There is a way to capitalize on Raj’s genetic gift…

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19777/?a=f

 

So far, the following people have signed up:

Alpa	Aditya
Anu	Chander
Mona	Dhanya
Pragya	Arvind
Annie	Satvinder
Sharmilla	Tejinder
Vennilla	Prakash
Tejpreet	Manish
Manju	Kurien
Mudita	Raj
Afshan	Prabhu
	Vinay
	Kishan
	Ram
	Anil

As you guys may know, Ottawa is home of one of the biggest Dragon Boat Festival’s. This festival takes place on the 20-22 June 2008 weekend this year. I propose that since we think of ourselves as the Ultimate Fun-eh Khans, we should consider entering a team.

What do we need for the team?

1. We need 22 people on the boat. 20 of them paddle. 1 steers. 1 calls ( read drums ).
2. The boat needs a minimum of 8 women paddlers.
3. The steering person has to know what (s)he is doing. This race runs pretty fast. Any slight losses on account of the steer can cause your position to plummet like a lead anchor.
4. The drummer has to be a Josh bundle.
5. We need about $1300 for the team entry. Sounds like a lot, but it is about $50 per person. Now this money can be raised from sponsorships. The race proceeds go to CNIB ( charity for visual impariments/blindness )

The race happens in the Mooney’s Bay. All the teams get to practice on 2 different days in June. We will be given a boat, paddles, and life jackets for the practice. We get to race twice on 21st of June. Then depending on our time, we either need to show up on 22nd of June, or not. This is a pretty fast race. It needs endurance and strength. The race itself is 500m. It is over in under 3 minutes. The top teams finish under 2:15. The champions are usually done under 2:00. My guess is that if we are half way serious, we could finish between 2:30-2:45. To do better than that, we have to be serious.

Mona and I participated in this. It was a lot of fun. Teams come up with own T-Shirts. Some teams put on mini shows on the boat as they are steering alongside after the race.

If we want to do this, let me know ASAP, so that a team can be registered right away. There are a very limited team spots available in total ( under 200 ). If you do straight math, that is over 4000 participants. So this is a pretty good size event of the city.

 Just see how funny Dhoni has acted in a Pepsi add imitating Chennai Superstars. Enjoy!.

A sure sign of spring – The Tulip festival starts this weekend!

I specially like the Dows lake area, where the flower beds look exceptionally beautiful. Like true Desis

we like to sit amongst the flowers and get our pics taken. Unfortunately the weather this weekend does not look that great, but if things improve we should all go and enjoy nature’s beauty.

Seema, you would have loved it and Umesh, I can almost hear the continuous clicks of your camera.

A young man married a beautiful woman who had previously divorced ten husbands. On their wedding night, she told her new husband, “Please be gentle, I’m still a virgin”. “What?” Said the puzzled groom. “How can that be if you’ve been married ten times?

“Well, husband #1 was a Sales Representative; he kept telling me how great it’s going to be.

Husband #2 was in Software Services; he was never really sure how it was supposed to function, but he said he’d look into it and get back to me.

Husband #3 was from Field Services; he said everything checked out diagnostically but he just couldn’t get the system up.

Husband #4 was in Telemarketing; even though he knew he had the order, he didn’t know when he would be able to deliver

Husband #5 was an Engineer; he understood the basic process but wanted three years to research, implement, and design a new state-of-the-art method.

Husband #6 was from Finance and Administration; he thought he knew how, but he wasn’t sure whether it was his job or not.

Husband #7 was in Marketing; although he had a product, he was never sure how to position it.

Husband #8 was a psychiatrist; all he ever did was talk about it.

Husband #9 was a gynecologist; all he did was look at it.

Husband #10 was a stamp collector; all he ever did was.. . God I miss him!

But now that I’ve married you, I’m so excited!”

“Good,” said the husband, “but, why?”
“You’re a Tax Man…. This time I KNOW I’m gonna get screwed!”

Happy Tax time!

Finally our cars arrived today. The other stuff hasn’t arrived yet, mover says to expect it between 1st and 5th May,  but Seema is ok now that she has got the car and a US credit card.  Arjun likes his new school because its full of desi kids (rest are Chinese),  but the poor kid has to give tests right away as California school rating tests are going on now. My commute is not bad at all either.  I will mail you guys our new numbers.

I see the traffic to this site is getting low now.  I will post some new pics exclusively here when I get some time.

cheers

~Umesh

Jusrina and I will be participating in the Tour Nortel on 4th of May in the 12K event. We are raising money for CHEO for this event. You can do online donations to support us. We are quite fortunate to have this great institution so accessible to us.

I would also encourage more people to come out and participate for this event. Or minimally come out to cheer.

To Donate, please click here.

The links have been updated to Jusrina’s own pledge forms.

Coliseum Ottawa (Cineplex)  3090 Carling Ave., Ottawa     Fri, Sat, Sun: 1:00, 4:30, 8:00 Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu: 4:30, 8:00

http://outsourcinginnovation.blogspot.com/2008/04/outsourcing-for-startups-conversation.html

So People,

You are cordially Invited to attend the Maple Sugar festival in Perth this Saturday.

Its is nice drive, as Tejinder will tell you and the Place is nice too.

So c’mon guys, lets start doing stuff outdoors. have Picnics go out for drives. The Summer does not last forever you know!!

There is a new Hindi movie coming- A thriller like Dhoom!

Guys take notice. Songs are pretty good too

Japanese save a lot. They do not spend much.  Also Japan exports far more than it imports. Has an annual trade surplus of over $100 billions, yet Japanese economy is considered weak, even collapsing.
Americans spend, save little. Also US import more than it exports.  Has an annual trade deficit of over $400 billion. Yet, the American economy is considered strong and trusted to get stronger.
 
But where from do Americans get money to spend? 
 
They borrow from Japan , China and even India .  Virtually others save for the US to spend.

Global savings are mostly invested in US, in dollars.  India itself keeps its foreign currency assets of over $100 billions in US securities. 
China has sunk over $160 billion in US securities.    Japan’s stakes in US securities is in trillions.
 
Result:
The US has taken over $5 trillion from the world.  So, as the world saves for the US , Americans spend freely.  Today, to keep the US consumption going, that is for the US economy to work, the countries have to remit $180 billion every quarter that is $2 billion a day to the US !
Otherwise the US economy would go for a sick. So will the global economy.

The result will be no different if US consumers begin consuming less.  A Chinese economist asked a neat question.  Who has invested more, US in China , or China in US?
The US has invested in China less than half of what China has invested in US.
The same is the case with India . We have invested in US over $50 billion.  But the US has invested less than $20 billion in India .
Why the world is after US?   The secret lies in the American spending, that they hardly save. In fact they use their credit cards to spend their future income. That the US spends is what makes it attractive to export to the US .  So US imports more than what it exports year after year.
 
The result:
The world is dependent on US consumption for its growth.   By its deepening culture of consumption, the US has habituated the world to feed on US Consumption.  But as the US needs money to finance its consumption, the world provides the money…
It’s like a shopkeeper providing the money to a customer so that the customer keeps buying from his shop. The customer will not buy; the shop won’t have business, unless the shopkeeper funds him. The US is like the lucky customer.  And the world is like the helpless shopkeeper financier.

Who is America ’s biggest shopkeeper financier?
Japan of course.   Yet it’s Japan which is regarded as weak.
Modern economists complain that Japanese do not spend, so they do not grow.  To force the Japanese to spend, the Japanese government exerted itself.  Reduced the savings rates, even charged the savers Even then the Japanese did not spend (habits don’t change, even with taxes, do they?).
Their traditional postal savings alone is over $1.2 trillions, about three times the Indian GDP.  Thus, savings, far from being the strength of Japan , has become its pain.

Hence, what is the lesson?
That is, a nation cannot grow unless the people spend, not save. Not just spend, but borrow and spend.
Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, the famous Indian-born economist in the US , told Manmohan Singh that Indians wastefully save.
Ask them to spend, on imported cars and, seriously, even on cosmetics! This will put India on a growth curve.
 
‘Saving is sin, and spending is virtue.’
 
Before you follow this neo economics, get some fools to save so that you can borrow from them and spend. This is what US has successfully done in last few decades.

A video report on an amazing new bicycle parking system that has opened at Kasai Station in Tokyo:

Customers who come to the station by bicycle need only place their bike on a small platform and hit a few buttons, and the system will automatically store their bike in an underground parking garage that can accommodate 9,400 bikes. When the reporter asks the machine to retrieve his bicycle, it only takes 23 seconds to accomplish the task. The parking system costs 100 yen for a single use, or 1,800 yen for a monthly pass.