You're Fired! Wait, this isn't the Apprentice...I'm Hired!

Yes, I got a job. My first interview hadn't gone too well. I didn't get that job. I didn't want it anyway. The lab was terrible. The location was too far away. So, alhamdulillah. I applied for another position and less than one week after filling out the application I was hired.

The lab is awesome. It's a very busy University hospital.

Tons of surgeries+Tons of research=A great place to start my career.

I'll spend most of my time in the lab, but one week a month I will be assisting in autopsies. The hospital does just over 150 autopsies/year so that week should be very interesting. The benefits are awesome. The pay is way more than I was expecting. MashaAllah.

This job, for me, is proof that Allah will never leave you. It's what I asked for. It's just what I needed. I ask Allah subhana wa ta ala to guide me and give me strength in this new time of my life. Ameen.

Louisiana 1927.........Louisiana 2005

This is the famous Randy Newman song "Louisiana 1927." It now holds a special place in the hearts of many New Orleanians. I thought I would share this emotional live version of the song performed by Aaron Neville. Enjoy!

Please consider donating money to various organizations such as The Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity to help those people in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast still suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Interviews, Arab Restaurants, and Vomit

Today was the day of my interview. I feel like a complete idiot. I totally wasn't prepared for the 30 questions I was asked. It was bad enough i had to answer them, but to watch the interviewer write down my stupid answers was the worst. Last night I tried to go over possible questions and I was asked some of them, but some of the questions were so off the wall. I think I did okay. Not great. No terrible. Just okay.
After the interview I got a tour of the microscopic size lab. I swear it is no bigger than my living room. I trained at a very large hospital with every piece of modern equipment. If it was some new technology they had it. I became very spoiled and the thought of going back to old-school histology with hardly any automation freaks me out. A decision will be made by next week. I have applied at another hospital. A bigger hospital downtown. So, let's just hope this one is better.

I picked up my son from a good friend's house. Let me tell you, her kids are mashaAllah some of the cutest I've seen. After visiting for quite some time, we had to get going. My son was so hungry and the thought of sitting in traffic for 45 minutes and waiting for me to cook when we got hom was making him cranky. We stopped at a local arab restaurant/store. I got a half rotisserie chicken, rice, salad, pita bread, baba ghanoush, and two drinks for 10 bucks. What a deal! Two people can spend about that much at McDonalds. We ate. The food was delicious. We had our fill and still left with plenty left-overs. I always enjoy eating-out with my son. He's a great companion. I'd take him over someone else anyday.

My son went to bed early. It was around 7:45. He's had a runny nose and cough and I just had noticed a fever. He took some meds and was soon fast asleep. He awoke just before 9pm. He came out of his room ad sat by me on the sofa. He asked for blankets, water, and for me to turn off all the lights. As we laid in the dark on the sofa he asked me for milk. When i brought it to him he took two sips and began to vomit all over himself, his blankets, and my lovely sectional sofa. He went straight to the tub. The blankets went to the washing machine and I went to work cleaning. After a quick trip to walmart, we are now home. He is feeling much better so far. Please remember the little guy in your prayers.

Muslim Country Helping with Katrina Recovery

Loyola gets grant from Arab kingdom
Saturday, January 06, 2007
By John Pope
taken from www.nola.com

Loyola University has received $1.4 million from Qatar in the last installment of the $100 million that the oil-rich Middle Eastern kingdom had pledged to help the Gulf Coast area recover from Hurricane Katrina.
The money will underwrite Loyola's Qatar Scholarship Fund, which will be used during the next three years to underwrite 140 $10,000 need-based scholarships for students in the area Katrina slammed.
That grant was part of Qatar's $5.6 million payment, which was announced this week. Other beneficiaries were Humanity First USA, a Washington, D.C., organization that was given $1.17 million to repair two schools and five mosques in the New Orleans area, and Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans, which received nearly $3.1 million to provide subsidies as high as $25,000 to help people buy affordable local housing.

In its first announcement of storm-related grants, Qatar last year gave $12.5 million to Xavier University, $10 million to Tulane University and $3.3 million to Louisiana State University.

Being from the New Orleans area, I am very interested in what muslims have done to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina. I especially love articles that show a kindler, gentler, more giving side to muslims because we all know you don't see very much of that in the media nowadays. I thought of sister peaceful muslimah's post about breathalyzers when reading this. Kind of ironic that a country can spend millions of dollars to help victims on the gulf coast while ignoring some needs in their own country. Anyway, a big pat on the back for Qatar.