HELP !!

I know I have not been the best blogger, I sometimes don't comment on all your posts, sometimes I write stupid posts – if not all the time-. I don't make enough effort to follow more blogs than I do. But despite all of that I hope you will find it in you heart to help me with something : )

I have 72 posts in about 8 months, that is about nine posts a month which I think is not a bad average, considering that I had a month with only one post ! and being still a beginner in blogging. I did a simple division of my topics, general and personal and it’s about a 50-50 split. I know I can make a better effort and divide them in more categories, but I did a simple one for now.

Twenty eight more posts and I will reach the 100 posts mark ! till that comes I'm taking a closer look at things and your feed back will be greatly appreciated.

If possible answer the following questions :

1- which was your favorite post ? why ?
2- what do you think about the corner ?
3-What's the worse thing about the corner ?
4- What type of subjects would you like me to write about?
5- What do you thing about my writing style? Language used ?
6-advise you would like to give me.
7- Did I ever provoke you to look at a subject in a new light ? did you ever read a useful thing here?

I know this might be a bit time consuming for you, but please this will help me in the next stage. Even if after a month you get the time to answer them its never too late, if you can answer only one or two that fine as well.

I know this looks really close to fishing for compliments, but I'm not looking for them, I'm looking for constructive criticism and advice from all of you mighty bloggers. Don't get me wrong I will not refuse compliments : )

Thanks in advance : )

Good Idea Vs. Bad Idea

I woke up this morning feeling generous, so I decided to share with you some pearls of wisdom ….

Good Idea

Listen to your mom and buy bread on your way home

Bad Idea

Buy bread on your way home, after being at the dentist and your tongue and lips are num !

Good Idea

If your teenage sisters are bored take them to see a movie, and for hot chocolate at Gerard's

Bad Idea

Believe the PG rate and take them without seeing the trailer, then add to the buzz sugar!!

Good Idea

Have a good sense of humor, and use it to relax people you interact with professionally to relive the tension.

Bad Idea

To use sense of humor when your profession requires having sharp objects or gooey stuff in someone's mouth!

(New addition )

Good Idea

Ask me for very urgent budget, last minute and require it to be perfectly done in a few hours. ( its not a perfect world you know it happens every day !)

Bad Idea

Send the request to my personal email !! and expect me to see it on time !

If any one has Good idea Vs. Bad idea please share

Tamara's Favorites

If I find something I like or someone I like, I tell every one about it and I'm so passionate about the things I care about that it's contagious. So lately I have found a few things, that I absolutely find great, and I would like to share it with all of you, as I did with very one else I know.


Catch # 1

Twining tea, you have all probably tried it but the two flavors that are to die for are, Green tea with mint I'm cheating the picture is for green tea & lemon which is also great - I ran out of green tea and mint-.the second flavor is Chamomile honey& Vanilla. Try them and tell me how great they are.

Catch # 2

Magi soup time, the instant soup is absolutely great for people who work long hours and don't get to eat healthy food all week. They have four flavors, tomato, cream mushroom, cream chicken, I don't know the forth flavor.

I tried the three mentioned, did not like the tomato soup I even tried to add salt and pepper, still the flavor was not that good. I loved the cream mushroom and I'm ok with the cream chicken. for both cream soups try adding a small spoon of dry milk it makes a world of difference.

Catch # 3

This one is a non eatable favorite; it’s a small change purse. I always had the problem of having too much change that ruins my wallets! So I found this really cool and unique one in dawn town Amman, I just love it and its so useful in addition to being supper cute.

I have a few other catches, but lets see if you find these useful or yesterdays news.

One or two...

In the midst of a distraction or two
In an expression that hid a feeling or two
With voice I know to be of truth and to speak for two
Within a month or two you will no longer be two but one
You said to me, I know you to be honest and to know a thing or two
You have been once, where I am now …and I know you heard a thing or two

I recite now..In a month or two

On Vanity and being bored

Tamara is a female given name of Hebrew, Italian, Russian, and Sanskrit origin, meaning "palm tree" or "spice". The short form is Tam or Tammy, or more rarely Mara or Tara. An alternative spelling of Tamara, is Tamra.

"Tamara" is a Russian variant of the Biblical name "Tamar", meaning "palm tree". Tamara also translates to Sanskrit as "spice". Variations include Tamra, Tamera, and Tamora. In North America Tamara is pronounced Tam-uh-ruh or Tuh-mare-uh; in the United Kingdom and Australia it's pronounced Tuh-mahr-uh; and in Russia Taw-mahr-uh.
The name was popular in the United States during the second half of the 20th Century, peaking in the 1970s. In Eastern European countries like Russia, Serbia and the Czech Republic it has been a common name for centuries. In Australia it was very popular during the 1980s and early 1990s.
The most common nickname for Tamara is Tammy or Tam, but other nicknames exist, such as Toma in Russia, Mara, Tama, or even Tara.

I finally know the meaning of my name, I cannot believe that I have looked up so many things in wikipedia, and I never did look up my name !! so all seems correct, I was born in the late seventies ( man I'm old) in Serbia so its kind of historically correct name chosen for me ….

PS: I hate how Americans pronounce my name ( Ta-Me-Ra) grrrr!!

Quotes ....

I liked these nice quotes and I felt like sharing, hope you enjoy them too.

* Perseverance is the hard work you do AFTER you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. (Newet Gingrich, man of the year 1995)

* Excellence is doing ordinary things in an extraordinarily well. ( John Gardner, activist and author )

* I Prefer the folly of Enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom. ( Anatole France, French Author)

* Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ( Thomas Edison, Inventor and businessman)

Have a nice day at work : )

Wearing Hijab is necessary

I found this ad in the newspaper a week or so ago, every day I say I will blog this and just don't get around to it. With all the hardship veiled women in Jordan face when looking for a job, for a company ( Sama Jordan) not only to be fair to valid women but make it mandatory is a breath of fresh air.

On this subject I have a lot to say. At the time I don't have much time on my hands but maybe some day I will write about this. For the time being I just would like to thank this company even if the don't know it.

All for now ....

A Dream ...

Myth: Frozen vegetables are less nutritious than fresh ones.
Fact: Freshly
picked vegetables do have more vitamins and minerals, but unless you’re right
there on the farm waiting to eat them immediately, you’re unlikely to get all
those nutrients. Nutrient levels drop during shipping and storage. They lose
even more vitamins as they sit in the fridge. Meantime, frozen vegetables are
picked ripe and are immediately frozen with no downtime to allow any loss of
nutrients, so they keep most of their nutritional value.

This quotation is from an article talking about nutrition myths, and the scientific facts on the subject. Well I'm not so surprised that the veggies we get from the market are not as fresh as they are when they are picked.

The thing is that this has awakened an ever recurring yearning I have, I would love the quiet life of farming, growing things, taking care of veggies and fruits. Being close to nature and away from the every day stress. No dead lines ! no working for late hours of the night looking at a screen.

I don't have a romantic notion about farming and agriculture; I know its hard physical work and long hours. I know it's not all easy! and if this was the only source of income for you and your family it would be a stress on that side.

Still it would be more relaxing than the crazy jobs we have now, with the bosses and competition. Not to mention rivalry and plots and unstable market, that way you will be your own boss .no stress yes you will have to start working at the crack of dawn but still will not be punished for being 5 minutes late.

Imagine this, waking up at dawn you pray and then go to the field, you spend the day with nature, green fields irrigating your farm picking up fresh veggies and fruits. Enjoying the beautiful farm, eating your lunch under a tree. Going home to a meal cooked from the very things you grow and you know its healthy.

I wish I was a farmer, the question I have for you, do you prefer physical labor or mental labor?

I'm a lucky Italian Spiderman

Sounds strange its not strange its fun. I stumbled on a cool website called blogthings, it has many features but I'm not about to write a review, mostly because I'm not qualified to so. But I have been enjoying it for the last couple of days.

It has funny quizzes that will tell you, what superhero you will be, in my case Spiderman – strange considering that I HATE insects- the European in me is Italian not so strange though troubling to have another personality in me ! lol, any ways that all goes away when you find out I'm lucky and I quote the good folks at blogthings "

You have an extremely high luck quotient. Not only do you consider yourself
lucky, probably everyone you know does too.But you're smart enough to know that
you've mostly made your own luck.By being positive, open, and flexible, a lot of
luck has come your way!

This is not a serious post or a deep one for that matter, but I thought someone out there would like to know what ice cream flavor they would be, or what kind of food, or if they can pass eighth grade math ?

So take one of those tests and tell us, like how quirky are you?

Enjoy! and pray do share (I guess I'm a bit out there my self I tend to throw old English words at people)

From behind a mask


Last night I was with a friend and we stopped for quick bite, at a fast food joint. There was this guy dressed in a costume of a huge teddy bear selling some sort of balloons. Any way so he approaches our table holding the balloons and I look up at him and say: no thanks we don't want any.

He proceeds to push the damn things toward us, I look at him again polity and say no thanks. But he ignores me and keeps pushing them, touching my friend with his arm and the balloons all the time, she was getting really anxious. So I look at him straight thought the eye holes with my deadly stare and say: That is enough!! Move on.

I know for a fact that had he no mask; he wouldn't have had the courage to do what he did. It made me think how people tend to do so many wrong things, or right ones which they don't usually have the courage to do, when they have a mask on. Be it an actual mask, a fancy suit and a car, on the phone, or on the internet hiding behind a nick name.

Now this incident was with a person, that had a real a mask I can see and I know for a fact that is a mask. But what about people with different masks invisible ones, would I be able to see through and find the eye holes to tell them: that is enough!! move on.

All for now…

A dose of me …

So I have been tagged by mala2e6, I don't have a good track record with tags, I actually only answered one I think so far. But since this one goes with the theme of my blog of self discovering, here goes nothing

The Tag is write five things people do not know about you. Well I think bloggers don't know a lot about me, but here goes nothing.

1- I hate (Jawafeh) and (Zahra)
2- I cannot carry a tune
3- I love Salt and salty food, I add quite a bit salt to my food
4- I get really cranky if I don't have enough water during the day or not enough sleep during the night.
5- I have a hard time remembering people's names, but I can remember the faces of people I went to KG with.

I actually rewrote the list a few times, I had like 13 things on the list and I deleted things that I thought were too personal or quirky or points that look like bragging.

I here by tag:

Danah
Red Rose
Qwaider
Tamim
7ala

Be a Part of the Solution ....

As I may have told you, I volunteer at the ( Life Makers ) organization, I had the honor to be one of the founding members and to be elected on the board of directors for two years. Life Makers is one of my passions that I work on almost every day, it is the hope which helps me see a better future for our Country and Nation, our youth and elderly …well I can write a lot about Life Makers and I promises I will write more, but I'm including a passage about what have we done so far with links to our website.

Mind you the website is still new and needs work, but I hope its informative. I'm posting this to all of you who would like o make a difference, we talk and post about things we don't like, and this is a real chance for you to be part of the solution. Don't hesitate to contact me if you need any more information.


صناع الحياة 2007. . . خارطة الطريق. . . و الصدى المرتقب

عام ونصف على تاسيس الجمعية رسميا لا يتفق على وصف ايامها بين اثنين من الاعضاء او المتطوعين او الاداريين فقد اتخذت تجربة كل فرد شكلا يشبهه في المبادرة أوالتراجع وفي البذل او التقاعس.
ثلاثة عشر الف ساعة مضت منذ تلك اللحظة التي تقاسمنا فيها فرحة الاحتفال، كانت العيون حينها ترقص فرحا وتذهب في طموحها الى البعيد. . .
واليوم نستقبل العام الجديد بفرح ممزوج بادراك اوضح لموقع اقدامنا ولخطواتنا القادمة، طريقنا القادمة اكثر صعوبة وايدينا الآن اكثر خشونة فقد ترك كل يوم بين اصابعنا ذكرى.

طريق صناع الحياة يبدأ هذا العام بخريطة اوضح معالما من تلك التي بدأ بها,
مشاريعنا تقترب الآن من النضج الذي انتظرناه والخطوات تصبح اكثر حساسية من ذي قبل وصوتها يخرج الى الساحة. . . وينتظر الصدى.

أربعون ألف دينار في ثلاثة الاف وخمسمئة طرد في رمضان، وسبعة عشر علامة قراءة وعشرات كتبو اسمائهم في أجندة التمكن من مهارات الالفية الثالثة ومحاضرات وافطارات وانشطة غرست بذرة امل في نفوس الكثيرين وبشرتهم بغد افضل وكثيرين غيرهم لا زالو ينتظرون........

ربما كانت عقدتنا التي فكَّها البرنامج النهضة والنهضة البرنامج " صناع الحياة " هي عقدة الانتظار......
"مستنيين ايه... ما تشتغلوا......كل واحد فيكم عندو حاجة ممكن يقدمها.....
كل واحد فيكم عندو طاقة زايدة محتاجة لتوظيفها..... كل واحد فيكم مسؤول عن نهضة الامة "عمرو خالد
واليوم بعد اكثر من عامين على انطلاق الشرارة يعمل في الجمعية بضع وستون أو وسبعون صانع وآلاف تنتظر...!؟
ربما لم تلبي الجمعية تلك الرؤى العملاقة التي كان كل صانع ينتظرها في البداية... وربما أخطأ صناع الجمعية او جمعية الصناع في تقدير موقف او ادارة فعالية او تنظيم نشاط... وربما لم يجد المتطوعون فيها النموذج المثالي في خيالاتهم حول تجسيد رؤية الصناعة الاصعب على الارض. . . وربما. . . وربما. . وربما. . . . . .

كثيرة هي الاسباب التي تقنعنا او تبرر لنا الانتظار وكثيرة ايضا هي التي تحافظ على نبض الصناعة حيا... اهمها توفيق الله ثم همة فتية آمنو بربهم.


بعض نتاج صناع الحياة عام 2006 في في الروابط التالية:


الانجازات:

حملة رمضان:

محو أمية الحاسوب:


زيارات الأيتام:





والآتي سنكتبه معا بإذن الله

Fellow Humans


I was doing my early morning shopping today. I like going to the grocery store before work, I buy the things I need to have in my office in the way of healthy snacks and even lunch, any way that’s another issue for another time.

I pick up some fruit and take it to be weighed, so I say good morning to the employee who is doing the weighing, and he was surprised that I said any thing to him, later on at the cash register I'm unloading my things and I say again good morning to the cashier, he as well gave me this shocked look ! the sad part is that a lot of people treat these people as though they don't exist.

When was the last time, you looked the valet in the eye and said thanks as you tipped them, when was it that you looked the waiter at the restaurant in the eye while making your order or when they place the food in front of you, instead of saying thanks while looking at the food or your company. Don't forget the door man, security people, the newspapers sales man at the traffic light.

I'm sure that most of us, most of the time, do look them in the eye and treat them like a fellow human, but this is kind of a reminder so we don't forget.

All for now …

007

So it’s the year of 007! Is this year going to be as good as a 007 movie or as unbelievable as one? Every thing is possible the year is still young and what ever we set our minds to accomplish is a possibility shinning in the horizon.

How many times did we write resolutions for the new year, and a year later we look at it and we accomplished nothing from our list. And how great was it to be able to strike off some really important resolutions. I hope this year we will take an hour out of our busy schedules and put down a couple of goals for this year and really take the time to consider them, do they really help you accomplish your ultimate goal ? will that accomplishment significantly and positively effect you? And then once you are sure you want it, take a moment or two to actually set a plan and a time frame.

I have reviewed and put together a number of strategic plans and action plans, for small and simple projects and for complex ones, so please take my word for it will make a drastic difference in your life to have a goal or goals that you seek to reach.

I here by claim that having a goal that you truly believe in and really want and you know you want, Will cut drastically your time waste and your depressions and low moments. Please do try and prove me wrong and not by talking but by action. Monitor your regular week or month and how many hours you waste and are bored at and how many times did you feel low and depressed. Then set a goal for the same amount of time that will survive five (whys) meaning if you decide on a goal lets say read a really big technical book in a month, ask your self why do I want to read this book? because it will help me in my field, why do you want to be better at your work? So that I can be promoted to team leader, why do you want to be a team leader? And so on your set goal must survive five (whys) with true and honest and logical answers.

The bigger the goal the better you will feel. And the life long goals are better support than short term goals, but never the less your goals are you safety net against ups and downs.

The last thing I have to say is good luck and I wish you all a meaningful 2007.