Looking back...

Living and Running last year in Gurgaon, and building some good friendships- friendships that will last a lifetime.

Whizzing through Baltimore

Baltimore is an interesting study. Parts of the city are just great for runners, while some areas are rather disconcerting. LaBradford Smith, who played for the Washington Bullets and poured 37 points on Jordan in one game in Chicago, provided good material for conversation with the Baltimore denizens.

Running in Nashville

has been entertaining. Humid weather aside, the city is pretty and visually interesting.

A Cingular Experience

Back when Cingular was a major wireless service provider I visited its office in Atlanta with our sales folks. Had some great runs in Atlanta, especially in Alpharetta and in Peachtree.

Running in Boston

is an interesting experience. The architecture and the culture make for an educational run.

Willow and Run

Driving on Willow Road in Glenview the other day brought back memories of the days I used to run to Willow Road from Evanston. A beautiful stretch of scenery.

Triathlon

One of my students recently finished a triathlon- it reminded me of the two times I did a "team" triathlon with my friends. We won in our category once and placed well in the other race.

Dawson's Run

Andre Dawson is going to be inducted into the Baseball's Hall of Fame. In addition to being a great hitter, he was a quick runner and an excellent athlete. He also had a steady and quiet composure. A nice gentleman who richly deserves the honor.

names from the past

Good marathon runners include Gelindo Bordin and Douglas Wakiihuri.

Dell Inc. paying $100 million in SEC deal - Yahoo! Finance

Dell Inc. paying $100 million in SEC deal - Yahoo! Finance: "Computer maker Dell Inc. is paying $100 million to settle civil charges that it fraudulently used payments from Intel to pump up its profits to meet Wall Street targets over five years, the government announced Thursday."

Under the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, company Chairman and CEO Michael Dell also agreed to pay a separate $4 million civil penalty.The settlement culminated a five-year investigation by the agency. While the $100 million fine was far from the largest penalty levied by the SEC, the decision to charge a sitting chief executive of a major company and reach a seven-figure settlement with him is rare. Founder Michael Dell is one of the most prominent figures in the technology industry, credited for revolutionizing the PC market by making the computers cheap and widely accessible.The SEC had accused Michael Dell, former CEO Kevin Rollins and former Chief Financial Officer James Schneider of playing a role in the company's alleged violations of disclosure laws. Schneider and two other former executives were charged with taking part in the alleged fraudulent accounting.Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, is the world's third-largest PC maker behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Taiwan's Acer Inc. The company's net income was $441 million in its fiscal first quarter this year, which ran from February through April.The SEC said the company also failed to disclose to investors large payments it received from Intel Corp. in exchange for not using central processing units made by Intel's main rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Those payments enabled Dell to meet its quarterly earnings targets, the agency said. After Intel stopped the payments, Dell again misled shareholders by not disclosing the real reason its profits had dropped, according to the SEC.The company, Michael Dell, Rollins and Schneider falsely portrayed the means by which the company met or surpassed earnings targets from 2001 through 2006, the SEC said in a civil lawsuit. Without the payments from Intel, the agency said, Dell would have missed analysts' estimates in every quarter during that span.The company and Michael Dell neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. But they did agree to refrain from future violations of the securities laws. The company also agreed to improve its disclosure process by hiring an outside consultant and expanding its training of employees.The presiding director of Dell's board, former senator Sam Nunn, issued a statement saying the board believes that the settlement is in the best interests of the company, its customers and shareholders. The board "reaffirms its unanimous support for Michael Dell's continued leadership and the management team in its ongoing commitment to transparent accounting, integrity in financial reporting and strong corporate governance," Nunn said.Michael Dell said: "We are pleased to have resolved this matter. We are committed to maintaining clear and accurate reporting of our periodic results, supporting our customers and executing our growth strategy."The SEC also named Rollins, Schneider, former regional Vice President of Finance Nicholas Dunning and former Assistant Controller Leslie Jackson in the suit.Rollins agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty. Schneider is paying a $3 million penalty as well as $83,096 in restitution and $38,640 in interest. Dunning is paying a $50,000 penalty. In addition, Schneider agreed to a five-year suspension from working as an accountant for a public company; Dunning and Jackson agreed to three-year bars.The SEC said its investigation of the Dell matter and the possible role of other individuals continues."Accuracy and completeness are the touchstones of public company disclosure under the federal securities laws," SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said in a statement. "Michael Dell and other senior Dell executives fell short of that standard repeatedly over many years, and today they are held accountable."The company said last Friday that it was getting closer to settling the SEC's investigation and had proposed settlement terms to the agency's enforcement staff. Dell already had set aside $100 million to cover the potential cost of the settlement.The company first disclosed an internal inquiry into its accounting in 2006, and said it was notified in August of that year of the SEC investigation. In 2007, it restated four years of earnings after it found that sales had been overstated by $359 million and income by $92 million.

A Young Garden

Today a young lady drove to our house to pick up some ferns. Her daughter, about seven or eight year old, loved running around in our garden. Before leaving she said "Mom I got lost in there" with a sense of fun and exploration. She liked the vegetables, flowers and butterflies. She left with a small gift of cucumbers from our garden.

It feels good to see the young ones get involved in gardening and get excited.

Running at noon

on a ho,t humid day gives one plenty of time to think cool thoughts.

Learning to Fly

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed in Chicago recently. The song "Learning to Fly" is an excellent tune. "I won't back down" and "Free Falling" are also great songs.

Crossed and Countried

Trying to keep up with college students on the cross country team proved to be a quite a challenge. Two decades of time does take its toll on the human machine. However, the ability to last long distances does not deteriorate as quickly as speed. Closing the gap with the young kids is one cool reward on a really hot day.

Humidity Hurts

Running today, in extremely humid conditions, proved to be too warm. Distances can get dramatically long.

Runners and Dogs

usually don't make for a friendly mix, but these days it has been fun to play with dogs while running. As long as the dogs are restrained and under control, they are fun. Ran into two year old Haley, a dog that was all over me but was very friendly and playful.

Runner's definition of Insanity

Running in the middle of the day, during the peak of summer. The penalty is also acceptable- being tired for the rest of the day.

Johnson Park

in Piscataway, NJ brings back many memories of running. NJ, though a dump for the greater part of Newark and surrounding areas, has its redeeming features.

San Francisco

Running on the Golden Gate Bridge and the nearby areas is one of the fondest memories from my time in California.

A Jerk- y affair

Went out for a run this morning, and as I was coming back saw a young lady wave at me. Sweating profusely due to the hot weather I did not quite recognize her but waved back, and slowed down to see if it was someone I knew. Apparently we had seen each other running. She was running strongly, and I decided to see if I could keep ahead of her. Behaving like a jerk, I took off rather than saying hello. I manage to keep ahead of her for a while until I was going to take a different path. I did wait for a few seconds to see her come by and told her that she was a GOOD runner. Wish I had been more polite and joined her rather than race her.

McLachlan-ian memories

In the early nineties I had a young lady friend who was also interested in the music of Sarah McLachlan. We also enjoyed discussing the music of other singers like Tori Amos and Natalie Merchant.

Turn It Up: Sarah McLachlan defiant in face of Lilith Fair's ticket slump: 'You can't go back': "McLachlan, who has sold 40 million albums, faded from public view in recent years while dealing with personal issues. Her marriage of 11 years dissolved, and she put her energies into rearing her two daughters at home in Vancouver.
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In that time, she didn’t write many songs, but she never strayed far from music – she found herself at her piano almost daily, “just noodling as a release more than anything.”

“I was going through a tough time emotionally – coming to terms with being 40, being a single mom, going through a divorce,” she said. “It was a huge adjustment, a shift in a perception of how my reality is shaped, and it took a while to start moving forward again.”"

Spain's Bull Run

Spain clearly was the better team today, and the football gods and goddesses ensured that Spain's bull gored the Dutch. An enjoyable football game.

Getting Race Ready

is always challenging. How can one ascertain if he/she is ready?

Telling about Tellabs

While out running this morning, was stopped by a high school/college kid who altered his running path to talk to me. I was wearing a Tellabs T-shirt and his father worked for Tellabs. He asked if I knew his father. I had left Tellabs quite a few years ago but am fond of the company. It was an interesting chat.

Sprint-ing away

Back when SPrint was one of my customers I visited Kansas City. It is a decent place for runners, but not very exciting.

Running up the Stairs

of the Hancock Tower was a fun experience...but quite demanding.

A good run

The White Sox, after looking terrible for the first few months, have put together decent runs. Now they are in the thick of the Central division in AL.

So Far Away

Sometimes, the finish line seems so far away...it's time to listen to Dire Straits' So Far Away From Me, or U2's I still haven't found What I'm looking for.

Hot and Steamy...Run

What makes a person get out and run at noon on a hot and steamy day? Sitting in an air-conditioned room with a nice book feels more attractive. Running on such days provides a good window into the lives of others- kids jumping in a fountain, adults walking or resting, and dogs cooling off. Frustrating part is the tiredness after the run- lingers all day.

Heading South...America, that is.

Argentina and Brazil showed that they were nowhere as good as their rankings seemed to indicate. Germany looked good, while Paraguay, another South American nation, lost a tight match to Spain. All hopes rest on Uruguay, which was lucky to win yesterday.

Ghana kicked out

by Uruguay. It was sad to see Ghana miss the penalty kick in overtime and lose in the penalty shoot-out.

New Orleans and San Antonio, but not Houston

New Orleans is a great place for running, with interesting sights and a beautiful waterfront. SO is San Antonio, with the Riverwalk. Houston, on the other hand, is not quite a runner's paradise.