My Digital Thoughts : Shashi's Diary

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As @pistachio correctly wrote in her blog that Twitter could be a village a community where you could share things with your friends. Its been a busy day today and I had a few minutes to spend on Twitter during lunch and here is the conversation: It was a great moment for me and enjoyed the repreive from the stress and strain of the day. See how people shared their lunch or thoughts . Thank you all for sharing your time with me.

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My friend Nancy Trejos wrote a article lst Sunday - that was really great about her journey to Columbia - See post below . She is looking for couples in the DC area to talk about personal finances (she is the personal finance reporter)Interested please contact me. Details: Would any couples out there, married or engaged or co-habitating, be willing to share their insights on how they deal with money? Among some of the questions to be asked: Do you talk much to each other about your individual financial situations? Have you mixed your finances? How are you dealing with the worsening economy? Are you tightening your belts at all when it comes to money because of the fear of recession? If so, how much did you discuss that with each other? This story would appear in early February but interviews must be done this week. Please email me for contact info. DC/MD/VA metro area couples only please.

Mobile post sent by shashib using Utterz .    Replies .   mp3 Today's Washington Post has a article on the flight delays . I am irked by the fact that 4 hour delays are becoming routine and don't make the news anymore. Airline use weather as an exucse to cancel flights so they don't have to pay for passengers hotel rooms. The President himself has to intervene to make sure holiday air travel is smoother. I recorded this on my way to the airport to drop friends on their international travel. On Twitter today atleast 6 people said that their flights were delayed.

Update; The venue is now changed. details are posted here . ------------------- Tweetup Feb 28th 7 p.m tentative at La Tasca Rockville - http://tinyurl.com/2olbaf metro accessible red line I know we have a share of activities in the DC metro area. I am comfortable with having meetups in the same place but another part of me says that we should move atleast one meetup around to experience places. The meetup we had at Jimmy's Tavern in Herndon this month is a good example. About 20- 25 people came and we all had fun. The first criteria I had for a place is that it should be walkable distance from a Metro Station. I tried the Rockville library for a meeting but I am told that we can only reserve a meeting room if are a non-profit. I am not sure if I have the patience to register a non-profit and manage it yet. Then I approached Ken Skidmore General Manager - La Tasca Rockville to see if they have a private room . They have an area of the restaurant that is semi-private and might be...

Jill Foster is a superb person. I met her on Twitter and then at other Tweet-ups. DC Media Makers , Social Media Club DC . She is associated with DC web Women . Her latest meetup invite : SUPER TUESDAY February 5th, results-watch-twit-beer-fest at the Mayorga Cafe wifi,fun space,menu,beer Time: "7 pm should be fine to settle in, beer-up for polls by 8" This is the first US presidential election that I am voting in and I am looking forward to join and watch the action at this tweet-up.

My Friend Nancy 's Story in the Washington Post Magazine touched my heart. Quoting from the article which takes her to Columbia to meet her Father's family- "Most immigrants envision the American dream for themselves, but the reality is that dream is for the next generation".This is so true and reminded me a little of my pilgrimage back to India this summer http://tinyurl.com/26fkbj (I visit more often since I lived a better part of my life there)

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Mobile post sent by shashib using Utterz .    Replies .   mp3

Frozen Pea Fund Please take a few minutes, click on the Donate button at FrozenPeasFund.com and donate the price of a couple of bags of frozen peas to the American Cancer Society. That can, and will, make a difference in breast cancer research.

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I picked up my daughter after she finished her stint as a Volunteer for the Montgomery County Teen court. after listening to a few bits of information ( she firmly told me she cannot discuss any specifics) about how the process worked I summarized that it was a great way for Teens to learn the working of the justice system . The Teen Court system offers a second chance to teenage offenders without the high cost of a criminal record.The program for first-time teenage offenders started by the  Montgomery County  Attorney's office has been in place for the last 10 years.   The MCPS website http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/studentaffairs/sao/opportunities/ gives these details :   Teen Court is a justice program run by teens for teens. Juveniles aged 12 through 17 who have committed a nonviolent minor crime appear before a jury of their peers. Cases hear in Teen Court involve crimes such as shoplifting, disorderly conduct, destruction o...

Any person with a child needs to ChipIn for this. All children should have access to basic education, and kids with Autism are no different.My friend Whitney Hoffman saw the story in the Wall Street Journal and decided to do something about it. Not only did she start a fuind raising camapign but she contacted her friend who works for the US Embassy in China to make sure this was Ok. Three cheers for Whitney who runs a website http://www.ldpodcast.com for parents with kids who have learning disabilities.Even though times are hard it is always good to think about people who need help. read more | digg story

There is a great movement to practice "green" living now. This I not new, if I remember my upbringing from India my Mom had always believed in conservation. Here are the points that I remember which are mostly common sense. Paper : If a paper had a blank side then it had to be used - cut into notepad size or used for notes. After this every piece of paper was sold to recycling vendors. I think there is no problem to implement this and in a way my daughter does that with all her rough sheets she uses for school. Plastic: All plastic bags were collected and sold to the roving recycling vendors who exchanged the plastic for small household goods. The Montgomery county recycling program takes care of a lot of this. I am not sure why they do not take plastic shopping bags. Water : Wasting water was a crime in our household. If we opened a faucet/tap the water had to be collected in a container and used. While shaving , no running water- use hot water in a mug. Showers were a lu...

Beth Kanter is an expert on the use of Social Media for non-profits. her latest project is - The America's Giving Challenge that will award $50,000 to the project that gets the most unique donors. The minimum donation to be counted as a unique donor is $10. She is asking for help in meeting this goal and its a very god cause - Simply to remove poverty by educating the children. Just today Emily Wax wrote an article in the Washington post talking about Literacy and the effect on the caste system. Not toally connected but proves a point that education is important. A post on your blog and donations from your readers even one will help this cause. What this achieves will go a long way in promoting children's literacy in Cambodia.I know this first hand because a relative of mine teaches in Cambodia. More details can be found in the Wiki that Beth created at http://americagivingchallenge.wikispaces.com/ One of the The Sharing Foundation’s programs is its Khmer literacy school. It ...

I don't go to book stores much and that's mostly because I realize the economics of ordering online save me money. That does not mean I don't like book stores. I love the fact that they have cozy seats and a in-store coffee-shops. Everyone in my family loves book stores and once inside we choose our sections and settle down. Harry Potter book release nights have been memorable. of course there has never been a time when we didn't leave without buying anything. After setting this stage let me tell you of my time in the Border's book store in Germantown Maryland today. The reason I was there was that my daughter had got a gift card from our friends and these can be used only in Borders and Walden Book stores. I tool the time to search for Social Media books. I was thrilled to see Seth Godin's Meat Ball Sundae (aff)  in the Section - noteworthy hard covers. I have the book but I was thrilled to see it there. In the ne...

DC Media Makers-2 , originally uploaded by shashiBellamkonda . Event Announcement from DC Media Makers http://dcmediamakers.wordpress.com Special event (space is limited!): chemist-gone-storyteller Nahum Gershon tells his tale of going digital at next DCMM meeting January 16, 2008 · No Comments Check out Nahum’s fantastic bio . Please RSVP per below details as space is limited. Date: 1/31 6:30-8PM Address: 1150 18th NW Suite 1020,Washington DC 20036 at Internet2 Metro: one block from Farragut North (red) or 1.5 blocks from Farragut West (orange/blue) Time: 6:30-8:30 Seating is limited. You MUST RSVP in advance to jillmfoster@gmail.com. Please email Jill to clarify if space is still available. THANKS.

Please take a few minutes, click on the Donate button at FrozenPeasFund.com and donate the price of a couple of bags of frozen peas to the American Cancer Society. That can, and will, make a difference in breast cancer research.

Video: dulles Toll Road Weather

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Mobile post sent by shashib using Utterz .    Replies .   mp3

It is always interesting to meet new people. I met with Jimmy Gardner at Shady Grove and we took the Metro to DC. It gave a good 30 - 40 minutes to talk. Jimmy is a great guy and he is looking to launch his startup soon. We met on Twitter and then met subsequently in meet ups and have become good friends. Nahum took some great pictures . It was great to meet Technosailor-  Aaron Brazell who recommended a great beer ( see picture above) . Greg Gershman Is going to be announcing some good news in a few weeks I think which will be awesome. We spent a lot of time talking about his projects and I am planning to invite him to speak at a "learning Lunch at Network Solutions in Feb. As far as I know he built one of the first blog search engines. I think compared to the 6 to 7 people who came to the Dec meet atleast 20 people showed up here. Nikolas the organizer took the bus and metro to be here. The last meeting he came all the way but could not get in since he did not have hi...

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Are you one of those who is particular about the cube you sit in. I am not. For my new gig   I gave up a fabulous good window to move to another particularly good cube but without a window. I always believe with every new job move even within the company you need to change your neighborhood at least to get a new perspective. Getting to the point I discovered that Diana Chau in the neighboring cube is an actress! Along with her new celebrity status as a Neighbor of Shashib at work , she has acted in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ,  with The Arlington Players. See rave reviews here .   Her next performance is in Red Hot & Cole - a biographical look into Cole Porter’s life using his music enacted by the McLean Community Players . McLean Community Players have a great review in the Washington post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050901022.html .  The play opens on Friday, January 18 th and runs until ...

Fortune has a great story on Melinda Gates . While people keep giving Microsoft a bad rap , they will definitely be moved by the Melinda Gate's story. Both Bill and Melinda plan to give away 95% of their wealth to charity. They will follow Warren Buffet's principles "A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing." Among the foundations efforts are reforms to the American School System :- " New York City, though, shows what Gates money can do. At 43 new small high schools funded by the Gates Foundation, graduation rates are 73%, compared with 35% for the schools they replaced. The Gateses' partner here happens to be Joel Klein, who led the government's antitrust case against Microsoft a decade ago and now runs New York City's public schools." How do they live:- " \... booting all hired help on weekends except for the security people and a sitter who arrives late in the day in case she and Bill w...

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Mobile post sent by shashib using Utterz .    Replies .   mp3

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Millions of Indians now will realize their owning a car. The car that costs 1 lakh Rupees about $2500 may dash the hopes of top Automakers hoping to capitalize the Indian Small car market but will definitely create chaos on the already crowded Indian City roads. The key point is Tata has delivered what Ratan Tata promised. Of course there has been a lot of commentary on this: Washington Post In the Outlook section of today's Washington Post Mira Kamdar writes that " the car doesn't meet U.S. safety standards " so sorry folks you can't buy it. "If millions of Indians and Chinese get to have their own cars, the planet is doomed. Suddenly, the cute little Nano starts to look a lot less winning." "Even at $2,500, the people's car costs 10 times more than the annual income of most Indians. At this point, there is only one car for approximately every 1,000 Indians. In the United States, the ratio is three cars for every four people....

Fortune reports Hasbro, manufacturer of Scrabble, tries to shut down Scrabulous, an electronic version of the game gaining enormous success on Facebook. Not sure who is right or wrong but I love scrabulous and hope there is a way for this to end amicably and Fb users can continue to play. read more | digg story

of course i wish we had gone to this museum in Tuscon Arizona. I took this video when I visited India in July this year. In remote locations there are still "level crossings" ( local term for railway crossing) and you have to wait for the train to pass.

My friend Jim Gardner wrote on his Blog this morning : "Over the last month or so our local MD power company, Allegheny Power has sent us 2 small boxes containing 4 of the CFL light bulbs and a small brochure on the benefits of using this new type of lighting. I thought wow what a great idea that is of them to do that. It impressed me they would go to that distance to educate us consumers. STOP. not so fast." The company seems to have sent unsolicited Energy Saving bulbs and will be charging for them over the next few months. Most people think USPS delivers it so you don't know your options. My friend @chazFrench http://charlesfrench.com/ alerted me that "postal law is clear you do not have to pay for unsolicited merchandise." Here is the link to the rules on the USPS website : If you do not wish to pay for unsolicited merchandise or make a donation to a charity sending such an item, you may do one of three things (in each case, by law, you hav...

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Better Pictures :  Taken by Nahum G George's Pictures Pictures I took. List of attendees here on Andrew Wright's Blog Comments from Eric Blair . Joelogon also wrote about it.  Taken and sent from my phone to be the first to blog about the event :)

Just finished watching 'Waitress". The movie does leave you feeling good and the ending is positive. I always liked "rags to riches" stories. Not having been in to many small towns in the US I am curious about the depiction of the small town life in the movie ? Going and eating regularly in the same diner ? A diner that seems staffed just by 4 people? I liked this dialog "I don't expect much, give much or get much" - Lew Temple as Cal the Diner owner in the Waitress I did see a similar movie a few months ago that dealt with food or more precisely -spices- and their effect on life. The  movie is " Mistress of Spices" . Of course this movie is entirely a fairy tale and will interest people who like movies with some Asian culture( In this case from India). Both movies will interest anyone who has time. I would rate Waitress and " Mistress of Spices" as a B. If you are curious about the beautiful actress Aishwariya Rai nee B...

I am also using this Blog to learn and make sure others confused like me will benefit. So asked is question on Twitter - What is a Caucus and what is a primary.? Here are some great responses. Thanks. MichBel :It's basically the same thing. The difference is in the rules, how they do it. Caucuses are people talking, primaries are voting. chrisbaskind A caucus is where bribery is okay.Caucuses allow you to do things that wouldn't be tolerated in standard voting situations AlbertMaruggi Basically a caucus people gather at a place, listen to some speakers and declare for a candidate. This is a public pronouncement A primary is more traditional voting in a ballot box. In some states they vote according to party registration, Caucus states usually reward the better organized candidate, primary usually the better funded and messaged candidate oemperor Caucus is a mass gathering of people who lobby each other. primaries decided in private voting booths @nahumg Primary- an election. ...

Picture courtesy Andy Roth I attended the December meetup Joe's post on the meetup has the details Dumb Things I Have Done Lately: DC Blogger Meetup Runs Smack Into the DC Holiday Cop Surge . The next one is on January 16th at RFD. This meetup is organized by the group through meetup.com . In the last meeting I had fun. RFD has a great selection of beer. The folks who attended were jolly and it was nice to meet new people. Jade took my opinion on the presidential election Joe of course was the life of the party John Croston is a great guy. Mathew Martin shared a lot of insights into the blogging community in DC Ross Karchner used to work close to Network Solutions in Herndon and is now selling books on Ebay hopefully to fund the dinner at RFD :) for all of us. Tommy Yuin wants to learn about blogging. Before long he will be a A list blogger :) Andy Roth got some great camera equipment and we had a long conversation as we rode the metro back to Shady Gr...

I have been following NicoleSpag on Twitter and added Nicole's blog to my reading list. I must use this post to thank her husband Marc of TheWoodWhisperer.com for his advice when I asked him to help me with my daughter's project for school. If you are fans of French Toast then you just watch this video show. I tried it at home and the Crunchy French Toast was a instant hit. I am glad Social Media helped me gain brownie points with my family ! My only regret is that Nicole and Marc do not have time to do more of these videos? High resolution Link here

I must confess I do not wear a ring. It's not because I want to hide the fact that I am married :). More because a)Terrified of losing the ring b)Back In India it did not seem like a tradition like it is here. So I was surprised to see a new "social network" Singelringen. The membership to Singelringen Global Community comes through the purchase of the Singelringen. it seems like a cool concept the ring being unique it is easy to recognize the member. In my quest to find out more after reading about it on LeahJone's Blog ( leahJones on Twitter).I connected with LindaSherman who is Singelringen agent for North America, http://www.us.singelringen.com/ . I admire the Swedes for this concept. I have visited Stockholm 3 times and still consider it one of the best cities I have visited. They are innovative - Ericksson , Saab, Volvo were Swedish companies. I have to ask a few of my single friends about their interest in this concept but then they may have already heard of...

In 2008 of course I need to exercise more ( The doctor was very emphatic). That starts from tomorrow. Being a participant in the Social Media also means the gurus will share their resolutions and you can pick the best of them to follow. I am trying to make it easier for myself and any one else who want to sit back and let the wise predict and resolve. John Batelle : Scobelizer recommends John Batelle's predictions as being usually being quite near the mark. Shel Israel's 10 2008 Resolutions . I tried to influence a 11th one to ignore all the previous 10 :) TechCrunch Michael Arrington :2008: Web 2.0 Companies I Couldn’t Live Without A Twitter USername to track 2008 predictions: predictions08 In the geeky category : Anatole Tartakovsky Funny but may be true from Phillipines : Abraham Olandres Dan Farber & Larry Dignan: Social networking prediction for 2008 1938Media Loren Feldman: 2008 Predictions Chris Green at ITPRO UK Rumanian Blog perspective 2008 Predictions from Sou...