2024-02-15 18:43
It was over fifteen years ago when R said to me that I don't accomplish most things I want to because I have this great fear of succeeding at something which will then break my inner narrati… Read More
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Heartcrossings Blog
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About culture, technology, parenting, marriage, relationships. music, art, literature and poetry
2024-02-14 13:30
At New Era Insurance, Ellen, a seasoned project manager, was in a quandary. Jen, a key team member, decided to leave midway through a pivotal project. The departure threatened to derail thei… Read More
2024-02-13 13:30
Early last year, I thought about M one of my former colleagues and wondered what he was up to lately. His work email which he preferred for communication bounced but his LinkedIn profile sti… Read More
2024-02-12 13:30
I am definitely the person that does all the outreach to my friends and acquaintances with a very small minority who also do their part. There would be any number of reasons for one-sided fr… Read More
2024-02-10 16:51
My oldest, most over-worn jacket is the most trending color of the year it sounds like. I usually wear it when I am working in the yard on a chilly day and after I am done the jacket is ofte… Read More
2024-02-09 13:30
Every few months, M gives me an obligatory call to check on me and mine. She is a friend of my parents and I did not know her until rather recently. All our phone conversations follow the ex… Read More
2024-02-08 14:31
Loved the quote about not being able to draw or write in this post about good writing. I have not read the book Ogilvy recommends reading thrice - that may be the primary source of my troubl… Read More
2024-02-07 13:30
An ad for Coldwater Creek popped up on my browser earlier and immediately triggered thoughts of my former boss R. She was in her early 60s back when I worked for her and I recall how s… Read More
2024-02-06 13:30
I was cleaning up my bathroom cabinets recently and thought of this Jane Hirshfield poem: MY MEMORY Like the small soaps and shampoos a traveler brings home then won&rsqu&hell…Read More
2024-02-05 13:30
Interesting disclaimer of Bard "Your conversations are processed by human reviewers to improve the technologies powering Bard. Don’t enter anything you wouldn’t want reviewed or… Read More
2024-02-04 13:30
My efforts to establish a salad everyday routine led me a few different places including this book Salad Freak. I read through the getting started, staples, kitchen and pantry essentials sor… Read More
2024-02-03 15:53
Dropped into a Pilates class recently for the very first time in my life and had the experience of walking into a room where conversations had been happening for a long time before I showed… Read More
2024-02-02 13:30
Several times in my career. I declined to interview because the hiring manager was fixated on some or the other certification that I did not have and had absolutely no desire to acquire at a… Read More
2024-02-01 13:30
Sometimes a book is just not for you, does not matter what. In this instance, I will attribute it to my lack of open-mindedness though even that cannot be entirely to blame. I very much enjo… Read More
2024-01-31 13:30
This past year, I returned to bread making after a multi-year hiatus. The recipe I started with was one of the easiest yet and worked out wonderfully. It was exactly what I needed to get bac… Read More
2024-01-30 13:30
On a recent Saturday morning, I decided to melt, re-wick and clean up my dozen or so old candles that have been gathering dust for a long time. The project was generally pointless, took over… Read More
2024-01-29 13:30
I used to have a jar of berebere that I made myself a long time ago. The empty (and hand-labeled) jar remains but the spice has long gone. It's too easy to over-use because it really lights… Read More
2024-01-28 13:30
Also from White Noise (which I am really enjoying) these beautiful lines about tourist hotspots:“Being here is a kind of spiritual surrender. We see only what the others see. The thous… Read More
2024-01-27 13:30
Just finished reading The Devil in White City and absolutely loved. Last Larson book I read (and also enjoyed greatly) was The Splendid and the Vile so my expectations for this book were hig… Read More
2024-01-26 13:30
In his book White Noise Don DeLillo writes this of a blended family with his and her kids :Babette and I do our talking in the kitchen. The kitchen and the bedroom are the major chambe… Read More
2024-01-25 13:30
Discovered this quirky essay on raagas while looking for the history of Raag Chhayanat - one of my favorites and well-known to be a crowd pleaser. There are many amazing renditions of this r… Read More
2024-01-24 13:30
Any plebian schadenfreude reading how hard it is for the uber-rich to live their lifestyle will not last too long. While those billions go pretty fast it seems but they keeping mak… Read More
2024-01-23 13:30
R has been my LinkedIn connection for nearly two decades now. Since we stopped working together, I ran into him once at a local park where he was jogging - and that was by now nearly ten yea… Read More
2024-01-23 02:31
Interesting reading about ancestry tourism. All parties involved in the trend are making a buck thanks people craving to feel rooted to some place and something realSo-called heritage touris… Read More
2024-01-22 13:30
My first encounter with a beauty parlor was in my teens and in Bihar so a lot of this essay takes me back in time and place. I don't remember the name of the woman who ran the parlor but it… Read More
2024-01-22 02:41
Do people really need to have their ashes buried on the moon ? Reading this story made me think about the Tibetian Book of the DeadO nobly-born, that which is called death hath now come… Read More
2024-01-21 13:30
I have never been to Argentina and I am not a meat-lover but this lovely essay makes me want to take the trip and definitely try the meat. Lot of useful tips for the would-be traveler, inclu… Read More
2024-01-20 15:46
This quote from Rebecca Goldstein in Annaka Harris's book Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind made me feel better about my own lack of real scientific education a… Read More
2024-01-19 13:30
Traveling over the last few years has been specially rewarding for me coming as it does after a long hiatus. There were so many obstacles to getting away and going away - a lot of it self-in… Read More
2024-01-18 13:30
Over the years, I have spent a lot of time trying to resolve my relationship with my mother. Issues remain where they are and time is running out. The only way forward is to accept the statu… Read More
2024-01-17 13:30
This particular use case for AI far exceeds the usual level of pointlessness as things go. In many parts of the world finding food to survive is still a big deal so snacking is not even a co… Read More
2024-01-16 13:30
Such a wonderful way to bring students and senior citizens together. It would be great to see such partnerships be the norm around the country instead of an limited, experimental exception… Read More
2024-01-15 13:30
These lines from Emile Zola's Au Bonhuer Des Dames capture the exact feeling of being caught in the throngs of holiday shoppers all gawking at shop windows..Denise had the sensation of a mac… Read More
2024-01-13 13:30
This article about the end-times of social media for those who were there from the beginning resonates with me even though my social presence is sparse at best. I have seen people bring thei… Read More
2024-01-12 22:03
It is great to see India is evolving out of the obsessive-compulsive need to be married and achieve social standing. The fact that people who are single by choice or ended up that way after… Read More
2024-01-11 13:30
Very interesting article about AI and early adopters among contract workers. It brought to mind a former client who was ahead of his times being a digital marketer when it was not even a wel… Read More
2024-01-10 13:30
I like Alice Munro to admire her style but don't get as much out of the stories themselves. The way she starts off Nettles is the kind of perfection that draws me to her writing: In the… Read More
2024-01-09 13:30
I love houseplants but have very few of them given how the work involved in keeping them all alive grows exponentially with how much life and beauty they bring into the space. There is certa… Read More
2024-01-08 13:30
The villages of Tuscany just before the holiday season appeared extraordinarily bleak. I am not sure what I was expecting to see but the lack of people, light and activity felt quite remarka… Read More
2024-01-07 13:30
Reading about this word that describes travel, intent and wandering in a holistic way was fun. It helped me understand how I travelIn a literal sense, coddiwomple can describe a physical jou… Read More
2024-01-06 13:30
Reading The Lioness Awakens has been a wonderful experience for me even though I bought the book as a gift for J. It turned out to be complicated to give her exclusive access on our shared K… Read More
2024-01-05 13:30
It wasn't clear who this CEO was called out making a mistake for his layoff messaging. It seems like did did and said what everyone else does. Over-hire when it is expedient to based on… Read More
2024-01-04 13:30
On a recent vacation in the rural part of another country, I recalled reading this article about Airbnb product managers or in this case their supposed demise. The place we stayed had… Read More
2024-01-03 18:43
Reading the Carl Sagan quote in this article almost made me tear up because its so true and sad. He said this way before we had the tablets and video games stepping in as nannies for young k… Read More
2024-01-02 13:30
Reading this book recommended by a friend who is a lot younger than me and is also a voracious reader. I love catching up with her to learn about what she's read lately and what she truly en… Read More
2024-01-01 13:30
It was one of those days when things start to get off the rails early and often. Had been restless all night from a cold that was threatening to get worse but did not actually - just ended u… Read More
2023-12-31 13:30
Found this proverb in a book recommended by a co-worker ‘An invisible red thread connects those destined destined to meet, despite the time, the place, and the circumstances. The threa… Read More
2023-12-30 13:30
I don't buy a lot of stuff to begin with but this year, I have tried to be even more mindful. Clothing that I have bought this year, I have made it a point to wear as often as possible. It w… Read More
2023-12-29 15:06
A young lady in my parents' neighborhood is getting married and its the biggest celebration in their para after Durga Puja and Diwali. I know for a fact that my parents like S a lot. She is… Read More
2023-12-28 13:30
This article about where the digital afterlife industry is headed makes for fascinating reading. We started watching Six Feet Under recently so it was particularly interesting for me to comp… Read More
2023-12-27 13:30
On Thanksgiving Day this year, I reached out to thank the many friends who had welcomed J and I to their family dinner tables on this day for the many years that I was a single-mom. We becam… Read More
2023-12-26 13:30
Thought this was a beautiful way to celebrate a person's life. On our local park there are a few benches with little plaques memorializing the people to whom they are dedicated. One of them… Read More
2023-12-24 15:24
It has been a pretty unique year with random stressors that I did not anticipate. Luckily, there were close calls but nothing was lost. Yet, as the year draws to close I feel drained of some… Read More
2023-12-23 15:29
I was not familiar with the stay-or-pay clause in employment contracts. The stories of folks for whom staying was not a viable option are eye-opening. The employer makes your work-conditions… Read More
2023-12-22 13:30
My friend B and her husband have become empty nesters recently. Last time we met, it was right after the youngest had left to college. Now it has been a year and they have both had time to p… Read More
2023-12-21 13:30
In the introduction to The Upanishads, Swami Paramananda says: Upanishad shows that the only hell is absence of knowledge. As long as man is overpowered by the darkness of ignorance, he… Read More
2023-12-20 13:30
Walking through the carpet of fallen leaves in my neighborhood recently, I recalled this Stanley Kunitz poemBlue poured into summer blue,A hawk broke from his cloudless tower,The roof o… Read More
2023-12-19 13:30
Nice essay on the concept of reductive seduction which in summary is the fallacy of the first world that they can wave a magic wand and solve basic third world problems like access to clean… Read More
2023-12-18 13:30
Throughout my career I have seen women cope with burnout very differently than men. Women are impacted a lot more as the numbers in the story suggest and the decisions they make are mo… Read More
2023-12-17 13:30
A few months ago, some words my father said to me made me cry uncontrollably. Having put time space between the event allowing time to heal, I would say the words themselves were not materia… Read More
2023-12-16 13:30
It was fun reading this book excerpt by an author I had never heard of. Crime fiction is a reading genre for me but it is definitely one of the movie genres I like. If they made this book in… Read More
2023-12-15 13:30
This election cycle, I received a ton of flyers from both parties in my mailbox. Some of the content came in envelopes and was marked as sensitive or triggering. I opened them out curiosity… Read More
2023-12-14 13:30
I can understand what drives people to be "over-employed" having done a simpler variant of it when J was growing up. I picked up contract work that jobs that I was way over-qualified for. Wh… Read More
2023-12-13 13:30
I like the idea of a doctor-in-a-box instead of a PCP given that I have not found one in the last two decades that I like or trust. It's been an unending series of bad first-dates trying to… Read More
2023-12-12 13:30
Tech talent going to work for the government starts to make sense seeing how disposable they have become in the tech industry. If the person has a valuable skill and they are being treated d… Read More
2023-12-11 13:30
This post was met with a lot of enthusiasm in my network and made me smile when I saw it. It is the unvarnished truth about a product manager's life. What you want to make possible versus wh… Read More
2023-12-10 13:30
Watched The Fall of the House of Usher and it was very entertaining. The one bit that really impressed me was Roderick Usher's monologue about lemons in the middle of Episode 3. Every word i… Read More
2023-12-09 13:30
I spent a good hour cleaning up the earthen lamps I lit for Diwali. They have been around for a few years now and by any standard would be considered quite ordinary - I had bought them at th… Read More
2023-12-08 13:30
I had never heard of such a thing as a Mikiphone and thought it was a very clever invention. To think that the idea of bringing portability to music was implemented that long ago is fascinat… Read More
2023-12-07 13:30
J's college freshman year is well behind her but this funny list of things a freshman would never say on their weekly call home made me chuckle. Towards the end of her college years, J did a… Read More
2023-12-06 13:30
The author of this highly pointless article calls himself "the office whisperer". What he calls the trend of the future was available quite ubiquitously even twenty years ago. The righ… Read More
2023-12-04 13:30
I had not heard of the anti-bride movement but it sounds quite sad - all the pomp and circumstance of a wedding without any anchoring tradition that people (including the bride) maybe famili… Read More
2023-12-03 13:30
Nice post on why bias for action is not always the best idea. The example of a goal keeper taking action just to not be hated by fans for losing the game when in fact staying put could be th… Read More
2023-12-02 18:32
Watching my aging parents and others of similar age, it seems that the idea of irrelevance starts to set in well before people are close of dying. Not everyone is able to have a healthy self… Read More
2023-12-01 13:30
What prominent writers have to say about AI and the future of writing brought to mind a story about Flaubert and Maupassant I had read in essay a while back. The essay quote what Maupassant… Read More
2023-11-30 13:30
After my little shopping trip for a littler Diwali celebration at home, my thoughts turned to why we do infact celebrate this holiday and how my understanding is fairly primitive given that… Read More
2023-11-29 13:30
Watched Selfie Mummy Googl Daddy recently and found it quite interesting and thought-provoking. When I was raising J as a single mother, my parents often spent several months from summer thr… Read More
2023-11-28 13:30
Interesting piece of wisdom on how to think more wisely and make good decisions. It makes sense to put a bit of distance between ourself and the decision we are trying to make. Hearing it ou… Read More
2023-11-27 13:30
Our cars are increasingly smart and connected with terrible privacy protections and now we could look forward to an automated sanctions when our speech patterns shows we are driving while in… Read More
2023-11-26 13:30
I love the concept of Nightshade - it solves a very worthy problem, protecting the rights of artists.When integrated into digital artwork, Nightshade misleads AI models, causing them to misi… Read More
2023-11-25 13:30
Did not know that the phenomenon had a name (Dunning-Kruger effect) but the description of what it is makes sense.When it comes to the Dunning-Kruger effect, comparing yourself to other… Read More
2023-11-24 13:30
I always have dry moringa leaves in my pantry. There are days when I miss the shojne flowers cooked in mustard paste - my paternal grandmother's version of it is the standard my taste is set… Read More
2023-11-23 13:30
Reading these predictions about how AI will change the game for everyone in the next five years made me wonder if there any specific tipping point that makes all this possible for a technolo… Read More
2023-11-22 13:30
The tech news these days are strange bordering on bizarre. Disbanding the team in charge of responsible AI in the name of efficiency is a choice that is wildly irresponsible but totally okay… Read More
2023-11-22 13:30
Reading these lines in a poem, takes me back twenty years and the pain has not quite calloused over yet.I called for you, in vain, even using your secret names,the ones only the night knows:… Read More
2023-11-21 13:30
Sometimes when I share about things at work with J, I get some very sound advice that forces me to reset my existing way of thinking about whatever my problem us. She has been in the workpla… Read More
2023-11-20 13:30
The idea of borrowing a person from a library instead of a book to hear them tell their own story is as wonderfully simple and brilliant. It solves more so many things at the same time. Peop… Read More
2023-11-19 14:03
There is a lot of sense in a 4-day school week for overworked teachers. But there are downsides for parents who cannot be home on that off day and need daycare coverage. The value for the ki… Read More
2023-11-18 13:30
Good essay on software for medical devices and the perils of that not being free. The reasoning makes sense in some situations but not all:Free software in medical aids helps the patien… Read More
2023-11-17 13:30
Searching for the word Canterbury in my emails for a tart recipe and stumbled upon an exchange with C from over ten years ago. At the time of writing, I had once met her once and we had hit… Read More
2023-11-16 13:30
I am observing a Gen Z on the younger end of the spectrum working fully remote. The company culture is not about being on video - people find it distracting so all calls are off video. The c… Read More
2023-11-15 13:30
I met a former manager after a long time recently. Like many managers I have had in my life, T was harmless but not particularly useful. He most certainly was not a mentor to me. Twelve or s… Read More
2023-11-13 13:30
What this kid's rant about her 9-5 life in the office gave me food for thought. We live in a time where a young lady such as herself should consider herself lucky she even has a job - there… Read More
2023-11-11 13:30
Reading these lines from What If This Were Enough made me smile thinking about all the times that I have felt the way I expressed myself to my boss or a peer came out a bit too caustic for c… Read More
2023-11-10 13:30
I can relate to one of the blockers to de-cluttering - avoidance of some stuff from the past that triggers bad and painful memories but buried in that pile somewhere are morsels of good that… Read More
2023-11-09 13:30
The idea that after the population bubble bursts, humankind will be forced back to a primitive way of life has some logical basis. If K-12 education continues declining and kids don't see th… Read More
2023-11-09 01:11
I have been oversold on every job I ever had. Earlier in my career, when I was naive enough to believe some of the story, I ended up disappointed. Restlessness set in soon after that and wit… Read More
2023-11-07 13:30
Recently, I have been mulling over why competent people sometimes make a series of bad decisions that look like a set of bad gambling bets, each building on previous losses. Is this a time-b… Read More
2023-11-06 23:36
I have seen a couple of people who went from being completely healthy to nearing death's door without any early warning signs. While not very young were still too young to die - their parent… Read More
2023-11-05 19:35
The racism inherent in the technology of camera phone is a problem a brown woman like myself is very familiar with specially if she happens to be one is frequently shares the frame with ligh… Read More
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