Salaam ‘Alaikum
I’m just always interested in this place of wild greenness. It is the side of a car dealer’s office. There is ivy all over the building, on the walls in the car display lot… just one small spot of green.
(more…)
6 comments July 4th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
I’m changing hosting services, because Dot Easy can’t give me the services I need at a decent price. The site may undergo some hiccups or go offline for a few days (I hope it’s only a few days). When it comes back this summer you should see:
1. Updated design (but still simple to navigate)
2. Updated webguide & articles — More of what you can use in your life.
3. A new partnership. I’m bringing someone else on board to help maintain the site
4. I forget what the fourth thing was.
2 comments July 4th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
I added a Amazon Carousel widget to my sidebar (below, right). Some books and other things that I like that you might be interested in. I chose products that I personally have used and know to be good. If you purchase through my Associate links, I get a portion of the sale, and that helps keep this and my other sites going. Some of you may have noticed that ModernMuslima.com is down. This is because I exceeded my traffic limitations (again), and they want way too much money from me to upgrade my hosting. So I’ll be moving to another host soon, insha’Allah, but please remember that any money I receive from Amazon.com purchases goes to pay for this site, ModernMuslima.com, and iProfess.com, my bi-lingual (soon to be tri-lingual, insha’Allah) site offering advice and assistance to new Muslims and seekers.
Some goodies from my del.icio.us and my Feed Demon.
Nasa’s picture of the day is a fireball at Ayer’s Rock. You can subscribe via RSS.
Bill Gates Frustrated by Windows So it’s not just the rest of us…
The Best Small Business Blogs You May Not Know About
Security guide to customs-proofing your laptop This is important if you are flying into the US or UK especially.
Language is a Virus Widgets and exercise to cure writer’s block
They Rule Feed your paranoia
Sabrina Nicole This modest gown designer is closing her doors, and all gowns are $50. Might not be much left at this point, but you might find something appropriate for yourself or your daughters to wear on the women-only side of a wedding. My daughter didn’t like any of the dresses, and I feel like I’m missing out on a bargain. Hence, I share with you.
Manaqib Productions Recording of the Muhammadiya with accompanying booklet
Nicoletta Ceccoli Illustrazioni Wonderfully whimsical children’s illustrations I discovered on the blog of another expat.
Randa Fahmy Metal work and design in Cairo. Beautiful stuff.
Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Fitness
Dieter Steffman Fonts Free fonts (including for commercial use). You will recognize many of them.
4 comments June 28th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Another mosaic, this time of places I’d like to visit.
1. Makkah
2. Madinah
4. Damascus
6. Colorado
7. San Diego — This pic is from Torrey Pines Beach
8. Istanbul
9. Boston
10. Cairo
11. Puerto Rico
12. Malaysia
13. Hawaii
14. Fez, Morocco –This is the Qarawiyyin
15. New Zealand — Taken of Te Rerenga Wairua ,Cape Reinga, Northland,
16. The Shire — Yes, this is Hobbiton. In New Zealand. I figured Umm P. would appreciate this.
18. Grand Canyon
19. Alaska
20. Ireland
4 comments June 27th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
So I wrote, at length, about the importance of good customer service from seller side of the transaction. Let’s talk, briefly, about being a good customer, shall we?
4 comments June 27th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
(updated & expanded. please do read it again; i’m sorry if the section headers appear strange.)
I have been meaning to do this for a while. I was inspired by Izzy’s recent posts on triflin’ business practices among Muslims and how to do better (2), but was motivated to action by Aaminah’s recent recollection of her dealings with some Muslim / Islamic magazines. Also, many years of dealing with Muslim businesses and listening to the experiences of my friends. So listen up all you Muslim business people — especially those of you serving the Muslim community specifically. I am willing to give you some free pointers on how to deal with customers. It’s not just good business, it’s Islamic.
10 comments June 26th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
It started so innocently. Perusing Facebook and there was that one “unread” message in my message box. I don’t know what it was, but it was there. I always had that one unread message there. It was soooo irritating. And you know what else annoys me? Messages from groups that I joined. I know. I know! (Don’t say it; I’m sorry about those). But it annoys me when you join groups supposedly about three different things, but they have the same owner and he sends the same message to you — three times! So I started clicking messages like that, and hitting “delete.” And then another page, and another, and another. And then I said, “Hey, it’s like, the same 5 groups who are doing this.” So I clicked “leave group.” Again, and again. I went from belonging to like… 79 groups to 40 30. I may quit even more (I did… but you can’t expect me to quit groups like the Official Faraz Rabbani Fan Club, can you?). I cleaned up my profile some. Changed some settings. Left the Jordan network, wondering why I ever felt obligated to join it. Hey, I still support you, what you stand for, etc. I’m just not in your Facebook group right now.
Then I said, where else can I do this? Oh Yahoo Groups… you’re next! I went from belonging to something like 80 groups to 56 40 (some of which I can’t leave b/c I’m the owner or holding the name or keeping an archive for someone else). I went from having 7 pages of groups — on the simple view — to having three two pages. It is so nice. I feel like a lot was lifted off my shoulders. I quit groups I’ve belonged to since the 90’s. “Dude, why am I still in the militant BF’g cult group?” Quit! I quit groups I was a moderator of. I quit groups that no one’s posted to in two years, and groups that hadn’t been posted to in five years. I quit groups I didn’t even know I was on. I removed members off of my dead lists. Delete, delete, delete. Ahhh, inhale, exhale.
Next? Feed Demon, you’re up! Deleted so many subscriptions, marked so many subscriptions read. “Why am I subscribed to Andrew Sullivan? I don’t read him.” Click, click, click. So nice.
You should try this sometimes. Don’t feel beholden to a feed or an e-mail group you haven’t gotten anything out of in three years. (Although, I confess, I could not leave some groups I don’t read b/c a friend is the owner or something). Get rid of those Facebook apps you don’t use — it’s annoying to open someone’s page and have it download for 10 minutes because they’ve added every stupid app known to man. Delete your old notes and questions, leave the groups you don’t interact with. Sometimes I add an app and have fun with it for a few days, then I delete. I changed a lot of my privacy settings back to what they were — why should someone else make me feel obligated to put certain information up, or make it available, when I’m not comfortable with it?
These things are great tools and means of communication, but they can also be a major distraction and turn into a burden. Blogging Without Obligation can also be Facebooking Without Obligation, or Reading Feeds Without Obligation. There was a time when I would feel guilty quitting a feed, because some publications use feed subscriptions as part of their method of evaluating writers. But I don’t now. If I don’t read it, I don’t. Why should I have the “Panic Button” open with thousands of unread posts everyday because I felt too guilty to quit this blog or that one?
I don’t have time. Neither do you.
Now about those 180 Flickr groups I joined so I could “remember to browse these interesting photos…”
4 comments June 26th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
I live in a neighborhood full of transients.
1 comment June 25th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
My life is so hectic right now that I haven’t even had time to share these news links I picked up the other day, let alone some recent photos I’ve taken. It’s been three days and I’m still not done editing them. Jordan is in for a heat wave starting, oh, yesterday… I’m thinking of taking a pillow and blanket to my office and sleeping there. (I work in the same room as the server and it is always nice and cold).
The NYT stumbles upon the amazing news that Egyptian Muslims (and some Christians) say Insha’Allah. Next thing, they will make the stupendous discovery that Muslims pray facing towards Makkah.
After the dissing of two Muslim sisters the other day, NYT notes that some Muslim voters feel snubbed by Barak Obama. Don’t worry — that man will start treating us right once he’s got the job. He’s just, you know, under a lot of pressure right now, and maybe, maybe some of it is our fault because we haven’t been acting right. We’ll be better citizens, you’ll see… he’ll get that job and then everything will be flowers and rainbows between us and he’ll show the world how much he really loves us. ‘Cuz he does, right? I mean, his actions don’t speak louder than… his words… those words about how people insinuating he was like us is a “smear.” Oh no. I’m sure he really cares.
(PS — Why do some Muslims act like this man is different than any other politician on the face of the Earth? He isn’t. He’s a politician. Vote for the lesser of two evils, yeah, but don’t get played. Hope for the best, but this attitude that he’s a like the Mahdi or something has got to go.)
7 comments June 25th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Inna lillahi wa inna ilyahi raji’un.
The magical illustrations of Tasha Tudor were a constant throughout my childhood.
1 comment June 21st, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
So for breakfast/lunch (brunch?) I had Mountain Dew and fresh baked bread. That’s all. I don’t know why. Everyone else had eggs, cheese, butter, jam, zayt u zaatar, but I just had bread. By 8 pm, I was shaking, waiting for our home baked pizzas to cook. In the meantime (er, it’s been a long time, gazing, browsing) I made this meme of my favorite foods (some with recipes). Enjoy!
1. Ice Cubes - I live on ice cubes. I have 8 ice cube trays in my freezer at home. There are two at our work fridge and I brought in a third to be sure I am stocked at all times. I have standard shapes, big cubes, heart shapes, and geometric shapes. I love ice.
2. Green chicken enchiladas - I love enchiladas, and my favorites are in green chile sauce with Swiss cheese or, if that’s not available, cream cheese. Look at them swim in that green chile sauce. Yum.
3. A bowl of salad — There is nothing like a big bowl of salad for lunch. Throw in some fruit, nuts and / or grilled chicken to make it even better. I love salads.
4. Chicken Biryani Close Up — I don’t even have to explain this one, do I?
5. Pieces of Memories - Iranian Food 2 — This is what is called Jeweled Rice, I believe. The berries are barberries or zeresht in Farsi. Love, love, love Iranian food.
6. Pasta primavera with creamy spinach sauce — I like pasta with light, vegetable laden sauces. Here’s the recipe for this dish.
7. BwF - Brownie Edition — Uh, another one that needs no ’splainin. Ms Alien Bea makes great brownies (IMO); these aren’t hers, though.
8. el Borrego de oro — What I wanted was a nice shot of corn and / or flour tortillas, but I could only find this decent taco shot. I like tacos, of course, but I also love tortillas. So versatile. Warm them up with some butter and cinnamon for breakfast. Throw some grilled veggies in there for lunch. Enchiladas, flautas, chimichangas, tacos, burritos, eggs — they go with anything. I love and miss tortillas (although I have been experimenting with making my own… at least until *someone* broke my tortilla press). Look how fresh and delicious those tacos look — fresh tortillas, some lettuce, onions, grilled meat. Quel sabor!
9. grilled vegetable tostada — Here I was looking for a great shot of grilled vegetables, but this one came w/ a tortilla under it.
10. 10-16 Saucy — Eggroll. I know it’s not real Chinese. It’s still delicious.
11. Arroz con Gandules — One of my ab-fave dishes. I used to make it all the time. Here, I do have some dried gandules, but with no pressure cooker, I have found making them extremely difficult. I don’t want to waste my precious dried gandules resources, so I haven’t cooked them in a while (gandules are one of the few beans, it seems, that Arabs don’t eat).
12. chole // chana masala, plated — Chole, chickpeas. Find the recipe here.
13. baba ghanoush — I do love me some baba ghanoush. Smokey, tart flavor. It’s the one dish that our local falafel-ry doesn’t make. Of course.
14. We Didn’t Want It — Fruit salad with nata de coco. I took this pic at a bbq at my parents’ house last summer. I love fruit salad with no sauces, no honey, no anything… except for chunks of nata de coco, which is coconut gel. Find it at your local Asian supermarket or the Asian food aisle (it’s from Philippines).
15. ice tea — Believe it or not, I have had a hard time brewing my own iced tea… I made a concentrate one day and then my cleaning lady threw it out the next day. Sigh.
16. slurpee — That would be a banana Slurpee from a Boston area 7-11. I miss Slurpees. I plan on drinking one when I go back.
Not shown: some kinda Malaysian peanut sauce that you dip tofu and vegetables in that my friend makes. It is so tasty.
6 comments June 21st, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
I like this mosaic thing. It lets me share while being totally lazy. No deep thoughts to think and then express.
I’ve been wanting to share some favorites from Flickr for a while, but didn’t know how to do it till now. Enjoy.
1. The Space, 2. The Drifter, 3. clouds, 4. Most Calming Feeling, 5. Untitled, 6. Not not Iran, but the backstreets of Fener, 7. hauatla #17, 8. ., 9. beavers distruction, 10. IMG_1844, 11. Untitled, 12. Yo., 13. P1030321, 14. Swings, 15. Fireworks 9, 16. Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice), 17. Shaykh Muhammed Al-Yaqoubi, 18. Teacher, 19. Round Up, 20. "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
3 comments June 20th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
If you have e-mailed me in the past few weeks and I did not answer:
1. I downloaded all my m ails to get to “when I had the time.”
2. I have the time and my internet was out for a day and *then* couldn’t access gmail (via pop or web) and now it’s just acting funny. So I’m sorry but please bear with me.
Add comment June 20th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
1. What is your first name?
(Harder than I would have thought to find one that wasn’t Tegan and…)
2. What is your favorite food?
(I have nothing clever to say)
3. What high school did you go to?
(This about sums it up)
4. What is your favorite color?
(There you go)
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
(It took me a long time to figure this out. I don’t think of famous people in those terms. So I thought about someone famous whose books I had read or whose movies I had seen more than 2 of and came up with this… I like this photo, regardless of who is in it… and that is from one of my favorite movies)
6. Favorite drink?
(If you have to ask, you don’t know me)
7. Dream vacation?
(This space for rent)
8. Favorite dessert?
(Yes, I would like my decay ala mode)
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
(The sooner the better)
10. What do you love most in life?
(Again…)
11. One Word to describe you.
(There you go)
12. Your flickr name.
(… this was the only photo in the results that I didn’t take. Izzy did.)
8 comments June 18th, 2008
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Do you know what Wet Seal is? It’s a tacky teen shop in the mall, the teen version of Arden B. It used to be Contempo Casuals. A national chain, I’m sure one is to be found in a mall near you. Anyway, Wet Seal is now selling keffiyehs. Not paisley black and white scarves that look like a keffiyeh when they’re in a 200×400 picture taken at a distance… but cheap Chinese scarves that are in the true keffiyeh pattern — but in hot pink and purple (in addition to the black and white). I haven’t seen any guys here in the ME wearing hot pink ones.
I wonder if Miss Malkin will get her skirt in a bunch over this… she’ll promote it as Wet Seal supporting Islamofabulist terrorism.
8 comments June 18th, 2008
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