I mentioned at the end of my last post that British Airways seemed past the turmoil of problems surrounding the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow.   30 minutes later I was watching ground crews unload all the bags from the hold and manually check them against a list.   That process took over an hour.   The delay in London added up to a 2 hour delay reaching LAX.   When we got to LAX we had to taxi for a very long time to the most remote part of the airport, instead of going right to the International Terminal.   Then, to make matters worse, the jetway operator couldn't get the walkway to line up to the airplane.  That meant about 10 minutes of pointless delay.   We finally got on buses to the terminal, customs was packed taking another 30 minutes.  Another 15 minutes looking everywhere for my suitcase lasted until 11:00 PM, 30 minutes after my connecting flight to Phoenix had departed. 

The last part of the fiasco:  Nobody staffing the Lost Baggage desk from British Airways.  That left more than a few very angry people.

Throughout the whole trip, I was calm.  I have learned that it rarely does any good to get angry.  And the people on the plane were very apologetic.  At one point the captain came out to explain the situation and said he could have shared the information from the cockpit, but wanted to face the disappointed passengers.   He and the other crew were obviously frustrated and embarrassed by things that were outside of their control.

I am frustrated and embarrassed by my profession.  From what I read, this is largely a failure of a complex software system and a larger project to operate Terminal 5.   BAA seems to have ignored, through ignorance or ego, a similar disaster from the new Denver Airport a few years ago.   They probably trusted the hype of IBM and the other vendors that their software would "just work" without comprehensive testing that simulated real world situations.

But I don't hold British Airways totally blameless.   I don't know the details of what they could have done better at a higher level, but at a personal level they messed things up at LAX by not having staff on hand when one of their main flights from Heathrow arrived.  There were only two BA staff to handle dozens of angry and frustrated  customers.   These same two had to work the baggage area and then rush up to man the lost baggage desk.   Second, they offered no compensation for my missed connection and subsequent overnight sleeping in the terminal.   They said it was because I didn't book the flight through them.   Very poor customer service.  

As for my missing luggage?   The xeroxed form letter they gave me said to expect it within 36 hours.  It is going on 72 and they don't have any update.

Today is the tenth anniversary of joining my current employer.  If I had been told then that I would still be working for the company and that they would send  me to India I am not sure I would have believed it.  My plan back then was to work here for 6 months and then go work for a dot com startup.  The CFO back then was very wise and predicted the collapse of the boom and convinced me to stay.    

Over the past few weeks this job has been exhausting and all consuming.  That is the reason for the lack of posts.  Back then it was hard to imagine being at the same job for 10 years.  Now it is not so hard to imagine being here in another 10 years, but only time will tell.

I have a rule of not responding to "blog tags", where someone tags you to write about something and then tag a number of others to do likewise.   But, I got tagged by my nephew Skylar to "write six things you love about yourself".   Since I really like Sky I will play along, plus I just found out that Sky's aunt Gabrielle has a blog. 

Gabrielle:  Consider yourself tagged.

Now this is a difficult topic to write about.  My mother would tell you "Oh, Shawn has no problem listing the things he loves about himself." But that is not the problem.  That topic would induce nausea and vomiting and I don't want any puke on my new site design.  I was going to just copy Skylars, but "Curly Hair", "Good at rebounds", "Loves playing tackle football" is not something I could claim for myself.

Instead, I did a little detective work and found the comment entry where Sky was tagged and found out that the rule is "Write 6 interesting things about yourself, then tag 6 people to do the same".   Much easier to digest.

Enough dithering, here is my list of 6:

1. I LIVE IN INDIA!!!!  I was walking up a little tree lined street on my way up to the highway to catch an autorickshaw to Sarah's soccer game against Bombay and stopped to play cricket with some kids on the street.   Ever day I find a new reason to like being here.  Once in a while I find something that I don't like or wish were different.  The score is certainly in favor of this being a great experience.
   
   
2. Oh, did I mention that my family is here also?  I started this blog 3 years ago so that my family could read what I was doing in India while they were back home in Arizona.   Now they are sharing in the adventure.  I wouldn't want it any other way.
   
   
3. Speaking of adventure, Joshua and I are planning a hiking trip in the Himalayas.  We will be up higher than almost any place outside the Himalayas on the slopes of the 3rd highest peak in the world.     10-15 days total, April 2009.  Open invitation to anyone who wants to fly over and come along.
   
   
4. I have a rule about my work that I set a month into my current job.  That rule is "If I go 5 days in a row of not liking my job then I will quit".  I am three weeks away from 10 years at that same company and the closest I ever got was 3 days back in 2000.  It is a wonderful blessing to love what I do.  Sometimes I love it too much, but that is another post.
   
   
5. I also have the best job in my church.  I don't write much about church things here, maybe that will change, but my job is to work with young men age 12-18.  There are about 50 in our not-so-little branch here.  Most live in youth hostels. All are wonderful and it is the highlight of my week to spend a couple hours with them each Sunday.  Back in Arizona there were much more qualified people doing this job, but they let me tag along whenever I wanted and that was very good training.
   
   
6. The only part missing is a couple steps closer to being here.  Nothing final, and I hope I don't jinx anything, but we are making progress on getting Ian to India.  Ian is my 12 year old son who lives in Utah.   We are close to the "Not if, but when" phase.  Here's hoping.

That was harder than I thought.  Now, I will use this for good.  I have had many comments wondering when my much more eloquent and intelligent wife will jump into blogging.  I will tag her, along with Joshua and Sarah.  Those three along with Gabe are 4 of my 6.  I will hold onto the other 2 and consider my options....

Thanks to Sky for the tag and keep up the blogging.  I would link to his blog, but it is invite only.  Popular people have to take precautions, the paparazzi and all.  You know how it is.

Mike was usually the first one packed.   At first glance you might think he had lost something in the weeds, but he was actually going over the entire campsite like a detective looking for evidence.  Evidence of humans.   And every bit of evidence was picked up and put in a garbage bag.   He and I would go along on Scout camping trips with Joshua, his son Bryant and the rest of the local troop.    Even though this troop could destroy the peace and tranquility of the wilderness, everything that they packed in was packed out and we usually packed out more than we brought in.    It has been ingrained into my mind for decades that you don’t litter.   You don’t throw wrappers out the window and you don’t leave piles of garbage behind when you visit a place.     I know in the back of my mind that any garbage I pack home will be burned or recycled.  We made it clear during our first week in the house that it was completely unacceptable for the staff to carry our garbage down the lane and throw it in the weeds.    Now our garbage is either recycled or burned.   I  do have some guilt about the air pollution, but I know no other alternative.

 

A fellow traveler once called India “the world’s largest garbage dump” and while I know some may take offense at such a description I give back only my offense at the many people who:

• Throw wrappers out the window of a train
• Leave piles of garbage on the beach after a visit
• Throw their garbage on the side of the street, or in front of their neighbors house.
• Have no apparent care that every public place in India is strewn with garbage.

 

My only explanation is a lack of regard for the “commons”.  I will use the following definitions for “commons”:

 

                a place, real or virtual, that is not privately owned. Natural commons include the oceans and the atmosphere.

                                                http://www.gfem.org/mediapolicy/html/MediaPolicyGlossary04.html 

 

The concept of the Commons comes from English Common Law, which India inherited  during the time of British rule.   The basic right granted was the right to graze livestock on lands defined as common.   The concept included additional rights to fish, take sod and  soil and to gather wood.   All these actions are typical across India, including the widely held notion by foreigners that cows roam the streets without control.   However, by only enforcing the “takings” side of this right, the value, usefulness and appearance of the commons has deteriorated to a derelict state.     What is the fix for this?   Danielle contributed an obvious answer to yesterday's post on sanitation that I had not considered: “Hope”.  Hope that a increasing rise of an affluent will allow provide people the time to care and make a difference.   This time to care can be as simple as deciding not to litter to organizing “Adopt-A-Street” campaigns to a “Buy Green” mentality to an active campaign to petition government intervention.    Am I saying this as a visitor here from a perfect place?  No, America has its share of trash and litter, but not nearly as bad as India.   More important is the concept that a belief in the protection of the commons has much more important ramifications than clean streets.    What India and the U.S. share is a much more dangerous “Tragedy of the Commons”.    In the U.S. this is evidenced in tragedies such as the depletion of wetlands, overfishing of the Columbia, air pollution problems at the Grand Canyon, and urban sprawl.   In the U.S. there is a motivated base of people working on solutions to these problems by applying pressure to government and industry.   I am sure that the same issues face India, but I do not see the same level of opposition and scrutiny.

 

Do I hope that India becomes the land of environmental activists?  Sure, why not?    India became rightly incensed decades ago after the Bhopal Disaster.   A similar, but less visible tragedy is happening across this great country in the form of decreased efficiency and health standards.   If we take the position that lower standards of sanitation and environmental quality equate to a one year decrease in life expectancy then that adds up to 1 billion years of potential lost to this generation.

 

The hope that I have is that this generation realizes that the freedom of the commons not only permits the free use of these commons, but requires though and action to protect the commons.    

Right after I posted the long post below, I turned on iTunes to listen to those songs.   For some reason iTunes put a link to bossa nova singer "Bebel Gilberto" in the suggestions box at the bottom of the screen.   That got my attention as I am a fan of Joao Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto.    I listened to a sample which reminded me of an afternoon 11 years ago.   Back then I worked at the Biology Department at Utah State University.   One of my favorite professors was Dr. Janis Skujins.   One day he asked me to come over to his house to install a printer.   His basement was a museum exact replica of what I imagined a hip sixties jazz lovers basement to be.   I told the good Doctor that I felt we should be listening to Bossa Nova in such a place.   Why I would remember that small episode I don't know, but it got me curious about Dr. Skujins.   A Google search showed that he died almost three years ago.  That site is focused on the community where I used to live, where I grew up.  As I scanned the obituaries page I caught the name Erin Christine Betz, my first girlfriend.

Erin and I dated in our senior year of High School.  We both went to different schools, me to Sky View (a school on the edge of cow pastures) and she to Logan (in the big city of 40,000 people).   I really liked someone else, and went to a dance at Logan High to find her.  Instead I ended up dancing many times with Erin and leaving with her.  It is so very cliche, but that night was my first time kissing, in my Dad's OldsmoBuick up on the hill overlooking Logan.   We went out for maybe 6 months or so after that.  I remember once while we were dating, Erin called me and said "If you really love me you will put on your Sunday clothes (Utah speak for nice shirt and pants, tie and jacket if you have one) and come over to my house this morning.   She wouldn't tell me why, but when I arrived she asked me to go with her to her grandmother's funeral.  She said she just wanted me to sit next to her and hold her hand, that she didn't like funerals.  Those few months were all good.  I learned a lot about dating and what to say (and not say) to a girlfriend.  I think Erin matured faster than I did and we grew apart as graduation neared.   I lost touch with her after graduation as our lives took different paths.  

It hits home when someone your age, someone you were close to for a time is now gone.  It puts many things in perspective and I really feel for Erin, for the things that will be missed in a life cut short, and I think that I must live life more fully, because you never know...

Rest in Peace, Erin Betz, thanks for those few months long ago in high school.

 

And as for Doctor Janis Skujins?  His office was upstairs from mine, and he would often come down and talk.  By that time he was an Emeritus Professor, mostly retired but still editing a journal.  We would talk about his homeland in the Baltics, he was from Latvia.   The fall of the iron curtain was just a few years before. He would travel there every so often and bring back Latvian chocoloate.  He would offer me a piece and say "Much better than Belgian chocolate, no?"  I would joke in reply, "Yes, but compared to Hershey's..."   

The best part of that job was hanging out talking to professors.  They would explain their science to me, and I would try to keep up.   It was a good job, mostly because of those professors and their willingness to spend some time talking to the computer guy about any imaginable topic.

Joshua and I have been laughing about this picture for a couple of days.  So much seriousness in such a small package.

This was posted as part of as tutorial for Joshua.  My India Journal now joined by his "India Post".   Please have a look (http://www.joshkunz.com/blog), I am really excited to see and read his perspective on India.   He can be my Paul Harvey ("Now for the rest of the story....") to my Shawn Hannity ramblings.  Plus, he has a camera and a YouTube account.

For as long as I can remember, music has been a very powerful influence on my life.   It must be genetic because I see the same in Abby and Max.  Lately I use music to navigate the muddy water that is the mix of homesickness and exhilaration of our life abroad.    On our iPods Amy and I have a playlist called “Rocket Man” that is frequently on in the kitchen late at night, after the kids have gone to bed and we are cleaning up.    The first time I played it she asked me why I had grouped these songs.   Each has some meaning of leaving, being gone or wanting to be home.    It was playing last night after a long day of having guests over and I started to over analyze why I felt that way about each.   A Monday evening without much energy to work is the perfect opportunity to explore.  The first revealed truth is that I am OLD, and have TWO John Denver songs on my list.   That alone should have been enough for me to hit the delete button on this post, but since I didn’t…..

 

Leaving on a Jet Plane (Chantel Kreviazuk version)

I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

 

A few years ago I took a new assignment, working out of our California office.   I would fly out early Monday mornings, leaving home at 4:00 AM to catch a flight.   I would often leave this song quietly looping on my home PC as I left in the dark, knowing that Amy would either curse me for leaving it on or realize it was intentional.   I just love being at the airport, that feeling of imminent departure.   Someday I will live the dream of walking up the counter and saying “book us on the first plane that leaves after 6:00, we don’t care where it is going, and make it a one-way ticket.”

 

Rocket Man  (Elton John)

And i think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again

 

This is almost the opposite of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” for me.   Instead of the exhilaration of leaving it seems to focus on the agony of being gone.   For all the joy of travel, you always  go without that part of happiness that is being home.

 

I’ll Miss You Till I Meet You (Dar Williams)

And as I drove myself back home,
A little voice said just be alone,
But sometimes I think I see you in a crowd,
It's not picture perfect, but you're meant for me somehow,

And I'll miss you till I meet you,
I'll miss you till I meet you,
I miss you all the time.

 

This song is the hardest to write about.  I have been a Dar Williams fan since seeing her perform in Logan, Utah many years ago.  I bought her album “My Better Self” when it came out last year, but I don’t think I had listened to this song until the last day of summer.   I was driving Ian back to his home in Utah.  We were both terribly sad, knowing that it would be a long time before we would be together again.   I was playing various songs from my iPod and trying to find just the right song to convey what I couldn’t find words or strength to say.   I noticed this song on the list and hit play.   By the time it was half over we had to pull over to the side of the road.  Even now I have a hard time listening to it because it reminds me of how much we miss Ian and want him to experience India with us.  But I spoke to him on the phone this morning before and we worked out a plan to make it happen, inshallah.

 

Mary’s In India (Dido)

Danny is lonely
Mary's in India now
She said she'd call but that was three weeks ago
She left all her things well, her books and her letters from him
But as the sun rises on Mary sets on him

 

A song bought by accident.   Purchased on iTunes last June when I was building a sense of excitement by playing Bollywood showtunes.   Instead, this is a song about Mary who has gone to India and lost touch with her friends back home.    Apart from Ian, mentioned above (and other family), the part about going home that I am most looking forward to is driving down Cotton Court, our little street in Arizona and seeing our good friends that live around us.   And while that is still 772 days away, it is still what I am looking forward to the most.

 

Falling Slowly (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova)

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

 

I decided to finally write this post when I saw that this song won an Oscar.   It is from a great little movie called “Once”.  That movie and this song are about two people making difficult decisions to take a risk in their lives.  

 

Build (The Housemartins)

Its build a house where we can stay
Add a new bit everyday
Its build a road for us to cross
Build us lots and lots and lots and lots and lots

 

An old and obscure song that has always conveyed a sense of longing for a place to settle down after turmoil.   The Housemartins were an English alternative rock bad back in the 80’s, part of that group was Norman Cook, now better known as Fatboy Slim.  Hard to see the parallels.    Another anecdote about this group:  I was living in Oregon back in ’88 when the Housemartins “London 0 Hull 4” album came out.  It had a song on it called “Johannesburg”.  My cousin Shauna had just returned from being an exchange student in Johannesburg.  We played th song for her and asked if it reminded her of South Africa.  She said “No, not at all” and walked away.   Finding meaning in music is a very subjective exercise.

 

Walk on the Ocean (Toad the Wet Sprocket)

we spotted the ocean at the head of the trail
where are we going, so far away
and somebody told me that this is the place
where everything's better, everything's safe

 

As you turn off the highway into our neighborhood, the road ends at the ocean.   Most days I still find joy in that little glimpse of the Indian Ocean and the fact that here we are, so far away and so hopeful that this will continue to be the good experience that I promised.

 

The Only Living Boy in New York (Simon and Garfunkel)

Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where,
And we don't know here.

 

Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know you've been eager to fly now.
Hey let your honesty shine, shine, shine

 

A classic song about leaving and being left behind.   Written by Paul Simon when Art Garfunkel was leaving to go to Mexico to film a movie.   There had been some strain in their relationship prior to this and Simon’s lyrics seem to say to go, that all will be fine.    

 

Find the River (R.E.M.)

Me, my thoughts are flower strewn
Ocean storm, bayberry moon
I have got to leave to find my way
Watch the road and memorize
This life that pass before my eyes

 

Since the beginning, I have had a steadfast belief that this was the right thing to do (coming to India).  That it would be good for our family and for my career.   While I have had many times to listen to this song and hear the next line “Nothing is going my way”, we always seem to come through the trouble and emerge better off, even if better off is only the ability to say we have survived one more situation that would have seemed tragi-comedy fiction just 8 months ago.  This song ends “Pick up here and chase the ride/The river empties to the tide/All of this is coming your way”.   

 

I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go (Afterglow version)

There’s surely somewhere a lowly place,
In earth’s harvest fields so white,
Where I may labor through life’s short day

 

When I look at my job and how many days it doesn’t make any sense for me to be in India, I think that maybe I am here for a different reason.  Lately I have been working closely with a couple of hostels (homes and schools for orphans and other disadvantages kids).   This has been some of our most rewarding experiences here, and something I will write more about later.   In fact, the experiences I value the most are when we are surrounded by these kids and sharing in their joy of being in their lives.

 

Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver)

I hear her voice
In the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong

 

While this song is about West Virginia mountains that are not a part of me, it reminds me of the mountains I miss, the mountains are so much of what I think of when I think of America as home.   The Superstition mountains outside Phoenix and the Wasatch mountains of northern Utah that I spent so much time wandering in years past.    It was an unfortunate side effect of my career choice that I would be required to work in cities (now in foreign countries).  My location of choice would be a rural home with a backyard that opened up to the Rocky Mountains.

 

Graceland (Paul Simon)

And my traveling companions
Are ghosts and empty sockets
I'm looking at ghosts and empties,
But I've reason to believe
We all will be received
In Graceland

 

I am not sure why this song is here, which may explain why it is last on the list.   Maybe it is a journey not taken three years ago.  That journey had been planned for 7 years to fulfill another part of this song:  “And we are going to Graceland, / My traveling companion in nine years old / he is the child of my first marriage”.   What seemed so good in the mind couldn’t stand the light of day when I explained to Amy that I wanted to take a road trip to Tennessee with Ian because of this song.    Or maybe this song is on the list because it has a line about blogging “Everybody sees you’re blown apart / Everybody feels the wind blow”.   Or maybe it just fits this list because it is a classic song about being away.

 

 

In addition to being a interesting presentation, this has some interesting statistics about population and growth rate comparisons between India, China and the U.S.

 

Amy just wanted to go shopping and "spend some time away from India, where nothing seems to work very well".   She left this morning for a 5 day shopping trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.   I was wondering why I haven't heard from her and checked CNN to make sure there was nothing wrong.   Only an internet outage.   Things could be worse.    Don't think that I am worried about her traveling around the middle east.  I am not.  She is with a friend who is the wife of a career Foreign Service officer who has lived in the UAE for many years.   They assured us that it is one of the safest countries on earth.   

It will be interesting to hear her tell just how much chaos can descend on an ultra-modern city when the Internet crashes.  Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if she caused the problem by checking email at the airport.....if not, is is quite a coincidence.....

In the fall of 1988 I was a senior in high school and captain of the debate team.   My chosen form of debate was "Model Congress".   Each participant would write a bill or resolution and present it to the group.  Success depended on your ability to argue for or against these resolutions.    With 20+ participants in a 4 hour session, competition was intense.    We faced the same high schools in a series of debate meets from November to March.   On the first of these a debater named Chris Anderson from another school introduced a resolution condemning the transfer of 12 Huey helicopters from the US Army to Pakistan.   It was a clever resolution because it was hard to form a convincing counter-argument because he never explained why the US government sent the helicopters to Pakistan in the first place.  

Anderson went for it again in the second meet and I rose to speak against his resolution.  My argument was simple.  The United States should trust Benazir Bhutto and support her in any way possible.   At that time I didn't really know anything about Bhutto except what I had read in Newsweek.  Chris and I were able to monopolize the debate because we were the only ones who were prepared to speak on the subject.   That meet I took the first place prize and Chris the second place prize.   After the meet we agreed to do additional research and continue our debate in future competitions.   I spent hours reading everything I could about Bhutto, Zia al-Huq, and the history of Pakistan.  We successfully debated the merits of the US-Pakistan relationship all the way to the state championship, which Chris won and I took second place.

The lasting result of that season is a deep admiration for Benazir Bhutto and a strong interest in Pakistani politics.   Yesterdays' assassination of Bhutto is a tragedy for Pakistan, a country that cannot afford any more instability.  Now that I call south Asia home, the stability of the region is an important concern.    From all appearances it is going to be a long winter in Pakistan before peace and stability return.

What a great opening line.  

My goal is to try to be as good a writer as Joel or the people listed below.   I am very grateful for all the people who take time to read this blog.  It started as a way to stay in touch with family and coworkers during my first trip to India.  Sometimes it reads like the Astonishing Tales of Costanza.   I can see from the comments that there are more than a few that are interested in our adventure.    There are a number of other blogs that I check regularly and may be of interest to you.

My relatives:
Kelli is married to my brother Derrick and is the mother of a herd of boys and a cute girl that can pass as a twin of Abby.  She writes at: http://foreverswanerfamily.blogspot.com/

India Expat Blogs:
I read every word of Teresa's blog before deciding to come to India (it should have persuaded me to stay in Arizona, but it was a realistic description of the "joy" of living in India).  Teresa's blog is: http://my.opera.com/myfamilyinIndia/

All I know about Danie is that she is the mother of Connor, a sixth grader at the school.  I know about Connor from Sarah who discusses the other 6th grade boys.   Danie writes at: http://earthtodanie.blogspot.com/.   As for Connor, HeHeely has his own blog: http://heheelys.blogspot.com/

Not sure the name of the person who writes this blog, but they just left Chennai for the US.  It was an interesting read:  http://nmj3.blogspot.com/

Technical Blogs for Developers:
If you are a developer then I suggest you read the following three blogs DAILY.  If you work for me then I consider it part of your job to read each new post on these blogs, in other words, I pay you to read these three blogs:

Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen: Scott and I have many things in common beyond the same birthday.  The significant exceptions being that is he is a much better writer and software architect than I am.  Scott has wide range of interests and skills.  His is the first blog I check each day.  http://www.hanselman.com/blog

Coding Horror:  Jeff posts original and well constructed articles 4-5 times per week.   His writing covers every aspect of the craft of software development and is essential reading for any technologist. The title comes from Code Complete, the most important book for a software developer to read (and re-read). http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/

Joel on Software: Joel is the master of writing for developers.  While his writing is increasingly less frequent, but the archives and his new posts are of a consistent high quality.  Study every word he writes.  http://www.joelonsoftware.com

A blog and a podcast for managers:
Manager Tools.  This is more podcast than blog, and something I look forward to listening to each week.   These guys have no-nonsense practical advice for every aspect of being a manager, from dealing with body odor to annual performance reviews.   http://www.manager-tools.com

Rands in Repose: Excellent writing about managing technical people and living and working in the technical world.   Irreverent and direct and very entertaining.  http://www.randsinrepose.com/

A friend of Amy's brought over the DVD on a Sunday afternoon, back in May, maybe April.  I don't recall the title, it could have been "The Secret" or "The Power".  It claimed that there was a secret energy in the universe that you tap into by vocalizing your desires.  The film claimed that all great people knew of this, Da Vinci, Newton, Churchill etc.  Gain this ability and you could achieve anything, just like Churchill.

I thought it a bunch of rubbish and left in the middle to surf the web.  As that day was Sunday I repeated a frequent wish: "I wish NPR (National Public Radio in the US) would publish a podcast of the Selected Shorts program.".  Perhaps inspired by "The Secret" I added "And have the first program contain a reading by Alec Baldwin. 

Selected Shorts is an weekly program where actors read short stories.  Years ago when I lived in Utah it was broadcast on Sunday mornings. Sometimes I would pinch baby Ian during church, making him cry so I had an excuse to go sit in the car and listen.  When I moved to Arizona 10 years ago the NPR station didn't carry the program.

In October I checked the NPR podcast list and noticed they had added Selected Shorts. The first episode I downloaded was a reading by Alec Baldwin.

That podcast and a handful of others are my link to my previous ease of life in suburban America. I imagine that every expat has something that they keep close to remind them of where they came from, or remind them that someday they will go back.  A family we know eats American food almost every meal.  Others keep a jeans and T-shirt attire, shunning the local salwars and sarees.

I am pecking out this post out on my Blackberry as I fly to Kolkata. My iPod is playing this weeks Selected Shorts, "The Initiation" By Joseph Conrad.  Sanity intact.

Shawn

 

UPDATE: Thanks to Gabe for pointing out that the name is "The Secret"

My Sunday night hobby for the past couple of months is to try and programatically solve the NPR Sunday Puzzle.   Each Sunday morning on Weekend Edition Sunday Will Shortz and Liane Hansen offer a puzzle.  I have been a fan of this for well over ten years, but recently started using it as a way to have fun programming.  Most of the recent puzzles have involved words of a certain type (such as job titles or animals).  Since I don't have a complete database of words in a particular category, my resolution of the Sunday puzzle has not been complete, (i.e. to the point of saying "The Answer is: x").   After 5 or 6 weeks of getting a range of possible answers they finally gave me a puzzle that could easily be solved.

I missed last weeks puzzle because I didn't wake up in time, but remembered on Saturday night just in time to solve it before waking up to the answer tomorrow morning.

Last weeks puzzle is:

From Ed Pegg, Jr., who runs the Web site mathpuzzle.com: The numbers 2, 4, 6 and 30 are the first four numbers whose names lack the letter "E." What is the 23rd number whose name lacks an "E?"

I had wondered what the significance of the 23rd number was, if I was more quick witted, that alone should have been enough of a clue to solve the first puzzle of the new year.

Instead, I decided to use T-SQL as the language for this, in part because I think that the .Net Framework has a function that does what I did in the function below, taking the fun out of it.

So, here is the T-SQL code.  I know it is choppy and clunky, and the variable names don't make sense, but it works really well (for numbers up to 4 digits long) and was very easy to write.  In addition, it is a nice example of recursion, which makes me feel good after reading this post by Joel Spolsky.  I noticed as I pasted the code into this post that I have done a number of implicit variable conversions, this code would not hold up well in a code review, but it got the job done.

create function fn_NumberToText(@value int) returns varchar(100)

as

BEGIN

-- ********************************************************

-- * CODE COPYRIGHT 2006, Shawn Swaner *

-- * http://www.shawnswaner.com *

-- * Published under *

-- * Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 License *

-- * No warranty, express or implied is provide by author *

-- ********************************************************

declare @name varchar(100), @valueText varchar(9),

@Left1 char(1), @RightOrdinal char(1), @RightPair char(2),

@RightTrio varchar(3), @Left2 char(2)

set @valueText = Convert(varchar(5), @value)

if LEN(@valueText) = 4

BEGIN

set @Left1 = Left(@valueText, 1)

set @name = dbo.fn_NumberToText(@Left1) + ' ' + 'Thousand'

set @RightTrio = RIGHT(@valueText, 3)

set @name = @name + ' ' + dbo.fn_NumberToText(@RightTrio)

END

if LEN(@valueText) = 3

BEGIN

set @Left1 = LEFT(@valueText, 1)

set @name = dbo.fn_NumberToText(@Left1) + ' ' + 'Hundred'

set @RightPair = Convert(varchar(2), Convert(int, right(@valueText, 2)))

set @name = @name + ' ' + dbo.fn_NumberToText(@RightPair)

END

if LEN(@valueText) = 2 and LEFT(@valueText, 1) <> '1'

BEGIN

set @Left1 = LEFT(@valueText, 1)

set @RightOrdinal = Right(@valueText, 1)

select @name = case @Left1

when 2 then 'Twenty'

When 3 then 'Thirty'

when 4 then 'Forty'

when 5 then 'Fifty'

when 6 then 'Sixty'

when 7 then 'Seventy'

when 8 then 'Eighty'

when 9 then 'Ninety'

end