Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Uncategorized

  • I’m an ethical Service Provider – what does that mean?

    I’ve labelled myself as an ethical service provider for some time now but have not fully explained this unless the need has arisen, and to individuals. I’d like to clear up what I mean by this and how this might affect my dealings with companies and individuals.

    It’s been something I have always been concerned about but not always known how to approach, how to provide services which benefit and do not harm. To me business is not merely about putting cash in my pocket. I believe that the way we earn our living should be something we give careful consideration. Does it really make sense to be feeding oneself at to the destruction of someone else.

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  • Finally a new face to nomad-one.com

    It’s a proud moment for me to have flipped the switch on my new theme for nomad-one.com. Though I’m still ironing out a few bugs and need to fix up one or 2 visual elements, my impatience has just got the better of me and I had to go live with this today.

    I’m hoping you guys will get involved and let me know what you think as well as point out any kinks there might be which I have missed out.

    I’ve done tests in a few of the latest browsers and all seems well, though I think I was pushing it to expect IE 4 to have a clue what to do with this layout. This theme has Small Potato’s Wrath theme as it’s basis though you would never be able to tell that at a glance. Small P still has some of the best free themes out there so I made use of his expertise as a springboard for this one.

    I wanted my new theme to be based on sandbox with it’s rich semantic markup and dynamically generated classes for styling freedom.

    So tell me what you think so far and if you’ve managed to find any mistakes, which I’m sure there are. A few of the links might not be working so bear with me as I patch up a few things.

  • A Quick Thought on Drinking at Gatherings & Conferences

    Something which has become extremely positive over the last year or 2 is the increase in conferences,(un)conferences and other types of collaborative & knowledge sharing gatherings being held in Cape Town.

    There are many events of this nature I wish I could attend but prefer to stay away from due to my beliefs. One of the main issues I have is the amount of drinking which takes place, something I prefer to stay far away from. For this reason I have not attended events such as 27 Dinners for example.

    I remember the experience years back when I went through the change from being someone who had very little moral or religious boundaries to someone who wanted to improve spiritually, morally and ethically. I used to drink(before I was Muslim) and would do so with my friends on a regular basis. When I stopped I noticed immediately the difference between meaningful interaction and communication and social activity and the kind which comes from gathering around the water hole so to speak. Some of the friends I still interacted with after the change were lost for words or what to do when meeting with me due to the lack of Alcohol. It seemed without the drink they were not themselves and could not function socially.

    I was very impressed a while back with the fact that *Camp Cape Town was an Alcohol Free event, at least as far as I could tell.

    I wonder if any who else out there shares this issue and if there’s any use opening up a dialogue to discuss. I’d also like to challenge anyone out there organising these types of events to try to make them Alcohol Free.

    I would argue that without the Alcohol you are bound to attract those who are more interested in the subject matter and therefore more beneficial to have attending than those who attend these events just for the drinking.

    What do you think?

  • Finally, a space to get some serious work done

    Those of you who know me will know that I’ve been agonising about not having an office for a while now. It’s great being your own boss on many levels but it can also have many negatives, especially if you don’t draw a line between work and home.

    Nur and baby ZahraI won’t complain too much, being around the house during this period of my life has been a great blessing. I’m a Dad for the second time

    She’s gotten an early taste of a Dad who works all the time anytime though, so I’m looking forward to getting into a more balanced work life schedule so I can spend more quality time with my family when I am at home.

    I’ve struck up a nice partnership with one of my clients, Synerlogix. having recently completed phase one of their new Website (www.synerlogix.co.za) we decided to take the relationship a little further and I’ve taken up some space in their offices in Claremont behind Cavendish Square. For those of you outside of South Africa that’s in Cape Town.

    nomad-one's new office

    It’s a nice space, close to a busy Mall with a few good coffee shops and quite central. I haven’t made much use of it as it’s been hectic getting used to another baby in the house and needing to help a little more around the house but I’m looking forward to getting cracking in the next few days with all the plans I’ve made for making 2008 my year of mega growth and change.

    I’m looking forward to taking all of you along with me on this journey and would appreciate your support and advice wherever possible. All the best to all of you out there for what lies ahead.

  • Natural Balding, hair cutting mistakes and happier holidays for all.

    I thought it was time for a re-design so to speak,a little trim off the edges, and seeing as how I’m losing my hair, a genetic gift from my dad, I need to keep it short on top.

    Usually my wife does the trimming and we argue about how much pressure she’s applying with the clippers or something like that. So got out the clippers and decided to get started on my own and ask her to finish off the bits I’ve missed. Not long into the job and the number 1 fitting slipped of the clippers just as I was cutting a path down the middle of my head. I suppose it was meant to be. Without the beard I’d probably look a little like a buddhist monk right now.

    haircuttingmistake

    I hope this new style will free some much needed brain cells  to fresh air and good ideas. Hope you’re all having a good holiday away from too much of anything which resembles work. I’ve got some big plans for the coming year after all I’ve learnt in the last few months and hope u’ll all be there to join me on the journey.

     

    Ciao for now, and Peace to all. Oh, watch it out there on the roads and stay safe, there’s a coupla crazies driving around out there.

  • I’m looking to “virtually” attend Podcamp Cape Town

    I’m so disappointed to be out of town for this event that I’m thinking about attending virtually. How? Using MSN & a webcam and linking up with anyone at the event willing to do the same. I think doing so will be a great way to extend the attendance and show the power of online communications channels.

    Started in Boston, MA, USA in September 2006, PodCamp was born.

    In the same style as BarCamp, PodCamp is a community driven UnConference for anybody and everybody in New Media. Whether you create and/or consume content by podcasting, listening, blogging, reading, producing video, watching and anything else that is New Media

    Check out the PodCamp wiki for more info on other PodCamps around the world.

    First prize would be if we could organize for me to do a short presentation via msn onto a big screen and get some people to interact with me. I’ve got some ideas on collaboration which I’d like to share and looking for some insight into developing a few projects further.

    If anyone out there is attending … and I recommend you do if you have any interest in new media or media in general, then help me do the same by taking along your webcam & laptop (free broadband will be provided at the event by Skyrove). It’s  a chance to start interacting in a new way and adding another dimension to you experience of this event, as well as to showcase the power of networking and technology.

    my msn address is [email protected]

    Drop me a mail at [email protected] and let me know if you’re interested in helping me out on this one.

    Happy eventing!!!