My life in pictures

Adam and Jubina's Wedding

2010-03-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was filled with lots of driving and eating out. I have realized that Simi Valley is actually far from just about everything. And driving to Orange County is a matter that requires quite a bit of planning. There are lots of variables to factor into the equation. Here is a formula that I have come up with. Probably doesn't make much sense, but let's try it out. We will do some separate calculations and then combine them.

COG is Cost of Gas= (miles round trip) / (MPG) * (Price of Gas)

Traffic Factor = This is freeway dependent. 91 = 6 points, 101 = 6 points, 5 = 5 points, 405 = 4 points, 210 = 3 points. If you use the carpool, you reduce the points of the corresponding freeway by half. So for me to get to the OC on Sunday, I took the 405 all the way down and used the carpool lane so my traffic factor is 4 * 1/2 = 2. This is based on which freeway you spend the majority of your time on. Based on my opinion, the more annoying the freeway, the higher the points it gets.

Music Quality= Dependent upon what you have available to you. If you have your own CD/iPod = 1 point, XM Radio = 2 points, FM Radio = 3 Points, AM Radio = 4 points, No Radio = 5 points, and Indian Music = 9 points. Once again, the lower the better. I know I will hear complaints for giving an unfair amount of points for Indian Music, but have you heard this stuff. It deserves to get punished.

So my formula incorporating all these factors is as follows:

Worth Making Trip (WMK)= COG * Traffic Factor * Music Quality

The lower the WMK, the better.

So for my trip this past weekend this is how it worked out.

COG= 140 miles/23 MPG * $3.20 per gallon (premium) = 19.47

Traffic = 405 freeway with carpool = 2

Music Quality = Majority Indian Music = 9 :-(

So my WMK = 19.47 * 2 * 9 = 350.46

It is up to you to determine what kind of cut off you have for your WMK. For some people, if your WMK is over 400, you may decide to abandon the trip. This is your decision to make. I can't do everything for you.

Now there are definitely other factors that come into play. And there will always be situations where no matter how high your WMK, you will make the trip because you really really want to. And this past weekend was one of those cases. We could have had a WMK of 1000, we were still going to attend our friend, Adam's, wedding. It was a beautiful affair and we had lots of fun. It was also great to see people that we don't get to see very often because of the distance. Below are some picture from the wedding.

Beautiful Cake...

Our most favorite baby in the whole wide world, Jumana. Can't get enough of her smile.

And the lovely couple. Don't they look amazing.

First dance

Living with Mononucleosis

2010-03-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

My life over the past week has officially sucked. Starting last Monday, my throat started hurting. Figured I was coming down with a cold. Then I wake up Tuesday morning and the pain is so intense that I am near tears. So I call in sick to work and call my doctor who thinks its Strep Throat. Get the antibiotics and start it right away. Get thru Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I will remember these days as "The days that I felt that I didn't really need a throat... Let's cut it out". The pain that I felt for those three days was something that I have never felt before. Every time I would swallow, I felt like I had just swallowed a fireball. Then there was the fever which would go away with some Motrin and then come back with a vengeance once the pills wore off. Needless to say, that sleep didn't really come by very often either with the pain and the fever.

So come Thrusday evening, the antibiotics haven't performed their duty (for which I believe that I should get my money back, but that will be another endeavor). So I got to the doctor on Friday morning, and she draws some blood to run a couple of tests. Guess what comes back...

I HAVE FREAKING MONO!!!! MONO!!!!

This is the disease that everyone made fun of in school if you got it because it is most commonly passed through saliva, which means kissing was the easiest way to transfer it. I don't even have any cool stories to go along with having Mono, like I made out with a bunch of different girls and that is how I got it. Plus, adults are supposed to be immune to it, so I feel super duper great about having a disease which I am supposed to be too old to get.

So now that they know what I have, all I can do is let the infection run its course since Mono is a virus and antibiotics don't work. All she gave me were some steroids to help reduce the inflammation in my throat. Now I know what Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire feel like. I am all juiced up. I can already see the muscles starting to bulge and my head is getting bigger. I just hope this doesn't effect my candidacy for the baseball hall of fame.

Today's picture is that of my daily medicinal regimen for the time being. The 2 big purple pills are Acai Antioxidants to help boost my immune system, 1 whitish pill is a daily vitamin, 3 circular pills are steroids, 1 small purple pill is to help with nausea, and 12 Motrin to help with the pain and the fever. And on top of that, I have always had a horribly hard time swallowing pills, so that makes this so much more fun....

Trip to San Francisco

2010-03-06T22:16:00.000-08:00

For Qurrat's birthday, I surprised her with a trip to San Francisco. She had been mentioning a trip back to the city for a while, so I finally took some time off and planned a trip to this wonderful city. I have decided that if I could live in another city besides LA, it would have to be SF. I mean just look at it. You get bridges. BRIDGES!!! Which are awesome and breathtaking by themselves. Plus you get amazing food, good weather, and lots of culture.

So when Qurrat came back from school on Thursday night, I had a suitcase, her present (Coach Bag), and a folder with the itinerary for the weekend.

So we headed up on Friday morning, driving up the 5 and making a pitstop in Sunnyvale to see some friends at Yahoo and then off to lunch for the best pizza in the world. The first time I had Seniore's was when I was living in the Bay Area. I immediately fell in love with their pizza. Plus, it definitely helps that they only use beef and turkey... NO PORK!!! That means that I get to have pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and all the other good stuff that I am not normally allowed to have.

From the South Bay, we headed into San Francisco and checked into the Intercontinental Hotel next to the Moscone Center. It's a beautiful new hotel. We walked around the city for a bit which allowed me to take even more pictures.

On Saturday, we walked around Pier 39 and then went for Korean BBQ with friends to celebrate Qurrat's birthday. My friends are amazing and even had a cake to celebrate Qurrat's and Henry's birthday and to congratulate Aron on getting into grad school.

On Sunday we took a trip out to Alcatraz. It had been years and years since I had been there.

And then, we saw some bridges throughout our trip. I love me some bridges.

Before we left, we went to Ghiradelli and had a Hot Fudge Sundae and then one last trip to Seniore's before we left for some delectable garlic cheese bread.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-21T22:13:00.000-08:00

I know its a week late, but it has been a busy week so I am finally getting around to doing this post. Since Valentine's Day is a busy holiday for us with the flower shop, I didn't get to do much for Qurrat for Valentine's. I was at the flower shop 6:30 till 9 or 10 for 4 days straight. Compared to previous years, this really isn't that big of a deal since we are used to staying to 1 or 2 in the morning for a few days straight. But with the economy the way it is and with Valentine's falling on a Sunday, it was much slower this year.

So we weren't able to go out because of work. But I was able to sneak away for an hour on Sunday to come home and decorate our room with rose petals on the bed.

And my mom made this really cool box arrangement in which she shaped the roses like a heart and then put little gems in the middle of each rose.

For Qurrat's gift, I got her a ruby and diamond pendant. As soon as I saw it, I knew that she would like it.

Golf Time

2010-02-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get back into playing golf. I have been able to head out and play a few times in the last few weeks, and it has felt really good. I definitely missed it. The feeling that I get when I hit a good shot, which doesn't happen very often, makes all the frustration and work well worth it.

Unfortunately, the local golf shop, Pro Golf Discount, is closing down. The owners have decided to retire and in talking to their son, he says that the way the economy is, he can't afford to keep the shop open. This really sucks since that is the only actual golf shop in Simi and they always provided great service and expertise. But since they are going out of business, they are having a pretty good sale on their remaining product. So I picked up a few things. Here are some pictures of my new toys.

Odyssey Black Series Putter

Taylor Made R9 Driver and 5 Wood.

Now I just need the weather to get better so I can start playing more often. Please let it stop raining....

Abid's Birthday

2010-02-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, we got together to celebrate Abid's birthday. His actual birthday was a few weeks ago, but this was when everyone could get together for the party. Sanaa and Sameer decided to make it a surprise and boy did it work. Abid thought that people were just getting together to play some poker so he showed up in his high school sweatshirt and jeans. And he was definitely surprised as you can see below.

Overall, it was a great time hanging out with friends, playing video games, and catching up with people that we don't get to see very often. Here are some more pictures from the party.

Some yummy covered pretzels that Mehnaz made.

Got to hang out with my little buddy, Hamza. Man I missed this kid so much. Glad I get to hang out with him again this weekend.

We played a lot of NBA 2K10 that night. First round was Yusuf and Me vs. Huzaifa and Yousuf. And you know who prevailed. YOURS TRULY!!!!

And here is Abid's cake which then got spread all over Abid's face.

We wanted to spread cake over Mujtaba's face, but he was scared so he climbed up on the neighbors wall. But eventually we got him...

What an amazing dinner.

2010-01-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

Qurrat made dinner tonight, and it was to superb. I could not have asked for a better meal. And she ventured out of her comfort zone and made something that she has never made before, which makes it that much more impressive. She found this recipe for Peppercorn Chicken and Lemon Spinach. So she made that and put the chicken on a bed of wild rice and had some baby broccoli on the side as well. Man was it good.

I personally think that she should become a challenger on Iron Chef and take on Chef Morimoto (who blows my mind with his creativity. If you saw the Eggnog battle where they had ice sculptures, you know what I am talking about. He made a meat smoker out of a block of ice. CRAZINESS!!!). I mean Qurrat should be able to put up a pretty good fight. In fact, based on tonight's dinner, I would vote for her. And I am not just saying that because she is sitting next to me holding a knife to my throat... don't worry, she's not.... it's a spoon instead.

So here are a couple of pictures of tonights dinner.

I have been slacking

2010-01-25T22:51:00.000-08:00

So I know that I just started this blog, but I have been extremely lazy lately. I think it has something to do with the weather. I just couldn't get myself to sit down and figure out something to write about. But Qurrat is on the phone talking to her sister right now, so I have time to write before it is my bed time. Over the weekend, we went to Yusuf and Fareeda's place to hang out with them and their amazing daughter, Jumana. I absolutely love taking pictures of her so here are a few pictures of her.

We then went to a dinner with a bunch of friends along with some people that were new to us. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone. Here are Yousuf's mammoth ribs which he polished off.

And here is the bill. Yes, that total is over $400. And that is only for 2/3 of the party. Fun times getting that billed settled. Qurrat timed us and it took 3 of us 20 minutes to get the bill done. But it was done perfectly so, yes, WE ROCK!!!

Projects with the wifey

2010-01-20T23:49:00.000-08:00

It is still raining in Southern California. I am really starting to get sick of it. Another day of rain meant another day of no work. Normally, I wouldn't mind a day off here and there, but I am starting to get antsy with sitting around all day. The only really good thing is that I get to spend time with my gorgeous wife. So this afternoon, she and I decided to finish a project we started a couple days ago. We installed some new cabinets in the garage. We have a workbench with tool holders in the garage, but my Mom has taken that over with all of her stuff. So the only way to reclaim the space that is rightfully mine was to put up cabinets that will hold my Mom's junk. Below is a picture of the cabinets that we put up.

And since Qurrat did such an amazing job helping me put the cabinets up, I decided to head down to the best flower shop in the world, Conroys Flowers (Your local florist with a global reach. Remember, Valentine's is coming up. Order early to guarantee delivery). I made up a little bouquet for Qurrat to show my thanks and below is the pic.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

2010-01-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

It rained today. It rained a lot. I mean it rained A LOT. It rained. Then it stopped raining. Then it rained again. And when it rained again, I was outside. Therefore I got wet. And then it started hailing, so I got hurt. But then, it all stopped. And out came this amazing rainbow. So this is a picture of that rainbow. Enjoy!

It's Birthday Time!!!

2010-01-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Moiz's birthday party and it was awesome. All of the guys (14 of us) met up at this place called Flightdeck in Anaheim. Basically, you are in a full on flight simulator with 6 other people and you have a dogfight against them. Since there were 14, we went in 2 groups. It was amazing. We got to do takeoffs, then free fly for 10 minutes to get the hang of it, and then dog fight for a good 20-30 minutes. Towards the end, they let us do 4 landings, one daytime, one nighttime, and 2 on an aircraft carrier.

Yours truly received the Top Gun award for the best pilot for the afternoon. Got 18 kills and stuck all 4 landings. I was channeling my inner Maverick (Top Gun reference...). Thank you Xbox 360 flying games. Without those games, it would not have been possible.

After, we all met up with the females of the group at Chili's for dinner. My friends, Yusuf and Fareeda, brought their little girl, Jumana. She is so freaking adorable. I spent the rest of the evening just taking pictures of her. She is very photogenic, so it made my job easy. Here are a few pictures from last night.

Moiz the Birthday Boy getting into his cockpit. Yes, we got to wear flight suits!

Jumana giving her Dad a look that says exactly what she is thinking.

And here she is showing off her beautiful smile and new tooth.

Thank you very much for Skype

2010-01-16T22:43:00.001-08:00

So thanks to Skype, my lovely wife is able to video chat with her family in Pakistan. It still amazes me that we can see them in real time from half way around the world. Insanely freaking cool. Tonight, Qurrat's sister wanted to talk to her, so today's picture is my little sister-in-law on the computer screen during our video chat.

Also, last night was my good friend Emily's birthday. We went out to a Mexican restaurant in Hollywood called El Compadre. We had a good time hanging out with Darren and Emily. And I got to talk to my new photography idol, Darren's sister, Michelle. She takes some of the coolest pictures ever and I want to be just like her when I grow up. Check out her blog to see some of her photos. Below is a picture of Emily and Michelle from last night. That's right, you guys get 2 pictures today. So lucky you are...

SS Motorsports PhotoShoot

2010-01-16T00:28:00.000-08:00

SS Motorsports is one of our customers at Simi Valley Car Wash and they often bring their cars in to get washed. So while speaking to the owner of the company, he let me take some pictures of 2 of their cars. The one below is a Chrysler 300 that has some pretty sweet rims and air bags to lower and raise the car. It was awesome going up and down and up and down and up and down....

Day 1....

2010-01-14T15:28:00.001-08:00

So I have decided to create a blog. Not sure why. I guess everyone else is doing it, so why not jump on the bandwagon. I also wanted to do a little project where I post a new picture every day. Atleast, that is the goal. There may be days where I post a few pictures to make up for previous missed days. But hopefully after 1 year, I will have 365 pictures posted on this blog.

I have seen other people do 365 projects on Flickr and other blogs. They always seem cool, but a lot of them end up stalling after a while. My goal is to keep this going for the next year. If it doesn't, I give you permission to make fun of me (although I would prefer it if you didn't). So here we go!!!

This first picture is of a new baby boy that was born to my good friends, Qasim and Arwa. In our culture, the baby is named 6 days after he/she is born. This is from the naming ceremony.

Welcome to the world Tayyeb!!!