Audi R8 - My New Dream Car

Hi

The expression "vroom" can be defined by the following link:

http://microsites.audi.com/audir8/html/index.php


One day...

I Ain't Mad At Cha...

AA All

SubhanAllah. Imagine one of 2pac Shakur's co-thugs and co-rappers fitting the bill of Pac's lyrics "Oh, you a Muslim now?" from his well-known and poetical I Ain't Mad at Cha song.

Well, meet Napoleon from Pac's group Outlawz. This is a MUST watch...

MashaAllah, the sincerity of this brother is enticing to watch, if not inspiring. His love of Allah and respect for the Prophet (sw) and the Companions (r) permeates the room you're in while he tells the audience his background. His honesty with himself and to the people in the room is refreshing and allows you to easily identify with him. May Allah protect and increase him in success. Ameen.

Keep in mind that this is a man who rolled with 2pac. A guy who really was a gangsta. A guy who lead a life that would embody everything against Islam. Drugs. Alcohol. Guns. Killers. All that. A guy so immersed in it, that you would wonder how someone would ever come out of such a lifestyle?

I guess it would bring this to mind: La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. There is no strengh or power, save in Allah. It is He Alone that has the power to bring someone from the depths of fitna and the haraam to the noor of the path that leads to Him.

I try to remind myself something that the brother says in the video: that you should not despair of Allah's Rahma. That you shouldn't think to yourself, Man, I've done this and this, how can I ask Allah to forgive me? Doing that is to limit Allah's Power and Mercy.

It is but my wish that such Light enters my own heart and guides me a path that is swift and easy to Allah.

Allah huma salay Allah Muhammad.

Ummah Films. Hot.

Salaam

This is a pretty cool video. It's a commercial shown in Saudia Arabia/Middle East that gives a message about the evils of backbiting. Strong message.

And an equally strong message that it conveys is that Arab women are HOT! I mean, these girls add fuel to the desire of finding a hot hijabi one day...

The one thing that confuses me is this: Are they saying that all attractive women are backbiters? Or that they're nice on the outside and evil, twisted on the inside? I welcome all hot women's perspective on this, but strongly advise that you submit a picture as proof of your hotness. And your biodata. And your parent's phone number. Oh, and your annual income.

Anyway, I won't take away what the director is trying to show. The group name is Ummah Films and I suggest that you check out their website and blog. It seems like a really cool and perhaps needed initiative. InshaAllah, I hope their endeavors go well and are accepted.

Fi Aman Allah

Practical Joke at Work Gone Wrong

Hi

So, a couple nights ago I'm getting ready to leave work, right? It was about 7:30 and I was already running 30 minutes late to meet up with my boy Tariq before he heads off to India to get himself hitched. We would've probably hit up ColdStone afterwards, so you can imagine just how badly I was trying to get out of the office.

I gather all my things and do my standard do-I-have-everything check. Cell phone? Check. BlackBerry? Got it. iPod? Yes. Wallet? No doubt. Car keys? ... I said, car keys? ...

Nothing.

No big deal, I thought. It's probably lost underneath my messy stack of randomly placed confidential and critical documents scattered across my desk. I shovel through the piles and find nothing. This is odd. Then I thought, Idiot! Look in your coat pocket! But there was nothing in there.

Then I start to recall my steps to see whether or not I actually remember bringing the keys into the office. I was pretty sure that I did, so I had no choice but to walk to my car in the freezing weather and see if I possibly left it in there. I was ready to shoot myself if I did that. Knowing my own limitations, I didn't rule the possibility out. So I walk out to my car which is of course all the way at the end of the parking lot where lighting is extremely poor. Great, I'm finna get jacked up in this! Of course, I recalled that I work in posh Northbrook where the worst thing that could happen to you is that some rich guy would forcibly give you keys to his "outdated" 2006 E 500 AMG Mercedes.

So I get to my car and I can't see my keys. They weren't in the ignition. Or any of the car seats. I couldn't see it anywhere. Now I was getting a bit worried. I run back into the office. After thawing myself out, I re-trace all the steps I made that day in the office. I went to the third floor where my office is at...nothing. I went to the first floor where I met with some colleagues earlier in the day...nothing. Conferences rooms...nothing. I saw the Polish cleaning lady and talked to her (mainly by hand gestures as her English was not quite there)...nothing. Desperate, I went to the washroom...nothing (thank God!).

Fortunately, I knew I had a spare key in the car (not sure why it was in there, but Alhamdullilah!). So I called a locksmith and he came out about 30 minutes later. It was now 8:30pm and I regrettably had to cancel on Tariq. The locksmith comes out and in less than 30 seconds - no exaggeration here - he pops my car door open and takes a wire and unlocks my ride. $65 for a 30 second job. That's pretty nice...for him. I ask if he can give me a break and he tells me that this sorta job typically costs $95 at least. (I then realized that I'm in the wrong fricken industry.)

Well, I was well on my way home and at that point not too concerned about the missing keys because I was pretty tired and confused as to how my keys could've been misplaced (they were no where to be found in the car).

So, the next morning on the way in to work, I check my BlackBerry as I normally do. I get an email from one of my project assistants and it reads:

"OMG you didn't get it. [After reading that I was like, Oh hell no...] I left you a "ransom" note yesterday before I left. Your keys are under your computer. I am soooooo sorry. Please don't hate me; you were supposed to get the note. I'll make it up to you, I feel terrible.

On another note,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. SHAKER, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. [It was my bday that morning]

I deserve pay back, I'm so sorry."

I called her up when I got in and she's like, "I love you??" I joked telling her that she had better say that. She insisted on paying the bill and I tried to refuse, but she said that she'd feel like the worst person on earth if I didn't, so I took the money after she threw it on my desk (along with a snickers bar) and literally ran down to the first floor when I tried to give her the money back. She even tried locking me in by standing outside of the office door on the third floor and putting all her weight into it. I just laughed and she ran downstairs. (I think others at work were wondering what the hell was going on between us!)

Anyway, that's my story. Good times. My office mate was surprised that I was laid back about it. I figured it was all in good fun, but that the joke just never made it to me like it was supposed to (I never saw the "ransom note").

Any ideas for payback, folks?! ;)

Cheers

NFC CHAMPS & Devin Hester: Bears Win!

AA

Well, he did it again. Devin Hester ran for his third punt return TD for the season against the Vikings earlier today. The insane thing about Hester is that any other person returning that ball (yes, myself included) would have been tackled at least a couple times. He turned nothing into something and razzled and dazzled everyone...

To recall Devin's greatness, click here.

And it was much needed, too. At that point, I'm disheartened to write, Rex was not cutting it. He had thrown a couple interceptions after the Bears DEF recovered the ball. It was like every new opportunity created, Rex would end up coming short. It was painful to watch. I'm not even gonna post his numbers because it hurts too much. But, again, I'm being optimistic and hopeful that this is all a learning experience and he'll turn it around...and ASAP, too! In fact, Lovie makes the following point: "“Rex is our quarterback,” Smith said. “There’s a difference between perception and reality. Reality is we’re 10-2 right now and we just won the division with Rex at quarterback. So that’s what I go on. We’re not changing. We’re 10-2 with Rex as our quarterback.”"

Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones (the new Dynamic Duo), however, once again tore it up. Benson's TD run was phenom, mA!

Let's also not forget about Ricky Manning Jr's TD interception return for 54 yards. I mean, this Bears defense is unreal. We forced the Vikings to go through THREE quarterbacks. Brad Johnson threw four INTs. And the safety that we got actually seemed to be more like a fumble TD recovery, but it was really irrelevant at that point.

Oh, here's what Urlacher said about Devin: " “Hester’s great,” said middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. “We’ve all seen how good he is. The guy is unbelievable. I wouldn’t kick to him if I was a special teams coach. He’s amazing.” " And Urlacher says that with good reason. Courtesy of the Chicagobears.com, just check out some more stats on what Hester has done so far this year: "

Hester set a Bears record with three punt return touchdowns and tied a league mark that’s shared by nine other players—including former Bears Gale Sayers

and Cecil Turner—with four combined returns for scores. Hester’s touchdown against the Vikings Sunday was his first at Soldier Field. He has returned punts of 84 yards at Arizona and 83 yards at Green Bay for TDs and also scored on a 108-yard return of a missed field goal at the New York Giants." Alhamdullilah! :)

BTW: The Bears have officially captured the NFC North with today's win, mashaAllah. I respect Ron Turner for saying this about winning it: "“We didn’t do anything on offense today to make us feel like celebrating,” said offensive coordinator Ron Turner. “We won 10 games and the division championship and we’ll celebrate that. But we know we have to get a lot better on offense.”" We'll see Rex inshaAllah rise to the occassion...

Bear Down!

It's The Time to Disco!

Hi I've realized that the woman of my life likes to disco. And you know what? So do I! Oh hooooo! Balle balle! Preity Zinta Zindabad! Disclaimer: I do not condone the imagery of beautiful, half-naked woman. I do, however, get turned on by it. Cheers

Me On A Airplane

Hi





Okay, so I get bored on my flights to Cali. What else am I to do? Read a book?!



:) Cheers

Week 12: Bears Loss. :(

Hi

What a depressing day. We lost one of the biggest games of the season against Tom Brady and the Patriots. The game was very awesome defensively. Both teams had key take aways throughout the game with the Bears recovering the ball multiple times in the red zone. I mean, what can you say about our defense? The best in the league, indeed, mashaAllah.

Now, our offense, on the other hand is a different story. Grossman tried a few times to hit the deep threat of all deep threats (Bernard Berrian) a few times, but the throws were short. On the mid-range passes, however, Rex did pretty well. He'd hit up either Bernard or Moose for some key gains. Why they didn't stick to that AND our spot-on running is beyond me. I mean, with Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson both running, our run game is pretty amazing. This is Chicago. We're the Chicago Bears. Like many a kalu, we run. In a game like this, after the first couple deep throws didn't work, you stick with what does: running and every once in a while the short/mid passes.

I hate to say it, but the main reason we got our TD was because of two HUGE penalties. Whether they were justified or not is another story. Being a die hard fan, I will say that they were justified, even if a little weak. (A penalty is a penalty, right?)

Regardless, it's not like that was our only scoring opportunity. We had an amazing opp to win the game with 1:48 remaining, but on the FIRST play we throw deep! WTF?! How are we possibly going to do that when the deep ball was NOT working?! HOW COULD THEY MAKE THAT CALL!! AND WITH ALL THAT TIME REMAINING!! It was so frustrating. I remember Jones walking off the field with a look of disappointment and disgust as if he were saying, I told them that we shouldn't go with that play. I hear ya, Jones.

I dunno. Maybe the Bears were thinking like this: Alright, we have a lot of time on our hands. The Pats are gonna assume that we're gonna do running plays and short passes. Our deep ones haven't been working, but if Rex feels it, maybe we can throw them off and go with a deep pass on the first play? That logic could perhaps work with me. I mean, your risk level at that point is out the fricken stadium, but so be it.

Here's a great article on ESPN to read that analyzes the Bears and specifically Grossman.

Anyway, Go Bears!!

Bears vs Pats: 17-10
Record: 9-2.

Drama on The Blog

WTF?!

Well, I always appreciate comments on my blog. Comments that make fun of me or even others. I especially appreciate comments that praise me. Those always make for fun reading. Of course, it's enjoyable to me and others when done in the proper manner, of course.

In the recent blog entry about Farooq's Bears Party, however, this has not been the case. What's worse is that it hasn't been about me either, but one of my closest friends and his fiance. And kinda out of the blue, too.

This is absolutely childish. I feel like I'm babysitting a deviant 15 year old high school desi kid that was heart broken and is now releasing his/her anger on the world over.

I'm not sure what your problem is or why you feel like pissing a buncha people off. My recommendation to you is to 1) stop reading my blog and 2) mend your broken and pathetic life.

I'm not one that likes to get into these things, so I kindly ask you to inshaAllah stop. Let's not create drama on this blog or to a lesser extent in other people's lives. Jazak.

Let's leave this blog for what it is: A blog that is inherently all about the glory that is me.

Cheers

Punjabi Spiderman

This is hysterical. Spiderman in Punjabi. One of the best lines is when Spiderman comes to save the day and someone yells "Look, it's Spiderman" which apparently translates into "Oh agay Shazada!" [around 3min 25sec]. Anyway, funny stuff... Punjab Zindabad!