A verse from the Atharvaveda

अभयं मित्राद अभयं अमित्राद
अभयं ज्ञाताद अभयं पुरो यः
अभयं नक्तं अभयं दिवा नः
सर्व आशा मम मित्रं भवन्तु

abhayaṁ mitrād abhayaṁ amitrād
abhayaṁ gyātād abhayaṁ puro yaha
abhayaṁ naktaṁ abhayaṁ divā naha
sarva āśā mama mitraṁ bhavantu

may I be fearless of the friend, fearless of the foe
may I be fearless of the known, fearless of the unknown
may my nights be without fear, my days without fear
may all the directions be my friends

Wildlife in my backyard (photos by Sitara)

A plug for PyCon 2009

I'm not sure if I can make it to PyCon this year, but I definitely want to go. I figured the least I can do is help advertise it. :-)

If you're interested in learning more about the Python programming language, then you should definitely check out the tutorials. Even if you're already a pro, there are sure to be talks and "birds of a feather" sessions of interest to you.

Click on the image below (or the link above) for more info. about it:

Terry Pratchett's witches novels

The bad news is that I've been sick for about four days now.

The good news is that I've finished rereading all of Terry Pratchett's witches novels in order.

I originally read them in a completely random order. I still got a lot out of them the first time around, but they're more entertaining in order.

New set: Red Haired Boy + The Sunny Banks

The new set of Irish tunes I'm working on in my flute studies is:

reels: The Red Haired Boy + The Sunny Banks

The Red Haired Boy I'd been learning for a while.
The Sunny Banks is new to me as of today's lesson.

Panache Coffee in Framingham, MA

Panache Coffee is a locally-owned-and-operated coffee/tea/pastries shop here in Framingham, MA. The owner and employees are really nice, the ambiance is great for hanging out with friends or for working on a project on your laptop computer -- they've apparently even got free wi-fi, and the food and drinks are good.

There's a much more detailed review here:
http://www.thisisframingham.com/panache-coffee

...and a post about their open mic night here:
http://www.thisisframingham.com/open-mic-night-at-panache-coffee

Krua Khun Yah Thai restaurant in Ashland, MA

I just wanted to say for any of my friends in the Boston metrowest area who have not been to the Krua Khun Yah Thai restaurant in Ashland yet: it's great!

They're vegetarian-friendly and will make substitute tofu for meat/poulty/seafood in most (all?) dishes. Just one warning for strict vegetarians: the tom yum soup apparently has chicken stock.