To give you an update on what has been going on in my life, I have moved to the new place last week. The place is still a mess as I am going rather slowly through my boxes and trying to put everything in place. I think everyone of us has gone through this at one point in time!
On another note, I am really sad to see how the so called democracy in is Iraq showing the real face! Because the Iraqi Parliament passed a new provincial elections law that was not in the interest of the Kurds, the presidency council just vetoed that law sending it back to the parliament so they can pass the "right" law this time. What a joke!
Kirkuk is the price that the Kurds demanded to support the Arab Shi'a in gaining control over the parliament which paved the way to taking over the whole country stiffing up the Arab Sunnis and now it's pay time!
One thing that I would like to VERY CLEARLY say is that I have nothing against Iraqis, the ordinary Iraqis whether they were Arab or Kurds whether they were Sunnis or Shi'a. I really don't. It's just that I'm sick and tired of the politicians, all of them. They are buying and selling Iraq like Iraq is a private property with their names on it! We thought we had a tyrant and we were praying to get rid of him. Now, we have so many of them, I don't know where to begin.
I really am running out of words and will cut it short now! what happened since 2003 has been a series of disappointments that increases in size as time goes by. I really feel sorry for ordinary Iraqis, nobody is looking after them not before, not at present and not in the future.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Iraqi Oil-The Greatest Robbery in the History of Mankind
As a follow up to my previous post about the oil and the "No Bid" contracts that are about to be given to the big US and British oil companies. I happened to know a bit more about the details of the new contracts that will be signed very soon and some major changes in the policies previously announced by the Iraqi government. I won't comment (I'm sick of the whole thing) but I want to draw the attention to the organized theft led by the US and the UK in collaboration with Al Maliki government:
The following are new notes and observations;
1-Iraq is officially flinging open six of its major oilfields, accounting for half of its known reserves, to foreign investors. According to Iraq's oil minister, the long-term contracts will be signed within a year. While ostensibly under the control of the Iraq National Oil Company, foreign corporations will keep 75% of the value of the contracts, leaving just 25% for their Iraqi partners. That kind of ratio is unheard of in oil-rich Arab Gulf states.
2-According to Greg Muttitt, a London-based oil expert, the assumption up until now was that foreign multinationals would be brought in to develop new fields in Iraq - not to take over those which are already in production and therefore require minimal technical support. "The policy was always to allocate these fields to the Iraq National Oil Company," he said. "This is a total reversal of that policy, giving the Iraq National Oil Company a mere 25% instead of the planned 100%."
I won't comment as I said but will keep you posted on any new updates!
The following are new notes and observations;
1-Iraq is officially flinging open six of its major oilfields, accounting for half of its known reserves, to foreign investors. According to Iraq's oil minister, the long-term contracts will be signed within a year. While ostensibly under the control of the Iraq National Oil Company, foreign corporations will keep 75% of the value of the contracts, leaving just 25% for their Iraqi partners. That kind of ratio is unheard of in oil-rich Arab Gulf states.
2-According to Greg Muttitt, a London-based oil expert, the assumption up until now was that foreign multinationals would be brought in to develop new fields in Iraq - not to take over those which are already in production and therefore require minimal technical support. "The policy was always to allocate these fields to the Iraq National Oil Company," he said. "This is a total reversal of that policy, giving the Iraq National Oil Company a mere 25% instead of the planned 100%."
I won't comment as I said but will keep you posted on any new updates!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
New Job, New Place.
So I started on my new job last week. So far, I'm in the "honey moon" phase of the job which I'm trying to enjoy. However, I'm flying to Fort Saint John tomorrow cause there is some cock up there as my boss has described it and I need to fly there tomorrow and fly back to Vancouver on Friday night which sucks big time as I'm gonna miss my Friday night activities ;). Fort Saint John is a small town at the North East of British Columbia. Never been there so I'm interested to see how it looked like although I'm told that it is really a dull place but hey, let me see it to believe it.
The work that I'm doing is kinda new to me in terms of the nature of the facilities that I'm designing so I'm looking forward to doing more of it. One other positive point with this new job is the location of the office. It is almost half way through compared to my old job and I'm loving that. One last thing here, there is a lot of nice restaurants and shops around the office which gives me a great deal of flexibility at lunch time. Chicks are not bad either! gotta go, I have signed a new contract for the new place and will need to move out soon so there is a lot of packing for me to do in the next couple of weeks. I hate it but look forward to the new place. I need a change...soon!
The work that I'm doing is kinda new to me in terms of the nature of the facilities that I'm designing so I'm looking forward to doing more of it. One other positive point with this new job is the location of the office. It is almost half way through compared to my old job and I'm loving that. One last thing here, there is a lot of nice restaurants and shops around the office which gives me a great deal of flexibility at lunch time. Chicks are not bad either! gotta go, I have signed a new contract for the new place and will need to move out soon so there is a lot of packing for me to do in the next couple of weeks. I hate it but look forward to the new place. I need a change...soon!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Adventures of Home Searching in Vancouver!
These days, I have been shopping for new place to stay in. Kind of bored with the current place and was thinking of moving closer to my new work and since I have never done this before and the fact that I have got some time before I start at my new job on July 2nd, I started searching on the internet looking for a two bed room apartment in Burnaby. As a result, I have spent the last two days viewing apartments and meeting some of the owners and I tell you something folks, I was in for some weird surprises! To name a few;
1-Some of the owners are WEIRD! or at least switch to "weird mode" when they meet a prospective tenant of their places. It's like a dad looking at his daughter's first boyfriend if you know what I mean! Seriously, I remembered the funny looks and behavior that you typically see on TV shows. Tell you what folks, I have had quite an interesting couple of days (and counting!). Let me tell this one, I met this couple whom are putting their apartment for rent, they looked fine, and the wife was of Iranian descent (or Persian as they like to call themselves here in Canada! LOL - oh, by the way, watch Maz Jobrani's stand up on youtube, look for Persians vs. Arabs, it's hilarious) and the husband looked, well, I thought he was Iranian but when he spoke, his accent wasn’t the typical Iranian English accent that I know (I'm really good with accents by the way) so I just left it there as I don't care really. I was there for a reason and I didn't wanna distract myself by trivial stuff like that. Anyway, I talked mainly to the wife as her English was much better than her husband's (but I can feel that the husband was not very comfortable, you know, a middle eastern man watching his wife leading a conversation with a another man with him standing there, feeling helpless, kind of). Her name was Zahra (so typical!) and we had a chat for about 30 minutes or so talking about Vancouver, the local real estate market, Dubai, the 2010 Olympics and some other small talk subjects. Towards the end, Zahra (having known that I was in Dubai for quite a few years, was very curious to know where I come from)asked me if I was Persian. I was expecting her question, I can see it coming so I paused, looked into her eyes, smiled and told her, no, I am from Iraq and suddenly, I saw lights go off in her husband's face although I was not looking at him (peripheral vision, one skill I acquired playing Basketball for few years and has helped me a great deal in life). So, having felt that her husband's reaction was about to blow the deal, Zahra exclaimed, Oh, Jamal is from Jordan, pointing towards her husband! But he’s been here since he was 12 (he is probably 40+ now) so I turned to him and said, Oh really, "shlonak" (means, how are you in Iraqi dialect), he replied, “Al Hamdulillah” struggling to hide the discomfort expressions shaping like wave ripples on of his face. Following that was a couple of seconds of awkward silence then he jumped to save the scene (or so he thought) and said in his poor English along the lines of "don't worry, you being an Iraqi won't affect my decision, I won't hold it against you" and my jaw dropped! WTF!! Damn, I could not see this one coming but I recovered quickly, took a deep breath, smiled and looked at him and then to his wife and smiled at her (just to piss him off really!) and then said (still looking into Zahra’s eyes) “why should I be worried, you being Jordanian, I should be holding that against you but I won’t this time for your wife’s sake” by this time he was really pissed so I started walking towards the door on the way out having decided to stay away from this place and said good bye and will get back to you folks tomorrow. That was a surprise folks especially here in Canada. Some folks just won’t change! I mean he’s been living in Canada for at least 27 years and his English is so poor which means he has not been exposed to people here and I wonder what he is doing for a living? That was one good shocker!
2-The second one was not as big but still makes you wonder what goes on into people’s minds when they are meeting prospective tenants. Anyway, I agreed to meet this lady in the afternoon at 07:00 (still sunny, sunset is around 09:30 pm these days in Vancouver). I’m usually a punctual person so I arrived on time and found a young lady standing at the main door. I approached her and asked her if she was Elia? And she said yes, I am. Elia is a nice young lady, dressed casually, and has a small mole on her left cheek. She didn't have an accent but she had that glimpse of the traditional Indian beauty features on her that was kind of attractive. So after introducing myself, I asked her if I can see the apartment and she says NO! Perplexed by her reply I asked her why? She says, well I’m waiting for my father and brother to arrive. My father does not allow me to show the flat to strangers! WHAT? Give me a break, are you kidding me? I mean we’re not in New York or the Bronx! Anyway, I bit the bullet as I liked the building so I said "OK, when do you expect him to show up? Is he gonna be late?" Elia apologetically said "I’m sorry but it seems he’s gonna be late for a few minutes, I hope you don’t mind?" I looked at her, she was not bad looking as I said and I thought a few minutes with a fine lady like Elia won't harm, so I said “well, a few minutes won’t be the end of the world!”. I tried to strike a normal conversation but she kept looking at the road and her watch, as if she does not want her dad seeing her talk to stranger kind of behavior! So, having seen that, I just stood silent waiting for DAD and made a couple of calls to waste some time! 15 minutes later, dad shows up with the brother, so we finally went upstairs to see the apartment. I went in, took a look around, the apartment was not bad, 24th floor, NW corner, nice view but the bed rooms were on the smallish side. I have seen a couple of other places in the same building earlier that morning so I was well aware of the specifications and amenities. Anyway, you can see her scanning me, looking at her dad as if she is asking him “what do you think dad?” again, dad looked tired but was also monitoring my moves around the place. I almost felt a burning sensation on the back of my neck while I was checking the place! Anyway, having experienced the weirdness and decided to pass on the place, I did my usual teasing which in this case was asking her if the monthly rental she indicated in the ad is negotiable. Boy, they hate this question but I was trying to tease so I did not really care. She was kind of surprised and looked at her dad again and then looked back at me and said “of course NO, I already dropped the price once” as if I should have known that! So I said, OK, I will get to you tomorrow (Goolee Zeezee), and said goodbye for now and left quickly.
3-Below is a list of some of the questions that the owners have listed on the application forms (yes, you have to submit an application form!):
a-“do you drink?” What the hell that is supposed to tell you?
b-“What was your income in your last job? What was your position?” This is after asking for the current salary and position. These guys want to piece together your complete psychiatric profile, hobbies, what do you like to do you in your spare time, your favorite perfume, ..everything! WTF do you think I’m renting here? Your wife? Give me a break!
c-“what car do you have? Which model and year?” another dumb question to see how well off you are.
d-“How long do you intend to stay in this place?”, this is another one of these stupid questions, the standard tenancy contract here is one year, so what do you think I will tell you? Three moths? or perhaps ten years? Would that make you happy you dumb a$$?
e-“Why do you want to move to this place?” how about because I like it! Now what?
f-“Please list two personal references and two others from work (preferably supervisor)”! Again one of these intruding questions. Why should my employer know if I’m moving to a new place?
Look, I’m not being grumpy here but really, what were you thinking? People watch too much TV these days that they think that they have become some kind of detectives and can read your mind and predict if you will be a good tenant or not. I’m sure that there are many reasons why owners are doing what they are doing but you should be reasonable here. It’s like applying for a top level NASA job! Or asking to marry somebody’s daughter in a traditional arranged marriage in rural areas in the ME.
1-Some of the owners are WEIRD! or at least switch to "weird mode" when they meet a prospective tenant of their places. It's like a dad looking at his daughter's first boyfriend if you know what I mean! Seriously, I remembered the funny looks and behavior that you typically see on TV shows. Tell you what folks, I have had quite an interesting couple of days (and counting!). Let me tell this one, I met this couple whom are putting their apartment for rent, they looked fine, and the wife was of Iranian descent (or Persian as they like to call themselves here in Canada! LOL - oh, by the way, watch Maz Jobrani's stand up on youtube, look for Persians vs. Arabs, it's hilarious) and the husband looked, well, I thought he was Iranian but when he spoke, his accent wasn’t the typical Iranian English accent that I know (I'm really good with accents by the way) so I just left it there as I don't care really. I was there for a reason and I didn't wanna distract myself by trivial stuff like that. Anyway, I talked mainly to the wife as her English was much better than her husband's (but I can feel that the husband was not very comfortable, you know, a middle eastern man watching his wife leading a conversation with a another man with him standing there, feeling helpless, kind of). Her name was Zahra (so typical!) and we had a chat for about 30 minutes or so talking about Vancouver, the local real estate market, Dubai, the 2010 Olympics and some other small talk subjects. Towards the end, Zahra (having known that I was in Dubai for quite a few years, was very curious to know where I come from)asked me if I was Persian. I was expecting her question, I can see it coming so I paused, looked into her eyes, smiled and told her, no, I am from Iraq and suddenly, I saw lights go off in her husband's face although I was not looking at him (peripheral vision, one skill I acquired playing Basketball for few years and has helped me a great deal in life). So, having felt that her husband's reaction was about to blow the deal, Zahra exclaimed, Oh, Jamal is from Jordan, pointing towards her husband! But he’s been here since he was 12 (he is probably 40+ now) so I turned to him and said, Oh really, "shlonak" (means, how are you in Iraqi dialect), he replied, “Al Hamdulillah” struggling to hide the discomfort expressions shaping like wave ripples on of his face. Following that was a couple of seconds of awkward silence then he jumped to save the scene (or so he thought) and said in his poor English along the lines of "don't worry, you being an Iraqi won't affect my decision, I won't hold it against you" and my jaw dropped! WTF!! Damn, I could not see this one coming but I recovered quickly, took a deep breath, smiled and looked at him and then to his wife and smiled at her (just to piss him off really!) and then said (still looking into Zahra’s eyes) “why should I be worried, you being Jordanian, I should be holding that against you but I won’t this time for your wife’s sake” by this time he was really pissed so I started walking towards the door on the way out having decided to stay away from this place and said good bye and will get back to you folks tomorrow. That was a surprise folks especially here in Canada. Some folks just won’t change! I mean he’s been living in Canada for at least 27 years and his English is so poor which means he has not been exposed to people here and I wonder what he is doing for a living? That was one good shocker!
2-The second one was not as big but still makes you wonder what goes on into people’s minds when they are meeting prospective tenants. Anyway, I agreed to meet this lady in the afternoon at 07:00 (still sunny, sunset is around 09:30 pm these days in Vancouver). I’m usually a punctual person so I arrived on time and found a young lady standing at the main door. I approached her and asked her if she was Elia? And she said yes, I am. Elia is a nice young lady, dressed casually, and has a small mole on her left cheek. She didn't have an accent but she had that glimpse of the traditional Indian beauty features on her that was kind of attractive. So after introducing myself, I asked her if I can see the apartment and she says NO! Perplexed by her reply I asked her why? She says, well I’m waiting for my father and brother to arrive. My father does not allow me to show the flat to strangers! WHAT? Give me a break, are you kidding me? I mean we’re not in New York or the Bronx! Anyway, I bit the bullet as I liked the building so I said "OK, when do you expect him to show up? Is he gonna be late?" Elia apologetically said "I’m sorry but it seems he’s gonna be late for a few minutes, I hope you don’t mind?" I looked at her, she was not bad looking as I said and I thought a few minutes with a fine lady like Elia won't harm, so I said “well, a few minutes won’t be the end of the world!”. I tried to strike a normal conversation but she kept looking at the road and her watch, as if she does not want her dad seeing her talk to stranger kind of behavior! So, having seen that, I just stood silent waiting for DAD and made a couple of calls to waste some time! 15 minutes later, dad shows up with the brother, so we finally went upstairs to see the apartment. I went in, took a look around, the apartment was not bad, 24th floor, NW corner, nice view but the bed rooms were on the smallish side. I have seen a couple of other places in the same building earlier that morning so I was well aware of the specifications and amenities. Anyway, you can see her scanning me, looking at her dad as if she is asking him “what do you think dad?” again, dad looked tired but was also monitoring my moves around the place. I almost felt a burning sensation on the back of my neck while I was checking the place! Anyway, having experienced the weirdness and decided to pass on the place, I did my usual teasing which in this case was asking her if the monthly rental she indicated in the ad is negotiable. Boy, they hate this question but I was trying to tease so I did not really care. She was kind of surprised and looked at her dad again and then looked back at me and said “of course NO, I already dropped the price once” as if I should have known that! So I said, OK, I will get to you tomorrow (Goolee Zeezee), and said goodbye for now and left quickly.
3-Below is a list of some of the questions that the owners have listed on the application forms (yes, you have to submit an application form!):
a-“do you drink?” What the hell that is supposed to tell you?
b-“What was your income in your last job? What was your position?” This is after asking for the current salary and position. These guys want to piece together your complete psychiatric profile, hobbies, what do you like to do you in your spare time, your favorite perfume, ..everything! WTF do you think I’m renting here? Your wife? Give me a break!
c-“what car do you have? Which model and year?” another dumb question to see how well off you are.
d-“How long do you intend to stay in this place?”, this is another one of these stupid questions, the standard tenancy contract here is one year, so what do you think I will tell you? Three moths? or perhaps ten years? Would that make you happy you dumb a$$?
e-“Why do you want to move to this place?” how about because I like it! Now what?
f-“Please list two personal references and two others from work (preferably supervisor)”! Again one of these intruding questions. Why should my employer know if I’m moving to a new place?
Look, I’m not being grumpy here but really, what were you thinking? People watch too much TV these days that they think that they have become some kind of detectives and can read your mind and predict if you will be a good tenant or not. I’m sure that there are many reasons why owners are doing what they are doing but you should be reasonable here. It’s like applying for a top level NASA job! Or asking to marry somebody’s daughter in a traditional arranged marriage in rural areas in the ME.
Monday, June 23, 2008
George Carlin-Who owns you?
Although George meant this video for Americans but I can say that this is also largely applicable to Canada with minor twists here and there.
George Carlin - Religion is bullshit.
I know this particular video may throw some people overboard but it is a classic that everybody should all see! As is the case with George Carlin, the content and language may be offensive to some of you!
George Carlin, R.I.P.
Yesterday, George Carlin, the greatest comedic mind of our time died. A very sad news for me. He was a great and unique talent and no one will ever be able to fill his shoes. I will certainly miss his insightful (and sometime biting) humor and wit. I was introduced to George Carlin world by a good friend of mine, Ali, early last year (watched him on youtube) and man I loved this guy's work. Unlike most comedians, George Carlin literally pushed the boundaries and limits of anybody's tolerance. Ironically, I was supposed to attend his live show here in Vancouver on November 8th but sadly, I won't be able to. I was really looking forward to that. Many people, especially where I come from, may not be comfortable listening to what Georgie has to say because, as I mentioned earlier, George will push your limits of tolerance and we're not wired to do so but if you can really listen to what he has to say, you'll find that in many cases he is absolutely right and just spot on. I will post a couple of videos for people to see and hopefully enjoy! Rest in peace, Georgie.
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