despite watching food network everyday...this happens...

i decided tomorrow i would eat two boiled eggs.  basically, i went to the gym today...and have been fairly regularly for an incredible 3 weeks...and so i felt like some increased protein intake would be a good idea.  the first two weeks were somewhat torturous and i think that had a lot to do with my diet which consisted mostly of vegetables.  i figured i also needed to drop a some weight, i guess.  but now i know my muscles will need something to rebuild with and so enter the eggs.

only one problem.  i dont know how to boil eggs.  oddly enough i actually know my way around the kitchen but i never boiled eggs...well maybe i used to do it as a kid but i forgot completely.  my confusion was mostly a time issue but i checked online and also checked with my sister.  i felt pretty confident.  i got the water boiling and the time came for the egg to go in.  i dropped the first egg in and suddenly i noticed white stuff streaking in my water.  FAIL.

that first egg was broken and i had to start over.  seriously, what the hell.

and so i had to check out this link:  http://www.ehow.com/how_1163_boil-egg.html

i got to work unusually early today and i decided before heading into the office i'd take a few moments to just relax in my car.  not so much for relaxation but more for a quiet moment to just think.  well i started thinking and i here is my thought.  one of the problems with automakers making keys with built in remotes is that they have essentially made it impossible to hide your keys in your car visor.  the keys are just way too thick and fat to tuck away cleanly in the visor things.  not that i have ever done that but ive seen enough tv shows and movies where that's a critical element of a scene.  bad writers are probably panicking about this.

thats about all i came up with. actually, no.  i did also see this one bird flying and i was impressed with how calm and cool she was flying.  im not even sure she flapped a wing the whole time i was watching...like 30 secs.  i guess thats more of an observation.

Musa was desirous to see Allah
But Allah was desirous to see you.
How can Tur Sina compare to Miraj?
How can earth compare to the heavens?
How can Yusuf's beauty compare to yours?
He was the beloved of Zulaikha, you are the beloved of Allah.
Veiled in the secret of humanity is your flawless beauty
Unknown to all that you are a part of the beauty of Allah.
Prophets and angels cannot claim the same nearness as you,
You are the beloved of Allah, the Proud.
Everyone else is an outsider.
Many a times the moon has tried to rival your beauty,
But never could it present splendor close to yours.
How can I boast affiliation to you?
I am as unclean as you are pure and chaste.
I would not be surprised if for your sake
The sins of your nation are counted as acts of obedience.
The crimes of your nation are considered so precious,
The least of your nation be showered with a thousand blessings.
Depending on your intercession my rebelliousness increased,
I am sinful, I am disobedient, but still I belong to you.


-Hadrat Maulana Mohammad Qasim Nanotvi

finger tips

root canals screw with my finger tips.  the small instruments used in treatment just destroy my fingers after running them between my index finger and thumb.  those two areas are already sort of calloused now.  i know...its a tragedy.  actually, more irritating for me is that i am a regular tasbih user and it actually hurts everytime i move the beads.  what a complicated life. 

speaking of tasbihs...i was recently reading a book in which it was mentioned that a commonly repeated phrase of certain sufis is, "from Allah we came, and to Him shall be our return."  obviously, it is done in the arabic but nonetheless it is powerful. 

not only is it truth but it is ultimately the goal of one who is concerned with the closeness and relationship he has with God.  not only do i accept that as my fate but ultimately it is what i want as well.

and lastly today...i was driving home and at a typical traffic jam point i found myself stalled for about 10 minutes.  nothing new.  although today i did happen to note one guy who was acting a bit funny for being stuck in traffic.  so earlier along the same route, i saw this same guy pass me and at that time he stuck out to me because his car was making all kinds of noises.  but even more interesting was the grin on his face as his car clanged past me at speeds that i was certain were not safe for his car.  i found the whole picture to be odd.  anyway somehow he ended up right behind me in the traffic jam and amazingly he wore the same grin.  in fact he kept the smile the whole way through.  now im not sure if that was a smile telling of contentment, insanity, or intoxication but i was happy for him.  of course i hope its the first choice and if that is true then a part of me is jealous. 

odds and ends

yesterday i was at the gym and watching TV on the little ones attached to each machine.  i ended up watching the food network for a second just as a segment was ending on mark summers' show.  just before commercials, he was previewing the next segment which was going to explain the growth and production of baby carrots.  i tried to make it through commercials so i could find out how their made but about 10 secs later the running was killing me and i needed a distraction fast.  commercials just werent enough and in the end i missed the whole segment.  so i still dont know how baby carrots are made.

other than that if i go to the gym tonight...i'll have made it 7 days in a row.  if only i could see and feel a difference already.  i give it maybe another week before i start to doubt the effectiveness of regular exercise.  i demand results now.

Masterpiece

- The Heavens and the earth were finished
- The Creator paused and surveyed
   His creation; He wished to name what was His

masterpiece.

All the worlds lay before Him

But He could not name what was His masterpiece.

- Then said the Creator, Let him whom We made in 

Our image do this work for Us

Thus it fell to Man to name what was His masterpiece.

The Angels bowed low before this honor done to Man

And a Light spread far and wide and gathered fast and 

quick over the entire cosmos.

The chosen one is still immersed in the work entrusted 

to him

- In spite of all his strivings and efforts, out of the 

creation of his Creator, he has not been able to name 

what is His masterpiece.

CHUGHTAI

I'm not purposely posting poetry but it just so happens the last few recently caught my attention that I wanted to share them and have them for myself to look back and read again.  Otherwise, I have a few posts brewing.  Just haven't had the time to write them yet. 

If- Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!