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As I have posted here, I have made some resolutions for the new year. If nothing, just for the fun. I have to add two more things to the list.

• Learning F# and
• Reducing my weight.

I have been trying to learn F# for over a year now (maybe even a little more). I have all the F# books in print now as well as the PDF for the upcoming Manning MEAP – Functional Programming for the Real World. But they been collecting dust on my shelf. Functional programming requires a new mindset and hence requires a little more effort for me than studying a new imperative language. The first book that I bought is Expert F# which is definitely the wrong book for a beginner. It is written by Don Syme et.al. who is the primary designer of the language and is a little dense. It is a good book with a lot of information but it is just not good for somebody new to functional programming. Once you have grasped the main ideas behind functional programming, it is a good book to have. The second edition of this book is coming up soon.

The game changer for me was Programming F# by Chris Smith which, IMHO, is the best book out there today to learn F#. It is a surprisingly small book and is written with such clarity that even somebody with absolutely no exposure to functional programming languages would be able to learn from it. It makes the ideas accessible and has some brilliant examples to showcase some of the features of F#. It kind of feels like an easy-going friend, which is exactly what you need when exploring unfamiliar grounds. I was so impressed with the book that I wrote a review of the book on Amazon giving it 5 stars.

I am not entirely comfortable with F# yet. But I have my feet wet and I plan to make the plunge in 2010.

Another thing that I want to tackle in 2010 is my weight (and fat). I am 190 lbs now. I used to be something like 175 lbs 3 years ago when I came to USA. 15 lbs in 3 years ! I am definitely worried about this. So is my wife. I had taken diets a couple of times previously and had always managed to reduce weight. But it always came back with a vengeance. So I am not sure whether another diet is the solution. Being on a diet is one of the most worst experiences that I have been through. Food is always on your mind and you can’t eat it. You are constantly fighting the sugar craving (I was on a low-carb diet). It is hell.

Although I haven’t made any specific plans, I think I would concentrate more on exercise and less on diet this time. Let us see how it goes.

Happy Holidays !

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176.2 pounds as of today morning. I have found that the days on which I play or do exercise I lose approx. 2 pounds. On other days, the weight remains approximately the same.

Total loss till today is something between 12 and 14 pounds. I am so happy

Today morning my weight was 182.4 pounds which comes to approximately 82.7 Kgs. This means that I lost something between 6 to 8 pounds in the first two days (i didnt measure my weight before starting the diet but I think it was something between 188 – 190 pounds which was the case when I last weighed myself). This rate of reduction is excellent from what I have read and it certainly gives me some motivation to continue the diet. The going is tough and the sugar craving is very high but I hope things will get better in the days to come.

Yesterday morning I had 2 eggs and a sausage for brunch. In the evening I had 2 chicken pieces and for dinner I fried some shrimp. I snacked on beef jerky in between meals as well. I drank 3 caffeine free diet cokes and ate a couple of packets of Splenda to satisfy my sugar craving.

I played badminton on saturday and volleyball on sunday so I am guessing that it helped in burning some fat.

I haven’t decided what my target weight should be. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. When the cravings get high, I console myself with the fact that I can quit any time that I want, but by having a target weight it would feel like a failure if I quit before that. I am just going to keep going as far as I can.

The hardest part would be keeping the weight off after I start eating carbohydrates again. I don’t have a plan sketched out for that, but most probably I would start exercising more.

It has been a while since I wrote anything here, I guess I am having a blogger’s block. Today I made a significant decision and I thought I should write about it, partly to keep my resolution and partly to break the writing block.

I have been gaining weight steadily in the past two years and I am beginning to get a bit concerned about it. I had bought a lot of clothes when I came to US but I cant wear any of them now because my waist size increased from 32 to 34. So I have decided to shed a few pounds and start feeling good about myself. A nice side effect would be I would be able to use some of my old clothes . I am just hoping all this would happen, but you never know unless you try it. So guess what, starting today I am going on a low-carb diet. I have done this once before with good results although I quit after a week unable to withstand the sugar craving. I lost something between 4 and 6 Kgs in that period. That experience gives me a lot of confidence now and I hope to do better this time, not necessarily in terms of quick weight reduction but in terms of getting better long term benefits ( I gained back the original weight within a month last time). One advantage that I have compared to previous time is that in US you have better access to food which is carbohydrate free. I really suffered that week in Bangalore while I was on diet because I couldn’t get enough protein & fat only food to keep me from going hungry. Going on a diet, in general, is pretty tough because the fact that you cant eat certain types of food makes you crave for exactly that. A significant factor for success is your ability to keep your mind off the diet, something that I couldn’t do last time. I hope to do something in the coming days – something that will keep me busy and keep my mind of the food craving. Maybe I will blog more or study something new or start a pet project.

Today I ate 4 eggs and some beef jerky for brunch. In the evening I ate some baked chicken as a snack. I am planning some sausages for dinner. There is a lightheaded feeling, but otherwise everything is going good. I don’t have a weighing scale at home so I don’t know my exact weight before starting the diet, but last time I weighed myself it was something between 188 and 190 pounds (around 85-86 Kg). Tomorrow I plan to buy a scale so that I can keep track of the weight during the diet period.

Wish me luck dudes and dudettes, and stay tuned for the diet results

My latest sun is sinking fast
My race is nearly run
My longest trials now are past
My triumph has begun

I’ve almost gained my heavenly home
My spirit loudly sings
The holy ones, behold they come
I hear the noise of wings

Oh come angel band
Come and around me stand
Bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home
Bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home

- Angel band by Stanley brothers

Here are some pictures which I took when Joel Spolsky came to Seattle as part of his FogBugz Tour. He has written about the presentation in this blog entry.

It was a great presentation by Spolsky, who with his characteristic humor entertained the audience with lots of pokes at Microsoft. The presentation was well received by the 200 odd people who gathered. The croissant was tasty too .

While moving from my blog on Wordpress, I thought that I had lost all the comments. But actually it was a problem with my theme. I loved the old newspaper theme (Breaking News 1.0) but sadly I will have to move to another theme. I might try to fix the theme on my own but being as lazy as I am, it is very possible that fixing it would remain a distant dream

After I changed the theme, the old comments are back where they should be (under the respective posts, in case you are wondering )

Now that I have shared the good news, all of my faithful readers may rest their worries and enjoy the weekend

I moved my blog. Again.

I love wordpress but hosting it on my own server gives me more control in trying out a lot more themes and plugins. Then there is the lure of putting Google Ads (and an early retirement). Soon I would be cashing in on the big traffic I get on this blog. On a good day I get as many as 8 visits. No kidding.

While moving the blog I lost all the comments, which is sad, but other than that it was a smooth transition. I had tried Movable Type as an option but I decided I like Wordpress more. I wanted to try Typo but had no idea how to proceed. Ok, ok… you needn’t tell me I am a dumbo. I know.

Now if you excuse me I need to look up places to visit on my early retirement.

As of this 27th June, I completed 29 years of a mysterious journey called life. It kinda makes me nervous as I think about it. It is not that I am getting old, but the total lack of a worthwhile achievement so far makes me diffident. It makes me wonder whether my dreams in my younger days of becoming a successful adult has all been just a flight of fancy.

A million miles our vagabond heels
Clocked up beneath the clouds
They’re counting down to show time
When we do it for real with the crowds
Air miles are owing
But they don’t come for free
And they don’t give you any for pain

But if it’s all for nothing
All the roadrunning’s
Been in vain

Actually things are not that bad, Binil sent me an invaluable birthday gift.