back in familiarity

I've got a mere one planned hour until my test tomorrow, a bottle of water, flaming shisha, and one scheduled rice pudding run. I haven't had much in the way of academic intensity during my reign here, but this evening should provide a short reprieve from such conditions.
This kind of life is not new to me, thus I begin now.

Reviewing the Glory

Here is the full pictoral account of the weekend in Dahab.
This will be the site of our upcoming nomadfest.

keepin it safe while keepin it real

Facis and Alaa
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Kicking ass and taking names; when the going gets tough, the facis get rough.
Bitch.

Evening 1

circa 4am
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

By the end of the conference most people knew of my dislike for meetings, but I guess that third iteration of session review might have helped a little. Never, ever, ever leave anything to be finished "during the conference."

Egypt NLDS 2005

circa 5 minutes before sessions start
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

It came but we conquered. The conference was a unique blend of blurry mornings, energizing dances, victory beers, and amazing conquest. In ten days the faci team designed most of the new member track and still had time to cover the fuck ups. It was my first real faci experience, but perhaps not my last.

Our heaven has a beer volcano

We will of course be able to train the teachers in this alternate theory. I am eagerly awaiting your response, and hope dearly that no legal action will need to be taken. I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence. (venganza)

this is pretty funny

tongue tales

I've seen some pretty low (or great, depending) things in my life; trent toppling the table at the Michigan @ house (& the gum incident), burbs on our living room floor, colleen and nob passed out at Roland's.. the list goes on. This is not to say I have no lows: I think I could top all of them, today not being an exception.
I enter the library and scuddle up to my small kingdom on the third floor. Draw bridge up and guards at the ready, I pull out my delicious booty; cool, creamy rice putting. Yes, it is small, but the glory is big. I open it and nearly weep at its mushy white beauty, letting the aroma fill my lungs and mind with tantilizing images of what lies ahead. Those images quickly wisp away as I realize I have but my hands to move the booty from its cell to my mouth. This aggression will not stand, I think. I realize I must improv, and do the next logical thing; remove the cap from the Juhayna juice bottle and morph it from circular green cap to circular green spoon. In it dives to the creamy greatness, scoring big payback with a giant delievery of greatness to my watering mouth...

It is hard to lick out the remnants from the bottom of the cap. There's a word for it, but I can't remember it.
And on that note, other improvs include cereal out of a frying pan and noodles cooked in a tea pot. It would appear our landlord lacks any sense of urgency in his acquirement of basic household goods.

as it must be

Late night again, this time with a shisha at my side. We have finished our strategery and forgery for the conference, all that remains is the elusive final polish. It is all fitting together and the puzzle is finally turning to a glorious gleaming image of something special. I will present certain ideas to the US and see what paths open up.
I plan to learn as much as if not more than the learners.

I also made this today. My first one. It's Halloween themed for obvious reasons.

Not to be dismissed

I was going to recommend someone do this. Someone beat me. I think it could use some additional editorial work.
From the third floor I can hear a crowd (the building's "security") outside the first floor doors yelling at the Ahli - Zamalek game. I was unable to make an attempt at entry this time. It is most stressful to not be a viewer. It sounds exciting.

slave to The Man

I'm back in the "cafe," a term I will use lightly for this place. It's quite interesting; third floor 0pen air area with several tables and... cats walking around. I'm not sure how they got here, but hey, they need lovin' too. The surrounding environment creates a bit of a wind tunnel effect here making it a bit on the chilly side, but its open more or less 24 hours and I dig that. Now I just need to get the subway kicking until 4ish.
Regardless, I'm back here working on my sessions for the weekend. I had my first iftar with an Egyptian family today, thanks to sara's cousins. They kept shoving food on my plate, resisting my insistence of thorough saturation. In any case it was good.. a bit sugary, but good.
Jenna notices differences in her chilean university experience and I do here as well. More on that later.
And lately, I've really been into Pink Floyd. I've only got The Wall, but damn, its good. It's taken me about 4 years to really give the album a chance, but its really kicking ass. That's what I like about Floyd; they make albums, not just some random group of songs they may or may not have written. Like Rush, they really mesh their songs together to make a nice, complete and flowing package. So easy listenable with a few gems spruced throughout. Sweet!

In the trenches

Jonathan Casillas blocked a punt and Ben Strickland recovered it in the end zone with 30 seconds left to complete a stunning rally and lift No. 23 Wisconsin to a 38-34 victory over No. 22 Minnesota on Saturday. (ESPN)

I really need to find a sports bar.

In on a Friday

Last night saw me grabbing a shisha shortly after wrapping up my work at midnight. Add a coke and some hommos later and I somehow dropped 35LE. In any case, that's neither here nor there.
On to the MC office today at 10am to finish up preparation for the national leadership development seminar next weekend. Just a little more polish.

And Aakash brings on something interesting.

Not bad

Google gave the first details yesterday of how it would carry out its commitment to devote a share of its lucrative public stock offering to charity and social causes. It said it had donated $90 million to a new charitable foundation it started and would give another $175 million to nonprofit groups and what it considers socially useful businesses over the next two to three years. (NYTIMES)

AIESEC should keep its eye on this development.

This is not a pain worth healing

Like the T-bird, I used to miss the intensity that I subscribed to in my former life. Alas, that has all changed. It all started with the job.
Amid this minor discussion and Saki's comment, I decided to explore further what DKT was all about. Let me step back.
Back in July or so I took a trip over to Siwa with a bunch of trainees, Adham, and this random Asian American dude. Turns out this guy is working for this org called DKT and is launching a condom brand in Egypt. I found it quite interesting, but never took it further.
Snap back to last week.
After perusing their website and a minor exchange of emails, I set up a meeting with the Egypt country director of DKT. Real straight shooter. A southern guy, he says stuff like "fuck that" and "that just blows" and likes whiskey on the rocks. I liked him. We talked for two hours on various topics like "wicked" math problems (good thing I just took PDE's), ditching crappy innovations, and finally we got around to what DKT does. Long story short, I got a job with DKT Egypt.
I'd link to their website, but this is all they got. I'm designing the rest.
This is the point where I ask my dedicated readership to lend me some help in the form of links to resources teaching me how to design websites.
That was last week. I start next week. This organization seems super sweet and I really dig its model of operation. It's the kind of work I've been gunning for. I won't get paid, but I'm looking for returns of a different nature. Let's see where it takes me. I guess I owe Saki something for her part in this twist of fate...
On top of that I will be a Faci at the upcoming national conference for Egypt, coming in 9 days. I have three days to design my 2 or 3 sessions. Nescafe sales should increase significantly.

And Augusto....

Augusto
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Well, he's got his own thing going on...

The story of Andre

Andre
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Well, Andre hit the party with no regrets and rode it out start to finish. After any good party you visit the local Gad night crew (who we now know by name) because that's just what you do. What you don't always expect is a lady to run in followed by her "lover" carrying a knife. There's an amount of public justice in Egypt and that's just what ensues. Andre, always thinking of others, snaps photos to show us later. He might have even taken some video of this public justice. Wait, yeah he did. They didn't like that. Some angry dude tries to grab the camera, but its cord is wrapped around Andre's wrist. Lucky. He wrestles it away, and now with his daily dose of violence, decides to call it a night.

And I got my Transylvanian story...

Csilla
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

How many of your stories start with, "I was at some beach in Hurghada and started talking with a girl I later found out was from Transylvania..."

The Story of Ryan

The Story of Ryan
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Friday morning, 10:30am. I'm still riding high from my prior victory. Ryan's tired. We are walking around looking for a championship breakfast, or perhaps finally just scoping out our neighborhood. We find everything except championship breakfast. We walk in the street because the sidewalk is for losers. A taxi has approached and stopped ahead of us and several natives stand inbetween the taxi and parked car. I head for the sidewalk. Ryan goes between the cars, but a small crazy man backs into him and steps on his foot. At the same time some Crazy says some gibberish to me and gives me a high five. I play along. Said small crazy man begins yelling at Ryan and slapping his legs. A few seconds of Ryan trying to evade and small man stops, hops in the taxi, and it speeds off.
Ryan no longer possesses his wallet. I buy us pizza and fateer for food. Upon my fateer sucking, I eat most of ryan's pizza.

Ahli - Zamalek

Ahli - Zamalek
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

We left for the soccer game around 1.5 hours before it was to begin; way too late. I knew it would be a good story when our bus arrived while Bryon was in the market buying water. Our philosophy was "leave any man behind if need by" and we did just that, though someone might have yelled his name. As our bus took off, so too did Bryon as he came sprinting out of the market after us. I hung out the door screaming and waving encouragements as Osama, our resident arabic speaker, coerced the bus driver to slow down. Bryon made it and all was well. We arrive to the stadium and are greeted by rows and rows of military and police and legions of red. We are on Ahli's side of the stadium. We walk to the other side but are unable to find an entrance. They are no longer admitting fans. The rest of our experience includes near riots, cops raising their batons, and me getting pinned between a horse and a rowdy crowd. We submitted our defeat and retreated to a cafe, where Ryan hooked us up with front row seats to the TV.

Delphi or Bust

I do not want to blow the Delphi bankruptcy out of proportion. But unlike the failures of WorldCom and Enron that were traceable to accounting scandals, Delphi’s Chapter 11 filing reflects the pressures of global competition, bloated labor costs, and the enormous legacy costs of increasingly onerous retirement benefits. (Morgan Stanley Global Economic Forum)

Week of Action, Day of Power, Job, faci

I just turned in a 15 page comparative study of three revolutions, which was preceded last night by a macro midterm. The prof said he "in the spirit of Ramadan made it easy." What a farce. At least I was able to confirm the dominance of snorkeling over studying.
I have decided there is a lack of educational immersion.

potent potable

The storms that hit our Gulf Coast also touched every American with higher prices at the gas pump. They highlighted a problem I've been talking about since I've come to Washington: We need more refining capacity.
It ought to be clear to everybody that this country needs to build more refining capacity to be able to deal with the issues of tight supply. We haven't built a new refinery since the 1970s.
And so I look forward to working with Congress to pass a reasonable law that will allow current refineries to expand and to encourage the construction of new refineries.

Bush via Washington Post

Why no mention of conservation? I know that isn't at the top of his list, but he could at least be a good girl and give it some lip service.

Ramadan

Sweet Ramadan. The ninth month of the Islamic year is upon us and its time to, according to Wikipedia, refrain from "Eating, smoking, drinking and sexual relationships during the day (for married couples)."
Also, during Ramadan, Muslims are also expected to refrain from indulging in violence, anger, envy, greed, lust and backbiting, and are meant to get along with each other better than normal.

It is a time for communal meals and good behavior.
This 4th pillar of Islam (of 5), called Siyam, is meant to help them get closer to God, feel the life of the poor a little bit, and learn a couple other things like respect and humility. Not bad I say.

I will be fasting, to what extent I do not yet know.

musing

I have often wondered how much misunderstanding (or spite/love/violence) is created through misinterpretation. It has to be a lot.