Mindful Musings

I love Jennifer more than I have ever loved anyone. She puts up with my weaknesses, cares incredibly deeply for me and my family and has been my best friend for the past few years we have been dating. We have had our differences, our fights, our misgivings and in spite of all that is different about us, we cannot imagine life without each other.

So, this past Christmas Eve I asked Jennifer, my girlfriend of three years, to marry me and she agreed. My parents have helped me choose the ring and I had planned to ask her around Christmas time this year. We hope to get married sometime around late 2006.

Even though it was nothing fancy, I did get her a big package with a small ring in it and everyone was full of smiles and hugs. It was a great evening. I had to kneel!

My parents (and her family) are more than ecstatic. We have no real plans for the wedding yet but hope to get there by late 2006. Nothing big or fancy, just a few people in at St. Adalbert and maybe a nice celebration in India (if I can make it back home).
Here is a link to the gallery with all the pictures.

Jennifer and I along with John and Linda visited the “Lights Before Christmas” at the Toledo Zoo yesterday. I tried to take some pictures of the lights without using a tripod. The results were not as bad as I anticipated though I should have tried harder to keep my hands from shaking.

I am now the proud owner of a Toshiba 57” Widescreen HD-Ready Rear-Projection TV with DVI Input /2-Tuner PIP
Model: 57H84 (notice the WiiiidE grin!)

I got it for $1499 plus taxes from Best Buy plus extended service plan and DMI cables. Included free delivery to my house. This is Jennifer’s gift to me and my gift to her this Christmas. We are both terribly excited! Paired with my dual tuner PVR with all available HD channels and all available other channels, this should make for good TV watching. I can only imagine what my parents will think then they get here.

If you are running Fedora Core (2 or 3) and are having problems with BIND or have massive ping start times, the issue is probably IPV6 support.
Add the following line to your modprobe.conf and reboot your machine.
alias net-pf-10 off

That should fix the problems.

A GOOD MANAGER SHOULD STRICTLY FOLLOW THESE RULES IN A DISCUSSION OR IN GROUP DISCUSSIONS:

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO:

1.Listen carefully when others are talking. 2.Concentrate on the matter of discussion. 3.Try to place a new idea of your own which no one puts in the discussion table and try to focus it in such a way that it becomes the main centrepoint of discussion and it make sure it is an encouraging idea. 4.When you have to argue with someone use very pleasing language to convince him/her. 5.Allow others to assert their opinions and listen carefully. 6.Your points should be short,clear and timed. 7.You must figure out when you are to make your proposals. 8.Always show your depth of knowledge in the discussion. 9.Show sincere leadership and try to win confidence.

WHAT YOU SHOULDNOT DO
1. Never interfere when others are talking.
2. By no means should you express your displeasure

even if you dislike the conversation.
3. Never go away from the main point of discussion
4. Never keep silent all the time.
5. Your attitude should never hurt anyone.
6. Never try to force others to only follow your wish.
7. By no means you should loose your temper.
8. Never shout when you discuss.
9. Never attack anyone personally.
10. Never argue with others when you do not have thorough knowledge of it.

Since I have been in USA for almost 10 years now, I have lived in a variety of cities, mostly in the MidWest. Here are the prominent ones.
I have lived in Wooster, Ohio
I had a short stint in St. Louis, Missouri
I now live in Toledo, Ohio

I have visited the following cities either on projects, interviews, work or just for the sake of travelling.
I had a job interview in Boston, Massachusets
I consulted in Houston and San Antonio, Texas
Drove through upper New York to NYC for a visit along with Kaushik Rathi, that was fun!
Niagra.
Almost every major city in Ohio including Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Findlay etc.
I had a short project in Louisville, Kentucky
I went to visit a friend (Matt Carpenter) and their family for Thanksgiving in Nashville, Tennessee. Ive been there a bunch of times and know the city well.
Went on a school trip to Washington DC with a bunch of other international students which was just so much fun! We lived at the International Youth hostel for $7 a night and got lost downtown in the middle of the night.
Ive made numerous interview and school related trips to Chicago, Illinios
Pretty much scoured the state of New Jersey driving back and forth for interviews and such.
Drove around much of the East, Central and South of USA.

God, I love this country!

I came home yesterday to a large cichlid in my African tank looking really run down, being chased around by the other, smaller cichlids and a mouthfull of eggs. Now, I have never raised mouthbrooders before, nor have I ever taken care of mouthbrooders after they decide to spawn and then get ill.

So I moved her out of the larger tank into a smaller quarantine (thanks to Jennifer for rushing out and buying me a small set) and as soon as she was out of her other tank, she let go of the eggs. Now I have a hundred tiny eggs flying around in the quarantine tank, a sick cichlid and an impending sense that the eggs were never fertilized before she got sick. I will wait a few days to see if more of the eggs lose their yolk and become empty shells. If they do, I have unfertilized and useless eggs.

Now even if the eggs were fertilized, they would need constant “tumbling” or moving around in small spaces with water being moved around them. This is normally done best by a professional with the right equipment (or the mother in her mouth). In setting such as mine, the eggs are most likely to collapse and get fungus infected, thus infecting the other eggs in the brood. I would like them to spawn, but I dont see that happening. As long as the mother pulls out of this with all her fins, I will be happy.

PS: I am also terribly excited that my my laid eggs, albeit not babies. This hobby is very relaxing, rewarding and very family oriented. Jennifer gets into it with me and we spend a lot of quality time browsing aquarium stores and fish places.