My brother Keyvan Ghaemmaghami is the People's Poet for his small town of Newport, in South Wales, UK. He was telling me about a couple of poems he wrote about soldiers who are coming back home and trying to find their place back in society as well as those who gave their lives to defend ours. He asked me if I knew of anyone who could put the words into song. I thought I could blog the poems and see if anyone out there could help?

The Soldier

When I walk back to my life,
after years of fighting
am I me again or am I a soldier?

When I walk back through the path today, yesterday,
and the years that have gone by,
was it me or is it the soldier?

When I touch you,
Could you see me the same?
Or do you see a soldier?

Have I changed in the way I feel,
about things that matter?
Do I jump with every sound?
Am I nervous?
Do I fight in my dreams every night?
Do you see the tears in my eyes?

I am next to you,
but cannot hear you.
Am I the fighting man
you once knew or,
am I broken within?

The secret is, I am a soldier.

*************************************************

We will remember you
 
we will remember you.
It was cruel and mindless carnage.
It is cruel and unacceptable bloodshed.
The words we repeatedly say,
after each goodbye.

We will remember you,
Oh yes...we will remember you.
We love you dearly.
We'll remember you,
until the next time.

The H bomb, 7/7, 9/11 and unlimited wars.
Why? because we want to
Otherwise, why remember?

Remember me, I am here.
Oh, not till you have gone,
then, we'll remember you.

ABC's show, Lost's season finale aired last night and I've been thinking about the mysteries and symbolism of the show since. Being a literature major, the scene where Jacob is reading the book by Flannery O'Connor, Everything that Rises Must Converge, caught my attention and I did a bit of research. I found this analysis of the book by Sarah Madsen Hardy especially helpful. According to Hardy,

Throughout the seasons we have seen the struggles between individual characters, (John vs. Jack, Ben Vs. John, James Vs. Jack, etc.) as well as groups poised against eachother, (Lost team Vs. the Others, Others Vs. The Dharma people, etc.) and now we see Jacob Vs. the Unnamed. It is hard to judge which ones are the good guys, as each side shows flaws, and goodness alike. The recurring theme of struggle seems to resonate with a recurring quote that characters seem to agree on as well: "Live together, die alone." So it comes to mind that in order for evolution or progress to take place, opposing sides need to converge, for human beings to truly evolve they need to bring together the animal and spiritual side, and for dark and light to intertwine.

So how do I think the show will end? That depends on the worldview of the writers of the show. If they have an affirmative vision of the universe, then we will see things end happily for all involved where the struggling sides learn to live happily together. If the creators of the show are realists though and their vision of the world is based on what we see today, then dark and light will battle eachother destroying everything and ultimately eachother. I, for one, can't wait for season 6. I love this show.

Haven't been doing movie reviews for a while on this site, only because I've been watching some stupid movies, I didn't think they even deserved a review: these include Step Brothers, Dewey Cox, Kung Fu Panda, Drillbit Taylor, Goodluck Chuck, and Mr. Woodcock. I realized in my quest for funny, and entertaining movies to watch, I keep renting dumbass DVDs not worth the disc they are burned on. So please if you know of any good funny movies, send me an email. Otherwise, I have to watch A Fish Called Wanda and The Rat Race over and over again.

The last two movies that I have watched, the documentary titled "We Live in Public" and the anime titled "Persepolis",  have not been funny and entertaining so much as they have been thought provocative and controversial. I recommend watching both of them, as I enjoyed each in a different way and learned from them.

Since the documentary chronicles a decade in the life of one of Internet pioneers, Josh Harris, it was interesting to watch "We Live in Public" with my husband, as Robert has been living in public as long as I've known him and in his own words is fanatic about the Internet. Robert called the movie, a cautionary tale when we let things go to extremes. For me, it was amazing to watch how the mind of a genius works and how often the society laughs and rejects those who tend to think ahead of their time. It has been my experience, that some of those who have extremely high IQs or are extremely intelligent, inventive or creative, have a hard time dealing with their emotions and come out as cold, detached, and socially inept. It was sad to see that for all his brilliance, Josh Harris had such a hard time relating to people he cared about and could not find and hold on to love. It was also sad to see that all his ideas that were thought foolish, and creepy are now picked up by the major networks and the masses as the popularity of social networks and reality TV soars. I definitely recommend watching this film, especially to those spending more and more time on the Internet. I think that includes many of us.

While I found "We Live in Public" an eye-opening film about the Internet culture, and our culture in general, "Persepolis" hit me so much closer to home and heart. As an Iranian immigrant who experienced the revolution and war in an early age in my homeland, I could relate in such a deep level to the cultural issues explored in "Persepolis." I think that in many ways though this story of coming of age touches on many universal human aspects that we all share and it is sweet and sad, romantic and political, funny at times, and heart-rending at others. It is fantastic how this is all portrayed in the form of anime; no wonder it was nominated for an Oscar and has won so many awards.

I think I need to watch more critically acclaimed movies, especially from Sundance Festival and Foreign movies and stay away from stupid Hollywood movies for a while. What have you been watching lately?

When I finished reading Barrel Fever, by David Sedaris, there was only one thing to do: Pick up another book by him and don't stop until I was done. His latest, When You are Engulfed in Flames, is one of the funniest I have read. I literally could not bring myself to put the book down. Each personal essay was as funny if not funnier than the one before, making me want to call my friends in the middle of the day or night to read favorite passages out loud to them. Here are some of my favorites:
He adopts a female spider as a pet, names it April and takes it to vacation in Paris, then spends all his time hanging out around garbage cans in public parks to trap flies for it. The title of this story is "April in Paris."
He describes how he once scared the birds away from hitting his windows by posting pictures of terrorists on the glass.
He talks about how he quit smoking after thirty years by living in Tokyo for three months and taking Japanese classes.
It doesn't matter what happens to him, David Sedaris has a peculiar funny way of recounting the story and I absolutely recommend reading his books, especially When You are Engulfed in Flames.

Becoming a mother has brought many joys to my life in the last 19 months. Alas, the joy of reading has not been one of them, unless you count reading Parenting magazine or instruction manuals to put together various toys, and baby accessories. I have had the pleasure of reading three great books in the last three months though, and wanted to give you a quick review and my strong recommendation to read them.

My very favorite has to be the Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D.  I wish I had read this book twenty years ago as it provides such a fascinating perspective into the deep and complex mystery of female psychology, but it is so fun and easy to read. I recommend reading this book to all my female friends and all the men who love them and wish to understand them better. Having been an English major, I have always chosen fiction over non-fiction, but I found that I couldn't put this book down once I started it and that it was such a quick and easy read.

I enjoyed the Female Brain so much that I decided to start reading a book by another female author I admire, Firoozeh Dumas. After reading Funny in Farsi, I couldn't wait for her second book to come out and Laughing without an Accent, did not disappoint. Dumas is a great storyteller and her memoirs are filled with simple, funny, and entertaining stories. Another fun, easy and quick read which also provides you with an insight, albeit a funny one, into Iranian culture.

Speaking of funny and memoirs, one of my favorite funny writers is David Sedaris. I've been hooked since I read, Me Speak Pretty One Day. Barrel Fever is funny, but we are talking dark, twisted and sometimes rather sick kind of humor, if you are into that kind of thing. I found myself closing my eyes and stop reading at a few instances, but couldn't stop reading altogether. The essays at the end of the book were my favorites, especially his recounting of his days working as an elf during Macy's Christmas Holiday specials.

I have a stack of books waiting to be read on the bookshelf. I am not sure which one I'll read next. I am finding that whether I have to pay for a babysitter or beg and plead family members to entertain Milan for a while, it is definitely worth it to renew my reading habit. Happy readings to all!

In honor of Ada Lovelace Day, I would like to tip my virtual hat to the amazing women who organize technology and web conferences and shine the light on excellent tech savvy female speakers.

Over the past years, I've had the pleasure and privilege to watch some of these inspiring women in action. In no particular order, here are some of my personal favorites:

I have a deep respect for the founders of Blogher conference, Elisa Camahort, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone. Blogher serves as an excellent virtual community for many female bloggers but it also provides the stage for many a great female speaker to share their skills and wisdom with fellow female enthusiasts.

Ponzi Pirillo, co-producer of Gnomedex conference, inspires me on so many different personal and profeesional levels. Gnomedex is one of the very few tech-oriented conferences where you see just about as many female attendees as male attendees and I personally believe it has a lot to do with the quality female speakers on stage as well as Ponzi's strong support for and involvement in the community.

Last but not least, the lovely and talented Sarah Blow, the founder of London Girl Geek Dinners, who knows how to throw a good party and invite the right people with a healthy mix of men and women and excellent speakers to enlighten and entertain the audience.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day to all of you!

Just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful spring season with sunshiny blue skies, cool breezy weather and lots and lots of colorful flowers and green fields everywhere. The arrival of spring marks the beginning of the Iranian new year or Norouz, so for those of you celebrating hope you are having a great time with your loved ones.

I was deeply touched by President Obama's message to the Iranians wishing them a happy new year. I hope this year brings more peace and happiness to everyone in the world.

The Scoble family is especially happy this season because we have found out that come September 26th, a new member will be added to our family. We don't know the gender of the baby yet, but will keep you posted. So far everyone is doing great and we are celebrating the spring season, hope for the future and the promises of a new life. Wishing everyone all the very best!

It's hard to compare a local conference of roughly 300 attendees to a global one with almost 3000 people, but since I recently attended both The World Economic Forum in Davos, and The Northern Voice Conference, in Vancouver, I think it would be worth trying here.

As far as location is concerned, both these conferences take place in beautiful, picturesque settings. Davos nestled in the heart of snowy Swiss Alps offers breathtaking views while Vancouver surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and home to the green and stunning Stanley park has its own unique blend of natural beauty.

The breath of content in WEF is diverse as expected covering health, politics, technology, the arts, and economic issues among others, while NV mainly concentrates on Social Media and personal blogging. While both conferences are operated as Not for profit organizations, one can imagine how millions can be spent on secuity alone at WEF. Both conferences were sold out but the cost of attending WEF if you were to pay could be up to eighteen grands while you could attend NV for $60 per day I think. It is worth mentioning that WEF is an exclusive conference with an invite list while NV is open to everyone.

I've written extensively about my experiences at Davos, and how awestruck I was at meeting so many famous people. The highlights for me were meeting some larger than life figures and learning from them such as the journalist, Christian Amanpour and  the author, Paolo Coelho. It was also great to meet Randi and Mark Zuckerberg and tell them in person how much I love Facebook! While everyone I met at Davos, famous or not was extremely gracious and approachable, and overall I would rate being there as one of the unforgettable events of my life, I have to say that personally I enjoyed attending Northern Voice more.

I felt more at ease at NV, hanging out with old friends, such as Derek and Airdrie Miller and Kris Krug among many others and welcomed by all the amazing volunteer conference organizers. The smaller conference setting lent itself to a more intimate atmosphere and the content of the conference was more applicale to my own personal life. At one luncheon in Davos, Robert and I were sitting at the same table as Larry and Lucy Page with a few others. Robert was trying his best to talk to Larry Page and even asked if he could take a picture of him, but Larry Page understandably seemed guarded. I was just happy that Robert's aunt (who came from Germany to see us) was sitting next to me, so I had someone familiar to talk to. I never know what to say to rich and famous people. On the other hand, I had plenty to talk about when I saw my own friends at Northern Voice.

As for Northern Voice sessions, I laughed my heart out at Rob Cuttingham keynote, Teh Funny. He has a unique and hilarious way of talking about blogging and Internet experiences and I loved his keynote. I don't remember ever laughing so much at a conference session, a keynote no less. Airdrie Miller lead a deep and moving session on coping digitally with mental illness which I found illuminating. I just love Airdrie and admire her so much. Nancy White's illustrations at Rob Cuttingham's keynote and and her own session on doing the Limbo were great fun. I learned from David Eaves on how to deal with angry comments by reaching out and trying to figure out where the other person is coming from while distinguishing critics from trolls and sock puppets. I laughed at Kate Trgovac and Rosemary Rowe's stories on how to deal with relationship issues for the modern blogging couple and of course personally related to them. Finally, I especially enjoyed watching Dave Olson interview Bev Davies and Kris Krug about taking photographs from Rock and Roll bands and watching all the historic and amazing photos reel on stage.

As I mentioned in the beginning, it is hard to compare two conference so unique in their own way, but one thing I came away with is that whether locally or globally, for the most part, we humans like to come together to try and understand eachother better and make this world a better place. Let's hope we succeed. Going to conferences sure beats going to war.
 

I lived in the Seattle area for three years and had no idea that such a thing as The Children's Museum existed, but those were the quiet and peaceful days before hurricane Milan! We were stopping in Seattle for a couple of days before driving to Vancouver for the Northern Voice conference and Robert had  full days of interviews scheduled. It was up to me and the baby to entertain ourselves and I was scratching my head.

As soon as we checked in to our hotel room, Milan took a tour of the room by running around a couple of laps, pushing the furniture around a bit and summarily dismissed the room, by running full speed ahead towards the hotel room door and banging his head against it. When that didn't work, he tried to open the door and being too short, was just standing there with his face resting on the door and whimpering, waiting for me to come to rescue.

I started calling my Seattle friends trying to see which kind soul could rescue us from this state of despair and luckily Jen Zug and her two adorable children were available. We spent the first day happily enjoying their company at their lovely home, with Milan running around happily with Ruthie and Thomas and basking in the bliss of playing with older children's toys. I could Kiss Jen, I was so happy and yet there we had another full day ahead of us with nothing to do. So of course I asked Jen what she thought we should do. She suggested Children's museum and I was hooked. Of course the night was going so well that she could have suggested we all go throw ourselves off a cliff and I would've acquiesed. She has a four year old and six year old; they are like angels; her words can be cut in stone as far as I am concerend.

Turns out she was totally right about the choice of what to do. Our other good friend, Elizabeth Grigg and her two kids also joined us and we walked in to a paradise on earth for kids known as Children's Museum in Seattle. The Museum is located at the Seattle Center which is a great place to hang out if you are visiting Seattle. While there you can enjoy a visit to the famous Space Needle, brush up on your music history knowledge at the Experience Music Project, or watch a show at the Imax theater of the Pacific Science Center. We were headed straight for the CM though and the kids had a ball. There are slides, and plenty of places to climb and crawl and explore. Rooms filled with balls, empty tree trunks, a Curious George Exhibit; it was awesome. Milan was giggling, screaming of joy and quite besides himself the whole time there. I was happy I got a chance to see my friends and their kids and watch my son have such a great time.

If you have a child under ten years old and you are in the Seattle area, I strongly recommend you visit the Children's Museum. You will make their day!

I thought I was done writing about the World Economic Forum, but as I walked away from the conference center yesterday, I was met by a group of angry demonstrators who were throwing shoes and snowballs towards the conference center protesting the World Economic Forum. The police were ready for them keeping them behind fences and not letting them get too close to the conference center. They were shouting in a language I didn't understand, so I can only imagine what they were protesting. Perhaps they were protesting the conference's exclusivity, perhaps the gathering of many powerful and rich people, and perhaps the injustice and unfairness of life all over the world. Whatever the cause the gave me another perspective on Davos and WEF.

I can't close my last blog post about Davos without speaking for a moment on the awe inspiring beauty of the Swiss Alps. The snow covered vast mountains, the evergreen Cedar trees, and the shinning blue skies are some of the most beautiful that nature has to offer. Standing on top of the mountains you can see the skiers slide down the snowy hills, like colorful specks trying to make their tracks on the snow. When you visit Davos, you see nature at its most beautiful and it makes you want to fight at any cost to keep this beautiful world of ours, so that the future generations can enjoy it too.

Today is the second day of the conference and we continue our adventures in Davos. As an event planner, I am amazed of how much hard work and efficiency is put forth by the team and the entire town here to execute this event in the best possible manner. We are in the Swiss Alps and you hardly see anyone skiing in the beautiful white mountains. The entire town is closed up and dedicated to the World Economic Forum.

While most of the conference sessions are taking place in the main conference center in the town center, there are myriads of breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings taking place simultaneously at Various hotels across town. There are police men and women who will check your badge a few times before you can enter any building; your bags and jackets go through the Xray machines as well as I already mentioned. The coolest part though are these metal detectors situationed in front fo every building and session hall. They are silver blocks with a white and blue lit circle in the middle. You stand in front of them and scan your badge and the blue light turns green allowing you access. When you scan your badge your credentials along with your picture comes up on the screen above the station. It has a futuristic, star treky feel to it that I like.

While there are many politicians, financiers, media personalities and NGO administers from across the world are here, scientists, technologists, artists, celebrities, and health professionals among others are also attending the conference. Everyone I have come across has been approachable and friendly. I have already seen the Prime minister of China and the Prime minister of Israel being interviewed within a few feet from me. Somehow you are accepted as part of the club as long as you are wearing your conference badge. There is such a feeling of trust around here. I see laptops and computer bags left unattended across the halls.

Yesterday, I got a chance to ask an author I admire, Paulo Coelho a question about one of his books and get his perspective. As an English Major, there is no better high. I asked Paulo, why in the book The Alchemist, the female character stays behind in the tent while the male character goes around the world for many adventures to find himself. Why does she have to wait back home for him to return? He responded that she was not waiting for him but taking care of matters at home; she was going about her life, doing what was important to her and she already knew what he had to search all over the world for, that Love makes you free. I had never seen the matter in that light and it was so refreshing to hear him explain this to me. I felt like I was walking on a cloud all day after talking to Paulo. I also met Randi Zuckerburg of the Facebook famous family yesterday. She was so gracious, kind and a breath of fresh air to talk to.

Although my individual meetings have been energizing and fun, the overall mood here is gloomy and down. The economic crisis has hit this group of leaders in a hard way and so far I haven't heard any concrete solutions or visionary ideas from anyone. I hear Bill Clinton will be talking today so perhaps he can put a positive spin on this situation and give us some hope.

Robert and I are here at the beautiful, snowy Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. Robert attended last year and said I must come this year. It's an opportunity of a life time he said, so I am tagging along this year. Many have asked me to report back on my observations so here are some of my first impressions:

Getting here:

What you need:
You need snow boots, a warm ski jacket, and hats, mittens, and layered clothing to survive here. Most of all you need shoes that have a good grip on their soles, otherwise you will slip and fall. We've been here just for a day and I have already seen so many people slip in front of me walking on the road. If you are like me living in California, you probably never bothered with any super warm clothing, or good snow boots. I recommend Land's End for good, yet not too expensive warm clothing and Big 5 Sporting Goods or Sports Authority for great snow boots. If you have your eyes on a pair of warm and snuggly Uggs, consider buying Bearpaw brand. They are as warm and cute and one third of price.

Flight/Transportation:
It took us about 20 hours to get from SFO to our hotel in Davos. There are no direct flights to Davos or even Zurich from California, so you need to prepare yourself for a long journey. I finished a 200 page book, and I am a slow reader. We had no delays, and we fortunately got exit rows so we had plenty of leg room. United offered round trip tickets for $800 which are much cheaper than Swiss air or other airlines and we had good, uneventful flights. The flights (two of them to Zurich) took about 14 hours and then there was a 2 and 1/2 bus ride from Zurich to Davos. Then we had to take another shuttle from the bus drop to our hotel which took another half hour so. We were pretty tired by the time we got here, but we needed to get to the conference center to register, get our badges and get registered for sessions.

Registration/logistics:
Security is pretty tight here, so you need your badge to get in anywhere. Conference sessions and meetings are scattered at various hotels and meeting centers across town and they check your badge at the door and have you and your materials go through the xray machines like at the airport. I've seen as many police officers here as I saw on New Year's eve at Times Square in 2000, but the conference only has about 2500 participants. Popular sessions go fast too. Registration opened at 2 pm and by 2:10 some of the popular sessions were already booked. Shuttles run about 20 minutes or so from early morning to midnight and efficiently get people everywhere. Of course they offered us Pedometers at the registration and everyone who walks more than 20000 steps will win a prize. They are going for Green Davos theme. Robert and I are trying our best to walk everywhere. Maybe we can justify enjoying the Swiss Chocolates :)

Some challenges:
I've already mentioned the slippery and icy conditions. Wifi and Internet in the hotels are non-existent or expensive and not very fast if they are available at all. The hotel rooms are small. We walked in to our room and were looking for our bed. It was a fold away in the closet. Once we took the bed out, we had to stack our suit cases on top of each other to be able to walk in the room. I called to ask and see if we could possibly get a bigger room and was told we actually had one of their bigger rooms :)

The best parts so far:
Networking: I am sitting here at the conference center by the You Tube station, and Kofi Annan just walked by! Robert is interviewing the famous author Paulo Coelho right now who happened to just come by. Mike Arrington is sitting next to me on the couch. The Editor of Financial Times and Jeff Jarvis were sitting at our breakfast table this morning, and last night we attended a dinner to honor the Tech pioneers from all over the world, from Nigeria to Silicon Valley. We have only been here for one night and I can't wait to see what great personalities we will have the good luck to run into.

Yummy food:
I am not into stinky cheese so much, but everything we have had so far has been just wonderful.

Swiss humor:
The Swiss are surprisingly good-natured and smiling. The immigration officer that checked us in looked at me and pointed to Robert asking with a serious tone, are you with him? I answered yes and he gave me a teasing smile and asked again, are you happy with him? I cracked up and said, I can't complain. He brought me here. Although I will be happier once he gets me some Swiss Chocolate.
At the airport airshuttle to get us to baggage claim, they had sounds of cows and cow bells playing on the intercom and going through a tunnel there was a moving picture of a Swiss girl in a traditional outfit waving at you and blowing kisses from a window. Pretty cool and unexpected.

Eye Candy:
Ok so I have to confess that the Swiss are pretty beautiful people. I've been enjoying watching the young police officers with their navy blue uniforms, and I know Robert has been checking out all the beautiful ladies we see walking around. I know that cuz I've been looking at them too :)

Alright now it's time to go attend some sessions and report back.

Another January is upon us and in the tech-geek world, many are pondering the ultimate question. No, not what this year's resolutions should be, but whether to attend Macworld or CES or both?

Here at the Scoble residence, we are once again heading out to Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. Robert left with a group of bloggers on the Lovesac bus on Tuesday already and their adventures were recorded online.

I'll be flying in tomorrow to help Steve Broback and team with two fun events on Friday. First, from 2-4 PM on Friday at the Venetian hotel, Robert and Gary Vaynerchuk from winelibrary.tv team will be up on stage for a Q&A session on successful blogging in troubled times. I am excited to watch this session, as I've heard nothing but good praises about Gary and I must admit I am proud of Robert for teaming up with Gary on this project. I am sure they'll get some hard-hitting questions and I can't wait to see how they can handle all the pressure, and what we can learn from them.

After picking their brains, it's time to go out and party and the best place for bloggers to party in Vegas is at the Atomic Museum on Friday night where we'll be throwing the ultimate Vegas blogger party from 5-8.

If you are a blogger in Vegas for CES, I do hope to see you in at least one of these events if not both.

At the end of this month, Robert and are off to Davos for the World Economic Forum. While I am quite excited to be accompanying Robert on this trip, I am sorry we'll be missing out on the She's Geeky Conference. It's hard to have a geeky January without attending the She's Geeky Conference.

Hope you are having a fun geeky January as well.

Not sure what possessed my husband and I to embark on a 12 day European journey with a 15 month old energizer bunny, otherwise known as our toddler son, Milan. It must be our love for travel and generally optimistic nature. Or maybe we are just idiots with a penchant for pain and sleeplessness. We have one suitcase full of toys, diapers and baby food, and another for his clothes. Robert has been gallantly carrying all of our 6 pieces of luggage on two carts in various airports while I drag behind him pushing the stroller and carrying my purse and diaper bag. At one point, in London Heathrow airport, on a steep ramp, going through a sharp turn, I thought he was gonna go crashing through the large windows and hit the cement with pieces of luggage falling on him from the skies in a kind of cartoonish tragedy that could befall a blogger. He put on the brakes right on time though. Not that I would ever want anything to happen to my beloved husband; the insurance money isn't worth it to tell you the truth, but I am sure Robert would agree with me, that would have made a hell of a blog post ;)
As it is, I am going to write up what I learn by traveling with a toddler for everyone after we return, but I just wanted to say hello to you all from Barcelona and hope that everyone had a great weekend and if you are in US then hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday as well.
It is our first night in Barcelona and I can'twait to see what this trip has in store for us. I am thankful for my two sleeping boys on the bed right now, and the teenage one who is back home in school and the rest of my loving family and friends. I am thankful for Nokia team and Le Web team who gave us the opportunity to travel and learn. I am espesially thankful for the kind flight attendants of UA who checked on us and the baby over and over again and played with him and told us what a good baby he was. I am thankful for the kind gentleman who offered to help Robert carry the stroller up the stairs in the airport, refusing to let me do it and the young lady on the Iberia flight who offered to change her seat with me so we could all sit together. These random acts of kindness have made this trip so much more meaningful for us and gave me so much to feel blessed about. Last but not least I am thankful for you my blog readers and hope that you have lots to be thankful for as well!

What an emotional day this has been! I voted for the first time in the American Presidential election and I am writing this post with tears in my eyes. I am proud to be an Iranian-American, proud to be a part of such a historical election and proud of this country.

A friend forwarded me a song that an Iranian composer, Farshid Amin, has writen called "change," which was performed at a gala for Barack Obama two weeks ago. Lionel Richie and The Pointer Sisters also submitted songs, but Farshid's was chosen . He has been invited to perform the song on election night at the Democratic Victory Gala in Orange County.  He is the first Iranian singer ever to perform on election night.

Please watch the clip. Here's hoping for positive change not just in America, but for the whole world.