Hi,

Long time no hear from me...lol.

Life has moved in positive directions for me since last I posted anything here. Pathfinder Associates finally hired me fulltime in August. I am settling back into a fulltime employment role and I'm very happy about it.

This week though brings me to the subject of fasting for Ramadan. Last year, I worked on a project for one of Pathfinder's clients and the majority of the team's developers fasted for Ramadan. Also, in years past, I have worked with other developers who went through this month-long fast.

As a show of team unity, this year, I am fasting with them. The basics of the fast are that you fast from dawn until sunset abstaining from food, drink, and all sexual activities from October 16 until November 14. I told my friends I was going to fast with them this year and they obtained a Ramadan fasting calendar for me. The calendar gives you starting and stopping times everyday for the fasting down to the minute. So, for example, today I must fast from 5:33 a.m. until 6:07 p.m. Tomorrow, the fast starts at 5:34 a.m. and so on.

I'm not sure how long I will be able to keep up this fasting but, I'm going to try to hang in for the full month. I am not a religious person in any way. I stopped being religious years ago after deciding that many of the religions were all too hypocritical.

The fasting is going to be a drastic change for me and I will have to show much will power and self-control to do it. I am a big coffee drinker during the day and this fast will flush my system of caffeine during daylight hours (I'm waiting for the caffeine headaches to start). I think it will be a good experience for me as a whole though. And, it will also put me on the same wavelength as my fellow developers. I will be working under the same conditions as they are.

So, to end this ramble, I leave you with a poem from Hosam...

Ramadan means alot to me:
It’s the month of worship and the month of victories and dignity and honor
The month that humans can be clean from inside and outside
It’s the filter of errors and bad habits
It’s the cleaner of hate and bad thoughts
And everything wrong between all people
Ramadan is the month of good and beauty
People are happy, Joy is everywhere
Because the doors of paradise are open and those of hell are closed
It’s the month of mercy for me
I prefer this month so much more than anything else
Because I feel that I am close to Allah more and more
And I feel comfortable too in this month becoming closer to all more and more
And every one is in a hurry to obey Allah and get his mercy and acceptance
This is Ramadan and however much I say I will not express its full meaning

Hosam, is 17-years old, and a high school student in Rafah. He is also a prolific poet

That's all for now.

Woj