9.7.10
Sunshine in Seattle
Finally there is sunshine and 90 degrees in Seattle. The whole Relevance team is going out to Lake Sammamish Park for the team morale event. Lying by the beach and getting as much Vitamin D. as I can for now :)
14.12.09
Snow's Comin :)
driving east on the highway 90 from Bellevue to Issaquah, I saw couple of snow flakes that hit my windshield this morning. I have most of my DC friends coming over to Seattle (for Christmas) for Skiing in mt Baker.
I should say from what I have heard, Baker had an amazing opening this season, but then all of a sudden it started becoming all sunny and warm and crappy here in Seattle; no more snow!
Well, that would really suck to have 20 of your buddies drive up all the way to Baker for Christmas and then get shitty slush instead of the fresh powder. So as soon as I saw the flakes coming down this morning, I checked Baker's snow condition on my cellphone and there it was :) 3" of fresh pow pow!
fingers crossed for the rest of the week, waiting for an amazing ski trip ....
9.12.09
25' F in Seattle
Driving to Redmond campus this morning, it was 25' F. That is in the parking garage!!!!! At least its sunny outside :) it would be even better if we it was snowing in Mt. Baker .... 16 days and counting
Microsoft Office15
so as we get closer and closer to the Office 14 release, today we had an offsite brainstorming session to comeup with new ideas for the next Office wave (Office 15)! It was my first offsite and i have to say at the end of the day the we filled the walls across the hall with good (and crazy ;) ) ideas written on post it cards.
Some were totally cool ( and really ambitious at the same time) and some were plain out nerdy stuff. The process it self was really fun though, each team did it differently. My team (Office Web Apps) broke out into themes and each theme came up with as many ideas as they could. Ideas were then affined into clusters and sorted based on the Easy --> Hard and Low Value to High value.
We left the room (after about 6 hours) with big posters filled the ideas that got the highest number of votes from the team. Those if course will not be the exact set of features that we will implement for Office 15, they will be sort of guidance to write the Office 15 planning document.
4.3.09
Khomeini's Ghost, A Book by Con Coughlin
Diane Rehm had Con Coughlin as the spacial guest to her daily show on NPR. Coughlin wrote a new book about the life and legacy of ayatollah Khomeini. The book is titled: "Khomeini's Ghost".
He is an executive editor of Daily Telegraph in London.
"Khomeini's Ghost is the account of how an impoverished young student from a remote area of southern Iran became the leader of one of the most dramatic upheavals of the modern age, and how his radical Islamic philosophy now is at the heart of the current conflict between Iran and the West. Con Coughlin draws on a wide variety of Iranian sources, including religious figures who knew and worked with Khomeini both in exile and in power."
He calls us confrontational, people who think very high of themselves! and are absolutely trying to be superpower in the region and are not willing to give that up at all.
P.S: For a person who claims to be an expert in Iranian politics and has written a book on the subject, it is kind of funny that he calls our president: "Ahmadi JEHAD " :))))
25.2.09
Yes or No!
THE RULES:
1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No!
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and Asks!
Now, here's what you're supposed to do... And please do not spoil the Fun. Copy and paste this into your notes , delete my answers and type in your answers. Then see what happens.
Kissed any one of your facebook friends? Yes
Been arrested? Yes
Kissed someone you didn't like? Yes
Slept in until 5 PM? Yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? Yes
Held a snake? Yes
Ran a red light? Yes
Been suspended from school? Yes
Totaled your car/motorbike in an accident? Yes
Been fired from a job? Yes
Sang karaoke? Yes
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes
Kissed in the rain? Yes
Sang in the shower? Yes
Sat on a rooftop? Yes
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? Yes
Broken a bone? Yes
Shaved your head? Yes :))
Passed out from drinking? Yes!
Played a prank on someone? Yes
Felt like killing someone? Yes! :)
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? Yes
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? Yes
Been in a band? Yes
Shot a gun? Yes
Tripped on mushrooms? No
Donated Blood? Yes
Eaten alligator meat? No
Eaten cheesecake? Yes
Still love someone you shouldn't? Yes
Think about the future? Yes
Believe in Love ? Yes
Sleep on a certain side of the bed? Yes
Eaten something you thought you never would? Yes
Drank something you knew you shouldn't? Yes
Eaten something you didn't know what it was? Yes
Lived on a Beach for more than a week? Yes
Purchased something for yourself to wear that cost more than $200? Yes
Driven until you couldn't drive any further? Yes
Worked more than 2 jobs simultaneously? Yes
Taken a train across an international border? Yes
Climbed a mountain? Yes
Run until you couldn't run another step? Yes
Forgotten your own birthday? No
Gained or lost over 40 lbs in a single year? No
Found $5 or more in public? Yes
Won more than $10 at Slots? Yes
Randomly paid for someone else's toll or entrance fee? No
Gotten a free hotel room in a gambling hotel? Yes
Been healthy and slept more than 12 hrs? Yes
Driven or ridden in an official race car? Yes
Been in the presence of a human birth? No
Learned how to use Nun chucks? Yes
Been in a race of 5K or more? Yes
Won something you wanted? Yes
Used a tax return frivolously? Yes
Been published? Yes
Made a drum? No
Hit the bulls eye with a bow and arrow? No
Walked barefoot in a stream? Yes
Lost your cool in public? Yes
Lost your passport? No
Received a massage of more than one hour? Yes
Meditated for more than 15 minutes? Yes
Taken only photographs, left only footprints in an environment you know is in danger of being overtaken by humanity? Yes
1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No!
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and Asks!
Now, here's what you're supposed to do... And please do not spoil the Fun. Copy and paste this into your notes , delete my answers and type in your answers. Then see what happens.
Kissed any one of your facebook friends? Yes
Been arrested? Yes
Kissed someone you didn't like? Yes
Slept in until 5 PM? Yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? Yes
Held a snake? Yes
Ran a red light? Yes
Been suspended from school? Yes
Totaled your car/motorbike in an accident? Yes
Been fired from a job? Yes
Sang karaoke? Yes
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes
Kissed in the rain? Yes
Sang in the shower? Yes
Sat on a rooftop? Yes
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? Yes
Broken a bone? Yes
Shaved your head? Yes :))
Passed out from drinking? Yes!
Played a prank on someone? Yes
Felt like killing someone? Yes! :)
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? Yes
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? Yes
Been in a band? Yes
Shot a gun? Yes
Tripped on mushrooms? No
Donated Blood? Yes
Eaten alligator meat? No
Eaten cheesecake? Yes
Still love someone you shouldn't? Yes
Think about the future? Yes
Believe in Love ? Yes
Sleep on a certain side of the bed? Yes
Eaten something you thought you never would? Yes
Drank something you knew you shouldn't? Yes
Eaten something you didn't know what it was? Yes
Lived on a Beach for more than a week? Yes
Purchased something for yourself to wear that cost more than $200? Yes
Driven until you couldn't drive any further? Yes
Worked more than 2 jobs simultaneously? Yes
Taken a train across an international border? Yes
Climbed a mountain? Yes
Run until you couldn't run another step? Yes
Forgotten your own birthday? No
Gained or lost over 40 lbs in a single year? No
Found $5 or more in public? Yes
Won more than $10 at Slots? Yes
Randomly paid for someone else's toll or entrance fee? No
Gotten a free hotel room in a gambling hotel? Yes
Been healthy and slept more than 12 hrs? Yes
Driven or ridden in an official race car? Yes
Been in the presence of a human birth? No
Learned how to use Nun chucks? Yes
Been in a race of 5K or more? Yes
Won something you wanted? Yes
Used a tax return frivolously? Yes
Been published? Yes
Made a drum? No
Hit the bulls eye with a bow and arrow? No
Walked barefoot in a stream? Yes
Lost your cool in public? Yes
Lost your passport? No
Received a massage of more than one hour? Yes
Meditated for more than 15 minutes? Yes
Taken only photographs, left only footprints in an environment you know is in danger of being overtaken by humanity? Yes
22.2.09
Four Rules of Manhood
Ernest Hemingway's four rules of manhood:
"Plant a tree, fight a bull, write a book, have a son!"
"Plant a tree, fight a bull, write a book, have a son!"
6.2.09
Kish Underground City
Someone sent this link around in our internal distribution list. It is well worth watching:
Kish Underground City
Kish Underground City
5.2.09
Immigration Nightmare, GOD Bless H1B
If the prophets would have come during thees modern times, it would have been the craziest thing ever to see them at the immigration lines!
- Excuse me sir, can I see your passport please?
- How dare you question the son of God!
- Yeah, whatever, Passport please!
- I will forgive you my son!
- yeah and I will drag your ass straight to jail! so do you have a passport or not, there are 200 people behind you in line!
Everyone is freaked out about the immigration problems rising from the recent layoffs! DOL has stopped issuing the Certificate of Labour for green card seekers and long story short, we are in DEEP BANDINI! ;) (as Peter Bock would always put it! )
Sitting with me here, there are hundreds of people who just joined the company and have no clue what is going to happen to them if they get fired or if their immigration paperwork is put on a halt.
What I just learned:
- Excuse me sir, can I see your passport please?
- How dare you question the son of God!
- Yeah, whatever, Passport please!
- I will forgive you my son!
- yeah and I will drag your ass straight to jail! so do you have a passport or not, there are 200 people behind you in line!
Everyone is freaked out about the immigration problems rising from the recent layoffs! DOL has stopped issuing the Certificate of Labour for green card seekers and long story short, we are in DEEP BANDINI! ;) (as Peter Bock would always put it! )
Sitting with me here, there are hundreds of people who just joined the company and have no clue what is going to happen to them if they get fired or if their immigration paperwork is put on a halt.
What I just learned:
- There are some nice guys famously known as ICE , Immigration and Customs Enforcement ;) which you would do your best by all means to avoid chatting with them :)
- There is a separate visa category for Chile or Singapore citizens! (why?)
- Canadians and Mexicans are sometimes even more screwed when it comes to non-immigrant visas!
- When people are getting fired, how do you go to DOl and tell them: Hey I have this guys from such and such country, and I want to hire him, and there is no american citizen qualified and willing to do this job! ;) good luck!
- Just found out that some Visa holders where also laid off! Oh God !:(
24.12.08
Life goes on in Tehran
Couple of years ago I found a website called TEHRAN24 which very quickly became an obsession of many Iranians who are living abroad and haven't been back for a while. There was nothing special about the pictures that were posted on the site, they were just pictures of ordinary people and different neighborhoods on Tehran (and later other cities of Iran) and that was exactly the reason the site attracted a huge traffic of visitors.
Today,I found another one! This one is called "The Life Goes on in Tehran" and on the first page it declares the following as its mission statement:
Mission Statement: To show that regardless of what any president would have you imagine, despite what any media outlet would have you believe, life goes on in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran.
A big difference between this one and tehran24.com in the photographer's notes for each picture which makes it interesting.
20.12.08
یلدا
Shab-e Yaldā (Persian: یلدا) or Shab-e Chelleh (Persian: شب چله) is an Iranian festival originally celebrated on the Northern Hemisphere's longest night of the year, that is, on the eve of the Winter Solstice.
The 13th century Iranian poet Sa'di wrote in his Bustan: "The true morning will not come, until the Yalda Night is gone". Following the Iranian calendar reform of 1925, which pegged some seasonal events to specific days of the calendar, Yalda came to be celebrated on the night before and including the first day of the tenth month (Dey). Subject to seasonal drift, this day may sometimes fall a day before or a day after the actual Winter Solstice.
Following the fall of the Sassanid Empire and the subsequent rise of Islam, the religious significance of the event was lost, and like other Zoroastrian festivals Yalda became a social occasion when family and close friends would get together. Nonetheless, the obligatory serving of fresh fruit during mid-winter is reminiscent of the ancient customs of invoking the divinities to request protection of the winter crop.
Yalda today
Families continue to hold traditional gatherings on YaldaIranian radio and television offer special programmes on that night of Yalda.
Watermelons are placed on the Korsi, a traditional piece of furniture similar to a very short table, around which the family sit on the ground. On it, a blanket made of wool filling is thrown, people leave their legs under the blanket. Inside the korsi, heat is generated by means of coal, electricity or gas heaters.
Youth hold Yalda parties.
The 13th century Iranian poet Sa'di wrote in his Bustan: "The true morning will not come, until the Yalda Night is gone". Following the Iranian calendar reform of 1925, which pegged some seasonal events to specific days of the calendar, Yalda came to be celebrated on the night before and including the first day of the tenth month (Dey). Subject to seasonal drift, this day may sometimes fall a day before or a day after the actual Winter Solstice.
Following the fall of the Sassanid Empire and the subsequent rise of Islam, the religious significance of the event was lost, and like other Zoroastrian festivals Yalda became a social occasion when family and close friends would get together. Nonetheless, the obligatory serving of fresh fruit during mid-winter is reminiscent of the ancient customs of invoking the divinities to request protection of the winter crop.
Yalda today
Families continue to hold traditional gatherings on YaldaIranian radio and television offer special programmes on that night of Yalda.
Watermelons are placed on the Korsi, a traditional piece of furniture similar to a very short table, around which the family sit on the ground. On it, a blanket made of wool filling is thrown, people leave their legs under the blanket. Inside the korsi, heat is generated by means of coal, electricity or gas heaters.
Youth hold Yalda parties.
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