So that’s it, the CNET page is turned over. Today was my last day and I just came home with two boxes containing my personal items. For me, it’s a depressing day from the minute I walked in to the building to the very emotional goodbye moment with my friends. It is a weird feeling when you know you are not coming again to this building… very weird.
Yesterday I sent out the following goodbye email to my colleagues:
Dear CNETers,
As many of you probably know, tomorrow is my last day at CNET. I know that this may seem sudden, and I apologize if I have let anybody down. However, to pursue some dreams and goals, I must say goodbye.
Two years ago when I first started, a member of the IT staff resigned. In his last day I remember that he stopped by everyone's desk to say goodbye. He was not able to speak and his eyes were moist with tears. Just today (after two years) I found an explanation for that. CNETers, is it very hard to say good bye to you. I have enjoyed every moment I spent in this place. I enjoyed the late nights, the weird puzzling P1 bugs and the joy of seeing a product going live. Thanks all for making CNET a wonderful work place.
There’s a funny wisdom that says Experience is like your toothbrush, never share it with anybody! Thanks CNETers for sharing with me your exceptional experience and for your tremendous guidance. Thanks CNET for exposing me to interesting web challenges.
Please keep in touch. I can be reached at my personal email address: (xyz@gmail.com) or on my cell: (123-123-1234).
Thanks for everything,
Harith
Friday, April 28, 2006 will be my last day with CNET.
I joined CNET in May 3, 2004 as an Associate Software Engineer. It was my first job I got after finishing my graduate education. I was so excited and much more scared! It is one of those “humanish” things when you do not trust yourself first time you do anything. Fortunately, this stage did not take me long to pass. If there is a reason for that, it’s the CNET culture. Working at CNET is fun! This is how I can simply describe it! CNETers are smart, full of life and enthusiastic people. I made a lot of dear friends, can’t name them all, but everyone has a unique personality and talent that is very rare to find.
I will very much miss CNET days!!
For those who do not know Tim Berners-Lee, he's the father of the World Wide Web (WWW). He basically invented the WWW in 1989 while working at CERN (yes, the Dan Brown CERN!). Why am I telling this story? Well.. WWW made blogs happen! As the WWW evolved, blogs came out sometime in mid-late 90s.
So why am I so thankful to blogs? It’s the fact that no one has enough time to read or write. Things have to be written in a faster way, and consequently read in a faster fashion. Being a person who enjoys reading and writing in classical Arabic, I used to write short stories and articles. I realized lately that I haven't written anything since 2003-- the year I moved to the United States. This fact kills me and makes me feel that I lost my Mojo! (anyone remembers Austin Powers’ mojo?!). Having all of these negative thoughts in mind, I talked to my friend Ibrahim and he advised me to "blog things out" as they come across my mind! ّIbrahim has always been an inspiring person to me! So I took his advice and started this blog! Therefore, blogs are my hope to get my "mojo" back!
I will use ‘Harith’s Space!’ to express some thoughts, ideas and observations. Depending on the context and the targeted audience, my writings will swing between Arabic and English.
Once again, thanks Tim!
