“Those we love never truly leave us. There are things that death cannot touch” (Jack Thorne)
The topic of the course was Emerging Technologies with the focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI). I had no idea why I had selected this course as I had neither a clue about AI nor was I interested in AI. Boy, I was wrong!
Most probably I selected this course simply because I wanted to bring my family to San Francisco and spend some time away from the office and problems. When I selected this course, Gerry had no problem approving the course. He used to tell me Mir, you had worked so hard all this time, please take your family somewhere to appreciate their patience and understanding. Gerry was indeed a great boss as well as a good human being.
We learned in the course that the foundations of AI are the basic principles and concepts that underlie the field of artificial intelligence. We learned how AI can think intelligently like a human by learning from its environment and interactions. We also learned the foundations of AI which include:
- Logic;
- Computation; and
- Probability.
These are the basics which are used to design algorithms, models, and systems that can perform various tasks and consequently solve problems.
I was totally fascinated by the subject and kept asking all kind of “Impulsive” questions. They had so much patience to listen to students like me and try to answer every question. I was immensely impressed with a speaker whose name was Hubertland. He was from Harvard University. He was so knowledgeable about AI and had such a wonderful attitude, not to mention persistence, to explain any and every question regardless how stupid it was.
On Friday, Hubertland asked me if I had any plans for lunch. I said not at all. He said do you mind if I join you as I would like to chat and get to know a little more about you. I said I am thrilled as I wanted to ask some more questions anyhow. He said of course. We ended up meeting for lunch in a local restaurant and chatting mostly about AI.
Hubertland said the reason I wanted to talk to you was because I was enormously impressed with your questions about AI and the persistence that you demonstrated during the course. He said to be totally honest with you I don’t meet students like you in every course that I teach. I didn’t know what to say. The next thing he did, he started asking me about my background: Where I came from, what kind of degree or degrees I had in India and why I decided to go to the States.
He asked me about what I did in the States. I told him that I was in Chicago only for four years. My studies were going fine and I was working full time for Hartford Insurance as a computer operator in the nights to support myself but the mistake I made was that I got married. She came from India to the States and joined me in 1970. She came on a dependent visa which didn’t allow her to work in the USA right away, which was news for me. In order to support us I had no choice but to take a full-time job during the days and work part-time on the weekends. Consequently, I ended up continuing my studies in the evenings which wasn’t a very ideal situation. It was nothing but burning the candle at both ends.
He said you were extremely busy. I said I didn’t mind working hard but unfortunately it didn’t work out exactly the way I had planned and as a result my studies suffered.
I was totally burned out in my marriage and was left with no choice but to divorce her and move to Canada in 1972.
Hubertland said I am so sorry to hear that, Mir, but you were fortunate enough to find your soulmate in Canada and now you’re happily living together with one son. I said, indeed.
He said you have a very impressive career in the computer field in Canada, which should mean something to you. I said I am not only happy with my married life, I feel like I am also happy with my career. However, I am thinking of going back to school sometime and finishing the unfinished business.
Perhaps the most important feature of AI that I learned about talking to Hubertland was that AI has the capability to learn from its experience, too. In other words, it’s not only capable of mimicking the human brain, but also can learn from its own experience like humans do.
At the end of our lunch I said it is given that I have to work to support my family. However perhaps I could start taking some part-time courses to learn AI. He said to me I am not saying this because you bought my lunch Mir. Given the enthusiasm you demonstrated for AI and the kinds of questions you have been asking all week, I would say that some of the universities might be interested in allowing you to enroll in their Ph.D. programs for AI with some conditions. Universities are desperately looking for students with an interest in AI. This is the right time for exploring the possibilities for going back to school, Mir.
Hubertland stopped almost in the middle of the sentence and said I don’t know why I am telling you this Mir. He continued talking and said my wife has relocated to LA recently. We are both from LA and we wanted to go back. Not too many people know but I have also accepted a job in LA with the University of Pacific Western and I will be joining my wife in LA soon. He said of course I am going to “miss” Harvard which’s a great school but I don’t want to continue to miss my wife. Plus I was offered a more challenging job as “Dean of Faculty” which I love and my focus will be AI.
I remember saying that it seems to be a great job for you, Professor. He said call me Herbert.
We had some more coffee and continued chatting. Then he said I have an idea. Mir, why don’t you consider this? Why don’t you seek admission to the PhD program at the university where I will be working? You seem to have all kinds of academic credentials, as well as working in the computer field so long and accomplished so much throughout your career.
I said I don’t know what to say, Herbert.
He said you don’t have to say anything but think about my suggestion. Plus I will be there to help you out with whatever you need.
I said, Herbert, I need my job to support my family. I was going to say my wife doesn’t work but that’s not true. She’s a great housewife and my best friend and I owe her everything for my success.
He said this particular program I am talking to you about doesn’t require your presence in classes on a daily basis. Like any postgraduate programs you will have to do all kinds of research on your own, but I will be accessible to you on the phone to assist you. You will be required to appear on the campus for a week every quarter to go over your progress and get new assignments.
While I am excited with your kind offer, it’s too much to think about and I definitely need some time to consult with my wife. Furthermore, I am not sure I am going to be in my present job with my present employer for very long because I have already accomplished what they hired me for and I will be looking for other challenges soon.
He said you seem to have a unique perspective on almost everything I heard so for. I have nothing against searching for challenges all the time. I consider it a sign of professionalism. It doesn’t matter to me who you work for as long as you continue to fulfill your obligations for the degree you will be working on. He said one thing I need to make sure that you clearly understand: We will not have enough resources to keep chasing you either for the scheduled progress report or telephone calls scheduled to discuss on a regular basis.
I said the first question that comes to my mind is how do you determine whether or not I am qualified to be enrolled in the program.
He said that’s a very good question. Typically, we will have a list of requirements publicized for each program that we offer, for instance:
- In your case you will have to send us all your academic credentials (Originals) from India as well as from Chicago along with a detailed resume, highlighting your accomplishments in the computer industry from a management as well as a technical point of view;
- We will validate your credentials as well as your working experience which indeed will take some time;
- Once everything’s validated, we will analyze your established qualifications against each requirement for the program you are applying to;
- If we are reasonably happy with the overall profile but have some questions which need to be answered before we decide whether or not you are qualified for the applied program, we will arrange a session and you will be required to come to LA for a week; and
- The first day of that week we will dedicate to address those questions, then we will spend the remaining four days with you to provide the basic education on AI.
It sounds like a very comprehensive approach but my question is when would you be able to let me know whether or not I meet the requirements.
He said typically it takes another two weeks as we also analyze your performance during those four days that you will spend in the classroom.
He said it’s part of the requirements to determine whether or not you are capable of not only comprehending the logic of the discussions on the subject, but you are also proficient enough in English to articulate meaningful questions and if necessary to argue the topic respectfully with the speaker.
He said your writing capability will be easy to determine when you start sending reports. It’s also reasonably easy to understand the results of your research on a given aspect of the topic. But we need to make sure that you are totally comfortable with the language chosen for communication (English). Nevertheless, I can tell you that your performance as well as participation during the course we just finished was excellent and I don’t think you need to worry about the communication aspect of the program. However we will still have to go through it because somebody else will be supervising you for that particular session.
I said how long does it take to finalize all of this. He said typically it takes a week.
He also said we can provide you with the fee structure for whatever program you are qualified for. He also said I need to say this, Mir. If you cannot afford to pay the required fee, I may be able to explore some possibilities of assisting you as we will have access to some funds.
We looked at the time and realized that it was getting late. The final thing on the subject that I remember saying to Herbert is that I am so grateful that I brought it up with you. I am definitely going to discuss it with my wife and get back to you ASAP.
He gave me his business card, wrote his home number and asked me to give him a call if I had any questions.
When I got back, Lynda said to me guess what? I said you’re pregnant. She said don’t be cheeky with me. She said I got a job in the Bay store in the mall. She said I will have flexible hours to work. I said if that’s what you want to do, I am happy for you.
We had wonderful years in Calgary.
Adam had done his grade 3 in 1982–83 and completed grades 4 and 5 in one year in 1983-84. He was playing hockey and enjoying his friends in Calgary.
Lynda was happy with her job at The Bay. She had made some friends at the store.
At the same time Lynda was very much involved with her sorority. She had so many friends or sorority sisters. They were a bunch of happy folks, always looking for fun. They used to have parties and sometimes husbands used to get invited to those parties, too. I remember once or twice a bunch of sorority sisters decided to go to Banff for a long weekend and have quality time with each other, leaving poor husbands and kids home but we didn’t mind at all. We thought they deserved it.
Mom had been to our place twice. She really liked Calgary and wanted to come back.
Life was good as my working environment was totally changed. I had good managers to take care of almost everything. Nevertheless, I was still traveling a lot to represent the bank and while I was out of town, Lynda used to take Adam for his hockey to various places. I was planning to train Ken, my manager for the Cheque Processing Centre, to represent the bank at the National Clearing Committee.
Being a senior manager, I had access to one of the privileges: the bank used to have season tickets to the Flames games for the clients. From time to time I used to get tickets to take Adam to watch hockey games in the beautiful Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Scotiabank Saddledome is a multi-use indoor arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Located in Stampede Park in the southeast end of downtown Calgary, the Saddledome was built in 1983 to replace the Stampede Corral as the home of the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League, and to host ice hockey and figure skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
The Saddledome is owned by the City of Calgary, which leases it to the Saddledome Foundation, a non-profit organization, to oversee its operation. Since 1996, it has been managed by the Flames. The Saddledome was damaged during the 2013 Alberta floods in June and July that year, but was repaired and reopened in time for the 2013–14 NHL season.
When everything seemed to be going the way we wanted, Lynda surprised me. One day after Adam went to bed, and we were watching TV, Lynda said to me that she wanted to talk to me about something. I turned the TV off and said take it away, my love.
She said she had seen a nice home not too far from where we used to live and she liked it.
I said I thought you told me again and again that you will never ever like to own a home anymore because of the fact that I left you behind to get rid of the house in Fredericton and you had to go through all kinds of difficulties.
She said I remembered what I had told you and you don’t have to keep repeating it. I said I thought you were happy living in an apartment where you don’t have to worry about the maintenance part of housing, or gardening.
She said, are you going to listen to me or keep arguing with me?
I said what kind of house is it. She said it’s a single-family detached home. The owner of the house is an architect who built the house for the family only seven years back but they decided to go live somewhere else.
I said why do I get the feeling that you have already seen this house.
She said I just happened to be in the neighbourhood when there was an open house.
All of a sudden I realized that she had made up her mind about this house and was just pretending to carry on a casual conversation with me. She knew how to work on me.
She said, you seem to be happy in your job and Calgary’s a beautiful city to bring Adam up in. She said unless you have some other plans. Plus, she said, you are working for a bank and you’re entitled to cheap mortgage rates.
She said all I am asking is that you go with me and just take a look at the house. If you don’t like it, we will forget it.
I knew she was setting me up. I said alright we will do that on the weekend.
She said the real estate market’s hot and this house’s not going to be on the market for too long. She said as a matter of fact, I have already made an appointment for us to visit tomorrow at 6:00 PM.
Now I was really mad about the way she had articulated the whole plan, but I didn’t want her to know that I knew what was going to happen.
In order to keep her busy and just to pretend that I was interested, I asked how many bedrooms there were. She said to start with, there are two garages. On the main floor there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a beautiful bar. On the second floor, a huge kitchen plus a large family room with a gigantic fireplace which can be seen from the formal dining room as well as from the living room. She said there are three bedrooms on the second floor, including a master bedroom. Attached to the master bedroom there’s a solarium which includes a fireplace and a hot tub.
I said it sounds expensive, babe. She said it is an excellent property but the chances are that we will get it at a reasonable price simply because they already bought a place somewhere.
I said it sounds very interesting but tomorrow’s not good for me. I may be working late as I have something to take care of.
She said I am not stupid. I know you are not interested in owning a property anymore and I don’t blame you for that, but I hoped that you wouldn’t lie to me.
I said why do you think I am lying to you.
She said I already checked with Holly (my secretary), and she told me that according to your schedule you don’t have anything planned for tomorrow after hours.
I said Holly doesn’t know everything, you know.
Lynda said I trust her. She will not tell me a lie; I wish I could say the same thing about you.
I said let’s start over.
As far as I am concerned, you seem to like the house very much. Now you want me to see the house. If for some reason, I don’t like the house, you will get absolutely upset with me.
She said you are wrong again. I am already upset with you and I don’t want to talk about the house anymore.
She got up and went to Adam’s bedroom to check on him, then she headed to our bedroom. I knew that I was in serious trouble with her.
Guess what? We ended up buying the house which was the most expensive house we ever bought. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful property on a corner lot with a huge garden and a few trees. It was a fairly new house with a massive deck on top of the garages, which we carpeted with green carpet and bought some fancy deck furniture to go with that.
It was our eighth move (5 houses that we owned and 3 rental places).
The solarium was designed beautifully, carpeted with expensive carpet, and the drapes must have cost the previous owners at least $5,000.
Lynda was not only happy with the house, but she also thought that I tricked the owners to accept our offer.
I knew that the two previous potential buyers didn’t get mortgages simply because the mortgage rates were running 20 plus percent and it was getting harder and harder for people to get mortgages. In my defence, all I had suggested to the owners was the following:
- To consider our offer as a cash offer based on the fact that I worked for a bank and I was quite confident that I would get my mortgage approved without any problems; and
- Realizing the fact that they had already bought a place somewhere and they were in hurry to close the deal as soon as possible, my suggestion to them was to go ahead and propose the date most convenient to them and it would be acceptable to us.
All I wanted in return was for them to reduce their asking price by $10,000. I don’t know for sure if they were desperate or realistic, but they accepted our offer right away and we got everything done in less than a week.
We got our mortgage at 7 percent, which was great.
Lynda was spending money on decorating our new home and she was totally motivated, to say the least. We had a TV in our solarium and when we were ready to retire for the day, we used to go to our solarium and spend some time in the hot tub, come out from the hot tub and lie down in front of the fireplace and watch TV for a little while before we decided to go to our bedroom. Life was good.
Lynda organized three Christmas parties that year just to show off. She invited my managers and their spouses for one party. The second party she arranged for Gerry and his family, plus some other folks from Gerry’s area and my secretary and her husband. The third party was organized for her sorority sisters and their husbands.
We all had a really good time as Lynda was an excellent cook, too.
