Life in Balance: Amit Chaudhary’s Blog
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A few tips for Palm Treo 650. My service is from Cingular and the hardware is B.

• Removing hangs and lockups with Palm Treo 650.

If the hang is when receiving a call or calendar access, etc, run dbScan. It is a free utility which checks the database on the Treo and fixes it.

It found problems with the database on my Treo 650 and the hangs during incoming phone calls were gone after the fix.

• Another reason for hang happens if you press the unlock or center key lightly.

Now the phone becomes unresponsive for around 3-5 minutes. You can hit the reset at the back or wait till the backlight is off after the 3-5 minutes and the phone locks\sleeps again. Now press unlock and center key firmly.

I have sent back the Treo 650 twice to Cingular and even the new units had the same problem, so I have decided to live with it.

• If the time on the Treo 650 is not correct 

If network time (Main Home->Prefs->Date & Time->Enable local network time) is enabled, the time on Treo will lag real time. Just disable it to have correct time. I am not sure if it is due to the Cingular network in washington or the Treo itself. 

What is Hot Yoga\Bikram Yoga

Hot Yoga or Bikram yoga is a set of 26 yoga asanas, two sets of each and 2 breathing exercises for 90 minutes in a room heated to 105 degree F. That is hot, expect to sweat. The asanas are held for 60 or 30 seconds. To see all the asanas in the series, please use Bikram Yoga Asanas link 1 or Bikram Yoga Asanas link 2.
There is no background music during the class, no props are used, hands on alignments are rarely provided. The instructor\teacher is continuously talking during the class, either giving the directions and tips or encouraging.

The name comes from the creator of the concept of yoga classes in heated studios and the sequence arrangement, Bikram Choudhary (No relation to me). See picture on left, some information from the official website.
The complete list of Hot Yoga studios around the world. None in India yet.

What’s the big deal about it?

• It is an intense aerobic and stretching exercise which means one loses weight (my rough guess ~900 calories spent in a single class)
• The heat and sweating makes it detoxing and leaves on feeling great later. The heat is great even colder places like Seattle, WA.
• The non-impact method avoids injury and the yoga makes it great health and flexibility wise.
• I also like that it is the same set of asanas in every class, the selection is an all around good mix and it helps to measure each session against the earlier ones.

What does one have to be aware of?

• The heat takes some getting used to.
• It is not calming like a typical yoga class. It is more of a intense workout and draining. Since the instructors are continuously talking as I mentioned earlier there is not much of quiet time, except for one two minute savasana.
• Each teacher uses almost the same instructions and words, you will hear a lot of “Go back, push back, wayyyy back”, “full body stretch” and “full body sensation”.
• Be careful, the teachers tend to push the students, you will hear “If you are feeling pain in your back, you are doing it right” or equivalent. I do not go that far to avoid potential for injuries

How to prepare for your first three Hot Yoga classes:

What to carry: A Yoga mat, Large towel for mat and a smaller one for sweat, and a large water bottle (32 oz\500 ml or more)

What to wear: See above picture, the mirrors make the room seem larger than it is (If wearing a T-shirt, do not wear cotton, go for polypropylene or similar material)

General tips:

• Expect a good workout and a lot of sweat.
• If feeling dizzy (which I did 3 times in the first session), pause and catch your breath in either tadasana(standing), sitting down or savasana(lying down), till you feel better.
• Remember to be cautious the first few times and do not over-extend, the instructions are also for advanced students.

Review of Bellevue Hot Yoga (Now called Bellevue Bikram Yoga):

The studio I go to is Bellevue Bikram Yoga. It is also the most popular Yoga studio in the Bellevue Redmond area by far. The evening classes tend to have 15-20 people atleast.

The key for any yoga studio is the teachers. Here is my opinion and experience about the Bellevue Bikram Yoga teachers (number of classes I have attended by each.)
Teachers:

• Katy(5+): Great teacher and very good attitude. Timings: Tue & Wed evenings.

• Hilarie (5+): Again Great teacher, explains reasonings, Owner of Bellevue Bikram Yoga. Timings: Fri evenings, Sat & Sun mornings.

• Elliot (10+): good teacher, consistent instructions and quite a nice guy. Timings: Thu & Fri evenings.

• Amber (10+): Excellent teacher, respects your space and the best teacher. Currently teaches mostly at West Seattle Bikram Yoga

• Tracy (2+) and Saiko(1): Overall pretty good teachers. Timings: Varies.

• Loressa (2): Unbearable and I have returned from the studio without taking a class, if she is teaching. She is overbearing, rude and physical(snatches towels, etc), though her instructions are not bad. My suggestion, avoid her as she will kill the Hot Yoga experience for you. If you want to read more, see my earlier post: Immaturities by Bikram Hot Yoga Teachers

Studio and facilities:

The studio address is 626 120th NE, Bellevue, Washington, 98005 and phone no is:425-637-9642

There are showers and the studio wall has glass on two sides to check alignment. Mats, Towels are available for rental and water bottles are available for purchase.

The Palm Treo 650 (PDA\SmartPhone) has Quad GSM support which means it is capable of being used in India and other countries.

The typical Cingular Treo 650 is subsidy locked. This means, you cannot just put a prepaid SIM card in it and use it in India or other non-US country. The details about the subsidy lock are in the informative document on the palm website, How to use your Treo smartphone internationally

The way to unlock your Treo 650 is simple

• Call up Cingular support (611 on your cellphone) and ask for technical support

• Tell the person on the line that you are going outside your country and would like to use your cellphone there. Is there any way of unlocking it.

• All things being same(account in good standing), the person would ask for your phone’s IMEI number (Goto phone mode, then press *#06#)

• She or he would, after a small wait give the key sequence which in unique to each IMEI to unlock the phone.

• Type the key sequence and a message is displayed saying “Your phone is now unlocked”.

It is now ready to be used with any SIM card including the prepaid ones in India.
Image courtesy the palm website.

Update: In India, I tried a third party GSM provider (AirTel prepaid SIM card) and it worked well with the unlocked Treo 650.

Following is a test to evaluate your Gunas (attributes) as per the Samkhya philosophy. This I believe is a core part of Yoga and Ayurveda and can appeal to you as a self-evaluation, even if you do not believe in any of the other stuff.

For an introduction to Gunas, the amazing wikipedia.

My simpified version, a high Sattva means you are working on your spiritual quest, a high Rajas you are the typical go-getter\achiever, high on Tamas means you are not living to your potential.
This particular test is derived from Yoga and Ayurveda by David Frawley (Dr Vamadev Sashtri. Fill in a cross for each section that matches your current position and then total each column at the bottom to see your current leanings.

Guna\MENTAL CONSTITUTION CHART

DIET: Vegetarian__________Some meat_____________Heavy meat diet__________

DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND STIMULANTS: Never___________Occasionally_________Frequently______________

SENSORY IMPRESSIONS: Calm, pure______Mixed_______Disturbed__________

NEED FOR SLEEP: Little__________Moderate__________High________________

SEXUAL ACTIVITY: Low_________Moderate__________High________________

CONTROL OF SENSES: Good______Moderate__________Weak_______________

SPEECH: Calm and peaceful________Agitated___________Dull________________

CLEANLINESS: High_____________Moderate___________Low_______________

WORK: Selfless_______________For personal goals_______Lazy_______________

ANGER: Rarely______________Sometimes___________Frequently_____________

FEAR: Rarely________________Sometimes___________Frequently_____________

DESIRE: Little_______________Frequent_____________Excessive______________

PRIDE: Modest_______________Some Ego____________Vain_________________

DEPRESSION: Never___________Sometimes_________Frequently_____________

LOVE: Universal_______________Personal___________Lacking in love_________

VIOLENT BEHAVIOR: Never______Sometimes_______Frequently_____________

ATTACHMENT TO MONEY: Little______Some_________A lot_______________

CONTENTMENT: Usually____________Partly___________Never______________

FORGIVENESS: Easily__________With effort________Holds grudges___________

CONCENTRATION: Good_______Moderate_____________Poor________________

MEMORY: Good_______________ Moderate____________Poor_________________

WILL POWER: Strong___________Variable_____________Weak________________

TRUTHFULNESS: Always______Most of the Time_______Rarely_______________

HONESTY: Always____________Most of the Time_______Rarely_______________

PEACE OF MIND: Generally______Partly______________Rarely_______________

CREATIVITY: High_____________Moderate____________Low________________

SPIRITUAL STUDY: Daily________Occasionally________Never______________

MANTRA, PRAYER: Daily________Occasionally________Never______________

MEDITATION: Daily_____________Occasionally________Never______________

SERVICE: Much_________________Some______________None________________

Total: Sattva_____________Rajas_____________________Tamas________________

I read Niniane’s post: wherein I learn about my twisted back

and her experience during the free Google Massage (Now that is a great perk, second only to allowing afternoon naps).

When he got to my right shoulder, it became much more painful. “This must be your mouse hand,” he said. “Years of stretching forward to use the mouse has caused this muscle to deform. Your rib is sticking out in the back, and your shoulder is contorted forward.”

Been there done that, over extending my body many times, particularly with extended sessions of computer programming. The methods I use to build my body again.

-Sleep (7:30-8:30 hours)

-Yoga (Particularly poses which one stays in for 10-30 seconds, called Iyengar Yoga in the US)

-Hot Soak in a bath tub. Doing this less than I would like.

It was amusing, ironic and yet sad when I read in the Yahoo Personal Finance article: US economy fears mount as housing starts dive:

“If the heavily indebted US consumer suddenly decides to appreciably increase savings next year, a recession would be more likely than a soft landing,” Manufacturers Alliance chief economist Daniel Meckstroth said.

It comes on tail of Tim of Seattle Bubble taking about considering the complete price of a house instead of the monthly payments in The Monthly Payment Buyer

Coming from India, where one has to have to pay for all the price of their home (Think $600-$800k in the US tech areas like Bay Area and Redmond) when buying there house, it is still a changing mindset for me.

Now the question is when do I start saving for Rs. 3 Crore? (Indian Rupee) or skip the plan for the sake of USA.