Body of Lies, Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) is a CIA field agent assigned in the middle east to fight terrorism and blah blah blah, you know the rest of the stuff!

This movie – as a lot of other movies and T.V. shows – discuss some theories about the Arab and Muslim civilization, I was happy that at last one movie – to a certain level – said something true about true Islam, and not create some stupid non-related to Islam stuff, in the scene were Ferris were captured by terrorists, I liked the way Ferris replied to Al-Saleem who was reading a verse from the Holy Quran to him, and Ferris told him that you can’t explain the verses of the Holy Quran the way it suits you, so that you can allow yourself to kill innocent souls, and this is true, we as Muslims aren’t allowed to kill innocent people, and it is said so in Quran, also it is known that prophet Mohammad peace be upon him used to order the soldiers in wars not attack women, children , and old people.

Never-the-less, I heard that the movie weren’t allowed to shoot scenes in Amman – Jordan,  Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, I have uploaded my company website  Laughing I’m really happy with this accomplishment. I designed the whole website including the images and it is not that much of a knocking design – since I’m not a designer – but no bad for a start Smile.  BTW, just for the record, I did somehow borrow some ideas from other websites :$

Check it out:  www.e-rize.com

Why does this happen to me? (And to a lot of people I know!)

Your are working on a project for yourself, not for a customer, and let’s say you have a deadline to meet, you spend an hour staring at the screen of you computer – this is how it starts, then you go and watch T.V, a little bit later you feel like having a snack, so you go to the kitchen and make yourself a sandwich or 2!

Other possible scenarios:

• Take a break at home while working, FOR 2 HOURS OR SO, and get the PlayStation3 kickin!
• Go out and have an argeeleh with double size turkish coffee, whine about everything, tease and make fun of the guys, then get yourself some healthy italian food (pizza!!!).
• Wander around in the car, destination anywhere, listen to stupid music.
• Sit for lengthy hours discussing our future company in a dreamy perspective and a naive point of view, which leads to nothing, because of lack of planning, and A LOT of other missing resources.
• etc…

This is an Art, a fine art, of wasting time!

Is it a psychological illness, or is it a normal thing that happens to everyone, losing interest in work?

There are a lot of ups and downs in work, in your day job, but will they accumulate to reach a level that makes you feel you should switch to a whole new direction or career?

I digg software development, yet I’m interested in movie production and direction, I also like – from an IT related field of experience – to have my own business, in which the simplest way of imagining it is a website that gets me revenue from Ads and/or sponsors.

Going through a small flash back on what have I done in the last year or so after the working hours of my day job, basically I have been brainstorming new ideas, or revamping existing ideas on the web, for the sake of starting my online business, but yet no implementations.  Not only brainstorming did I do, I also read business related articles; e-business, e-marketing, and others.  This has enlightened me a bit, and really made me think 24/7 about the goal I’m trying to reach, my own online business.

I feel that this is making me lose interest in my day job, day by day, my “give a damn” meter is getting lower and lower about having stability and staying as an employee.  I think the time has come to take the risk, quit the job, and start my own thing, yet what in the heck should I do about my car loan? Read the rest of this entry »

What’s up planet earth? No, this is not a post about being green, or how to protect Mother Nature!

Ever wondered, if the issues that the employees of local/regional companies in Third-World/Developing Countries suffer from do exist in modern civilized countries?  Well, I do!

Some people think that I whine a lot, while others share the same issues that I face (or even have more). These issues can be summarized into, but not limited to, the following:

1. Lack of organization structure.
2. Lack of appreciation towards the finished job/task.
3. Unfair raises/promotions that sometimes do not reflect the appraisals’ results at all.
4. Being looked upon as a traitor to the unity of the company you work in, if you think of starting your own business!
5. Availability of a punishment process, and the unavailability of a rewards system at the same time.

These are some of the things we face as employees in third countries, yet there are a lot more than this. Your comments are highly appreciated.

Updated: 10-Jan-2009

Thanks for all the people who answered my question on LinkedIn, the following points sum it up:

1. Both in developed countries and in developing countries these issues can be found.
2. The “corporate culture” plays the biggest tole in this.
3. Some developed countries have programs to deal with issues that are not considered issues at all in developing countries, such as burnout syndrome or suffering from job stress.
4. The popularity of the Dilbert comic strip across the world, is enough to show that same problems of idiot managers, incompetent peers, and brain-dead subordinates are faced by all of us.

These points and a lot more shows us that a lot of common stuff do exist between companies in developed and developing countries. Corporate culture and orientation of the company decision makers towards making the employees life good or a disaster is a main issue.  People oriented companies such as Google, are almost impossible – at all – to find in developing countries, due to the cultural differences and respect for flexible policies such companies might provide, and their employees might not respect.