Ashley's Arabian Adventure

Pwn is a word typically used by my male coworkers. They tend to use it to describe the culture we live in quite a bit. My favorite might be the force-pwn. Driving in this country is pretty redonkulous, but we have noticed some trends. When someone sticks their hand out the window and angled slightly down, they can do anything they want. Everyone else must stop and let them go. This is what has been termed the force-pwn. One of my Arab coworkers said it to me and I almost fell out of my chair laughing. The creator of this term had taught it to him and hearing an Arab use ridiculous English slang is always hilarious.

Middle Eastern culture is all about saving face. This means that people will tell you that they are going to do something or that they will be somewhere, but they really have no intention to do so. I have yet to figure out how to tell how serious they are. Sometimes they will seem really interested and really serious about it, but they don't do what they said they would do. This is what I have termed the "culture-pwn." The term has been adapted to cover a lot of aspects of Arab culture. Arabs are always 15-30 minutes later than what is said. If someone tells me they will have something done in 20 minutes, it will probably be at least 30. When you believe that it will actually be 20 minutes, you have been culture-pwned. I have started asking people if they mean really 20 minutes or Arab 20 minutes.

Okay, all that setup to tell you I got culture-pwned really badly this week. I went to the mall to get this glass plaque thing made to give as a thank gift at a conference I helped plan. I gave the guy the logo and the text I wanted and watched him try to get the plaque designed in photoshop. He was doing a terrible job and spelling everything wrong anyway, so I asked him if I could just do it. That was fine so I went behind the counter and fixed it. After that ridiculousness he told me it would be ready in 30 minutes. I immediately asked if that was 30 minutes for serious or 30 minutes Arab. He said it was really 30 minutes so I waited. When I came back he told me it would be another 20 minutes. I don't even get upset about things like that anymore, but I had to go so I told him I would pick it up the next day. Well it turns out that they didn't finish it that night. They also don't work on Fridays (but there was someone at the store?). So Friday, the day before we needed it, they told us that it would not be ready. We got royally culture-pwned. Dang it.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Watch this video and then read this article:


This little blurb was published in a legit and well respected magazine here. Did someone really think that video was real news? I have no words.

I decided to do a little further investigation though, and actually made a few phone calls to the magazine. The first time the author was in a meeting. The second time, I was hung up on as soon as I asked for him. When I called back after that no one would answer. Hmmm...