E-reading

2007-04-03T01:46:00.001+03:00

Recently I decided to try paperless reading. I know about the concept from before, but there is no way I will be able to do that for recent publications free of charge. So, I revisited a favorite site of mine... Project Guntenberg. For those of you who don't know, there is a vast amount of literature out there that is not copyright protected in

Arrival at the Airport

2007-03-04T19:16:00.000+02:00

Mother is coming today from London where she has spent a month at my newlywed brother’s. I got a call yesterday from them saying that the flight going from Damascus will be late, and subsequently the departing flight from London, and they wanted to know what time should she be at the airport.It is a weekend in UK so the Syrian Airline office is closed. Thankfully they had a back up emergency

Nagging

2007-02-28T12:18:00.000+02:00

Following some suggestion of getting the voice a bit louder, I called today the ministry of foreign affairs to complain about the “queue jumpers” and the problem of getting the stamps in one place and the certification in another. So I was put through with the vice counselor affairs manager.In my conversation with him he mentioned two points:1- That they are being strict about the معقبين or “

Bosra

2007-02-27T23:26:00.000+02:00

Last weekend I was invited to attend a conference in Bosra, a two days one night event, that has to do with oncology. The conference was sponsored by a drug company, and as usual there was an educational part and an entertainment counterpart.The road to Bosra takes about 75 minutes or so. There is one hotel there, Bosra Al Cham, which I think only worked on the day we arrived. Otherwise it is a

Paper Certification

2007-02-26T09:44:00.000+02:00

I think one of the most humiliating experiences here is trying to certify some papers from the Ministry of Exterior Affairs وزارة الخارجية. Not infrequently some of us still has to do what is called "Under supervision forms" for the sake of postponing military service while studying abroad.The thing looks as follows: you have a certain piece of paper that says whatever, and I mean by whatever is

Recently Read

2007-02-26T09:37:00.000+02:00

The Perfume, by Patrick Suskind: a tale of an odorless guy who has a nose that can distinguish every smell in the world. His life is centered around things that smell (identities I think), but he alone has none. And as he grows up, to become one of the best perfume makers in France, incognito of course, he started to murder young virgin pretty females who have beautiful body scent. He wanted to

A Tip for Valentine

2007-02-15T14:20:00.000+02:00

Celebrating the occasion of Valentine, here is today's pearl..If your girlfriend asks: “How deep is your love?”The wrong answer is: “Cervix.”:-p

Valentine

2007-02-15T14:18:00.000+02:00

Again, the world turned red, as if enough blood is not spilled everyday. At least this is harmless. This year for Valentine we spent the night in the Carlton Hotel. Not my first choice given the noise (which I am sensitive too), but we had a good time. The singer Hamzeh had a hoarse voice, he tried to sing but he neighed instead. So the D.J. took charge.As a bonus, it seems, we had the luck of

New Passport

2007-02-12T20:30:00.000+02:00

My old one was about to expire, so I thought it is time to have a new one that is valid for more than two years (now that I don’t have to do military service). I asked about what papers would I need from relatives (because there is no other trusted source available), and they all said get a proof of residency سند إقامة.Although I was offered to have an intelligence agent go with me to make things

How Do you know you are growing old???

2007-02-07T02:28:00.000+02:00

1- You have too many memories2- You forgot most of them3- People start calling you عمو4- You start saying: "in my days..."5- Hair grows on your... ears6- When you look in the mirror, you see someone elseHere are some suggestions by othersBy Fadi:7. you compensate by poking fun at others for being young8. you don't play fun games like 7ole Mole!By Gray-fox:9- you stop eating lolipops, and find

Tagged

2007-02-07T02:23:00.000+02:00

I am tagged by the gray fox from his throne. And I guess it includes talking about me, myself, I, moi, and أنا.So here is a short version of 5 things about myself. I may attempt a longer one later, as I don't like to speak about myself (except in this blog, which has been running for 18 months).1- I am stubborn2- I like sushi3- I think I am smart4- I tend to forget5- I tend to forget:-)

Gaming

2007-02-07T02:11:00.000+02:00

In the past week or so, I felt like playing PC games. So I went to a store, and needless to say all games here are pirated, and I bought a game.Upon installation there was a certain faulted file that couldn't be extracted.A bit afterward I got another game from another store, and this one downloaded nicely. But apparently my video adapter or monitor display was not compatible, so I couldn't play

Lecture Update

2007-02-07T02:05:00.000+02:00

Overall, my lecture on Sunday went very well. A 45 minute display of how to find targeted medical information on the web with live online display.I spotted only three who where sleeping, that is a plus. There were a good number of attendings and residents. No post lecture discussion unfortunately, but what pleased me is that many came asking for some of the material I presented or the lecture

Upcoming Events

2007-02-01T16:13:00.000+02:00

I will be lecturing on "Finding Medical Information" in Tishreen Hospital on Sunday. This is an internal lecture, so not for the public I believe. I think it will go well.

Trasholution

2007-01-27T16:34:00.000+02:00

One good benefit of sitting in the office with no active work to be done is the ability to think and come up with all kind of ideas (serious and stupid). Very long time ago (more than a year) I imagined myself being the Minister of Interior Affairs or the governor of Damascus, then started imagining what things I would do or change. And here is the part about trash (and trasholution is a merge

Misc. News

2007-01-26T01:44:00.000+02:00

Ok, here is some variety news at my neck of the wood.News for single colleagues in USA, Michel Salookeh, a friend of mine have just finished a visit to Syria, in which he got engaged. Those of you reading this blog (you know yourselves) you should think of coming here more frequently and join the rest.Over the past few weeks I have read a book called “أبو نضال، بندقية للإيجار” about the famous

Other Funny Typos

2007-01-23T01:35:00.000+02:00

This is taken from a poster for a new place in town. I have never seen the work "pub" written in Arabic before, and thinking about it, I will never attempt to do that. بوب???? This was hilarious. But the winner is of course "willcome".-Willcome Sir.-Sure I will.:-p

On Blogging

2007-01-21T12:10:00.001+02:00

After 18 months of blogging on “Bassam In Syria”, I thought to myself I should say something about blogging. Sometime in the future, blog will be the word of the year. I am not sure when the culture of blogging started, but I got introduced to it in 2003. Then I decided to write a blog: “A Syrian Abroad”. I was in USA at the time and for reasons beyond what my memory can tell I decided not to

Blogging History

2007-01-21T12:07:00.000+02:00

This is my version of the who, how, when, and what of blogging.God created the world in six days, and many think that on the seventh he rested. Wrong... On the seventh day he, or she, created a blog after making Adam and Eve. He called his blog: “Fools in action”. We can’t read this blog for two reasons: the first is that the host server was not linked to earth and stayed celestial. The second is

End of the line

2007-01-11T16:19:00.000+02:00

Some of you who followed my blog know that I have applied to create and register a new subspecialty in medicine: palliative medicine. And this has eventually come to an end after 14 months. And this is how it ended.Last month I went to ask about the appliacation, which have surely accumulated by then a 10 cm worth of dust. The clerks told me the same old story about putting new specialties on

Road Trip

2007-01-06T00:32:00.000+02:00

I need to say first of all that I am incapable of writing comments now even using the inblog website from my home computer, so there will be no replies until further notice.I went to Safita after the New Year Eve, as I recovered from my “flu”, and today we came back. The travel was the worst I have ever been to in Syria. First there was rain, then before we reach Homs there was snow again on the

After two months...

2007-01-02T17:26:00.000+02:00

Ok. Here I am back on popular demand... just kidding. That was a long vacation from writing, I think I deserved it. But now it is getting serious, so I'll attempt to behave and be consistent. And here I will summarize things that happened with me; nothing exciting I might add.Trips: I went once to Lebanon for a medical conference. We stayed at the Movenpick and what a lovely hotel. I tried to use

To Katrien

2006-12-12T00:02:00.000+02:00

It's my pleasure to answer your survey. Write down you email address for me, and I'll email you. Unfortunately I will not publish my email here. And I'll clear this entry once u reply.

Vacation - sort of

2006-10-18T23:58:00.000+02:00

I have some terribly overdue chapters to write, so I will isolate myself for a couple of weeks to get the job done. Those who follow me regularly are to expect little update if any. Not that I was writing everyday recently. But still...By the way, a store in Damscus claims that they have imported clothes from: Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. I will surely pay a visit to the place (in Town

Riyadh Girls - بنات الرياض

2006-10-15T19:17:00.000+02:00

Few days ago, at midnight, I was very bored, no one at home and there was nothing to do or watch on TV. I suddenly remembered that I saw an ad for a book fair in Damascus citadel that stays open till 1 o’clock. So I went out of curiosity and boredom. The book fair was... fair, and the selection wasn’t huge neither interesting. But I saw that book: Riyadh Girls – بنات الرياض, and for one reason it

Beit Al-Agha بيت الآغا

2006-10-15T15:24:00.000+02:00

Few days ago, I went with my parents and Brother's wife to Safita. As usual, there was a stop in Homs where we had lunch in Beit Al Agha. An old Arabic style house with a huge yard and a unique design that is not very much seen in Damascus: the use of black stones, basiltic stones.The place is very nice from inside, and contrary to the name, it seems that no Aghas have dwelt here before.

كمان أخبار الشباب

2006-10-15T10:53:00.000+02:00

االبارحة وبعد غياب طويل،و انقطاع عن رؤية الأصدقاء القدامى، التقيت بالصدفة بخلدون نعمان. وهو على حد علمي الوحيد الذي نجح بالفحص الفرنسي من دفعتنا وذهب للدراسة من البدء في فرنسا دون بعث من الدولة. حالياً هو قد أنهى اختصاصه في الأمراض الصدرية ويعمل منذ 3 سنين في مدينة جانب لورد.

For This...

2006-10-10T20:24:00.000+02:00

Is the title of the movie, or the short documentary rather, that was played today in Cham movie theater in a special display.I arrived an hour later, I got the message wrong, and found no one but the executive producer Dr. Fayez Sandouq فايز صندوق who is a well known GI doctor. At first I thought: oh, I am the only one attending, everyone else is busy!!! That proved to be wrong. The theater was

Blogspot Forbidden??

2006-10-08T16:05:00.000+02:00

My friend told me that she has been unable to access my blog from Syria of course. As I don't consider myself too dangerous to be blocked personally, I checked the websites. And it seems that anything on blogspot is at least temporarily forbidden from Syrian access. But that doesn't mean we can't write...Until when our (un)intelligence office will cease acting like children? I think this is

2006-10-05T17:07:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I went with my fiancee, my cousin, and a friend to a restaurant called: Opaline, in Midhat Basha. I don't have photos of the place, but it is a very nice one. Of course, an old Damascene house made into restaurant. The Decor inside is very nice, but it doesn't have the popular vibe, it is more elite.There I saw a leaflet stand (the first I see here) filled with ads concerning clothing

عمارة يعقوبيان... الكتاب – الفلم

2006-10-05T17:06:00.000+02:00

خلال الخمسة أيام الماضية، كان أهلي خارج القطر. مما يعني أني كنت ملك القلعة، ويعني أيضاً أنني ارتحت من الأخبار والاكتئاب الذي تحدثه. أعطاني ذلك مزيداً من الوقت لأقرأ، ومما قرأت كان عمارة يعقوبيان.لا بد أن الجميع يعرف بأمر هذه القصة، على الأقل عنوانها، إذ أن الفلم الذي أنتج عنها ضم أسماء كبيرة في الوسط الفني المصري كما أنه يقال أنه سوف يرشح لأوسكار أفضل فلم أجنبي.القصة أخذت شعبيتها، أعتقد، لأنها

Gym, Again

2006-09-29T15:45:00.000+02:00

Today I started going to the gym again. It has been 10 months since the last time. I hate the first day. You begin with energy, sweat, feel a few cramps, end up tired. Then when you want to take a shower you can't even shampoo your head... you feel crippled.But it is a most needed start (I need to get rid of my skyrocketing cholesterol, and stay fit of course).

Also...

2006-09-28T13:44:00.000+02:00

I got my syndicate ID, finally. No photo is to be provided.

Getting the tickets

2006-09-28T13:26:00.000+02:00

In a matter related to the anonymous comment on the previous post, I set off today to get tickets for the Saturday concert.Step 1: I arrived at the ministry of tourism near the old fair ground. Wrong building. They sent me to the main building. There I found the place where they have the invitations; it is called المراسم, which doesn't make sense to me. Anyway the guy there said there are no

السندباد - رحلة الأرجوان

2006-09-28T02:53:00.000+02:00

Last night we went to this show by Inana Troupe in the old citadel of Damascus, currently renovated and maybe open to public. Some parts of it may still be used as a prison. But anyway, I saw the ad in a news paper a couple of days ago and decided to go. Few of my friends also decided to join me, and so we were five altogether. The plan was to go early to find seats because the invitation was “

أوراقي... أوراقي

2006-09-26T14:41:00.000+02:00

كادت الذكرى السنوية لـِ.... هل حزرتم؟؟؟ الذكرى السنوية لتقديمي طلب إحداث اختصاص جديد في الطب التلطيفي تحل. وأعتقد أنها توافق الشهر المقبل. ومعها أيضاً طلب تسجيلي في نقابة الأطباء (الذي تم) ويتبعه إصدار هوية نقابية معها.الحال هو نفسه في الحادثين. لا شيء حدث على الإطلاق مع أي من الطلبين (أو التأخيرين)، مع بعض التعديل.ففي الأولى، أصبح الذهاب إلى مديرية الامتحانات أمراً عادياً ورتيباً خاصة بعد

The Damascus Dream Part 2 - By Tony

2006-09-22T19:51:00.000+02:00

1- Well, before I start talking about night life and entertainment facilities in both Damascus and Detroit, I couldn't help my self not commenting on the seatbelt law that they started to apply 3 weeks ago while I was in Syria (well, the law of using seatbelts while driving was issued 4 years ago... but suddenly they started applying it in AUG/2006).The strangest part is they obligate the driver

Decor Expo

2006-09-21T20:23:00.000+03:00

Yesterday I went with my fiancee to the Decor Fair in the Four Seasons. Lots of people and lots of furniture. Did I also say that driving in Damascus is becoming more horrible and tiring? Car dealer should refuse to import any stick shift car and force people to by automatic. I am starting to get cramps in my legs every time I drive, and from now on, I will count to 100 before driving in the city

The Damascus Dream Part 1 - By Tony

2006-09-16T14:49:00.000+03:00

As evident in a previous post, my friend Tony was in Syria (Damascus mainly) for a month or so. Now that he is in USA again he asked that I post his dream on my blog, which I am letting him do. So here it goes the Damascene dream as seen by Tony, Part 1. Needless to say I made minor editings.The Damascus Dream (PART1)-every thing started in year 2000; me and few other colleagues from the class

Some logic really works sometimes

2006-09-11T14:04:00.000+03:00

A few days ago, I saw a bunch of workers digging a hole in front of the building where we live in Damascus. When I asked them what they were doing they said that a post, that was somewhere else, should be here instead of were it is now. At first they talked about a road post that was no more than 2 meters away and was there for years. I learned later that they were talking about one of the new

Today I Feel

2006-09-05T09:39:00.000+03:00

Here is an idea for those who are willing to go through its process.1- Take self pictures in different expressions2- cut your head off the rest of the photo3- match expressions and heads4- Print on a magnetic board (I haven't done this yet)5- make a magnetic empty square6- place square daily on appropriate feeling. For some this will be the same face everyday, LOLThis idea is inspired by an

An Evening in the Spa

2006-08-31T23:35:00.000+03:00

This was my fiancée’s gift to me on my birthday. A surprise gift that she has put a lot of effort to make it happen as the Four Seasons Spa is dedicated for the hotel guests only. But again it’s who you know, and not what you know. I will have to say that my experience was the 180 degree opposite of that of my brother and wife.I was told to go and meet a sales representative without knowing what

Borong Bus... The Visual

2006-08-31T11:24:00.000+03:00

Thanks to Hadi. See the related post.

مفاضلة البكلوريا

2006-08-31T00:11:00.000+03:00

ظهرت اليوم نتائج البكلوريا بفرعيها أو ما يسمى بالمفاضلة. وأول ما قمت بعمله هو المقارنة مع أيامي السالفة وأيضاً النظر إلى علامات هذه السنة. أعلى اختصاص معدلاً هو كالعادة الطب البشري بمعدل 236 (يعني 4.91 من 5 على النظام الغربي) من 240 علامة. يعني يجب ألا تنقص الطالب أكثر من 4 علامات كي يستطيع أن ينتقي على كيفه.منذ أربعة عشر سنة، جمعت 215 في البكلوريا مما أهلني لدخول أي شيء (كان معدل الطب البشري في

My Birthday...

2006-08-30T01:24:00.000+03:00

Happens to be today. I am 31 now. Three decades are consumed. I don't feel like I am growing older. I just wish I never remembered it is mine, so at least I would feel surprised when someone calls or sends an email or so...Another year to handle now. Then I will probably stop this blog. I only hope that interesting things continue to come across my path.

George Galloway Lecture

2006-08-29T23:02:00.000+03:00

It was announced that the pro-Arab British parliament member George Galloway is going to lecture in Damascus. So I decided to go and attend.In the lecture... Well I didn't attend it. But I made the effort to go. I was there 5 minutes early and was faced with a huge crowd extending to outside the auditorium which was full with no place for a footprint. There was another room in which there was a

طوني في سوريا

2006-08-29T14:48:00.000+03:00

Tony says: "the best thing about visiting Syria as an expatriot is that your schedule gets overbooked as soon as you touch the Homeland soil. So enough complaining about not having time in USA, the same thing is happening here. The only difference is that you don't have a choice here to schedule it. It is already in existance before you know it."Tony is probably the oldest friend I know, and his

I Can't Take It Anymore...

2006-08-29T00:10:00.000+03:00

I promised myself not to write about weddings anymore, but I will have to. The issue is still haunting me. Now there is an issue that is more disturbing than anything else: Flashbacks. Not that I am getting recollections of the wedding ceremony and party and stuff. But now the DVDs are here, and it’s DVD attack time. And I must have seen them 6-7 times over the last 3 weeks or so.After I got them

New Gadget

2006-08-24T15:33:00.000+03:00

I like my new Flash memory, it is so tiny. When it folds it is half the size. And it hold 1 Gigabytes of memory.

Western Union

2006-08-24T11:13:00.000+03:00

One of my relatives owed me some dollars, and it was set that he will transfer me the money through western union, which has several locations in Syria now.I am not sure how it is supposed to work, but this is how it worked.I waited... and waited... then waited, and no one contacted me regarding the transfer. Then my relative calls me from overseas to tell me that he was called by Western Union

Doctors in USA wanting to get married....

2006-08-18T13:38:00.000+03:00

Improve your credentials!!!This story was narrated by a friend of mine, and it is true 100%.A doctor friend, few years back, came to Syria for getting married. With him, he brought his best friend, a doctor too, as his best man. It seems that some likening developed between the best man and the bride's maid. The following conversation took place between the best man and the bride's maid mother...

عجة بيض

2006-08-16T17:39:00.000+03:00

This is one of my favorite home made sweets. A fried mix of flour and egg dipped in sugar syrup.YummmmmmmmmmmmAnd God created Ijjet Beid and said: it is gooooooooooood.

P.S.

2006-08-13T17:23:00.000+03:00

Hey Maher, this is especially for you. I also saw all your sisters and brother in the night club a couple of days ago, including all who are abroad. Only you were missing... You should have come.

Laique Reunion - Summer of Surprises

2006-08-12T20:28:00.000+03:00

This summer was full of surprises and get togethers with people I haven't seen for a while.First my friends from USA started arriving one after the other. Four so far have showed up including: Fadi, Ayham (the Boss), Tony (my best friend), and Ayham (aka Schneider) :pTony surprised me at a wedding party a week ago.In addition, at the same party I met Firas (to the right of the picture) whom I

Menus

2006-08-12T01:32:00.000+03:00

I couldn't, or rather we couldn't, help but having lots of fun as we read the menu items of the بيت الياسمين (Beit Al-Yasmeen) Restaurant.And the translation goes as follows:Sticks = StakesKeeve = A la Kiev (as I believe, but it is definitely not as written)Blue = Bleu (I don't want to be too critical, it could be correct in English, but I know it is written in French)Felaih = Filet (I can't

New Blog

2006-08-10T14:00:00.000+03:00

Please watch out for a new parallel blog of mine that will be published soon.It will be simple and straightforward... of real life. Not mine though.

Good Things About My Country: Absolutely No Trash... Revisited

2006-08-10T13:51:00.000+03:00

Due to popular request I decided to talk about a good thing that happened here.If you remember the link about Absolutely No Trash, there is an update to it.Can you tell the difference? Yes.. Hurray. I like to think that I have an indirect role in that.A trash can occupies the place where trash used to be...But...Trash found another place :(Sorry guys about the disappointment.

Weddings, Weddings... And More Weddings

2006-08-06T11:36:00.000+03:00

It's like a never ending flashback. I have attended more wedding this summer than probably my whole life. And although it is true that it is nice to share the happiness of others, but things become monotonous after a while and they become boring.Why boring? Remember the famous saying: same shit different day? In this case it is: Same wedding different names.The wedding sermon is essentially the

Only in Syria: Borong Bus??

2006-07-29T12:30:00.000+03:00

Does anyone here know what is a "Borong Bus"?If you guys give up, let me know so I can tell you.Shame on you guys... no takers? Here is the story of Borong Bus.Borong Bus is not a fictional hero (although it sounds like it), it is not a Syrian dish, and it is not a brand name of anything.As I drove my brother and his wife yesterday to the airport, I couldn't help but noticing a big printed

More friends news

2006-07-28T22:50:00.000+03:00

Good news for those of you stuck in the States on H1 visas. Two friends of mine, Ayham Ashkar (aka: the boss) and Fadi Hayek, have made the courageous move of coming to Syria. They both got their visas within 10 days or so.This means one thing: I should be seeing more of you guys coming here to entertain me before I return :-)On the other hand, you can also try to fix yourself with someone (this

Email Blogging

2006-07-28T02:52:00.000+03:00

I am trying to use the email for publishing blog entries. I hope this works, it will make my mobile blogging easier if I had to do it. Who knows, maybe one day they would block my site, as they stupidly do all the time. Now they block Hotmail, but that is not a problem because of tons of alternate ways. But what is more disgusting is that access to Pubmed - a medical article search engine - is

One Year

2006-07-26T20:13:00.000+03:00

One year since I left USA to come to Syria...One year of blog publishing and 184 entries...One year of funny, serious, and silly personal articles...I don't regret it so far, although I wish some things went in different directions.One year of "personal acheivements", I will not be listed in Forbes 500 nor receive a Nobel peace prize.One year of new experiences and faces.At least I managed to

Alice in Wonderland

2006-07-25T00:12:00.000+03:00

لم أجد عنواناً أفضل من هذا لهذه المقالة، علماً أن بطلها لا يدعى أليس، وأما بلاد العجائب فهي غنية عن التعريف. وأما سبب الكتابة بالعربية، فأولاً أنا لست بمزاج يؤهلني لترجمة القصة وثانياً منشان ما نتبهدل قدام الأجانبيروي القصة والد طفل مريض بورم وهذا الطفل المسكين مصاب بآلام تكاد تعنو حتى على المسكنات المخدرة. وللأسف فإن هذا الوالد قد عانى الأمرين في محاولة منه لتخفيف ألم ابنه وهو يتألم أمامه.لا

The Dark Side of a 5 Star Hotel: Four Seasons

2006-07-24T22:39:00.000+03:00

This didn’t happen to me but to my brother, who just returned from a pleasant honeymoon in Malaysia and Thailand. As newlywed, we elected to have them stay in the Four Seasons hotel instead of being guests in our house for two nights. The Four Seasons is now the most recent and luxurious hotel in Damascus. This is what happened with them:My brother and fiancée arrived at 6 PM to check in, just to

Trip to Lattakia

2006-07-23T18:20:00.000+03:00

I just got back from a two day trip to Lattakia with my fiancee to visit some of my relatives. The highlights of the trip were the following:1- I got to see my relatives in general outside the معمعة of the wedding.2- I saw my cousin Hanna who I haven't seen for 9 years or so, and currently he is abroad.3- Swimming in the Cote d'Azur resort. The sea is nicer than anything my memory can help me

No Comment

2006-07-23T18:17:00.000+03:00

... and it seems no one else in the world is commenting either.I got this in the email: From Israel to Lebanon.

TV Guide

2006-07-16T22:41:00.000+03:00

It isn't customary that I write on current political matters but I couldn't but notice one thing. Every one now knows the agony and disaster that Lebanese people suffer due to Israeli hatred and bombing.And this is what TV schedules look like for regional TV stations:Al Jazeera/Al Arabia: Breaking news, live commentary, breaking news, news, breaking news, news analysis, breaking news, etc... (In

Gilgamesh

2006-07-15T13:37:00.000+03:00

No, I am not going to talk about the most ancient epic. Yesterday I attended with some folks a musical work composed by Kinan Al-Azmeh, the renown clarinet player, in association with interactive live drawing by Kivork Murad, an Armenian artist skilled in interactive painting.The setting was new and weird. The new piece of music was mostly sad and ancient, sometimes with awkward background music

Best Man

2006-07-09T20:51:00.000+03:00

So finally, we got my brother married. I look at the bed near me in the bedroom and ask myself is it going to be occupied again? The wedding was nice, trivial annoyances (especially with the flower guys at Arom: bad attitude), and everything was as perceived. And I was the best man.No one told me that being the best man is the toughest job in the wedding. Of course I helped a lot in the

Football Wedding: aka العرس الكروي

2006-07-06T01:47:00.000+03:00

The craze of world cup 2006 is about to end. France and Italy to the finals, and many doubt the validity of their achievements. But this is not the issue. Yesterday Italy won 2 to nothing against Germany. Then people started expressing their Identity Confusion.The area where I live has became the hot spot for celebrations. Young kids from the neighborhood, joined by hundreds more of the suburbs,

Weddings

2006-07-03T16:02:00.000+03:00

It is summer time, and this means one thing (out of many of course): more weddings on the way. Everyone waits the summer to tie the big knot that will allow them to live together, bake children and quarrel legally.Over the last 2 weeks or so we have attended somthing like 3 weddings. But this time with a different pair of eyes. This time with an examining and criticizing eye, as my brother's

SAMS

2006-06-29T15:34:00.000+03:00

It stands for the Syrian American Medical Society. This is one of the nice examples of caring and love for the country from Syrian physicians abroad. In the past seven years, each May a conference is held for 4-5 days in which lectures, symposiums, group meetings and free medical and surgical care is offered to both Syrian physicians and patients in Syria.The conference ends today and due to my

The Lebanese Politics / Bold and the Beautiful

2006-06-28T21:25:00.000+03:00

I have no clue where did this idea came to my mind. But here is the question:How is Lebanese politics similar to the soap opera "Bold and the Beautiful"??Answer:1- They both seem to never end2- If you miss on it for a couple of months, you can still follow as nothing is missed3- Everybody has screwed everybody else at some point of time4- Characters shift loyalty and passion like

Guess Who Is Back

2006-06-28T21:22:00.000+03:00

Back againBeesso's backTell a friendGuess who's backGuess who's backGuess who's backTa da da....Alright folks, a period of writing depression is over now. I am back from my trip to USA. Back to work, and my brother's seemingly endless wedding preparation.I missed you all. Let me know if you are still around.

Laique اللاييك

2006-05-05T23:18:00.000+03:00

It was such a shameful performance last month, only four posts!!! I could do better... but maybe I didn't want to. But anyway, here comes anotherLaique is my school for 12 years. After it accumlated two ot three different names such as معهد الحرية then معهد الشهيد باسل الأسد along with many other schools, it is still known to everyone as: Laique. The reason I am talking about it is that I paid a

Even Tintin!!!!

2006-04-17T20:49:00.000+03:00

I am a big fan of Tintin, the renowned comic character from Herge, and who isn't.. And now that my brother got the whole animated series, I started watching it with extreme pleasure. My parents could not understand why.. Luckily I don't have to explain.My point is: up until now I thought I have read aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllll the Tintin book.Wrong........ And those of you in the Arab world.

The Art of Smiling

2006-04-12T16:45:00.000+03:00

My cousin was here yesterday, and I spent the AM hours (late AM hours so no one gets confused), going with her on several errands.The final station was at the Assad library, which has security processes like a military campus. It is a huge library with what should be a huge collection of all kinds of books. But I don't know the data.What is going on so that people can't show you their teeth

Silly question!!!

2006-04-11T01:51:00.000+03:00

How come the Latin nation and linguists could not come with a single letter for the sound "sh"???Isn't it annoying to have to write two letters for a genuine and original sound??I hope this happens on my life time, because it is time already.

Long Time.... No See (aka: chatting, taxes, شوف الواوا, and the mourning literature)

2006-04-08T15:41:00.000+03:00

I know I have been away for a long time now. And those who have been keeping up with me are now forgetting to pass by. I don't blame them, I have almost forgotten.To start with, I haven't been busy more than normal lately; in fact I wish I were. But there hasn't been much thing to write about. No new experiences. But I think I can come up with some new events. And I will try to summarize what was

Absolutely...... No Trash

2006-03-21T17:04:00.000+02:00

Ok, I know the picture isn't great, but that is what you can expect from my mobile camera.Anyway, the green sign (almost illegible) says:يمنع منعاً باتاً إلقاء القمامة تحت طائلة المسؤولية ودفع غرامة ماليةI had the idea of taking this picture (which I will replace with a better one if I can) when I saw a girl walking gracefully across the street to throw their home trash under this sign... Too

Coupling

2006-03-18T16:05:00.000+02:00

I am not sure how many of you have seen the sitcom, but I am going to talk about it. So my brother got the whole series with him and lured me into watching it. I watched the whole 30 episodes in 2 days; almost twice now.The sitcom, for those who don't know it, is a sex/relationship oriented series. The first comparison that comes to mind is "Friends"; three girls, three boys and lots of sex talk.

MasterCard 2 – the wedding version

2006-03-15T15:34:00.000+02:00

Ok then, my brother is here, he is getting married after 4 months, and he with his fiancée are struggling through making decisions as to what service they should get, what flowers they should pick, and who should do this and that, etc...It is not easy to get married I figured. It's a hassle; constantly thinking of what-ifs. What if it this doesn't work, what if people do not like this or that...

Research – Subject: Truck muffler exhaust

2006-03-13T23:11:00.000+02:00

I will write this as if it was a research study. As me and my brother were going back from Aleppo I came up with the idea of checking how many trucks or buses (anything bigger than a car, usually used for non private transportation) emit visible exhaust or black smoke from their muffler. So here it is...The Prevalence of Ill-Maintained Vehicles with Smokey Mufflers from Homs to Maaloula Authors:

Military Service – Cheating the Stationary Service

2006-03-08T20:38:00.000+02:00

As some know, I have changed my status in the military to stationary, and now after paying the بدل there is no more duties to worry about. Or so it seems, as recently, while meeting with some people, I was told that by law a person who pays is still subject to 6 months service.... ta da... but fortunately the law is not applied. Imagine what would happen if they did apply it. Lots of angry folks,

Watching Sport

2006-03-05T18:18:00.000+02:00

I think I mentioned that earlier, but currently if anything drives my attention on TV, it is Eurosport. Constant events are showing all the time. Some need tactic and brain, some need physical fitness. But in general there some kind of enthusiasm that accompany watching a game.Even in what can seem as a stupid game (for example: Nordic combined. A bunch of men jumping off a high slope to fly at a

Euthanasia - الموت الرحيم

2006-03-03T13:40:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I lectured on the euthanasia subject to a group of young people (19-22 yrs) who form the musical band of the Church of the Cross (كشاف الصليب). The topic although controversial, thus very interesting, was requested by them (and the offer to me through one of them who I know). I intended the whole thing to be interactive to check on personal experience, previous interpretation of the

أرقام في الطب

2006-03-01T00:14:00.000+02:00

هذه المعطيات أخذتها من "الصفحات الطبية"، يعني صفحات صفراء ولكنها للأطباء والموارد الطبية وكل ما يتعلق بها (ممرضين، صيادلة، معامل، وكالات.....)وإليكم ما ورد فيها، وطبعاً كان بالامكان تفصيل الأمور أكثر من ذلك ولكني لن أقضي وقتاً الآن في فعل ذلك:عدد الأطباء البشريين في سورية لعام 2005 يعادل 25890 أي طبيب واحد لكل 694 مواطنأعلى نسبة طبيب لمواطنين هي في القنيطرة وتساوي طبيب لكل 114 مواطن، وأخفضها في

طريقة جديدة في الكتابة

2006-02-27T20:46:00.000+02:00

أظن أنه ما من أحد وهو يحاول أن ينقل كلمة من اللغة الانكليزية إلى العربية إلا وقابلته مفردات تصعب كتابتها لفظاً، او أن كتابتها العربية يمكن أن تقرأ بأكثر من شكل. وما لفت نظري أكثر حديثاً إلى هذه النقطة هو اسم Boole في الكتاب السابق ذكره (العدد: من الحضارات القديمة إلى الكمبيوتر). وطبعاً بالعربية كتبت على الشكل التالي: بول. و هذا الاسم قد يقرأ على أساس أنه Paul أيضاً، وكذلك قد يفهم بمعنى آخر (هل

Number: From Ancient Civilizations to the Computer

2006-02-26T19:18:00.000+02:00

I finished reading this book: Number, about the history of numbers as we know it from ancient civilizations until current times. I read this in Arabic. The book is published in 1991, so it is way before more advancement in technology, as far as computer goes. So some of the figures in the book are not quite adequate by current standards. Anyway, the part about the computer at the end was very

السر المصون في شيعة الفرمسون

2006-02-24T02:50:00.000+02:00

هذا آخر كتاب انتهيت من قراءته وهو كتاب شيق وممتع ومفيد. ألفه سنة 1910 الأب لويس شيخو اليسوعي في فضح ادعاءات وأكاذيب وغايات الماسونية في ذلك الوقت على الأقل. والطبعة التي بين يدي هي من منشورات نوبل.الكتاب على ما يبدو هو تجميع لست مقالات في الماسونية نشرت في جريدة حينها اسمها المشرق. وهو يقع في عدة أبحاث كلها ننقد المذهب الماسوني (أو الفرمسوني) وأعماله. والكاتب ذو حس فكاهي طريف (بالعامي: أفّلجي).

The Dream Blog

2006-02-23T01:40:00.000+02:00

I frequently dream whacky and adventurous sci-fi kind of dreams. Although I always wanted to leave a pencil and a notebook at the bedside to note my dreams in the morning, I have not done that.Today I just got the idea of a dream blog. But before that I did a search, and to my surprise, there are people who are keeping online diaries of their dreams, well detailed I would add.I am having this

Vote: Why Doesn't Our News Media Cover the Winter Olympics in Torino?

2006-02-22T23:43:00.000+02:00

As any good citizen, I don't watch news channels (especially the Lebanese ones) unless I am extremely bored or have to because someone else is watching it (usually older than me). Instead I am watching, when I can, the winter Olympics now being held in Torino, Italy since the 10th of February. And watching it is fun; I should write about the feelings that come through while doing that, but this

Attending myself

2006-02-21T01:05:00.000+02:00

A year ago next March, I was in Florida attending and presenting at a Palliative Medicine meeting arranged by my training program at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.At the time there was a full team video-recording everything that was going on. The idea was to make this available online for people to use and benefit from (and maybe later make it a Pay-per-view thing).I didn't know this thing was

إعلانات مبوبة 2

2006-02-18T20:15:00.001+02:00

هذه حفنة أخرى من الاعلانات الطبية :)

NeoCounter

2006-02-18T20:15:00.000+02:00

I have to admit that I like the idea of the visitor counter. I should have done it from the begining. There is so much to blogs than one can expect.I think it give an insight to the traffic through. And also some intersting things may arise. For example I don't know why a resident of Croatia should stop by, given the fact that my blog is not listed in search engines!!! (must be through other

Bassam in Syria

The Final Nail

Gone Voting

Election Countdown

Finance Matters