Gold and Beautiful

I hope you all participated in the Earth Hour. Atlanta was a participant and I decided to play my part. So turned the power in my apt off from 8-9 pm and enjoyed some music on my iPod... For those of you who don't know what earth hour is, this is an event that Sydney started last year. In 2007 Sydney decided to cut power off (coal being the biggest environment destroyer) for an hour thereby reducing some 10% of its energy consumption..... In 2008 this became a global movement with many cities participating in the event, Atlanta being one of them (Check out the pic!!!). Individuals, businesses and cities can sign up and pledge support. Of course, there are many other small things that we can do every day to save our planet, like unplugging all our electrical devices when not in use......Go to Earth Hour to sign up and spread the word....... Green Is Universal!!!

Sometime soon after Spring semester began, some of my students from Fall section started coming to my office with doubts in Digital Media that they were taking this semester (with another proff)..... One of the girls who came to me had trouble using Audacity. Now I had never used Audacity and I told her so, then we both sat together and I was playing with the software and trying to see if I could find something. Eventually we found out that Audacity did not support whatever she was trying to do..... After she left I was thinking, none of my 20 students in that class ever came to me with a doubt, when they were in my class, but here they are now.... Not that I didn't want to help them, but I was just wondering what is it that makes us hesitant to speak to our professors. When I was a TA at Tulane my students would sometimes request review sessions... I remember doing review session on a Saturday during the last semester of my stay at Tulane (when I really did not want to teach.... a

.... for me!!!! I have been debating whether or not to upload this picture for a long time now... Finally I decided.... Well, after all, this is my blog, my picture and a kavita for me.... and such a lovely one at that..... Of course makes me feel good, more than that makes me feel lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people who love me. My younger cousin brother sent this to me a little while ago. Thanks dearie!!!!!

I am attending this ACM SIGCSE conference (comp sci ed..)... NSF had a session on the different categories under which you can apply for grants and during that discussion, one of the panelists said that a certain percentage of money that the US govt receives from H1 B processing fees is diverted towards funding the STEM program, which is NSF's initiative on encouraging students to major in science and engineering...... Pretty cool, isn't it????? So, you are already contributing to shape the future of this country....... On the same lines, Tulane University Hospital does research on cancer which is funded (indirectly) by tobacco companies.... And Georgia directs all its lottery money into providing scholarships for higher ed students....Just a note, higher ed in this country includes a Bachelor's degree (I was surprised to find that out....)

Why cannot I have things that I really want? Or do I want them because I cannot have them?

Saw this cutesie movie over the weekend about 6 friends forming a Jane Austen book club, each reading one book.... YES!!! A chick flick, completely girlie....but very cute, very sweet movie.... While watching the movie I decided I was going to buy all 6 books and read them. I have read only 2 (Pride and Prejudice and Emma) and yes I have seen Sense and Sensibility/Kandukondein Kandokondein, but movies don't count and I do not own any JA books.... That reminds me, I still haven't finished reading the book Hitler . I think it's going to take ages to finish that book. And every time I decide to read the book, I am reminded of all the papers I need to read for my next project..... But have to do something about that book.....My wishlist on Shelfari is getting longer, while the list of books that I have read is at a standstill!!!!! I think if I had an entire lifetime to read books and do nothing else, I would still die leaving behind a long To Read List.

So Omarosa got fired last night and although I hated her (those were some real cheap shots that she took at Piers Morgan....), I liked her last quote (I know... I am a sucker for good quotes.. :-))...Dunno where she got it, but it's worth mentioning here!!!! No man is your friend No man is your foe But EVERY man is your TEACHER!!!!!!

I read this in TOI.... DINKs (Double Income No Kids couples) get tax cuts for not burdening our govt.... Another point to think, more and more educated/smart couples are opting for 0/1 kid. I have a friend who works with me and he has tons of books on how to live a complete life without having children.......A guy with a terminal degree, really smart, doesn't want to have children. And at the other end of the spectrum people having 4-5 kids.....reminds me of one of the movies that I saw, don't remember the name, but the point was the same. People who should be having kids and passing on their genes are opting to not have any, while the world is over crowded with the kinds of Bush, J. Simpson, B. Spears, etc.......In the movie, people are spraying their fields with Gatorade and wondering why all the crops are dying?? Hopefully we won't see that day.

When I was in the 7th grade I decided this...... If I could afford to raise a child and wanted to have one, I was going to adopt one. I know!!!! My mom recently freaked out when I told her this........ But think about it...... Look at the population of our nation.... Look at the number of kids around you begging on the streets and selling sundry items, working in chai ki tapri!!!! There are so many kids on this earth (not only in India), who could definitely use some help from us.... And NO!!! donating money to charity is not enough, when it comes to kids. To some extent money is necessary and I look at that as something is better than nothing..... But love, affection, care, family support...all these are essential in the life of a child (or rather anyone....). So you cannot just donate money and feel good about it. Of course you can't adopt all kids, so you donate some money/time and feel like you contributed, but if you can afford to raise one child, then go ahead pick one, who i