Recoup my valuable blood….

 

How long does it take to recover 3 tubes of blood? I went to a lab few days ago and the person there drew about 3 collection tubes of my blood. I usually don’t like to see my own blood being drawn, yes, I get fainted some times. however, I was dare enough to watch my blood being drawn this time. First off I noticed there were 3 empty tubes, I wondered but still didn’t ask anything. She prepared my arm to find a vein and there the pin / syringe was pierced into my my veins. Now the Blood poured through the pipe and into the tubes, it (blood) didn’t even ask me 😦

image source: http://www.haemtech.com/images2/tubes.jpg

Now, so much of blood is out, I think I would have to focus on eating more beetroots and apples to regain that amount of blood in a couple of days or a week? 🙂

Get to the Synergy of being first …

My 4yr old has learned about being First. So, now comes the conversation around this at home for pretty much every task we all get to right from the time we all wake up. And now a days she wants to wake up at 7am (or 7’ish). She would get upset if it is before or after. Well, in a way, her biological clock has been working that way for a past week now. she is mostly up either early 7am or around 7:45am. And here comes the challenge of here needing to sleep early, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t sleep until around 10pm or beyond, and that’s when she realized she would not be able to wake up around 7’ish if she sleeps late (well, that’s probably programmed by us, by saying she wouldn’t be able to wake up 7’ish if she doesn’t sleep early),

V: (not slept yet although feeling sleepy) what’s the time now?
Me: 10:40pm, 11:10pm (whatever it is at that time but certainly beyond 10)
V: now, she thinks about next morning – and with full of tears, “i wanted to sleep first to wake up at 7, now i would not be able to wake up at 7am” cries continues…
Mommy: consoling her – “it is ok, just sleep now and you can still wake up at 7am” .. and more consoling goes …
v- finally sleeps with having 7am in her mind …

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Being First: She wakes up around 7’ish, if she notice both parents are awake, then comes comes another problem. Scenario when I‘m still on bed and both mommy and daughter wake up around the same time. Now, V- wants to brush first than anyone else, V- wants to drink milk first. so all these starts through out the day, and several conversations happen around this context.

Well, what I have noticed in past few days is the SYNERGY that she is on to. She wants to be first, and at the same time she doesn’t want her parents to be last either, (thats probably because I started resonating her words of being first), so now it goes,

V: I‘m first
me: I wanted to be first this time
V: Thats ok, ‘m First-First, mommy is second-first, and you are last-first
me: what? (I go blank with wide eyes and mouth open, and trying to comprehend what she just said)
V: hahahaaahhaaaa !!

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Surprise all day!…

One morning, a few weeks ago, 4yr old came up to my bed with a song – ” happy birthday to you…. happy birthday daddy, …. !! ” woke up with a surprise – she gave me a big bear hug.

We were about to head out to work/school, my wife said, she was going to be a little late to work and asked me to leave my cell phone, since her phone had stopped working the previous day. 

While at work, I didn’t go directly to my office, but worked from a different building to be able to get the work done and we were behind on our deliverables. I received few greeting emails from my team. Well, it was not usual in our team, but interesting to note the change. I received one IM enquiring about my lunch and if we could go out for lunch. I had to gracefully refuse since I had to catch up on my tasks. Not that i was excited about these, but a skeptic mind says, what’s happening?

Stopped by the school to pick up my daughter later that evening. My wife was at the school as well. We all came home, as I stepped in, it was so good to be surrounded by the aroma of ambode, sabbakki payasa and so on. Proceeding further, there was a beautiful wall note “Happy Birthday”.

 

 

 

 

  Hover my eyes around and noticed a beautiful cake on the dining table with strawberry toppings. (my 4yr old had picked up all the strawberries by the time i took this picture). It was a delicious home made cake.

Apparently L’ had taken a day off and prepared bunch of these for me. I was caught by a surprise.

So, that’s a “Cut the cake” moment. Happy Birthday song again.

 

While eating the cake, Mom and Daughter gave me a big box neatly wrapped with a gift wrapper and insisted me to open right away. Obliged and opened it and to my surprise that I had never expected, there were these. Although I knew about the shirt/trousers, but another little box hidden underneath was a fabulous Canon DigitalSLR Black – [link] my favorite, a toy that I have always been longing to buy, but never had made up my mind to buy one. 

 

 

 

 

     Linking to picture on canonxs-site: http://www.canonxs.com/canon_xs_files/canon_xs.jpg

 

 

 

 

Now the dinner time, apparently i don’t have the pictures of all the food, it was yumm.. delicious. On top of all these, there was also a plantain leaf, so we eventually had our dinner on a plantain leaf after a long time.   It is very rare that we find this leaf around here.
(picture from wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Lunch_from_Karnataka_on_a_plantain_leaf.jpg/230px-Lunch_from_Karnataka_on_a_plantain_leaf.jpg)

I don’t want the birthday….

Two nights ago at the dinner table, I asked my 3yr old whether she wants to celebrate her birthday at home. She got excited and started saying lots of things. Two main points were

a. Cut the cake
b. have lots of her friends

I asked her for the names of her friends she wants to invite for her birthday. The list went on and on and on.

Oh about dinner table, my wife said why not make it a candle light dinner and we had dimmed another light and lit 3 big candles. It was a great time all three of us having dinner together. I think we missed soothing music, however, we wouldn’t have noticed the music while our daughter was talking around the time 🙂

Coming back to birthday conversation, to further on her ideas and plans:
me: I might be traveling and not be here for your birthday
V-  : (her face frowned and I sensed she was a bit sad)
me : (to make it more interesting) hmm…. perhaps, I can be around but your mommy might be traveling and she may not be able to make it.
V-  : (not said anything yet and frowned further with a different look in her eyes)
me and my wife :  (we were watching and now she breaks the silence)
V- : “I am NOT going to have my birthday – I need you both, else no birthday”  (and bursted in tears)

Although I felt bad for making such a joke with her but she got back to normal when we turned the conversation into going to a bounce for her birthday (we had her birthday scheduled at one of the bounce places for previous birthday)

Ignorance is a Bliss? Half-knowledge? complete awareness?

Vani posted about her experience related to not having enough information [wise? or otherwise?]  and the thought process around it. It was a great topic that made me write so much into comment section there and turned out a long story that I thought might not be appropriate as a comment post. And here is what I typed in. You may have to read Vani’s post first to get the context. 

“Ignorance is a Bliss” well “it is still a bliss”

I was at the toastmaster gathering last Thursday, some one came up with this proverb to talk about. “A little learning is a dangerous thing (One should have full knowledge, rather than spreading incomplete information)” Although it may sound a little contrary but was along the same lines.

I believe it depends on how we comprehend the half knowledge, whether towards expand the understanding or towards make decisions out of it.

I have off late heard that the rule of thumb ” When in doubt, Ask!”

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಗಾದೆ ಇದೆ  “ಪೂರ್ತಿ ಗೊತ್ತಿರೋವ್ರ ಬಳಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಬಹುದು, ಏನು ಗೊತ್ತಿಲದವರ ಬಳಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಬಹುದು, ಆದರೆ ಅರ್ದಂಬರ್ದ ತಿಳಿದಿರುವವರ ಬಳಿ ಮಾತಾಡೋದು ಕಷ್ಟ!” (translation:  a proverb in Kannada: we can talk to people who are either completely aware or completely unaware, but it is hard to talk to people who have incomplete information) 

Another related Kannada proverb “ತುಂಬಿದ ಕೊಡ ತುಳುಕುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ” –> khaali koda, thumbidha koda are fine but a partially filled pot is noisy! 🙂

well again, i think it is contextual, in my observation.  🙂

back to “Ignorance is bliss” –> my favorite example for this is daily News (TV/newspaper/..) about local crime. Not until  we hear something wrong about the area that we would realize to be cautious to go around at nights, but once we hear anything about thefts, or some sort, the fear factor sets in our mind. Though one is ok to go around at nights, the other people around instill more of these telling more stories and make other person feel guilty or afraid to go around again.

My recent experience that made me scary until I went to a nerve specialist: Last winter, I felt a weakness in my left arm. I started to convince myself to say “it is nothing but will be ok”, just like the way you did. A few days later, we called up a nurse line, and according to her explanation upon a series of question and answer session, she said, “You would probably have to see the doctor in next few hours, it could be the symptoms for stroke” –> note, this was when talked to a professional. I was sure afraid, but still made a doctor appointment 2 days later. Went to an MRI of my shoulder; later went to a Nerve Specialist. He conducted several nerve compression tests (approx about $600) and asked me to make another appointment for reports. and the Resuts were for me to go to a physical therapist since there was a minor shoulder strain and it was recovering. I went for a physical therapy for few weeks, it got better. –> so it is all contextual, “at times even having fairly enough knowledge is also not enough“.

That reminds me of a Kannada song “ಹೇಳಿದ್ದು ಸುಳ್ಳಾಗಬಹುದು, ನೋಡಿದ್ದು ಸುಳ್ಳಾಗಬಹುದು, ನಿಧಾನಿಸಿ ಯೋಚಿಸಿದಾಗ ನಿಜವು ತಿಳಿವುದು…” [haeLidhdhu suLLaagabahudhu, nOdidhdhu suLLaagabahudhu, nidhaanisi yochisidhaaga nijavu thiLivudhu…] I don’t remember the name of the movie…

Individual Feedback questions …

I have been asked to provide my observations (in other words, feedback) on few indivdiuals. At times it makes appropriate to lay out specific questions in terms of what they look for; however at times it is better to have an open ended questions viz., “what are the positive points you would like me to continue doing”? Name few weak points to work on? and so on. Both approaches have their own Pros and Cons. Anyways, questions to me were the exact these two open ended ones. I know it makes us think more at the same time it can be vague enough to provide the kind of feedback we provide. 

I wrote down a bunch of points for #1 “strengths to continue doing”. But when I move to the 2nd question, I don’t see many (or any). Is it because:

i. I don’t notice negative points at all?
ii. Individual does not have any weaknesses at al?
iii. I tend to ignore the weakness and help individual to strengthen the strengths?
iv. I tend to empower individuals and provide the opportunity to learn from their own mistakes ?
v. I don’t know How-To pick negative points?
vi. I lack a skill of pin-pointing little things that can be showcased as development activities?
vii. < or anything else?>

I had once started to write an article about Feedback mechanism and kept it on hold as I didn’t have answers to many of my questions. There are several questions that go around in my mind for a great feedback mechanism. I have read few books, although they appear great, it becomes harder when it comes to reality.

What has your experience been in feedback mechanism or providing valuable feedback?

wordpress.com Tags: feedback

Deception Falls, Leavenworth,…

Well, the weather forecast sites have been unpredictable these days. few weeks ago, we had thought of going over to the Crater Lake which is about 10 hours drive from home. Looking at the weather forecast related sites like weather.com, northwest weather, weather.live.com, weather.yahoo.com, etc etc, we canceled that trip and decided to go over to the local places. So headed to a zoo in Tacoma. However, the temperature was at high 70’s with beautiful sun light throughout the day. The Zoo and Aquarium was really nice and I liked the peacocks the most.

We went to the Crystal Mountains the following day, and though the weather was rainy off and on, it was great where we stopped over for lunch and again on top of the hill where we played in snow for some time. We enjoyed the weather and the fabulous scenic drive on rte 169 and rte 410.

the other weekend was also another wet day according to the forecast, we still decided to drive to the Leavenworth, and the temperature forecasted was at 60’s with cloudy or rain showers. Although it was cloudy when we started in the morning, it got better off and on for initial 40 to 50 miles and then it was sunny in the midst of those forests. We stopped at  Deception Falls [http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/waterfall.php?num=196&p=0], the place I had enjoyed even several years ago. Temperature was at 30’s back then, but it was a lot better this time at 50’s or so.

 

It was sure lot of water there and the view itself was gorgeous. Further looking up for resources on Deception Falls, it appears like the water might get as huge as to flood over the little bridge that appears on picture one above like the one below

(image source: http://www.wta.org/~wta/documents/deception_bridge_side.jpg)

 

Although we thought of taking a lunch break near Deception Falls, we decided to further to Leavenworth and have lunch over there. As we proceeded towards the Stevens Pass, the drive got much better with fantastic views of snow clad mountains all around.

 

Further along the way was the time to take a lunch break, it was around 2:30pm and we were also enjoying the view of a river alongside the driving. It was a wenatchee river flowing down towards skykomish. We just stopped to take see the river and noticed the campground and picnic tables around. So it was a sunny afternoon with temparature at 60’s, found a table with a bit of sunshine so to avoid a bit of chill, and had our lunch by the river. After a leisurely lunch till about 3:30, we went down to the water and yes, it was very cold. Water temparature might have been at 30s or 40s.

We finally reached Leavenworth around 5’ish, went around for a couple of hours. Leavenworth is a beautiful place with the structures like from Germany. A little village with nice people and lot of visitors all through the year. See here on wikipedia for more information about this place [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavenworth%2C_Wa]. 

  It was still sunny and left from there later that evening for another pleasant drive from the other direction.

 

wordpress.com Tags: Travel, Leavenworth

Health club after a long time…

note to myself: After a long time (close to 2+ years), with an idea of proceeding further, I made a re-debut to the gym center early this morning. It feels good to have run about a mile (to start with) and do some shoulder exercises, specially the first batch of the day at the center. Hope to keep up the pace going forward. 🙂

I made a house for you…

Few days ago, I went to the school to pick my 3yr old daughter V. My wife picks her up usually, but I happened to go over that evening. She was at the class and saw me at a glance when I entered the room. She came over jumping all over and said “papa, I made a house for you and amma … I was waiting for you” and gave a big hug and showed me a piece of paper where she had painted certain things. hmm… it was indeed looking like a house and a garden around 🙂 

I don’t know if she learned it at school or if it was her own thoughts, but it was very cute when she came by and said we were in her thoughts, and gave a big hug and kisses.

Time flies…

6 years ago, today, I met my to be wife for the first time in person at my home in Bangalore. We got married a few days after. I just noticed the calendar this morning and realized what’s special about 28th and that’s when it stuck on me that it has been already that long and never realized. I always wish to go back to 2002 and live those years all over again. Life has been awesome that we didn’t realize the days, months, years go by so fast. Thank you buddy…