A Fighter’s Heart

I’m over half-way done reading A Fighter’s Heart: One Man’s Journey Through the World of Fighting by Sam Sheridan, a Harvard grad who decided to try his hand at MMA. I thought I would try to google up the video of his fight in Thailand that was shot by National Geographic, and came across an interview of him on The Daily Show. It was hilarious…

Also found this interview of him, but no luck on the National Geographic Show (A Fighting Chance).

Still no sign of the martial arts video (or any MAX related video, for that matter) from the guys at the Yahoo! Developers Network. No wonder they wanted me to go kick the Google! guys in the head…I guess they realize they can’t compete with them. 😛

—
Update: Found no way to (nicely) link to my review of the book on LinkedIn, so posting it here:

I found this book insightful and revealing. It also made me realize that I need to be careful when selecting a jujitsu club to train at as injuries seem quite common and depending on the severity and/or type, can hamper an individual for the rest of his life. Sam Sheridan gives a revealing look behind the scenes of boxing, muay thai, brazillian jujitsu and other martial arts, especially from the perspective of what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ in the competitive arena. He illuminates things fans of sports and martial arts don’t always appreciate, like the unfair way boxing matches are arranged, the brutal nature of muay thai and the fact that those who participate in the sport mostly do so from a economically desperate situation.

current RIA project – HP Print 2.0

Ah, just when I thought I couldn’t say anything about my current project, I found Paula Scher has already blogged about it…

so looks like what I can say is it is the next online iteration of HP’s $300 million Print 2.0 campaign and it’s built using Flex 2.01…

beyond that, mum’s the word for now…but stay tune for some really cool Flex / Flash integration. Also found this public website which is kind of like a semi-hint of what’s to come…

Refactor Yourself

In software application development, specifically in extreme programming, a fundamental design tenant is to constantly refactor your code. By refactoring, you take a second look at your code, you trim it down, make it more efficient – you optimize. You look for flaws and eradicate them, you look for ways to improve.

By the same token, human beings can benefit from refactoring themselves. Walking to the office from the metro? Cycling through the woods, or sitting in rush hour traffic? Make use of that time to immerse yourself in a bit of reflection. Look at yourself with a discerning eye. Now, look deeper. What are your flaws? Don’t find any? Then you’re not scrutinizing properly – we are all imperfect, by nature. What makes us uncannily dynamic, is the ability to improve upon ourselves. Pick just one or just a few of your rough edges, and make a real commitment to improve upon them. What do you have to lose? Some effort. What can you gain? You may not realize that until you’re looking back at who you used to be…

“By the sun and its brightness.
By the moon as it follows it (the sun).
By the night as it conceals it (the sun).
By the Heaven and Him Who built it.
By the earth and Him Who spread it.
By Nafs (Adam or a person or a soul), and HIm Who perfected him in proportion;
Then He showed him what is wrong for him and what is right for him.
Indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself .
and indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself.”

-Quran 91:1-10