Source: ICD

The concept of a tablet-based device as a control point in the home is quickly becoming a reality. With weekly rumors of Apple’s tablet work hitting the blogs, and discussions among VCs and entrepreneurs as recent as yesterday’s Cyberposium 15 at Harvard Business School where there was a panel discussion on converged devices within the home, the need for a 10″ lean-back device seems to be there. Application focus is on a number of things including enhancing the consumer entertainment experience, providing better family organization apps in key rooms of the house, as well as delivering better search and discovery methods for finding and viewing media in many ways.

Seattle-based Innovative Converged Devices (ICD), previously known as Velocity Mobile, recently announced Vega, the first in a family of converged devices for the home. The company is actively in discussions with IPTV service providers and CE brands in several countries and hopes to white label its products and have them available in by late Spring 2010.

Vega is based is an Android-based platform running on NVIDIA’s low-cost Tegra processor, which sports high-end graphics, HD video playback and encoding (1366×768). It supports WiFi, 3G services, Bluetooth, USB, micro SD, a 1.3 mega-pixel camera with bar code scanning capabilities. ICD has a magnetic docking accessory for charging and wired connectivity. ICD is focusing on 11″ and 15″ class products and is working with the DLNA on a stack to use with the platform, and with Android development in hopes of getting the OS to work with OpenGL. It currently developed off the standard Android SDK, with the difference being the screen real estate (Android today only supports up to 5″ displays).

Vega is positioned as a touch-sensitive, very low power (11.5 hrs. or 4 hrs with video playback), multi-user kitchen-based device that would deliver a variety of applications such as family calendaring and scheduling, video chat, bar code scanning, and digital sticky notes to online TV and video viewing from sites such as Hulu, YouTube, MTV, CBS.com, the BBC, as well as sites running flash-based content.

The business model built around Vega will vary by country and brand. In Europe, IPTV services uptake has been as high as 80% in some countries, and providers are interested in new products to enhance media consumption within the home in hopes of gaining more stickiness to their service bundles. Retailers such as Carphone Warehouse in the UK are also interested. ICD’s currently focused on five countries, working with a partner in each on white label solutions. Some IPTV providers may give the hardware away while others may subsidize the cost and provide an  incremental monthly service charge. Some providers are interested in Vega as a wireless hotspot, and could integrate both WiFi and 3G radios for increased in-home coverage.  The platform will be going through testing and partner product development cycles, with integration into customer launch cycles and marketing plans for next year.

I expect Vega to be one of a number of Android-based offerings within the home over the next few years. Nokia has also been working on their implementation of a consumer internet tablet and has shipped several products, and just recently shifted away from Symbian to Maemo for a richer application experience.

On the application side, integration with a host of service providers is anticipated. With online grocery shopping big in the UK, one grocery chain in particular is interested in Vega and its ability to bar code scan grocery products in the home and upload orders directly into its fulfillment system. In the US, ICD is talking to IPTV and cable providers and CE OEMs and some such as Comcast and Verizon have experimented with home hub-like devices and solutions but have not been successful.

The challenges will be for IPTV, cable, and the retail channel (service provider and big box) to describe the value proposition of connected tablets, while offering them at very attractive price points in an economy where consumer confidence and discretionary spending will remain low for at least 1-2 years.

There is something prudish and snobish  in glorifying test cricket. Especially in the Indian context, since ages I have witnessed test cricket in the subcontinent heavily favored to the batsmen. A lot has been said about the climatic conditions and soil texture prevalent in India; not sure  if it is the only reason for us producing slow turning wickets.

 I have been following India cricket since the early 1980s. the one day world cup was what caught my imagination and propelled me from a ordinary follower to a passionate fan. One-day following soon shadowed into test cricket appraisals. After all they kept preaching that a true cricket fan always follows test cricket. One thing about test cricket is that it is the best test of endurance of a player. How can I forget the Dean Jones innings in the tied test in 87, followed by Gavaskar’s unsucessful marathon to save the test and series against Imran’s Pakistan in Bangalore! However such moments were far and wide between. At the same time, we could not follow the Indian team overseas except for the One day international matches . So a magnificent win by kapil’s devils over England in the mid 80s was followed only througha half an hour  highlights capsules. Even the great 1989 series between India and Pakistan; that debuted greats such as Tendulkar and Waqar Younnis was given the miss by the only state broadcaster present in India. Again what we saw live of that series was the one day format, between the two fierce rivals.

The stark difference between the Indian and an English or Australian fan lies in the fact that he/she has witnessed test cricket which is fast, result oriented and aggressive. This is in stark contrast to the games dished out in the Indian subcontinent. Even former Indian and Pakistani captains have admitted that the fear of loss saw them play out for draws. Slow batting featherbeds also helped their cause.

There is a ironical debate as to which is a greater rivalry the ashes or the Indo- Pak encounters. My take is that in terms of test cricket it is the ashes ; while the one day format honors goes to the Indo- Pak contest.

 Experts may disagree with my inference, but my whole analysis is based on a spectator’s inference. I would divide Indian cricket into two eras;” pre 1983 world cup” and the post 1983 world cup era. I know I am being grossly unjust to magnificent cricketers like Wadekar, Solkar, Vishwant and the magnificent four spinners ( Bedi, Prassana, Venkat & Chandreshekar); to name a few. But my problem lies in the fact that my generation (following cricket over 25 years) has just not witnessed enough good quality test cricket at home.

For us the great Indo- Pak rivalry for us evolved at Sharjah in the one day format. It had all the modern greats; Gavaskar, Imran, Kapil , Miandad to  Akram & Sachin play hard and fiercely  to define the other of all cricket battles. In the same corresponding period India and Pakistan did not play each other in test cricket for over a decade and that is where the lack of interest in test cricket amongst subcontinent fans originates. The tragedy of test cricket in the Indian subcontinent lies in the fact that Waqar Younnis and Wasim Akram never faced Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid in their prime.

 The situation looks even grimmer today. One major factor for rapidly diminishing popularity of India test cricket lies in the retirement of Anil Kumble. Kumble was the champion cricketer for India in every home series in the past two decades. The Indian batsmen would pile up the runs and Kumble would pick up a fifer in the second innings to give India victory in most home series.

Today as we celebrate centuries and milestones of our batsmen; our bowling without Kumble just cannot pick up 20 wickets( a mandatory requirement for a test win). As I write this piece Tendulkar is inching his way to another century, inconsequential and completely devoid of any chances of an Indian win. I was told cricket is ateam sport, defined as a  battle between bat and ball, however 1500 runs scored with neither side picking 20 wickets seems just not the prescribed great game of cricket.

I guess time has come for the Indian Cricket Players as well as the administrative staffs to take a few weeks, if not months, holidays. They certainly are tired of performing.

Firstly, the selection team without Vengsarkar and co seems to be doing a terrible job. Srikanth has traditionally been a man of strong words and action… somehow the fire is missing in the way he is currently carrying out his job. No risks taken, no introduction of some fresh talents and just rotating the existing 20-25 players around trying to get the combination right. It’s been terrible last few months for Indian Cricket, inconsistent performance that has lead to the downfall, with only more to follow. As a first step, I strongly feel that the 5 wise men need to get their act together. They need to motivate some budding domestic cricketers and pump them into the international arena and give some high level exposure. It may or may not succeed. But I still feel it’s worth a try. It’s sad that after 20 years of Cricket, the team still sit safe on Tendulkar’s tiring old shoulders.

Secondly, Dhoni should stop ACTING cool. Yes he has the pressure to perform and at the same time live up to the tag Captain Cool. But off late, it has kind of become very apparent that he is not cool but just acting cool. His field placements are faltering. His ability to think on the feet has taken some beating. He is going clueless on the bowling changes and all of these are very visible on the field and finally on the results. I remember Younis Khan once mentioning that Dhoni’s captaincy will come into test once the luck factor isolates him. I guess he was absolutely true. Now that Dhoni is not winning many tosses, his players are in bad form, it’s the time for him to stand up and show what he’s made of.

Lalit Modi should be asked to step out of Indian Cricket arena forever. This is because he did a criminal mistake of injecting the taste of money into the blood of budding cricketers, so much so that they now play for money than for country. He created a monster called IPL that has eaten up the hearts of all budding cricketers. While the standard of living of these cricketers have improved big time, the quality of cricket they play has come down drastically. Time is not far before we see that we find it difficult to find 11 men fit to play 5 day cricket. I guess Modi has to own the responsibility of pushing Indian cricket to this sad state. I guess the ICL from Zee and Kapil Dev was made with better intend and would have given better results had the BCCI allowed him to stay on.

Talking about BCCI, I consider them as the biggest terror infrastructure in India! It’s high time these political rogues are shown the exit door and a few sensible people with good intend are brought in for the good. The moment the people running the show gets money minded, it flows down from top to bottom and gets into the nerves of all the employees of the terror organization – BCCI.

Overall, I feel the entire Cricketing domain in India requires a complete revamp – The people need to change, the infrastructure has to improve, players have to be brought up with care and should be injected the right thoughts and so on. The domestic circuit has to improve big time and if these basics are not taken care of, god save Indian Cricket!

Signing Off…

MPL (Mumbai Premier League) is the latest addition to the ever growing T20 leagues in India. This one is being launched by the Mumbai cricket association (MCA) to cash in on the popularity of the T20 format and the success of IPL. The worst part is that this league is supposed to follow the IPL next year and Sachin Tendulkar is expected to play in this league. Since this league is organized by the MCA even Rohit and Zaheer would be expected to play in the league as well.

We already have IPL, CLT20 and a corporate T20 league which hogs our calendar and most of the Indian national cricketers play in them. We all know what excessive cricket can do to a player … Ishant is a fine example. We are just a year and a half away from the 2011 WC and India does not even have a settled pool of players decided yet.

If every other state decides to have such a league then the players would not have time to play for the country. India is trying to become the best side in the world and unfortunately the biggest hindrance for that is coming from the home board. It seems like BCCI does not care how the team performs; instead they are more worried about the players being available for the IPL.

It seems very funny when the players complain about overdose of cricket as they are the ones signing up to play in the various leagues around the world. Including the Australian T20 league, which is already in place, there are going to be at least three leagues every year where international players will be participating apart from the International games which absolutely doesn’t leave them with any rest.

If the Indian team aspires to be the best in the world, the players have to stop appearing in every league they are invited to play in. The players have to pick and choose the leagues they would be representing so that they are fit and available when the National team requires them. MCA has set yet another bad precedent in India and I hope that the rest of the state boards don’t follow suit.

Recently there have been calls in the media to scrap the 50 over format to accommodate the rising number of T20’s played around the world. There have been various theories like reducing the number of overs to 40, playing ODI in a two inning format etc. ODI cricket has been around for a long time now and definitely needs an overhaul but I guess it still has a place in the hearts of a cricket lover.

ECB recently scrapped their domestic 50 over tournament and replaced the same with a 40 over version. We did see in the media recently where the ECB has suggested the same to the ICC. We cannot fault the ECB for doing so as their National team has been pretty poor in the 50 over version. I hope that the ICC dont follow that route.

One thing I have to agree is that there is too much of ODI cricket played these days adding up to the numerous T20 leagues going around. This is where ICC needs to step up and do something about the ever growing T20 leagues. Having IPLT20 and CLT20 in the same year is ridiculous. Now since Australia is starting their own T20 league which might leave players no time to play International cricket, it’s the right time for ICC to step in. They should bring some sort of a regulation which would reduce the number of ODI’s and T20’s played in a year to sustain interest among the fans. I am not sure why the Test championship is not taking wings as it is an interesting concept. It will for sure induct lots of interest among the viewers for the oldest format of the game.

The 50 over format provides a great variation to the fans from the bang bash T20 format. The teams are allowed to strategize, plan and execute over a 50 over format. Even though IPL and CLT20 have become so successful in India, people still love the ODI’s. ODI matches in India still play to packed houses. The major problem though which needs to be addressed immediately is the player burnout.

Too many ODI’s are played these days and most of them are meaningless. A 7 match ODI series is a tad too long I feel. I guess a bilateral ODI series should be limited to no more than 5 games. The champions Trophy and ODI world cup need to be the premier multinational events. Limit the amount of other tri series which are played around the world other than the above two major events.

ICC also has to work towards reducing the number of T20 leagues which are going around these days. The ODI cricket format itself needs an overhaul to make it more interesting and reducing the number of overs isn’t the way to go. The 2 innings format is something which the ICC can look into. They have tried couple of innovations in the past which haven’t worked like the “Super-sub”. More thought needs to be put in towards that line.

ODI cricket has a rich history and has been around for a long time. ODI World Cup still remains a special event for every cricketer around the world. Test cricket as every International player would agree is the pinnacle of cricket and will remain for a long time to come. The format which needs preservation is the ODI. Players still prefer this format over T20 any day. The advent of T20 has cast some doubts over the future of this format but with some innovations, the 50 over format can hang on. Reduce the number of games played around at the moment and make some changes to the existing format and we might have a winning formula. The short and sweet Champions Trophy breathed some life into ODI’s and we hope that the ICC can learn something from this. I am a fan of 50 over format and would not want to see it die.

Time is a precious commodity. We each have a limited amount of it and it is incumbent upon us to make appropriate choices as to how we spend it. I’m having to rethink how I spend mine. I’m having to make difficult choices in order to ensure that my time is used in ways that are in line with my priorities. I’ve not done a very good job of that recently and changes are required.

But making changes – even good ones – hurts. I wish that I could say that it is easy to let go of projects and commitments, but when you’ve invested time into something or someone, letting that go is painful. I’m grieving the losses already and the choices were only made yesterday.

So it comes down to this . . .

I only have a limited number of hours available to me. A certain number of those hours are committed to my family. That, obviously, goes without saying. I’ve come to understand recently that I have been short-changing this time. My kids have buys lives. They have friends and activities, and  hopefully soon they’ll have jobs. I see less and less of them, and I miss them.

There are hours committed to my work with Eastern Star and supporting my girls in Job’s Daughters because I believe the value of both organizations. I also enjoy the friendships I have through them. They represent a connection to my father and my grandfather; a tradition I hold dear and honorable.

A significant number of hours is committed to my job, but I am now realizing that I give far more time to this than I need to. I love what I do, and I am grateful in this difficult time to have a job that pays me well and affords me benefits. But it is still just a job. It isn’t who I am. It isn’t my heart.

My heart is writing, and for nearly two years, the bulk of my writing time has been taken by my job and by my work for the Institute of Children’s Literature. I have loved working for ICL. I have loved giving my students the tools to follow their dreams.  But it is getting harder and harder to give the time necessary to the coaching that this endeavor requires, and my students are not getting 100% of my attention. I’ve fallen behind on their assignments, and I’ve used my own writing time to try to make up the difference.

The choice has been difficult, but it is obvious. I’m not longer going to work for ICL. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity, and so thankful for all that my students taught me. Their honesty their desire to follow a dream served as a constant source of inspiration to me. But that inspiration is only of value if I am following my own dream. Too often, lately, my own writing has been put on hold. The stress that this situation creates for me is harmful to the point that I become blocked.

Now, I’m not trying to blame either ICL or my students for being blocked. That comes from a situation of my own making, and I own the responsibility for both its creation and its solution.

That’s why I’ve had to make this choice. That’s why I’ve had to turn my students over to the capable hands of other instructors to finish their journey. I have to get back on my own journey.

I’m sad, I’m disappointed, and I’m wishing sincerely that there was another alternative. There isn’t.  So the change has been made, and I am re-dedicating myself to myself, my own writing, my own purpose.

But to Joe, Kelly, Maureen, Evan, Dianna, Amy, Jackie, and my many other wonderful students -

I look forward to reading your work. You are each amazing, talented writers with hearts of gold. I’m excited for your success. Do keep me posted.

Stress is a nasty element.

It’s like catching a cold in the middle of July. You feel miserable, you want it to go away, and you keep pushing yourself harder because you’re certain that you can overpower it by sheer force of will. Then, eventually, you give in to the reality.

I hate stress.

For the past two weeks, I’ve worked close to 80 hours a week. My full-time job required additional time, and my ICL work and my writing both suffered the consequences. I finally had the time this weekend to work on my novel. I was excited, enthused, ready to go.

I couldn’t write.

I sat down in a comfy spot, my cute little laptop right there in my lap. I opened the file and read the last few pages I’d written. My fingers were poised over the keyboard.

I froze.

I couldn’t think. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t flow from my brain to the tips of my fingers. I typed – it came out crap. I deleted. I typed again. I deleted. I started to shake. I started to cry. I fought like all-mighty mayhem for more than an hour and gave up in tears and frustration.

I’ve been here before – the familiarity of this pain is saved in a righteous spot within my cerebral cortex. If I thought it would help, I’d scream at the top of my lungs “I HATE THIS!”

It doesn’t help – I’ve tried it before.

So I have to take two giant-steps backward. Natalie Goldberg refers to it as returning to “beginners mind” – deleting all the voices, all the wisdom, all the workshops and conferences and returning to that primal place that just wants a good story.

Awkward segue – hang with me on this . . .

My dad showed up in a dream last night. I tend not to write about my dreams very often. Typically they’re weird and make no sense to anyone including me. Dad shows up periodically. He’s usually just visible in the background – no real expression on his face, just a presence.

My dad was a larger-than-life kind of guy. Love him or hate him – if you knew him, you had an opinion. He was amazingly generous. He was a small-town Southern boy who made it big with a limited education and a lot of smarts. He died almost three years ago at the very young age of 70. I miss him dreadfully.

But there he was . . .

I was sitting at Rino’s Italian Restaurant – a family favorite. I was on the patio, drinking a glass of Riesling, waiting for my lunch to be delivered. The patio is covered by an arbor that hangs heavy with grape vines. I sipped my wine, nibbled on bread, and looked up to discover that Dad had joined me at the table.

“You’re too full,” he said, pouring his own glass of wine.

“My lunch hasn’t even come yet, and this is only the first piece of bread I’ve had.” I was insulted at the perceived meaning of his comment.

“Did you order dessert yet?” He put the wine bottle on the table with a thud.

“Dad, I haven’t even had lunch yet. I probably won’t eat dessert. I’m trying to get back in shape.”

“You’ll be too full before you get to it, so you won’t have dessert. You know that.”

Frustrated, I looked him in the eye. He had a twinkle in his eyes in life that always indicated some sort of mischief was lurking in his head, looking for an opportunity. I saw that twinkle as he looked back at me across the table.

“Dad,” I said, “I’m trying to do all the right things. If I don’t save room for dessert, it’s not the end of the world. It’s probably better for me anyway.”

“But you’ll feel empty,” he said.

“Not if I eat my lunch.”

“Especially if you eat your lunch and do all the right things.”

The waiter appeared at the table and set a plate of shredded paper in front of me. “Would you care for fresh-ground pepper?” he asked.

I looked at him, then back at Dad. Dad just smiled – something unusual in my dreams. I looked back to the waiter. “No, thank you.”

I looked back across the table, but Dad was gone. The shredded paper on my plate had multiplied and was spilling across the table. I looked to the waiter. “May I see the dessert menu, please?”

I didn’t fully get the concept until a few hours after I’d gotten out of bed. It started becoming clear to me in the shower. I’m too focused on doing things that are “good for me” – which may sound odd. Yes – I have to work. I don’t have the luxury of spending my days creating stories. But I can’t let the required things get in the way of the necessary things. Writing is what gives me joy. Writing is my dessert.

So it’s back to beginner’s mind.

I am collecting words today. I’ve done this before, and I have found it to be very beneficial. Today, I am looking for words I find inspiring and adding them to my journal.

Intrepid

Vivacious

Gladiatorial

Triumphant

Grandeur

Tomorrow, I’ll add to my list of humorous words -

Flabby

Picayune

Snivel

Glop

As with most blockages – this, too, shall pass

MY SECOND WEEK in London comes to an end, and frankly I don’t have a lot to tell you about it. I’ve attended all introductory lectures of the courses I was interested, and my timetable should be settled for this term. Here’s what it looks like:

There’s a clash somewhere Wednesday, but I’ve already found someone to share the lecture notes. The week seems a bit empty, but there’s quite a lot of homework. I already have a problem sheet to do, and a book chapter to read, so I won’t be very idle

On Thursday night was the Erasmus club registration, with people from all around the world (…) There was even a girl from the US, although the Erasmus program is (unfortunately?) Europe only. I could also see the pictures taken during the Touropoly, we were the only team not to get a prize :-/ (too many French people maybe ?). Speaking of the French(wo)men, there were lots of them this night, around 50%, and that is quite annoying, when you end up speaking French all the time, in London… A guy form Supélec told me there were 50 students from his uni only, here at IC.

That’s it for now, I’m going to fill my lungs with the good, fresh air of London.

Probably everyone now knows that LASIK is so cheap and accessible to virtually everyone, so why the need for Implantable Collamer Lens? ICL is a day surgery procedure and requires implantation of a lens in the front part of the eyeball. It cost a lot more so why bother? There are some benefits over LASIK- there is no flap hence no flap problems or dry eye issues. It does not change the cornea and therefore does not post a problem when it comes to cataract surgery decades later (It is removed together with cataracts during cataract surgery). The cornea is not reduced in thickness and therefore structural strength. Most importantly, the optics of the eye remained unchanged so no problems with poor quality of vision or wavefront problems (glare, halo and other optical aberrations). The optical quality of LASIK degrades significantly with higher correction especially after -8D. The patient would experience regression as well over the next 1-2 years. i.e. small amounts of myopia can come back. This would not happen with ICL as the power remains very stable over time until old age when cataract formation would induce changes in power again regardless of procedure.

Its drawbacks are the very very small risk of cataracts- which can be removed. Sharp vision can be re-achieved with the very established cataract surgery procedure. What is cataract surgery?

Both LASIK and ICL are surgical procedures which are generally safe. Blinding complications are possible but rare.

I had one more course today (Inviscid fluids mechanics) which I’m pretty sure of taking. I also tried to go to a physics course, from the … Physics department, but I couldn’t find the room … shame on me. The course was Quantum Information, and although there’s a good chance that I wouldn’t have understood a thing, I would have liked to attend the introductory lecture (the syllabus stated ‘quantum computers’ !).

Around 5PM I went to the ‘discover’ session of the badminton club, which was a bit overpopulated… Take 2 courts, add 30 people, and the odds for you to play more than one game an hour are pretty … thin. Anyway I’ve played one game with 2 Italian students, which also happened to speak French perfectly (there are really to many francophones here, sometimes I wonder whether my English level will go up or down). Since that was a bit short, my locker decided to keep me in there a little. The lockers in Ethos (the Imperial’s sport building, just next door) are using a PIN to lock, which pleased me at first sight: no key, no money to put in, no stupid strap to wear in the swimming pool. But … when I came back, the thing wouldn’t open, although I was pretty sure of the PIN I entered. So I had to bother the staff to get it open. But since I had tried —and failed— several times, the vile box secure-locked itself for 2 more minutes, so the guy who came to help me could enjoy some waiting too.

Ok, that’s pretty much it … I will try to get some more picture in there, because doesn’t look friendly anymore. All that text is frightening! And feel free to post comments, there aren’t any yet, it may also help warm the atmosphere Any language is OK! If French is best for you, check these blogs out. They’re run by Adrien, in Chile, and Antoine in Oxford.

Now it’s time to get out, and enjoy the sun while it’s still here

Today I’ve started ’shopping’ for my courses this term. (Starting from third year there are no compulsory lectures at IC, and students can attended whichever course they want. In January, exam registration take place, I will have to choose 8 courses I will sit exams for.) These first introductory courses tend to be quite crowded since everyone wants to have a look, but the room remains quiet and the lecture easy to follow (I don’t miss France from that point of view…). The lectures I’ve attended were entitled Special Relativity & Electromagnetism and Methods for Mathematical Physics. These were interesting (getting back to a bit of physics is cool), I will try to follow them, but I’m not too sure about exams. From a practical point of view, every course has 3 ‘hours’ of work in a week plus personal work, which seems to be quite important. Every ‘hour’ is in fact 50 minutes long, which is quite short. Add the fact that these are not grouped but stand on their own, and you get a pretty shredded timetable.

Today also was the Erasmus meeting in maths department. There are 8 of us, from Spain, Germany, Netherlands and France. It was quite friendly, and also the occasion to get a few questions answered.There’s an Erasmus club in Imperial which is organizing a few events to get Erasmus students together. I haven’t met them yet, and although they’ve set up (another) pub crawl this evening I haven’t been there because … it was the Hall’s dinner at Wong Kei, in London’s China Town, near Piccadilly Circus. We went there on the Tube, which is not that expensive after all (with an Oyster card, the ride was £1.60, compared to £1 on the bus). We were on tables of about 10 people, and this allowed to have a nice variety of dishes, with several vegetables and meat (beef, chicken, shrimps…). It was my first time (yeah I know…) in a Chinese restaurant, and I really liked it. After a few (tens of) minutes trying to do something else than stirring my food with the sticks, I enjoyed struggling to eat with them, it was a good challenge . Everything was all right, but I would have like some more tea at the end *thiiiiirst*.

Tuesday was dedicated to the Freshers’ Fair of IC. This is where all clubs and ’societies’ set up stands everywhere in the college for freshers (the new students) to discover them. The range of activities in there is quite impressive going from Tea or Cheese to Scuba diving and Gliding. All sports seemed to be managed by one of these clubs, unlike in France where they are generally handled by the university itself. I think that my second sport will be badminton, after the regular (20 minutes) walks to the local Sainsbury. To do so I will have to find some shoes not ‘black-soled’, that will not leave huge scars on the floor :/ Apart from the ‘classical’ food or sports groups, there are quite a lot of social ones, like Engineering without borders, Médecins Sans Frontières (IC has a big medicine component) and all the national societies (Thai, German, etc). There were also stands for banks (there are a few companies having a branch inside the college) and even the police !
Today was less exciting, the only thing on the agenda was an introductory talk for 3rd year and Erasmus students. It was not very interesting for me since it was mainly an analysis of the previous year. I was a bit lost in that much people (200+), and I couldn’t spot anyone I knew a little.
In the evening was the opening of the Bonkies, the little bar of Garden & Weeks. Not a lot of people where there, even though there was some free ice-cream being served, but I talked a bit with Tad, a polish senior, who convinced me to take a look at the Polish society, see if I could learn a few things… and later, I finally wrote this little update for you

This morning I went to the not-so-close Sainsbury store to buy some basics (plates and stuff). After this, I went to the Tate Modern museum, on the South side of the river. The building is quite massive and looks industrial, since it used to be a power station, that closed in the 80’s. Like most museums in London it’s free, which is really nice when you just want to stick your head in to see what’s on display. However, temporary exhibitions often have an entry fee. In the case of Tate, it was not disappointing, since the ‘Pop Life’ exhibition didn’t appeal me much. Inside were great paintings of ‘classical’ artists, like Picasso, Braque or Bacon, but the huge rooms allows for much bigger works, like Anish Kapoor’s Ishi’s Light or Cornelia Parker’s Thirty Pieces of Silver. There’s even a room with a table about 3 metres high, along with 4 chairs at the same scale !

Thirty Pieces of Silver, by Cornelia Parker features ... 30 such groups of items, which have been crushed by a steamroller, and now hangs from the ceiling, 4 metres high above.

There’s also a small room with dozens of red painted items from every day life, and a guard staying here all day to prevent someone from getting away with one of them. One person paid for only one work … !
In the evening, I went on the pub crawl around the Imperial. We were split in small team of 10-ish (as the Brits like to say ) with a mascot (we had a sombrero), a camera, and some challenges, like stealing the mascot of another team. This one almost got me strangled, when another student tried to pull the sombrero off my head and the cord squeezed my throat !
It was yet another occasion to meet some people, most of them either 1st year UK students, or exchange students like me. This is because you can only apply for accommodation in the Hall if it’s your first year at Imperial.

Today was quite peaceful, Garden & Weeks Halls (G&W) organised the ‘South Kensington Challenge’, a small game that aimed at making us discover the neighbourhood, and some other friends. I was in a team of 6, mostly Asian students. We had two hours to answer about 20 questions, so we had a (very) quick preview of the museums in the area, a pub, and a (pretty large though) bit of Hyde Park. The few things I could see in Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) were interesting, with a lot of reconstruction of rooms, recreating the atmosphere of old. This ‘little’ walk put quite a strain on our legs, which was not so bad since a nice barbecue was offered in the back-garden (really pretty and convenient).
At 3:00 PM I headed to Oxford Street (with its impressive Selfridges) and Edgware Road (the place with all things Arabic), where I got my Lebara sim-card. I’ve finishing the day with a ‘zuppa’ (soup) in an Italian restaurant.

Shakespeare, Fog and Seagull on the Blackfriars' Bridge

So here is it, I’m in London with dad, after a 90 minutes long flight from Marseille to Gatwick Airport. Nothing really worthy to be mentioned, but I’ve noticed that -strangely- there are much less swimming pools in Britain. The train + bus + walk ride to my hall of residence (Garden Hall) was somewhat exhausting with the luggage weighing us down. I met with my room-mate Marcus right away, he’s a cheery guy from Sweden, and also a ’senior’ of the Hall, meaning he’s one of the people I can bother in case of problem. The Hall is twinned with Weeks Hall, just next door, and close to several others circling a small garden (Prince’s Garden ?) so students living in these Halls are quite close. My room is on the 4th (last) floor, with a view on another garden (actually all I can see from the window is a row of trees) with is pleasant. More importantly, this also shields me from the noise outside
A little while after I moved in, all residents had a (long) security talk, so we met the warden team and the security officer in charge of the Hall. This area is one of the wealthiest in London so it seems police patrols are quite frequent.
After this, we had the boat party, 3 hours of sailing on the Thames, towards the East. It was quite a good occasion to meet new people, like ‘Dwin’ from Singapore and Alexis, another French student (although I haven’t figured out yet what’s his link with France, apart from a French passport). Sadly, when the music started, there was no means of escape, so the already present tiredness grew on and on. I was happy to go home !

Yesterday, IC sent yet another mail with recommendations in case of a swine flu outbreak, among other things. Students are invited to register with the Imperial’s Health Centre, whose website seems to be -surprisingly- unreachable since this morning. Enough’s enough

I WON!!!!??!

Remember that matcha frosting I posted about a while back?? Well.. it took me a few weeks of research, plus a bank holiday weekend of baking to find the right cake & filling recipes to match – but all the blood, sweat and tears were worth it in the end!! (and no blood really, that would’ve been gross  + unhygienic)

I won Iron Cupcake London!!

This post comes a bit late – it’s been waiting in the wings because I’m stupidly superstitious and I figured I should hold off until the fantastic Caked Crusader posted the results..just to be sure.. I came away with some lovely prizes and a massive (sugar/win/champagne) high on the night, but you never want to jinx things..  We can all breathe a sigh of relief now though, because I’m happy to report that my little bakes are in fact listed as the champs. woohoo!

1st place champs

The challenge was ‘World’, so I chose to go with a Japanese theme (which seems less than original in retrospect, as there were at least 3 other beautiful Japanese-themed entries..doh).  Mine consisted of a two-tone matcha chocolate cupcake (marbling just seemed like too much effort) filled with sweet adzuki bean paste and tofu chocolate mousse, topped off with matcha cream-cheese frosting.  Er, ignore the wonky shape of the cake please.. frosting hides many sins..  Unfortunately, not flower paste sins – I bought little cherry blossom cutters but it was my first go at sugarpaste work and things didn’t work out so I had to improvise..

pretend they look like cherry blossoms...go on..

I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe and adapted another recipe found here for the matcha layer.

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake
From Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne

Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake; or about 30 cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

4. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes before turning out of pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.

*I’ve made the layer-cake version before with peanut butter frosting, as recommended in the book, and the combination is PHENOMENAL. try it. seriously.

After the cupcakes were cool, I used the cone method to fill them with Chockylit’s sweet bean paste (below) and a tofu chocolate mousse from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  The double filling was down to indecisiveness to be honest.  When I was testing combos out, my boyfriend swore the bean paste tasted better, but I preferred the mousse filling – so I just went with both in the end.

Sweet Bean Paste adopted from Cupcake Bakeshop

1-1/4 cups red adzuki beans

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

1. Cover beans in cold water and soak uncovered, overnight.
2. Drain, transfer back to the pot and cover in 5 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
3. Drain and puree with a hand blender or in a food processor.
4. Press through a metal sieve. Note: This is time consuming work. The pureed beans become a thick paste and it takes some time to press through the sieve, clean off the underside, continue pressing until most of the bean puree passes through and the skins are left behind.
5. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pureed beans and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to cool.
6. After the paste has cooled, scoop out 1/2″ balls. Cover loosely with plastic wrap so they won’t dry out.

Matcha Cream Cheese Frosting inspired by Cupcake Bakeshop and adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne
(I doubled the recipe  and ended up with tons – enough to cover 30 for ICL and about a dozen more since…)

4 ounces (1 stick) of butter

8 ounces (1 package) of full-fat cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp orange extract

~3 tablespoons matcha powder

Blend cream cheese and butter in a blender, pulsing until combined.  Add half the powdered sugar and again pulse until combined.  Add the remaining powdered sugar, along with the vanilla, orange extract and matcha powder.  You may want to add more sugar if you’re like me and prefer a firmer consistency that holds up to piping..and car journeys across London during rush hour.  Decrease the amount of sugar if you have any sense and hope to live a long, healthy life.

I also entered these coconut cupcakes with mango frosting and guava jam filling as my ode to Mexican paletas, but I’ll save the recipes for another day.

Garden Hall

After some trouble with the bug-loving app for accommodation, I was finally offered a twin room in Garden Hall for next year. I think I’ll confirm within the next 24 hours, with a £200 pre-payement. This should one of the last administrative thing I have to take care of before leaving, that’s why I decided to start this blog, that I hope to keep going the whole year.
Garden Hall is located pretty close to Imperial College (less than 100m). It was my 4th choice, if I remember correctly. For the unfortunate, GumTree seems to be a good place to find private housing.

I will be leaving for London by plane on October 3, the day the room will be available. Here is a recap of how things have been going so far:

• August 20, 2009:
  Deadline for accommodation applications was 31st July, I applied for single and twins rooms. Assignments should take place next week (the email read “late August”). Here’s a little map to help the happy few to “choose” their place. I advise you so apply as soon as possible, you may have higher chances of getting your first choice.
• June 18, 2009:
  It’s been some time since the last update. I’ve been accepted, after I found a confirmation email in my Junk folder (no topic… so watch your email very carefully). It was a bit messy, mentioning both a postgraduate and undergraduate application. After some emails exchanged with the admissions office, things seem to do better. I’ve received an invitation to apply for accommodation, and the student eService is ready for registration, which starts on 24th August.
• April 23, 2009:
  That’s not official yet but I have been accepted at IC for next year ! I got this info a bit early because of the strange behaviour of the webpage where I can keep track of my application. It mentions “references not found”, I was unsure about what to do, so I told the people at international office, who replied that everything was alright, and that I had been accepted. By the way, that was a bug, and they’ll fix it
• April 20, 2009:
  I have sent my request for scholarship today, everything is handled by the International Office at Ensimag, how could it be any better ? I only had to write a “motivation letter” for Rhône-Alpes region service for mobility (in French of course). Anyone interested can view it here.
• March 29, 2009:
  Application for IC submitted via Embark !

I’m attending a conference next month, and I’m very much looking forward to it.  I haven’t been to a writing conference for a few years, and the opportunity to mix and mingle with like-minded folk is very appealing at the moment.  But I dread the Know-It-Alls.  There is always one of them.  They appear at conferences not to learn but to demonstrate their vast knowledge to anyone who will pay them half a second’s attention. At the last conference I attended, as an agent was giving a very engaging presentation on shifts in the children’s market, a K-I-A piped up from the back of the room that the agent hadn’t discussed the growth in self-publishing.

“Since I don’t represent that market segment, and it isn’t necessarily a genre, I’m not in a position to talk about it,” the agent said.

The K-I-A persisted. “Yes, but it is an important segment of the children’s market.”

“Not really,” the agent answered without a pause.  “It represents less than two percent of the total industry, and that’s an incredibly small number.”

And since the agent had been speaking on genres and not on publishing options, the comments by the K-I-A were completely off target anyway.

K-I-As show up in all kinds of places, and certainly they are not relegated to writing, but for some reason, I find the writing ones more annoying than the others. 

This, by the way, is not intended to mean I know more than they do.  The minute anyone in the children’s writing industry states that he or she knows everything about the industry is the day that person should be locked in a well-padded room with the key tossed out. Publishing in general is such a dynamic business that each day brings new innovations, changes in policy or procedure, or interesting twists on the business.  There is no possible way to know everything – but that just doesn’t stop some people.

Particular favorites in the K-I-A realm include those who offer critiquing services to new writers who can not, themselves, speak or write using correct grammar. For example:

         A new writer is someone that has spent much time on their craft.

If you can’t spot the many errors in this sentence, you have no business offering writing advice to kindergarteners, let alone to anyone who is serious about writing.

Another example:

    Sending my submissions alphabetically to each publisher listed in the Writer’s Market Book will guarantee I find the right publisher.

Any editor who has been in the business will tell you that he or she can spot one of these within the first sentence of the cover letter.  But there are K-I-As who swear by this process.

A brief interlude before I segue into another section:

I love working for ICL. I love teaching students to write.  I love when a student sends me something that opens my eyes and causes me to gasp either because it is so compelling, or beautifully crafted, or just unique. I love seeing students progress from awkward, rambling beginnings to smoothly painted prose.  There is a lot of joy and reward in doing what I do.

But every once  in a while I get a K-I-A.  These are the students who, because they did well in high school English class, believe that they know all there is to know about writing.  They write comments like, “I have so much to teach children,” or “My life has been such a challenge that I think kids could really learn from me,” or “There are no good books out there for kids.” These students require additional patience and guidance.  Some of them get it eventually, some of them never do.  I can’t force people to learn, I can only offer them the information I have.

To be honest, sometimes I want to say, “I’m paid to do this. And you?”

But I don’t.

Okay, now I have.  I guess that should get it out of my system.

K-I-As are good for a few things, though.  They are a good reminder that there is a diversity of opinions on writing.  They are a good reminder that no one can possibly know everything about this weird business.  They are a good test of patience.  And, sometimes, they are just a good source for a laugh.

For that, I guess I have to be grateful.

As a teenager, I was involved in an organization called Job’s Daughters (three cheers if you know what it is). One of the morals taught by this organization was – and still is – “Patience is a virtue for which we should all strive.” It was a hard lesson to learn as a teenager. It hasn’t gotten easier as an adult.

I’m a “live in the moment” kind of gal.  I want to accomplish things, but I want the results NOW.  I’m not a good baker because I constantly want to crack the oven door and see how things are progressing.  I love knitting and crocheting, but I’m impatient to finish the project and see how it turned out. And I get in a hurry as a writer to finish a book because I want to get to the ending.

The absolute worst part of the writing process, for me at least, is the waiting for responses from editors and agents.  Tell me no, tell me yes (preferably yes), but don’t leave me hanging for months at a time before you tell me something.  It makes me crazy to have to sit and wait for answers. But I’ve been doing this long enough now that I understand there is often nothing but waiting that can be done.

Snippet of a conversation from a recent book signing I did:

Lady: I sent a story to a publisher quite some time ago and I haven’t heard anything back yet.

Me: What are you working on while you’re waiting to hear back on the story?

Lady: Working on? I just finished the one book. I should get an answer soon, right?

Me: Where did you send the story?

Lady: Big Name New York Publisher (I’ve actually forgotten which one she named).

Me: And how long ago did you send it?

Lady: Three weeks (exasperated sigh).  I should be hearing soon, right?

Me: (stifling a giggle). Um. Well, what else can you be working on while you wait?

Lady: I just want to sell this book, then I’ll worry about writing another.

Me: Most of the large publishers take from three to six months before you hear anything.  I know a few that can take up to a year if you submitted to their slush pile.

Lady: Six months? (outraged sigh) That’s ridiculous. Why would it take that long to read a kids book?

NOTE: It was clear this lady didn’t know much about the publishing world.  It was also clear that I could have messed with her, but I did the nice thing instead.  I gave her the web address for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and also to the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Learning to be patient is an ongoing lesson for me.  I struggle not to call the agent who has my manuscript.  I struggle not to email or Facebook or pester the agent incessantly because I want an answer.  But I don’t do it.  Instead, I keep working on stories that need attention.  I keep reading newsletters and talking to my friends who are writers.  I keep looking forward to conferences or workshops I want to attend.  I fill the waiting time with productivity on other writing projects so that I don’t fret over the desire to have an answer before someone is ready to give it to me.

But I do allow myself to check my email three or four times a day – just in case.

This ICL versus IPL business, which should by now have surely been laid to rest, rumbles on. Should the Northamptonshire Steelbacks beat Sussex in their Twenty20 Cup semi-final on Saturday, they would normally have been expected to fill one of England’s spots in the Twenty20 Champions League (or the Champions League T20, or the Champions Twenty20 League, or whatever), but the inclusion in their squad of Nicky Boje, Andrew Hall and Johan van der Wath means that Lalit Modi won’t let them play.

Boje, Hall and van der Wath are all ‘tainted’ by their association with the ICL, which is viewed by the BCCI as ‘unauthorised cricket’. “Champions League rules are very clear that no team with players connected to any unauthorised cricket can be a part of it,” said Modi, possibly whilst stroking a cat and plotting world domination.

‘Unauthorised cricket’ makes it sound a bit like the trio had been skipping school to hone their forward defensives, or carelessly practising their in-swingers in an area containing a ‘No Ball Games‘ sign.