Computer Down and Goals

Just an FYI:

My home computer died yesterday - I got home to find evidence of a power outage and the computer would not restart.

Due to firewalls at work, I cannot access my e-mail. So don't send me any. :) But if you need to reach me, I should insha'allah be able to access my blog when I'm at work during non-work hours. What I miss most is my program that plays Shia adhan for all the prayer times - I much prefer hearing it at fajr than a clock radio!

What I'm thinking of for goals:

1. I have books of Amaal for the month of Ramadhan from Tayibba Publishers. Simplified from Mafatihul Jinan. My goal is to recite the dua'as (like dua iftitah)in these books almost every night (so lets say 5 out of 7 nights).

2. I need to practice Qur'an reciting but I also can't stand to read Qur'an without knowing what is being said. So I make a goal to read one part each night in English and at least one page of Arabic.

3. Due to my work I find it really hard to stay up at night for all of the possible Laylatul Qadr nights. So my goal is to do the amaal in the Tayibba books for each of the nights and for one of the nights to try to stay up the whole night.

4. I want to double my frequency of salatul layl and salatul ghuyfulah during the month.

5. I want to work on a general increased mental state of tranquility and patience during the days of fasting especially evidenced in interactions with students, etc.

6. I have some big fat (like 600- 900 page) biographies of imams (sa) I've been wanting to read; I'll try to get through two of them during the month but if I get through one that is okay, too.

I noticed Sr. Hajar has her goals posted on her blog (Freda on sidebar).
Br. Ihsan, firewalls prevent me from reading your blog at work, but when I get my computer up again (insha'allah!) I will read it.

Month of Ramadan Goals - Who's in?

The month of Ramadan is starting next week, God willing, either Tuesday or Wednesday (October 4 or 5) and ending around Nov. 3. It is a month of spiritual growth and renewal involving fasting and increased opportunity for prayer, reflection, separation from worldly distractors, etc.

I thought it might be useful to come up with some plans or goals for the month. I thought non-Muslims could also participate - maybe they might want to try fasting for a few days, or increase reading of scripture, or decrease watching TV or whatever.

Anyway, if you want to participate, post a comment that you're joining. In the next few days I'll put up some goals for myself, God willing, and then whoever is 'playing' can post theirs in comments or offer feedback/comments on what I posted, etc.

niece's birthday

Well I guess I might have to do something I have never done before, and that is make a doctor's appointment for an acute illness/injury. But it is the weekend so it will probably have to wait until next week anyway. It is so hard to get an appointment, especially for a female doctor, I don't know if I'll be able to. But whatever, right? I don't have a lot of experience with that, maybe someone can tell me how it works.

I am getting ready to head up to madressa this morning and then my niece is having a birthday party this afternoon (actually her birthday is tomorrow, but the family gathering is today). She is getting her necklace made from the stone she found geocaching today insha'allah.

So I hope everyone stays safe, positive, and out of trouble until next time (and even after that, too) insha'allah.

babysitting

Well, 15 Shaban came and went. I was happy to be able to do some of the recommended acts. I guess some people may always do those in a masjid, but except for one Ashura I've always done them alone; it is peaceful and easier to focus/concentrate, I think, and decide what to do when. But, maybe it is more tempting to call it a night alone, I don't know.

Although it is a lot of work, I am liking grading by evidence of understanding. It is easier for kids to raise a grade and also easier to see what they know and what they don't know. I was so happy today in Algebra 2 when several different students presented a problem for evidence. Not due to my teaching, but that of previous teachers, apparently they understand what we're doing right now, which is nice because that class has been rough.

I haven't been successful in finding time to go the gym very much. I have had lots of meetings or company and by the time meetings are over the gym may be nearly closed, or I just am really tired and want to go home, or I had company waiting at home possibly, etc. They close at 7, but honestly I wouldn't want to go the gym later than that anyway. But I need to try to make it work somehow.

I am babysitting a friend's bird now, a Cockatiel. I think this weekend I may try to integrate into my large cage when I have some time to watch them together and see if everything is alright. But for now it is in its own cage. The owner didn't have it in a bird cage, it is more like a gerbil cage, so the bird doesn't have perches. It is LOUD compared to most of my birds, but it also talks a bit, it says "Pretty Bird" in a song.

One of my goals for the month of Ramadan is to make more time for regular Qur'an reading - not just in English, but I also need to practice the Arabic - not just transliteration, but the Arabic text. I am so lazy about that because I am bad at it.

Well I'm totally broke until next paycheck. All my raise is gone into increases in gas, PERA (retirement), and mortgage interest rate increases. But at least I had a raise to help absorb those increases.

Ihsanline Blog

A friend of mine in Basra, Iraq is starting a blog at Ihsanline 360. I know he'd like to get lots of visitors and comments from all over the world. It should be interesting to read about life there.

Yesterday was one of the first days all year so far was I was sort of caught up at work. It is a crazy year. But it really felt good for once to have all the emergency items off my desk.

weekend

Saturday I drove up to Denver for Madressa. It felt good to do it again. But, as usual, people didn't show up on time. Lots of students and even teachers didn't show up at all. I had just three students. That is fine with me, but that could affect the ability of the school to stay open, budget-wise. The Denver Shia community is often very disappointing that way. I guess the Ahlalbeit center had another 'fiasco' last week; previous board members changed the locks and took over from the temporary board. This is right before Constitution elections and election of new board anyway in a week or so. I don't understand all that mess and don't want to, but it is disgraceful. If I ever have children, I have to seriously consider that I should move away from here to a stronger community for the kids, insha'allah.

After Madressa I met with a friend up there. The friend has a Cockatiel that sings this song, "Pretty bird, Pretty bird, whistle whistle whistle" over and over; it was really cute.

Yesterday I didn't get any chores done. I was tired and just kind of waiting for sunset to make dinner. But I did walk with mom. I showed her my newly painted bedroom, and she liked it, too. A friend of mine painted it for me last week - it is 'phantom blue'. I like it.

Tonight planning to observe 15 Sha'ban amaal as much as possible; I still have work at 7am tomorrow through 7:30pm or so tomorrow night, so I may not make it to stay up all night. So I'll try to make the best of the early hours before I conk out insha'allah, and of course fast again tomorrow. I'm going to try to go to the gym before maghrib, I need to find ways to fit it in my schedule or it just won't ever happen.

15 Sha'ban is one of the Laylatul Qadr nights and contains a lot of benefits. http://www.duas.org has some of the things to do if you're interested.

nothing, meme

Well I haven't felt much like blogging.

Saturday we had the madressa teacher training, I am not sure but I think it went fine. But, there was a low turn out.

Now just busy living and stuff.

15 Sha'ban is coming up, big day - see duas.org for some more info on things to do....

I guess it takes a meme for me to have anything to say: (taken from Sr. Hajar's blog)

10 years ago I was: A pretty new convert to Islam, busy working on a Physics degree.

5 years ago I was: Starting my second teaching job, a year after hajj, moving back home.

1 year ago I was: Pretty much right where I am, but still trying to get divorce finalized.

Yesterday I was: teaching math. Thinking about possible permutations of the future.

5 snacks I enjoy: ice cream, Just Veggies or Just (any type of fruit) from Wild Oats, cold pizza, cheese, chocolate

5 songs I know all the words to: I don't know any more.... Maybe lots, or maybe not any except kid songs like Ring around the Rosy.

5 things I would do with 100 million dollars: Get me, my family and friends out of debt completely. fix up my house a bit-repair some things and upgrade a few things.
Travel a bit more. Probably stop working full-time. Give some to charities I like.

5 places I would run away to: home,a peaceful spot in the mountains, Masjid ul Nabi, the Haram, Four Corners area.

5 things I would never wear: ultra-expensive stuff,a beard, something made in Israel, stillettos to work, lots of makeup or jewelry.

5 bad habits: a bit of procrastination, a little too much TV, not saying "no" enough when asked to take on new projects, speeding a bit, shopping online when I don't really need to buy anything (although I'm getting better!)

5 biggest joys: the feeling of a good prayer, being around really good/kind people, God, Ahlulbayt (as), home

5 favorite toys: DVR, GPS, Internet, certain mystery/sci-fi novels, imagination

Rights of children displaced by hurricane

FYI: This is a press release from my district, but it contains important information that applies to any child anywhere displaced by the hurricane.

School District 11 Enrolls Student Displaced by Hurricane

Colorado Springs School District 11 is enrolling any and all students who have been displaced to this attendance area due to the recent Hurricane Katrina tragedy. All students in this situation have specific rights under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act. These rights include:

Immediate enrollment with or without records or documentation
Free lunch from the first day of enrollment
Assistance with school supplies and uniforms (if required)
Guardians of students in this situation should notify school personnel upon enrollment so that School District 11 can immediately assist these students.

Please direct all questions to the School District 11 Title I office at 520-2422.

Advice for Living and Fleamarket fare

most of these are universal principles of good living, found in Islam and most faiths....

Good Karma

Explosions Fill New Orleans Sky With Smoke

New Orleans - I've been there - a beautiful city, with some good people but an overriding air of corruption and vice.

As for what's going on here - gas has hit $3 a gallon. Leaves me seriously thinking maybe I need to find a new job closer to home for next year if these prices continue. We had Open House last night - a very pleasant but somewhat low turnout. Made for a really long day to be at work from before 7 am until 8 o'clock at night, but thank God for having work, having a school to go to, having shelter, a home, drinking water, food, transportation, family, friends, infrastructure, normalcy.....

Sep 2, 7:58 AM EDT
Explosions Fill New Orleans Sky With Smoke

By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- An explosion jolted residents awake early Friday, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over a city where corpses rotted along flooded sidewalks and bands of armed thugs thwarted fitful rescue efforts.

Congress was rushing through a $10.5 billion aid package, the Pentagon promised 1,400 National Guardsmen a day to stop the looting and President Bush planned to visit the region Friday. But city officials were seething with anger about what they called a slow federal response following Hurricane Katrina.

"They don't have a clue what's going on down there," Mayor Ray Nagin told WWL-AM Thursday night.

"They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn - excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed."


At 4:35 a.m. Friday, an explosion rocked a chemical storage facility near the Mississippi River east of the French Quarter, said Lt. Michael Francis of the Harbor Police. A series of smaller blasts followed and then acrid, black smoke that could be seen even in the dark. The vibrations were felt all the way downtown.

Francis did not have any other information about the explosions and did not know if there were any casualties. At least two police boats could be seen at the scene and a hazardous material team was on route.

It was the opening strike in yet another day of sadly deteriorating conditions since Katrina slammed ashore Monday morning.

Thursday saw thousands being evacuated by bus to Houston from the hot and stinking Superdome. Fistfights and fires erupted amid a seething sea of tense, suffering people who waited in a lines that stretched a half-mile to board yellow school buses. The looting continued.


Breed reports people are scrambling to get food and water from helicopters.


Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the looters "hoodlums" and issued a warning to lawbreakers: Hundreds of National Guard troops hardened on the battlefield in Iraq have landed in New Orleans.

"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."

At the Superdome, group of refugees broke through a line of heavily armed National Guardsmen in a scramble to get on to the buses.

Nearby, about 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at New Orleans Convention Center grew ever more hostile after waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead.

Police Chief Eddie Compass said there was such a crush around a squad of 88 officers that they retreated when they went in to check out reports of assaults.

"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."

By Thursday evening, 11 hours after the military began evacuating the Superdome, the arena held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn. Evacuees from across the city swelled the crowd to about 30,000 because they believed the arena was the best place to get a ride out of town.

Some of those among the mostly poor crowd had been in the dome for four days without air conditioning, working toilets or a place to bathe. One military policeman was shot in the leg as he and a man scuffled for the MP's rifle. The man was arrested.

By late Thursday, the flow of refugees to the Houston Astrodome was temporarily halted with a population of 11,325, less than half the estimated 23,000 people expected.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced that Dallas would host 25,000 more refugees at Reunion Arena and 25,000 others would relocate to a San Antonio warehouse at KellyUSA, a city-owned complex that once was home to an Air Force base. Houston estimated as many as 55,000 people who fled the hurricane were staying in area hotels.

While floodwaters in New Orleans appeared to stabilize, efforts continued to plug three breaches that had opened up in the levee system that was designed to protect this below-sea-level city.

Helicopters dropped sandbags into the breach and pilings were being pounded into the mouth of the canal Thursday to close its connection to Lake Pontchartrain.

At least seven bodies were scattered outside the convention center, a makeshift staging area for those rescued from rooftops, attics and highways. The sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement.

A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away.

"There's a lot of very sick people - elderly ones, infirm ones - who can't stand this heat, and there's a lot of children who don't have water and basic necessities to survive on," said Daniel Edwards, 47, outside the center. "We need to eat, or drink water at the very least."

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

"I don't treat my dog like that," Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. "You can do everything for other countries, but you can't do nothing for your own people."

FEMA director Michael Brown said the agency just learned about the situation at the convention center Thursday and quickly scrambled to provide food, water and medical care and remove the corpses.

The slow response frustrated Nagin: "I have no idea what they're doing but I will tell you this: God is looking down on all this and if they're not doing everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the price because every day that we delay, people are dying and they're dying by the hundreds."

In hopes of defusing the situation at the convention center, Nagin gave the evacuees permission to march across a bridge to the city's unflooded west bank for whatever relief they could find.

A day after Nagin took 1,500 police officers off search-and-rescue duty to try to restore order in the streets, there were continued reports of looting, shootings, gunfire and carjackings.

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "'Go to hell - it's every man for himself.'"

FEMA officials said some operations had to be suspended in areas where gunfire has broken out, but they are working overtime to feed people and restore order.

Outside a looted Rite-Aid drugstore, some people were anxious to show they needed what they were taking. A gray-haired man who would not give his name pulled up his T-shirt to show a surgery scar and explained that he needs pads for incontinence.

"I'm a Christian," he said. "I feel bad going in there."

Hospitals struggled to evacuate critically ill patients who were dying for lack of oxygen, insulin or intravenous fluids. But when some hospitals try to airlift patients, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan said, "there are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, `You better come get my family.'"

To make matters worse, the chief of the Louisiana State Police said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers - many of whom from flooded areas - turning in their badges.

"They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives," Col. Henry Whitehorn said.

Mississippi's confirmed death toll from Katrina rose to 126 on Thursday as more rescue teams spread out into a sea of rubble to search for the living, their efforts complicated at one point by the threat of a thunderstorm.

All along the 90-mile coast, other emergency workers performed the grisly task of retrieving corpses, some of them lying on streets and amid the ruins of obliterated homes that stretch back blocks from the beach.

Gov. Haley Barbour said he knows people are tired, hungry, dirty and scared - particularly in areas hardest hit by Katrina. He said the state faces a long and expensive recovery process.

"I will say, sometimes I'm scared, too," Barbour said during a briefing in Jackson, Miss. "But we are going to hitch up our britches. We're going to get this done."

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Associated Press reporters Adam Nossiter, Brett Martel, Emily Wagster Pettus, Robert Tanner and Mary Foster contributed to this report.

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The answer is...

The sentence is the shortest one that makes full sense in the English language and uses all the letters of the alphabet.

The second one uses each letter exactly once, no duplicates, but doesn't quite pass the test of a fully legitimate sentence.