Western Arab

Poor Paris Hilton. Lindsey Lohan was stealing the spotlight after being locked up in jail and then again when she was released from jail. And where was Paris in all this? Paris was always known as the drug addict, drunk, and girl who exposes herself in public every other day.

Paris decided it was time to take her title back and got herself arrested in Las Vegas for possession of cocaine. Now she has three mug shots on record and in this last one, see below, she is smiling and well aware of her success of hitting the spotlight again. Of course I am helping her in this spotlight as well, oh well.

Paris Hilton Mug Shot

The news has been going on non-stop for more than a week over the so-called Ground Zero Mosque. Now I am sure some of you know by now that it’s location isn’t even at Ground Zero and in fact two large blocks away and down the street. I am also sure some of you also know by now that it is in fact an Islamic community center that has prayer rooms on two floors out of the 15 floors the building will have.

I am going to look at this issue a different way. What if it this Islamic community center was built right across the street from Ground Zero? What if a Mosque instead of a community center was built across the street from Ground Zero? Why does that even matter? Everything Islam has become hated or a crime. Everyone is also questioning if President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and I ask the same question so what if he was? But he isn’t a Muslim, just like that Islamic Community Center isn’t at Ground Zero.

So I hope they stand by their decision to build Park51 where they set out to and not back down from it. Looking forward to seeing Park51 completed at the old Burlington Coat Factory. And maybe all this hatred would go away one day.

What has become of “our” people. Are they our people anymore?

Many of our people are getting lost. They have rapidly changed. I look at them and what do I see? Young girls dressed scantily. Women dressed scantily. Women with fake blond hair. Women with tattooed eyebrows. Women with nose jobs. Women trying hard to appear as if they were younger.

What happened to our ideals? What happened to our culture? What has happened to our people?

Who are these people now? How do I distinguish them from everyone else? There is only one thing that still connects us. We both speak Arabic.

Katie Holmes?

What the heck is that? Is that Katie Holmes? Or should I be saying Katie Cruise? She looks like a keebler elf. Her relationship with Tom looks more and more like an ownership policy. And everyone says “In America, we don’t own our women”. Well Tom Cruise owns this one. He is transforming her or upgrading her at a fast rate, like he would to his car. Except he is making her look like … HIMSELF.

I think she is going to be the next Michael Jackson. Michael made his skin white, she is making her self Tom. This is like looking at Tom Cruise. Yuck. Ewww. Gross. Nasty. Click the picture and you will probably say one of those words too!

The real Katie Holmes

Attention everyone, attention everyone. Will the real Katie Holmes please stand up? Will the real Katie Holmes please stand up? We’re going to have a problem here.

Look at the real Katie vs the Tom Katie. Come on, what the heck happened? She became an ugly guy. She became Tom Cruise! Or maybe Tom looks like an ugly woman? Or both.

Now I only noticed her short hair and Tom Cruise looks because I stopped by the supermarket yesterday and as you expect I saw a picture on the covers of those tabloid magazines as I waited to check out. Maybe there is a reason I don’t go to the supermarket. Maybe there is a resason that women do the household shopping. MAYBE this is a sign that I shouldn’t go to the supermarket ever again!

Ok, so I decided not to call Monday or Tuesday or even Wednesday, I figured I will wait out my accountant. Well here is Thursday, still no call. Nine days after I submitted my taxes to be completed, after being told I will get a call in two days, I have not recieved a call telling me they are complete and ready to be picked up. Why? Because I used an Arab. Simple as that. Am I going to wait for two weeks to go by? I don’t know yet, but I am very annoyed. I know when I call, the secretary will say they are ready and I should come by and pick up. The problem is the accountant said he will call me, so why can’t I get the call saying your taxes are ready, come pay us for our service.

Idiots.

Maybe next year I will go to a Jew for my taxes.

When are Arabs going to step down from their high chairs? When will we get past the arrogance? Why is it when an Arab tells me he will call me in two days with the work I requested completed, he never does, in fact days go by and I have to call and ask? Why do Arabs in business treat Arabs as second class citizens? When they promise an Non-Arab American a call in two days, they deliver, but with Arabs, they feel like they are doing you a favor, even though you are paying them like anyone else to do the work you asked for.

This isn’t a one time incident, it is everywhere I go, with all Arabs, Christians and Muslims alike. I made the mistake of going to an Egyptian dentist once. I was going to an Indian prior. So what was wrong with the Egyptian? The same arrogance. I don’t want you doing me any favors, just do your job like with anyone else and I will pay you like I pay anyone else. Instead after the work is done, I get the typical Arab statement. Khalieyah 3alyeena. Translates to leave it on us. Bite me. You know very well I am not walking out without paying you. And you are not letting me leave without paying you. So just tell me to pay X and I will. Then to add insult, after I tell him no, he says ok just pay $xxx for the x-rays. UGH. I am not stupid, you are not doing me any favors, and I do NOT want you to. All this ever does is make me leave with no intention of returning to this dentist or whatever profession it may have been. And the dumb Arab loses another customer.

So why can’t we work together as Arabs? My cousin once needed a paper signed to let him in a class in college. He made the mistake of going to the Arab. Thinking hey, he is an Arab, I am an Arab. He will gladly do it. WRONG. “I am busy now”. “Come back later”. Busy doing what? It is your damn job to sign shit like this. Sign it. So what happens, some blonde American girl walks in. All of a sudden the Arab is not busy, ahlan wa sahlan, welcome welcome, how are you? What can I do for you? So what does my cousin do? Walk to the next room to an American, who signs the sheet without even looking at it. He does his fucking job. Yes I am angry. I am angry with Arabs.

If we look at our “cousins”, we see them work together. They fight with each other as much as we do, but they would drive 15 extra miles to buy from their own than one of ours or anyone else for that matter. Why? Because they want each other to succeed, not for the individual, but for their own as a whole. They think long term. We think right now.

Arabs goes something like this:

Firas: hey did you hear, Abu Fulan opened a grocery store on Main Street, I hear it is doing great. Al hamdillah.

Hashim: Al hamdillah, Al hamdillah. This is great news.

Next day Hashim opens a grocery store across the street from Abu Fulan on Main Street. Spends the next 6 months with his top priority of putting Abu Fulan out of business. Why? Simple, why should Abu Fulan make all the money? Is he better than Hashim??? NO. Hashim can’t let this happen, he must put an end to this. Not only does he end up putting Abu Fulan out of business, but himself as well because he soon realizes he is a complete moron who doesn’t know how to run such a business, and now that he lowered his prices so much to get rid of Abu Fulan, his customers have a fit when he starts to raise his prices again. The mentality is the same, why should he get this or that? He isn’t better than me, I can do this too. It is all about image and prestige. Screw your image. Screw your prestige.

So Arabs. When I come to your work place to use your services. Treat me like anyone else. I don’t want “special” treatment. I do not want a discount. I want to be treated like any other customer, I want service. And if someone opens a business and does good, be happy for them, support them, use their services, buy their products. It is sickening that this kind of competition not only happens just against other Arabs, but against family members. So many Arab families are split because of business.

Today is day three. Weekend will go by. Monday I will call and ask if the work I requestesd is done. Tuesday I will call again. And I will probably have it by Thursday. This way, I am supposed to feel like it took him so much time to do, that he is giving me a great price considering all the time he spent on it. When I know it doesn’t take two hours to do it and his price sucks. Serves me right for using an Arab for service, so why do it? I always hope that there will be some change. That maybe I will find some Arab who is different, someone whom doesn’t treat me as less, someone whom I am pleased to use his service, because he did his job and because I am helping him succeed by using his services and I can recommend his services to others. Maybe too much to ask.

ugh ugh ugh. it is that time again. time to get the taxes done.

The dreadful time of taxes is here. If you are among the people who get money back, you ususally run and do your taxes to get your refund. I have not had a refund in a long time, granted I will likely pay less this year, everyone is feeling it from this economy. Regardless, it has to be done. I have to waste time to go see my accountant and pay him to tell me how much I have to pay our uncle. Uncle Sam is collecting, and he is in debt more than us.

Crappy economy. I hear the same stories over and over, someone got laid off, a company is closing down, a company is about to fall, a company laid of x people, a company cut holidays, and a company got rid of bonuses. Many are scared because they don’t know when their company will lay them off. With so many unemployed, companies are getting an influx of applications. Few openings, many applicants. Disaster. Let us all hope that things can change for the better in the next 6-10 months. I think that is the time frame that is left to recover.

The macbook, I have walked into the apple store at the town center many times, each time trying to convince myself to get the new macbook, my very own piece of aluminum. I have never owned a mac book or any mac computer. I did have an apple I got from a friend to use for web development testing for macs, but I never really used it. Every time I go in the store, I try out the macbook, and everytime my intial rejection comes when I go to click the CLOSE button on the top right, except it isn’t there. It is on the left! And that just makes me feel everything is backwards. So why am I interested in the macbook?

13" Macbook

I have been wanting to get a new laptop for some time, my old toshiba sits around collecting dust. I work on a desktop I built myself with a nice glossy 24″ LCD monitor. My work is all done here, on this PC I am using right now writing this up. I rarely need a laptop, but it is needed when I travel. What I would like to do is actually use a laptop and dock it at home, so there is no synching to do. One machine to use at home and travel. But I am not sure if I can pull it of. I play my video games on this machine, they require a good video card, which most laptops don’t have. So I think I would still have to work with two machines.

My initial reason for wanting to get the macbook other than apple making it look so pretty and cool in their advertising, was to learn OS X, to learn the apple side of things, including programming. I went back and forth trying to decide. I can either get a Lenovo laptop and install OS X on it as well (illegal) or I can get a macbook and install vista on it as well (legal). Lately I have been leaning towards the macbook, every visit to the apple store I get closer to getting it. I made a trip to the apple store one time with intention of buying it but clearly I backed out of it. But I am almost there, I am almost convinced to spend the $1300 on it, and maybe I will cross over somewhat.

I was actually thinking today, by the end of the year I will be considering a new phone, and I will have to choose between the blackberry storm and the iphone. But if I got the macbook, will I just have to get the iphone? Will I be loyal to apple? I love gadgets!

Cedar Island Lebanon

I just ran across some new idea that has apparently been floating around for some time, perhaps I am late to hear about Cedar Island, Lebanon.Well what can I say, when the Palm Islands in Dubai were first introduced to me, I thought it was a cool idea. A first of it’s kind. Something the Arab world is making that is unique and new. Something the world will be impressed by. The result perhaps was not what was expected, there are many critics, and with Dubai’s ever ending list of projects, half complete or rushed, the Palm Island plan didn’t do so well, I think.

So here we are, in 2009, discussing a giant man made island to be created on the beautiful Mediterranean coast of Lebanon. A promise of hotels, residence, golf, aquarium, kindergarten, school, hospital, presidential guest house, malls and shopping, and so much more! I don’t think a presidential guest house impresses me or the people of Lebanon, but in a country where things can’t be done without connections, I can see this as a small bribing chip to get a presidential A-OK on the project.

With learning of this project, I also learned of a lot of debate on this project with many flat out opposing this project entirely. While each may have his opinion on why or why not this project is good, from hurting marine life  to being a copy cat of Dubai to Lebanon having beautiful nature unlike Dubai’s desert where an island was needed to attract tourists, where as Lebanon has plenty of natural attractions. I will have to side with those opposing the project, for similar reasons, mainly that Lebanon itself needs major reconstruction and cleaning up. I would much rather a cleaner Lebanon, than this giant island that is supposed to be a clean city island. I would rather reconstruction in Lebanon, with building codes applied, unlike the chaos that occurred during and after the civil war. I say clean up Lebanon and this island isn’t needed.

I flew to Lebanon just last September and what I remember of the beautiful coast of Lebanon is the hideous sight of homes built right up at the very edge of the coast. There were not luxury hotels or residences. They were … the following:

Ugly Coast next to the Beirut Airport Runway