Looking back at 2010

Here are the events that took place in 2010 in my life, professionally and personally. As usual every year throws new challenges, brings new experiences – good and bad. Sometimes your belief in God is put to test. Sometimes your belief in yourself is put to test. Sometimes you become an example for how not to do or not to be. Sometimes you are a role model. Yes, I met some new and good people. And I realized some I know are not good. In spite of all the setbacks I still believe in God. Still believe I need to give the best possible from my side in everything I do and every role I play. Here is the list of major events in year 2010.

Entering into year 2010

Entering into 2010 was very normal. Just my family at home, no party, no friends, nothing. We cut home-made cake and ate home-made chocolates. But we (family and friends) all felt that it should not be in that way. In one way it was good to be only with my family. Generally I host a mini party to close friends and family members. It was missing. Kids missed music and dance. More than any gifts, kids look forward to such simple things. So I decided, no matter what, we will enter into 2011 with a party. And we did so for 2011.

Trip to Amritsar and Nainithal

I along with friends visited Delhi, Amritsar, Wagah border, Nainital and Jim Corbett national park from Jan 9th to Jan 17th . Temperatures were low. We don't get to see such low temperatures often. We had a good time enjoying the real winter. Gloves, winter coats, monkey caps etc. were the order of the day. Visited golden temple at Amritsar. Had been to Wagah border (India, Pakistan border). We didn’t find any wild animals in Jim Corbett national park (in spite of roaming around for hours). Had a great time in Nainital. It is good to be away and get lost in nature.

Corporate training for Kenexa, Rushikonda

There has been a lot of change in Kenexa since I last conducted corporate training for .NET (year 2008) . This time I was there to train new recruits on Java and Java EE. I enjoyed the training program, drive to Kenexa etc. But at times, it was too hectic as my sister’s daughter’s wedding was during that time. The training programme took place from 22,March to 7,May. There were a couple of breaks from both my side and their side.

Wrong fuel problem with Car

We (my family and friends) were returning from Nellore by Car after attending a function there. Everything went great until I had to refuel my car and stopped at a BP petrol bunk near Annavaram. After putting a few litres of diesel into my petrol Car’s tank, the boy at the bunk and we realized that he put the wrong fuel (diesel instead of petrol). It was at 6:00 pm. We tried to do a little to get the fuel tank emptied, but it didn’t work out. I had to call Honda roadside assistance. They arranged for recovery vehicle, a vehicle specially meant to tow vehicles that broke down for one or the other reason. It lifted my car up into it. As the recovery vehicle had to come from Vizag (100 km away from place of breakdown), we had to wait till 11:00 pm for recovery vehicle to arrive. By the time I reached home after handing over the vehicle to Honda service center, it was 2:00 am (next day). It was a bad experience as a whole. We would have reached home comfortably by 8 pm, but I had to undergo the entire trauma for a small mistake of the boy at petrol pump.

Started playing Badminton

I had been thinking of playing some game on regular basis. I had to settle for some weekend soccer and cricket matches on and off in the previous years. One of the best things that happened to me in this year was me joining a group of people who play badminton everyday in the morning. Initially it was outdoor court, but from April we started playing Badminton Indoor. So whether it rains or shines, the game goes on. The slot is 5-6 am. So I have to get up at 4:30am. That’s fine considering the fact that I am working on my physical fitness and enjoying the game. Playing any game makes me happy. I did play tennis for some time during April and May, but couldn’t manage two things (Badminton and Tennis) in the morning. I didn’t even see any point in spending two hours every day on physical fitness. Secondly I didn’t find like-minded players to play with. So I am sticking to Badminton for now. My experience with Badminton is around 12 months by now.

Praneeth, my elder son, started playing in AITA (All India Tennis Association) tournaments held outside Vizag. He has been to some places and best result was runners up in under-12 at Hyderabad. But it’s a tough decision for parents to decide how much time do they allow their kids to spend on sports. The biggest question seems to be, "Can sport give them the life that good education can give?" . How many Sachins, Saina Nehwals etc. do we have vs. the number of people spending the whole day on courts and cricket grounds?. I think the ration is too small to gamble on. I think at the end each parent should assess the potential of the kid and then make right move. But that’s no easy task. So I am in a dilemma regarding Praneeth. I know he has potential, but making tennis his profession, is a differnt ball game all together.

Vizag Steel Plant Corporate training

I had the pleasure of training IT Department on .NET. It was consisting of two batches where the first batch started on 5th July and ended on 17th July. Second batch started on 5th August and ended on 18th August. I enjoyed both the batches equally. Met some wonderful people. Enjoyed spacious and peaceful embiance.

You can read my blog on that VSP training.

Football world cup fiesta

Being a great fan of Football, I watched almost all important matches during FIFA world cup 2010. Enjoyed watching Spain (one of my favorite teams) lift the world cup. Being a big fan of Real Madrid , a football club from Spain, I naturally like Spain. I wished the finals between Brazil and Spain. But it was not so. I also purchased 46" LED TV in order to get better view of the games.

Renovation of Institute

It has been 6 years since I moved to new premises at Dwarakanagar. It is time to make some minor changes. So I had to spend some time working on that during the month of November.

Here are the photos of renovated institutue.

Classroom	My Cabin
Library cum Waiting Hall	Front-office

I have become Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist

I wanted to get Microsoft Certified in this year. I had no time to prepare for the exam in November. So I had to wait until December and took the exam on 18th December. I would have considered this year to be less satisfying had I not completed my Microsoft certification.

Here is my blog about certification.

Here is my blog about my preparation, marks sheet and certificate.

Renovated House

My house also needed minor renovation as some cupboards became victims of white ants. We had to bring down a big cupboard and redesign that area with out any wood work as we got scared of wood.

Books Read

I read a couple of non-technical books in this year. The ones I liked the most are; The world is flat by Thomas Friedman and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.

Summary

In summary, it has been a mini roller coaster ride in my personal life. It has been good in professional life.