Tagged :(

Normally not a tag person, have done only for Karthik and Asha. Yes, when special people do tag, I make exceptions. :)

Some of the questions, I just leave blank.

1. Last movie I saw in a theatre
   The Bucket List - simple decent movie.
   
   
2. What book(s) am I reading?
   Hmm.. a) The Selfish Gene b) MOMO 3)Pathmarajan Kadhakal
   (Wow, three languages! - I surprise/impress myself)
   
   
3. Favorite board game
   Chess - haven't played against anyone in a long time. And the computer seems to be much better than me - most of the times.
   
   
4. Favorite magazine
   Right now, TIME and Linux Journal. These are the ones I subscribe. Sometimes, not able to finish all of it though. Very soon I'll ditch TIME and move to Economist, and ditch LJ and move to Popular Mechanics.
   
   
5. Favorite Smells
   The fresh smell of soil - after the first rain. And .... .. .. . :) [naughty naughty]
   
   
6. Favorite sound
   Why don't you try taking a walk in the woods .. in the morning (6-7 AM) ?
   
   
7. Worst feeling in the world
   Right now, being denied to explain myself. Even a murderer gets to explain things. What if someone concludes on stuff which you meant for good and went terribly wrong? And if you are not permitted to explain! ... Try this one, it's awesome :)
   
   
8. First thing I think when I wake
   Cannot generalize. Lots of stuff. Can vary from romance, sex, plan for the day, emails, some math problem .. looking for the output of last night's program - anything. But the second thought is always the same - TEA!
   
   
9. Favorite fast food place
   Chef master @ Chalakkudy.
   
   
10. Future child's name
    She too has a say - and I'll discuss only with her.
    
    
11. Complete: "If I had lot of money I'd...?"
    Travel a lot and lot and lot. Then, I will go to rural areas in India/Africa - will put my effort to bring development - but not as charity. I want some win-win situation everywhere.
    
    
12. Do I drive fast?
    Very much. Was a dare devil driver. But now much matured - still very fast. But "Amma Certified Decent Driver".
    
    
13. Do I sleep with a stuffed animal?
    Not till date.
    
    
14. Storms -cool or scary?
    Storms don't really affect me. Well, if I am out, I prefer to stand against the wind. Last week it costed me my umbrella. :)
    Let me put it this way - storms are more on the cool side.
    
    
15. What was my first car?
    Could I call it *MY* first car? Then a maruti-800. I don't have plans to buy a car in another 3 years. But then it could be at least an E-Class (if in India).
    
    
16. Favorite drink
    TEA.
    
    
17. Complete: "If I had the time I would..."
    Will finish things from my TODO list faster and add more items. I do not mean that I don't have enough time now. I am happy the way it is right now.
    
    
18. Do you eat the stems of broccoli?
    Yes, I do. Say.. 2-3 times a month. :)
    
    
19. If I could dye my hair any color, what would be my choice?
    The choice would be some transparent stuff, if you really insist me to dye. The way it is good enough.
    
    
20. Name all the different cities/towns I have lived in.
    Thrissur(Nellayi), Madras, Hyderabad, Munich, Garching.
    
    
21. Favorite sports to watch
    
22. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you.
    She is probably more synesthetic than I am. And the level of it she is at - is really good. To an extent, her mind is an open book to me. :)
    
    
23. What is under my bed?
    An old P4-machine, 1-2 keyboards, mouse, lots of wires. That's the only geek thing ;)
    
    
24. Would I like to be born as myself again?
    Yes I do.
    
    
25. Morning person or night owl?
    Damn flexible. All rounder. :)
    
    
26. Over easy, or sunny side up?
    
27. Favorite place to relax
    99% of the time, I am relaxed. When I do need to relax... I'd say somewhere in Englisher Garten, near the river. The steps from the temple, leading to the river at Nellayi would be really ideal.
    If to relax physically ... BED.
    
    
28. Favorite pie
    Cut it before "e" and have pi=3.14 and e=2.71
    
    
29. Favorite ice cream flavor
    
30. Of all the people I tag this to, who's most likely to respond first?
    I was not planning to TAG anyone. But Priyakkutti could make use of this and then pass it over to many of friends and then start a chain reaction. [and create lot of junk text]
    As I plan to give it only to her... she should be the first person.
    

So, Priyakkutti... take it over and pass it over. I hereby declare that you are tagged. :)

Signing off, Sands.

Future....!

Isn't it interesting to see that - clarity comes from confusions, solutions come from problems and answers won't be there without questions? Still we hate confusions, problems and questions! At least I don't. :)

Well, that is not the point I want to make. How do we know about future? Where is our future? Who is the best person to talk about future?

Does it lie in R&D? in the labs? Should we ask scientists?

Today I heard from a great person - that the best picture we can get of future is by looking at kids, they are in kindergarten and the person who can talk about future is no one but an experienced kindergarten teacher. Hey, it did make sense to me. 

[I know, you might want to argue. For the first time, I am not open to argument. At least what I heard today is true.]

I want my "future" as soon as possible. And I need at least 3-4 of them ;). I'll be very good at nurturing my future :). So, let me speed up my life a little and get ready soon.

Also, the whole thing reminded me of one of the posts by my sister - "I Sympathise".

Now, before leaving, another thought - "No one is able to think beyond the limits of his/her thoughts". This a complicated thing which I have written here. If someone is indeed able to think beyond his limits, then was that the real limit? Many a time have I wanted to bring somebody to my level, and also to think from someone's level - and never succeeded in that.

Finally, I am trying to push my boundaries! :) - am I succeeding? I'll know it in a few years.

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Does this post look like non-sandeepish? If yes, then this is a new face! :). Get used to it.

~

Stopped writing?? - Aha!

For the past two days, I was wondering.. why everyone has stopped writing/blogging? I wasn't getting any feeds. Today a friend mentioned about a new entry in one of my RSS-ed blogs. But I hadn't received the feed. Well, some mistake. It happens sometimes.

Coding horror feeds were absent too - this aroused my suspicions. A small check revealed that RSS department of outlook was on strike. Outlook and IE works almost perfectly well with feeds and it's a wonderful job they have done there.

Anyway nothing is perfect. I was a little annoyed - not because it just didn't work once in months. but for resetting the whole thing, I had to click and delete EACH_OF_THE_55_FEEDS!. Then I just imported the opml file and it works wonderfully! :)

Update: I am re-starting to listen to Aha-FM. It's cool :).. Tamil songs have a special beauty - which Malayalam nor Hindi has.

Song of the moment:
Keladi ninne njan kettunna kaalathu, noorinte note kondu aarattu.
Kannale neeyenee kettiyillenkilu, kanneerilaanente neerattu.
Appanum ammakkum aayiram veetham
Achaayanmarkkoke anjooru veetham
Ayalvakkakkarkkokke anpathu veetham
Acharam koduthittu kalyanam

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Someday this summer, I'll go and stay in this small hut - just some 2 kms from my home - by the side of a stream, facing the woods. :)

Readers and Reflections!

I got a quite valuable feedback from a regular reader. And that matters a lot to me. Let me tell you a small story first.

While I was teaching the Fundamental Algorithms course, just about 15-20 minutes into the class, some students used to get up and go. Towards the end of the class there would be only about two thirds of the initial strength. Needless to say, this used to upset me. 

I contacted the another teacher and told him about this. He told me - "The students who come for this course are from different backgrounds and some of them already know what we are teaching, so they leave once they find that the topic is already known".

He also mentioned to me that the whole point of giving the lecture was to teach the students something new - even if there is only one student who benefited from that class, it's better than having none. Yes, it does make sense.

Basically, the interest of the *really* interested ones are really important. And even that single vote counts. [On a second reading, this paragraph makes more sense than I had intended. *You* may want to read this paragraph a few times].

Hence, as per the suggestion of the regular reader, I keep my tech and non-tech blogs still separate. :)

Signing off, Sands.

PS: This is not something which should be written in a PS, still... I have never been able to surprise my parents. They seem to know what I think. And every now and then, they give me terrific surprises! Hats off to them.