A Blog, or something like it

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve

Imagine every shade of green laid out in front of you, stretching away till the eye can behold.. That in short is Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve :-).
We had our morning "short run" there (don't really know how these people call 4 miles short!! ) .. The entry to the park is a labyrinth in itself, and navingating that is no mean feat for any one with a good/bad sense of direction.
So I found myself in its parking lot some time at 6:00 AM on a super fine day -- Sun shining mildly, but not managing to penetrate through the maze of branches and shrubs, birds chirping, a small stream steadily gushing away, trying to drown the birdy cacophony but inadvertantly complementing it to create a lovely white noise pattern really soothing to the ears, and other equally drowsy fellow runners similarly entranced.
Just when we thought the park was all lovely, we see a small yellow sign - instructing us what to do if you happen to come across a mountain lion -- it actually has instructions to fight back! I always thought that if you met a member of the feline species other than a cat, all you could do was stand still, or well, try to break the world record in running!
We were all really cold, we'd underestimated the place, so to keep the cold away rather than actually train, we started running.
We crossed a wooden bridge, and immediately came across this place called Deer Hollow Farm, which has enclosures for goats, pigs and what not! Guess most of them end up at McD or Burger King ? :-( . A little further on, you can see a rabbit, mindful of the multitudes of pattering feet, yet sufficiently secure in its own territory and the fact that no one (one == human) is going to cause harm. Deer cross your path non-chalantly and it seems so normal that the only time you actually stop is to stare at the cat that crossed your path.
Running never seemed so effortless and beautiful :-), trust me.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The longest morning ever

June 17 2008

6:40 AM : Get up.
7:30 AM : Actually wake up.
7:44 AM: Decide to take a shower.
7:44 - 7:48 AM : Decide against biking since car is supposed to be back today, and decide to take lightrail + caltrain.
8:15 AM : Leave for lightrail station.
8:20 AM : Miss the train by 30 seconds, and wait for the next train,
8:35 AM : Board the lightrail and leave for mountain view.
9:07 AM : Reach mountain view and miss Caltrain by 30 seconds. Next train in half an hour.
9:10-9:20 AM : Decide to try out Turkish coffee, which turns out to be a no milk coffee, throw it away and again wait for the train.
9:42 AM : Board Catrain finally.
10:00 AM : Reach work. Find out that I'm unable to login to my desk comp.
10:24 AM : problem finally fixed (really fast! ) and the day starts.

Distance from home to work : 5.1 miles.
Time taken
-- by car : 10 min.
-- bike : 20 min.
-- public transport : 1 hr 40 min.

Monday, June 09, 2008

11 Rules of life -- Bill Gates

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2
: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3
: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4
:
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5
:
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6
:
If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7
:
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8
:
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9
: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10
:
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11
:
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.