Bob Azzam, is an Egyptian singer of Palestinian origins (given name Wadih George Azzam) who was born in Alexandria, Egypt on October 24, 1925 , and died in Monaco on July 24, 2004.^[1][2]. With his international hit song Mustapha, Azzam earned great success in France in the 1960s.^[3] Bob Azzam had a passion for art, a degree in electronic engineering, and has been regarded as the man behind the chamber of echoes "Hors-studio" or "off-studio".

Yes, it is true; finally I am engaged and have the ring to testify for it. For old followers of the blog who had to put up with random posts and whining of the mysterious “She” or “Her” she is the one.

Inshaa Allah this will spur few blog posts about the subject along with how to handle a looooooong term relation materializing to the next level.

For Good times

A friend was browsing through my mobile phone photo gallery and told me in an astound voice, Askandarani, why do you photo your food?

I laughed and told him, I love remembering good times.

Ice

Was making my normal shopping at metro when I cam across this.

Yes they are selling ice cubes. Never thought I will see the day when they sell ice cubes in Egypt in supermarkets, but the day came.

I first came across this idea in the states where they had ice machines, and it was something really amazing for me at this time. In terms of the idea and how crystal clear the cubes were. Thought the cubes were that transparent cause of the water is cleaner, but later on I came to realize the secret of making crystal clear ice cubes and lived to see them being sold at supermarkets,

For those having Super Mickey issue of last Thursday, do chk Donald’s story with the ice cube factory, sooooo realistic

Operation weight control, phase I

We had a major overhaul at Alex with a special focus on my room, which resulted in me initiating operation deep sweep phase two, with mom literary breathing over my shoulder I had to give up almost complete collections of magazines whih were

كتب الهلال للاولاد و البنات

العربي الصغير

مجلتي و المزمار

الشياطين ال 13

المغامرين الخمسه و الثلاثه

And came along this little encyclopaedia, it used to be something at that time and as I remember it coasted round 35 pounds and I couldn’t let it go, as it took me a while to gather money to buy it. Going through it was amazing, lots of mentioning of year 2000 and how this will be the norm and how this invention will rule our lives we keda ya3ni.

I am sure we cam a long way since 1998.

Kinder ........Surprise!!!

What happened to kinder surprise, it used to be more fun in terms of the little toys that came along. It used to be sophisticated with little pieces to put together and little stickers to jazz the final toy up, now just this, seems they are targeting infants now.

El Churro.

It is a chocolate café, yes, not a candy shop or a chocolate shop, just a café, a friend pointed it out to me and I had to go and check it immediately, one of the guys in the café was nice enough to give us the grand tour and explained to us how the café has its own miniature shop that makes chocolate that came all the way from Spain to be manufactured in Egypt. Didn’t want to chalange his knowledge about the origin of chocolate and coco beans fa just enjoyed the quick tour.

They have miniature factory, a seating area where u can enjoy salads, sandwiches and off course various chocolate based drinks. And they sell chocolates as well, at a rather steep price but worth it.

You know when you buy a chocolate bar, the feeling u get when u finish it, one bite of his small chocolate give you this feeling immediately I comforted my self by saying I may reach the same state with less calories ( I hope)

The café colours were warm and chocolate based but just felt the place needed to be more excluded and private

Suddenly I feel I am describing a 3’0rza

a post will follow shortly. angry angry angry

wow

7ad fahem 7aga?

During the week end I had the chance to watch two movies, one was ‘rasayel el bahr” and the other was “cairo times”

I related to both, Cairo times is about the cairo I want to know better and explore

While “rasayel el bahr” was about the Alex that is trying to maintain what is left of its old beauty and to stand tall against all brutalities.

The scene that really caught my attention ( beside the one in the atelier) was the bawab who kept shouting loudly and preaching about Islamic rules while he is the same one who helped the gangsters to break in the apartment and defame the man and the lady and to continue scolding them in the street

This seen hit me deep inside, of how Alexandria evolved from a multicultural cosmopolitan city to a more fundamental perspective with less tolerance and acceptance.

B: nice apartment

A: thanks, I am trying to keep it to basics

B: this is what is nice about it, you just have what u need and avoid all the clutter

A: thanks

B: so how many girls did you have in

A: lol, non at all

B: (astonished) why, though you are in Maadi and things are less complicated than other neighborhood

A: well, actually I never thought about it in that way.

B: shakl el bawab shedid awi,( seems your janitor is tough) sometimes they can ruin the whole thing

A: actually think rabena howa el shedid awi ( God is tougher, not the janitor), mesh el bawab

B: you are missing a lot

A tribute to the E-63

I had this mobile phone for about 18 months now. When I first bought it, I thought it will be a transsion between my old E70 and the new E71 but this transitional period lasted 18 months. And when I saw the e71 when was released in Egypt I didn’t find a motive to shift.

Though it can’t be compared in the looks side to the E71 but it withstand its ground in all other aspects and tops it with a less slippery body and a flash light.

The only thing I missed was the push email service that was available on my old mobile but a couple of months later nokia launched the messenger service and I was back on track again, having my mails seamlessly pushed to my mobile without a glitch.

For those who aren’t familiar with the service, do go and check messaging.nokia.com and subscribe to it, all your mails will be pushed directly as soon as they are received just like the blackberry.

Also it has a great battery life, a decent browser that doesn’t hang and is really well built. I cant count the number of times it fell down, thrown away and trampled over.

And to top all the above, it once fell into water and was totally submerged for about 20 seconds and the call wasn’t even disconnected. And worked perfectly after that.

Thought nothing will be able to fill the shoes of the E70 but the E63 proved to be the best successor for the last predecessor.

Just hope they can integrate it with yahoo like they did with hotmail and one last things, people pls don’t truncate your feeds.

Yet another friend died in a car accident, a truly wonderful person, a father of a young baby boy and another infant who is yet to be born.

In the funeral as I shook his dad’s hand I kept saying to my self, this is wrong, this shouldn’t be happening. A father shouldn’t be burying his son; a young wife shouldn’t be widowed at such young age, when a baby is born both his parents should be around to give him his first kiss and hug.

I miss him, till now I reach for the phone and want to call or txt him, his name pops up on face book because I need to get in touch with him, his name still on the directory deep inside I feel he isn’t gone but I know he is no where to be found around the living.

Some big words were used in his obituary and as I read them I knew no words will ever do him justice. His closest friends weren’t able to attend the burial.

He will not be the last nor he is the first seems I have attended more burials for people at my age than older ones.

May he finally find the peace he deserve and the one we are all looking for.

I said what about breakfast @ Lucille's

I am one of the strongest believers that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I have been to this little place that takes this statement seriously. It is Lucille’s in Maadi.

A true bliss, they offer omelettes, scrambled eggs, pancakes, apple juice just heaven, my only concern is their sausages; they serve is MacDonald’s style (round like a burger with no casing) though my taste is into more traditional sausages.

Also one of the best places I came through was JW Marriot, in mirage city. Sat in the club house, the weather, view and food was simply amazing though their sandwiches tend to me on the “magnificent size” that makes it a bit difficult to have a bite and u just end up using a fork and a knife to divide a magnificent sandwich into little biteable ones.

Just love winter mornings when they are sunny and clear.

(يَوْمَ يُكْشَفُ عَن سَاقٍ وَيُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى السُّجُودِ فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ خَاشِعَةً أَبْصَارُهُمْ تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌ وَقَدْ كَانُوا يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى السُّجُودِ وَهُمْ سَالِمُونَ) ( القلم 42 ـ)

Ya Fashel Ya Fashel

سر خطير

i askandarani

Seems I got my mind set on my next IT item, an apple ibook. Feel it is the time to try something new and to explore different worlds. And I always had something for I am a mac, I am a pc ads, fa high time to jump to the wagon.

These are a few of my favorite things

Drinking water after a dive in the sea.

3aseer asab in winter

Ice cream in winter

Cold air hitting my face

Long walks along the sea side

Laugh till I almost faint

A big glass filled with Pepsi and ice cubes

Getting things done

Waking up with out an alarm

Waking up on the smell of breakfast

A shower when the water temperature is just right

Warm pyjamas in winter

Returning home

Surprise gift or nice gestures

Feel a close connection to Allah

Making someone happy

Receiving e-mail/sms

A baby interacts with me

Quiet mornings

Small crowds in a cinema who laugh when I do.

Watching TV on a comfortable sofa

FB Stats

Most common name:Mohamed (11 friends)
Most common zodiac sign:Aries (13 friends)
Female/Male:40% / 60%
Single/Taken:33% / 67%
Average age:32 years old

ViVa La Revolution

Really like the new wave of independent and semi-independent writers, movie makers even manufacturers who are breaking the boundaries of the existing system.

http://marwarakha.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-post.html

Speed KILLS

لو ملكش عازة مكنتش اتخلقت ولا اتحسبت من الناس ولا اترزقت

For tonight, a prayer. for all those who stood up for what they truly believed in. may their memory be a constant reminder for what really deserve fighting for and the terrible price we pay for the absence of tolerance among us.

"UP"

A 10-year-old girl Colby Curtin from Huntington Beach, Calif., who was suffering from vascular cancer from the last 3 years, has been died just 7 hours after her last wish came true. Vascular cancer is a disease in which cancer strikes the sufferer’s blood vessels.
The girl wanted to watch Disney-Pixar movie “Up”, but was unable to move to theater to see the movie, hence, Pixar made her last wish came true on providing a DVD copy of the animated movie “Up”, reports confirmed by ‘The Associated Press’.
Reports say, a family friend contacted ‘Pixar’, the movie studio. And, a studio employee visited the family of Colby and gave a DVD copy of movie “Up”. Before receiving the DVD copy, Lisa Curtin, the mother of little girl asked if my daughter would be able to hold on to have the movie arrived. The little girl answered, “I’m ready to die, just waiting for the movie”.
The employee of Pixar company not only brought the movie for Colby, but also a bag full of movie-character stuffed animals and a big movie poster. The employee also gave Colby an ‘adventure book’, containing the details of main characters kept by the wife regarding her journeys throughout the movie “Up”.
The mother of Colby told to the media after her daughter died, “When I watched ‘Up’, I really had no idea what the content of movie’s theme was? I just remembered the word ‘Up’, and all the balloons, and I swear, for me it was just a thinking that Colby was going up. Up to heaven”.

Taurus (4/20-5/20)

When something troubles you, talk to your friends. Their compassion helps.

ya welcome for home servers

Finally a new breed of computers are emerging, and no I am not talking about the netbooks, by now they are dinosaurs, but the new home servers, they are way too cool and carry the solution for lots of small office and home problems, starting from automating backup tasks, to file sharing, RAID capabilities and my all time favorite media streaming to LCD or wireless media players. It makes my NAS look very old and outdated

you zbeak Askandaranies?

Metro guy: masaa El Khheer
Me: masaa el fol
Metro guy: how can I be of service?
Me: I would like ½ torky, ¼ hamra and ¼ romy
Metro guy: sure

I go get other stuff till the guy finishes, and when I return he hands me my order and I reply:

I am afraid this isn’t what I ordered.

Trrnalsation
½ torky is ½ romy
¼ hamra is ¼ falamank
¼ romy is ¼ smoked turkey

Nevertheless I wont give up my askandaranian language and I wont give in. we ya7dorni a quote from independence day “We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!”

And for further reading on Alexandrian who tried to give in to el nadaha ( aka Cairo) pls refer to this post and this one.

لا شماتة في الموت، وكلنا من هذه الكأس شاربون، وإلى هذا المصير ذاهبون

I am really sad, despite all the titles and ranks the truth was a father carrying the body of his first born to the final resting place, I know the impact on the grand parents is much profound. May he rest in peace and my Allah grant his parents patience and strength.

Was talking to my mom and told me she cried when she heard the news as she didn’t realize how much she loves Moubarak.

At the end of the clip the body is escorted by a handful of men while all the crowd is around his father and uncle, despite who we are eventually we will be left alone and be a distant memory, the kid was only 13 and I am 34

استغفرك ربى و اتوب اليك من ذنوب احصيتها و نسيتها

For this little child and all children, may you rest in peace and may your death be a constant reminder for us that all lives are precious and unique and in the time of grief only condolences should be offered.

M i c k e y M o u s e

I will share two of Mickey stories that I found really fascinating

The first one involved Dahab and Fada in one of their famous battles to win business deals from one another.

So Duck Town is making this new skyscraper and both of our heroes want to win the bid, the first bid they make was identical, which make the mayor makes another bid.

While fada go and focus on cost cutting and control, Dahab go buy the related suppliers for such project, and when the time comes to see which tender wins, Fada slashed his offer, while Dahab reduced his offer by a pound or so.

Fads won the bid, but must buy from Dahab, a true story about supply chain management and power of suppliers.

The other story is about Dahab bardo and Sonya, and her famous quest to steel the first penny Dahab made and melt it in mount Vesuvius to gain the touch of Meads.
Her crow highlights an important fact, she doesn’t need Dahab’s penny, she already got the luck charms of almost all the rich people which is enough, and voala she got the touch of medas, but she isn’t satisfied.

A classic case of losing focus and being distracted from the main objective, even worst the mean becomes the end itself.

Schizophrenic Me

Now I know the motive that makes some people seek unorthodox solutions for their own problems, just pure desperation, in hope that a solution will be found.

So I tried homeopathy, a sort of an alternative medicine to help me find a solution for the problems I blog about and never talk it out loud.

My homeopath is some how an old friend and who is also one of Her’s old friends, I had the first session and another follow up session and been prescribed two remedies a metal based remedy in the first session and in the second follow up session a plant based remedy, which I googled and discovered the plant in its normal form is used for the treatment of boldness ( a good side effect, though I am satisfied with my current state)

So my homeopath now knows everything about me even the blog thing, she even took a look at it, I do pity her she spent round 3 hours a time listening to me, I didn’t know I could be so much talkative, she even videoed the sessions, I even punched in some of my favorite Mickey stories that I found to be a brain tickler.

The thing that I am really benefiting of is talking in a loud voice, which is totally different from silently thinking it over, blogging it or talking it out with a friend who interrupt my thoughts and end up adding his 2 pennies for the talk.
Talking in a loud voice scares me, makes the impact of my words different to my mind, as if the loud voice talks directly to my conscious me and the feed back I get is what is this pathetic talk coming out of a pathetic person

ولابد من يـوم معلـوم ترتــد فيـه المظـالم ابيض على كل مظلـوم واسـود على كل ظـالم

Quotes i liked

"I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. "

"I just need you to stop being nice to me unless your gonna marry me."

"A girl will never sleep with you if she calls you "cuddly" or "dependable"

حج القرعه

And again news started to spread about Hij for the new season. Ministry of interior will be open up for حج القرعه starting from May 9 till May 27, not sure yet if they will allow online registration or not but will keep you posted.

I strongly urge everyone to register usually it costs less than 20k which is almost half the price of other companies given you will have the chance to stay for a longer time, with the con of being a rather rough ride.

If you and wife/sister/mom/dad you can apply twice, you and the other party being مرافق \ محرم and vice versa, which should somehow double your chances

If you want to apply on line and don’t have a credit card, do get in touch and sure we can work something out.

Never judge a book by its cover

Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent
Uploaded by dwarthy

There was a time when men were kind,

And their voices were soft,

And their words inviting.

There was a time when love was blind,

And the world was a song,

And the song was exciting.

There was a time when it all went wrong...

I dreamed a dream in time gone by,

When hope was high and life, worth living.

I dreamed that love would never die,

I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid,

And dreams were made and used and wasted.

There was no ransom to be paid,

No song unsung, no wine, untasted.

But the tigers come at night,

With their voices soft as thunder,

As they tear your hope apart,

And they turn your dream to shame.

He slept a summer by my side,

He filled my days with endless wonder...

He took my childhood in his stride,

But he was gone when autumn came!

And still I dream he'll come to me,

That we will live the years together,

But there are dreams that cannot be,

And there are storms we cannot weather!

I had a dream my life would beSo different from this hell I'm living,

So different now from what it seemed...Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...

اختراع

Ok, this is out of this world, a dream come true. If you are a movie maniac who has hundred of movies stored on your hard disk and want the convenience of watching them on a bigger screen ( an LCD with a Home theater) this is a must have.

Put all your movies on a USB storage device, hook it to the device, hook the device to the display and voala, magic works.

Only drawback I can find is the remote control, if u lose it, the device is useless.

Available at radio shack for LE 655

Interesting Facts

I knew 3 interesting facts from Mickey

• Tiger skin is stripped like its fur
• Interesting information about Alaska gold rush
  
• And the one that came as a shock, cause of the increasingly rising consumption of coco, the main substance behind the great invention of chocolate the seed itself is indangered and facing extinction in the coming years. :-(( will I be cutting on it for to save some for latter or just wish this wont happen in my lifetime.)