Khawaja: passion

The Art of Online Advertising!

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:39:00 GMT

It is a pleasure to invite you to this special seminar co-organized by Google and the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship.

This information is free of charge. For further information and registration, please send an email to: google@qrce.org

To Jood on her 1st birthday!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:07:00 GMT

If you missed the first letter written to Jood (before she came to life), you can find it here.

Our little sweetie,

Hard to believe, but true, you have blown out your 1st birthday candle last week :)

A year full adventure and amazing funny moments has passed leaving special memories that will live inside us forever. So be ready to trigger your memory back when you grow up!

The love of a parent is something impossible to understand until you become a parent yourself. You were the naughtiest baby around who attracted the eyes and hearts of everyone and made them all fall in love with your innocence, intelligence, cheerfulness, playfulness, energy, curiosity and cuteness.

During the times we were travelling, you were the most beautiful thing to discover! We still remember how you were making new friends everywhere we go with your charming smile –whatever their language, skin color or age.

If there is one thing that I want you to know even at this young age, it is to know that every moment in life counts - each is beautiful in its own way, whether happy, painful, joyous or awful. Treasure the wonderful moments in life, and learn to grow by living through those that are not.

You are developing in so many ways, sweet baby, and each day I catch another glimpse of something new that makes me say with swelling heart, "This is another aspect of Jood!" we are so privileged to love and care for you. We are so excited to get to know more and more of Jood.

They used to say that everyone inherits the qualities related to his/her particular name. That is very true in your case; especially when you insist on feeding everyone around you before you start eating!

I cannot look upon you without thinking of how Allah gave us the tremendous blessing of being your parents.

Our hope for you is to grow to know, love, and change the world in your own way!

With Love,

Mama & Papa!

Jood ... a four-month-old fetus

one-week-old baby..

3-month-old little lady!

7-month-old naughty girl!

almost 1-year-old swimming in Wild Wadi - Dubai

إبدأ مشروعك.. تقدم لتتميز

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:25:00 GMT

الآن أصبح لديك فرصة أكبر لتحقيق حلمك بإنشاء شركتك الخاصة. في عامها الثالث، أتاحت جائزة الملكة رانيا الوطنية للريادة المجال لكل الرياديين – سواء كانوا طلبة جامعيين أو أشخاص طموحين من عامة المجتمع – للمشاركة في المسابقة والتنافس على جوائز يقدر مجموعها بـ 70.000 دولار أمريكي. فإذا كانت لديك فكرة مشروع في أي من مجالات العلوم والتكنولوجيا، لا تتردد بتقديم فكرتك لمركز الملكة رانيا للريادة من خلال الموقع الإلكتروني www.qrce.org لتبدأ خطواتك الأولى نحو النجاح!

تتميز الجائزة هذا العام بمساهمة شركة Google
العالمية في دعم جائزة إضافية تقدم لأفضل خطة عمل لمشروع على الانترنت، بالإضافة إلى الجائزة التي يقدمها مركز الملك عبد الله الثاني للتصميم والتطوير لأفضل خطة أعمال في مجال الأمن والحماية.

إذا لم تتمكن من مشاهدة العرض التعريفي لجائزة الملكة رانيا للريادة خلال الحملة التعريفية للجائزة في الجامعات والأماكن العامة (النقابات، غرف الصناعة والتجارة...) فيسرني دعوتكم لمشاهدة الفيديو الخاص بالعرض بالصوت والصورة

إذا كانت هذه المرة الأولى التي تسمع بها عن الجائزة فأدعوك لزيارة موقع مركز الملكة رانيا للريادة للتعرف على دور الجائزة في تحويل الإبداع والثروة الفكرية إلى قيمة اقتصادية عالية من خلال تشجيع أصحاب الأفكار والريادية على تحويل أفكارهم إلى منتجات وخدمات مميزة في السوق العالمي

ملاحظة إذا وصلتك هذه المقالة بالبريد الإلكتروني فيجب عليك زيارة الموقع حتى تتمكن من مشاهدة الفيديو

Jood is responding to NLP!

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:52:00 GMT

Since few years, I’ve been reading about the impact of applying Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in my daily life and how it can REALLY affect our lives POSITIVELY. If you do not know what NLP is, simply it is an interpersonal communication model and an alternative approach to psychotherapy based on the subjective study of language, communication and personal change. (Definition from Wikipedia)

I used to utilize and apply what I have learned on myself and my small family, but I never realized that a 6-month-old baby like my little daughter “Jood” could respond to NLP at this early age.

The story started when Jood was rejecting the nose cleaner suction syringe as soon as her mom tries to put it inside her nose to clean it. Jood used to cry, move her head irritantingly and “fight” with all her mighty to stop her mom from placing it inside her nose.

We wanted Jood to accept the nose cleaner, thus, we started using it as a toy; we used it to pamper her by pointing the cleaner on her cheeks -not nose- and make her laugh and enjoy the soft air coming out of it. She started to feel that this toy may bring her joy and fun, too!

The good news is that Jood’s attitude toward using nose cleaner to clean her nose has changed tremendously after doing that exercise for 2-3 days, and now Jood fully accepts the cleaner with a smile on her face :)

So I would like to urge parents and parents-to-be to consider NLP as a smooth effective way in changing the attitudes of their children positively. It worked on animals, so why it wouldn't work on your kids!?

Do-It-Yourself!

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:53:00 GMT

Do-it-yourselfers are simply people who dare to build and compose innovative products out of basic things available around. In fact, the term do-it-yourself didn’t enter the language until the early ’50s, and the abbreviation DIY soon followed.

A year ago, I’ve read an article by Paul McFedries, that says we live in the age of tech DIY in which geeks of all persuasions and both sexes engage in various forms of digital tinkering and hardware hacking. It is interesting to know that the vast majority of the DIY widgets fall under the new category of open-source hardware. The recipes and constructopedias that explain how to create them are shared with anyone who wants them. That brings in more DIYers, and the hobbyist renaissance grows even bigger.

Bashiti Hardware –a specialized hardware retailer in Jordan- organized a national DIY competition last year as part of its role in supporting this culture among Jordanians. Unfortunately I was not able to join or -at least- be there take photos and meet the DIYers but I’m sure it was an extraordinary experience for everyone.

I was really impressed when I read a news release that says MIT has recently released fun-filled comic-book called: “Howtoons” that is designed to inspire youngsters all over the world with a sense of can-do adventure, and to teach them a few principles of science and engineering--and a sense of the creative possibilities all around them--along the way of just having fun.

In this comic book, cartoon kids Celine and Tucker set up a home workshop and then proceed to build a whole series of toys and gadgets out of leftover items. The idea for Howtoons came about when Bonsen and Griffith were MIT graduate students. They organized few workshops that include few of the construction projects - for local schoolchildren and invited MIT professors to come and bring their families. The book evolved spontaneously as people attended these workshops tinkered and experimented with a variety of simple materials.

The impetus for developing the concept into a business plan came when they took a class in developmental entrepreneurship taught by Legatum Center founder and faculty director Alex "Sandy" Pentland.

The projects range from rockets and goggles to simple electric motors, a marshmallow-shooting blowgun, and a simple way of making homemade ice cream. The materials are mostly everyday items like plastic bags and bottles, rubber bands and paper clips.

The idea of publishing this comic-book is to make the instructions as visually self-explanatory as possible, so that kids anywhere can use them without having to read the words (although the book will also be translated into several languages – hopefully Arabic language would be one of them!).

I would like to conclude by a quote for Bonsen – one the co-authors of Howtoons: "We want to inspire them to think about the world around them not as it is, but as it could be."

Study & Work!

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:28:00 GMT

This photo has been recognized as the best photo for the year 2007. The reward, was announced during the final meeting of Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA) General Assembly held in Amman, and given to the Syrian Arab News agency (SANA)'s Cameraman Wasem Kheir Beik for his photo taken in one of the streets of Damascus.

The photo shows a 7-year old girl sitting in front of her movable table on which she sells sweets and biscuits, and at the same time carries her books trying to do her school duties.

This photo has stimulated so many ideas and impressions in my mind... I'll list 2 of them here briefly!

First, it shows a high level of persistence we seek for in the younger generations; you need not to have a rich family or be a son or daughter of a tycoon to get educated, if you decide to educate yourself you can do it, no matter what the circumstances are. Jordanian educational system has proving this through many cases for students from less fortunate public schools who were keen to excel in national and supra-national competitions (both curricular and extracurricular) and exceed our expectations. I was a jury member at the National Robotics Competition this year and I was so amazed by the achievements of teams from El-Shoneh and Baq3a.

This photo really shows and interesting example of a multitasking little girl! you can never effectively utilize your time in the 21st century without being multitasking, you might feel stressed and under pressure at the first place, but the more progress you do the more you get addicted to being multitasking. So, Keep you favorite books/magazines with you wherever you go … store you favorite audio books, e-books and podcasts and play them whenever you move around (by car or public transportation) or waiting somewhere (at the clinic, bank, governmental office… etc.). An interesting research published last years says that an average person spend -at least- 2 FULL years of his/her life on the road!

I really have more to say about this pretty nice photo … but since I have so many to do before the end of 2007, I leave the floor for you to express yourself!

Special smiles for a speacial Eid :)

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:34:00 GMT

Special smiles for a special Eid! :)

Losing weight while using your laptop!

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:44:00 GMT

If you spend most of your day working on your laptop and don't have time to walk, play aerobics or join the gym next door, I'm glad to tell you a group of MIT students have solved this problem for you! :)

MIT students have come up with a way to recharge your laptop without plugging it in. Rather than consuming electricity, you'll be burning calories--your own.

The students designed and built an exercise bicycle that uses "pedaling power" to charge a laptop computer. As the bike's instructions note, if you have trouble "squeezing in that daily exercise," you can now "multitask with no problem--[you can] bike while you work!"

The pedal-powered laptop began as a class assignment for Course 1.102, Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Design (spring 2007), when students were instructed to design and build a device that converts mechanical power into electrical power.

Enjoy reading more about this interesting invention here.

Happy belated Eid Greetings :)

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:14:00 GMT

Jood and her little cow wish you a Happy Eid this year and every year!

Blind.. but with Vision!

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:02:00 GMT

It is my pleasure to introduce to you Mohammad Shar'; a specialized computer programmer in adaptive technologies.

Mohammed Al-Shar', who was born blind, has exceeded the expectations of his community and today he does what most of his peers with sight might find difficult!

While many blind people have gone beyond the odds to succeed, Al-Shar' has even taken his confidence to a new level of challenging his disability by learning and mastering computer programming. Currently, he is working as a technical support and training executive for Nattiq technologies, an international firm that specializes in assistive (also called adaptive) technologies.

To know more about Mohammad and his success story I invite you to read my articles @ October's issue of JO magazine. The article title is: "Life is Virtual".

You may also view the amazing video broadcasted at Al Jazeera channel few months ago.

If you receive this post by email, you need to accesss: http://mkhawaja.jeeran.comto be able to watch the video.