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

Saturday

Had great fun on Saturday and ended up sleeping over at V&R's place. We had an Atkins-themed diet with chicken barbeque and salad. I prepared the salad from a cookbook with grapefruits and orange slices mingled with pecan nuts and raisin. The dressing was honey mixed with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. It tasted better than it sounds!

WiFi

I was trying to figure out this WiFi stuff and wondering how Starbucks and other outlets who provide WiFi access could afford to give it away free to their customers. Turns out they don't. Consumers pay a certain amount to a provider and then access the signals wherever they find the hotspots. The provider pays a set fee to Starbucks for hosting the hotspot and then a cut of the fee paid by the consumer. So Starbucks comes out ahead. Silly me for thinking that they gave this away free as a gesture to their patrons. There ain't nothing free unless it is worthless. Here's a good article on WiFi and its viability.

Overboard with Reagan

Has the coverage of Reagan's death has been over the top? Every channel was tuned to the rotunda of the presidential library of Simi Valley for the first couple of days and now are tuned to the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol following people circle around the casket as it lies in state. Politicians of course are reaching into new depths of shallowness searching for words to pay tribute to Reagan and come off sounding phony. There is no doubt in my mind that Reagan was an influential president in this country's history. He did pull it out of the funk (Jimmy Carter used that infamous word in an address to the nation) that it had sunk into. And in some small way, he did have a hand in the eventual implosion of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The means by which he achieved these may not be palatable to some, but there is no denying that he was a man of firm convictions and beliefs. A common refrain has been that Reagan's presidency harkens back to an era of dignity and grace that is missing in today's politics. I think that is poppycock. I read some speeches Reagan gave, and he could fling a mean one at his opponent. I guess the distance of time is always a more favorable judge of a man and his actions. Whatever it is, we'll have to endure this coverage for another day or two.

Got it...should I celebrate?

We got the house we bid on! I am wary of celebrating. This could be either a very joyful occasion or the beginning of a nightmare depending on your point of view. Only time will tell what we have gotten ourselves into. Hopefully it is something that will be sweet and enjoyable. Just my pragmatic self speaking :-))

Hope still flickering

Stunned! The seller counter offered. Asked us to buy the home liability insurance on our own. Friends say that their agents bought them that as a gift. My agent hasn't said a word about that. I will have to ask. I don't think she will help us with the closing costs as she said she would. It was only a verbal assurance and I don't have it in writing. Anyways we agreed. But we were led to believe that others had been counter offered too and ours was among the lower of the accepted bids. Appears to me that we are a backup in case one of the other bids flounders. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Hope...a flicker at best

The house we bid on has 10 offers. I don't think we stand a chance. We went with our bid that was 30k above the asking price. I don't think that will cut it. Keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

Ronald Reagan

I grew up as a young kid in southern India listening to the BBC to get the real news of the world. The Indian press (newspapers) operated under a free regime, but broadcast media was still government controlled. So the news was inevitably censored and tilted to reflect the views of the government. The BBC broadcast the debates between Reagan and Carter in 1980 and again between Reagan and Mondale in 1984. I have distinct memories of listening to the radio and being in awe of the American democratic system. India is considered the world's largest democracy, but the institutions of democracy are hardly awe inspiring. Debates between candidates vying for public office is hardly encouraged. To hear Reagan speak was inspiring. I remember tuning to the Radio during the historic summits with Gorbachev. Everybody sensed then that something great had been set in motion. Only years later did one know what effect it had in the dismantling of communism across Eastern Europe. He was a wonderful speaker. He seemed to know just when to hit the right note and what the right note was. I watched C-SPAN over the weekend broadcast Reagan's previous speeches. It was an education. May his soul rest in peace.

Waiting in Anticipation

We found a house that we liked. Small problem...the folks selling the house are playing a quiet game to get the most favorable bid. They will accept offers until midnight June 8th. They expect multiple offers and this is probably their way of driving up the price. This will be our first taste of a bidding war and I am not looking forward to it with relish. We really like the house and I hope we get it. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Bill Clinton

I am looking forward to listening to Bill Clinton speak at the Book Expo. I guess he spoke last night, but C-SPAN2 will rebroadcast the speech on Saturday evening. Check out cspan.org for exact timings. You may loathe him or love him, but one thing is for sure, he is always interesting.

Las Vegas

The New York Times has an interesting article on Las Vegas and the life of the waiters, janitors and busboys that make up many of the cities workforce. The gist of the article is that Las Vegas is a city that gives more people a shot at living a middle class lifestyle in the US compared to any other city. The article chronicles the life of two Mexican immigrants who by sheer dint of hard work have managed to buy a house in a gated community far from the house they owned earlier in a LA ghetto. According to the article, many folks in jobs that would promise penury in other parts of the country have a chance at leading a solid middle class existence in this city of casinos.

The Paper Maze

Wow! The mortgage agent threw a ton of stuff at me and at the end of it all my head was buzzing. I thought I was well prepared, but I was wrong by a long shot. And then at the end, I had to put my signature on a dozen documents. I had nary the time to read through the fine print. This is overwhelming stuff. I had read the "Home buying for dummies" book, but nothing prepared me for this. Good news is that qualifying for the loan will be a cinch. The bad news is that the house we want to make an offer on has attracted quite a few. More than likely this will be a bidding war and I'd hate to get myself entangled in one.

Hunting for a house

My wife and I decided to take the plunge and set about buying a house. Peer pressure had something to do with. That and the fact that most of our friends own one. Their homes look so cozy and inviting unlike the cramped apartment that we currently live in. I'd like to think we have done our homework. We went with a real estate agent who had been referred by my wife's friends. She is doing a decent job so far. Only time will tell. We have scouted different areas, even taking the drive during commute hours to clock times. I am off now to get pre-approved for a loan. I am glad I file papers religiously. Otherwise the stuff the mortgage agent asked for would have been next to impossible to assemble in a short time.

Drudge

Find myself checking out drudgereport.com as often as the other, more established news networks. Not too long ago, drudge was considered to be on the same plane as the gossip magazines, a view I shared. Funny how over time, what we consider outrageous slowly gains acceptance.