Medals From The Second World War

These are the medals from my late grandfather the Late Honourable Lieutenant Bhag Singh Kaila.

  1. Indian Independence Day Medal
    A commemorative medal for service with the Indian armed forces at the time of independence in August 1947

  2. Indian General Service Medal 1936-37 (NWF)
    Awarded for service on the North West Frontier between 1936 and 1937

  3. 1939-45 Star
    A military campaign medal instituted by the United Kingdom on 8 July 1943 for award to British and Commonwealth forces for service in the Second World War

  4. Africa Star
    A military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom on 8 July 1943 for award to British and Commonwealth forces who served in North Africa between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943 during the Second World War

  5. Burma Star
    A military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945 for award to British and Commonwealth forces who served in the Burma Campaign from 1941 to 1945, during the Second World War

  6. 1939-45 Defence medal
    A campaign medal instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945, to be awarded to citizens of the British Commonwealth for both non-operational military and certain types of civilian war service during the Second World War
  7. 1939-45 War medal
    A campaign medal which was instituted by the United Kingdom on 16 August 1945, for award to citizens of the British Commonwealth who had served full-time in the Armed Forces or the Merchant Navy for at least 28 days between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945

  8. 1918-1962 General Service Medal (S.E. Asia 1945-46)
    Instituted to recognise service in minor Army and Royal Air Force operations for which no separate medal was intended. Local forces, including police, qualified for many of the clasps, as could units of the Indian Army prior to 1947

  9. George VI Coronation medal 1937
    A commemorative medal, instituted to celebrate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

3+6+7 are standard medals for WW2

Kuljeet Kaila – 1977 – 2023

9:55 am. September 10th 2023. The day I never thought I would witness.

Kuljeet was diagnosed with glioblastoma in June of 2023. Glioblastoma is Grade 4 Brain Cancer. It’s terminal. It’s merciless. The cancer took a fierce and energetic soul in only 4 months. There were no side effects during radiation treatment but in late August, the cancer came back stronger than ever. Kuljeet passed away in the palliative care unit at Surrey Memorial Hospital. She was only 46 years old and survived by her parents, brother, niece and nephew. Here’s a very beautiful tribute by CBC:

Kuljeet was born in Mackenzie BC in 1977. Our dad gave her the nickname “Pupay” and that stuck for the rest of her life. She had a larger-than-life personality that resonated everywhere she went. She had no problems talking with anyone from all walks of life. Whether it was chatting with the bebeyah at the Mackenzie gurdwara on a Sunday afternoon, or babysitting kids when she was only 12 year old. Family and friends from Mackenzie always thought she was older than me. There was no denying when Pupay entered the room or building, she just had that type of presence. After graduating from Mackenzie Secondary School in 1995, this big personality was on its way to Vancouver to start her schooling at The Columbia Academy of Radio and Television Broadcasting Arts.

She made her broadcasting debut on News 1130 in 1998. I remember hearing her voice on the radio for the first time while in my car. Early on at News 1130, she did a late shift, and I would go pick her up from the station. It was exciting to see her career unfold early on, and she was ready to take on the world.

Kuljeet had a storied career in broadcasting ranging from morning shows on the radio and as a weather and traffic anchor on TV. She had her own Marketing company that included her favorite pastime; DJing. The word that kept coming up this week was “trailblazer”. She was an Indo Canadian girl from a small town, in Northern BC trying to make her mark in the highly competitive media industry.

What I truly admired about her was that she lived life on her own terms. She ruffled a few feathers, but she was going to do it her way. At a young age, she lived in Hollywood and chased her dreams. She visited Manhattan for an extended period and brought back stories for a lifetime. They say everyone should live in New York at one point in their lives, and she did. Now she was living downtown in a beautiful apartment overlooking English Bay. Same apartment that was decorated with pictures of all her nieces and nephews. She chased her dreams but also made a huge commitment to be in the lives of her loved ones. She made it all look too easy.

Her soul is now free. She will continue with her daily walks along the boardwalk by English Bay.

As much as we wish she could’ve lived longer, she lived with purpose, she lived with integrity and mostly she just lived. She didn’t aspire to make a living, she aspired to make a difference.

My Dad always says that each person’s timeline is determined before they are born. It is the Hukam of Waheguru, it is God’s Plan. Kuljeet filled that timeline with beautiful memories.

Here’s a picture from 2013. She was a staple in our house hold when she was on CTV morning news giving us traffic updates. It was amazing how the kids would react each time they would see her live on the air.

Here is the radio demo of her from her YouTube channel.

Live on location at PNE on CTV, she had an amazing voice and personality on air.

She did a brilliant documentary on Sikh Heritage Month in Canada

Funeral Service

https://www.youtube.com/live/x79Pa40S__A?si=KZO0cDqfOyjefrEA

References:
Vancouver broadcaster Kuljeet Kaila passes away after battle with cancer
Family, colleagues mourn death of beloved Vancouver broadcaster Kuljeet Kaila
‘She was a beautiful soul’: CTV News Vancouver colleagues remember Kuljeet Kaila, who died of cancer at age 46

Clear out your GMail

It’s that time of the year where your Google warns you that you are running out of space in your GMail account. Best thing to do is get rid of old emails that exist in your Spam, Updates, Forums and Promotions folder. Here are a couple of search terms that worked for me:

  • larger:10M or larger:5M
  • category:updates older_than:3y is:unread
  • category:forums older_than:3y is:unread
  • category:promotions older_than:3y is:unread
    • In your promotions folder, double check to see what subscriptions are relevant and unsubscribe where necessary

Be sure to empty out your spam folder as well.

Google Storage will update the statistics once a day so check back later on how much space you saved.

Acumatica Developer MVP

I have been working for The Answer Company since mid 2019 and spent several months getting certified for Acumatica. The experience of learning the new cloud ERP has been a tremendous one. An ERP built with Microsoft technologies from the ground up is something that aligns with my skill set quite nicely.

After attending the Acumatica Summit in January 2020, I was inspired to pursue being an Acumatica Developer MVP. I was fortunate enough to be granted this opportunity and am now part of a group of highly skilled developers from across the continent. As part of being a Developer MVP, we were tasked with creating blog posts for the Acumatica site. My first blog post can be viewed here:
https://www.acumatica.com/blog/leveraging-acumaticas-github-repository

Nokia Purity Pro Wireless Headset

After reading Scott Hanselman’s review of Nokia’s Purity Pro BH940 wireless headphones, I had to get a pair.

I already have the Nokia Lumia 1020 so that was a perfect match.

The Purity Pro app automatically pops up when you connect the headphones via Bluetooth.

I have the headset connected to my Lenovo laptop for GotoMeetings, Skype, and listening to music. Simultaneously, I have the headset connected to my phone for phone calls, text message, and music from Nokia Mix Radio app and TuneIn. Did I mention simultaneously? It can connect two devices at the same time and store up to 8 devices in memory.

Add active noise cancellation to boot, and it’s the complete package. I’m looking forward to taking these on my next flight.

Pin the app to my main screen and you get a nice view of playback time.

First Trip to Nat Bailey

My first trip to Nat Bailey stadium with my daughter was better than anticipated. Promoted as a kid friendly park, it had a complete area for kids to play. Pretty awesome setup if your kid is 2 – 12 years old and needs to exert energy.

Tiny Form Factors

Blogging from my phone while listening to music. Things you can do on a small device. Desktop footprint has decreased dramatically in size as well. My sister and I bought this tiny lil desktop for my dad. The Lenovo M72e.
This tiny desktop does the trick for people who check email and use Office products. Lenovo adds a solid 3 year warranty on parts as well. Solid.