Jean-Dominique Bauby - Le scaphandre et le papillon

I have read and heard a dozen stories about the strength of human spirit but Jean-Dominique Bauby's, (23 April 1952 – 9 March 1997)), story trumped them all.
The movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", (Le scaphandre et le papillion), masterfully directed by Julian Schnabel is based on Jean-do's, as he was called by his close friends and family, life after he was diagnosed by a very rare condition of locked-in syndrome.  The illness took away all sense and mobility and left him with one motion, a blink of one eye.  His fully functional brain grasped all the stimulus in his surrounding but was unable to react to it.
His life pre-stroke, masterfully shown by image flash backs through out the movie, is one filled with richness, and glamor of an editor of the famous French fashion magazine, Elle.  The movie is artfully showing the life of an artist whose imagination is strong enough to create despite his inertia!

His nurse, a gorgeous looking woman full of life and compassion, so ironic and appropriate for a man who has been surrounded and involved with beautiful women day in day out, is his last muse.  Through her, he writes a book in the most unconventional way, using partner assisted scanning or listener assisted scanning, a technique used for a person with severe speech impairment to communicate.
The movie became a favorite in the award circles the year it was released, 2007.  It was nominated for 4 Oscars, and won the award for best director at Cannes and best foreign movie at Golden Globes.
C'est magnifique!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

In the pages between one cover to the other nothing much happens but everything that can happen in life, birth, death, graduation, wedding, and so much more.  The book is meticulously detailed; it's 500 pages!  The language is simple and empty of metaphors.  The story is crowded with people; events in the lives of two families, Rommely and Nolan occupies most of the pages; and there are a bunch of other people, like Sissy's Johns, teachers, visitors, neighbors who enter and exit the story. 

Dear Francie Nolan,
   It was nice meeting you.  I am also an avid reader.  But, Francie, how could you read one book a day?  In all these years I have read, the fastest I was able to finish was to read this book in two and half days.  You are right though, librarians should show more interest in us.  They have a grand opportunity to spend their day amongst books and know so much about them.  So sharing a bit of their happiness and knowledge with others is seriously not too much to ask.
I admire your perseverance Francie.  Your school was a scary place.  How could a teacher possibly ignore your request to let you go to the washroom?  That's just plain wrong and mean too.  And to let those other girls and boys to go out during the class is just favorism.  Good for you to find yourself a different place, a nicer place to get your education.
You are a lucky kid, Francie.  Your dad, despite his dependencies, was a gentle, kind man.  Oh how he tried to be a good dad.  I laughed with you when he fell in the water.  You kids must have found it hilarious.  Good for you not to laugh in his face.  He was a proud man.  He never wanted to drink so much.  But he was not strong to face life.  All the while he was hurting and hurting badly.  He thought he was not a good father for you and Neeley.  That's why when he heard of the third being on its way he solemnly decided to change.  Pity, his attempt to change ended so badly.  I wish I had known him for a bit longer.  I wish he had stayed.  I just loved his character so much.  You know Francie I think you have so much of your Dad in you; your imagination for one.  You would have become the biggest liar if you had not listened to your English teacher's advice to write. :) 
All the strength your dad lacked your mom had.  She was the woman of steel.  She had the courage to pull the trigger on that pervert.  And you know what, don't blame her for knowing everything --being a wise one.  You are becoming one too.  And you don't want your child, cause I am sure you will be a mother one day, to hate you for it.  Most women have this trait.  It's called intuition.  Embrace it, Francie!
Having two charismatic aunts, Sissy and Evy, is a blessing.  I never had one.  Thanks for sharing their stories, Francie.  But, in all honesty, did Sissy's "John", Steve, really believed that the little baby was his?  It was a bit too much to believe that she was pregnant, despite showing no physical sign of it.
You had a good life. And I had a good time reading about your life.  As you turn around to depart Williamsburg, Brooklyn, by the way your love for Brooklyn inspires me to visit it, and as you say good bye to your old self, I believe so much of what you will become in the future will be because of the Francie you are saying good-bye to.  I want to know the rest of your story; I want to know what happened to Laurie.  Did she become a spoiled brat?!  Yes, you and Neeley had a good life.  I, too, feel sorry for Laurie who cannot take in the pleasures of having a hot chocolate with marshmallow, a special treat, in life.
Good-bye Francie!  Have a good life!

Can't connect to WiFi?!

The other day at the gym, the T.V. was on BNN channel and they were discussing Apple's iphone 5.  The two news reporters were impressed by the gadget's features; while expressing their fondness for various features of the phone they kept incorrectly interchanging Internet with WiFi.  
Internet is not the same as WiFi!
It is incorrect to say we [cannot] connect to WiFi.  We can connect to Internet, a group of computers connected together, via WiFi, technology that allows any computer with wireless network interface controller to connect to another through radio frequency and without using any wire.

Digital History

I am having second thoughts.  I am still interested in learning about the discoveries and inventions of the 21st century and relating them to those of the past two centuries.  But I am afraid it may require spending many hours sitting in front of the computer.  And I already exceed the healthy limit of  using a computer. 
History as I know it, written in books and shelved in libraries, doesn't exist any more.  In my local library, which has a large collection of books covering many areas of science and technology, I could only find two books relevant to the invention I wanted to write about, the World Wide Web, one of which was written for kids.

I dread googling.  I anticipate more than 100+ pages of information and no matter how much I narrow the search, I still will have many pages to go through to find authentic information.  A few years back I heard encyclopedia stopped publishing the hard copy of version of the book.  That's a pity!  I wonder if I can find what I am looking for in the digital version of encyclopedia, and I wonder if accessing this information is free of charge.  Wikipedia is another place.  Unfortunately, my list ends here.  I guess as I look for information I will develop a knack for searching for information in the 21st century.

 

Observation: Are we better or worse off in the 21 century

Look at all we have accomplished, it is incredible when we look back at how far we have come along. 
We have managed to discover and name diseases such as cancer, and aids that didn't exist in the past centuries.  We have welcomed variety of electronic devices into our lives and as a result we have managed to have less time to spend with each other.  We now use "smart" as an adjective to describe objects, e.g. smart grid and as a result see the need for smart person diminish, use "big" as an adjective to describe data, e.g. big data.  Being in the cloud is no longer considered to be removed from reality, instead doing business in the cloud has become a trend.

As we are closing in on the second decade of twenty first century, I am interested in high lighting the significant inventions that are differentiate setters for the future generation similar to advent of penicillin in the 20th century.  I'd be posting them here interleaved with the usual content of book reviews. If you stop by and are reading this and have a favorite 21st century invention you can leave me a note here. 

I've Got Your Number

How can one ever be sure if the other is the right person for her?  Persumably no one wants to intentionally hurt the other person.  No one wants to live a miserable time. Yet it happens often.  Is it because we chicken out and suppress our true feelings, and instead try to learn to live with them; or we try to become a different person; or we are convinced to make compromises?  When should it set the alarm bells ringing?

Luckily in Kinsella's latest novel, I've Got Your Number, such story is narrated with such lightheartedness and hilarious tone with best possible ending one could hope for.  Kinsella is a believer of good heart no matter how stupid, foolish and naive it will make the protagonist look.

Poppy Wyatt is a perky physiotherapist who is faced with the unthinkable.   Weeks before her wedding she looses her engagement ring.  An emerald ring surrounded with 4 carat diamonds, taken out of family safe and presented to her by her fiance Magnus Tavish.  She cannot seem to bring herself to tell the truth to Magnus and his family and this brings about the most creative and hilarious ways of hiding and diverting the attention of all while she is frantically looking for the ring.  (Un)Luckily her cell phone is stolen and she cannot seem to find or think of a better way other than grabbing a cell-phone out of a bin --after all what is in the bin is considered "unwanted" trash and considered public property.  Therefore no need to worry about turning it in or trying to find its owner.  And even in the likely event of its owner, Sam Roxton, locating her; she convinces him that the cell should stay with her, at least for a while _PLEASE_ until her ring turns up.  And she promises Sam Roxton to forward all company e-mail, voice mail and other correspondences to him on time and in orderly fashion. Needless to say this sharing of information sets the story for a very interesting turn of events. 

Like when Poppy is visiting the in-laws, Antony and Wanda Tavish, the genius people, completely in a different league than her, and she feels inferior, and intimidated by them; not being able to say anything clever.  But, when it is scrabble time and Poppy after a disappointing start, PIG, is able to play 70 points words, thanks to words Sam texts her. 

These two keep helping each other out, or they think that they do.  I laughed my socks off when Poppy tries to mend Sam's aloof image with his colleagues by sending Lindsay a bouquet of flowers and signing her birthday card with zillion 'x'-s.  Or sends an eulogy poem to Chloe who is grieving for her dog.  Sam in return help Poppy to face up the challenge and not to avoid confrontation all the time.  Really good lesson that I needed.  Poppy and I share this attribute.  I hate confronting people and avoid it like a plague.

Read the book.  It won't be a let down.

Characters in the order of appearance:
Poppy Wyatt     ......  The bride-to-be
Sam Roxton    .......   The other guy
Magnus Tavish  ......  The groom-to-be
Felix     Tavish   ......  Magnus' brother, the guy who saves the day
Wanda Tavish   ......   Magnus' mother
Antony Tavish   ......  Magnus' father

The House I Loved

I like a book that presents a challenge to the reader, a challenge to understand the protagonist, the scheme and the story. This book is a super easy read. You can still read it and know what the story is about even if you are multi-tasking.

"[wikipedia] Haussmann's renovation of Paris commissioned by Napoleon III and led by Saine prefect Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann between 1853 - 1870 comprised of modernizing all aspects of life in the city and the surroundings, sewers, water works, public parks, building facades, and etc. Haussmann's vision of Paris was widely criticized during his time. He restructured Paris from a city of irregular, narrow, and medieval alleys to wide avenues and more open spaces. His restructuring of Paris gave the city its present form; its long, straight, wide boulevards with their cafés and shops determined a new type of urban scenario and have had a profound influence on the everyday lives of Parisians. In order to give Paris its present shape many houses, shops, and even churches had to be destroyed to make way for the boulevards and open spaces. [wikipedia]"

Rose Bazalet's receives a letter from Prefect's office informing her of imminent destruction of her house to make way for the St-Germain Boulevard. Her very short, 4/5 pages==one chapter, quest to save her house falls flat and she resorts to writing her memories to her beloved husband who has died years ago. Unfortunately, except for maybe one, there are NOT many events in her life that would keep the reader anxious to read on. There are interesting characters: Rose's exotic mother, the ragpicker: Gilbert, and the flower girl Alexandrin but they all stay in safe and confined chapters of the book and never get to play a role in shaping the story.
There are very abrupt, unstructured and not well researched references to Paris during that historic time but just not enough to make it memorable in the readers mind.

I saw this book in the top ten National Bestsellers list and given that I absolutely LOVED de Rosnay's past book, Sarah's Key, I dashed to read it. It is far from what I expected.
By the way today the St-Germain-de-Pres is one of the most beautiful parts, as seen by Parisians and visitors alike, of the city. So, I can't even identify with the protagonist's motive to save her house.

Moonwalking With Einstein

Have we reached the end of remembering? Looks like with all the memory applications and tools available, remembering stuff is beginning to feel like a thing of the past. We barely need to memorize anything anymore; information that we would have had otherwise remembered is indexed and available on-line. To retrieve we need to type keywords. Sometimes we don't need to spend much time to think the right keywords because the auto-fill function of the search engine suggests those to us, and nine out of ten the suggested words are and work better than the ones we would have spent ~10-15 minutes thinking up!
As we rely more on such techniques we loose the ability to think and remember. Pretty much everyone I talked to, while reading this book, was not happy with his or her memory. One person called her memory, ephemeral! :)
Some think this is due to information overload. That we have too much to remember, so we have to learn how to be selective and remember the important things.
I really don't care how much overloaded my brain is, I just want it to keep vital information safely and make it available to me when I need it. I jump out of my chair numerous times on a daily basis searching my bag frantically to ensure that I still have my bus pass, or my house key is where I "think" I have last seen it, or my cell phone is still around. I am lost without the contact list stored on my phone.
Does this book help? Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer, the title is certainly confusing and I would be very interested to know what does moon walking with Einstein have to do with the science of memory.) is an interesting read. Mr. Foer's curiosity of memory athletes prompts him to take on the challenge to become one. In this book he shares his story of going from having an average memory to an exceptional one that awards him the title of the US Memory Champion. He interviews those who have made a name and fortune training people mind mapping and mental literacy, e.g. Tony Buzan. He meets with the man who can't forget and a man who can't remember and out of each discussion a couple of chapters filled with fun and informative facts about the evolution of science of memory comes about.
When I turned the last page, did I feel I have now learned techniques that help me to remember better? Yes! Simple and probably one that you, who have not read this book yet, may know already. And that is our brain remembers when in full cognitive consciousness, the techniques such as: memory palace, one the author talks about and uses to win the title of US Championship, is just one way of forcing the brain into the state of full cognitive consciousness.
Happy Reading!

A Second Look at Regent Park - Jane's Walk 2012

It's Regent Park; one of the neighborhoods in old Toronto. It's got Canada's largest and oldest social housing project.  And it's now in its fifth year of fifteen year journey to be revitalized to a mixed income neighborhood. The profit from sale of 3000 condo units will pay to re-build the 2083 social housing units.

Regent Park was our destination on this years Jane's walk.  It was a bitter sweet walk. We witnessed the impact the revitalization has had on a community that up until recently was mainly concerned on how to stay afloat and alive.  In every building we stopped to listen to a resident or a group of residents anecdote. We heard stories of what Regent Park was and what it has become.  One thing has not changed: the love of the residents for their neighborhood.

The walk started at Daniels Corporation presentation center, 505 Dundas East.  Our first stop was 40 Oaks, one of the newly and renovated social housing buildings. The residents of 40 Oaks told us about the building amenities.  "It's when people come together, sit face to face, break bread, that the social stigmas are eliminated."  With these words by one of the executives of the 40 Oaks we started learning about many features of the building; the volunteer run kitchen, the Rogers dinning room, that many of the furniture was made from reclaimed material.  Take the beautifully designed ceiling lamps in the buildings peace, meditation and prayer chamber.  The glass in the chandeliers were collected from Harbourfront, washed, and polished.  The chamber will see its first wedding in June!

At the next stop our walking tour, Sima welcomed us to the Regent Park Arts Cultural Centre.  Ground has been broken and the structures of this three stories building has been put in place.  A couple of youth, members of the center, read us a poetry and sing us a rap song, both of them show off talents in context of their roots in the neighborhood.  Though the building is not complete but the pictures encourage us to dream big. The new center will be nothing but perfect.  It will cultivate art, and bring like minded people together, e.g. the Centre for Social Innovation Regent Park will occupy 10,000 square feet on the third floor of the new Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre. CSI Regent Park will become home to a diverse cross-section of social mission organizations and individuals who are coming together to share ideas, resources, advice and inspiration.

We continue our walk through the streets, and any moment we get, we stop to capture memories on photo.  I am excited, and filled with hope and wonder.  I wish all the behind-the-scenes hand and brains of this project the success they deserve.  Not only, I hope success for this fifteen years journey, but I hope the revitalized community is going to sustain itself after all the helping hands and external support, builders, leaders, and project managers, leave the community.  Meanwhile, I have been wearing "I <3 Regent Park" button since the walk to show my affinity to what could be the end of stigma stricken core downtown T.O.

Girls Fall Down

A group of young girls ride the train, having just left the park. They were having a conversation: "No, but I think monkeys are more morally superior than people, because monkeys don't use landmines and stuff, do they?" Zoe was saying, when they see the man; dirty, skinny sitting on the bench and talking to himself. Later, on the subway, they fall. And this is followed by a series of falling across town. Parents showing up at hospitals with sick kids. Middle-aged men with cases of cardiac episodes. But, the girls are aware of their unique position. They were the first who fell. They know more than anyone else.

Alex is on the same train. He gets off the train, pushes through people and gets to the street level quickly. He looses himself in the closest convenience store to pick up a disposable camera. He feels better with a camera in his hand. That's when he runs into Adrian, a friend/colleague from over a decade ago. Adrian tells him Susie-Paul is back in Toronto. "He would come when she called. Watch when she left. Lose her, lose his eyes. Lost the winter light, and end up with nothing." That's how Alex is when Susie-Paul is around.

Many things happen in this book. There is past, Susie and Chris while Alex watches their destructive relationship. There is present Alex fighting a sever case of diabetes, Susie-Paul looking for her schizophrenic brother, Derek, the fallen girls and a city shrouded in FEAR. And there is future, undecided, uncertain, and unclear.

Nouns and adjectives are well chosen. The book is well written. The streets are familiar. But the book falls short of telling a story. It is poetry written in prose with no definitive beginning no definitive end, but many middles.

Chosen as "Toronto One Book --Community Read of 2012", this book sets in Toronto subway. Ironically, I read most of the book on the subway.

A closet organization system: DIY or not?

Around this time of the year, Spring, I clean the entire house, top to bottom. It's a long standing tradition going from generation to generation in our family who believe to celebrate the Spring, and the Iranian New Year, No Rooz, one got to clean the house. Every year as a result of Spring cleaning an idea for improving the space I live in springs in my head. This year's idea is to get my closet organized!

Currently, I have a plastic, hanging, shoe organizer, to separate my shoes, and an IKEA hanging accessory, socks and belt organizer to separate smaller things. There is wall to wall wire rack that is uncomfortably out of reach, and because of this I often, when in a rush, toss sweaters, and T-Shirts up there without proper folding. There is only one rod that spans from one end of the closet to the other. I have boxes, an old computer, and suit cases stored in the closet along side clothes.

It's not optimal.

I watched a couple of youtube videos on how-to organize and how to install an organization system.

I learned from the first video that there are things I can do that doesn't require a lot of money, and time and will make my closet look more organized.

• Use the right type of hanger for slacks, suits and shirts
  

• Hang the clothes from dark to light color and from solid to pattern
• Hang the long sleeved shirts first then the short and then the slacks

The second video: was fun to watch! Installing a laminate closet organization system is however a job for the pros. And I am not sure, the material, time requirements, and learning curve justifies the fun and saving realized from DIY.

I amsterdam

Four days is probably all you need to see Amsterdam, the capital city of The Netherland. Also, Amsterdam is a good place to start an European tour, as many European cities, Brussels, Frankfurt, are accessible via train from Amsterdam.
I arrived in Amsterdam on December 31, remember buses and trains run until 20:00 on the last day of the year; the service resumes at 2:00 on January 1.
As I had to catch a flight to my final destination, I decided to avoid dragging my luggage to the city center; so I booked a room at the Sheraton Hotel, easily accessible from the arrival halls of the Amsterdam city airport, Schiphol. As a Starwood Preferred Guest, the two bed room cost me 127 euro per night.

Not only transportation to city center was easy and cheap, 3.70 euro + .50 handling charges, but also I could get to Amsterdam Metropolitan or anywhere in Netherlands from the airport hotel. I visited Haarlem, 4.80 + .50, a serene city with a beautiful train station. Obtaining the ticket is possible from the ticket machines as well as ticket offices. Either way there is an extra charge of .50 added to the price. It's important to know the final destination of the train, for example trains traveling to Hoofdrop stop in Schiphol, so on the train Hoofdrop is displayed. Also, it is good to pay attention to the station names, as some trains don't have stop announcements! The ticket operators usually issue a second class ticket, by default if you want a first class train ticket, better seats, ask! The class written in big letters in the train box.

How to get around Amsterdam? There are many fun and exciting options to explore this city: bike-boat (you pedal your way around the canals, seats max four people), canal-buses, on foot/public transit, with a bicycle or hop-on-hop-off buses. Prices vary. I tried on-foot/public transit and the canal-buses. The Tourist Office across from the Amsterdam Central Train station is the one-stop shop to get information about transportation, obtain a map for 2.50 euro, purchase canal bus tickets, and/or iamsterdam city card.

Touring Amsterdam: Perfect starting point as a Tourist Information Center is located right across the station. I got my free map from the hotel; at the tourist center the city maps cost 2.50 euro.

To make the best out of the four-days-stay prioritizing was key. I like walking the streets of the city the first day to get a feel of the city streets and sights whereabouts. I walked along the best-known shopping streets: Leidsestraat, Hiligeweg, Klaverstraat, and Nieuwendijk. I stopped at Dam Square to take pictures, and visit the Royal Palace. I also ventured in Bijankorf (which means the beehive) and is Netherland's most famous department store. My final station and the goal of this walking tour was Van Gogh Museum.

The museum was home to many of the artist's early days work, works of his collaborators, as well as works of those artists that Ted Van Gogh, Vincent's brother purchased and added to the family collection. In the "Potato Eaters" Vincent depicts a family of five sitting at table in a very dark room eating. The artist, according to the caption made a mistake in showing both the side and back of the chair.


The Van Gogh Museum is situated in the Amsterdam's Museum District. In the vicinity you can find treasures of the Golden Age at the Rijksmuseum, the master pieces of the 19th-century artists at the , the arts of the 20th century and beyond at the Stedelijk Museum, and one of the most famous concert halls of the world, Concertgebouw. [January 2012 The Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk are under renovation - Grand re-opening is scheduled for 2013]

You can find the history of bags and purses from the three era of old, recent and contemporary on the three-levels of The Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam. The museum is on the way to Anne Frank House. There are bags from Louis Vouiton 1960 and Chanel 1980 as well as the history of why bags came to existence and how the small sachets to hold trinkets have evolved over the years and influenced our lives.

I took a one-day canal tour. Although, it was an interesting, and different experience but I prefer walking the city streets or taking the tram, as I got better view of the city and for taking pictures.

Here are some pictures I took during my trip:

The Help

A page turner. Although, I am as concerned as Ms. Stockett herself is to read a story about the "people of color" from the perspective of a white woman, but my worry soon is replaced by a great sense of curiosity. I meet Hilly Hollbrook, Eugene Skeeter Phelan, Elizabeth Leeflot, Aibleen, Minny Jackson, Celia Foot and learn about their lives, goals, intentions, personalities and each sure has a big story to tell one that keeps you absorbed and flipping the pages quickly. The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi, during a highly conservative time of American history, where the integration of white people with people of color was violently frowned upon. Yet, I don't believe it is the intention of the author to depict history through this story. She is a storyteller. A very good one as a matter of fact. She keeps it interesting by adding enough suspense to each of these characters. And I like that she is an optimist and ends on a high note.

Upscale Rustic Cuisine

Eating out is one of the pleasures of life. I always read the restaurant reviews with so much interest; coincidentally, most are good. I have yet to see a review that blasts a restaurant. My review of "Upscale Rustic Cuisine" is no exception.

We dined there on a gorgeous, sunny, warm Fall day, early October, the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. We were a bit inconvenienced to dine in a dim, dark restaurant on such a beautiful day, but hey we were there to eat not to sun bath. :)

Our waiter arrived, wearing a big smile, menu in hand. We took a quick glance and couldn't find the typical brunch dishes: omelet, sausage, bacon, and french toast, on the menu. I often accept these sort of situations, like when you are let down because you get something other than what you expect. I think expectations are merely barriers to taking risks, trying out new things. But my company was not too pleased. In any case the waiter was there smiling expectantly at us, so we had to get the ball rolling.

I picked "BENEDICT" OF THE WEEK. The food arrived late, but only to give us time to savor the variety of freshly baked, hot out of the oven breads with handmade butter. There were three different types of breads and scones. Each garnished with garlic and a different herb.

One word of advice if you dine at Upscale Rustic expect to get garlic in all your food and take a pack of gum with you, it comes handy. :)
The main course arrived shortly after the empty bread basked was removed from our table. Describing my "Benedict" as delicious is an understatement. The egg was simply flavor perfect. It was creamy, it was soft, it melted. I couldn't distinguish between egg white or yolk. I had some pulled pork on the side, which was equally yum.
I definitely recommend this restaurant. But, better to go on a rainy, gloomy day to feel cozy in this dark rustic restaurant.

Garlic’s of London - Upscale Rustic
481 Richmond Street
London, ON
N6A 3E4
P- 519-432-4092
F- 519-432-2918
Email: dine@garlicsoflondon.com

The Possessed - Adventures with Russian Books and the People who Read them

This morning I finished reading Elif graduate studies and research memoirs; I am talking about "The Possessed" by Elif Batuman. Admittedly, this book is different than other books I've read. I liked and learned from it.

Her stories about life in Samarkand was sweet and witty, duck-soup, Satan in belly, Habib the janitor, Gulya and her greed for material life, Dilorom (age of maturity is between 45-60 :)), Muzaffar and his marriage obsessed family. These stories were intertwined with stories about Uzbek language and culture. I really enjoyed reading about Navoi's work, Leili and Majnun, Shrin and Farhad, and The Logic of Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, a Sufi of Nishapur, Iran. It was absolute pleasure to read Dilorom's interpretation of Shirin and Farhad: "the eternal problem of social inequality" and "crop irrigation". The latter refers to the sixty-kilometer canal Farhad carved to prove his love for Princess of Persia Shirin; it is called Farhad-Tarash in local language and located in Province of Kermanshah in Iran.

Her research about Russian literature and history, which side tracked in many different directions, Empress Anna Romanov's lavishes, Babel, Tolstoy and Chekhov, Dostoevsky was very informative. But fell short of the expectation built around the title. Afterall, the title suggests adventures with Russian books.

The last chapter was a shocker! It made me wonder about her real intention of writing this book. Are we reading a mad woman's or a woman madly in love and heartbroken memoirs. Is she ok? In search for an answer, I found this review of the book on slate.com very helpful. Here is an excerpt from the review that answers my question:

She even argues that theory can help us navigate our own lives. When Matej, a charismatic grad student, wreaks emotional havoc on Batuman and her female colleagues (and some of the males, too), she makes sense of him by invoking Rene Girard's theory of "mimetic desire." Beyond all the jokes, this may be the most important contribution Batuman has to make in The Possessed. By fusing memoir and criticism, she shows how the life of literary scholarship is really lived—at its most ridiculous, and at its most unexpectedly sublime.

Overall I found this to be a good, informative, funny book about many different things! It would look better if it were published as a collection of essays or named differently. :)

Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveller's Wife, by the same author is an international best seller therefore readers expect a repeat of a similar experience reading this book.
I had not read Audrey Niffenegger's: "The Time Traveler's Wife", in addition I am a novice in the supernatural, paranormal book genre.
When twin sisters Valentina and Julia Pools are told that their aunt Elspeth, who they have never seen, has left them her estate on the condition that they stay in her flat in London, England, close to Highgate Cemetery, for one year, they think this will be a nice change in their aimless lives.
At the age of 20, the twins are still living with their parents, Edwina and Jack, in Chicago. They have pursued higher education only to drop out, claiming that they want to find the subject they both like and more importantly guarantees they can be together all time. Julia, the stronger of the two, is making decision for both of them, unaware that Valentina, the subordinate twin is unhappy with her life in Julia's shadow.
The sisters, each for different reason, welcome the opportunity to live in London on their own for one year. Their mother, Edwina, however is quite worried about the prospects of the twins living on their own in Elspeth's, her twin sister's, flat.
Edwina is keeping a dark secret from her family. The secret explains why Elspeth and Edwina have not been talking, visiting, and writing to each other after Edwina got married to Jack and moved to USA. The only other person who is carrying the dark family secret is Robert, Elspeth's lover, who inherited Elspeth's diaries after her death.
Elspeth's death is an opportunity for this dark secret to be revealed, except for Elspeth is not entirely dead. Her soul is lingering around her flat waiting to be discovered by the twins, Valentina and Julia, and restless to communicate with her lover, Robert.
How and when the secret is revealed to those who don't know it and are most affected by it? Who gets what she/he wants? Who gets what he/she deserves?
There is a lot of twist and turn to the story and the events leading to secret being revealed become really bizarre and unrealistic. The main point of the story, I think, is love: love between the twins, and between the couples, when alive and after they die. Although about love the language is hardly romantic; and the events showing the love is built on trickery.

Random Hacks of Kindess #3, Toronto

We live in a fast paced world. But every once in a while we get to stop and smell the roses. For me attending RHoK#3 Toronto was like "smelling the roses".
This was my first RHoK, (pronounced rock). I went to the event not knowing what to expect and came out of it expecting to attend every future RHoK organized, (next one is in October, check it out!).

It was a surreal experience and I tell you why. Firstly, the event was well crafted and get this by a group of volunteers who had taken care of everything: from finding a good location to host the event, OISE UofT, to sponsors who provided food, and snacks, (loved the Kinder Eggs, thanks!), to freebies, even to live streaming of the Stanley Cup Finals, (hacking while watching hockey, cool!). Secondly, the individuals who attended the event, I must add: from all walks of life, had one common goal/interest: to be part of a solution. Thirdly, and this impresses the most, the teams made of these individuals were able to design, develop a solution for a problem definition in a day.

Let me tell you my story attending RHok#3. I joined the Wound Classification Application team. The problem, suggested by Yaser Alyounes, was to design a prototype for an application that will be used in refugee camps or in areas troubled by war to streamline the process of classifying war wounds by taking pictures of the wounds. The benefits triaging the wounded far from qualified doctors and facilities quickly and efficiently.

We had very talented individuals on our team who quickly dissected the problem, analyzed each piece, and constructed the decision tree. By 12:20 pm we had a flowchart and owners/developers for each section. Some dived deep in the areas of their expertise and others researched, downloaded, and mocked around with software and source that were unfamiliar with.

I worked on the FrontlineSMS, an application that allows user mass communication via text
messaging. FrontlineSMS is an open source project that has been used in disaster relief situations. By connecting a mobile device, or a GSM modem with a SIM card to the computer where FrontlineSMS is installed you can send and receive messages to other devices that accept text messaging. I had some problems with the software, but I was able to test its send and receive capability, literally at the eleventh hour. By that time the team had decided to replace FrontlineSMS with a phone application that would let the volunteer to identify the four coordinates of the picture taken of wound. :) The coordinates of those four points will be sent from the app to the database. Once they are in the database, the algorithm calculates the dimensions of the wound based on those coordinates.

All in all this was great fun. Events like RHoK makes solving problems that our world is struggling with so much easier.

A big shout out to all those behind RHoK!

What's next for Canada in the next four years? 2011 - 2014

This will be the last post on politics, at least for a while. the past election was an opportunity to dive into an unfamiliar area of knowledge; I gathered information about policies and understood less, because one contradicted the other. How could we cut deficit when we want to spend billion dollars on, unfortunately, stuff that in no way and shape boost our GDP?! How could we cut deficit when we intend to reduce corporate taxes?! Where is the revenue going to come to balance the spending?

I am befuddled!

Rick Mercer, Canadian political satirist, encouraged all of us to vote; his vote rant to, specially, encourage the young demographic was quoted in newspaper, on Facebook and other places. Here is a quote from the rant:

So please, if you're between the age of 18 and 25 and you want to scare the hell out of the people that run this country, this time around do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day and do what young people all around the world are dying to do.

Quite true. There are people who are giving up their lives to earn the right to vote for the future generation of their country. Voting has been the symbol of democracy.

I voted!

Once all votes were counted and results were announced, I felt no one heard or cared about what I voted for. My one vote had very little effect on the outcome.

What now? Well, Mr. Mercer we need a follow on rant to tell us what is the next step for us "in the country with one of the greatest democracies on earth." :)

Mr. Stronach suggests “people representatives” that will work alongside the elected parliamentarians to vote on the legislation proposed. This is a start to thinking beyond the once in a four years chance of influencing the future of the country. It high lights the need to understand how democracy can lead to prosperity and security. This proposal is made by a man who has built a company of $25 billion a year in sales which started its humble beginning in Toronto forty years ago.

I hope some one is listening; especially the educators. It's important to build a knowledgeable body who understand business in the context of policy making. And it's important to encourage this body of knowledge to then proceed into policy making jobs in government. This will, hopefully, put an end to making conflicting promises just for the sake of being re-elected.

What's next for Canada in the next four years is, what we want it to be. And this is not an idealistic rhetoric. There are many grass roots movements in this country that tackle the real issues.

Democracy is definitely NOT what this cartoon says!

Should a candidate earn my trust before earning my vote?

Living in a country with a voting and multi-party systems one bears a great responsibility and that is "NOT to take democracy for GRANTED!"

I love this quote by Joe Wilson.

The responsibility of a country is not in the hands of a privileged few. We are strong, and we are free from tyranny as long as each one of us remembers his or her duty as a citizen. Whether it's to report a pothole at the top of your street or lies in a State of the Union address, speak out! Ask those questions. Demand that truth. Democracy is not a free ride, man. I'm here to tell you. But, this is where we live. And if we do our job, this is where our children will live.

I heard this quote for the first time in the movie Fair Game, based on the true story of a secret CIA agent, Valerie Plame, whose identity is revealed by the U.S. authorities as way of silencing her husband Joe Wilson, who wrote an article for New York Times criticizing the Bush administration move to attack Iraq based on alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction.

With a federal election looming, I feel more than any time else under pressure to realize my duty as a citizen. To cast a well-informed vote.

There is abundant of information available. The information is only as good as the people who provide it. I refuse to trust one without trusting the other. Therefore, I have a dilemma. None of the candidates, and or the party leaders have done anything to earn my trust.

Promise: Tax Cut Test ... A thumbs ....

I spent the last two hours researching tax cuts. Before, I share the "new found knowledge", I have to write the motivation behind seeking the knowledge. I have to vote on May 2!

The phrase tax cuts is frequently used in a non-fact based rhetoric by politicians as a way of promoting the partisan agenda of the party. Although there is nothing offered in the promise to substantiate what tax cut means, the term has a very powerful effect on non-interested voters, who will give you five minutes to make your pitch, and casual voters, who will skim literature, read headlines and can be seduced by a meaningful phrase.

I skim literature and read headlines, but I am a skeptic and do my own research and find my facts before believing what I read, or hear.

Here is what I found out around and about the world wide web on this topic.

The tax cut increases disposable income and encourages consumer spending. The increase in consumer spending increases the GNP, Growth National Product, which is an economic indicator of nation's wealth. At the same time the tax cut decreases government revenue which may create a budget deficit, or prompt cut on many government funded or subsidized programs to avoid the deficit.

Taxes are a percentage of a value, where percentage is 1, 2, 16% and the value is income, price of goods or any other item or category that is taxed. Clearly the larger the value the higher the tax therefore lowering the tax rate is equal to higher savings. For example lowering sales tax by 1% will save ~$150 on the purchase of Honda Fit ($14,480 CAD) and ~$400 on the purchase of a Mercedes C 250 ($38,800 CAD).

Bottom line the major benefactor of tax cuts are those who are well-off and don't rely on any federally funded program.

Canada has the lowest Corporate Tax in the Group of G7, 16.5%. The government is going to decrease this rate further by 1.5% to 15% (effective Jan 2012). The budget deficit is $5.93 billion. Government needs to think strategically and prioritize according to what is needed for the majority of the citizens not a select few.

My verdict for the platform who is committed to lowering the corporate taxes further before the federal budget deficit is handled is a big thumbs down.

Can one make a "project" out of "happiness"?

I turn everything into a project. I have projects tackling career, relationship, and house chores. I break each project into smaller projects and then assign each a date. I track my progress diligently. If I procrastinate I start making notes to myself. The notes are supposed to serve as reminders; but they become source of frustration. Source of frustration because I dislike clutter. When I see one of these notes, I become more motivated to complete the task jotted on it so I can get rid of the note itself.

I am so comfortable with "projectizing"!

However, I have to admit the title of the book I recently read, "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin, made me uncomfortable at first. I couldn't imagine an end date for such project, in fact nothing about it fit the definition of a project.

A project, by definition, is a temporary activity with a starting date, specific goals and conditions, defined responsibilities, a budget, a planning, a fixed end date and multiple parties involved.
Source: http://www.softwareprojects.org/project_intake_reasons22.htm

I have always been curious about the topic. Is happiness a "what" or a "how"?
What makes me happy?
OR
How do I become happy?



Is it one or the other, or both? Does it matter? Should we think about it? Probably, yes! Somewhere in the book, Rubin asks this question on her blog , "When is the right time to think about happiness? Before or after catastrophe strikes?" . Some of the high lights of the comments are in the book. One person's comment stood out for me.

money, you can't save for when you get laid off, after you get laid off; rather, you have to save while you have a job and the money is still coming in. Life is like that, you have to DO while you are able to think of what you want, what you like, what needs it will fill, how it will enhance your life, how it will help you to maintain you, so that you have some reserves when cruch time comes.

Rubin's approach in finding happiness is very "systematic". Hence the name "project" is appropriate, (I found this out after reading the first two chapters.) She has been honest. Honest, because she doesn't imply that her book is a one hat for all, example: those who look for a philosophical way of discussing, what is happiness, or how to be happy know what not to expect from the book right away.

Honesty is the trait that Rubin demonstrates frequently in her writing. She builds her stories around facts, her former profession, related to Law, is probably the reason she is diligent about not coming across as phony or pretentious. I liked that about her writing.

Rubin's message is: I have to be happy. It sounds selfish, but if I am not, I will make people in my life unhappy. To become happy could be as simple as taking a look at my day to day movements, existence and identifying areas for improvement. This is something I can relate to. Once I have less clutter in my life, or I am more on top of my to-do-list, or I am more in touch with people I love and care about; I am happier. If I am happier, I am more productive, become better at what I do, and the world becomes my oyster!

The impact of pervasive computing on the education system

Here is an interesting fact: the term pervasive computing was introduced by IBM in 1999. What it means is: technology is available anywhere at anytime. This vision for the future of technology continues to change the way we live, socialize, have fun, and learn.
I am curious about the impact it has had in the way we learn, more specifically in the classroom; on the education system.

Today a plethora of computing solutions are available to students from a early age.
From tool based applications such as word processor and spreadsheets, modeling soft- wares to emails, podcasts, blogs, and much more. What impact has technology had in facilitating education?

The most famous study done in this area is ACOT, Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow. Since 1985, the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT)SM research project has provided teachers and students at five public school sites in five states in the US with individual computers for use at school and at home. Students and teachers also have access to video, printer, scanner, CD-Rom drives and hundreds of software packages.

On an on going basis the changes of the behavior of students in the classroom has been observed and documented in this research project.


In the report ACOT teachers rave about the positive impact introducing technology has had in the process of learning. Here are three examples:

• access to modeling software has made the learning of math more attractive to the students
  ACOT students' grades were marginally better or neutral relative to the grades of students who don't use technology in the classroom. This implies that what teachers indicate as "attractive" has more to do with the students' reaction to math and not necessarily their understanding of it. In other words the technology has not been able to facilitate learning of math concepts.
  



• access to technology has improved the spirit of team work and collaboration; the usual example in this space is access to the world wide web, pod casts, emails and blogs. these tools have opened up a world of opportunities for both students and teachers to learn and share experience.
  Collaboration and team work has always been at core of education. The interaction students have with each other is the only reason they learn. The time students spend on the world wide web, and listening to podcasts can only reduce the time they spend with each other. In fact in another section of the report we read: students reluctantly leave their classroom during the recess.
  
  
  
• access to tool based applications such as word processor and spreadsheets improves students organization skills
  An essay written on paper using a pen and pencil is many times richer in content than a word processed one, where half of the productivity time is spent on undoing and redoing the cosmetic changes. Similarly a statistic problem done without using the spreadsheet allows students to learn and reinforce their learning of math operations.

As you see, I am a skeptic!


What I am afraid is happening is education system is becoming a market place for computing companies. The research projects funded by them is biased; of course from their point of view the impact of technology in the classroom is positive and improves the process of learning. The educators, however, need to think more critically. Instead of glorifying all that technology has provided to the classroom, they should think about what it has taken away from our learning process. Only in this way we can discover the best use of technology in our education system.

Little Bee, Chris Cleave, A novel

This book has received great reviews and the status of New York Times Bestseller. I started reading it the day I got it from the library not knowing what to expect. The picture on the cover shows a girl with curly hair; the book title, "Little Bee", doesn't provide much of a clue to the reader about the story content.

I soon found out that Little Bee is the name of one of the two protagonists, and I am guessing the drawing on the cover is her, although, as I read more about her, I pictured her differently.

Little Bee is a sixteen year old Nigerian refugee, she is the last member of her family. Everyone else is dead. With all she had to witness, one wonders if she is better off dead or alive. She travels thousands of miles to escape death but she is always ready to take her own life when the "men come".

The other protagonist is a well off journalist, Sarah Summers-O'Rourke, who lives in the posh suburbs of Kingston upon Thames, with her husband, Andrew O'Rourke, also a journalist. They have a four year-old Batman-costume-wearing son, Charlie. Sarah although a caring mother but she is an unfaithful wife.

These two strangers whose vastly different lives would make it highly unlikely to cross path are both in search of a new beginning, when a horrific event on a Nigerian beach connect their lives for good.

I think Mr. Chris Cleave's true intention of crafting the story of Sarah and Little Bee is to bring to our attention the murder, torture and unfair treatment of thousands of innocent people living on oil rich lands in Nigeria and the mass exodus of the survivors (of these attacks) who sought refuge from countries such as Britain, only to find themselves in inhuman, harsh and painful situations at the refugee detention centers of these countries.

It's a good read!

A National Bestseller...A New York Times Bestseller...Shortlisted for Costa Novel Award, Commonwealth Writers' prize....Best Book Europe and Asia.	Praise for Little Bee comes from all over!
The Guardian UK calls the Book, "Ambitious and Fearless"	The Globe and Mail Canada refers to it as, "Enthralling"

I am a zipster now

I lost all the motivation to buy a car, when I moved to the city with a reliable and well connected public transit. I was not able in any shape or form justify the cost of a car and car insurance especially when my residence is close to subway station, one connecting me to North and South of the city and the other connecting me to the East of the city. But still there were days, winter, windy, rainy, shopping days, that I wished I could have the convenience of the car without the "inconvenience" of the monthly cost.

I learned about the rental companies in my neighborhood and started using them on an on demand basis. Around the same time, I learned about zipcar. I decided to prefer renting to car sharing, because I was convinced that the North American mind set will never give a chance to car sharing to grow and flourish.

I stand corrected! Car renting is becoming a thing of a past.

I became a zipster and have been enjoying the ease of use, the efficiency of service and the low cost --all at the same time.

zipcars are readily available in the neighborhood*. They can be booked any time, even minutes before the time of pick-up (upon availability)**. The price includes gas and insurance***. They can be booked for one hour or for one day; the booking can be extended****. The entire process is green; everything from booking to billing is done on-line (e-mail and/or text); which means no more receipts to carry around.

Companies have rules; if broken there are fines and penalties! Those who read the rules will never get burnt, for the rest there is learn by experience (a.k.a the hard way!)

Zipcar is no exception. Consider the following as an introduction to the Zipcar rules:

*Although they are all over, (50+ cities in US, Canada and UK and 100+ university campuses in North America), but coverage may be sparse in the neighborhood you work, play or live. The locations are decided based on the demand. They are good about showing you the zipcars in your city.

**You can change or cancel your reservation with no penalty:
-for reservations less than 8 hours long, you've got until 3 hours before the start of your reservation.
-for reservations 8 hours or longer, you've got to do it at least 24 hours in advance.
Since you can book minutes before your planned departure this should not be a problem, unless you like advance booking but change your plan haphazardly.

***Yes, the price does include insurance, but they charge you $750 damage fee, unless you sign up for a waiver which costs $5 per month.
I don't quite understand the logic behind this rule; if insurance is included in the price then what's the $750 damage fee? Let me know if you have this figured out, will you?

****Half an hour before the end of the reservation they send a text to remind you that time is almost up and you've got to return the car or extend your reservation. They value punctuality, so much that they charge you a late fee if you run late. And don't you think that they will not find out --after all there is no one there to check you in or out you may think. The smart technology built in your zipcard will let them know. Intriguing, eh?
Well, if you are good in managing your time then this is not something you need to worry about. And for the rest of us, this is a great way to develop and practice the essential time management skill. Value your time, dude!

You've got questions and/or concerns that are available 24/7 year round to answer and/or address them. Call them up. The prompts quickly connects you to the right person or panel (if you choose to DIY). The agent, I spoke with, Sunday morning 8:17 AM, was able to give an answer to my question very quickly.

So, what's the cost to become a zipster in T.O.?
-a one-time non-refundable application processing fee, $35 + HST
-a non-refundable annual fee, $65 + HST (refundable within the first 30 days of signing for the service)
-pay per use of ~$8/hour the week and ~$11.75/hour the weekend, plus good deals M-Th after 6PM

Whereas with rental cars, I paid for the whole day and used it for maybe 3 hours, with zipcars, I pay for 3 hours and use it for 3 hours.

Live long car sharing!!

Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge is a novel by Elizabeth Strout. The novel takes place in Crosby, Main, where Olive lives with her husband, Henry, and her son, Christopher and teaches math to 7th Grades. In this town there is one church, one supermarket and a hardware store. Strout takes us through the lives of the Crosby residents through mini-stories. It's the presence of Olive in these stories that gives one the feeling of reading a novel.

Strout says, it is through our most intimate relationship that we are revealed. She does a brilliant job in doing just that in this book. It is through her well crafted relationships that each character is introduced to the reader. She is one of those authors that leaves making the conclusion to the reader. Readers' imagination can go wild, to make the ending of some of the characters. I felt the stories ended with ... rather than a . :)

The characters in this book are more middle aged women, and men. Their quest is to adjust to children moving away, to not having to show up to work everyday, to having to spend time with their significant other who may or may not understand them.

Olive's experience is no different than others. Except for her grand presence. She is physically a big woman; and through her actions, she is present through out the book. She is a wife who never realized her husband's true worth, and genuine love for her a mother who loved her only son dearly a feeling that for valid reasons was not mutual, and a teacher who was feared but respected by her students. Sometimes one needs a jolt to realize all the good things she is surrounded with in her life. And for Olive, unfortunately, it had to be Henry's stroke.

There is a lot to be learned about compromise, kindness and forgiveness through the stories in this book.

It's a great book!

Comedians hold rally in Washington D.C.

I should have laughed, but I didn't. Instead, as I read more about the recent rally in Washington D.C. organised by eminent comedians, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, I became more worried about the state USA is in today!

On the surface, this appears as a harmless, let's-poke-fun-at-ourselves type of event, but beyond the surface, I find that this event highlights a disturbing fact; The United States of America's domestic and foreign policies are failing!

This event is the 21st century's, a century overloaded with redundant information, "amplified" by media, way of dealing with looming "Depression" in the U.S.

The event has a noble message, let's compromise! If we cannot agree on "Peace Train" or "Crazy Train", let's come together for the sake of "Love". This is the strongest, non-partisan, call to action I have heard from United States of America in such a long time!

The question is: can those thousands gathered in Washington D.C.'s National Mall, cheering for this rally deliver on this message.

Can America's divide to conquer foreign policy, intrusion in developing and third world countries' domestic affairs to gain access to natural resources or to strengthen strategic power in the area, take a turn for "Love"?

Can America's out of control greed, paying billions of dollars in compensation to the top executives on Wall Street, take a turn for creating equal opportunities for all Americans?

I can only HOPE!

How did I spend 8 days in Italy?

I spent eight days in September visiting three cities in Italy. Despite the fact that September is high season in Italy, thanks to the availability of many resources on the Internet, I was able to make my trip as cost efficient as possible; without too much giving up on comfort. I spent $250.0 CAD per day. This includes: round trip air travel, train tickets to three cities, hotel, sight seeing, food, post cards, mail, souvenier and a couple of personal items.

I spent 3 days in Florence, 2 days in Venice, and 3 days in Rome. This gave me enough time to visit the most significant sights, enjoy a bit of culture and cuisine without spending a lot of money on hotel. Hotels are very expensive, especially during the high season, in Italy.

Restaurants, bars, and cafes add a service charge, 1 to 2 euro, to the price of the each order if served. Take out price does not include this service charge. Therefore, tipping is not necessary, unless the service is impressive!

Rome Fiumicino airport is connected to Roma Termini, main bus and train station of Rome. Trains depart every 10 minutes. The trip takes 30 minutes. One way ticket is 14 euro, available at the ticket counter during the business hours, or self service machines out of the business hours.

All tickets, bus, metro, train, water taxi (Venice), should be validated prior to embarking on the trip. The validating machines are located at the train station or water taxi stations or in the case of the buses, they are located in the bus. Validate your ticket to avoid the fine!

Major Italian cities are serviced by the TrenItalia regional train. On line booking is available. The website offers an English version for those unfamiliar with Italian language. There are two types of discounts suitable for tourists, meno30 and meno15, giving travelers who book at least 15 days in advance 30% discount an those booking at least 7 days in advance 15% discount respectively. Trains are either class 1 or 2. meno30 class 1 ticket from Rome to Florence 26 euro. Trip takes about 3 hours. Class 2 ticket from Florence to Venice 19 euro. Trip takes 2 hours. The fewer stops the train makes on the way to its destination the more expensive the ticket price is.

There are two train stations in Florence, Santa Monica Novella, and Rifredi. They are 15 minutes apart by the city bus, number 28. The bus ticket is 1.20 euro and can be purchased from any tabacco stand. Validate your tickets on the bus. If you arrive in one station and depart from the other on the same day, you can catch the connecting train using the same ticket. I arrived in Rifredi from Venice, and I had a ticket the same day from S.M. Novella to Rome, so I used my Florence-Rome ticket to travel from Rifredi to S.M. Novella.


Finding a decent hotel, in a location close to all city sights is very difficult. Websites like TripAdvisor help in the search process. Most hotels provide breakfast and some have free wi-fi. Of the three hotels I stayed in, only one provided computer and Internet access. The other two had free wi-fi; which was useless, because I was not travelling with my laptop.

In Florence I stayed at Hotel Waldorf Suites located in Piazza del Stazione. The hotel was walking distance from Santa Monica Novella train station. Given that I travelled by train, the proximity of the hotel to the station was a plus. The hotel was furnished with contemporary style furniture. The room sizes were generous. We had two rooms, two washrooms, two LCD TVs, and a kitchentte in our room. For 351 euro for two nights, this was a great find!

In Venice I stayed at Pension Guerrato, recommended by Rick Steves. The pension offers rooms with and without private bathrooms. I made reservation for room with private bathroom, but didnot take a shower there! The furniture is somewhat old; European style antique lovers would love browsing the second floor of this place. Rate for a double room if paid in cash is 135 euro per night. The rate includes breakfast: coffee, tea, fruit, yogurt, croissant, cereal, milk, honey, jam, butter, cheese and orange juice. The hotel is within walking distance of Rialto Mercato station. The water taxi one way costs 6.50 euro, needs to be validated prior to getting on the taxi. It is quite an experience to get on and off while the taxi is floating and the passengers are pushing each other to get off before the boat departs!

In Rome I stayed at Sonya hotel. The hotel is within walking distance of the Roma Termini; breakfast is included. Beware, the single rooms are very small in this hotel.

In general hotel web sites offer sigle, double rooms; single rooms are good for one person and double for two. Italian hotels give a better rate to guests who pay in cash.

In Florence I walked to all the sights with occassional gelato stops ;) it was easy to get to all the sights. In Venice except for the round trip on the water taxi to the pensione and to the train station, again I walked every where. Rome, however, is a big city. I took the sightseeing Rome double decker bus. They offer a two days hop on hop off tour of all of the Rome major sites for 18 euro per person. This was a considerably better price than the more popular 110 open tour. Their first bus leaves at 9 AM from close to Roma Termini and the last bus leaves at 8 PM. They cover all the major sites, including the Vatican City.

In Rome, I also used the bus Urbana H to Porta Portese, Rome Sunday Flea market. Metro and bus tickets are 1 euro for one trip. The tickets are valid for 75 minutes from the time you validate them. I was able to use the same ticket from Piazza dela Republica to Viale Trastevere and back from Trastevere to Piazza Venizia. There are day tickets for 4 euro a day for travelers who wish to see the sites using the public transit. We were told at the hotel that bus number 64 or 40 goes to Vatican City. The bus for either 40 and 60 stops at Via Nazionale close to Piazza della Republica.

Of all the sites that I saw, the most breathtaking, worth the endless time waiting in the line, and the expensive admission fee were:
... Michalangelo Sistine Chapel
... climbing to the top of the Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence)

Michalangelo Sistine Chapel is located inside Vatican Museum. I waited close to 2 hours in line and paid 15 euro admission fee. For Duomo the wait time was less, half an hour, and the admission fee was 8 euro.

Rome is famous for its beautiful piazzas, the ones unique are those adorned with Bernini fountains. The most gorgeous ones are:
... Piazza di Trevi, Fontana di Trevi
... Piazza Navona, Fontana Navona
... Piazza Barberini, Fontana del Tritone

Italians are somewhat slick in their dealings with tourists. Places you can experience this the most are restaurants. Make sure you ask for menue especially if you are just walking in a restaurant without advance research.

I ate at Ristorante La Giosta, 12 Borgo Pinit, near Duomo in Florence and had the most wonderful experience. The food was great. The staff were great. The decoration was unique. There were a drink and a platter of anti pasta offered on the house. The total of cost of appetetizer plus ravioli came to 30 euros.

On the contrary, I ate at the self service bar right across from museum vatican. I ate there because after 2 hours of waiting and 3 hours of walking inside of the museum I was famished and could not take one more step. The restaurant didnot appear expensive. I walked in had a small piece of lasagna, a coke and a piece of pizza and for this I also paid 30 euros! I should have known to be more careful when I was not offered a menu.

All, in all, I had a great experience in Italy. I learned a lot about the country, people and culture and am taking back great memories as souvenier.

Book review: Think of a Number

It's a murder investigation, one that starts before the victim is killed. Mark Mellery a transformed man, from a-living-a-high-life stock broker to a spiritual guru, calls his buddy from twenty-five years ago, Dave Gurney, a retired NYPD detective to let him in on a personal problem.
Mellery has received a hand written note in red ink. The note reads, I know you well enough to know what you are thinking. Think of a number! And open the second envelope!
How could the author of the mail have known the number Mellery was thinking?
Shocked, baffled, scared Mellery, does as he is told. He sends him $289.87 check to X. Arybdis. That's how much it cost Arybdis to find him.
It gets more complicated when the second mail arrives; a poem:

How many bright angles
can dance on a pin?
How many hopes drown in a bottle of gin?
Did the thought ever come
that your glass was a gun
and one day you'd wonder,
God, what have I done?

What you took you will give
when you get what you gave.
I know what you think,
when you blink,
where you've been,
where you'll be.
You and I have a date,
Mr. 658.

And then Mellery is killed; stabbed in the throat with a bottle of Whisky. And within a few days two more murders, one in Flounder Beach, Bronx and the other one in ...

What's the connection between these geographically dispersed murders?

That's what Dave Gurney is so intrigued to find out. Except for, this puzzle has caught him at a turning point in his personal life. He and his wife have recently moved to the Catskill region, Upstate New York, to resolve memories of past horrible incident, to reconnect with nature and with each other.

If you are interested in deciphering human actions through psychology, this book is going to be a joy for you to read.

This is a great debut novel by John Verdon. I am looking forward to a sequel!

TM - Speech 5 - Your Body Speaks - False assumptions can get you in all sorts of trouble

A couple of years ago an interesting thing happened to me. I was on my way to work. Like any other day, I was riding in the first car of the train, because I knew when I get off the train at Finch station there will be an escalator that takes me to the main level. I got on the escalator and started taking steps up. But, I noticed my steps were not bringing me closer to the top of the escalator. All of a sudden, I lost my balance and fell on all four. At this point in time I panicked, my brain logic system shut down and it started working in survival mode. I had to survive whatever was happening to me. So, I dropped my bag then I got rid of my lunch box. And took hold of the hand rail with both hands. My grip was so tight my knuckles turned white. I started literally climbing up the stairs. Finally, when I got to the top of the escalator, I looked down for my bag and lunch box; I noticed that the escalator that I assumed was going up, is going down.

Obviously, this assumption got me into trouble!

As human beings we usually make assumptions based on past experiences, cultural stereotypes and social stigmas. We see a tall guy we say, oh he must be a good basketball player, we see an Asian gal, we say she is definitely good in math, we are introduced to an Italian and we think he must like pasta. By way of assumption, we are taking a shortcut in our decision making process. We avoid fact gathering, analysis and deduction.

Let's take a look at one example together. How many of you think that the express lane of a supermarket is faster than other lanes?

I found this example on Dan Myer's weblog. Dan is a math teacher. He uses this example to teach his students math reasoning. The students, in order to find an answer for this question, go to a supermarket and observe how fast the lines at the registers are moving. They collect two piece of data, the number of items in a customer's baskets and the time it took for the customer to pay for these items. The graph, based on this data, looks like this.




When I looked at this graph, two things caught my eye.
1. there is a nominal time spent in front of a cash register even if you have no items to pay. Interesting? What may you be doing at the cash register if you have no items. Well you may ask the cashier where you can find soap.
2. the second thing were the outlier data. e.g. it look less for an individual with 26 items to pay for his items than it did for another individual to pay for 17 items in the express lane. How could this be? Well, we often overlook that methods of payment such as debit or credit can take longer than cash.

The point I am trying to make is assumptions may not yield the right answer. As we clearly see in this example.

I'd like to suggest that we become more aware of our thinking process. Realize when our decisions are based on assumptions. And ask ourselves what those assumptions are based.

FIFA: WC 2010 Viva Espana!!!

Not necessarily a good game to watch, lots of fouls, but in the end, it was the great passing the ball, teamwork, that got the La Roja the golden cup.


The Netherlands team tried to build frustration amongst the Spanish players, however, this tactic only resulted in many yellow cards and one Dutch player, John HEITINGA, being expelled. There were a couple of opportunities for Arjen ROBBEN to score, but both times he was blocked by Spain's great defense duo, Carols PUYOL-Gerard PIQUE and the agile goal keeper, Iker CASILLAS.
Spain had many opportunities on the Dutch goal, Sergio RAMOS missed the net twice; Jesus NAVAS, and David VILLA both got very close to becoming heroes for their country, but didn't make it.
At the end it was Andres INIESTA who took the ball close to the goal and scored, undoubtedly, the most entertaining goal of the WC 2010!!

Well done! Well deserved!

FIFA: WC 2010 The Final

It's 20 minutes into the final games of Fifa World Cup 2010. Germans are 1 goal ahead of the Uruguay team, scored by Muller. They both deserve the best. They have worked hard, trained well, and played an exceptional football to get to this point. Wow, as I am writing this, Cavani scored the equalizer for the Uruguay team!!

It has been an interesting, exciting and entertaining World Cup. The teams, France, Italy and England, came into the competition with high hopes, but they were ill fit, physically and mentally, for the task. They left early, making way for exceptional teams such as: Ghana, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Slovakia, and others to keep playing. The games were extremely close. Players put in their best game. But, sometimes even the best of games is not enough to take you through, e.g. Brazil loss to the Netherlands.

I had my eye on one team from the beginning, Spain. I am so happy they have made it to the final. Let's see what they bring to the field in the last game of the Fifa World Cup 2010. Let's hope their tactics, game making, teaming and mental strength is enough to keep them cool for 90 minutes and push them to deliver goals and wining the trophy!