The Irish Days - DAY-2

Date: 9-June-2008
Place: Guest room in The Osprey Hotel, Naas


1. Had a tough time taking bath in a bath tub.
2. Hired a txi to travel to the office (Expense: 33.30 EURO)
3. Visited LM (Client office name suppressed) by 08:00 AM. CO (Client name suppressed) seemed to turn by 09:00 AM. And disappointingly I'm having appointment only by 03:00 PM.
4. Phoned HR. Seems that they have given the card for UK and not for Ireland.
5. I have strated to count my days for returning back to my home in Chennai.
6. Met CO. Seems to be a nice guy. Working culture here is too good. No so formal. Need to learn from these guys. Had an intro to the cubicle mates.
7. Cool guys and not a better project. Foreseeing some tough time later. They seem to have less hope in me particularly KB (client name suppressed), the 10+ year experienced in PLOM (App name suppressed) is of particular concern and looks like not liking me. But CO is too cool and he helps me understnad things literally well.
8. Happy news. My card is working now. Commuting from Naas is the foremost problem and next to that is the charges levied by Osprey damn hotel. Need to look some guest house close to the office.
9. I need to charge up & cope up with this culture & people irrespective of the expenses. Go.. speak with people. Build some positive attitude in you.
10. KV (HR name suppressed) helped a lot to sort out the problem with my card. Good man!!
11. Noon lunch was terribly bad. A veg sandwich which I can't master eating. CO seemed embarassed but didn't show off. Surprising thing is nobody stared at me unlike in India.
12. Hired a taxi to get back to the hotel (Exp: 30 EURO). Forgot to get the receipt for that.
13. Withdrew 200EURO from an ATM nearby
14. Learnt that some 5+ colleagues are here around in a place called Saggart; 49 Kms away from Naas. Let's have time to meet them.
15. Spoke with Amma & Hari. Fot to tell them that nothing is fine in this "VILLAGE". Need to get back home soon.
16. More things to worry. Hope things will get fine.
17. Now moving out for shopping.. err.. for just roaming.
18. Got a damn thing done. Kept the perungayam (Asafoetida) dappa on one of the lights in my hotel room. It got melt in the heat of the bulb. The bulb is damaged badly; also the furniture. I'm too scared that I'll be billed for it. Need to get outta this place ASAP.
19. Got some bread from a grocery nearby. (EXP: 8EURO)

Total expense today: 71.30 EURO

The Irish Days - DAY-1

Day-1: 8-June-2008
Place: Guest Room in The Osprey Hotel, Naas

1. Had a nice journey from Frankfurt to Dublin
2. Hopped on to a taxi from Dublin to The Osprey Hotel in Naas town. Seems that the taxi has over-billed : 88EURO.
3. Travel cash card given by my employer not working. Paid the hotel 125EURO for check-in. Have a balance of 150EURO.
4. Running out of money!
5. Sent a mail to HR & Travel desk: "Please help". Today's sunday; so they hardly listened. But in no way I have money to start tomorrow or to eat today. I'm starving.
6. In search of an ATM that could give me MONEY, I found Naas to be a peaceful place if you're RICH. It's not the good old story of enjoying life abroad. No ATM is accepting my card. Help me, my God.
7. The sun is still shining at 19:56 :)
8. Not able to make a call to UK HR
9. Finally reached HR . He said things will be sorted out tomorrow.
10. The day was over with a cup of noodles boiled in a water heater !!
11. Meanwhile, I felt Rambha's (BTW, thats my pettie doggie. Why the hell did I forget about my parents!) absence leading to a bit of home-sickness, at least mentally.
12. Tomorrow will be a good day.

The Irish Days

Before almost a year, the people of the town Kildare in Ireland were looking at yet another brown-tanned Indian guy in their streets. That was exactly during 8-June-2008 to 8-Aug-2008, when I stayed there in the Derby House Hotel paying 60EURO per night (I'm puzzled why these hotel guys are not bothering much about the day), the value of which I now recognize sitting in a guest house in the Bristol city of the United Kingdom as a run-by-salary living being.

I tried to blog about my stay in Ireland. But as usual the interest faded away. I don't feel the compulsion to justify why I didn't continue with my posts, because most of the bloggers know it.

I was all alone there in Room#207 in the Derby House Hotel. I had nobody to listen to my worries or happiness (note the order). So, I logged everything in my personal notepad-turned-diary. I wrote about my lonely visits to the Dublin city; about my office hiccups; about my friendships with some Pakistanis; almost everything. The diary turned to be my best friend. After almost a year now, when I opened my diary again and read my own words- first, I felt silly about myself- second, I felt nostalgic and felt going back to Ireland.

To be frank, I feel Ireland is a heaven on the Earth; no exaggarations.

Why am I writing all these now? I have again started to think about posting my experiences in Ireland; the experiences of my fight with loneliness and frenziness in a foreign land. BUT, I'll be just copying my daily diary journals into these posts. So, I disclaim: THIS HAD BEEN AN INTERESTING STORY FOR ME. I'M NOT SURE WHETHER YOU WILL LIKE IT. THE LANGUAGE IS TOO TERSE OR EVEN KIDDISH AT TIMES (LIKE CRYING TO YOUR MOTHER); THAT FIT MY JOURNAL. NO DETAILS.

Hawww, that's primarily because of my laziness to rephrase my journals. But, it will be genuine and frank so that you will know I have gone nuts over myselves. I'm sure that you'll smile over each of my journals of how The-first-time-lonely-foreign-visitor had behaved.

Good luck reading !

BCB6 - A try to gather people with a common interest on DSL

Hi Folks,

I have planned to discuss/present about my ideas on Domain Specific Languages at BCB6.

Please comment on this post / mail to me, if you have any idea of presenting something in BCB6 about:

1. Domain Specific Languages
2. Meta programming
3. UNIX little languages
4. Software Factories
5. XML
6. MDA (Model Driven Architecture)
7. LISP
8. COBOL
9. APIs
10. Internal DSLs in Ruby (!!)

All these topics converge towards the broad concept, DSL.

Here are some links that can help you to start with:
http://martinfowler.com/articles/languageWorkbench.html
http://martinfowler.com/bliki/DomainSpecificLanguage.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-specific_programming_language
http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~timm/dm/dsl.html

I think more people from ThoughtWorks will be interested in this stuff. We could turn it into a small-scale collective.

I doubt that I'm i over-enthusiastic as this is my first Barcamp to attend. Please let me know, if so :)

Accident between Me and a Sweet Corn

Months ago, I went through an accident while riding a bike. It shattered one of my foretooth, which was then treated to have an artificial tooth (Crown, as they call). Doctors warned me that the tooth should not be used to bite anything hard and it was just for cosmetic purposes. Calculations told me that I have spent more than Rs.15,000 just for cosmetics!!

I maintained my new, so-called aesthetic, tooth well until yesterday when I tried biting a sweet corn. Heck, I heard a cracking sound and a little bit of pain. I rushed to my dentist, and after taking an x-ray, he said, that the internal support of the tooth is fractured. Well, I thought it may cost a few hundreds, but my caring dentist said that the tooth must be removed and be supported by the adjacent teeth. Ultimately, 3 teeth will be treated and crowned. The estimated bill was for around Rs.12,000 !! Accidents happen both in large and small scales. Life is mystically designed !!

Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. once said in a speech: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." So true. What we are as human beings presents itself more fully in times of adversity than at times of ease. Anyone can be positive, polite and kind when things are going well. What distinguishes people with an extraordinary character from the rest of us is how they respond when life sends one of its inevitable curves. They don't crumble or surrender. They reach deeply into themselves and present even more of their highest nature to the world.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was on the highway, ready to travel to Chennai from my home-town. The bus had been delayed by a few hours so it felt good to be close to start. I had my walkman in place, a new book to read and my magazine. Then, the driver's voice came over: "We had found a puncture in one of the tires. We regret that we must cancel this bus." The reactions that statement provoked were fascinating.

One man close to me became belligerent to the driver. A couple in another row grumbled loudly. A gentleman actually kicked the seat in front of him. Yet some passengers responded differently, with a quiet humanity. An elderly gentleman smiled as he helped others take their bags down from the overhead compartments. A teenager, rather than trying to rush off like most of the other passengers, stopped to help a woman with a disability. The lady sitting next to me laugh and said, "Hey, it's not the end of the world," before calling her kids and sharing her adventure with them. The wisest among us have a remarkable ability to maintain grounded when times get tough.

No life is perfect; mine certainly isn't. We all must face challenges, both large and small. This very minute, somewhere in the world, there are parents dealing with the death of a child. This very minute, someone has suffered an accident that will devastate their loved ones. This very minute, there are human beings dealing with illness in a hospital bed. Sickness, loss, disappointment. No one gets through life without experiencing this stuff. But you and I have the power to choose to rise above our external circumstances. We always have the choice to be strong and positive when things fall apart. We have the right to use our stumbling blocks as stepping stones to our greatest life. This isn't motivational sloganeering. I believe this is truth.

I feel really great to stay cool, positive, and kind, even after my brand-new accident with a Sweet Corn.

Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby

Hmm.. frustrations are born with us.. they keep us away from what we aspire or what we dream. I was too far away from practising Ruby.. but never forgot it. And for the second time, I have started looking for good materials on RoR. There are plenty of manuals, books, and documentations. One that I recently went through and very much impressed was: Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby

Interesting Name.. huh?? That impressed me in the first few pages but am not sure whether it's pace and quality are consistent throughout. Let me know if you find it interesting.

Barcamp Bangalore 6

I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness - to save oneself trouble.-Agatha Christie

After a long long time, am back to this blog as most of the bloggers do. I was quite busy with a couple of exams and busy days in office.

This time, I would like to recommend you all to attend the Barcamp Bangalore 6 to be conducted by this March. The date, venue and sessions are not yet confirmed.

Starring at the new word, BarCamp? In one word, they call it an unconference. Merely, like Wikipedia, where anybody conduct a session on any technical topic. The only qualification for registration is "You must be techno-savvy."

Most of the Barcamp enthusiats are budding entrepreneurs and some of them research-savvy. Anyhow, that would be a great time for me at the least.

Follow these links to know about the event and Barcamp:

BarcampBangalore
What is BarCamp?
Last Barcamp Blog - BCB5

Just google out "Barcamp Bangalore" and try to be there at the feast.