Friendship Day

20 years ago when I was in school I never heard of "friendship day". I had many friends and I guess every day was friendship day....The next generation has all kind of "Days". Name it you have it! Wonder if these days we have friendship as we used to have when we were young.


Last year I posted pic of my daughter with her friendship bands....this year she didn't get any less...But my son he didn't get any. He asked his sister to tie some of which she got for him..... Poor guy......but when it comes to making friends he is an EXPERT!!!!

If you can get over your past you can live your future!!!

A life-altering conversation

Only about a month later I would have a conversation with my friend Kent that would change my life forever. I call this day the most important day of my life. I had an epiphany.

My plan with buying a house was to find roommates to help with the mortgage payments. I had done this in Virginia. I had two roommates which made my mortgage payments quite low. In Dallas I convinced Kent to move in one of the two spare bedrooms I had. I had bought a large three-bedroom house with two living areas on the west side of the Dallas/ Ft. Worth Airport.

Shortly after Kent moved in we stayed up late one night talking about our different upbringings. We sat up literally for hours in a tête-à-tête; each of us trying to prove who had the more difficult childhood. The only problem with my argument was that every time Kent mentioned his problem he ended by saying he still loved his father. And the point of his comment was that his father had to be more difficult than mine because it was written in the article in the pool house. Plus, except for my dad’s many prejudices he is really a nice guy, which is the best way to describe him. Today my dad gets along with everybody even my mom. When he is not mad he is like a big teddy bear.

Just like my conversations with Laurie I went through the litany of complaints about my bad parents. I started out by saying my parents did “this”, explaining one of the many faults I had found with my parents, and he would respond by saying that “my dad sent me to military school, and I still love him”. And I would say, “but my parents did something else”, and he would say his father never showed any love for him, and he still loved his father. I would bring up something else my parents did that destroyed my childhood, and he would respond with “my father never had the time to attend any of my school events because he was so busy at work, but I still love him”. This one really hit home because my dad never missed any sporting event I had ever played in. He loved his sports and seeing his kids involved in them. Like I said, this went on for hours. He broke me down. I ran out of arguments, and for probably the first time in my life I admitted I was wrong.

The conversation brought me to tears. Ten years would pass before I would cry again. What Kent taught me that wonderful night was the pain I had as a child didn’t matter. They were my parents and they taught me what I needed to know about life to be successful. They did the best that they could with their limited resources and we turned out to be pretty good kids. I actually got on the phone with them in tears telling them how much I loved them and thanked them for being such great parents. I even called up Laurie in tears telling her of my epiphany about my parents.

This was important to me because it opened up my mind to my future. I no longer had the anger of my childhood clouding up my conscious and unconscious mind. I could look at life objectively. I learned what is probably the most important lesson in life. I believe that maturity actually begins when you come to this realization. Mental growth really begins when you let go of the painful memories of the past. The difference between a truly healthy positive mind and an unhealthy negative mind is the healthy one has forgiven his or her parents for being parents. There have been no rulebooks on raising kids. My parents thought the best way was with the belt, but they did it in love.

The reality is most parents love their children, they just might not be able to show it but you cannot live the rest of your life blaming your parents or anyone else for the problems in life. If you think about your parents from their perspective you would probably have to understand that your parents love you, regardless of how they treated you, they brought you into this world. Think about that!!!

I have looked back at that lesson for many years and have been forever grateful for the lesson Kent taught me. This lesson brings me to the point of this book. I have learned the most important thing you can teach yourself to have a healthy mind, which is an absolute necessity for a healthy relationship. If you can forgive your parents for the way they brought you up then you can get over the past and begin to live for the future.

Again, it is faultfinding vs. problem solving. Faultfinding is having those negative experiences of the past and then having you interpret that they may occur in the future, except this time it is not by your parents but by someone else, your partner. If you want a happy and healthy relationship then it is absolutely essential that you look at your partner for who he or she is, not by who your parents are. Your partner is obviously not your parent.

Problem solving is looking at each problem as it occurs objectively, with an open mind, without the painful experiences caused by someone else. Life is actually quite simple today; we are the ones who make it more difficult. We can eat. We have houses over our heads. We have cars, cellular telephones, all of the trappings in life. But getting along with our partner is actually easier than not getting along. We don’t need to make life more difficult than it really is.

Since that conversation with Kent I have never found fault in anything my parents have ever done to me. I have actually looked at all of the good things they have taught me. I am not a bad person, and it is thanks to them. I like to joke that my goal in life is to simply stay out of jail, though seriously speaking my parents have taught me how to live a morally good life.

If you can get over your past you can live your future!!!

by Tim Kellis

www.HappyRelationships.com

The objective of this book is to provide keys to a happy relationship and real, logical help to couples so they can stay out of the divorce trap. Good luck on your journey as you learn how to have a happy relationship so that you can maintain a healthy, harmonious, loving, affectionate and intimate marriage.

Day and Night World Map

See how the earth looks in this day and night map.....

Let not our ego misjudge anyone.....

A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a home-spun suit walked in timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Harvard. "We want to see the President "the ma n said softly. "He'll be busy all day "the secretary snapped. "We'll wait" the lady replied. For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president..

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave" she said to him. The President, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him "We had a son who attended Harvard for one y ear. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus." The president wasn't touched....He was shocked. "Madam "he said, gruffly, " we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery." "Oh, no," the lady explained quickly” We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university ? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name: -Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Most of the time we judge people by their outer appearance, which can be misleading. And in this impression, we tend to treat people badly by thinking they can do nothing for us. Thus we tend to lose our potential good friends, employees or customers.

Remember In our Life, we seldom get people with whom we want to share & grow our thought process. But because of our inner EGO we miss them forever. It is you who have to decide with whom you are getting associated in day to day life.

Small people talk about others,

Average people talk about things,

Great people talk about ideas.

The best mirror is an old friend.

High dynamic range (HDR) imaging

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

High dynamic range imaging was originally developed in the 1930s and 1940s by Charles Wyckoff. Wyckoff's detailed pictures of nuclear explosions appeared on the cover of Life magazine in the mid 1940s. The process of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range, was first reported in 1988 by Zeevi, Ginosar and Hilsenrath.[1] Later introduction in 1993[2] resulted in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter that was published in 1995 by Steve Mann and Rosalind Picard.[3] In 1997 this technique of combining several differently exposed images to produce a single HDR image was presented to the computer graphics community by Paul Debevec.

This method was developed to produce a high dynamic range image from a set of photographs taken with a range of exposures. With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy-to-use desktop software, the term HDR is now popularly used[4] to refer to this process. This composite technique is different from (and may be of lesser or greater quality than) the production of an image from a single exposure of a sensor that has a native high dynamic range. Tone mapping is also used to display HDR images on devices with a low native dynamic range, such as a computer screen.


http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/high-dynamic-range.htm
http://www.flickr.com/groups/hdr/
http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/hdr,k10d
http://www.visualphotoguide.com/taking-high-dynamic-range-hdr-photos
http://range.wordpress.com/2006/07/15/modern-hdr-photography-a-how-to-or-saturday-morning-relaxation/

Picture of the Year/2008

The annual Picture of the Year competition is an event where the images that became Featured Pictures during the last year are voted by members from all of the Wikimedia projects, to produce a single Picture of the Year.　

Click on the subject line to view more of these.....

Liu Bolin - Chinese artist who has decided to transform himself into invisible

I am sure that this must have taken a lot of effort and time....

Click on the link below to see more from the artist....

http://funpresident.com/2009/07/liu-bolin-chinese-artist-who-has-decided-to-transform-itself-into-invisible/

Eclipse Shadow on Earth Seen From Space

A total solar eclipse cast a huge shadow on Earth Wednesday, captured by a Japanese satellite.

Shown here covering Taiwan at 9:30 a.m. local time at nearly the height of the eclipse, the shadow covered some locations as long as six minutes, making it the longest solar eclipse of the century. The next one this impressive will not occur until 2132.

This image combines data from the MTSAT stationary satellite of the daytime portion of the globe with previous data from NASA of the nighttime portion.

PANCAKES AND LOVE

Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor. He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail in the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten. Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad. He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove, and he didn't know how the stove worked!

Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his pajamas white and sticky. And just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon's eyes. All he'd wanted to do was make them proud. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But his father just watched him. Then,

walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process.

That's how God deals with us. We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we insult a friend or we can't stand our job or our health goes sour. Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can't think of anything else to do. That's when God picks us up and loves us and forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him. But just because we might mess up, we can't stop trying to "make pancakes," for God or for others. Sooner or later we'll get it right, and then they'll be glad we tried...

My photography gear...(After requests from my buddies..)

I have the Pentax K10D with a Tamron 18 - 200 mm I also carry a DSCW100 from Sony which come in very handy with an effective 8.1 mega pixel resolution.

To add to that I have brought the Celestron 100mm spotting scope too which will enable me to do some serious bird photography.

Queen Mary 2

I have been associated with ships when i was working as a system engineer. I used to get on war ships, like the INS Virat etc when they dock at the port, to check their computer systems.

But this was the first time I was seeing a huge ocean liner...

The RMS Queen Mary 2 is a Cunard Line ocean liner named after the earlier Cunard liner Queen Mary, which was in turn named after Mary of Teck, the Queen Consort of George V. It does not commemorate the reign of Queen Mary II. At the time of her construction in 2003 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the Queen Mary 2 was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, and at gross tonnage (GT) of 148,528 tons, was also the largest. She lost the gross tonnage distinction to Royal Caribbean International's 154,407 GT Freedom of the Seas in April 2006, but Queen Mary 2 remains the largest ocean liner (as opposed to cruise ship) ever built, and her width, length, and waterline breadth are unsurpassed by any other passenger ship.Moreover, the Queen Mary 2 displaces approximately 76,000 tons; the Royal Caribbean Freedom ships displace about 64,000 tons. The Queen Mary 2 was the first major ocean liner built since the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969.

Queen Mary 2's facilities include 15 restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, a ballroom, a theater, and a planetarium.

Photographs from my collection....

This was taken back in 2007,on my way to see Queen Mary 2 docked at the Cochin port.

Some flower pics...I know they are not the best...

Coffee Plant (beans)

This was taken at Bangalore...


Coffea (coffee) is a large genus (containing more than 90 species) of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are shrubs or small trees, native to subtropical Africa and southern Asia. Seeds of several species are the source of the popular beverage coffee. After their outer hull is removed, the seeds are commonly called "beans". Coffee beans are widely cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries on plantations, for both local consumption and export to probably every other country in the world. Coffee ranks as one of the world's most valuable and widely traded commodity crops and is an important export of a number of countries.

I am planning to add pictures from my collection over the years..

This was taken some time back when I took a break from work and went to a retreat center....don't know if this is the effect I expected...but somehow I like the symmetry of the picture...

Skills every IT professional MUST have

A career in the field of information technology (IT) is one of the most sought these days. Most engineering college graduates land up in the IT industry. While, a job as a software engineer looks very lucrative at first glance, once you get into the industry, you realise that it is not just your technical skills that will keep you in the race.

You need something more to ensure that you are able to do a good job. In other words, you need some extra skills to ensure that you are able to keep the job after you land it. These extra skills are called 'soft skills'.


What are the advantages of soft skills?
Your soft skills or people skills decide how fast and well you climb the ladder of success. Here are some of the advantages that your soft skills can reap for you:

~ They help you grow in your career
~ They give you an eye to identify and create opportunities
~ They help develop relationships with your colleagues and clients
~ They develop good communication and leadership qualities in you
~ They help you think beyond dollars.

After reading the advantages your soft skills can get you, you would want to know what is it that you need as a technical person to grow as a professional and climb the ladder of success.

Here are some soft skills which will help you grow not just as a professional but also as a person:

~ A never-say-die attitude
Any task that comes to you or your team, undertake with a can-do attitude. Slowly you will observe that you and your team have become the favourite of the management. Every accomplished task boosts your self confidence and pushes you one step closer to success.

~ Communication
This includes verbal, non-verbal and written communication. Be sure that you are able to put across your point clearly and confidently. As an IT professional you will need to work with colleagues and clients of various nationalities and backgrounds. Ensure that you are able communicate clearly with them. This applies to teleconferencing as well.

~ Learn to listen
Listening is an essential part of communication. Ensure that you listen attentively. This will help make the other party feel comfortable while interacting with you and improve your communications.

~ Be a team player
Help your team members help themselves. Be friendly and approachable. If your team is stuck somewhere look out for ideas to overcome the obstacle together.

~ Learn to delegate
Chances are you will have junior members on the team. Recognise their strengths and delegate them the right work.

~ Give credit to those who deserve it
Do not all the credit for a job well done. Pass on praise or recognition from superiors to team members who deserve it. Doing it publicly or in front of your boss will further instill a feeling of confidence among your team.

~ Motivate yourself and others
As you look ahead to grow in your career you will need to deal with various people under you. You can not expect quality results from a team whose motivational level is too low. So, stay motivated and keep others motivated.

~ Develop leadership qualities
A leader is a person whom people are ready to follow. Develop qualities that will make people follow you not because they are required to but because they want to. Even while operating in a team, take a role to lead and facilitate the work for other members.

~ Control your sense of humour
When you are working with people from various cultures you need to be extra careful with your sense of humour and gestures. Behaviour that is acceptable among Indian colleagues might be considered obscene or disrespectful by people from other cultures. Stay away from controversial topics or ideas in the office.

~ Mentoring
This is a quality one needs to develop in order to grow. If you want to grow in the hierarchy, you need to help sub-ordinates grow. Be a good mentor. Help them understand things better. This not only improves the work environment but also improves your work relationships.

~ Handling criticism
When you are working with people, at times you will be criticised while at others you will be required to criticise your colleagues or sub-ordinates. Ensure that you take the criticism constructively and look at it as an opportunity to grow. Similarly, while criticising others shoose your words carefully and keep it professional. Destructive criticism will lead to loss of respect and trust. Let your criticism help the other person grow.

~ IT-preneur- Like an entrepreneur, have a risk-taking attitude. Learn to take responsibility for failures and pride in a job well done.

~ Managing spoil sports
While working in a team there will always be one or two people with a negative attitude. This attitude can be contagious. Employ tactics to deal with such people and improve motivation.

~E-tiquette
Keep an eye on your e-mails for proper language. Open up the e-mail with a suitable address and end with a thanking note. Your words should convey the correct meaning and invoke the desired action.

~ Multitasking
As you climb the ladder of success, you will need to handle work from various fields. For example, you will have to interact with your technical team on project success, with the HR department for team appraisal and recruitment, with clients on project requirements or problems etc. Organise and plan to fit in all the required activities into your schedule.

Once you have developed these soft skills along with your technical skills you will find that you are a lot more confident about your capabilities.

I won an iPod

Yesterday I got a call from APC that I won an iPod after i entered a Quiz ( or was it something else, I don't remember, which was actually more than an year ago I think....

Couple of hours my home calls me and tell me that my iPod has finally arrived. Some great service I say because the lady told me over phone that its gonna take a week....

My new gear

This is what I got latest for adding to my Photography gear...this is what the webpage talks about it - "The largest aperture scope in the Ultima line, the 100 mm Ultima offers more than 50% brighter images than the 80mm, allowing for better performance in low light conditions. The 100 mm refractor features excellent multi-coated optics packed into a portable and durable refractor design and comes standard with a 22-66x zoom eyepiece.

This series was designed to perform well in a range of viewing situations, making it a great all-around optical instrument. You’ll love it for observing nature and long distance spotting and since it is completely waterproof you can feel comfortable using it in extreme weather. The green rubber optical tube allows for subtle observation in any nature environment. Ultima spotters are a great companion for any nature or outdoor enthusiast. Soft carrying case included."

General Features
100 mm Refractor Spotting Scope
Multi-Coated optics
45° viewing angle
22-66x zoom eyepiece
Sight tube for quick targeting
Waterproof

Waiting for it to arrive and fix it to my camera...will keep posted on how its going....

Be a Friend

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person’s life, for better or for worse.

As I was walking home from high school one Friday afternoon, a new kid from my freshman class was half a block ahead of me. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. Only a real nerd would bring all his books home for the weekend, I thought. I had quite a weekend planned myself—parties and a football game with my friends.

A minute later, a few other boys ran at Kyle, knocked his books out of his arms, and tripped him. Kyle tumbled to the ground. His glasses went flying and landed in the grass a short distance from him. As Kyle picked himself up, he looked my way. Even from half a block away, I could see that he was angry, frustrated, and humiliated.

My heart went out to him, so I jogged up to him. By this time he was down on his hands and knees, looking for his glasses. He tried to hide the tears in his eyes, and I tried to act like I hadn’t noticed. I handed him his glasses and said, “Those guys are jerks! They really should get a life!”

Kyle looked at me and said, “Hey, thanks!” He broke out into a big smile—one of those smiles that show real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me. I asked him why I hadn’t ever seen him before, and he explained that he had gone to a private school till now. I would have never hung out with a private-school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.

I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends, and he said yes. We hung out all weekend, and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. My friends thought the same.

On Monday morning, there was Kyle again, on his way back to school with his huge stack of books. I stopped him and said, “Boy, you’re going to build some serious muscles with that pile of books every day!” He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. We decided on different schools, but I knew that we would always be friends. The miles between us would never be a problem. Kyle was going to be a doctor, and I was going to study business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get up there and speak.

On graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more friends than I had, and all the girls loved him. Sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those times.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!”

He looked at me with one of those smiles—the really grateful ones. “Thanks,” he said.

When the time came, he stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your brothers and sisters, maybe a coach ... but mostly your friends. I am here to tell you that true friendship is the best gift you can give anyone. I am going to tell you a true story.”

Then I watched Kyle with disbelief as he told the story of the day we met. He told how he had planned to kill himself over the weekend, and had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn’t have to do it later. That was why he had carried all his stuff home that Friday afternoon. Kyle looked straight at me and gave me a smile. “Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.”

A gasp went through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. His mom and dad looked over at me with that same grateful smile. Not until that moment had I realized its depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person’s life, for better or for worse.

They say these really happened...not too sure...but sure is funny..

______________________________ ______________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his
sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
______________________________ ______
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's twenty, much like your IQ.
______________________________ _____________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: getting laid
______________________________ ______________
ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a
new attorney?
______________________________ ______________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
______________________________ ______________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
______________________________ ________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead
people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
______________________________ ___________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go
to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________ ___________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
______________________________ ______________
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a
pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you
began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar..
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive,
nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and
practicing law.