At some point in the future I will consolidate the two blogs. But for now, I am starting another blog with its theme (more of a code name rather) being "Inspiration". The theme (code name?) of the current blog is "Reflections".

So there it is, two parts of me - "Reflection" and "Inspiration". More than parts, it feels more like a paradigm shift. Something bigger has changed, something more like my engine underneath. I am not perfect, but I am ready to take on the world :)

Inspiration feels more like the current me. Reflection (funny its name matches the occasion) feels like an older me.

I will edit this post with the address where "Inspiration" will be located.

I have composed a small poem that describes how I feel:

Every thing feels new, everything feels fresh
I feel fear, yet I feel hope
I want to shine, I am afraid of the past
I hope not to repeat my mistakes,
I want to be strong, yet I feel wobbly

But, I realize, I feel,
It doesn't matter,
I will make mistakes, I will fall,
It is part of what will make who I am
I will get up, and I will shine
New experiences, a new me
I want to be strong,
I realize I am not perfect,
But I'll take a deep breadth, and take the world on
God, please take care, please protect

Labels: new, philosophy

Today, I felt rather calm and as I sat down and relaxed for a few minutes, some questions came to my mind. I don't remember them all now, but one question stood out - it was the question of patience vs speed.

Society recognizes both of these as virtuous qualities, but they seem to be conflicting. How do you differentiate the one from the other.

I did an online search. I came across one article that captures the difference very eloquently. I will quote it here:

It’s important to realize that patience isn’t the same thing as being slow. It’s a mindset thing, not a factor of how fast you are moving.

I could not agree more. Just reading it, it made a lot of sense. I think this is something I should make a part of who I am. Patience is a state of mind. Speed is a state of action. You can be patient, but you can act fast when the time is right.

The author was Sarah Lacy at TechCrunch and this was the article: "China: Where Patience Meets Speed".

Labels: patience, speed, thoughts

Yes yes...I did not post even one new thing in the last month and a half (let alone at least one new thing a week)...thats behind me now.

Let's see. I was thinking of what to write for my work term report. My initial idea was on something software related - may be something about the HMVC pattern, or HTML5 or Flex etc...Going through my cyclic rounds of brain storming, I was reminded of an old love (something I am still interested in, but have not seen in sometime)...Business Intelligence/Data mining.

Business Intelligence to me is being able to make effective decisions using all the data you have in hand. Using as in understanding what the different variables are, what they mean, the relations between them, what are those variables now - so what can I say about the future. Its about understanding the past and present to make decisions for the future.

Statistics can help us on the part about the relation between the different variables. There are many many different methods statistics has. I guess I can read a text book on what these methods are, how they work and what are they useful for...but that would take too much time. And if I ever need to refer back, will take even more time.

So here is what I though - I am going to maintain a blog post where I keep adding information about statistical methods bit by bit - name, how it works, and where is it useful. If something is too obvious like "averages" I may not have a write up for it (though I still plan to list such things).

Labels: passion, project

This should be a nice change of pace. I like this style - short and to the point. May be I should start a column like this :D

I was looking into the differences between the two recently and I noted them down. I thought this would make a good post. Hence I present it to you (along with original sources of course :)):

Memory Foam

• Softer
• Mold to body's shape
• Body temperature dependent firmness (warm - softer, cold - firmer)
• Tossing and turning is kept local
• Dense memory foam is good
• Cheap memory foam can break down in 3-5 years
• Your weight is evenly distributed over the surface of the bed you're lying over
• Ideally thick memory foam should be 3.5-6 in. thick
• Absorbs some moisture. May make the sleep uncomfortable

Latex

• It is also supportive of your body, but pretty firm.
• It will transfer more motion than memory foam (your tossing and turning can be felt by your partner)
• Made of natural material. So some consider it healthier
• Check to ensure you are getting natural latex and not "processed" latex
• Natural latex is biodegradable. Processed ones may used petroleum products in addition to make it
• Latex is naturally hypoallergenic and anti-microbial; allergies won't be irritated
• Lasts a long long time

Quick Check before buying or before thinking of buying a new mattress

Lie flat (don't turn) with your back on the mattress. If you can easily slide your hand under the small of your back, your mattress isn't supporting you

Sources

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/latex-vs-memory-foam-mattress.html
http://www.memory-foam-buyers-guide.org/latex-mattress.html

The last month and a half just flew by. I was surprised to see the last post date as June 3rd. What was I up to? Couple of things...one work kept me busy - I start late, end late and this really messes things up. I don't have time for anything. On weekends and nights, I was working on 2 personal projects - php pure-AJAX purely keyboard controllable addressbook and Project M :).

The pure AJAX purely keyboard controllable addressbook works (almost...I had some timing issues; I had to create a delay before I did some value bindings for it to work). Architecture wise the front end wasn't very pretty - I started off with a plan, I developed my own GridView control, tested it, fixed it, before running out of patience and then using jQuery to build...no, hack..my way through building the UI. Backend (server-side) was descent object oriented code. There was no logic in the database side, it was purely storage. Will I ever put the app up on the internet? Who knows may be... (I developed it for fun and in-home use)

Project M is what I spent most of my time on. Its not done, it may take a long time for me to complete it. Not much more to say about that..

I feel dead tired now as I type this. Sigh.

About the regular posts (AONTW) idea, I'll write about things as I come across them, rather than going by a rigid schedule. Need some sleep...

Here is an initial list of things I want to explore:

• Silverlight: What is it? How can it help us developers (esp. non .NET developers)?
• DDR2 Vs DDR3 RAM
• Servers Vs Today's Multi-Core Desktops
• Middleware: What is it?

That should keep me occupied for the next four weeks. I'll let the schedule grow as I encounter more new and interesting things.

Labels: AONTW

Chances are most of you don't know what this is...AONTW?!?

This was something I did in my old blog, before I moved to Blogger. AONTW stands for Atleast One New Thing A Week. It was sort of like a column - something I created - the idea was that I learn about something every week and post about it - thus regularly update my blog and share something interesting.

In the tech world, there are so many buzz-words, phrases, concepts, technologies and ideas that already exist and keep on coming, - that to keep on top of them can be quite challenging. Think of this project as one solution to this issue.

I'll post about something from the tech world each week. Feel free to give your comments/opinions.

Labels: AONTW