Quote of the Moment

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see." --John Burroughs

Let alone: All the videos (& movies) I wanna watch, all the chats I want to have, all the events I wanna attend, all the phone-calls I wanna make, all the articles/blogs/tweets I want to read, all the posts I wanna blog, all the new technology(ies) I wanna give a try and all the email messages I want to check :D

Did you know?

A couple of years ago I watched a video.. It was really mind blowing, but unfortunately for lazy people like me I forgot about it.. Not only the data, even the sound track & the motto repeated "Right here! Right now!", or should it be "Right there! Right then!"!!? I wish I/we bear it in our mind for much longer time :)
A couple of hours ago a friend shared this video. I went to find the whole series on YouTube..
1st: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHWTLA8WecI
2nd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
3rd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8
4th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8
Just realized while I'm getting the different versions that I saw 2nd & third only & mixed them in my mind, thinking they are one!! I find the first 3 very consistent while the forth -a bit- deviates the pattern..
Read more about "Do you know?" or "Shift happens": http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/History+of+the+Presentation
One last question: Why haven't they heard of twitter till the 4th one? Is twitter that young? Or am I so immersed in it that I thought I had for ages? :D

How to create a C# Class from XML file (via xsd.exe)

A friend asked me a couple of times about how to I created the class I used in “twitter common friends” to handle xml as objects (includes reading and writing back). Actually the tool (xsd.exe) is pretty simple and takes no more than a couple of commands to create the class for me.

It’s just that I usually forget the keywords/parameters & their order (you can create a dataset or class that can be C# or VB, and there’s a couple of other option I never used before). I usually refer to its MSDN page when asked..

So I thought a post would be easier to remember. First you should create the xsd file out of the xml, using the VS command prompt:

xsd myFile.xml

That will create “myFile.xsd”, now to create “myFile.cs”, write the below line:

xsd myFile.xsd /c 

Now you can add the cs file to your project and use it as illustrated in my previous post.


Cross-posted from FCIH-Blog

Quote of the Moment

"The more connections I make, the further I can reach across the world finding inspiration in every person that I meet" --Matt Pyke

Quote of the Moment

"Facebook seems to be more about building glass houses than it is about inviting friends over for dinner." --@sethsimonds, "Why I Cancelled My Facebook Account"

Open letter from Egyptians and Algerians on football row

Copied from Bikya Masr
Sign the petition: http://www.algypt.com/


From Egyptian and Algerian intellectuals, bloggers and activists:
Common Decision.. Won’t separate..
In the name of Allah the most merciful,
In terms of history, religion, Arabism, humanity and the principles of ethics:
We, the undersigned, agree to this statement on the spirit and content at the current time in which we are in greatest need for the voice of reason and conscience and to rise above the pettiness and nonsense things. If not in the name of Arabism and Islam and the cross ties of geography and history, at least on behalf of common interests and mutual understanding that we are trying to make off with the other west, let alone “the other Arab!”
At a time when the elite has failed to take the leadership of public opinion, and some of them fell in the exam, and it appeared that all songs of Arabism and unity that they presented was from the womb of hypocrisy except a few .. Then the scene was left to the non-professionals and bad opinion makers to mislead people and engage them in unnecessary issues. It is therefore better for us to take the lead. And sign this statement of principle for all of us to drive up the skirmish immoral

Quote of the Moment

This time I'm writing a couple of tweets I found interesting during & after Egypt-Algeria (2-0) match:

• A New Chronicle The Game Night http://bit.ly/3fOBfx --Zeinobia
• Algerian bravery can be seen through the algerian guy playing with a medical band on his head. Respect... --Reemba (جزائرية)
• راكب المترو وقاعد لوحدي في العربية كلها... قشطة --Ahmed_ali
• Montenegro-Israel 1:0 - wonderful! --Ruslantrad
• اذا وداعا كأس العالم --Salem309 (شكله كان فقد الامل خلاص)
• The bombs which set fire to Egypt fans should be lit at the house of Mubarak --Ruslantrad
• I don't think any of you guys had ever tweeted so much in 90 minutes. --MissKhasawneh
• الاحتفالات وصلت الرياض بيب بيب بيب هيا الجالية بتحتفل فين عشان نروح :D --HaNaDy
• جمال الثورة والسادات أكتوبر وأبويا أول طلعة جوية وانا حضرت ماتش الجزائر --PresidentGamal
• a strange thought. I haven't seen anyone from the muslim brotherhood in those celebration protests with real eg lovers. wondering why? -- remon_z (بيصطاد في المية العكرة)

I LOVE Gollum

Gollum, from the “Lord of the ring” trilogy (I’m afraid I never read the book, only watched the movies :$), is one of the really 3D characters I like the most. & I don’t mean 3D like in Graphics :D. I mean not the kind of “black or white” (yabyad yaswed :D) guys you see on most movies.. It’s a real “human” in someway with all the bad & good urges that we goes through.
Through out the trilogy you can never say whether he’s bad or good, a victim or a devil..
I specially like this part of the movie were his “good (or may be passive) part is talking to his bad one..

Another really dear thing from the movies to my heart is “Gollum’s song” which is kinda “لسان حال ”  Gollum.. The song which is performed by Emiliana Torrini, great lyrics by Fran Walsh & magnificent music (actually I love all the trilogy music) composed by Howard Shore is taking about these urges I was talking about before, fighting on his head & through his life (or should I say ours?).. Check it, below, too :)

I just realized that both videos on YouTube have almost the same “cover pix” (one good Gollum & one bad) :D

Quote of the Moment

"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are.

It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.

But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't.

They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for."

-- Sam, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Wondering about Project Managers

I had a couple of issues lately with a PM (Project Manager) at work which made me ask myself a couple of questions & wonder what others might be thinking of it.. I'll give my humble opinion here to start a conversation, coz I badly wanna here how others would answer them.

• Should PMs know/ask much about technical decisions?
  
  • IMHO, I thing the answer is NO!! PMs should be asking for less fine details like what's the estimations for doing that option or so.. But they shouldn't be asking why we are using X, or Y technology/approach to tackle a problem.
  
  

• In an agile process, where should PMs stand? What exactly is their Role? Should there be PMs in agile in the first place? Or Should they be replaced by a PO (Product Owner), or -may be- a Scrum Master?
  
  • That's a question that really confuses me a lot.. I can't give a definite answer.. Should they replace POs.. Hmm. I guess not.. On one hand, a PO should be the one directing the project, knowing what the customer want.. But still, a PO -probably- should have some technical background.. So according to my answer to the previous question, PMs can't replace POs..
  • On the other hand, Replacing a Scrum Master, is a bit too far for PMs, Scrum Master are supposed to be in favor of the development team, ie a facilitator & protector for the dev team; & PMs are notorious of failing to do so.. :D
  • Another option -that just came to me right now- is PMs replacing customer in environments where it's difficult to involve the customer.
  
  

I'm desperately waiting for your answers to either of the above questions.. I'm really confused & don't have enough knowledge actually to answer them.
I might be adding other questions but for now that's what is on my mind..
Cross posted on FCIH blog

King Nothing

Half an hour ago I was watching an episode of Numbers. One of the guys on the episode was a reputable professor of Native American History/archeology..  By the end of episode he lost his reputation, his lover was killed, his spouse left him, & hew as condemned for violating US federal law & accused of murdering his “girlfriend”.
Yet all that was all captured in like 5 min out of an hour long episode (I’m not sure how much time a “Numbers” episode span). That make me think how we take others misery the same way. We usually stare hour own shows were we don’t care a bit about others “2nd roles”..

Quote of the Moment

"Fear is temporary, regret is permanent!!" --Otis A. Glazebrook

Quote of the Moment

"In terms of our moral & spiritual growth, we are -too often- like persons who decide that they are gonna go & get physically fit by going out & running 20 KM marathon" --Jeffrey Lang

My first baby is still alive & kicking :D

Just realized, today, that a site I did a couple of years ago is still up & running till now.. The guys changed the look & feel a lot, added a blog, many other cool stuff.. But the same layout of controls, my general feel of the site (you know it different as dev from being a regular user) & probably the DB too (Don’t ask me how I knew it, I just love to believe so :P) seems intact..
Though, I worked much earlier with previous development stuff either at FCIH, (both at Faculty projects & other student activities), or even as a freelancer for sometimes, & though I didn’t do much development (it was made out of a starter kit, not from scratch), I’m really proud of that site. The fact that it was one of the first stuff I did which really made it to the real world & got used by real customers/users.. That fact made it like a first baby to me..
It really made my day today!!

Quote of the Moment

"Professionals see themselves as part of a community of like-minded individuals who put their professional standards above their individual self-interest or their employer’s self-interest." –Steve McConnell, Leonard Tripp

I hate stereotyping

البوست ده مكتوب من زمان بس معرفتش انشره عشان حوارات كتيرة من بينها إنه كان مكتوب فرانكو ومكنتش عارف اشغل Microsoft Maren على الماكينة بتاعتي.. ده على أساس إنه الأنا كاتبه ده فارق كتير عن الفرانكو :)

---

الايام إلي فاتت خاصةً بعد خطاب اوباما خبط في كذا حاجة اونلاين بتشتم في الخطاب . طبعاً هو أصلاً نص الناس إذا كان جوا ولا برة بيشتمو.. نصنا احنا بيشتم في إنه أهو كله كلام و إنه حتى فيه كلام معجبهوش أو في كل الكلام معجبهوش و نصهم برة مش عجبو إنه قال كلمتين إحتمال يدو إنطباع و لو من بعيد كدة إن العرب و المسلمين دول كان لهم أي لازمة في الحياة.

الحاجات ال أنا خبط فيها بقى مش بتتكلم على خطاب بذات.. هم مبتدئين من نقاط قالها اوباما في الخطاب عن المسلمين\العرب.. انهم عملوا و سووا.. و ماسكين الكلم ده بيفندوه..الخلاصة من كلامهم و العاوزين يوصلوه ان الفترة من القرن الخامس للقرن السادس عشر (القرون الوسطى) كانت فالضياع..يعني من ايام عمك سقراط و ارسطو والعالم القديمة ديه..هباااا.. لنيوتن و جاليليو والعالم الحلوة دي عِدِل..مفيش حد كان ليه لزمة كده فالنص خالص.. :D

و ان الحضارة الاسلامية دي معملتش اي حاجة في اي حاجة خالص.. وانهم كانوا و مازالوا عالم همج والمفروض نخلص البشرية منهم..

المشكلة إنه أنا مبحبش الميل (بص على بوست ده) بتقعد تهيج الناس و "بصوا على موقع مش عارف إيه عشان ده بيهاجم مش عارف مين"... ببساطة عشان كل البيحصل إن الناس على المواقع و الفيديوهات و الصور دي أكتر و ردود المسلمين المعتدلين مش بتبان و البيبان بس المتعصبين من عينة "يا كافر هاقتلك و هتولع في نار جهنم..." و عادةً بيبقى ده رد طبيعي فعلا لتعليقات من نفس المستوى من وجهة النظر التانية.. ببساطة بردو كل البيحصل إنه الصورة النمطية (stereotype) بتاع إن أي مسلم/عربي == متخلف/همجي/متعصب بيثبت أكتر عند الناس المش عاوزة تقتنع بغير كده.

و من هنا قررت الآتي.. كل شوية لما أشوف حاجة من التسد النفس دي هادور على مقال على ويكيبيديا ولا فيديو ولا أي حاجة (غالبا بالإنجليزي) بتتكلم عننا بإعتدال و انشرها هنا ولا على توتير ولا جوجل ريدر.. كيفما اتفق .. حاجة مش كبيرة آه.. بس على الاقل مش هاعمل حاجة أنا شايفها غلط.. و في نفس الوقت مش هتلكك و أقول مش فاضي..

See you on EED

I’m planning to be on EED next Monday isA.. Probably, I’d be there all day.. checking the projects, attending a couple of sessions, attending the closing ceremony (Hoping for some “BOOOM, BOOOM, BOOM, HELWAN!!” :D) & hopefully meeting up with some of FCIH old & new folks..
BTW, EED is starting tomorrow, I’m just too lazy to go tomorrow :D.. Also for the working gals.. Egypt WIE, are doing there first forum about “Work-life Balance” on the EED this year too.. I’m wondering why it’s still called Egyptian Engineering Day :D..
So meet you there folks..

Quote of the Moment

"If I had more time I'd write a shorter letter." — Mark Twain

Tribute to Marwa

This post has been updated alot since I first wrote it.. so please excuse my lack of organization :)

---

First, let me announce that a site is in the making (I'm not involved in anyway, (hopefully) "yet") in the memory of Marwa.. The site is MarwaElSherbiny.com

NOTE: Remember you can always use Google Language tools to translate the pages 

News:
Egypt funeral for stabbing victim: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/07/20097612424648553.html
Egypt mourns 'headscarf martyr': http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8136500.stm
The headscarf martyr: murder in German court sparks Egyptian fury: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/07/german-trial-hijab-murder-egypt
Burial of the Egptian woman racially killed in Germany (Arabic): http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/worldnews/2009/07/090705_ah_racist_attack_germany-tc2.shtml
Egyptians angry over German court slaying (6 Days late, check their summary to the incidence in the “Story Highlights” section!!): http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/06/egypt.woman.killed/index.html Islamophobia victim was pregnant, body arrives from Germany: http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=22902
The German Embassy is Following up on Marwa El-Sherbini Killing; Her Family to Take Body Back to Egypt Today: http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=217708
Marwa killed due to propaganda against Muslims (Arabic): http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/EXERES/66B429F4-7E40-4325-9751-0434271DB1C2.htm
Egyptian woman killed in German court for being veiled (One of the best I’ve read, IMHO): http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/07/06/egyptian-woman-killed-in-german-court-for-being-veiled/
Marwa’s Husband emerged from the coma to the news of her death .. He was in tears that he wasn’t able to save her: http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=70500

Blogs:
Her only crime was the veil, Anderson Cooper 360° (Again was too late several days – 10-11 – & strangely the incidence data is not exactly right) : http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/10/her-only-crime-was-the-veil/
A murder that Germany ignored: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/10/germany-murder-marwa-sherbini
Marwa. Mainstream Media Fail? AGAIN? (this guy said it all): http://fakeplasticsouks.blogspot.com/2009/07/marwa-mainstream-media-fail-again.html
What If She Were A Lesbian: http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-if-she-were-lesbian.html
The west should be more reasonable (Arabic):http://www.lastoadri.com/2009/07/blog-post.html

Is this is the German democracy? In its (Germany) courtrooms, Muslims are being attacked: http://www.sadafat.com/?p=562
I hate everything about You!: http://blog.hichamaged.net/i-hate-everything-about-you/
Not Fair!!!!: http://lebnights.blogspot.com/2009/07/not-fair.html
Marwa El-Sherbany came back again to Egypt !!!: http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/07/marwa-el-sherbany-came-back-again-to.html
All the links from Bikya Masr; allegedly the first blog to report the incidence: http://bikyamasr.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/bm-news-all-bikya-masr-links-on-marwa-killing/ 
Marwa Al-Sherbini: Killed For Wearing A Headscarf But At What Point Do We Say “Enough”?: http://www.black-iris.com/2009/07/07/marwa-al-sherbini-killed-for-wearing-a-headscarf-but-at-what-point-do-we-say-enough/

Pix:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahmedcarlos/tags/%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A9%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A/
http://alexhopealex.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-post.html
http://alexhopealex.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-post_06.html
http://alexhopealex.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-post_223.html

Vids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lSmIcEbCHQ (English)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8tZtBrZH6s (Arabic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tw6fhdeol8 (Arabic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3keduYo5sBo (Arabic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B5hmOE6EQM (Arabic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m0h_ZpGKWQ (Arabic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwkxscz4Dqw (Arabic) 

Check twitter (trends) for more:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=Marwa
http://twist.flaptor.com/trends?gram=Marwa&span=168

Please join the Petition:   http://petol.org/marwa
& keep spreading the word about Marwa.. On twitter please use #Marwa coz it’s the shortest & most commonly used hash tag used there about Marwa..
IMHO, most of the main stream media (most of the news section above) not only reported the incidence too late (even Arabic speaking news agencies), but also reported mainly (or focused on) the Egyptian reaction as if it’s irrational without much mentioning of the racist act that caused that reaction!

Things that piss me off when someone sends me email!!

• When someone forward a message that was sent before to like 100 mail address, & forgot to delete the (irrelevant) email addresses, & they just went there as a part of the message (& growing)!!
• When someone send me a message, along with a 100 other addresses (including mine) in the CC or To field not the BCC, while the recipients don't know one another & even won't need to know one another (for eg chain email messages). Off course if this "someone" in this point did put them in the BCC, we will find less "someones" do the previous point by mistake!!
• When different people in my social network forward to me the same email (which was 1st sent by some in their extended social networks to all of them) & someone (from the chain(s) between the 1st sender & me) gets the idea that it's brilliant to change the message title!! Leaving me, not only suffering of receiving the same message again & again & again!! Naaah!! (s)he give me the extra pain of spreading them across multiple threads in my inbox :@:@ (If you're not using gMail u won't feel the difference, you’re already suffering too much to feel it :D!!)
• When someone CC me in a conversation that I don't give a "….." about.
• When someone reply to conversation happening among a number of people (me included) & then replies on behalf of me (usually the reply is a commitment from them that I -Shady- will do something. As if they are my agent/lawyer :D).
• When someone (specially admins) hijack mailing-lists by sending/allowing mail that is totally irrelevant to the mailing-list main topic.
• When someone tries to use religion (actually this isn't just about email, I see that all the time) to make sure you forward their SPAM to your whole mailing list. Usually I delete similar email just for the sake of it. (3end)
• When someone send too old news that circulated the internet for like a 100 times. Specially if they were well known hoax!!

This post was in my drafts for like 6 month, & since I started it I had the Ericsson laptop hoax email –which I have been receiving dozens of times since high school already - for like 2 to 3 time at least over just the past 6 month!!)

Community Calender

FCIH bloggers started a public calendar under the name: Community Events Calendar. It will be focused mainly on the Egyptian IT Community. A glimpse of the calendar is here below:

Also you can subscribe to calendar in many other ways, for eg the HTML version here:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=a4lgh95ric33n590179795q0k4%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Africa/Cairo

Or in iCal format that can be feed to Outlook or Apple iCal, etc :

http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/a4lgh95ric33n590179795q0k4%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Also, as XML feed:

http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/a4lgh95ric33n590179795q0k4%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic

The calendar will include offline IT community Events held around Egypt. Also, online events both from Egypt (hopefully there will be, someday :)) & around the world.

Please, feel free to contact us (FCIH bloggers) or comment on this post, notifying us of events that need to be added to the calendar. Also, any ideas to improve it are much appreciated :)

Cross-posted from FCIH-Blog

Microsoft Innovation Day Material

I'm just collecting here as much as I can of the material of the sessions presented on MS Innovation day (last April 22 nd), I'll be updating the list whenever I can:

• Marwan Tarek (EgySUG) - JQuery & SharePoint:
• http://www.sharepointblogs.com/marwantarek/archive/2009/04/23/innovation-day-brief.aspx
• http://cid-c1a57db9e93baf80.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/MS%20Innovation%20day%20April%202009

• Remon Zakaria (DNW) - Oslo: http://blogs.dashsoft.com/Remon/Default/09-04-24/Logging_your_expenses_using_Oslo_SDK.aspx
• Mostafa Siraj (Cutting-Edge) - CSRF: http://allaboutapplicationsecurity.blogspot.com/2009/04/csrf-session-at-microsoft-innovation.html

Updated: Twitter Common Friends

Earlier I've posted (read it here or here) about the a tiny application that gets two twitter users common friends. I wanted since then to put it online someway without hosting it.. It's not worth the headache. So, today, I've found a couple of twitter blocks on popfly & used them to re-write the application (yes, I've written a couple of little tiny lines of code.. but I'm not even sure what language was that, probably js, lol) Now it is more accessible for me & faster than the desktop version.. Also it has more data about the common friends (including a link to their twitter profile) Here's the embedded version I've shared on popfly, you can also access it here: http://www.popfly.com/users/SMN/Twitter%20Common%20Friends
UPDATE 20090608: Recently, after the above mash-up crashed (coz the block I'm using to consume twitter crashed) @Koraem tweeted about this app, which is more advanced than my mash-up.. Here it's http://twtrfrnd.com/ & it seems like they are intending to add more features later :)

Testing SyntaxHighlighter

XmlSerializer oXmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer oXmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(users));

users oUsers1 = (users)oXmlSerializer.Deserialize(
                     XmlReader.Create(@"http://twitter.com/statuses/friends/"+textBox1.Text+".xml"));

Check it yourself, here:
http://alexgorbatchev.com/wiki/SyntaxHighlighter

Twitter Common Friends

For the past couple of months, A lot of people (who I don't know) have been following my twitter.. Mostly they don't look like anybody I know, not even Egyptians, & I'm not that popular anyway.. I'm ok with people following me anyway.. My twitter is public, & I'm not planning to change that.. But sometimes I need to know if these are real people who are in my twitter "social network" or just some sort of zombies or bots..

I've just created a small app to act like "common friends" in Facebook so I can find out whether I really know them or not.. Actually a couple of these followers are really interesting people & I'm following them now.. The app finds common people you're follwoing.. not common followers, the followers all is almost the same it just need authentacation..

The application depend on a single twitter API which takes the user name as a parameter & returns an xml (or JSON) file of their freinds for eg these are my friends xml file:

http://twitter.com/statuses/friends/mshady.xml

I used the "XML schema definition" tool (Xsd.exe) to generate the class to use the xml nodes directly as nodes rather than querying the XML document.. I'm such a lazy coder.. I know :D..

Once the xml is deserialised into the users datatype like this:

XmlSerializer oXmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer oXmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(users));

users oUsers1 = (users)oXmlSerializer.Deserialize(
                  XmlReader.Create(@"http://twitter.com/statuses/friends/"+textBox1.Text+".xml"));

All you need to do is to find the intersection set between the two list/sets.. & display them The source code & binaries are available here: http://cid-570d40f05cc0dc13.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Sample%20Code/TwitterTest.rar

dotNetWork.org April09 gathering

First thing to say, please don't mix this event with Microsoft Innovation day organized by MSFT jointly with almost every Egyptian UGs.. I'll be blogging about that later..

This month we are a bit earlier than usual (or should I say we are late for last month gathering? :D).. The gathering will be on April 18th (next Saturday)..

Concerning the venue, this gathering we will try a new thing, we will hold it at Fridays, City Stars.. This is a bit limiting so this time our maximum count of attendees will be around 60.. Also there's a special-priced menu for DNW.. So if (only if) you're interested & your schedule is free next Saturday from 10:00-13:00.. Please register..

So to know if you're interested The speakers are

Hossam Kamel
Senior Software Engineer - ESRI, Northeast Africa

Mohamed Samir
Technical Lead - Timeline Interactive, Inc.

Concerning the agenda:

10:15 - 11:15	Testing automation using VSTS 2008 (for Dev & QC): Lots of demos for both developers & testers..So Testing Engineers, please join us!!	Hosam Kamel
11:45 - 12:45	"CellFactor®: Psychokinetic Wars", challenges and achievements: CellFactor is first-person multiplayer shooter game, developed for PS3 and XBOX 360 by a mostly-Egyptian team.	Mohamed Samir

Btw, Guys, just to make sure it won't be understood wrong (again) Attendees will be paying for their own meals.. DNW is only organising the event :)

For more info, updates, registration http://dnkapril-emailinvite.eventbrite.com/ You can, Also, find the menu there :D

There's also a Facebook event but registration only counts on through eventbrite.. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=68200144013

Other helpful links:

Yahoo!Group:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/dotnetworkorg/

Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/netWorkorg/13135685545

Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2409268236

PS: I'll update the post with the poster as soon as it's ready.. isA

EgySUG Launch

Egypt SharePoint user group real launch (after a couple of sessions with DNW) is expected to be next Thursday, isA.. It will be featuring Joel Oleson. The session title is "10 Steps to Successful Deployments".. For more info, check the UG calendar..

Concerning the time & place:

18:30-21:00 @ Microsoft-Egypt, Smart Village..

Transportation will be available from in front of Masbiro mall beside Ramses Hilton, Abdel Moneim Raid Square starting from 17:15-17:30..

Attendance is free as usual.. but registration is needed here

For any further inquiries call Ebeid Soliman: 010 5064 838


PS. : Sorry for the late notice


UPDATE: There's a small meeting to be held along with the event for the preparation for a BizTalk user group, isA.. If you're interested, look for Tamer Fathy, Ebeid Soliman, or me on the event.

Blogging, status massages, & twitter!!

Since a long time ago (a decade!?); probably since I knew the internet, specially IM, I always liked status massages. It was my way to push away what's on my chest. I didn't really say everything on my mind straight out. Usually I'd say it in a cunning way so that only those who'd (care to) take the time to think about its meaning would get it. That's people who really care.

Yet, not all my friends are on my IM (Google talk, MSN, etc.. ) & not all the people on my IM are really my friends. Also, IM is "instant" :D.. So, probably, you should reply "instantly" when you're prompted, "if" you're around.. That's why I'm usually "appearing" idle/away, all the time on almost every IM client I've ever used.

Later, I was introduced to blogging (running my own site wasn't really my cup of coffee.. It was a way-too high maintenance for me).. Again blogging was (& still is) more of sharing my thoughts; Speaking/Writing it "loud".. But usually I write on my blog with the mindset of "It should be a real big thing to write about.. You should have much to say to write.. It should be like an article or something".. Actually my series of posts under the tag "Quote of the moment" is my compromise between IM & blogging..

The same is for the song lyrics, that I sometimes post on my blog.. It's just away of sharing a piece of my mind.. Usually it's related to my current mode or -on some few times- just something I read about & like to share with my friends (most of these are on my Google Reader shared items now :D).. Actually sometimes I share stuff just to remind myself (& other people implicitly) of it later.. Specially technical stuff..

Now, I'm also using twitter.. It really more like IM status message.. But this time it's not instant.. So you can reply later.. Or not reply at all.. You can allow as much people as you want to follow your status message without being annoyed with lots of in coming messages that you have to reply to..

Another thing I like about twittering that it's starting to be like a public chat room with a lot of my friends (& people who has interests similar to mine) now :D.. Actually it allow people to know what's on my mind.. Even people at work..

Generally, I find all of them a healthy way to get relieved.. Some sort of a psychic therapy :D

Wikipedia Masri!!

ذهلت من يومين لما اكتشفت انه في حد اقترح (و نفذ) مشروع ويكيبديا مصري.. ايوة!!
http://arz.wikipedia.org/
على اساس ان المصري ده لغة مستقلة.. ممكن تقرأ اكتر عن النقاشات الانتهت باقرار المشروع هنا:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_new_languages/Wikipedia_Egyptian_Arabic

المصيبة كمان انه في مشروع تجريبي لي وكشيناري مصري كمان!هتلاقيه هنا!
http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wt/arz/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AD%D9%87_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%87

انا ناوى اعمل اقتراح لغلق الاتنين ذي ده
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects
بس لما افضى شوية.. انا بس بكتب التدوينة دي عشان مفروس و كمان عشان لو حد همته اعلى شوية يسبقني عشان انا عارف حبالي طويلة!!

المصيبة انه اصلا مافيش في ويكيبديا مصري دي غير مقالات قليلة جدا.. طاب مابدل الهبل ده ما يساعدوا في المشروع/مجموعة الاسمها "لنكتُب في موسوعتنا.....ويكيبيديا العربية"
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26336582446

Quote of the Moment

“The intention of Scrum is to make [dysfunctions] transparent so the organization can fix them. Unfortunately, many organizations change Scrum to accommodate the inadequacies or dysfunctions instead of solving them.” --Ken Schwaber

Quote of the Moment

"Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not." -- George Bernard Shaw

5 min writing practice

Why I'm writing. Coz I saw a blog called http://writetodone.com/ that said that doing a similar practice just for the sake of it might help you to find creative ideas to continually find something to write about :D.. Do I believe it? Actually not really but I'm really happy to write these words now.. I'm listening to music now. The last song was for Avril "why should I care", now it's "last resort" for Papa roach. I was walking around the place singing with Avril loudly enjoying it while thinking about starting to write that. My bro is now on my bed surfing the net. My lovely laptop (the one I'm writing this note on, now); Saphira -yes I call her so, after Saphira from Eragon- is suffering an awful break down.. The LCD light turns off even when I'm using Saphira :'(.. I've just got a nice idea.. Why don't I write this way on my diary? That's a great way to talk out loud without any directing, bias or much pre-thinking. I find this habit (of free writing) very time consuming & enjoyable/addictive.. Next time I'll try to have some sort of a stop watch like the blog post I read said.. But I really enjoyed writing the above.. Phew!! :D

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NB: I wrote the above paragraph around a month ago, & I really enjoyed it.. I had to edit & delete some personal stuff from it, though.. It feels like some sort of therapy.. Yet I haven't redone it since then :'(.. Oh & I've a new "Saphira" now.. So don't feel sorry for me!! :D Though I'm looking for a new name for her if you want to help!!

Quote of the Moment

“Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” -- Mark Twain

BizTalk workshop

Today (March, 17th) was the last day of a training/workshop I was having at Microsoft for the past 3 days (today included!!). The title was "BizTalk workshop – Black Belt"!! As you may think, I'm not exactly the typical example of the target audience for such a workshop but it really helped me to have some sort of a hack to get prepared faster for my BizTalk certificate I planning for by the end of the quarter.

The workshop covered topics like BAM, BRE, ESB, Performance & Sizing. It was a crash-course; with lots of stuff to be covered in such a small period of time. Yet, it was an eye-openner for me, (I guess it was more than that for the other guys with more BizTalk experience).

Though I was one of the least BizTalk-Experienced attendees, I enjoyed the workshop as I was able to have the opportunity to stick & talk about the topic in more details (from around 10:30-16:00 or later daily) with BizTalk gurus like Ahmed Farrag from MS, other Gurus from Raya-Software like Yousry & Fathy. I ran also into some of the guys from LinkDev (though I missed Mohamed Hussien for eg) & OMS. Yet, I think I would have enjoyed it even more if people like Farsi & Tamer were also there..

Nice Day at FCIH

Yesterday, I went to pay my faculty a visit to get some papers I need at work & give tiny overview session about IEEE. Finally I did any good for my faculty's IEEE student branch this year. I was generally too busy this year that I didn't even went to faculty, not even did anything about my masters.

By chance, some of the gang from class 2008 was at FCIH. & Enjoyed hanging with them for sometime.. Also I loved to do the short session coz it was like a century since I did any presentations, & I really lack these skills :$:$:$.. Also it was my first time to use pptPlex; a powerpoint plugin from officelabs. It's Really cool.. It was really easy to use too.. It really helps to put your audience in the picture & to gather each set of your slides logicly together to manipulate them more freely, instead of rushing across your slides going back & fro.

Here's my slides, http://cid-570d40f05cc0dc13.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/FCIH/FCIH-IEEE-SB.ppt?sa=134397701

Also, Here's Shaimaa's Slides which I used heavily coz I was told about my session on a very short notice.. "Edabest", literally, but I enjoyed it, anyway :D.

http://cid-570d40f05cc0dc13.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/FCIH/IEEE%20Awakening%20Session.pptx?sa=690892386

I guess Shaimaa will read this soon, so if she doesn't like it I'll remove her slides links (though I know she won't mind :D)

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UPDATE: I've uploaded a set of pix taken by S. Abdul & me :)

فكرتني بالذي مضى!!

مؤخرا من اسبوعين كدا خبط في اغنيتين كنت بسمعهم من زماااان.. متهيأ لي مثلا مسمعتهمش من و أنا عندي 15 سنة ايام ما كنت الموسيقى بالنسبة لي يعني شريط كاسيت . لما كان الكمبيوتر يعني جيمز و بس.. الأغنية الي كنت بحبها فعلا بقى من الايام دي و اكتشفت ان مكنتش فاهم نص كلامها لما كنت صغير والمصيبة كمان اني اكتشفت من اسبوعين بس الي بيغنيها ست مش رجل (كنت مخدوع كل السنين دي ) اسمها

"Missing" او "And I miss you"

بتاعت باند اسمه

"Sade" ممكن تسمعها هنا http://www.imeem.com/linweee/music/a64ND-ek/sade-and-i-miss-you-like-the-deserts-miss-the-rain/

CodeCamp'09 Venue Confirmed!!

CodeCamp'09 venue will be BUE (The British University in Egypt) Campus, Cairo-Suez Desert Road, El-Sherouk City. There will be buses departing from several locations to CodeCamp. These locations will be announced soon, isA. Looking forward to seeing you there!!

Quote of the Moment

"I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one." --Nelson Mandela

CodeCamp'09 Agenda published!!

For those who aren't subscribed to the event updates, the agenda is published on the event page cc.dotnetwork.org (if it's not working you might use this url directly codecamp09.eventbrite.com) please remember to register on the page, the seats might become limted :).. The page has a RSS feed for the event updates, too. For now, the venue is BUE, but it's not yet confirmed.. I'll keep you updated with more news to come, isA..

Quote of the Moment

لو كان شخصية في قصة لاتهمنا المؤلف بالفشل، لكن ‎الواقع لا يتصرف بطريقة القصص، و هناك ‎ألغاز كثيرة بحق.. هناك شاعر هام حبا بمطربة رقيقة، ثم كرهها كالجحيم عندما رآها في شم النسيم تأكل الفسيخ! هل هذا دافع كاف مبرر؟.. في عالم الأدب: لا.. لكن في الواقع نقبل كل شيء لأنه واقع..

لي صديق رسام يهوى أن يلتقط صورا رقمية للناس و يفحصها بعناية كان يريني واضعا ‎غريبا لفتاه جالسة، أو رجل وقف و قد ثنى ركبته، فيقول لي: "فقط الحياة تجرؤ على أن تضع الأجسام في أوضاع ‎غريبة كهذه بينما لو رسمها رسام لاتهموه بقلة الموهبة و عدم فهم التشريح.."

-- احمد خالد توفيق، سيد الجينات

dotNetWork.org CodeCamp'09

This time, dotNetwork is preparing for a "bigger-than-the-usual-gatherings" event. This is supposed to be dotNetwork's first major Event, with around 18 sessions, 3 tracks, split over 2 days, which are intended to be on February 19th, 20th, isA.

The agenda has a wide range of topics covering Azure, Velocity, Scrum, BizTalk, SharePoint, C# 4, VS2010, SilverLight, & many other topics.. Speakers list include Stephen Forte, Remi Caron, Marianne Van Wanrooij, Mohamed Meligy, Mohamed Samy, Yasser Makram, Mohammad Yousry, Hossam Kamel.

I'll be updating you with more soon, but for now check the event page here:

http://codecamp09.eventbrite.com/

& subscribe to its feeds for updates, also check the the Facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=63066020983

This is not yet a formal announcement, so I'll be updating you with any news here, too.. so keep tuned..

A Question for Google (mail)

I like a lot how some Google applications are making use of Gears. A couple of their applications like: Google's Docs family (Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, PDFs), & Google's reader, I'm not sure if there're other services that are using Gears, but I use those 2 heavily.

The question is: why hasn't Google used Gears with GMail yet? Imagine how it would look like.. Specially, that it goes with Google's effort to make GMail widely accessibility. Check -for eg- GMail for mobile phones (use it.. it's hilarious) which support caching & other stuff that might be provided by Gears on PCs.

UPDATE: (3 hours after publishing this post, the first time)
I've just realized that Google made my wishes comes true a couple of days ago through a new "labs" feature :D.. Though I've been dreaming of this since I knew about Gears :D.. Read more about offline GMail here. I'm laughing & rolling on the floor right now!! looooooool!!

Now, I'm waiting for Google Calendar, to use Gears..:D

Quote of the Moment

"[Newton] said, 'If I have seen further than others, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants.' These days we stand on each other's feet!" — Richard Hamming

dotNetWork.org Jan'09 gathering

Date:

Saturday, January 24th 2009,
12:00 - 16:30

Attendance is FREE =)

Speakers

Mohmaed Meshref

SDT | SQL Server Team

Microsoft 

Agenda

Inside SQL Server Engine!
Agenda:
12:00 - 14:00
SQL Server Architecture
◦ Protocols
◦ Relational Engine
◦ Storage Engine
◦ SQL OS
◦ Memory

14:30-16:30
Query Processing
◦ Iterators
◦ Rows Access Methods
◦ Joins
◦ Aggregation

Location:

Canadian International College, @ "El-Tagamo3 El-5ames"

Buses will be available at: Nady El-Sekka (11:00 AM - 11:30 AM)
Please be there before 11:30 coz we will leave on time..

For those who wanna keep tuned with further news about this event & other upcoming events of the dotnetwork.org user group, please check the following links:

Yahoo!Group:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/dotnetworkorg/

Facebook Event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=60432032253
You'd better join the above event if you have a facebook account so we can roughly estimate the attendees count..

Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/netWorkorg/13135685545

Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2409268236

Analogies

Last week, I read this ridicules article from Haaretz, the Israeli news paper, about three alleged analogies for Ghaza's Crises; Strip Maul.. Just a minute ago I've read these analogies in reply to them which I find much more real!!

Quote of the Moment

"If you're in your apartment and some emotionally disturbed person is banging on your door, screaming, 'I'm going to come through this door and kill you!' do you want us to respond with one police officer, which is proportional, or with all the resources at our command?" --New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

"I guess it depends if I forced that guy to live in my hallway… and make him go through checkpoints every time he has to take a sh*t!" Popular Comedian, Jon Stewart.

Quote of the Moment

"They say that Israel cannot be expected to negotiate under rocket-fire, but they demand the Palestinians do so under siege in Gaza and violent military occupation in the West-Bank" --Johann Hari, Columnist, London Independent http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-true-story-behind-thi_b_153825.html

Quote of the Moment

اللي إيده علي الكيبورد ، مش زي اللي إيده في النار..- محمد تيسير