The winds were blowing west and shrill
with trees humming a calm beat
The trail went winding all the way
and a cool blue reservoir made my day!
Just walking down the Crystal Springs/Skyline trail last night was an amazing experience; the climate was simply put outrageous - high speed winds, serene noises all thanks to the waves and trees and a relatively small army of hikers on the trail. Although, I had company it was easy to find time to enjoy nature at its natural self all pristine and calm in my mind! When I reflect on such trips, I often question why people go to religious places to seek peace. Its truly the lovely woods that offer us the best refuge to attain peace of mind and body! I can't think of any church, mosque, temple or monastery that I have visited that have offered anything like it. John Muir was right when he said - "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks".
From a relaxing Sunday evening to an action packed Monday - the day zoomed by without so much as a pause. The climax of the day was actually getting all the things done on time albeit I was literally running and panting from 1 meeting to another task! Came home in time to log my 45 minutes of peaceful run time followed by eating, relaxing and loads of laughing.
The sudden deja vu realization of the week for me is that Silicon Valley disgusts me in some ways. How? Why?
I am always complaining to myself that I don't spend enough time reading the news. Of course I hate reading the NY Times or WSJ, they are way too uptight for my taste and any of the op-ed columns worth reading in them anyway get republished. Skimming through a 1 day old SJ Mercury newspaper at home is an almost daily activity unless today is the D-day when I shall spend 2 hours to read the whole thing cover to cover, word to word and all of a sudden I shall be a news enlightened person. But then reading a newspaper doesnt suffice. You gotta keep up with the business world, startup world, stock world, war world, Indian world, etc. Blog world news is a no-brainer; I must confess I have feeds from at least 100 sites/blogs that feed in to my google page that I see N- times everyday but how many links do I click and then how many do I read - well thats more like tracking google adwords click-thru ratio and conversion ratio - very very low! So what does news have to do with my disgust????
One of the popular feeds today brought me to this site: valleywag. While Peter Thiel is a person I would like to read about, the content and presentation of the first few postings on this blog filled me up to the mouth with disgust!!!!! Does Silicon Valley now work like Hollywood? Is trash talk and gossip now news in the valley? We might as well start talking about Paris Hilton's jail ride/upcoming movie-saga/her dog/her purse and all such nonsensical matters in the same line as Peter Thiel's political affliation/property/drinking habits etc.???!!! Who is reading this junk? I was shocked to see some 600 views on the latest post :(
Makes me feel like shunning the business world and Silicon Valley and most definitely the habit of clicking on feeds from tech news blogs!! What would the world be if its habitants would not pursue their need to impress others or to be cool/hip/rich/popular/successful all at the same time? Perhaps, we could then live as naturally as the cool blue water, be ourselves and relish every moment of doing something we really wanted to do...
I believe I can fly and I will fly! Sshh let no one hear that :)
productivity and 4Ps spoof
http://www.productivity501.com/interview-best-post/263/
found this amazing link somehow, somwhere on the web....checked out 3 to 4 links and they were all so useful...
note to self: be more productive, patient, proactive and passionate! these r my 4 Ps :)
the spoof 4 Ps are so much more coooler than the consulting/marketing 4 Ps: product, price, place and promotion
found this amazing link somehow, somwhere on the web....checked out 3 to 4 links and they were all so useful...
note to self: be more productive, patient, proactive and passionate! these r my 4 Ps :)
the spoof 4 Ps are so much more coooler than the consulting/marketing 4 Ps: product, price, place and promotion
Manic energy, sleepless nights and more..
Yesterday was a very strange day...In one single albeit elongated day, I was able to:
- priortize projects at work so I knew what to focus on when this week
- put my foot completely down and make a case for why I thought we shouldnt do project X
- bid on eBay for the object of my affection Kawasaki Ninja 250 cc motorcycle
- spend 3 freaking hours at the hospital getting some basic tests done (what is even the point of an appointment! American healthcare had put on its worst show...ahem sarcasm intended)
- attend a talk on Kiva.org
- do some work while struggling with a headache all thanks to the California heat and 1 beer at a going away party for a colleague....For someone who has never been drunk, such a reaction from my body leaves me shocked...
- do 2 hours of research on micro-finance in Eritrea
- rescue a friend with a flat tire late in the night
- come back and attend while meaningfully contributing (*rare*) to a late night conference call with our India team
- eat cereal for dinner at midnight
After all this, I expected to fall asleep and enjoy the pleasure of deep slumber as soon as my body hit the bed at 3 am. Instead, my brain experienced an occurence - one of those manic/frenzied/unexpected surge of energy moments. All of a sudden the atoms started colliding if you will and despite all attempts I kept thinking of new ideas for Janar on building Magis and site improvement ideas for Kiva.
Of course I had provided enough context to my mind during the day for these discussions to arise. I had a nice long conversation with Janar while waiting for my appointment at the hospital. Despite cash flow problems, Janar is very upbeat these days, has new plans, is back to his daily marathon workouts and an ever-increasing opportunity log. I think our new plan to tag team and make presentations at popular CA Jesuit high schools on all kinds of green and do-good topics is a step in the right direction. While selflessly talking about other non-profit ideas we can use the networking opportunities to increase assets under managemet with Magis. I am hoping that by the end of this year Magis will be close to if not net-positive!
Coming back to mania/fever: I had hibernated the laptop and was all tucked in when these ideas started popping in my brain - suggestions for Kiva. Of course laziness/procrastination won plus I didn't really want the guys at Kiva to think I was some crazy person trying to overwhelm them with 10 emails in one day. So I did the bad thing - after tossing and turning while drumming up things for 1.5 hours I finally dozed off. The first chance I got this morning at work I sat down to write all the things I had thought of. Lo and behold I had forgotten half of the ideas. This is bad, v. bad and its not the first time - since I like to write I have been in such situations before in the car, shower, meeting, lunch and even lounging on the couch at home; when random but cool ideas have struck me but just out of laziness I havent noted them down which means all those thoughts somehow evaporate and are gone forever. Never penned or typed down they are lost in some hidden cavities in my brain.
With continued nights of low sleep intake, I am hoping the brain tsunami will stike me more often AND this time I will be all gungho post-it note and pen all handy to write these babies down as soon as they occur to me!
Read these words on kivachronicles which struck a chord in me!
"If you're an entrepreneur, you should sound more confident than you are. If you're a social entrepreneur, you should be more inspirational than you feel. If you are an introverted social entrepreneur, you will face even more problems.
I struggled with depression for much of my young adult life. Sitting close behind a great optimism for other people lied a cloud of pessimism directed inward. In my short career in the corporate world, this pessimism would hang over me for weeks at a time. I would come home from work just wondering how I was going to escape the meaningless cycle I seemed to have fallen into. "
Further down on the same page one of the commenters Kevin Jones said...
- priortize projects at work so I knew what to focus on when this week
- put my foot completely down and make a case for why I thought we shouldnt do project X
- bid on eBay for the object of my affection Kawasaki Ninja 250 cc motorcycle
- spend 3 freaking hours at the hospital getting some basic tests done (what is even the point of an appointment! American healthcare had put on its worst show...ahem sarcasm intended)
- attend a talk on Kiva.org
- do some work while struggling with a headache all thanks to the California heat and 1 beer at a going away party for a colleague....For someone who has never been drunk, such a reaction from my body leaves me shocked...
- do 2 hours of research on micro-finance in Eritrea
- rescue a friend with a flat tire late in the night
- come back and attend while meaningfully contributing (*rare*) to a late night conference call with our India team
- eat cereal for dinner at midnight
After all this, I expected to fall asleep and enjoy the pleasure of deep slumber as soon as my body hit the bed at 3 am. Instead, my brain experienced an occurence - one of those manic/frenzied/unexpected surge of energy moments. All of a sudden the atoms started colliding if you will and despite all attempts I kept thinking of new ideas for Janar on building Magis and site improvement ideas for Kiva.
Of course I had provided enough context to my mind during the day for these discussions to arise. I had a nice long conversation with Janar while waiting for my appointment at the hospital. Despite cash flow problems, Janar is very upbeat these days, has new plans, is back to his daily marathon workouts and an ever-increasing opportunity log. I think our new plan to tag team and make presentations at popular CA Jesuit high schools on all kinds of green and do-good topics is a step in the right direction. While selflessly talking about other non-profit ideas we can use the networking opportunities to increase assets under managemet with Magis. I am hoping that by the end of this year Magis will be close to if not net-positive!
Coming back to mania/fever: I had hibernated the laptop and was all tucked in when these ideas started popping in my brain - suggestions for Kiva. Of course laziness/procrastination won plus I didn't really want the guys at Kiva to think I was some crazy person trying to overwhelm them with 10 emails in one day. So I did the bad thing - after tossing and turning while drumming up things for 1.5 hours I finally dozed off. The first chance I got this morning at work I sat down to write all the things I had thought of. Lo and behold I had forgotten half of the ideas. This is bad, v. bad and its not the first time - since I like to write I have been in such situations before in the car, shower, meeting, lunch and even lounging on the couch at home; when random but cool ideas have struck me but just out of laziness I havent noted them down which means all those thoughts somehow evaporate and are gone forever. Never penned or typed down they are lost in some hidden cavities in my brain.
With continued nights of low sleep intake, I am hoping the brain tsunami will stike me more often AND this time I will be all gungho post-it note and pen all handy to write these babies down as soon as they occur to me!
Read these words on kivachronicles which struck a chord in me!
"If you're an entrepreneur, you should sound more confident than you are. If you're a social entrepreneur, you should be more inspirational than you feel. If you are an introverted social entrepreneur, you will face even more problems.
I struggled with depression for much of my young adult life. Sitting close behind a great optimism for other people lied a cloud of pessimism directed inward. In my short career in the corporate world, this pessimism would hang over me for weeks at a time. I would come home from work just wondering how I was going to escape the meaningless cycle I seemed to have fallen into. "
Further down on the same page one of the commenters Kevin Jones said...
When the going gets tough, the tough get going?
Character is something you build through-out life and strength is something you acquire from within while building character. This realization has become more and more relevant and obvious to me in the last few months. Its the tough decisions one needs to make in life that take a lot of personal strength and conviction. A situation would not be tough if it did not demand an extraordinary amount of thinking, decision making and then sticking with it against all odds and literally the whole world! But doing just that is what makes you a stronger person.
In professional settings this is almost a weekly scenario - something important comes up and viola most people start worrying. Perhaps, that haven't heard of:
Of course there is his/her strategic reasoning, ability to rationalize, personal vested interest and a whole lot of politics that comes in to the picture. But this is also where the hammer meets the hot iron if you will. You feel cornered to take the path of least resistance, or the past of highest long-term or short-term personal benefit forgetting all about the company's future! The mark of a true leader (at least one I would look up to) is who comes up with the answer to what is the right thing to do for my team and company not for me!!!
Directors and executives who come up with popular decisions or decisions that help build their empires/organizations are a dime a dozen, who cares about them! Yes they will make a lot of money but they will also loose friends, loyalists, respect and their own selves as they continue to grow in the very rampant corporate model.
A really passionate leader should be able to make tough decisions without screwing someone. The first time you make a decision that works for everyone but screws up one person in your team; you are doomed you are going down the wrong path and every decision after that you will find it easier to screw others in making the most for yourself.
So keep it human! Be rational, reasonable, sensitive and less selfish if not selfless! Be strong, do good and inspire 10 others to follow your way; make the corporate world a good place to work in :)
In professional settings this is almost a weekly scenario - something important comes up and viola most people start worrying. Perhaps, that haven't heard of:
Of course there is his/her strategic reasoning, ability to rationalize, personal vested interest and a whole lot of politics that comes in to the picture. But this is also where the hammer meets the hot iron if you will. You feel cornered to take the path of least resistance, or the past of highest long-term or short-term personal benefit forgetting all about the company's future! The mark of a true leader (at least one I would look up to) is who comes up with the answer to what is the right thing to do for my team and company not for me!!!
Directors and executives who come up with popular decisions or decisions that help build their empires/organizations are a dime a dozen, who cares about them! Yes they will make a lot of money but they will also loose friends, loyalists, respect and their own selves as they continue to grow in the very rampant corporate model.
A really passionate leader should be able to make tough decisions without screwing someone. The first time you make a decision that works for everyone but screws up one person in your team; you are doomed you are going down the wrong path and every decision after that you will find it easier to screw others in making the most for yourself.
So keep it human! Be rational, reasonable, sensitive and less selfish if not selfless! Be strong, do good and inspire 10 others to follow your way; make the corporate world a good place to work in :)
Marathon Musings
I spent first few weeks this year planning my marathon spree but the inaction since then has been killing me. The plan was to build stamina for a marthon and not throw it all away like 2006. For 2007, I had planned a 6 month series full of a 5k, 10k, half marathon and then marathon. Once I got to the full marathon, I would get to blow some steam and then start the same cycle again. In this way I hoped to achieve 3 cool things: maintain stamina, keep fit year round and see new places that I go to run at. This was a good plan, all it needed was execution.
I kickstarted the preparation on 9th March: 1 hour of pilates followed by 3 rounds of the park. 1.5 miles in 20-25 minutes was not good at all but it was day one, so anything goes! I followed it up with running 2-3 miles everyday. Gradually, I was up to 11 minute mile runs.
However, I missed on my 1st goal - the Napa Valley 5K! Like an amateur, I ran the evening before and pulled my left thigh muscles. I planned with hope the night before for everything and even got up at the ungodly hour of 4 am so I could drive to Napa and run but alas the pull was still there in the morning. So I made the executive decision of not going for the run! It totally killed my spirit. Sheer dissapointment, I had even postponed a vacation around the 5k date; all that for nothing.
But I took it in stride, continued running and successfully finished the 5K fun run at work in April. In fact, I improved my timing to 37 mins, which is 1 min better compared to the fun run in August 2006, I guess thats something positive to be proud of.
Since then I have had binges of Forrest Gump days when I ran like crazy till my lungs literally were out of air and exceptionally stellar regular running weeks. But due to evening classes, work and a hundred other excuses I have not been able to run for more than 2 weeks nonstop.
At this point I haven't built the stamina or kept fit - basically I am failing miserably at my plan. My root cause analysis pinpoints that determination is not the problem here, its discipline. I lack self-discipline. So I must find a coaching program that helps me train rigorously and regularly. Hopefully, I can still make up for lost time and meet my fitness goals before 2007 is up!
I kickstarted the preparation on 9th March: 1 hour of pilates followed by 3 rounds of the park. 1.5 miles in 20-25 minutes was not good at all but it was day one, so anything goes! I followed it up with running 2-3 miles everyday. Gradually, I was up to 11 minute mile runs.
However, I missed on my 1st goal - the Napa Valley 5K! Like an amateur, I ran the evening before and pulled my left thigh muscles. I planned with hope the night before for everything and even got up at the ungodly hour of 4 am so I could drive to Napa and run but alas the pull was still there in the morning. So I made the executive decision of not going for the run! It totally killed my spirit. Sheer dissapointment, I had even postponed a vacation around the 5k date; all that for nothing.
But I took it in stride, continued running and successfully finished the 5K fun run at work in April. In fact, I improved my timing to 37 mins, which is 1 min better compared to the fun run in August 2006, I guess thats something positive to be proud of.
Since then I have had binges of Forrest Gump days when I ran like crazy till my lungs literally were out of air and exceptionally stellar regular running weeks. But due to evening classes, work and a hundred other excuses I have not been able to run for more than 2 weeks nonstop.
At this point I haven't built the stamina or kept fit - basically I am failing miserably at my plan. My root cause analysis pinpoints that determination is not the problem here, its discipline. I lack self-discipline. So I must find a coaching program that helps me train rigorously and regularly. Hopefully, I can still make up for lost time and meet my fitness goals before 2007 is up!
Inspirational Research on Desi Entrepreneurs and Moviemakers
So this topic is really funny, exciting and inspirational all at once for me. It started with me reading the news on a personalized google homepage which receives news feeds from 20 different news and business magazines I like. Often I am unable to read all the news that pours on my page, so it was sheer luck that something on fortune.com caught my eye. It was an article on Matchmaking Indian-style which is apparently (I should have known given the affixiation Indians have towards getting married) a 300 million dollar enterprise. At the forefront in the e-form of this emerging industry are 2 websites launched in late 90s, shaadi.com and bharatmatrimony.com both founded by Indian-American entrepreneurs.
With usual curiosity, I started to review Shaadi.com's founder Anupam Mittal's career graph. Interestingly enough, this rather bland and boring blurb on Shaadi.com does not do any justice to the creative dabbler hidden in him. A quick google search revealed that Anupam is none other than the long-haired protagonist Rad and producer of the fun indie flick Flavors. I just saw this movie on DVD a week ago and recommended it to my friends and family :)
This fun fact sparked my interest even further and I went on to review the directors of the movie and what they have been up to. I also looked up Gaurang Vyas and Gaurav Rawal two of the Flavors cast members.
The most fun cast member turned out to be the guy who played my favorite character Kartik in the movie Flavors - Dr. Reef Karim. Now this guy is really something! I am impressed - doctor, actor, model, speaker, professor, social activist...the list seems to be endless. How he manages it all is cool but the fact he is doing more than one thing he is interested in at the same time is supercool and inspirational. Same goes for all the other Flavors cast and crew members, all of whom apparently have a different day job.
This means that there is hope for lazy people like me who aspire to do a million different things (a bunch of which obviously fizzle out). I have now Barack Obama's "Audacity to Hope" that one day I will sincerely vest the time and energy to passionately pursue the few things that make me tick and my life happenning enough to make me happy!
On a filmy and fun note I must be sure to check out this new indie movie Khel Shuru.
With usual curiosity, I started to review Shaadi.com's founder Anupam Mittal's career graph. Interestingly enough, this rather bland and boring blurb on Shaadi.com does not do any justice to the creative dabbler hidden in him. A quick google search revealed that Anupam is none other than the long-haired protagonist Rad and producer of the fun indie flick Flavors. I just saw this movie on DVD a week ago and recommended it to my friends and family :)
This fun fact sparked my interest even further and I went on to review the directors of the movie and what they have been up to. I also looked up Gaurang Vyas and Gaurav Rawal two of the Flavors cast members.
The most fun cast member turned out to be the guy who played my favorite character Kartik in the movie Flavors - Dr. Reef Karim. Now this guy is really something! I am impressed - doctor, actor, model, speaker, professor, social activist...the list seems to be endless. How he manages it all is cool but the fact he is doing more than one thing he is interested in at the same time is supercool and inspirational. Same goes for all the other Flavors cast and crew members, all of whom apparently have a different day job.
This means that there is hope for lazy people like me who aspire to do a million different things (a bunch of which obviously fizzle out). I have now Barack Obama's "Audacity to Hope" that one day I will sincerely vest the time and energy to passionately pursue the few things that make me tick and my life happenning enough to make me happy!
On a filmy and fun note I must be sure to check out this new indie movie Khel Shuru.
Great Expectations
- I like the challenge of surprising people who underestimate me. Nothing gives me more pleasure than meeting and exceeding expectations of people especially those who have no faith in my potential to deliver.
- My theory has not worked out very well for me in everyday life. Since I would like people to give me a chance I try to give others a fair chance. The other day I went for a haircut and when it was my turn at the hair salon I was greeted by the newest member of the salon staff. He must have been a 25 year old young intern or something and I didn't have the heart to turn him down and wait for the next person to cut my hair. Since I did not want to prejudice against his gender and age I let him cut my hair. I gave him enough direction and answered all his questions but the end result was my worse fears come true. Boy I should have resisted my urge!
- Oft expectation fails, and most oft where most it promises; and oft it hits where hope is coldest; and despair most sits.
Generally speaking we are all told not to expect. Not having expectations or lowering them certainly makes it easier to be content and happy but is that really practical? Not expecting anything in return for acts of kindness towards strangers or a social cause is plausible. However, not having any expectations from people that we love or cherish is totally impossible. Of course we all have heard that true love is unconditional. On a high level, our parents and family members do love us throughout life unconditionally but even the best parents do have expectations. I think it comes naturally to the animal race to expect. The measure of expectations might vary from little to great but I haven't figured out yet the answer to my question: To expect or not to expect?!
And the World Tour has begun!
- I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand... Adventure is a state of mind - and spirit.
My World Tour is a famous joke on me (which I don't mind) that comes up ever so often in conversations with my friends and family. The root cause: for the longest period of time I kept citing my serious passion/ambition in life as travelling around the world and writing about my journeys in foreign lands. Of course no one believed me! Planning elaborate vacations to new countries is something one can do no more than once or twice a year; in fact if truth be told it would be great to 1. afford and 2. manage one such trip every year :) given our chaotic work and personal lives.
I tried to be sincere to my conscience the past few years but couldn't see a lot of new places. Time and money were both serious Darth Vaders for my travel genie. Even the sights I did visit (see previous post with my world map to see details on places I have left my footprints), I was unable to satiate my travel needs; there just was something missing but its irrational enough that I can't point my finger on it. Apart from Alaska I can't say with surety that I enjoyed myself.
2007 is finally shaping to be the year of my dreams. I am travelling every single month this year and yes I am aware that enjoyment is not in quantity but in quality. But in my unique schrizophenic style I know I have to do it now, it can't wait anymore; if I don't release my adventure spirit completely, very soon it will be inhibited and then life and I will never be the same again!
Its not like I planned anything, in fact till today the only plan was to go to Canada to see my family. But I should have seen my travel bug coming. Last weekend, I ended up spending 2 hours checking out travel guides in a book store followed by 5 more hours of frenzied travel based web surfing. Concurrently, I spent a lot of time on Flickr admiring photographs of places I would like to see, mentally making my own list of places to see before I die. This weekend I ended up having breakfast in a quaint town called Tiburon followed by a trip to a lighthouse from the 1800s (amazingly still functional) at Pt. Bonita. I saw the lighthouse on the news again today as it beaconed and ushered in the 2700 passenger cruiseliner Queen Mary in to the San Franciso bay.
God and ideas are all hidden in small things. This simple truth became obvious to me as the world tour I had always only dreamt of; slowly and finally unravelled in my brain today. It all started with a young girl's simple passion and now she is going to make it happen - a full blown emancipation of her adventurous side :)
To make it even more interesting, unless absolutely necessary to compromise (which is a word I hate to use and execute on) I am going to follow some basic rules for all my trips:
1. I will travel by myself and will absolutely not degrade the quality and element of my trip to accomodate disingenuous friends :), some of whom always find the need to pile on!
The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Walden (1854)
Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone.
2. I will travel with an open heart and mind, and talk to all kinds of people I run into. Akin to Borat I will aim to find cultural learnings from the different places I visit so that I can apply them to myself! The solitude will definitely help me relax, practice my pilates/running and do some soul stirring to come up with exciting ideas for the next few chapters of personal and professional life.
- Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.
- Miriam Beard
3. I will not over plan any trip, will try to appreciate natural and human beauty that comes my way and wherever possible will let my outgoing nature hold my reins so that my alter ego does not throw me on one of those introvert mood swings. Finally, if an opportunity to do good shows me a palm along the way, I will shake my hand passionately and do whatever I can to help someone :)
More details on my exact Toyota/747 Diaries (if you will) still to come!
Note to self: Must read Che Guevara's epic journey captured in his book "The Motorcycle Diaries" and watch the movie starring Gael García Bernal again for inspiration!!!
A new spring every week!
I am a great fan of quotes, in fact I read at least 5 new quotes every day. Here are some that reflect my mood today:
- An optimist is the human personification of spring.
- Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that's where you renew your springs that never dry up.
I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.
Tuesday, I went down to the office cafe twice but both times I could not find anything appealing to eat so I decided to not give up on my desire for good food. I waited till I finished an assignment I was focused on till 3 pm, left work with no idea of what I wanted to eat. Randomly, I went to the Prolific Oven bakery and viola I tried something new - a Mexi-Chicken panini and boy was it good. It felt like Beethoven's symphony as I gorged on the mesquite chicken, the fresh avocado and the savory grilled peppers. The side salad was no less. I felt deja vu. Waiting for the right lunch and then finding supreme delight in it felt real.
Today, a series of fortunate events made me a super happy person and it was a new spring in my life all over again :)
- The project at work that had made Friday and Monday busy and yesterday uncertain today was all of sudden in green. Hooray!
- An hour at my favorite Toastmasters club was super fun.
- The soup at the cafe was so good, I bought 2 cups of it :) I even recommended it to 5 different coworkers. It was called Garden Vegetable Minestrone but it was so spicy I am sure it had some Thai or Indian herbs.
- I have been planning for my marathon spree since weeks and the inaction was killing me. The plan is not to build stamina for a marthon and then throw it all away like 2006. For 2007, I am planning a 6 month series full of a 5k, 10k, half marathon and then marathon. Once I get to the full marathon, I get to blow some steam and then start the same cycle again. I get to achieve 3 cool things: maintain stamina, keep fit year round and see new places that I go to run at. This is a good plan, all it needs is good execution. I kickstarted the preparation today: 1 hour of pilates followed by 3 rounds of Moitozo park. 1.5 miles in 20-25 minutes is not good at all but today is day one, so anything goes!
- As I walked home tired, I checked the mailbox and there it was - my graded paper on "The private diaries of Agrippina". This was the final paper I wrote under excruciating personal circumstances for my literature class on Roman emperor Nero and the three women he loved and killed.
All these very silly events just made my day. God is indeed as Ms. Arundhati Roy has famously cited in small things!
What a day! One must wonder how down I must have been to really feel so happy!
Feminism brings benefits to all -- men included
What can I say, I agree completely!
Published By Neil Chethik at http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16517033.htm
On Tuesday, for the first time in American history, a woman will take a seat behind the president of the United States as he delivers his State of the Union address. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will be elbow-to-elbow with Vice President Cheney during the speech, described her rise to speaker earlier this month as a great victory ``for our daughters and granddaughters.''
It's a victory for our sons and grandsons as well. That's because when feminists succeed, men tend to benefit, too. Indeed, I've been one of those beneficiaries myself.
Born in the 1950s, I have my roots in the era of ``Father Knows Best.'' In those pre-feminist days, men dominated in the political arena, ran virtually all of the businesses, and controlled -- at least legally -- much of went on in the home. Indeed, in some states, a husband had the right to strike his wife if she got out of line.
But as I came of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I stepped into a fresh, feminist world. Women were marching for legal rights; they were competing with men in the education and work worlds. In 1972, my own mother entered the workforce (after raising four children) to begin what would become a 25-year professional career.
At that time, many of our national leaders warned that as women gained, men would lose. But the opposite actually occurred. As women's options grew, so did men's.
I noticed this first in college as I contemplated my future work life. Feminism freed me from the expectation that I would be the primary wage-earner in my family. Where I had once considered a career based largely on how much money I would earn, now I could ask myself: What do I really want to do?
Thus, my interest in going to law school vanished; my passion for writing took precedence. I entered a profession that I still enjoy today.
Feminism also benefited me in my relationships with women. The women I dated in college and afterward no longer looked at me as a ``success object'' -- someone who would provide for them. They were strong and motivated enough to take care of themselves. They sought careers and adventure, and a man who would be an equal partner. Thus, I had the luxury of dating, and eventually marrying, a woman whose full potential was not curtailed by society's limitations.
After I married, my options continued to expand. With my wife sharing the responsibility of earning our family income, I had the opportunity to share in raising our son. In his earliest years, I stayed home with my son every morning before handing him over to my wife in the afternoons.
Later, when he started school, I was the one who met him as he came off the bus at the end of the school day. My wife treated me as a parental equal. Our relationships allowed me the flexibility to coach my son's baseball teams, attend his band performances and visit his classrooms to meet his friends and teachers.
My own father has lamented to me that he didn't have as close a relationship with his children as he would have liked. Whatever regrets I have in raising my son, a lack of time with him will not be one of them.
Indeed, I'll be sitting next to my now 13-year-old son on Tuesday when the president stands to deliver his State of the Union address. I'll point to Pelosi and remind him that this is a historic day. Her rise to third-in-line to the presidency, I'll tell him, is an indication not only that girls and women can achieve their dreams, but that boys and men can do the same.
NEIL CHETHIK is writer-in-residence at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington, Ky. He also is the author of VoiceMale (Simon & Schuster). He wrote this article for the Mercury News.
Inspiring Cancer Story on Dr Phil
This woman's story is absolutely heartwarming.
http://www.drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/3465/?id=3465&null=null
http://www.drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/3465/?id=3465&null=null
Oh My God....Bollywood Maniacs Bury Me :)
I don't know whether I should be happy about this or sad or just outright mad!
I have this quaint silly blog that I write for fun..Its a funky old blog that no one reads! And I like it that way :) http://cynicalthinker.blogspot.com/
Well I just had 600 visitors because some idiot or a computerized crawler posted my silliest and most random rantings on a popular Hindi music site!
http://www.indiafm.com/features/2007/01/15/2091/index.html
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :)
Outcome:
See View My Stats under My Links on the right menu bar...
I hope no more craziness comes out of this topic..I m off to work meetings!
I have this quaint silly blog that I write for fun..Its a funky old blog that no one reads! And I like it that way :) http://cynicalthinker.blogspot
Well I just had 600 visitors because some idiot or a computerized crawler posted my silliest and most random rantings on a popular Hindi music site!
http://www.indiafm.com/features
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :)
Outcome:
See View My Stats under My Links on the right menu bar...
I hope no more craziness comes out of this topic..I m off to work meetings!
No Bollywod for 2007
Just made a New Year resolution....I will not watch any run-of-the-mill Desi aka Hindi aka Bollywood movie till June 2007 at the least! Half a year is a good aim given the number of Indian friends I have, one of whom will surely keep trying to break my resolution.
Why?
- 90% of the new Hindi movies that hit the not-so-cool Naz8 theater in Fremont, CA every Friday night are outright (story/script) spineless, have too many mundane songs and are a 3 hour drag with too much melodrama.
- Emotions and love are an integral part of such highly predictable movies and if that is a subject you don't like you better stay away.
But before I completely right off this billion dollar industry, let me recap the few movies I did see in 2006 and what I thought of them:
Really Bad: Dhoom 2, Don, Phir Hera Pheri, Golmaal, Krrish
Could Have Been Good: Fanaa, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Rang De Basanti, Pyar ke side effects
Awesome: Lage Raho Munnabhai, Omkara, Dor, Iqbal, Being Cyrus, 15 Park Avenue
On a side note, I had thus far a lot of faith in movie reviews/ratings at rottentomatoes but the fact that a movie like Dhoom 2 has a rating of 80% leads me to believe that something is really wrong with the tomatometer. The flip positive side is that Indian movies are also getting listed on this website.
Added: 1/16/2007 11:18 PM
This just in: As if to prove my point the Hollywood Foreign Press had some bad news for Bollywood. Water makes it to Oscar shortlist, Rang De... out
Why?
- 90% of the new Hindi movies that hit the not-so-cool Naz8 theater in Fremont, CA every Friday night are outright (story/script) spineless, have too many mundane songs and are a 3 hour drag with too much melodrama.
- Emotions and love are an integral part of such highly predictable movies and if that is a subject you don't like you better stay away.
But before I completely right off this billion dollar industry, let me recap the few movies I did see in 2006 and what I thought of them:
Really Bad: Dhoom 2, Don, Phir Hera Pheri, Golmaal, Krrish
Could Have Been Good: Fanaa, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Rang De Basanti, Pyar ke side effects
Awesome: Lage Raho Munnabhai, Omkara, Dor, Iqbal, Being Cyrus, 15 Park Avenue
On a side note, I had thus far a lot of faith in movie reviews/ratings at rottentomatoes but the fact that a movie like Dhoom 2 has a rating of 80% leads me to believe that something is really wrong with the tomatometer. The flip positive side is that Indian movies are also getting listed on this website.
Added: 1/16/2007 11:18 PM
This just in: As if to prove my point the Hollywood Foreign Press had some bad news for Bollywood. Water makes it to Oscar shortlist, Rang De... out
Food for thought or Thought for food?
Last night I spent hours reading my blog (for the lack of maintaining a personal journal) right from the beginning. It felt nice, berry nice (in the words of Borat) to read and remember all that I have been through in the last few years. Some posts were just plain boring, some were inspiring and yet the most fun ones were those that were personal memoirs and reminded me of how I had grown from a brash yuppie student to a grounded adult cum responsible professional.
As I spend my vacation with the family in cold-snowy Quebec, my best pastimes are sipping hot tea or coffee and devouring spicy and sizzling food.
On the same note, I have been a passionate connoisseur of coffees the last few months visiting new coffee houses, getting brewing lessons and volunteering as a barista to make the 4 o'clock cappuccino at work.
My love for coffee was developed at a tender age of 11 and continues to grow....But I hope that the funny coffee bell curve will never apply to the coffee lover in me :)
Exclusively for Bell Curve & Coffee Lovers
Year 2007 is around the corner and as we all think about New Year resolutions, I find myself procrastinating about healthy food and exercise habits.
The Mercury News article "CHANGING FOOD HABITS: Kitchen resolutions" definitely has some interesting ideas to offer. I already followed one of the ideas by learning a favorite family recipe from my Mom today. I also looked at cool food making videos on How to make easy recipes on About.com
Herz saying Cheers to 2007! Hoping for less junk and more healthy food; more marathons and less lazy weekends; more happiness and less sorrow and finally more peace and less stress.
As I spend my vacation with the family in cold-snowy Quebec, my best pastimes are sipping hot tea or coffee and devouring spicy and sizzling food.
On the same note, I have been a passionate connoisseur of coffees the last few months visiting new coffee houses, getting brewing lessons and volunteering as a barista to make the 4 o'clock cappuccino at work.
Barefoot Coffee Roasters
Coffee SocietyMy love for coffee was developed at a tender age of 11 and continues to grow....But I hope that the funny coffee bell curve will never apply to the coffee lover in me :)
Exclusively for Bell Curve & Coffee Lovers
Year 2007 is around the corner and as we all think about New Year resolutions, I find myself procrastinating about healthy food and exercise habits.
The Mercury News article "CHANGING FOOD HABITS: Kitchen resolutions" definitely has some interesting ideas to offer. I already followed one of the ideas by learning a favorite family recipe from my Mom today. I also looked at cool food making videos on How to make easy recipes on About.com
Herz saying Cheers to 2007! Hoping for less junk and more healthy food; more marathons and less lazy weekends; more happiness and less sorrow and finally more peace and less stress.
Why do women wear bras?
DO I need to say anything else?? My eyes have opened to some eye-popping news:
http://www.007b.com/why_wear_bras.php
http://www.007b.com/why_wear_bras.php
'I Hope You Dance... '
This was written by an 83-year-old woman to her friend. The last line says it all.
Dear Bertha,
I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting in the yard and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time working.
Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to savor, not to endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.
I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom.
I wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for clerks in the hardware store and tellers at the bank.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.
I'm not sure what others would've done had they known they wouldn't be here for the tomorrow that we all take for granted. I think they would have called family members and a few close friends. They might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner or for whatever their favorite food was.
I'm guessing; I'll never know.
It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew my hours were limited. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and parents often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, tell myself that it is special.
Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift.
"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there."
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance
Dear Bertha,
I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting in the yard and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time working.
Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to savor, not to endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.
I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom.
I wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for clerks in the hardware store and tellers at the bank.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.
I'm not sure what others would've done had they known they wouldn't be here for the tomorrow that we all take for granted. I think they would have called family members and a few close friends. They might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner or for whatever their favorite food was.
I'm guessing; I'll never know.
It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew my hours were limited. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and parents often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, tell myself that it is special.
Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift.
"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there."
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance
In a Mirza Ghalib moment all of a sudden
hazaaroN KHwahishaiN 'eisee ke har KHwahish pe dam nikle
bohot nikle mere armaaN lekin fir bhee kam nikle
bohot nikle mere armaaN lekin fir bhee kam nikle
Some interesting articles on IBNLIVE
Homemakers make a B-line at IIM-B
You go ladies! Its never too late to learn and get going on fulfilling your dreams :)
Rang de Bizarre
I think I agree with Sagarika Ghose! When will we stop over-dramatizing and glorifying life in Indian movies? Let me leave u with her closing lines:
"Rang De Basanti does a terrible disservice to the nationalism of India's young people. It wilfully paints modern day patriots as unthinking anti-establishment killers. It foolishly creates a myth known as Gen Next which does nothing but drink and dance. And it promotes a leviathan media as the ultimate interpreter of India. The fact that Rang de Basanti is a hit shows just how catastrophically distant we are getting from reality, where we're happy to live from media image to media image, from frame to frame, without realising the depth and profundity of "ordinary" human dramas."
Indian Ocean: The Band with a Big Bang
Sunday night I went to see an Indian band called the "Indian Ocean" perform. This was a bit funny since I tend to go see bands that I like and this one I had never heard of. But a lot of my friends had good things to say about them so I just went. And man was it a good decision or what! A couple of my friends who chickened out did certainly regret doing so once I called each of them to give them my spiel.
The verdict is out: they were great, the crowd loved it. The music was mostly metallic rock mixed with classical Indian table notes and melodic guitar tunes. The lyrics were minimalitsic to say the least but where they did exist, they were great and had deep meaning. After the show, I was quite excited and even went on to meet and greet the band members. Psyched as I was, later in the night I checked out their web presence and history. They are quite well travelled and have had the honor of playing at several prestigious occasions.
Some sparkling fusion, it's Bollywood in the big tent
Gr8 fan site
A Band Apart - Lalitha Suhasini meets Indian Ocean, four men who chose to quit their careers to make music full-time
Random research on "Cynicism"
I was all of sudden curious to know the roots of the word "Cynic" and this is what Google search has to offer:
Definitions of cynical on the Web:
Love cheap thrills? Enjoy PC-to-Phone calls to 30+ countries for just 2¢/min with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice.
Definitions of cynical on the Web:
- believing the worst of human nature and motives; having a sneering disbelief in e.g. selflessness of others
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - Cynicism was originally the philosophy of a group of ancient Greeks called the Cynics (main article), founded by Antisthenes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynical - 1. Believing or showing the belief that people are motivated chiefly by base or selfish concerns; skeptical of the motives of others. 2. Selfishly or callously calculating . 3. Negative or pessimistic, as from world-weariness . 4. Expressing jaded or scornful skepticism or negativity. .
missbunbun.tripod.com/id7.html - extremely pleasing or agreeable, esp. to the sense of taste or smell.
www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/vocab/seven/quiz/1/
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Reading the News Paper: An old habit comes back to life!
As I kid, reading the newspaper was an activity that I thoroughly enjoyed every Sunday afternoon. During the weekdays, I had school but some how I would manage to skim through the paper in the evening. Just reading the headlines, cartoons, a little bit of jumble and crossword, some sports and the horoscope meant I had done my reading for the day. Sunday afternoon was albeit a whole another experience. I have always been a late night person so early morning (for me) at 6:30 I would hear my dad and mom as they headed out the back door to the verandah/patio to start reading the papers while sipping mugs full of glorious Darjeeling tea. An hour later, my sister would join them and reading, chatting and tea sessions would continue till about 8:30 or 9, which is when I would finally get out of bed. This is also when mom would strategically get up to start cooking breakfast, the maid would arrive and start doing the dishes, the milk man would deliver milk packets to our doorstep and dad would head to the bathroom.
Cool! Now I was free to harass and fight with my sister over the newspaper section or the remote control for the TV. Yohoo! Sunday morning had amazing cartoon and kids shows. Now while I wanted to watch He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, she wanted to watch some fluffy show about mischieveous teenagers living in a boarding school. At the same time, dad after finishing his daily prayer would now seat himself at the dining table and pitch for NEWS (Why do Dads always want to see News of some sort, is it to prove they are older and serious people?). Mom would walk in with the breakfast tray and she would have her own draw but somehow we would all compromise and watch one great show while enjoying Mom's great food! When I was a teenager, I thought all Moms are great cooks and did not appreciate my Mom's culinary skills enough. Today I am humbled by her consistent performance as our chief chef of the house. Her quality and persistence easily match Rahul Dravid, the epitome of consistency in the Indian subcontinent. To get back on track, the only TV shows that we would always agree on as a family without arguing were a live cricket match or the Bournvita Quiz contest.
Further along the day, after throwing 10 tantrums regarding taking a shower, I would enjoy a hearty lunch with my family. This was followed by a Sunday late afternoon siesta for all except me. 2 to 5 in the afternoon were my hours of relaxing while devouring the weekend addition of the Times of India or the Indian Express. This was just awesome. The entire paper to myself, I would read it page by page not leaving a single word or image.
This very personal regimen of spending a Sunday ravising the newspaper was completely stiffled and killed at college where the newspaper freely accessible at my dorm was really bad. Some Sundays I would borrow a friend's personally subscribed Times of India and read it just like old times. Effectively, I have been unable to resume my old habit since 1997. A cool 9 years later, I am backing to reading my old friend - the newspaper every day all thanks to my new roommate who subscribed us to the San Jose Mercury News. I was a teenager then, now an adult; the country and papers are different but its still as much fun as a decade ago. Reading is one of the best habits I have and for that I have to thank my awesome parents! Another set of kudos goes to the newspaper companies for finding innovative business models to keep their papers running despite the ubiquitious presence of free news services online.
Here some very interesting columns from today's San Jose Mercury News:
I loved it. Kinsley is as cynical as it gets! If you don't know the history of US and its politics in the Islamic world this piece gives you an excellent summary of the history as well.
Hey, gang! Now let's go help the Iranians! - By Michael Kinsley
A total contrast to Kinsley's crticisms, this one is full of ideas and optimism and has some great lines on the middle class and its importance in a society.
Saving the middle class requires long-overdue investments - By Don Perata
This is a contemporary article. Makes interesting reading for most of my friends and peers from Generation MTV. Long distance relationships (LDRs) are a reality and we might as well acclimitize ourselves.
Six ways to help make a long-distance relationship work
And finally to top it all of, the frontpage for Life & Style section of the paper talks about Sikhism, one of the youngest religions in the world which originated in Punjab, India and how Sikhs in the Bay Area celebrated their Spring festival "Baisakhi" at the Gurudwara (temple) in Fremont this weekend as Christians celebrated Easter.
Sikhs celebrate renewal of faith - By Kimra McPherson
Happy Baisakhi to All!
Cool! Now I was free to harass and fight with my sister over the newspaper section or the remote control for the TV. Yohoo! Sunday morning had amazing cartoon and kids shows. Now while I wanted to watch He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, she wanted to watch some fluffy show about mischieveous teenagers living in a boarding school. At the same time, dad after finishing his daily prayer would now seat himself at the dining table and pitch for NEWS (Why do Dads always want to see News of some sort, is it to prove they are older and serious people?). Mom would walk in with the breakfast tray and she would have her own draw but somehow we would all compromise and watch one great show while enjoying Mom's great food! When I was a teenager, I thought all Moms are great cooks and did not appreciate my Mom's culinary skills enough. Today I am humbled by her consistent performance as our chief chef of the house. Her quality and persistence easily match Rahul Dravid, the epitome of consistency in the Indian subcontinent. To get back on track, the only TV shows that we would always agree on as a family without arguing were a live cricket match or the Bournvita Quiz contest.
Further along the day, after throwing 10 tantrums regarding taking a shower, I would enjoy a hearty lunch with my family. This was followed by a Sunday late afternoon siesta for all except me. 2 to 5 in the afternoon were my hours of relaxing while devouring the weekend addition of the Times of India or the Indian Express. This was just awesome. The entire paper to myself, I would read it page by page not leaving a single word or image.
This very personal regimen of spending a Sunday ravising the newspaper was completely stiffled and killed at college where the newspaper freely accessible at my dorm was really bad. Some Sundays I would borrow a friend's personally subscribed Times of India and read it just like old times. Effectively, I have been unable to resume my old habit since 1997. A cool 9 years later, I am backing to reading my old friend - the newspaper every day all thanks to my new roommate who subscribed us to the San Jose Mercury News. I was a teenager then, now an adult; the country and papers are different but its still as much fun as a decade ago. Reading is one of the best habits I have and for that I have to thank my awesome parents! Another set of kudos goes to the newspaper companies for finding innovative business models to keep their papers running despite the ubiquitious presence of free news services online.
Here some very interesting columns from today's San Jose Mercury News:
I loved it. Kinsley is as cynical as it gets! If you don't know the history of US and its politics in the Islamic world this piece gives you an excellent summary of the history as well.
Hey, gang! Now let's go help the Iranians! - By Michael Kinsley
A total contrast to Kinsley's crticisms, this one is full of ideas and optimism and has some great lines on the middle class and its importance in a society.
Saving the middle class requires long-overdue investments - By Don Perata
This is a contemporary article. Makes interesting reading for most of my friends and peers from Generation MTV. Long distance relationships (LDRs) are a reality and we might as well acclimitize ourselves.
Six ways to help make a long-distance relationship work
And finally to top it all of, the frontpage for Life & Style section of the paper talks about Sikhism, one of the youngest religions in the world which originated in Punjab, India and how Sikhs in the Bay Area celebrated their Spring festival "Baisakhi" at the Gurudwara (temple) in Fremont this weekend as Christians celebrated Easter.
Sikhs celebrate renewal of faith - By Kimra McPherson
Happy Baisakhi to All!
Information Overload: I need a Google NextGen
Have you ever felt that you have too much information floating in your head that you need to somehow store before you lose it all....I have had that sinking feeling one too many times in the last few years...Books and television give us ample amount of time to view and digest information. Its not the same with the web though. Google news, other news sites, emails, forwards, blogs, feeds, text messages, email lists, newspapers, magazines and their online versions have made this a world of information overload for some of us. Sometimes I am amazed that my brain does not fall in to an endless loop or a data overrun error and crash much like a computer.
To top of all the previously cited information sources, we also have the MOTHER of all Google. My plea and request to the millionaires @ Google is to stop enhancing the search methods, yes we all love information, who doesn't? But what we need now is Google NextGen, the information search engine that also synthesizes and summarizes it so that our brain and eyes have to deal with only the most important details not the Holy Grail on any given topic.
Now that I have that one out of my stomach, I am amazed at how much has happenned this week in my boring and dull life. I have learned and experienced a lot in a few days and it would be simply stupid not to write and retain it.
Started this week with the never ending saga of my life: To be or not to be? Background: I can't live with or without you! However, thats not the interesting part. Instead of indulging in self analysis I found energy and insights from outsiders.
1. Jerry Lo, a senior at Evergreen High School @ San Jose wrote in the Mercury News:
"
Fellow members of the ``MySpace generation,'' please listen to me. It may be a few years away, but before you pop the question or say ``I do,'' think about what you are getting yourself into.
When you get married you'll vow to be with that person ``through sickness and health,'' and, ``till death do us part.'' Let's try to understand our vows before we say them.
Do we want our children to have to live through the trauma of divorce? Do we really want our children to grow up with single parents?
"
These are some intelligent words from a young adult that we all can learn from.
Read Jerry's views @
When marriages crumble, children suffer
2. Next, by a chance skipping of channels I landed upon Discovery Travel at primetime 9 pm and found an amazing show Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime. Jeremy Piven is this real cute and funny guy you must have noticed for sure in John Cusack movie Serendipity, HBO series Entourage and a bunch of theatre plays. His journey is to India and no its not amazing because he went to India. The show is not your routine sight-seeing travel guide. Its a very personal journey that Jeremey lives out in his own style. He walks the streets of Delhi and Bombay, does yoga in Kerala, Himalayas and Hrishikesh; drives a Kinetic Honda moped in Southern India, rides a cycle rickshaw in Paharganj, Delhi and glides on a smooth water boat on the backwaters in Kerala. He enjoys his time at an orphanage in Mumbai, is consummed with appreciation for the Kathakali dancers who put peppers in their eyes to maintain red eyes matching their face colors during the dance performance and is agog with anxiety as he watches the wild monkeys at Lakshman Jhula in northern India. He found his personal connection in the form of an old Jewish lady who enjoys her small Jewish community in Kerala, the Kathakali dancer who had shared the same teacher as Jeremy at some NY acting school and a Sadhvi (holy woman/priest) of American origin who came to India 12 years back as a visitor and found her calling as a priest in India. The real deal were the pearls of wisdom Jeremy gleaned from a swamiji in Hrishikesh:
- Look at people around you, every one is trying to get their life back together, its all scattered in pieces......Look for peace inside you...you want peace in your life, not pieces!
- I as its written in English is a vertical bar, a a symbol of ego and the idea of self and selfishness. If you think as I you will always be unhappy...Try to bend your I from a vertical bar to a horizontal bar. Its akin to bending forwards and giving in to people and life. Thats where lies happinness: in bending, not in holding yourself straight up.
More learning about real life continues in the next blogging streak...
To top of all the previously cited information sources, we also have the MOTHER of all Google. My plea and request to the millionaires @ Google is to stop enhancing the search methods, yes we all love information, who doesn't? But what we need now is Google NextGen, the information search engine that also synthesizes and summarizes it so that our brain and eyes have to deal with only the most important details not the Holy Grail on any given topic.
Now that I have that one out of my stomach, I am amazed at how much has happenned this week in my boring and dull life. I have learned and experienced a lot in a few days and it would be simply stupid not to write and retain it.
Started this week with the never ending saga of my life: To be or not to be? Background: I can't live with or without you! However, thats not the interesting part. Instead of indulging in self analysis I found energy and insights from outsiders.
1. Jerry Lo, a senior at Evergreen High School @ San Jose wrote in the Mercury News:
"
Fellow members of the ``MySpace generation,'' please listen to me. It may be a few years away, but before you pop the question or say ``I do,'' think about what you are getting yourself into.
When you get married you'll vow to be with that person ``through sickness and health,'' and, ``till death do us part.'' Let's try to understand our vows before we say them.
Do we want our children to have to live through the trauma of divorce? Do we really want our children to grow up with single parents?
"
These are some intelligent words from a young adult that we all can learn from.
Read Jerry's views @
When marriages crumble, children suffer
2. Next, by a chance skipping of channels I landed upon Discovery Travel at primetime 9 pm and found an amazing show Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime. Jeremy Piven is this real cute and funny guy you must have noticed for sure in John Cusack movie Serendipity, HBO series Entourage and a bunch of theatre plays. His journey is to India and no its not amazing because he went to India. The show is not your routine sight-seeing travel guide. Its a very personal journey that Jeremey lives out in his own style. He walks the streets of Delhi and Bombay, does yoga in Kerala, Himalayas and Hrishikesh; drives a Kinetic Honda moped in Southern India, rides a cycle rickshaw in Paharganj, Delhi and glides on a smooth water boat on the backwaters in Kerala. He enjoys his time at an orphanage in Mumbai, is consummed with appreciation for the Kathakali dancers who put peppers in their eyes to maintain red eyes matching their face colors during the dance performance and is agog with anxiety as he watches the wild monkeys at Lakshman Jhula in northern India. He found his personal connection in the form of an old Jewish lady who enjoys her small Jewish community in Kerala, the Kathakali dancer who had shared the same teacher as Jeremy at some NY acting school and a Sadhvi (holy woman/priest) of American origin who came to India 12 years back as a visitor and found her calling as a priest in India. The real deal were the pearls of wisdom Jeremy gleaned from a swamiji in Hrishikesh:
- Look at people around you, every one is trying to get their life back together, its all scattered in pieces......Look for peace inside you...you want peace in your life, not pieces!
- I as its written in English is a vertical bar, a a symbol of ego and the idea of self and selfishness. If you think as I you will always be unhappy...Try to bend your I from a vertical bar to a horizontal bar. Its akin to bending forwards and giving in to people and life. Thats where lies happinness: in bending, not in holding yourself straight up.
More learning about real life continues in the next blogging streak...
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is a tremendously famour show on NBC where teams compete to win a large sum of money. The competitive task can be just about anthing from running up a hill to eating the guts or shit of an animal. Thats just disgusting. Yeah it is! Recently, I saw Fear Factor host and standup comedian Joe Rogan perform at the San Jose Improv in downtown San Jose. Boy was he good or what! His first joke was: " The only reason I agreed to host Fear Factor was that I thought it would never run more than a few weeks...Who would've thought we would find so many stupid people who were willing to eat God knows what for some money...And here I am hosting the Nth season of Fear Factor and encouraging dumb contestants"
Personally, I have a lot of appreciation for courageous people who fight their fears! Just as well people in general are God or Nature fearing and get shit scared especially of lawyers, police officers and doctors. For instance, any time a doctor recommends a biopsy for someone we know whistles start blowing in our heads. People are scared to their wit's end for no apparent reason. Yes there is reason to be worried if you get a warning call from a cop or if the doctor recommends an MRI but the worry should be focused on grasping what has the triggered those actions and on how to best tackle all future scenarios. This is what I call positive or useful stress that leads you to take some action and intiative. Then there is the other worry which is purely negative and has no value or purpose. It is just an amalgamation of ambigious statements, half-baked theories and ignorance. I for one have known one too many people in my life who self-inflict themselves with this negatiev form of mental stress at every juncture in their lives. To me its annoying, to some its a way of life....
Personally, I have a lot of appreciation for courageous people who fight their fears! Just as well people in general are God or Nature fearing and get shit scared especially of lawyers, police officers and doctors. For instance, any time a doctor recommends a biopsy for someone we know whistles start blowing in our heads. People are scared to their wit's end for no apparent reason. Yes there is reason to be worried if you get a warning call from a cop or if the doctor recommends an MRI but the worry should be focused on grasping what has the triggered those actions and on how to best tackle all future scenarios. This is what I call positive or useful stress that leads you to take some action and intiative. Then there is the other worry which is purely negative and has no value or purpose. It is just an amalgamation of ambigious statements, half-baked theories and ignorance. I for one have known one too many people in my life who self-inflict themselves with this negatiev form of mental stress at every juncture in their lives. To me its annoying, to some its a way of life....
The World is Flat
The World is Flat - my belief that the world is flat is growing by the day. An exicting array of events have lead me to this understanding.
For the longest period of time, I had no idea why public service broadcast TV or radio existed. Recently, while surfing my TV, I found interesting programs on KQED a public funded TV channel for the Bay Area. The most remarkable shows that I enjoy are:
Charlie Rose Show a hard core interview show with the best of CEOs, politicians, sportsmen, artists, writers
Josh Korbluth Show which is hosted by Josh, the very funny protagonist of the movie Haiku Tunnel
CEO Exchange which is an awesome platform for idea exchange between CEOs, students and professors at a prestigious host business school
In terms of how these items relate to a flat world, well all these shows enlighten a person to the nuances and concepts of countries all over the world. The coverage and knowledge being shared is truly global in nature and expands the horizon of one's understanding.
I will leave you guys with an interesting article about how a call at a McDonald's drive thru will be outsourced to a person at a different location than the McD's.
The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order
For the longest period of time, I had no idea why public service broadcast TV or radio existed. Recently, while surfing my TV, I found interesting programs on KQED a public funded TV channel for the Bay Area. The most remarkable shows that I enjoy are:
Charlie Rose Show a hard core interview show with the best of CEOs, politicians, sportsmen, artists, writers
Josh Korbluth Show which is hosted by Josh, the very funny protagonist of the movie Haiku Tunnel
CEO Exchange which is an awesome platform for idea exchange between CEOs, students and professors at a prestigious host business school
In terms of how these items relate to a flat world, well all these shows enlighten a person to the nuances and concepts of countries all over the world. The coverage and knowledge being shared is truly global in nature and expands the horizon of one's understanding.
I will leave you guys with an interesting article about how a call at a McDonald's drive thru will be outsourced to a person at a different location than the McD's.
The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order
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im convinced that normal people don't become successful entrepreneurs. only people who really really need to succeed to make a statement or learn something or transform something through the crucible of business. each of my businesses was a step along a journey to become who i needed to become. my pilgrimage has been through business.