Say hello to Mr Tangi

As a tradition which I am not sure when started, we Iranian (maybe other persians do it too) buy a red gold fish in a bowl for our 7sin table. I remember from childhood, we would bought three or four gold fish. Some wouldn't make it to two weeks and some would last a year.

Now I know gold fish need aquarium to survive. I stopped buying fish for 7sin for the past few years. This year I really wanted a perfect table. I knew the only fish which is comfortable in a bowl is a Beta fish. I bought a beautiful orange Beta for our table this year. Named Tangi short for Tangerine  because of his colour (this idea occur to me thanks to Scotia Bank who named ING , Tangerine now). 

Tangi is one happy male Beta, only few months old. He is making bubble nest already hoping to get lucky which sadly is not going to happen. Betas are very aggressive and territorial. In a bowl a male Beta even don't tolerate a female beta let alone another male. 

He eats his protein with added vitamin twice a day and swallow blood worms as a treat. I am careful not to overfeed him since this little gready fellow has a stomach as big as his eye.  My colleage the other day was teasing me about me having a fish as a pet. We were at lunch and he was having Mahi-Mahi. I didn't have name for Tangi yet and he was helping to choose one. "Call him lunch, oh oh I got it , call him Mahi-Mahi, oh no, since he is little call him just Mahi you know 1 rather than 2" :D

I have a picture of Tangi with fully open fins.

Five Hundred Miles

I heard this popular folk song today in a movie called "inside Llewyn Davis". It's an old song goes back to 1962 performed by The brother Four. 

The lyrics is simple, the song is very easy listening. 

 

If you miss the train I'm on,

You will know that I am gone,

You can hear the whistle blow, a hundred miles.

A hundred miles, a hundred miles,

A hundred miles, a hundred miles.

You can hear the whistle blow, a hundred miles.

Lord, I'm one, Lord I'm two

Lord, I'm three, Lord I'm four,

Lord, I'm five hundred miles away from home.

Not a shirt on my back,

Not a penny to my name,

Lord, I can't go back home this away.

This away, this away, this away, this away.

Lord, I can't go back home, this away.

If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone,

You can hear the whistle blow, a hundred miles.

A hundred miles, a hundred miles,

A hundred miles, a hundred miles.

You can hear the whistle blow, a hundred miles.

Here is the link to modern performance of this song byJustin Timberlake:  http://youtu.be/LzauF0VkECQ

Time flies faster as your responsibilities in life increase.

In the consulting world, the difference between "I am overwhelmed" and "I am on overhead" is one email :)

If you don't know Matthieu Ricard

This is a harsh winter here inToronto. I was thinking today how much mental effort it takes to stay positive and does not let extreme cold discourage you of being active. I guess a combination of gloomy winter, a news of my good colleage will be layed off soon, and then read this "sad love" posted by JP which made me cry, I felt like looking for something happy before going to sleep. I googled "happiest person on earth" and his name came up. He has a very interesting bio written in Wikipedia explaining how son of a French philosopher and a painter became a Tibetian Monk. Is he married? I am asking myself. Na, He is a monk, he does not have to be worry about loosing his love of life. He is free of ties 

"To scientists, he is the world's happiest man. His level of mind control is astonishing and the upbeat impulses in his brain are off the scale.

MRI scans showed that he and other long-term meditators - who had completed more than 10,000 hours each - experienced a huge level of "positive emotions" in the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is associated with happiness. The right-hand side, which handles negative thoughts, is suppressed.

Further studies have shown that even novices who have done only a little meditation have increased levels of happiness. But Mr Ricard's abilities were head and shoulders above the others involved in the trials."

I should go back to my meditation routin. 

Tonight's Doodling

Have lots of sun shine where ever you are :D

Lessons from penguins

Beginning of 2014 was bitterly cold in Toronto. This polar vortex covered big part of Canada for a couple of weeks. For me this was the coldest I experienced (windchill -38). Ice storme was also new to me. We escaped big part of it by staying out of town during holidays  but still after coming back extreme cold alarm was there to say hello.

Ice storm gave kind of a surreal shape to everything. Icy three, icy leaves, icy bushes, icy driveway ( which was very real and slippery by the way). I was joking that right now if you watch penguins TV, there are advertisement about new resorts in Toronto.

There are lessons to be learned from penguins in a polar vortex icy condition:

Number 1 ) layer up properly, you need a feather jacket (or equivalent), insulated, tightened and sealed to stop wind gets into your body.

Number 2) walk side to side like a penguins. This lessens a possibility of falling. No seriously I did, it works.

And Number 3) Get together like a herd of penguins. During harshest winter storm, penguins comes together, lay their head on one another shoulder. This way their body temperature adds up and makes cosy environment to survive the impossible windchill. Of course penguins rotate so no bird stay too long far from the core.

Number 4) ( this one penguins have no contributions to) consum warm drink. Not only increase your core temperature but also levels up your spirit.

Any way winter is here and I am going to make a best out of it.

Wisdom of an anonymous Bishop

I have a friend at work who is pretty funny. we have lunch together everyday. He is a serious game player with a high rank among gamers in Canada and call himself a Bishop.Today he told me something really wise. He told me that he couldn't earn one achievement in latest Call of Duty game in XBox and last night he dreamed about it. He said "Imagine how upset I was that I dreamed about it." Then he continued " you should make yourself fake challenges in life so that real ones have to stay in line". 

The Story of Two lovers

It was middle of a day about two years ago, when my colleage called me:

- Hiva I can see them outside of my window, they are here again.
- Who?
- The lovers.

For the past couple of years that I have been working in this building, every once in a while two cars one black and another one blue, come and park right beside each other, side by side, a woman gets out of one and enter to the other. The other car has windows all covered with sun reflector. After 3 to 4 hours, a woman comes out and each car goes its own way.

I recently moved to another spot close to the window with a beautiful view to a ravin and of course our parking lot. When I feel tired I look outside to refreshen my mind. It was about few month ago that I looked outside of a building and I saw them. The black car and and the blue car side by side. I was curious to see them, the famouse lovers that half of my office knows about.

At last, she came out of the black car, a woman in her fifties followed by him, a man of the same age. I should confess I was expecting a much younger woman. They hugged tightly and kiss each other long. Outside was chilly but they didn't have a care. It was obviouse saying goodbye was very hard for them. To me they are totally in love, affair or not, these two love each other badly.

This is awkward that two strangers having affair and chose a remote parking lot to meet and be with each other. They think no one of their family members know but then half of an office all strangers know about them.

Seinfeld's Wisdom

Nima and I have started watching Jerry Seinfeld sitcome from beginnings. I like this show, and it's casual way of presenting ordinary people in their everyday life. The show is about nothing that's what I like about it. No fancy dressing of actors, pretty face boys and girls, instead Ordinary faces, light funny atmosphere.

Anyway we just started watching season 2, Jerry and George are talking about relationship and jerry says something which is quitte deep actually. Here it is "Relationship is a living organism, you develop it and when you starve it, it turns against you". This is so true. 

Rememberence Day

I was nine-month old when my country engaged in a war which last for 8 years. With my family we lived in a city far far north of Iran. War front was all the way in south. I almost felt nothing;  Lost nobody in that war. I was too little and too protected. 

Iraq hoped to take advantage of Iran's revolutionary chaos and invaded part of southern land at borderline between the two countries. War began without formal warning. After two years, Iranian repelled iraqi's forces out and for whatever reason which is a mystery to me that nasty war lasted six more years. Iraq used chemical weapons during the war which claim many souls later, long after war was over. 

Many souls were lost from both sides, civilans died, suffered, wounded. Kids in schools bombarded. Sons who never made it back home and kept their parents waited for a long time hoping that maybe, just maybe one day they will see them again. Wifes who tasted bitterness of becoming a widow at young age and never had time to taste romance in their young husband embrace. Among Iranian soldiers there were many students mostly 16 to 18 years old, some even younger. All these beautiful brave souls perished. From both side of course; from both side. 

And all this for what, why?

 Because of one maniac who felt like invading another land, or another maniac who decided not to do peace at a right time. It's always like this isn't it. Give me one good reason, only one why it is good to start a war. Tell me why we should feel proud of perishing souls of other humans. Bombarding schools full of innocent children who are filled with life and cheerfulness. Why?

War is bad. War is always bad. 

Serenity

I need two wings. I would open them wide and fly high up the tallest tree on earth. I would sit on one of it's highest branches, and let my legs loose in the air to swing with wind. I would tilted me head back and laid it on the tree trunk and let go of myself. I would become united with a tree, leaves, wind, smell of wet grass, sunshine, rain drops, bird song...Serenity, that's is what I would fly to.

I only need two wings.

Cocaine and Cockaigne

Look at these two words Cokaigne and Cocaine. 

Cocaine as you know is a naturally occurring organic alkaloid present in the leaves of the coca plant. The drug makes one feel high, extremely elevates his/her mood and makes one feel suprime. 

Cockaigne or Cockayne (from Wikipedia) is a " medieval trope denoting a mythical land of plenty, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist."

The two words are oddly similar. I think back in time before cocaine prohibition, advertisement could be something like: Cocaine takes you high up into Cockaigne :D

I Love You Dad

در سايبان تاكى

        آويخته است انگور

مو گيسوان خودرا

        افكنده بر لب تور

درزيرطاق اين رز

         افتاده است عكسى , از دخترم كه ماهى است با هاله اى پر از نور 

خورشيد نيز آنجا ،استاده نام نيما

پيچد چو نام اين دو

در كوه آلپ وآندا

آوا دمد بگوشم آ،آ،آ،آ....

I sent him this photo. He emailed it back with a poem attached. My dad is a writer and he rarely write a poem, not for publishing just for himself. But this one is mine and I publish it in my blog. :D

Dolce Vita

I love traveling. To me it's like getting a break from my everyday life, from my everyday little stupid stresses that burden my mind. Visiting new country, watching people far far away from my hometown that are living their own everyday life is quite calming for me.

Nima and I just came back from a trip to Italy. I can't say how beautiful, how charming how amazing this country sounded to me. We visited 7 cities in 9 days, quite hectic I should say. We walked 8 to 10 hours everyday to catch up with the beauty of this Roman country.

I still remember how I felt the moment I looked up and saw Duomo in Florence.God what an ambitious project. What wowed me even more is that there are a lot of these grand monuments all over this country.  

 

Imagine  how would a building which took 300 years to be completed under supervision of 400 art master would look like. Well that would be something like Siena Cathedral. Every square feet of this building is a master piece. We didn't know where to look at, up on the roof or down on the floor. This church owes her beauty to rivalry between Florence and Siena and of course good fortunes of rich merchants who wanted to buy  their way up to the heaven by donating a lot of money to church. 

I loved Tuscany landscape with those pointing pine trees, sunflower fields, hill towns that made me feel like I went back in time.

I loved Amalfi coast. Mountain reaches the Mediterranean sea with colorful houses decorating them was very charming to me. Dolce Vita :)

Rome is a city of art. Everywhere there is a trace of a great artist. If you ask me Romans had obsession with sculptures :). There are numerous bust, granite statue of Greek gods, stories of  bibles, I can go on and on. We visited Borghese Gallery which made me familiar with the phenomenon called Bernini. He was a genies sculptor who made several famous monuments when he was quite young.

I believe every trip that we go changes something in us. Travel has its own subtle way of changing us for a better person. Give us some insight, takes us out of our everyday life. Taste new foods, see people's passion on another continent at different era. I understand better now a difference between original art and a copy.

One last thing before I close this post.  In St Peter's Basilica we saw a beautiful sculpture called Pietà, a sculpture showing the Virgin Mary grieving over the body of Jesus. This is one of Michelangelo's most famous works at the age of only 24. There is something about Mary in this sculpture. Her face is calm, sad and as Nima said like she accepted her son's fate. How much you can show all of these feeling with a  piece of stone.

All photos credit goes to Nima :)

Tonight's Doodling

I see something, or hear a story and then my mind tries to find a conclusion, tries to judge, tries to say I know I know.  My conclusion can be very true, very off, or ok enough. The same as anyone else. I think communication is an art. How much you manage to interact with one another with minimum casualties? This is not easy. If you have no conflict, no argument, etc you are either a master of communication and soft skills or you are leaving in your own cave with minimal interaction.

You Got Me Today Mr H

My boss told me that one of our senior engineers resigned today. I am very close to this person and for the past couple of years I worked with him all the time. The news came like a shock to me. He continued talking about how much this change will not affect me at all and tried to convince me that this is even good for me.

This morning, I woke up, packed my lunch box, water the plants and my herb garden, turned on the alarm, got into my car and drove to work like every other day. Nothing was different to me, another day at work which I really enjoyed so far.

Now my mind analyzing!
What is going to happen to me? how much this change will affect me in general? What should I do? Should I give him a call and ask him why? well I know why, then what?
Should I call him and try to change his mind?

You got me today buddy!
Best of luck with your new job Mr H.


Photo credit: Andy Brandon

The story of Kooh*

I first read the American version of the story about three Iranian climbers who got lost in Himalayan mountain last week. Then I started googling their name to see what was the latest news. Three young Iranian climbers lost their way after successfully ascending the peak. One of them called home a day before the rescue team call off the search. The leader of the team announce that there is no chance that they could be possibly alive in that latitude without food and water. They were too high for the helicopter reach. Finally it was decided to let their bodies rest in Himalaya.

 Here is part of what Scott an American climber who shared part of his journey to the peak with these guys, wrote: "In this world I have been lucky enough to live in many different places and meet many different people. Some good, some bad and in some rare cases you meet some who evoke a powerful feeling of good inside you, almost like a white light of happiness. These people are very rare and are the ones that make this world a better place to live in for all of us. There are so few of these special people on this earth that if you lose even a few there are tremendous negative effects for the rest of us. Aidin, Pouyu, and Mojtaba are of these few, rare people. The world will miss these young souls; I will miss these young souls. They were my friends and I am sad to see them go. My heart goes out to the families and friends of these individuals..." You can read the full story here.

Those who crave for the highest latitude, reaching to the very top, overcoming a thin air, exhaustion  and experiencing the absolute silent  of the old Kooh*, do it only out of passion. I do wish it becomes safer and we won't here about loss of loved ones.

Koohs has many stories to tell if one day they decide to open up. There are many precious souls resting in their arm.

CLIMBERS BE SAFE.

* Kooh means mountain in persian.

Triathlon, Hiva's version :)

If I may replace biking with driving, then I just did my first triathlon Hiva's version. :)

45 minutes of swimming, followed by 20 minutes of running in a weather felt like 35 degree of Celsius and of course driving :)

I emptied the whole bottle of water over  my head and still felt like burning during a run. Nima and I have started running this summer. Today was our 8th week of running. We wanted to get a momentum that keeps us active till the end of the next cold season. Being active in a hot damp summer and a cold windy winter is impressive. Hats off to all Torontonian who stays active four seasons :):). 

Few lines on my summer life

Few days ago I noticed that our beautiful pine tree is loosing leaves. I got closer and noticed hundreds of sawflies larva chewing happily off the tree. In only few days the top part of the tree left naked, no leaves. I headed to Home Depot , got a bottle of insecticide soap and sprayed all over the tree. 

Also my herb garden is under attack with little green aphids. I didn't dare to spray the herbs. I wil wait to see if it gets worse. The pine tree still has many larvae who survived the first spray. I will try tomorrow and see how many will survive the second attack :)

Today I had my first swiming class session. The class was supposed to include three students but apparently I am the only one who registered. :):)

I took swiming class about 10 years ago with my cousin. We spent two terms and significantly progressed. It was so much fun for the two of us learning to swim. Our instructor was a young enthusiastic girl and she did a great job teaching us. I remember one time, Behi and I didn't practice and were behind everybody else , she sent us to the corner and said ' you two grab the pool edge and only practice foot kicks for 15 minutes. ' Behi and I were laughing, feeling like a child that teacher gave them extra homework. :)

Today in the pool I was the only adult student. The rest of the pool was filled with 4 or 5 years old kids whose parents were filming them and encouraging them to learn.