Random Thoughts

So, where have I been the last little while? I've been busy with so much stuff. I don't even know where to begin. Where am I right now? I am flying about 37,000 feet in the air on an Airbus A319. I am on my way to the HQ of the office, in Washington DC. How do I know how high I am right now? Well, the pilot announced it when we started. Since then, I watched the Devil wears Prada, listened to Antonio Vivaldi and am updating the blog. How did I get here? Well, it started with me having to go to DC for meetings. I got this laptop last minute on Friday afternoon (the IT manager is a nice fellow when he wants to be) and have been doing very little to get prepared ever since. I went to the Canucks game on Friday, surprise, surprise, against the Washington Capitals team thanks to a good chum of mine. He had tickets and took me along. We had a grand time. He got drunk. I had to drink half a sleeve of beer seeing as I started consuming alcohol in micro amounts. The Canucks won, in case

I am not one to usually dwell upon this subject a lot... my life is a simple one and I love my freedom. Anyway, that little digression aside, I wanted to mention that I have had a chance to reconnect with the works of Pablo Neruda. Now, for those not familiar with Neruda, he is a Chilean writer, diplomat, Senator and one-time communist. He won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1971 and the citation (from the Nobel foundation website) is as follows: "for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams" I have read many of his translated works, but I came across one of his finest: Cien Sonetos de amor in Spanish. It is beautiful. Pablo Neruda puts in words what I cannot. He expresses Love in so gifted a way, time flies and you forget what you were doing before. Give it a try sometime, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Life will feel better, I assure you, after you read his passionate words. Whether they are in Spanish o

I saw two beautiful beasts of burden today. The first was a sleek, smooth, eye-catching, attractive car made by this tiny car maker from Stuttgart. You may have heard of them. You may have seen their cars. You will likely never forget how this one looks. She is a GT after all. Gorgeous from the front fender to the rear exhaust and all around... she's just the most beautiful of vehicles on earth. I saw her parked by the Earls on Broadway, by Pine Street. Someday, I would like to drive one and god-willing, own one. And if you're still wondering who the maker is, it is Porsche. The second one was a GM-Allison Diesel-Electric hybrid bus. It has a huge battery pack on the top of the bus, but other than that, the chasis is a regular New Flyer low-floor bus. That's where the resemblance ends though. The Allison bus is gear free... it runs on electricity generated by the diesel engine. The whirring and clicking that the electric engine produces is strange to get used to, but the ri

I am A-L-I-V-E. Its amazing what life can throw at you every so often. I've been doing a LOT of learning of late and I can't believe how fortunate I have been. Of course... my fears are always at the back of my head; what goes up must come down and I am not looking forward to the crash. Maybe I'll get lucky and the crash won't really be a crash, just a repositioning. I learned about what goals are and of one man's approach to getting there. Fascinating stuff. Though how much of that is absolute tripe is yet to be decided. I'll give it a shot. I have a lot to lose, but I can't afford not to try. Wish me luck!

I officially joined the Performance Engineering team today. Today was possibly the best work day I have had in a VERY long time. Things were calm, quiet (a little too quiet sometimes) and comfortable. I had a list of tasks to do, a few emails to read and even less to respond back to. I was in a blissful trance. Or maybe it is the calm before the storm. Who knows. Anyway, I am living in the moment for now. I did go back to check on the old co-workers (seeing as they are a floor above and have the better toilet amongst other things), or rather, what is left of my decimated pride if you will. It was eerie to say the least. The area, so devoid of life, so devoid of noise, of those bright (and sometimes cursing) faces, so devoid of laughter. I felt like I was in a tragic play with no lead and no director to help the cast arrive at the finale... at least in plays, the cast go home happy. I guess it all changed the day they announced the merger, and we all knew this would happen somewhere in

I think I got hit by a freight train today. Maybe not. But for whatever reason, I feel like an unmotivated bastard, sulking in my little corner with every little thing around me driving me to the brink of insanity. Life is usually a pretty decent bed of roses for me... I have a job, I have a car, I live in a beautiful country, my family and friends are safe and sound... no real reason to be unhappy. But fickle is the mind, and fickle is the game it plays on its host. It makes one feel like the world is about to end... when in reality, one ought to be thankful for everything. I think of little Nkosi when I feel that way. Everyone has heroes. Plato looked up to Socrates, Tendulkar no doubt looked up to Sir Donald George Bradman. Little Nkosi Johnson is one of my heroes. While I was out there living a relatively comfortable life, this 'half the size of bloody nothing' little 11 year old changed the world for me. His message to the 13th International AIDS conference was a simple on

Goodbyes are interesting to me. I have had to say goodbye many times; to my dearest friends, to my family, to my dear dogs... I reckon we've all said goodbye very many times but I can't recall any significant one being an easy one. I spent 12 years around some of my friends back home before I left. I had to say goodbye to them when I left for Canada. I also had to say goodbye to my grandmother, my dog, my house... my world. I hate goodbyes. There is never a good time to say goodbye. I have yet to come across the right words that can say goodbye for you. My way of coping with this wretched ritual of life is to bugger off as quietly as I said hello. I came into this world silently and god-willing, I shall leave in silence and peace. Why the obsession to goodbyes at this ungodly of hours? Well, my world is about to change soon. The folks who have been part of my work world are for the most part, going their own way. Not by choice mind you, but by necessity and circumstance. I hav

As with all things in life, over time, we as humans have to get maintenance done on us. In marine nature one of these functions is conducted by fish such as the Labroides dimidiatus ; they work tirelessly to keep their customers happy. I have something similar; he's called a barber and his name is Nick. Well, that's his Canadianised name anyway. I suspect there are very few fellows from Shia Iraq called Nick. Anyway, I had the opportunity to get my hair cut yesterday at Nick's place. He has a whole legion of customers who are loyal to him and he knows them well. About the only thing that annoys him is if you shave your head. I did so because the Italians won the Football World Cup over France. He picked up on that right away. He reminds me a bit of Enzo Manganaro from the Seinfeld episode when Jerry gets his hair cut by someone else. Enzo was not too happy. As it so happens, Nick is leaving for his home in Southern Iraq with his entire family for 2 months. I won't see h

The time is fast approaching for goodbyes. The first set of goodbyes at work has started. On the 29th of September, most of our development organisation in Vancouver closed shop and left. They did release a fairly major application update as well, with 'Rock Solid' as part of the title. We also lost our beloved manager to Amsterdam. You may recall his lame goodbye party from a couple of weeks back. And he forgot to play foosball with me like he promised. That rascal. I will miss these folks. They have been part of my work world for the past 2 years or so. I have learned a lot from them and have a lot of respect for them. I am sad to see them leave. But I guess all good things do have to come to an end. Au revoir folks. But before they left, in true fashion, we had a celebration. Well, the whole week was one big celebration. Waffles on Wednesday, a film on Thursday, beer every day etc. Its the geek equivalent of Woodstock. Now, beer is a rather interesting thing. I have inhe