Kindle DX

Today Amazon announced the launch of Kindle DX. It makes me happy to know that now it has support for pdf documents. But one thing it still annoys me is why do amazon require us to send the documents to them. Why can't we simply upload it using USB, when it is rechargeable using USB. At $489 it is out of my budget anyways. So i guess i will have to wait for some other device which is cheap and satisfies my complain. Sony are you listening??

Labors of life

These are the days I struggled.
The freedom only brought pain and trouble.

These shoes are worn to the sole.
This hard work has mean, i gave it all.

These are the times that i got tough.
I wanted to go back home, i had enough.


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PS: I have borrowed this poem from Yaser (A high school student from Fremont)

Good lines from movie

There are moments which mark your life. Moments when you realize nothing will ever be the same and time is divided into two parts. Before this and after this. Sometimes you can feel such a moment coming. That's the test. Oh so i tell myself. I tell myself, at times like that, strong people keep moving anyway. No matter what they are going to find.
Denzel Washington (Fallen)

Oscar 2009

I am a movie fan. Well a little movie addict. So to watch Oscar ceremony is a something which should be done. Further this year it was special because there were high hopes of A R Rehman will win the prestigious award.
I don't have a cable connection so i rely on my indoor antenna to get the tv reception. The ceremony was on Channel ABC and it took me some positioning and tuning to get the channel in a decent state. I am sure Anshu (my wife) will not be happy when she notices that the antenna is still lying on the chair, instead of its position on the top of tv :-)
Anyways the award ceremony began. I was ready with netflix website to order the dvds of movies which i haven't seen in theater. I did add a few movies. Most of them were already in the queue. Meanwhile i was also busy in setting my gmail status to the whatever current event happening at oscar (as if all the people in world are looking at my status message to find the exclusive news of oscar). The proud moment came when "Smile Pinki" won the award. I immediately pinged few friends and emailed some more to let them know about it (sorry guys i was high !!!). And then when AR Rahman got two awards it was just awesome. Me, my wife and my mother in law all were very excited. With our cumulative excitement even my 5 month old son got excited. And thus it ended. Now admitting my guilt, i haven't seen Slumdog yet and plan to do that as soon as it is released in DVD.

Life in Saudi Arabia

The following text is copied from an article in The Economist.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia made the most thorough reshuffle of his government since assuming the throne in 2005. He promoted reformers, sacked reactionaries and appointed his first-ever female minister, for women’s education. But women are still not allowed to drive a car.

Kundan 5 month old -II

Kundan 5 months old -I

My Tax Filed

This BBC Article about tax filing in US is pretty much true. I have been in US since 2002 and every year during this time, filing taxes is a thing of great concern. Furthermore i am afraid of the fact that Al Capone was sent to Alcatraz for Tax evasion crime. So just to make sure i don't land into any problem with Uncle Sam i have been very careful. Many people go to HR block and other tax professionals. But since i am the only bread earner and haven't inherited a fortune from a very rich uncle, i think it will be just a waste of money if i go and pay 100-200 dollars for something which i can do on my own. But mind you it consumes easily 6-7 hours of time even if i use Tax software like Turbo tax. Past few years turbo tax was kind enough to let me file for free. But this time they charged me about 15 dollars. Well last night i filed taxes and today morning i got the email from turbo tax that return has been accepted by IRS. What a relief..

WWGD powerpoint

WWGD? - The PowerPoint

View more presentations from jeffjarvis. (tags: buzzmachine business)

White Tiger

Just finished reading White Tiger. I have been planning to read this book for quite some time. Amazing book.

Young Indian Author wins Booker Prize

Aravind Adiga got booker for his novel "The White Tiger"

Book Review (3 mistakes of my life)

I have just finished reading the book 3 mistakes of my life written by Chetan Bhagat. This is probably one of the first book i have read written by a recent indian author. Ofcourse people like Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie are famous. But somehow i didn't get chance to read about them.
Well coming back to book. This book has a very interesting story which encompasses real events happened in recent india. The story never loses momentum. I am not a big fan of cricket. But in this book it has been described in such an engrossing way that i cannot help appreciate the passion for cricket lovers. The book is not very thick (only 144 pages). I finished it in couple of days. I was so engrossed in reading this that i had to ignore my newborn son too.

I thank my dear brother Anand for sending the book.

3 weeks old Kundan

Kundan (11 day old)

Latest Reading (Biography of Mandela)

Who doesn't know about Nelson Mandela. As far my knowledge about him is concerned i only knew that he has been the president of South Africa and has been jail for a very long time. Recently in a Times article i got to know more about him. I learnt about his political acumen from that article. This prompted me to find out more about him. In Fremont library i was looking for his autobiography "A long walk to freedom". I couldn't find it. But instead i found another biography. The book looks thick (577 pages). And after a very long time i have read such thick book which is not a fiction book.
My journey with that book started about 7 weeks ago. Yes it took me that long to finish it!! It has been an amazing experience for me. It is very interesting to see how a boy from rural area transforms himself into the political arena. How great man adapt themself for the betterment of everyone. I learnt about the Apartheid system, and the sanctions imposed by world. Now this explains why South African cricket team has started playing at international level suddenly (this happened when i was in class 8, about 16 years ago). I didn't know the real reasons at time except that there was a ban on them.
Further it was good to find that there were many persons of Indian origin who struggled with Mandela.
Now i have read a serious book. I am looking forward to reading some easy going fun book.

Who is gaining in bad economy

3 Cheers for Abhinav Bindra

Extremely proud moment for India. Abhinav Bindra has won gold in 10m air rifle gold.

Cricket swallowed all other games in India

While i was casually skimming some of the magazines at the local Border's store, i saw a very interesting cover story "Wall street has swallowed economy". Unrelated to this story, however when i was going through this weeks "Time" magazine, i saw a list of potential candidates for Olympic medal. And here i started looking for a person from india. There were names from every country. Ofcourse there were more people from China, USA and Russia. There was a name from Iraq too. This is simply amazing giving the life threatening situation in Iraq. I would have been completely sad if i were unable to find what i was looking for. To my rescue there was one name. Rajyawardhan Rathode. I took a sigh of relief. But then i started wondering. Why is it that there is only one name. In other field, i can easily find the name of one indian in a group of ten (a bit modest estimate). The only answer came to my mind is the indian obsessiveness with Cricket. Cricket players at national level are like icons in the country. They are worshipped like Gods. It is not that they should not be treated good. But that doesn't mean this is the only game. Hockey is our national game. Once champions, today we are nowhere in the world arena. In events like swimming, boxing, gymnastics etc it is hard to find any name. Why is that. Indian government has to provide proper facilities, encouragement to other sports too. And we the common man should also start developing taste for other games. We shouldn't be sweating and cursing if India is loosing to Pakistan in a cricket match. After all it is just a game. For me i will try to keep a track record of other successful sportsperson .

ABRAHAM LINCOLN's LETTER TO HEADMASTER

A WORD TO TEACHERS

"He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just and are not true. But teach him if you can, the wonder of books.. but also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hillside.

In school, teach him it is far more honorable to fall than to cheat.....

Teach to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him he is wrong.

Teach him to be gentle with gentlepeople and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone getting on the bandwagon...

Teach him to listen to all men; but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he is sad... Teach him there is no shame in tears.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to be beware of too much sweetness.. Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to highest bidders, but never to put a price on his heart and soul. Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob.. and stand and fight if thinks he is right.

Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel. Let him have the courage to be impatient.. Let him have the patience to be brave. Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will have faith in humankind.

This is a big order, but see what you can do. . He is such a fine little fellow my son!

- Abraham Lincoln"

Chess Boxing

I am not a big fan of boxing game. So not a fan of Rocky series movies. In fact i don't like to watch games (except for gymnastics, swimming etc in olympics). Even in my undergrad days when most of the students will be in hostel common room watching cricket, i will be sitting lazily in my room reading some novel.
So in the last issue of Time when i saw an article on Chess Boxing, i was amazed. This was the first time i heard/ read about such a game. In this game oponents will first throw boxing punches at each other for 4-5 minutes and then will immediately start playing chess game. Winner is decided by knockout, checkmate and by refree. This is really interesting. And there are tournaments organized for this game.
This prompts me to think, can i mix some other games and start a new game. What about mixing swimming with tic tac toe. First swim one lap and then draw a circle. :-)