Sunday, March 26, 2006

Sunday Morning

Good morning =)

I went to another Communitech breakfast. http://www.communitech.ca/. As usual, Those breakfasts are so interesting. You get to network with other entrepreneurs and business leaders in the community. You learn about their experiences and where they are heading.

The coolest thing is that all these people, including me and my other fellow students, all have work/class at 9am. So, they usually start 7.30 am. As a result, we have to wake up around 6.30 am to shower, get ready and get to the hotel seminar room where the meeting is held. The question: do people really go? I mean, If you still got a looong day of work ahead of you, how can you wake up several hours earlier and face the chilly mornings of Canada to go listen to some seminar??

Lesson:

Although I am not a morning person, I am a complete convert to the virtues of sleeping and waking up early. Why didn't find this out earlier? I would like to blame the nature of the life in Jeddah forces you to shift your schedule later and later into the night. However, I won't!

A key habit of successful people, is healthy and regular sleep schedule. It is incredible how much more productive you become when you start your day earlier than most people. I might not be very pleasant, but I am certainly extremely productive. You can do so much more!

I am sticking with this when I return to Jeddah.

So, why am I writing this on a Sunday morning? LOL because I just woke up at 10 am :S Late, I know, but it is nice to let go once in a while and sleep in. Take a break!

posted by SunShine @ 11:45 a.m. 2 comments

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Ethics and Morals

Today in Doherty's Class (Applications of IT), we did something very interesting. Doherty's classes are always interesting anyways, however, today we played a simulation. Each member in a group of five were given a personality profile. The scenario was that each group of five represented a board meeting. I got to be the president (big surprise, heh). After we read the case and got into the role we are supposed to play, I started the video-conferencing meeting.

Apparently, my manager of operations in Indonesia wanted a $35,000 'consulting' fee in order to insure that we meet sales expectations for next year.

My manager in Russia had employees with unequal pay, repairment expenses and a way ot of paying less to the customs fee let the shipment enter the country.

As for my manager in Sudan, he needed an OUTRIGHT bribe to finish the 'testing' of equipment to start production in that facility.

hmmm... are you starting to see a pattern here? LOL

Obviously, it was a case about ethics. During the course of the dicussion in class, many people of course were not taking it too seriously. A couple were joking (I think) about what kind of more evil things they can come up with. I realized at that time how wrong that is. How people have veeeery different interpretations of what ethical is. If you take someone out to dinner, is that a bribe? How about if the dinner cost $1000. What if you gave him a present? a cheque? Where is the line?

A guy in class argued that this is how the business environment operates. You need to be that kind of person. Especially if you want to manage international corporations. If you want things to run smoothly, you gotta pay the required bribes and 'fee' or 'expenses'. Guess what, he was the other Muslim person in the class besides me and two other girls :S Way to go man to keep a nice, clean picture of our religion.

Complete and Utter B.S.

I believe in Ethics. There ARE no different interpretations. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Call me naive, but I believe that the good guy always wins and the bad guy always loses in the end. Always. The business world is no exception. The more and more I learn with my transition from a technie to a BP, the more and more I refuse to believe that I have to sacrifice an inch of my principles to succeed.

So there =)

posted by SunShine @ 5:31 p.m. 0 comments

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Sometimes I want to hide...

Geek. nerd. dafoorah...

who is that?
well, i do like to party and have a nice time. I can tell a joke and take one too. I can smile, be funny and be...confident.

but honestly, i learned all that. It doesn't come naturally to me. What comes naturally to me is to sit, alone, curled up with a book, chill-out music playing. Or working, deep in the wee-hours on the night, on my laptop, in complete silence. I like working. or studying. that productive feeling is my high.

What's wrong with that?

posted by SunShine @ 12:15 p.m. 2 comments

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Happy St. Patrick day =)

Yes, another holiday here in Canada. This is the *green* holiday. Apparently, if you don't wear green on this day, people think it's ok to PINCH YOU! LOL

Anyways, the class had a nice party =) It was nice to take a break for a while. Although I had to race to finish the Law course's assignment (Risk Management) to be able to go.

...finish an assignment to be able to go. LOL notice the sentence? since when did i start imposing on myself restrictions depending on whether i finished an assignment or not??? wasn't that mom's job? LOL oh well. im growing up.

I also started my application Cisco. Passed the 1st round. i am officially starting the whole @#$%^*#$% process of applying again.Stay tuned for updates!

http://www.thedreammovie.com/

posted by SunShine @ 4:30 p.m. 0 comments

Friday, March 17, 2006

My friends are bloggers too!

WOW! This blogging thing is really growing!! Two of my closest friends have created blogs as well.
check them out!!






posted by SunShine @ 6:49 p.m. 0 comments

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

fever all through the night...

By far, the hardest thing about living alone is getting sick. Guess when is it especially true:
  1. you are 'dalloo3a'
  2. you are used to being cared for
  3. you are stressed out
  4. you are homesick
  5. ALL of the above <-- hint

if you guessed 5. then YOU ARE RIGHT!

unfortunately, i got a bit of fever the last two days. I felt so weak. The independent, strong girl in me suddenly vanished. I was terribley homesick. I wanted to be with my family so bad...I intentionally didn't call my mother in fear of breaking down and crying. I successfully kept that up for two days.

Then, one early morning, before the sun rose, my dear grandmother called. My grandmothers (on both sides) are two wonderful and amazing women. So beautiful, elegant and strong. Sittat Zaman.

Anyways, my grandmother on my father's side called me. I was lying down, dizzy from Tylenol 'night-time' (good stuff btw!) I woke up and answered. I was at my weakest point. I tried to hold myself, but I broke down. I started crying. I told her how sick, tired and homesick I am...

It only lasted for a couple of moments. What a wonderful and amazing woman. She consoled me and made me feel better. I really did feel better, getting it all out. I made her promise not to tell my mom. my mom gets so anxious and upset. She said of course, she understands =)

I want to thank her. I wish I can give her everything. I wish she knows that she is amazing! I love you sitto!

posted by SunShine @ 10:19 p.m. 0 comments

Procrastination

http://www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/frogger/Frogger.htm

=)

posted by SunShine @ 10:55 a.m. 0 comments

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

am i googley? =)

so today GOOG came to waterloo, yet again. but this time...whoa...boy do they know how to attract students! They really showed up MSFT. ok, yea a lot of students came to see Bill, but Google was able to interact with more students because it wasn't just one lecture with limited seats. It was a party! LOL disco lights, smoke, music, sushi, pizza, milkshakes and bruchetta! what more does a student want? =)

I spoke with a 'googler' from toronto. usual response, apply online. However, I chatted a little more with her. I wanted to know what type of personality is Google lookin for? especially that she wasn't softEng or compSci.

Answer: Google hires googley people!

wtf is googley? lol

posted by SunShine @ 6:02 p.m. 0 comments

Monday, March 13, 2006

Update

ok,
I haven't posted anything for a while. So many things happened, nice things too =)
  • I went to Montreal during Reading week!
  • In Montreal, I saw Nawal Zogbhi in a concert (and the whole al-jalia al-lebnaniyya there!)
  • I won YET ANOTHER ticket to a sports game (Hockey, this time)
  • and of course, finished many assignments and reports in between that :P

quick notes

I would like this opportunity to thank my best friend, for being such a good room-mate. I appreciated you before, but now I appreciate you even more! - nuff said.

Nawal is V. Short.

and....

the MAPLE LEAFs ROCK! hehehe... Although I initially voted for Le Canadien(Montreal) team because I went with my program director and he's a HABBs fan, I switched to the Maple Leafs (Toronto) because..umm..they won! LOL Also, the only t-shirts that were on sale during the game were Leafs t-shirts. I bought it, so I guess now that makes me a Leaf's fan.

Go Leafs!

Anyways, I am still trying to figure out an answer to the question: what are you going to do after you graduate [with an 'MBA']...and no suggestions are not welcome, unless you have a contact at Google, Microsoft, IBM or Cisco. lol

On a side note, McGuinty (Ontario's Premier) is a remarkable speaker. I saw him speak at the Discovery conference held by the OCE. As a rule, I don't dwell in Politics. However, I always do make a stand and form some sort of opinion. I was trying to decide whether I would vote for the conservatives, the liberals, the NDP or the green party, if I happen to be Canadian.

A vote of the green party is a 'lost vote'. I wonder how many people said that and didn't vote?

posted by SunShine @ 8:59 p.m. 0 comments