Random Thoughts

Some of you may know that I did something this November that I have not (intentionally) done ever before. I decided to grow a moustache for Movember. Along with some like-minded co-workers, we spent a month grooming our facial hair with the intention of raising funds for Prostate Cancer Canada. When I started the effort, I thought we would raise perhaps $100 a person if we were lucky. We started off with a team of 9 people I think and $900 seemed like a seriously lofty goal. Who in their right mind would donate money for my scraggly facial hair after all? This was my first time taking part in an event like this. I am not averse to taking up charitable causes, but it usually involves donating some money and getting on with life. Not so with this exercise. I had a team and team mates to cheer on. I had to grow hair for a month to show for it. I mean, it wasn't that hard (apart from remembering to not shave initially), but it still took some getting used to. We went thro

I heard this quote attributed to Prof. Sam Keen on the television tonight: We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.  What is it that makes us go out and look for perfection when it may not be what we want?

Sometimes, you don't realise how nice life is. But when you are reminded of the past, it gives you some perspective. Not everything is like butter folks, not everything is like freaking butter.  I can't remember the number of phone calls and meetings I have been where the theme has been like this cartoon strip. I am glad that is in the past. 

As I sit here, staring at DurableSubcriber.java , I am drawn to John Denver and his song about sunshine. Sometimes, I forget that the world is a bit more wondrous, a bit larger than my little problems.  So, put your problems aside for a moment and appreciate the little things in life. That last cup of coffee you had. The last conversation you had with your friend or relative. The last time you had a home cooked meal at your mother's dining table. DurableSubscriber can wait...

Because of you, in gardens of blossoming flowers  I ache from the perfumes of spring. I have forgotten your face,  I no longer remember your hands; how did your lips feel on mine?  Because of you, I love the white statues drowsing in the parks, the white statues that have neither voice nor sight. I have forgotten your voice, your happy voice;  I have forgotten your eyes. Like a flower to its perfume,  I am bound to my vague memory of you.  I live with pain that is like a wound;  if you touch me, you will do me irreparable harm. Your caresses enfold me,  like climbing vines on melancholy walls. I have forgotten your love,  yet I seem to glimpse you in every window. Because of you, the heady perfumes of summer pain me;  because of you, I again seek out the signs that precipitate desires:  shooting stars, falling objects.  So says Pablo Neruda. Some days, I miss your perfume. Other days,

It is early November and many of us Canadians are wearing the ubiquitous red poppies on our lapels. Those of you who watch the BBC likely have seen our British cousins wear a similar poppy on their lapels. We wear it of course, in honour of all those soldiers who died at all those wars. We wear it for Remembrance Day. Canadians hold the poppy very close to their heart. After all, the inspiration for it came from a Canadian. As I've touched upon before , In Flanders fields is a poem written by a Canadian soldier and physician, Lieutenant Colonel Dr. John McCrae. He penned that poem after seeing his friend die. The poem stirs up a great many emotions in Canadians I find. While we may not believe in war all that much, you can sense a wee bit of fierce pride when it comes to the wars of yesteryear and what many of our countrymen and women gave up for the world to be the way it is today. If you're into figures, know this: fully, one million Canadians went to fight in the second wor

Those of you that have known me in the last few years know that I try and climb a local Vancouver mountain (Grouse Mountain) as often as I can. I hadn't tackled the grind since mid-September last, so I decided to have a go at it. And lucky for me, it was still open. The day was decent (no rain) and the trail wasn't busy. But then, by the half-way mark, there was ice. Everywhere. I fell a couple of times along the way and had a few more close calls. Suffice to say, I won't attempt it anymore this season. Of course, come Monday, they closed the grind for the season. So, I feel lucky that I got to go one last time this season. This brings us to the end-of-year summary of the hiking season. It isn't so much that hiking season is over as much as Grouse grind season being over. But we shall overlook that simplification.  At the beginning of this season, I had set myself a goal of beating my best time from before. I didn't really come close. Now, keep in mind th

So, I'm taking part in Movember. As in growing a moustache for the month of November and trying my best to raise funds for Prostate Cancer Canada. I've actually got about 15 people from work to sign onto the campaign, although half have yet to sign up on day 1.  If you would like to donate to my awesome moustache (which will take time to grow since the rules state that I have to start today clean-shaven) or just feel like helping, go ahead and do so. If you're part of a team or doing your individual thing, let me know. I am curious who else participates.  This is the sort of thing I wish more companies encouraged. We're growing a moustache and having fun at it and raising funds for a good cause. Much better than the company buying me food, drinks and what not so I can bring a can of soup for the food bank. I never did understand how that made sense. If the intention is to raise money for charity, then why spend far more money/good than will be raised on the em

I finished reading Prisoner of Tehran a while back and wanted to write up my thoughts on it here. I have to say that Iran has been a fascination of mine for a while. I am not sure why, but I find Persian history quite interesting.  The book goes over an interesting time in Iran; a despotic Shah gets overthrown, an Ayatollah comes into power. In between these events, the protagonist in the story goes through a lot.  Anyway, if you intend to read the book, stop as I will go into details of the book. The book was written by an Iranian Christian  who now calls Canada home. As a 16-year old, she was put in prison as a political prisoner, beaten, tortured and so forth. She seems to be in an impossible situation: being sentenced to death and then saved by a prison guard, with a caveat that she change religions, and get married to him. Oh and be in prison for life. As a 16 year old.  Most 16-year old children , for they are children, don't have to worry about spending the res

My Turkish friend and I have a ritual. He sends me a link of something from Turkey. It usually involves music (My favourite thus far is still moustache man ibrahim tatlıses playing the baglama). I find the Indian analogue. It is kind of scary. You see and hear the same sorts of instruments. But the music is different. Yet familiar. The other day, I was listening to a Malayalam song. I do that from time to time... to ensure I still understand it (that's a joke by the way). It mentioned Omar Khayyam. I asked the Turkish fellow about Omar Khayyam. And he knew who he was. With a slightly different name but still, the same Omar Khayyam. Bonus points to anyone who points out which Malayalam song that came from. I am still at a bit of a loss as to how it made it into the song. The only place I can find is that the Rubáiyát was translated in the 1930s by G. Sankara Kurup. But for whatever reason, there it is.  Nevermind that Omar Khayyam, by all measures, is a polymath and genius and

"Losing family obliges us to find our family. Not always the family that is our blood... but the family that can become our blood.... and should we have the wisdom to open our door to this new family... we will find that the wishes we had for the father, who once guided us... for the brother, who once inspired us.... The only thing left to say will be: 'I wish I had seen this, or I wish I had done that, or I wish...'"  My Name is William Forrester Finding Forrester at MOVIECLIPS.com The above quote and video come from the film Finding Forrester. I'll watch almost anything with James Bond in it (well except for the one where Pierce Brosnan runs around singing Abba songs; that's just going too far) and this was a decent one. Something not so different happened recently. I found family. Well, they were always there, but just a bit distant. With the help of some modern technological wonders, they have become a little closer. I never lo

By now, you've heard that Steve Jobs has passed on. He was quite the brilliant business man and innovator. I've read some really heart-warming notes on how people felt about Mr. Jobs and I've also read some ridiculous nonsense. I looked around the house and I own 2 apple products: a 4th generation click-wheel iPod from 2004 (the first thing I bought after I got paid working at this software company) and my iPod touch. The neatest thing about both of them was that they allowed me to do some things I couldn't do before. I never quite got into buying/burning CDs or walking around with a discman (or a walkman for that matter). There were mp3 players before the iPod, but the 20GB iPod I got was amazing. It came with 2 cables (firewire and USB!) and a charger and I think it cost somewhere around $400. I had to pay the $25 fee that the Copyright Board of Canada imposed on such media. After many years of use, it still works. Except that on a charge, the battery lasts about

I've neglected my blog this summer. I'm sorry to whoever still reads it. Now that fall is here, I'll have more time to devote to it, I think. So, what the heck did I do this summer? In a word, lots! I did a fair bit of running, hiking, biking, swimming this year. I turned vegetarian. Well, a relapsing vegetarian. I attended a wedding, a lamb roast, bought furniture, went back to school, learned to cook new things. I watched a royal wedding, a state funeral and a royal tour of our fine land. I also watched as our hockey team went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and watched in horror as some of our citizenry decided to set fire to parts of our city. School's back and I'm excited by it. I've also got back to reading. I missed my books. I have no idea why I stopped... but somewhere along the way, I forgot how peaceful it is to sit in a quiet corner somewhere and lose touch with the outside world and step into an imaginary (sometimes brutal) world whe

I've spent half my life in North America. I've spent the other half of my life in Asia and Africa. Well, mostly in Asia. I think I have seen a lot of interesting politics over my short lifespan thus far. I was born in a state run by democratically elected Communists. Not quite the they-will-kill-your-kids-and-eat-them-for-lunch kind of Communists that some may have heard of. They were more socialist in their ways. They spent time and money on somewhat sane things. Like basic healthcare. And going on strikes. Vancouver has been home for a little over 13 years now. I've watched a lot of Canadian politics over that time. From the venerable Jean Chretien (I think he was great, even if so many Canadians seem to dislike him, I have no idea why they do, but they seem to), to my former MP Svend Robinson, I've seen a lot of good and not-so-good people out there trying to run our countries.  And then there was Jack Layton. He was an interesting sort of guy; he rode a bike, had

Rumour has it that summer is here in Vancouver, but for a fleeting second. If you blink, it will disappear on you. I had so much planned for this summer. Not much has panned out.  While there are other seasons in Vancouver (namely grey and rainy), I much prefer this brief period of time where we all feel like we're part of the rest of the Northern hemisphere, enjoying the warm rays of the sun's tour of the upper latitudes. This year hasn't been much of a summer in my mind; I've seem more grey and rainy days than I care to remember.  All that is now changing however. The mercury goes above 20 now (shocking!) during the day. It says 16 right now, but then again, it is past midnight. I did manage to do one thing I have never done before: hike dog mountain. There are pictures on G+ for those who care. The hike itself was not that much fun; there was far too much mud, gnarly roots and nasty bugs to make it interesting. The worst was the melting pack ice though. I fell thr

I shall be home. Some day.  But I'll keep my distance from the pachyderm.  With a  Swedish Model (Miriam Ilorah) providing the sights and a Senagalese composer and singer (Baaba Maal) providing the vocals... home is a hard thing to figure out.

I am constantly amazed at how often I forget what life is really about and how truly random things are. People and places that once meant everything to you one day stop being so. Sometimes, it is because newer things fill up your time and space. A new job, new surroundings, new friends. Other times, its a change in life. Like your friends having kids. Or moving away. Or they stop keeping in touch. Or they move on. Whatever the reason, one fine day you wake up and realise that you've no longer thought of that person, place or things in a while. Where one day, you raced home to go play in the yard with them, now, you no longer need to. You speak to people every day for 10 years of your life and then life changes. You stop talking or seeing each other, summers go by, you buy new shoes, clothes, cars. The change is so gradual that you you have it in the back of your mind. Eventually, you forget about it and move on. And then one  day, many aeons later, you find a reason to see this p

I've seen this happen. More than once. Kudos to the Wong Fu guys.

I recently purchased a Garmin 405CX GPS watch that I wear when I go out running/biking etc. The idea is to use the watch to train to become a healthier person. It also helps that you can tell time with it. However, it does not work easily with my Operating System (I use Ubuntu 11.04).  I realise that the vast majority of the world likely doesn't care about Linux, but I would have thought they would at least provide a usable way to get the data manually off the watch via the USB ANT+ thing they provide. I installed Firefox 5 beta using wine and then tried to install the plugin that way (it won't let you install on the Linux version of FF)... but the plugin never quite installed. I was able to load the garmin_usb module using  sudo modprobe garmin_gps and see it in lsmod: Module                  Size  Used by garmin_gps             23245  0 usbserial              42908  1 garmin_gps I gave up after some fiddling... and resolved to use Windows XP instead. It is a shame real

Life can be fully amazing. Full of joys, full of sadness, full of kindness of friends and strangers, prayers and hugs. You can be affected by what is around you. Whether it is the nuclear radiation in Japan or the warmth of the sun or the sunny disposition of that wonderful cashier who packed your milk and eggs at the green grocer today. Life has a way of catching up with you. I sit here in my comfortable office looking at the last rays of sun as it disappears for a few hours (its past 9pm here and still light out), leaving behind a soft red afterglow in the cloudy sky and am amazed at how good life can be. How fortunate one is to live. Perhaps the music I am listening to has something to do with this melancholy mood I am in. In case you're wondering what I am listening to, give this a listen. That was a video I came across on facebook. The pictures on their own are awesome. The music makes it that much better I think.  Perhaps it is what I am reading that makes me feel so. S

Some things in my life have changed. For the better. I didn't know it could be this good. I am happy. I learn lots. Its freaking amazing. I can't believe it took me this long to realise this.  The best part is.... there is no overbearing, unpredictable, ridiculous charade with requirements that change every 5 weeks with new keywords and bizarre blogs... and self-aggrandizing back patting by the folks I have to deal with now. No more yay team emails. Thank god. I am lucky.

I've had this debate with my friends for months now. Why I think my BlackBerry is better than anything else out there. I am not partisan about this. Maybe I am biased. This is really a digression, but I will start off with that. I've had a blackberry since 2005. It was one of those bricks (6xxx series) with the scroll wheel on the side. It was monochrome, the phone sucked and was a brick. Since then, I have had a smaller brick (with colour!), then the first Pearl (which I loved) and now the Tour (I had to upgrade the OS to 5.0 by a hack because Bell won't release it officially). Consistently, over the years, things that it did (or at least, the things I considered important), it did well. I got push email. I got a keyboard that worked. I got a browser (it sucked... but whatever; in 2005, that was the best it was on a mobile device)... Google talk worked. Gmail integration works. Google Maps works. My contacts from google sync seamlessly. Multi-tasking works. Like truly work

Canadians are off to the races once more to pick a new group of MPs. There's 308 of them. One of them will become Prime Minister. And it seems that a good chunk of the electorate doesn't give a hoot about the process. The media do a good job of reporting on the events. On the surface at least. But they try. They also seem to relish in finding Canadians and asking them about the elections to get the desired effect of a disenchanted and largely uninterested and ill-informed set of people to sheepishly grin on TV. Many people I have seen interviewed have similar excuses; its not time for an election, I don't know what the issues are, I haven't voted since I last used my discman, this will change nothing (meaning the make up of our parliament). Many also don't seem to care. The level of antipathy and downright anger is amazing. Its like someone inconvenienced them with these (admittedly horrid) election advertisements in between their Jersey Shore and HNIC broadcasts.

I've been trying to find a replacement for Microsoft Outlook. Despite all its bulk and penchants for getting infected with viruses (from way back I should say), I do miss using Outlook. I just don't feel like paying for it nor do I need all of its diverse features.  So, I am looking for alternatives to Outlook. I tried Microsoft Mail and it was actually quite decent. I also tried Thunderbird and while I am not a huge fan of its mickey-mouse icons, I don't mind it either. If only Thunderbird had the polish that Firefox has.  I heard from people that Entourage sucked. Its not like I have a mac, but while doing research on this subject I ran across that.  So far, I have the mail part covered. I find it weird that despite using IMAP, my client only gets mail every so often (by default one of them was set to retrieve mail every 30 minutes!), but I was able to configure it to grab mail every minute. The parts I am having trouble with though are the calendar and the directory l

Vancouver has been enjoying a bit of snow. As I sit here, watching India play England and learn some new things in the Java world, I look out my window and see snow falling slowly. It has been falling all day and all night now. Good thing its Sunday. The odd thing is, there are still people trundling about even at this hour (past 4:15am on Sunday).  Anyway, hope all is well wherever you are and here's hoping things turn out well for all. looks like someone drove over the concrete barrier snow is covering everything out there The photo does not do the tree justice snow on the planter stand on my balcony