I have Windows Vista Business edition. I installed it on the computer I bought earlier this year. I have an AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ 2.6 GH. 2 gigs of ram, and a very decent 512 meg video card. Lots of hard drive space and great 16x DVD player/writer. My computer is great. Fast and lovely. I decided to install Vista because it was available for me. It was a free educational distribution, and obviously I wanted to try it out.

Here are the problems I have been facing,

1. I can’t seem to dual boot, so Linux on a second partition was out of the question.
2. I can’t install software that I have been using for years on XP. Even when I change the compatibility version to XP, it still does not work.
3. Every time I install anything, I get at least 2 or 3 confirmation asking me, “are you sure?” “Is it safe?”
4. I can’t turn off the warnings or I will never know if there was an error. It’s either have it all, or not have it.
5. I wanted to install one of my favourite games, Civilization 4, but refused to install. Obviously that pissed me off.
6. I was browsing the net, and I was trying to see a clip using windows media player 10, but the screen froze. I saw a blue screen of death few seconds after, and the computer shut off. It rebooted again telling me, “you have just experienced a fatal error, would you like to tell Microsoft about it?” Thanks Vista for telling me what I obviously saw and experienced! Next time tell me what was the reason for it!
7. When I uninstall some software, the short cuts on my desktop don’t go away. I try to manualy remove them and tells me, “cannot remove shortcut, application does not exist.” No really?
8. Forced to use IE7, although IE6 was more stable. So I stuck to Firefox and never opened IE7 since installation.

These are minor things I just experienced. I am thinking of going back to Windows XP. But at this rate of my disappointment in all Microsoft crap, I am going to install Linux instead.

Angry, Blah Blah, Ranting as usual!

The Facebook epidemic has permeated our homes like the stupid MySpace fad and MSN chatting. It is funny when you do some surveys and they ask you how many hours do you spend on the computer/internet: 0 – 3 hours a day, 3 – 6 hours a day, 6 or more. I just laugh… 0 – 3, 3 – 6? Who the hell wrote those stupid surveys. Be realistic for goodness sake. The average time that people spend on the internet is 9 hours a day, and 8 hours of those 9 are on facebook! The rest of their waking hours they spend it in the bathroom or eating or watching TV.

I am a victim of facebook. I had it for over 2 years now when it was still fresh and new. However, I use it as pure entertainment and a place to post my pics and music. That’s it. I added a few people I know and found some old school mates. Also the groups are great. I love the group feature, it’s like having multiple forums or discussion boards that you can easily have access to with one login name. I am very opinionated and I like sharing my two cents in such groups. So that’s the primary intention of Facebook. A social network within your network of friends. Your network being your University, or work, and you can only sign up with the organization’s email address and be confirmed. Somehow that all changed due to the costs to maintain such sites. Not enough people joining that will cover Facebook employee’s salary. They get their money from the ridiculous advertising on the side and on the bottom of the screen if you have not noticed. Especially that annoying smiley advertising where your mouse goes over it by mistake, and when you have headphones on, the shock of hearing a freak talking is fucking annoying! Yes I swore cause I don’t like forced advertisement or annoying sounds when I am browsing any website!

So the advertisement needed more people and more clicks, but how to get more people? The clever minds of the marketing team decided that Facebook is too limited. The networks are too limiting and biased to the rest of the world, or even the universe and the stars above! Wasn’t the purpose of Facebook to be a social network within a certain organization or University?

The Facebook team said, “no, we have to open it up. We are not as popular as MySpace because not everyone can join!”

Facebook was then opened to the world like a mall on the day before Christmas. Everyone rushed to join, and if you were not a member, then you are ridiculed and made fun of. Also if you just met a person then the first thing you ask them, “Do you have a Facebook account? No? Common join and add me!” No need to ask for phone numbers or msn emails anymore. Facebook is the fad now a days, and if you are not on it, then you are not “part of the crowd!”

Ok, fine, everyone is on it, however, the problem with facebook is the age limit. It says now, to sign up to Facebook, you must verify that you are 18 or older, or part of a high school network. So now you must have a high school email which most high schools now provide to their students. Hmm, that’s fine. A high school network is ok I guess. Not a big deal, but the over 18 age verification? Not a smart idea. So what do kids do? Sign up claiming they are born 1989 or before. They are old enough to do math and count backwards. That’s not brain science!

So you got a bunch of kids floating around in facebook. Some as young as 8 or 9 years old. My sister is one of them, but she is almost 12. I warned her numerous times about this. I asked her “how did you sign up?” She said, “I put your birth year, 1980 but my birthday month and day. So technically I am older than you now! ” (laughing and her tongue sticking out literately) She is born in August, and I am December!

I said, “ok fine, you can join facebook, but I warn you about it. And if I see you doing anything stupid I will disconnect your internet, and I don’t care if you tell dad and mom and cry about it. I will tell them the truth and see how much trouble you will get your self into!”

So she promised me but I kept my eyes open.

She keeps adding her self to numerous groups, making up her own groups, adding her friends and even fake celebrity profiles to just see pics of them and she knows they are fake but fun to have as a friend. (Kids what can you do?) So I tolerated. Almost every day she talks to me about Facebook, it seems to amuse kids quite a bit. Especially with all it’s kid like applications that they added as a feature the past 3 or 4 months. It seems to draw the kid crowd eh?

Today however, she comes up to me and says, “oh my God! Do you know who I found on Facebook?” I said “who?” She said, “XXXXX name, the daughter of our gym instructor!” I said, “ok”. I was curious to see my self. So I searched for her name. She said, “no no, search within this high school network!” I said, “huh ok”. I said,”No girl. She doesn’t go to this school, she would go to the same school as her older brother!”

So I searched more and I saw a fake profile. (yes fake, I can tell!) I was like who the hell wrote this, that’s not her? And why are you the only person that posted on her wall, and she is not 12 years old as was written in the fake About Me section! My sister just closed my screen real quick and said “forget it!” I screamed and said, “how dare you close my browser!” So she left. I waited a couple of minutes and I searched for that person’s name again, and it was gone from the search results.

I messaged my sister on MSN. (Yes it is sad that we talk to each other within the same house on MSN.) And I told her, “so you decided to delete that fake profile you made! I swear to God, if you do anything else stupid with Facebook and people seeing your name associated with it I will disconnect you from the internet for good!” She got scared and kept making up other stories. For a girl who is almost 12 years old she sure can come up with a lot of shit! I said, “I am warning you one last time! And if you add people you don’t know or make up fake crap than you will be sorry!”

I ended it there and she went up to her room and sat and watched TV.

So what has Facebook done? It enhanced the art of making fake profiles using other real people’s names and children as young as 12 are clever enough to use such methods. So what do you think adults are doing?

Angry, They said what?, Whatever!

It seems I have ignited the biggest controversial topic in the Arab blog sphere yesterday. People thought I did it for popularity or to form an Arab girl alliance. (Which is a bunch of crap cause I am not that friendly and I don’t even chat with girl bloggers online. I only have one best friend and that’s it!) So I did it to get it off my chest and to prove my point. I don’t need for people to agree or disagree with me. I just wanted to say my opinion.

First off, I want to explain something to the numerous bloggers out there who don’t pay for their blog and use free blogging services and hosting. I pay for my domain name. I pay for monthly hosting to have my site up. I designed my site and coded it and I do maintenance on it. I write daily of my opinions about things that concern me. I did it for my satisfaction and as a hobby of writing.

Did you read the last paragraph carefully? I used a lot of “I’s” didn’t I? Well, that’s because it is my website.

So once a visitor comes to my site and disagrees with me and throws a stupid comment and I disagree with them, they get furious.They claim that the whole point of the blogging world is to share opinions and visitors must be heard. It’s the other way around. It’s bloggers that have to be heard! We write, we control comments and visitor reaction. I never said my website was a place for people to ridicule me and say whatever they want. It’s a place where I address my opinions and if someone educated enough and is worth arguing or having an adult conversation with, then I do so out of respect. They respected me, then I respect them. Simple as that. However, some don’t understand that, and eventually I ban them because I have zero tolerance to people who have no respect to the website owner. They usually get mad because I am not agreeing with them. Why should I agree with them? It’s my opinion and I am sticking to it. I am the owner and I am providing a free service. You are not paying to read my site. You are not paying or giving me the satisfaction from website hits. My website has enough visitors a day, and thank God that’s enough. I am not asking for more. I don’t care about such things.

However, I noticed that people out of no where come to my website that seldom or never have posted and they throw stupid comments or argue with me on controversial issues. If I wanted my website to be so popular and I wanted so many visitors I could have done that every day. I have so many controversial topics in my head and I can write from now till I die about them. That’s how many opinions I have.

Some people have addressed the issue of other bloggers starting a blog war against me or something stupid like that. It’s funny, I had numerous ones in the past. You know what I did? I just posted a few lines in my blog to retaliate and they got mad and ended it there. I am not the type of person who will ignore people’s comments towards me. No.. oh no. I will retaliate and I will defend my self. I didn’t choose the word rebellious for no reason. I did it because I know I am! I know I have made mistakes in my life, but I know how to get back on my feet and talk back. That’s what makes me stronger, and those who really know me or those that read my blog carefully will know that about me.

So I whine, I complain about life, I address my mistakes and my concerns, but that’s because I AM ADMITTING THEM! How many people out there really say what is on their mind? How many people out there admit their mistakes?

The blogging world is about a blogger’s opinion. Respect the blogger. It is their site!

Also, I have never gone on other people’s blogs and argue with them or even write NEGATIVE opinions. I never did and I never will. If I don’t like someone’s post or blog I just completely ignore it. I have nothing to say to them and no reason to fight with them.

Moreover, I had people saying, how can you attack the most popular blogger in the Arab world? Who what? It’s not even the most popular blog in Jordan. By the way, I AM NOT JORDANIAN! I am Palestinian! Anyways, it’s popular. Popular for what? I think Sabbah’s blog is more popular and Bakkouz and Moey. There are so many good Arab bloggers out there who are far better. They address real life issues about politics and social life. They have one issue and they stick to it. They are not afraid to state their opinion and they make sure people respect them. It is hard to do and I am no where close to that level.

I know this post sounds arrogant of me. However, I had to explain my point of view. I just don’t get people. It is my site. Critique all you want, but do it in a respectable manner without throwing accusations and belittling me. I am not like that and I will never accept such behavior. I don’t allow it in real life, you think I will allow it on my site?

Angry, They said what?, Whatever!

Ladies and gentleman. I have an announcement to make about a particular blogger. I will tell you a story first. This blogger has made a social network for Arab bloggers and he added me to it without my knowledge. I appreciated the gesture and I kept up with his blog as well and became an active commenter on his blog. I actually liked his blog and I found him a very educated person who has very interesting thoughts. He seemed from his writing as an intellectual with a lot of knowledge of various subjects. I wanted to talk to him more. It was my choice. I am very open and I love talking to people that interest me as human beings. So I added him to msn and I started the chats.

When I talked to him, he was a completely different person. He turned 180 degrees from his writing style to this horny guy who only used sexual innuendos. At times he would suggest that I should go over to his city and maybe try to get a job. I told him why would I go alone to this city? I am not even American and I have no interest in doing so. I just found it odd. He then kept telling me more and more about his girlfriends and his sexual experiences with them like it was an ordinary every day matter to him. I kept asking him and wondering why is he so fake in his writing in his blog. Why can’t he be him self?

After a while, I just lost interest in talking to him. Last time I talked to him, all I said was hello and then he started using sexual connotations that only a low class guy would say. I was fed up, and I said change the subject or else. So I did and I tried to talk to him about another subject matter that was more serious and he said, “who do you think I am? your boyfriend?”

That’s when I blocked him off msn. From my disgust I removed the link to his social Arab blog network and to his personal blog too. I just removed him and I never talked to him again.

This was 2 months ago….

Last week, he posted a messaged on my blog which I pretty much didn’t bother to answer properly. I didn’t delete it because I like to give visitors the freedom of expression. The same day, I get a phone call to my cell phone and I didn’t know whose number that was since I removed his number from my address book. He leaves me a message saying, “why have you removed my blog links from your blog?” I was surprised that someone would go to that extreme to call me and ask me that question. In my case I didn’t know who it was first. I was like who has my number? Was it my EX? Was he off somewhere on a business trip and calling me? I had to hear 3 more times to understand the message and make sure I am hearing it right. Remove link? I was like who is this? It’s not my EX. He doesn’t have a blog. So I used my trusty google friend and looked up the area code. It was Washington state.

I was like Aaah. It’s Sam from Qwaider planet.

I then got an email 2 hours later from him.

Qwaider <xxx@xxxx> Jul 27 (5 days ago)
to “Mona <xxxx>
date Jul 27, 2007 7:21 PM
subject Mona, you owe me an explanation

I tried everything, even calling you
And I heard absolutely nothing back from you. All I’m asking to to know what’s wrong. Did I piss you off or something? Did I upset you? What is going on!!?

You can just reply to me and say whatever you want, you could do it in a civilized way. I would have done that to you!

Anyway, if you have something to say, I’m all ears, and if I made any mistakes I’m willing to apologize. But I would really want to know why! I’m not asking much

I called, and tried to get in touch because I thought we were friends.

I read it and I was like, should I ignore or tell him the truth? I just found it odd that after two months of me not talking to him he would notice this.

So I replied back,

Mona xxxx <xxxx@xxx.com> Jul 27 (5 days ago)
to Qwaider <xxxxx@xxx.com>
date Jul 27, 2007 7:58 PM
subject Re: Mona, you owe me an explanation

Hello Samer,

It’s funny that now you bother.. I have removed you from my blog like 2 months ago. I just find it funny that now you realized it. Didn’t you notice that I don’t post on your blog and I don’t chat or talk to you? I’m sorry to ask this, but are you a bit slow? Really.. I was surprised you called you or bothered. I just found it very odd to see that NOW it bothered you.

Anyways, the reason I removed you because I can never ever have a normal conversation with you. Every time I talk to you, you use sexual innuendos and act like a savage horny animal. It was getting boring and I was totally fed up with it. I wasn’t able to say hello, how are you without you throwing in some stupid comment. And when I tried to have a serious conversation with you, you would reply to me saying, “who am I your boyfriend?” Which I thought was completely pathetic and uncalled for. You treat me like I am nothing and think I am one of those stupid Arab girl who just want to chat with a guy for fun..

To me it was not the case and I just wanted to have friendly conversation with other human beings on this earth!

If you want to remove me from your social rss feeds I don’t care. That’s your choice. I blog for my self and to interact with people. That’s all. I don’t take it THAT seriously.

Thank you,

Have a nice day

-Mona

He replied back after that and said,

Qwaider <xxxx@xxx.com> Jul 28 (4 days ago)
to Mona <xxx@xxx.com>
date Jul 28, 2007 12:09 AM
subject RE: Mona, you owe me an explanation

Yeah, I am slow. I don’t go around looking who has me, and who removed me and all that good stuff.
Your action was uncalled for but, it’s completely up to you what you decide in your life.. A little notice to other parties would really be polite and helpful

Anyway, as you have probably noticed, I didn’t pay attention because … well, I’ll leave that to myself.. Instead of saying something smartass

Good luck, have a wonderful life as for other community services I provide. Don’t worry, I don’t let personal judgment get in the way.

I might be a typical arabic guy in many things, but I think few things about me are different.

Again, thank you for taking the time to respond back to my email . I wish you good luck .. And I assure you I won’t be bothering you again

I ended it there, I didn’t bother and I didn’t want to make a big deal. Life moves on. Right?

So I am a loyal reader of Moey’s blog. I love reading and I comment whenever I feel that I have something to say. It’s an interesting blog and I enjoy reading his thoughts.

So Moey had a problem with some people and posted this blog entry.

I didn’t read people’s comments. I just see if the blog owner has replied to me, and that’s it. Today I read Moey’s post to reply to some blog visitors and I saw Qwaider’s comment and Moey replying, “some people do not understand… what can I do?”

So I read Qwaider’s comment carefully and I was like wtf. He didn’t mention me or anything, but it was like a smack in the face and it was like indirectly written to me and he knew I read Moey’s blog. It was like he was thinking that “I will tell you off and make sure you read this.” This is what Mr. Qwaider wrote:

Qwaider
Take it easy my friend. Rest assured, many people (my self included) love you the way you are. And would never judge you. No body’s worth it. People who think that removing a friend off their blogroll is their way of punishment make me really laugh at how juvenile their way of thinking is. It’s like this, one day you have someone on your blogroll because you like their ideas. Then something happens, and now you just hate everything about them?! LOL

So I decided to write this post. I don’t care if it was directed towards me or anything, but his thoughts and ideas were completely stupid and he needed someone to tell him off. I knew exactly what it meant. And I just needed him to push my buttons to address this issue. To show everyone that people who are bloggers are fake and they write a bunch of crap in their blog about anything to get hits and visitors. It gives them the power of popularity that they are craving. Although they write non sense and about any subject to be diverse and having their friends comment. Yet us real bloggers who post about every day life and our inner thoughts and problems and even things we like get humiliated and ridiculed. They don’t care who they hurt and they don’t care what they say. As long as they get the satisfaction of gaining more visitors. I mean how many posts did Qwaider have in the past few months about the site visitors and the popularity of his blog and social blog network? It’s like his inner most satisfaction is the HITS he gets to his site.

Anyways, thanks for wasting my time posting this crappy post. I just needed to vent because someone had to tell the TRUTH of this hypocrite.

Updated: August 7th, 2007 – I am turning off the comments to this post. No one will be allowed to comment anymore. I stopped replying and I said I will no longer bother with this post. It is history. So get over it people!

Angry, Ranting as usual!, They said what?, Whatever!

I am sitting here at work with the greatest heat wave of the year with the lack of concentration to do anything productive. It is 29 degrees here. Yes 29! I am not joking. We don’t have windows at work either. We are in the middle of the building which sucks. I am still waiting till it gets 30 so I can take another picture and laugh and go home. I could leave now but I don’t like my house so I come here! I got the fan on which helps suck out the hot hair but it is really not doing anything but keeping the temperature constant at 29, but it is keeping my legs cool. However, the reason I am staying here is to hear the stories in the building about the reasons the air conditioner is busted.

So the first story I heard last Friday that there was a baby study (hearing/audiology) and the temperature was raised to 24 in the whole area. I argued back and asked why was the temperature adjusted for the whole building when you can do that in an individual room? Obviously there was no answer back to my question. Just avoidance and illogical thinking on their part. So today I come into work and the temperature is at 27 and my co-workers were disgusted and not happy because even the garbage wasn’t emptied out. I complained to two departments at the University to come and fix our problem. Till now nothing. Another story I heard was that the fan on the roof was busted and they cannot come and fix it till Monday. As in today. So how many times in a year does the fan on the roof gets busted? Oh I forgot, I work at the University, so many times!!

So it is just humid and hot. I am just drinking a lot of cold water and just ignoring it. It is just like being outside on a hot summer day and I was pretending that I live in an old town home or something with no air conditioning like I used to when I when we came to Canada.

Canada is not COLD all year long. This is to prove how sucky it is live here! It is humid and hot in the summer. Bleah!

Well good thing I am mobile and I got a laptop and I am gonna be sitting the cafeteria where it is nice and cool.

Angry, Blah Blah, Whatever!