a hobo

cashed
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

snuck in the bed.
We kept out the yetties though.

tag teaming

IMG_8021
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

By tomorrow I should know if I will be spending the summer doing research in Mexico.

Bruni

the package
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

is taking forever and ate my bag of potato chips along with the dip.

Dead. Man.

Safety

always buckle up
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

First.

I tricked Johnny

Caught!
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

We had a great host.

Ron
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Ron is the one with the most.

On the third day

mountain
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

we realized we were in the mountains.

in the car

in the car
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

We practiced innovation.

house 13

house 13
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

Locking the door won't stop the shisha from being smoked.

Revolutioning

Revolutioning
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

we decided not to ski one day and hang out instead

20 people showed interest

unimpressed
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

But we're down to the core, a select few forging ahead to represent that which must be represented. Diaz said he'd drive.

My camera is charging

brass ring
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

...for this weekend. I feel like it's going to need a lot of juice. Michigan is usually a good venue for true colors to show.

function

AIESEC Madison needs a wiki in calendar form. 7000 emails go out every week about events and all this other stuff that I'd bet hardly anyone reads and even fewer actually use. It'd be cool if anytime the wiki was updated, it sent some sort of non-obtrusive notification to all those subscribed to some list (i.e. our members), a la RSS. Then again, its so much easier to just forward on an email rather than manually entering all the events into some lame-ass calendar. No one would do that either. Perhaps the university should get a calendar wiki.

I'm making a harsh sacrifice. I cannot go to Austin. I do have sights set on an August tour though. I figure that's where the real magic will happen.

A tribute to old times

The midnight oil is burning low this evening. Tonight I'm the Lone Ranger, holding down the Ethnic Studies Fort. It's been a full day at the library and even so, tomorrow still will be spent scrambling to finish everything in time. God bless this semester.

Domesticated

Car ride home
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

I'm cooking dinner for our trainee Grace: rice noodles with a pepper stir fry mix and chicken. I hope she knows how to use chop sticks.

will ferrell is the man

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming on Transbuddha

bring it on home

Interview for VP Marketing position in 21 minutes. Should I be deemed worthy, this shall be my first EB position.
Let's dance on Shakedown Street.

One step closer

Back from Spring Break, and this was waiting in my inbox:

I still see that girl in French parties--the one you evaded in a rather conspicuous manner after she'd talked you into going out for a late shisha, on one particular thursday night--and i remember you everytime i see her (that was before them frenchies stopped giving these parties altogether...)

Scene:

-You: I kind of agreed to go out for a shisha after the party with that girl, but now i just want to go home...

-Me: Tell her that you have to go say Fajr prayers.

-You: She's Egyptian.

-Me: Tell her that you gotta go sleep to wake up in time for Friday prayers.

-You(rather baffled): I cannot back-up any of these statements!

(The girl slips into the balcony; you grab Atef from the arm and storm out of the apartment, almost knocking Sunday down the stairs...)

Memories--the good thing about not drinking is that you can retain the ones relating to incidents that took place after 3 am.

We got accepted for Salaam program--i guess Osama must have told you about this already--thanks in part to you mate. I'm a bit apprehensive about the matching--I expect the whole thing to be more competitive and complicated then it was for you; nevertheless--i had a mind for looking up something on your web-blog. So i logged onto the Salaam website; clicked the link to your Blog; searched through last year's spring archives--untill i came upon this:

Thursday, April 07, 2005

I have been accepted to the Salaam Program.

Inspiring! Almost one year ago, almost the same posture. So, i will go on day-dreaming of enduring snows, landslips and blocked passes (does that sound familiar at all?), and maybe you will be meeting some old friends this summer--inshaallah.

"May the bonds we forged stand the test of time."

That's another thing i picked up at your blog.

Cheers,

Karim

p.s: Don't cut your hair again, EVER


Music to my ears. They've been accepted into the Salaam pool, putting them one step closer to getting their asses over here. They gave me amazing exposure to Egyptian culture. Now I want my chance to do the same.

this thought requires beer

While in Cairo I volunteered for the Egypt branch of DKT International doing web design. The organizational structure and business model are compelling and exceptionally effective. Today I called up the founder, Phil Harvey, and talked to him. His office is in Washington DC. He has agreed to meet me should I arrange a trip there.
I don't have the money for this, but I have a credit card. Mother does not support it. Kristi is picking me up to grab a beer.

During spring break it took us 2 days to realize we were learning to fly in the mountains.

Post Ian's, 4pm

"Hey guys, we better smoke a shisha, just to start the day out right."
"yea."
Three hours until our 16 hour drive commences.

Reception went well, if you don't count two cancelled flights. Jesus knew his way around Oak Creek, otherwise we would have been lost. Austin saved the day

An Epic Battle

My Sworn Enemy.

Allegiance Served.

Weapons of Choice.

I was pretty surprised as well. It took about the length of Automatic for the People.
The upside of cleaning the floor by hand was realizing how similar it was to computer programming. They always taught me to write a command, then test. Write, test, write, test. By writing in incremental blocks and then testing right away, you can easily find problems while also slowly chipping away at your large project in small attainable goals. Same thing here. Taking the floor as a whole is a dragon my level 15 wizard isn't yet ready to slay. Instead, box it off (using a slightly damped spounge) into easily beheaded orcs and goblins. This makes it much easier to stay motivated and keeps you focused on small blocks of dirt. Before I set boundaries, my spounge was everywhere and I had trouble actually cleaning a spot before moving on to another. Then, after scrubbing hard on a section, use the soft side of the spounge to return that water to your bowl. Re-wet your spuonge and give that area another once over to be sure it's clean.
With the WTW method, I was ensured small, clean sections.
Use a spounge with a rough, scrubbing side and a soft absorbant side...
I'd like to go into a few more secrets of the method I discovered (for Brokeback's sake), but it's become decidedly less awesome prose than I first imagined. Besides, he'll learn it all next year.

Johnny is about 75 miles away.

Development RSS feeds

Here's a public folder over at Bloglines of development related feeds. Brew a coffee; there's a lot of stuff. Found via the World Bank Private Sector Development blog.

Better presentations

Here's a quick read on making better PowerPoints. AIESEC is a machine that spits out crappy powerpoints. I haven't quite figured out a total solution for our system of creating in NY, distributing to the country, and then presenting locally, but I think a good first step is having the powers that be read stuff like this from Seth Godin and a little bit on presentation zen.

Reception

Sushi
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

...is turning out to be several metric tons of work, but it's all falling into place quite nicely. It prevented me from taking Bruni a mid-day pick-me-up glass of Jager; engineering is just too far in the wrong direction. Come Sunday night though, we'll be welcoming a Mexican family of three to the tantilizing metropolitan area of Madison. Come Tuesday, they'll be realizing the glories of Brew Town. I hope they bring some tequila. I also hope this barrage of emails stops, I gots to be drinkin' in 43minutes.

Update: 27 minutes.

Update II: I just got denied a desk job, although I was lucky enough to be among the final 20 applicants. Now there's an agenda to my drinkin'. Six minutes.

The New Thursday

Gmail Chat is awesome.

Katie:

my one glass last night

but if you could put project runway into pitchers, i was so wasted


With my special red T-shirt we get half off all drinks on Wednesday nights at a local tavern. It is 4:20pm and I have yet to do anything today.

If you're lacking summer plans...

...here's a language study program fully covered by olde Uncle Sam. It is unfortunate Spanish isn't deemed "critical."

Whew! Close one.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday agreed to expand oversight of President George W. Bush's domestic spying program but rejected Democratic pressure for a broad inquiry into eavesdropping on U.S. citizens. (Yahoo News)

Bush again saved by his little brothers. I can't say I have much confidence in some weak ass subcommittee, but hey, here's to hoping. That's sweet that it was approved by the White House beforehand, too.

rocking new venues

retreated
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

The coffee establishment is an interesting place to spend an afternoon. I find the range of conversations quite fascinating; some downright enraging while others quite stimulating. If the refills at this place (for me) weren't so rediculously expensive, I might consider spending more time here. Some sweet little baby just snuck in under my radar. How sneaky. If I never opened up a shop, I'd ensure many accessible electrical outlets and free internet. And Frank Sinatra.

Moments relived

Double Oreo
Originally uploaded by Mix Master.

In light of Surya's post, I decided to recap the previous 1.5 or 2 months with a photo essay, a la flickr. I'll get some up on this bizzo later, I gots Spanish to do now that flickring is over.

PS Check out that sweet double double stuff oreo. My mouth got a total gang bang on that one.

AIESEC Qatar

...is getting off the ground. Deciding whether or not to apply (and secondly, to commit if accepted) for the expansion team was one of the hardest decisions I've ever faced. After much searching and pondering, I opted out, seeking not to "settle" for something that wasn't completely aligned with the path I seek. Dwell on it I will not.
It is awesome to see what those cats are doing over there.

slow start

I just blew off homework for 45 minutes watching this Google Video (Seth Godin talking to Google on marketing), but I think it was worth it. The next 30 hours of life are going to be very unpleasant.

afternoon readings

Well, I didn't start getting hungover until I read this. You'd think the guys down there would have more important things to do than harass Katrina victims for selling (or, not selling) T-shirts. Then I proceeded to this piece, and I knew it was going to be a rough day. How far are Bush's friends willing to go to cover up their and his wrong doings? Restructuring the Intelligence Committee to allow for majority control? The Senate Intelligence Committee is set up to investigate controversial intelligence methods, and the NSA Monitoring is blatantly obviously one of those things. Because of this, it's structure is different from most other committees to inhibit partisan control. To call the motion for investigation a "partisan act" is unfathomable to me, especially when members of your own party agree on the necessity. This is why I will never blindly trust the President just because he's the President or a Senator just because he's a Senator. They're all human, and I know what humans can be capable of.

And then, for you Middle East lovers, here's a blogger traveling through Iraq. Interesting read indeed.

The Eagle has Landed

Essen Haus
Originally uploaded by jlvolcheff.

There's lots of things that could be happening in this picture. Grace always looks so... pained.

a poem
Yes, my street rep is at naught
but redemption will be sought
To clarify, the party was never "brought."

But it's another Friday night,
and as has always been my right:
for the party I will fight.

If they take what they are handed,
after tonight we'll have banded
around the Eagle that has landed

Goal Realization

Applied to four or five jobs tonight for summer and next year. Only one or two of them are serious, but going through the motions gets rid of the kinks.
1.5 more hours and I get to go home. I'll spend it with this book, which is really trippy and deserves it's own paragraph. It's kind of altering my perception of reality, which was unusual to begin with.

Ali and Katie80

...aren't including me in their study breaks. Unwanted.

And on that note, my presentation tonight was incredibly liberating. Having the attention of 50 - 60 (?) people, I could have gone the entire 90 minutes. There were so many stories to share, questions to ask, pictures to share, videos to show. Emotions flooded my veins as I watched the slide show and relived all those adventures, I noted a thousand tales in my head, but only had time for a few. Yea, it felt good.

And it was also PowerPoint-less.

Before I devour this spanish test

After my presentation, several people expressed new-found interest in going to Egypt/the Middle East. They all referenced the 6.5 minute slide show I started with.
Pictures move people.
Pictures give feeling.
Pictures teach people.
Pictures tell stories.
Pictures/Images should be the crutch of your presentation. Or it will probably suck and/or not accomplish its-your goals.

something to think about while walking

Hey Mix,


Thanks for sharing this. It sounds like a pretty amazing experience. I hear this kind of perspective frequently from people going on exchanges between the US and the Middle East, and sometimes but not as much with other exchanges. Do you have ideas on how we could get this kind of result in ALL of our exchanges?


Yes I do. Let me think of them.

Goal: library until 3am every night

Two for two so far.

Khallas

I'm realling feeling my time back in Egypt as I sit here working on my presentation with a few Arabic tunes in the background. May the bonds we forged stand the test of time.