::  NEWS ::

      August. 9th.  It is with great pleasure that I can remove another beautiful young lady from the grasp of singlehood. If you have not yet signed up, consider becoming Ottawa's newest bachelorette!

    August 5th.  Owing that this is still a personal site, here are two pictures of my Montreal family visiting Holland. 1  |  2

     August 4th.  I like to think that my web audience is much smarter than the general public. Which box is darker 'A' or 'B' ?

      August 1st.  Let's start the month off with two MartinsQuest.com exclusive pictures of the upcoming Batmobile. Batman comes out summer 2005 but these pictures are available now!  1  |  2

    August 1st.  Never heard of beat boxing? Watch this 6 minute video of a young talent from <blushing> Florida—home of everything good. Toward the end he even does Rahzel's 'If your mother only knew!' (WMV - 21MB - 6mins)

     : Due to popular demand, and help from Paymon, here is another beat boxing video, this time using a—get this—harmonica! Wanna see a close-up, click this.

     July 31st.  With Ottawa now an 'A' Cluster it is now propitious to initiate small-scale teaching projects. Recently, as an individual initiative by one of Ottawa's youth, a consultation was called that set the stage for Ottawa first Teaching Project aimed at youth and directed toward our focus sector (9). See the three pictures we took. 1, 2, 3 and stay tuned for a progress report.
     In addition, the Vancouver youth got fresh and began their own project--creating a webpage and all! See their promo video (22MB)

    July 29th. Pictures from Smith and Dragoman are at last here! Read my first interview on behalf of MartinsQuest.com and see the group that has Eastern Ontario in a buzz. Don't miss the ginormous group picture: 4796 x 2228 (equivalent of over 10 mega pixels)

     July 24th.  I am back in Ottawa for good now. I'd like to welcome all of my first time guests who heard about my site from ROBSI. All of the pictures from the last splendid week (>1,000!) will be posted in the next few days with commentary, captions, and even some multimedia. Stay tuned. In the mean time enjoy these 4 pictures. 1  |  2  |  3  |  4

     July 19th.  Back in Ottawa for 4 hours before I'm off with Payam to ROBSI. Here are some pictures from the cruise (1.7MB - Zip) to satiate your hunger and reward your loyalty for visiting the site even in my absence.
     Also along the cruise I had time to ponder and reflect and develop a nice 2-page theory on cliquishness - or the habit of forming tight social groups. I attempt to dismiss many specious arguments against it and demonstrate how it is essential for human interaction.

     July 9th - 24th.  What?! Only Shout Box updates for 2 weeks! You can't do this to me Martin; I'm addicted to your site!
      Unfortunately, I am indeed going on a 1-week cruise from Florida to Mexico to the Caribbean islands for a week and then capping that off with a week at ROBSI summer camp. A well deserved break. In the mean time you may check out these updates.

• A New Bachelorette?! Great things are still possible. Welcome Chloe from all of us guys in Ottawa. ;)
• Flash Intro. I might include something like this MartinsQuest in the future. Warning: sound.
• Stat Counter: Anyone with a mean streak may want to watch my hit counter dive during my absence.
• Vote for your movie: Get in on the action and determine what movie gets played at Vafa's upcoming movie devotional. My favorite? Rush Hour II.
• Simpura.com: This is the company that I work for and designing this site is why I've been so busy lately.
• Weird Dice: A few years ago our family inadvertently booked a cruise on a drinking and gambling ship instead of the family fare that was promised to us by the travel agent. Here are dice in unusual places in honour of that strange occurrence. weird
• Out of ideas? Come on now...enough is enough.
• Smith & Dragoman.  I don't have the pictures ready yet, but here is a taste. 1  |  2  |  3

     July 9th.  A Great Bahá'í Quote:

      "Blessed are they who are the means of making unity among the friends, and pity on those who in the right or wrong are the cause of discord. . .The friends must be prepared to efface themselves at all times."
                  ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Star of the West)

    July 8th. Could I starve to death? Yes! I am going to a vegetarian summer camp where getting over 800 calories a day will be nary impossible. Here is an updated look at the foods I like and tolerate.

    July 7th.  I now have a personal cell phone that is free after 8pm. (see contact me on right side below to get the number) Even if you don't know me, if you want to talk, gimme a call.

    July 4th.  The Smith and Dragoman concert was amazing. Details, interviews, and pictures coming!

      July 3rd. Tired of people telling me that I looked 14 years-old in the picture above, I added some facial hair using Photoshop that best represented my follicular growth. I grant permission to post any comments on this topic, no matter how disparaging, in the shout box.  :)

    July 3rd.  New PICTURES! (you may want to pace yourself - over 400 pictures!)

• See Sarah as you've never seen her before! A growing repository of Sarah pictures and assorted goodness.
• Family reunion  held recently in Toronto.
• Canada Day including pictures of some of the Montreal gang.
• Justin's Prom. Perhaps the most anticipated pictures to appear on my site.
• Summer Picnic at Lake Philip
• Brian's visit here in May using pictures from over 8 different scenes.

    June 30th. A few Updates:

• Free money?! Get sponsored to go to the upcoming youth conference! Deadline is midnight-ish June 30. E-mail to register now.
• Do animals have souls? Do they have intelligence, creativity, or personality? This story should put that question to rest.
• Good News! Dan is moving back to Ottawa for good on Thursday. Another worthy website entrant into an already crowded field?! Phat!
• 50-cent a'int got nutin' on this guy!
• Mental Rambling: "I have never wanted to be one of those guys in love with girls who would not have me. Unrequited love—plain desperate aboveboard girl-chasing—turns you into a salesperson, and what you are selling is something she doesn't want, couldn't use, would never miss. Unrequited love is deciding to be useless, and I could never abide uselessness."
• Travel tip from Brian Lema: #1 Do NOT attempt to cross the USA border from Canada without any ID (he recently attempted this and was sent away after search and extensive questioning.) Addendum to #1: If you have ANY Arab currencies in your wallet, you will have a lot of explaining to do! [editor's note: all above is true]