A little bit of news

A few days ago, I lost hope (at least for a while). If you know me, you know that I am quite an optimistic, glass-is-half-full kind of person. But I am extremely despondent and hopeless after reading the news over the last few days.

The Chinese used voice-over during the Olympics opening ceremony so that the world would see a cute little girl and go awww! The real singer was a girl who wasn’t so cute. Edwards cheated on his cancer-stricken wife. The Spanish basketball team insulted their hosts by posing with slanted-eyes. This has been the front-page news I have been reading. Why are these news so freaking’ important? I do not care. The Chinese wanted to make a good impression, but weren’t honest. Not a big deal. Edwards is just another lying SOB, no big deal. The world is full of such men. The Spanish team probably didn’t realize the consequences of their photo shoot. Again, no big deal.

But I do want to know about the real big ticket items, I do want to hear and read about real news. I want to read about how our polar ice-caps are melting,  how the White house forged a letter in order to link Saddam and Al-Queda. Why is oil so highly priced all of a sudden? What is going to happen next with the housing crisis? But the media has no word on those. And why should they? They are a for profit organization. They are going to give the people what they want.

And sadly, all we want right now is news about when Britney Spears had her latest break-down. Which celebrity is sleeping with whom. We want to comment on John Edwards and lynch him. Because it is so easy to do. It is so easy to either fall prey to gossip or have an opinion on black-and-white issues. It is so easy to stay dumb.

What is hard – is to be curious about the major issues affecting us, thinking about them and demanding action about them. That is so hard, our brain hurts, so we choose to ignore and focus on random crap. We do not want to lose sleep thinking about the hard stuff. But by choosing to ignore such issues, we lose something very, very important. We lose perspective. We lose out on knowledge and most of all, we lose out on our right to demand and get change, change for the better. Without arming ourself with knowledge, all we can do is sit and complain about how things are going down the toilet. But you know what, we only have ourselves to blame.

Olympics are so awesome

In the furore over Michael Phelps and Dara Torres and Tyson Gay, some truly inspirational stories and moments tend to get lost. Check out this one http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/wrestling/news;_ylt=Ar5J2mg3wt9SH1VXXDM40pAGqZp4?slug=ap-wre-mens55kg&prov=ap&type=lgns It is INSPIRATIONAL.

Following the Olympics and getting inspired

Heck, sometimes I feel worthless. I have been following the Olympics and watching these 18-20 year old atheletes achieve things that I cannot even dream of, it kind of makes me wonder. These athletes, even if they do nothing for the rest of their lives, are going to leave behind an inspiring legacy. What have I been doing for 30 years? Writing freakin’ code? And even that breaks

But wait, there is Dara Torres, a 41 year old mother, who is one of the fastest swimmers in the world. Compared to her I am a baby. So the lesson to learn I guess is that it is never too late, for anything. To try and become a better athlete, to try and become a better person, to try and become a better coder, to try and become a better “anything”. But as we grow old, we get stuck in a rut, we get comfortable with ourselves and our surroundings. And that sadly hampers us from getting better day after day. I will never run a mile under 4 minutes or lift 300 pounds but what I can learn these atheletes is to not be happy with status quo, to always strive for better. And we do not have to beat Olympic times either, we just have to beat ourselves. Now, that should be a easy job for most of us, shouldn’t it?

The Tyson Gay workout

Tyson Gay is an American sprinter, one of the best 100 meter sprinters in the world. He recommends a workout that I have tried and it is awesome. So I figured I would share it. Here it is

“Core strength is critical for peak performance. Master your midsection the way Gay does with this novel move: Lie on your back on a decline bench, holding a weight plate against your chest with both hands. Then lift your upper body off the bench about 6 inches. Holding this position, press the weight plate straight up from your chest, as if you’re doing a bench press. Lower the weight (but not your torso) and repeat. As you push the weight, your abs have to contract even harder, says Gay. Do 12 presses, rest 1 minute, and repeat once or twice.

I do this regularly at the gym now. After about 2-3 sets, you abs feel like they are on fire. Really works well!

My world this week!

Nothing special but one thing of note. One of the most proudest moments of my life was today, when I lost my swimming trunks in the pool. I am not kidding, let me explain. Over the last year, I have lost a bit of weight. So today, my shorts just slipped off , I need new trunks.

The 2nd highlight was shaking hands with Andre Agassi and watching him and Steffi Graf at a tennis clinic over here in Santa Monica. I am big fan of Andre (and Steffi) for doing a lot of positive things not just for tennis but for the community as well. I must confess to cheering for Pete during the heydays of their rivalry but my own tennis game is a lot like Andre’s, just about 1/1000th the quality. So I really wanted to watch him hit, it was a lot of fun! I also solved a lateral puzzle today but it was fairly easy, so I don’t feel too uppity about that. Work continues to be a roller coaster. Working for Yahoo! in these times is super exciting and not always in a good way. More on that later. I started cooking as well, good stuff! I think I lost about a pound but got stronger over this week. Now I can do 11 pull-ups, not bad eh?

Saw a bunch of movies this weekend. Caught up on Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. I would give it 3 stars. Regular, run-of-mill, idiotic humor. Also saw Mission Istanbul, a Bollywood action movie. Unlike most people, I actually sort-of enjoyed the movie, I give it two and a half stars. And finally the best movie of the week-end, Halla Bol. I usually NEVER miss Raj Kumar Santoshi movies when they come out, but I had missed Halla Bool. Am glad I saw it in the Indian store and had the sense to rent it. As usual, incredible. His movies always have a strong message without being preachy. Halla Bol is same. And Ajay Devgan and Pankaj Kapoor are awesome actors, especially in intense roles. It almost brought tears to my eyes. A movie everyone should watch, again and again.

So overall not a bad week. Really looking forward to Nissan Live Sets taping tommorow and more importantly, hanging out with T after what seems like forever.

Viva Olympics!

The Summer Olympics start on August 8th in Bejing. I am really looking forward to them. Growing up I was never a big fan of Olympics (boring!) but as I grew up, I began to understand better the hard work and discipline that goes into being an elite athlete. You cannot have off-days, you can rarely take a break, you have to continuously keep getting stronger and faster, and do all this to improve your times by what? 0.2 seconds! 0.2 seconds that can make the difference between victory and defeat. 1 slip on the gym floor can make the difference between victory and defeat. Also the fact that you are performing for national glory adds a bit of romanticism to the event. I remember supporting USSR as a kid because it was fashionable to *not like* the US and support the Soviet Union. Now a days I just support the sport, may the best person on the day win. My favorites are gymnastics, diving, track and field and swimming.

Before signing off, I will leave you with this cool passage from the Olympic charter. “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understandingwith a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” Bring on the Olympics, I can’t wait!