When a service goes down ... :(

I was checking one of the online services that we provide to users (lesh????)

and I found out that its not available.

Request timed out.

Request timed out.

Request timed out.

Request timed out.

network issue? madri :(

aro7 asawelah restart wla asawy ro7y madri @@

What do you do in such a case? its not a critical service but at the same time users do use it ...

e 9a7 ... Happy Eid :)

Update: Windows sucks! When will our system admin realize this fact? :(

Google ... Happy Birthday :)

Google is also searching for projects that will help the world as you may already have seen, deadline is October 20th, any one with ideas? :p

http://www.project10tothe100.com/?hl=en

Can you smell it? ... Coming Soon ... Your Morning Coffee :)

Watch Out @@

The reason for me to post this is because of some employees checking some X material at work. I'm not judging anyone! but please keep it at home because some one is watching you!! @@

In my case I can list some products of what I've seen:

1- WebSense: This product allows us to control the internet bandwidth thru setting various policies. I know for a fact that we bought this product in order to block the monster "YouYube" from eating our bandwidth but on the other hand this product gives you a complete statistics on what your employees are doing. What pages they are accessing, how much traffic they do generate and much more. (this how they checked employee X viewing X websites).

2- Last month, the system admin showed me a product where he can view any user's desktop! We tested it on a "geek" we have in office and he didnt feel anything!!! he was even chatting with his gf!!

I know its not ethical to check on users (privacy) and I really don't see any relation between productivity and prohibiting users from accessing what they want! kaifna!! I like to play games sometimes (helps my brain!) but it happens! they do check on us (even thu i dont care!).

Update: The whole point of this is to say that employees should be aware of such tools ...

Sun Certified Java Programmer 310-065

if you are seriously thinking about passing the "Sun Certified Java Programmer 310-065", then this book is the perfect book for you. I would never ever pass the exam without reading this book!!

*love Kathy Sierra, big fan*

The server room

I have always hated going to server room. its cold, dark, isolated and dusty ... but today I loved going to server room!! I don't know if Ramadan is the reason, but its really a good place to hide! It's isolated, cold and dark, the perfect place to hide :D

Pro Oracle Application Express

My book has arrived today (First Book on APEX). I'm too excited since I'm a big fan of APEX and there are no books on the subject yet ...

I believe that APEX will take over Forms one day (I HATE forms).

Open Office!

I needed to open a doc file today and I discovered that I don't have Microsoft word installed.

1- Why won't all applications be online .... mo arya7? i hate installing software, I think that all software should be "convereted" to web applications o '7alas. the hard-disk will then be used only for storage!

2- I decided to download OpenOffice. If you're stuck like me download it, It seems to be a good. it comes with six different flavors.

• Writer: (Microsoft Word, word processor)
• Base: (Access, databases)
• Calc: (Excel, spreadsheets)
• Impress (Power Point, presentations)
• Math (writing mathematical equations)
• Draw (sketching diagrams)

For more info: http://www.openoffice.org/

Online Payment

why is it so scary to do the online payment thing :s

its simple ... lets state some facts:

* I'm not going to store any credit card info.

* I'm only sending the amount, order id to the payment gateway.

* The result will be either accepted or not accepted.

* Before updating the DB, I should check if its a double post (sometimes the payment gateway sends back the result more than once).

* DB connection entries are encrypted in the config file (ASP.NET).

What else ... ? isn't simple? is it scary because its simple or maybe because it involves money?

Have you ever developed something like that? I have already done everything but I keep reviewing the things I have done serveral times in my head ..

a game

i feel that i'm mentally retarted when i play this game :s

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/braingames/boxes/boxes.htm

Phone numbers

I was asked to create a script to update all phone numbers in the DB to reflect the new changes but guess what?????????????
the phone number field accepts only 7 digits!! wow
and the area code is used for the international codes ... interesting
and thats it, no other fields. (yes one more for the extention)
I wonder how are other institutions in the world dealing with this? is 7 enough???

..........

bored

i'm so bored with my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

offffffff

Google Browsing History .. Awsome

Have you seen this lately .. its really good specially when you want to search for something and you don't want to re-visit links you're already seen.

An IT HelpDesk - true story

Things you must know when you're in IT

if you work in IT then you have to know everything about

1- Networking.
2- Databases.
3- Programming (system, web, .. etc).
4- Hardware (know how to fix all hardware issues).
5- Know all applications in the world.
6- You have to be an expert in Ms Office specifically.
7- Mobiles, basically any tech device.
8- the list goes on ..

basically you can't say I don't know, you have to have an answer for every question asked by the user ... if you said I don't know, you're not qualified ...

Nemo

free software movement?

I asked my colleague today, are you with or against the "free software movement"? he said I'm with it! and I asked why? he didn't answer.

I was thinking why is all the world taking us for granted? why should all software in the world be free? why are we pushing too hard toward the "free software" thingy?

I never thought of this topic but today it came to my mind and I thought why wouldn't doctors for example save patients' lives for free, I know that there are free clinics but why not all hospitals in the world treat people for free? just like what we are pushing for (free software for all?).

I would like to get rewarded for what I'm doing, If it was for free I would be looking into something else to do. I'm with the open source movement but against the free software movement. "open source" pushes us to develop something more efficient, useful, ... etc but free software makes me think of switching to another job!

---

note: "open source" is different from "free software", as an example, when a doctor explains how he treated a patient its called "open source" and when a doctor treats the patient for free its called "free software".

---

What do you think of the "free software movement"? If you're with it to explain to me why? maybe I would change my mind!

sleepy at work

I'm sleepy at work :(

User Requirements

When I first started working as a developer, Users used to drive me crazy with their changing requirements. They say we want this thing to be done that way .. I go to the office spend a week doing the task and then the users come and say yes its good but I was thinking that this is not what I wanted exactly, why not doing it the other way around ?

I used to get frustrated although never showed up my feelings. I saw my co-workers getting frustrated when users changed requirements frequently .. and I did like them ..

Last month, I was thinking while I was on vacation that all great Software/Websites/.. etc didn't just became great ... there was one day a basic version 1, then updated to version 2 ...until it became what it is today. (developement)

So I just realized maybe IT IS OK for users to change their requirements, maybe i need to put myself in their shoes ... I think If I was the user I would change the requirements frequently and way more than my users are changing their requirements.

I feel so good now that I'm ok and I can understand that great things can't just come up right from the first try out ... I became flexible ... (Do I sound desparate?)

What do you think ... ?

Trader Vic's

Worst food ever ;(

re7na mcdonalds el b7r because we couldnt even eat the food we ordered :S:S:S

Google Analytics .. Simply Amazing

would you like to know where from are your readers? or

would you like to know which topic is the most visited? or

would you like to know what is the most used OS/browser by your readers?

and lots of more statistics free from Google analytics

its wonderful ... if you're already using it then you know that, if not give it a try ...

its simple just create an account http://www.google.com/analytics/ww.google.com/analytics/

add the tracking code as a gadget to your blog (choose javascript content) and then wait for 24 hours to check the statistics for the previous day ...

* love google *

More brain games

this site is really fun if you have nothing to do!

http://www.onlinegamingzone.com/braingames.html

&

http://www.novelgames.com/flashgames/

bo qotada

7alqat elyom mn bo qotada o bo nabeel 3ajeeba lol

highly recommended :D

level game ...

I saw this game in one of the blogs last week. I gave it to my friends and they all became addicted to it!

http://www.levelgame.net/

I will start playing now! I was busy with the coolest game ever on facebook "who has the biggest brain" by playfish!

Designers

"A designer Knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." -- Saint-Exupéry

A joke

A programmer is walking along a beach and finds a lamp. He rubs the lamp, and a genie appears. "I am the most powerful genie in the world. I can grant you any wish, but only one wish."

The programmer pulls out a map, points to it and says, "I'd want peace in the Middle East."
The genie responds, "Gee, I don't know. Those people have been fighting for millenia. I can do just about anything, but this is likely beyond my limits."

The programmer then says, "Well, I am a programmer, and my programs have lots of users. Please make all my users satisfied with my software and let them ask for sensible changes."

At which point the genie responds, "Um, let me see that map again."

This is how you pass parameters thru apex

f?p=108:1::NO:::PARAM:VALUE

yup count the dots ...