Glacier NP

First Light

The Cheesy Moon

The moon last night at full -3 days.

It's cold

There's cold and then there's North Dakota cold... in the spirit of the excitement over the cold and snowy weather over in Jordan, here's a little snapshot of some vintage Northland weather for some perspective.

Choices

"I choose to live and to grow, take and give and to move, learn and love and to cry, kill and die and to be paranoid and to lie, hate and fear and to do what it takes to move through"

Forty-Six & 2, from ÆNIMA

Spring pictures

Thought I'd share some pictures from last weekend's biking trip to Itasca State Park in Minnesota, 32,000 acres or 130 squared km of gorgeous nature that includes more than a 100 lakes and the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

The spring, green pictures, to go with the blog's new colors. It was time for the winter blues to go. Banner designed by a person much more artsy than myself, thanks :)

How to give yourself a heart attack

Caution, not for the weak of heart, all puns intended. Follow these steps:

1. stay late at work, make sure you’re in a quiet office with all lights turned off. An office can be replaced by any dark quiet place, but the results may vary.
2. make sure your computer speakers are turned on and the volume is fairly high.
3. open http://makhoudjit.blogspot.com/

God damn... that was a good scare!

Back in the saddle again

We just had a gorgeous weekend, sunny and highs in the 70s both days so it was the perfect time for me to make my triumphant return to biking, these are some pictures I took along the bike trails. First off though my new toy, she's green!


and still shiny :)


some follow Fargoan's enjoying the lovely day.


playing hide the shadow, I like how this tree takes a dip in the pond and emerges dry from the other side.


parts of the trails are still in a rough shape, 2 weeks ago this whole area was under water from the river flooding.


the debris on the trees show how high the water was.


blue skies.

It feels great to be out on a bike again! although my rear end isn't fully agreeing with the last statement, I haven't been on a bike for over 2 years.

On sleeping

I'm sick of being nocturnal! There's only so much you can do at 4AM, and the fact that I need to be at work by 9 makes sleep seem even less desirable.

Infidel!

I was out of town a couple of weeks ago when I saw this car with a very cool license plate. Now there's a gal that isn't afraid of expressing her opinions, way to go, more power to you!



I really like the idea of cars as arenas of self-expression, you have many options from personalized license plates like the one above and this cuter one. Or you can go with any of the million and one bumper stickers available, I personally like this one



Or you can go with a fish! I know of at least 3 such expressive fishies to choose from:
The original Jesus fish, I see a LOT of those in North Dakota.



Or if you're feeling a little naughty, a Judas fish. Looks exactly like a Jesus fish but has JUDAS written instead.

And my personal favorite, the Darwin fish, which through the process of Intelligent Design has grown cute little feet :)

Easter bunnies

A friend of mine sent me this picture and as silly as it is, it's funny!!



I mean.. his butt! and his ears...!! hehehe.....

Happy Easter everyone, and thank you North Dakota for being extra-religious and giving us a 4-day weekend. WOO HOO :)

Because it's the 18th

What do you do when you don't feel like talking to anyone? When the only person you might want to speak to is unavailable on more than one level, and you probably wouldn't tell them anything anyway?
My answer is to tell everyone who's willing to read.

What do you do when you don't feel like articulating and committing by using your own words?
My answer is to use the lame ass lyrics of a lame ass song.

Cult: Painted on My Heart
I thought you’d be out of my mind
And I’d finally found a way to learn to live without you
I thought it was just a matter of time
Till I had a hundred reasons not to think about you

But it’s just not so
And after all this time, I still can’t let go

I’ve still got your face
Painted on my heart
Scrawled upon my soul
Etched upon my memory, baby

I’ve got your kiss
Still burning on my lips
The touch of my fingertips
This love so deep inside of me, baby

I’ve tried everything that I can
To get my heart to forget you
But it just can’t seem to

I guess it’s just no use
In every part of me
Is still a part of you

Something in your eyes keeps haunting me
I’m trying to escape you
And I know there ain’t no way to
To chase you from my mind

The lyrics should only be taken at face value, because nothing in the world is absolute.

عيني بترف

my right eye has been twitching for 3 days and it's driving me freaking insane....
help?

Ode to parents

Om oleander and Abu oleander are going to be making it to the sleepy town tomorrow, they don't care how sleepy the town is, they don't care how freezing cold the weather is, all they care about is spending some time with their offspring, and that's exactly what I intend to do, spend as much time as possible with them. After a voyage that has taken them from Jordan to the Midwest and to the southern US, they're finally making it to the northland and I can't wait to have them up here.

I've been preparing, trying to clean up my place for almost a week, because you know how moms are.. despite my efforts, which are honestly lousy at best, I'm sure my mom will discover, what I thought was a hidden, piece of my messiness. And although her attempts to plant the fear of God in me by warning me that no woman in her right mind would marry someone as messy as I am, have failed in the past, she will still try again. I smile just thinking about that, I'll be looking forward to hearing her say it.

My parents are the most loving human beings I will ever know, they're older than what the average parents of someone in his late 20s should be. But they're young at heart, to this age willing to joke and laugh. And they're young at mind, still willing to learn new things and to accept and discuss new ideas. They have struggled through so many hardships to give their children a fair shot at the world, putting us all through college with next to nothing, it still baffles me how they managed to do it. That wasn't all, they did what must be the hardest thing for any parent to do, they let go. They watched their children one by one leave westwood over the past 20 years, only returning home on the yearly or bi-yearly visit for three weeks. When it was my turn, people tried to talk them out of letting me go, being the youngest, you have to keep m7ammad with you they told them, but they said no, he will get the same chance his siblings got.

So fate, or what have you, would have it so four of us would end up in the US, and one in Jordan. Fate, in a cruel twist, would also have it so our family will not be fully together since the day the first one of us left Jordan over 20 years ago. But at least I will have mom and dad with me for the next couple of weeks and that's worth the world.

The tag bug

I was tagged by Khalaf and Reem, thanks for the tag guys, now I'm in the cool tagged club.

Five facts about me:
-I'm going through what I can best describe as a 1/3rd-life crisis, versus a mid or quarterlife one
-I'm not a book reader, like all of 3 books in 2005
-I'm not geeky enough for my field (software)
-I enjoy the outdoors
-I'm fascinated by weather, the more extreme the better, which is perfect for where I live

Three things I like about others:
-Intelligence
-Logic
-An appreciation for reality

Three things I hate about others:
-Being overly optimistic
-Being too lost or unaware
-Being disgenuine

I tag
-Ziad welcome back :)
-Mariam because it's been a while
-Jameed 7arkasheh

and whoever feels like being tagged.

Radio stations attachment

I get in my car this evening, I turn on the radio and I hear the welcomed familiar sounds of NPR , listening for a minute to a discussion about Canadian politics and how conservatives are gaining grounds there, I quickly lose interest. I switch to one of my trusted saved stations, a rock station, I hear the very familiar and very unwelcome tone of country music. After a quick double take, the frequency is right, I haven't mistakenly wandered off to one of the too many country stations that litter the airwaves up here. I continue on, listening, hoping to hear the voice of a familiar DJ who'd say something to the extent of GOTCHA! But no, country music continues song after song, and finally the dreaded jingle announcing a new station.

We've lost the only hard rock station in town, again, it has only been on the air for just over a year. The other loss came some 5 years ago when my hard rock station started playing christmas music non stop, talk about a shock to the system.

Losing my station reminded me of Jordan, growing up in Irbid we didn't get Amman FM, which to me at the time was the coolest thing ever. Some of my sweet memories revolve around staying up late with the cousins on our visits to Amman, listening to Amman FM. Then the futile attempts trying to get Amman FM on radio once back home in Irbid, only to manage to catch tens of hebrew stations :)

Now I'm down to one rock station that I'm forced to tolerate the frequent Guns and Roses or Def Leopard song on, 80s rock just isn't my thing, and so I had to rant...

A movie off the beaten path

What Dreams May Come is a movie that I first saw about 6 months ago, and again tonight. All you ever wanted to know about life, death, the afterlife, family, and of course love. The film has a couple of things working against it, but overall it's a stunning visual feast of wild imagined ingenuity. If you're in the mood for a different film, I highly recommend it.

Ping Pong, with an Asian opponent

This evening I have a Ping Pong match with a gentleman with the name of Juhing Fu. How did this come to be? You might ask, last month the university created a recreation room in the new apartment complex I live in, I've played with some friends and managed to beat on them pretty much at will, doesn't say much about my skill as they mostly suck :) last week, announcements were posted in the complex for a tournament, I figured what the heck.. I'll sign up.

I never really was that good and it's been ages since I've played regularly, think back to the early 90s in Jordan. But I did play a few games maybe 6 or 7 years ago with a follow graduate student, she'd let me see a slither of hope of winning a game before going all ninja on me and beating me to submission, did I mention she was from Taiwan? So luck (or lack thereof) had me paired with the only Asian player in the tourney. Ever wonder why us, West Asians aren't as good as our continental neighbors to the East in sports like Ping Pong and martial arts?

So this post is in keeping with the Jordanian sports tradition of providing the excuse for losing before the match, and as always hadafna al mosharaka w al i7tikak lel khibrah! (our goal is participation for the experience).

Disclaimer: the soul intent of this post is humor, I'm aware of the racial stigma the post falls into, and I hold nothing but respect and intrigue for and in the diversity of human races.

I'm a Democrat

I took the Politics test after seeing it on Banzeen and Sabbah's Blog. It's a fun test, give it a try.

You are a Social Moderate (56% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (28% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Nightstand me?

Roba tagged me with the Nightstand Memo.
So here's a picture of what I have laying on top of a bookshelf... those who didn't see Roba's post, I'm in temparoary housing and I don't have a nightstand at the moment :)