I’m 26 and I’m old

I’ve never felt older in my life, I just turned 26, actually I’ve never been older, duuh!! .. am I aging?? .. is that a white hair??

It’s been ages since I post here, I went through many changes though, one of them is losing the passion to share what’s going in my life .. I mean I used to share pretty much everything, specially major changes or moves.. places I visit, people I met or anything like that, now I just don’t feel that I need to share it, I just enjoy the moment and keep it in my mind.

 

I believe age has something to do with it, when I say I’m aging, I don’t mean that my hair is falling or I started to get wrinkles, what I mean here is that, you change, everyday, every year.. I look at myself in the last year and today and I compare, did I change for better?? .. I can see changes yeah, big ones actually, but are they good?? am I a better person now??

 

I’m writing today only because I think I owe some of you with an explanation for being away in the last few months, let me start with work, my friends from work would probably know what I’m talking about, I quit my job, and more actually, I quit technology.. I just watched my passion fade away.. it’s weird though, I’ve been involved in technology for the last 10 years now, and such passion doesn’t fade away that easy.. but it happened .. and I didn’t do anything to stop that, there was a part of me needed technology to go away.. not like the feeling of taking a break and come back, no, a feeling of let go!

 

One funny thing happened a while ago, it might helped me with looking for something different, the thing is that I’ve been asked a simple question: “Who is Baraah?” .. and like any answer, without hesitation, I said my name, work position and a short job description.. but I’ve been asked again: “No.. no .. Who is she?”  … and the problem showed up here, my mind just froze and I literally had nothing in mind.. I wanted to know myself more than any other person, and I started doing it by asking people .. sadly, another problem showed up, nobody actually gave me the answer I was looking for, every answer had my job position and my passion for technology..

 

Do you know that one thing pops in your mind the moment you hear somebody’s name?? let me try to explain it by an example:

Whenever you hear the name Tom Cruise, you directly remember Mission Impossible.. right?

Or maybe (examples):

 Newton : Apple

Shakespeare: Poetry

HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid : Number 1

Lady Gaga : freak

 

 

And so on, you have an image of every name you know in your mind and it pops up every time you hear the name.. try it with people you know personally, not celebrities, it will work too.

 

Now, the question was, what is it that pops in your mind when you hear “Baraah” ?? and the answers were like:

(Microsoft) , (SharePoint) , (Social Media) , (Marketing) , (Events) … and related words..

 

Now that is NOT the picture I want people to have in their minds about me.. I mean colleges can say that, but friends and close ones can give me better answers .. I needed something more meaningful, what do you think??

Then who am I now after quitting my job?? seriously??

 

That moment started my mission to get to know myself and actually create a better picture in everybody’s mind about who I really am .. and I think that it’s going well so far .. in fact, I found out that I’m fun to be around .. it’s like I’m meeting myself for the first time

 

What about you, do you really know who you are?? (Just a question)

 

Anyway, I thank everybody for the kind birthday wishes, messages and gifts! No matter how old we are, a nice birthday message or card can put a smile on our wrinkling faces  

 

 

Regards,

Omari

Windows Phone 8: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

 

I too switched to Lumia 920 (Yellow color), the most innovative phone in the world (so far), here are my own good, bads & uglys :

 

The Good:

 

1. Pure motion HD + Display
2. It runs windows phone 8
3. The outstanding camera
4. Offline mode for Nokia maps
5. Wireless charging

 

 

 

The Bad:

 

1. Weight: Lumia 920 weights 185 grams, so it’s pretty heavy comparing to other phones. some may find this annoying, specially if you use it for a long time.
2. If you have small hands, you may find it hard to use it by one hand, you need one to hold it and the other to use it.

 

 

 

The Ugly:

 

1. So far this ugly thing happened once, suddenly my Lumia got frozen with a black screen, nothing showed up, no buttons worked, not even the power button.. Here is what you have to do to restart it: Press and hold the power button + volume down for 10 seconds.

 

 

You’re welcome!

 

 

Regards;

Omari

SharePoint Saturday Dubai 2012

 

Dubai’s Premier SharePoint Technology and Enterprise Content Management Community Event, Featuring local and internationally acclaimed speakers, this event is not to be missed.

 

Get Directions Here

Come and join SharePoint MVP’s, Architects, Administrators, Developers, Business Users and other Professionals who work with SharePoint in Dubai Internet City, Building No. 8, on Saturday, 15 December 2012 from 8:30 to 17:00 (Dubai Time).

 

SharePoint Saturday Dubai’s sessions and speakers:

Session Title	Speaker
Information Worker: The new Office – Enterprise Productivity and Collaboration	Ihsan Anabtawi
Administrator / Architect: The Ultimate SharePoint Infrastructure Best Practices Session	Michael Noel
Developer / Administrator / Architect: Hyper-Tune: Building a Dev/Demo PC with Hyper-V on Win8	Anton Delsink
End User / Developer: SharePoint 2013 on iPad and iPhone	Mai Omar Desouki
Administrator / Architect: Real Time Upgrade – SharePoint 2010 to 2013	Eric Harlan
Admin / End User / Executive: SharePoint 2013 ECM: 13 Features that Rock!	Mike Bueltmann
Developer / Administrator / Architect: To BLOB or Not to BLOB? Storage Optimization Demystified	Abi Onifade

 

SharePoint Saturday is FREE and is open to the public for registration.

Don’t forget to join us on Facebook (SharePoint Saturday Dubai) and Twitter (@spsdxb) for all updates.

See you all there!

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This event is being organized by Salman Ahmad, Baraah Omari and Sohail Hanif.

Sponsored by:

 

     

       

 

 

Regards,

Omari

The World According to Baraah: (People and IT)

 

As I am one of these IT people in the world, I’ve been dealing with and watching some actions from people around me regarding to their technologies they use or smart phones they own, and it amazes me how much you can tell about someone just by knowing what he uses or by the way they talk about technologies they believe in.

 

 

So I tried to list some and share it here, though it doesn’t have to be always true, this is just the way I see it, and I am going to talk about few ones around me and I see everyday. Let’s check them together:

 

• iPhone Users:

They are very classy, they only get what they think is best. If they were wrong about anything, their pride can’t let them admit it, yet they know it inside.

They are usually well organized and on time. Male users tend to wear suits.

 

 

• Blackberry Users:

99% of them live in the UAE, they live inside the BBM, usually they are shy if you meet them personally and not that social, but they know themselves very well, some of them may amaze you with their big dreams.

The rest (1%) are business men. Easy to talk to.

 

 

 

• Android Users:

Hard to read, a bit complicated, usually don’t get along with general people, they think you have to be an Android user in anyway, and they start convening you to be one before saying hi.

They think they are smart and everybody else isn’t.

Not my fav kind of peeps. (Please don’t take it personally).

 

 

• Windows Phone Users:

They have a very attractive self confidence, they’re so down to earth, they can wait a long time till they get the best service.

They never judge people from the first meeting, and they make you feel you are special in any kind of ways.

Good taste in food, usually get a good respect, they collect things and they tend to travel a lot.

Most of them married and doing good at work.

 

 

 

 

 

• Whatsapp Users:

They believe that a picture can tell a thousand words. They’re thankful for their lives and families. They have a 3D imaginations, usually think they live somewhere out of this planet.

They treat themselves well it’s ok for them to spend a lot of money as long as they get a good service.

Female users tend to tell lies through Whatsapp just to make a conversation more fun.

 

 

 

• SharePoint Users:

I have very close friends who know a lot about SharePoint, and I have to admit they are my fav ones.

They are amazing, always optimistic, always smiling, some have awkward habits, they are trustful, they have a weird taste of music and they know it.

It’s almost rare to find female users, and male users are usually good fathers.

 

 

 

To be continued..

 

 

Regards;

Omari

Beautiful SharePoint People

The Sharing The Point crew finally made it to Dubai, in their way to Share The Point in Africa, we had a kick-off meeting with some local SharePoint community at the top of the highest building in the world, Burj Khalifa!

I knew them all before through their great achievements, but I met most of them for the first time, which was so exciting! I want to thank you Eric Harlan (The cool guy), Paul J. Swider (The kindest), Joel Oleson (The most experienced), Michael Noel (The responsible), Salman Ahmad, Mai Omar Desouki, Mark Miller, John Anderson,  Abdul-Hafeez Jamali, Sohail Hanif, Tariq Zaman and Usama Wahab Khan Yousfzai for the good times and good conversations, hope to meet you again soon!

The biggest thanks go to Colligo for making this possible!!

 

Enjoy the video below, some scenes from what I could gather:

 

 

 

Regards;

Baraah Omari

The World According To Baraah (Moving To Dubai)

So finally, I did it, I got a job in my best city: Dubai. Not only that, I totally moved in, I got my own apartment too!

I gotta admit it’s a bit weird to live alone, but yet it’s excited, and funny in a way, you’ll do things for the first time in your life, like for me, I bought grocery for myself, and I have my own keys now!

Anyway, the point that I wanted to mention in this blog that I’ve been planning for this for a long while, and it feels so good to achieve it, have you ever wanted something so bad and one day you just woke up and find yourself there? in a real dream? If so, please share it with me

 

No matter how down you feel, and whenever you find nobody who believes in what you can do, when nobody is around to support you, it doesn’t mean that’s it.. you and me know very well that you can reach to whatever dream you have, weather it’s big, small, needs time, needs money, needs help… we know, you know too that it can be done! So get up, go for it, don’t wait that someone to tell you that you can (well, I kinda just did) but you got what I mean.

 

I do understand how much it helps to find a supporter, I did have that, but it wasn’t the main reason behind what I got, it’s that thing that wakes you in the morning “Passion”!

Go find yours and get it … yes, that simple!

 

 

Regards;

Omari

My Massage to Team Oasys!

After their great success and achievements I don’t have to introduce those champions anymore, everybody knows Oasys team from Jordan, the team who inspired many of you in many ways, the winners of the 3rd place world wide in the world’s premier student technology competition, Imagine Cup, for the very first time in the region.

Monir Abu Hilal, Hani Abu Hwaij, Yousef Wadi, Mohammed Azzam, Alexander Viktorov

and their mentor Mohammed Saleh , I’m sending my respect and support to you from wherever I am, thanking each one of you for what you’re doing to the world, to us and to yourselves.

 

 

Watching you through all of the years brought pleasure to us, specially me, how hard workers and believer you are made many people go your way and take your steps to make their own dreams come true. Meeting you was a new beginning for me in a way, I loved your work from day one and I told myself how lucky I am to know such great friends and cool guys!

 

 

 

Thank you Oasys for making the world a better place, thank you for being an amazing extremely motivating team, Thank you for inspiring, thank you for giving me the opportunity to show people who you really are, thank you for being kind and friendly to me in person, thank you champions, thank you for Horizon, thank you for winning, thank you for being … Oasys!

 

 

 

Regards;

Omari

The World According To Baraah (Part 2 : Disrespectful Behaviors)

I got really obsessed lately with every move I make or every word I say, I think twice before that, sometimes more. So, I keep my eyes on the person’s actions very well, which is annoying to me, cause I might receive some negative energy while he/she doesn’t mean it, But I’m sure that we all can agree on some common actions people do that show a disrespect.. let me mention some shortly:

• · When they smoke while you’re talking to them, inside a closed room or in the car and the most when they offer you a cigarette.
• · When they interrupt your talk for a stupid question that’s already obvious, like “Are you serious?” or they repeat what you just said but in a question matter.
• · When they show up late on a date, or they don’t show up at all.
• · When they don’t pick up for a formal phone call, though they’re waiting for it.
• · When they talk while eating, and the whole cow inside their mouth says hi to you.
• · When they chew and make balloons!
• · When they act like they know you very well from the very first meeting.
• · When they don’t stand up when you walk into the room toward them.
• · When they talk about you in a way you hate behind your back, and show you a smile in the next day.
• · When they tell your secrets.
• · When they lie to you.
• · When they touch you without permission, and I don’t mean it in any kind of abusing.
• · When you’re in the office with the manager in a middle of a serious talk, and they just come in without knocking and start a new talk.

 

You might think I’m over reacting, or it’s a bit rare to find such people nowadays, but unfortunately, I’m not, and they don’t even think they did something wrong or disrespectful.

I don’t mean any disrespect to any of you, specially smokers, cause many of my friends are, but I was only sharing my personal thoughts.

 

 

Have a blast;
Baraah Omari

The World According To Baraah (Part 1 : Going Back To School)

This word is weird, isn’t it?! I believe that too, so many things just don’t make any sense to you, other things are stupid and so hard to explain, Why?! I don’t know!

Have you ever wanted something so bad for a long time, and when you finally got it, it turned to be nothing?! And when you figured that and tried to lose it, it turned again to be even worse?!

Why do we always feel like there is something missing?! Even we know that we don’t know what is it, we just feel it, it’s everywhere, it controls us, when you wake up in the morning, when you’re in the shower, when you go to work and even when you go to bed!

Why do we follow wrong things just because everybody else does?! Or just because we have to go with the flow? Why do we even call the different right person a freak? Is he really? Just because he is doing what he thinks is right? Shouldn’t that make us the freaks?!

How come that you always lie and people seem to buy it, but when you finally tell the truth for one time, nobody believes you?

Why do you feel so lonely when you’re surrounded with you’re peeps, while you feel you’re strong when you are alone?

How silly is it to be effected with some chit chat from someone in the streets who just told you things you’ve always been listening to from people you know very well?!

Something is going on, and I’m sure there is an explanation out there, we just need to put things right, we know it somehow deep inside, we’re just not ready to face it yet.

Don’t you think it’s time for you and I and everybody else to know some facts, some secrets if I may call them, some truth waiting to be told?

I don’t know about you, but I’m so God damn ready this time. I’m officially announcing that I’m going back to school, this is my last chance to show myself how silly it is.

 

 

Wish me luck;

Baraah Omari

24 things I’ve learned in 24 years

I’m celebrating my birthday with you by sharing some points I’ve learned in the past 24 years, most of them have been learned in the hard way, some are funny, others you may already knew or took less time to get them, but it took me 24 years to know them for sure:

1. Traveling and meeting new people from everywhere feed the soul.
2. Mom and dad are always right and they know what is the best for you, even if they don’t give you what you’re asking for.
3. Sometimes, God answers your prayers in a way that you could have never foreseen.
4. Everything is happening to you is for a good reason, even if it doesn’t make any sense.
5. Always make sure to give yourself sometime, it refreshes your brain.
6. You don’t have to be nervous on your first day at work, it will turn out to be like the others.
7. Failure is the best yet the toughest teacher.
8. “Always expect the unexpected” ~ S.A.
9. You can learn many things from people you don’t even know.
10. Health is the only thing that matters more than money.
11. Just because you were raised to believe in some ideas, doesn’t mean they’re true.
12. Your reputation could lead you to higher levels than you always planned to reach.
13. Never judge anybody from the first meeting.
14. Just because you share blood with family, doesn’t mean you are similar.
15. Always SEARCH before asking any question.
16. If you need them to change, you go first.
17. Ellen DeGeneres is the funniest comedian ever.
18. Just because you’re single, doesn’t mean you’re unhappy or a needy.
19. To get over your bad day, always make someone else happy.
20. Never run away from somebody who loves you the most just because you’re afraid, you’ll be in his place with someone else.
21. Diamonds aren’t girl’s best friend, guys are!
22. You can get the lights in anywhere u go by just being who you really are.
23. Self confidence is the hottest part of you, if you don’t have that, you ain’t hot!
24. Always thank people you like for being who they are.

You can agree or disagree on any point I listed, they’re just my own believes. Feel free to share me yours too. Thank you everybody for your kind wishes and words, Facebook posts, twitter mentions, SMSs, phone calls, cards, emails & songs, make sure that each one of you is special in a way!

A very special “Thank You” goes to the best girl Rabeb Othmani who gave me the cutest gift I’ve ever had in my 24 years I lived, Watch and enjoy:

Isn’t she adorable?!!

Cheers;

Baraah Omari