Trials

Life is nothing but a trial after another.

When going through a tough one, the question to ask is 'what to do?' rather than 'why me?'

The second step is to ask why am I doing what I am doing.

Hijabi.

On Tuesday, December 15th, Sartorialist, posted a hajabi. That was indeed a first

Add it to my idea bank.

Major electronic companies should stop selling remotes with their equipment and force people to buy their/ or just a universal remote.

The other day I counted, I have like 7-8 remotes in my house and I don't even own that many electronics. I do own a universal remote and so don't use many of them and that's the point.

Any remote to a company that is selling electronics cost probably between $5 to $10. They (Sony, Samsung, Phillips) can say, we don't sell you the remote if you buy our TV/BlueRay/CD Player but you can use $10 credit towards buying our brand of Universal Remote that you can use not only with our brand of electronics but also most major brands as well.

Why? Well for the consumer, it's easy cos all you have is one remote. The company is happy cos it is selling it's brand of Universal remotes AND saving money on the cost of the remote on EVERY electronic equipment they sell.

And ahmadjee & his tree hugging friends are happy cos it's good for the environment!

Own it (Part 1)

Go to the mirror, look yourself in the eyes and repeat after me:

What I am and what I will be depends on the choices I make.

Repeat that five times. Do that once a day for the next few weeks.

ideas

I am thinking of making a 'you come to my door, your picture will be taken' camera.

I can use a small CMOS Camera, hook it up to a motion sensor and a low power design so I can use regular batteries & then hang it next to my front door.

Another idea would be too hook it up to the door bell. When someone rings the door bell, s/he gets his picture taken.

Neat thing would be if I could just stream the picture to my home server, which then sends that picture to my email. hummm

Next year I am definitely putting out a camera to capture the birds who love to nest on my house & stream it on the web.

See ... I just need some sleep & the ideas start flowing.

4, 3, 3, 3, 2.5

You know, I keep life on a tight leash and like full control over it but for the past few weeks it's been beyond overwhelming. 4, 3, 3, 3, 2.5 are the hours I have slept in the past 5 days and the next 5 look the same. Thank Allah for Thanksgiving weekends which basically means a breather before another grind.

This past year, Misbah has grown a LOT. I sometimes cannot believe the things she says or the 'dots she connects'. This weekend she said, "Baba when I will be as old as you, you will be bald!" and giggled but then said in a very reassuring tone "But I will still love you", probably seeing my (pretend) sad face.

Here is what she made to put up on the door of her room.











And you guys should look at her drawing in MSPaint. Wait till she gets a touch screen!

cow dung

I stumbled upon this recent research the other day and it is a good read. I think, technology in any form is not good or bad, it's the use of it. TV do not make people dumb, watching dumb shows make people dumb. Video games don't make kids fat, it's the vacuum created by irresponsible parents. And yes, Internet doesn't make people socially inapt, it's the use of it. If anything it encourages those who are often socially secluded to broaden their horizon without feeling too uncomfortable.

Anyway, talking of ideas, I think a lot of issues that Pakistan is going through right now revolve around the fact that people are not getting their basic needs. And while somehow the hippies in the west think 'education' is the only way out and the neocons think 'freedom' (read loving and living what America does) is the key, I agree with Maslow on this. I think the majority of Pakistan lives in the bottom of that pyramid and therefore that's where all the 'help' should be focused at.

For example, any government of Pakistan that resolves the energy crisis will be loved by the people, regardless of what their political views are otherwise. It's no fun having the electricity gone every few hours, factories closed because there is not enough power. In my village in Pakistan, the electricity is there maybe 2~3 hours during the day. They used to use cow dung for cooking but now they are using the big natural gas cylinders. Hot water is a rare thing. My plan is to investigate if they can use biogas and I am seriously thinking doing a mini summer project on it. From what I have heard; the equipment only costs $300 and if I can get it to work for me, I will see if I can get it to work for my almost abandoned house in the village. I would love to install solar there but I think that is a few years down the road because solar is still very expensive.

Oh and before I forget to record this milestone, Misbah learned to tie her shoe laces last week. She was pretty proud of herself. I am just glad that the next time we go shoe shopping she won't make a fuss about the laces.

My co-worker S took this picture this morning. Love the contrast. Yes, the foot and a half of snow all melted, we are back in the 60s.