The Significance of Hizballah's Popularity

Hi there. It’s been a while since I posted. I went on vacation for a while, and the rest of the time it was too hot to blog :) But, now I’m back and I promise to start writing more regularly.

I bought the important Egyptian daily newspapers yesterday, and in Rose Al Yousef newspaper, I found an article regarding Hizballah’s current exploding popularity (in print only, not available on the web). This article stood out from the current conventional wisdom in Egypt. If you live in Egypt, you’ll know there is a general state of euphoria regarding Hizballah’s recent “victory”, with several newspapers giving out posters of Nasrallah and some even issuing special supplements that include Nasrallah’s biography, poems glorifying him, and similar stuff. Not to mention the countless articles that have been written on how the victory has brought back a feeling of dignity and pride to all of us Egyptians and what we can do to develop Egyptian Nasrallahs of our own! In the middle of all of this, I found the article by Adel Esmat in the issue of 24 August, 2006 of Rose Al Yousef newspaper. The article is in Arabic, so I’ll try to translate some excerpts:

On Hizballah and Hamas’s Popularity: is there any competition?

What is the significance of Hizballah and Hamas’s unprecedented popularity these days? This popularity mainly means that Arab populations have an overwhelming desire to defeat Israel or to seek revenge from it at the very least. What they do not understand is that a total victory cannot be achieved in the military field alone. They do not even understand that military superiority itself is the end result of progress in many other fields. They do not understand that building the inside is the first step to confronting your enemies and that developing our countries is what will make the difference in the long run!

Our people’s absolute support for Hizballah and Hamas reveals a desperate and hasty way of thinking…and shows that we are gripped by focusing on the temporary situation without thinking of the long term consequences….

Our blind support to HA and Hamas means that there is a popular mood that does not recognize what a popular state is, and what its limits are. A culture that does not care about building state institutions, that is not worried about corruption and does not give priority to the value of spreading of democracy or of internal development. It’s a culture that always looks to the outside and places the blame on enemies and does not see the need to look at its flaws: since it does not make any mistakes and is innocent of all sins. Only others are to blame for our backwardness….A culture that gives priority to confrontation without thinking of the consequences.

(A culture that will lead us to) blindly follow Hizballah and Hamas, agreeing to all their decisions, no matter what they do, so at the end our role becomes to only glorify their actions and sing their praises, singing songs of resistance while carrying their leaders on our shoulders, carrying banners saying “Islam is the solution” and “ Resistance is the solution”.

I hope the translation wasn’t too bad. I think it was a good article and I completely share the writer’s thoughts. I have always thought that our priority should go to fixing our problems and building our societies. And I really think that the blind support Egyptians and Arabs are giving to Hizballah is not in their interests.

I am Disgusted

I’m disgusted by all that shit that’s going on in Lebanon.

I’m disgusted by Hizbullah’s reckless dragging of the whole Lebanese population into a bloody war for their (and their masters’) selfish interests.

I’m disgusted by the Israeli barbaric reaction and their destruction of a country that I love and their reckless slaughter of civilians so they can vent their anger and feel like they’re doing something to protect themselves (they’re not).

I’m disgusted at the Syrians that are celebrating in the streets as if there’s any price that they had to pay for the couple of dozen Israelis that were killed by Hizbullah. They are more than happy to see the whole of Lebanon get destroyed just so they can have the satisfaction of seeing a war with Israel materialise.

I’m disgusted at the Egyptian leftist demonstrators who carried the pictures of Nasrallah and Nasser on placards.

I’m disgusted at most of the Israeli commentors on Lebanese blogs, who are flooding these blogs with vicious, insensitive comments. As if by doing this, they’re going to magically get them to adopt the Israeli point of view.

I’m disgusted at so many commenters on Al Arabiya web-site, that are cheering on this war from their desks as if they’re cheering for their team in the World Cup.

I’m disgusted because I know that all this shit will keep on happening over and over and over again, and nobody will be able to change anything.

The Origin of the Notorious Head Butt

Like everyone else, I was stunned by the notorious head-butt by Zinedine Zidane in the World Cup final. Why the hell would he do something like that? Did he go mad? No matter what the Italian guy did to him (some suggested he called Zidane a terrorist, and others said he pinched Zidane’s nipple!), Zizou still should have controlled himself.

This was especially puzzling coming from someone who seems so calm, collected and in control.

Until I read the following article (written way before the incident) which sheds light on his character. It’s important to know this about Zidane’s background: born to poor Algerian immigrants in the south of France, he grew up in the ghetto, and had a tough start to his life. This naturally affected his character.

“One of the theories about Zidane as a player is that he is driven by an inner rage. His football is elegant and masterful, charged with technique and vision. But he can still erupt into shocking violence that is as sudden as it is inexplicable. The most famous examples of this include head butting Jochen Kientz of Hamburg during a Champions League match, when he was at Juventus in 2000 …and his stomping on the hapless Faoud Amin of Saudi Arabia during the 1998 World Cup finals”

Sounds familiar?

"Zidane’s first coaches at AS Cannes noticed quickly that he was raw and sensitive, eager to attack spectators who insulted his race or family. The priority of his first coach, Jean Varraud, was to get him to channel his anger and focus more on his game. According to Varraud, Zidane’s first weeks at Cannes were spent mainly on cleaning duty as a punishment for punching an opponent who had mocked his ghetto origins.”

“And yet in his early days at Juventus, particularly in big matches, some of his temperamental faults would resurface, and there were doubts over his ability to lead from the centre of the pitch.”

“Zidane’s occasional violence may well be a product of this internal conflict : the French-Algerian who is for ever suspended between cultures. But it is equally likely that, although in public he presents a serene and smiling face, he is underneath it all every bit the same hard nut he had to be to survive the mean streets of La Castellane. ’Nobody knows if Zidane is an angel or demon,’ says the rock singer Jean-Louis Murat, who is himself a fan of the player. ’He smiles like Saint Teresa and grimaces like a serial killer.’”

My theory is that the Italians knew this about Zidane’s personality, and they used it against him. Whether it was a nipple pinch that insulted his hot Arab macho blood, or calling him a terrorist, they knew how to push his buttons. And they did. Successfully.

UPDATE: So it seems we now know what happened. The Sun newspaper got a lip reader to analyse what Materazzi said. Highlights of the report:

A lip-reader told The Sun that Marco Materazzi called Zidane "a son of a terrorist whore”.

Top lip-reader Marianne Frere revealed the Italian told Zidane — who understands the language after playing for Juventus — a high ball was “not for feccia like you”.

Feccia is an Italian insult meaning scum or s**t.

Zidane smiled at Materazzi as he walked away. But there was another exchange, Zidane turned and floored him with a butt to the chest. The lip-reader claimed the Italian had said: “We all know you are the son of a terrorist whore.”

He added: “Viffanculo”. (f*** off). A source close to the Italian squad claimed that after twisting Zidane’s nipple, Materazzi asked him: “What, don’t you like it?” The French captain replied: “A bit too hard to turn me on.”

But Materazzi shouted: “Well, I did it that way because I know that’s how your mother likes it.”

Materazzi’s agent denied any racist slur — and said the attack came when Zidane offered to swap shirts later and the Italian replied: “‘I’d rather take the shirt off your wife.”

The mystery is resolved!

Is it Slavery? Or Just a Little Help Around the House?

Check out this story:

An Egyptian couple with five kids move to the US. Naturally, they need some domestic help (Egyptian style) with such a large family.

So what do they do? They arrange to bring along their 12 year old servant with them (with a fraudulent visa, nonetheless) where her life continues along the same lines of what she had in Egypt. Basically, serving the family 24/7, no schooling, sleeping in a tiny space in the garage, getting beat up if she makes any mistakes, the usual stuff an average 12 year old maid goes through in Egypt. With one small difference: it’s in the US. Obviously, the family did not see they were doing anything wrong.

So what happens when the American authorities find out?

The couple is charged with human trafficking, harboring an illegal immigrant, and conspiracy. Basically, they were considered to have enslaved the 12-year-old girl.

They’ve pleaded guilty and are now expecting a sentence of three years each, possibly up to fifty years!!

How could these idiots ever have expected to get away with this in the US?

You know what’s the best part of all of this? The government gave the girl a green card, put her up at a foster home (where she’s going to a public high school), and ordered the couple to pay her back wages of $100,000!!

Yes, $100,000.

Isn’t this an incredible story?

Read the official report here.

Watch the World Cup for Free!

I was checking out Hal's rant about the injustice of having the World Cup available ‎only to ART subscribers, and I decided to do an act of charity. I will post the frequencies ‎of 4 free to air European satellite channels that will be airing the World Cup - you ‎can get these channels in the Middle East! You have to have a movable dish, ‎though.
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So, enjoy.....

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Lucid Dreams

Everyday when I wake up, it takes me quite some time to get out of my dream mood. ‎‎ The mood I wake up with usually depends on the dream I've had – and in many cases, ‎this mood is one of worry, anxiety, stress, or anticipation. The funny thing is I rarely ‎remember the details of the dream, I just live the mood and the feelings that I have as a ‎result of the dream. ‎



‎ ‎
A while back, I saw an amazing movie called Waking Life. The whole movie is a surreal ‎experience, almost like a dream. It is actually inspired by the dreaming process and it ‎uses the dream-like format of the film to explore many different issues and observations ‎that the writer/director had. There really is no plot or story – just a guy who moves from ‎one surreal scene to another, observing (and participating in) philosophical and deep ‎discussions on all sorts of topics. Anyway, what I wanted to say was that in one scene of ‎this movie, the hero realizes he's dreaming but he still continues with his dream and starts ‎manipulating the dream to make it go his own way. I got interested in this and checked ‎the website of the movie and I made an amazing discovery. This scene referred to ‎something called lucid dreaming. A lucid dream is a dream where you know that you ‎are dreaming during the actual dream itself, which usually enables you to have direct ‎control over the content of the dream. Can you believe that? Having the ability to ‎control your own dreams? Writing their script? Experimenting with your fantasies? ‎Turns out that inducing lucid dreams has almost become a science. It is scientifically ‎verified that you can do it, and there are many methods to do so. One of the methods ‎‎(which was used in Waking Life) is to try to flick on a light switch in your dream. If it ‎doesn’t work, then you’re dreaming (apparently light switches don’t work in dreams). ‎Once you realize that you’re dreaming, then you can control what happens in it.‎

Those who have experienced lucid dreams describe them as

“exciting, colourful, and ‎fantastic. Many compare it to a spiritual experience and say that it changed their lives or ‎their perception of the world. Some have even reported lucid dreams that take on a ‎hyperreality, seemingly "more real than real", where all the elements of reality are ‎amplified. Lucid dreams are prodigiously more memorable than other kinds of dreaming, ‎even nightmares, which may be why they are often prescribed as a means of ridding one's ‎self of troubling dreams.”‎

Can you imagine the possibilities?

Funny thing is, what do most people do when they ‎experience lucid dreams? They either fly or have sex.‎

Flip-Flops Flipped Over‎

I was sitting in my living room the other day, doing nothing in particular, just thinking ‎and staring away, when I noticed that my flip flops were upside down. I immediately ‎went to them and returned them back to their normal position. Thought about this for a ‎second, and realized why I did this. ‎

It was one of those things that stays with you from your childhood: we were taught never ‎to leave flip flops or shoes upside down. And why is that? Because it would be ‎disrespectful to God. You shouldn’t put the sole of your shoes heading upwards towards ‎our Lord in the skies! What absolute rubbish. Then I remembered that how as a kid, I ‎was obsessed with keeping all the shoes, sandals, and flip flops of the household in their ‎God-respecting positions. And to think that such a thing goes around spreading between ‎people and people taking the time and effort to implement such a thing. As if God had ‎nothing better to do than sit there getting offended from the soles of flip flops facing him ‎around the world. ‎

It got me to thinking about other bullshit that you’re told as a kid and how you take it and ‎believe it then. I remembered that we had this nanny that would tell us that God came ‎and gave a choice to Muslims and Christians: The choice was between faith and beauty. ‎Muslims (naturally) choose faith, and Christians chose beauty. And that is why (she ‎explained) most Christians are beautiful. But not to worry, because it will all be sorted ‎out in the after life, where we will go to heaven, and get rewarded for putting up with our ‎ugliness. Not to worry at all. Thank God our parents corrected this crap when we told ‎them about it.‎

Indoctrination is such a powerful tool. Once you imprint something in the ‎impressionable mind of an innocent child, it will most likely stay there forever. This is ‎something that’s always s in the back of my head when dealing with my child.‎

Watermelon and White Cheese

Summer is here, and I’m starting to really enjoy some of my favorite summer treats. Top of my list is a food combination that you can only find in Egypt: Watermelon with White Cheese! I love it!! It is one of the tastiest and most delicious food combinations you could ever have. The sweet taste of water melons combined with the salty taste of white cheese makes an unbeatable taste that you can’t find in any other meal. As I was having some of it today, I started thinking of what else I wait for every summer. Well of course there’s mango – my favorite fruit ever. And it’s not just any type of Mango, it’s only the type we call “Alfonse” in Egypt that I love and crave. I’m drooling just thinking about its taste right now. It’s got the sweetest taste with just the right texture: not too hairy, and full of meat without having the pit to be too large. I could eat 6 or 7 Alfonse mangoes in one go. Thinking about watermelon and cheese and Alfonse mangoes got me to thinking about foods that are very specific to Egypt. Moloukhia, of course, is the quintessential Egyptian meal (well, Lebanese and Syrians cook it, but they make it in a completely different way that tastes aweful!). People not familiar with Moloukhia get disgusted from it when they first try it – I know many foreigners that thought it was gooey and sticky and they hated it. I don’t know how anybody could ever hate Moloukhia – it is by far the best vegetable ever created (and this coming from somebody who completely hates vegetables). Koshary is another Egyptian trademark – although I don’t really like it. Something about the combination of rice and pasta just doesn’t do it for me.

Time to go eat some more watermelons and cheese!

Back to Life

I’m finally back to life. After a crazy and hectic couple of weeks (with a 5 day vacation in between), things are slowing down a little bit. I’ve been swamped at work with 5 major projects running in parallel, with problems and issues happening in the middle of all of this. It’s also been a hectic and stressful time on the personal level too.

But, I see light at the end of the tunnel. The craziness is subsiding and the clouds are clearing up. I will be blogging again and I’m looking forward to reading and commenting on all my favorite blogs again.

See you all very soon!

Springtime in Cairo

Spring is finally here. And even though the concrete jungle of Cairo dominates, beauty still seeps through the trees and flowers that are thankfully planted in every street and in the outskirts of the city. Here are some pictures I captured of the Cairo spring.

Only in Egypt

Walking around the streets of Cairo, one finds comedic treasures that I feel should be shared around the world. I will be posting these whenever I find them.

My first treasure is a sign advertising a language school. I wonder what language they use...

Movie Review: Bosta

I had heard about this Lebanese movie called “Bosta” a couple of months back. I read a couple of reviews that were very positive, so naturally, I jumped at the chance to see it when I could. Let, me tell you: I was impressed! What a wonderful movie.

First of all, any movie that has Nadine Labaky as a star is probably going to be a good movie in my books. I admire her so much. Not only is she a top director in the music video world (stars are fighting to have her direct their videos), but she is also quite the hot babe. She is also a very talented actress. What more could you ask for?



Now for the movie itself: a really sentimental, human story set in a musical setting. The main theme explores the Lebanese identity and the main question involved is : who’s the “real” Lebanese? However, it does so in a very entertaining way, with music, dance, drama, and visual appeal. The movie is about a Lebanese guy who starts a Dabka (Lebanese dance) group that is quite untraditional: a fusion of Dabka with techno and hip hop dance styles. They called it Digi Dabka. You should see these dance pieces: the way they jump between the different styles is seamless and very interesting. It brings life into the dance pieces, so does the music. Very creative stuff. The group enters into a Dabka competition, but the judges kick them out because their style is very untraditional. The judge tells them “Do you want to waste the last part of authenticity we have left in our lives?”. They tell the judge that he doesn’t get it and that Dabka is a living breathing part of their lives that evolves with everything else – they are not wasting anything. The members of the group are a wonderful diverse set of characters – a cross section of Lebanon. You have the past-her-prime diva, the talented male dancer who’s originally from a small village and haunted by his family’s rejection of his choice to dance, the traditional guy who reluctantly joins the group, the overweight girl, etc….Of course you also have the Christian, Sunni, Druze, etc…. Each character is so well written that you feel they are living, breathing, souls. The group then travels around the country on a quest to gain recognition, aiming to eventually reach the top festival “Baalbeck Festival”. They travel around in an old restored bus (Bosta means bus in Lebanon) from city to city, and you get to know the characters better in the process and the interactions between them: the persistence, exhaustion, love, admiration, jealousy, and flirtation. I loved the the message of the film: your love for your country can be expressed in so many ways and just because you choose to express it in a different way doesn’t mean it’s any less than that of somebody who chooses the traditional, expected path. The group was as Lebanese, and their love for Lebanon was as real as those who danced the traditional Dabka.

Overall, an excellent movie. Everything was excellent: the script, the performances, the music, the dancing. The only drawback was the cinematography – it was a bit lacking.

Go and see this movie now!

New Toy in Action

So, I was in Dubai last week when I got my new toy (see post below). The following day, I found myself awake at my hotel room at 6 am. I looked out the window and saw the sun rising from behind the airport tower. Jumped out of my bed, got my camera, and started snapping.



Obviously, I couldn't go back to sleep even though I had 3 more hours before my meetings were scheduled to start. So I quickly got dressed and jumped into a taxi and headed to Dubai Creek. This Creek is a bay of sea water that splits the "old" part of Dubai into 2. Alongside this creek, you can hop on a boat (they call them Abras) to cross to the other side of the creek on the cheap (half a dirham). Thus, I proceeded to snap some more...





Crossing to the other side of the creek, I found myslef at an old souk-style area with shops selling handicrafts, carpets, etc....





That's just a sampling of what I took that day - I took so many more photos (the beauty of digital photography). It was such a blast! Jumping around from one place to another, the thrill of capturing a good shot, was just out of this world. This has completely got me interested in photography again and I will be taking many, many more photos.

My New Toy

I just got myslef a new toy, and I'm loving it!

I've been wanting to get a digital camera for a while, and finally I took the plunge.

I really into photography in the past, but I've been too lasy recently. Now, that is all going to change. I'll be posting pics soon.

Stupid Neighbor

Our upstairs neighbors are morons. They’re idiots who live on a flipped schedule: they wake up at 9 pm, stay up all night long – every night - then they sleep at around 10 am. Two issues here: 1) they are EXTREMELY noisy people, and 2) our walls are not sound proof at all. We can hear everything that happens up there in their apartment: the TV shows they watch at 1 am, The Koran recitals and religious tapes they have on at 3 am on full blast, the stupid songs that the guy sings to his whining daughter, the carpentry work he gets off on at 4 am, and the fights he has with his wife. The fights are the worst. The other night H couldn’t sleep at all from a major fight they had (thankfully, I’m a heavy sleeper). The reason for the fight? Apparently the woman received a couple (relatives of her) in the house while her husband wasn’t home! He was telling her: “This is Zena (adultery)! Zena!! You are heading straight to hell”. He freaked out because there was a strange man in the house – even though the guy is a relative and was with is wife. So stupid. He was shouting at her, humiliating her, threatening her with divorce, and all around bullying her for around 3 full hours. All throughout what was her response? She was begging for mercy. Idiots like this have reduced religion to such trivial things - it disgusts me.

We don’t really know what to do with this guy. We have spoken to him numerous times – he promises to be better every time. We sent over the security guards to him. We wrote notes. If the police were of any use we would have filed a complaint. Grrrrrrrr.

The Bird Flu Incident

What would you do if your dog came over with a dead bird in its mouth in the middle of the huge bird flu scare we’re experiencing in Egypt these days?

That is exactly what happened to us the other day. Can you imagine that – a dead bird! Naturally, H (my wife) freaked out. Big time. Unfortunately, I was away at the time so she had to handle that on her own. First thing she did was call the bird flu hotline number that is shoved down our throats a Gazzilion times a day. Nobody answered! So much for the heightened state of readiness of our government. We start calling up vets that we know and most confirm that dogs have not so far been known to be infected by (or carry) the virus. We calm down a bit. Next question: what to do with the bird? Answer: careful handling of the carcass (with gloves) and burning the bird in the garden with the assistance of H’s dad. Poor D (our dog) had to be quarantined for a while and so far things look OK (some time has passed since then). Freaky, isn’t it?

A Monastery, an Eco-lodge, and A Day of Exploration.‎

We decided to go exploring yesterday. I had read before about the monasteries of Wadi ‎El-Natrun and had always seen the sign to them when traveling to Alexandria. I read that ‎this group of monasteries, 100 km north of Cairo, were the oldest monasteries in the ‎world – dating back to the 4th century AD (the monastic tradition was born there and then ‎later spread to the rest of the world). And since yesterday was a nice and sunny day, it ‎seemed like the perfect day to go and explore the area.‎

We only had time to visit one of the 4 main monasteries, so we went for the oldest and ‎most famous: the Monastery of Anba Bishoy. My first reaction when we reached there ‎was one of surprise. It was much larger than I expected. It was actually a compound ‎with very high walls enclosing three chapels, a castle, a visitors' centre, a gift shop, the ‎monks' quarters and a garden. I had expected something much smaller. I was also ‎surprised from the number of crowds visiting there. Hundreds of Christians, many ‎coming in groups from all over Egypt, were there on pilgrimage. I had expected a quiet ‎and reflective atmosphere. Inside on of the chapels, religious icons lined the walls, as the ‎pilgrims were praying and getting their blessings. As we stood inside, a couple of ‎pilgrims started on a religious chant – the lyrics were posted on the wall for those that ‎didn’t know them. Gradually, more and more people joined them, and before we knew it, ‎there were like 40 to 50 people, all chanting together. It was such a spiritual atmosphere, ‎that we found ourselves chanting with them even though we’re not Christian (couldn’t ‎help but wonder then what some of our more religious relatives would think about this!). ‎Even my 2 year old son was chanting with us! It reminded me so much of the time I was ‎in Tibet and I went into a Buddhist temple there and attended a session of prayers and ‎chants with around 100 monks – another amazingly spiritual experience. You completely ‎lose yourself. I think that there are so many ways and routes to achieve spirituality that ‎it is just too limiting to try to reach God from the way you were taught to do. As they sy, ‎God speaks many languages.

On the way back from the monastery, we found signs on the road leading to an eco-lodge ‎called Al Hammra Eco-lodge. Naturally, we had to check it out.

Turns out it’s a really ‎nice and cozy lodge built close to a salt water lake by an ex army General. His car got ‎stuck there one day, and he loved the place, so he bought the land and built an eco lodge ‎on it! The chalets there are all built from natural materials and we had a great time ‎walking around, enjoying the scenery, chatting with the owner and his guests, and eating ‎some nice home cooked food. I just love eco-lodges. I would take them any day over ‎fancy resorts. Other eco-lodges I recommend in Egypt: Basata in the Sinai, Zad Al ‎Musafir in Tunis (close to Fayyoum), and I hear that Adrere Amellal in Siwa is amazing ‎‎(but still haven’t been there though).‎

It was certainly my kind of day. No plan, no schedule, but you learn and explore and enjoy so much more than you would if you had one.

Jimmy’s Engagement

The talk of the town these days is about Gamal Mubarak’s engagement. Finally, he’s ‎getting engaged to a hottie 20 years his junior. Everybody’s talking about the venue of ‎the engagement party, the dress the bride ordered from Paris, the ring, the girl’s family, ‎etc….. In typical fashion, Egyptians have started to make fun of the event. I found some ‎great stuff in the readers’ comments section of the Al Arabiya article on the event. My picks:‎

ألف مبروك يا جيمي و بالرفاء و البنين أهم حاجة ماتكونش البنت طمعانة في مصر قصدي في ثروتك

الف مبروك يا جيمى يادوبك 42 سنه لسه مكون نفسك ومجهز الشقه الله يكون فى عونك‏

جيمى عندة 40 سنة ولم يتزوج لحد دلوقتى اذا دل فانة يدل على انة راجل عصامى حاول يبنى نفسة بنفسة لحد ما ‏وصل للمنصب الكبير اللى هو فية‎ ‎
‎ ‎
القفص+ دخول جمال مبارك القفص الذهبي = ا علان مملكه مصر ‏ayman nour ‎دخول

Ya Beirut Ya Sett El Denia‎

Just got back from a week in Beirut on business. My first time there in 7 years. God, has it changed since then. Some observations:

- The restaurant and club scene still remains as buzzing as ever. I went to some Fantastic restaurants: Cuban, Japanese, Lebanese, Italian, Seafod, and French. It’s true they’re expensive as hell. But it’s worth it for the great ambience, great food, and amazing décor. They’re packed even on week nights (the Lebanese do know how to enjoy life). I wish we had such variety and quality in Cairo.
- The Lebanese people are still the biggest complainers. They still complain about everything: life, politics, inflation, crowds, work, other people, etc……….. It really struck me that many Lebanese people have sort of taken the blessings they have in their country for granted and can only see the bad side. Couldn’t help but contrast that to the attitude of so many Egyptians who are living in miserable conditions and still manage to smile and joke in the midst of their misery.
- Faraya is amazing. I went up to a place called Faraya up the mountain (an hour’s drive from Beirut) to try my hand at skiing. It was amazing! It was a hot, sunny day and the snow was everywhere – an amazing contrast. Some people were skiing in tank tops!! They have several slopes in Faraya ranging from very easy to very difficult. Obviously, I took the easiest slope with an instructor and managed to go down the simple slope without falling. The skiing scene is such a lively and fun scene. Beautiful scenery, an incredibly fun sport, beautiful people, and great food in mountain lodge style restaurants. The Lebanese are lucky to have all of this so close to their homes.
- Yes, the babes and hunks are as stunning as they appear on TV. And yes, plastic surgery is rampant over there (even the male waiter in the corner coffee shop had a plaster on his nose from the nose job he’s had).

Cover Your Ass

In the professional world, one of the most widely-practiced business principles is CYA – Cover Your Ass. When people are scared of being blamed for any decision at work, they cover their asses in a variety of ways. I am experiencing this CYA business first hand these days - by my boss and some colleagues of mine. You see, there’s a project I’m working on right now which everybody was fully aligned to. The initial results are coming out and some of them are freaking out because they’re thinking it might not work – that’s when you see CYA in action.

There are several ways people Cover Their Asses:
- When committing to a decision, they leave themselves an exit door: for example they would say I agree to this, but I’m not sure it will work. i.e. I agree but don’t really agree. This way if it works, they can celebrate and say I knew it would work all along. If not, they can still say I told you so.
- They can say the concept was great but you screwed up the execution.
- They can flatly lie and say I never agreed to this in the first place, when they did all along. These people avoid written documentation like the plague.

Don’t you think it’s pathetic what people will do for a paycheck at the end of the month?