ManiaRavings

Lister Block

Posted on May 26, 2008 in the Town and about
12 comments

There are buildings that you admire for their beauty and their height like the Empire State building. Then there are buildings that have stood the test of time like the Great Pyramids. But there is yet another category or buildings that have their own story to tell: of construction and survival and destruction. As I write, the White House is coming to my mind but I am actually talking about a building with no significant impact on world history, and that most people outside this city of Hamilton don’t even know it exists.

The Lister Block is an eighty four year old, six-storey building that sits on the corner of James St. and King William in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. If you walk by this building, chances are that you will not even notice it and ignore it because it’s windows are boarded-up and there’s graffiti all over. The most you will want to care about is that it is abandoned and is falling apart and that you want to walk faster ! To Hamiltonians however, Lister Block is part of their history and the building’s history holds a sentimental and nostalgic value to them.

Conquering the Escarpment

Posted on May 15, 2008 in the Town and about
7 comments

It was a heartbreakingly beautiful day today, 20°C with a cool breeze and sunny with a few clouds in the sky. Since I wasted the day yesterday staying indoors, away from the rain, I was not going to waste today, and decided to go hiking and exploring the Niagara Escarpment.

Hamilton is known Canada-wide for it’s steel industry and the pollution that comes with it; but that was all in the past. Today, the steel industry is only part of it’s economy, along with health care, education and a growing biotechnology industry. Hamilton has many best kept secrets like and its natural beauty and biodiversity is one of them.

The Niagara Escarpment is the very cliff over which the Niagara river plunges to form the Niagara Falls and it runs through south-western Ontario following the Georgian Bay shore, into Michigan and finishes in Illinois near Chicago. In 1990, it was designated as a UNESCO world biosphere reserve, which means all non-conservation activities along and near the escarpment are prohibited.

Playing hookey

Posted on May 14, 2008 in Social
2 comments

I took a holiday the last week and a half, visiting my friends in Toronto and Mississauga but I guess that holiday also extended to blogging and reading and commenting on your blogs as well !

It was a great to know how the guys are moving on after finishing school. A couple of them are also getting married this summer and there is a possibility of a third wedding but we have yet to find that out.

Usually when the guys gather, we plan a road trip but this year, we had to scrap that plan due to gas prices that are now soaring at $1.25 a liter ($4.73 a gallon). I got around using transit, which thankfully is still affordable and let me point out to car lovers that even if fares for GO Transit have gone up, it’s still the most comfortable way to get around the Greater Toronto Area.

I have to be frank with you that I did have Internet access wherever I visited but it just didn’t feel right updating my blog and reading and commenting on your blogs by taking up their computing time. For me, checking my e-mail and responding only takes under five minutes but my other daily tasks also include twittering, catching up with the news, and reading and commenting on several blogs.
Besides I was tired of explaining every friend of a friend what Netvibes was, who the boyscout in that picture…

I have a couple of posts almost ready to go. Tomorrow many bloggers are campaining for human rights but I wont be participating and instead will write about it later in the year.

Now, it’s time for a lot of catching-up to do…

Of split personality and irresponsibility

Posted on April 25, 2008 in Social Spiritual
16 comments

Today was Friday and Friday or Jumu’ah, as it is called in Arabic, is a day of congregation for Muslims. The congregation is an obligation upon the men, and there can be no excuse for missing it unless due to sickness, in a situation of emergency, while traveling long distances, or in situations when it’s just impossible.
Women are also encouraged to join the congregation but they are free to pray in private if they choose to.

The Friday congregation replaces the daily afternoon prayer, which is held between 12:30 and and 14:00 depending on the season and if DST is observed, and lasts between half-hour and 45 minutes. There are two parts to the congregation, the sermon and the prayer itself which takes between 5 to 7 minutes maximum.

April Showers for Blogging

Posted on April 14, 2008 in Blogging
12 comments

I have to admit it’s been a slow month for me when it comes to keeping in touch with my friends whether it be via e-mail, Facebook or blogging. But I know it’s not just me because several feeds in my RSS reader have slowed down as well. And there are several bloggers who have admitted only recently that they are feeling “depressed” about blogging.

I remember when I took an official three month hiatus from my website in 2006 at around this time of the year. Last year in March I excused myself by declaring I was busy studying for exams but I only wrote again late in May !

A new WordPress, a new design but not before a new adventure

Posted on March 31, 2008 in Blogging
12 comments

My blog was offline the last past couple of weeks because I was out exploring other platforms that are out there. It all started when two weeks back, WordPress was throwing back an “Error connecting to Database” message.

Thankfully, using WordPress’ export utility, I had backed up all my posts and comments only the night before. My first impulse, ofcourse was to clean-install WordPress again and start off with a new database. But then, I thought maybe this was a good time to try out the other options that are out there.

ManiaRavings is OpenID Enabled

Posted on March 15, 2008 in Blogging
3 comments

That’s right ! Now when you want to leave a comment on this blog, you don’t have to separately fill out your name and your email and/or your home-page:

if you have an OpenID, simply type in your URL and post your comment !