Amelia's pictures here are password protected. Contact me to access them. This brief article was written on me because I refused many well paid offers from the States after my PhD and apparently suprised many by deciding to stay in Canada. These pictures were taken by Johann Beda and are maintained in his home page.
                      

For those who want to know more about Osmar R. Zaïane


I was born more than four decades ago in Bad Kissingen (Germany) and I was brought up in Tunisia before attending school in France and Canada. After attending universities on three different continents, Université de Tunis (Africa), Université Paris XI (Europe), Université Laval and finally Simon Fraser University (North America), where I completed my PhD, I settled down in Edmonton, Canada, where now I teach at the University of Alberta. I cumulated a Bachelor (in computer science), two Masters' (in electronics and computing science), and a PhD in computing science.

I have been in Canada since 1987, and permanently since 1990.
Here is an article about me in the Simon Fraser News of June 3, 1999 after my Ph.D. graduation.
I married Margaret Jane Robertson in June 28th, 1997 in Victoria B.C., Canada.

Here is Amelia Ariana, our first child born January 28, 2001.
And here is Alexander Duncan, our second child born January 29, 2003.



What is the meaning of Osmar

I get many e-mails asking me the meaning of my given name "Osmar". Osmar is an old Germanic name. Press here for more.
A note about my family name. My family name is written Zaïane with an "umlaut" on the "i" (diaeresis or trema), but Zaiane is also acceptable because the umlaut is not always available on keyboards. The umlaut is common in languages such as German and French.
I have friends who translated my family name in Chinese. Apparently it can be correctly pronounced in Mandarin as well as Cantonese. This is how my name is written in Chinese. It means something like beautiful empress garden.
Here is how it is written in Arabic: in Hebrew: and Korean .
Here is how it might be written in Hindi and in Russian
The transliteration in Georgian is : ზაიანე
If you know how to write it in other written languages, let me know and I'll put it here. ;-)

I like traveling. Here are the places I visited. visited world
Planets I visited (1): Earth EARTH
Countries I visited (47)/195 = 24% of countries: Australia flag, Austria flag, Brazil flag, Belgium flag, Bulgaria flag, Canada flag, Chile flag, China flag (including Hong Kong flag and Macau flag), Denmark flag, Dominican Republic flag, France flag, Germany flag, Greece flag, Hungary flag, India flag, Italy flag, Japan flag, Libya flag, Luxembourg flag, Malaysia flag, Mexico flag, Monaco flag, Morocco flag, Netherland flag, New Zealand flag, Peru flag, Poland flag, Portugal flag, Singapore flag, Slovakia flag, Spain flag, South Africa flag, South Korea flag, Sweden flag, Switzerland flag, Taiwan flag, Thailand flag, Tunisia flag, Turkey flag, United Arab Emirates flag, United Kingdom flag, U.S.A. flag, Vatican flag, and Vietnam flag.
Provinces I visited in Canada (9) : Alberta flag, British Columbia flag, Manitoba flag, New Brunswick flag, Nova Scotia flag, Ontario flag, Prince Edward Island flag, Quebec flag and Saskatchewan flag. canada
States I visited in the USA (33) : Arizona flag, California flag, Colorado flag, Connecticut flag, District of Columbia flag, Florida flag, Georgia flag, Hawaii flag, Illinois flag, Indiana flag, Maine flag, Maryland flag, Massachusetts flag, Michigan flag, Minnesota flag, Nebraska flag, Nevada flag, New Jersey flag, New Mexico flag, New York flag, North Carolina flag, North Dakota flag, Ohio flag, Oregon flag, Pennsylvania flag, South Carolina flag, Tennessee flag, Texas flag, Utah flag, Vermont flag, Virginia flag, Washington flag and Wisconsin flag. States
States I visited in Australia (3) : Queensland flag, New South Wales flag, Victoria flag
Provinces, municipalities and regions I visited in China (3/4/2) : Beijing, Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi Zhuang, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Hong Kong, Hubei, Macau, Shanghai, Taiwan**, Zhejiang
(Cities I visited in China: Beijing, Chongqing, Guilin, Harbin, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai, Xi'an)
** Mainland China keeps claiming Taiwan as one of its provinces (43rd) while Taiwan (Officially the Republic of China) regards itself as an independent country since China's civil war in late 1940s'. NB: Constitutionally, the ROC government has claimed sovereignty over all of "China" but today governs only the island of Taiwan and some other neighbouring islands.

When you travel, it is important that you learn how to greet people in their own language. People often appreciate that you make the effort to communicate. Click here to see the International "How is it going?" list.


I like the outdoors, camping, hiking, etc. Here is a page with links to National Parks around the world. This is a UNESCO page with links to World Heritage sites.
  Enjoying Table Mountain National Park and taking the seat of the game tracker in Kruger National Park in South Africa (September 2010)     Simmering in volcanic natural hot springs in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Hokkaido Island, Japan (May 2006)
    Light hiking in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA (August 2004)     Hugging a tree in the rainforest of the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, New Zealand (October 2005)
    Sailing with my father in the Okanagan lake, BC Canada (June 1999)     Rock Climbing in Squamish, BC Canada (Fall 1994)
    Kayaking on LongBeach, Pacific Rim National Park, BC Canada (September 1994)     Backpacking in Yosemite National Park, CA USA (July 1994)
    On top of Blackcomb, Whistler, BC Canada (August 1993)     Freezing on the Columbia Icefields, the largest body of ice in the Rocky Mountains, Jasper National Park, AB Canada (June 1993)
    Hiking and Camping in Jasper and Banff National Parks, AB Canada (July 1993)     Hiking in Petit Sagney Provincial Park, Québec Canada (August 1993)
    Hiking and bird watching, Djebel Bou-Hedma National Park, Tunisia (December 1992)     Camping in Michigan USA (June 1993)

I do pratice sports when I have time.
Because of lack of time (or lack of organization) I am not practicing as I should or as I wished. I participate occasionally in triathlon and swimming competitions. I was maintaining one of the first (if not THE first) triathlon web site on the Internet since 1994. The web site has now faded because of lack of maintenance. The reminance of the site are popular pages such as the triathlon FAQ and Swimming Cyber-coaching.
You can find additional links to sports pages in my Links Page.
    Sri Chinmoy Triathlon, Victoria, BC, (July 1994)
    200m IM, Canadian Masters Swimming Championship, Victoria, BC, (May 1995)

Sayings
I don't necessarily agree with all of them but I think they are a good start to cogitate about some topics. Read and ponder.
Open some doors

Be conscious about recycling

  • Reduce - Reuse - Recycle: It is not all garbage.
  • Do not throw away paper, cardboard, glass, tin cans, aluminum or plastic bags. Put them out for your municipal recycling collection service or take them to your local recycling bins. You can even recycle motor oil and scrap metal.
  • Helfen auch Sie mit beim Umweltschutz.
  • Sensibilisez votre entourage au sujet du gaspillage et du recyclage.

    Did you know?

  • 7 500 trees are used for the Sunday edition of the New York Times each week.
  • recycling aluminum uses 96% less energy than it takes to produce the same amount from raw material.
  • recycling paper uses 60% less energy than manufacturing paper from virgin timber.
  • recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to light a 400 watt bulb for 4 hours.

    Since August 10, 1999, you are visitor to Osmar Zaïane's personal page.