chilkari's posterous

The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Beers

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front
of him.

When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two beers from under the table and poured the
entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between
the sand.

The students laughed...

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children,
your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything
else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house
and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room
for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never
have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children.

Spend time with your parents.

Visit with grandparents.

Take time to get medical checkups.

Take your spouse out to dinner.

Play another 18.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.

Set your priorities.

The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of beers with a friend.

NDIS Wrapper + Hidden ESSID + Ubuntu 9.10 = Fail

After some frustrating experimentation and reading, it turns out that NdisWrapper, a way of using Windows WiFi drivers under Linux does not appear to be compatible with wifi networks who do not broadcast their ESSID under Ubuntu 9.10.

I backed out all of my changes to use NdisWrapper, uninstalled and switched back to the built-in b43 drivers (I have a Broadcom wifi chipset (BCM4306) in my HP pavilion zv6000 laptop), and after a restart, everything appears to work perfectly.

Internal Error 2739 for Adobe Installs under 64-bit Windows 7 [Solution]

While installing Flash CS3 onto my 64 bit Windows 7 machine, the installer (setup.exe) would not launch reporting "Internal Error 2739".

After a bit of googling, these steps solved the problem for me:

  1. Run an elevated command prompt as Administrator.
  2. For Windows Vista 32-bit user, ensure that the command prompt is atC:\Windows\System32\ folder. For Windows Vista x64-bit, issue the following command to change to 64-bit folder in order to use the correct DLL files:

    cd ..\SysWow64

  3. Type the following command and hit Enter:

    regsvr32 jscript.dll

    and optionally (if problem persists),

    regsvr32 vbscript.dll

  4. Run the Adobe installer again.

Nineteen and Super Chic

Miles-davis-kind-of-blue

I remember...

The pride and near-arrogance I felt while setting the table for a dinner in my post-college 900 sq. foot apartment: The chic post-modern high-gloss black place mats. The shiny black square drinking glasses. The plastic-framed print of the close up of the piano keys. Miles Davis playing on the stereo. The table itself, a beat up hand-me-down from my parents. The kitchen was actually also the living room, with a hand-me-down couch, and hand-me-down entertainment center with hand-me-down tv.

And me thinking I was cultured and cosmopolitan. I had, most definitely, arrived.

Ah, to be nineteen again.

At least I got the music right.

Dear Me.

Dear Me,

It seems like you fell off every horse you tried to ride this week. And once you were down, they just stomped all over you. 

Some observations.
  • If you don't sleep enough, you're going to feel sluggish and tired
  • If you eat unhealthy food, you're going to feel sluggish and tired
  • If you don't exercise, you're going too feel sluggish and tired
  • It's easy to get dehydrated without knowing it
  • It's always easier to simply give up
It may surprise you, but you seemed sluggish and tired this week. You pounded the coffee without enough water, and you curled up under every challenge and let them roll all over you.

Suggestions?
  • Get your ass in bed, on time, even if the Olympics only come along once every four years.
  • Drink much more water than coffee
  • You'll have to push yourself once in a while. Reach for it, and it will be there. Don't reach, and it won't.
  • Get a plan together each morning, and keep yourself focused
  • Appreciate the overwhelming quantity of amazing-ness which nearly always surrounds you
  • Smile and laugh more
Not everything is about you. Here are some other parts of the world to think about this week.
  • Trying to understand a completely irrational act fails before it even starts. People who crash planes into buildings and burn their houses down obviously create more problems than they solve, but trying to analyze it from that angle is all wrong, because that's not the way their brains work.
  • If you genuinely try to help people, you're not in the wrong, regardless of how that help is perceived.
  • Generally, people see things selfishly, just as you probably are right now. Try to see each situation as if you were the other person and then try to give yourself what you want most.
And remember, one week isn't all that long. Next week will be better.

Constructively,

Me

Looking Out

From a powerful magazine portrait of Roger Ebert in Esquire

I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear, he writes in a journal entry titled "Go Gently into That Good Night." I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting. My lifetime's memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris.

(emphasis mine).