Paddling on the canoe

with two paddles
one on each side
like a bird
rythmically
moving wings

The Lost Rainbow

I lost a rainbow
not mine to ever
begin with

but

I saw a rainbow
in the parking lot

I wanted to show
it to my kids
after reaching home

With houses around
I couldnt find it

My little one said
"Take a picture of it"

Every time I see
a rainbow on the dark black road
in the parking lot
from the scattering of light
on the car headlights

or a roadrunner
or a blue opening in the cloudy sky

I show a picture, so I dont
lose the rainbow

Look at the beautiful sunset

Every once in a while
I interest my daughter
in the beautiful desert sky

On an upset day
when I heard
"look at the beautiful sunset"
from my daughter

my worries were
erased with
all the sunsets
I ever showed her

Ab ke Sawan

While doing exercise, I came across this song ab ke sawan, which made me decades lighter. I wanted to dance right away. In the evening after dinner, I was wondering how does one choreograph a song. I know neither music nor dance but enjoy them both.
Then I wonder if just jumping in the muddy puddle would cut it. I started with a few of those and found a beat to dance to. I do want to create something that is different about the season that always comes.

Work is love made visible - Kahlil Gibran

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place - Zora Neale Hurston


If love brings out soul
what hides it?

Is it you?
Unknow you
Ignore self
lay it to sleep
Now you hear
some footsteps
some easing
of limbs
to step out
into the world
with your crutches

Getting the Estimate right?

NoEstimates: How To Measure Project Progress Without Estimating

Can we ever get the estimate right?

Sometimes we think something needs 3 weeks but the powers be want it in 2 weeks. Estimation is said to be best done when you get it from the person who is going to do the actual grinding. But what about the person who says 2 to 3 weeks but turns out that it can be done in 2 to 3 days. Or what about the person who thinks that a change can be done in an hour but with verification and presentation and final acceptance of the change, it runs into 3 weeks.

The corect answer lies somewhere in between the under estimation and the over estimation.

Or how about estimating after getting the feet wet? 

Monitoring & Controlling Upma

Vermicelli Noodles


For some time now, noodles have been giving me grief. It ends up being mush. I used to know how to do it right. After long soul-searching I realised that the correct ratio of noodles to water is 1: 1.5 and not 1:2.
This week I was going to make 4:6, then I realised I will make 5:10 (This is where I put my 'leg into lentils', an idiom of doing a mistake. It should have been 5:7.5).
To my horror, when I realised that it was flooded, I added two handfuls of vermicelli noodles, still some containment needed to be done.

 I was hellbent on getting it right. I went to the drastic measure of draining out extra water, retaining the desired consistency of dry upma.
Planning could have avoided this problem but even in planning, you can see how errors can creep in. Mis-en-place would have worked out too but whats a day in the kitchen if not an adventure.
All's well that ends well.

Project Management lesson from exercise

Wide Mat

While doing P90x a friend took this wide exercise mat. All was well, until the trainer asked us to spread our legs as wide as the mat. I erupted into laughter.
when procurement is done for a project, the inherent assumptions and dependencies need to be checked.

Vi Petal

While reading about vi petal activities, got the idea of doing cutout dolls for being a sister to every girl scout.
One girl asked for heart cutouts and later on made it into a crown. How creative!!
One girl was drawing somehtign with a crayon, which I later found had some patterns, we then realised that it was from the glittered circles on teh other sides which were makign an impression on this side, which is sort of reversing the impression onto this page.

Your fitness is 100% mental your body won't go where your mind doesn't

Your fitness is 100% mental your body won't go where your mind doesn't push it

Training does not happen only when you are at the gym or exercising. It is a state of mind.

 “Patience applies everywhere: in training, in racing, and even when you are relaxing.

You have to be patient to train hard, in order to maintain your focus when you are running, and to maintain your thinking when you are outside training.” - Eliud kipchoge

You need both the pushing and the patience.

Things Money Cant buy

https://t.co/no1rjpkFO1

— livecitizen (@livecitizen1) April 20, 2019

America's pastime

I was passing time reading Late bloomers-power of patience, Waiting for my child while she was practising Karate which will teach her discipline among many other good skills. There was a chattering going among 5 boys or so. There was a call from Mom, if the kids were ok.

When they were leaving, I realised they had these baseball bats with them. They went into the courtyard and one started swinging, two other were with their mitts, mostly catching the balls. After a while a man in his 50s walking by into the Karate room indulged the kids with a throw, All kids hovered in his direction, sometimes catching sometimes missing. This showed how a cross-generational interaction is required for kids to enjoy their favorite sport with others who feel the same way. He threw about 3 shots and waved bye to them. He wanted to end it strong. It was nice to see this little dance of how a game can connect such wide age disparity and strangeness.

How to remember any day?

Recently when I ran into a friend, I realised that the last time I met him at our house along with many other friends was on National Cheesecake Day and that will have a number associated with it. 30 July.
That I will never forget now as it is easier to remember a cheesecake day which was elebrated with about 9 different kind of cheesecake from Whole foods.
There is something to story making it more memorable than just some numbers that dont mean much.



This picture of Traveling together is so well composed.

Entrepreneur Voices on Elevator Pitches

Pretty Intense: The 90-Day Mind, Body and Food Plan that will absolutely Change Your Life 

Danica Patrick says her new book will change your life. Here’s what we have to say about it.

Week 1 upper-body workout – 100 butt kickers, 100 jump rope and 100 jumping jacks, followed by five rounds of 20 knee push-ups, 20 bent-leg tricep dips, 20 Supermans and 20 jumping jacks