Do you think you are safe?

What image was drawn in your mind after reading the title? What kind of safety did that question remind you of? Maybe you had a mental picture of murderers! Perhaps you recalled your worn car tires and so on and so forth of all the normal things we tend to think of when we think about our safety. Will you be surprised when I tell that I am asking about different kind of safety and security? The type which I don’t think we, in general, consider when we talk about safety or security.

 

Computer Security or online safety is as important as your other kind of safety. Sometimes, it could be even more vital to your life and the lives of the ones you love. Imagine this scenario, a PhD student loses years of effort, when a hacker compromises his computer and stole and wipe everything, including his thesis! Or terrorist’s agency gets its hand on valuable information about the FBI agents, who work on catching those terrorists, and then know all about them and their families. How about me? I am just a regular student, should I care about this? Yes you do my friend. Computer viruses and worms are all over the internet. They could steal your credit card information, Identity or even spy on you. Spy! How? Whenever I talk with someone about online threats and how dangerous viruses can be, they seem to have the same old idea: computer viruses miss with the computer, delete your data and other kind of problems that you can immediately notice. So, according to them, if your computer is running and your photos and videos are still in it, that means you are viruses-free! That is simply 

incorrect, some kind of viruses cause a different kind of unnoticed problems. Let’s say you downloaded a free music player from untrusted website, that program has a small file that copies everything you write and send it to the program’s developer, including your Facebook, Twitter and emails credentials and your bank and credit cards information! The program would work silently on your computer forever.

Now What should we do to protect ourselves?  here are some helpful tips:

1-Get a good internet security Software.

2-Update your operating system and your antivirus program regularly.

3-Be careful with emails( don't open any unknown attachments, especially those from unknown senders)

4-Scan any removable devices, flash drives, hard disks,CDs ..., before running it.

5-Do Full scan for your computer regularly (once a month for example).

Biz Redifine Success

I really appreciate how I can run or walk very fast and on the same time catch any ads or events on my way.“That is a nice ad. Oh have they started the timed writing yet? what does this ad mean? Wait a minute, do I smell coffee? Oh I need to have a cup of coffee” these were some of the random thoughts running in my mind while I was scurrying off to class on a nice Monday morning. 

Out of a sudden, all of these thoughts ran away like a bunch of rats followed by an aggressive hungry cat! I stopped in front of this weird, blue advertisement. “Does this ad say that one of the co-founder of twitter is coming to UT next week?” I excitingly said. In a matter of seconds, I posted a picture of the ad on facebook and Twitter and marked the event on my calender.

   On April 3, I was among the first to enter the Hogg Auditorium to attend Biz stone Lecture on Redefining Success. Starting by expressing his love for Austin, the audience became so loud and excited that it took Biz Stone several minutes to start his speech. Biz started his speech describing his childhood and how he grew up. Soon he emphasized the fact that life is a serious of chances. The chance you miss will not come back. As an example, he told us about how he dropped out of college when a new window of opportunity opened in front of him to work as designer in a small agency.

The Story of Biz Stone goes on to the point where he join Google in 2003 to work on Blogger project. It wasn’t long before he left Google with his friend to establish their own company. In 2006, Biz Stone , Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, and Evan Williams started working on their project that changed the world later, Twitter. A large portion of Biz’s speech was dedicated to this project; starting from how they got the idea until the challenges they are still facing today.

 

“To succeed spectacularly, be ready to fail spectacularly." was one of the sentences that Biz stone kept saying over and over again. He was trying to tell us that beginnings are always hard, and we should never ever give up. As a computer geek, it was a wonderful and inspiring meeting and I learned a lot from Biz stone.

Later that night I wrote a summary of the meeting on twitter to my Arabic friends. My tweets got a lot of attention and over a hundred retweets !

Finally I have my own blog

 

 If someone had asked me 2 months ago, what was the thing you had always wanted to do online? I would have said: "starting my own blog." Even my friends have always asked me to open a blog to write about my experience and my thoughts about living in the United States.For them, it is better than writing in twitter, where  they would disappear in a matter of minutes because of the uncountable number of tweets. Despite all that determination, I wasn't sure when I was going to start this journey! I guess I needed a little push! And here I am writing my sixth blog and in English!

Blogging is a new world that can't be understood unless one participate and become a part of it. I have a read alot amazing Arabic blogs and they helped me understood a lot of things regarding my major, computer science, or general topics that interest me. However, it never crossed my mind how difficult that can be! By difficult I mean, to keep the same pace of posting new posts and never give up! Especially, if your blog is a general blog that has audience from different cultures, interests and unique ways of thinking. This is the challenging that I'm facing in this blog! I right mostly to my classmates in an ESL class! that means writing about topics like deep computer science topics that interests me or my thoughts and ideas about some events that happen in my country these days, won't interest my classmates.Coming up with an idea that would be interesting to them is sometimes a challenge and that what makes writing in my current blog somehow difficult.

Overall, it was  a good experience that helped me a lot! not only to start free writing, but to get insight on how others write and format their blogs. Reading my classmates' blogs  have helped me to know them better and understand the way they think and how their cultures affect their lives.

The Day Water loved me!

http://momsgirlsfriends.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-i-look-like.html

In the Last spring break, I went with my friends on a road trip to California, It was unforgettable week. We Drove from Austin to Lubbock and spent the night there. The second day we passed  New Mexico and spent the night at a nice hotel in Flagstaff Arizona. We were planning on going to the grand canyon the next morning, however, we woke up the next morning and surprise!

Not only the whole city was covered with snow, but also North Arizona was going to face, according to the forecast, snowstorms for 3 consecutive days !
Wow! wait a minute, what do you mean Snowstorms ? We, Saudis, only know  ONE kind of storms and nothing else!

Anyway, We canceled the grand canyon and headed to Las Vegas and from there we drove to California and exactly to the wonderful area of Big Sur.

 

We had an amazing time there, between beaches and national parks and spectacular views. After two days we went to L.A and a new kind of fun was about to start.  More details about Big Sur and the rest of the road trip will be in one of my next posts.
WAIT, I feel like I have missed something! oh yes of course, what does the title has to do with this road trip? Let me tell you! 

The only possible explanation for what happened to me in the first day at Big Sur is that water had fallen 

IN LOVE with me! I guess it was love at first sight! It kept hugging me every time we get close to each other without even asking for my approval. Going back to the story, because the water was really cold in Big Sur, we agreed not to see and enjoy the views instead of swimming. After 5 miles from the hotel, we stopped at this piece-of-heaven beach.amazed by the sound of the waves, I tuned to call my friends, giving  the ocean my back.

Out of a sudden, a huge wave of a freezing  water HIT me. A seconds later, the air was filled with laugther from the people around me!
We had to drove back to the hotel to change my clothes. Getting tired from the beach, we decided to hike in the Big Sur National Park. We arrived there, got ready and started the mysterious journey. 

  Toward the end, My friend Aziz and I decided to challenge ourselves and tried to cross the river by walking on very-slippery rocks. Aziz was filming the whole time. After he successfully reached the other end, he pointed the camera toward me and kept waiting for me  to  pass the last and most dangerous part. 

 Once I started to do that, my foot SLIPPED and the next thing I knew, I'm being hugged by the water again, but this time in more aggressive way, that almost got me killed. My friend caught all that on tape and he still refusing to handle it to me!

 

Here is a screenshot of one of the first moments of the epic fall (notice the little black flying thing on the top of picture!)

The U.S. I knew!(1)

The U.S. I knew! (1)

Yesterday, I watched a trailer of a new Egyptian reality TV Show, presented by the Egyptian version of Jon Stewart, Bassem Yousf. The program tries to shed  light on the Arabs' view of the United States and how their lives are in the states. That trailer made me think about my experience in the past 8  months I spent in the U.S. In that 8 months, I learned a lot  and huge misconceptions I used to have were corrected. In this blog, I'll talk about the misconceptions and concerns I had before coming to the U.S. as well as my first days in the U.S.
The Story started when I got my scholarship from my university, after working there for a couple of months. Since my university only gives scholarships to the U.S. or Canada, I had to decide which one should I go to. Canada is too cold and the education system there is not as good as the education system in the U.S. So I decided to go to the states. Going to the United States is not an easy process! The hardest step was getting the visa! a lot of  paper work was needed to be done and then an interview and then the waiting!

 

After Obtaining the visa successfully, the next step was to get ready to go to Austin, TX, where I would  study English in the ESL Services at University of Texas . Even though, I had traveled to different countries before, I was really frustrated before the trip to the states. Not only because It would take at least 20 hours to go from Riyadh to Austin!, but also because of all the stories I have heard about how hard and humiliating the check up in the American airports can be. Adding to all of this, the fact that I was going to stay away from my family for a long time! 

 Apart from the jet lag I had, everything was great. The Security check up was fast and easy, the airport officers were friendly and respectful. They even announced the luggage instructions in Arabic, for those who didn't know English. Seeing how organized the American airports was the first difference I noticed, since our airports are usually disorganized! 

At 11 pm, we arrived from Washington DC to Austin and that was the time to test the second misconception about America. "Don't go at night a lone", my mom said! my friends and I were thinking that the U.S. at night is full of people carrying guns and shooting each other while a lot of police cars are trying to catch those criminals! That was the image we had from watching all these American action movies!

 

 The Saudi guy who offered us a ride, corrected this misconception. He took us on a tour around Austin,then we had an amazing dinner at one of the famous restaurants in Austin. the next night We went on a walk around the city and we enjoyed it very much and surprisingly, it was very safe!

(To be completed in the upcoming posts)

Arabic Coffee: Taste and Tradition (2)

  

In the previous post ( Arabic Coffee: taste and tradition (1) ) we talked about Arabic coffee from culture and history perspectives.. In this post we are going to learn how to make Arabic coffee and then we will take a quick look at  Arabic coffee etiquette.

• How To Make Arabic Coffee:

To make an Arabic Coffee, you need 4 ingredients. Three are mandatory while the last one is optional. However, as we mentioned in the previous,  Arabic coffee  differ from one place to another based on people preferences.So, there may be other ingredients.

1- Medium Roasted Coffee beans

2- Cloves.

3-Cardamom.

4-Saffron(optional)

Now that we have the ingredients, Let's get to work:

1-  grind the coffee beans, cloves, and cardamom separately ( you can keep grind  the whole amount you have , so you don't have to grind each time you want to make coffee).

2-  Fill in the Arabic Coffee pot with water to the middle (if you don't have it, simply use a medium saucepan pot). You can add more or less water based  on how much coffee you want.

3-After water boils, add 3.5 tablespoons of  ground coffee and let it boil for 10 minutes (from now on keep the stove in low heat setting).

4-Add two tablespoons  of the ground cardamon and half tablespoon of ground cloves ( you can add more ore less, it is just a personal preference) and let it boil for 2 minutes.

5- Remove the coffee pot from the stove, and let  coffee grounds to Seattle to the bottom of the pot or a minute.

6- Add a pinch of Saffron to the Empty thermos, and then pour the Coffee into the Thermos flask.

7- Enjoy the coffee with a fine type of dates, it is sweet and that is why we don't add sugar to the coffee.

Let's now see this video that  shows how to make an Arabic coffee
(Note: that he didn't add cloves or saffron!)

 

• Arabic Coffee Etiquette    

  Arabic coffee is served in a small delicate cup (finjaan). The coffee is served and received with the right hand. The cup is only filled half full or less—so it cools quickly. To be gracious, the guest should accept at least one cup. A swish or jiggle of the cup shows that you are finished. Meanwhile, all this pouring insures that the host is kept busily focused on his or her guests. To show respect , the host usually keep standing while he serves coffee to his guests.
  
  
  
  
  

Arabic Coffee: taste and tradition (1)

• A little background

It forms an important part of the Arabic hospitality and it is, a long with a fine type of date, the first thing Arabs serve to their guests. Therefore, there are a special etiquette on how to choose the coffee ingredients, make it, and how to serve it.  There are a lot of tradition Arabic poems that show in details these steps.  Moreover,  theses tradition has extended to afftect other tradition such Arabic negotiation, weeding and so on.As the Qatari researcher, Khalifa Alsyed said" Arabic coffee is the tittle(motto) for the Arabic hospitality.

As we can see, Arab appreciate Coffee for the the the hospitality , traditions and other great values it represents. It is important to note that drinking Coffee is a social activity in Arab countries, people usually gather and invite others to drink coffee and socialize. In Saudi Arabia, inviting people over for Coffee is the most social activity.

• The Traditional way to make Arabic Coffee:

First, we need to know that Arabic coffee differ from one place to another a little bit in color, taste. in Yemen, the color and taste is very light and as you go north it becomes more darker and stronger.

Originally, The old way to make Arabic coffee, Arabs still enjoy making Coffee this way when they go camping in desert,  need the following tools:

1- Originally, Arabic Coffee is prepared on an open fire, therefore  a good firewood  that smell good and with a little or no smoke was important. The famous types are : ALSAMR, ALARTA, and ALGHATH.

2-MEHMAS:  a metal tool used to roast the coffee beans over an open fire

3- NEJR: a metal cup-like tool used to ground the roasted coffee beans

 4-DALLAH(The Coffee pot): where Coffee is prepared in and there are different brand that were famous in the past such as: Alraslan( made in Syria), Albagdadia( made in Iraq), and Alorashia(Made in Mecca. Dallah came in two color: gold or Silver.

5- FENJAL: a very small cup used to drink the Arabic coffee ( still used until now)

There are other tools that were used to make Arabic coffee, however, the previous 5 tools  are the important ones.

Next time we will talk about the etiquette in serving and drinking coffee and then we will learn in detail how to make a authentic Arabic coffee

Hello world :)

Like a new programmer when he writes his first program, thrilled and excited! yet has no idea what is he going to write about!  If you had a chance to take a look at the workspace of any aspiring new programmer, you would see that his projects have huge tittles! something like Word processor, Best Web Browser or even a file sharing system, however, try not to be excited because if you run these programs or inspect the code, you will see too simple programs that have no particular theme or purpose! 

I remember when I first started programing, one of my projects was supposed to be a program that provides important services to other new programmers, but it ended up as a program that has a basic calculator next to a watch and some text that welcome you to my program and a small box that had my name as the main developer, in case someone tried to steal this innovative, piece of art software :)

the main reason, in my opinion, behind this phenomena is that new programmers don't have adequate experience, and more importantly they are not used to the great amount of patience needed to build up a complete application. So they start with huge ideas and passion and  they start with a big project that would help them to apply all skills they have been learning. However, they usually quit quickly and switch to a simpler idea and try to practice their knowledge in small programs.

Oh God! I started this post to say "Hi World this is my first post" and ended up with a couple of paragraphs talking about programmers and how they usually start! I probably should write a new post about how bloggers start their blogs with weird posts :)

Anyway, hope you enjoy this blog, that started as a part of my writing course,  but I'm resolute to continue writing in this blog about my life, my experiences, and my dreams.

,,Ali