An Emirates 777-300ER taxiing.
Sometimes you just need to take a step back and evaluate your life. For me, I do this on a daily basis. For almost five years now, I’ve always thought about life after school. Do I want to get married quickly, do I want to get right into a career, do I get a graduate degree? It’s all extremely puzzling, and then there’s my dream. To become cabin crew with Emirates. While I have yet to settle what degree I wish to pursue, I think I have completely determined that I will (after my undergrad) pursue my dream job at EK (Emirates). Why do I want to join a career field plagued with jet lag, pay cuts and low hiring? Here’s why:
Glamour
I’m not going to sit here and try to tell you
My poorly edited photo...
that every moment of working at Emirates will be bliss, but I will tell you that when you enjoy what your doing, the downsides become nearly nonexistent. There’s just something about walking through that terminal and having people just look at you with admiration that really makes the job very appealing.
Service
Lots of people would snarl at having to serve an aircraft full of passengers, but for whatever reason,
Photo Courtesy of The Emirates Group.
service comes as a custom to me. I’ve always felt that I’m built to help others. And whenever I help someone, it always makes me feel great that I’ve been able to use my knowledge to assist someone else. While there will be times where the unruly passenger will get on my last nerve, there’s always the chance to turn that passengers flight around, and help them out. Which I am happy to do.
Dubai
It took me a few minutes to decide what my final factor in choosing EK is. I think
Burj Al Arab
Dubai is actually one of the main reasons for my desire to work for EK. Dubai is a metropolis which houses more than 150 nationalities, making for an extremely unique blend of Arabia and The World. Given my Jordanian heritage, and fluent Arabic, adjusting to the country would be extremely easy for me. Another great thing about Dubai is the night life. A bustling city growing faster by the day, with an outstanding home airline, a great combination for me!
Stephanie as a JV Cheerleader
It pains me to have to type this blog post, but on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, Stephanie Valusescu lost her battle with brain cancer. While you may not have known Stephanie, many regarded her as, “A very popular girl, that was outgoing and fun.” Maine West as a school raised over $7,000 during a 60-second ‘Miracle Minute for Stephanie.’ A hard worker, Stephanie was in accelerated classes at Maine West, and also managed an outstanding social life and extra-curricular activities. As Mrs. Valusescu put it, “We’re all hoping for a miracle.” Unfortunately, that miracle never happened.
As I first learned of Stephanie’s illness, my first thought was, “Oh my god, her family.” Having had my mother go through cancer, I understand how it affects a family, especially when it hits someone so very young. As a student at Maine West, Stephanie’s locker was just next to mine, and I saw her and interacted with her on a daily basis. She was at R2009, I was at R2010. When I heard about her last diagnosis, that a cancerous brain tumor was found, I was shocked to say the least. I almost felt like I was so close to someone I barely knew.
Stephanie is surely watching us from Heaven, and we will all miss her. Although I was unable to make it to the memorial service today, I will never forget Stephanie, and I’m sure that no Maine West students will.
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Steve, you were an inspiration to all. Words cannot describe your passion, love and dedication to Apple. You will be missed dearly.
I don’t like to post too often on here, but this is quite deserving. Troy Davis was denied clemency at his hearing in Georgia. I cannot begin to explain the entirety of the Troy Davis case, but here is a summary.
I’m appalled that the ‘greatest nation on Earth’ could make such a grave mistake. We’re not playing with money here, it’s someone’s life that is being put at stake. It’s not even a stalling game anymore, this execution in whole is completely wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I do support the death penalty, in certain cases. We’ve seen people do much worse and get far lesser sentences. Why are we just sitting around waiting for something to happen? Why haven’t we been trying to prevent this for more than just a week or two? If you live in Georgia, why aren’t you trying to stop this?
I honestly think that we should have been doing more for longer. This is a straight up “WTF” moment for Americans. Wake. Up.
I knew the day would come where my mom would get a smart phone, even if she doesn’t have data, it’s weird to see her walk around with an iPhone in hand. It’s even weirder when I get a Words with Friends request from her, and she’s actually good! When I see her play Angry Birds it sort of makes me chuckle, cause she doesn’t really understand why a bunch of birds are attacking pigs. The worst part of all of this; I bought her the iPhone.
Yes, that was me. Still under the handle “liftsifter” which I don’t much use these days, but still, I was amazing. 
I don't miss you.
Almost two years back, I started a YouTube argument that sparked quite a few people to continue the argument. It was time for me to renew my T-Mobile contract and buy a new phone. It was a tight match between the Google Android powered MyTouch 3G (I know, there’s like a billion new ones since the original.) and the BlackBerry Curve 8900. T-Mobile was determined that a BlackBerry needed a data plan which would tack on an additional $29.99/mo to my bill. I was not to pleased with this and didn’t want to pay more for something I wouldn’t use because of WiFi being so widely open. (Also, the BlackBerry web browser sucks!) T-Mobile decided that they would not sell any smart phone without a data plan, so they agreed that if I added a texting plan to my phone line, that it would be considered a “data service” and that would suffice.
Virgin Mobile "Dares you to find a better Android plan." So do I.
Two years later I’m officially off contract and am free to do whatever I want with my service. Well, I want a piece of the Android pie, and T-Mo has some good offerings that tempt me to re-sign my contract for another two years. But with Virgin Mobile (Sprint) offering the Moto Triumph for $299 and $35/mo for Unlimited (5.5gb) data, Unlimited TXT, and 300 minutes, it really tempts me to dump my iPhone for this EPIC plan! So, T-Mobile the only way you will tempt me to stay, is if you offer me a plan even remotely similar to this, unlimited data with T-Mo is actually 200mb full speed, the rest throttled down to about 40mbps. SLOWER THAN EDGE…
Looks like Virgin Mobile, here I come!