It was taken with news reporter on Feb 13, 2007 during a really bad winter snow storm in Cleveland, OH. they try to push a car from the ditch ….

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The February 2007 North America winter storm they called it the Valentine’s Day Storm because it happened that day. This storm was a massive winter storm that affected on the North America. It started on February 12, 2007.

The storm produced heavy snow across Midwest of the United States from Nebraska to Ohio where Toledo is.

In the other side in the southern of the storm there was a severe thunderstorms with tornadoes because usually when the warm side got clash with the cold side where the winter storm is the result going to be dangerous.

The weather specialists said that the storm going to be at the level 3 winter storm and with that level you can’t drive with your car. You can’t even get the car out of its parking.

Here are some pictures I took for the February storm in Campus Village apartments where I live .

If you just look out side your door you will only see the waight suffs hehe

It was my bicycle … got stolen ….

no more colors in that day just the white

unlucky driver .. hehe

they will be surprised when they wake up …..

oh … he need some help hehe

The dirty snow and other stuffs makes the roads in its bad condition and then it will be impossible to drive on it ..

oh it will be nice if I swim here …

You can see here how it snowing very hard …

we try to get the car out but …. no way

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Click on the link below to see a video and more pictures of the winter storm that was taken from the University of Toeldo. It was taken by one of our teachers …

http://www.alexwrege.com/index.php/toledo/snow-storm-in-toledo/

From the beginning of this year until now I got tired of hearing about the new Apple mobile. Apple planned to make the first cell phone (iPhone) and it just launched its phone in June. In fact I’m a one from millions who wanted to buy this phone. I used to buy Sonny Ericsson phones and I never tried Nokia or any other companies before.

Today after Apple start launching its new phone and after waiting months to buy it I just change my opinion for some reasons and went to another world of amazing phones. It’s Nokia Corporation the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile telephones. This is the first time I tried a Nokia mobile. I started thinking about the Nokia N73 the Music edition to buy from Nokia until the unlocked iPhone start launching so I can buy… but why?! here is the phone that has all what iPhone has and even more …  It’s the Nokia N95.

I got my new Nokia N95 yesterday. After testing it I really can say this is the best phone for me to keep, I like the way Nokia use to make its phones. This phone has the most important features that make it really small PC …. Multimedia abilities, high quality Camera with 5 mega pixel, Internet and a lot more ….

The Nokia N95 price is a little expensive with 750$ but it has the features that everybody dreaming about. To know more about N95 features use this link :

 http://www.nokiausa.com/A4433773

I think finally I chose the right phone ….. so I can said now good bye iphone

Here are some pictures I took from my Canon camera for my new Nokia N95 …

There is a short story happened to me and it might happened to many of my friend who are from the Middle East. I have met American guy somewhere in Toledo. We just had  conversations about each other and then he asked me about my country, where I live … I told him from the Middle East and I live in the east of the Saudi Arabia in the Gulf Region. The American guy then asked me about my country and the Gulf Region where I live, He asked me about our economy, education, tourism and some stuffs like that. He told me that he do not know a lot about the Middle East he just know this is a place where the camels live with people. The TV and even the internet these days do not give the real idea about the world. Like me, my idea about the United States and what I know about the life there were very different before I see the life and their culture by my real eye ….

The story of the camels is a thing from the past we are in the year 2007 and the life in the world become different. The development is very quickly in this time it’s just growing up like crazy. It’s very quickly that I even didn’t believe they did what they do in a short time…

I think the movies is one of biggest factors of giving wrong ideas about the world. let me give you an example. Transformers which is a new movie which was launched this month of the year. It’s a fantasy movie but if you focuses in the beginning of the movie the first part was recorded in Qatar one of the countries in the Gulf Region I don’t know if it really recorded their or not but still give you a wrong idea about the life their in Qatar by showing you a big desert with nothing on it except some poor people and old building with the strong American fighters…

Qatar

Qatar is different. Qatar is a countries where you can see the development growing up by the speed of light …. It’s realy a nice place to visit, I went there three times ..

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The Gulf Region location is in the east of the Arabian Land contain six small countries and the Saudi Arabia. All of the small six countries are not far from my city It’s just a couple of hours by car. I will give you an idea of the countries with pictures but I will focus on the architecture.

 Every one has the stuffs he like and interesting with, I’m very interesting with architecture as I’m the technological stuffs and also the climate and the weather … these three are the stuffs I really like to learn about since a long time. If I got a gift which is a free trip some where in the world I might chose Tokyo, New York, Chicago … etc where you can see the technology, architecture and also the climate change

The Gulf Region in the Middle East has a very nice weather and many Europeans travel their to enjoy the weather their while it’s very cold in Europe.

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One of the most spectacular things in the Gulf Region is a building called Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Some of the facts of this building that will surprise you and the first thing is that when completed Burj Dubai (they are still working for this building since 2003) will be the tallest building in the word. Any famous building in the world any where is just shorter than Burj Dubai … Chicago, New York, Tokyo, Paris it doesn’t matter where you think there are no other buildings that are taller than Burj Dubai. The tip of the tower can be seen by a person 95 km (60miles) away from the location where the tower is.  Burj Dubai has the world’s tallest elevator and it has the world’s longest travel distance from lowest to highest stop just imagine yourself going up from the lowest to highest point in the building it just amazing. Also some interesting things I read about that the curtain of the Burj Dubai will be equivalent to 17 football (soccer) fields or 25 American football fields.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITxn_mrPLdQ

look how it’s amazing, really huge building. Before they start build this fantastic building I heard about it, I heard about that they are going to build the tallest building in the world but I didn’t believe that! … now I can see it by my eye growing up step by step .. Hapah Hapah … It’s just amazing .

 
This is comparing between Burj Dubai and the famous other buildings in the world ….

Do you want to know the feeling when you are in the highest point of the building ?! just watch this video .. you will go with an airplane on a trip around the building .. click on the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQljnTBEVGY

The side of the building and the other buildings around it are still under working, they are going to make this part of the land like the picture above … Trees rivers and every thing to make it every one dream.

This is another interesting videos will show you how is the Building growing up step by step day after day hour after hour …. click on the links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCOmDhXSyO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEhpcxXDxsg

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United Arab Emirates

The country has seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. United Arab Emirates has become a highly prosperous country after gaining foreign direct investment. The country has a relatively high Human Development Index, or HDI, for the Asian continent.

United Arab Emirates is a country where every one want to visit. I visited it more than six times and I still want to visit it again.

look at this amazing island, It’s under working and they will make it like a shape of the tree. It’s really huge

even the buildings they build one on the water. This is the only 7 stars hotel in the world. it is the tallest building that used as a hotel.

watch this video to see how fantacy is inside this building … click on the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LZarUmHw1g

this was our trip to United Arab Emirates.

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Kuwait

Kuwait is in the north of the Gulf region and it’s not very big. Kuwait had a wars because of its economy. It is from the most oil producing countries in the world. Kuwait also a country where you can see the development growing up quickly. It’s a realy good place to visit, I visited it around three times …

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Bahrain

One of Gulf region countries and the smallest one, it’s just a very small island. Bahrain soon will build the tallest bridge in the world that will contact Qatar by Bahrain and there is already another one contact with Saudi Arabia. This small island is under developing and became more wonderful country from the past… I visited this country a lot more than 30 times, and that because it’s not far from my home only 1 hour by car ….

you can see how small this country and also you can see the tall bridge clearly.

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Oman

The Gulf Region countries are in lowland  but if you like the mountains and the nature there is Oman which has what you want from wonderful mountains, the nature and the nice weather. I just visited Oman one time but I want to visit it again ..

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I hope now you forgot the camels idea   and enjoyed the trip to the Arabian Gulf ..

Live Free or Die Hard is a movie which show you the life in the United States how it depend on the internet network. The United States is a country that use the networks connections every where. It’s very helpful to do that but at the same time in the future the United States may have problem with terrorists if they use the internet networks as a weapon. This movie give you an idea about that. I enjoyed watching it.

Live Free or Die Hard is not a new movie there are other old ones. The actors Bruce Willis Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Cliff Curtis, Maggie Q, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kevin Smith and Christina Chang are some of the famous in the movie. Bruce Willis seems old and different then other old movies.

The movie begins with Mai Linh who is the biggest criminal. She used the computers and Internet network to kill other hackers at the time they are using their computers inside their homes, just by click one button in their computers keyboard. She killed all of them except one lucky hacker which was Matthew Farrell.

John McClane is NYPD Police Detective and he knew that there is a hacker somewhere which was Matthew Farrell and then went to the location where this hacker is to arrest him. McClane brings the hacker to the FBI, in the midst of a shutdown of Washington D.C. traffic system is in a bad condition by the terrorists. the terrorists and other hackers begin to destroy the system in the United States by using the internet network.

The network system in the US ….

The traffic is in its bad condition after playing with the network system using the internet ….

The lights also one of many problems which the internet was the cause of that ….

The terrorists didn’t leave any thing they wanted to destroy the life in the cities like crazy by doing their work. They use the internet as a weapon to destroy the life in the US, the lights, the traffic and even the TV channels they change it to what they want of scaring shows to the people in the city. They did a show which people can see the Wight house destroyed in the TV while it’s still in a good condition ….

John McClane in the left and Matthew Farrell

Matthew Farrell knew then that the other hackers were the cause of all of that because of his experience of being a hacker before. Matthew Farrell is a good hacker and he know a lot of thing that may help John McClane and other FBI to stop the disaster. And the story became hot and exciting that time with a lot of actions and music. Farrell tries to cancel the damage done to the computer system while John McClane with fighting with the terrorists, also to take his daughter from the criminal. 

In the end of the movie Matthew Farrell secced to stop the problem and John McClane tooke his daughter and kill every criminal ….

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Here is a YouToub video that show you some of the movie …..

You can see The For Seasons clearly through the year in many cities in the north of the United States so I decided to chose a city that has the climate I like. Toledo is one of the cities so I chose it .

The climate of Toledo is a really wonderful like other cities in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Toledo climate, which is characterized by four distinct seasons which you can see it clearly through the year. Also, there are large swings in temperature and raining both between seasons and over shorter periods of time. For example, temperatures may vary as much in one week as average temperatures do in an entire season.

Here is the monthly average temperatures in Toledo, Ohio

The first month for me was Jan 2006 in the United States which was the winter time. I had an idea which you must be a very patience one to do it. The idea is to take a pictures through the year (The for seasons) and also the pictures should be taken in the same location in different seasons so you can see the different very clearly. By the way I had a problem with doing this idea that I forget some time to take pictures in all of the for seasons maybe because I’m  little laze but any way watch the results in the pictures

Here are the pictures I took from my Canon PowerShot A540 6.0 Megapixel digital camera.

Click on the links under each one of the pictures to download the full size ….

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I have more pictures I took it in different seasons (Winter, Summer, Fall and spring) But in different locations. I will show it in different post.

the original show from CNET
http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-28145.html

iPhone launches at NY Apple store in New york city
http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-28150.html

First look at the Apple iPhone … CNET
http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-28147.html

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by the way I went today to the at&t store to see the iPhone and to get some information about this phone. It’s really amazing … I hope I will get it soon

this is anther one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQISGk9GwMI

and here is a CNET video show you a line in the same city ….
http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-28127.html  

People in New York city where apple store is, waiting for their term to buy the iPhone

by the way, I read about that Apple will close its stores in the afternoon and will open it at 6 pm today when iPhone will launch ….

The First is Sony Ericsson W960i

 
For me Sony Ericsson is always the best and it will still the best. I had two Sony Ericsson cell phones before .. The W960i due to be released in this month June 2007, it is unlocked phone and can be use with any network. The W960i has touch display and 8GB memory. The W960i touch player let you manage your music the easy way to enjoy album art on the large phone display with using your fingers to play the song you want. You can with this phone view videos in TV quality on the W960i display. Or connect to your PC, synchronize. Also in this Phone You can install all the software you need.

 It has 240×320 pixel touch screen   with 262,144 color. The Sony Ericsson W960i is unlocked phone works with GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, UMTS 2100 Networks. The Sizes of this phone is 109 x 55 x 16 mm and 4.3 x 2.1 x 0.6 inches. It comes with 3,2 megapixel strong camera  include video recording. It has also 3D games, Java, Radio RDS, FM and video streaming. The Bluetooth and many important thing are in this phone like other phones. You can access the internet with this phone and surf the web.

This is just the important specifications. The Sony Ericsson W960i has more than that.

The price of this Phone … around $850
YouTube Video about the phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R-wpvohIfA

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The second is Nokia N95

Nokia N95 is a great phone that comes with all what you need to enjoy it. The great unlocked Nokia phone can be use with WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900 Networks. Nokia N95 Dimensions 2.1W × 0.8D × 3.9H. The Wireless Interfaces in this phone are IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, Infrared (IrDA), Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. In this phone you can see a great camera with 5 megapixel! with 2592 x 1944 high resolution and 10 Digital zoom. It has mobile Email, Java applications and internet browser.

 There is Digital music player supports MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA/M4A with play lists and equalizer. Nokia N95 comes with 160 MB internal dynamic memory and Memory card slot supporting up to 2 GB microSD memory cards. Nokia N95 has a Large 2.6″ QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) TFT display with ambient light detector and up to 16 million colors.

The price of this Phone is $749.00
YouTube Video about the phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-PxHUdur9Q

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The Apple iPhone …

The iphone is a locked phone can be use with only at&t network. This is a smart phone with great touch screen with perfect color and style. It comes with 4GB or 8GB memory you have the choice but you can’t upgrade the size more then 8GB. The screen is a widescreen 480-by-320-pixel resolution. The iPhone has a 2  megapixel camera with no video recording. Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV with iPhone. iPhone comes with great Headphones. You have to use iTunes virsion 7.3 or later with iPhone to connect it with your computer.

Operating temperature for iPhone 0° to 35° C ( we have sometime more then 50° C in my country so if you wanna cook the iPhone just keep it out side there and watch it melting hehe ). The iPhone has a good battery around 8 hours talking or 24 hours audio playback

Size and weight
Height: 4.5 inches (115 mm)
Width: 2.4 inches (61 mm)
Depth: 0.46 inch (11.6 mm)
Weight: 4.8 ounces (135 grams)

The price of this Phone is $499.99 for 4GB and $599.99 for 8GB
YouTube Video about the phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttu1cIY9i9Y

Here is a CNET link for show that give you top 5 reasons to buy the Apple iPhone
http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-28075.html

And this is anther one for the top 5 reasons not to buy the Apple iPhone.

It’s really bad things with this phone specially number 3 of 5 that’s talks about that you can’t make a contract with any network company, you can only use at&t with iPhone. I think that will not help Apple to sell a lot of quantities of their phone. Shame on you Steve Jobs you made your customers don’t buy your phone .. hehe

Finally, I liked all of the three phones and each one has great specifications. But also they have the good and bad. Any way the Sony Ericsson W960i is the phone that I liked much until we see the unlocked version of iPhone.  
 

There is a movie that I just watched at the time the movie is released, yesterday June 22, 2007. The movie was very intersting for me, so I dicede to write a little about  it. It’s called Evan Almighty.

it’s a comedy movie include an interesting story, the movie’s director is  Tom Shadyac. one of the main actors in the movie is Steve Carell who play the role of Evan who elected to Congress he was living in Buffalo before he went with his family to suburban northern Virginia. Also, Morgan Freeman who play the role of God in the movie and John Goodman who play the role of Congressman Long.

   
Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman 

 The Story ..

There was a night when Evan’s wife prayed for god and thank him for their new house and she asked him and hopping to live well until the future. Joan whose Evan’s wife told him to pray for god and when he prayed he wanted to change the world and asked that to the god. He wanted to change the world specially after he elected to Congress so he can do that by doing some business.

The god give the Ark Building book to Evan

but what he didn’t know that the god will help Evan to change the world by the way Evan and the rest of business people don’t like it. Any way he liked what god asked him to do recently.

Evan’s life gets different when God (Morgan Freeman play the role of god) appears and mysteriously commands him to build an ark because of a flood coming upon that would break the northern Virginia dam near the suburbs.

 
Evan after his life is changed

Evan has no way except to do what god asked him to do

The Congress members looking at what Evan do. He was a congress man and now after his relationship with god he is a cave man helps the nature and animals.

In the end of the movie the people and congress men (Evan was a congress man) with Congressman Long were waiting for the flood to come so they can believe what Evan told them or they will destroy his ark that god asked him to build it to help the animals when the flood is coming. In the last moment the flood  broke the northern Virginia dam near the suburbs and the water came to where the Ark and people are and Evan helped everybody from the danger.

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Scenes for the film were filmed in different locations in Virginia, including areas around Crozet, Waynesboro, Richmond, and Staunton.

something that I’m interesting with, in the movie the shape of the Ark that they built it to use it in the film, It’s like a shape of a famous history Ark. I read also about that the movie ark was designed to meet the actual measurements of the Bible measuring 450 feet long, 80 feet wide and 51 feet high. Also, in Islamic religion also has a real story that include the same shape of this ark It’s called Noah Ark. and it’s real ark and story. They found recently the ark location in somewhere in our planet.

These pictures show you the real ark location

visit this page to know more about Noah Ark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah’s_Ark

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These pictures for the ark that was used with Evan Almighty movie it’s real and huge.

Click here … for full size

Here is a YouTube video show you some of Evan Almighty movie …

This is the quick moving storm that came to us from the north west.

On my way to my apartment with my roommate we saw unusual thing when we just entered Campus Village where my apartment is. There was a tree on the road with a man standing near to the tree. We stopped to ask him what happened but he was not sure about what happened. Any way I looked at the tree and I knew that it was a lighting which strike it, a half of the tree is gone!

Here are some pictures that I took to the unlucky tree.

Click here … for full size

They moved the tree from the road so we can a cross.
Click here … for full size

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You can see how big effect the lighting left it on the wood. Also the burns can seen clearly on it. Just imagine what will happing when lighting touch you.
Click here … for full size

This is the rest of the storm after it left us …
Click here … for full size

Visit this link if you like .. there are pictures that our teacher took it while we were in the picnic.
http://www.alexwrege.com/index.php/thunderstorm/american-language-institute-picnic-thunderstorm/ 

For those who don’t believe that lighting can strike any thing any place in the US just watch these two scary videos …

another one … for lightning that strikes a tree like what happened to the tree I show it to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLJ6oqToKrc&mode=related&search=