Author: Kapil Bulsara

Bike Month

I started riding my bike about a month ago and I can tell you the feeling is amazing. I started with walking, which was great and I still love it and I was meeting my 1000 point goals on my Misfit Flash(Check out my review of the Misfit Flash). But soon I realized that although walking was great at first and I was building up my stamina, I needed something faster. I was fond of running many years ago, but running just doesn’t feel like a lot of fun now.

My bike which I had not used in years was the best fit for what I wanted. I fixed it up a little, filled up air, adjusted the brakes and went for my first ride. Every day I pushed myself further and now I easily go 10K to 15K daily. I will improve this as the days go by and we’re still in spring.

So why all the fuss about bikes? Today marks the first day of this year’s Bike Month in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) Check out the dedicated bike month website. It will run from May 25, 2015 to June 25, 2015. Today is Bike to Work Day! I hope those who knew about Bike to Work Day and those who could, did take their bikes to work. If you did not, you still have one month to get into gear! 😉

So how should you get into action for bike month?

Choosing a Bike

There are many different kinds of bikes. If you are reading this section then chances are you are a just starting off with your biking adventure. Decide what kind of rider you are and how often you will be riding your bike. If you will mostly be using your bike to go to and from work then a hybrid/comfort bike might be the right ride for you. However, if your road to work involves jumping and riding over potholes than a and if you already have a mountain bike then you can simply use that. But please make sure you get it checked and tuned at your local bike shop.

If you are serious about riding your bike on the road, setting aside time with the soul purpose of riding, then you definitely need a road bike. There are many different kinds of road bikes and when it comes to price, the sky is the limit. Just check out this $20,000 limited edition Audi Sport Racing Bike. Audi claims the frame of the bike weight less than the iPhone 6 Plus… haa!… That’s crazy – the fact that it costs $20K and that it’s (frame) lighter than the iPhone 6 Plus.

To get in-depth information on different types of bikes, I recommend gobiking.ca. If you’re not willing to invest time in reading, you can watch this quick video on how to choose the right bike.

Safety

Helmet

I have to be honest here – I never wore a helmet until now. I used to think helmets were not “cool”, but in retrospect, I don’t know why I ever thought that. Helmets can be both for safety and style. For bikes there are 2 main types of helmets, mountain bike helmets and road helmets. There are also ‘hybrid’-ish type of helmets which lets you clip on and and clip off the visor – I bought this kind when I started off, but now after riding for a some time, I realize that a special road helmet is the best. Whichever type of helmet you get, make sure that it has a light at the back. This will come in handy if you ever decide to right at night or early morning.

Check out this video on how to choose a helmet.

General Tips

Before you get out on the road, please check that both your front and back brakes are working. Make sure that there are no loose screws or nuts and bolts. Your seat needs to be adjusted properly to ensure that you have a comfortable and injury free ride. The biggest mistake that people make is having the seat too low. Both your feet should not be flat on the ground while you are sitting – if that happens you’re doing it wrong. Your leg needs to be extended almost fully so that you are efficiently driving power to the wheels. You should also consider the angle in which your saddle sits.

Here are a video on How To Set Your Saddle Height – Tips For Getting Your Saddle Position Right

Clothing

If you will be riding at high speeds wearing something comfortable. Don’t wear something that is too loose – it won’t be aerodynamic and will slow you down and potentially throw you off your course which can be dangerous. Don’t wear tight jeans, you need to have free moment in your legs. If you are riding at night, make sure you wear light reflecting outfit and turn on the light at the back of your helmet. I recommend wearing a light jacket to act as a wind breaker especially during the spring or autumn months. Of course you could buy special bike wear but if you are just starting, I wouldn’t recommend this. I personally don’t have any special bike clothing.

Check weather conditions before starting your ride. This spring has been crazy – I quickly learnt my lesson.

Rules

In Ontario, you are not supposed to ride your bike on the footpath. You could be fined if you do. It is also not safe to ride on the footpath. You could easily bump into people and it also becomes difficult for cars coming out of driveways to see you. It is also mandatory that you have a front light so that other vehicles on the road are aware that you are there.

Please take a moment to read through Ontario’s Guide to Safe Cycling

Learn proper hand signals. Remember you have the same responsibility as other 4 wheelers on the road. Most of the rules that apply to other vehicles also apply to you.

Finally when you are ready, go out there, greet the road with those tires, with the wind in your face and ride…!

Happy Bike Month! 🙂

Tags bicycle, bike, bike month, Brampton, fitness, GTA, GTAH, Hamilton, Mississauga, Ontario, spring, summer, Toronto, Vaughan, York Region

Activism Business Global Science

We NEED Clean Renewable Energy!

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 16, 2015
No Comments on We NEED Clean Renewable Energy!

Today while on my daily walk I thought about what my life is worth, what my contribution to society is and will be. Then all these questions got me thinking: where is the world headed? What are we as a human species doing and what will be the implication to the future generation.

There are 5 areas which I believe we humans should be moving towards. Today I will be focussing on

Renewable Energy

The fact that we as a species are still using non-renewable energy which will eventually run out and before it does run out will cause irreversible damage to our environment is both sad and appalling. While on my walk it suddenly dawned on me that the power of the sun is magnificent. Every single day we are getting heat from our sun and all of that is going to waste because we are not capturing it. Just imagine the kind of things that we can do if we can harness the power of solar energy.

It boggles my mind that in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world the USA, coal power accounts for 39% of the country’s electricity production. That is insane! Coal power plants produce acid rain, mercury pollution, increased carbon footprint. This is just one example! There are hundreds of examples around the world that are causing our planet so much destruction.

Solar Power

http://www.ecoworld.com/ estimate that we get 12.2 trillion watt-hours per square mile per year from our sun! Of course the calculation may or may not be 100% accurate, but the point is the earth receive a ridiculous amount of energy from the sun and it is more than enough to meet all our current and possible future needs. There should be no reason why we are not harnessing the power of the sun, or moving rapidly in that direction.

Electric Cars, next Solar Powered Cars

Thankfully we are moving towards a future where all cars will be electric thanks to the vision of Elon Musk and Tesla Motors. To take it a step further, the cars should not even need to be plugged into a charging station. The roof of cars will be exposed to the sun which can be used to capture solar energy. Up until now the only solar powered cars I have seem are the ones made by enthusiast in their garages. This needs to change now!

Homes

The roof of homes are exposed to the sun 365 days a year – or the number of sunny days in a year. Just imagine all that surface area used to harness the power of the sun. Yes, there has been progress here too. People have been installing solar panels on their roofs, but still it is not enough! More research needs to be done to make these cheaply available, and more people need to invest into this not only for the sake of saving a few extra bucks in the long run, but also because of the added benefit to the environment.

The natural question will be, what am I doing about it? Nothing really.. nothing at the moment. But I am committing myself to changing this in the near future.

Wind

Wind is another freely available resource. Wind turbines are already being using in great numbers throughout the world. However, it is still under-utilized and has lots of ground to cover. According to http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/ Wind energy is the fastest growing mode of electricity production across the planet. In 2012, $25 billion was spent on wind energy investment

Fun Fact: Did you know that Windmills have been in use since 2000 B.C. and were first developed in Persia and China.

Biomass

Biomass is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms. It most often refers to plants or plant-derived materials.As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or indirectly after converting it to various forms of biofuel. [Source: Wikipedia] The food you eat, plants that die, woodchips and seaweed are all sources of biomass energy. The future of biomass is or should be a mandatory biomass unit for houses with a backyard where all their waste can be used to produce energy and fertilizer for the soil in their gardens.

One way in which we can shape a future for renewable energy is buy using your power to shape the future. [here I talk about how we can use our purchasing power to dictate what products and services businesses focus on].

I believe there is not only greater good of the environment involved in these three areas but also a possible lucrative business opportunity. If anyone is interested in taking what I have said seriously, please contact me via the contact page.

Tags biomass, electric cars, energy, renewable energy, solar power, wind power

Entertainment

5 Time Travel Movies You Must Watch

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 14, 2015
2 Comments on 5 Time Travel Movies You Must Watch

Science fiction is my favourite movie genre .I even took a humanities course in university on science fiction. Yes I’m that obsessed. My favourite sci-fi sub genre is time travel. Here are the 5 movies that I think you must watch. They are not necessarily all the very best in the time travel class, but there are a number of reasons ranging from the ‘classic’ factor to just plain fun to watch.

Primer

This is one the most novel time travel movies. It’s made in a very natural down to earth kind of way and watching it almost feels like you’re watching a home movie of people who are involved in a startup company that builds time travelling machines at the same time it never falls short of interesting. Most sci-fi movies are overly dramatic with extreme visual effects, however this movie portrays a very realistic looking story telling technique combined with a gradual pacing that builds in intensity and complexity while at the same time leaving the viewer in a state of puzzle solving that is required to stay with the unique flow of the movie. The entire movie was costs only around $7000 which goes to show you don’t need a huge budget to tell a very compelling story.

The story revolves around 2 engineers who while working on a device to reduce the weight of my object with 2 other people discover a strange side effect of the device that they were creating and thus begins their adventure. At first they use it to make money then things start to go out of hand with multiple time lines all intersecting, something chaotic happens, friendships are affected and then there is the way that the movie ends. Any lover of sci-fi needs to watch this movie.

Predestination

This has to be the best time travel movie every made. It is sad how little recognition this movie had received. I cannot say much because to tell you about the movie would be to give away major spoilers.

It has all the time travel paradoxes and time loops you can think about. It is also a bit of an emotional movie. As the movie progresses you start to sympathize with the characters in the movie. The first 20 or 30 minutes of the movie gradually traverses the conversation between the two main characters and then it jumps a level of action with a jump in the time line, each time weaving the lives of the characters into the story. One of them is a time travelling cop whose job is to prevent crimes before they takes place. One of the characters is looking for purpose after heart breaks and defeats, then there is a bomber who seems to succeed in destroying and killing lives no matter how hard the time travelling agents try to stop him. Finally there is a new time travelling agent recruit. There are major twists in the movie which I cannot say anything about. Yes it’s about time travel, but it’s also about love, betrayal, destiny, fate, time-travel paradoxes. All in all: This is a MUST see movie.

Ground Hog Day

Now, I know that this movie isn’t really a true time travel movie or even true science fiction, but it does have a time loop. The main character is a selfish, self absorbed weather reporter who experiences the same day again and again. Care to guess which day?

Yes, Ground Hog Day. It’s the journey of a person who evolves from a self absorbed person to a frustrated person, to someone who starts caring about other people and learns about their lives then later becoming someone who focusses on himself but in a personal growth and appreciative kind of way. In a lot of ways Ground Hog day is just about a story about everyone. It shows you the possibility of learning and mastering things in life and stimulates the imagination – what if you could live the same day over and over again? Would you be happy, sad, frustrate, angry? And if so why? What would you do? How would you handle it? Will it be a curse or a gift?

Back to the Future

There is no other movie that is loved as much as this. Back to the Future is a classic! The story is about a teen named Marty McFly who gets thrown back in time when his parents were teens in high school. He is faced with the challenge of making his parents meet and fall in love so that he exists in the future. There are moments when the possibility of his father and mother connecting and falling in love reduces and Marty begins to fade out of existence.

There isn’t much of hard science fictions in this movie, but as I mentioned it’s a classic and a much loved one. It’s a fun movie to check off your list.

Hot Tub Time Machine

p7820979_d_v7_aa My final recommendation is the Hot Tub Time Machine. This movie is actually more of a comedy than it is a sci-fi. The reason I picked this is because it takes into account the moral debate about changing the future by changing the past and the buttery fly effect. If you ever go back in time, would you want to change certain aspects of your past? If you could change the past, should you? What are the possible consequences of changing the past? If none of that interests you, then don’t worry it’s still a very fun movie to watch.

There are of course many more movies out there which might be better picks as pure time travel movies, but I had to pick 5 and I picked the ones that I think you would enjoy and plus threw in some that will leave you scratching your head like Primer, or get you blown away by the ultimate time travel paradox like Predestination.

If you are a hardcore sci-fi person, then I would add to the list, Donnie Darko, Looper, 12 Monkeys, The Time Machine (1960,2002), The Butterfly Effect, Source Code and Edge of Tomorrow. If you agree or disagree with my list, please leave a comment below, like and share!

Tags back to the future, Entertainment, ground hog day, hot tub time machine, movie, predestination, primer, time travel

Uncategorized

Evernote: The only note keeper you’ll ever need

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 14, 2015
No Comments on Evernote: The only note keeper you’ll ever need

186tgj38eph2cjpg I’m going to get right to the point with this one because there is no argument about Evernote being the best note taking tool/software/service.

What sets it a apart from all the others is its speed, simplicity and stability.

It has had some hiccups in the past, but overall it has been one of the most stable apps/services.

I’m not always too keen one using external products or services especially if it is software related. Even at Okinara, we try to keep it in-house as much as possible, knowledge base, issue tracking system, development servers etc..

However, I am personally relying more and more on Evernote now and so is my business.

Multiple Platforms

Evernote can be used on multiple platforms: android, iphone, ipad, windows, web and mac.

Seamless

The synchronization on Evernote is one of the things that keeps no loyal to Evernote. I can start my note on my Macbook Pro, and then continue on my Android phone, add or remove something on my Linux based server and continue the process by adding a few more notes on my tablet during my meeting with a client. All this happens seamlessly without any hiccups.

On the off chance that there are some synchronization issues for example if I made some changes on my laptop which did not have internet connection at that moment and then I went and made some changes on my phone which did have Internet connection, so now the second modification will get applied to the note on the Evernote server, but when I go back to my laptop to make chances and this time it has internet connection, there will be a conflict. Evernote is smart enough to know that there is a conflict. It will save both notes and prompt me to take a look.

It’s a very smart and practical app.

KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid

Notes are organized into Notebooks which can only go deep to two levels – a parent notebook book with many sub notebooks which can have many notes. Each note can also be tagged with one or more tags. Using the combination of these two methods keeps the very simple and basic Eernote seems sophisticated.

If you need a deeper structure (sub category of sub categories and more), you can actually accomplish that with Evernote with notebooks and tags. If I get a chance and if there is demand for it, I’ll write an article on it.

The interface is also very simple. On the web, mac and windows, there are notes on the left and note details on the right. The notebook window simply displays all the notebooks that you have. In contrast One Note is packed with tonnes of features but can quite difficult to navigate and at a certain point it has too much going on for its own good. Then there is Google Keep which just over simplifies everything and is a very weak service/app for what you might want to do with your notetaker.

Types of Notes

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Evernote can record text notes, voice notes, images from your phone and attachments. It can even take hand written notes. This is something that can compete with the Note 4’s handwritten memo. This is one of the secondary reasons I chose to go with Samsung galaxy S6 (check out my take on the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. instead of the Note 4. If you want to get the the doodling feature of the Note4 on a phone that is not Note 4, then you can simply use Evernote.

Other useful features

Reminders – you can turn any note into a reminder and even set a due date
web clipper for chrome

Comes in 3 versions – which one is right for you?

free

all the feature I mentioned above
60MB uploads

plus

All the features of the free version plus:

$24.99/ year
1GB uploads
pascode lock
forward important emails directly to your evernote

premium

$49.99/year
unlimited uploads
do more with pdfs – can annotate them
version tracking
scan business cards
search in office documents
create slides for presentation

Other uses of Evernote include:

keep notes
act as a knowledge base
keep track of meetings and agenda
shopping list
journal
photo journalism – quick snap to make a note
recipe book
project management tool
CRM

That’s my take on the Evernote. Do you have any other note taking service that you would like me to review. Please add a comment below, like and share this post if you find it useful.

Tags evernote, one note, organize

Mobile Technology

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge: Next is Now or is it?

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 12, 2015
No Comments on Samsung Galaxy S6 edge: Next is Now or is it?

By now I’m sure you have already seen ” The Next is Now ” ads from Samsung. The Galaxy S6 and S6 edge is the biggest change to the Galaxy S series.

Samsung made amazing feature-packed phones that were comfortable in the hand and very functional but always lacked in the aesthetics department according to critics and consumers alike.

New Premium Design

Now with the Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge, Samsung has geared to move away from the “cheap plasticy design” . The Galaxy S6 has been redesigned completely. Even the code name for the phone was “Project Zero”. The plastic is gone and it’s replaced with an all glass and metal design that honestly looks gorgeous and feels premium to the touch. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after using the Galaxy S6 edge for a week, I am beginning to love this phone. The premium design of this phone is everything.

Galaxy-S6-Edge-colors There are two version of the phone. Galaxy S6, which is the flat ‘vanilla’ phone that everyone is used to and Galaxy S6 edge which has a dual-curve display, the first of its kind.

The Galaxy S6 comes in four colours: White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Blue Topaz. The Galaxy S6 Edge will comes in four colours as well: White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Green Emerald. I personally find the Green Emerald the best looking out of all. My second best is Black Sapphire, which is what I have because the Green Emerald is not out in Canada yet – we might not even get it. Regardless of which one you get, they are all beautiful premium looking colours. I was thinking of getting the Note 4, but when I saw how beautifully the S6 edge was designed and how elegantly it reflected light, I knew I had to get it.

This is the first time I have picked look and feel over practicality.

It is mesmerizing to watch the light bounce off from the phone’s back and front(top and bottom). But the beautiful glass and metal design comes with some drawbacks. It feels smooth in the hand but it also feels a bit delicate. I have heard people say that they’re always afraid of dropping it. Even imagining the all glass phone slip and fall from the hand is a very scary. It is also very sleek and slides off even with the slightest incline on any surfaces. I have dropped my phone 3 times in the past 1 week already – not from my hand, but from the edge of a sofa, table and chair. I have to mention that the Gold Platinum colour is a fingerprint magnet.

The edge

Side by side comparison of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. Source: Mashable.com — Side by side comparison of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.
Source: Mashable.com

The S6 edge and S6 are identical in terms of specs and almost identical in terms of software. The edge’s screen curves on both sides. It also costs a $100 more than the S6. At first I thought I am not going to spend a $100 on something I have no use for and even now it is true; the edge has no practical use. It is purely for aesthetics. There are some features specific to the edge but they’re superficial and gimmicks at most. The edge can display the time and news updates when you rub your finger against it and it can also act as a night clock – none of which I have any use for. You can pick 5 of your favourite contacts which you can swipe from the edge to call, email or text. I have found this useful, but it is definitely something I can live without.

So why did I buy the S6 edge and not the S6? The edge despite having no practical use, is just simply gorgeous to look at. It feels very different and novel in my hand. It’s unlike anything I have experienced with a phone. Sliding your fingers or thumb to swipe right or left has that unique hard to describe wow factor and is a joy both to the sense of touch and sight. The way objects on screen curve in from the edge or disappear into it is something that once you get a taste of, you will never want to go back to the plan flat screen – who wants that now? Not me. Videos also look better on the edge. It almost seems like videos are hovering slightly above the phone. It’s one of those things you have to actually experience it to know.

So is the extra $100 worth it? YES! I’ll be keeping my phone for at least 2 to 3 years and although I want functionality, I also want something that I will enjoy.

No removable battery, No mirco SD card slot – A no go for some

20150512_223133 Before the Galaxy S6, Samsung had always boasted having in their phones removable battery and expandable memory with a micro SD card slot. But this meant that their phones had to be made of plastic so that people could easily remove the back which a lot of people found to be too cheap looking. I owned a Galaxy S3 and I thought the plastic back was fine and I say that it did look beautiful. I cannot say the same for the Galaxy S4 or Galaxy S5.

Samsung ads in the past even made fun of people who owned other phones without a removable battery calling them “Wall Huggers”, so the move to not having the option to remove the battery was a surprising one but it was something that Samsung had to do to make the S6 a ‘premium’ designed phone.

Even I was a bit disappointed and almost bought a Note 4 instead of an S6. What changed my mind was the new beautiful design, fast charging, better finger print scanner, awesome camera and built-in wireless charging.

The S6 and S6 edge comes in 3 sizes, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. I had 32GB on my S3 and never carried a micro SD card so I bought the 64GB because of bigger files for the 4K video and larger photo file size.

Battery life isn’t that great, I have heard from other people and I have experienced it myself, but the fast charging compensates for it…sort of. There is a Galaxy S6 battery pack too, although I haven’t seen it in any stores yet. I might find this useful as I always carried a spare battery with me.

Camera

Samsung phones have always had great cameras and the Galaxy S6 is no exception. In fact it has one of the best camera phones out there. It has a 16M rear facing camera with optical image stabilization, f1.9 aperture for better low light results and a 5MP wide angle front facing camera which is great of group selfies. I have found the front facing camera to have a bit of distortion. The rear facing camera seems to have it too. You might not light it if you are too picky otherwise it can hardly be noticed.

Another great feature that hardly gets mentioned is double tapping the home button quickly launches the camera. It’s one of those things you don’t know you need until you have it.

Fingerprint Scanner

The S6 fingerprint scanner is ‘touch to authenticate’ and is a definite improvement from the Note 4’s awkward swipe method.

Wireless Charging

At first this was something I didn’t really care about until I started using it in conjunction with upload Camera roll to One Drive while charging.(check out my article on how One Drive can be useful “Home Media Server and Cloud – Plex and One Drive” section.) Normally I prefer fast charging, but if I quickly want to upload my pictures to OneDrive, I just place it on the wireless charger and bam! I’m charing my phone and uploading photos at the same time.

Built-in wireless charging also means this phone is future proof. Check out my article on Current trends and possible future of wireless charging.

Processor and Ram

The Galaxy S6 packs a Samsung Exynos 1.5GHz octa-core and 3GB DDR4 RAM. That’s geek for “it’s insanely fast”!

Display

It’s a 5.1 inch 1440 x 2560 pixels (~577 ppi pixel density) Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. That’s geek for “super awesome looking screen” and frankly it is super overkill too. I doubt that anyone can tell the difference between that many ppi vs Note 4 or Iphone 6. But do I like it? YES!

So that’s my take on the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge. If you’re reading this, you might be wondering if you should upgrade or not. That’s a tricky question. I was always a function over form kind of person and this phone changed that. If you have an android phone that is older than a year or 2 years, I say yes, definitely upgrade. If you’re tied to the apple ecosystem and have an iPhone. This phone was designed to lure in iPhone users and I can confidently say most of you will be pleasantly surprised by the S6 edge. However, if you own a phone that’s less than a year old, my recommendation is to just wait at least a year. The new Iphone and Note 5 will be coming out this year. Finally if you are one of those people who need to get the latest and most cutting edge tech then yes definitely get the Galaxy S6 edge, it literally has an edge over every other phone,… in fact it has two!

Tags Android, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S6, galaxy s6 edge, IPhone, Samsung

Travel

Why I Love the Seasons in Canada

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 11, 2015
No Comments on Why I Love the Seasons in Canada

Most people who are not Canadians think that Canada is nothing more than a cold wintery land, but that is far from the truth. Yes there are parts of Canada which seem to receive more winter than there are days in a year, but most Canadians get to experience each of the 4 seasons. Summer, Winter, Spring and Autumn.

Winter

nathan-philips-square-toronto_60487_600x450 — Source: nationalgeographic.com

Winter is awesome. Do you know why? Because snow is awesome, snow is beautiful. There cannot be a white christmas without snow and honestly a Christmas isn’t really Christmas until there is snow on the ground. I know because until the age of 17 the only time I saw a snowy Christmas was in movies. It was not until I actually experienced a snowy Christmas that I knew there was no better way to experience this holiday.

Source: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/mcdonalds-fan-zone-opens-friday-at-2015-iihf-world-junior-championship-in-montreal-que — Source: http://www.hockeycanada.ca

Winter in Canada means winter sports – ice skating, hockey, ice fishing, skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, building snow angels, snow fights and so much more. Ice Hockey, or just Hockey as it is called in Canada is something that helped me get introduced to the Canadian culture when I first moved here. Not only that, Hockey is actually a very fun game to watch. It’s fast-paced with constant action and has committed die hard fans of the game. In fact one of my unforgettable moments of life is related to Hockey. Whether it’s hockey or skating on a frozen lake, winter gives many bonding experiences for families.

Niagara Falls, Canada in Winter — photographed by Kapil Bulsara. kapilbulsara.com

It also helps that winter looks stunningly beautiful. Take a look at this picture of Niagara Falls in winter.

Another thing that I like about Winter is that it gives you an appreciation of all the other seasons. As much as all the fun things that happen in Winter, it is not an easy season. It can sometimes take a toll on people especially from getting bombarded by snow storms, or extremely cold wind chills. But that is also something that I like about winter – it gives you an appreciation of the other seasons. It gives you something to look forward to.

Spring

Cheery Blossom — Photograph by Kapil Bulsara. kapilbulsara.com

The frost melts, the snow turns to rain to give much needed source of life to the earth. The joy of casting away winter boots and winter jackets and winter tires and winter everything for the first time in months gives a bright new outlook to the coming months, the same way that the ground that was frozen for months turns green to mark the beginning of pleasant things to come and the lifeless branches of trees that seemed to have disappeared start to show signs of life, declaring the start of a new season with the first flowers in months.

Many Canadians start their gardening projects in spring, cyclists start riding again and you start to see more people on walking on walkways.

Summer

Kapil Bulsara kapilbulsara.com — Kapil Bulsara
kapilbulsara.com

The polar opposite of Winter, Summer is the season of BBQ, outdoor sports such as soccer baseball and volleyball, picnics in parks, tanning at beaches, cottage trips, swimming in lakes, running, jogging, cycling, and a whole lot more. T-Shirts, shorts, sundresses and skirts, flip-flops and sandals and hats and cool shades – what’s not to love about summer? Summer is another big season for families and friends to bond whether it is having drinks on a patio or sleeping in a tent under the stars on a summer camping trip.

There are also many festivals and events that take place in the summer. For 3 amazing months Canadians forget that they ever knew what winter was and soak in all the warmth of the season. Summer is a time for celebration for one more reason – Canada Day!

Autumn

Out of all the seasons in Canada, the most bright and colourful one is Autumn. You will find the symbolic Canadian maple tree displaying yellow, bright orange and red across the country. It marks the end of summer as the air starts to get chilly. Shorts and dresses fade to make way for warm hoodies and light jackets. The last few trips to the cottage to experience the beautiful colours displayed by nature and to indulge in the final s’more of the year while sitting gathered around family or friends around a campfire make this season worthwhile.

That’s my take on the beautiful seasons in Canada. Each seasons makes us Canadians appreciate all the other seasons and since each season will only last 3 months we know how to make it count.

Tags autumn, Canada, spring, summer, weather, Winter

Self Development

Unforgettable Moments that Subtly Change Your Life

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 11, 2015
No Comments on Unforgettable Moments that Subtly Change Your Life

There are 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. No matter how long you live, and how well your ability to remember is, inevitably most days will be forgotten as we move forward in time and rightfully so. Our minds and hearts need to be focussed on the present most of the time with occasional drifts of thought and experience forward into the future or backward into past.

If you have lived long enough to be able to read this then you know what I am talking about and there can be no exceptions, unless you have Hyperthymesia( and even then I understand you will remember most days in your life)

Many days and many more moments will be forgotten but there will be some that will remain forever engraved into our memory for as long as we live. I can pick out a few of those moments which I will never forget.

The Spiritual Bridge

In 2001, I was in India with my family. We went to visit places in North India. Places like New Delhi, the capital of India and Agra, the home of the symbolic Taj Mahal were on the itinerary. One place which was not really on our itinerary, but which later become one of the place that we visited out of being a transit place en route to one of our main destinations was Rishikesh. I can’t remember where we were headed, but in order to be there at a particular time we had to depart from our starting point very early in the morning. We got onto a big open rickshaw at four in the morning with 6 or 5 other tourists. It was a dark and chilly ride to Risikesh. My family huddled together. No one including the other passengers uttered a word. All we could hear was the sound that the rickshaw engine made and the wind that blew on our faces. It was too early for chitchat, everyone was sleepy.

Rishikesh_-_Lakshman_Jhula — Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshman_Jhula

It was still dark when we reached Rishikesh. We visited two very small temples and then were instructed to visit another temple before crossing the famous suspension bridge called the Lakshman Jhula. We were slowly making our way across the bridge when I started to notice something in the water of the Ganges below and the forest on the mountains behind us. At first I thought I was only imagining it, but then it became evident that it was really happening. The colour of the water started to change. It had been hidden by the darkness before and all that was evident was the sound of the water, but now it was displaying a dark shade of green. The trees behind us started to make themselves visible. The cables of the suspension bridge were becoming visibly clear. Then the water below us turned into a slightly brighter shade of green and the sky became brighter. I stopped and stood watching the water below, the trees behind us and the sky. I then noticed the colour of the water changing. A certain sense of unprecedented awe took over me as I finally saw the sun peek ever so slightly and then I witnessed the colour of the water turn emerald. There were many little temples on the other side of the river which now glistened with gold as they were getting revealed by the sun’s rays.

But the time we were on the other side of the bridge, I knew there was something inside of me that had just changed. I knew that that moment was going to be special and even today as I write this I am awestruck by its memory.

Standing in the Sky

If you have never done sky diving or parasailing or paragliding, then you definitely need to do it at least once in your life time. Sky diving was one of the things on my “list”. If you don’t have a “list” I suggest you start building one. It was basically a list of things that you want to do, places that you want to go to, goals that you want to achieve in your life.

I am not going to lie. Sky diving is a scary experience. The fear was there and in huge doses, but I learned to live with the policy ” If you fear it, you must do it” and so I did it. Unlike most people, my real thrill was not jumping from a plane and it was not even falling 200 kms. Don’t get me wrong, those were part of an amazing experience, but for me the moment that I remember best is when the parachute opened and it felt like I had suddenly stopped falling. I looked down and I could see the trees, the runway for the plane from which I jumped from and the sky meeting the horizon. That moment, that sudden change in pace was the moment that I will never forget. It was as if after falling uncontrollably I had suddenly stopped and was standing mid air looking down at the world. It didn’t matter where I was, what had happened yesterday or what was going to happen tomorrow. I was in that moment and that moment only.

The Golden Goal

I have tried to describe this moment many times in the past, but I have yet to come up with the perfect words that really encapsulate this moment. All the times that I have talked about this moment has been around people who experienced it first hand and words don’t need to be used because they know what the moment was and how it felt and an uncontrollable smile of pure joy gets painted on their face.

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was a time when the entire country of Canada was united as one. I remember getting my picture taken with me holding the Olympic Torch when it came to Toronto – it was surreal. As the events progressed, the people who were not fully hooked by such an event an the Olympics started to get engulfed in the spirit of the games and in the spirit of Canada. There are many other memorable moments including the song “I Believe” which did as much as the games itself to bring the nation together. But the moment that will go down in history is the golden goal of the golden game, the final event of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Men’s Ice Hockey Final between Canada and the USA. Hearts stopped when USA scored an equalizer 25 seconds away from a Canadian victory taking the game into overtime. Then 7 minutes 40 seconds into overtime magic happens and the whole nation all at once jump with arms in the air. If you’re a Canadian you should watch the video above.

Those were my top 3 unforgettable moments yet. What are yours? Please comment below and share if you like or if you have any suggestions.

Tags Inspiration, Olympics, sky diving, spiritual

Philosophy Psychology

The Art of Not Failing

Success is a very relative term. Everyone views success differently. The most acceptable measure of success is wealth. The wealthier you are the more success you are. However what success means to the individual is not necessarily dependent on the perception of their state to the outside world. A person who earns 10 million dollars in a year in personal income may be a success person for most people, but to that person, they may feel like a failure because their state does not conform to their rules of success. For someone else who earns minimum wage, works hard for a living, has no car and comes home to an empty apartment may not be “succesful” in the eyes of the general public, but to that person they may be successful because their rules of success are different – may be success for them is knowing that they are alive for another day.

Knowing that success is a very relative term and it is dependent on the person judging whether someone or even they themselves are successful or not.

But what about failure? Is failure a relative term too? Is it not true that there can be 2 people in the same situation where there was some sort of failure or loss. One person may see that as failure, the other might see it as an opportunity or simply a setback. If that is true, would it not mean that success and failure are merely states dependent on your rules and perception. Ask yourself whether you are truly successful or truly a failure.

Success may not be guaranteed, failure can also be not guaranteed. But there is a sure way to not fail. If you never want to fail, the surest way to do it is to never try.

Never Try, Never Fail

This is the motto of zombies. These zombies walk around around in fear or failing and in doing so never try new things, never follow their dreams or worse don’t have any dreams, have nothing that they are passionate about, or if they are they hide it, burry it deep within them so the urge to purse it never comes and thus making sure that they never try and consequently never fail.

But is not failing, really succeeding? If not losing, really winning? Is it even living? The inability to fail is also the inability to succeed. This is stagnation.

So if you want to master the art of not failing, you must master the art of not trying.

Tags failure, success

Philosophy

The Story of My Life

You are in line at the bank and when finally your turn comes to get served, you find that the bank teller does not greet you with a smile, does not answer your question properly and you generally find their attitude very rude. You decide that that person is just a rude person and then carry on with your day.

While on the way home you pass a person, your eyes lock and they smile, you smile back. Momentarily you feel joy, maybe you think of that person as being nice, or you feel better about yourself thinking, “I must be looking good today” and then you simply let the thought fade away as quickly and quietly as it arrived and continue on your journey home.

You are living in the story of your life experiencing events unfolding one moment at a time. Your path crosses with the paths of others. They make your life’s experience richer, give you love, joy, annoy you and sometimes even hurt you. You are experiencing intimately and with full attentiveness the story of your life. You live a complex, multidimensional life with emotions, situations, relationships with the people close to you and the relationship with your self. Every situation that you are in is unique, and sometimes people don’t understand you and sometimes they do. No matter what happens how it happens, only you will fully experience and understand the complexity of your life and everyone that you have ever met, heard, saw, or experienced their existence in any form or manner is merely an extra in the story of your life,… and so am I.

We all experience life in this way. In our experience we are at the centre of our Universe and everyone else is a distance star, a tiny specific woven into the fabric of our life. Other people that come into our life momentarily or for a longer duration from our telescopic perception live single dimensional and predictable lives, they have general personality traits – this person is a nice person, this one is mean or rude, this one is a complete @$$ hole etc.. These extras in the story of your life serve a person, mostly a single purpose, and sometimes more than that, but they occupy a very tiny portion of your life.

But in fact these extras don’t live such simple lives. They live a rich complex life filled with emotions, ambitions, disappointments, love, hate, regrets, situations that make them grow, or constraint them. They do good things, they do bad things, sometimes they do things they can’t explain, and sometimes they do things that they can and do explain.

Every person that crosses your path may be an extra in your life, but know that you are also merely an extra in theirs.

Tags life, Philosophy, Self Development, Self Improvement

Uncategorized

Give your Mom the Gift of Technology This Mother’s Day

Post author By Kapil Bulsara
Post date May 7, 2015
No Comments on Give your Mom the Gift of Technology This Mother’s Day

Mother’s day is around the corner and if you’re not sure what to get your mom or grandma then I have a solutions for you. If your mom or grandmother or mother-in-all has not been keeping in touch with technology and social media, now would probably be a good time to get her on board.

Now before I continue I have to add that my mother is on Facebook, uses Whatsapp, Viber and Skype and uses an android phone and manages just fine with most of her computing needs including working with excel sheets, accounting on quickbooks etc…so this won’t apply to her as much and mom’s in similar situations. However, my grandmother is someone who might find some of this very useful, she just doesn’t know it yet.

So, why is this better than just buying her something that she likes? Learning new things can be difficult for some people after a certain age, so for someone who has not been exposed to a lot of the new technology that is currently out there, suddenly tutoring them on doing something complex that involves more than 3 to 5 steps can be overwhelming. I’m merely stating some ideas which you can use, but then you will have to judge depending on the level of exposure to technology that your mother or grandmother has.

But if you expose them to just the right amount of technology the rewards can be very fulfilling; connecting to family members and long lost friends via social media, getting entertained or educated with Youtube and mobile games, staying in touch with family and friends with messaging apps and more.

Social Media

If your mom/grandma is not already on Facebook, my number one recommendation is to get her signed up this Mother’s day. We take it for granted but Facebook really is an amazing tool. She can connect with friends and family, search for long lost friends and maybe even make new ones. Viewing photos and update on what her family is doing, reading and watching news articles and videos and even sharing her own photos can be a surprisingly pleasant experience and one that she will be very thankful for. If she is already on Facebook you can give her some tips for making her experience even better. Maybe she has just “friended” people and has no pages “liked”. You can show her that liking a page gives her updates from that page in her news feed to enrich her experience on Facebook.

If your mom is the creative type and/or is into photography , you can introduce her to Instagram or Pinterest. If you or your mom is bold enough, you can get her introduced to twitter. Just make sure that you explain to her that anything and everything she posts on twitter will be visible to everyone. I heard of a story where a person was using twitter to keep personal notes. They thought that because they don’t follow anyone and no one follows them, their tweets will remain private – yeah… don’t let your mom be that person.

Gadgets

To make full use of social media perhaps the best way to get your mom started would be to get her a smart phone or a tablet if she does not already have one. As to which smart phone or tablet you should buy for her is totally up to you. If you have an android phone, you will probably lean towards Android and if you have an iPhone then you will lean towards an iPhone. Same goes for tablets – you cannot go wrong either way.

You can also get her a Fitness Tracker if you want to encourage your mom to stay fit. Check out my review of the Misfit Flash Fitness Tracker.

If you do end up getting her a phone or tablet be sure to give her a quick tutorial, get her started with some social media accounts and show her how to work her way around the camera.

Messengers

Whatsapp is my number one messenger app recommendation – it’s very simple to use, is reliable and almost everyone is on it. She can even form groups with family, friends or the neighbourhood book club. You can share pictures of her grandkids or just use it as simple a way to say a quick hi. There are other messenger apps like Viber and Facebook Messenger which you can introduce to her.

Video Chat

For video chat, I would recommend Skype and Hangouts. If she is on IOS then Facetime will work best for her.

Youtube

Youtube has to be a category on its own because that is how big of an impact it makes on our daily life. Youtube is the best entertainment education tool out there and of course I do not need to reiterate it here because you already know, but if your mom/grandma/mother-in-law isn’t already using Youtube, you really need to get her on it ASAP. From entertainment which includes comedy, films, funny videos, to news and educations, to DIY projects – just image the world of possibilities that she can have at her finger tips. If nothing at all she could be watching cats playing the piano.

Other General Knowledge

Google Search – Here are some Google Search tips that you can teach your mom. I bet you even you didn’t know about some of them.
Flipboard – Even if your mom is not into reading for pleasure, I bet she might just get into it because this app is just so beautifully designed that she would just want to use it only to admire it.
#Hastag – teach her how hastags work.
Shortcuts – You will be surprised how many people don’t know about Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y and so on for Windows and Cmd instead of Ctrl for MacOSX. Here are keyboard shortcuts for Windows and keyboard shortcuts for Mac OSX.

So these are my recommendations, enjoy your weekend and A very Happy Mother’s day to all moms.

Tags facebook, instagram, Mother's Day, pinterest