Random Ruminations of My Mind

so has it been more than a month?… it doesn’t seem so… things have been pretty busy on my end… some of you may already know, i started a new job a couple of weeks ago… so far so good… i’m pretty much doing the same thing, ie. software developlment. although i’m now learning a whole new programming language. not sure if i really made the right move. the good thing is the work environment. i get in at like 8 now everyday, and leave at 4… basically a 9 to 5 job. the commute is *much* better now - it takes only 20 - 25 minutes each way. whereas before it would take 35-45 minutes… even an hour sometimes. travel time makes a huge difference i’v realized. you not only lose so much time driving, but by the time you get home, u’r mentally and physically tired.

anyways, in other news, the CRA fixed their ’software’ glitch and you can now submit your tax forms online using NETFILE. i personally use a tax program called UFile, which is amazing because it does a lot of optimizations for you, and you can carry forward last years tax file. the software only costs $20 (cheapest of the bunch) and it allows 6 tax filings. i remember not too long ago, my dad used to give some guy $25 per tax filing. talk about a savings! anyhow, i submitted my tax file today, and hopefully, if everything goes good, i’ll get a nice return in the mail in a few days. i think i need a new… ahh screw it… i need to save! for some reason, i feel like i haven’t been doing much of it the last 4 years that i’ve been working. that’s all going to change, right?… prolly not, but it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic

this clip has got to be the funniest thing i’ve seen this year… check it out… for all you people that don’t know who Silverman is, he’s been helping your average, everyday Torontonian with whatever problems they might be facing. In this case, it was probably someone being ripped off by this optician…

http://video.citynews.ca/?skin=oneclip&ext_story=7637

[update] if the above link doesn’t work, you can view the embedded youtube video below…

So as most of you (or some at least) know, I went for Hajj this past year, during the winter break. I left on the 22nd of December and returned on January 9, 2007. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had in my life. Just standing in front of the Kaa’ba in Makkah, seeing it for the first time, there are no words to describe the emotions that overcame me. You see pictures of it all your life, you pray towards it 5 times a day, but standing in front of it, supplicating to Allah at his doorstep, its just indescribable. I would definitely recommend anyone to go as soon as they have the financial means, especially if you are in your 20s. This way you can truly enjoy the experiences that the Hajj has to offer.

So anyway, as you may have guessed, I took my cameras there also. And yes, i say cameras, plural. I took both my big, heavy SLR with a couple of lenses as well as my point and shoot camera. I probably should have only taken the p&s because there are no cameras allowed inside the mosques. Not really sure why. But a lot of people slipped a camera passed security. Many people also had cameras on their phones. So there were many people taking pictures of the kaa’ba. Admittedly, I also took some pictures with my p&s. I wish I had my SLR with me, because I think they would have come out really well. But my S1 did a decent job as well. I will be posting some of those pictures on my photo blog in the near future. BTW, the picture on the right was taken with my camera phone from the top floor of masjid al-haram in Makkah.

So back to work in a few days. Tuesday that is. Not looking forward to it. Need a little more vacation. Time to think, time to ponder, a little more time to ruminate. So much has happened over the past few days that I feel like I need a some time to reflect, introspect. Prioritize my life, if you will. I dunno…

last night i watched the latest episode of one of the wickedest shows on tv right now- Heroes… it was a great episode… won’t go into any of the details about it since it might spoil it for those who haven’t watched it yet…

anyways, after the show i got to thinking, remembering when i was a kid and something would happen that got me either upset or angry and i wished i had some super powers that would magically make me feel better. for example, making myself or someone else disappear (no i didn’t have violent tendencies)… so i then i thought if i had one super power to choose from any of the the characters on Heroes, what would it be??? i thought about each of the characters in the show and wondered if that would be the best one to have…

first person i considered was Nathan Patrelli, the flying dude… now, would i want to fly really? i don’t think that’s really *enough* of a super-hero power on its own, is it? i mean, take superman for example. he could not only fly, he was faster than a speeding bullet, had x-ray vision, enhanced hearing, and was the man of steel!!! so no, flying is way over-rated… the rocketeer (anyone remember him???) could fly for Pete’s sake!

then there’s peter patrelli, who mimics powers of those who he’s in close proximity with… not bad, not bad… but what good does that do him if no super hero is around?… right?… pass.

next on the list, super-hero STRENGTH, as portrayed by Niki Sanders… yeah sure, it would be nice to have this sort of strength, but there’s baggage that goes along with it, in the case of Niki that is… half the time she doesn’t even know she’s doing it, and therefore has no control over it… so scratch that.

reading people’s mind is an interesting ability i think. Matt Parkman on the show is able to do this. this is something i’ve always wanted to be able to do, until they made a mockery of this power with that stupid movie ‘what women want’… anyways, what good is a mind reader anyway… not so much a ’super-hero’ power i think… the world is full of mind-readers… or people who *think* they can read minds…

getting high on drugs, seeing the future, and drawing it comic book style like Isaac Mendez… again, too many fortune tellers in the world, i’m not into drugs, and i can’t draw if my life depended on it…

now there’s two left… the first is super-healing ability like the cheerleader in the show, Claire Bennet… does that make her invincible?… probably not, but its pretty close. everyone has their ‘Kryptonite’ and i’m sure Claire does too… i dunno, its a close second, but not the power i’d like…

which is, of course, the ability to play with space-time like hiro nakamura!!! is this guy like awesome or what! he can reverse time, stop it completely, travel backwards into the past, forwards in to the future, and the best of all, teleportation! the possibilities are ENDLESS!!… i would consider this power to be invincible against all the other powers *combined*. now only if it were possible…

Today is my first day of vacation for the next 9 days. It would have the ideal vacation had I gone somewhere, but even still, staying at home isn’t all that bad. I could catch up on some reading maybe. I’m almost done Angels & Demons (after 4 months :S) so I’m pretty much ready to start something else, fictional that is. ‘The Alchemist’ seems like its been on the bookseller list for quite a long while, so I might just end up starting that one, plus its not that long at all. I seldom get bored reading books more than 500 pages. I might also go out and take pictures somewhere, tidy my bedroom, fix up my computer, make enhancements to my photoblog, do some gardening, learn to cook, go skydiving, have a big a$$ party and invite 10,000 people, learn to speak mandarin, sail around the world in 8 days, etc, etc… Hmmm, ok, maybe not the last few, but at least the thought of doing all that stuff is there

I went to a specialist today for my back, which was injured a while go, getting much better now. I got the appointment about 5 months ago. So finally, after all that time, I got a chance to see him… for 15 whole minutes. That’s right, 5 long months for 15 short minutes. Hmmm, talk about long wait times.

In other news, I just learned today that Israel bombed the last remaining bridge into/out of Lebanon. This bridge was located in a predominantly Christian neighbourhood who were non-partisan so far in the war. After the bombing however, there were reports, by CNN, that people were taking a different stance now in that area. Now, I’m no political pundit or analyst of any sort nor am I a “geo-political strategist”, but what I take from all this is that Israel is losing friends at an alarming rate the further this whole mess goes on. Maybe even its allies at one point might not be as friendly as they are now, Jordan and Egypt for example. And these are countries that border Israel. Many are expecting an imminent cease-fire soon, so let’s hope, god willing, that happens with the least amount of civilian casualties on both sides. As it stands, about 900 Lebanese killed, mostly civilians, and about 70 Israelis killed, mostly soldiers. Hmmm… disproportionate, n’est-ce pas?

this past weekend had its ups and downs. i was supposed to get on a flight friday evening back to toronto in order to attend a friend’s wedding. unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

my flight from Providence, RI got cancelled due to bad weather (wind gusts of up 70mph apparently). the plane i was supposed to board had no chance in those kind of conditions because it was a really small 20-seater plane. to make things worse the guy at the counter, who told me my flight got cancelled, was being a prick and pretty much gave me an ‘800′ number for air canada and told me to book my own ticket out of there. i was first in line, and so i had 20 people behind me who were ready to tell him a piece of their mind. luckily the manager arrived and basically took care of things for us.
he booked us the next direct flight out which was the next morning at 11am, but that meant that i was gonna miss my friend’s wedding . everything happens for a reason i guess…

anyways, i took my camera with me and took some pics. to the right is a picture of the mosque out in Woonsocket… quite literally, in the middle of nowhere, they have this really nice mosque.

and below is a picture of the airplane that i had to take. it’s called a ‘beachcraft’ or something like that. seats only 20 passengers. its

funny because when i was checking in i noticed that i got an aisle seat. of course i wanted the window seat and i tried really hard to get one but couldn’t seem to change it. but when i got on to the airplane, i realized why. the aisle seats were ALSO the window seats. the airplane is extremely light and therefore very susceptible to turbulence. at times you felt like you were on a roller coaster.

So my boss came to my thursday morning and said “Rehan, we have to send you down to Boston this afternoon”… not exactly what I’d call reasonable advanced notice but what can you do, right?  its all a part of the job.  But, the worst part is that a friend of mine is getting married tomorrow and I won’t even be there for the baraat walking in ceremony… nevertheless, I’ll be there for the end i hope, depending on what time my flight gets back…

anyways, on to the topic at hand… the infamous, so-called, ‘random checks’.  For those that aren’t aware of these, every time you go to the airport on your way to the US, there is a slight possibility you will be subjected to a random check… this can be anything from luggage checks for certain chemicals to chemical tests on the body through puffs of air.  But here’s what gets me: the fact that i’m always subjected to these random checks, every single time!  Albeit, it is very possible that they are random with me, but highly improbable.  Its like, flipping a coin 10 times, and getting heads all 10 times: possible, but highly improbable.  Its not like I’m surprised that I get these random checks all the time.  It may not be out in the open, but racial profiling certainly has something to do with it and definitely does occur regardless of what people say to the contrary.

Anyways, that’s my rant for tonight as I sit here in a hotel out in the middle of nowhere.  Literally, this place is like 1 hour north of Boston, and yet it feels so remote from the rest of civilization.  The town is called Woonsocket.  Ha ha.  Go figure.

I wonder if that’s really true. But let’s just think about it for a second. Something that is free, usually has very little monetary value associated with it because of the fact that it is free. But, at the same time, it has the power to have a lot of sentimental value. Let’s take a gift as an example. You buy yourself something compared to someone buying something for you as a gift. Which would you cherish more? The latter I’d hope. Why? Probably because its not only the gift that comes your way, but the thought of buying that gift comes along for the ride. And of course its free.

As an aside, I went into a TD bank branch recently in order to close my account at RBC and open one up at TD. I read somewhere exactly how to get a free iPod nano in doing so. The way it works is, you have to close an account at some other bank, and open one up at TD. You also need to setup a Direct Deposit or 2 Pre-authorized payments for that account. This will only get you an iPod Shuffle however. To get the nano, you have to be approved for a TD Visa Gold credit card. Of course, this card comes with a heft annual fee, $99 to be exact. To have that fee waived, you have to make sure that the account you opened was a Select Service account. Funny thing is, this type of account itself has a monthly fee of $24.95. BUT, and there’s always a but, in order to waive this fee, all you need to do is keep a minimum balance of $5000. Do everything I described above and you’ll be the proud new owner of a 1GB iPOD Nano!!!

So it really is true, that the best things in life are FREE, in more ways than one

Then again, we’ve all heard the saying, ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’.  A topic to be discussed at some other time in the near future.