Random Thought

Another really really long silence :( ~~~sigh~~~

I'm either becoming a really really lazy a$ or too busy or too absorbed, centric, distracted, or too workaholic, lost OR worse... a dangerous potpourri of the all :-S At this point it is beyond my rational abilities to point what it is. But what I can sense is I have been lost for quite some time now. I fail to see that bright light at of the tunnel which reflects as a glimmer of hope in the heart. One feels like that when one haven't had a sense of achievement for a while, not even in smallest of things he has touched, yet wants to keep kicking harder and harder.

With that crap out of our way, I have to say that I have been working for a very long time on many things to put up on blog. My Random Thoughts, is one of them.

But before I dive into it, let me explain what I mean by my my random thought, and set some understanding of what to expect. So that you can make an informed(???) decision of whether to read the BS or not.

What is a Random Thought
From time to time, absolutely random (yet seemingly meaningful) thoughts play circus in my mind and heart. Most, if not all, cannot be systematically proven, and relies mostly on common-sense (which is VERY uncommon) personal experiences and idiosyncrasies, systematic (but, again, unprovable logical) deductions. Most of them are of the type, I think..., I wonder..., Why..., I believe..., , etc. Or opinions, if you will. I have always wanted to keep log of such eccentric bizarre thoughts, but never succeeded. That is until 3 months back when I started collecting some of them.

I will refrain from explaining why's of these thoughts. Not because it makes it any easier to shove any BS down your throats, but because the very definition of 'random thought' deems it so! If there were an easy-to-explain basis to it, it wouldn't be called random. Would it!

Besides that, even if I attempted to explain/reason/rationalize them, I could do NO justice to them in any of the languages (literary or otherwise) that I know of. Most thoughts will strike to you as plain baseless and even stupid. You will rarely understand the depth of them, unless you believe in (extra-terrestrial) means of communication other than spoken and written literals. (Then why the hell are you putting them here!!!) Yet some might surprisingly strike a chord in you. (Now you know why! Don't you!) I would definitely appreciate your views and sincere feedback, but probes into 'why' might usually mean talking to my hands for the sheer lack of appropriate knowledge (on my part).

So here is the zeroth dose of one of my many random thoughts to come....

Random Thought 0:
People (who are these people? everybody?) usually perpetrate the false impression that world indeed has become a better place compared to say a century ago. While this is true of some outwardly measurable things, the effective quality of life (aka happiness, which also presents itself in the forms of peace or satisfaction) has indeed gone down the drain. It is easy to measure the former (say zero people die of tuberculosis, we can calculate the value of pi to 100th decimal place in less than a second, the AK-47 can put a hole through 600 humans per minute, etc.). But it is nearly impossible to numerically measure the EFFECTIVE QUALITY of life. There seems to be no universal metric to measure it. (I'm not denying that there been no attempts to do it, but I'm sure if there are any, they are by no means universal).
On top of that, quality-of-life itself is something very difficult to define, let alone measure. So by classic scientific definition my argument is senseless. How can you say something is improving or deteriorating which you cannot measure! Talk of some randomness in thoughts, huh! Yet, here I am, increasingly having a sense that

world as of today (as a whole), if not worse, is not any better than a century ago.

It is not that I hate the advancements we have made, naah, far from that. It is the detrimental byproducts of the advancements (as a summation) that, in my view, outpace the advancements.
Any takers? Opponents?

Recent Escapades: Little Si, Columbia Gorge & St. Helens and Mt. Rainier Paradise Point

Of lately, life seems to have been degraded to a cat-n-mouse game, comically akin to Tom-n-Jerry, only, not comic. For a while it seems I am ahead of life (or at least have had a good grasp of it) and the very same instant it gets ahead of me! In a sense, it seems to be a meaningless and frivolous rat-race. To cloud out all the unnecessary clutter from mind, I have had a few escapades. Following are few worth sharing, just because it was so easy to digitally trap them with my camera.

0. Little Si
1. Gorge and St. Helens
2. Mt. Rainier Paradise Point

0. Little Si

Dandelion From Little Si

At an elevation of 1576 feet, Little Si (pronounced sigh) does not seem to be a lofty peak, but let not the raw number fool you. Little Si gains that elevation in just 2.2 miles (each way). The first mile or so is very gentle and mild. But the next mile offers quite imposing cliffs. It surely is not meant for beginners. Be prepared with some food, ample water and some stamina.

Also, unlike most other treks, the summit is NOT picturesque, another disappointment. And neither is the trail so beautiful. So if you plan to go to Little Si, make sure that your ONLY intention is exercise. Not to say that a good photographer can make beautiful pictures out of anything. I tried too, and will let you judge how I fared. And don't forget to take some warm clothing, it can be pretty windy at the top, which hits you hard when you are all sweaty.

Once at the summit, have some nice lunch, probably with a hot drink and then head down back to your car.

Directions:
Drive Interstate 90 and take the main North Bend exit, heading left into town. Turn right on North Bend Way and drive a couple miles to the Mount Si Road. Turn left, cross the bridge over the Snoqualmie River and park near the bridge in the marked lot. It is difficult to miss the parking lot.

More information: http://www.mountsi.com/info.shtml

1. Columbia Gorge and St. Helens

Brothers Talesara! From Columbia Gorge

This was a very hectic 550+ miles trip in just 36 hours! Driving 550 odd miles was kind of fun, but it was also very tiring especially when it is done with other activities and that too in a short span of 36 hours. We went to almost all the points we set to visit, but I wish I had a little more time. Columbia Gorge is certainly a very very beautiful place. Worth going down to a few times, for, probably on each visit you might see something new. I say keep 2-3 days at your hands if you want to make most of your trip. But even as short the trip was, it was fun, because I got ample shooting opportunities.

Vivd Landscape from Vista House From Columbia Gorge

Just for your reference, if you have limited time and want to make most of your trip, there are few places worth visiting:

• Vista House Scenic Byway
• Multnomah Falls
• Fish Hatchery at Bonneville Dam
• Curly Creek Falls
• Windy Ridge Viewpoint. I think adding this place to itinerary makes sense only when you are heading to Washington, because that is when it kind of comes on the way (with little to no detour).
  

2. Impromptu Mt. Rainier Paradise Point trip

Golden Mt. Rainier at Sunset From Mount Rainier Paradise Point

I was a little reluctant on this one for I was little tired and wanted to spend some time home (slumbering with a nice novel) and nothing was planned. If you are going as far as about 100+ miles, each way, you better have a pretty good idea of what places you can and cannot visit,. But good sunny weather and insistence did the trick and I tagged along. Since it wasn't well planned, we just hit Paradise point, trekked along some random trail and headed back home, after doing Reflection Lake on the way. Once again, I wish I had little more time on this trip, could have seen Reflection Lake before sun started going down, which I know, looks just gorgeous.

Reflection Lake From Mount Rainier Paradise Point

Myrtle Falls From Mount Rainier Paradise Point

Links to albums:

1. Little Si
   
2. Long trip to Columbia Gorge and St. Helens
3. Mt. Rainier Paradise Point

Insanely Long Post

At the onset of the year 2009, I knew that the 5-6 months that lie immediately in front of me are going to be extremely grueling. Guess, I was wrong! I wasn't prepared for what lie ahead of me, it seems, in retrospect.

For the lack of better word, life (on personal front) had been more than an excruciating roller-coaster ride for past 6 months. It is worth going through all the pains, only if you know there is a sweet end to it, and you can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel (which you are sure is not from an oncoming train that will run you over). I saw that light on and off, like someone was holding a blinking light and playing tricks with me. That explains sporadic/no emails, no replies, no phone calls, reduced online activity, no login on GTalk/YM IMs and increased isolation! But nothing to worry, for, if I were to assume that my unassuming assumption of 'things are under control' is a right assumption, all seems to be well :-)

Apart from work and coping up with tons of other things, I have been largely spending inordinate amounts of time (mostly with self) philosophy'ing, professing, contemplating, understanding, questioning, discovering and rediscovering the meaning, purpose and essence of life. And going beyond: the purpose of all of the beings, their actions, reactions, sins, good/bad-deeds, death, birth, karma, consciousness, subconsciousness, etc. And I have to admit that I am no closer to any answers than I was at the beginning of this journey (not to mention the additional array of questions that took birth!). Yet, I believe it is worth treading along.

So here is an insanely long post of things (in no particular perceivable order) on my mind today, that I thought I could share... This is not the final version and will probably evolve over a period of fews days after initial posting. For your convenience, here are some shortcuts that will jump to specific sections, this much for being considerate reader of this boring post :-)

• Documentaries/Movies
• Ice Age-3
• Dispatches Mumbai 26/11
• Dispatches Pakistan's Taliban Generation
• Transformer-2
• Terminator-4
• UP
• G.I. Joe
• Battle of X-Planes
• The Power of Nightmares


• Outings
• Weekend with Arun-Su
• Green Lake Park
• Snoqualmie Falls
• Rattlesnake Ledge Trails


• Photos
• Long Weekend with Arun-Su, SeaWorld
• Woodland Park Zoo
• Green Lake Park
• Snoqualmie Falls
• Gasworks Park
• Panorama Seattle Downtown


• Fishtank


• Heatwave


• Random Thought


• Infuriation


• Serenity


• Latest Fads


• Recently Read Books


• Upcoming Activities & Fads
• Diving deeper into photography
• Sports
• Movies I Want to see
• Books I want to read
• Geekdom
• Outings
• Posts to expect

---

Movies/Documentaries

Nothing beats the joy of a relaxing (and thought provoking) movie. I utterly detest the act of watching a movie that will shove garbage up a$$ and eventually into head. As long as movie is provoking positive thoughts and attitude, I can watch it.

0. Ice Age-3,aka Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

I had never seen a movie in 3D in my life before. And this was the FIRST ever 3D movie I have seen. It was an exhilarating experience. This is one of the best movies I have seen lately. After a few minutes, the fact that movie is 3D is forgotten only because the story is so gripping, funny & engaging. My favorite character is Buck; an eccentric, brave and mysteriously knowledgeable little creature in the strange land of dinos. Of all the Ice Age movies, this is THE BEST so far. No nonsense, no emotional garbage, funny quips and lots of action and affection. A perfect package to rejuvenate a otherwise languid day.

It would be fair to claim that it is one of the only few movies that is suitable to and enjoyable by every age group: kids, teens and adults alike.


1. Dispatches Mumbai 26/11

Link to video
Disclaimer: The programm contains graphic images and descriptions of the atrocity which may upset some viewers. I myself couldn't watch it in one go!

November last year, the world stood still and watched in shock as terrorists went on a rampage in the bustling city of Mumbai in India. Came across this excellent [and] disturbing documentary by Channel 4/BBC, an untold story of 2008's terrorist attack, in the eerie words of its victims and the gunmen.

Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Reed, Terror in Mumbai tells the story of what happened when 10 gunmen held one of the world's busiest cities at hostage; killing and wounding hundreds of people at will while holding India's top notch security at bay.

The sad thing, today, is that even after all these months, it is business as usual as far as apprehending the culprits is concerned. Pakistan just released the prime suspect, and is blaming India for his release (which is kinda funny, because Pak is apparently imposing a ban on such nonsensical outfits anyways!).

I cannot comprehend what is more sad, the fact that so many innocent lives were lost, our security sucks or the fact that business is back to normal as if nothing happened. Sometimes I wonder if affected people wonder whether it is worth continuing living such a life (where the a$holes eventually shall inherit the world) over total annihilation of human race with nuclear warfare and let the whole world reboot, eviscerated of all the vices.

Additional Links:
0. 8 Ways India can hurt Pak
1. Mumbai massacre revisited


2. Dispatches Pakistan's Taliban Generation

Video 0, Video 1

Pakistan's Taliban Generation investigates how the war on terror is creating a generation of child terrorists - children prepared to kill both inside and outside Pakistan. Pakistani journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy reveals how the Taliban are recruiting increasingly young fighters for their campaign. She interviews a 14-year-old boy in Karachi who's desperate to become a suicide bomber. At a nearby refugee camp, Sharmeen interviews two teenage boys whose local madrassa was hit by bombardments (alleged by US drones and Pakistani armies) while children were studying (read: studying? really?) inside. In the aftermath of the attack, a local militant arrives to preach to a large crowd of local youngsters. He successfully bags (read: brainwashes) a handful of fresh recruits!

For various reasons, these videos are being forced out of shared sites. So if any of the links are dead, just Google these names out and you will get at least one current active source. It would be nice if you are kind enough to share it with me, so that I can keep it current.


3. Transformers 2, aka Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I would rate it at just 5.0/10.
While good, more than 2 hours of non-stop abuse of special effects is not fun to watch. This happened to be my first movie in IMAX (but non-dome) theater. Frankly, I couldn't appreciate the hyped IMAX factor. I don't know who is to be blamed: the fact that IMAX theater is indeed a hype, or the movie was sh!tty. The movie got on nerves, esp. because the movie is insanely long. Definitely worth letting it pass by unwatched (unless you want to ogle at Megan Fox, I didn't).


4. Terminator 4, aka Terminator Salvation

I don't know why am I even mentioning this. Probably just to let you know that if you haven't seen this, don't waste your precious time (and money). By any stretch, movie is just average, and falls far below expectations on every front: direction, action and story. Story, is a little too incomprehensible, if (like me) you are not an insane die-hard Terminator fan. Skip it, I would say.


5. UP

While very engaging and entertaining, it tends to get too depressing (in the memory of old man's sweet wife) very too often. This fact drains out all the fun from a otherwise very well made and directed animation movie.


6. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra

A movie so devoid of any substance, that even the starring of bombshells like VS-angel Karolina Kurkova and Sienna Miller doesn't cut it through.

Except for the concept of nano-mites (and its applications, good and bad), the movie had no thought provoking substance in it for me.

Major part of movie towards the end looks nothing like a movie! It looks like a poorly made VGA-era game projected on giant screen in the year 2009. Fx (if you will call that) comes nowhere close to the epic special effects of a decade old Matrix! Not even two decade old Jurassic Park! Hasbro, simply sucks. The fact that they did such a trashy job on Transformer 2, I shouldn't have craved to watch this movie. I could have done sooooooo much more in those 2 hours and with now-wasted 15 dollars ~~~sigh~~~


7. Battle of X-Planes

America has a yearly military budget of 600+ billion dollars, which is higher than the military budget of rest of the world put together! This is a technically very thought-provoking documentary. They have made a very nice film out of the quest of two of the biggest aviation companies (Boeing and Lockheed Martin) to build two prototype jets each to replace the formidable (but seemingly unaffordable) F22 Raptors. Very engaging, it has boat loads of technology, zest, energy, thrill and politics in one single package. This documentary left no doubt in my mind as to why USA's military budget is so formidable.

Additional Links:
0. Military Expenditure by country
1. Where your income tax money really goes?


8. The Power of Nightmares

Click Here for review and video links

---

Outings

0. Long Weekend with Aurn-Suchi

This deserves a post in itself, but I figured if I delay it any more, it won't happen. So, in the essence of something is better than nothing, I clubbed it along here.

It had been a long time I met my old time buddy Arun (aka Anna). My plans to spend a week with him and his wife (Suchi, aka Su) before I started my new journey got cancelled, and ever since we have been itching to meet. Finally, that happened on the Independence day long weekend. Wow! It was such a rejuvenating and relaxing 4-day trip, I don't have right words to put it in perspective. We had made great plans, but Su's health didn't cooperate, so we spent lot of time unplanned at home. I bet it was far more fun than anything we had on paper to do if Su's health were better. Eating yummy food, watching movie, talking on and on, seeing photographs, etc... it was real fun. The night I landed in LA, me and Anna talked about everything there is to talk about under the sun: technology, life, computers, cars, economics, movies, philosophy, psychology, spiritualism, religion, love, hatred, books, laptops, operating systems, algorithms, stores, and what not! For a 5-6 hours talk, that was pretty dense variety of topics :) We went for La Jolla Beach, but the @#$ing traffic on I-5 consumed all the time we had (more than 2+ hrs of ride, for a usually about 50min ride) and so hit the beach only at hours past sunset. We had food at a nice Persian restaurant, though. To help recuperate Su's health, we let her stay home while we went to San Diego SeaWorld the next day. It was a great outing, but the time spent unplanned at home were the most fun filled moments! Click here for photos from my LA trip.


Long Weekend of July with Arun and Suchi

Essence: Nothing beats the joy of connecting to a close old timer.


1. Green Lake Park

On some odd sunny Sunday we ventured out to yet another park. We couldn't spend much time there, for some of us had to reach back home early, but I managed to click some photos. My favorite one is this:

From Green Lake Park


click here for whole Green Lake Park album.


2. Snoqualmie Falls

On a lazy Saturday, we longed for hitting a waterfall. Snoqualmie Falls it was this time. Picturesque place, amazing water fall.



Magnificient Falls From Snoqualmie Falls


Click here for more pictures Snoqualmie Falls


3. Rattlesnake Ledge

Another outing, a wonderful trek for beginner to advanced trekkers. And once you are done with the trek, you can come down and have a nice refreshing dip in the cool waters of the Rattlesnake Lake!


From Rattlesnake Ledge Trek

---

Photos

0. Long Weekend with Arun-Su, Hollywood, SeaWorld, La Jhola Beach



Long Weekend of July with Arun and Suchi



1. Woodland Park Zoo

This is my most prized photo from this trip:


Emerald Tree Boa From Woodland Park Zoo



And here's the link to whole album:


Woodland Park Zoo



2. Green Lake Park



Green Lake Park



3. Snoqualmie Falls



Snoqualmie Falls



4. Gasworks Park



Gasworks Park



5. Seattle Downtown

This is a beautiful panorama of Seattle Downtown across Lake Union. You must zoom in 100% to enjoy it.

---

Fishtank

My original first tank had some major issues a month back, and all the plants suddenly died :( I suspect it was the attack of hair-algae. But I'm not sure. I had setup new tank some time back. Two days back I saw 2-3 baby ghost shrimps emerge out from dense plantation, today, I can't see them. They usually make good snack for fishes, I fear they must have gotten devoured. Quite a few of the baby fries that sunburst platy gave birth to, have grown in size, I moved about 7 of them into larger tank. Waiting for the rest to grow up. I haven't gotten around shooting it, but here is one photo of my second 30gallon planted tank.

From New Fishtank

---

Heatwave

End of July, we experienced the hottest sun that has never been experienced in over a century here in Seattle, it soared around 105F (~41C). Intense sun extreme along with humidity made the weather unbearable for about a week. So much so, that even the cooling systems at my office failed to function, and many worked from home for 2-3 days. Fans were only as useful as a AA-sized battery operated hand-held fan is useful in scorching Sahara dessert!

---

Random Thought

Don't compare yourself to other people. It won't help. You will only find what you expect to find. If you think you are weak, everyone else will seem stronger. If you think you are strong, everyone else will seem weaker. It is futile to compare like that. Simply look at where you are now, and aim to get better as you go forward, that is the way to go. That is the only way to not be a part of the crazy rat-race. (inspired by Self-Discipline and seems to be inline with my theory of Types of Successes)

---

Infuriation

While I strongly believed that US is one of the best places to live, a country, by and large, void of reckless greed (at least to an extent that a common man doesn't face the pinch of it), recent events of the economic drama made me believe otherwise. The bloody a$holes in Wall Street have robbed not only a nation, but the whole freaking world, dry of their monies. The lobbyists are still unflinchingly pouring millions each day just to ensure that they can continue to quench their bloody greeds at the expense of the happiness of a common man. Those in power want to stage a war on terrorism so that under the wraps they can continue to be in power and stage themselves as world leaders in peace.
Well, wait, what? Fck! Where the hell did you cook this up from? No, seriously, are you serious?

---

For the terrorism claim:
Watch this amazing spine chilling documentary and judge for yourself: The power of nightmares: On The parallel rise of Islamic Fundamentalism and American Neocons.
This BBC documentary, by the way, is banned in US because it shakes the very foundation on which American Politics is built.

The film beautifully presents the historical timeline of the birth of Neo Conservative Movement and Taliban. They share so much of common source dating to early 50's that you cannot study one while leaving out the other. What you conclude from this is up to you, but facts are facts and are very well presented here.

From their website: They created today's nightmare vision of a secret, organized evil that threatens the world. A fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most powerful.

---

For economic claims:
Watch Micheal Moore's latest project 'Capitalism: A Love Story' (trailer) about to release in early September 2009. I can share a million links about this topic, but this one is a good starting point: The Dirty Dozen: Meet the bankers and brokers responsible for the financial crisis - and the officials who let them get away with it.

Do not judge/conclude anything until you have seen the above documentaries and read the above articles.

---

Serenity

Only a few people know about my craving for serene soothing music. I am always on a lookout for one. Recently I stumbled upon this soothing performance. I don't know the language it is spoken in, or if the lyrics have any meaning in some spoken language, but it indeed is very soothing Dona Ceri'Tun by Gary Stadler & Stephanne.

---

Latest Fads

0. KenKen (it is like advanced Sudoku, you must try it, it is addictive!)
1. GIMP and Layers
2. Green Tea (link2)
3. LOST
4. last.fm (revived)

---

Books

I haven't been reading much lately...
The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman
I didn't find the book as engaging, except for few pages. This book was on my to-read list of a very long time now, glad I can now strike it out from the list.
You guessed it right, the name of my blog is kind of derived from the title of this book :)

---

Upcoming Activities and Fads

Things I intend to take on going ahead, preferably through the end of this year (not necessarily in that order).

0. Diving deeper into photography


• contemplating buying a CPL filter
• creating panoramic images (you already saw the sample above)
• learn layers in GIMP (see an example below of what could be done with it)



Playing with layers in GIMP From Photography



1. Sports


• Volleyball: just re-started playing volleyball after almost 5yrs, best stress buster I have found (this Thursday I played non-stop for 3 hours, and I felt I was in heaven and wished that the night would never end!)
• Nutrition


2. Movies I Want to see


• Public Enemies
• G-Force (yes, I'm a big animation movie fan! plus I love watching cartoon films!)
• Harry Potter-6 (only for Fx)
  
• Ninja Assassin (to be released: Nov 25, 2009. I like a good movie based on martial arts, even if it has outlandish stunts, as long as they are well executed)
• Drag Me to Hell (has been a while I have seen horror flick)
• District 9


3. Books I want to read

Haven't done much reading lately, books on my mind:

• Windows Internals
• Brave New World
• Acupressure, mainly interested in points on palm and foot
• The Digital Photography, Scott Kelby, vols. 1-3


4. Geekdom


• Mastering vi, complete the tutorial (typeset in TeX/LaTeX) that I abruptly stopped working on
• My resume using TeX/LaTeX (yes, I'm still hung on it!)
• Move to [K]Ubuntu
• Upgrade my homepage to be managed via new infrastructure (suggestions welcome)


5. Outings


• Mount Si, 4mile trek, each way
• Mt. Rainier, I want to catch the glimpse of how gentle rays of rising sun alchemies the majestic snow-clad peaks of the Mt. Rainier


6. Posts to expect


• Why I joined Microsoft, in spite of other lucrative offers?
• Showdown: Firefox vs Internet Explorer, most detailed head-on comparison


7. And, if, after all these, I still have some time, I would like it to save for myself :)

My new hobby: An Aquarium Enthusiast

I have always wanted to keep an artistic beautiful looking fish tank. For long, I was resisting the idea. The only inhibition, though, was the sad event of fishes dying. And the thought of the hassle to go through when/if I move to a different apartment. But I found myself increasingly reading on and on about aquariums. After a lot of deliberation and more than a month's research, I finally dived into this new hobby: Nurturing a Fish Aquarium.

Day 06 From My Fishtank

Day 09 From My Fishtank

After I yielded, I thought of just growing aquatic plants, i.e. to do Aquascaping, as they call it. But I figured that would be a little difficult to achieve without keeping any other kinds of life forms. So I started with hardy ghost shrimps. But soon I was tempted by beautiful fishes at pet stores (which I visited umpteen number of times, and still do!). I hate the idea of removing poor fishes from their natural habitat in river and trapping them in small tanks, but I felt that I would definitely take more gentle care of them than pet stores do. And so, about 8 weeks (2 months) back I dived in, and I'm more than happy I did! So much so, I even purchased a much bigger 30 gallon (110+ liters) tank. The larger tank is waiting to be up and running.

My set up looks like:

0. 10 gallon (38 liters) tank (with filter and heater)
1. Regular gravel, 5lbs
2. Fish Food (4 varieties!)
3. DIY Carbon-dioxide diffusing system
4. 2x15 watts daylight CFLs (light temperature: 6500K)
5. 1x15w Phillips Plant Light (light temperature: 5100K)
6. Seachem Fluorite Red Gravel/Substrate, 15lbs
7. Stress Coat (de-chlorinator)
8. Stress Zyme (contains live bacteria, and helps develop biological filters)
9. Aquarium Salt
10. Flourish Excel (Liquid Carbon)
11. API Leaf Zone
12. Seachem Flourish Tabs (to stimulate plant growth)
    

Smooch From My Fishtank

Fishes:

0. Pair of Balloon Mollies (they are fun to watch!)
1. Pair of Sun Burst Platy
2. Pair of Chinese Algae Eater
3. Pair of German Blue Rams
4. 4 Ghost Shrimps
5. 1 Gold Gourami
6. 1 monstrous looking (but great) Pleco
   

Plants (I hate artificial plants, so I have some live ones):

0. Rotala Magenta
1. Pearl Weed
2. Java Moss
3. Moneywort
4. Corkscrew Vallisneria
   

Vallisneria and Mollies From My Fishtank

A few days back my Sunburst platties spawned and I have a few fries in a separate tub. It is amazing to watch those rice-grain-sized mini-fishes run around :)

What I could have done better:
If I were to go back in time and redo the tank setup, a few things I would do/correct:

0. Reduce plant substrate: I should have used half(7-8lbs) of what I currently put(15lbs)
1. Cycle Longer: I should have waited more than 2 weeks before adding fishes
   
2. Siphon out poop: I never realized my fishes were pooping so much that it was not getting broken fast enough into plant-consumable elements. I should have used siphon to clean the fish-poop from gravel right from the beginning.

Face-to-Face From My Fishtank

It took me more than a month's worth of diligent hard working to get the tank to the current state. And probably another month to fine-tune it. But with experience you can do it in a much shorter time.

Day51: Full view of tank From My Fishtank

There are zillions of websites and articles by aqua-enthusiasts, so I won't bore you with technicalities right now. For the interested readers I'll post a detailed instructions(probably with video!), how-to, and some tips on my homepage.

But, if I were to write a short instructional summary, I would tike to highlight a few cardinal rules that you must adhere to before starting your own tank. A little pain, effort and restrain in the beginning will serve you well in the long run. In fact, you can even pledge before someone so that you are more likely to live by them :)

0. Patience
• As with almost everything else in life, patience pays off. And esp. true with mother nature, for you cannot cheat nature (at least in most of the cases), you have to have patience. I can't emphasize it more
  
1. Research
• Visit fellow enthusiasts, pet stores, read-read and read (RTFM in computer jargon)
  
2. Cycle the Tank Properly
• NEVER put fishes just the day you setup the tank. Invariably they will fall sick. Give about 3-6 weeks of time before populating your tank.
  
3. Keep it Clean
• Changing just 10% of tank water weekly is right way to keep the water clean
• Always dechlorinate tap-water (using chemicals and keeping it in a container overnight)
  
4. Experience
• Knowing at least one person who has kept fishes for long enough, helps. And reading ALWAYS helps.
  
5. Kindness
• Please be kind to your fishes. Give them good environment to live in. And don't overfeed them
  
6. Spare/Quarantine Tank(s)
• Get a cheap tank to quarantine your fishes and treat them when they fall sick. Never treat fishes in your main tank. Also, it is a good idea to quarantine new fishes for a week before moving them to the main tank. NEVER add the water you got your fishes in to your main tank
  
7. Lighting
• You will have to research a little more than an average joe if you want to have good plant growth in your fish tank. In short, 2-3 watts/gallon of the right/full spectrum is good enough
  
8. Time
• Last but not least, I want to caution you that fishtank will take a LOT of your time! Well, not in terms of maintaining it. Once it is set up, there is little to do: daily feeding and weekly water changes. What you will eventually find yourself doing is endlessly observing these cute little beings horse around for hours! I spend well over half an hour daily watching them. And still I can't watch enough of them! If you are an idiot-box addict, this will cut off some of time you spend in front of that that BS-blasting contraption. So be prepared to spend time watching them. And trust me, that is the most FUN part!
  

Here are some resourceful links:

0. See my tank transform from day-00 through day-51, my fishtank album
1. Vishal's 30gal tank
2. Very Resourceful site for setting up your first tank
3. Beginner's FAQ
4. Nitrogen Cycle
5. Planted Aquarium, lots of resources
6. Some gyan about lighting
7. Lighting

Half Moon and local park

Beautiful Half Moon. Now I want to click full moon.

Half Moon From Idylwood Park

Rest of the photos from few minutes trip to nearby Idylwood Park.



Album: Idylwood Park near Lake Sammamish

Photo Credits: Atul Talesara
Model: Canon EOS 30D
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Focal Length: 200mm

Types of Successes

While I was introspecting and contemplating meaninglessly, as I often do, I realized...
As I see, from my own meandering experiences that there are two types of people categorized based on how they see and measure their personal successes.

0. People whose success is relative
They measure their success ONLY relative to someone else's. Their success is enjoying/earning/having relatively superior things/opportunities/luck when compared to someone else. In simpler terms, they feel successful if someone else is unsuccessful. If they cannot succeed, more often than not, they want their peers (with whom they compare their success for relativity) to fail. They just want to be relatively successful, and, as with everything else in life, they take the path of least resistance: Think bad for someone. They want someone to plummet in the deepest trenches of hopelessness, so that they feel successful in spite of being not-so-successful. They are successful only when someone else isn't. Their happiness (which is directly linked to success) is pivoted on someone else being unhappy. It is sad to see that the world is infested with this type.

Though exotic, rare and hard to find, there is second category:

1. People whose success is absolute
They DO NOT compare their successes to anything or anybody else's. They use someone's success as a metric, as a comparison point, and then aim to go beyond that. And the only way they want to go beyond that is by elevating themselves to that level, and not by degrading the comparison point. In my view, these people are the true champions in life.

Cannot resist quoting beautiful lines from the 'Sunscreen' song:

Don't waste your time on jealousy;
Sometimes you are ahead, sometimes you are behind...
The race is long, and in the end its only with yourself.

The sooner you realize this, the more time you shall have to enjoy TRUE success.

Serene Lake

Lake I shot one evening... click the photo to see bigger version.

The Lake From Photography

Photo Credits: Atul Talesara
Location on GMap
Camera : Canon EOS 30D
Lens : Tamron 18-200mm
ISO : 1000
Exposure : 1.3s
Focal Length : 31mm

Perfect Definition of An IT Professional

Long back, a person who sacrificed his sleep, forgot his family, forgot his food, forgot laughter were called "Saints". But now they are called..."IT professionals"!

via: Laugh It Out.

CMU Graduation Ceremony 2009, CMU's 112th Commencement

With my prized possession From Graduation 2009

I was eagerly looking up for this event. The journey to school was tiring: taking red-eye out of SeaTac, hitting Pitt grounds, crashing at a room of friend's, chilly weather, bad bad food (I cannot survive on pizzas, burgers and salads), but all this was manageable compared to what came next. The return journey! I had booked 5.30am early morning flight out of Pitt on Monday morning. Me and Vish took the last bus out of CMU to airport at 11 the previous night. We figured it is better to spend (sleepless) night on ice-cold insanely uncomfortable chairs at airport than over sleeping through flight departure! Soon after boarding the doors were shut, and blurted out the Captain: I have hit a dead battery! God, what is this guy flying, a 40's WW-II plane or something??? But what shook me out of my sleep was his claim that this one-of-its-kind-of-battery is not available anywhere in US but Atlanta (Delta's hub)! And so, the captain added, "we'll have to wait for 3+ hrs at airport", begging to be flown to our final destinations ASAP and our connections taken care of while they fly in the battery from Atlanta to Pitt! (WTF!)

After standing in queue for 2+ hrs, I got alternate arrangements made for Atlanta-SeaTac flight, the Pitt-Atlanta will remain as is: delayed. It meant spending inhuman number of hours incredibly bored at Atlanta airport. Whole of Monday looks wasted. I hate these airliners, never ever in 2 yrs of my travel have I got all flights on-time, international or domestic. This is yet another !@#HOW to cheat! What? You really think there was a technical glitch in the plane! The battery sh!t that captain gave was real! Oh, come on, you naive!

Ceremonial Robe From Graduation 2009

The fun part, the ceremony itself: The grandeur of the event was breathtaking, and I pondered: "Why don't we have anything like this in India?". The answer is simple: We are far too moderate. But come to think of it, the Americans are not stupid, there is a reason for this ceremony. Making the graduates feel good is, but, just one (and I dare say: lesser important) of the factors! Yes, as everything else in the West, it is about business, aka money money and ONLY more money (more about it below)!

But... that aside, I did enjoy the ceremony. I delayed the post in (useless) hopes that I'll get enough pictures from buddies to share. A framed photo promised by department will take time to come, and the hired pro-photographer to cover the event who claimed to email samples in 24 hours seems to be gone without a trace. So, here I'm, sharing one of the happiest moments of my life with very few photos for now.

Me and My Degree From Graduation 2009

If you have seen or attended any one of graduation ceremonies, you will instantly connect to the above claim about money. Starting with building stages, tents, sound systems, flags, graduation robes, food, certificates, photographers, media coverage, hospitality for chief guests flown in from miles afar, sending out invitations, etc. etc. I bet I missed a zillion other things, but the point is that doing all of these requires: man power and money! Then comes the role played by students: 99% of them will be flying from somewhere else to attend the ceremony, a lot of them will bring in the families (and to-bes), friends, colleagues, their accommodation (hotel), food (restaurant), travel (car-rentals, bus), touring around the places, shopping (clothes, chocolates, boozes), and what not!!! So you see, it IS about money! It is a big industry in itself. Look out for one of my upcoming (and probably unrelated) post: I Hate Wall Street!

With fellow raccoons From Graduation 2009

President Jared L. Cohon addressed(video) the audience. Eric Schmidt was the chief guest at the ceremony, and his keynote speech(video), though good, was nothing too inspiring or out-of-the-box. I wasn't too impressed. But his note about everything related to computers and mobile phones to have come from Carnegie Mellon, was very inspiring, though! The whole procession and ceremonial air was exciting me despite the chilling winds torturing most of us through our non-woolens. The following departmental function was when we were conferred with our much coveted diplomas! It was chaired by HOD(link) and few other important current/past professors. Few made speeches, but the one made by '(I'll have to look up the name :-S)' (who divulged a bit into an interesting book he recently read, Augustine's Law) about lawyers. I can't recall the exact sentence, but he said something to the effect that 'Lawyers are a hindrance to the progress of mankind' and with my (albeit limited) reading of lawsuits made perfect sense!

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family, immediate and extended (aka friends) for supporting, encouraging and helping me through my days at CMU (including, but not limited to pre and post CMU life). No matter what I do, I cannot ever repay back in full for what my family has done for me, and this degree, though technically earned by me, is, in fact, practically conferred to my parents. Kudos and heartiest Congratulations to them! ~~applause~~ I see myself just as an instrument fulfilling what they dreamed of. This is, but, just a humble gift to my family.

Links:

0. President Jared L. Cohon's speech
1. Eric Schmidt's Keynote Speech
2. Graduation 2009

P.S. ECE Raccoons, CMU Grads, their families and friends, if you have photos or videos worth sharing, do email them to me (resolution please).