My Goals for 2010

It's said that not writing your goals renders them wishes. If you do write them, you will always have a reminder, a chance to revisit and adjust, and a way to monitor your progress. Therefore, this year I am writing my goals for next year, عل و عسى I stick to them and hopefully accomplish something worthy. Here we go:

1. Punch an elderly person in the face (cane/walker user preferred)
2. put glass bottles behind the wheels of parked cars
3. throw a bag of nails on the highway
4. scream racial slurs at random people while driving
5. fill out ratemyprofessors.com with nasty reviews for all my former professors
6. borrow books from the library and tear many pages out from the middle
7. park next to the cemetery on Sunday and play "it's good to be alive" loudly
8. pick up all the flowers from #8 and sell them
9. walk up to a parent and tell them their baby is hideous
10. Implement and add to my How to be an أخو شلن post

I urge you all to think about and write down your own goals. Also, remember to use a tool in setting your goals, such as SMART/SMARTER.

Read more >>

Jordan's Next Prime Minister

There are a few families in Jordan that are in complete control of local politics in the country. These families, to the trained eye, seem to be playing a game of musical chairs, when it comes to the position of Prime Minister. As the news of Sameer Al Rifai's appointment starts to subside, and given the short lives of Jordanian governments, one can only speculate on the identity of the next to hold the position. However, mab3oos has made a pledge to never spread rumors, only researched facts. Therefore, after many nights of deciphering and fact checking, the three who will be running around when the music starts again are:

• Al Masri (possibly Nashat)
• Al Majali (Sahil or Shadi)
• Naser Al Lowzi

Have your say because you can't otherwise (i.e. actually vote for a PM):

p.s. the above names were the result of a major assumption: that King Abdullah continues with tapping the younger generation of the same old faces.

For less important positions, such as ministerial, there seems to be talk that Reem Badran will test the waters for the trade minister position as a stepping stone to be named the first female prime minister in the Arab World. This will definitely enhance Jordan's spurious claim of gender equality.

Read more >>

Who is not an entrepreneur

Being an entrepreneur is not something that is taught. It definitely takes on many shapes and many routes lead to it. Although it is hard to describe how to become one, generally an entrepreneur is defined as someone that starts a venture and assuming, in the process, all risks associated with it. However, since it's hard to pinpoint the intrinsic qualities of an entrepreneur, defining what is NOT is a lot easier.

• If you are tweeting links of yesterday's tech and startup news, you are not an entrepreneur
• If you spam your social network connections with famous quotes from the basement of your parents' house, you are definitely not an entrepreneur
• If your daddy is a big-shot prime minister, who connected you to big-shot CEOs to help you start a company, you are not a freakin' entrepreneur
• If you stole your idea from a successful company and bragged about being able to have a 1% market share, you are an IP thief, not an entrepreneur
• If you technically live in conference halls and auditoriums and participate in workshops for topics you're interested in, but actually do not understand because you're basically an iPhone next to a لوح, you are not an entrepreneur
• If you are reading this post and got angry because it conflicts with your fake sense of entrepreneurship, you are not a god damn entrepreneur

This post was brought to you by the mab3oos Center for Entrepreneurship.

Our one month long workshops for 2010 commence on January 4th and cost $1000+ materials. But, we give you a certificate to frame and hang in the above mentioned basement proving you're a sucker, not an Entrepreneur.

Read more >>

Jordanian media, social media, and general garaf

الصحفي: آه يا حجة، شو رأيك بالحكومة؟

الحجة: الله يكصف عمرها الحكومة. إحنا شو جاينا غير خوازيك من وراها هالحكومة. رفع أسعار، كذب بنكّط تنكيط، و نهب من كل جهة. من وين بدنا إنكرّي العيال، منو بده يجي هان و يسمع صوتنا و يفك كربنا. يا خالتي خلّيني ساكته. هذي حكومة لناس و ناس

التقرير الصحفي: "هذا و عن سؤال إحدى المواطنات عن الاحداث السياسية الاخيرة في المملكة، اجابت الحاجة أُم علي وفي قلبها حسرة بأن الاحوال الاقتصادية لم تبرح مكانها جراء البرامج الحكومية المتتالية لكنها و جهت شكرها و إمتنانها للحكومة الرشيدة على الجهود التي تبذلها لكف الآثار الناجمة عن الازمة الاقتصادية العالمية. و ثمنّت الحاجة أُم علي دور الحكومة في تطبيق القوانين و السعي على شمول جميع طبقات المجتمع في سياساتها الاقتصادية و التنموية في ظِل القيادة الهاشمية الميمونة

Social Media:

• Join our "Umm Ali group" on facebook
• Join us on Thursday for a workshop on Investigative Journalism
• Join us next month for the first annual "poverty and politics" conference at the Mövenpick-Dead Sea to discuss how we can bring attention to Umm Ali's concerns. Speakers to include rich people, high level government officials, and representatives of regional NGOs

This post was brought to you by a garfan citizen who really cares but disgusted by the incompetence of Jordanian media, social media, and people's love affair with good for nothing "conferences."

Read more >>

Jordan: the 30 year old still living with his parents

Not just that. His parents also live with their parents. This 30 yo projects a picture of independence to his peers, but goes home every day to get his allowance from the parents and grandparents. He is not allowed to make major decisions, he is not allowed to veer off the family's prescribed route, nor he is allowed to have friends over without a prior consent from the home owners, the grandparents.

Jordan is this guy that says he's independent, but still has to run things by those in the position of parents, i.e. Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the uninvited, spoiled uncle that doesn't really give a damn: Israel. These, consequently, turn to the grandparents for protection, money, and influence to tell them what to do. The grandparents are the US, EU, and lately, more increasingly, China.

This 30 yo is not single, he's been married since the age of 7 and never got a grasp on going for it alone and learning of a way to gain real independence. Despite their burning desires to progress and be like the grandparents' overseas children, Jordan's children are always told stories of horror that happened to the ones that ask too many questions and disrupt the calm of the living room. They dream of the day that their father would just pack and leave to a place where he's the real master of his domain. However, their father has always been made an offer he has until today not refused.

iTunes

Read more >>