The more you say goodbye I say hello...

Its been ages since I've really blogged. I've just been incredibly busy. Let me see if I can remember all thats happened. I don't have time so there won't be any pic right now. July 18th I had my last day of work at TowerData. In August it would have been 2 years at the company. The longest I've worked anywhere. It was a great opportunity it and I enjoyed but I was totally ready for a change. Call it the waterloo co-op syndrome. After switching between working and school every 4 months for 5 years it was definitely a bit difficult having to stay put in 1 place for so long. If I hadn't got into grad school I would have started looking for a new job. I think I'd gained all I was going to from that job anyways. I flew home to Mississauga that night and drove back to NY the following day with my sister. We did a lot of walking and a lot of eating. Went to some restaurants for restaurant week like Terrace in the Sky and Sea Grill that were just fantastic. Went to a couple of broadway shows that were wonderful (Les Miserables and The Drowsy Chaperone). And spent a good deal of time just walking around new york and chilling in union square. It was really nice and I'm definitely going to miss nyc. And of course all the friends I made there. As a going away present they made a little scrap book for me with pictures from the last two years and then signed it with messages like a yearbook. It was an awesome awesome gift. Drove back on the 22nd and left behind new york, my home for the last 2 years. And returned to my home home! My house for the last 19years. Its sold now. My parents have bought a new house, still in Mississauga. Actually its only 5mins away from my current place. We just needed a house with a room on the main floor we can make into a bedroom for my grandmother. Going up and down stairs is just too difficult for her now. I like the new place. Its certainly bigger. And I guess its nice that its the same neighbourhood so its not too different...and yet, it'll be totally different. I know I haven't really been living at home for about 7 years now but still. 19years in 1 house...I think it'll be awhile for the new place to be home. Anyhow, once I got home I didn't unpack at all really. Instead I had to start packing some more. I thought I had packed a lot into my place in new york.....it doesn't compare at all to this house. I've been packing forever and theres still so much to do.... In between the packing I had the 5th annual bbq with my friends. It was a smaller turnout than previous years. But we still had 17 people come and all the food turned out great. We played some good games of soccer baseball, ultimate frisbee, badminton (thanks Mezba for bringing the equipment!), and then we ate some more :P The weather as well turned out fantastic, those weather people predicting thunderstorms don't know what they're talking about. Near the end of the day as what has become an unfortunate tradition, my friends did chase me and try to get me wet. They only semi got me but it turned out fine since afterwards most people got most people anyhow. So I wasn't the only victim. And with the weather as it was I was almost dry by the time I stepped back in my car to leave. You can see some pictures on my friends online album here -> BBQ Pictures I saw the Simpsons movie. It was alright. Good but nothing great. And then i packed some more. And in the midst of all this packing there was the stress of travelling. Or at least trying to travel. See the plan is for my mom, sister, and I to go to fly to Saudi on Saturday for Umrah! But to get the visa's my sister and I needed birth certificates. We're both canadian born but we have the original small birth certificate cards and apparently when applying for visas we needed the new longs ones that state who your parents are and everything. We applied for this early in July and it still wasn't here! After several trips downtown and a visit to the MPs office to try and help expedite the process, we finally go the birth certificates just this past monday. So then we sent them off for the visa application and finally we got visa's today! A full 2 days before the flight...my parents shouldn't have worried so much hehe.... So tons of packing to do since we'd fly out this saturday. Return on the 16th and the move on the 18th! Thankfully I've finished my school loan stuff but as for finding a place downtown...don't think I'll have time when I get back. So it also looks like I'll be commuting from the new house downtown for school for at least a little while. I just haven't had anytime whatsoever to look for a place downtown...hopefully the commute isn't too bad...anyone done the commute before for school? How was it? I'm really excited about Umrah. I've never been and everyone tells me its an amazing experience. So inshaallah it will all go very well. I don't think I'll be blogging again till after I'm back...well who knows...but if anyone has anything in particular they'd like me to pray about please let me know. And please pray I remember as well :P thanks. I will definitely try. And finally please pray about the following. A few days ago I was just sitting at the computer as I am now. Eating some food while reading some random articles when my friend sent me a link to a new article. I clicked on it and started to read. The headline said a local Waterloo student died in an accident at school. I though omigosh (I went to waterloo) thats terrible. And then I started to read the article. And it totally shocked me. I had to read it again. The boy who died was a friend of mine. We weren't particularly close we only chatted online every once in awhile. But still he had worked with me on school projects, group assignments, and had studied with me. He was a real honest and down to earth person. And its just really tragic that his life has ended at such a young age. InshaAllah his family and friends able to find strength and peace. My prayers are with them.

1 more day!

I just had my last status meeting! This time tomorrow I'll be saying goodbye to my co-workers and I'll be free! I like the company, its been fun. But I can't wait to be done! The past couple of weeks have been really busy so theres been a lack of posting. Just a lot of packing, hanging out with friends, and lots of dessert. Sigh, I just found this wonderful and amazing cheecake place last week and now I'm leaving it behind :( I was actually feeling quite sad about leaving the other day, though that may have been picked up just by reading my last post. I'm not down at the moment though. I'm going to miss it for sure, but the excitment of things I'm going to do this week and the excitement of going home are also starting to kick up a gear :) I went to a circus yesterday. It was by the seaport by the water side facing jersey. Pier 17. What an odd place to have a circus. Made odder still that the show was a 930 and to my surprise (though it makes sense now) it was not family friendly. Nothing too bad but still a bit risque. It was really quite good though. In Canada whenever I have loose change at stores I usually drop it in the unicef boxes or whatever donation boxes you'll usually see at stores or fast food places. I don't see those as much in new york so I just had this little box I dropped change in at home. I didn't think much of it. I though ok maybe I have about 10-15$ or so in there now. I went to the bank yesterday to drop it in the coin counter machine and get cash for it and it turned out to be....$184! Sweet, that just bought me my circus ticket (hehe bought me my circus ticket...I dont know why I'm amused by that) and my restaurant week meals! Anyhow, that was a fairly ordinary post. I'll try to be a bit more interesting next time. Probably have a collection of new york pics I think...

And then it hit me....

I have less than 1 week left in New York..... :'( Well, it came up to me And asked me if I wanted a glance It looked kind of nice And so I said I might take a chance When I glanced it held my eye And when I walked home later that night All the stars were shinin bright And then it hit me...

Katie, Vivan, and Miss. Peacock visit NYC

Sorry for the delay in blogging. I know I'm particularly behind in posting pictures. Its just been a busy last few days. And also facebook just makes it so easy to put pics up...I get lazy in putting them up here. Anyhow, to make it up I'm going to present you all with the answer to everything. Yes, everything. But you'll have to read all the way to the bottom of this post to find out....or you could cheat and just go to the bottom now.......booo cheaters.... Ok, so this weekend Vivian, a friend of mine from first year (wow thats like 7 years ago now...) and her friend Katie (who also went to waterloo and whom I share a remarkable number of mutual friends but somehow just never met) visited new york. And naturally we did what every tourist does...check out Times Square. We then met up with Anojan for some dinner the Afghan Kebab House. The next day we had another visitor as Miss. Peakcock (another friend of mine, and yes, of course thats her real name hehe) joined us for more adventures in the city. First stop, the MET (I only saw the Roman/Greek stuff with Jane last week). Meow This doesn't seem too hard... Some more sillyness And 1 more. After the MET we went to this Mexican/Morrocan Halal restaurant and crashed some guys 20th birthday party. It was a fun dinner unfortunately the food wasn't that great and we didn't get any bday cake :( Left to Right: Anojan, Jane, Me, Vivian, Katie, Miss. Peacock Still wanting Dessert we begin searching for a place to satisfy our cravings Finally we find a diner, and Miss. Peacock and Jane seem to think its fine. But Anojan & I have our doubts... Now I admit, the Banana split looked good...but the ice cream was rather meh The next day we decided to check out Central Park The fresh air did Katie some good as she grew a foot taller than me But after that healthy walking...we wanted some more chocolate. This time we went to good stuf, Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man mmm......chocolate..... Vivian and Miss. Peakcock trying to decide what to get. Anojan: ahhhhh I can't wait, where is my dessert!? Yes! Its here! mmmm....dark hot chocolate.... Vivian, Miss. Peacock, and I just posing for the camera. A group picture Left to Right: Janes roommates friend, Janes roommate, Jane, Anojan, Katie, Vivian, Miss. Peacock, Me. Some sillyness on the subway And finally the answer to all your questions.

Museum Mile

So the other day was Museum Mile Day. All the streets from like 82th to 105th street along 5th avenue we're blocked off for ppl to walk around and visit the museums for free. We (Jane & I, Sadia and Romana were also there but always 1 museum ahead, and Aasia was busy having fun in the rain) checked out the Gugenheim, the Design Museum, took a walk in Central Park, and then went to the MET. So we're entering the MET when I get a call from Janet. Jane goes inside and I take the call outside (better reception). While I'm talking on the phone I see this middle age woman taking pictures of a younger woman with a balloon. So I move to get out of the pictures when she comes up to me with the camera. Presumably to take a picture of the two of them, but no. You have good colour she says, could you stand in the shot? I'm surprised but agree and tell Janet to hold. I pose beside the woman (brown guy, offwhite pants, red shirt, black cell...maybe I am good contrast to white girl with plain dress and silver balloon?). After the picture, I finish the conversation with Janet and walk into the Museum and Jane's like what was that? Oh that? I reply, Well I only do pictures, no autographs. :P Anyhow, here are some pictures from Musuem Mile (unfortunately not many for the most part, pictures aren't allowed inside the museums) and from dinner later that night. Just a building I liked while walking to the Gugenheim Museum Mile Street picture Harp Player Inside the Gugenheim Light floor exhibit Jane telling me she wasn't ready for the pic Me Outside the Gugenheim (you know.....I like saying Gugenheim. Gugenheim! Guuugeeenhhheeimm haha) Outside the Design Museum Otherside of Design Museum Chandelior exhibit View of city over small lake in Central Park...the pic doesn't do it justice. Outside the MET Inside the MET Jane with Statues Me with statues Jane and Janet....they hate this pic......oh well :P

Amazing Race NYC Recap!

Ok, here is the long overdue Amazing Race NYC Recap! Warning, its somewhat long. 8 people, 4 teams take part in a grueling race around the city of New York to win the title of....um...winners! This post summaries the challenges and obstacles faced by 1 of the teams. The race started with the four teams: Team Romana & Aasia Team Romana & Irfan Team Women in black sunglasses aka W.I.B.S (or as pronounced by Darrin and I, Team Wimps) aka Jenn and Caitlin Nguyen. and Team Harold and Kumar aka Darrin and myself. We all met in midtown around 11am. The racing instructions/tasks were then handed out to all teams which were seeing them for the first time. After confirming the rules which each other, the race was on! There were 7 tasks to perform and 1 mandatory 30min rest period. The tasks could be completed in any order except for the final task which well had to be last. Here's the task in the order we did them. Of the 7 tasks we knew exactly where 4-5 of them were. We started running in the direction of the first task thinking we'd figure out the rest as we went along. Though we briefly stopped at the Hilton hotel to get a city map and bug the concierge for the answer of one of the tasks. TASK 1: Find the toy store that was featured in the movie Home Alone 2. Take a picture of a group member standing with the toy soldier that greets you when you enter. Buy a cheap toy for your partner in the $5 - $15 range before leaving. You may use any mode of transport to get there. Its the FAO Schwartz toy store! Darrin standing with the toy solider greeter. Darrin in line to buy the toy. While in line, directly infront of us was Team Romana & Irfan. After overhearing their racing plans (hehehe) they finally noticed us and we decided to form an alliance. Darrin, Irfan, Romana The next task was the Detour! TASK 2: DETOUR Choice 1: Rent a bicycle at Loeb Boathouse inside Central Park (its near The Lake). Ride the bicycle to 110th street and take a picture with the street sign and make sure both a group member and her/his bicycle are in it. Ride the bike back to Loeb Boathouse to return it. You may use any mode of transport to get to Loeb Boathouse. OR Choice 2: Save money by walking/jogging/running ONE FULL LENGTH through Central Park. Start at 59th and take a picture with the street sign, then walk to Loeb Boathouse inside Central Park and take picture while standing a few feet (20 feet away at most) in front of the Boathouse. Finally walk to 110th and take a picture with the street sign. You make go the opposite direction and start at 110th if you want. You may use any mode of transport to get to either 59th or 110th. We decided on task 2. At 59th street, the bottom of Central Park By the Boathouse While walking to the top of the park we planned the rest of the race, particularly the next task. TASK 3: Find the street dedicated to the Latin Jazz legend Tito “El Rey del timbal” Puente after he died of a heart attack in the year 2000, and take a picture of the street sign with a group member standing in front of it. You may use any mode of transport to get there. We thought this was on the left side of the park, so we walked the way across the park and then head up. Unfortunately once at the top we found out it was indeed on the east side and we had to walk all the way across again. For those that don't know.....Central Park is HUGE!!! It probably took us 1.5-2hrs to do all that walking. Fortunately, we did find the street and were able to move onto the next task. At 110th street, the top of Central Park. Tito Puente Way! TASK 4: Find the building, constructed in 1872 on a coast of Welfare Island, to guide boats along the East River. Take picture of a group member standing a few feet (30 feet away at most) in front of the building. You may only use your feet, subway and/or bus to get there. Welfare Island = Roosevelt Island! We made our way to the nearest subway station where we happened to meet Team Romana & Aasia. Romana, Romana, Aasia Once on the subway Romana & Aasia got off 1 station before us to then walk up to the F train station to get to the island. We continued so that we could transfter to the E train. Once at the station E train was arriving so it was a mad dash across the platform, up the stairs, down the hall, down the stairs and onto the platform and into the train before the doors closed. We made it! We sat down and rested our weary feet as we watched our train approach Roosevelt Island.....and then pass Roosevelt Island...and proceed into Queens...we read the map wrong! We needed to take the F train! Trying to figure out why we're suddenly in Queens. Lets check the map at the station... We got off the train switched platforms again to get the same train in the opposite direction, took all the way to where Romana&Aasia originally got off, ran to F train station, got on that train and then finally got to the Island. All in all we probably lost 30-40mins or so. Double checking the maps one more time. Once on the island Romana found out from the Bus driver where the Light house was. Unfortunately the bus was packed so we had to walk. It took us 30-40mins of walking...tiresome as we'd already walked the full park. Finally at the Lighthouse! Fortunately we got a cab back to the station and proceed to the next task. Detour#2! TASK 5: DETOUR Choice 1: Go to either Gem Spa Newsstand or Eisenberg Sandwich Shop. Each person in the group must buy and DRINK 3 full cups of egg cream while in the store (you may buy in any available size). Take a picture of all empty cups. You may use any mode of transport to get there. OR Choice 2: Go to Magnolia Bakery and buy 4 red velvet cupcakes per person in your group. Each person must then EAT all 4 cupcakes while at the store (you may eat it outside the store if its too crowded inside). Take a picture of all the empty wraps. You may use any mode of transport to get there. We choose the Egg Creme b/c Magnolia is more famous and always always has a huge lineup. Eisenberg was more on our route as well. We get there and order 3 cups each, 12 in total. The guy asks if we're sure. We say yes and he laughs and starts filling cups. Disgusting Egg Creme This was the most disgusting thing ever. Its chocolate syrup, milk.....and szelter. Blegh...disgusting. And the cups were huge. And I don't drink carbonated drinks (haven't drank pop in like 15yrs) so I was having a lot of trouble with it. I seriously felt sick and wanted to throw up for at least 30-60mins later. Even much later in the day I felt a bit burby. Gross I know but the drink was that bad. I'm smiling but its cause Darrins telling me to just drink quickly and then throwup after. I finally finish though. And we make our way to the station to head to the next task. On the way we bumped into Team WIMPS that were heading to Eisenbergs. TASK 6: Take a picture standing beside the monument that represents aggressive financial optimism and prosperity. You may only use your feet and subway to get there. This one was easy. The Bull by Wall Street and and Broadway in the Financial district. Unfortunately, my pictures got corrupted here so this picture is from Caitlin and Jenns collection. Jenn by the Bull Now we were off to the mandatory rest period. I don't have the clue for that on me...but basically it stated the restaurant we had to go to. Once there we had to wait 30mins before continuing on with the race. It was really only 10-15mins away from the BUll. Unfortunately, getting there wasn't so simple. We got on the uptown 4 express train, then transferred to the 6 train. But the train wasn't moving. Then due to a medical emergency on the train it wasn't going to move at all until help arrived. So we ran to the N train, took that past our destination (it didn't stop there) got onto a downtown 6 train got off at the stop we wanted and ran to the restaurant. Bare in mind...the egg creme...and running.....ugh... Anojan sends a Sri Lankan restaurant...sorry anojan, i'm still not going to have a dosa. We just chilled outside the restaurant and it was good as the egg creme sickness went away. At the end of the wait, things got interesting. Its the final task. And our alliance with Romana and Irfan was off. The final destination was only 6 blocks away and we both knew it. It was time for a foot race! TASK 7 – FINAL DESTINATION Your last destination will be the Starbucks located @ precisely 13 Astor Pl # 25 between Broadway and Lafayette St. Have a coffee or get a dessert of your choice, find an open table, and solve the puzzle. Darrin got to the starbucks first follwed by myself and then Romana. Darrin and I find a table and ask a stranger for a pen to work on the puzzle. Romana searches for Irfan and then points out to us.......wait this is the wrong starbucks. We're all out the door and running again. We get to the right starbucks (there are 3 in the area!) and get to work. Both teams working on the final puzzle. Place the numbers 1 through 8 in the boxes above so that no consecutive numbers are adjacent or have touching vertices (either horizontall, diagonally, or vertically). The first team to complete the puzzle will win the race! And.....its solved....the winners of Amazing Race NYC 2007 are..... Ahmed and Darrin! The rest of the racers finished in order of Romana & Irfan, Jenn & Caitlin, and then Romana & Aasia (they actually just stopped after we called and told them we won). Here's a rudimentary picture of the course we took. The big green dot is the start, the blue dot the end. The black line the path. And the small red dots the places we stop for tasks. The designer of the race was our friend Anojan. Who was there waiting for us at starbucks. Many thanks to him, it was really a lot of fun. And I can't wait to do it again. In fact....I just booked a flight to visit home Memorial day weekend. I get home the night of Friday May 25th and leave early morning Tuesday May 29th....perhaps its time for Amazing Race Toronto? Hmmm.....stay tuned.... A few of random pictures Team W.I.B.S Aasia & Romana in Central Park Ahmed & Caitlin in the front, Jenn & Darrin in the back Romana & Darrin happy to finish the Central Park leg and find Tito Puento Way Chilling at the end of a long but fun day.