Why should most Iranian good's sucks in one way?

When I was in Iran, there were common sayings like:

This is Iranian so it wont last long.
This is Chinese so it will break easily.
This is from foreign (usually means US, Japan, or high tech countries)

Here in Canada I realized that we only saw the bad side of Chinese products in our country, while most of top notched goods used in Canada are produced in China. A while ago I bought Iranian rice from Calgary. It has a nice quality and also a small portion of saffron is included inside the package, but unfortunately the packaging sucks, It sucks so bad! When you open the bag you have to think of something to put all of the rice in it. Right after I remembered the cold-Syrups in Iran. The cap works only one time and it will not fit any more after the first time you open it.
Why should Iranian packaging sucks so bad? Why don't the designers pay more attention to the look, packaging and outside of the product instead of just focusing on the inside? Are they aware how much money the are losing by losing their dissappointed customers?

I heard from my friend who is studying in business student nowadays most business companies are putting more effort on the look and shape of their products to steal the customer's eyes! Why Iranian designers fail to see such an important issue? Today you should care for the convince of your customers and put much time to satisfy this important fact. Well I think this is not gonna happen in near future ...

I woke up at last.

Sometimes you start walking in virtual reality without realizing it. Getting out of this would be a hard task if you have spent a lot of time in it, so becareful before stepping in!

Up, Up and Upper

For those ...

if ( Know_anime) || ( Like_beyond_bonderies )
  flash.Play();
else
{
  Anime = Cartoon;
  exit(now);
}

Mushishi Opening, now with video!

Calgary. Is it a maze?

I am having a good time in Calgary. Yesterday we went to a shop mall and I finally bought my snowboard :D. We are also planning to go to the persian resturant (Khanoom khezri :P) today.
But it is still interesting that after lots of car driving in Calgary we get lost so easily. I think I got spoiled by the nice grid shape city of Edmonton.

PS: One awesome comment about the address my friend gave us yesterday: "Find me where it is written Welcome to the university of Calgary!"

Coming up!

Today I got a bit confused after one email.
"Hi Alborz,
What happened to the DVD yearbook cover that you promised to make?"

When you have deadlines like:

24th April US Visa interview
25th April AAAI Camera-Version Deadline

you forget such things easily, but I made my mind and designed something after reading the email. It was nice to do some art (If you can put that name on it!) after awhile ...

PS: Special thanks to my teacher (my older brother)

Is this a coincidence?

A while ago I went to Vancouver and by chance we ended up in a Chinese restaurant. As you may know the menu in such restaurants are complicated. So I asked the waitress to bring something made of beef and potato. She offered me one of the items, and I chose it, but I also mentioned to not put the sauce on the top of the food, since I don't like extremely sweet sauce. She came back with my food dipped in sauce, and then start explaining why this is the right thing to do, and I was close to kill the spirit of my food!

Anyway, yesterday I went to another Chinese restaurant for noodle soup. This time I knew what I wanted. The odd thing was that they didn't have beef noodle soup alone! The only thing similar to what I wanted, was Tai beef noodle. Tai in topic usually means spicy. My friend also asked for a seafood/egg noodle soup. I also asked whether they put egg after cooking it in the soup or not. I also ordered beef noodle soup without being spicy!

Result: I ended up with spicy beef noodle and my friend had seafood noodle soup without egg!
Conclusion: Don't argue with the waitress in a Chinese restaurant!

AAAI paper was accepted!

Although I was not so hopeful about our paper being accepted in AAAI, last night I received something exactly opposite. It was accepted as a full paper. Thanks to the 4th reviewer ;)

Yahoo, Ask a question?

It seems Yahoo tries to find new ways to compete with google. This new feature allows you to type ANY kind of question, and people willing will write answers to you. That is beacuse they can earn points this way, and ask more questions!

I think they have put enough toughts on this. They make their site more popular and also gather a huge glossary of Q&As for free!

Spring's spirit came to my room...

It is like a wave when you start to rearrange your room. It starts with a simple idea and then the wave would engulf your entire room. It feels good because you are forced to clean the room too.

かきあげ

Last night I had an interesting Japanese food experience, since someone actually cooked it in front of me. I helped a little too ;) The food is called KakiAge (かきあげ）and is made of shrimp, onion, carrots, sweet potato, mushrooms and tempura (てんぷら) powder. It was really delicious!

Time

8:30PM-11:30PM Game's Night in CS Department.
11:30PM-11:50PM Walking back home with CS friends.
*Offerred strawberry-banana milkshake to my friends*
12:00AM-1:30AM Having milkshakes and talking about several things.
1:40AM-3:30AM As a CS student when you enter your room and see your computer on you cant got to bed directly...
11:50AM Waking up.
12:00PM AI Seminar!

I think I should buy a watch soon, or the problem is somewhere else.

Conference, Paper ? AAAI ?

Well, I recieved my reviews after a long period. It was shocking. One of the reviewers thinks my whole subject of M.Sc. thesis is an increamental refinement and useless ... He doesn't have the slightest doubt about his opinion!

Hardcore Skaters.

Human Computer Interaction

I found this article insightful. It gives you some ideas about the current flaws of HCI. I experienced some of the flaws personally. In particular it makes sense when you want to play warcraft III, answer your cellphone and have dinner at the same time!

US, to go or not to go?

I dicided to go to US in order to participated in two conferences. Wish me luck for my interview in US embassy on April 24.