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. 

Radish Invasion :)

The herbs and vegetables that I planted three weeks ago, now mostly showed up. The big part of my little garden is occupied by Radish!!!!  ( yes Radius you were right).  

I thought they are basil, then I thought they are fungreek (Shambalileh) and finally after three weeks I noticed red roots and new radish like leaves. :) I do love radish but now the pro blem is with this density my chances of harvesting any red tubes are slim. 

At the middle I have thin long chives that some of them still have their seed hanged from their tip. I also have delicate dills here and there mixed with parsley and I guess mint or basil (?). There is one more type that I am not so sure that might finally be the funegreek or persian watercress. I don't know how much longer I should wait to be able to harvest anything but for now just watching them grow is satisfying. 

Deadly Chamber Story

Today we had a safety training and our instructor told us about a sad event that happens in British Colombia in 2006. The story was about a simple water sampling from a chamber at the rock waste storage of a mine in BC. There was a technician who took water from the chamber everyday without any problems. Everyday he simply climbed down a short ladder, get into the water stream, took a sample and that was it. But one day he went to the chamber and never came back. His wife reported him missing two days after and the company send another technician to check up on him. The second technician went into the chamber saw his co-worker's body floating in water. He thought he was drawn. Quickly he called 911 and then climbed down the ladder to pull out his body. He never came up again. Two rescuers came to the site and saw two bodies; they called for help. Then a first rescuer rushed down the ladder and collapsed, his colleague saw her falling down the ladder and rushed to help her, he never came back either. Full investigation was conducted on what happened in that chamber of death. The answer was, lack of oxygen. The combination of bad air flow, temperature and gas coming out of the rock waste made that chamber a death zone for that time that poor fellows visited the chamber. Measurement showed 2% Oxygen and 7% Carbon Dioxide :0. 

 For the same of comparison consider this, the air we are breathing contains 21% Oxygen and 0.04% Carbon Dioxide. Those poor fellows were suffocated in less than a minute. The sad part was that after the investigation the measurements showed normal level of O2 and CO2 at the top of the chamber. Which means there was no warning for them when they entered the chamber. They were suffocated the moment they reached at the middle of the ladder. Of course new safety measurements were established and enforced but it took 4 lives to realize simple task of water sampling from not even so deep chamber could be fatal.

Magic Beans

I had several bags of herbs seed which was hiding in our cold room for two years.  I wanted to plant some herbs like basil, mint, parsley, etc. Finally I made a move, went to Home Depot and bout a nice size Cedar box, couple of organic soil suitable for vegetable gardening and a layer of weed stopper fabric. 

I thought what are the chances that these seeds grow after waiting to be planted for almost two years. I pour the seeds generously inside the soil thinking that not many of them will show up. But my o my I was wrong. Only a week after planting these precious seeds look at them. I plant different kind and I have no clue what is what. The boxes had no label and now I am waiting to be surprised. Who knows maybe one of them turnout to be a magic bean. 

I remember I had dark green circular seeds which I placed them at the right side of the box and now you can see the results. At this stage I can't tell what are they :D. I have to ask an expert 

There are two other types of herbs coming out of the soil. They are not very visible in this photo you need to look hard. These little seeds putting a soil a side and reaching for a sun.  I love this.  I feel I have little babies to take care of. 

Fidgeting in Bed

It's Sunday night again and I won't be able to sleep at 10: pm. During weekdays I get use to this routine of 10 to 6 but it only takes me two nights to come out of this habit.

Weather was gorgoues this weekend here in Toronto and you can imagine that everybody was out. There is a beautiful park in Toronto called High Park. The main feature of the park is cherry trees that Japan gave them to the park as a gift. This weekend the trees were in full blossoms.
Two sides of a curvy narrow roads covered with branches bended toward the road and covered with white magnificent cherry blossoms. Of course there were so many people all jumping up and down the trees, you dont want to miss the scenery which only comes few days a year.

We were walking down the road from top of the hill toward the pond with blossoms everywhere. The whole thing was surreal. We took few pictures with minimum 10 strangers in each photo with us smiling to their own camera :)

Anyway winter is gone and Torontonian are finally getting some sun. I try to go to sleep now :)

The Ring Bearer

Here in Ontario as an engineer you are eligible to receive an Iron ring. You must wear the ring on your little finger of your working hand depends on if you are left or right handed. Today I received my ring and Nima as a ring bearer present it to me. The ceremony was private and I am not supposed to talk about it. No photography or recording were allowed. It was not anything special but still I am going to respect their privacy.

The ceremony was in downtown Toronto. By the time it finished the traffic was at its peak so we decided to stay in a cafe and enjoy the evening. I love it that downtown is so alive. Before the ceremony I arrived in down town at 3:00 pm, there were many people my age sitting on a patio. I was thinking to myself " don't you guys have a job? Are you all winner of a lottery or on social welfare? " how come I can't be sitting in a patio in downtown at 3:00pm?

Anyway we sited in Hard Rock Cafe with a view to Dundas Square which is the heart of downtown. Our waiter found us a perfect table right next to the window close to the patio door. The music was perfect, Freddie Mercury and David Bowie were singing together both very Young. Only a glass of Sangria made me tipsy with a empty stomach. After dinner we decided to walk in Eton Center one of Toronto's giant mall thus the tipsy phase cool off a little bit.

Sun, people, beautiful spring colors on dresses behind boutique's window, music, sangria and a ring of iron to constantly remind me of my responsibility all made it a perfect Thursday.

My Inner Jane Austin

What's with girls and Jane Austin's male characters. A proud handsome powerful gentleman who fells passionately in love with a girl but he is never needy. Who does not want that package :)

I remember the first time I became familiar with Mr Darcy phenomena, it was 10 years ago. Roja and I stayed at Behi's place for a weekend while Mr behi was out of town. It was midnight when my cousin put Pride and Prejudice BBC tv series into the player. I could barely keep my eyes open till I saw Mr Darcy and next thing you know it was 5 AM :D. At the end of the movie Behi said " you know girls Darcy's eyes are identical to Mr Behi's" :D:D:D

I recently host a Jane Austin marathon. With few of my female friends we watched 5 hours of Pride and Prejudice straight. Like a harmonic orchestra we sighed every time Darcy showed up ( I am giggling right now).

Another Life Lesson

I had an interesting evening today. I talked, explained and listened to my friend just to realize how simple two minds can see things from totally different angle. It is not always easy to put yourself in someone else shoes and be fair. It is fairly easy for me to accept my mistakes and apologiz. Today I felt bad when I was reminded of my mistakes, I felt bad when I realized how much I hurt someone. At the same time I was frustrated when my explanation was not quite being heard. This is not an easy talk when two people trying to open up about their conflicts. You need an open mind, you need fairness. But I take a big lesson... When a conflict with a friend happens and you can't talk about it with him/her keep it to yourself. Try not to involve others. Try not to share your story with others. Because as time passes this only makes it more complicated. People may even add more to your story or say it to the wrong people at the wrong time and deepen the wound. Give it time, which will bring wisdom and perspective.

If you don't know Jérôme Poncet...

I have started watching Life, BBC TV series recently. I treated myself last year when I received an amazon gift card with buying several nature and wild life theme TV series by BBC such as Life, Madagascar, Nature most amazing events and so on. We were watching the first DVD tonight when I heard about this amazing guy called Jerome Poncet. I googled his name and here is his bio. What is in his gene that mine lacking!!! Seriously? "Having been sailing around the Antarctic area for the last 40 years, Jérôme Poncet is certainly the person who best knows the Antarctic Peninsula and all the islands of the Scotia Sea. A Pioneer in the Southern Latitudes: Known first for a 5 year round-the-world trip he accomplished in his early 20s along with his friend Gérard Janichon (from 1969 to 73) on board "Damien", a 10,10m cold moulded wooden sloop they had built. First small yacht to reach Spitzbergen (1969), to reach the Antarctic Peninsula all sound and to sail below the Antarctic Circle (1973) - Received the "Médaille de l'Ordre du Mérite" in 1973 (the French equivalent of a Knighthood) on their return to France. In 1974-75 Jérôme built "Damien II", a 15,20m-steel yacht suited to the type of navigation he had most enjoyed: Antarctica and the high southern latitudes. He has lived on "Damien II" with his wife and increasing family (his first son was born aboard) for the 12 following years, from Europe to Brazil, Polynesia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and to Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic islands. In the meantime, he participated in several Races such as the Whitbread in 1973-74 (Safety), Saint Malo-Cape Town in 1975 (Skipper), Rio-Southampton in 1975-76 (Skipper), Whitbread in 1981 (Safety) First yacht to winter in Antarctica in 1978-79 and still the only yacht to have wintered so far South (67°45'S). Since then, about 30 "Damien II" have been built around the world. In 1987 he settled down with his family on a little sheep farm on an isolated island in the Falklands, a place close to his favorite areas of sailing, to nature and to a lifestyle he and his wife wished to have with their children."

SKN

I typed random alphabet in YouTube search window. I do this when I like to find new talents around the world that I don't even know their name. This is what I got for SKN:

"Skinny Love"
I told you to be patient 
I told you to be fine
I told you to be balanced 
I told you to be kind

Here is Birdy version

http://youtu.be/6tdUoRBySyU

And this the original version

http://youtu.be/ssdgFoHLwnk

Goodnight 

Cuba, Havana, Beaches, Cigar, Cars and Che Guevara

We visited Havana recently and the city wowed me. The dramatic history of the city thanks to Spanish and British of older time and American and Russian influence is very interesting. Old Havana looks like a Spanish city attracted many intellects to herself such as Ernest Hemingway. There is bar with his name that apparently he used to visit very often. Some of these charming building are falling apart but who can blame Cuban for not having renovation on top of their list.

Our tour guid was a middle age man, fair skin and deep green eyes who spoke fluent English. He talked about Cuba with a painful pride. He loved his country was tired of being trapped in time. He didn't want to see his country another province of USA but in his own way he admitted that comonism is not working. He said: "when humans are not motivated they won't work hard.You cannot pay the same money to the one who work hard and the one who stands and do nothing.  But change is coming" he said with a hopefull tune. " when you come back again you will see how fast Cuba will change". He said with please-come-back-again-soon impression in his voice.

I felt like unfortunate situations trapped these people in time. After thirty something years still trying to show the revolution spirit is in the air is surreal. Every where there are photos of  Che Guevara ; every where I mean; on the wall, postal cards, and even mugs. I really doubt that a man like him would ever imagined that one day he will be a major icon in Cuba to attract tourists who like to buy his imprinted mug, magnets, plates, ceramics, etc.

You will see different races of people white and colored in the city which to me is another interesting feature for Havana. Old American Cars, fresh Cohiba cigars, the exact Replica of the White House, the hotel that biggest Mafia meeting took place in, Bay of Pig, the square that young Castro had his longest speech of 9 hours... are all part of what form this city or country I should say.

 So far I visited part of Mexico, Dominican Republic and now Havana. My first impression from people I encountered, including the hotel staff, stranger in street, the bus driver, tour guide , etc is that  Cuban are more serious, mostly educated ( education is free in  Cuba) and are into politics ( considering how much the government is involved in people everyday life I am not surprised).

Thoughts for Tonight

I watched Lincoln movie tonight. I loved it. More than anything I love the fact the movie tried to show him as a man and his vision he had rather than a series of events happened at his time.
The directors didn't dedicate the movie to North and South war but tried to show what kind of man Abraham Lincoln was as a dad as a husband and as a person.

I liked it that his terror isn't shown in the movie it just shows his frail body in bed after the shooting drawn in his own blood.

I am surprised and amused that:

1- Lincoln was a Republican. Honestly I thought democrats were pioneers in banishing the slavery. I a shocked that 150 years ago they were so much resisting the idea. I always considered liberals and democrats as those who are open to change, are more flexible,are kind of more open minded in general. And on the other hand Republicans and Conservative look narrow minded, less flexible and backward to me. At least this is what they project by their acts. It's quit interesting how far each party came in 150 years. I think I shouldn't mix Abraham Lincoln with today's Republicans or Democrats.

2- How much USA changed from his time. Those people that were disgusted by the idea of having colored people equal before the law now have a black President who is a democrat. The very party who was so much against considering his ancestors equal before the law.

3-How much Gun technology changed but the laws haven't yet.

Goodnight

Live As Much As Noah

My eyes are closed, I am listening, only listening.
Aren't we blessed with arts. Who made this, how?!!
how many hours, how many days, I need to listen to all my favorite songs
How many lives I shall live
This isn't fair. I don't have enough time to finish listening, watching, reading what I want to.
How many lives I shall live to read your thoughts, to feel your pain, or to hear your laugh, through your songs or within your words.


"We shall live another life after this one, since we spend this one wondering"
From Saadi Shirazi

ای گنج نوشدارو

بر خستگان گذر کن

مرهم بدست و

ما را مجروح میگذاری

عمری دگر بباید

بعد از وفات ما را

کاین عمر طی نمودیم

اندر امیدواری

Happy Yalda Night

It was 4:00 pm today when I noticed my dad Tangoed me which I missed. I know he wanted to read me my Fal E Hafez. On my way home, it was raining like crazy. I know we are going to celebrate Yalda this weekend with few friends but tonight is Yalda and I can not miss it. I wanted to do something special. I don't know why but the only thing came to my mind was a beautiful pine tree shining with colorful lights. I got my made-in-china tree and surprised Nima. :)
I will call dad tomorrow to ask him about my Fal E Hafez but tonight I am getting one for myself.
I take Hafez poems, close my eyes, slip my fingers through the book pages randomly, open the book and this is what Khaj E Hafez from Shiraz has to tell me:

غلام همـــــــــت دردی کشان يک رنگــــــــم

نه آن گروه که ازرق لباس و دل سيهند

Growing the right connectom and prefrontal cortex :)

I am reading this book called "The Willpower Instinct" by Kelly McGonical. Kelly teaches willpower as a course in University of Standford. The book is explaining the science behind the willpower. It explains how strengthening our prefrontal cortex we can gain more willpower. And also she defines simple assignments to practice and muscular our prefrontal cortex. :)
When I was reading this book it reminds of Dr Sebastian Seung TED lecture "growing the right connectom". I wrote about this couple of post before. See when I said saying prays for 10 years was working like a magic for me because it gave me self confidence and of course willpower, to me this is the same practice that Kelly is suggesting in her book "meditation everyday". The meditation helps your brain to become stronger by growing a right set of neurons. This sounds very similar to me to what Sebastian said about our brain is capable of  growing a connectom based on our fears, experiences, etc.
we have flexible brain we can learn how to make it stronger in certain ways. I think being flexible was a key to our survival. My mom lost her dad when she was the Same age as me (2 years before I was born), she lost her sister in a car accident when I was 10, she lost her mother when I was 23 and her younger brother a following year. She told me once " Hiva I don't know how on earth I managed to survive these losses, I think I developed an iron mind." I know now that she certainly did.  This is how her brain coup with the pain.
Our brain is everything, our personality, identity, goals, memories, likes, dislikes are stored in  infinite layers that curled in each other. Curious just curious.

Old School Tourist

Last night I met a man in his 70. He was retired from 30 years of tunneling under GTA.  We sat on a table together and he told me about his trip to Iran in 1974.  Good years back then I was thinking to myself while he was trying to remember where he went from Tehran to Isfehan to Mashad. He told me things where simpler back then.

 "I got a tent and my wife and we went to Mexico, we arrived at the gas station and I asked the owner if I could set my tent there and he let us. See every nation are proud of their country if you show them your respect they will treat you right." He said. "When I was a kid my mom used to give me 5 cent to take the bus downtown , no one was worried that I was going miles away from home. Nowadays they put these whole safety things in your head" he continued.

He had an interesting vision of life, kind of a tough old school overview. He said "when you go on a trip it must be spontaneous. No plan nothing, you go and see what happened. That is more fun, when you don't plan then you will meet people which makes it interesting."

I like to meet with people who thinks different way and took totally different approach in their lives. It gives a better perspective. This man was very straight forward and to the point. I gave him my card but he didn't. Then my boss came to our table and teased him "Hiva did Mike gave you his card?"
"Nope" I smiled.  "There's no money for me here to give my card to her. I am the contractor you should know better. Ok ok here I give you one." And then he gave me one of his card. :):) Yes!!!

Growing the right Connectom

Life is quite dynamic. We grow, change, learn, adapt, experience, fail,...

The person I am today is different from Hiva at 18 years of age. " I am my connectom" I repeated after Sebastian Seung who is trying to answer to who we are through neuroscience. He said our experiences and memories in life stored through connections among neurons. 

I know more than anything I am looking for inner peace. A state of mind that wont easily be disturbed, call it wisdom, call it inner peace. I belive every person has to find a solution for their restless mind. 

- one might confides in organazied religions, phylosephy, aethiesm ,...

- one might confieds in family and/or friends

- one might drown himself/herself in work or certain hobbies

- reading books, listening to music, reading poems, doing Yoga, doing extreme sport, having a baby, having a pet....

The list has no end. I belive only I know what would works for me the best. When I was 15 years old I started saying prays. I loved it. It was working for me like a magic. I had a great self confidence which helped me overcome my anxieties. I happily said prays for years till the age of 25 which it was not working for me anymore. I found my doing kind of robatic, wasnt giving me anything. I knew I had to find another solution.  

Few days ago I was sitting in a bar with few friends and talking about life were we are going and stuff like that ( these are kind of topics you usually have after few drinks :))

I told to my friend, " in today's society we have big milestones to achive which keep us motivated. Motivation is a huge positive source of feeling happy. First we go to school, finish high school, finish university, find a job, find a partner. Now if you are a person who already done with your school, married and working you already achived big parts of your milestones. You reached to the plateau of your life. When you are on the plateau it's important to find out what you want. Without noticing the big source of your motivation is gone and without that you might find yourself disoriented, aimless, empty, depressed, middle age crises...."

It's like you have been on this super fast roller coaster that all of a sudden comes to this halt at the middle of nowhere. Where am I ? How these years passed? When did I grow up this much?

If you start having babies then again your plateau will start steeping upward which means now your babies life curve, affecting yours. Your children milestone becomes yours. You find yourselfe motivated again. But these days many couples having baby at older age and they have easily 5 plateau years or more. Don't be astonished if you find yourself confused, bored since the adrenalin of achieving different milestone is gone. As much as you notice this you will feel better. 

To feel the gap we start making other excitement in our life, we define other goals, get my boating liscence, learn fishing, buy a pet, planting, partying like crazy, running for this or that cause.  All good, all good. Whatever works I am telling to my self. Just find me my inner peace. Just grow me the right network of connectom.  Hallelujah 

Vote

Tonight is the night that Americans will know who is their president for the next four years. Nima who loves statistics, charts , numbers and graphs can not be happier : D

CNN uses state of the art facilities to analyze the results every freaking minute. John King working on his magic wall showing what is the percentage of voters age between 19-29, 30-46, 46-65, and older than 65 who voted for Obama or Romney based on 4 percent of the counted votes. And yes of course he will update us every 20 minutes.

 I cant help comparing this election with Canada's. comparing three course debate between American candidates and two rounds debate between candidate here in Canada ( one in English and one in French) which is basically one. I watched debates between Obama and Romney while red, blue, green, etc, lines jumping up and down, and jumbling to show how men and women favorite each candidate every second. Too much drama for me !!

I remember canadian debates between Five leaders of major parties. They were all sitting around one table call each other by their first name and talking. At the end, the chair of the debate asked each candidate to say something nice about the person who were sitting at his or her right side. I liked that gesture  very much. I like Canada to stay like this. Away from all noises and fake excitements take more reasonable approach to select the leader of the country.

I think Obama will win. I cant see how american expected him to do miracle in four years.  changing the whole office at this time doesn't sound right to me.  We will know by tomorrow or maybe not!!!!!