Surprise Bachelor Party!

Salut tout le monde!

Je viens d'émerger d'un sommeil douteux du à l'excitation de la bachelor party que Leila et Chantal (la sœur de Janine) viennent de nous organiser en secret.

Jeudi soir, Janine passe chez moi (bientôt on pourra dire chez nous d'ailleurs!) après son boulot. De mon coté, j'ai quelques courses à faire avant le voyage, alors je laisse Janine se rattraper un peu sur le sommeil qu'elle a manqué.

En fait, Chantal s'était assurée que Janine serait au centre-ville avec une excuse bidon genre "aide moi à choisir mes habits!".

Après, vers 20h30, on s'est fait appeler et Leila nous a fait les rejoindre dans son appart, ou il y avait pas mal de nos bons amis qui nous attendaient. Parmi les invités, Marcel et Mauro s'etaient caches derriere la porte histoire qu'on leur casse le nez en entrant ou tout simplement qu'on les oublie :p

Les autres invités: Habib, Marc et Fayçal pour les gars (ainsi que mon frère Nadim), et Sawsan plus les deux conspiratrices/organisatrices, Leila et Chantal.

We quickly split into two groups. Each group went to a gender appropriate club (you know what I mean!) (if you didn't know what I meant, you need to come to Montreal and we will make sure you know) and we then met up at the very in Tribe night club in the old port. At tribe, the party people where waiting for us (Lama, Loubna and Oussama) and they were lighting up the dance floor! Nevertheless, since everybody was working, we decided to pack it up early at 1h30 and meet up for goodbyes in front of my place.

Unfortunately, when we met there, a super secret plan had been hatched and we were carried away to La Banquise, une belle poutinerie vers le plateau Mont-Royal. La poutine, si vous ne le connaissiez pas, est une invention Quebecoise. Il s'agit de frites, avec du fromage en morceaux recouvert de gravy (sauce brune), souvent avec divers ajouts (saucisses, viande hachée, champignons, oignons, etc). A heart attack in a box baby!

Donc, après avoir rinsé nos yeux, puis dansé, puis mangé qq chose de mortel, on a finit par se coucher à 4h du mat, super contents (et redoutant le reveil dans à peine qqs heures).

Merci tellement pour nos organisatrices ainsi que nos joyeux participants! On s'est vraiment éclatés et s'était une soirée d'enfer.

Quant à vous, chers lecteurs, vous nous avez manqué, mais ce n'est que partie remise!

Gros bisous,
Karim

P.S: ceci est certainement mon dernier post jusqu'à mon retour de lune de miel le 4 Aout.

P.P.S: la première transition dans les langues s'est faite à l'insu de mon plein gré. Quand j'ai realisé que j'avais switché à l'anglais sans m'en rendre compte, j'ai fait ce que tout fénéant ferait et prétendu que c'était fait exprès!

Presque terminé avec les préparatifs

Le site web a évolué un peu (commentaires les bienvenus, n'hesitez pas à être francs), les invitations ecrites vont à la poste aujourd'hui, tout le monde est déjà averti par courriel et on part dans deux semaines...

J'ai fait le tour des magasins avec mon frère Nadim pendant la semaine et on a 2/3 choix pour nos costards de mariage. Ca va probablement être tout en noir ou bleu marine, avec chemise blanche et cravate+serviette qui rajoutent un peu de couleur.

Malheureusement, du au timing, à la distance, au cout et tout simplement à la location, pas grand monde de mes amis ne va pouvoir venir. J'ai effectivement invité qqs amis de chaque ecole, uni ou job que j'ai fait et il se pourrait que juste 2 ou 3 puissent venir.

En bref, c'est un mariage familial pour demontrer un attachement avec le Liban et notre famille sur place. Il aurait été plus facile de se marier dans un petit mariage à Montréal ou avec un micro-mariage dans une petite ile des caraibes, mais ces deux options auraient été synonymes avec rupture avec le Liban.

En effet, avec nos deux vies à Janine et moi passées à l'étranger, ce marriage permet de renforcer nos liens avec ce pays toujours turbulent, en esperant qu'un jour, nous pourrons y emmener nos enfants sans hesiter par rapport à la situation politique et economique.

Voila pour aujourd'hui, on part le 12 donc pas d'updates entre le 12 Juillet et le 4 Aout, mais j'espere en mettre au moins une avant notre depart.

Wedding website - ebauche

Salut tout le monde,

Voici l'URL du site pour le marriage, qui est loin d'être terminé mais bon ça risque de changer pas mal aujourd'hui vu que je passe un peu de temps dessus.

Bisous,
Karim

Seriously, google apps!

I'm trying to set-up a website for the wedding, and the easiest thing for me was just to go and use google apps again. For those who don't remember, google apps is a cool set of free tools that allow you to configure email, webpages, calendars and other stuff.

I've used it with my saliba.ca domain, which means you can also join me on karim at saliba dot ca, join Leila at (guess where) leila at saliba dot ca etc...

It's just so easy too. I'm now creating wedding.saliba.ca and I need to build it from the ground up. Might as well say that I'm doing this with a huge rictus. I hate building web pages, the content always eludes me, even when it's for my wedding!!! :)

Any ideas people?

Kisses and love,
Karim

The wedding, it's getting closer, it is!

Hello people,

This hasn't been updated in a long time, and I was surprised to see that I wasn't the only lazy one. The only one who's still updating regularly is Wendy...

Either way, I just wanted to remind you all that you're:
1- invited to the wedding (july 18th in Lebanon)
2- need to send me your address so I can send you a nice printed invite!

That's it!
Love,
Kash

Anyone up for some dessert?

Hey everybody!

You're all invited for some fresh apple strudel that yours truly made himself. It will be served hot with a side of vanilla ice cream.
:)

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with how my first apple tart worked out. Anyways, let's get to more pressing issues like New Year's. I haven't heard from Marcel at all and we need to decide what to do. Janine and I are thinking about going out this year, is that a valid option for you guys? What's your budget like for a nice party?

If we want to reserve anywhere, we're getting to the time where everything nice and affordable will be booked, so we need to move fast on this!

Email me or call me and let me know.
Ciao,
Karim

Busy days and short nights

What can I say, midterm season has been going on, as well as a bunch of dues, since I had the "intelligence" of putting all my dues in mid-semester rather than later. What this means is that crunch time is right now, not in mid to end november.

Anyways, let's talk about interesting stuff: X-mas plans!
What are you guys up to? Last year we had a great time partying at Janine's place, although this year it might be quite different. We might go out for dinner and a party, or do something smaller at my place, or something different altogether.

I certainly hope Bourgui, Natalie, Marcel, Janine and I will be all together, and if some of you guys are jealous or just want in, you know you're always welcome here :)

Oh, I also received a message from Stuart Armstrong and he probably will be in Quebec around that timeframe, so he might be with us too.

That's it for today!
Ciao,
Karim

Dinner and a board game - or how to have a great evening

Yesterday evening, we were invited by Janine's mom to have dinner at their place. As usual, the food was amazing and the company even better. There was fattoush - a lebanese salad, beef shawarma, falafel, home-made pizza, and more. Let's just say that good times were had by all and no one left the table without feeling like they were going to burst.

After a quick respite, desert was served, including some kind of apple pastry that was delicious (wrapped in thin crunchy layers of pastry), a chocolate cake and a coffee cake. Again, everything was home-made by my future mother in law, and everything was delicious. There also was a nice platter of mixed fruits, as well as Turkish coffee to help ease the digestion.

After all that eating, we just had to relax and end the evening on a board game. This time, Settlers of Catan were enjoyed by all, and although we hadn't completed the game yet, it was the team of Janine and yours truly who was ahead when we adjourned.

My collection of board games have expanded to include a few classics, such as Carcassonne and Alhambra and more. We alternate between them, and although they are all enjoyed by everyone, Settlers of Catan remains the most desired game of them all. Since I have introduced everyone to gaming with it and it's the one that has the most interactions between players, it has earned a special place in our heart.

I'll leave the list of games as well as their strengths and weaknesses to another time, so I don't gobble all my content in one humongous post.

That's it for today's update, I have to get back to work now.
Have a happy Canadian Thanksgiving (this Monday)!
Karim

What's new today?

I had a presentation yesterday with a strong team of individuals. As always in group work, especially when working with opinionated people, it makes for interesting times in meetings. The good thing is that we're able to find a good place to be and I've been able to smooth things out when it looks like some people are getting upset.
End result: we got a 90% on our presentation, which feels quite nice :)
The next couple of weeks are very busy, and I really shouldn't be posting here right now :p
At least I type fast hehehe
That's it for today!
Ciao,
Karim

Getting started early on October

Today was fun. I woke up late-ish (around 9AM), took my sweet time, went to a Magic tournament (new big set prerelease tournament actually), arrived 45 minutes late, built a deck in 5 minutes flat (with a friend quickly helping me sort cards), won all 4 rounds and walked out with 10 boosters of prize, a big smile on my face for a great day of fun, and some time to see Janine.

After spending some quality time w/ Janine, I am pleased to say that this was one of the most relaxed and fun days I have spent in quite some time. I missed playing and competiting at Magic and I needed to let go my projects and school stuff for some time. I accomplished all of that quite well and will have a quite busy couple of days catching up :)

Anyways, I just felt in the mood for posting so I thought I might as well do so and give some more news!

Love,
Karim

So what's new in September?

Hello everybody!

Kash here speaking. It's been a while since I actually posted anything with content, so let's go through a quick update of what's going on in Montreal.
1- beautiful weather in August and September! Who would have thought? Certainly not me. I'm sweating my ass off and loving every smelly moment. (ahum) Well, let's just say that winters are long and cold and I'm definitely enjoying the brief respite from the cold.

2- school's in again! Actually, between the end of the summer session and the beginning of orientation and craziness that this fall was, I had very little time for a breather. I didn't even get to see my peeps since Marcel was working hard on his thesis and Bourgui on his black belt. At least they both are doing amazing things and I got to sit around and sleep in for a week-end (Waking up at 10 AM? Woohooo!)

3- I'm doing lots of cases in my classes. As in reading quite a few pages, analyzing them and trying to get a reasonable story and recommendations out of it. It's a very intense process and I think this is what makes the MBA worthwhile. I'm also taking an entrepreneurship class and I think I could be a good one. All I need at this point is a good opportunity on which I am qualified to act (i.e. probably something to do w/ computers) :) If not, I think I can be a strong management type guy that will actually understand the techies and might even share a few common things with them

Yeah, the MBA also teaches you to do lists. How pathetic that I can't find a better way to express myself :)
Nono would probably make all of this sound exciting and mysterious.

Oh, how could I forget? The wedding date has being narrowed down to the 18th of July in the Casino du Liban in Jounieh, Lebanon. We're waiting to see on developments in Lebanon's stability before confirming anything, but if you're reading this blog, there's a good change (100% I'd say) that you'll be gettting an invite around X-mas time, so plan your summers around this if you want to come!

As I already said, I unfortunately won't be able to provide lodging for anyone, but we an arrange for cheap accomodation nearby, especially if many people think they'll show.

All of this is still a little premature at the moment since Lebanon is not very calm and reassuring right now, but I still hope that things will be good by the summer.

That's it for my brief update, see you next month at the latest!
Love,
Karim

ZZZZzzz

... hnnnnnnn?
Whaat?

ZZZzzzzzzzzz

Summer's Zooming By

Hail oh adoring multitude who are suspended to my virtual lips (i.e. keyboard)!

Summer's almost over, at least as far as the MBA is concerned. A couple more weeks and I'll be done w/ the stupid classes and start getting ready for September and the real challenge. Although I must say that summer classes are necessary for me to graduate in May 2008 (if all goes well), the experience has been lesser than regular classes. The fact is the summer is split into to mini-summer sessions with a duration of 6 weeks (+ 1 exam week). This means that instead of going to each class once a week for three hours, you go twice a week.

I have taken two classes this summer. First professor's a part-timer, doesn't know the material enough to make it interesting, and gave us insane amount of work (two classes per week with a rather large due every class makes an interesting summer). He also tests on the content of the book, requiring not only reading of every chapter but also memorization of many small details that are in general irrelevant... Needless to say, that class is my least favorite so far in the program.

The other class though is the total opposite of the first one. The teacher knows his material so well he refers you to the correct pages to look at off the top of his head. He also eliminated all work, keeping only exams for this class (midterm and final). Of course, he strongly suggests doing a bunch of exercises as well as reading the material closely, but there are no formal assignments. Since this class is actually very interesting, I feel like I'm missing out on the additional content (like assignments and more readings) that he would prescribe in a regular semester.

Now that I think about it, I'm complaining about too much work in one class and not enough in the other... Either way, the coming end of the classes also reminds me of how little time is left in the Montreal summer season too, since September hails the coming of autumn in these parts. Janine and I haven't really had the chance to go out much lately, so I'm not looking forward to September...

Let's abrogate this painful story and just say that I miss you all and see you soon (in this blog, on your blogs and IRL one day).
-K

Post for the month of July

I wouldn't want to make the blog name a big lie, and I've been pretty skimpy on news like Wendy never fails to remind me :)

Here are some of the promised pictures I brought with me from Lebanon. First, I think this picture goes back all the way to the 5ieme in 1992, although it could also have been during the 4ieme. Bourgui is already tall and sexy, although not quite as much as his modern handsome self. Professor Dubuis (I think) is on the right, and many other familiar faces, although some have gone over the years. On the personal level, this was the beginning of the ugly years, with way too much hair on my head, not enough gel, ugly glasses and the beginning of facial hair.

The second one is from the other extreme of high school, the Terminal year, with many more familiar faces to all of you who read this blog. Ah the joy of having about 3 girls in class and the rest of them being boys... Although Bourgui was taken care of, Damien and I were busy getting record rejections (I won handily, but that's just due to my unabashed willingness to do silly things, or at least back in 1996 it was.

Anyways, I got a couple more pics like this for a future post. And maybe some more news by the end of August :p
I think that Kash Monthly is about correct these days, with not enough extraordinary things happening to be worth taking note of, and too many things pulling attention in other places, such as facebook.com (if you're not on there, you should be) and LinkedIn (which I have but don't really use yet).

I hope you are all OK, and I miss you all like hell.
Love,
Karim

About the wedding

Hi everyone!
Here's some news about the planned wedding in Lebanon: as some of you have commented, the last couple of trips to Lebanon have been all but peaceful. We are considering whether we want to take the chance and try and get married in Lebanon, or if we can and want to do it in Canada instead. I don't like the Canada option at all, as the family's in Lebanon. We are thus in a waiting mode, until the end of the summer. Hopefully we'll know better then about the situation in Lebanon and whether it is stabilizing or not.

Even if the situation is better in September, we don't have any idea if it will still be calm the next summer.

Stay posted for more information on this topic and others soon.

Love,
Karim

Back safely from Lebanon

Hi everyone,

I just wanted you to know that I am safe and sound in Montreal, and Janine as well. More details to follow soon, as well as some cool pics that I scanned there.

Love,
Karim

Going to Lebanon tomorrow

Hello everyone! I have made my title officially a lie by skipping the month of April in my posts. Oh well, at least I did good in my classes, am now the president of the Concordia Commerce Graduate Student's Association (CGSA), got selected for a very interesting case competition class and am going to Lebanon tomorrow (the 8th of May) for 3 weeks to plan for the wedding in 2008. We're thinking mid-end of July 2008, probably the 19th (to be confirmed). So in Lebanon, we're going to tour churches and hotels and restaurants to plan the whole thing. I was also lucky to see Bourgui a few times recently, although I wish that he and Nat had received more joyous news...
Anyways, now I'm sure May will have at least one post, and hopefully pictures and news of the trip end of May/beginning of June when I return to Montreal. We have taken travel insurance again, and this time we're hoping not to have to use it.
Oh, and today's the first real hot day in Montreal with the temperature flirting with 20C! Lebanon and the 30C weather is going to be quite a shock.

Well, that post was pretty much all that happened to me when you remove the details and keep just the essential of the last month and a half. The sleepless nights and crazy endless days of slaving away on papers, exams and cases are over and I am looking forward to Summer II (end of June) when I can resume the frantic lifestyle of an MBA student.

Have a great Spring y'all!
Love,
Karim

Blah blah Exams Blah Blah Tired

By now you must be used to the eternal I'm busy post, but what can I say, it's true and it's the end of the semester madness that makes it worthwhile to go ahead and say "I succeeded, I did well on my exams/papers, I can enjoy some TV and go shop now"
In other news, I'm applying to be President of the Concordia Commerce Graduate Student Association, with a great team of people. This of course adds more to the load, but we're up to the challenge and we are very motivated to win this thing!
I'll keep you posted, and mid-April should have a few days to catch up on the blogs of my friends to see what you guys are up to.

Ciao,
Karim

En Mars, ne te decouvre pas d'un fil?

So, not much to say except that I'm very busy these days, that I missed Marcel and Bourgui's meeting this week-end again, and that I hate the daylight savings changes that seem to have no intensive purpose but to annoy us. I've read scientific evidence that the alleged savings in energy are actually negligible or even negative, and thus we change hours twice a year to please a bunch of politician idiots. Some people say that it works, but I'd like to see the stats.
That's it for the rant of the month!
Love,
Karim

Janine and I last summer during Salah's wedding

Leila fixed the luminosity on the picture as it was slightly overexposed. Otherwise, it's Janine and I in our undimmed glory