Work

It is always exciting to make a fresh start. I think there is huge growth potential in this job. It is up to me to make the most of the opportunities here. So far the people I have worked with seem to be nice. I am still getting to know them. Only time will tell how things work out. One thing for sure is that the benefits these guys offer are way way better than the benefits I had at my previous company. I cut my FSA account withholding for next year b/c I don't think I will have to pay out of pocket expenses like I used to after every doctor visit at the othe job.

New job...Car rear-ended

This has been my first week at the new job. It did not exactly begin on the right note. On my second day to work, a guy rear-ended me on the highway. It was stop and go traffic and he obviously was preoccupied with something and did not see me stop and rammed into me. Thoughts about whether this was a bad omen filled my mind. A friend told me that a similar thing had happened to him when he first began work at HP. It turned out to be the best job he had worked at. Lets hope so!

I am waiting for him to respond to his insurance agent so that they can initiate all the paperwork. I believe it was my good fortune that this guy had proper insurance from AAA. My friends tell me that AAA usually does a good job. But more importantly it wasn't an unisured driver, of which there are many in California. I did not really ask for the police to file a report and I wonder if I should have done that. There is really no proof that this accident happened, though it was amidst rush hour traffic and a cop did come by and ask us if we had exchanged information. I hope everything works out in the end. I'll go in for an estimate tomorrow.

Elections

The people have spoken. Take a look at this map. If this doesn't prove that the country has become more culturally conservative, then you are'nt really acknowledging reality. Voters across the country for a number of reasons found Bush to be a better choice than Kerry. Plain and simple. I think the Democratic party will have a tough time regaining power. They have been out of the majority in both houses for almost a decade now and this might be just the beginning of a run similar to what the Dems had during the 60's, 70's and 80's. I really think that the Dems are out of touch with the people of this country.

There is already talk of the potential Dem candidates in 2008. Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner. She is such a bad candidate with such a shrill voice that I am quite sure she will turn away voters. The Dems better not nominate her.

My prediction of an eight point victory was way off mark. But I did predict a Bush victory. So I'll cheer for myself on that count.

Redskins and the election

Wierd statistical correlation between the fortunes of the Washington Redskins football team and the Presidential election. Since 1933, if the Redskins win on the weekend before the election, then the incumbent party has won. If the Redskins lose, the challenger has won. The Redskins play the Green Bay Packers this weekend in Washington.

The Polls

I think most polls suggest that Bush will win the election. My prediction was that he would win by 8 points, but the polls suggest more like a 5 point gap. It'll take a major change of opinion over the next few days for Kerry to win. There are suggestions that Ohio may turn out to be the Florida of 2004. It is so close that both candidates have a chance and if it comes down to a few hundred vote difference, expect both parties to park their brigade of lawyers in that state for a month or two and fight a long and testing legal battle. I won't be surprised if there are a couple of other states that will also be close that will invite legal challenges. All in all an interesting next few days.

Kerry mangles his speeches

Here's a great piece on how Kerry manages to underwhelm with his speeches. I tried listening to him the other day, and I couldn't help notice how bad he was in his delivery. On the other hand, Bush reads his speeches as they are written (we know he doesn't do quite well when he has to deliver a speech extempore) and he comes across as far more effective, confident and sure of himself.

An unwelcome intruder

Creepy stuff. Life can be stranger than fiction sometimes.

To refinance or not to...

Made the decision to go with a 5/1 ARM. Got a good rate with no points and no closing costs. I was reading Money magazine and most pundits who study the market say that this is the time to lock in a fixed rate. Interest rates they say are at a historic low and will only go up from here. So their advice is that if you know that you are going to be in the house long term, then this is the time to lock up a good rate on a 30yr fixed. But I don't know if I will be in this house past 5 years. I like the house, but the school district is below par. Had it been a good school district, I guess I would have gone in for a 30yr fixed. Another factor is that I don't know if I will be in this country 5 years from now. I may move back to India where all the tech action is. So for the moment I opted for a 5/1 ARM. Only time will tell if this was the right decision.

Cashed the check

I came in on Monday and was a little tense because I had to talk to my manager about quitting. I basically told her why I was quitting and about the opportunity that I had gotten and the growth potential that I saw for myself. I was pretty surprised that they tried to stop me from going and even were prepared to counter offer. Everything that I do here can be done in India for less, so I was surprised that they even thought they should try and keep me. But I have been here for 5 years, am jaded and I think a new job will be like a breath of fresh air.

Went around the office and told everyone that I knew personally that I had decided to move on. Couldn't catch B who was on his way to Toronto. But he says he will be back on Friday.

Now got to kill time until next Friday, which will be my last day at work.

Alan Keyes on Iraq

I caught just a small portion of the debate between Alan Keyes and Barack Obama in the Illinois senate race. Keyes was sounding off on Iraq. In justifying the war he cited the example of countries like Sudan and Libya who have begun to cooperate with the U.S. lest they become the next target. He also said that the other benefit was that we now have a base in the Middle East which we can use to thwart the evil ambitions of other countries. What? Did I hear that right? A base? So when we went in there we had designs of territorial hegemony? If that is what we really have in mind, god save us. That will send exactly the wrong message to the Iraqi people and almost surely turn this into a disaster. Now I know that Keyes is on the fringes of the radical right in his views. But his thoughts give you a window into the neoconservative thought and it is troubling to say the least.

Karl Rove is a genius

The manufactured anger and the flimsy hypocrisy of people criticising Kerry for mentioning the sexual orientation of Dick Cheney's daughter is astonishing. I can't figure out why that is an issue. She wasn't outed. Everyone knew she was lesbian. She has been mentioned before in the debates. So what is the big deal? Lets assume that Kerry had ulterior motives and was trying to drive a wedge among Bush's supporters who are opposed to homosexuality. They won't vote for Kerry anway. If they were opposed to Bush just for that reason, they'd simply hold their nose and vote for him rather than vote for Kerry. So Kerry had absolutely no reason whatsoever to harbor bad intentions in mentioning the VP's daughter. You can't help but admire the guys who advise Bush. They divert attention to inane topics that don't matter zilch to stop the public from focusing on the main issues. Top of the line media strategy. These guys are simply brilliant! They know how to win!

Got it!

Finally got the job offer! Actually I had two job offers. One from a company that is pretty stable and poised for growth and the other that is relatively stable (compared to the company i work for presently) but is going through some turbulent times. As luck would have it, the job at the stable company was stale and boring. The job at the other company was exciting and just what I want to do. Throughout my life, i have always made conservative decisions by choosing the less risky option. This time I made an exception and chose the risky option. Only time will tell if this was the right decision to make.

O'Reilly Factored

There is no love lost between Drudge and O'Reilly and sure enough Drudge was among the first to report the story about a sexual harrassment lawsuit filed against O'Reilly. It is hard to figure out who is telling the truth in these cases.

I remember watching his program and listen to him make references to his younger days and his pursuit of women. Nothing graphic, but just little hints here and there while he told a story to make a point. I used to wonder then if he had a raunchy side to him. This story makes me wonder more. Although to be fair, someone who did what he is accused of will usually leave a long trail. If more women come out and accuse him, then it will be hard not to believe the womans story. If not, then you have to question the young lady's motive.

Then again, O'Reilly and Fox did try to reach a settlement. This makes you wonder if the story has legs and Fox/O'Reilly worried. On the flip side, the woman was asking for $60 million to settle, which is a lot of money and makes you wonder if she is doing this only for the money.

Baffled

I have been reading a couple of conservative blogs. Supposedly these people are very religious and wear their religion on their sleeves. That is their right and I have nothing against it. But their criticism of Kerry often meanders into the personal. Does religion condone that? I thought every religion teaches you to love thy neighbor regardless of differences.

To be fair, I think you can find some lunatics on the left who also engage in this behavior. Why do you have to hate people for their politics?

It is one thing to say that you disagree with a persons policies, but it is quite another to be personal in your criticism. I think you elevate the level of discourse in this country when you believe that most people have good intentions. If you disagree with the policies they espouse then by all means criticize the policies, but don't demean the person behind it.

I think it is helpful to realize that both President Bush and Senator Kerry are seeking a job that is 24x7, stressful beyond imagination and extremely demanding. I don't envy them at all given the responsibilities of the office they are seeking. You have to be a "little mad" to seek the office of the Presidency of the US of A. It is a thankless job and you are criticized regardless of what you do. Give them credit for seeking such a tough job.

I think both men love their country. They have a different set of policies and a different set of convictions. Vote for the one you feel most comfortable with. Criticize their policies if you so wish, but do it with decency. At least I feel much better when I do that. And I assure you that you will too.

The third debate

I think this one was a draw. Bush was much better compared to his performance in the first debate - compared being the operative word. As a whole I think Kerry has gained more from the debates than Bush. He came in lagging in the polls and many people were writing his obituary. His performance in the three debates has been steady; he has looked presidential and he has spoken in that calm assured manner that people expect from their President. So I think he has helped himself. Bush did too little in the first debate, too much in the second debate and was himself in this the third debate. Bush's performances in the debates bear a stark resemblance to Gore's performance in 2000.

I still think this election is going to break out in the final week. Somebody is going to pull ahead and I am betting that it will be Bush. I think people will just decide that in uncertain times they would rather go in with a known quantity than a unknown quantity and vote for Bush. I still predict a Bush victory by 8 points.

Terrorists as nuisance

Bush seems to be beating Kerry over the head for his comment in an NYT article about how he views terrorism. Kerry I think rightfully says that "we have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance". What is wrong with that statement? I think that is stating the truth. I don't think we can ever hope to root out the menace of terrorism, atleast in my lifetime. To believe that is to live in a fantasy world. Every time we take out one terrorist, there will always be twenty more ready to take his/her place. That is reality.

That NYT article is a great read. It very succintly puts into perspective the differences between the two candidates and their respective worldviews.

Haight

This weekend we went to San Francisco. W has been wanting to get a temporary tatoo. She's been fixated on that for quite some time and we finally decided to go to SF and see if she found something she liked. V said that you could get plenty of choices in the Haight Ashbury section of town and that is where we went. Before we went there though, we went to Golden Gate Park, rented boats and went around Stow Lake. H and I rented a pedal boat, because we didn't feel comfortable with a row boat. At first, we pedalled furiously, but after a while we realized that pedalling slowly was much more efficient.

Haight is where the hippie section of town hangs out. You find people who live in a completely different world than the one I am generally familiar with. Drugs are probably pedalled illicitly on the streets. W pointed out a man who had a suspcious bulge in his pockets and mumbled at every passerby. I wonder if he was pedalling cocaine. If you haven't been to Haight, you really haven't seen SF. It is quite an experience to walk the streets and get a window into another subculture.

For dinner we went to a Ethiopian place called Massawa. The food was very similar to Indian food, though it is no surprise that I think Indian food tastes better.

The teacher and the student

Something in this story just doesn't make any sense. You can sense it is a train wreck waiting to happen.

The cost of war

Check out this story in this weekends Washington Post Magazine.

Prison experts

What's up with all these experts showing up on TV and giving us a window into what a day in prison - where Martha Stewart began her sentence today - is like? These experts were former inmates. Formerly there was some shame associated with being convicted and sentenced to prison. Once released, people usually slunk away into oblivion. Now they are on TV on almost every conceivable news channel appearing as experts. Has the world changed or what?

The second debate - lessons of history

In 1984, Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale squared off for the second debate. Reagan had performed poorly in the first debate and there were real questions as to whether he was capable of discharging his duties as President in the second term. His age was an issue and his debate performance had further accentuated concerns. In the second debate, Reagan made his now famous comment where he said that he would not make age an issue in the campaign. He said he would not exploit, for political purposes, the youth and inexperience of his opponent. That comment brought the house down, resurrected Reagan's fortunes and led him to an overwhelming victory over Mondale in the general election.

We lie on the cusp of a similar juncture in the history of this Presidential election. Bush by all accounts acquitted himself poorly in the first debate. The townhall setting in this the second debate is supposed to play to his strenghts as a compassionate conservative who connects well with lay people. Will he come up with a line that resonates and KO's Kerry tonight? He very well might. Tonight may mark a critical point in this election season.

I have a feeling that Bush will do very well, arrest Kerry's momentum since the last debate and regain the advantage in this election.

Not going to happen

The good news is that I received email from the hiring manager. The bad news is that he requested more time for making a decision. That tells me that there was at least one negative opinion (and I would imagine two to have an impact) about me during the interview process.

Anyways things happen for a reason. I can think back to W's interview with Amgen in LA. She was hopeful about getting the job. If she had, it would have meant that we move to SoCal. Amgen didn't even bother sending her a reply and she was so dissappointed. Looking back, it was a good thing it did not work out. She is much happier where she is now and we didn't have to move out of the Bay Area.

The cost of software bugs

Quite an interesting article . The statistic about the cost of software bugs to the U.S economy ($59 billion) is stunning. The article says a third of it could be saved by improved testing.

On a related note, I was reading an article in Computerworld. This is an interview with the HP CIO about the order processing snafus they hit last quarter. He effects an artful dance with words as he tries to explain what went wrong.

Waiting in anticipation

Have you wanted something bad and then had to endure a long wait to find out if you got it? I am going through such a phase at the moment and it is no fun. I want this to be over with one way or the other. I sure wish I'd get the good news, but I am prepared to hear the bad news as well. After all Murphy's law has this curious way of working itself into the picture, dashing hopes and turning conventional wisdom on its head. I came out of the interview on Friday afternoon feeling good about myself and the way I had performed. But that is only my perception of how it went. God alone knows if the guys who interviewed me felt the same. At least one senior development manager I thought had reservations about my experience. I wonder if others had concerns about me as well. Heck! I am overanalyzing this already. Let the chips fall where they may. I'll hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Man! is this a nervous time or what?

The VP debate

So I admit I was wrong on the first debate. I really thought that Bush would outperform Kerry. But Kerry held his own and outdid Bush. Perhaps it was a case of overconfidence on Bush's part, but I'm sure he will rectify it in the next two debates.

The VP debate I am betting will be won by Cheney. Just examine the facts. Edwards - while he was a lawyer and has argued cases in front of a jury and has six years of experience debating in the Senate - has never been in a two man debate. Cheney has this calm, assured slightly avuncular presence about him that he uses to devastating effect while debating his opponents. He took Lieberman to the cleaners in the VP debate 4 years ago and I expect him to wipe Edwards off the slate tomorrow. Its a must win for Cheney too given his boss' pathetic performance last Thursday and I think Cheney will be equal to the task. I will be listening closely for sure. Sadly I was wrong on the first debate, so there is no reason to believe I will be right this time either.

The debates

I guess this is a favorite topic among bloggers this morning. I don't think the debates will alter this race dramatically. I think Kerry has more of an uphill task in this debate than Bush. Bush as long as he doesn't screw up should sail through this pretty smoothly. Tuned my radio to a rock station this morning and the DJ was imploring everyone to vote for Kerry. Shouldn't be surprising because the station was located in the bastion of liberal thought: San Francisco.

George Will

I respect his views and though I often disagree with them, I am in awe of his command of the English language. He writes a column for Newsweek every fortnight and I often have to reach for the dictionary to look up the meaning of obscure words that dot his columns. His column this week is a serious indictment of the neo-conservative point of view and the failure of the Kerry campaign to seize on it and exploit it. Will, who appears on ABC's This Week program on Sundays questions the merit of the neocon view that American democracy is a good thing for the rest of the world and that nation building is a facile exercise. I knew Will had reservations about the war in Iraq, but he seems to have turned into a full fledged critic. His views seem very similar to those espoused by Pat Buchanan. You can read his article here.

Kerry is doomed

I was reading this weeks edition of Newsweek. A majority of the columnists are liberal and it is sad to read some of their columns. "What did Kerry do wrong?" read one headline. They seem to be resigned to a Kerry defeat and they may be right on that fact. I was thinking of what the debates will sound like. Imagine Kerry standing up there and accusing Bush of ineptitude and pulling this country into an unnecessary war. All Bush has to do is to turn to Kerry and ask him, "Senator Kerry: did you vote for the Iraq war resolution in 2002?". Kerry will admit he did (while Bush chortles), but then add that Bush went into this war without a plan for winning the peace, putting soldiers in harms way. In response Bush will say, "Senator Kerry: did you not vote against a 87 billion dollar bill that would help the troops in Iraq?". The straight answer is yes, despite the fact that Kerry's vote was more a protest vote because the bill was assured of passing the Senate. But try explaining that in a debate where responses have to be precise and to the point. I can't imagine a scenario where Kerry scores in the debates. Bush and his team know how to win and want to win badly, while Kerry and his team have mostly proved to be inept opponents. It is still the end of September, but I think it is game, set and match to Bush.

Mom doesn't sound too good

I spoke to Mom the other day and she didn't sound too good on the phone. All the tests for a heart problem have come up negative. I think I should go visit her this December. The only thing that sucks being here is that I am so far away from Mom. I wish Mom and Dad were here with me. Anyways, W is looking for tickets and I think the cheapest one will set us back by about 1700 dollars each. A big hole in the wallet, but I guess money well spent.

Awkward Silences

I am taking a Project Integration and Risk Management class at the local university extension center in a bid to shore up my project management credentials. The first day I introduced myself to a fellow student. After he asked me where I worked at, he said he knew a girl who worked here. As it happens, she worked in my group. She had this abrasive personality that drove people crazy. You couldn't predict what she would do next and rumor has it that she fought with a couple of customers on the phone. They finally had to let her go. When he said her name, I nodded and there was this brief moment of awkward silence; he thinking his thoughts and I mine. When you don't have any positive things to say about someone, its best to skip forward and that is what I did by changing the subject.

Possibilities...

I have a followup interview scheduled this afternoon at Big O. I usually like to interview first thing in the morning; go in at 8a and get the thing over by 12. But the manager here made it clear that they all get free after 3p. So I guess I'll spend the rest of the day fretting about it. All I need to do is to put my thinking cap on, be calm and composed and things will take care of themselves. I tend to be harsh on myself and not too confident of my own abilities. Not for nothing have I survived in this company for 5 years through tough times and seven layoffs. My managers must have seen something in me that they did not see in others. I am not the brightest light in the room, but I am above average and I need to be cognizant of that and back myself to do well.

I have another interview scheduled tomorrow morning with the director of engineering at another company. This is for a position that I am really interested in. More interested than the job at Big 0. It is a management + technical job that I think will be an ideal fit for me. In a management position, you need to project a picture of calmness and control. So I need to be relaxed when I talk. Wish me good luck!

Talking about confidence here is an interesting article in todays Times.

Rathers eats humble pie

So CBS and Dan Rather finally owned up to the fact (albeit begrudingly) that they cannot prove the authenticity of the documents shown on 60 Minutes. Now all the conspiracy theorists are out alleging collusion between the Kerry campaign and CBS. It does appear that someone in CBS (either Rather or a producer Rather trusted too much) desperately wanted to believe this story and did nothing to crosscheck the facts. There is room therefore to question the persons motives. It also plays into the often heard remark these days that the elite media has a liberal bias. I switched on Fox News this morning and their caption referred to this as "CBS Docu-drama". Rather must be seething everytime he sees that caption on the screen.

Home refinance

Made the big mistake of applying online at Lending Tree and now I am bombarded at work with phone calls by these various lenders enticing me to refinance. All I wanted to do was find out if it the rates had dropped enough for me to think of refinancing. I should have just checked on ELoan and called up my loan agent instead of applying online. Anyways have left vmail for my loan agent to find out what rates she can offer. I hope she is competitive or I may have to switch.

Talking about spice...

W's cousin was in town visiting from Bangalore. He is a school dropout who taught himself computers, set up a software company on his own and now has over a 1000 customers across the globe, all at the tender age of 28. Makes me feel worthless compared to him. If you see him in person, you won't even guess that he runs a successful company. He practises yoga and meditates with a zeal that I have not seen before. He has quite a few quirks. The quirkiest one is that he cannot have any spice in his food. Baked potato without any seasoning is his kind of delicacy. We took him out to dinner last night and it was so hard to pick anything from the menu for him. The dishes we ended up ordering were bland but he still couldn't handle the spice that wasn't there. He says he is very sensitive to spice and can detect even the slightest hint of it. He says it gives him a headache. It is almost funny to watch him eat. He is always nibbling at food and tasting just a pinch of it. I guess the next time he visits we should confine ourselves to cooking for him rather than taking him out to a restaurant and wasting food.

Autumn is upon us

The weekend suddenly turned cold with the temperature dropping almost 25 degress from Friday to Saturday. Quite a turn in the weather. And the weatherman promises El Nino to hit our neck of the woods almost guaranteeing a wet winter. Had a friend and his wife over for lunch on Saturday. W takes great pains to entertain my friends and I am grateful for that. She cooked chiken biryani and a vegetable. I bought some Nan from an Indian fast food joint. And for dessert she made my favorite caramel custard pies. I absolutely love it. My friend and his wife were Germans and we were fearful of how they would cope with spicy Indian food. But as it turned out, they have gotten used to spicy food over the years. Actually W can't handle spicy food, so she is quite frugal with it when she cooks. Food at home is probably the lamest when it comes to spice compared to traditional Indian fare.

Suttons failed gamble?

It is still just the end of the first day in the Ryder Cup but it sure looks like Hal Sutton's gamble to pair Mickelson and Woods together bombed. What a pathetic performance by the U.S. team? They have dug themselves in a huge hole and only a gritty comeback performance tomorrow will save them from inglorious defeat. Somehow the Europeans seem to gel together better as a team. Should be an interesting weekend.

The Apprentice

First, I must confess that I am a big fan of The Apprentice on NBC. This is its second season. What a shocker last night? Bradford the project manager on the first project was exempt from elimination this week because his team won last week. But in the board room, he volunteered to relinquish his exempt status because he was so confident of not being fired. That was such a stupid thing to do. Donald "My Hair" Trump called him on it and let him go. Absolutely the right decision! Yes, business is all about taking risks. But it is also about taking the right risks. That was a stupid, hare-brained, emotional and inexcusable rush of blood on Bradford's part that deserved to be punished.

Lawn mower weekend

I bought a lawn mower last weekend and I will be putting it through its paces this weekend. Excited about playing with a new toy, though my other friends who own houses say it is no fun mowing the lawn a month or two later. Almost all have hired gardeners. I loved gardening back in India, when I helped my father out in the garden. I have memories of it being such a peaceful, relaxing almost meditative activity that I think I will enjoy it once again. Lets see how it goes.

Rather in a lather of trouble

Dan Rather seems to be in a potful of trouble after his story on Bush's National Guard days on 60 Minutes II. This is such an overblown story. I am quite sure that Bush did receive favors to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war. I am sure this was the case with everyone who was born into wealth and influence during that time. So whats new? Why do we have to dredge up events that unfolded 30 years ago today? Why don't we debate the issues that confront us today? Was the war in Iraq a sound decision? Was it justified? What was the rationale behind it? What are the candidates worldview? What about healthcare? What are their views on outsourcing? What are their views on corporate corruption?

I can only imagine one side chortling with glee over the media coverage these past few weeks. And that has to be Karl Rove and his clique. First it was the Swift boat veteran ads that kept the media transfixed for a couple of weeks. Now it is Rathergate. I can't think of a better way to keep people from really focusing on the issues that matter in this election.

In hindsight I think Kerry miscalculated by so heavily stressing his service in Vietnam. Not only did he serve in Vietnam, he came back to lead the anti-war movement and that hurt many veterans. It was bound to be a double-edged sword. Bush's folks have exploited it ruthlessly (being a political junkie, I say it with some admiration...this has to be added as a case study in political science classes if Bush wins) and turned what everyone considered to be his strength into a major weakness.

Again, I predict a double-digit victory for Bush. This election is not going to be close come Election Day. And you heard it here first!

Kerry....Loser

I think Kerry has the look of a loser written all over him. He looks tired and unfocused in his campaign speeches, searching almost aimlessly for a cogent strand of thought as he speaks. On the other side of the ring is a confident Bush who knows he has Kerry cornered and is waiting to deliver the knock out punch come Election Day. I think a more competent candidate than Kerry would have been able to throw a stiffer challenge. There are a range of issues on which the Bush administration is vulnerable. Even Bush's war policy has more holes in it than a slice of swiss cheese. But Bush's team has effectively defined the issue as one of national security. Bush has so effectively controlled the message, that Kerry's criticisms come of as being partisan. If Kerry wins - and that truly seems less likely every passing day - it will be a miracle!

Payback time

I can't believe that the media is paying attention to another group called "Texans for Truth" that is hurling allegations against Bush. I guess this is payback time for all the publicity that was meted out to the "Swift Boat Veterans". This election should be fought on the twin issues of war and economy. The campaigns seem to be talking about it, but the media coverage is based solely on what is sensational and I guess any discussion on outsourcing, economy, war and health care is just not sexy enough to talk about. I wish these guys would realize that all this innuendo and insinuation far from attracting voters to the booth on election day will drive them away. It will only reinforce a cynics view that elections are merely a choice between the devil and the deep sea and serve as a convienient excuse for someone inclined to abstain from participating in the electoral process.

Bush was competent

I thought Bush delivered a competent, moving and powerful speech at the Republican convention last week. I think he basically sealed the deal and made the case for re-election. Kerry has run such an unfocused campaign, that he deserves not to win. I don't think this election will be as close as everyone makes it out to be. I just have the gut feeling that Bush at the end will win comfortably. Remember! you first heard it here!!

Hopelessly rusty

I performed pathetically in the interview. I really don't think I am cut out for the technical gig. I am more a big picture, gut feel, intutive feel kinda guy and I wish I can summon the focus and the energy to pursue an MBA degree. Anyways, this really nice Desi guy quizzed me on my programming skills and I floundered for answers like a meandering ignoramus. It was a feckless performance and quite frankly unforgivable. The interviewer was kind enough to provide clues and help me out and that was the only redeeming part of the experience. He didn't just dismiss me for being so woeful. If I were interviewing someone who performed like me, I think I would give them a unequivocal thumbs down. Anyways, rather than brooding about it, I guess I need to be better prepared next time. I went there with no preparation and got caught with my pants down. The job was a development position, which basically requires me to write tons of code. I don't know if that is what I want to do. As I said I am more a people guy and getting people to work together as a team and deliver on a product is a challenge I would welcome. I guess my resume has more of a technical bent to it and I seem to be getting more calls from recruiters who are trying to fill technical positions.

Moved...

Labor day weekend aptly described what we did this past weekend. We labored hard to move out of our apartment and into the new house. Boy, does it feel good to be done or what? I was impressed with the movers I hired. They arrived at 8 am sharp on Saturday and set to work almost immediately. They did not waste time or slack off. By 11 a.m. they were done. I'd heartily recommend them to anyone. W got to work after lunch and by midnight, we had the kitchen, living room and the guest room all set up. While W set up the house, I went back to the apartment and cleaned up. It was a hot day in a very hot weekend, and I was almost constantly gulping down water. V & R paid us a visit on Sunday and I invited H as well. V offered to cook for us and while he cooked, we went out and got some wine and champagne. It was a great way of celebrating our first full day in the house. My sister visited us on Monday. On a whim I took Tuesday off and relaxed at home before going out in the afternoon to interview at Big O.

State Farm Cuts Auto Rates in California

State Farm Cuts Auto Rates in California

Ought to check this out. I could use the money that I save. Wonder if the other auto insurers will follow suit much like the airlines do when one of their brethren drops rates.

Republican convention

With the impending move this weekend staring me in the face, I have hardly had any time to tune into the Republican convention this week. I read that Guiliani gave a stellar speech and signalled that he would be a very strong candidate in '08. I read a transcript of Arnold's speech and it was a strong one too. I read that the Bush girls, Jenna and Barbara introduced their mother yesterday and gave a funny speech. Cheney is to speak today and he is a very effective speaker. He has this understated, avuncular tone, that sets his audience at ease, and I am quite sure he will go for Kerry's jugular today with sharply worded rhetoric that jabs and cuts and tweaks Kerry every which way. The Republican faithful will love it. Zell Miller, a Democratic senator by title, who has sided more often with Bush then his own party will speak tonight as well. This guy spoke in '92 at the same venue on behalf of Bill Clinton. 12 years later, in stark contrast he is speaking on behalf of Bush, who one can easily argue has very little in common with Clinton. Mr Miller must have had a heck of ideological journey in the interim.

Upgrading to Windows 2000

For the longest time, I had put off upgrading from Windows 98 SE. I finally got around to doing it this weekend and upgraded to Windows 2000. I chose the upgrade option rather than the clean reinstall option. Of course as all windows upgrades go, it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. The very first time I connected to the Internet, my computer got infected with the Blaster worm. I tried to download a fix from symantec for this fix, but the virus successfully aborts the download. I finally managed to outsmart the worm by downloading the fix from a different website that I found googling. But the saga wouldn't end there. When I ran the fix, the worm managed to avoid detection. Trying a different tack, I tried installing Windows Service Pack 4, but again was unsuccessful because the worm sabotaged the download.

I finally managed to get a copy of the service pack on CD and installed it successfully. I tried to install McAfee Anti-Virus software, but the worm again aborted the installation. As a last ditch effort, I then kept an eye on the processes running in the Task Manager and the first time I saw the blaster worm exe running (msblast.exe), I ran the fix that I had downloaded earlier. This time the fix caught the worm and repaired the registry that had been corrupted. I re-ran the McAfee installation and this time it installed correctly. The Anti-Virus software was able to find a half dozen more viruses. After that, I downloaded all the windows hotfixes from the windows update website. Now my system seems to be running quite smoothly. Hopefully it is the last that I have seen of those worms.

Alone in the wilderness

I blog alone, in the vast wilderness of the blogosphere. A tiny speck of thought that dots a landscape teeming with more. I wonder if somebody unknown has stumbled across this blog and read a few of my posts. I wonder if they found it amusing, interesting or downright stupid. I login sometimes hoping that someone has left a comment, something that would affirm that my post tugged at a chord, induced a response, hopefully kind and validate the effort, however small, I put into crafting a single post. I wonder...alone in this vast wilderness...of man and his many thoughts. Are my thoughts really worth the effort?

John Kerry and Vietnam

If the group that calls themselves the Swift boat veterans for truth had a motive other than correcting the truth as they would like us all to believe, then I think they certainly made their point. They ran their ad in 3 states and for the past week and a half, the constant 24 hour media coverage of the ads has ensured that those ads have been seen by the rest of the country. If that is not brilliant advertising, I don't know what is.

The question that puzzles almost every objective spectator of this tussle between two veteran groups - one allied with Kerry and one against him - is how can two honorable set of men who were at the same place 35 years ago have such contrasting and different recollections of the same incident today? Is it just the fog of war? In the thick of the battle, with bullets flying around and the spectre of death a constant and distinct possibility, can the memories of men 35 years removed be trusted or even be reliable? Do we tend to believe what we want to believe and does that shape our memories? In my opinion, these men really believe in all honesty their versions of the events that unfolded in Vietnam. It is hard however, in a stressful situation as the one that existed in Vietnam to build a reliable, objective and unbiased memory that relies solely on the facts. Human beings by design view things through the color of their own lenses. Two individuals at the same scene can have entirely different accounts of the same incident. It has happened before and is happening now.

We can get too caught up in this debate about Kerry and whether his tour of duty in Vietnam was really heroic. The fact of the matter is that he volunteered to go there when his opponent and many others found ways to avoid the draft. That in itself is heroic. To put yourself in the line of fire, be it for 4 months or many years is a courageous thing to do. And Kerry deserves plaudits. I wish however, he'd tone down his constant drumbeat about his military service in Vietnam. Part of the problem is that he made this a central issue of his campaign and it has come back to haunt him. For my part, nothing that the Swift boat veterans say will diminish Kerry's service to his country in Vietnam. After all, their argument is a mere quibble about exactly what Kerry did in Vietnam. They don't challenge his presence in Vietnam, which would have been a very serious charge.

I hope the campaigns start debating the real issues that confront this country soon. It is astonishing that two months removed from the election, all that is being debated is whether Kerry pulled his comrade Russman from the water in the face of enemy fire or in the absence of it. Who cares? I don't have time for it and neither should any sane person in America.

Olympics

I haven't really kept up with the olympics this year. I know that it is going on and I know who the star performers have been, but I haven't sat at the TV each night and watched it avidly. The newspapers tell me that viewership has been up this year compared to Sydney in 2000. For me the track and field events have always been the star attraction. I watched some of the 100m heats on Sunday at V's place on his big screen HDTV. I really was pulling for the guy from Portugal who eased to victory in both of his heats. Ultimately, another US runner won. I was looking for Maurice Green's name at the top of the list. Before the games, he bragged about how fast he was and how he would ease to victory. But apparently on Sunday, that was all talk and no walk. He earned a bronze instead.

I had high hopes for the Indian hockey team, but they flattered to deceive. I think they managed just the one win against South Africa. So they'll return home to brickbats and I am sure the Indian hockey board will fire all the coaches as they seem to do now after every failed tournament.

I believe an Indian shooter won a silver. And now he is a hero in India. And he should be. But it is pathetic that a nation of almost 950 million people can only produce one medal winner. China on the other hand while it rivals India in population size has far outshone us with several medals. They were running second in the medals standings a few days ago.

Web Services

Back to the stuff I am working on. IBM is a very good resource for someone new to the subject. Go to IBM's website and then their Developers section and click on web services in the left hand pane. There you can choose several paths that suit your pace to learn more about this technology.

I used to wonder what the hype was about Web Services and how different it was from CORBA. Apparently there is not much to differentiate Web Services from CORBA because both were intended to be platform-independent, language-agnostic, interface dependent solutions. The catch with CORBA is that it does not rely on internet protocols for communication, which makes tunnelling a CORBA call through a firewall a pain in the neck. Web Services is designed for the internet and makes communication through protocols like HTTP a breeze.

Blogging about blogging

Blogging really has taken off. CNN.com has an article today on blogs devoted to entire cities. Check it out. You have music blogs and photo blogs. People are just about ready to blog on anything and everything. Sex blogs are a dime a dozen.

I found this this blog devoted entirely to business. Quite an interesting read.

Whistling Straits

The season's last major was less exciting than the 3 previous majors. The course made more headlines than the players. Rarely does a major championship yield a winner who is over par and this course did. It was a spectacular course. I watched it at V's place on HDTV and it was simply amazing. All the three previous majors had some drama and emotion that made you pull for one contender or the other. Last night as the championship drew to a close, I thought that drama and suspense was missing. It was Justin Leonard's major to win and it was cruel the way he lost to Vijay in the playoff. Justin had so many opportunities to wrap it up in regulation and he missed out.

Vijay has 20 wins on tour and that gives him automatic exemption for the rest of his life (got that tidbit on the Golf Channel...which is why Tiger and Phil Mickelson are exempt for the rest of their careers - Tiger has 40 wins and Phil 23). He is 41 now, in great shape and possibly will contend for another 5 or 6 years. So he has a couple of more majors in him, I'd reckon.

Afghani House

We took my sis and BIL out to dinner on Sat. It was BIL's birthday. He selected Afghani House that is on the corner of El Camino Real and Lawrence Expwy. The food was very similar to the fare served at Chelokababi, though the dishes were extremely pricey. A single dish set you back $15-$18/-. Persian food typically is less hot than the typical desi stuff. But they compensate by adding lots of flavorful spices that gives the dish an enchanting aroma. We ordered a Combination Kabob plate - lamb and chiken - that W and I split. I thought the lamb was undercooked. The chicken though was exquisite. The ambience was great and made for a very comfortable dinner experience. The owner who sat us at the table was a very amiable man, with a distinct Persian accent. His employees though were less than stellar in their service. They had to ask us twice whether we wanted water, and when some of us asked for water with ice and others without, it confused the heck out of them. Eventually we were all served ice without water. I would have appreciated it if they had asked us how we'd like the lamb to be cooked, when they took our order, but they never did. And when we were served, they brought the wrong dish out, and had to go back to get the right order.

I must say that I prefer Chelokababi instead. They had more selection, were far less pricier than this place and their food tasted much better.

The Ring

Haven't posted in a while. More so because I had a major bout of laziness, than anything else.

A friend suggested that we mark Friday the 13th by watching some scary movie. My friend chose The Ring. We watched the remake that was released in 2002. It was extremely well directed - the suspense and the sense of anticipation all carefully calibrated added up to a fairly scary movie. W screamed on a couple of occasions and H's wife M stopped watching midway through the movie, because she just couldn't handle it.

Outlaws

We had relatives stay with us this week. My friend refers to them as outlaws. 5 of them to be precise. In our little 2 bedroom apartment, space was at a premium. We were literally bumping into each other and the toilet was overworked. Among the 5 were two elderly folks, and they used the toilet with regular frequency throughout the night rendering any thoughts of a good nights sleep a complete fantasy. The only good thing was that we did not have to drive them around to show them the city. That would have been painful. Anyway, they are gone, laundry beckons and so does the weekend.

Lion King

We went to the Orpheum on Sun to watch Lion King. We had bought these tickets back in Feb. Enjoyed the show. I had watched the movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It is always fascinating to watch how the movie is adapted to stage. The play was choreographed with great creativity. To bring the movie to life on stage is no small deal, and I think they pulled it off. It was well worth the $65 we spent on the ticket each.

Angel Island

We went to Angel Island on Sat with friends. The weather in the morning was overcast and cloudy. As we got to AI, fog blanketed SF on the left, and we all thought we had really picked a bad day. But around 1p in the afternoon, the skies cleared and the sun shone through. SF was still hidden by a thin veil of fog, but AI itself was nice and pretty. We hiked up North Ridge Trail and then went all the way up to Mt Livermore and treated ourselves to good views of the city and the bay. W, V and R stayed back and hiked an easier trail. We got back to the dock and then ate the food that we had packed and taken with us. I liked the trip. Got some exercise, lots of fresh air and some scenic vistas that make you long for more.

Kerry's speech

I thought Kerry's speech was so-so. I heard part of it in the car on the way back home. Then watched the last bit on T.V. He was sweating and it probably meant he was putting a lot of effort into it. He seemed animated enough, but his hand gestures were totally out of tune with what he was saying. I got the feeling that he was rushing through his speech, that the 50 minutes alloted was too little. If it was, why didn't he start earlier? I know the networks had decided on just one hour of coverage, but if he had started speaking earlier, I'm sure they would have changed their minds.

I still haven't made up my mind. I like Bush, but I don't like the crowd around him, especially that pompous Vice President of his. Cheney comes across as this pope of moral arbitration and that turns me off.

I guess I will wait until after the debates to make my mind up. I remember Kerry debating Weld in the '96 Senate race and he did a good job. And back in '01 and '02 when other Democrats were hesitant to debate Bill O'Reilly on his program, I remember Kerry squaring up with him and answering his questions in a very calm, dignified and authoritative manner. Never got ruffled by O'Reilly's hectoring interviewing style. So I think he might be good in the debates with Bush.

Edwards fell flat

I thought John Edwards speech was below expectations last night. He seemed to be off. He didn't give the impression that he was comfortable and he did not wow me. After everything that I have read about him and his eloquence, I expected more from him. But he failed to deliver.

For me the highlight so far has been the speech given by Barack Obama. And of course Bill Clinton, but we know he can give a good speech.

I was surfing TV channels this morning and I watched CBN news this morning. CBN stands for Christian Broadcasting Network, and is a Pat Robertson baby. They interviewed the conservative types, and all of them were dissing Kerry. They pointed to his record in the Senate and brushed him off as an avowed liberal. The problem with Kerry is that he has a 20 year Senate record that he can't run away from. He has cast many hundreds of votes. Any one vote cited out of context can make him appear like a radical leftist. But Senate politics is more complicated than that. Senators routinely vote against bills they'd be better off supporting only to make a point. I myself am not swayed by these arguments. As we all know, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Kerry though has to give a real good speech tonight. I am not sure he can deliver. But didn't Bush surprise us all in 2000 by giving a decent speech?

More nuggets from the leadership class

KW substituted for the Colonel this past Monday. He couldn't make it b/c of a family emergency. Everyone has a different style of teaching, and K's was refreshingly different. She engaged the whole class in a discussion and before we knew it, the 3 hours was up.

Interesting things I picked up:

Words contribute just 7% to the importance of a sentence.

38% of it is the tone in which something is said.

The rest is body language.

The two most important factors that lead to project failures:

Lack of clear goals

Poor communication

The Democratic convention

Its the week of the Democratic convention. I guess everyone in blogosphere is probably blogging about it. I believe quite a few bloggers have been given press credentials this year. Almost every news site has blogs. Blogs rule!

Day one featured Bill Clinton in the starring role. I don't think there is anybody who matches his political skills in this country today. He was simply superb. In contrast Hillary came across as shrill and loud. She has a speaking style that turns me off. I wonder why Democrats greet her like a rock star. She comes across like she is lecturing rather than rallying the troops. She has got to do something about it if she has serious intentions of running for the presidency in '08 or '12.

Day two I think belonged to Barack Obama. He is a little known state senator from Illinois who is running for the U.S. Senate to fill a seat vacated by a retiring Republican Senator. His immigrant story and his centrist speech and the energy and passion with which he delivered it have made him an instant star in the Democratic party in my mind. He is due for big things if he carries on in this vein.

Edwards takes the stage today followed by Kerry tomorrow. Kerry it appears will have to make the speech of his life if he is to leave Boston with a jump in the polls.

Trouble around an unsaid word

W has been getting up at 4 am to go to work. She isn't a morning person and finds this a torture. Last Friday, she called me at work. During the course of the conversation, I said something that I vaguely recall, but which caused her great anger. She thought it was an insensitive remark and she was really upset when she got home. I thought I had engaged in a harmless conversation and instead it had turned out to be a huge deal. She says I questioned the necessity of her going to work at 4 am and wondered if it was really required. I don't know if I did. But even If I did, I wonder if she had to make it into a huge deal. Women just react to things so differently that it is very difficult to get it right everytime.

David Petraues

A story about David Petraues, charged with training the Iraqi Army and police in Newsweek a couple of weeks ago conveyed exactly the same point that the The Colonel was trying to make about leadership in my project leadership class the other night.

DP and The Colonel were classmates in West Point (thats what he said when I recounted the story).  DP led the 101st Airborne in last years war and his unit was in charge of Mosul. In the Army camp, they had a banner "What have you done to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis today?" that everyone saw the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. When there was a raid on a house, the commandoes informed the house occupants why they were there. When they left, a civilian team went back and reassured the occupants. The unit was widely considered to be the best and most successful during their tenure. The residents of the town actually named a street after the unit.

DP returned back to the US after his tour of duty. But the President called him back, gave him another star (he is now a three star general) and sent him back to train the Iraqi Army and build the security apparatus from scratch. His mission is considered vitally important to the success of this war. The faster he can get a quality security force manned by Iraqis in place, the faster the US can withdraw its forces.

DP's leadership philosophy is exactly what is being taught in my course. Provide a clear vision; provide people (in this case Iraqi security personnel) the training and the tools to succeed; give them the freedom to bloom and make tough choices with minimal control; delegate and finally appreciate and reward successes however small they may be.

An alternative vocation

Saw this story on the shortage of air controllers. I am sure it is quite a stressful job, but perhaps the beautiful environs of the Hawaii islands will soothe the nerves.

British Open

For the second year running, a unheralded American has won the British Open. I saw Todd Hamilton win the Honda Classic earlier this year and without a doubt his short game was stellar. He seems to excel in windy conditions where you have to tough it out. He is not the prettiest golfer on the golf course; I'd watch Ernie Els swing a million times, but not Hamilton. But he proved y'day that he had what it takes to win a major. I was actually pulling for him down the stretch. It is such a neat story; a guy struggling through the Asian tour, failing to qualify for the PGA Tour on numerous occassions and in his first year on the PGA Tour striking it big.

Phil Mickelson raised expectations only to deceive. For just a few minutes in the final round, as they made the turn, he was in the lead. Having made some long putts to save par throughout the day, he then missed a short par putt that was a gimme. You wonder sometimes whether he will have to wait for another 40 majors to win his next one.

DVD

I was reading an old issue of Newsweek this morning and came across an article about the guy who is credited with foreseeing the tremendous advantage that Digital Video Discs (DVD) would accrue to the entertainment industry. He brought together (he gets much of the credit, though his brash and unpredictable behavior according to the article also has led to his firing at various jobs) the entertainment industry, computer companies and electronics retailers so that they could agree on a common format. Now DVD's have replaced video tapes in much of the world.

On a tangential note, Bill Gates according to this article predicts that DVD's will be extinct in a decade. The alternative: intelligent TV's that can download just about anything from the internet.

Michael Moore

Michael Moore's latest film Fahrenheit 9/11 is the craze in London. My cousin proposed we go see the film, but instead we settled for the "Bowling for Columbine" documentary that he shot a couple of years ago in the aftermath of the Columbine tragedy in Colorado.
 
Moore tries valiantly to find the root cause of the gun problem in the U.S.  He blames in turn, self-styled government militias, welfare reform, the NRA, the ageless Dick Clark and uncaring American business  among others.
 
I don't know where the blame lies. I only know that America has become a very violent society. Dissent, discord and disagreements are part and parcel of any society.  But we seem to react (or over-react) to all of this in a manner inconsistent with what you would expect from the most developed, modern society in the world. Something doesn't gel and we need to address it if we can find what the problem is.
 
I had a conservative friend of mine attack Moore's film. He sent me this link. I was unimpressed with the website for what I perceived as a hatchet job to undermine Moore's film.
 
I don't buy Moore's analysis of the problem. But I do know a problem exists. In our haste to shoot the messenger, lets not lose sight of the fact that there is a message in the film. And we would be better off thinking about it and finding ways to address it.

Impressions

London gave me the impression of being very laid back. W fell in love with the London, but I bet she'll feel differently when the weather is bad in the winter.

I'd love to work there for a couple of years. London School of Economics offers a one year MBA program. It would be great to do it there. I need to pull up my socks and really be serious about doing my MBA. It will cost a fortune though to do it at LSE. So that might be a deterrent, what with all the mortgage bills staring us in the face now.

The public transportation system made traveling within London a breeze. I was put off though by the steep admission prices at all the tourist spots. Even the tourist information office charged a fee for a map of the town we were visiting. That is usually free here in the States.

The best way to enjoy London is to walk around the city center. That is where all the attractions are anyway. It is just an exciting place with lots to offer. Much like San Francisco. Though SF lacks the wide array of public transportation alternatives that London has.

The trip home

7/11

A week had passed quickly without us noticing and it was time to return. The trip back home was smooth. We tried to get an earlier connection back into SFO, but failed. We got home around 12 midnight. There is nothing sweeter than being back home, though I must admit that this was a thoroughly restful vacation indeed.

British Museum

7/10

We had neglected to see the British Museum for want of time on Tuesday. So S and I took the tube back to London. W chose to stay home and visit the outlet mall again. Women take to malls like fish take to water.

We reached London around 10 and the museum around 11. We wandered through the various exhibits. The most prominent are the Elgin Marbles that were stolen from Greece. The Greek government has been demanding its return but to no avail. Actually half the stuff that appears in the Museum got there because it was stolen from former British colonies. But to see them all in one place is still amazing.

My cousin came and met us for lunch. We ate pizza. His friend works in the fashion industry and he had lunch with us as well.

After lunch we went back to the Museum and spent another hour there. We then took the tube and went back to South Kensington. We walked to the Royal Albert Hall and took a picture of the hall as well as Albert's statue that is bang opposite the hall on the other side of Hyde Park.

We rested in Hyde Park for a while and then walked back to the Science Museum and the adjacent Natural History Museum. My interest was lagging. All the information overload had led to a waning of my interest. We walked out and took a picture of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

We took the tube and headed back to Marble Arch. We shopped for a T-shirt for W in French Connection. Their T-shirts with FCUK written across the front fascinated her and she wanted one in her wardrobe. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we could not find her size.

We caught the tube back to Oxford and we were in time for dinner and some serious drinking. After all it was our last night in London and I let go. I tottered up to my room and collapsed into a deep sleep.

Stratford-upon-Avon

7/9

Shakespeare's birthplace beckoned us this day. The weather was great. A had made dosas that were absolutely delicious. We reached Stratford around 12 and strolled by the side of the river Avon that runs through the city. We went inside the Swan theatre and took a look at the list of plays slated for the summer.

We walked to the home that Shakespeare was supposedly born in. The admission price was 7 pounds. Not for the last time did we decide against going in. We took some pics and then got some coffee. We walked through some gardens next before stopping at a church. I wandered in and found a group from Florida playing inside. And for the love of God, the concert was free. We listened for a few minutes and then got back to the car.

We decided to drive back to Oxford through the countryside rather than the motorway. On the way we stopped at a Model village. This is a 1/9th replica of the town Burton-on-Water and is built from the local Costwold stone. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the town and checking the souveneir shops. As the clock struck 5, most of the shops closed for the day and we returned to the car for the drive back home. Driving through the countryside afforded us excellent views of verdant green fields. The scenerey was spectacular.

In Oxford, we got some Fish and Chips to take home. Refreshed, we sat down only to have U bully us into seeing the videotape of our trip. After a while it got boring.

We ate more dosas in the night for dinner capping another day of sightseeing.

Oxford

7/07

Another cousin S arrived from Liverpool. He is doing his masters and he took a break to come visit us. We met him at the bus station. He went back to my aunts to freshen up. W and I then strolled around Oxford. For someone expecting a campus that is separate from the rest of the town, Oxford is surprisingly in its layout. Departments, shopping complexes, houses and apartments are all on the same street.

W was really tired and totally disinterested as I pointed out the sights. We called a halt to our stroll and repaired to a coffee shop and indulged in some people watching.

In the evening, we went to an outlet mall nearby and W bought a shirt for herself.

We came back home and opened up a champagne bottle. A made bhajji's and we had a good time. In the night, after U had hit the sack W, S, A and I talked into the wee hours of the morning cracking up often usually at U's expense.

We went to bed around 2 and had to get up at 8 to make the trip to Stratford-upon-Avon the next day.

Roman bath

7/06

We took a day trip to Bath and Bristol. Bath has a Roman bath museum. Supposedly this was a site of a Roman town in the 1'st century and the roman bath is evidence of it. Nothing spectacular. The architecture of the buildings and the gardens that dotted the riverwalk that ran along the river Avon that runs through the city were breathtaking. I was turned off though by the fact that we had to pay to go into the gardens. The rain came pouring down, so it made it hard to appreciate the history of this city. W and I were a little sick of all the sightseeing. In the evening, the skies opened up and we had to take cover in a coffee shop. Got a taste of cornish pastry. They taste much like samosas.

From Bath we moved onto Bristol and drove through the city center. We drove to the suspension bridge that sits on top of a hill and has good views of the city. From there we moved onto U and A's friends house. The friend turned out to be a student of my mom in college. He also was a close friend of W's uncle who lives in Atlanta. Small world. He plied us with the hottest dish that I have ever eaten. I had to eat it with yoghurt to dull the spice. I paid the price next morning.

We drove back in pouring rain. U is not a steady driver. He wanders across lanes. But we made it back safely.

Tower Bridge

7/05

W was tired and woke up late. We got going by 11 and went straight to St Paul's cathedral. It was closed for the morning and we waited till it opened. We shouldn't have bothered. It was undergoing renovations and the price of admission was 7 pounds. There was scaffolding inside that covered the carvings on the wall. I didn't understand why they wanted to charge us admission. Felt like they were ripping tourists.

We walked up the Millenium bridge that crosses the Thames. I believe the first time they unveiled it, the bridge shook and almost came down. It had to be redesigned before they opened it to the public. On the other side of the bridge is Tate Modern, a museum containing displays of contemporary art. We spent some time there and then walked on the Queen's path that runs along the Thames. On the way we crossed the Shakespeare Globe Theatre that has been renovated recently. We went past London Bridge, picked up lunch, and made our way to the Tower of London. On the way we got great photographs of the Tower Bridge. W was so tired, she decided she couldn't walk anymore and sat down on a bench. I moved on, but when I got to the Tower of London, the huge lines of crowds and its steep admission price dissuaded me from entering. Instead I walked on the bridge and retraced my steps back to where W was resting. On the way, I turned around and saw that the bridge was opening to let a yatch through. Got a nice pic.

We took the tube and got off at South Kensington. We went to the Natural History Museum. Superb building. You can spend hours in the courtyard just admiring the building from outside. We spent some time there and then made our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

You cannot cover the museums in one day. You have to see each section at a time and then take a break and come back another day. Tight on time, we couldn't afford to do that. Instead we picked some sections and walked through some exhibits.

Harrods beckoned next and I guess W was most excited about it. Harrods is owned by the man whose son was dating Princess Diana at the time of her death in Paris. There is a memorial dedicated to them on the ground floor of the massive store. It was crammed with tourists. We walked around and went to the food hall that has exquisite displays of anything you would ever want to treat your palate to. Bought some souveneirs and they were expensive too. W thought it was worth it.

W was really tired. We had coffee and then took the tube back to my cousins. We had to return to Oxford to my aunts later. My cousin cooked us dinner and dropped us off at the bus station. We took the bus and returned back to Oxford in time for bed.

London Eye

7/04

We left the apartment at 10 (taking advantage of lower fares on the tube system after 9:30). We stopped at Covent Garden and walked to Trafalgar Square. We took a tour of the National Gallery that is on one side of the square. If you stand at the entrance of the Gallery and look down at the Square, you can take in a view of the Houses of Parliament, The Mall that leads to Buckingham Palace and the various embassies that surround the square.

We ate lunch at Leicester Square. We moped around looking for a ticket to one of the plays, but finally decided against it. We walked through the mall, through St James' Park. Took a detour and walked to Westminister. We ended up on Westminister bridge and decided to buy a ticket and get on the Eye. The Eye is a giant ferris wheel that has fascinating view of the London skyline. It was set up in 2000 to commemorate the Millenium. Londoners have stories about how the project was badly managed. But in the end, judging by the crowds that had gathered, it is a money making machine. The weather was perfect. After a wait of 45 minutes or so, we finally got our chance. W was afraid at first. She isn't too thrilled about heights, but I persuaded her and she relented. We took some great pictures. The ride lasted 30 minutes.

We walked back to Parliament and decided against going into the rotunda of the House of Commons. The line was too long. Big Ben tolled away endlessly every 15 minutes reminding me of the time I listened to the BBC growing up in India. We went to Westminister Abbey that was the site of Princess Diana's funeral. It was closed. But we wouldn't have ventured in anyway because of its steep admission price. The one frustrating thing about London was that every tourist spot charged a ton for admission. We were content to just see the sights from the outside.

We walked back through St James' Park and made our way to Buckingham Palace. The skies threatened to open up, but after a short light drizzle, the sun broke through again. We walked up Constitution Hill and made our way to Hyde Park. W was tiring and so was I. All the walking had led to some serious exercise. Just as we were deciding to call it a day, we saw a sign to the Speaker's corner in Hyde Park. Supposedly every Sunday, anybody with something to say about anything can come here and speak his or her mind. The phrase "Get off your soapbox" originated here. We walked up to the spot and stumbled upon Marble Arch.

We took the tube back after what was a hectic day. We took my cousin and his flatmate out to dinner at an Indian curry house. My cousin tells me that the most popular dish in England is Chiken Tikka Masala. We ordered fish curry, but it was unimpressive.

Watched the remaining of Bowling of Columbine. W vowed never to shop at Wal-mart again after learning that they sell gun ammunition.

Madame Tussaud's

7/03

We drove to London and stayed for a couple of nights at my cousin's place in Central London. It was very conveniently located, just a few minutes away from the tube station.

U dropped us off at Madame Tussaud's. The ticket price shocked us at first, but it was worth the price, I think, though W disagreed. I have pictures of Simon Cowell and Morgan Freeman, and their wax figures look very much like the original. The Chamber of Horror scared W and she passed through it screaming. All in all, we had a good time there.

After a couple of hours, we went to St Regent's park and strolled through it. Fascinating views, green lush grass, gardens full of flowers, all a very pleasing sight to the eye. We made our way back to our cousin's and passed our first test of navigating the tube system. A few passersby helped us and we got back in time for dinner.

We went out to a Tapas bar. Dinner was dominated by discussion about the Iraq war and what is considered American arrogance by much of Europe. I was on one side supporting the war in Iraq and my cousin was fiercely against it. It was striking to see his disdain for American foreign policy.

Micheal Moore is a very popular figure in England. My cousin had a tape of his movie Bowling for Columbine and we went back to his place and watched it. I will write a separate piece about it.

Before we went to bed, we met my cousin's flatmate. She is in the risk management business and travels all over the world on business. Must be a fun job.

The flight

7/02

P dropped us at the airport. I was expecting crowds, it being the beginning of a long weekend, but the traffic was surprisingly and refreshingly slow. We got to the gate well in advance. Our flight to LA was on a United partner airline, Mesa Airlines. Our flight attendant looked not a shade older than 18. She seemed totally disinterested in serving us. She tripped over her announcements and giggled in reaction. Totally unprofessional.

We got to LA and then the ground crew stopped us from disembarking b/c of what they said was a FAA/TSA order. My heart sank. We just had 50 minutes between flights and sitting there, I felt sure we'd miss our connection. A fellow lady passenger provided us some entertainment by repeatedly asking the flight crew if we were in danger. The captain putting on his straightest face, said no.

Some ten minutes later, all passengers going to London and Hawaii were asked to disembark. There were 5 of us and we were thoroughly searched again. W's backpack was searched meticulously. 20 minutes later we were allowed to go catch our connection. We ran upto the gate, though we need not have hurried, b/c a flight from Las Vegas was also delayed and had passengers connecting to London.

Much to our consternation, we were assigned seats in the middle row, though we had asked for window seats. Made getting up and going to the toilet an absolute misery.

We took off a half hour late but because the wind was behind us, we actually reached London a half hour early. Customs was easy, though for a moment the customs officer had a perplexed look about him, when he asked us where we were from. I replied, San Jose and added California after a few seconds delay, which was enough to crease the poor man's forehead.

We waited for my U and A, and after a half hour had passed, I worried if they had gotten our arrival date wrong. I called and left a message, and waited some more. They arrived a short while later having been caught in a traffic snarl on the M25.

W and I thought we would head back home and rest, but U and A had other plans and asked us if we were in the mood to visit Windsor Castle, since it was nearby. So we began sightseeing barely an hour after we reached London.

Windsor Castle is the Queen's weekend retreat, much like Camp David is to the President. The Queen was in the house (noted by a particular flag that is flown atop the castle to signify her presence) but she hardly ever ventures out into the public eye. We toured the castle and took a few photographs. Brilliant architecture. We went to Hearst Castle last year and Windsor Castle is any day better than Hearst.

U & A had a dinner party to attend and we tagged along. By the time we got home it was already 12 midnight, and we had been on the go for a full 24 hours.

Eclipse

Great IDE. I absolutely love the features that it has. It makes development so much easier. I heard that one of its architects is a member of the famous "Gang of Four" who wrote the Design Patterns book. You can learn more about eclipse at this site. I found another blogger who blogs about eclipse and has several interesting tid-bits. A colleague of mine who attended JavaOne 2004 said that Eclipse was featured almost everywhere.

Ann Coulter

I just read one of her columns. The best that you can say about her is that she is pretty and quite hot. Her writing is just the opposite - cold, mean and thoughtless. She sees the world through blinds and in one dimension. I wish the world were as simple to deduce as she makes it out to be. In her warped worldview, the liberals are to blame for almost every ill in this world. I am sure that if her garbage is not picked up on time, she will be ready to pounce on the liberals for that as well. Reading her column, it is apparent that it is the product of a person whose ideas are rudderless. The words don't carry any weight. They are shorn of wisdom.They are just words put together to form a sentence that is meaningless drivel.

Off to the UK

We are travelling to UK this week. I wish I had planned this much better. I am leaving it up to my uncle who lives in Oxford to do much of the planning for me and I don't know if that is a good idea. I am looking forward to the trip and all those clipped British accents. I'll blog about it when I come back. My only concern at the moment is the short layover we have in LAX. I hope we have enough time to make it to our connection to Heathrow. Otherwise we may have to spend the night in LA.

Scott Peterson trial

I wonder whether people think Scott Peterson is guilty. All the circumstantial evidence seems to point to him. He had a really bad day yesterday when the prosecution got a lady acquaintance of him to testify to his allegedly ribald behavior. He allegedly boasted about his sexual conquests to this lady and asked her to set him up with a friend of hers claiming he was unmarried. And this was a month or two before his wife was murdered. I don't think at this point that his high profile lawyer Mark Geragos will be able to keep him out of the slammer. I think he is headed there for sure.

I was just thinking that if ever I am called up for the jury (which is not possible now b/c a jury has already been seated..but if ever) then the post above will surely disqualify me. Won't it?

Saddam on trial

Great spectacle! I caught glimpses of this tyrant ranting insanely on TV. I think he has lost it. He is probably more fit to be in a mental institution. His defense of his invasion of Kuwait was laughable. And to think that this guy will be on our TV screens throughout his trial, whenever that might be, is a daunting thought.

We are the official owners!

We own the house! It is ours! We met the previous owner from whom we bought the house this morning. He turned out to be a real nice guy. He gave me a set of spare keys. Now, we begin the long wait till September when we can move in.

Iraqi sovereignty

I guess the big news of the day is the transfer of power to a Iraqi government (albeit a handpicked one) two full days ahead of schedule. I guess the idea was to thwart insurgents from terrorizing and disrupting the handover on the 30th, the originally scheduled date. This is no doubt a new beginning and an opportunity for the Iraqi's to control their own destiny. Years later we probably will look back on this date and either opine that this was dawn of a new age in Middle East politics or a point in history when we continued to plumb new depths of ignorance and violence with added vigor and savagery. The situation is so tenuous that we just don't know how this will turn out. I hope it turns out to be for the better.

Ken Lay speaks out

On Sunday, Ken Lay, the CEO of Enron when it went bankrupt, spoke out in his first print interview to the New York Times. Of course he blames Enron's troubles on a "chief financial officer and few other officers" who misled both the board and him about the company's finances. He seems to argue that financial partnerships (off-the-record partnerships that hid Enron's debt and artificially inflated Enron's financial statements) were considered to be legitimate at the time that they were first floated and he understood their fradulent nature only later. He seems to lay the entire blame for Enron's eventual bankruptcy at the feet of his then CFO, Andrew Fastow, who now faces prison time for his convictions. When asked about Sherron Watkins, the highly publicized whistleblower who took her concerns to Ken Lay, he says that he considered her to be sincere and smart, but he found it hard to take her seriously because she was just one person in middle management who approached him. He gives the impression of someone who was vaguely in charge of the company; someone who trusted his immediate reports and did very little to verify the information they fed him. By the time he got serious, the hole that Enron had sunk into gobbled it up and there was precious little time to react and stave off the inevitable.

Clinton in Frisco and San Jose

Bill Clinton brings his book tour today and tomorrow to the Bay area. I had half a mind of going to his San Jose signing, which is quite close to where I stay, but the long lines that are promised quickly served to dissuade me. For all his faults, I do admire the guy and would love to get a book signed by him, but I just don't relish the task of standing in line for hours for the opportunity.

Update 6/30:

Turns out that the event was badly mismanaged by B&N staff. People started gathering at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. Quite a few people are quoted in the Merc saying that B&N gave them bad information and led them into believing that if they showed up on Tuesday morning, they would still get in.

A friend of mine checked EBay and we found that a signed copy had sold for 3500. That is ridiculous. There were many others that were selling for anywhere between 200-500.

W turns 26

We had an absolute blast on Saturday to celebrate W's 26th birthday. We had friends over. We each cooked a dish and a friend of mine created the most delicious rice dish I have had for a long time. We talked into the wee hours of the morning before we called it quits. An absolute unforgettable evening.

JavaOne 2004

Our group did not buy a pass this year. I know that one other group did. I asked my manager why she did not buy a pass this time and she said that she had asked around to gauge interest a month or two ago and everyone she polled was lukewarm to the idea. Instead the money we saved has been budgeted to expense technical books for the group.

Last year when I visited JavaOne it had lost its fizzle compared to earlier years. One felt that Sun (the events host) was simply going through the motions. The gloom of a despairing economy and the poor job situation probably had something to do with it. A year later, not much has changed, though the job front seems to be much brighter than before.

Just read that JDK 1.5 will be changed to JDK 5. They are dropping the 1 from the version number. Don't you love version numbers? At work, we have the most problems with it. Everyone has a view on what a product should be numbered and no two views coincide.

Web Services

I am wrestling with Web Services which is a relatively new technology. Well, it has actually been around for 4 years and now every software company in the Valley is compelled to have a story that includes this buzzword in its product stack.

The web is full of little nuggets of information that pieced together may provide good insight into this technology, but viewed in isolation only seems to increase my confusion.

The technology, if it works is conceptually cool. But it is hard to implement, and worse to debug. I am working on a customer issue and I have no idea what is happening and it is driving me crazy. Has anyone tried to read a WSDL file? That is a file that is akin to IDL (the CORBA standard for defining interfaces). The WSDL is simply not human readable. I have been trying to find some tools on the web that would ease this problem for me, but haven't found one. I am looking for tools that would be an extension to Eclipse which is my IDE (I highly recommend it) of choice.

Getting testy

The political atmosphere in Washington seems to be getting more than a little cantankerous these days. According to a news report, Cheney used the F-word against a democratic senator. And Bush when challenged by an Irish TV reporter on the war in Iraq was brusque and short with her. I hope this isn't a harbinger for what lies ahead through this election season.

Update on 6/28:

Cheney's defense on Fox News of his use of foul language was shameful. He said he felt better after he said it. I wonder how he'd react if he were to be addressed likewise by everyone who just felt better after doing it. It won't be pretty. Cheney was right to express his views forcefully. He is wrong to have used foul language in order to do so.

On a much more upbeat note, Paul Wolfowitz was classy in offering an unqualified apology for his cheap remarks questioning the courage of reporters in Iraq. In senate testimony Tuesday, Wolfowitz remarked that reporters were afraid to get out of Baghdad and were instead publishing rumors. It was probably a remark born out of frustration, but clearly doesn't potray the truth. I have great admiration for the journalists out there trying to cover the story inspite of the poor security situation. And they deserve nothing but praise.

Gore and Iraq war

Al Gore has given another shrill speech condemning the war in Iraq and assigning sinister motives to Bush and his decision to go to war in Iraq. I find it hard to appreciate where Gore is going with this. I don't think the Republicans like going to war anymore than the Democrats do. It is true they believe in a strong defence as an effective policy of deterrence, but I don't think they relish the fact that they have to send young men and women into the black theatre of war. Back in the 60's, a few Republicans called the Korean war, the Democrats war. This speech is quite close to calling the war in Iraq, the Republican war.

Lets take a deep breath here and analyze this thing closely. 9/11 changed the entire face of this world. Terrorism was the next greatest threat that the West faced after the cold war. Bush rightfully so, went after the terrorists base in Afghanistan. It is still a work in progress and we should make sure we succeed at all costs and help that country get back on its feet. We simply cannot afford to abandon that country like we did back in the 80's.

As a President, having dealt with Afghanistan, he conjectured that the next biggest threat was from Iraq and its brutal dictator: Saddam Hussein. After all who could provide refuge to a fleeing mass of terrorists than a country whose leader shared many of the same ideas and goals. I guess people have a problem with this conclusion that Bush reached. At the time, the evidence laid out by the Bush administration pointed to the strength of this argument. In hindsight, the threat was not as severe as it was made out to be, evidenced by the fruitless search for WMD's. (A few people on the right including Cheney point to a few weapons violations and seizures as proof of WMD, but who are they kiddn'?). Compound this with the fact that Saddam in his years of misrule had left Iraq broken and stripped and far from an impending threat. But the intelligence (apparently of questionable veracity) we had appeared to bear out Bush's conclusions (Even the Clinton administration believed in the same intelligence) . Given the data points we had then, it appears to me that Bush made the right decision. If people disagree with this decision, and fault the logic and the way the Bush administration reached this conclusion, then the forum to voice their displeasure is in the November elections.

Speeches like Gore's, that allege that Bush willinging led us into war and wilfully lied to incite public opinion in support of a pre-determined war do not help public discourse and should be condemned. I don't think Bush lied. This is his worldview. It is up to us to either agree or change it come November.

Dole and Reagan

Last week, I received a mailing, endorsed by Robert Dole the former majority leader in the Senate, asking for donations "to continue Reagan's legacy". The mailing contained a beaming 8x11 photo of Reagan. Boy, these guys are quick! Not a week had passed by since his death, and these guys are already passing around the hat. I was surprised that Dole (a real decent guy) would associate himself with something so tacky.

Kerry and the presidential race

This years race is going to be tighter than I originally imagined. According to the papers, Kerry has out raised Bush in May. He now has raised 140 million compared to Bush's 250 million warchest. Kerry according to reports is pulling in a million a day and Bush half that amount. Back in Feb, I thought Kerry would not be able to compete with Bush on money and would only be able to pull in some 70-90 million in donations. But I guess I underestimated the strength of Kerry's fundraising team. I suspect though these donations are from folks who aren't really attracted by Kerry's message but are more than likely repelled by Bush's, and want to elect someone other than Bush in November. I still predict that Bush will eke out a slender win in November.

US Open

I managed to catch the 3rd round of the Open on Sat. and saw the highlights of the last round on Sunday. Goosen was steady and calm like a rock. His putting was unbelievable especially given the tricky greens at Shinnecock Hills. I noticed Goosen won earlier in 2001 at Southern Hills. Both venues he won at have "Hills" in the name. Something that only interests me I guess. I checked and found out that through 2009, the venues of future US Opens do not have "Hills" in the name. So does that mean he won't win again for sometime? Only time will tell.

The seventh hole was crazy. Most players couldn't handle it and these are the best players in the world. Some who consistently shot in the 80s complained about it, but I don't think they have a valid point. The US Open is supposed to be a tough course that separates the best player from good players. If Goosen and Mickelson were able to score under par, then it was a good course and all these cry babies who are used to score under par and win by large margins should just accept that fact.

Golf trivia: There were comparisons of this course to the 1974 US Open held at Winged Foot. That championship was called the "The Massacre at Winged Foot". The winning score there was Hale Irwin's 7 over par.

Xbox and Xbox2

I am not an Xbox fan; quite frankly I don't play any of the computer games that my friends devour hours playing on their computers. But I read an interesting article on slashdot.com (check out this website; it is really cool!) that said none of the games that worked on Xbox would work on Xbox2. In other words, Xbox2 will not be backward compatible with Xbox. What? How can Microsoft get away with that? You are basically forcing your customers to buy new games when they upgrade to Xbox2. Don't you risk alienating your customers? Won't this be viewed as another instance of corporate greed? Why risk that in the current business climate? You may even prevent them from upgrading because they won't think it is worthwhile to do so. I think it is a stupid move if it is true. The good news is that Xbox2 is due out only in late 2005. So there is plenty of time for Microsoft to rethink this and get it right.

My personality type

I took the online personality test as part of my project leadership class. I am an INTJ. I believe that translates to someone who fits the billing of a "Mastermind". Amazingly most of the characteristics of a INTJ type personality fit me to a T. I believe 80% of all corporations are staffed by NT and NF types. And 60% of all executive ranks are staffed by NT and NF types.

The Colonel showed us a film on the making of the Boeing 777. 10,000 people came together in this endeavor. What a project? Huge conflicts, huge management issues. We have problems with 4 people on the team; imagine a team 25000 times bigger than that.

60 minutes

All that you like and hate about Bill Clinton were on full display on 60 minutes this past Sunday. There were times when you admired his grasp of the issues and the intellect with which he dissected them. There were other times when you wondered if he was telling the truth. I was dissappointed to see that much of the interview was devoted to the Lewinsky affair. Whoever made the final cut, I thought made the wrong choice. The critics are out to slay him as usual. People on the left love him and are willing to forgive him for all his faults and foibles; the people on the right loathe him and are ready to blame him for even the most specious reason. Drudge begrudgingly calls this "Clinton Summer". The next few weeks will be full of this very interesting political figure.

Monster and 21 Grams

Saw Monster and 21 Grams over the weekend. Charlize Theron certainly deserved an Oscar for her performance in Monster. She was superb. It was a good movie too. I really liked it. I thought this movie provided a window into the harrowing life and often uphill struggle that destitute people suffer from. It was agonizing to see how Charlize's character tried to valiantly leave the life of a hooker behind, but was sucked back into it after all her gallant efforts to find a straight line of work failed miserably. I'd highly recommend this movie.

21 Grams was a good movie too. Apparently people lose 21 grams at the precise moment of their death. Great acting by Sean Penn but nothing compared to his potrayal of a handicapped single father in "I am Sam". I forget who the lady actor was, but she did a good job too. I have seen 3 or 4 movies now including this one, where the movie starts out going backward. The film begins with the last scene and then seemingly rewinds. This movie felt like it was broken up into chapters. Each chapter began with a scene from the end, then rewound to tell the story that led upto that scene. I guess this style is becoming a film genre by itself.

W

W irritated me last night. She was away on business and stayed on over the weekend to meet with friends. Flew in last night around 9:30p. I asked her to call when the plane landed so that I could go fetch her. When I reached the airport, a long snaking line of cars brought traffic to a standstill. It took me a good 30 min to get to the sidewalk at the departure area. She gets in the car and is angry that it took me so long. What? I don't control the traffic. Believe me I wish I could. Patience is not a virtue she possesses. I told her that the real problem was that she flies in so late. She should try to catch an earlier plane. Of course her immediate response is that she cannot because she wants to spend as much time as possible with her friends. What? She gets to see them every four months or so and flying an hour earlier eats her up? I was pissed. Suffered a sleepless night too. I get worked up when such things occur. She said she'd take the cab next time. I should let her do it. For the most part, she is great, but there are times she gets really bitchy.

IQ test

Took an online IQ test. Turns out my IQ is 126. I think that is an above average score. I ought to be serious and really do my MBA. I think I am good enough for that program and can excel. Hopefully after that I won't have to do any coding anymore.

The man who made blogging possible

Tim Berners-Lee never got credit or the rewards for the technology he created. He created the world wide web, while everybody else used it to their own profit. Here is an article on NYT that finally says that he is being paid his due (Don't know how long this URL will be active. NYT usually charges for their archive after a set period of time).

Project Leadership

I started a course on Project Leadership at the continuing education center yesterday. It is taught by a guy who was a colonel in the military. He has a light southern accent and a wry humour that keeps everybody awake. It is a three hour class making mondays a tough day to get through. Our assignment is to take a personality test online and find out what our personality type is by next week. Interesting website. It has an online marriage test as well as a small business entrepreneur test. Well back to the class. It is dominated by people from high tech but there are a couple from finance and human resources and one registered nurse. The colonel believes he knows something about leadership having served in the military. He professes that leadership can be taught and learnt and it is not a trait you are born with. My own view is slightly different. Yes, there are certain things that can be learnt, but there are also some innate abilities that one is born with. It is highly unrealistic to expect a shy person to be an outgoing and gregarious leader. Their basic shyness will preclude it. My point being that there are some things that cannot be learnt. I am nevertheless looking forward to the class