From Istanbul with Love.. August 3, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Uncategorized.add a comment
Hello all. I know this blog is a diversion from the “I met Bill Gates” series, but unfortunately I am having little time writing what happened (and happens) to me. Anyways, time has passed and we are now on our way to represent Egypt in the Imagine Cup World Finals in Korea. We have done a transit stop in Istanbul, Turkey (which by no means has made the trip take less time because Istanbul is in the wrong direction 
The flight to Seoul leaves in a little more than an hour and its going to be a grueling 14 hours (I think) trip. Id3olna ALLAH yekremkom we realy need it I hope I can update you on our progress in Korea soon…..
The Seattle Ferry July 8, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Imagine Cup, Redmond Trip, USA.add a comment
After the shopping spree at the Outlet we returned to Seattle. I had discovered that all my shopping amounted to a humongous amount of T-Shirts. The fact that the prices of T-Shirts was just great makes you buy them at almost every shop. Almost all T-Shirts of any brand (GAP, Nike, Adidas and Quicksilver) can be as cheap as $10. Anyways, we started the next day (Friday) with shopping intent too, we had failed to buy good jeans and I had personally been disappointed about missing the purchase of the Puma shoes. Anyways, we finished shopping again and went back to the hotel. We decided that the next place we wanted to see was the Seattle harbour. It was a great choice, to put it in simple terms Seattle is on some kind of Gulf in the Pacific Ocean, which means that the harbour is enclosed by hills containing an enormous amount of green trees. Also, this means that there are nearby islands which you can visit by ferry. We took some pictures of the harbour and then went on to take the ferry ride. It was simply great!! As you move away from Seattle you see the city, with all it’s skyscrapers and the Space needle, and this is such a wonderful sight. Also, more beautifully, you see Islands with trees on them. The combination of green colour of the trees and the blue colour of the see is just amazing. We kept on taking pictures of ourselves until we reached a place called Bainbridge Island. At the Island we disembarked. Many cars were on the ferry so they got off too. The island was quiet and serene. Again, it was one of those small towns where you don’t see many folks walking down the street. All was quiet and we kept walking the town a bit, I noticed that the standard of living on the Island is probably higher than Seattle; many of the cars here were expensive. We picked some things up from the local supermarket and made our way back to the Ferry Station so that we can catch the trip back before nightfall. We actually arrived at Seattle a bit into the night, but thankfully the hotel’s shuttle was on hand to pick us up from the hotel. Thus, our last feat in North America had ended. We had to take the airplane the next day (Saturday) so all we could afford to do was to wake up in the morning, walk a bit in downtown Seattle and then take a ride to the airport for the long trip home. Here’s a nice picture from the ferry.
Charles De Gaulle July 8, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Imagine Cup, Redmond Trip.add a comment
The Paris Airport has become our home for the last 6 hours. We arrived for Seattle at 11:40 Paris time, the trip from Seattle was wrecking, I managed to sleep a little less than 3 hours (Not too long for a 9 hour trip). Tarek had proposed we eat at Burger King before boarding in Seattle. He said ” How could you come to USA without eating Burger King”. I ate a Chicken Sandwich combo which was not bad, but the consequences were that I had a stomach pain and couldn’t eat anything on the plane. Sometimes, there are coincidences that are just unimaginable, they seem as if they are planned and cannot just have happened. One such situation happened here at Charles De Gaulle; as soon as I entered the terminal I spotted our old friend Hani AbdelKawi, who I haven’t seen since the 545 project fiasco. Hany was here in Paris for two days following a business trip to Italy and was preparing to take the next trip to Cairo. What a coincidence can this be, out of the thousands at the airport I meet one of my closest friends at university without planning! So he was in Italy, we were in Seattle and we both somehow managed to meet in Paris! Hany stayed with us for a while before boarding his flight and we had to bear the blunt of the 6 hour wait in the terminal. Boredom is the worst thing ever and the only thing you can do is coerce yourself to sleep on the chair, it is an awful sleep believe me. Anyways, now we are waiting to board the plane in the next half hour and hopefully we will be in Cairo at 12:20 AM. I really miss home….:) Here’s a picture of me and Hany in the Terminal
I met Bill Gates July 8, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Bill Gates, Imagine Cup, Redmond Trip, USA.add a comment
Hello Guys,
As you might (or might not) know, an amazing thing happened to me. Our Imagine Cup Team (which will represent Egypt inshaa ALLAH in the finals next August in Seoul,Korea) has been invited along with 9 other teams to go to Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Washington to give a demo of their project in front of Bill Gates, Craig Mundie and other Microsoft executives. We visited the United States between 25-30 June and the visit was beautiful. I will write a series of blogs detailing my visit.
An important thing to note is that I am writing the events in reverse chronological order (i.e. The latest events first) so the events will go from the 30th back to the 25th………
The End of the Road June 10, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Uncategorized.2 comments
Ah…It’s over. I have finished this university semester, which has been arguably the hardest in my whole life. Actually, the end of this semester is a milestone, I have completed all university courses needed for my Masters degree and only the completion of the thesis is necessary to earn the degree. The one and a half years that have passed since I completed my undergraduate studies and started the Masters were very difficult, they had their highs (such as getting married and winning the Imagine Cup) and their lows (Some very difficult days grading assignments at university and studying for university exams). Actually I think the last one and a half years were the most eventful I’ve ever lived, the transformation for a student to a working-man is overwhelming because of the added responsibilities it can bring. Anyways, what I can look forward to now is my participation in the Imagine Cup World Finals in Korea in August, there is still a huge amount of work to do but Inshaa ALLAH everything will turn out just fine.
Trying to Post a Blog from Word 2007 May 16, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Uncategorized.add a comment
I was just trying this feature of blogging from inside Word and publishing automatically to WordPress. We will see if it really works J
South Korea…Here we Come May 2, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Uncategorized.add a comment
On one of the lovelist nights of my life, our Imagine Cup Team “Team Trouble Ticket” has qualified to the worldwide Imagine Cup finals in Seoul,South Korea as Egypt’s representative for the Software Design Inviational. In a hardfought battle, our team emerged victouries after beating 13 other teams (from other Egyptian Universities). It was an unbelievable twist as it was only days ago that we were contemplating forfieting competition because we were too afraid that we might lose and be an embarresment. But we were just beautiful, all team members were up to the task and did extremely well. We had originally thought that only 8 teams were going to compete but it turned out there were 14. All teams do a first round presentation infront of a panel of 3 judges, then 3 teams are chosen to continue and conduct a final presentation infront of 6 judges and all the available audience. We did our first round presentation and our idea (Education for those with special needs) seemed to appeal to everyone, we were chosen for the final 3 teams and again we did a presentation which apparently convinced everyone that we should represent Egypt. It was a moment of immense joy when we were announced winners by a slight margin above another team from Cairo University This is an achievement I am really proud of and I hope we can do something in Korea to show the world what Egypt is all about….
Qualified for Imagine Cup Local Software Design Final April 15, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Imagine Cup.1 comment so far
Great News….I have qualified for the local final of the “Software Design” invitational in this year’s version of ImagineCup . My team “Team Trouble Ticket” which represents The American University in Cairo (AUC), has been chosen among 7 0ther teams to compete for the team that will represent Egypt this August in the global finals held in Seoul, South Korea. Each team will conduct a presentation tommorow infront of a selected audience from Microsoft and other key industry partners. The best 3 teams will continue and will again conduct presentations in order to select the winning team that will represent Egypt. I am really excited about this opportunity and I hope all turns well.Id3oooli………..
The Juggler’s Act March 27, 2007
Posted by fathalla in My Insights.add a comment
I’ve not been blogging for a while. The fact is it’s a bit of time consuming to login and write a post about something. Anyways, before I started my Master’s program at the American University in Cairo (AUC), I met a doctor who was supposed to advise me on what courses to take in my first semester. When asked about the Masters program, the doctor told me that graduate level education is different from the undergraduate level in that an undergrad takes many courses so he is kind of a “juggler”. A graduate student on the other hand, is some kind of a scholar and as he takes less number of courses he must be more focused and the expectations from him are higher. Turns out that the doctor’s words were completly wrong; indeed an undergrad is a juggler, but he merly juggles with two balls. A graduate student on the other hand is a juggler who juggles with four balls. I myself am now a proffesional circus juggler by all means; I have to juggle between work, Masters courses and trying to get married. I am under continuos pressure all the time and I rarely have time to breath between the things I do everyday. A unproved theorem in my mind is the fact that as we grow up the balls we juggle with increase and so does our ability to juggle . Anyways, these are just my insights about the period of life I am passing through at the moment.
Embarrassment and the true Egyptian Personality March 5, 2007
Posted by fathalla in Personal.add a comment
Minutes ago I lived through a very strange situation. Today is a different day; I couldn’t sleep well and so decided to be the early bird and go to work at approximately 8 am. On my way to work I noticed that only about 1/4 of the fuel in my car’s tank is left. I decided not to be lazy and do the right thing (not leave the tank until it’s empty). So I entered the nearest gas station and filled my fuel tank. Then, when the time came to pay the money for the pumped gas I discovered I had forgotten my wallet. I tried to search the small drawer in the car where you keep change but found nothing except a small piece of paper and a very small foreign (later discovered it was Turkish) coin. Now, I was really in an embarrassing situation. My embarrassment increased when I deduced the fact that there is no one I know who can help that is awake. I was close to the company, so I tried calling Mohamed Samy (My Team Leader), who apparently I awoke from a good round of sleep and thus was unable to help. I called another work colleague Asser, this time I was a bit luckier as Asser was awake , but unfortunately still at home. I offered the guy in the station to come with me to work and I would give him the money and return him back to the station, but he refused. He offered that I would pawn him my mobile phone until I pay, but I didn’t like that either. At last, some people riding a bus noticed me (while I was bobbling through the car trying to find any money here or there) and offered to pay the money. The were working in a company that was near mine, so I picked up one of them with me and went to my company where I borrowed money from the Security guard and payed the man and escorted him to his company. The situation was resolved, but I pondered about that man and those riding with him on the bus. They were simple people, yet they boasted a very kind heart. They could have left me there, as most of us do when the quick pace of our lives makes us disregard anybody on the street that needs help. I was happy to witness this instance of the true Egyptian Personality; its simplicity , warmheartedness, honesty and desire to help. Sometimes we forget how good a people we are and how we set examples for others in our good nature and kindness of heart…..
