Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Justification
My justifcation for.......jannah (paradise)
Allah said, 'I have prepared for my pious worshipers such things as no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard of, and nobody has ever thought of (ie. paradise)."
Lest we forget....
Get a private 360 view of the red planet's surface:
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature3/multimedia2.html
The forgotten war:
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature4/index.html
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature3/multimedia2.html
The forgotten war:
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0507/feature4/index.html
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Quantify and Understand.....then Classify
Exam for 'Data Analysis' in about 8x hours (where 'x' is defined as the rate of change of time).....sorry about that, but lately I've been trying to put everything into equations and theorems. After spending a certain amount of time in engineering, a growing need to quantify, understand, and classify anything and everything arises.
To be honest, I can't really see myself doing this sort of work all my life. At the moment, I tackle it on as a challenge but down the road, this kind of thing can really wear on a person. But then the question is what do I want to do if not engineering??
Different possibilities arise:
1. MBA - goes pretty well with my current degree but still presents the same kind of boring job though some can be exciting.
2. Journalism- This would be at the top of the list only if I was blessed with some writing skills. Sadly though, number crunching seems to be the flavor of my life.
3. Law - This is an interesting one and I know of a friend who is thinking of it. I really like the end stuff they do and you have some real power. Think of it this way...these are the people who will make the lawz that effect everyone. Especially with no rep for Muslims in the political spectrum (atleast no standup Muslims), this would suit well if it wasn't for the tedious and unimaginative four years to get the degree. Plus I don't really know much about this profession other than general stuff.
4. Work for National Geographic- Now, this is what I call a job!!!! Imagine going to most exotic and scenic places meanwhile getting paid for it. Plus imagine the dawa'h oppurtunities :-)
5. Professional soccer/cricket player - this has got to be on every person's list or atleast the secret one. But I'm a little too old to make it into any kind of serious competition level :-(
6. Remain an engineer- now this is just depressing!!!
Talk to me in 8-10 years to discover how this ends......
To be honest, I can't really see myself doing this sort of work all my life. At the moment, I tackle it on as a challenge but down the road, this kind of thing can really wear on a person. But then the question is what do I want to do if not engineering??
Different possibilities arise:
1. MBA - goes pretty well with my current degree but still presents the same kind of boring job though some can be exciting.
2. Journalism- This would be at the top of the list only if I was blessed with some writing skills. Sadly though, number crunching seems to be the flavor of my life.
3. Law - This is an interesting one and I know of a friend who is thinking of it. I really like the end stuff they do and you have some real power. Think of it this way...these are the people who will make the lawz that effect everyone. Especially with no rep for Muslims in the political spectrum (atleast no standup Muslims), this would suit well if it wasn't for the tedious and unimaginative four years to get the degree. Plus I don't really know much about this profession other than general stuff.
4. Work for National Geographic- Now, this is what I call a job!!!! Imagine going to most exotic and scenic places meanwhile getting paid for it. Plus imagine the dawa'h oppurtunities :-)
5. Professional soccer/cricket player - this has got to be on every person's list or atleast the secret one. But I'm a little too old to make it into any kind of serious competition level :-(
6. Remain an engineer- now this is just depressing!!!
Talk to me in 8-10 years to discover how this ends......
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Insha Allah, I promise to post more regularly once the dreaded exam week has passed.
Make dua' for my exams as I'm in SERIOUS need of it.........prayer; the last refuge when it should be the very first!!
Make dua' for my exams as I'm in SERIOUS need of it.........prayer; the last refuge when it should be the very first!!
Monday, June 20, 2005
Deception
"Everyone shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection [last Day when all of humanity will be judged according to their beliefs and deeds] shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing)."(al-imran, v:185)
...........its just a matter of time.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
"Everyone put your hands where we can see them!!"
My first taste of paintballing and what an experience it was!! What really got my blood flowing was actually the event preceding paintball........it was actually pretty interesting and scary and funny......depending on which way you want to look at it.
All of us had made plans of meeting at the mosque in the morning and then heading out. Little did we know that an unexpected visitor would soon drop by. While waiting for a friend to show, 13 of us with 4 cars (2 of them black with tinted windowz) were standing in the street infront of the mosque (strike 1).
Then some one had a bright idea of showing us his paintball gun that he had recently bought (strike 2) and to make things worse, it was in his trunk when he pulled it out.
Then to top it all off, he decided to fire it a couple of times, though mind you it was empty and just made a loud bang (strike 3).
Just as we were about to leave the mosque premises, I see two cop cars pulling in the street with their lights on. 'This can't be good,' I thought to myself but the worst was yet to come!! Three cops get out initially and start walking towards us while the fourth one gets a shotgun out and loads it!!! Then one of them shouts:
"Everyone put your hands where we can see them!!"
Luckily, the car I was getting in was a few yards away from the rest and therefore the cops assumed that I was just some random guy standing in the street. So, I stood there watching the cops telling everyone to get out of their cards with their hands up. Meanwhile a third, fourth, and a fifth cop car had pulled in the street, all surrounding my friends like a pack of hyenas.
Apparently someone had called in with a tip that a gang was infront of their house with guns. Thus the whole gang unit was called in to confront us. By the end of the whole ordeal, there were seven cop cars, 14 armed cops, one of them with a loaded shotgun in his hand standing in the street. No coffee or tea will ever make you this alert in the morning like the sight of guns pointed at you!!
Obviously, it was a matter of time before the cops found the paintball gun and realized their embarassment but I guess they were just doing their job. Nevetheless, as a 'bystander' to this incident, it made for an interesting morning and a jolly tale to be told to anyone willing to listen.
All fun and jokes aside, this situation could have really gotten out of control but alhumdillalah, nothing happened. But the lessons learnt will certainly stick with me for good: never get a bunch of young non-white males together infront of someone's house and pull out an object that looks like a gun.........but then again, thats just common sense!!!
All of us had made plans of meeting at the mosque in the morning and then heading out. Little did we know that an unexpected visitor would soon drop by. While waiting for a friend to show, 13 of us with 4 cars (2 of them black with tinted windowz) were standing in the street infront of the mosque (strike 1).
Then some one had a bright idea of showing us his paintball gun that he had recently bought (strike 2) and to make things worse, it was in his trunk when he pulled it out.
Then to top it all off, he decided to fire it a couple of times, though mind you it was empty and just made a loud bang (strike 3).
Just as we were about to leave the mosque premises, I see two cop cars pulling in the street with their lights on. 'This can't be good,' I thought to myself but the worst was yet to come!! Three cops get out initially and start walking towards us while the fourth one gets a shotgun out and loads it!!! Then one of them shouts:
"Everyone put your hands where we can see them!!"
Luckily, the car I was getting in was a few yards away from the rest and therefore the cops assumed that I was just some random guy standing in the street. So, I stood there watching the cops telling everyone to get out of their cards with their hands up. Meanwhile a third, fourth, and a fifth cop car had pulled in the street, all surrounding my friends like a pack of hyenas.
Apparently someone had called in with a tip that a gang was infront of their house with guns. Thus the whole gang unit was called in to confront us. By the end of the whole ordeal, there were seven cop cars, 14 armed cops, one of them with a loaded shotgun in his hand standing in the street. No coffee or tea will ever make you this alert in the morning like the sight of guns pointed at you!!
Obviously, it was a matter of time before the cops found the paintball gun and realized their embarassment but I guess they were just doing their job. Nevetheless, as a 'bystander' to this incident, it made for an interesting morning and a jolly tale to be told to anyone willing to listen.
All fun and jokes aside, this situation could have really gotten out of control but alhumdillalah, nothing happened. But the lessons learnt will certainly stick with me for good: never get a bunch of young non-white males together infront of someone's house and pull out an object that looks like a gun.........but then again, thats just common sense!!!
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
It seems like forever since I've posted but since I'm not even sure if anyone reads these so called 'chronicles,' or its just me writing to no one........kind of sad if you think about it!!
I've been so busy lately (busy, lazy....its all the same) that I've not even had time to read last and this month's National Geographic, my one escape from reality....sometimes back in time to the Mayan Civilization or riding in a never ending desert with bedouins whose lifestyles haven't changed in the last couple thousand years or on a safari with a front row seat to nature's theatre.
Hmm.....maybe I can get some kind of an explorer job with them and go to the most remote corners of the world or far way cultures with their unique traditions.....so much to see, such little time.....I wonder if they hire chemical engineers......
Interestingly, I got an offer for Time magazine in the mail for $35 (normal price is $270; some kind of National Geographic member discount i think). Thats like less than a dollar per issue but only if they weren't so biased, I would have acutally subscribed to them. I mean, first 'Rudy Guilliani,' then the 'American Soldier' and now 'Bush' as the person of the year.....how narrow minded and self-centred do you have to be to make those decisions!!! Well, they just lost my membership.
I was reading this book called '100 Years of Solitude' but only ended up finishing about 75% and even that took me more than a month. Its quite a deep book which requires almost 2-3 reads before I can truly enjoy it but then again, I seriously don't have time to finish it even once let alone 3 times!!!!
I think I'm going to skip this month and maybe read a small Islamic book....there's this 'Leadership from an Islamic Perspective' book I borrowed from someone ages ago so that should make a good read. It'll be easier to read compared to the previous one where every other thing was either a 'metaphor' or 'foreshadowing' or some random thing that I didn't care too much to think about.
I've been so busy lately (busy, lazy....its all the same) that I've not even had time to read last and this month's National Geographic, my one escape from reality....sometimes back in time to the Mayan Civilization or riding in a never ending desert with bedouins whose lifestyles haven't changed in the last couple thousand years or on a safari with a front row seat to nature's theatre.
Hmm.....maybe I can get some kind of an explorer job with them and go to the most remote corners of the world or far way cultures with their unique traditions.....so much to see, such little time.....I wonder if they hire chemical engineers......
Interestingly, I got an offer for Time magazine in the mail for $35 (normal price is $270; some kind of National Geographic member discount i think). Thats like less than a dollar per issue but only if they weren't so biased, I would have acutally subscribed to them. I mean, first 'Rudy Guilliani,' then the 'American Soldier' and now 'Bush' as the person of the year.....how narrow minded and self-centred do you have to be to make those decisions!!! Well, they just lost my membership.
I was reading this book called '100 Years of Solitude' but only ended up finishing about 75% and even that took me more than a month. Its quite a deep book which requires almost 2-3 reads before I can truly enjoy it but then again, I seriously don't have time to finish it even once let alone 3 times!!!!
I think I'm going to skip this month and maybe read a small Islamic book....there's this 'Leadership from an Islamic Perspective' book I borrowed from someone ages ago so that should make a good read. It'll be easier to read compared to the previous one where every other thing was either a 'metaphor' or 'foreshadowing' or some random thing that I didn't care too much to think about.