Random Thoughts

I've been thinking of all the fruits I was used to as a kid in India. I have not seen most of them for a long while now. I was talking about a pomegranate I ate recently to someone and I thought I'd go about listing the fruits. So then, lets start with the pomegranate. Its a strange one alright. Did you know that the Afghans are now shipping crates of these to Vancouver and other areas? It is a bright red fruit that tastes somewhat sour but is awesome to eat. And its good for you. Then there is the creamy Sapodilla. I have never seen it in North America. Apparently the plant itself is a native of Mexico. Either those facts are incorrect or people don't eat it for whatever reason. This thing grows like wild back home and I remember having tonnes of them on dining table fruit baskets... sometimes going rotten, or over-ripe. There is the guava with its coarse flesh inside. With little seeds on the inside. Again, endemic to Mexico and yet, I have not encountered any in the Unit

Well, maybe it is the holidays. Maybe its the fact that I just had dinner alone. Maybe it is because I am watching Virtual Users abandon with glee and spiteful disregard for my cheering them on. Whatever the case is, I do remember lots. I thought I would list a bunch of things I'd rather be doing today. I'd like to walk in the rain in Vancouver. Yes, I know the few of you that read this page think I am crazy. But I kid you not. Try it out sometime. There is something remarkably refreshing, one would almost say a soul cleansing quality, to a walk in the rain in Vancouver. I think I've come up with more good ideas and made peace with more things walking in the rain all by myself than I have at any other venue. Granted, it isn't the easiest. But it is something that I do miss. And no amount of walking in the DC rain makes up for it. For one thing, rain is a rare thing here. Secondly, it pours like crazy when it does rain here. And I am not inspired by the rain here. No of

Why, its Christmas Eve already! A couple of things that stand out for me this year. I still don't have a TV. No this isn't a message to jolly old St. Nick telling him that I want a 50" plasma TV. I'll buy it myself. Besides, I have no chimney. The reason I put the TV bit here is to express the joy of not being bombarded by annoying Christmas advertisements. No more, jesus was born a couple of millennia ago and now you need to buy this cell phone with this amazing feature at a price that can't be beaten... no more you need to buy this car (a Japanese luxury one) so you can wrap it with these ugly bows and surprise your significant other... none of that bollocks. Why? Because I have not a TV, nor do I have a functioning radio! Just the blessed Interweb thingy. I've had to do very little if any Christmas shopping. I am staying in DC. I am spending Christmas alone. I am sure there will be many emails forwarded and sent, facebook wall postings etc on the blessed day

A lot has been going on recently in life and the world. I've been thinking about what I am doing here and why I am here. Who am I? What is my purpose in life? What works me up into a passionate frenzy? I am no philosopher, but I've been thinking about what it is that excites me. There are plenty of things that do. Cars do. Women do. Sadly, some of the servers I get to play with (I mean a 16-core SunFire box is awesome... but for what?) excite me, politics does, seemingly useless knowledge does. Food does. Learning does. Science does. When I was young, I wanted to fly jet aircraft. Many young boys dream of that I suppose. I saw MiGs and Mirages in action on a military airfield in North India when I was 9. That was one of the most awesome nights I have had. Me, twin-engined MiGs, single-engined Mirages, darkness, afterburners, the deafening noise of the engines on that deserted runway excited me. I still love the spectacle of a military airplane. Biology excites me. I've had

Well, its been snowing out here. My apartment is hot. I am sitting in my shorts and a t-shirt and I am sweating lots. What's going on in my world? Well, let me give you a random sampling of stuff I can come up with. Windows Vista, so far is not that terrible. After about 2 weeks, I had to press Ctrl-Alt-Del. It looks different. Maybe I don't use it much, but it works for me. I watched a video on Iran from the American Public Broadcaster PBS's show Frontline. The idea brought on are quite interesting. Kiefer Sutherland is apparently going to prison on account of drunk driving. It is rather sad I must say when Canadians, and that too notable ones go out and do such things. I mean, think of your family man! Your grandfather, well, he is something else to most Canadians. And yer poor mother! I ate salmon today. Its not sitting well with me. Some poor MP in Ottawa was blamed of looking at scantily clad women. Turns out it was his dog! Looked like a Gordon Retriever. Heard about

I did something I haven't done in a very long time. I asked another employer to evaluate my skills and see if they'd like to take me on to do some interesting things. Who knows if it will come to fruition, but I took the very first step in my eventual journey back home. The wonder is that if I do get the gig, I will be working in familiar quarters, with people who I have known for a while. Familiar faces, familiar surroundings, familiar rain, familiar coffee, familiar bagpipes... One piece of me is so excited I can't wait for it to happen; another piece of me is a bit sad that my learning has been cut short and that I am leaving... I hate to walk away from a good fight as it were. Only time will tell what really comes of this little endeavour. Wish me luck.

I have a very special spot for the song that goes by this title. Bill Withers sings this. I've heard it in the movie Notting Hill. Not quite my daily cup of tea when it comes to movies. I do love the scene in the movie though; you see all the seasons in one shot... I am no real fan of movies. I find their realities stupid. Depressing sometimes. Maybe its because I started probably before I even knew what a movie was by watching various Indian movies. I still don't get why and how people watch those wretched things. I admire the ability of the folks who produce that garbage and make a lot of money on them. Many, many countries are spanned in the process of a movie. Hell, one stupid song in an Indian movie probably takes you to Australia, Switzerland and New York. Those seem to be the staple places to prance about. Anyway, I am not here writing about Bollywood. This one is personal. The song is true you know. There really is no sunshine once she's gone. I have no idea what I