When life gives you lemon

"Ten days of physio-therapy," said one doctor.
"Physio-therapy wont work. I want you to take this very seriously. 3 weeks of complete bed rest," said the next.
"Bed rest does not help. We need to first remove the pain. Take these medicines for a week and then we wil ltake a decision whether to operate or not," said the third doctor.
Two MRI scans and almost a month later I am still confined to bed.
It is supposed to be a small "herniation of L5-S1" (aka slip disc) that is impinging slightly on a nerve that gives me excruciating pain down my leg every time I get up and sit down.
What can you do ... except wait for the doctors to take a decision.

Well, not exactly true. You can do a lot.
With all the time in the world here's a list of things I have done

(i) Aggressively pursue completion of the Spanish Course I have purchased from the US Institute of Languages (Learn Spanish Today)
(ii) I never managed to start of French. Dedicating one hour a day to a French Course (Rapid French). This is my last attempt to learn rudimentary French. If this does not succeed, nothing else will. This one claims that they implant to words in the auditory cortex. Well let's see.
(iii)Re-re-reading The Black Swan.
(iv) Watched Sachin Tendulkar play that gem of an innings at Gwalior (it had to be Gwalior :D). Always knew he would be the one to do it. (Yes I am a die hard fan - I am happy when he makes a century irrespective of the match results)
(v) Started a new twitter dedicated entirely to management, called mgmnt_secrets. Already have some 140+ followers. Active twittering is fun.

So as they say, when life gives you lemon ... yeah right ... throw it right back at her. So says, Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes.

Diving Deep Into Visual Link Spanish

The package I was waiting from the US Institute of Languages, Visual Link Spanish Level 1, arrived the day before yesterday. What surprised me was the speed of delivery. I was charged exactly $0.00 for standard delivery (read slow delivery). And I received the package much before the promised date (6-10 weeks). Makes you wonder why books ordered on Amazon take so long and why do they charge so much for standard delivery? But I am digressing.

Naturally I dived straight in. I am thrilled that what I got is exactly what I expected.

This is a basic level course. The CD-ROM forms the main part of the course although there are other bits and pieces attached (such audio CD's, free English - Spanish - English dictionary, a tiny booklet, etc.)

Although I have been learning Spanish for some time now - mainly with the help of audio courses on my iPod and therefore I was a little apprehensive - I find that this course is helpful. In two ways: first I get to revise whatever Spanish I know so far. and second, the presentation is so well designed that I get to learn new material quickly. There are so many activities that ensures I practice what I learn. I find myself actually mumbling phrases in Spanish.

I particularly enjoy the lessons that are generative. Here's what I mean. Most of the lessons (though not all) have words divided into groups. New sentences (not just the one prompted in the lessons) can be formed by combining the words for these groups.
I look forward to move to higher levels of Spanish once I complete Level 1, which should not take that long.

You can try out the first few lessons free if you click on the link above or click on the pyramid on the right.

Gateway to Learning Spainsh Rapidly

See the stepped Mayan Pyramid on the right hand strip of this blog? That is the Pyramid in the Mayan city of Chichen-Itza, Mexico. That is also the gateway to an incredible software that guarantees that you will learn good Spanish in fairly quick time. Click on the pyramid.I have tried it and hence I recommend it to you unhesitatingly.

And the best thing is that you need not buy it to get started.

They - Visual Link Spanish - offer a free CD. The free CD contains their first chapter with some 11 lessons. They charge you a postage and handling of $1.95. but that's about all. This money is refunded if you buy the entire package.
This first chapter in itself is sufficient to get you started speaking in fairly good accent.

Now, if you are not interested in paying even $1.95, you can try the demo online too. The demo is identical to the CD.

Having tried the CD, I am already in love with the course and am now eagerly awaiting the delivery of the package.

Here's hoping we converse in Spanish one of these days.