Vietnamese + German + Taiwanese + Indian + French = Fun

In the weekend that went, Le Thuy - a Vietnamese friend of mine tugged me along to a grill invite. I was more excited by the prospect of meeting some really interesting people than by the grill itself. Guess what? We made a group of five from five different countries - all with an experience of living a life outside one's own terra-firma - all with stories aplenty to tell.

As a previous mentions must have told you - I love these international meetings and they often add to much to my perspective of people and life!

For now, I just want to specially thank Le Thuy for her wonderful Pasta Salad, and Frederik for the thoughtful mix of paprika and mushroom that made grass-eaters feel at home. David and Sabrina for the wonderful conversations.

Ciao!

Flowers: Roses, Tulips, and Wild Ones...

An addition that panders to the photographer in me...

• Roses, Tulips and wild ones...
  

Hola Chicos...

...Are perhaps one of the few words in Spanish I know, thanks to Eva.

She and Simone are having a blast of a time in sunny PA... Much as I dig not being there, I wish you both better luck with flights, trams and lots of fun... ;-)

Germany is more fun when you are here. :-)

Tied in a knot...

My childhood friend Vinay got married this weekend. What a wonderful thing.

Living in a foreign country comes with it share of pains - one of them being the inability to be physically present in days so important as these. My best wishes to you Prajakta and Vinay towards a long, happy, peaceful and blissful marital life.

Much as I envy Sujit for being able to make it, I am very happy that at least one other in our elite group of three was witness to this great event! :-)

Miss you both.
So long...

Me and photography...

Hope you enjoy the photos at: http://ilovemycam.blogspot.com/

I'll keep updating it... You keep visiting it.
Simple!

My first technical BLOG...

Announcing the arrival of: http://cstrings.blogspot.com/

More to follow...

Some nice meetings to talk of...

I've been a member of a popular programming bulletin board (online, of course) called Codeguru for some time now. It all started about 3 years back when I had some queries, and posted them here. As time passed, I became a contributor of solutions too, and in general - started enjoying this community. Eventually, I got recognized by Microsoft and some doors opened.

It does seem that lady luck was going strong on me (perhaps, I did work long on her ;) ) and I had the pleasure of meeting some really nice people (MVPs and otherwise) whom I knew of online - in person.

Rather than delve deep into the individual meetings again, let me just take you to the threads that discuss these developments -

• Meet with Guido Stercken-Sorrenti during informal MVP Dinner at Frankfurt.
• Meet with Guido and Codeguru Member Mr. Beans at Stuttgart
• Meet with Marius Bancila (a fellow MVP), Guido and Mr. Beans at Guido's Birthday (latest)

I have also had the pleasure of meeting MVPs during regional Microsoft meet, and that was a wonderful experience too.

That's a lot of reading for now.

Ciao,
Sid!

My very first Blog, ever...

So... I wonder - what makes me start Blogging?

Is it just to experiment with what seems to be a new idea? Is it simply to "experience the pleasure of Blogging" as many put it? Is it with the intention of making my thoughts and opinions reach people? Is it one way to spend free time in what seems to be a meaningful activity?

Perhaps, it is all this and a lot more...

I will compose side-by-side technical BLOGs where I share some learning and experience - especially that gained from my work and from Codeguru - you should find these through my profile link.

This BLOG itself is going to discuss me (sounds narcissist, ehh? I agree!), interesting people I meet, as well as my pursuits in hobbies like photography, driving, travelling, etc.

Welcome to my Blog, folks! Feel free to share your comments...
Keep watching this space for stuff from me!

Ciao,
Sid!

___________________________
Siddhartha Rao
Microsoft MVP - Visual C++
Codeguru Community Moderator