So last Saturday I crawled my way towards Canon Beach. It's a bit more than a one hour drive from Hillsboro but I had my Pandora setup on the car so time wizzed by. The tide wasn't heavy, but maybe it was because of days ahead of the full moon and neap was in effect. Planned to see the sunset, ...

Spent my Saturday visiting the Multnomah falls and surrounding area. Being a summer weekend in Portland, the place was packed. Had to drive around for about 20 mins before I could find a parking spot. Lots of families with small kids (even toddlers) were out and about.The trail leading up to the fall is 1 mile long. Not worth the ...

I completed my PhD at Carnegie Mellon last month, and so my stay at the city of Pittsburgh came to an end. So it's kind of redundant to call this blog "Notes from the Iron city" anymore. Also reading back on my earlier posts, I feel like they were cramped up, written out from a stressed out grad student's point ...

I listened to Daniel Kahneman's TEDtalk several years ago, and it didn't strike me as very important. I didn't realize he was a Nobel laureate and neither did I catch Chris Andersson casually thanking him for inventing behavioral economics at the end. I could tell you that I was ignorant, childish and didn't know any better at the time. But ...

David Foster Wallace is always a breath of fresh air. The only thing I've preached, if ever, was that "You have a choice."You have the freedom to choose what matters.You don't have to believe in the religion, advertisers, or your parents.You don't have to go with the trend, follow your friends, or that spiritual guru across the street.The transition from ...

View from the Marriot Hotel View from the historic cable car at nightGolden gate bridgeGolden gate bridge from the topThis is where the sea lions hang out at Fisherman's WarfThe infamous Alcatraz prison. Fisherman's warfBuddhism is big businessshopping at fisherman's warfSutro bathsLand's End

This was quite the gem hidden behind the DeYoung art museum. If you are going to visit the Golden Gate park in San Francisco, I highly recommend a visit.

Personal is political. We live in an era of economy of scale, where large corporations control the opinions of masses and alternatively the masses control the profits of large corporations. But the freedom that an individual has is greater than any time in human history. You have the freedom to have an opinion, to live the way you want to, ...

A few days ago Bill Gates did an AMA on Reddit.He casually mentioned about wanting to live forever.He's not the only smart person to foresee humanity's transition into a deathless state.Ray Kurzweil, the father Singularity and the Director of Engineering at Google also craves Immortality.I have a question though.If our bodies live forever are we really immortal?Am I the same ...

1.) Finishing my PhD!2.) Getting a real ass job with an acceptable income.3.) 2-bedroom apartment or a House! Not to mention a new car. And maybe a husky.4.) Possibly moving to the West Coast. Which may or may not involve a cross-country road trip.5.) Initiating some seriously sustainable community service projects without financial aid.6.) Jenna-Louise Coleman - the Doctor's new ...

If there is one thing that all of us have in common, is that we dream. Some of us are aware of our dreams, some of us not so much. But we all dream. We dream while we're asleep. We dream while we're awake. Reality is but a mere, fragment of our imagination. After all, we create it, we interpret ...

The author of American Gods, Stardust, Coraline and Doctor's Wife, Neil Gaiman came to the Pittsburgh Carnegie Music Hall today. I've read the books, watched the movie and follow him on twitter, so I was pretty excited to begin with. And I wasn't disappointed. The master storyteller was a magician at public speaking. Obviously, knowing his audience helps, but I ...

Have you felt overwhelmed by the 'rat race'?Are you tired of playing games?Do you always want what your friends are having?Then you my friend are a typical snob.We are connected more than ever in the history of mankind.Facebook, email, twitter and flickr, bombards us with the lives of others.And more to the point, what we are missing out on.We know ...

I'm sure everyone has heard of the term "nice guys finish last"And all the rants about how women are only attracted to doucebags.If you're keeping up with recent feminist discourse, you'd also know that they consider "nice guys" as manipulative son's-of-******s who are just being nice in the sub-text of getting sex.For once, I agree with the feminists. Mostly because ...

Pittsburgh is by far the most beautiful in Autumn. It's not just the colorful leaves, mist and wonderful weather. People are also more relaxed. There's so much going on with fashion - so many varieties of scarfs, hats, boots, trousers and dresses. But for now, here's a glimpse of the colors that nature allows.

"Some women are not comfortable working at the pace and intensity you have to work at in these jobs ... Other women don't break a sweat. They have four or five, six kids. They're highly organized, they have very supportive networks.""I can't stand the kind of paralysis that some people fall into because they're not happy with the choices they've ...

Literally as well as figuratively.

If you haven't seen the recent TEDtalk by Jason McCue on "Terrorism as a brand", go see it now. It's a talk on how to beat terrorists at their own game. If you've been following world news you'd know by now that invading sovereign nations or using cowardly drone attacks are probably not the best way to do stop terrorism. ...

A quote that a friend shared on her facebook profileEvery now and then I get reminded why I'm not active on facebook. And this was once such occasion.I tried in the politest possible way to point out to her that not "every" woman would share the same sentiment. Sure there are many independent and successful women. But are they all ...