A few of us runners at work had decided to participate in this race as a relay team. The race is divided into 5 legs, each having its uniqueness.

Eventually, three of us ran the race. Here is our team “Geeks with Wings” at the carbo ... ]]> The Big Sur Marathon is one of the top 10 marathon destinations in the world.
The big run happens along the scenic Highway One, skirting the rugged California coast from Big Sur to Carmel. The slogan used at Big Sur Marathon is “running on the edge of the western world”! It is indeed the case.

A few of us runners at work had decided to participate in this race as a relay team. The race is divided into 5 legs, each having its uniqueness.

Eventually, three of us ran the race. Here is our team “Geeks with Wings” at the carbo load the night before the race.

I ran the first two legs, the least undulating but the longest. My son, Rahul, ran the second leg, which is the hardest, shortest and the most rewarding because of the sights you get to see. Augustus, my ex-colleague, ran the last two legs, with rolling terrain. You can see the details in the topographic map here.

The marathon course is along Highway One, skirting the cliffs along the California coastline. The area is incredibly beautiful and something to soak up.

Big Sur lighthouse

I passed the baton over to Rahul. While he ran, I unwound with the Taiko drummers, whose rhythmic beat could be heard from several miles. Here I am trying my hand at it:

There is a 2 mile uphill run to Hurricane Point, which is hard. Here is Rahul proudly posing at the top.

The course also goes over the legendary Bixby Bridge.

Here are the three of us after completing the run in 4:21:56.

The sights were spectacular, the run rewarding and unforgettable! It was wonderful to have trained and run with friends and with my son. I can see myself coming back here for another energizing run at one of my favourite places in California. The Pacific Coast Highway One! Cheers to the Big Sur International Marathon!!

My spirits were however dampened at the finish line by a very sad new. A very good friend’s 11 year old son, Arya, had died of Leukemia in New York that morning. He was bravely battling this dreadful disease and doing well after a bone marrow transplant. But this did not last long. He was snatched from this world very prematurely. I had run and raised funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honour of Arya in the previous years.

Today my tears are spent, my body is numb as I think of the sweet little boy I knew and the thought of my friend’s colossal loss saddens me. What do I tell her? How can I console her? Words can do little to express my grief. RIP Arya! I pray that your parents have the strength to overcome their big loss! I dedicate this run to you!

Rahul played a romantic ... ]]> My son, Rahul, has been learning to play the piano with Anna Semyanovskaya since he was seven. Anna has several senior students who will be graduating this fall. All of them have learned piano with her since they were six or seven. She had a special recital for all her senior students. I have seen most of them play since they were little. It was a special evening and a treat to watch all the young adults play, so beautifully! Anna has played a very special role in the lives of all of them. They adore her!

Rahul played a romantic piece by Franz Liszt called “Liebestraum”.

Who is a leader? If all are leaders, who are the followers?

An excellent clip of a dancing guy summarizes a “Leadership lesson”.

The Regional Science Bowl competition test students’ knowledge of astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, earth, computer, and general science. There are are couple of Science Bowl tournaments in the Silicon Valley Bay Area, one at Stanford, Berkeley and another at Lawrence Livermore. This is not a surprise given the concentration of high tech in this area. At this ... ]]> I was at the famed Lawrence Berkeley National Lab yesterday to drive my son Rahul and some of his teammates from Lynbrook High School for the Regional Science Bowl tournament. The event was hosted by the Center for Science and Engineering Education.

The Regional Science Bowl competition test students’ knowledge of astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, earth, computer, and general science. There are are couple of Science Bowl tournaments in the Silicon Valley Bay Area, one at Stanford, Berkeley and another at Lawrence Livermore. This is not a surprise given the concentration of high tech in this area. At this particular event, there were twenty-four teams of students from sixteen high schools.

There were two teams (Team A and Team B) from Lynbrook at the event. The A Team, comprising of Rahul Basu, Timothy Chu, Keegan Mendosa, Tejas Navaratna and Raman Nelakanti, won the trophy in the finals against Albany High School.

LBNL Regional Science Bowl 2010 Champs

The red Lynbrook tshirts with a DNA and “Science is in our genes” was very striking in the crowd.  The back of the shirt has a periodic table with the initials of all the Science club members and it said “We have all the right elements”. The tshirt designs were voted by the science club members. Rahul’s design made it on to the shirt this year.

The Lynbrook B team comprising of Jennifer Chen, Andrew Ma, Alexander, Markus and Troy did very well too and got the third place. They were all first-timers at this event.

Lynbrook-B stood third. In the picture (L->R: Mrs Alanzo,Markus, Andrew, Alexander, Troy, Jennifer,Dr. Rocklin, Susan Brady

The Lynbrook team coaches Dr. Roy Rocklin and Mrs Amanda Alanso were very proud indeed! They have been very supportive of the Science Club and its activities in school.

The Lynbrook team will now join approximately 65 other high school teams from across the country to compete for the title of 2010 DOE National Science Bowl Champions.

Going to Washington DC for the National Science Bowl.

I wish them the very best!

The team has successfully done three product releases in 2009! In January SC3.2 1/09; in June OHAC 2009.06 and in Dec SC3.2 11/09.

I work with a wonderful set of people and am very proud to be part of this team and to steer it forward.

Persimmon Bread (Courtsey Irene):

In a bowl mix:

Then add and mix together:

Prepare pan for baking. Bake in a slow oven (300C) for about 1 hr 15 ... ]]> It is the time of the year when my Persimmon tree is laden with lovely fruit (the non-astringent Fuji variety). They look like ornaments on the tree. Besides eating them raw, I was wondering if there was other things I could do with them. Here is a recipe of Persimmon Bread that is delicious.

Persimmon Bread (Courtsey Irene):

In a bowl mix:

• 1 cup ripe persimmon pulp
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Then add and mix together:

• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup raisins
• 2/3 cup nuts
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda

Prepare pan for baking. Bake in a slow oven (300C) for about 1 hr 15 mins. When cool, turn it over. Keep in fridge so it solidifies a little. Enjoy!

Bechtel WonderCup is the Bay Area high school science quiz & innovation competition. The Klein bottle trophy, the WonderCup, goes to the Bay Area’s best science challenge team. A Klein bottle is a closed 2-dimensional surface with no distinct inside or outside — a WonderCup indeed!

The Silicon Valley has a very strong science and technology culture, which permeates into the schools around this area.  It is not a surprise that a large number of ... ]]> I was in Stanford to attend Wonderfest 2009 & and to watch the finals of the Bechtel WonderCup Challenge 2009, in which my son Rahul was participating.

Bechtel WonderCup is the Bay Area high school science quiz & innovation competition. The Klein bottle trophy, the WonderCup, goes to the Bay Area’s best science challenge team. A Klein bottle is a closed 2-dimensional surface with no distinct inside or outside — a WonderCup indeed!

The Silicon Valley has a very strong science and technology culture, which permeates into the schools around this area.  It is not a surprise that a large number of teams (95) participated in the challenge this year. There are qualifying rounds, followed by a semi-final round in Berkeley. The two teams that made it to the finals included Lynbrook High School and The Harker School.

The finals was held at Stanford & was a challenge where the two teams were given 15 minutes to design a flying machine that would stay afloat for the longest time! It was an intense 15 minutes, watching the young to-be scientists from the two teams work things out with the balsa wood pieces, tape, rubberbands, etc., designing the best possible plane.

Lynbrook High School was declared the winner and won the trophy!

Bechtel WonderCup 2009 Champs

Lynbrook students Jennifer, Frances, Rahul & Brandon with Prof Patricia Burchat, Physics Dept Chair, Stanford University

This was followed by MindDuel, a just-for-fun science knowledge contest between Bay Area scientists and the WonderCup Challenge team of high school science students. This was wonderfully conducted by the Wonderfest director Tucker Hiatt with interesting visuals and questions.

It was a wonderful day! Proud of Rahul and his team! They were so excited walking back with their trophy and MacBooks (courtesy of Wind River Systems).

Go Lynbrook!!

It is indeed a welcome change to see the inclusive nature of this President, Barack Obama. I was surprised to read this morning that Diwali is being celebrated in the White House.  It is nice to have a President respect different people, religions and traditions.

I look forward to lighting my home with “diyas” and eating “mithai”! ... ]]> The Festival of Lights, Diwali, will be celebrated on Saturday 17th Oct 2009. The Indian holiday of Diwali celebrates light over darkness, good over bad and has numerous stories associated with it. For me it is about meeting friends & family and enjoying good food!

It is indeed a welcome change to see the inclusive nature of this President, Barack Obama. I was surprised to read this morning that Diwali is being celebrated in the White House.  It is nice to have a President respect different people, religions and traditions.

I look forward to lighting my home with “diyas” and eating “mithai”!

Rahul started running seriously over the summer with some of his friends and started to enjoy it. He surprised me one day by telling me that he wanted to run a half marathon and raise funds for “Asha for Education“, a non-profit secular organization focused on basic education for underprivileged children in India. We looked at various possibilities and registered for this race. Rahul ... ]]> Very proud of my son Rahul for successfully running his first half marathon at the “Rock & Roll Half Marathon” in San Jose today! He completed the run in 2:00:58, which is impressive for a first timer.

Rahul started running seriously over the summer with some of his friends and started to enjoy it. He surprised me one day by telling me that he wanted to run a half marathon and raise funds for “Asha for Education“, a non-profit secular organization focused on basic education for underprivileged children in India. We looked at various possibilities and registered for this race. Rahul has worked hard on his training through the summer and also joined the school track team this year. He was rewarded.

Rahul proudly showing his medal after successfully completing his run at the Rock and Roll Half Marathon at San Jose, 04 October 2009

You can donate to Rahul’s fund raising effort and support Asha for Education.

I am very proud of my boy for setting a goal, working hard towards it and fund-raising for a good cause. Go Rahul!

Mala and I met for tea for the first time in July  and discussed the topic and more. I was impressed that Mala had recently published a book called  The Software Soul. The book is an easy read and had several anecdotes that are very easy to ... ]]> I was invited by Mala Devlin to participate in a panel discussion titled “Software Soul: Maximizing profitability by unleashing the spirit of software teams”. This topic sounded very interesting to me since I have managed projects and global teams for several years at my jobs in the US and in multinational companies in India.

Mala and I met for tea for the first time in July  and discussed the topic and more. I was impressed that Mala had recently published a book called  The Software Soul. The book is an easy read and had several anecdotes that are very easy to relate to. While I read the book, I saw myself in many of the situations!

Over the last month, the panel presentation took shape. Thanks to Mala’s diligence and communication, the panel discussion was well planned and rehearsed.   Our panel discussion was on Friday 02 October. I talked about Globalization and some of the best practices to make global teams click and deliver. Hong-Chung talked about a strong Leadership. Divya talked about Diversity in teams and Karen talked about Operations.

Panelists (L->R): Meenakshi Kaul-Basu (Sun Microsystems), Hong-Chung Tzou (Intuit), Mala Devlin (Cisco), Divya Kolar (Intel), Karen Catlin (Adobe Systems)

It was fun meeting all the  panelists and hearing their rich experience. I learned a lot from them.