In Pursuit of Wisdom

A few days back one of my ex-Colleague from Bangladesh Nazrul contacted me to have a meetup session with Java User Group Bangladesh to share some of my experience with Bangladeshi Programmers and Technologists. I was very happy to see that as I started the first Java Users Group in Bangladesh in 2002 and was very actively involved there until I came back to USA in 2005. So yesterday I presented my topic through GoToWebinar. The full session was recorded and today was uploaded in YouTube. Here is the one. I plan to engage few of my fellow technologists here in Sillicon Valley for sessions on different topics in similar style in future.

I came back 15th October from Las Vegas after playing in Millionaire Chess Open Tournament that was held during 9th to 13th October at Planet Hollywood. My son Ahyan Zaman also played the tournament while my wife, daughter and mother-in-law accompanied us. We thoroughly enjoyed participating in this high stake chess tournament which exceeded our expectations in all angles. MC partners GM Maurice Ashley and Amy Lee went extra miles to make sure everything about this tournament is classy and beyond comparison with other traditional or regular chess tournaments in terms of playing experience or following the event as a spectator. We flew from San Francisco at 8th night and after checking in at Planet Hollywood, we saw Amy Lee and Maurice Ashley well after midnight still receiving the guests and players at conference center reception desk. Each player received a gift pack that includes a nice leather chess bag, 6 months free ICC membership, MC branded chocolate, wrist band, v...

What I have been talking about for so many years has now come out as a TED talk! This is why I work twice a week late in the office till midnight when there is no one around just to actually get some work done. Please pay special attention to the 3 recommendations that Jason Fried made to remedy. I am happy that the first one is already partially implemented in my office as - No Meeting Thursday !

Last month a reporter from New York Times called me to know more about why we registered Ahyan on Millionaire Chess tournament at such a young age of 7. He informed that he was planning to write a report on Millionaire Chess and that's when he came to know about Ahyan. I answered all his queries some of which was quoted in the article. 1st September Sunday New York Times have published the article on Millionaire Chess and we (whole family) were mentioned in it. Here is the article link.  Millionaire Chess to Hit Las Vegas, in Gambit to Raise Game’s Profile With Big Prizes The paper cutting was scanned and uploaded in Facebook by one of the Millionaire Chess participants Adia Onyango. Thank you Adia.  The excerpt from the article where we were mentioned - Ashik Uzzaman, 38, a software engineer who is also from California, was one of the first 76 entries, along with his son, Ahyan Zaman, 7. It will be a family vacation for them, along with Mr. Uzzaman’s w...

The election for CalChess Board of Directors will be held at 30th August 7 PM at Berkeley Chess School located at 1581 Le Roy Ave, Berkeley, California. You can find the announcement in  CalChess website  or in  this link  or simply read it below which I copied.  If you are current member of CalChess and over 14 years of old, you are eligible for giving a vote. You have to make sure your membership didn't expire before August 30th 2014. You can check the  membership list here . To give the vote you have to be physically present in that location that day. If you are interested to run for the election yourself as one of the candidates, you will need to send an email to CalChess President Tom Langland. You should go through the updated  CalChess ByLaws . And of course you have ask the voters to vote for you. I have decided to run for the board this year. So I ask your vote. Now let me tell you what value I can add to the board. In fact when ...

It took me almost 3 days of work but finally I am done. We circulated BABA Newsletter August 2014 issue last night. Most of the time went on figuring out the format and then some time went on writing the small articles. I was initially using MS Word but found that at least the background color doesn't stay when I export it to a PDF. Hence I moved to Google Docs and it was quite convenient then. The central piece of the newsletter was Shafieen being on the cover page of Chess Life. I also added Shahriar's Kachchi Biriyani recipe and BABA's upcoming concert news of SI Tutul. Please  Click here  or the image above to download the issue.

BABA  (Bay Area Bangladesh Association: a non-profit, non-political and secular organization) Dear Community Member, It is our pleasure to invite you and your family to “ BABA  Eid Reunion Celebration ”, with a cultural program featuring the famous Bangladeshi singer  SI Tutul - live in concert , first time in the Bay Area!  We would also like to introduce the famous director  Khalid Mahmood Mithu , who will be with us on that day. His Movie “ Jonakir Alo  – Glow of The Firefly” was nominated for the World Premier this year.  You Tube Link: SI Tutul https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=NExB6fjM75M https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=tq5q4e4cVCg https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=rCttTUvsRjw Jonakir Alo – Khalid Mahmood Mithu https://www.facebook.com/ JonakirAloGlowOfFirefly Date & Time: September 20  ( Saturday ), 2014;  4:30 PM to 9:00 PM 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM  – Social gathering and  5:30 PM to 9:00 ...

I had a very high expectation from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes when I first saw the movie poster where Ceaser's face was portrayed with a look of a wise man (I mean ape)! So when I watched it the very first night it got released, I was stunned and speechless! It simply went on top of my imagination although I have seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes! Ceaser, the alpha Ape, is now my most favorite movie character (surpassing Hulk and if you include cartoon then will be only behind Lion-O of Thunder Cats). I have to exclude the book characters and nothing can make the same impression as the best books can! Its impossible. But even if I include book characters, I believe Ceaser will be in my top 10 list! Well, its difficult to say which part I liked most, because I feel like I liked every second of the movie! Look at Ceaser's remarkable stand in front of his crowd. I see a leader who is shouldering the responsibility of the whole group to make a call. I see a mighty fig...

Join FIFA on YouTube as we profile the 32 finalists set to take part in the world's biggest football tournament.

It has been a while since I last posted an entry in this blog. This is primarily because I got too much involved in chess activities for me and my son recently. But today I will take some time will update a few things that were in my mind for a while to do. I bought Honda Pilot Touring 2014 at April 9th from Kastner Honda at Napa Valley . My wife was looking for the blue color which we couldn't find earlier in bay area. I went through true.com to get internet rates and finally got the color and price matching fine in Napa. Shahriar drive me in a weekday and we bought and drive back the car! In the meantime, I got involved a bit with Bay Area Bangladesh Association (BABA) and we delivered our first cultural program of the year in March 29th bring Mila from Bangladesh for a Live Concert. We got well responses from the community and are planning on our next event. In the meantime, I registered myself and Ahyan for the high stake chess tournament Millionaire Chess that will...

I just have had a nice spring of tournaments at the end of 2013. First I was joint runner up in Tuesday Night Marathon Fall by defeating the then tournament leader Oleg Shakhnazarov.Then during Christmas break, I played in North American Open, Las Vegas and became sloe runner up in Under 1900 section bagging couple of thousand dollars. Here are the games I played -  Round 1 won against John Hale Round 2 won against Ronald Morris Round 3 drew a winning rook end game against George Shan Round 4 won against Faisal Kaleem Round 5 drew a lost position against Olayemi Ogungbe Round 6 won against Justin Gomez Round 7 won against Kursat Karatas As Sadiaa is visiting us from Boston, we made it a vacation plan. We first drive to Los Angeles renting a Chevy Tahoe 25th December. Saiful from San Diego joined us there. We stayed in LAX Marriott and visited Getty Institute next morning. Then we reached Bally's Las Vegas at 26th night where Zeeshan Bhai, Bhabi and their 5...