Traffic jam

Being stuck in traffic is one of the most frustrating experience in anyones day. The fact that you are wasting your time and are powerless to do anything about it can make one go crazy. A recent study done in the United States states that people waste about 72 hours a year in traffic. Wouldn't you love to have three days of your life back. Now, I thought traffic in Toronto was bad (it is one of the worst cities for traffic congestion in North America) but then saw the following pictures of traffic jams from around the world. For a complete listing, check out this link.

Sao Paula, Brazil



China


Moscow, Russia

got roti?

I went out to dinner with my family a few weeks ago at a Hakka restaurant. My family does not eat out often and when we eat at home, it is usually at different times. You would probably guess that there were many silent moments while we waited for our dinner to be served. During one of those silent moments, as my siblings played games on their cell phone, I noticed a women in front of us eating her meal with roti. I have never seen roti being served at a Hakka restaurant so I glanced over the menu again looking for the roti menu item, but did not find it.

I thought to myself ... 'this lady must have brought the roti herself'. My mom mentioned that this lady is probably a 'hardcore roti-er' and does not eat rice. I would consider myself the opposite, a 'hardcore chawal-er' or rice eater, but would never go the extreme of bringing my own rice, otherwise I would be a # 1 FOB. I can understand people bringing their own drinks, or spices to restaurants, but I cannot accept roti. I just came to the conclusion that such an event could only occur in Brampton. :)

Going green

This week the United Nations held a climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia. The goal of this conference is to bring together representatives from all countries and agree on a roadmap to fight climate change.

Climate change is a topic on everyone mind these days. It seems that the latest trend involves involves "being green" - environmentally friendly. Governments, corporations, individuals are all making an effort to reduce their impact on the environment. So, I would also like to announce my effort that I am making to become more environmentally friendly.

A pet peeve of mine is the unnecessary printing at work. I notice people consistently printing emails, articles, and books, which could be easily read from their computer screen (don't even start me on the misuse of colour printing). Now, I tend to read a lot of tutorials on the Internet for configuring applications so it is convenient for me to print out the article and follow the instructions, but once I am done with it, I end up recycling the article.

I have decided to not print anything unless it is required for documentation. I have found that setting up another monitor (dual monitor) has made it easy for me to avoid printing articles.


The nice thing with a dual monitor is you can drag and drop applications between the monitors, basically you have increased the allowable space for your monitor by 2. If your interested in setting it up, you can follow the instructions here. Now, you may argue that another monitor requires extra energy, but I do shut it down when I leave work and as the picture above indicates, I am focusing right now on saving the trees :)

Seven!

I visited the dentist today to get my seventh tooth extracted. This tooth had not grown out all the way and had been causing pain for some time now. I have always had positive experiences and rarely felt any discomfort during any visits. Even the first six teeth that I had extracted were not that bad. In-fact, when I got my wisdom teeth out, I was given laughing gas, which would trigger laughter as I felt discomfort. I felt like Joker from Batman, laughing internally without making any noise ... lol.

Dentists have always been nice to me, reassuring me during painful moments, and keeping things positive during negative times. However, sometimes I feel dentists are too nice. I have never understood why dentists make conversations during a visit. I am a nice guy and don't want to be rude, so I express facial acknowledgment of discussions, obviously unable to make verbal confirmation.

During a visit a few months ago, the dentist told me her story of the issues she faced with her cell phone provider. It was an entertaining story, but I wonder if she felt odd talking without any feedback from the talkee, or perhaps, she needed to take her mind off looking at patients teeth. Hopefully, I did not eat gobee and roti before visiting :)

Choices

Like most working folks, my morning routine involves the consumption of coffee. I was downtown for work last week near Yonge and Church street and as you can see from the picture, I had to make a choice between Starbucks and Tim Hortons. Both places were directly across from one another.

As I walked towards the intersection, I observed the people who had purchased coffee. People in suits or dressy office clothes had Starbucks coffee, while the casually dressed person had Tim Hortons. I concluded this observation with the following thoery: Starbucks is for the social elite and Tim Hortons is for the average worker.

As I finally arrived at the intersection, I made the decision to head towards Starbucks (the line was shorter and the workers are nicer too). Now, I am not even close to looking like a social elite, but if I ever want to become one, a good start would be to look and do the actions of one :)

Are you loonie?

One of the biggest stories this year in Canada has been the rise of the Canadian dollar. It is currently trading at $1.06 US. No one would have thought this would be possible when the dollar was trading at above sixty cents US five years ago. The rise in the price of oil (almost $94.45 US a barrel) and strong commodities has helped pushed the loonie above par against the American greenback. However, the biggest reason of this surge is due to the weakness in the US dollar, which has been caused by a slumping housing market.

In recent months, there has been a public outcry from consumers over the lack of adjustment in retail prices in Canada. Many consumers are spending their money across the border in Buffalo, where wait times are about two hours. Financial advisor's are advising people to exchange their money before they cross the border to avoid the "American exchange rate, i.e. one-for-one. You will also find out that when you exchange money at the bank, they will charge you a 2.5% service charge, so you will never get the current rate.

A high loonie is bad news for some people, such as those who are in the manufacturing sector, which is an export-drive business. Importers now found the price of goods in Canada are more expensive and will look at other places to import similar goods. A recent article in the Toronto Star talked about the effect of salaries on European basketball players who are paid in US dollars. The Toronto Raptors center, Rasho Nesterovic signed an 8 million dollar per year contract which was paid in US dollars two years ago. He spends his off-season in Europe, so he converts that money into Euros. That same contract is now worth 1.5 million dollars less after the exchange rate.

The majority of Canadians feel a sense of pride over the rise of the loonie. When Canadians visited the US previously, Americans always felt that their currency was superior to the Canadian dollar. Now, the tables have turned, and it is not clear how long it will lost. However, I will not stay silent and will let our neighbors to the south know the value of their dollar :)

On time

In South Asian cultures, it is quite common to arrive late for events, such as weddings. The arrival time for event invitations are often ignored and padded with a few hours to generate the “real” arrival time. The invitation time is typically the time when you start to get ready for the event.

The real rationale behind why we (South Asians) are always late is because we do not want to be early. If you come early to an event, you may be stuck helping the organizers finish some last minute tasks, or trying to kill time playing games on your cell phone, or deleting people from your phone directory.

The South Asians are not the only ones who suffer from “being late”, it seems the African people are similar.

The government of Ivory Coast created a punctuality contest to challenge people to arrive on time.

Narcisse Aka, a legal adviser aged 40, who has just won the country’s hallowed Punctuality Night competition — and a £30,000 villa — after he consistently turned up for work on time while his compatriots took a more relaxed attitude to punctuality. As the slogan of the competition goes, ‘African time is killing Africa; let’s fight it.’

Arriving on time is so easy yet me make it difficult for us. Think about the last time you arrived late at the airport to catch your flight, you could make your life easier if you had arrived an half hour early. Otherwise, you may end up like Jerry Seinfeld, who quoted:

You see? Never be late for a plane with a girl. Cuz a girl runs like a girl - with the little steps and the arms flailing out... You wanna make this plane, you've gotta run like a man! Get your knees up!

Why Canadians hate Toronto?

I spent the last two weeks in Western Canada where I got a chance to visit Banff, the Rocky Mountains between Alberta and British Columbia, and finally Vancouver. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and unfortunately many Canadians are unaware of the natural beauty in our own country.

The people in Western Canada are proud Canadians. In fact, I found they show their patriotism more openly than Canadians in Toronto. I am not saying that Torontorians are not proud Canadians, it’s the massive diversity in Toronto which reduces the amount of open patriotism.

One common theme among Western Canadians is the hatred for Torontorians. A perception exists among Westerners that Torontorians are arrogant and don’t respect other cities in Canada, although Quebec is the exception since the Quebecois feel inferior to all Canadians ;-) The anger stems from the fact that the majority of the high paying jobs are in Toronto, scheduling of television shows do not take into account the time difference, and the major sports league with the exception of hockey are in Toronto. Western Canadians cheer for their local hockey teams and cheer against Toronto. There was a general happiness when the Toronto Maple Leafs failed to make the playoffs this year, although Torontorians cheer for other Canadian teams.

As a fellow Torontorian, I did not take this hatred to heart because I do think there is some truth to the arrogance perception. However, if you ask someone outside Canada to name a city in Canada, you know that Toronto would be at the top of the list … so sometimes you have to call it how it is. Like it or not, we are the main economical city in this country, but the question is for how long … hello Alberta.

Tip of the week #2 Traffic strategies

Anyone who lives in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) must have some level of hatred for the traffic in our cities. Little has been done to improve our traffic infrastructure over the past twenty years even though the population has increased by hundred of thousands in this time span. News of accidents and traffic jam fills the radio airwaves daily. Last week, a fire at a metals plant in Brampton caused parts of highway 407 to be closed. This closure caused traffic chaos in Brampton as all the alternatives also became jammed with cars. I happened to be one of those unfortunately drivers stuck in traffic. My usual commute of 40 minutes turned into one and a half hour. I have come up with many theories that I will share while hopelessly sitting in traffic staring at the car in front of me.

Tip# 1 Take the hit of waiting in traffic rather than seeking alternatives

If you are stuck in traffic, it is probably better to wait it out rather than seek an alternate side street. Most people often believe that they are the only person that knows about a specific side street, but over time people figure out these alternate routes. It is better to wait it out on a highway or major street with many lanes rather than being stuck on a side street with one or two lanes. I know this fact first hand!

Tip # 2 The right lane is the fastest lane …. in a traffic jam on the highway

The left most lane on a highway is typically the fastest lane and the right lane is usually the slowest lane. During a traffic jam most people try to switch into the left lane hoping it will be the quickest, but most often the right lane moves the quickest, especially since people will be exiting from the highway and the people switch out of the right lane due to the perception of it being slow.

Hint # 3 Listen to the traffic reports

This hint is the simplest of the three and yet people still do not listen to traffic reports. Checking the traffic report before you start your commute can be the difference between a traffic jam and a clear ride into work.

Traffic and living in a big city is inevitable, as bad as Toronto traffic can be, it is not the worst. Below are a list of the three most congested cities in the world:

1. Manila, Philippines
2. Cairo, Egypt
3. Lagos, Nigeria
   

The most enjoyable jobs

Finding the "perfect" job is a challenge facing many people. It involves finding something you are passionate about. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago conducted a survey on the jobs people like and dislike. The full article can be found here.

LIKE

• Clergy—87 percent percent
• Firefighters—80 percent percent
• Physical therapists—78 percent percent
• Authors—74 percent
• Teachers—69 percent
• Education administrators—68 percent
• Psychologists—67 percent
• Security and financial services salespersons—65 percent
• Operating engineers—64 percent

DISLIKE

• Laborers, except construction—21 percent
• Apparel clothing salespersons—24 percent
• Handpackers and packagers—24 percent
• Food preparers—24 percent
• Roofers—25 percent
• Cashiers—25 percent
• Furniture and home-furnishing salespersons—25 percent
• Waiters and servers—27 percent

My general observation is that the jobs on the LIKE list involve helping people or tasks which involve problem solving activities. Most people agree that they would like to work in a field where they are around people. The satisfaction of helping someone in their daily life leads to a happier experience. You will also notice that prestige jobs such as a doctor and lawyer were not at the top of the list. Unfortunately, the prestige jobs are the ones where you make the most money and not the ones people enjoy the most.

Tip of the week

The subject of the post implies a weekly stream of tips, I doubt this will be the case, given my recent record of posting, plus I needed a catchy subject for this post.

Tip: Make sure you are on the correct line before you lineup

Before you join a long lineup, it never hurts to ask someone to make sure that you are in the correct line. Most people make the assumption that a long lineup probably ensures they are in the correct line. Furthermore, people usually join the first line they see and don't look for legitimite "butting" opportunities. No harm exists by asking someone in line or a service associate if they are in the correct line since your not doing anything while waiting.

A recent experience at the airport triggered this post. At the airport, I waited in line to get my boarding pass, only be told when I met the sales associate that I was at the wrong terminal. I argued with the associate to no avail. I should also note that it would have helped had I read my e-ticket to get the right terminal, but that is one too many tips for this post.

Kids are funny

I had the opportunity last week to present a short presentation on Islam to a group of cub scouts in Toronto. The average age for the cub scouts was 9. I observed the actions of the kids before the presentation and they acted like typical 9 year-old kids. They would make funny faces and run around for no reason. I became skeptical about the ability of these kids to comprehend my talk and ask intelligent questions. However, during the presentation, I was amazed by the attentiveness and interest shown by the kids. I captured some of the questions asked during my talk for your pleasure followed by my reply.

• After showing a picture of the pillars that are pelted during Hajj, a kid asks “What if you throw a rock and it hits someone else instead of the wall … are you sinned?”
• Answer. Nope. It’s like if I threw a ball to you but hit your friend, is it my fault? Kid answers … I guess not.
• Who invented Arabic?
• Answer. Umm… God
• I have a friend who is from Saudi Arabia.
• Answer. That is great!
• Why didn’t the people who traveled from Mecca to Medina use airplanes?
• Answer. They traveled on camels through the desert instead since no airplanes were invented yet. ... the kids responded with "oh ... vvoooww"
  
• Can you explain the problems in the Middle East between the Arabs and Jews.
• Answer. It’s complicated.

Here is a link to my presentation.

The reality of reality television

If you watch television on almost any weeknight, you will mostly likely come across one or more reality television shows. In-fact the highest rated television show right now is American Idol, which averages over 31 million viewers per episode. It seems these days, the major networks will produce any type of reality show in an effort to attract viewers. The latest craze is with game shows.

Two new game shows have attracted my attention, Deal or No Deal and Are You Smarter than Fifth Grader? I think these shows have reached a new low in reality television. Both shows have super perky, hyper, annoying contestants. In the show, Deal or No Deal, the whole concept of eliminating numbers to get the million dollar briefcase is based solely on luck and requires little intelligence. Even more annoying are the contestants family members trying to assist the contestant, I just wish they would shut up.

I cannot believe the lack of intelligence of the contestants on Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? One contestant was not sure what country neighbored the United States to the north (sigh). The most annoying part of the show are the contestants high-fiving the kids who help them answer the questions ... it just aint kool.

I remember the good old days of television, bring back the Fresh Prince of Bel-air, Growing Pains, Cosby Show, Family Feud, and Seinfeld. Those were good quality television shows ... ahh those were good times, I must be getting old ;-)

The office

One of my favorite all-time movies is the Office Space, a story about the day-to-day lives of office employees. Many issues common to office workplaces are discussed and explored. Recently, a comedic series called The Office staring Steve Carell, (who is brilliant in the show) also discusses the office politics of employees. My office environment is fairly tamed compared to the afore mentioned television show and movie, however, recently I came across an office-space like situation that I want to vent about.

Every office has printers that employees use to print documents. Most often employees abuse these resources. The frustrating part of this misuse is the impact on our environment. We waste so much paper on a daily basis. I have witnessed people printing most of their e-mails frequently. My biggest caveat is the printing of unnecessary colour documents. A single colour document can cost an average of $1.00 per paper. Last week, I went into the printer room to pickup my colour print job and had to wait till someone elses 30 slide PowerPoint presentation finished printing. After realizing the print job would take another 10 minutes, I left the printer room in disgust. I went back to my desk and started working again. This time, I struggled to get staples into my stapler ... arggg, just another day at work.

I could not find a "clean" The Office/Office space moment to relate to my blog post, sooooo here is a random video from The Office.

The next Y2K

The US government decided in 2005 to change the beginning and end of daylight savings time. The following changes occurred:

• Previous start: first Sunday of April (1 Apr. 2007)
• New start: second Sunday of March (11 Mar. 2007)
• Previous end: last Sunday of October (28 Oct. 2007)
• New end: first Sunday of November (4 Nov. 2007)

Since the Canadian economy is heavily dependent upon the US economy, our government has also decided to follow suit on these changes. The rationale behind these changes is increased energy savings, due to greater sunlight during the day. I have discussed the rationale behind daylight savings time in a previous post.

These new start dates will catch most people and businesses by surprise. Especially, in the business world, many IT systems may have the incorrect date for three weeks.

This issue is similar to the computer problem encountered during the turn of the century, known as the Y2K bug. People were afraid that computer systems would not process dates correctly after January 1st, 2000. Fortunately, there were only minor issues reported. However, the business world at that time took advantage of the panic of consumers to cash-in. This time, there has not been much awareness made about the daylight savings time change and I expect there will be disruptions to many services. For those people who are responsible for IT systems, I recommend you take your vacation during the week of March 11th ;-).

On the GO

A few weeks ago, I used the GO Train to commute into downtown Toronto. I had a few observations about the people and their habits when riding the GO.

• The experienced GO train drivers know exactly where the train stops so that they are directly positioned in front of the door when it arrives.
• The cooler or younger people always sit in the upstairs area of the train. It reminds of taking the school bus in elementary school, where all the cool kids (like me ;-)) would sit in the back of the bus and the not-so-cool kids would sit in the front. Interestingly, in China, everyone on the bus sat in the front of the bus.
  
• There are the regular GO train riders who talk throughout the ride about every single occurrence of their day. Taking away from other riders any opportunity to get a quick nap or read a book.

Throughout all these observations, I do miss working downtown and not having to drive to work. I would take the GO train if it was possible for me. I do not like commuting at all, but I wonder if I did not have to drive, perhaps I could build some liking to commuting and even form my own GO train clique.

What's in a name?

I was looking through some documents a few days ago and came across an interesting letter written by my dad. Here is a snippet:

Ontario Registrar Office

I would like to change my son's name from Ayyaz Sheikh to Ozair Sheikh
...

Sincerely

[my Dad's name]

I was shocked to learn that my parents had initially named me Ayyaz instead of Ozair. My dad wrote the letter to the Ontario Registrar Office to make this amendment. I took the letter to my mom and asked for an explanation. She confirmed the story and said that my grandparents actually preferred Ozair rather than Ayyaz. I was interested by this finding and queried my parents to the thought process that was occurring at that time. It was interesting to hear the other possible names that were being thrown around:

• Waheed
• Sarmad

I cannot picture myself with any of these names. There are people you probably come across in your life and concluded that so and so "looks like a Mohammad" or "acts like an Ahmed" without any reason.

If I had not been named Ozair than I would have lost out on my potential nicknames such as:

• Oz (My official Western name)
• Jose (My official American name)
  
• Ozwald (Unofficial name used by my high school friends)
  

and then there are the many times where my name has been mispronounced:

• Hozair
• Ozaaar
• Ogar (z looked like a g)
  

What's in a name ... there is a lot to a name, an entire life of nicknames, misinterpretations, and being called out to accept prizes, the latter which I am still waiting for ;-)

To read or not able to read

The avid reader of my blog should have noticed the addition of several new columns. Since high school, I have not read many novels. In-fact, I am not alone, most youth growing up today rather use the Internet, play video games, and watch television rather than read a book.

In my elementary schools days, I was an avid reader. In school, we had a program called book-it that rewarded kids who attained their reading goals. In high school, I worked part-time at Chapters and was allowed to borrow books from the store. During university, the only books I ever read were on Calculus, Economics, and Java. Hopefully, I can rejuvenate this reading passion with my current novel.

It has been a while since I have related a blog post to Seinfeld, so I shall leave this post with a quote from the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is fined for a book he has not returned since high school and George revisits his embarrassing atomic wedgie.

Jerry: What's amazing to me about the library is it's a place where you go in and take out any book you want. They just give it to you and say bring it back when you're done. It reminds me of like this pathetic friend that everbody had when they were a little kid who would let you borrow any of his stuff if you would just be his friend. That's what the library is. A government funded pathetic friend. And that's why everybody kind of bullies the library. I'll bring it back on time ... I'll bring it back late .... Oh, what are you going to do? Charge me a nickel?

Ramadan Happenings

Tis the season of Ramadan and I have been collecting my thoughts for this month.

This Ramadan, Suhoor is later in the morning than past years, and I rarely get enough sleep because Tarawih ends late at night. There are always eventful happening at Tarawih as documented by Ali’s antics. Last week, after prayers finished, a man asked me where I went to groom my beard. After realizing the seriousness of the question, I responded that I shave and trim my beard myself. The man left and so did the awkwardness. However, I did feel flattered by the question. I work hard at grooming my beard and finally someone has noticed :)

Last week, I was in Dallas, Texas, where I went to Irving Mosque for Iftar and Tarawih. Irving Mosque is the largest mosque that I have seen in North America. The nicest perk about Tarawih at Irving mosque was the 4-rakaat tea break. People take a break for 10 minutes to get tea and rest. This idea is great; in-fact it should be extended to include more options such as: coffee, donuts, leftover iftar; the potential is endless.

Finally, I would like to end this post with a complaint. When praying you must stand shoulder to shoulder, when a spot opens up, a person must fill that spot. However, there are situations when there is no room and people are forcing themselves into a spot where they should not go. I always get volunteered to fit into a small spot and have to maneuver for positioning. It takes a prayer to re-establish my space, but then the "musical fill the spots" begin. Yes, I will fill the spots, but only if you give me acceptable space. Thank you.

Blogging break

I am taking a break from "not blogging" to officially not blog for the next week. Similar to a joke I always hear, "I need a vacation from my vacation".

No joking now, I am officially taking my vacation and I am flying off to Vancouver for a week of site-seeing. Do not worry, I have packed according to the new regulations.

I did have a few drafts sitting that I was going to write up but will when I get back, so look out for those entries.

As my 3 year-old neice always tells me ... "rock-on" , or should I say "blog-on" to all you bloggers (yes, I know that is lame).