BP sponsors the Solar Decathlon

I consider myself quite eco-friendly and am doing my little bit for the environment. We are actively trying to reduce our carbon footprint by taking public transport, recycling, putting up energy saving bulbs and so on. I have realised that it makes economic sense as well. We found that our monthly expenditure has been reduced quite a bit after we implemented the energy saving measures and I think I am fitter as well, with all the walking I do now.

Anyway, I just learnt about the . In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, BP is the major sponsor of the 2007 Solar Decathlon. In this bi-annual event, 20 university teams from around the world design, build and operate livable, every-efficient, and completely solar-powered houses.

The teams form a solar village in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. from October 11–19. The contestants run a modern household by only using electricity generated by the sun.

Sponsoring this special event is part of BP’s Commitment to discovering cost effective yet cheap alternative energy sources. They first sponsored the event in 2002 (the first) and again in 2005.

Read the regular updates on the BP Solar Decathlon blog. It should be of interest to anybody who are interested in alternative energy, especially solar energy solutions.

Is the institution of marriage dead?

According to a recent statistics published by the Office of National Statistics, here in the UK, more and more couples are living together without getting married - the number increasing by almost two thirds between 1996 and 2006. At the same time, number of married couple families has dropped.

This may be bad news for the entire society as not being married means that the chances of breaking up are higher. The ones suffering most of the time would be the kids that are the result of such relationships.

Read the full report "Cohabiting is fastest growing family type."

Blackpool trip 2

Here are some pics from our recent trip to Blackpool.


We stayed at the Travelodge hotel at Preston Central about 20 minutes away.
Comfortable yet affordable.


The Blackpool Illuminations




The Fireworks


Blackpool tower illumination at night


Ferris wheel called the Blackpool eye




Blackpool Tower in the morning


The Ferris wheel "Blackpool eye"


View from the top of the Blackpool eye


My daughter sitting opposite me. She was very brave. Not scared at all.


View from top 1


View from top 2


Sea Gull


My wife and daughter

Ladies into golf

A lot of my friends are golf crazy and their wives have resigned to the fact that they can't compete with the game. However, of late I have noticed a new developments. A lot of ladies have also caught the golfing bug. Many started out accompanying their husbands on their weekend golfing sessions. Tired of waiting in the restaurants, they started hitting some balls on the deriving range and that was it.

Some of the ladies are there on the green, every chance they can get and some of them are really good. I am sure some of you reading this post are one of them. Several special golfing shops targeted at women and specializing on golf apparel ladies have come up. Loads of great comfortable and cool clothes and shoes to choose from.

Blackpool trip 1

One Friday, the 21st, we drove to Blackpool to view the famous "Illuminations" as well as the World Fireworks Championships. For your information, the Illuminations are turned on every autumn and have been a major part of Blackpool’s attraction since 1879.

The fireworks started around 8:30pm and on that day, it was the team from Austria's turn. We stood on the promenade and watched the wonderful fireworks display. Met up with Mozard and family later and a friend later.

The last and final display was on the 28th. Wonder who won the competition.

Here are some short clips of the fireworks:

Get the entire dermalogica range at reasonable prices

One of the most famous brands in the cosmetics industry is Dermalogica, which is known worldwide as the 'professionals' choice'. Founded in Los Angeles in 1986, their range of products were developed by The International Dermal Institute.

They do not use artificial colors, synthetic fragrances, S.D. alcohol, lanolin or mineral oil in any of their products. Further more, they do not test on animals. It was nice to learn that they ensure that all ingredients in their products come from eco-safe sources and are packaged in recyclable containers.

Fantabulous news

Yesterday night I was going through my Yahoo! email. I don't check it that often and there were like 300 emails. Most were from my Yahoo groups. As I was going through them, I noticed an email from the Doctoral Programme Office, Warwick Business School asking me to fill up a form and send it back to them - "pro-forma - maintenance bursary & scholarships".

At first I thought it was a mistake. Then I suddenly recalled that I had received another email earlier which I had put down as spam. I quickly found and opened it. Was in shock for a while as I read and re-read the email.

I am pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a WBS
scholarship.

One of the reason I had thought that the email was spam was because I couldn't recognise the sender's name. I quickly went up to the bedroom and gently woke up my wife who was already in dreamland. It took a while for her to fully wake up, and I could see the "it's too good to be true" + "this better be true" look. She came down and re-read the email with me again. She confirmed me that Kok Wai Harcourt was indeed the new Programme Manager for the doctoral programme.

It was like a black cloud had lifted. Our prayers have been answered.

I don't care what people say but for me, the University of Warwick is the best University in the World.

An amazing coincidence because earlier that evening I was talking with our friends Nana and Mozard at their place in Birmingham, about how I was struggling to pay for the first year itself and how various people including my parents had chipped in. As well as our struggles in the past.

If you truly believe in something good, go ahead and put your trust in God! He will surely come through for you.