Friday, August 31, 2007

Wikipedia

My first contribution to Wikipedia and I am excited I learnt something new today!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism

and my two cents worth added in Wikipedia

There is also an advanced level of Pointillism called Hyper Pointillism. There is currently only one known artist who practices this - Niall Young http://www.nialleyoung.com/about_artist.php

Parenting

Schools opened and Summer Holidays is finally Over....Much to my surprise the first week wasn't as relaxing as I wanted it to be....We are still getting used to school and routine activities...

Riona is back to school and has been making a big FUSS every other morning....She doesn't want to go to school..Its hard to see her cry yet.... to force her to go...So far she is coping with a new campus , new teacher and new friends....

And its Friday thats 5 days I am still struggling to find time to read/excercise....

No time to plan what needs to be done for the activities they have signed up for...
We are struggling to find time to practice music lessons...and do Kumon homework so need to give it another week to get used to a routine and to start planning for holidays...

Voice Training

Tanya started her first first voice training lesson.

Her first song assignment was "Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?"



Her teachers comments was that she has a strong voice!She enjoyed the lesson.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Art

Art Gallery

I am neither an Artist nor an Art Lover/Critic/Collector. I do admire simple and beautiful creations!

Of late I have just been acquainted with a lot of artists - Alpana Ahuja - a great friend and a few of them I knew even from my college days! - Preeti

I had a chance recently to visit an Art Gallery by the youngest Artist I have ever met so I really thought it was worth writing a note about her. I was amazed at her works and her first solo exhibition with over 30 unique creations. And she is all of 18…. a school kid (literally) but her paintings speak volumes about her depth and insight and perspective.

I also took the opportunity to take my 7-year-old daughter who loves to draw and have a few guided works to her credit so that she may draw on some inspiration.
Tanya's work

Here is a photograph I manage to take with her in her first solo exhibition inaugration day…


A few other shots of her exhibition-



You can read more details of her in the leading local daily article in “The China Post”The Article


So I encourage all of you to take the time and have a look if you happen to be in Taipei or else you can take a look at her website!

Her Name is Devi Seetharam and her website is www.deviseetharam.com

“Spreading the Wings” an exhibition of paintings by Devi Seetharam

Duration:August, 7, 2007(Tuesday)~August, 26, 2007(Sunday)

Venue: Angel Art Gallery


106 台北市信義路三段41號1樓
1F, No.41, Sec.3 Xin-Yi Rd. Taipei City, Taiwan, R.O.C.
TEL:00-886-2-2701-5229.2701-5339 FAX:00-886-2-2701-3567



She belongs to one of the teenagers who I found was really focused - and talented!

Good Work- Devi!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Internet Marketing

Every time I have a session of my course ( Internet Marketing) there is information overload..I get so much of new information almost impossible to comprehend !Few weeks ago it was about "Autoresponders".Being the layman that I am when it comes to Internet Marketing I had to quickly do my research and choose an Auto responder for my new website!

Oops I forgot to tell you what an autoresponder is:

An e-mail utility that automatically replies to an e-mail message with a prewritten response when that e-mail comes into a specific e-mail or Internet address.

Autoresponders are used by individuals and also by Web sites that need to respond to user comments automatically.

For example, an individual may use an autoresponder feature of e-mail to inform the sender that he has gone on vacation and will not be replying personally to e-mails until he returns to the office.

An enterprise may use an autoresponder in response to a newsletter subscription request to verify the opt-in or subscription cancellation or to indicate to the sender that a user comment was received.

Autorepsonders are also used by enterprises to indicate that an online purchase was processed and will typically include an order confirmation number in the e-mail that is automatically generated and sent to the purchaser

After a whole week of research I chose Aweber for one simple reason.

It was the easiest to use and easily allows "aweber cb integration" that is you can integrate with PayPal or other third party shopping cart systems.

Listed below are few interesting articles on aweber for your reading




Hiigh School Musical 2

Its Typhoon day here in Taipei!

The Government has declared a public holiday and have advised residents not to move out till late this evening!


Typhoon Sepat is on the full swing!


Anyways kids and I was up at 7 AM...to a very wet day and sounds of wind...
The only thing my seven year old wants to do is get hold of High School Musical 2 as it was to be premiered on August 17th.

The only thing I could do is look at the web and start searching for the movie.
After watching the trailer in about 4 websites I was surprised to see this link and actually watched the whole movie from my PC. I had to patiently sit through the whole movie with them as I wanted to make sure nothing inappropriate was shown..

Watch "High School Musical 2" Movie

I liked the High School Musical better though this too offered some entertainment content but not as appealing as the first one.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Independence Day!

I got these wishes from a friend of mine...

Happy Independence Day!






HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY



5,000 year old civilization

325 languages spoken – 1,652 dialects

18 official languages

29 states, 5 union territories

3.28 million sq. kilometers - Area

7,516 kilometers - Coastline

1,000,000,000 people in 2000

Parliamentary form of Government

Secular democratic constitution

Worlds largest democracy since 55 years

4th largest economy

Fastest growing IT super power

Indian Railways ,the biggest employer in the world.











Be proud to be an INDIAN

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Exotic Spa Living Room

"Exotic Spa Living Room"

First Why the Title? It seems to be the hottest kind of living room people aspire for at the moment! Not sure really how that would be but I promise to post a picture when I do live in one!

One of my good friends and the only blogger friend told me "why don't you put up pictures of your home...it would be lovely to view.and...its been eight months" and I have not got around to doing that....

So this month, as I will be completing 11 years of marriage I thought it would be a good time to write about the living rooms I lived in the last 11 years....

I dug around for old photographs to give a detailed perspective.....however I am ashamed to admit I found very few decent photos...

Our Life began( read married life ) in a one bedroom apartment in a city called Bangalore.

Our first living Room




The rent for the unit we leased was Rs.2800 ( US$85) per month. I presume it may have been about 750-850 sq ft....It really didn't matter....and we lived there happliy for 2 years.It was on the 5th floor.

An external view of the complex " SENA VIHAR"



The next move was when we moved to another house which we had purchased.
This was the only occasion we bought a house and lived in it for about 15 months.
The size was about 1000 sq ft and also a one bedroom unit.

The only picture I could find displaying all the "Mal"meaning "goods" I picked up from my first overseas trip to United States!



We had to move again ...so we moved from the Ground floor to the 6th in the same building.
The primary reason for moving was that we were expecting our first baby and we needed an extra room for her live in Nanny....

So to the third house......approx size 1300 sqft and the rent was Rs.10000 per month (US$280) per month.

Then came the fourth house! This was about 2300 sq ft ...and where we lived the longest so far...that was about US $1000 per month ( yes we are still in Bangalore).
We lived there for 3 years ...Riona being added to the family in 2002...



Then came the next move the 5th to Singapore we lived in a house paying about US $2000/ per month.Although the rent paid doubled, the size became half...We were back to 1300 sq ft....


<
Before we realised... yes we did spent 25 months there we were moving yet again a new country , a new city...Taipei ...we have a very beautiful apartment to stay....fully furnished by the landlord ....with exclusive views from every balcony. The living room balcony opens to the famous National Palace Museum and others to mountains and streams....

View of the National Palace Museum from our balcony.



And I really dont know the size but I think its about 90 pings( 1 Ping = 3.5 sq. meters (approx. 36 sq. ft.))
thats what they say here for the area! approx....3300 sq ft( I just figured that out after living for over 10 months I always thought it was less than 2500 sqft.) at a rental of US $6000/- per month .... Note 11 years ago we paid US $85 per month.....

Current Living Room



For the first time the dining area was almost separate...or always it was a living cum dining arrangement!




Yet when I read my friend's post which led me to this other post on Marriage

I have concluded what matters in life eventually is
"the small details" of our lives are what really matter in a relationship.

It is not the size of the apartment, the type of car, the properties you own, the bank balance you keep that matters.

These of course create an easier existence in comfort and happiness but cannot give happiness by themselves!

So finding time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy that will matter in the end.....and it will always will!

A family photograph taken in our living room!



I don't think any of these things matter to me even today more than a spontaneous hug from my spouse.......and needless to say that I am happily married for 11 years!
So make most of your marriage and live it to the fullest and in the end it will always be worth the effort!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Summer Holidays

We sent our daughter Tanya ( 7 years )old for a 4 week summer Camp so that she learns Chinese.While she had a great time ,the objective of learning Chinese remained a very distant dream.

She had a great time with kids who predominantly only spoke Chinese and doing all the activities....

This is a toy she build with a remote control!



Here are a few pictures I thought was worth keeping....
Aeroplane models built during the camp!




Wednesday, August 01, 2007

New Look for Blog

I have been busy working on completion of my project that I took a decision almost a year ago.

Having feared how I would keep my "intellectual pursuits live" while we stay in Taipei I had enrolled on a Internet Marketing Course just a few days before I left Singapore.

I carried loads of study material which includes atleast about 5000 pages of reading material and atleast 2 to 3 dozen tutorial dvd's....

I have probaby covered 1/10 th of the reading and abysmal 1% of viewing the so called DVD's...The course also included tele-mentoring sessions 12 in number where a professional coach would handhold you over your first internet venture....I have completed 10 of those sessions as they would not tolerate any more procastination from my ( the student ) side. And I should tell you the course fee was atleast 10 timeds more than I paid for my tution fees for 15 years of my life

So I worked hard with assignments even though it was an after thought post arrival that I would not have a full time domestic helper.So the task became overwhelming at times !The last 10 days have been even more hectic as I was in the so called "product creation " mode ...The "product" being what you would sell on the Internet in my first venture. I tried and tested and got guided and misguided several times but I must say after all that effort ...burning midnight's oil I was able to submit all my assignments to my coach which he had approved this morning....

Having got used to staying late and working after Riona is in bed I thought I have long been neglecting my blog ...and hence must learn to give it a good look....So I changed the look and it took me a long time to figure it out....sometimes I can be really quite dumb ...

I hope you guys like the look .I am really excited about it....And I will continue to update you on first internet venture launch which is less than a month away....So hang in there!