Countdown 2011 - Three days to go

In just three days, under 72 hrs we will be saying bye bye to another year. Most people are planning to celebrate the arrival of the new year by attending parties, midnight drinking binges, dancing the night away, etc. What is the big deal about New Year, I still don't understand. Except for changing calendars, what else happens on January 1? Government's don't change; fiscal policies remain the same; elections don't take place; nothing changes in the solar system or in the universe. The earth continues to revolve around the sun. Sometimes I think New Year is just another excuse for people to party and for corporations to sell stuff in the name of new year. Then there is the New Year resolutions, most people in America resolve to exercise more and lose weight in the next 12 months. Who gets to benefit most from this resolution? The people who make and stick to the resolution benefit the most, no doubt, but they are not the ones who derive maximum benefit. Gyms, health clubs, personal trainers, coaches, sports clubs, nutritional supplement manufacturers and sellers, etc are the one's who make the real money at this time of year. People who wish to lose weight sign up for memberships to all these places and buy products, services that they hope will help them lose weight and attain a beautiful body - high school slim - that is what they call. I don't know when humans will give up this frenzy of event-based lifestyles and live according to what they need and when they need.

Good Bye 2011 - Welcome 2012

2011 is almost over and it seems like only yesterday when it was Christmas 2010. Another year comes to a finish, 12 months of economic upheavel in Europe, 52 weeks of bickering between Republicans and Democrats in the United States, 365 days before the next Presidential elections in which Obama is mostly likely to succeed, not because he has been a gerat president but because there is no other suitable alternative.
 
Wow.... I simply can't believe it another year has come to a close... I am older by a year so is everybody in the world. Did I achieve anything great this past year, well apart from gaining about 10 lbs cumulative weight, and completing 2 more semesters and getting closer to graduation, I don't think I did anything significant this year. In terms of physical activity this past year was a mess, I hope to make next year more productive and lose some of the excess food stocks that have gotten stored in various areas of my body.
 
I know I have promised myself that I would compete in a Triathlon next year. It is not going to be easy, I need to work hard to get there, especially in the area of running. I have to hit the gym or the trail to start running, cycling and swimming on a regular basis. Discipline is the key to achieving all this and that is something very difficult to achieve for people like me.

Back to School.....

Image Courtesy Dandelion Blu

New year brings with it lots of new things.... including a brand new semester of academic drudgery... but I kinda enjoy it and the above cartoon is definitely not a representation of me. It would be if I get frustrated and can't achieve the academic goals I have set out to achieve. Right now my situation is more like the graphic below.

Image Courtesy Maconaquah Middle School Guidance Department

Struggling with information overload and trying to juggle school, job, life, and lots and lots of books. When this happens often times something often keeps falling off if you are not an expert juggler, which I am definitely not, so when things fall down I have to stop and pick up from where I stopped at. It is going to be a challenging semester and I sure hope I can get through with the grades I wish and keep my job, life and sanity intact.

A different New Year Resolution

I came across this news article online about a man in Frisco, TX whose new year resolution was to celebrate his weight loss of the previous year. Chris Kern lost 120 lbs during the past year and became healthier, fitter and happier. He is now training to run a half-marathon.

Now that is what I call a real new year resolution. In this context the New Year is just a date on which he took the pledge to lose weight and cut down on unhealthy eating in order to be healthy and perhaps set an example to his three children.

Most people make resolutions only to break them a week down the line. In fact I myself have started several projects only to abandon them after sometime. This kind of resolve and determination is truly admirable. Chris Kern's blog is quite informative about his journey from 325 lbs to 200 lbs.

With over 35 percent of Americans being obese there is a need for this man's example to be emulated.

Happy New Year 2011

I'd like to use this opportuity to reflect on the significance of the beginning of a new year. What does the new year mean? Is it just an opportunity for people to let down their hair and party all night, get drunk, hang out with friends. Or is there something more to the beginning of a new year.

Personally speaking I come from a totally different culture where a New Year doesn't begin on January 1st, rather our new year is on the first new moon day after the Spring Equinox. This day is known as Ugadi and we celebrate it by eating a neem flower with brown sugar with a promise that we will accept both bitter and sweet experiences in the coming year equally. This is quite significant to me because there is some kind of meaning to the beginning of a year.

I still don't understand the main significance of January 1st apart from the fact that it is the beginning of a year. Of course some people make resolutions and try to keep them up in the coming year, but most of us generally party hard, drink and forget all about the day once we are back at work the next day.

Another Year Coming to an end....

It is that time of the year again when Americans exchange gifts, take holidays, meet with their extended families, etc. It is the end of the year holiday season... formerly known as Christmas season. Anyway the point of this blogpost is to say that another year has gone by and there has been few changes in the situation of the world and in my life. I still go to school and work weekends. I switched careers early this year.

One of the highlights of this year was that finally I was able to visit India and spend some quality time with my parents and sister's family. That apart life has been pretty much the same throughout.

The bone chilling cold season has started in DFW area and everyone is now attired in thick jackets or sweaters.

March Madness

Two months up in the year and it seems like the new year started yesterday. Time flies and as you get older times seems to pass faster, this is not my opinion but that of experts. I heard on NPR (National Public Radio) a few weeks ago that recently scientists have discovered that as we get older our brain gets slower. Apparently the capacity of the brain to read time and process its passage gradually recedes and this is why the older we get time seems to fly faster.

It is indeed an interesting theory the speakers on the show propagated. They suggested that as we grow older the number of uniquely different experiences become lesser and as such we forget day to day activities. They say that when we experience something unique for example, the first kiss, will be remembered for far longer than the 10th or the 100th....

I somewhat tend to agree with them but I think there is more to this than just memory and perception. I am pretty sure there is more to it and researchers will come up with newer theories on this subject. Like they say only time can answer these questions.

Three weeks into the new year....

The new year is usually time for resolutions and this time around people usually start wavering from theirs. Well as for me I have never made New Year Resolutions in my life and so this is not something significant. I did start on a new course in my career and life this new year, hopefully this will be a smooth transition into what I will ultimately be doing. Only time will tell whether it will be or not.

Longest Car Jump on New Year Eve

I received a link to this video as an e-mail forward. This video shows the amazing dare devil car driver Travis Pastrana jumping 269 ft in his car to make a new world record on New Year eve. An amazing feat indeed, something that needs courage, confindence and of course a fantastic car... and youtube to make it popular in the internet.

Happy New Year 2010

Today is the first day of the New Year 2010 and the second decade of the 21st century. The next few decades will be momentous in terms of the direction they are going to steer the world. Whether the world will be a peaceful place or a turbulent strife-torn land mass will be decided in the next couple of decades. Whether global warming will pose greater threats to human existence or whether new technologies will help rejuvenate the earth's biosphere, time alone can answer.

I would simply say enjoy the present with what you have because the future may turn out in any way and we may not enjoy what we can today.

New Year - Old Routine

The new year is already 3 days old and it has been boring as ever. On new years eve we went out for dinner and visited a desi night club... and believe me this is one place which is definitely not Texas Size... the cramped place was crawling with people... all in various states of drunken stupor dancing away to glory... trying to usher the new year....

Feeling claustrophobic and suffocated by the wafting cigarette smoke we beat a hasty retreat. I was shocked to see a long line of people waiting in the biting cold to get into the night club. "These guys are crazy" I thought... wanting to get into that cramped, suffocating, airless space.. wonder what they were expecting to do there...

Anyway since that day I have been hanging around at home doing nothing much but reading books. I finished the book How Walmart is Destroying America and the World in which veteran journalist Bill Quinn explains the various negative impacts of the largest retailer in the world. How Walmart has virtually closed down most of the independent grocery stores and drugstores? How Walmart is a greedy company with no sentiment? How Walmart exploits its employees (associates) by paying measly wages and no health and other benefits? and other important questions are answered in this book. The author explains that for every 100 jobs created by Walmart, 150 people lose their livelihoods... not just jobs but they lose livelihood... the sole source of their living.

Reading this book it is scary to think what might happen to India when this retail giant enters and conquers the country. Already there are more than 800 million who eke out a living with less than $2 daily... there might be more added to that number. That is so much for bad news. Let me finish here before I get too cynical....

Happy New Year 2008

A year has gone by and I don't know what I have been doing.... first quarter was spent on the tour... second quarter getting back into groove of work and professional life, third and fourth quarter just flew by...

Now a new year is staring at me in the face... I was browsing the net for various ways in which one can send wishes online and found these different ways... check it out I am sure you will find it interesting. I visited this online greetings site... New-Year.in... year an Indian domain name... and found all these great graphics... check it out.. it may be too late for this year.. but if you remember or book mark this site you can use it next year.