fair distribution of wealth
- Always reward technical mastery
- Value innovation
- Respect workers needs
- Investors to support relevant research
- Increasing taxation system
- Anti-corruption laws and independent supervision on all parties involved
- Education for those who seek it kind of community

And a lot more, but this is the main thing, I will not promise I will write again about that, but I will try..

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The future of us

Do we even know who "us" are?

It is a real question that I have no idea how to answer it, I define us by those who have common interests with me, but still... Do I know that these common interests would remain common, or interests?

Let us take an example, maybe I'll understand what I'm saying...

Say we have a supplier, he's interested in selling me more... I'm interested in buying more as I will resell what I buy - Common interest

Say this supplier found that his GP is not covering overheads and decided to increase prices, given that the market is stagnant, alternatively I will try and find a supplier and the common interests are not so common after all...

This was in business... us is not really defined, however in nationalism things are more stable, in religion, things are even more stable...

Everyone of us needs the sense of belonging, human nature... The more stable your pact is the more defined it is the more stable you are... Sounds good?!!??!? Not really...

The more stable you are the more sacrifice you are prepared to do for your belief, for your business you are willing to change your beliefs and maybe your pact, for your country you are willing to go out in demonstrations and some are willing to fight... For religion you are willing to kill yourself...

So now... What are you? What are you willing to sacrifice for "YOU"

Huh!!!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Coming Back

Dear readers, however I know I don't have many or maybe any but I must give myself this feeling, I had a problem logging onto my account and now I don't... I decided to come back and blog some more... Maybe I will have something interesting to say

Stay tuned...

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Testing

I have been having trouble posting on my own blog, I am just testing for now

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

My first 2008 post

I don't know why but for the past 4 months I didn't feel like writing, maybe cause not many people are reading, or maybe casue I am just bored.

Since the begining of this year a lot has been happening, going to work and coming back, going to work again and coming abck again, not complaining really as I know lots of ppl wish they can do just that instead of nothing.

Anyways, I just said I would say hi to those who are reading adn those who are not reading.

Salamat

Monday, December 24, 2007

Building On before

My friend Amani had a nice comment on what i wrote earlier: "Loved the post (parts 1 and 2). Something not most ppl would sit and think about seriously like you did. Bass ana 3andi one comment. Enta ya handasa enherited the country in a sense of: government, big cities and millions of educated citizens who need jobs. I think this is all the dynamic (changing) part in a country. I would think a country is more about land, resources, citizens of all kinds (not necessarily educated, not necessarily in search of the jobs we look for). In that sense Egypt is a huge potential! More on this issue please"

I feel if we have those educated hard workers they can each lead a business that covers the needs of different segments of the population, they each can take on a sector with all its potential and make Egypt one of the leading countries in it, exporting expertise to the world and creating a price for the Egyptian worker based on real demand for them.

The education problems can be overcome by the same way, introducing the economy private education, schools for those who want to learn (not have to) and they cannot afford it. A more focused education that can identify the gifts a person has in one of the paths and direct them towards this path as to gain all the necessary skills and direct thier powers to what they do best.

Hope this answers it my friend

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Time Machine

When you get into the time machine and go back a few years and find yourself wasting time, you will definitely stop and think what the hell are you doing, you was try to urge your past self not to waste that time in meaningless quests that you ended up loosing or gave up on achieving.

You will try to stop this past self from being the idiot you were once when you fell in love with someone that ended up to not be as she claimed to be.

You will try to tell yourself this is study time don't waste it and move on with your life.

You will try to tell yourself don't waste your health on things that were not as fun as they seemed at the time.

You will try to tell yourself don't spend the extra dime that you have and that it is worth saving for the rainy days.

You will try to tell yourself don't listen to those who may appear as your friends but deep down they have a hidden agenda regarding your well being.

You will try to tell yourself lots of thins and at a point you will not understand why your past self is not listening but it is, it will shout back: "Listen mister, if I do not do all those things you would have not been there, you are your own faults and leanings from those faults, you are your mistakes and if you want to do something you do it from now onwards and don't blame your past once for what you are, your past was simply your present at one point, you just need to imagine the future before doing any of those stupid things again."

Stunned, I took the time machine back and sat in a closed room with dim lights and thought...

Saturday, September 29, 2007

After Reform

I guess most of you would not have read my previous posts, I am now president, yes I did go that extra mile of putting myself in the president's shoes and again not for the sake of telling him what to do but rather to tell myself and all of you what to do in the roles we have right now.

I will assume that everything went right and I did manage in one way or another to reform the country I will get myself (from my own money) a place on the red sea and go spend the rest of my life there.

Let's all start looking for the land, maybe anyone will become president

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

If I Became President - Part 2 (Top down)

If I became president is a far fetched thing to think of, but hypothetically speaking what would every one of us do.

The objective of this post is not to tell the government what to do, but rather tell everyone of us who would be in one of the roles that the president would assign to them to start doing that without a president telling them to do it, we can be our own generators and with any president we could be much better.

The Top down approach is simply correct the management (administration) and the people will follow the rules, it goes as follows

First we have to have strict rules with strict enforcers, I will have someone who puts his nose into everything and will divide the ministries into smaller ministries until the minister has time for every single detail.

There must be clear cuts between different jurisdictions; everyone knows what is going on with his part of the world, no one answers for someone else’s problem, no one can say it wasn’t my fault, it is your responsibility and it can be tracked down to the smallest person without having the minister deny responsibility.

I will have a committee that deals with complaints that consists of three people each, and they rotate on other regional committees, they are not allowed to stay in one committee more than 3 month and not allowed to stay in on region more than 1 year, this to make sure that the committees are there for what they are there for and not to make personal vengeance.

We will change all the leaders who did not prove worth staying in all crucial positions in both the government and the publicly owned companies. A proper manpower ministry will be established lead by a group of HR managers/ directors/ consultants who had been working in the recruitment for a substantial time and will treat them in the same way as the complaints committees, round robin rotation method. They have to agree on one person based on preset criteria which must include a proven track record and a good will amongst counterparts, bosses and subordinates.

Government companies will be either reformed in the private business sense or sold to someone who can reform it, no loosing company will be kept owned for the sake of anything, this will all happen after having securing jobs for workers by getting foreign investment and establishing private equities that is publicly owned and mainly working with the Egyptian expat returns as this is the ideal way for them to invest and these companies will be insured by the central bank.

The tax law will be fair but strict, the American example of having jail penalties for those who do not pay their taxes or cheat in it.

I don’t know how much I can go on, but whatever thoughts I get later I will put them under random thoughts

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

If I Became President - Part 1 (Bottom Up)

First let me say that it was a long time since I wrote for no reason, I don't know who is reading and I don't think anyone is, but I will write even for the records only, maybe someone in 100 years will come and read this and it will be of use to them.

Back to the post, if I became president I will defiantly have lots of things to do, while reforming there are two schools that I know of (maybe there are more):

First is Bottom up: If you really want reform you have to change the base, the masses, the people who you are leading. This can come by a few things, like focused and centralized media that would keep coming up with messages that over the years will build the honesty and dedication that we need

Also have focus on supervision, lots of committees that look seriously and fast into the peoples' complaints, I guess we'll have to live with a start of 1% right complaints and by time people will understand that these committees are serious and they do look into everything with no bias and the false complaints are useless. Important note to be added to this, these investigations must not interfere with anyone's job.

Will open the licenses for everything, anyone who wants to invest in anything shall do that, only the market dictated the kind of business needed. No one shall close a shop for anything, if the owner doesn't pay taxes the guy goes to jail and the shop stays open, maybe he'll pay it later. The shop can be sold but not closed, families depend on this place for living and no one can provide the people with other jobs.

Have a one stop shop for licenses for factories, have the ministry of research do real research in the countries with the most prospect and guide (in terms of advice) the people on to what are the things they need to produce as to be able to export

Before all that I'd pave the roads and will have a trusted committee report all the streets in Egypt, I'll get someone with experience to plan the whole thing from scratch, fines on traffic violations will increase tremendously and the person applying it will be one of the highest paid officials in the country

The government will be employer of choice again as it used to be, everyone will go through serious tests to be accepted in a job, people will be guided on what kind of training s they will need to take in order to be qualifies for some jobs.

There will be serious fines for littering, anyone seen throwing their garbage outside the specified box will be fined and warned and might serve up to 1 month in jail, also denied working in any governmental entity.

Green will be the color of the country, not the flag but the country, people polluting will be fined and the pollution object will be confiscated after a certain period of time, people will be able to either fix or sell at a scrap yard anything that is polluting the air.

No factories will be allowed to open within 100 km from any city if it doesn't meet the minimum standards for pollution.

The government offices will be moved outside Cairo in an attempt to move other businesses also to a better planned area with real highways, and coming to highways, anyone reported driving on the fast lane and expecting a speeding car to take its right and pass will be denied driving license for one month and in case this happened more than once he will not be allowed to drive again in Egypt.

ummm what else can we do to make life better, I will definitely need your help

This is my dream of making things happen, I don't know what can I do to reach theses objectives; I have no intentions of working in the political line. I just hope these things happen.

Next time we'll talk about the other approach (Top Down)

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

If I ran for president

Well, I am not so political, but let me say what I want to say here, this is my volcano, if I do not do that I might as well explode.

First I will have to have a clear mission, like in business, well my mission might be "Taking the country out of poverty while securing jobs for the masses." This is a great that would be a great mission statement from my point of view.

Of course you might start saying everyone say say & say and nothing happens. In this post we are only talking about the elections and the campaign.

next thing I will put my goals in there, which is basically breaking down this mission into points that you will reach, in other words you can call it mile stones, I can break that into:
- Increase foreign investment
- Retain domestic investment
- Train people to do their jobs well
- Reform the education system by not only importing ideas but also working on localising them and constantly innovate
- Create a market research department to understand the needs of people (coming from a research background) and it will be also doing social research
- Insure a local share in every foreign investment in Egypt to secure the businesses (If the multinationals want to leave later, the locals can buy it over)

This was top of mind, next I will talk about the steps I'll take to get my voice to the people

Cheers

Monday, May 28, 2007

The Art of Doing It

No no no, not that it, how can you really do it, do what it takes to be what you want? I guess it is something you acquire by the years, or maybe be taught how to do it from day one.

That means that people who are born to parents who do not know how to do it have less chance to grow up knowing how to do it.

To conclude this meaningless post, you must be born lucky or do it the hard way, learn from your mistakes and try to catch up on what you missed...

It is moving fast now, don't miss it.

Cheers

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Mid year review

Targets are set, plans are placed, work force are on the move. This is mainly how it goes in every single coorporate I ever heard about.

It has been 6 month now since I got married, I had to stop for a mid year review, I had to understand what hae I acomplished in the past 6 months, what have I not acomplished is the more appropriate question.

I can tell you one thing, I still find marriage a good thing, i feel that what I have reached in terms of maturity I would have never reached alone, it makes your senses grow to reach its full powers.

It makes you feel the whole thing much better. Those who say its not good must have did something wronge along the way.

I told you before and will tell you again, if proven otherwise I will let you know.

MuJa

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Definitions

Friends: People who read your blog

Good friends: People who comment on your posts

Cheers

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

I went to Algeria

I left the hotel, heading for the internet café; an important document had to be sent to the client as soon as possible.

It was up hill, on a level ground it would take up to 5 minutes when I am walking slowly, it felt like hours, I didn’t know how much was left for me to reach my destination.

I reached there feeling a little disoriented, I tried to explain to the guy that I want to plug in my laptop and I ended up showing it to him and he pointed out a place for me to sit.

It took me around half an hour to get done with the job, sent a few more emails to the guys at the office, closed my laptop and paid the guy 30 Dinars for 30 minutes and left, not knowing where to go I finished the street and decided to go the opposite direction to where the office is, it looked like a commercial street later to learn that it is the center of Algiers.

On the second crossroad I took a left, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. At every corner there were some youth standing, at first glance they look like they are worked up for a fight, I realized that this is how Algerian youth spend there free time.

Ending the road to a place that had a lot of constructions going on with no shops in sight I decided to turn back, following the compass rule, I took another left and starting walking till the road came in sight, whenever you go downhill there will always be an uphill and now it was that time.

Just looking at the inclined road I felt too tired to climb, on the side of the road there was one of these groups that we see in all Cairo main streets. The bus came in a couple of minutes and I got up. It took me my whole journey to try and explain that I was going up hill, the journey ended and then I told him here I will get off and handed him 20 Dinars, he gave me back 10. “That was cheap” I thought.

I walked in the direction of the office in a street that reminds me a lot of Ismaelia, a city in Egypt that I grew familiar with for that fact that my cousins lived there, we used to go there more than 3 times a year and I even started going there alone when I was 14 years old.

I walked for some time now looking at shops and buildings; I stood in front of the office for a couple of minutes thinking if I should go or not. I opted not to go, it would have seemed like I was begging for attention, deep down I was but I had no intention of translating this into action.

I went down the street hoping to find a place that offers Shisha as this was my third day without, I just missed the action and not the smoke, I had my cigars and they were enough for now.

Walking down a street that I had just got familiar with this morning when we were going for our presentation at the other side of the city and I remembered that the nearest place was too far I just got on the first bus that came in sight.

I got off at the end of the line, remembering my friends instructions on going somewhere, I asked about a place called Hedra, I didn’t know where I was going or what I wanted from this place, I just heard that Hedra is a nice place to be, they started saying old Hedra and new Hedra and then they told me a street name that I have also heard about, “Sidi Yehya” I told them that I know this place and would love to go there, and I road my third bus.

As it is the fact anywhere, foreigners are treated in two ways, either feared or made fun of, people were telling me stuff that I did not understand and laughed, I tried my bet to communicate my inability of understanding French and that if they speak slowly in Arabic I would understand the slang.

Some of the people tried to translate in much worse Arabic, and whenever I found that I had no answer for what they were saying I played dumb and I looked like I did not understand.

I sat next to this guy who claimed to have an Egyptian friend that he met in the Haj a few years back and started telling me stories about all the Egyptians he knew in his life. I was not really interested in what he was saying but I was trying to be as polite as possible, when it came time to pay he aggressively said: “your Dinars are no good here” asking the guy to return the 50 Dinar coin that I had paid to him.

I took it thanking him for the gesture, and put it in my pocket and listened to him trying as much as possible to answer him and say maybe few complimentary words in response of him being so in love with Egypt and the Egyptian culture, of course that was after he told me that Algeria is the center of Arab culture, to that I shook my head in agreement.

We arrived at a station on the highway and the driver got down, signaled me to get off and told me to take the bridge, and take a street straight ahead till I find my destination, now that I have a destination that was put for me I was happy about it as much as worried.

I was not sure that this place is where I want to be, and I was not sure that the road that was pointed out is the one taking me to this place, my fears sky rocketed when I entered the street with cheap apartments on the two sides of the road. Remembering every nigger movie I’ve ever saw, imagining that I will see a car passing by slowly with four guys in it and stop in front their rival gang and shoot them with automatic weapons and at last, I saw my destination.

I found the fastest way down this hill, taking a slope down then the first stair case I could see I was in the street that I was looking for, cars everywhere, people trying to walk past the traffic, pretty girls going up and down the street and best of all coffee shops.

My main reason for going there was to get Shisha, and now I was close. I walked down the street looking at every store, I found one of Raya stores, an Egyptian Nokia dealer, then a few shops down the other side, I went in a shop to buy a recharge card, I tried to communicate that I wanted a card for 200 DZD and she was bringing out a 3000 DZD card, I managed to make her understand, thanked her and left.

The first place with Shisha was at the end of the street, I went in got a seat and asked for shisha and coffee, it turned out that coffee will mean espresso whenever you do not state otherwise, I asked for a bottle of water, he got me a glass bottle that looked like the Schweppes bottles only it was in light blue, he opened it and I started drinking my coffee with the Shisha.

Some time later I called Amit and found out that he would have stayed in the hotel for the rest of the night if I had not called him. I explained where I was, called Sherine and my mom a few times before either number managed to connect. I was done with my phone, I got out my book and started reading, I was at the part were they are on their way to Siwa and there was a storm, it reminded me of all the rough times I faced in my life and how I managed to get out of it every single time.

Amit came and we chatted about different things, hunger was creeping on us, we went to a place that offers Shawerma, they only had Turkey which was fine, not how I am used to it but it was good.

Then we went to eat at a different place, before which we went into a supermarket a checked on the key clients that might be working there and how we can make any use of this market from our office.

Shops were closing by and we got some other type of chicken and meat on sticks with bread and French fries. This place was even harder to communicate with the people working there but we also managed.

After a nice meal an another 1000 DZD we tried calling the one taxi that we know a number for, seems like he decided to take the rest of the day off, fine by us as long as we can go back, we found one parked on the other side, buying fruits for his family and looks like he is heading home.

Approaching him, to my delight he asked about our destination which if any implies that there is hope for us to get to the hotel at this hour, for the record, it is now 10:30 p.m. and we got in.

Back to the hotel, for the first glance it looks like a 2 star hotel, wired looking ceramics on the floors, gold wall paper, going into my room for the first time I was shocked to how the floors were, ceramics of the type and colors that I would not put in my service balcony, green wallpaper that looks like the 70s and 80s in Egypt.

First day we had a corridor discussion on our options, and we decided to stay, too tired from the trip, we went for dinner and then back to sleep.

On Tuesday we had a lot of work to be done and so little time to do it, we had to deliver questionnaires, answer mails and phones calls.
Sitting in the same room for too long and make you feel wired at times, if it weren’t for the cigars I brought with me I would have been stuck in this room for the whole day, not even knowing what time it is.

We almost finished the presentation, tired as hell we went to the hotel and got dinner there, they were closing up so there was not a lot of things left in the menu, only two types of steak and salad and omelet, I went for the steak and Amit ordered omelet which ended up not being there, he took some desert and we went to sleep.

I sat there finishing up the presentation, slept at midnight and woke up an hour later, I managed to put myself back to sleep in around half an hour and a few minutes later my alarm went off declaring 6:00 a.m.

I had some comments to finalize and conclusions to make, everything was as scheduled, we went to the client’s place 30 minutes late and it was not even noticed. Greeted by a French guy from the innovation team, we were lead to a meeting room down stairs.

There we were introduced to the marketing team from Algeria and the presentation started, going through the findings, I felt we had a lot of insights to add, and they really appreciated it.

Three hours later we were done, we thought it will take an hour but that was not the case, we took the time assigned for the two presentations, it was a nice feeling, we started of with ignorant people and we had the chance to educate them, we conquered the whole place.

I do not know how happy can this make Emile, but I hope it does make her happy enough to continue working with us.

We asked for a coffee shop or a restaurant, this was going to be breakfast, we didn’t mind walking for 10 minutes or so, we ended up at the main street and found ourselves in front of a modern café, and you will never imagine this, a WiFi.

In a matter of seconds we knew why was that, this was the place for embassies, every other embassy was located in this area and one smart guy saw the opportunity and grabbed it.

We had an OK meal, and sent and received a few meals waiting for it, dead beat we went to the hotel and I went off to sleep. I woke up 3 hours later with a request from Amit to send the questionnaire to the client so he can go and take his turn sleeping.

After the long day, going to the presentation then the trip to Hedra at night, this was a definite slumber. I slept so fast I cannot remember what happened before that. My guess was that I watched T.V. for some time and left off to wonderland.

I woke up today at 9:00 a.m. no alarm, no door knock, I just woke up. Being a country that closes early I must tell you that it is healthy, we sleep early, wake up early and have the blast of our lives in the morning.

Breakfast was the same, French bread and bakery, jam and lots of other sweets this was a terror breakfast for me. I ate and we went to a shop nearby to try and find some things to buy for family and friends, we called the taxi, came to office again and sat down to work.

A few quick emails and off to lunch we went, stopping by a shop to get some gifts, I found this cute crystal thing, I cannot call it anything but it is nice. Of course I got this for the house but still the house is her palace and this is for her.

The place was small and crowded, I recon this was because there are a lot of companies around, but it served good food also and this is something that I feel is not common in Algeria.

After lunch we decided to go to a place were we could buy something that resembles the country, Di Douch Mourad a street that looks like Mourad st. in downtown Cairo, it was downhill and all the buildings are white with blue balconies.

Feeling like a real tourist, we went into every shop we could find that had something resembling Algeria, we found four shops with some common things and some other unique stuff. Finishing our shopping we decided to go somewhere for coffee, it was quite interesting how places can be so near but yet so different.

The Lebanese restaurant was were we got off, we tried to find a place that offers shisha and we went around for 20 minutes and came back to the same place again.

Later we went for coffee, the place looked like on of the local coffee shops in Egypt without Shisha or games, same noise, please are sipping their coffee and chatting, this is one of the benefits of not having games there, people have this nothing else to do than engage in conversations, I liked that.

They write the T in Arabic using a letter that is not in the English alphabet, it looked funny in the word “Taxi” and “Sheraton”

We were now trying to kill time, it is too quite, life there was too slow. We walked down the street and up again waiting for our ride back to the hotel.

We went back to sleep early, we had a flight in the morning, or at least we thought so. In the airport the guy told us we had cancelled reservations, after a hard time we had to go to the counter and check in again as waiting list. Forty five minutes before leaving we still had no idea if we would enjoy more time in the lovely Algiers.

We boarded, checked in our bags and went off to the plane, we went through a few checks, and we got our stamps and were ready to go. The last guy before the plane had only one responsibility, check if we have any money or gold with us. We did not have that much money on us, we just went though.

On the plane I sat next to a guy from Algeria and the other side an Egyptian, It was a quite flight home, looking at the two countries that we pass home, feeling how big our planet is, thinking about all the fights for power and wealth, for land and oil, I could not quite get it from up there, it looked like there is enough for everyone, or maybe not, but it looked big enough.

Coming to some natural turbulence, the guy next to me seemed worried about it then he asked if that was normal, with a smile from behind my heart I said it is fine and that everything will be great, thank God everything went fine.

Landing at the Cairo airport, the air was not as polluted as my last landing in 2005, yes it was that long.

No one was waiting for me in the Airport this time, I was glad about it, I don’t like it and it feels like coming back from a 5 month trip on a camel, I had to wait for the security check due to my common name, I waited for 20 – 30 minuites, killing time by having a phone call which ended in 10 minutes and I just waited for the rest.

That was home at last, it felt like I have been away for a long time, maybe that’s how it will feel every time. I’ll have to wait for the next time to see.
The End

Sunday, February 11, 2007

How can we...

I opened a new post and paused for a second to find a subject to write about, remembering my new brand name "Too Many Minds" I thought about focus for a while.

Today I was trying to do 2 or 3 things at the same time, I wanted to deliver a few documents before the day ends, but I had too many minds top the extent of stopping in the middle of an email just to open another document or a new mail that I received... MAN... This really sucks.

I ended up doing half what I should have done and shifted the rest till tomorrow.

Looking at the big picture. I had a few questions.

How can the people deliver when they have a lot on their minds? Focus...focus...focus.

All management books and news letters will talk endlessly about that, but will not tell you what to do, all they give is theory. You have to think about the one thing you have on hand and not think about the next thing you have to do.

Focus my a** (And that's an understatement)

A guy who:
- has 4 or 5 kids
- in different stages of education
- is supporting his sick mother
- is paying rent by the new law because his house was brought down by the 1991 earthquake and till now he could not find a decent apartment or get the compensation from the government.

How can this guy be able to be creative in work, think about ways to make people's guys easier and finish what he has faster.

How can he not be bribed, how can he love his street, his neighbours, his bus mates when they are stuck to him like sweaty leaches.

How can we as a community progress, take ourselves forward?

Live and learn...

Friday, February 09, 2007

Product life cycle

I came home

Had dinner

Watched T.V.

Slept

Woke up late

Went to work

Came home

Had dinner

Watched T.V.

Slept

Woke up late

Went to work

.

.

.

And so on

Friday, February 02, 2007

The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company - formally known as VNU and owner of my company ACNielsen - have changed it's name, logo, the whole nine yard.

If you are new here you would notice the unmatching font color with the template, I took the same turn, I thought maybe I am bored from all that, same colors and font made me not want to write.

But I hope I can start soon, I am crunched big time.

Notice the change from "We Need to Change" to "Too Many Minds" a quote from the movie "Last Samurai" I really liked this movie, maybe it will have an impact on the coming blogging era.

Stay Tuned

MuJa

Saturday, September 30, 2006

I got married

The title is saying it all

Three weeks ago was my wedding, I just don't get all the fuss, it was great, everyone was happy and I was happy for that.

My pretty wife got what she dreamed as a child, I think all girls have a similar dream, a nice wedding with all her friends around.

A great honeymoon I can say, I enjoyed this part much more than the wedding.

To conclude this, I must tell you that marriage is great, if proven otherwise I will tell you.

Cheers


MuJa

Monday, August 28, 2006

My first NoMad post

I have no clue what to say in my first post as a no mad but I know I'll enjoy it, hope you enjoy me being here.

If you want to know more I have spoken my mind in this blog, going into different moods and phases now I'm in the marriage phase.

I'll see you soon
Cheers

MuJa

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Lebanon - The After Math

I was really good in Math back in school but this has nothing to do with me being good or bad, if you take a look around and think beyond the victory of the battle (Not war, we will have an ongoing war for as long as the earth breath) we can see that Hezbollah is breaking a few points in 1701 let us see them:

1. Hezbollah is not going north Ellitany.

2. Hezbollah is not Turning in their weapons.

3. Hezbollah is still strong.


Now let's do the math.


Whenever someone is annoying Israel they go to war with them.

Whenever they cannot do anything about it they turn the world against them.


The US is now waiting for the right time, after the Lebanon army takes over the boarder they will be waiting for Hezbollah to turn over the weapons, they will refuse.


From the UN point of view they will be not going by 1701 which said they have to turn over their weapons.
Now the UN can move to un-arm Hezbollah led by America, something similar to what happened in Iraq and we will be counting the third country down.

Next comes Syria ... But that's another issue


Guards on

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

We got an extraction fan

Why is this news? I'll tell you.

First for those who have no idea what is going on, I am still in the preparation phase, married on paper as they say around here.

Ezabi & Eman yesterday made the move and gave us our wedding present, an beautiful extraction fan, I am usually sarcastic but now I am not, it is beautiful

I told them I will be putting it on the blog they thought I was kidding, I promis a photo as soon as I install it, it was perfect color and size, everything was great.

Something to note, if they haven't have got it, I would have, but trust me I have no clue how.

Thanks a lot Ezabees

Cheers

Monday, August 14, 2006

I Woke Up Today

This is something you would do everyday without even noticing that there is something different or weird about waking up.

For me it is a chance to start over, to delete whatever happened yesterday and I did not want, to sustain what good I did or tried to do, to expand my knowledge, to see beyond the obvious, to get an answer for all the Ys that I have. Sometimes the day passes without accomplishing any of this, but that is exactly what I was taking about, the beauty of waking up.

Second chances.

One of the people that I don't understand at all is René Magritte the Belgian Surrealist Painter, 1898-1967 of "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" (This is not a pipe)

A very weird guy

Be well Lebanon

Thursday, August 10, 2006

I just felt like it


I was just sitting there and then decided to post a picture of me and my wife in a feloka (small boat) on the Nile, don't ask me why I did it or anything but it felt like a nice thing to do.

Love you.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Stop Fuelling The Lebanees Fires

I believe it is a regional request not just Egyptian, I know that the streets remembered our Natural Gas exports to Israel and the QIZ as soon as the war (Branded by Aljazera as "The Sixth War") started.

Are they fuelling thier tanks with Egyptian Natural Gas? A question arose in the minds of those who are worried about thier brothers and sisters in Lebanon being from the She'aa, Sunna, Christians or other faiths I don't know about.

The fact is, we don't know, maybe those tanks run on Gasoline, maybe they fuel it with plane fuel, we don't care.

What we care about is... If they made the deal then it's in thier best interest, we have an edge (If we can use it ofcourse) we can take this away and I believe the backup will make them at least unhappy.

Consequences...
1. Egypt will not be on the friends list, we know Syria isn't and Iran isn't and for sure Lebanon is
not.
2. While the card of aiding a terrorist organization is being waved against Syria and Iran it is not far from being waved at Egypt too.
3. The thrown of Egypt will not be passed on Father to Son
4. The Israel homeland (From Nile to Fourat) will happen and the big war for the end of time will happen as promised.

The good thing about doing this now is... A lot of fronts niether Israel nor the US can handel from the militery aspect and the political, as other nations have mutual interests in the region they will not leave America to get to this point and maybe the nuclear war.

I quote (can't remember who) "And I promis you, World War 4 will be with stones"

Isn't life swell?

Victory is on its way

Monday, July 31, 2006

It is time to speak

I think now is a good time to document my opinion, maybe the opinion of a lot more than me.

I did not find hot posts on Lebanon and what is going on there, sometimes we say "it goes without saying" I never understood this until now, why should I post was the first thing that came to my mind. We are all with Lebanon, even those not in favor of "7ezb Allah" or Hezbollah as the Americans like to call them still feel that Israel is way over its head and that what is happening in Lebanon is a shame.

I was facinated by the Nasrallah's speach broadcasted on AlManar which I saw on AlJazera.

This man deserves admiration, he deserves respect. While watching I remembered the Iraqi joker "Alsah-haf" when he used to bullshit the people on how ready they are and the fact was they had no clue what was coming.

Back to the great man - Nasrallah was calm as always, had an agenda he wanted to talk about and he did.

1. Israel is not winning
2. Lebanese - We won before and did not rule the country, you must not be scared of us.
3. Arab leaders - we don't need the support, just don't support israel based on american requests.
4. Syria and Iran - Thanks for the political support, we do not need yuou to fight our battle.
Last but not least, we still have more.

I appologize if I missed anything ... I'm human.

If you are of those who say he's Sheaa ask yourself this.
1. Who's his God?
2. What's his religion?
3. Who is his messanger?

There is only one right answer for each of these questions that can make you decide to support them or not.

Let's look at it from a non-muslim point of view.

Let's say you were walking in the street one night next to your honme and found 3 people beating up one skinny person and you are a built up guy and all your friends are just around the corner. You never saw this guy and do not know him and the eople beating him up are bullies and you saw them beat up anyone they could beat.

In your shoes I'd call my friends and stop this beating once and for all... Will you do the same? Think well

It's a mess, and we need to stop it.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Sane ... I swear I am Sane

Sometimes I sit back and think when this best day will come. I just put my head back and let my imagination wander off in a world full of opportunituies

I have this theory… I actually made it up now. What if there are 6,000,000,000 (last global census I know) opportunities per day, one for each person in the world, and someone on the other end of town took mine cause I did not see it come, I bet they will be better off, they did not know it was supposed to be mine, but actually it wasn’t it was just out there doing nothing, not named or anything, just there for whoever can see it.

I came to the conclusion that the best day ever will be the day you take the ultimate number of opportunities, but will that be good for the next day… I seriously don’t know.

To live better I will have to treat everyday as the best day ever (yet) it will take you on a rollercoaster ride that will be always going up, you will never go down, just waiting it to get better and better.

Beleive it or not... I still think I'm sane

Friday, June 16, 2006

Be greatful no matter what

I read a peice on PTP talking about how our country is going down the drain, everything is going bad, and I wanted to say this.

Before you read, you should know it's not about religion, it's more about doing the right thing.

I remember a movie (can't recall the name) where this IT guy invented a program that take cents out of a bank account everyday and it is applied on several banc accounts.

In a few days this guy made millions, no one noticed, of course someone finds out and the guy goes to jail but that's not real life.

In real life if you are taking a penny out of every account everyday no one will know and you'll be a millionaire.

Ibrahim Essa wrote this week about ElShaikh ElSharawy (not related to me) saying that in 1967 he was praying, thanking Allah for the defeat we got, a conversation between him and his son took place about why he is doing that.

Explaining his views, he said that if we had won the war (No one wins in wars, only 2 losers) then communism would have won and the fact that most of the people were away from God's path with the winning situation would have establish a thought that we don't need God to win, thus he was happy for the defeat.

Now we have a situation, we are being robbed, all the counties wealth is being taken to secret Swiss bank accounts, corruption is everywhere, I really believe that this is the message telling us all, "wake up and smell the coffee" it's a bell for all of us to get back to the rules that we once forgot.

Cheers

Monday, May 01, 2006

Let me blog some

Bloggers, I got married, Ezabi got married and lots of young, brave, free men and women got arrested. These people, thier only fault is that they are looking for a better future for themselves and thier kids.

Off a great
blog , I got the news, 15 people got arrested cause they said no, they said no for emergency law extentions, they said no for the forgery of election results, they said no for the control of the state over the legal system (judges) they said no to the lock up of jornalists in pubication crimes, they said no to the regiem.

What kind of state loses everyone, fights everyone, for what? For whom?

I sit here and wonder

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Change of mood

I really need to know this, what can make a person have a sudden change of mood without prior notice?

I experinced this today, I had no idea it can be that bad, and even worse when you think about it, all you can think is why is this happening to me? Why now?

When I remember the events of the day, I can't spot one thing that can be the cause of this, but the day is ruined, I know I can change this, but still I don't want to, I don't really have a good motive.

Bas khalas (the end)

Monday, March 06, 2006

Who Said we're close minded fools?

You can find the post here but all I wanna say is that we are not close minded fools, we are simply just fools, the thing we used to say (some still say it) "rules are made to be broken", so whenever you feel like doing something all you need to do is make a rule against it and start breaking you rule.

We see the idiotology of the Saudi rules, and sometimes you feel they have a rational for it, but I bet you that behin those closed black windows of those expensive cars there are women who are driving.

Malls are closed to single men on certain days of the week, while back when the rules were made, we had women selling thier goods every single days, we had men and women going to the market every single day, we had people so close that sometimes they know who this lady is (from behind the full viel) and they know which family she's from and this was the way that this community was much better than we are, it's not about setting stupid rules.

Saudies spend half thier lives outside saudi, they cannot take it in there, they need to breath fresh air.

I remember how sad I was to leave Cyprus, I loved the place, but what I really remember is how sad a Saudi friend was to return to Saudi, it was like going back to jail.

Cheers

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Trippin'

Well I stole the title, off a friend's nickname on msn, so, we all have these fases, and yes I am trippin' big time.

Some days pass by and you sit down and see all the things that happened all day and you know for a fact that this day was not worth living, you know that waking up this morning was meaningless, you didn't do one thing you wanted to do (Not that you planned anything) but it just went by, for a movie to a movie, from a channel to a channel and you didn't even see the good ones, you went out before primetime and went back after it was over.

Planning the next day is even harder, you lost your edge, the thing that makes you go on, the thing that can really help you live the next day.

Me, Myself and I, something I've been known for, yes that's me, I'm so self focused that sometimes things pass by me and I don't see it, just a few small things that would have made a difference and can make me go on. I just didn't see it.

Anyways if anyone understood what I am trying to say then I'm not trppin' that much.

Cheers

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Is it an importance thing?!??

I know I was taking it to a culture thing but sometime you have to speak up a bit

I got a mail, subject "vote" I went in found a link to CNN went to see what the poll is about, well it was a stupid question as I suspected, here it goes.

What is more important?
1.Respect for religious beliefs
2.Freedom of expression

Does this mean if I vote for religious beliefs that freedom of expression is not important to me. I felt I wanted to vote for both as I really believe in both and I don't think one can be more important than the other, I don't think that we can live in a world without freedom of speach, but still if we didn't respect what others belive in it will simply start world war 3, we might go back to the time when people were killed for food.

I really wonder why the post such polls, they also have a disclaimer which says "This QuickVote is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole. The QuickVote sponsor is not responsible for content, functionality or the opinions expressed therein."

Some research mambo jumbo, to make a scientific poll you should have a sampling frame which you get your sample from. well this sample is nothing as it represents all those who choose to answer no randomness no representaiton at all.

Moreover there is no objective for this poll, just a stupid question that is giving the right to people to joke about other religions.

Cheers

Sunday, January 29, 2006

A Durex issue

"Does not affect future fertility (decreases women's risk for developing pre-cancerous cells on the cervix.) and has no hormonal side effects."

This was one of a few reasons to use condoms written on the Durex website, yes Durex, i saw the ad on my messenger and I was curious on thier positioning, ya I'm turning into a workoholic, well not really turning but I am a workoholic.

Well the point, do they really tell you why women have a risk for developing pre-cancerous cells or rather cancer?

Well, it's known medically that having more than one man (i.e. more than one sperm type on the cervix) can and will get this woman cancer, and this is a fact.

One more thing, the cervix can accept a new man after 3 months, yes 90 days and the cervix is as clean as a virgin.

Something I never wrote about, and I don't intend to write much about, religion, yes Islam, almost 1400 years ago we had a messenger he told us, when a couple get a divorce, the woman cannot remary before 3 months had past, yes those same 3 months that take the cervix to go back to normal and be ready to accept another man's sperms.

Dig it up if you got intrested

Cheers

We WoN

Well, I was too late to buy tickets to the game, so we opted to go to a friend's house and watch it there, it was fun, but not as much as going to the game, but fun.

It was 3 - 1 a very wierd game, not as expected, we KICKED ASS it was one of those games that you won't get up to open the door if your life depended on it.

Later we went down in our main street in Mohandeseen to watch the celebration and pass by a place for coffee, the streets were full of happy people.

Let me tell you a bit about this street 6 years ago, when we won the African Nations Cup, it was baaaaaaaaaaad, people were smoking pot on the street, celebrating but very differently, with a touch of aggressiveness, they were bothering the passers who obviously are Egyptians and are too happy for our victory.

Now these people took a side, yes blocking part of this street but there is space for those who want to reach somewhere, 6 years ago a girl couldn't have went down and celebrated in peace, now they could, yes they were few, but they were as happy as guys were and it wasn't a sin.

Is this a change in attitude or is it just a coincidence? I hope it's a change, I really hope so.

Cheers

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Na Se Kala

This is Greek for "Be well..." and also can be in the context of a sarcastic "Thank you..." not really thanking him/ her just a wish to be good for whatever they did.

Like in Arabic "Allah yesam7ak" or "May god forgive you" you say it to people when they did something that hurt you from inside, like a GF/BF when breaking up a long love story.

By now you must be wondering what all that is about, well it's not about anything, it's just a song I heard for Anna Vissi called Na Se Kala, and I loved it, even before I knew what it said.

Really wierd thing to write

Ate re

A football game!!?! Or is it...

Am I picking up pace? I hope it's a yes, I wanna be a real blogger :)

To my topic, is it about football? I don't know, just let me tell you a few facts.

1. We won our first game.
2. We have a bad history with Morocco.
3. A draw was the next match.
4. All Egyptians are supporting the football team.
5. I'm supporting the football team.
6. I have no intrest in football.
7. I am wishing from all my heart that we win this next match.
End of facts.

What I saw in my circle of friends and family that they all found an opprtunity (just like I did) to belong.

These days we lost our identity, we are just too scattered to group on one thing and this game gave us this chance, it gave us something to relate to and have a common hope.

Deep down we want that but we just don't know how.

And now for the change part, can't we just ocus on our own good, group on having a better life, better economy, beter and cleaner steets, more organized traffic.

I know for a fact that if we put our minds to it, we'll do it, our potential is way to good.

I hope we change fast.

Cheers

Sunday, January 15, 2006

A trip and a trip

I'm a slow blogger I know, I might get used to it soon and write more frequently, anyways, here is what this is about.

I left for a training course in Cyprus on the 28th of August 2005, 5 weeks of not so hard work, lots of time to roam around the island, see new places and know new people.

My experince cannot be named but marvelous, I really enjoyed not seeing policemen anywhere, I enjoyed relatively clean street, extremely different driving attitude and last but not least people leaving others alone (as far as I was concerned).

Deep down I really wish I lived there, well actually I still think about it as an option when the right time comes.

This trip... Different people... different culture... different attitude. All good

My recent experince, Basata, for those who don't know it, it's a resort between Newaibaa' and Taba on the east coast of Sinai.

They have resort rules, the owner or one of the guys working there show you around and tell you about it, no high mobile rings, no loud music (you can have your iPod in your ears) signs all around to keep the sand clean, one kitchen for everyone, a big fridge for everyone, public toilets (Clean ones), they use salted water for flushing, cleaning plates with another sink filled with water to risen the salted water, they operate on a trust factor, everyone have a sheet in which they write down what they take. A real enviroment friendly place, this is not what I was amazed by, it was simply the people, obeying the rules voluntarily, happy to live in a clean place, organised, friendly and to my amazement they were mostly egyptians, YES, those same egyptians that I've been nagging about how unorganized they were.

In short I would say the trip was... same people... same culture... different attitude. All good.

Can Cairo be like that one day?
If a small group of people are like that, I think gradually we will change.

But I still have this deep passion for Lefkosia :)

Cheers

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Black Wednesday

I hope most of you know what the title is about, for those of you who don't know please allow me to give you some toplines.
On Wednesday 26th of May, the people we called to vote for the constitutional change, I for one don't really care about that issue, I'm not that into politics, but what happened was...
Some people who know more about politics than I do assembeled to say no to what's happening, they have surtain worries concerning the change.
Still that's not the issue, the problem was -and still is- that they tell you we need democracy, if you don't accept it as is, then you're in trouble.
On that day people were harassed, women's clothes were torn to pieces, they were mugs and beaten up by bullies, whom were left by the police to do the job they were hiered for (who's the boss, no one knows but we can guess).

Black wednesday, it's today 1st of June, we all wear black in protest, silent protest is all we can do now, out of grief and sorrow, we wear black so people who didn't notice start noticing.

I really hope we can change, it's for the best of everyone

Monday, March 28, 2005

We got a Van Gogh

To my great delight, I found a Van Gogh, yes a real original one (well it looks old) in a room in a museum, alone, with 6 seats to take your time in there.

It was a unique experince for me, I just couldn't move from the room for some time, I felt at ease while looking at it, given it's a pictuer of "kheshkhash" the plant that is use to make some kind of drug, and 3 red flowers, i think most of the people know what I'm talking about.

The rest of the museum is full with great paintings done by special people from the schools of impressionisem and postimpressionisem, and some other stuff.

If u r from cairo or around, it's a must visit place, It's M.Mahmoud Khaleel and Wife museum on Giza st. right before the sheraton.

That's a place that should be more famous

Sunday, March 13, 2005

A quick update

Well ever since I started working life had been .... as most of you know, can't find time to think, but that's much better than doing nothing.
Work is going fine, but, I need everyone to know this, I'm the kind of person that needs to be almost out of time to start doing something about it, yes when I do it, I do it right, but still I do it on the last min.
Sometimes I need to be reminded of that so I can go on, and complete what I should have done a long time ago.

So now... Back to work :)

Friday, February 18, 2005

Got a new job

Hello readers

I know there are not alot of you out there but if any, I just need to apologize for not blogging much, I got a new job and I am stressed doing that, so please don't be mad or judge my blog for that.

I'll continue soon isa

Friday, February 04, 2005

Is the last minute any better!?!!

Back again to people, acts and customs, I know there might be alot of people around the world doing the same and maybe it's much worse there, but that's not an excuse for us to do it.

I guess the title says it all, but here it goes, again at Cairo ICT exhibition and confrence, 100+ people standing on the door trying to get in at 7:40 p.m.

What's wrong with that? nothing but, thi exhibition closes it's doors at 8:00 p.m. sharp, it takes about 90 mins to just see who's there, and what they do.

Do you really think that those 20 mins. are any better than any other time!?!!
Do you really think you can make around the exhibition in those 20 mins, or will you go out in 20 mins. saying you didn't have enough time?

Just go early enough...

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Can you give out presents!?!!

Yesterday at the Cairo ICT exhibition and confrence, Mobinil, the lovely company that gives out presents every single event did it again, they managed to have an army of free-gifts loving people attack thier booth, as soon as they got the gifts out people came from nowhere, they don't know what they are giving out, they just want the gift.
It's free, right? all you need to go into the croud to get one.

One aih? no one knows, no one cares, they just want one.

This scene reminded me of ......... actually nothing, I just compared it with survivors of tsunamee, they didn't rush to get the food, they didn't make a huge croud to get something to wear -given they were almost dead- they all helped put everything in order then they will get thier share.

Way to go far east, way to go

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Cairo-Flashback to the 50s

Seeing Cairo in the feast got me back to the good old days, those days that I never lived, the traffic jam was not in the egyptian dictionary and going to a place depends on you transportation means not luck.

Now if you're lucky enough you'll get there on time, 10 mins. late, given that you calculated every single time you'll stop for no reason on the bridge an Ahlawi light sign which refuses to change to anything else.

Back to the feast, it's like they warned for an earthquake and some unbelievers decided it was a false alarm, you can really go from one end of the city to the other in no time (compared to the usual).

I just enjoyed this feast alot, people stay where you were, we really need the space.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Day 1

Duuno if this blog thing will work out or not, it seems intresting but I'm too tierd to write something now.
Lets start tomorrow

C ya