Rambling

Our Home Owner Association

2012-02-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I wrote here. In the meantime, I went to India and came back. I wanted to write about the traffic in Bangalore. However, as soon as I came back, the once-a-year ritual of our Home Owner Association's (HOA) wrangling started. Ever since I gave up the Presidency to another apathetic guy two years ago, he neither called for a single meeting nor did he call for an election. The other two in the board are so inexperienced that they practically are useless in running the HOA.

After completely disappearing, he appeared in February via email by sending a screwed up budget. After I pointed out all the errors and sent the right budget, he apologized saying that he could not find the spreadsheet for the recent budget (which I had prepared back in Jan 2010). He had never prepared any budget since I left, except this one.

So, when I called for the election, my neighbor family, who are friends of the President, started writing attacking/nonsensical emails. When I asked them to refrain from sending such emails, the guy wrote back (I am giving the entire email content here):

Bharti,

You need to calm down and not be a pain in everyone's ass.
Everyone here gets along well, the only malcontent is YOU. I am sorry you live in FEAR, but you are the sole person here without a dog. You have NOT been personally attacked, but you're so oversensitive you take a single email as if it were a 1000. Be civil, be quiet, calm down, and knock off the pain in the ass behavior. I am certain I am merely stating what everyone else is thinking. You were a tremendous pain in everyone's ass when Gina was President, and the person that took her place quit within months, due to your obnoxious emails. We can all be pleasant here, or you can move any time. You have been alienating the vendors we work with, and your command of English frankly needs work. Kindly knock of the crap.

Mark Hopkins.

I should have responded, "I hereby rest my case"! But, I did not. What is the point? His birdbrain and his English would convey what I wanted to convey. That is, if the reader can understand English.

Here is what I could have responded:

Hello Mark,

Glad to be of service to you assholes by being a pain in the ass. I am also glad that I am not as civil as you manifest here.

I am not sure I live in fear as you mentioned. But, then who knows. Perhaps, you, who believes that earthquakes can be forecast, may also read personalities. May be, like your dog. Atleast, that is what they say about the dogs. Not sure about that aspect of yours.

I am certainly afraid of your ferocious looking dog and the couple of equally ferocious dogs of the President, especially when you two let them romp around our common area, as if it is your private farm. This is especially after a neighbor's dog, which never had a history of biting anybody in its 15 years of life, created a history by biting me when I was passing their house. So, I more or less can say they are unpredictable.

But, I cannot say the same about you. You are highly predictable. You behave, write and talk like teenagers even when you are nearing fiftees. Your birdbrain and assholeness (there, you have a new word) can be smelled from ten miles, as they say.

Coming to the topic of our apathetic HOA. The last time I checked, they mentioned that every HOA has to obey Civil Codes and By Laws. However, the current board (and your Gina did the same) rules the HOA as if the President is the King. Gina, never called for any election for more than four years and never cared to do any maintenance required according to the reserve study either.

Did they not send three of us, the HOA members including Gina, to a class to learn as to how to run the HOA? That is after she ruled for more than four years with utter disregard to all the laws of the HOA. Subsequently, the queen was dethroned. Is it not then the then account, who was very good, suddenly ditched us? Then Gina brought on the current incompetent asshole accountant and debriefed him immediately about the 'pain in the ass for the assholes' in the community.

Don't I, as a dues paying HOA member, have every right to question these obnoxious illegalities. So, with due respect to you assholes, I will continue to be your pain in the ass.

Regarding my English. I am surprised that you should mention. Especially, look at the way you write emails, e.g., the current one. Thanks for bringing that up though. You see, I used to fail in English in high school. It was my second language. Now I understand why. For I am designed to be a mathematician/engineer/scientist/or the-other-side-of-the-brain-active-person. So, I humbly accept my weakness.

However, I do not want to learn English from you. Sorry about that. I have published many papers in international journals, conferences, and as a book chapter. All in English. I have taught classes in universities in this country. But, I have to admit, I taught mainly computer languages, not English.

Yes, I will finally knock the crap OFF (not 'of' as you say) of this HOA board.

Till then, please continue to live in your ignorant paradise.

Adios,

Your pain in the ass, Bharti (though that is not how you write my name)

God has aligned with the Republicans!

2011-10-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

"Hey Jane, call Perry, the Texas Governor. I need to talk to him."

"He is online, God," said Jane, God's secretary.

"Hello Rick. How are you doing? Everything okay on the homefront?"

"Hi Mr. God. I am so honoured to receive your call. Everything is going great in Texas.I cannot say the same about the other states."

"Rick, I wanted you to run for the President of the United States of America, my homeland. Of late, the US is going to the dogs with so many people in the government who are not conservatives. I should say, it started a long time ago, when they separated the church from the state."

"Oh God! I am obliged! I surely will! I will tell my wife to spread your word around. That should add credibility to my candidacy for the President."

"Keep me posted."

"Sure, God! I will spread the word of the Lord!"

"Bye for now!"

"Jane, schedule a call with Ms.Bachmann. I want to find out her status!"

"But, God, I thought you wanted Rick to run," Jane was naturally not as knowledgeable as the boss she works for.

"You don't understand! I have my favorites in the Republican party! After her call, schedule another call with that pizza guy for the afternoon! They all want my help to run for office in the US!"

"But, you have to excuse me! Obviously, you have a plan here! May I be enlightened?"

"Jane, you will soon know! At this moment, I have no frickin' clue!"

" Mr. God, would you by any chance like to schedule a call with anyone on the Democratic side?"

"Nope! They are more intelligent to figure out how to run for the office! They don't need my recommendation!"

Thus God retired to his chamber for an afternoon's siesta.

India and Vagaries...

2011-10-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I called my sister in India. After a couple of rings, I heard a Kannada voice saying, " ನೀವು ಕರೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ....". This is the telephone exchange operator telling me in the regional language that the person I called was not available at that moment and I need to call back. I immediately disconnected hoping that the long distance service provider here in America would not charge me for three minutes for this call. I still don't know whether I get charged for this from this end. Need to find out.

I was wondering how this service will benefit anybody at all? Don't we have the sense to figure out that the person is not available if the other side keeps ringing? And, will a person calling from another state within India understand what this operator is saying, leave alone an international caller?

In this age of digital telephone service and global economy, I fail to understand why India is sticking to this service where a telephone operator interferes in the middle, speaking in the local language. Does that mean the international companies having business in India would immediately understand what this operator is saying?

Why is that Indians do not understand the reality?

-------------------------------------

After postponing for one and half years, finally I sent my Indian visa application and Renunciation form, hoping that I have sent all the forms, money order, photos, pass ports and photo copies of all the above ... and have clipped them in the required sequence! Now, I am waiting with crossed fingers, hoping that I will get the visa.

Why did I postpone? In June 2010, India changed its requirements for visa application, for the worse, for Americans of Indian origin and for their children born outside India. They outsourced it to a private company! Probably, no country outsources this critical functionality. Failing to understand the process, I kept asking the Indian Embassy in San Francisco and TRAVISA company that handles the Visa, but never got the right answers. While the company's website is thoroughly confusing, with a lot of ' if' and 'then' statements, the embassy was the least helpful one and sounded like the least knowledgeable one too.

The requirement to send photocopies of the documents that are already included in the packet shows that the Indians are still lagging in the use of modern technology, even when located in the US or, want to save money or work scanning the documents or ...! Further, the logic for asking the people of Indian origin (and their children born in the US) to go through this very confusing process is beyond anybody's (at least my) comprehension. The FedEx guy of Indian origin agreed with me whole heartedly when I went to send the application via FedEx.

But, apparently, while we the Americans of Indian origin have to go through all these cumbersome process of renunciation and visa application, terrorists from the neighboring country seem to travel back and forth very easily! May be that logic never occurred to the rusted brains of the corrupt people who make such decisions in India.

Car Rental Woes

2011-07-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I rented a car. Last time I rented, it was during the 2003 to 2005 period when I had to fly back and forth between Los Angeles and Dallas. So, I was completely unprepared for what would transpire when I went to the Budget car rental booth at Colorado Springs airport a few days ago.

I had booked an economy car a few days prior to my travel. When I reached the rental booth, I asked for the car that was mentioned in the economy class. The agent said, they did not have that car. I asked for another in the same class, then another...each time, getting the same response.

Instead, he started saying that he had a Dodge Caravan, which will be a small upgrade.

I said, 'No, I booked an economy small car.'

"How about Chevy Suburban?"

"I am not used to driving all those big vehicles, I need the small car that I have booked."

"We do not have any small cars. How about a Chrysler CTS? "

"Either give me the small car that I have booked, or I will go hire a taxi."

"Okay. Here is the key to the car."

"What car is it?"

"Ford Fusion."

"Is there any additional price to that? If not, I will take it."

"Price is as quoted before. Would you need an insurance?'

"No, I don't."

"Would you need a bumper to bumper accident coverage?"

By this time, I had lost all my patience."No, I don't. Just give me the car that I have reserved."

"Do you need the tank filled?"

"No!"

"If you cover less than 75 miles and if you don't fill the tank, you will be charged $13 something. Just bring this form if you fill the tank."

By this time, I had noticed that they had a display saying that they could help with directions. I asked him if he could help me with the directions to my hotel. He said he did not know anything and that I need to ask the airport information desk!

In two days, I returned the car in a hurry without topping the tank. All I had covered was less than 55 miles and the needle was still showing close to Full.

When I looked at the bill, I was shocked to see the additional charges that were levied for two days' rental. Here is a snap shot:

2 days rental charges @34.99/day : $69.98
11% concession recovery fee          : $7.40
Fuel Service                                    : $13.99
$1.5/DY CFC                                  : $3.
$.56/DT ERF                                   :$1.12
Tax @ 10.4%                                  : $9.05
$2/DY SSU                                     : $4.00
____________________________________
Total Charges                                  :$100.04

I come from the acronym burdened telecom and defense world. But, still I was not prepared for these hidden charges for god-only-know-what!

I heard the same harrassment stories from several of my co-workers who had travelled that day and one was even forced to rent a big van with additional upgrades.

Looks like the rental car agencies have resorted to these tactics to make additional money in these tough economic times.

Coming from India, then a third world country, these kind of tactics were very common there and was almost unknown here. But, the world has turned full circle!

Dentists and their innovative ways (of charging your insurance)

2011-04-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

Recently, I visited my dentist for the routine cleaning. Before the assistant started, the receptionist came and gave me the good news! While many insurance providers do not cover the cancer screening procedure, my insurance did! Initially, I was reluctant as this doctor insisted on taking X-rays at every visit. But, then, the assistant enthusiastically explained that all it takes was rinsing my mouth with a liquid and the doctor will check for any cancer. So, I rinsed my mouth.

The dentist came and looked inside as usual and started cleaning. He did not even look at my x-rays and do the usual preaching/selling/explaining saying that many of my teeth that were already filled were in need of refilling or some kind of maintenance. He finished with the cleaning and went.

Within a few days, I received the statement from my insurance. Here is what the doctor had charged:

1) Periodic Oral Evaluation : $53
2) Comprehensive Periodic Evaluation: $94
3) Several X-rays: $67+$37+$22
4) Hygiene Instruction : $45
5) Cleaning: $96

The insurance refused to pay the Comprehensive Oral Eval and Hygiene Instruction.

I called the office and asked the receptionist who received the call, about these duplicate charges and the Hygiene Instruction that I was supposed to have received. I was really angry. Surprisingly, she was ready with all my details including the doctor's utterance during the cleaning, 'slight plaque'! She mentioned that the Hygine Instruction was his usual talk during the cleaning. I asked whether we can just have the cleaning with the doctor's mouth shut so that we do not have to listen the same 'talk' every time. She said it was not possible.

I asked why would I need a periodic evaluation when I had a comprehensive periodic evaluation? I asked why is that I have to pay extra when the insurance was supposed to cover my routine cleaning. She said in about 90% of the cases they (this dentist) would not expect us to pay that extra. She went on insisting that the doctor would not charge me that, when I started saying that I would go to the consumer resources to complain about this swindling.

By this time, my anger had peaked. I enquired whether the doctor would like to charge for the usual 'hello' greeetings. Who knows? The way these dentists have gotten greedy, they might as well charge for the chair that we sit on during the cleaning, the water that is used for our cleaning, the spit machine for sucking our spit out, the bib they tie around our neck, the cover they use on their mouth, and so on...

Finally, when I mentioned that I need my dental records, as I would like to change my doctor, she started raising her voice and said, she would charge for making copies.

This doctor's receptionist and the assistant have always served as advertisers for the doctor by trying to promote the items that they sell.

I have been to many dentists before and have had similar experience. Two other dentists have given me a gory picture about the state of my teeth and gums, saying that I would be needing a major gum surgery. One of them did something for which I had to spend several hundreds over the insurance. But, then I was ignorant about their tactics. The other dentist got angry when I declined her proposed procedure. I saw her posting on a dental discussion board where she was claiming how she had recovered the money she had invested on an equipment within a month or so.

The best dentist I ever had was in Plano, TX, Dr. Whiting. Not sure whether he became a dentist after he was christened with that last name or changed his name after he became a dentist! He never charged anything extra, nor found any problems with my healthy gum or teeth. Another one is Dr. Smith in Torrance, CA. But, Dr.Smith still used the old ways of cleaning (not the water pique type) that hurt tremendously during cleaning.

Now, I am back again looking for a dentist who will not try to become a millionaire within a few months of practice, by teaching me dental hygiene or finding a deadly gum problem with my normal gums.

Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami

2011-03-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

No words can describe the scale of this nature's fury that reminds us that we are just at the mercy of nature. Japanese have recovered spectacularly from the worst tragedy the human kind has ever seen, the Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombings at the end of the World War 2 only to face a very similar disaster now.

All my heart goes to the people of Japan. May they find the strenghth and resources to recover from this too...

Egypt makes another history!

2011-02-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

Kudos to the Egyptians who showed to the world once again that freedom can be won in a peaceful persistent way! They also showed to the world that youths can make a change and write history! Remember Gandhi? Now, we have Eqyptians! Tahrir Square becomes a symbol of peaceful revolution towards freedom!

2011-01-01T18:39:00.001-08:00

Los Angeles Traffic

2010-12-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

I moved to Los Angeles (LA) from Plano, Texas seven years ago. That was a major cultural change, especially the traffic culture. I had gotten used to the nice suburban life style of Plano for nearly twenty years. The traffic characteristis there was (not sure now) not at all comparable to LA.

Los Angeles is notorious for its clogged arteries. A coworker had remaked when I was new to LA, ' Welcome to LA. We have a nice weather which you will enjoy waiting in the traffic'. That sums it all.

First few years, I drove to work every day so tensed up that, if I had gone to doctor in those days, he/she would have prescribed blood pressure medications. It is the way they drive here that makes one dread the traffic. You don't know when you have to stop suddenly, especially when you are driving at 45-50 miles an hour with less than a car distance between each cars; lest another car will squeeze in front of you.

Here, the only default law is that every driver has the right of way no matter what the traffic law says. Leaving enough space, as dictated in the traffic laws or physics, in front of your vehicle is like inviting another speedy driver to squeeze in. But, driving closer so as not to allow another car to push you behind is like a total meditation (no distraction possible -just stare at the front car!) and complete reliance on the breaking system.

While I have abandoned the notorious 405 highway for good, for its snail speed during rush hours (and every hour is a rush hour in LA!), any other road from South Bay leading to El Segundo is equally clogged in the morning hours (7- 9AM) and clogged in the reverse direction during 3-6PM. Makes every body wonder where these people are going. And, there seems to be plenty of them too.

Driving on Hawthorne Ave is like racing from one traffic light to another - they are sometimes as close as 10 feet! Initially, I used to wonder how did the city manage to implement the speed limit of 35 miles/hour when there is no visible cop or camera. But, after 7 years of driving along that road, now I am sure that they don't need any. It is just a simple physics law: the speed = distance/time. While the distances between the traffic lights are shorter, the fact that stop signal comes every time you are about to reach the intersection makes the average speed of the traffic almost equal to 20 miles per hour! Viola, no car can exceed the speed limit of 35 miles per hour on Hawthorne Ave. I take almost an hour to reach my work (12 miles) during the rush hour. Clever traffic engineers of CalTran!

As a result of this traffic signal characteristic, people drive in a very special way which can be described very simply as 'floor the gas -floor the break'! Flooring the gas pedal is to try to escape the signal. Flooring the break is either because somebody squeezed in front of you or the signal suddenly turned red (not much time in that yellow phase) when you just crossed the intersection line. This is why my blood pressure used to hover above 150 (the high number in the reading and I don't remember the units).

Then there are deer-in-the-headlight drivers, who god only knows how they passed the traffic laws test. They will stop and look left and right, and even wait for some time, to turn right when they have the green signal! We in Texas know that when there is green light, it is the person turning right who has the right of way over the person turning left from the opposite. But, not in LA. And that is convenient for me! When I have to turn left on a green signal, the person on the opposite side waiting to turn right yields me the right of way! Thanks!

There are many dazed-drivers who are not sure about anything! They drive very slowly and at every intersection, or during changing the lanes, they manifest utter disregard to all other traffic around them. When they have to turn left or right, they will have to do a total memory recall, for the traffic laws perhaps, so much so that their system (car) freezes there! Sometimes, these people just rush to join your lane in front of you when you are going at 45 miles per hour and once they are there, they almost stop!

Cockroach drivers are those who drive behind you on the adjacent lanes, start giving the turn signal to join the space in front of you, as if you could see their turn signal. They do not travel in their lane to cover the distance to be in front of you. Rather, they just enter from the side from behind you like a cockroach!

The worst drivers are the bus drivers...they always seem to have the right of way, everywhere, including crossing the line. They are slow and stop near almost all intersections or in the right turn lanes. When they start, they would not even look behind nor yield to the traffic that was almost passing and will just cut you across to be in front. I consider them the most dangerous drivers in LA.

School buses are another headache. They spew so much black exhaust that one would wonder whether the smog check rules are applicable to them at all in CA.

The city also makes a lot of money by designing the lanes (and orchestrating the signals- or not doing the traffic engineering) such that during the rush hours we are forced to cross the double yellow lines and cops will wait in such locations just to catch the hapless people like me who are forced to traverse between those yellow lines to join the left turn lane. The fact that cops wait in such places where they can catch drivers or walkers easily without any sweat shows that they are there not to safeguard the people, rather to fill the coffers with a least amount of work.

I also got a ticket just for walking across from my parking lot to work. It cost me $180 (to the city of El Segundo). That cop was hiding near the LAAFB and was continuously giving tickets to people at 8AM. His suggestion was that I should walk to the intersection, cross and walk back to work, about a three quarter mile walk from parking to office. While writing the ticket, the cop said condescendingly that it was dangerous to cross the Douglas Road. What am I? A five year old child? I wanted to ask that. But then, ate my words, as otherwise he would have given me another ticket. I believe it is very dangerous to cross at the intersection. And, I am proved to be right, as somebody was hit at that intersection this week and that person is in the hospital.

We also have cameras at the Hawthorne and El Segundo intersection. So many people have complained about it. The other day, while I was turning left on to El Segundo in green, which turned yellow in the middle, the camera started taking pictures! It was drizzling. Not sure whether the cameras get triggered by the rain drops or not.

Here we are not familiar with the word "YIELD". May be that is the reason why people squeeze in from left and right, behind and front. People may be waiting to get on to the roads from shopping malls, but the drivers on the road simply zoom by without even looking at that side. If there is a stop signal, those who came afterwards will just block the waiting drivers from the side without glancing sideways.
In such a chaotic selfish and rude traffic-centric city, it is really scary to know that many drivers do not have any auto insurance. But, we the LA people just love our cars...very expensive cars....many many of them...as the same coworker remarked, 'We cannot afford a house here in LA, so we spend the money on expensive cars....''

Catch me if you can...

2010-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to play 'catch me if you can' for sometime now. Yes, it is true. Ever since my sister and then my brother were diagnosed with diabetes, I knew that I am at a very high risk. And, they are younger to me.

After two years, finally I dared to have my physical last week. That is because I suddenly started having episodes of dizziness and losing balance. Fearing stroke, I rushed to the neighborhood emergency doctor. It turned out to be due to a virus infection. He recommended a physical to check my cholesterol level. Since I was looking for a primary care physician, I thought why not have him as my doctor. Ever since I came to Los Angeles, I have been having difficulty finding a good doctor that I could trust (I will write about it soon). So, I scheduled for a physical.

In the past physicals, the results always used to come like this: Your good cholesterol (HDL) is very low, bad (LDL) is slightly near the border on the higher end, fasting glucose normal, and blood pressure is on the margin.... But, this time, the doctor also ordered an A1C test. Well, my recent Zumba class seemed to have helped me...all the above numbers were going in the right direction: good cholesterol increased by 10 points, bad went down by almost ten points, cholesterol to HDL ratio came down dramatically.... but, A1C is saying otherwise...6.7%...most likely, diabetes...

They say the formula to prevent (or postpone) diabetes is to maintain an active lifestyle and eat a healthy diet. I have been always active since my childhood days. I have been practicing yoga since my teen years. I even went to nationals to compete while I was in India. I have been walking like crazy, to the point that my son once remarked that, after death, I would be walking in the clouds with a halo around my head. I have tried lifting weights. I have tried Aerobics. I have tried even Zumba recently! And, at work I have to park about 3 quarters of mile away from the building where I work. I have maintained my weight for a long long time. So, I thought, D shouldn't dare to come near me at all. When the doctor mentioned about exercise to prevent diabetes, I could not help saying that the only way I could do more exercise is by changing my profession and becoming an exercise instructor.

Neither of my parents had diabetes. But then they were not eating all the "modern" food or using modern amenities. They were very active due to necessity.

Coming back to my diet, while I have been a vegetarian all through my life and avoid fatty foods and try to stick to 1% milk, I do enjoy some junk food like cookies, ice cream and sweets.

So, I did the online research and tried to find the normal ranges for the A1C results and the bad colesterol. While I found that my cholesterol is not as bad as they told me it was, my A1C results seem inconclusive. I saw a paper that says A1C results also may depend on the age and the lab.

So, when I pointed this out to the doctor, he said, 'yes, it does, and for this lab, it is in the diabetic range'. A1C results give a snapshot of the average sugar level over the past three months. So, he said that apparently, my sugar level has been wildly fluctuating. He recommended an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test. Since this requires fasting again, and since I can only wake up after my morning tea, which I cannot do if I have to go for this test, I begged the doctor for postponement. He agreed and told me to come after three months.

In the meantime, I have to get busy and try to distance myself from D as much as I can and as long as I can...

A California Voter's Dilemma

2010-10-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

We have only two days left before the elections and there is the intense heat of close competition. California is the place to be if you are a citizen with an inclination to voice or participate in voting. Of course, certainly not for apathetic people like Meg Whitman, who is running for the Governor's position, but never voted for 28 years! But for people like my son, who just moved here from Texas for grad school, it is a place to be. Unlike Texas, where the majority is conservative and go for the same party and same candidate again and again (except in progressive cities like Austin), California is a place where people are interested in changes, good or bad!

But looking at the array of candidates this time, however much I want to vote, I still do not find good ones. Finally, I may go for the Democratic candidates, for all the positions, more for the strategic importance than the abilities of the candidates per se.

Let us look at the candidates now. Jerry Brown was Governor before, but not with any impressive performance to write home about. His team consists of people who refer to the opponent, a very venerable lady Meg Whitman, a 'whore'. Whitman, who is running for the Governor's position, has established a track record of apathy towards politics by never voting for 28 years. She must have been busy with her impressive education and career. While she employed an illegal immigrant in her house for a long time, she keeps talking against illegal immigrants. And then she spends her own money, to the tune of three digit millions, on the campaign. She could have donated a major portion of that to some poor students to go to college or to improve the schools in the poor neighborhoods and could have mentioned that in her accomplishments. That would have drawn more voters, like me for example, to her.

Both of these candidates have told us how their opponent is useless for the job of Governor than how they themselves are useful. As a result, we the voters are not sure what we are going to get if we vote for any of these.

Coming to the Senate candidates, Barbara Boxer has been in that business for a long time and I am not sure about her achievements at all. I'm not so sure why the Democratic party has not fostered a new and better candidate. Carly Fiorina, the Republican candidate, with an excellent background -being the only woman who headed a Fortune 20 company, joins the Tea Party. Furthermore, she stoops to the level of remarking about Boxer's hair, "That is so yesterday" on camera! This is not something that I expected from a Stanford- and MIT-educated Fortune 20 company CEO! It makes me wonder whether we are dealing with the shallowest mind (she may beat Palin!) ever. Do we really care about the candidate's hair or lack of it for that matter?

Attorney General Steve Cooley, LA Times' endorsed candidate, never bothered to investigate the Bell's corruption scandal, long before LA Times made its mission to dredge it. It seems more than a year ago, three police officers had come forth and complained about it. Well, he pulled it under the rug. He must be repenting now for the missed opportunity to get all the credits of exposing it.

...and the list goes on and on confusing nonpartisan voters like me. However, since I voted for President Obama and since I still believe that the President is trying his best to salvage the situation he was given, I have the responsibility of backing him in this election as well. So, sadly, I am going to vote blindly for the party, even when most of the candidates have lack-lustre history!

Only in America...

2010-10-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Only in America does a seven year old Samuel Burgos of Broward County, Florida get expelled from school for bringing a plastic toy gun to school! His teacher reports it to the principal of Pembroke Pines Charter Elementary School West, who determined the gun to be a toy, but she felt compelled to report the incident to the school board. And, the child gets expelled from the school and may continue to be expelled for another year!

This is the country where many adults possess handguns, and many others are 'pro-gunners' and they fight to carry it where ever they want to! This is the country where a police shoot first anybody suspicious and then investigate whether the suspicious was really dangerous or not!

The teachers who started all this must have forgotten their child psychology lessons and must have also forgotten the definition of firearms. If not, how can they find fault with that seven year old for bringing his toy, perhaps accidentally, to the school? Since when toys were added to the category of firearms for these teachers to raise such a hell over that plastic toy? If so, do they categorize it as such in the Toys-R-Us or any other toy store? Have they included that clause in that school's rules and regulations? Since when a seven year old became a very clear thinker about the consequences of carrying his/her toy, just because it was gun shaped to school?

Children in this country are already under a lot of restrictions when it comes to play. They cannot freely play outside with their peers, they cannot take their toy gun and point and play with their peers, they cannot do this or that, and as a result, they are forced to sit in front of the TV, which also is restricted.

As a child, growing in a small town of India, I used to play with a toy gun. I loved to play the role of a cop, the good guy. Lucky, back in India, even now, children have more freedom. It is not common for adults to possess guns. It is not common to have random shooting scenarios by students in schools.

Children love to play the good guy role and love to imitate that good conquering the evil. But, in America, in the land of the free, apparently, children do not have much freedom. They are expected to grow faster, think more like an adult, not be bouncy like any child in the world, lest they will be classified as ADHD, more restricted, more labelled, more punished, and as a result suffer with more mental problems!

Please give children the freedom to think, play, imitate and learn! Don't deprive them of the school and education they deserve. You do not take education and an opportunity to learn, away from a kid when he does something wrong from adult's viewpoint. Teach them what is right.

Please give children a break!

Another Budding Life Wasted

2010-10-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Not sure what kind of upbringing leads to do the irresponsible act of streaming another young man's private, whether it is homo or hetero, sexual act in the Internet in this advanced country. And, that is done by a college kid belonging to the generation which is exposed to modern ideas, modern thinking and changed values. A generation that is more tolerant about many prejudices that plagued its parents and a generation which convinces their parents about changed values and tolerance.
Tyler Clementi's suicide adds to the statistics of kids who commit suicide by being bullied by their own aged kids. The bully in this case is a tech savvy roommate Dharun Ravi.

Dharun Ravi was not impulsive. He did it again. He had the technical skills to go to his friend Molly Wei's room, enable the webcam in his room to stream his roommate Clementi's sexual encounter with another young man to the Internet by adding his own distasteful comment. Apparently, he was thinking about himself and was expecting kudos for his lousy act from the world of viewers.

Should he and Molly be excused from harsh sentence? Well, while Clementi's posts before his suicide show what a nice considerate young man he was, Dharun Ravi manifested a twisted rotten personality. His senseless act reveals an irresponsible, mean-spirited, selfish and narrow minded person who did not care for others. His act may be horrifying even to a heterosexual kid. So, he certainly needs to get the justice he deserves, to learn that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Now that he has done this, he will have plenty of time to do the soul-searching sitting in jail. And, yes, he deserves to go to jail. That probably will teach lessons to his parents too!

Proposition 8 Overturn

2010-08-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of exciting things happening in California now.

First of all, in a precedent setting ruling, the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage has been overturned! This shows that California can still confer equality and the constitutional rights to everybody irrespective of ones sexual orientation. The very premise on which this Proposition 8 was based on is that God made only "a man" and "a woman" to marry and not anything else. If you ask me, I would like to first meet and shower some questions on that person who says that God has defined that. Here are the questions:

1) Fundamental question: How does God look? Is he/she/it Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Jain, ...?
2) Under what circumstances did you meet him/her/it?
3) Why did God grant that priviledge and appear to you, and you only, and not the other billion folks on this earth?
4) Why does God define "marriage" in the first place for humans and not for any other creations? Does that not imply that we humans created that?
5) In case God is the culprit, did he have a set of rulings to define how it should be conducted and between who it needs to be conducted? A simplified pseudocode for that restrictions might run as follows:

Program Marriage (class, x1, x2)
#class : (humans, other_creations)
#Variables x : (Male, Female, Eunuch, other)
# Some species do not need another to procreate. So, then, x1=x2
If class . not_equal. humans end;
Else
   if (x1.equal. Eunuch). or. (x2.equal.Eunuch) end;
Else
    If x1. equal. x2 end;
    Else Ok_marry (x1, x2);
Return
End

Of course, this basic program would be elaborated to country specific, religion specific, region specific, race, subsect, caste, whatever specific restrictions. But, we certainly do not say, we, humans, wrote that. No! It is written entirely by the "God"! He is one fantastic coder, who had this burden of imposing this restrictions on the marriage. Or, may be he has a heavenfull of Indians (who lived according to all the codes -previous releases of codes- written by the preceded heavenly Indians) writing codes for him!

Not sure when he did that. Must have been obsolete as the concept of marriage itself is evolving on this earth. For, there was a time when intercaste marriage in India was a taboo, leave alone inter-religion. Now, it is slowly changing and all permutations and combinations are happening. So, is the inter-racial marriage in US. So, if God defined the code for 'marriage', he/she/it is slowly and steadily changing it, like the Microsoft Windows! Of course, those heavenly Indians are dispatching patches after patches of updated versions Marriage-Code releases to Earth! Did we miss that?

Well, we also say, God created us. So, either God forgot that he created these Gays and Lesbians, of course via heterosexual marriage, and forgot to include a part of the proper code for these creations or he made a mistake in creating them in the first place!

We, Hindus, have a lot of after death or rebirth scenarios based on ones performance during the life time. But, nowhere in our scriptures it mentions that "if you do this 'sin' (we really do not use that word in Hinduism), then you will be reborn (to a loving heterosexual couple) as a Gay or Lesbian and your Karma will come back and haunt you "! Neither is it mentioned in any other religion as far as I know!

But then, religion, like poetry, can be interpreted the way a reader imagines. Probably the religious fanatics can call being Gay/Lesbian itself is a pervertion, unethical (once upon a time, it was ethical in India to burn the living wife if her husband dies! But, thanks to Rajaram Mohan Roy -not the God-, it is no longer practiced), sin (depending on the religion) and define/apply the rituals to get rid of that, just like the rituals we have back where I come from to get rid of the ghosts ("Bhooth") that enter the body of the living !

The point that I am trying to understand here is, how allowing any two loving humans to be officially together and get the privileges of that, will hurt the other two loving humans, who are having that privilege already? Some may argue that marriage is for procreation. Well, that can happen without marriage (as shown by other creations on the earth) and that may not happen even with marriage (as manifested by humans on the earth).

And, married heterosexual couple may abuse their children and unmarried homosexuals may raise children to the point of perfection, as they are humans too! And, the scientists have not proved yet that homosexuality is a contageous disease. But, they may find someday that homosexuality may be hereditary and some heterosexuals have a higher probability of giving birth to a homosexual child! So, shall we ban the heterosexual marriages?

Oh please....

BOFA, Arrogance Supreme!

2010-05-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

The other day I read about Bank Of America celebrating its history. Of course, BOFA keeps on creating history and it is worthwhile celebrating it, for not sure how long it will be doing so, before the consumers boycott this behemoth of arrogant institution. If you read any Consumer related website, you can see that no other company has as many people complaining about as BOFA. BOFA, are you listening? Hats off to you for achieving that unique distinction! For, no other company is as impervious to the customers as you are and apparently, you are thinking that you have nothing to do with customers!

I would not have gone near BOFA had it not been for my original mortgage with ABM AMBRO got transferred to another lender who got acquired by BOFA. So, my stars got aligned in such a fateful way that now I am at the mercy of a lender who really does not know whether I am there or not. Well, at least that is what one of the representatives by name 'Mario' told us the other day in a conference call arranged by a HUD counsellor.

As I was outside, I did not have my loan number in front of me when we called. So, I had to give my Social and other personal information. The guy who initially refused to give my account info, came back and said I have two accounts with them. When asked which accounts were they, he refused to give any information. Then after we mentioned about my Loan Modification application, he was quick to change all the story and said, Bank of America did not deal with my account any more! That would be nice as if it is the case, then I do not have to pay my mortgage to anybody! When asked who did, he said he did not have to answer that question! When his arrogance continued and we asked for the supervisor, he refused to connect us. After a while, he connected us to a voice mail.

I had approached HUD back in July 2009 when I was unemployed for six months seeking help for the loan modification under Obama's Home Affordability plan. They collected all my financial details and transferred them to BOFA, the Blackhole! I kept calling them and I got the assurance that some Loan officer was looking at my case. Again, I approached HUD this year, as I am in a job now that pays me about 57% of what I used to make in 2008.

In February this year, I received payment coupon from BOFA with the escrow attached to it. There was no explanation, no notice why. When I called, they told me that they were considering my loan modification and I would be receiving a reduced payment coupon pretty soon. Well, February passed, March came and I did not receive any reduced payment information. I paid my property tax on time. But, eventoday the payment coupons continue to impound my escrow based on their prior calculation of the property tax.

I called BOFA again in March and was told that they would be sending a package about the loan modification. I was so happy that at last things started happening and I can continue living in the house without defaulting. They mailed a FedEX package on March 19th asking me to supply all the required documents via FAX or the prepaid FedEX they had enclosed by April 17th. I finished the paper work by March 28 and sent it in that prepaid FedEX mailer on 29th and they received it on March 30th. Again, black holed!

When I did not hear from them, I called in the middle of April. No they did not have any information about the paperwork that I had sent. After I was tossed from department to department, I was told that they were processing my paperwork, even when nobody could see any information about the receipt of my paperwork.

I called again this week. In the three hours that I was on the phone, I was bounced from one department to another back and forth, including the debt collection department, who assured me that I was current in my payment! Thank you! During this call, here are the responses from different representatives:

1) Have you sent back the application that we sent to you on March 19th? We do not have any records.
2) You were declined, as we could not go any lower in the interest rate.
3) If you are interested in Loan modification, why don't you call HUD? I am the agent assigned to your account and I do not see any information about your application.
4) You were declined based on the information that you provided earlier, then we sent the package to see whether there is any change. Call the Home Affordability plan to see the status on this after two hours as our computer is down now and I cannot check the status.
5) (Home affordability plan department representative 'Mushi' says) I do not see your information here. Did you send back the package? Where did you send them? (After I said that I may have to go to court about this) Let me check on that. (She puts me on hold for a long period and comes back and says) Don't worry, we have your paper work and we are processing it. Check back with us in early May.

When we have so many intelligent people unemployed, seems like majority of the incompetents still have jobs with BOFA. I sensed something fishy going on and contacted HUD counselor. Next day, HUD counselor arranged a conference call starting with the customer service department. Again, we were bouced back and forth and we had to place three calls to get to different people including 'Mario' that I mentioned earlier.

Finally, we were told that they mailed the application package on March 19th, and then another department made a decision to decline my application on March 20th (Saturday!) and no body knows what happened to the application that I sent back on due time (before April 17th) which their front desk had received on March 30th for which I have a proof of signature. They advised me to apply again! We requested again. I asked how long would that take, as my interest only loan is going to readjust in August and I simply cannot afford to pay that. They said, they did know how long it would take as they were swamped currently!

And, I keep reading about the experts advising us how to avoid the foreclosure. I have been trying my best, I have been prompt in my payment, but well, now I am so angry that I do not care for my credit history any more, if I have to foresake my son's education for paying for this house, I'd rather lose the equity that I had invested in this houe and default. I simply do not want to deal with BOFA and keep hearing their lies.

Banks have really not learnt their lessons. Not sure whether they help anybody or their own people. Unless government did something to punish them for their arrogance, I suspect that people like me are left with no choice.

Another Historic day

2010-03-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the President for making this day happen! So many people will be thankful for this day. Tea party people, who are trying to drag the nation several decades back, will finish their tea and go home. Future generation will remember this day and thank the people who made it happen.

Those who blame President Obama as Marxist has not seen how the Marxism works, nor have they really pored through the pros and cons of the Health bill. They just want to say 'nay' to everything Democrats do, or rather President Obama does.

President Obama certainly deserves Nobel prize!

Regarding the Employer Feedback After the Interview

2010-03-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

There is a discussion going on in LinkedIn regarding whether an employer need to give any feedback to the candidate after the interview. Many participants in that discussion are either HR people or some high level executives. You may wonder why the candidates like me are not participating there. Well, I was tempted to post my two cents, then decided otherwise. The reason being if I post my honest opinion, no employer will give me a job in the future. And, I can not be artificially polite and beat around the bush saying absolutely nothing after a couple of paragraphs.

Coming to the discussion in the LinkedIn. Many there, including the HR people, say that it would be right to treat the candidate the way you want them to treat you (do they really care?). So, it would be nice if you could give the feedback! I am surprised. Because, generally my experience has been, if they decide not to hire me, and they do that almost always, the HR person goes completely silent. Switch off. Vanish in the black hole. Sometimes, when you approach a manager after the regret letter for any feedback, you get a response from the HR: " Sorry, after a thorough investigation, we realize that you are not the right fit for our organization. We decided to give the job to a better (or internal) candidate. Thank you for considering us. We wish you the best". Well, Thanks!

Now, my question is, would I need such a canned feedback, when I very well have an excellent observation and capability to assess what has just happened in the interview? Or, to understand why I was not being considered, especially when my resume was aconsidered by the same people who interviewed me, as one of the best they had received before the interview?

My recent experience was with a very high flying, supposedly highly ethical and socially conscious company in the Silicon Valley. An HR person approached me saying that she found my (excellent) resume in their database, and they were very much interested. After many hit and miss due to (the inability to either remember my phone number or write it down) as their computer was down to get my number, etc., finally we were able to spend an hour talking about their and my interests. Again, I was asked to pick many areas of possible interest (again they have many openings) and rank them. Probably, I should have used their own algorithm for ranking. Then she gave me an assignment. To search the LinkedIn for any connection to their employees, as they consider only people that are connected to them. I was surprised that such a so called ethical company would do this cronyism. But, I needed a job, so I did not express what I thought. I am learning these days to keep my logical thoughts very well locked within my brain. "You are not to ask why, you are but to do and die, unto the valley of death, road to six hundred..."

I told her I really did not know anybody in their company. Still, she insisted. So, I wasted another couple of hours finding 3rd and 4-th connection. Probably, I'd have covered the founders of that company as well within six connections (remember six degrees of freedom?). Well, my hope had risen to a very high level. After all, I was unemployed last year and under employed currently. I have reached the stage of walking out on my mortgage..

She said she would arrange a telephone interview with a couple of people and then would schedule an interview for a day or two to meet with all the people. She scheduled a phone interview with a person. That day, I waited in my car (outside work) for the call to come. It did not come for 10 or 15 minutes after the scheduled time. I was thinking that probably she must have messed it up again as she had done with her calls. I was about to leave when I received the call. It turns out an altogether different person. He started asking about the routine questions (which work in my career was I very proud of...etc.).

Then, he started asking technical questions that you would really ask an entry level person. "Do you know which protocol is used to estimate the network path length? "I am not sure", I said (I thought it was known to the service provider who built it). "Have you used the protocol trace route and what is it used for?" "I have not used it, but I guess they use it for tracing the path and estimating the traffic," I said. "Can you guess how we can use this protocol for estimating the path?" " Sorry, I am not sure." "Have you heard of TTL?" "Yes, time to live field in the header"....and then he went on to explain how the traceroute is used for estimating the path length. The last question before we ended was, do they provide QoS to the end user now. I said, I was not sure whether a user can negotiate a QoS based SLA yet. But, one can get the highest QoS with a high speed link.

He ended the conversation saying that they would contact me in a week or so, if they decide to go ahead with the interview. That is the last thing I heard from them. The HR DID NOT GIVE ME ANY FEEDBACK! She simply withered away! Well, the possible feedbacks would have been, " You are not connected to anybody in our company," or " You do not know Trace Route Protocol," or " You are not up to date as to what is going on at the edge of the network," or the-unsaid - but-well-understood-words, "You are a woman engineer wanting to manage a group of engineers in the silicon valley, where some companies, including ours, are fighting against such anti-discriminations measures..."

I thought I was being considered for a management position. But my interview gravitated around the working of the protocol Trace Route! If I had mastered the Quantum Mechanics principle and Theory of Relativity and Tensors when I was barely 21, and if I have worked more than fifteen years in the telecom/datacom/satcom area, is it very hard to learn the Trace Route protocol or QoS availability to the curb or any protocol available in the IETF, for that matter? I agree it is hard sometimes to understand the IEEE or ITU standards! But, IETF standards?! Give me a Break!!

India- still a snake charming country for some US HR people!

2010-02-23T21:52:00.000-08:00

I have seen many people in this country who are completely unaware of what is going in the world. They think that people who come from outside, other than whites, are completely stupid. This is especially true about people from India. For example, the other day my neighbor educated me how the election process works! She continues to believe that I am the dumbest person in this condo community, even when I am the highest educated in this community.

Coming to the job front, they always are impressed with my resume. However, when they see me, their many openings completely vanish suddenly. This is more so when I go to government related companies. This should be the last place where they should be treating you differently. You wish!

No government related openings that I have applied have considered me on the USA jobs website. They need my transcripts and they want our degrees evaluated by an independent agency (after we pay them). This is true about the jobs in the community colleges and high schools. So, even when I have taught in a university in this country, they will never consider me for any community college position, at least in California! No, these people have not heard about the best research place in the whole South Asia, my almamater, IISc.

How can they be? Whatever happened today at my work illustrates why I have never been considered by the government organizations. I am a contractor at one of the govt. organizations. I just happened to talk to the resident HR person, who sits next to my cube and have been seeing me since November. I mentioned that I am looking for a full time job.

He asked whether I have any degree at all. 'Yes,' I said.

'I have a Ph.D', I told him. Now, he wants to justify his own assumption about my dumbness.

"Are you an engineer?" he asks. "Yes, I am."

"Do you have transcripts? They need transcripts."

"I have degree certificates."

"Oh, they may need a translator!"

"Why? Our official language is English. Don't you know anything about India? They are advancing very fast, pretty soon they may overtake you"

Without You...

2010-01-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Without you what would I have ?
My mind has established in you,
My dreams are imprisoned in the eyes.

I am aching with pain
waiting for you day after day;
You brought bitter pain of longing
in my life day and night.
The desire of my heart
you could not see,
you filled me with complete darkness.
All I wanted from you was light.

With your ray of love,
open my inner colors, and
pour the hope of life on the
dried earth of my bosom.
Release me from this impediment,
I will get a new life from you,
And, because of you, I will see a new world.

To English: Bharathi

Original Kannada: "ನೀನಿಲ್ಲದೇ ನನಗೇನಿದೆ" by M.N. Vyasa Rao

2009-12-26T09:35:00.001-08:00

Tiger Saga

2009-12-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

Well, just when we forgot about David Letterman, we have this juiciest story! It is the juiciest because Tiger gave the world a very nice gentleman image! Turns out, 'he is only human'! Only, wonder whether all humans will do this kind of philandering! Or, is the philandering considered to be the basic human trait? Not sure whether running parallel lives with other women, when you have a beautiful wife and two cute kids is to be considered very normal. Do the real tigers have this parallel affairs when they are in heat? Need to research. Anyhow, he also, as others, immediately regrets his transgressions. What if he had not hit the fire hydrant, and the tree? What if his wife stayed indoors after he rushed out?

It is interesting that our this Tiger while always showing a grumpy image in majority of the photos turns out to be a very interesting character. We may not know what he was trying to do in that middle of the night, crashing against fire hydrants and trees. We also may not know why his wife chose the hockey stick as a tool! Must be very symbolic! Or, may be they have hockey sticks lying all around their home.

But, he claims it is his private matter and many believe so. I am not so sure. First of all, Americans cannot stand dishonesty! That is why probably we have one of the best justice system in the world. Moreover, if he has been sponsoring merchanidize and making millions out of it, then the same people who kept him on the pedastal and bought things because they saw his name or his grumpy picture on the items they bought, may feel betrayed. Playing golf and winning is entirely based on his ability. But, selling items using his name is based on the ability of the public to trust the image he is selling.

It may so happen that his wife may forgive him, as many great wives of the public figures have done before. And, people may forget and move on...and Tiger Woods may rake in billions more...until then...

Couldn't help writing this...

Other unreported effects of Flagyl

2009-11-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

I stopped the Flagyl yesterday on my 6th day of the 7 day course specified by the doctor. The reason being, I have completely lost my appetite, I have become extremely groggy and extremely dry skinned. The last one is not reported anywhere. The dryness is so much so that I cannot even open my eyes, for it feels like there is something in my both eyes and they are red.

There must be a better way to deal with this and must be other medications for parasites. I am not inclined to go for Flagyl again. May be the dosage also was too much. Coming to the dosage, I am reminded of how my mother and father died.

While my mother died due to extremly high doses of Malaria medication (Chloroquin) prescribed by a doctor in Mangalore for her Plasmodium Vivax, my father was killed by the ruthless doctors (Main one was a Professor in Ramayya College) of Bangalore by prescribing 14 medications simultaneously at one time, including medications for his supposed heart problem (which he never had!). All he had was, Giardia and heartburn! The dumb doctors could not even recognize the fact that when he had the chest pains, he had no shortness of breath, and he climed stairs to the doctor's office! There is no malpractice laws, no justice system to protect the rights of the patients there. And, with most doctors there, you cannot even ask questions!

Sorry, I digressed from Flagyl! Flagyl effect made me think how my parents might have felt while dying due to overdoses in the hands of the incompetent doctors!

Flagyl Effect on Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T16:51:00.000-08:00

My doctor prescribed Flagyl for some parasitic infection of my stomach. My bathroom visits had started simultaneously with my new job last month. Initially, I thought it had to do with the stress related to going back to work. Come to think of it, having a job is stressful and having no job is also stressful! Probably, if there is an entity like God, he or she or it would certainly not ask humans about designing humans!

After all, I have been home since January after losing my previous job and completely gotten used to doing nothing, having no schedule-breakfast at 9:30AM, lunch at 3:30PM...- that it is really hard to leave home around 7:45AM, after finishing breakfast and return home after dark! All my walking has come to standstill!

Well, anyway, my initial days at the job were spent going to the bathroom (rather running, to avoid accidents). And, after a month, after exhausting all our south Indian home remedies and after being only on BRAT food, I was still going (More output than input, violating the Law of Conservation) and I had started trimming down (now that is a good side effect!). So, finally I had to visit the doctor. He ordered blood work and stool test, which came out positive for some parasite. After a week, he called me and told me to take Flagyl, if I want to. So, I had a choice.

Immediately, I started searching the Internet about Flagyl. I read horror story after horror story, discussion boards describing all the bad things about Flagyl. So, I postponed taking the medication. But, three days after that, I was still running to the bathroom. So, finally, I visited my neighborhood pharmacy to pick up my three day old prescription. And, started in the middle of the day, so that, if there is an emergency it is easier to find people around.

All was well. I could sail smoothly for three days. I was thinking, perhaps these people might be exaggerating things. After reading all those discussion boards, I had realized that I am in an altogether different planet, being a teetotaler! Many of them mentioned that they cannot survive without alcohol even a single day, as if it is a staple food! Some of them were even saying that they had their weed (with alcohol + Flagyl). Looks like, all these people have become chemists! Perhaps, because of all that abuse they might be experiencing those lousy symptoms?

No! I started feeling nauseated in the evening on the fourth day. All I wanted was rice with pickle (South Indian). I was slowly losing my appetite. Fifth morning, I was extremely groggy. It lasted the whole day. I was about to doze off at work yesterday, like my next cube coworker! Today, the sixth day- Thanksgiving day- I have been extremely drowsy all day like a drugged person. I do not feel like eating anything. I still see the same consistency in the bathroom. I am not sure whether my parasite problem still persists, as they say this drug also causes diarrhea! So, I would like to stop it today (or tomorrow perhaps, as I do not want to spend the majority of my waking hours in the bathroom either).

So, it is true that Flagyl or Metronidazole would cause all those lousy symptoms, even without alcohol itself. Some people claim that taking the alcohol did not cause any problems to them. But, then, they may be heavier and may be alcoholics who have become less sensitive to its effects.

My 500mg three times a day (I am 140 lbs) is making me so drowsy that I am not sure whether it is the drug or whether it is the dumbest thing that I did a few days ago that is making me forget the difference between the day and night! Over that, I would not dare to take anything that will impair all my thinking abilities. I only hope that the doctor's voice mail yesterday is not about more bad news and more medications! Need to call him tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving again!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to anybody who loses his or her way and stumbles upon this blog.

I have not been doing much here lately, mainly because I found a small contract job. I am so thankful for that this thanksgiving, especially when people are still losing their jobs now. I am also thankful for many other things in life...

Pilots busy on their Laptops!

2009-10-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Now, what could be more interesting than that 'story'? And, they were so busy (both of them) that they never realized that their destination came and went, with extra 150 miles of it , air traffic controllers were hectically trying to contact them, military was on the alert and the whole world was watching them. Oh yeah, they were blissfully oblivious. Is that what Buddha achieved under that Bhodhi tree? Perhaps!

Which meditation method can teach you a better concentration technique than that? Not to mention, which child will believe that 'story'? I am only wondering how a 'laptop story' is better than 'we were having our siesta' or 'we were doing something cheesy' story? I work on the computer the entire day and I surf the Internet as well, still never once it helped me concentrate like that. Perhaps, now that they are terminated, they are going to offer corporate training sessions as to how to achieve Nirvana with the laptop. Not sure whether there is any specific brand that is needed for this to happen.

What would have happened if they were not called by the crew outside the cockpit? What happened to the announcement they used to make as you approach the destination about half an hour before? When did they start their 'out-of-the-body-travel' in the laptop land? How could they both achieve the Nirvana simultaneously?

So many questions and so little information! Even the blackbox can only supply information after they came down to earth or the last 30 minutes (that is the time required probably to land the plane once they were brought back to their cockpit from 'whereever-they-had-gone-land' or 'whatever-they-were-doing'!).

I get other suspicions and questions, but it would be prudent not to write them here. The suspicion is based on the claim by both (I say Both) that they were using the LAPTOP and BOTH forgot the time...or time to land! But, if I travel next time, I may probably request the air hostess, about an hour before the scheduled landing time, to remind the pilots that we are about to land in an hour and, either come out of that Nirvana or not to start the process of reaching Nirvana at that hour!

Congratulations to The President!

2009-10-11T16:52:00.000-07:00

My hearty congratulations to our President Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. While he has not had enough time to prove himself, atleast to be eligible to win this prize, the fact that he has come this far and hopes to do a lot more may be a lifetime achievement for him and for the country.

If his 'audacity of hope' has brought him this far, I sincerely hope that he would leave the office, when he leaves, in a manner that is worth this prize. Certainly the world scene has started moving in a hopeful manner towards peace.

Let us all wish him the best and wish for the world peace!

David Letterman Saga

2009-10-03T12:27:00.001-07:00

Aha, the late night talk show host who picked on others’ characters became the center for others to pick on! Not bad! Now we all know that Mr. Letterman was very busy with sexual affairs (during the day?) with his female employees when he was going steady with his now-wife. What is more disturbing is he is not ashamed of it. Rather, the comic, as the LA Times refers him, very arrogantly admits that it would be those females who had affairs with him, would be in trouble if he divulges much about it. And, of course, there is his family to protect. Not sure, as it stands now, whether his family is okay with the information that is public now. Wonder how, however, his family could be in the dark all this time when he was busy with many other extra-curricular activities.

We have other equally public figures, all of them males and married with children, sometimes grown, admitting their foils unabashedly as if nothing happened, as soon as they are discovered. They would carry on with their escapades in full blast until they are caught red-handed and immediately, I say immediately, they stop in their tracks dead and apologize profusely. It is like, an electric switch that is turned off without any remnants of the immediate past history! Would they stop and apologize had they not been discovered?

This arrogance in the public admission illustrates complete lack of conscience and a belief that males are allowed to philander, then suddenly fly home to their lack-luster wives (or go separate as in the case of our Los Angeles Mayor) to nurse their bruised libidos and start all over again. Soon, the public will forget and they will be in business, with improved ratings many a times, as the increased number of viewers to the Letterman show illustrates! Well, people may be there to see what he got to say about this and what his other shenanigans might be! And, whether this showman is going to give any more juicy stories of self, after all now that he has admitted his straying, what is there to hide.

Joel Halderman, who is supposed to blow the whistle on the comic’s character and do the damage to him, got the opposite of what he was hoping for. Now, Letterman is supposed to be a victim and Halderman, a perpetrator. Interestingly, Mr. Letterman has not violated any sexual harassment policies of his company when he was enjoying the sexual-perks. Seems like, they have an altogether different code for sexual harassment policies compared to the rest of the country. It did not prohibit any sexual relations between the managers and the employees. How convenient! Next time, when I get my next job, before I accept, I need to check on the company’s sexual harassment policy. Not that I can be another victim, but who knows how these perverts act? Just to be on the safer side…

Another question, that is in the Kernel mode in my brain, is why the respected veteran of the TV, Mr. Halderman did this in the first place? Did he reach his limit of patience with Mr. Letterman’s real-life shows; or, the obvious hypocrisy of the showman? Why did he write that letter, incriminating himself in the process, to Mr. Letterman? Did he really need that money? If I, with several million unemployed people in this country, can survive on the unemployment insurance, could he not have survived with his nice package from the CBS? Well, we the ordinary people of this country are in a different plane than the parallel universe of the Hollywood, or even the public service people, of course.

Independent

2009-09-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

The humming bird is here again,
suspending in the air,
just to suckle the nectar from the flowers
that it only has seen.
It flutters its wings several times,
humming all the way,
to get its daily bread, as they say.
No, it doesn't have to depend on another humming bird
nor a Humming Bird Corporation
to give it its daily ration.

I see a sparrow hiding under a vine,
looks like it already had its fill,
pecking and picking here and there.
No, its food was not provided by a Sparrow Inc.,
neither will it awake in the morning
thinking what should I do next.
It has a purpose, it has resources and importantly,
it does not depend on a company
where to the Big Sparrow.Gov funds the money.

None of them did study abcd
leave alone get a Ph.D.
None of them are at the mercy
of another of their species
to provide them their daily bread,
to make them a reason to wake up,
or, make them feel themselves as helpless !

Performance & Capacity Planning: Important Issues of the Cloud Computing

2009-09-17T15:30:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time, there used to be a roomful of UNIX machines providing computer services to the remote dumb terminals. You get the connectivity via the telephone lines and then you telnet the remote computer that had your account. You used all the software available on that machine. But, the service was limited to the users of the respective organization.

Then, the PCs, INTERNET and the servers associated with them arrived. We started having our own software installed on our PCs. We started using the INTERNET for everything. This also opened up the security issues. Security software, one of the most resource consuming software, became an inherent part of the PC. As the computing powers grew and the memory price dropped, the applications became more and more CPU and memory hungry. As a result, network connectivity got increased in bandwidth. So, we started doing a lot more stuff using the network. Soon we realized that it would be nice if we can have all our applications, which have also become very expensive compared to the hardware, provided by the service providers based on a on-demand basis . Slowly, we entered the cloud computing (CC) era, which almost looks like going back to where we came from, but in a humongous scale and with a different paradigm.

Apparently, CC seems to be the next step in the INTERNET evolution. Cloud computing, as the name implies, is a concept where the computational capability is provided in the cloud or the internet as a utility. The computational capability may include Software as a Service (SAAS), Hardware as a Service (HAAS), infrastructure as a service (IAAS). There are great many advantages with the CC [1]. There are already many major infrastructure providers or Cloud Computing Service Providers (CCSP) in this arena, such as GOOGLE, AMAZON EC2, etc.

While the name CC sounds very exciting, and there is a lot of hype about it in the IT world, it is still very hazy to many experts as to what exactly it is supposed to be and how it could be provided. Many people interpret it the way their background allows them to understand, which reminds us of the 'Big Elephant and the Seven Blind people'. However, the current emphasis in the CC seems to be mainly focused on the application software side. It is true that many people recognize the security and reliability (or is it availability?) issues as well. But, my search for papers on the performance analysis and capacity planning of the computing resources, including the network bandwidth in the CC infrastructure, did not yield any useful results. Neither did I come across any paper that would suggest any optimization of the system as a whole. The closest one is the Berkley paper [2].

In [3], Bernard Golden rightly recognizes the topic of bandwidth capacity in the CC as a very crucial issue. He calls for modeling and simulation related to the traffic pattern to predict and estimate the capacity requirements of the links to the external world from the cloud. It should be noted that the capacity estimation should be considered even within the cloud as well as the capacity requirements of the links that connect the cloud to the users or cloud clients (CCL).

Many of the issues that are to be addressed in the CC are still in the clouds: 1) How to provide SLA : Reliability, Availability, Bandwidth Guarantees, QoS, Security, etc., 2) How to define QoS , 3) How to do the capacity planning and traffic engineering for the intra and inter clouds, 4) The performance analysis and modeling of the clouds, 5) Systems engineering the cloud to build an optimal cloud (optimal selection and distribution of the data centers with optimal connectivity between them) and optimizing the resources. And, for the cloud user or CCL, how and when to choose the cloud service provider such that the profit is maximized. All these call for the need for the right systems engineering teams by the CCSP and CCL.

References

10 Things You Don't Need to Do In the Clouds, http://smoothspan.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/10-things-you-dont-need-to-do-in-the-clouds/
Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing, http://radlab.cs.berkeley.edu/
Bernard Golden, The Skinny Straw: Cloud Computing's Bottleneck and How to Address It,http://www.cio.com/article/499137/The_Skinny_Straw_Cloud_Computing_s_Bottleneck_and_How_to_Address_It

About Blogs

2009-09-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

In more than 112.8 millions of blogs, as of June 2008 as tracked by Technorati, that are updated on a daily basis, there is so much information (or noise) the bloggers have been generating that one would wonder, who reads all of them? Or, what is the average number of readers per blog? What are the ‘Useful-Index’ and the ‘Information-Content’ (I can sense Shannon rolling in his grave) for the readers? Which nation or Who reads the blogs most? Why? And, when do they read them (at work or home)? What is the per capita hour spent on reading the blogs? Which nation or Who writes/produces them most? What is the frequency of updates? What is the average page size? Finally, the overall advantage to the world: Will it help improve the harmony between the countries? Will it minimize the wars? Will this ‘Blogmmunication’ (Communication via Blogs) help unravel a United World?

I contracted this ‘blogomania’ only a couple of months ago, mainly due to the ample productive time that I have at my disposal due to my unemployment. This is not to say that all the blogs are generated by productive people or people misusing their productive time at work. Well, this may be true. But, I have to investigate on the statistics related to that before I can vouchsafe on that.

Initially, I started participating in a public native language blogosphere from India, where many people get to post. The editor asked me to send an article once in every two weeks. It had been a long time since I wrote in my native language, so I was apprehensive in the beginning. But, I was flattered and agreed. Once I started writing, I could generate articles like a manufacturing process. And, I would send them to the editor immediately. Pretty soon, I realized that I should not have, as apparently all my emails were going into some blackhole folder in his email box. Either that or he must have been simply busy to read anything. Anyways, within two months he stopped publishing my articles. Even till today, I have not received any convincing reason for that from the editor who had asked me to keep writing!

Probably because of some of the lousy comments my articles generated? It is an open forum with anybody and everybody who could read the posting could post the comment anonymously! Perhaps, the one and only kind in the whole universe, where there is no restrictions on bashing the authors (not the postings!)! So, anybody needing an outlet to their pent up feelings may find a good venue there! As a result, I am not sure whether it is their anger against something else that found an outlet in my articles (rather against me) or the quality of my writings or the contents or all of them combined! About the quality of my writings that I sent, while it may not worth writing home about, it was not as bad as 50% of the articles published there. In the statistical parlance, it may be categorized as ‘Average’.

But, now that I have started writing, I got addicted. Probably, that is why we have so many bloggers around the world, keep spitting out what occurs, or not occurs, on their mind. That is why I started my own blogs, thanks to Google. As long as Google is there, we don’t have to worry. But, it gets pretty lonely performance when you have no audience. So, the process went like this. I started a blog in my language. Soon I realized that it would be better if I wrote in my adopted language, English. But, I could sense that my eagerness had started ebbing as I did not find any reader (including my own son who had suggested starting my own blog in the first place) here as well. It is then, I thought about starting a blog in the Universal Language, “PICTURES”.

While I was in the process of starting itself, even before I posted anything or a single picture (I am not very sure about that), I saw that I got a follower already! Then I started noticing that there were many blog-hits while I was in the process of posting the pictures, from far and near.

Now, that is encouraging! For, in the first place, I am not that inclined (or used to, I should say. For, who knows, once I start writing, I may also write such BS) to write four pages about my routine single day or a perfectly ordinary event in that day! And, any kind of philosophical-blog-rumination (PBR), over a common event, is very boring for me, as of this writing atleast. Why would anybody want to read the PBR of a VIP (Very Insignificant Person)? To resonate?

So, while my next project is to analyze the world blog statistics, my immediate interest is to pursue my photography hobby and get appreciated by the world united by the universal language!

Home Loan Modification: Will I ever get it?

2009-09-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a while, more than a month, since I applied for the home loan modification, based on Obama's Home Affordable Modification Program, with my bank which has become notorious in delaying implementing the plan.

After a long time, a week ago, I found a voice mail left after 5PM (Generally most of the businesses in US close around that time, unless the business is in Hawaii). It said, I need to call the bank regarding my application. Next day, I called the bank. Another representative received the call. But, she could not find anything related to the call or any progress in my case. Yes, they had mentioned that it would be a slow process and after they received the application, somebody would call.

But, if the person from the bank had called, it would have been mentioned someplace, I would hope. So, is the bank hoping that I would walk out? And, perpetuate this foreclosure crisis? I am not a banker, nor an economist. But, according to my simple thinking, a borrower staying in the home and paying some interest is better than having to foreclose the house and put it in the market to rot for months and then sell for a lower price.

Well, may be the banks have not learnt? What other explanation can we give to the banks slow in implementing Obama's plans? And, still distributing bonus? What other explanation can we give to the today's news about a Wells Fargo Bank's foreclosure department guy living in that bank acquired home in Malibu of a borrower?

As an engineer, I would like to minimize losses and survive on my unemployment insurance, which in its entirety is going towards my mortgage. This mortgage is interest only till next August. My UI may run out pretty soon, as six months will be over in October. As I do not have any employer showing any interest, and as they generally stop hiring after October, my prospects of getting any job this year is almost zero probability, unless some miracle happens.

So, will I get my home loan modified by October, if at all? Else, do I set that month as the walk out month?

Justice Denied!

2009-08-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

In the world of humans, there is something weird going on, unlike in any other animal world. Humans, who claim to have advanced thinking abilities, can prove to be worse than animals. In one of the most advanced countries, the US, heinous acts are perpetrated on the most innocent of the species, children, everyday.

Society goes back in civilization everytime a child is abducted, molested, and killed. The case of Jaycee Lee Duggard, luckily, does not have a sad ending like many other cases. However, she still will have a lot to recoup. She lost her childhood, youth and her formative years. She had been held like an animal (even pets get better treatment in this country) and continuously molested. A federal parolee could do that right in front of the authorities. And, nobody came to help the child for eighteen years!

Now, can our society give back to her what she lost? Can society make up what it could not do during those years? Is she the same, as she would have turned out to be, had she not been abducted?

Can we not provide a safer place for the children in this society? Shall we stop calling a society as “advanced” if, in that society, children are not safe?

Seeking Logic in Everyday Life

2009-08-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last week I received a call saying that my credit card was compromised. Within a day I received a new card. Then, I received a letter from the bank saying that I need to circle the fraudulent transactions in the statement and send it to them. Well, they forgot (intentionally?) to enclose the statement (till the cancellation date). I thought, let me download it from the Internet. I could login my (old?) account alright. And, that is it. I could not do anything while I was there. Everything was blocked!

So, I called them. I could not go through the first person I could get hold of, since, they wanted my PIN number to talk to them about my compromised account! They did not need that when I had called them about the fraud or before. I said, I forgot, but could give her all my personal history! She disconnected me. I called again. Again, they asked me for the PIN. I repeated my story. By this time, I was really upset. Hey, whoever did the fraud could do everything with my account, but, I could not even speak to these people and ask for my statement! I started yelling. It is then, she asked me to give my phone number so that she could call me (and verify that I was who I claim to be I was!). She called back and finally agreed to send me my statement, for me to circle!

This tells us that banks really have good security measures. But, only against the genuine account holders! Scammers know how to do it right! And, banks cooperate with them!!

**********

Now that I am unemployed, like millions in this country, for eight months now, again like millions in this country, I thought let me help someone by volunteering. I applied to the local library, local hospital, and 'networked' - in the sense, that I asked a girl in my line dancing class, who had been doing the volunteer work at that local hospital. No response till last week. Remember, I started six months ago.

Looks like, either we have more volunteers than is needed, thanks to the recession and resulting unemployment, or we need some insider contact to get into that also (just like getting a job). Last week, finally, I got an email from the hospital saying that they were glad to offer me the volunteering opportunity (remember the days, when we used to get job offers like that? Looks like it happened eons ago!). Only thing is, they wanted a commitment for one year. Now, in those days, when they made job offers, did they ask us to make a commitment? I don't think so, if my memory serves me right! Don't know. I don't have to use my memory or my internal CPU much these days. So, it might have become obsolete!

So, I replied, email-haste (internet equivalent of post-haste) saying that I was really happy, but I could commit for the weekdays as long as my unemployment days last (looks like I am still an optimist here to imagine that I would have a job within twelve months from now!), and if I got a local job, I'd continue during the weekends. I never got any response!

I am wondering, who really can give one year commitment for the weekday volunteer work. There are three categories of people doing the volunteer work these days: 1) Unemployed not seeking jobs/retired/students, 2) unemployed seeking jobs, 3) employed. Not sure how anyone in these categories commit for an uninterrupted one year? First category people can fall sick, or their children or their grand children may fall sick and break the contract. Then, there are other family/personal obligations. Students cannot say how their next semester class schedules are like. In the second category, will people say to the potential job offerers (if there is any), "can you hold this job till I finish this commitment of my volunteer work?" And, naturally, the third category people cannot afford such commitments, unless they do the vanishing trick from their flexible employers (I have seen people do such tricks in my last job and they are still employed). Lastly, people may get calls from 'the above' asking them to leave this world. Would they tell the caller-from-above to hold on until they finish their volunteering-commitment?

Well, I would like to know the answers...

*******

After a couple of days, sinceI received the above email, I got a call from the above hospital regarding some charity donation for the 'wheel-chair-something' event. She said, quite cheerfully, that she was not asking for any donation. Rather, she would send trash bags and I pay for that. I said, I was unemployed and was quite satisfied with my Go-Green efforts of recycling the plastic grocery bags. I also added, that if my situation was like last year, I would have contributed.

She replied, helpfully, " I understand. So, would you rather give donation then?"

Now, my question is which part of my conversation did go blank? If due to my unemployment I could not afford to buy trash bags, how could I afford to give donation?

***********

Please help me read this sign:

Paying Homage to the Last of Kennedys

2009-08-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today, we can say, the Kennedy era ends with the passing of the last of Kennedys, Senator Ted Kennedy, at the age 77. However, his legacy will continue. ...

In Search of Logic in Job Search

2009-08-21T14:14:00.001-07:00

" * Do you have a security clearance: o YES o NO "

The online application asked. It was a mandatory question with an asterisk in front of it.

The next question was,

" * If you do not have a clearance, will you be able to get one: o YES o NO"

Now that I have a clearance, how should I answer this particular question? Since it is not applicable to me, I thought I would not answer this and go to the next question.

The next mandatory question was whether I was eligible to work in the USA.

Is there not a sequencing problem here? Will I get a clearance if I am not eligible to work in the United States? Or, have they started giving clearances to noncitizens during recession?

The computer programmer who wrote this online application probably never heard of the nested IF, THEN statements. So, I give a –C for that programmer and clicked "CONTINUE".

Bang, it came back with that exclamation mark embedded in yellow triangle saying I need to fill the second question! Well, I mark "YES" and go to the next page.

In some other web sites, after you create your profile you click the job search. Viola, it takes you back to the Login page! Hey, am I not logged in already? Probably, it is "Onion Peel" programming!

Then, there are cases of "Black holes". After you identify a job out of the Search Results and apply, you simply cannot go back to the "Search Results" page that you were in at all. You have to start all over again, identifying the type of jobs, locations you prefer and any other keywords that you may want to enter!

Some web sites will take you to the beginning page of the search results even when you were in the 13th before you decided to apply. And, these are the web sites of not small businesses, rather, they belong to the major government, defense contractors, IT and telecom industries. They also display jobs opened back in 2007.

After all these, if you manage to apply, you may receive an email within a few seconds (they were not that quick before the recession) saying that the jobs that you spent nearly two hours applying are frozen due to budget. Could they have not posted that sign on the Career Page in Bold Flashing Red Letters?

Job boards generally do a good job. In fact, I got my two previous jobs via one of these big job boards. No, it is not due to the much hyped "Networking", as they emphasize everywhere. More on that later.

However, in one of them, after I spent nearly an hour to create a profile and clicked a job to apply, instead of sending my resume directly to the hiring company, it takes me to the company's website. Now, that company wants me to create my profile there before I could apply.

There are job carts in every career website these days, where you put your selected jobs. But, never for a moment imagine that you minimized your efforts by checking out all the jobs in the cart by one click or series of clicks! No! The programmers who write this must be getting their salaries based on the number of lines of codes they produced. As a result, when you go to your job cart page, you are expected to apply to each individual job separately, entering the same information every time! I think if all the jobless people join and create an union asking all the employers to pay us money for entering our information like this, they might do some optimization there. Probably, we need to take the employers to the grocery store and show them how the carted items are checked out. Do we go again and again to the checkout counter for every item we have in the cart? Do they run our credit card separately for each item and give us separate receipts?

There is a lot of emphasis on networking these days as a means to get a job. After I got laid-off in the last wave of telecom industry downturn, the company that laid me off paid to one of those companies (perhaps the only companies that thrive when the job loss escalates) to train me in my 30 second speech, 3 minute speech, etc., how to write a resume, how to interview (first fifteen impression creating seconds) and create opportunities to network, etc. But, after nearly two years, I still was networking with the jobless people only. That was in Dallas.
Now, again, in Los Angeles, my current company has paid to one of these companies to train me again in this arena. They would not pay that money to us, instead. I enquired!

I am thinking, whether employers really care about my 30 second speech or my resume or my interviewing skills. The last two jobs I landed via one of the job boards interviewed me over the phone before making an offer. The most recent regret email that I received, for the interview that I could manage to get two weeks ago, told me that my resume was impressive, but I may not have the background to do their job. That was not what they told me when they talked with me over the phone before the interview and called me for the interview or during the interview.

I tried approaching a local company via networking after I lost my job in January. I was asked whether I had an active clearance. When I said yes, they asked whether I have filled a particular form. After digging up that information and confirming that I had, I was told to fill it again in case there is any change and keep it ready. I said okay. But, they told me, the jobs do not have the funding yet! Then, it was complete silence! And, that is the end of that branch of the networking tree.

Another much hyped word is "Diversity". These days we find one more button to click on the job boards. I am only wondering which is the "super set" here! Suppose I do not mark "Diversity", will my probability of being found by a potential recruiter decrease? Or, increase? Are they looking for a token employee when they search for "Diverse job seekers"? What defines "diversity"( I did not find a definition for that on the job boards)?

Do they really give equal job scale and pay to an equally competent woman? And, if that woman belongs to minority ( race)? And, if that woman is not tall and young and attractive (they still do not have buttons for that)?

Incidentally, in the last interview I had, the whole set of interviewers consisted of a homogeneous group of one race and all male except for one, out of eight. And, I was rejected. I think, now I know the probability. And, that is in an organization that represents the government work.

I may have to take up this as a hobby during my this, yet-another, unemployment trough, to collect statistics on various parameters involved in the job search, the logic, if any or the lack of it, that connects them all and the criteria that leads to the employment. Once I figure that out, I may open another unemployment management company to help me out during the next unemployment wave.