Thursday, October 7, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Bernat Mystery Crochet Along Clue # 2
Phew! I am finally done with my 2 squares based on clue # 2. I unraveled and unraveled and unraveled - not sure how many times! But, finally with the help of so many people's comments and a video someone put on youtube, I figured out what I was doing wrong, and was finally able to make some progress. Thank you everyone who helped me! You gals and guys are great! I have been thinking of learning crocheting for so long, but was always afraid on how to get started. I got the basics down with the help of a book, but reading and understanding patterns, well - that was a totally different matter. This crochet along is a very good learning experience for me. There is a real feel for community, and I am enjoying myself while I learn how to crochet. We should do these crochet-alongs or knit-alongs more often! Here are a couple of pictures of the squares. Thanks for everyone's support! I would especially like to thank my husband who very patiently watched me struggle with the granny square, and then jumped in to help me! That was very sweet of him. He took the time to understand the chart and coupled with the video Shandeh posted, he was able to figure it out in no time. After every round, he verified my work and gave it a go-ahead or no-go ;).
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
2 Squares for Clue # 1 Complete
Yay!!! I was able to complete the first 2 squares off of clue # 1 in Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along. And, surprisingly despite the struggle I had with the 8" width, I came in pretty close (almost exact 8"). Woohoo!!! Here are some pictures.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along
In order to learn crocheting, I am doing the Bernat Mystery Afghan Crochet-Along (http://blog.bernat.com/2010/09/22/mystery-afghan-crochet-along-clue-1/). Here is the tons of yarn the afghan will use.
Taking the gauge was interesting! When I made the square to measure the gauge, I got exact measurements - 4" x 4" with the J hook that was recommended. But, when I started making the actual square, it would come out to 9 or 9.5". I had to undo it 2-3 times, but it would overshoot the 8" size of the actual afghan square. Then I used the next smaller crochet size. Now, the square measured 7.5" instead of 8". It took me 3-4 times unraveling the square I made with the smaller hook to get to 8" size. I am in the middle of finishing the square for week 1's clue. I will post the picture as soon as I am done! In the mean time, happy crocheting.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Why do we love Edward Cullen?
In my first post I indicated that I am a Twihard. I saw the midnight showing of Eclipse, and loved the movie. After watching Eclipse, I was thinking about Edward Cullen and jotted down my thoughts.
Why do we love Edward Cullen?
Consider this: think of Edward Cullen as a beautiful, out-of-this-world equation. Now, from that equation, take out the good looks and the fact that Edward Cullen is the most beautiful vampire of them all. Let's also try hard (yes, it's a lot of effort) and forget that Robert Pattinson plays Edward Cullen. What's left - a creepy, 17-year old boy who is worried about not soiling his girl friend's virtue. So, why do we swoon over Edward Cullen and think that he is the best thing that could have happened to Bella Swan?
Edward sneaks into Bella's bedroom through the window without her knowledge and "watches" her sleep. And we accept this behavior in this day and age? We find this acceptable when the 24-hour media has us convinced that dirty hands could kill us, sexual predators lurk at every street corner looking for children. Most parents are so afraid that they won't let their children even walk to school or even play in the park by themselves - everything has to be supervised! Do we accept Edward's behavior because he claims that he wants to keep Bella "safe"? Do strong, independent, and bread-making, 21st century women still want to be "saved" by men?
How come we unquestioningly accept that Edward tampered with Bella's car to stop her from seeing Jacob? Seriously, we reacted to this with an “awww” or a giggle in the movie theatre. Does this behavior not remind us of "Sleeping with the enemy" even a little bit? Why was Edward not protecting Bella when Jacob was the only sunny spot in her depression-ridden life? He could have known – he could read Alice's thoughts!
I admire Edward in that he is highly-educated and pursues his music passionately. He encourages Bella to apply to colleges, to get an education, and experience the life of a normal teenager before she decides to pursue the path of immortality. I would question Edward's reasons for doing this, but, let's give him us credit in light of his otherworldly creepy actions like watching Bella sleep. But what about Bella – why is she not thinking about going to college to learn even if she does not want to be a career woman?
I know, I know each one of us are free to make choices; I respect every woman's choice to be whomever they want to be - be it homemaker, a mom (think Charlotte York), or a career woman (like Samantha Jones), or all of the above (like Miranda Hobbes); and I don't judge in which order women set out to achieve these goals (I am a huge fan of Lorelai Gilmore and her accomplishments). But why is Bella not dreaming about going to college or even has any goals besides spending forever with Edward? Later, why unlike any other mom, she is not thinking of providing for her family? Bella performs well at school - its not that her grades are holding her back. Is the fact that the Cullen family well-off clouding her judgment? Do women in the 21st century give up their dreams and goals when they meet rich men? Should Carrie Bradshaw have stopped writing because Mr. Big is well-off? How come in the competitive day and age of the 21st century when there is abundant opportunity for women to pursue what they desire and be contributing people in society, is this basic and most vital rite of passage – going to college and to learn missing from the Twilight Saga?
How many hours have women spent dreaming of meeting a guy who simply "lets" them pursue their dreams and goals or better yet supports them? Countless! Edward scores a 100% here whatever his reasons. But what is it other than good looks and money that attracts us to Edward Cullen and make us swoon every time his name is mentioned? Is it that he doesn’t want to take Bella’s virtue, and this is still in play in a majority of relationships because many women have sex with their boyfriends to keep them interested? Or is it the money? Or do you think it is the immortality – “living” without worrying about aging, illness, accident, or any threats? Is it that we still want to be “saved” even though we are almost equal to men (at least in western societies)? What do you think? I am not sure if Jacob offers a better choice – after all none of the girls on the reservation are mentioned to be going to college either. Would Bella be able to attend college and pursue a career if she desires if she chose Jacob over Edward?
Why do we love Edward Cullen?
Consider this: think of Edward Cullen as a beautiful, out-of-this-world equation. Now, from that equation, take out the good looks and the fact that Edward Cullen is the most beautiful vampire of them all. Let's also try hard (yes, it's a lot of effort) and forget that Robert Pattinson plays Edward Cullen. What's left - a creepy, 17-year old boy who is worried about not soiling his girl friend's virtue. So, why do we swoon over Edward Cullen and think that he is the best thing that could have happened to Bella Swan?
Edward sneaks into Bella's bedroom through the window without her knowledge and "watches" her sleep. And we accept this behavior in this day and age? We find this acceptable when the 24-hour media has us convinced that dirty hands could kill us, sexual predators lurk at every street corner looking for children. Most parents are so afraid that they won't let their children even walk to school or even play in the park by themselves - everything has to be supervised! Do we accept Edward's behavior because he claims that he wants to keep Bella "safe"? Do strong, independent, and bread-making, 21st century women still want to be "saved" by men?
How come we unquestioningly accept that Edward tampered with Bella's car to stop her from seeing Jacob? Seriously, we reacted to this with an “awww” or a giggle in the movie theatre. Does this behavior not remind us of "Sleeping with the enemy" even a little bit? Why was Edward not protecting Bella when Jacob was the only sunny spot in her depression-ridden life? He could have known – he could read Alice's thoughts!
I admire Edward in that he is highly-educated and pursues his music passionately. He encourages Bella to apply to colleges, to get an education, and experience the life of a normal teenager before she decides to pursue the path of immortality. I would question Edward's reasons for doing this, but, let's give him us credit in light of his otherworldly creepy actions like watching Bella sleep. But what about Bella – why is she not thinking about going to college to learn even if she does not want to be a career woman?
I know, I know each one of us are free to make choices; I respect every woman's choice to be whomever they want to be - be it homemaker, a mom (think Charlotte York), or a career woman (like Samantha Jones), or all of the above (like Miranda Hobbes); and I don't judge in which order women set out to achieve these goals (I am a huge fan of Lorelai Gilmore and her accomplishments). But why is Bella not dreaming about going to college or even has any goals besides spending forever with Edward? Later, why unlike any other mom, she is not thinking of providing for her family? Bella performs well at school - its not that her grades are holding her back. Is the fact that the Cullen family well-off clouding her judgment? Do women in the 21st century give up their dreams and goals when they meet rich men? Should Carrie Bradshaw have stopped writing because Mr. Big is well-off? How come in the competitive day and age of the 21st century when there is abundant opportunity for women to pursue what they desire and be contributing people in society, is this basic and most vital rite of passage – going to college and to learn missing from the Twilight Saga?
How many hours have women spent dreaming of meeting a guy who simply "lets" them pursue their dreams and goals or better yet supports them? Countless! Edward scores a 100% here whatever his reasons. But what is it other than good looks and money that attracts us to Edward Cullen and make us swoon every time his name is mentioned? Is it that he doesn’t want to take Bella’s virtue, and this is still in play in a majority of relationships because many women have sex with their boyfriends to keep them interested? Or is it the money? Or do you think it is the immortality – “living” without worrying about aging, illness, accident, or any threats? Is it that we still want to be “saved” even though we are almost equal to men (at least in western societies)? What do you think? I am not sure if Jacob offers a better choice – after all none of the girls on the reservation are mentioned to be going to college either. Would Bella be able to attend college and pursue a career if she desires if she chose Jacob over Edward?
JAXB
I meant to keep my promise to blog everyday, but I haven't been able to. Work just got too busy with an upcoming deadline. The project that I am working on now, involves generating Java objects out of XML documents using JAXB. You can read all about JAXB here - http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/WebServices/jaxb/#introjb. Of course, the XML schema that we use is not that simple, and requires the use of customizations. My next project will be to use Spring injection for configuring applications. I will blog about that tomorrow, I promise. No more dilly-dallying.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Introduction
I am a software engineer by profession. I recently saw Julie and Julia and got inspired. I will try to post at least one note about software engineering and what we do in this branch of engineering for the next 90 days. It lines up nicely - I am working on a product whose release date is about 90 days away. I might also blog about other things like the Twilight Saga, because, yes you guessed it right, I am a Twihard.
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