I’ve finally took the leap & moved to another mobile OS, That’s nothing less than the infamous Android, & if you’re gonna do it, I decided to do it right.. Here is the beauty I got:

Ladies & gentlemen, allow me to present the only, the great, the monstrous, the gigantic Samsung Galaxy Note

Samsung’s N7000 flagship sporting a 5.3” Super AMOLED display on a dual core 1.4 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM & 16 GB internal memory not to mention the up-to-32GB memory card slot as well as 8 MP 3264 x 2448 px camera with LED flash capable of shooting 1080p video .. That was mouthful!

I gotta say, I love the big screen, reading PDF files can’t be more comfortable & the integrated S-pen allows more precise touch not to mention the capability of taking a screenshot & editing it plus sharing it just by pressing the pen against the screen for a couple of seconds!

The battery itself is a beauty, 2500 mA battery with extended running-time “well.. at least for Android”

So switching from Symbian (Samsung Omnia HD) to Android (Samsung Galaxy Note) was a huge leap for me, & it took me less than a week to crack the secrets of the new OS, so here I am giving you the results of my continuous relentless finger-fiddling & trials & errors with the android OS

First of all, There’s a list of a MUST-HAVE apps to take full advantage of your android device

1. WordPress for Android “if you happened to be a blogger like me”
2. Whatsapp Messenger “essential for cross-platform chatting”
3. Viber “for VOIP calls”
4. Messenger WithYou “Android-based Windows live messenger”
5. ChatON “A Samsung attempt for a whatsapp-like app”
6. The Official Facebook Application
7. The Official Twitter Application “You do own a social hub to read all the updates on both twitter & facebook, but you might need the official apps for adding friends & adjusting account settings”
8. The Official YouTube application “it is built-in in some devices”
9. Adobe reader “for the enjoyment of reading PDFs on big screens”
10. IMDB “for movie maniacs”
11. Wikipedia “the name says it all”
12. Blackmart Alpha “it is a cydia-like software that allows you to install apps that is not available in your country on google play, to get it you have to download the .apk from your browser & install it”
13. Shazam “if you don’t know what that is, just get it”
14. Google Drive “the new cloud-based file saving app on google like microsoft’s skydrive”
15. Sketch n Draw “only if you own a s-pen based android like galaxy note”
16. Pulse “RSS reader”
17. Google Currents “another RSS reader”
18. Angry Birds “ALL versions”
19. Fruit Ninja or Fruit Slice
20. AirAttack HD Part 1
21. Temple Run
22. Glow Hockey 2
23. 4 Player reactor
24. Cut the rope
25. Slice it!
26. Battery Solo widget
27. GO Taskmanager “requires GO Launcher to be installed”
28. 3G watchdog “to monitor your data usage”
29. TuneIn Radio “Internet radio streaming”
30. Medscape, Skyscape & Epocrates “along all their free resources, for medicals only” WebMD is good for non-medicals.

Now, a few advices when dealing with Android devices..

1. Use a brand-new Gmail account once you use Android for the first time
2. Make sure you backup your contacts & calendar entries on your brand-new Gmail account so that you instantly get them on your phone once you use it for the first time
3. Live wallpapers are catchy & cool.. but dramatically battery-consuming
4. Switch on System Power-Saver when you’re not using your mobile, it disables one processor among Autosync and many other energy-consuming features
5. Get at least 500 MB/month data plan, Android devices depends on Internet access heavily
6. Update your phone software once you switch it on for the first time.. from Settings >> About Phone “Please use WiFi, it averages 150 – 300 MB download” – If you had Google Store, it will change to Google Play once you update.
7. To preserve your battery, DO NOT plug your charger unless the battery level is at or below 10% “Battery solo widget will show the exact percentage remaining in your battery”
8. The Power on/Lock button can be used to switch mobile data off or turn flight mode on through a long press, useful if you don’t want your mobile to use much data while you’re unaware
9. Turn on Autosync, but choose the accounts you wish to sync automatically & the intervals : Google accounts, Facebook & Gmail are a necessity to sync at least every 24 hours
10. Spend your morning 15-minutes in the bathroom downloading & trying new apps.. Google Play store is infinite!
11. An IMPORTANT tip for all touch-screen mobile users, A screen protector & a body protector.. a MUST!
12. Don’t be afraid to explore, worst-case scenario all your information will be wiped out & you’ll install a fresh firmware & restore your contacts & calendar from google account “you did back them up, right? see hint # 2”
13. Final Tip, Every Android mobile has a way to take a screen shot even if it doesn’t support a S-pen, try pressing the home button then a single press on the lock/power on button.

aThe unstoppable flow of life can only leave room for us to catch up. Caught in an immense current in a river of laughter, sorrow & pain with no land in sight, you have no choice but go with the flow & try not to have your neck broken. Sometimes we pause to think, to reassess, to contemplate a choice that is almost impossible to make; sometimes we just make those randomly with almost zero consideration.

Humans by far have a long list of fears among all other creatures, for our complex needs, our tangled networks, the hectic lifestyle we go through every single day gives us more & more reasons to be afraid. Though the only thing they’re not afraid of is to hurt others, it’s done smoothly, easily & seamlessly without a second thought, a look back or even damage control, leaving someone’s ego bleeding is way easier than leaving someone’s body bleeding.

Being kind might be considered weakness.. correction, always considered weakness. They tend to think you’re a pushover & they might as well get anything they want from you relying solely on your kindness & your inherent inability to say no. As dark as this thought might be, sadly it’s the truth that is incorporated into our mental fabrics so deep that we deal with it subconsciously.

Unlike other creatures, we’ve created a gigantic list of rules to govern our lives, whether religion, etiquette, finances, paperwork, work. Those are supposed to make our life easier, but the years of accumulation of those chains have left us handicapped, moving slowly. We abandoned simplicity since the industrical revolution, We’re more concerned now about gadgets than people.

Speaking of gadgets, I am anti-apple though I own an Ipod, I think Ipod is the only truly useful product that apple has ever created, sound quality, reliability & immense storage capacity. As for Iphone/Ipad freaks, I am sorry guys but 98% of you guys won’t ever read an e-book over their Ipad, You’re so into facebook & twitter that you’re willing to pay 5Gs to get an iphone with no bluetooth connections & then, you need to jailbreak.. Did I mention that I really think that apple freaks are masochistic ? standing in rows for days to get a gadget that is a minimal upgrade to the previous one (that you bought last year) & still lacking LED screen, Bluetooth & a good battery ?? I mean com’on, there’re way more important things in life than this!

So, I can say no, & I will when I have to, I can say I’m kind but I am no pushover, I love my personal space that people try to invade it fiercely every single day in my life & then they complain that I don’t answer their calls anymore. Yea, that’s me!

There’s life even in the darkest places, cherish it. I’ve lived nights so dark that I couldn’t think my mind, I’ve lived days so pinky that I couldn’t stop smiling, I have been there, but now, I refuse to leave my destiny to chance, to live my life unplanned, uncalculated. There’s a plan that I’m willing to execute to the very last letter, & if I couldn’t, It’s enough I tried, there’s victory in trying.

I leave you now with a question: Your vision of your very self in 5 years, Do you have a plan to arrive to that destination?

There are lots of misunderstanding regarding heart attacks & chest pain in general. In this post, I will be clarifying some of the major points regarding heart attacks for non-medicals.

Angina Pectoris (Heart attack) is chest pain due to heart disease characterized by inadequate blood supply to an area of the heart muscle, usually happens due to stress, exercise, after meals or cold, & resolved by rest or nitrates.

The chest pain is usually compressing like a huge rock on the chest in the middle of the chest, can’t be pinpointed with a finger “i.e. diffuse” and radiating to left arm, left shoulder, jaw, epigastrium “stomach area” or back. Classical description of cardiac chest pain necessitated further investigations whenever there’s pain from the eyebrow to the umbilicus “belly button/navel”.

Sometimes the cardiac chest pain “heart attack” can be silent, without any pain in certain conditions like:  diabetic patients, heart transplant patients and some other uncommon diseases. Sometimes it might present with shortness of breath “dyspnea” instead of chest pain, we call that Angina equivalents.

A heart attack is almost always accompanied by shortness of breath “dyspnea”, sense of impending doom “Angor animi”, Sweating, palpitation “conscious sensation of heart beats” & fatigue.

Other characteristics of chest pain cannot fully exclude a heart attack, for example:

1. Chest pain that increase & decrease with respiration: That would point to a chest cause more often
2. Chest pain that can be pinpointed: more commonly a chest cause
3. Chest pain that would last for hours without signs of hemodynamic collapse “i.e. low blood pressure, loss of consciousness and immediate hospitalization” that would commonly be not cardiac in origin
4. Chest pain that happens after and not during exercise
5. Chest pain that resolve when continuing exercise.
6. Non-radiating chest pain

Those types of chest pain would rather point to a cause that is not cardiac, but can not fully exclude cardiac origin, 4% of heart attacks present with atypical forms.

The mechanisms behind a heart attack is a clot in one of the coronary arteries that is obstructing the blood from flowing to the heart muscle OR a spasm in the coronary artery causing transient shortage of blood supply OR incomplete obstruction of a coronary artery that lowers blood supply and manifest when more oxygen is needed by the heart as in exercise.

Who would get a heart attack? There are a huge array of risk factors that would be a cause of atherosclerosis “fat deposition in the artery walls which cause narrowing & maybe clot formation” like:  Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, Male gender, Stressful personality, lack of exercise, old age, smokers, among other uncommon risk factors.

What to do? First, you need to rest and stop the exercise immediately “that way you’re lowering your heart need for oxygen”. Next, use a nitrate tablet under the tongue “sublingual nitrates” as dinitra to dilate the coronary artery & allow more blood to flow. It’s worthwhile to take 300 mg of aspirin (4 tablets of 75 mg) as well if you were not already on aspirin, this alone improves survival rate by 30%. Then seek medical advice immediately even if the pain subsided.

What do doctors do? First, we ensure there’s no on-going chest pain by giving nitrate drip intra-venous and oxygen supply to increase blood oxygenation. Meanwhile, we run an ECG to detect total obstruction of the coronary artery as well as cardiac biomarkers which increase when there’s heart cells damage “Myocardial infarction”.

It must be noted that normal ECG will not exclude a heart attack. A doctor has to differentiate between a heart attack due to partial coronary narrowing without heart cells damage & a heart attack due to partial or total coronary narrowing with heart cells damage for it will decide the treatment modality chosen.

So Heart attacks can be classified to:

1. Simple Angina Pectoris: due to partial obstruction, with no heart cell damage or cardiac biomarkers level increase. Treated by drugs only
2. Myocardial Infarction: due to partial or total obstruction, with heart cell damage and cardiac biomarkers level increase. Treated by drugs &/or intervention.

A total coronary obstruction would mean that the part of the heart that is supplied by this artery is not getting any oxygen, rapid action need to be taken to dissolve that clot, otherwise, this part of the heart muscle will die resulting in decrease in overall heart function “i.e. heart failure” & maybe death.

In setting of total occulsion, depending on the situation, Either we dissolve the clot by applying clot-dissolving drip streptokinase or alteplase OR we do coronary intervention by insertion of a catheter through the femoral artery “thigh” up to the clogged artery, remove the clot, dilate the artery & apply a stent “this procedure is called Per-cutaneous coronary intervention PCI”. also multi-slice CT scan should be able to show the obstructed vessels, however it lacks sensitivity on heart rates more than 85/minute and also lacks the intervention aspect of PCI.

It should be noted that there’s only 8 – 12 hours window to dissolve the clot by drugs from the onset of pain. The ideal door-to-balloon time is 90 minutes from the time you reach the hospital to removing the clot & dilating the coronaries which emphasize the importance of the time spent to seek medical advice from the onset of the heart attack.

However in setting of not total occlusion, We resort to drugs only to improve the heart oxygenation, for example:

1. Long-acting nitrates: usually taken in the morning and afternoon, leaving an 8-hour nitrate-dree period to prevent tolerance. It dilates the coronary arteries & also decrease the load of the heart, it also causes headache that is resolved by aspirin, it might cause hypotension “low blood pressure” and the dose should be adjusted immediately. It is to be noted that Viarga & Cialis are totally contraindicated with nitrates for the risk of life-threatening hypotension.
2. Aspirin: Cornerstone of treatment of heart attacks, it blocks the blood clotting on the platelet level and improve the survival by 30%.
3. A Beta blocker: those drugs reduce heart rate & output of the heart, they’re given in a very careful dosage to avoid depression of cardiac function, although they might seem injurious, but they improve outcomes by 17%.
4. A Lipid-lowering agent “Statin”: They lower blood cholesterol levels to block more atherosclerosis, moreover they have extra effects by stabilizing the present lipid plaques avoiding their rupture & so, clot formation.
5. Heparin: Used only in the acute stage or during the first 24 hours in hospitalized patients only, it is another blocker of the blood clotting system and should be given intra-venous or subcutaneous.
6. Clopidogrel “Plavix”: another blocker of blood clotting on the level of the platelets, showing synergy with aspirin and improve the outcome even more than aspirin alone

Other drugs may be added according to the state of your coronary arteries whether it is total or partial occlusion as well as associated condition as hypertension or diabetes.

As you see, those are not on-the-counter medicaments that can be used casually, The management plan has to be custom-tailored to every patient according to his condition.

What should you do after?

1. Avoid saturated fat as in butter & ghee and use oils only to cook food, only 2 eggs are allowed per week, red meats should be avoided “duck and pigeons are considered red meat”, sea food in general is beneficial in lowering cholesterol except shrimps, lobster & calamari.
2. Make sure your blood pressure & sugar are within the safe margin: BP lower than 130/80 mmHg & Blood sugar lower than 200 randomly.
3. Apply exercise cautiously unless your doctor advises otherwise: when chest pain takes place, you should rest immediately.
4. Cease smoking.
5. If you’re hypertensive, eat low-salt diet. if you’re diabetic, eat low-sugar and low-carbohydrate diet.
6. Adhere to your medicament, your heart is dependent on them.
7. Always carry sublingual nitrate tablets “taken under the tongue” with you in case you suffered an attack, if you needed more than 3 tablets separated by 5 minute interval, seek medical advice immediately. Chest pain that is not controlled by 3 consecutive nitrate tablets might be an ominous sign of total occlusion.
8. If you sensed shortness of breath on minimal exercise, consult your doctor immediately, this might be caused by decrease in heart function that would necessitate adjustment of your treatment plan.
9. Fainting might be a sign of heart rate irregularities, although not common when you’re not in need for hospitalization, it should be addressed immediately because it might be life-threatening.
10. Bleeding is not a common complaint when using aspirin & clopidogrel, but should be managed as soon as possible to avoid life-threatening internal bleeding.

Further investigations may be required from you including:

1. Exercise ECG: to assess your response to exercise.
2. Echocardiography “Echo”: to assess the heart function & observe any not-moving heart walls “Segmental wall motion abnormalities”
3. Exercise Echocardiography: to assess heart function during stress, we use drugs to induce an exercise-like state
4. Thallium scan: injecting a radioactive dye and use a gamma camera to observe uptake during rest & exercise, dead heart tissue will not take the heart  at all, while tissues with low oxygen supply will take the dye on exercise when the coronary artery dilates, this test is used to assess the viability of heart tissue if you need late PCI or CABG “bypass open-heart surgery”.
5. Multi-slice CT scan of the heart

I hope this discussion helped you understand the basics of mechanisms and treatment of heart attack as well as immediate management and further lifestyle modifications needed, please if you have any inquiries, write them in the comment field and I will try to respond as soon as I can.

A whirlwind of emotions invaded my mind as I dived into thin air, an endless flow of pictures stabbed my mind like needles pushing me to wake up. Wall after wall, I built around my flaming insides; An icy shield I so proudly constructed like a magical one-way mirror.

I tend to run away every time I am confronted by passion, sometimes I fall but mostly I hide. Many wrong choices I’ve made, but not regret for those define the person I am today. I am used to pain, to suffering, for I feel alienated without them, a moment of peace is a moment of caution for me.

For I am a single being among billions, I do not count, I can not make a change though I thrive to try, just for that single moment, that one flash of time when the light shines right through me & I feel that I did good. As rare as those serene moments are, they keep me going on. What choice do I have but to go on?!

I’ve been to the bottom, as they say it is a good thing for the only way to go is up, I beg to differ, there’s always a worse fate, a more painful epiphany, a tragic twist of events that we fail to foresee. Singing birds, fresh smell of coffee, the joy of witnessing a virgin awe of a child, a loving embrace, a proud mother.. a few examples of the purpose of life, of why we should be living.

Like a fish struggling to get back to water so far, when the vision is dim, & you can smell the end, the tragic twist of fate, the epiphany, the beginning of a new life.. There shines a light through you urging you to go on, to fight for what you believe in, for what you are, to live another day to tell the people you love that you do.. because you never know when you’ll get another chance.

Like an invisible stream, so fast, so seamless, time is. As it flows, it steals away bits & pieces of your very soul, your innocence; we can’t feel it as it happen but if we paused for a moment & looked back, all you can see is bits of you lying down your memory lane, your past, your life. Every second counts, & every gesture & every word.

Still hiding behind my icy shield, wishing I could be free from a prison I created for myself & forgot the key somewhere down the timeline. Suffocating, banging against the walls with the same hands that made them, can’t break through.

Diving into nowhere, I can’t see but a shimmering light at the end so far away. Like the fish fighting to get to the water, I run out of air, of will to survive & I lay down waiting for it to happen. The darkest of moments when you’re waiting for the inevitable, when seconds seem like centuries  & years of the past seem like seconds.. What have I done?. A tear runs down my cheek, finding nowhere to rest as the flow of time takes it away, just like all the laughs & the cries it took, as I fall, embracing the tragic finale, & finally.. rest

It was like today back in 2005 when I wrote my very first blog post on this same blog “yet it was blogger back then”  with lots of typos & really awkward consistency..

My blog has been through many changes during those six years, It’s witnessed my ups & downs, great times & terrible ones.. and It’s always been there to listen to my words not to mention when I wiped it clean earlier this year starting fresh

So, It’s now six years old “& I am hitting 29 soon”  & today, I’m celebrating the birthday of one of my best-est friends, Bloggie

Happy Birthday, Bloggie..

& That goes with a song  “don’t kill me, but that’s one of my all-time favorites”

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if you’re dancing along, you can download it “Gotta love the 90s”

A new TV series that is keeping me breathless every Sunday. It is about Alfons de Borgia who later became Pope Callixtus III through some twisted means & with the help of his two sons & his daughter, he manages to commit every sin there is to keep his papacy.

It is a show of intrigue, suspense & wonderful cinematography, Most of the scenes take place in the Vatican though the storyline is immensely twisted & guaranteed to keep you on your toes throughout the show.

The good thing about this show is that the pace of the event flow is fast enough not to get you bored but you’ll watch every second of the show with intrigue.

For linguistics freaks like myself, The actors tend to use some medieval English terms which adds sort of ancient beauty to the show.

The show should be rated R due to some nudity & some graphic battle scenes.

Here’s the promo

& the breath-taking opening titles

I looked online for the opening title soundtrack but couldn’t find any except one with added voice in the beginning, so I took the time to extract the audio track from one of the episodes.

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Finally, If you’re interested to watch this show, here is the link to EZTV Page

Ok, I am literally biting my nails off right now, I am really really angry & frustrated that I am not an Android developer & haven’t attended the Google Keynote I/O 2011 in San Francisco (I am not even a US resident).

Basically, I have come to knowledge that most of Google senior staff are Indians, wow, those guys definitely got smarter, not to mention their new music is very cool.

The reason I am biting my nails off today is that .. The giveaways for google I/O 2011 were *sobs* Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 "which is still unreleased", A Google Chrome Notebook "also unreleased", A verizon 4G hotspot "that’s like a router that you can take everywhere"

& for those who are not familiar with the above gorgeous products, here are some pictures for your eyes to feast on

Presenting Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

We’re talking here about a 10.1 Inch touch screen, running Google Android Honeycomb v3.0 OS that is upgradeable to v3.1 in a couple of weeks, over a dual-core 1Ghz processor with HD video recording & dual cameras & everything you might ever need in your life in an extremely lightweight and super slim tablet.

They also offered an invitation for the still-to-be-released Google Music Beta to attendees of the IO conference which entitles you to download music over Google Music which is instantly accessible on ALL your Android devices.

Now, Google Chrome Notebook

This is a new advance in operating systems through online-clouding – In English, That means that ALL your data, movies, books, music and virtually everything exists on your own online cloud, so In case of failure, You can retrieve everything back in a glimpse – Furthermore, All running applications are actually on the cloud as well, which means that you’ll never need to "update" an application because it will be automatically updated transparently!

Now, what’s new Google has to offer in 2011??

1. Google Android Ice cream Sandwich release, A single OS for tablets, mobile phones & everything Google.

2. Researching a new technology of making Android-enabled home appliances, so you can do everything at your home using your Android device "Minority Report is becoming reality??"

3. Movie rentals over Android store, just like music, it is accessible INSTANTLY over all your Android devices AND, it can be viewed offline.

4. New Virtual Camera Assistance, Which actually zooms in on the talking person over the video call if multiple persons are using one-end of the video call "how smart is that!"

5. Some stuff about the Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology.

So Yes, I love Google .. & I do not care about the rumors that they’re collecting data about users & everything .. They’re just phenomenal & My upcoming mobile phone is DEFINITELY Android-based "I have my eye on Samsung Galaxy S II"

For tech freaks like myself, Go to its GSMarena webpage & cry your heart out.. & you might need to check YouTube for its commercials too!

we’re talking here about 4.3" Super-AMOLED screen "THE perfect screen", 8 MP camera with HD 1080p, Dual core processor of 1.2 GHz & 1 GB RAM, all packed in a slim gorgeous phone only 116 grams heavy.. I so need to save up for this.. Yes, It’s around $900, Thank you very much!

Now, if you still have time to spare, You might want to watch the Google Keynotes I/O 2011.

Dear Mother,

It’s been two years since we last met “well, Plus a few hours”  & words can’t express how much I miss you..

It seems that this day in particular is the day where I celebrate my loneliness, I am not THAT lonely but it is a figure of speech.. Last year, this was the day when I broke up with my ex-boyfriend.. and This year is the day when I am giving up on the guy I was dating and breaking up with him as well.. I know you’d be the one who would be supporting me on all this.

I am way behind schedule on the studying thingie.. I hope I’ll be able to catch up before it is too late .. I desperately need your guidance here!

I am going to visit you very soon, I promise.. I know I haven’t been good & I haven’t showed up for sometime.. But I need to talk to you for a while.

Say Hello to dad, grandma & uncle.. Tell’em I miss them lots.

Always Yours ..

Your son  

Merde Merde Merde!

I hate my life right now .. & There’s an epic song to go along with the misery I am going through, I am absolutely obsessed about it lately

On a second thought, they’re two songs.. in latin!

Warning: Driving while listening to the first song might result in an inevitable car accident.

X-ray Dog – The Dark Empire

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Lesiem – Fundamentum

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Click on the song name if you want to download the track..

*clears throat* I guess I am doing the same mistake again, I fell for a guy.. well, not exactly; because we just met less than a week ago but I do have feelings for the guy.. & guess what, it is reciprocated!

But life ain’t that pinky! He’s some issues that I cannot deal with.. & it really disappoints me because I’ve waited for a long time for a dateable guy & when he shows up.. it’s all messed up.

Now, I am tired of fighting, I really am.. I choose to curl up and let it happen without a fight.. I guess I lost my stamina!

Adding the exams stress and mother’s anniversary in three days.. the pain is intolerable and I am really disturbed..

How great would it be if I slept and woke up and found out that all my problems are gone.. That would be heaven, wouldn’t it? definitely not earthly.. definitely!

This is one of the periods where I really hate my life.

Update: I ended the whole thing tonight, I guess I am not up for a fight.. I can not sustain anymore damage, so.. I retreat and.. it sucks.. big time!