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PWP # 4 (July 17, 2007)
[Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:10:00 +0000]
Jim Grimes arranged a trip to PIXAREver wonder how the people at such a creative studio work? The people behind Nimo, Monsters Inc. and lately the cool rat? Here is a taste of their office: Football (Soccer) field, swimming pool, amphitheater, basket ball field, gym, cool restaurants and much more! Read more about the landscape design. You're not going anywhere! so get back to work, at your boring office!..
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PWP # 3 (July 8, 2007)
[Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:30:00 +0000]
Conway Chang organized a trip to following places: Christie Park - Hargraves: This small Park is designed in a way to promote activities by creating a comfortable environment. The ground level is raised on one side to block the entry of air and thus create a calmer inner environment. Hollis Garden - PWP: The park was built on a contaminated area. Rocks, pebbles and interesting paving patterns are some of the park features. Check the pictures, they are self explanatory Lafayette Park - Walter Hood: Located within an Oakland preservation district. The park users are from the minority groups, predominantly black, Latino and Asian. Walter Hood managed to capture the needs of the neighborhood through providing children play ground, BBQ section, chess tables, seating areas, horse shoe game sections and a bathroom building. The park has been designed based on the uses and then integrated together within one zone. Oakland Museum - Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo: The museum is considered an architecture masterpiece. The landscape and the building mass play an integral role in architecture language. Inspired by the hanging gardens of Mesopotamia and other ancient cultures, Roche proposed a tri-level organization of the three departments of museum. Natural science would be on the lowest level, history in the central level, and art on the highest level. The result was a graceful, three-tiered blend of spacious galleries, terraces, patios, sculpture gardens and a pond. Union Point Park - Mario Schijetnan: The park is located on a nine-acre waterfront venue near Coast Guard Island. The park offers marina view through a very elevated ground with a sale theme. It also includes picnic and BBQ facilities, children play structures, bike paths, parking and restrooms. Chapel of Chimes - Julia Morgan: This chapel was founded in 1909 as a crematory and columbarium. Within the original structure, we established the modern method for cremation with the first electric crematorium in the world. The structure was expanded and re-built in 1928 based on designs by Julia Morgan - one of the premier architects of the 20th century. Today, it is one of the Bay Area's most beautiful buildings. Mountain View Cemetery - Fredrick Law Olmsted: The hills of Oakland cradle one of the finest examples of a memorial park found on the West Coast. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Mountain View is the resting place of famous figures and ordinary people, the principal players in California's and San Francisco Bay's dramatic settlement. People like author Frank Norris, artist Thomas Hill, architects Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck ... all made their contributions to the shaping of a nation's frontier.
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PWP # 2 (July 5, 2007)
[Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:20:00 +0000]
Keri Boeskov organized a trip to Dominus Winery. Dominus Estate is located in Napa Valley. This extraordinary building was designed by Herzog and de Meuron. They are well known for their innovative architectural solutions. An example of their work is Tate Modern in London In this particular building, they used rocks as the main element of the facade. In fact it is, perhaps, the ONLY element! ... I think the picture would describe the building best, and you may visit The estate official link to read more about the building.
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PWP # 1 (June 23, 2007)
[Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:44:00 +0000]
Conny Roppel organized this trip. We went to several places within South Bay area, The following were the sites visited: Filoli Gardens: This Georgian style mansion is located on south of San Francisco. Filoli stands for "Fight for a just cause, Love your fellow man; Live a good life." This magnificent 16 acre of garden was planned and planted in 1917. The original owners of the garden were Mr. & Mrs. William Bowers Bourn II. Later the estate was sold to Mr. & Mrs. William P. Roth in 1937. In 1975 Mrs. Roth donated the estate to its entirety to the National Trust of Historic Preservation. Foothill College: The site stretches along the east-facing slopes of the San Francisco Peninsula Coastal range. Sasaki , Walker were two of the consultants on the master plan of the college. Forty years after its conception, the campus of Foothill college remains a model for integrating architecture, landscape design and natural surrounding. Stanford University: The university is located south of San Francisco. The campus is a perfect tour for art and architecture enthusiasts. The plan was originally created by Fredrick Law Olmsted in 1888, revered designer of New York's Central Park. A distinctive aspect of Stanford's campus is the presence of outdoor sculpture in many locations through the landscape, such as: Rodin, Andy Goldsworthy, Meg Webster and many many others. The expansion of the campus gathered many great masterminds of art, architecture, landscape architectures and many other disciplines, such as: Norman Foster, Peter Walker and many others. Byxbee Park: This park is named in honor of John Fletcher Byxbee Jr. (1878-1947). A Palo Alto High School and Stanford graduate, Byxbee served as Palo Alto's City Engineer from 1906 to 1941. The park site was once a landfill, like the still-active landfill adjacent to it. In 1980, the master plan for Byxbee Park was adopted. Byxbee Park is unique, it is not a traditional park. There are no playing fields, irrigated lawns, picnic grounds, or playgrounds. It is more like an outdoor sculpture garden.
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PWP & CA
[Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:40:00 +0000]
Being part of Calthorpe Associates was not only beneficial to my practical training in the States, it was also an opportunity to meet great people in the planning community. I have always been amazed by how small planning community is, everyone knows everyone!. I always manage to find people who know me or I know them through someone, even from Dubai! So, John Beutler from Calthorpe introduced me to Peter Walker and Partners Landscape Architecture . Honestly, I can't thank J.B. enough for introducing me to so many wonderful people. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to be part of the wonderful family of CA! So, PWP would organize regular field trips to different sites/developments/parks for the purpose of education. Many interns from PWP and other consultancy firms, such as SWA Group and myself from CA would be invited to join these trips. Staff would also join, to take advantage of the learning experience these trips would offer. During these trips some wonderful discussions, exchange of thoughts, project ideas and conversations about cultures would take place. And in this specific blog and several other blogs to come I will keep a record of different places I visited. I will title these blogs by "PWP # trip". I will try to cover as much as I remember, however, I am sure I will, unintentionally or intentionally, forget to mention many details. Hey! this is "my" blog and the soul purpose of it, is for me to enjoy reading them in the future! So Shakkie dear! I hope you enjoy reading this in the future.
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I learned from my leader
[Mon, 28 May 2007 17:22:00 +0000]
I have some interesting quotes that I found from the following source: Shiekh Mohammed Bin Rashid, "My Vision - Challenges in the Race for Excellence", Motivate Publishing, 2006
These are few quotes of many other wonderful ones. I ,and many others, live by these, if I may call them, principles. It certainly made me re-evaluate many who call themselves leaders!!!! "...Everyone is here in Dubai to make a living, to compete for achieving growth, to strengthening the benefits and building for a better today and a better future, and whoever believes otherwise, Dubai is not the right place for them..." (Page 42)
"...A managers has a defined role, it is to serve their people with good faith. It is to prioritize peoples benefit over any other benefit ..." (Page 67)- (A beautiful example was mentioned in the book - I won't mention it so I don't ruin the joy of reading the book)
"...a manager who tries to do everything ends up doing noting whatsoever..." (page 69)
"...Two wings are not enough to make a bird take off...a careful observer would notice that a bird takes care of each and every feather and constantly coordinates them and gets rid of any piece of dirt on its feather that could create an obstacle..." (page 80)
"...some leaders got to a stage that they are not capable of saying to their companion: Thank you. Some leaders are not capable of patting on a successful employee's shoulder and say: Good job, you did well and you deserve a reward..." (page 100)
"...I rather forgive mistakenly, than discipline rightfully..." (page 102)
"...some mistake violence with strictness. If a father was strict with his kids, he is not being violent because his end goal is their benefit..." (page 102)
"...I have heard my youth tell me, that they don't want to make a mistake not because they are afraid of being penalized, but because they don't want to disappoint their leader..." (page 103)
Disclaimer: These are translation from an Arabic book, thus take it by the meaning.
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Food for thought
[Wed, 16 May 2007 16:08:00 +0000]
This is a little story about safety I read in Jane Jacobs' book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities".
"....Not everyone in cities helps to take care of the streets, and many city resident or city worker is unaware of why his neighborhood is safe. The other day an incident occurred on the street where I live, and it interested me because of this point. My block of the street is a small one, but it contains a remarkable range of buildings, varying from several vintage of tenements to three- and four-story houses that have been converted into low-rent flats with stores on the ground floor, or retuned to single-family use like ours. Across the street there used to be mostly four-story brick tenements with stores below. But twelve years ago several buildings, from the corner to the middle of the block, were converted into one building with elevator apartments of small size and high rents.
The incident that attracted my attention was a suppressed struggle going on between a man and a little girl of eight or nine years old. The man seemed to be trying to get the girl to go with him. By turn he was directing a cajoling attention to her, and then assuming an air of nonchalance. The girl was making herself rigid, as children do when they resist, against the wall of one of the tenements across the street.
As I watched from our second-floor window, making up my mind how to intervene if it seemed advisable, I saw it was not going to be necessary. From the butcher shop beneath the tenement had emerged the woman who, with her husband, runs the shop; she was standing within earshot of the man, her arms folded and a look of determination on her face. Joe Conacchina, who with his sons-in-law keeps the delicatessen, emerged about the same moment and stood solidly to the other side, several heads poked out of the tenement windows above, one was withdrawn quickly and its owner reappeared a moment later in the doorway behind the man. Two men from the bar next to the butcher shop came to the doorway and waited. On my side of the street, I saw that the locksmith, the fruit man and the laundry proprietor had all come out of their shops and that the scene was also being surveyed from a number of windows beside ours. That man didn't know it, but he was surrounded. Nobody was going to allow a little girl to be dragged off, even if nobody knew who she was......"
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A question?
[Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:08:00 +0000]
I have a question, that sounds silly, but i seriously don't know the answer!
So the question is: If we are in London, we are at 0 GMT If we are in UAE, then we are at +4 GMT If we are in New York, then we are at -5 GMT
then what is the time on the other side of the world on the other side of Greenwich (at 0 GMT)
Let me make it easier. Is the time opposite Greenwich time -12 or +12 ?
any thoughts?
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Awesome!
[Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:00:00 +0000]
 well here I am again, blabbing away about what am up to! Apart from doing Masters Degree in city planning I have decided to orient my elective courses to something interesting and different. That interesting orientation would be Graphic Design Certificate. It doesn't sound as interesting as it really is. This is because its not the courses what makes it interesting, it is the city where I am taking these courses. Do i make sense?..... Let me explain. Philly was the first USA capital, right? Naturally the oldest city in the States. Hence the historic collections here are so remarkable (trust me, words don't do justice to these historic pieces). In any case, we have complete Typography classes, which provides students a unique exposure to very rare parchment and Incunabula's.....EXCITING? This is actually why i am writing this blog. SO, I got to hold St. Augustines parchment. It is scripted with unique ink on animal skin and from 16th century!! (how cool is that? I bet you are jealous!!) To make it even cooler, we had to explore 14th century books. I feel that my time here is so short, that its not enough to explore these amazing stuff in other buildings!!. (if i had the worlds remote control) I am turning into a serious geek! So when someone asks me what is my field this is what i would answer? bachelore of architectural engineering. Which is not JUST architecture, it is also combined with technicality of engineering. Masters of city planning, with the area of concentration of community and economic development, which means that we have to take courses from Wharton...and of course, graphic design certificate. Now if I was asking me this question, and if I answered what I just answered. I would simply leave me and take a different direction! (What a geek!...DANG!....get a life!)
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Bye bye 2006
[Tue, 02 Jan 2007 03:26:00 +0000]
Well, school is over. Finally, I have a week for myself before school starts again. Last year I took bunch of pictures, however I never got the chance to post them.....So, now they are there, I hope you enjoy my 2007 pictures, and if you have any comments please don't be shy and tell me what you think. Check the pictures outI will be updating more stuff from time to time, so watch out! Happy Eid & Happy New Year. I hope 2007 brings health and happiness to each and everyone.
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Why the education...SUCKER!
[Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:51:00 +0000]
let me start by saying that whatever i am going to say is only my exam reflections. I am sure I will laugh when I read this again when its all over.
so here we are, living in times where education is becoming unnecessary. The way things are designed and built are extremely easy and user friendly. It doesn't matter if you ever get any certificate or degree. You just need to be smart enough to click a mouse... nope, you dont need a degree! I tell ya, you dont!.
let me elaborate.
do you have to have a certificate in geography to be able to know where Talba is located? no, google map gives u the answer...and PLEASE don't search for Talba, I made up that word! how about desigining buildings? give a kid sketchup program, I guarantee that you would get a crazier building than Frank Gharry's!!! puts the experts to shame! (Let me tell you, I have seen a lot of those bozo's in my profession - for real!)
hmmm....what about perfection at personal level and good looks? don't you want to talk the talk, and walk the walk? No problemo. Sign up for one of those fancy shows, Extreme Makeover or What Not To Wear. Get in looking like a monkey and get out shining like a star. Darling, you are just a diamond in the rough! (shiiiiiiiiiine on you craaazy diamond!)
Thats not enough? you want the money....sorry we forgot to sign you up for one those shows that doesnt require any intellectual capacity. Just be there and make instant money....Spin the wheel, better yet Deal or Do Deal! (hah you dont need brains!)
If you are still in school (like myself) get out and get a life - you dont need the education.. SUCKER!...
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news news news....
[Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:00:00 +0000]
It sure has been a while since last time I updated my blog. I have a lot of blurb to share with my dear readers. Let's start with my life during Ramdan and my Eid Celebration. In short there wasn't any. I guess that doesn't satisfy your curiosity does it? Well, its quiet difficult to fast when everyone else is not. For example I go hungry all day and when I come home I am out of grocery! Sometimes I stay up all night to finish my work and am very tired and hungry and when the morning comes and am fasting I ride the bus, I smell the extremely tempting and delicious smell of amazingly grind coffee in a beautiful cup that looks warm in the cold morning...coffee!!! Ohhhh coffee, coffee, coffee ... (I never thought coffee is vital till I had to fast in America!) So you are curious how I celebrated my EID? Well I didn't!..no, i didn't. First day I had to submit a paper, second day I had to submit two papers... it fell in the midterms, I didn't get my greetings, I didn't get my presents, and I certainly didn't see or spend the time with people I love most... and no one even knows what EID is anyway. It is weird that everyone knows that theft in Islam means chopping your hands (which is not true anyway), but they don't know that the most religion that pays attention to feeding poor and obligating people to care about them during their celebrations is Islam ...and am proud to be one Anyway .... back to my news.. I have a little new friend called Priss Jones, she is a round little adorable geek. She has her own blog! And of course I have been following the latest news from back home and Nakheel. One of the great things about Dubai, we work hard, we reach our goals and gracefully present our work .... I just wish people around the world would know that UAE nationals have been there 100% or even more (this has been neglected by media, and always will be!)... and when many decide to take a break from work or feel that they dont have to work during weekends, The sons and daughters of UAE keep on working and keep on going. So this is my personal praise and personal congratulations to my dear brothers and sisters who have been working behind the scenes (including myself). You did a wonderful job, you have been working day and night, you have given up your social life to do this job...and I know you keep going on not because your waiting to be noticed by media, or get a big bonus, but because you love Dubai and TRULY love Dubai... not for its money, but for its precious soil!.. I am proud of Dubai, and I am proud of the foundation that is laid by the wonderful people of UAE.
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Yes I am active
[Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:52:00 +0000]
I have been quiet active I would say. I think it was a smart move to join the UPENN Real Estate Club (Wharton school is part of this too). I am hoping that I could get out of this experience with good network and exposure. Part of this activity is to introduce you to a career mentor who can advise you and share with you their experience. So now I have a career mentor who can answer my questions! (isn't that cool! - cant wait to meet him!). The other interesting service that Real Estate club offers is to have a resume book, which will be sent out to huge number of organizations across the country. And hopefully when I am during the phase of internship, this would help me find a proper place. Couple of interesting sites for my dear readers University of Pennsylvania Real Estate Club Look for my resume at UPENN Real Estate Club Before I end this little update, I have to say that I had a wonderful presentation about HOME "Dubai" at the UPENN. I gave a little presentation about the projects I worked on back home. The developments in Dubai never fail to lift eyebrows!. I am definitely proud of being 100% part of it!. These are the moments that you think that the hard work, being loyal and dedicated to work and staying in the office late nights actually paid!. The event was posted here
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Cookie Cat
[Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:47:00 +0000]
 So I decided to get a little friend to keep me company so I won't be alone. Based on my situation I cannot give a permanent home for a cat because am a temporary resident myself. Cats need a permanent place to live. So instead of adopting, I decided to give foster home until they find permanent home. To cut the story short I finally found a little cat after waiting almost 3 weeks. The three weeks was WORTH IT. She is less than a year old, playful, well behaved and in fact if I say no to her she really understands what I am asking her to do. A little angel that's what she is. When I come home, I always have a little friend waiting for me. I know she wants her treats, but nevertheless she is waiting for me to give it to her...I got attached to her. By the way, I was told that cookie has rare color for a female. Tabby females dont come with orange color. Anyway, it took her a day or two to adjust. She didn't like the noise around her. She didn't like the sound of dishwasher, the sound of washing machine, the sound of car moving outside the apartment and other things I do around the apartment. But finally she got the idea that she is totally safe. Sunday was her doctor visit. So I prepared her, fed her and sent her with the wonderful people from the cat rescue organization (www.CittyKitties.org). I know it's just a routine test, nothing unusual. She will be happy when it's all done.....or at least I thought it would be. She was diagnosed with a cat Leukemia. She was put to sleep...yes, she left me to go to heaven. Be safe. Be happy. God will take care of you. You are just a little baby, and always will be. P.S. Thank you Louisa, Lori & Seychelle for giving me the chance to help cookie, it was all worth it.
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Sagrada Familia
[Fri, 15 Sep 2006 22:02:00 +0000]
School load is accelerating. I have to start shelving a lot fun stuff I like to do. I still can't stop the inspiration when it comes....*sigh*. But here is a little update on my work, Check out: SeasonsWork in progressAs for "tradition" I will work on it some other time, at the moment I am not really "inspired". Antonio Gaudi's work in not finished yet, so is MINE!
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Tradition
[Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:34:00 +0000]
 I am almost done with the hassle of traveling back to the States. It was really hectic... Sleepless days/nights, loosing my luggage from New York to Philly (thankfully I got everything back), terrible fever and intolerable jetlag... Anyway that's all over. However, that hasn't stopped me to keep up with the things I like to do. So, this is what I have been busy with lately. Obviously it's not completed. I am not sure if I will ever be in the mood to go back to this particular piece and finish it up. However I wanted to record it on my webpage. There is an interesting story behind this drawing that my mother told me. I was told (as my mother was told) that our tribe had a very weird ritual long long time ago when an infant was constantly getting sick. That was before the days of good medicine for our usual known sicknesses. Naturally, those days a simple flue or a fever was fatal. Back then, when no one knew how to cure the child with the available medicine. The mother had to change the name of her child to a new name. She believed that the name given to her child wasn't approved by the good spirits, and the constant illness was a sign to rename her infant. She then visited the family's cemetery at night with couple of other close relatives, where the ancestors were buried. They then left the infant alone in the darkness for a while. It was believed that the good spirit lifted the soul of the unwanted infant and replaced it with a new soul. Its quiet creepy and it gave me a very weird feeling. I tried to reflect it in the mood of the drawing. There are more traditional details in my mind that I would like to work on in a more contemporary feel... lets just say, this drawing is 30% completed.
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Work in progress
[Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:24:00 +0000]
I feel I have a lot on my plate at the moment. School hasn't started yet and we have been assigned to prepare ourselves and study some introductory materials....sigh...That can't stop me from enjoying my summer though.
One thing I love doing during summer is drawing to satisfy my ego and reminding myself that I can do better. Of course having a webpage opens many opportunities...For example, I have been able to join a web-based artist's community, because I can link files to my server..
Some of the works presented there are mind blowing! When I see where I stand in terms of skills I feel I have looooooong way to go.
As for this particular piece, I have started it on 19th July06, and everyday I spend a bit of time on it. It is still not completed. Working on this piece surely enforced one thing about drawing. "The more time you spend on the details the more satisfied you get with the results"....
By the way, I still haven't finished the squirrel gang, and when am done you will know for sure.
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disease! is it really?
[Fri, 21 Jul 2006 11:21:00 +0000]
In any given organization, there is always two types of people. Type-A believes that each person has a role to play, and everyone should be respected for what they do. They know that no matter how small a role could get, it is vital for the survival of any organization.
There is another type, or type-B who preciously believe everything and anything should go through ONE person, and only one person can do the job, naturally that person is him/her-self... what is even worse, is that the focus shifts from completing owns tasks, to streamlining everyone else's task, eventually nothing gets done!
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Simple, don't need to be smart to figure that out.... :)
Well, the question is. What would you think happens when you have two people from Type-B in one organization? Would be good movie to watch...
I think only ONE person can stay. But how would others feel about the presence of THAT person? We all know that the symptoms causing the "I" disease for a Type-B person makes it difficult to tolerate that poor infected person. Besides, scientifically it has been proven that this disease doesn't have a cure, and all attempts to change the behavior of human beings through genetic manipulation were not successful... for now, QUARANTINE that person with the "I" disease...And who am I? hmmm...lets just say am enjoying a movie right now with big bowl of popcorn!. BUT who are you?
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SoPhi and me...
[Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:59:00 +0000]
For many people Washington Avenue is just a place where they can get Philly's famous cheese steak. For others it's a place they call home and strive to earn their living, not knowing that they are making history in the process.
During our site survey, one of our colleagues managed to get this interesting statement from Geno**: "I am Philly, Philly is me. People come to Philly for two things, Liberty Bell and my steaks!" isn't it true?! (At least he knows he is making history)
For me, This is where I first learned more about American people and their cultures. I am not talking about planning issues, culture diversity, economic growth, demographic changes, immigration effects... etc. I am trying to say that this is where I spent enough time to know my colleagues better.
Paul, Imogen, Jason & Amanda... It is pleasure knowing you all, and I had a good time working with you.
Don't forget to look at my new post "SoPhi" under academic projects.
** Read more about Geno at http://www.genosteaks.com
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A little something for you
[Sun, 16 Jul 2006 01:36:00 +0000]
I have finally posted a digital work under Interests section. Its a little character I made with Photoshop, and it took around 6 hours (2 days) to complete. This little guy has two other friends coming in the way. He still doen't have a name! So you can just call him Noname.You can leave my virtual place with a little souvenir. I will add a downloadable version for some works, so you can use them as your desktop picture.
As I said, if the real world is not too busy this section would always have something new....*sigh*. I think if I had the chance to change my career, I would choose to be a cartoonist. Probably when I retire I could still do that...... If not, then I will just settle for a flower shop! Anwyay....enjoy!
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Whats with the flamingo graphics?
[Thu, 13 Jul 2006 07:43:00 +0000]
 Few people know about Flamingo's in this part of the world. These fascinating migratory birds rest at Ras Al-Khor here in Dubai before they continue their journey to the South. Sometimes they reach as far as eastern Africa. Thankfully Dubai has taken positive measures in protecting this ecosystem. Why am I mentioning this? Welllllll, perhaps one of most beautiful scenes of Dubai is taken from the Ras Al-Khour and looking towards Sheikh Zayed Road. This beautiful view gives an interesting contrast between the bustle of the city and the tranquility of the Flamingo's sanctuary. Now, does the banner at ShakStudio make any sense to you? I hope it does coz I am not going to explain no more! Read more about those beautiful birds at http://www.datadubai.com/birds.htm
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Things to say.....
[Mon, 03 Jul 2006 12:30:00 +0000]
Okaaaaaaay and here is my blog.I am not a diary type person, and am not good at making jibber jabber sound interesting. But I happen to be far from my friends, so I figured I will need to have a blog......Maybe someday I will turn into a blog blabbing freak! I am utilizing my time filling gaps in ShakStudio these days, which means there won't be any blog for a while...
Speaking of ShakStudio, am not sure how long it is going to take to finish (It is more work than I thought!!...eeeek). So take this free advice, if you are thinking of making a personal webpage, be sure you have both time AND patience. But I must say I am enjoying every moment doing it!..
P.S. picture of good Dubai - Beach
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