Srikanth Technologies

Looking Back At 2009

In this blog, I want to summarize major events of year 2009.

Entering into 2009

I entered into New Year with a small party at home consisting of family members and close friends. Usual cake cutting and dance where Pranav (my second son) rocks. Everyone who watched him dance says he has style and rhythm. New Year resolution has always been being a better person than the year before. Gaining more knowledge by using all the existing resources. Business revenues, profits etc. never drive me. Life as a whole matters. For that matter I never consider myself as a business person. I am a professional. Trying to give my best to my profession. That’s all.

A trip to Delhi, Jaipur, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Mussoorie

This trip was the best of all the recent trips. Me, Padmaja and kids. We visited Delhi (Akshardam Temple being the main attraction) then Jaipur and Agra. Of course TajMahal. It was my first visit to TajMahal. We all were excited to see that great monument. It was a package tour and we had great company of people from  Andhra Pradesh and a few foreigners also. Next we went to Rishikesh, Haridwar and Mussoorie by Car and had a very good time. We saw a few temples on mountains with huge rope-ways. The best of all the places was Mussoorie. Seeing the Himalaya’s (from a distance) from Musoorie was thrilling. We enjoyed cold temperatures in all those places. We could also have a day off shopping at Delhi. Bought some winter wear for our future visits to cold places. It was a trip from 9th Jan to 19th Jan.

Attended Sun Techdays at Hyderabad

I attended Sun Techdays of Sun Microsystems at Hitex in Hyderabad. Somehow I didn’t find it as interesting as it was in 2008. Some topics of 2008 were repeated. Even James Gosling's speech was not impressive. Not all who do decent job in the background may be very interesting in foreground. It was 3 days event from 18th to 20th of February.

Moved into my new room

I got my room renovated to make it more comfortable for me. I want to have a long running desk and place to have everything I need as quickly as possible. Me and Padmaja took pain to design the room and my Carpenter did the job the way we wanted. After a couple of discussions we decided to go for black and white combination in the room. Cupboards, desk, book shelf and even dustbin must be either black or white. It has always been my dream to have a room with a system and full of books all around.

Started reading non-technical books

Though I read dozens of technical books, I read only a few non-fictions. Read very few fictions. I have been hearing about a couple of books, but never firmly decided to read them. So it all started in the month of April and I started with 'The monk who sold his ferrari' by Robin Sharma. Found that very interesting and went on to read good number of books. Found many very interesting. Here is the list of non-fiction books I read in this year.

Bought Honda City

On May 5th I drove white Honda City (IVtech) out of Showroom with my family in the car. I believe (and reiterated by Robin Sharma in his books) there is nothing wrong in enjoying comforts. I have been always brand conscious. I must confess I had wonderful time with my previous car – Santro Xing. It was a great car. Everything about it was great except mileage. I really loved to drive that car. I shot listed Hyundai Verna and Honda City. My family voted for Honda City. Then I said you choose car and I will choose color. They agreed and I went for White. Their choice was black color. Especially considering the fact I used a White Xing for 4 1/2 years. Though I parted with Xing, I still can see and get into it as it is being used by my friend Manmadh. My new car’s first long drive was to Hyderabad as we had to attend an event urgently. We started in the evening and drove all through the night to reach Hyderabad the next day morning. I and my brother shared driving pleasure and responsibility.

Discovered new websites

I discovered a few new websites that I found very interesting and use very often. One is twitter.com. A microbloggging website. It is getting increasingly popular day by day. I came to know about twitter from Robin Sharma. Ever since I am following some interesting people through twitter. It makes me know what those people are doing and thinking, as if they let me know by calling me. I am happy to know what they are doing and what they found interesting etc. I always believed, people you are associated with shape you to some extent. Keeping track of Robin Sharma, Stephen covey, Joe Stagner, Scott Guthrie etc. can make a difference. The other website is Lazydesis.com. I found it useful for movie songs. Being a music lover I love to listen to new songs (Telugu, Hindi and English). This is a great source. I came to know about it from a student. Another website that I came to know from a student is 4shared.com. I often use this site to download books.

Got course material printed

As .NET 4.0 is about to come and there are no drastic changes in Java EE 6.0 web, I decided to work on course material for .NET Part1 (C#), .NET Part2 (ASP.NET), and Java EE (Web). The intention is to give a printed material, which obviously contains better quality than Photostat material. Also to have material that can be issued immediately without the delay of taking Photostats. I also made material handier by going for typical notebook size. So we have printed material for Java SE, Java EE (Web) and total .Net course. Yet to be done are Oracle and Java EE (Enterprise) courses.

A trip to Papikondalu

Though I wanted to visit Papikondalu I didn’t visit it for a long time. Just didn’t get to. So at last our family decided to visit Papikondalu. We first went to Rajahmundry and stayed at River Bay hotel, which is built on the banks of river Godavari. We enjoyed the view from our room. After playing in water world the afternoon, we enjoyed the evening watching Godavari. The next day we spent the whole day (from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm) on boat as we went to Papikondalu. It was a good trip and we had good time with scenic beauty of Godavari all through. We also enjoyed cultural programmes (music and dance) that were conducted inside the boat.

A trip to Tirumala and Golden Temple

I wanted to go to Tirumala by Car. I just had a wish with my Santro Xing, but could not fulfill then. We first went to Nellore (my friends place) and then to Tirumala from there along with my friend. Driving on highway is always a treat. We could reach Nellore, which is 680 km aprox. from Vizag in around 9 hours. I drove my new Honda City at a speed of 100 to 120kmph all most all through. I also touched 150 KMPH at one point just for the sake of feeling that speed. I know it is dangerous to drive at that speed. So it was just to feel that, not a regular thing. After visiting Tirumala, we started for Golden Temple at Vellore. Though roads are not that great, it’s ok. We had a good troupe of 12 members with my Honda City and my friend’s Scorpio. We had a good time and we also had a target of reaching Nellore by evening to celebrate Diwali. As a whole we drove around 1900 KM by the time we reached Vizag.

Became Oracle Database SQL Expert

After evaluating a few options, I decided to pursue Oracle Database SQL Expert (1z0-047) certification. I started preparation for that exam. With no text book exclusively meant for this exam (in Nov, 2009 a book was supposed to be released), I took syllabus for exam and read documentation and other resources. I took exam on 20th Nov at Person VUE at Shankar Matam Road, Vizag. Anything but 100% would be have been less than what I wanted. So I was happy to see the score sheet showing I got 100%.

The certification target for the year is achieved. After three Java Certifications in the last three years, this time I turned to Oracle.

Read blog on Oracle Database SQL Expert

A trip to Annavaram

We had a desire to stay a night at Annavaram. Being only 120 km away we made a couple of trips by going in the morning and returning in the afternoon. But this time we started in the afternoon, stayed a night, did Satyanarayana Swamy's Vratham the next day morning and returned to Vizag by afternoon.

Received Oracle Database SQL Expert Success Kit

I have received Oracle Database SQL Expert Success kit on 23rd of Dec. I didn’t know what it would contain until I opened it. I found a certificate, a member card. Certificate is simple and elegant. I love the member card.

Read blog on Received Oracle Database SQL Expert Success Kit

Sports in this year

I played a couple of Cricket matches in this year. Mostly district league matches and few matches in tournaments. The experience has neither been very good nor bad. I should admit it has been mediocre. The most satisfying of all knocks has been 77 runs I scored on dec, 30th.

I stopped playing soccer and started playing shuttle. The court is very near to my house and my son can accompany me. A good outing for me and my son as well. Soccer is a tough game and not suitable to my mindset. But on any day I love to watch soccer match. I love it. I just can’t play it in the way it should be played considering my fear of injuring me. Disappointed to know that Vizag Run an event in which participated right from the inception, wouldn’t take place this year.


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Comments
Posted By Vineeth On 03-Jan-10 10:29:07 PM

Dear Sir,

This is an amazing blog.
I really would like to thank you especially for two sections - The non-techie books one and important sites one.

Thank you.

With best regards,
Vineeth M.


Posted By sudha On 04-Jan-10 04:16:24 PM

wish u & ur family "HAPPY NEW YEAR" ,sir.


Posted By Praveen On 06-Jan-10 10:16:05 AM

Simply Good sir. You design your life with more love and passionately to achieve what you want to be in future. That's the reason it stood you as a good professional and a good human being. I appreciate you sir.


Posted By Ranganath On 12-Jan-10 03:13:17 PM

Greatly admire You from the days I learned Java from you
Wish U all the very best in every aspect as now
Happy new year sir

Ranganath


Posted By Narasimha AV On 15-Jan-10 11:05:58 AM

4shared.com was a fantastic site.Thanks for sharing.I could get some useful books on Eclipse RCP.


Posted By N.R.Abhishek On 09-Feb-10 11:06:10 AM

Hello Sir,
Thanks for sharing your 2009 moments in your life with us...
I am very much interested in whatever block u write as i always gain some knowledge from it and some provide inspiration.
All the Best.

With Regards & Wishes,
Abhishek


Posted By Govardhan On 23-Sep-12 03:32:08 AM

I'm impressed by your writing. Are you a profseisoanl or just very knowledgeable?