Last day blues?
Today is the last day of the Year and all of us are at work. To make things worse, its a Friday. As an unwritten rule, all offices should be closed on 31st! To lighten up the mood, I've decided not to "work" (in the literal sense) today and just hang around the office for a while and then get back home! huh...now I feel a lil better.
I've been fishing for reasons on why I haven't been blogging lately and couldn't come up with anything reasonable :(..so I guess its just a bad habit.

We've been seeing 2 movies every Sunday for the past month. These are the ones I liked:
"Musafir" (means "traveler" in Hindi): If you liked "Kaante" (remake of "Reservoir Dogs"), you would like "Musafir". Sanjay Dutt rules with his Harley. Dialogues are really good.
For once, the dialogues relate to the actor playing the role. Sense of humor is quite different and very sarcastic of all the Hindi movies. I enjoyed watching the movie. They could have done better by not having Sameera Reddy and Koena Mitra.

"Saw" - a chilling movie and very articulately directed, well-crafted thriller.

Oceans's Twelve was a disappointment and didn't live up to the expectations of Oceans' Eleven. Nevertheless, George Clooney is awesome as always.

Happy New Year 2005!

Nature's Fury

Nature at its worst. Terms such as tsunami, tornadoes are generally unheard of in India. So when such a calamity struck, it shocked and surprised everyone beyond words.
The tsunami that hit South Asia on Dec 26th morning has claimed over 20,000 lives in Sri Lanka and 13000 in India. It was chilling to read the experience of a family from Bangalore that was on a speed boat ride in the Bentota river that fateful morning. As they sadly reminisced the experience of how they got back to the shore when the boatman deserted them midway, I was reminded of memories of our ride at the Bentota River 2 years back. That was one part of our trip to Sri Lanka that we enjoyed. I received a few pictures now ..the zip file is named "what happens when death is near you". Every picture has a huge body of water chasing people desperately running for their lives. What an irony - nature chasing mankind just when man thinks he is the master of his own destiny, nature reminds us that we are helpless.

All my coworkers are out on a picnic today. Can't believe it is so hot in Bangalore on a December afternoon. Another coworker and I are at work struggling to get even with Java Server Faces. Damn JSR 168 Portlets, Inter portlet Communication and JSF! Precisely the reason why I hate the first version of any new technology. Whoever makes the draft claim to have not addressed certain key factors deliberately (or otherwise ?) in the initial version. It is left to those unlucky few in the initial months of release to live with the bugs and figure out the drawbacks. "Google Programming" is not helping either. Well, everything has a way of working out, so I'm not worried.

I was all set to leave home this morning, when I realized I couldn't open my front door. I checked if I had opened the latches again to ensure I wasn't sleeping. Didn't take long to realize that someone had locked me in. It took a good 15 mins to get my neighbor to unlock the door. As it turned out, there were a few kids playing outside who remembered later that they had locked me in. Funny!

Broadband has arrived finally. One vendor has agreed to provide Internet connection. So I should be connected from next week which means more frequent blogging.

Tapping the potential of Technology - From wheat to Aashirvaad

India, the largest democracy in the world, held its 14th Lok Sabha elections in 2004. Of the 675 million registered voters from the 1 billion strong nation, a whopping 378 million exercised their franchise. Despite this overwhelming turnout, thee election results were declared within a span of 24 hours. Thanks to the technology revolution in India. Every government in the past decade has not lost an opportunity (despite the lack of development in other sectors) to tap the IT potential that is available in abundance - the Indian brain power. Examples of the same are e-governance, online Railway tickets reservation (book a train ticket was a nightmare until 5 years back and required planning), and paying electricity bills online.
The reason I mentioned technology is because of the article in India Today about how it has revolutionised the agri-business in rural India.
V reminded me to read this week's edition of India Today. On the front cover is Yogi Deveshwar, ITC chairman. I was very impressed about the concept of e-choupal when I heard it for the first time a few weeks back (more of an up close and personal version).

the e-choupal redefines choupal, the hindi word for village square where elders meet to matters of importance. the all important matter letter in the word is "e". It stands for a computer with an Internet connection for farmers to gather around and interact not just among themseleves but with people anywhere in the country.It begins with ITC installing a computer with solar charged batteries for power and a VSAT Internet connection in selected villages. The computer's functioning is freed from the notorious power and telecom facilities at the village level.

Its achievement - 5050 choupals, 29,500 villages, 3.1 million farmers.
Ambition - to reach 1,00,000 villages, 10 million farmers by 2010.

--from India Today

To me, this initiative by itself is a big deal. Selling technology to the uneducated and gaining the confidence of the farmers on a machine (a computer) that they would generally look at with awe only from a distance. The real potential of India lies in the villages where more than 60% of the population lives. Educating farmers and making Internet connection accessible to them and other information in their local language is an appreciable deed.
Let me explain what this initiative is all about in a few words. ITC sets up one e-choupal for a number of villages and appoints a sanchalak (the person that operates the computer). The farmers then approach the sanchalak for information such as weather forecast and what would be the right time to sow a crop, prices in the markets etc. ITC steps in by selling the concept and educating every farmer about good cultivation techniques and sells seeds and fertilizers at competitive prices. Upon harvesting, the farmers have a choice of taking their produce either to their traditional mandis or getting them to ITC. The article says that the farmer’s prefer to sell it back to ITC because of competitive prices and no malpractices and they get paid without any delay (as is usually the case in mandis). This is the story of transformation of wheat to Aashirvaad.
However the concept that appealed the most to me was recognizing the buying power of the rural India. Though the buying capacity of every individual cannot be compared to that of an Urban Indian, the volume is so high that FMCG products are fast moving now in the villages. The farmers have hard cash with them on selling their produce and they don’t hesitate on spending the same in consumer goods. For more on this read this week's India Today.

Phir Milenghe

I saw Phir Milenghe (read: We'll meet again) on December 1st. December 1st is World Aids Day.
Phir Milenghe, a Hindi Movie adapted from the English movie,Philadelphia, is the story of a highly paid ad executive (a woman in this case) of a creative agency who is fired from her job when her boss learns that she is diagnosed HIV-positive. Tom Hanks's Oscar winning performance cannot be compared with that of Shilpa Shetty's. But I liked the movie. Phir Milenghe was released in 2004 while Philadelphia was released in 1993. As one would expect, this movie did not perform well at the box office and was telecasted on Sahara within a couple of months. AIDS is still such a taboo topic and is not spoken about openly. There was very good dialogue in the movie that said, "when you don't talk about it, you promote ignorance." This is true and we believe in the saying "Ignorance is bliss". I imagine most of us believe in the misconception that being HIV-positive means the same as having AIDS, which is not true.
Well, anyways, the purpose of writing this post was, it troubled me knowing that people didn't like this movie but they like movies such as Hum Tum (read: we and you). Yes, it is a personal choice and perhaps they offer the kind of entertainment the masses look for but don't that doesn't mean you demote meaningful movies either.

Corporate Blogging

Google sees benefits in corporate blogging, may retail Blogger service

Freedom Runners

The November 29, 2004 edition of India Today has an article titled "Freedom Runners".
The introductory paragraph reads --

An increasing number of Indians are saying goodbye to fat salaries and fancy designations to pursue their dreams. For them, satisfaction and freedom are incentive enough to opt out of the daily grind.
Triggers: why people do it

1. Hobby Bug


2. Outgrowing Money


3. Seeking fulfilment


4. Office Stings


5. Self Belief


6. Being alive


7. Taking charge


8. Lending a hand


9. When love beckons


10. Gimme a break


11. VRS cushions


12. Securing the future


13. Sixty plus


14. Overcoming age

This very well written article spoke my mind. There is one difference however between the people mentioned in this article and me. They quit their high profile jobs that earned them fat salaries, for something they have always wanted to do. For example, 2 IIM A graduates quit their jobs to start a magazine called JAM.

All I know is I HATE technology and don't like introducing myself as an IT consultant (alright it sounds better than a software developer) to anyone. Call it identity crisis, name it whatever. But the fact that a 25-30 year old person from Bangalore needs no introdcuction and passes off for a s/w developer doesn't appeal much. I want to quit this profession for reason 10. But I don't know what I can do alternately - ummm probably painting that I'm very passionate about (DON'T READ as I'm good at it). Or teach in a nursery school. Well, I don't know. But atleast I'm glad that this article has awakened my boredom demon that will instigate me to explore other options. The thought of working in this field forever is intimidating.

How about you? Do you do what you like to do for a living ?

The Village

Now there is no doubt that I live in a village - ironically along the IT corridor of Bangalore. I have contacted about 4 DSL/broadband providers over the past 3 months and we still don't have a Internet connection at home. Every vendor has the same questions --

Where do you live?
How many metres away from the main road is that?

The conversation ends with a standard answer "Ma'am, we will have to do a survey of your area to see if DSL connection can be provided. This process will take 4 days. " Even if the outcome of their feasibility study is positive, we don't hear from them later for taking our order or installation. And in one case the reply was, " Ma'am you are a few feet away from where we provide service. It will take a couple of months for the service to reach your area." Thanks for telling me that. I should probably set up my machine on the road and browse now.
I've almost given up. Since I don't like having a blog that is not updated frequently, I'm toying with the idea of shutting this down. I'm going to give myself another week for "Project Broadband".

"My share of Planet Earth"

This weekend was good. We hung out with a LOT of friends. But with everyone the conversation centred around their efforts to procure a piece of land or an apartment.
Some of us already owned one and the others were trying to procure one and were bogged down by the shooting prices. It seemed as though a mental picture of the area-builder-price matrix was swimming in their head (reminded us of our plight 2 years back). Real estate market in Bangalore has seen a significant growth in the past 5 years, thanks to the IT growth and thousands of Double Income families. Real estate investment has been providing a very satisfying ROI. But if Bangalore will be able to match demand-supply ratio is something to be seen. With the kind of infrastructure that is prevalent now, it is going to be a nightmare living in this city after 2 years.

Vacation

Yayyyyyyyyyy..off on a 2 week vacation.

Moved
I moved today. Not my home. Not the company I work for. Just a change in the office work space to a few cubicles further away. Why such a big deal? Well, because I sat in that place for over 3 years. It sounds strange because instead of feeling sad, I'm rather relieved. Probably everyone else is more relieved than I'm and the feeling is mutual. Relieved as don't have to live upto unsaid expectations, find answers for unasked questions and not carry the guilt of being biased. It was different until a while back. Enjoyed being a part of the team but things change and familiarity breeds contempt. I got to stop posting cryptic, senseless entries.......

The Apprentice - Season 1 is now showing in India. I haven't seen Season 2 yet.

A stop at the Physician's office

It was a unplanned visit to the physician's office this afternoon during lunch hours. The throat congestion has been bothering me a lot and the situation worsens every night. Being new to the neighborhood and not acquainted with any doctor, I rejected the idea of consulting a doctor for 3 days now. Walking through the corridors down for lunch, I looked at the Healthcare center and recalled my previous visits there. So I stopped by and requested for a consultation with a general physician. I waited at the lounge while this doctor-like person about 55-60 years crossed into the diagnostics room 2 times. The conversation between a doctor and patient is confidential. Yet I cannot resist blogging about this wacko..

I was summoned inside the doctor's room after 10 mins. My "hello" was greeted with a stern "Sit Down".

Dr: "Why were you waiting for so long at the lounge? Were you thinking if you should come in or not?"

Me: "No. I was told to wait until sent in."

sounds of me coughing..

Dr: "What the hell is wrong with your nose?"

Me: "My throat hurts."

Dr: "How old are you?"

I reply..

more private questions follow...

I'm fuming already at this insane man...

Dr: "Where are you from? And why are you working here? did you not find a job at your place?"

I'm thinking this is it..one more question and I'm going to hurt this man..

He starts getting nicer..praises the surgery done by an earlier doctor. Advises on the precautions I need to take and also advises 2 days of rest. Not for the sole reason that I need rest but his humanitarian side takes the better of him...his concern for my co-workers not contracting the infection

Well I'm thinking this is it. And he surprises me with his next question..

"Your name is a Hindu. Why are you talking like a Christian?"

In an attempt to ignore and discourage him, I said "I don't know."
He responds with a "you should know. how does your husband talk? "

huh..this was it. He hands me the prescription at this point. I said bye and walked out. I need to find a sane doctor soon.

Taj Mahal - a magnificent monument of love

Discovery Travel and Living Channel - India is frequently airing an ad that goes as ---

sheer poetry in marble
a tribute to eternal love
a monument that has enthralled millions around the world.
celebrating 350 years of taj

Come visit the Taj - Uttar Pradesh Tourism: Amazing Heritage | awesome Experiences

An average of 300,000 foreigners visit the Taj every year, which is a lot. If utilised properly, the revenue generated from tourism should be ample for its maintenance. But I've heard that Yamuna behind is a dumping ground. I've never seen the Taj. The Taj is first on the to-see list for any foreign national just as Niagara falls and NYC is for any one travelling to US. I guess the proximity makes us think we can visit anytime and a lifetime passes without seeing this marvellous piece of architecture. Inspired (or jealous ? ) by the pictures of a few friends who have seen it, we made plans to go to the Taj next Friday enroute Amritsar. There couldn't have been a better time, as it coincides with the celebrations of the 350th anniversary. Hard luck I guess as Taj is closed on Fridays. Maybe some other time :(

Sick

Work is taking its toll on me. Long hours tracking schedules, coordination, design and finally "Project Home" has drained all my energy. The first signs of a sick weekend is showing - sore throat.

If you are married and working, you'd appreciate this better. Excerpts from the book "The wind-up bird chronicle".

“I’m so sorry,” Kumiko said. “This one job wouldn’t go right. I thought of calling you, but things just kept getting in the way.”
“Never mind, it’s all right, don’t let it bother you,” I said as casually as I could. And in fact, I wasn’t feeling bad about it. I had had the same experience any number of times. Going out to work can be tough, not something sweet and peaceful like picking the prettiest rose in your gar den for your sick grandmother and spending the day with her, two streets away. Sometimes you have to do unpleasant things with unpleasant people, and the chance to call home never comes up. Thirty seconds is all it would take to say,
“I’ll be home late tonight,” and there are telephones everywhere, but you just can’t do it.

Eventless Weekend

The last 2 weekends were as eventless as it could be. I hung out with my brother this weekend. He came down from Chennai and made a great attempt to get me out of this boredom. It has been house arrest in the weekends, thanks to Project Home. While the all the rooms are laden with wood, saw, hammers and saw dust, I sit in the balcony till dusk gazing at the passers by in the playarea of our building, waiting for the hour hand in the clock tick by. Occassionally I get up to make a cup of tea or lunch. After sunset, I retreat inside as the balcony becomes mosquitoes' territory.
Saturday morning before the carpenters' began their work, I stepped out for a while and on my return I find this strange man standing at my door. It didn't take long to find out he lived in a apartment one floor down. My "hello" was reciprocated with barking - typical of many Indians who have forgotten how to communicate courteously. This annoyed man had made up his mind to come and shout at me as his car was basked in saw dust. It turned out his parking lot was next to ours and we are using ours to cut wood. Uhhhh...it was interesting to see how he didn't come looking for a solution or open to even listen to one. All my offers of arranging to get his car cleaned went in vain.

I've started reading "The wind-up bird chronicle". I just love it....watch this space for a few sections from the book that I liked. Umm..how were your weekends?

Just do it

The cover story in Business Week titled The New Nike drew my attention. I'm trying to come to terms to V's passion for shoes (with no success). It was a shocking to see the no of pairs of shoes he had collected and that they took a preference over everything else. I couldn't fathom how his bags were full until they were unpacked here. Well, that's history now.

For over 8 months, I heard of Nike tales. I have never worked for any big corporate houses. So his tell-tales were always met with 100% attention from me. I would hear in amazement how work was done/re-done, people who violated certain sensitive policies were fired within 5 mins. However, it was not until April when I visited Nike that I realized what it would mean to work for such corporate houses and be a part of the BIG game. Knowing before the rest of the world knows, what shoe line wuld deck the Nike Towns in the fall of 2004 or spring of 2005 should be fun. You also get a close glimpse or in some instances a pleasant exchange with some legends in the making like Mia Hamm, Roger Federer......

Thanks Moxiegrrl for the Joey review. Moxiegrrl believes that Joey does not have the magic that Friends had - making the viewers wait impatiently for next Thursday. She attributes it to the not-so-familiar characters and the absence of insane Phoebe and sweet Rachel.

With Vivek away for 2 weeks, I'm back to living by myself . It seems normal now ......My day starts with reading blogs (I know it is a bad habit but a difficult one to get rid of..call it addiction if you want to). I wrote a friend recently saying it was time for new entries and I was reminded that I haven't been very regular either. Fishing for a genuine reason for my lax in blogging and I come up with this one - I have trouble blogging when there are people around.

Joey

Anybody out there watching Joey? Pl e-mail and let me know how it is.

Whats up?

Umm..Vivek and I traveled south to visit my grandparents at Madurai. They are octogenerians and I should probably visit them more often. We stayed for a few hours and granny stuffed us with so much food for lunch that we skipped dinner. Before leaving for Trichy to meet my brother, we visited the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai. Built in 1559 A.D and famous for its architecture, we looked at this huge temple with awe. It would take days to look at all the thousands of stone carved scriptures and the intricate paintings on the wall of the gods and goddesses. I have been there numerous times but was able to appreciate it much more this time. Made me wonder why India does not capitalize on such marvelous pieces of architecture by promoting tourism.

This is as adventurous as it gets - the journey from Madurai to Trichy in a local bus. The dark clouds over Madurai gave into a heavy downpour as the bus left Madurai. We were about 10 miles out of the city when the water started trickling into the bus over the people seated 2 rows ahead. I was relieved to find that my seat was not leaking. My fears came true within 10 mins and I found myself in a pool of water and edging towards V..the roof over my head wasn't leaking but the window was. It was quite a journey!

Work sucks today. Why are all projects so similar and non-stimulating? "Project Home" has left us with little time for the things we love to do.

I've been very lax in blogging of late. Last weekend was fun - V and I shopped a bit, digressing from what we were supposed to do. Saturday evening we met a few college friends for dinner whom we hadn't met since we graduated. It was fun. I'm losing count of the number of movies I'm seeing. "The Terminal" was good - tom Hanks at his best as always."Friends" is very much on my daily dosage - it has just moved from 6:00 p.m. CST to 10:00 p.m. IST. I better stop watching now..realise that I must have seen each season atleast 3 times as I know all the dialogues :(

Work has been taking up a lot of my time and effort. Working on a new technology called Java Server Faces. It is always exciting to work your way thr the challenges any new technology poses.....

I'm hoping this weekend will be fun (minus the traveling). V and I are visiting my grandparents at Madurai.

The Dark Side of Bangalore

Bangalore, India. Airport Road. Sunday, Sept 12, 6 p.m. Vivek and I were driving, enjoying the ride back home on the deserted streets, which is a rare thing. Our senses were awakened by a two-wheeler navigating in a zigzag manner. It made us wonder if he was trying to emulate Rubens Barichello, who stole the show at the Italian Grand Prix. The brilliant race that we had watched in amazement just a few minutes back, we were seeing it in action.

Ground Rules for Driving in Bangalore

1. Side paths are not for pedestrians. They are for 2 wheelers to jump the long traffic waiting at the red light.


2. Dotted white lines called lanes were drawn by people to beautify the road. They do not have any significance in traffic disciple or regulation. Jumping from one end of the road to the other gives one a high.


3. The colorful lights at an intersection (only if ANY, many don't have one so there is no room for confusion - CHAOS is the order), as they change from red to green causes the last person in the line to start honking. Expectation from everyone is the people in front of them should have flown by now...


4. Thanks to Horns..they were made to be honked..what good is a horn if it is so rarely used!


5. Pedestrians ..its your road..cross wherever you like. Truckers ..its your road too..so what if a pedestrian is crossing and gets crushed under. One less in a billion.


6. Only the educated honk - it is not uncommon to hear people praise about the roads and traffic discipline in U.S or other developed countries. But it is the same people when in India, start honking. What happened to all that you learnt outside ?


7. Who is the most busiest person in India -- well every person on the Indian roads? The honking and zig zagging tells it all?



8. An Indian Driver's motto - "I DON'T CARE"

Such is the plight of the traffic in Bangalore. On a weekday, it is worse. For a 10 Km ride it can take anywhere from 15-30 mins to get to work. According to Bangalore Times, the city is growing annually at a rate of 10% and tops the list in the number of road accidents every year. We could see a considerable difference in the surge in the number of vehicles and the population in Bangalore. This is one city I have been visiting since 1984. Once called "Garden City", it won't take long to be called "Garbage City". Good things come at a price. And so did it for Bangaloreans. It earned the name of Silicon Valley of India. The IT corridor of India proved to be a boon to locals - yesterday's middle class suddenly had huge disposable incomes. Vacationing in Europe was only in fairy tales, then with time it came a distant dream and within years they saw it happening. A Rs.1k rent for a room now fetches Rs.4k - yes a 400% inflation in a span of 3 years. All this has led to greed and more corruption. We are all paying the price for it. Though the lifestyle has improved considerably, the outlook has not changed. Life inside our homes is a heaven and outside is he**. Why don't people wish to return to India ? Well its because of all this. If each one made a consicous attempt at emulating all the good things learnt outside, we would have become a developed nation!

Google

Google is constantly in the news. This time for a different reason. Brilliant recruitment strategies by Google. First Google Jam and now this -

Sept. 14, 2004 -- Mysterious banners at a Cambridge, Mass., subway stop have commuters scratching their heads. The signs, challenging passers-by to solve a complicated math problem, are actually a cryptic pitch by Google, which is looking to hire more brainy engineers. Andrea Shea reports.

The message at Harvard Square also appears on a billboard in California's Silicon Valley, but Google's name is nowhere to be found on the ads. It simply states:

{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com

In case you're wondering -- or forgot -- e is the base of the natural system of logarithms, having a numerical value of about 2.71828 (though the number goes on forever).

The correct answer to the banner problem leads to a Web site that poses yet another puzzle. Eventually, the determined problem-solver lands at a Google Web page that asks the smart, or lucky, few for a resume.

--via Google Entices Job-Searchers with Math Puzzle on NPR

People Management

A common perception among developers - "Managers are only experts in Microsoft products - Outlook." As a developer during the initial years, even I have wondered what my managers do all day - just send mails, then why do we need them at all? But I realise now, people management is perhaps the most difficult part. Mastering a technology for a person with decent I.Q is no herculean task. But managing a team of 100 is something that competes with no technology. With 100 people you get this comprehensive package deal too- each one's way of working, their mood swings, their ability to adapt to others and to the working environment, their tolearance levels, how one reacts to stress and copes with boredom (yes no-work makes people very restless), disorganized yet creative workers, hard workers/smart workers, proactive/reactive workers. Great managers fascinate me. A very good article titled "What makes an effective executive" in the June 2004 edition of Harvard Business Review.

Great Managers may be charismatic or dull, generous or tightfisted, visionary or numbers oriented. But every effective executive follows eight simple practices.
What made them all effective is that they followed the same eight practices:

1. They asked, "What needs to be done?"


2. They asked, "What is right for the enterprise?"


3. They developed action plans


4. They took responsibility for decisions.


5. They took responsibility for communicating.


6. They were focussed on opportunities rather than problems.


7. They ran productive meetings - Meetings are often considered an "alternative to work". But I've seen the other side of it too. Not communicating the right thing at the right time with everyone across a table can only lead to frustration.


8. They thought and said "we" rather than "I".

Customer is God

Gone are those "Customer is the King" days. Customers came first despite a monopoly of one big player in every market. With numerous choices now for consumers in every market, there is no GOOD choice. Competition has increased and customer services has gone from bad to worse. Threats of cancellation do not work any more. My experiences in subscribing to a mobile connection was awful. I HATE CDMA but it was easier to go with Reliance. But a mere 10 mins in their customer center revealed what levels of service they offer - there were more yelling customers. Atleast customer care representatives in the US are a little courteous in answering and do not shout back as they do here. I wonder why companies here send auto responses to e-mails. If they cannot send a personalized response, then it is no good to have a e-mail contact at all. A good entry on Corporate voices and online communication strategy.

What's with best sellers?
On a recent visit to Borders and Hudson News bookstores, I observed with extra attention as to how many books have the line "New York Times bestselling author or best seller". To my surprise 18 out of the 20 books stacked on the shelves had this line. Isn't that amazing how every book published in the U.S is a best seller?

Well here is the list I follow every week. " The Da Vinci Code still tops the list after an year. Last evening curious to know how it was faring in India, I stopped at a roadside bookstore and was disappointed to see the customized paperback version of the book . Accustomed to seeing the red covered book, it didn't appeal much! I MISS Borders across the street..no easily accessible book store where I live. The next book on my list is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I've read his "Wild Sheep Chase".

Back to Chaos

The long uneventful journey started Monday morning at 11:30 a.m. The last thing I did at O'Hare was to taste a brownie from Starbucks - nothing like it. I was happy to see V waiting for me at my gate in Frankfurt the next morning. Contrary to expectations of a long waiting time at the Bangalore airport and a horrendous customs clearance like last time, this time was pretty smooth. I was very impressed by the courtesy of customs officials towards women. Lifting 2 35 Kg bags was not easy at O'Hare. Whereas here, 2 guys helped me do it and it felt good after the long journey.
It was a rollercoaster ride thereafter. The worst nightmare was to walk to a restaurant to get breakfast the next morning. Crossing the streets and the roadblocks at the intersection near our apartment scared us. V's white shirt turned black by the time we got back. We knew what we had chosen to come back to but the intensity of it did not strike us until the next morning. However, the generosity of our neighbours in helping us settle down felt good. During my 1 year stay at Chicago, I never got to know the name of my neighbors though everyone greeted everyone else with a "how you doing?". Almost a week later, we find ourselves caught in an attempt to strike off atleast 1 item of the fast-growing to-do list.

The Times of India newspaper is 50% lighter than the Chicago Tribune. We seem to miss the ads. Ads of Chicago Tribune with the "real" world news from The Times of India would be a good combination.

Bye Chicago.

Last post from here.

Irony meets Reality
You would least expect to see these lines in a Kenneth Cole Spring 2004 Ad Magazine, but here they are:

1. Ironically, 3 out of 4 workers sitting in cubicles are expected to think outside the box.


2. According to the Internet, over 2500 left-handed people are killed every year using right-handed products.


3. Inconclusive Research found that men change their minds 3 times more often than women.


4. On average, less attractive criminals get 50% longer jail sentences.


5. Half of the people with HIV in the U.S don't know they have it.


6. According to an unidentified source, 1 in 50 people have been a victim of identity theft.


7. Reality TV, Not Drugs, is now the most popular way to escape reality.


8. 4 million Americans believe they have been abducted by Aliens, most just after happy hour.


9. Latest figures show many find it easier to open up to a plastic surgeon than to anyone else.

Chicago River Bridges

This is how it looks when all the bridges (apparently 42 of them) on the Chicago river open up to let the tall boats/ships pass by. As I walked this afternoon over the Michigan Avenue Bridge, they started closing the bridge entrance on either end. Within a fw mins, I had the chance to witness the bridges opening, something that I had not seen until today. It was awesome to see the bridge go up so fast. What was funny was that when this giant bridge opened up, a very small boat - barely a few feet taller than the height of the closed bridge, passed by. I heard that the bridges open every Wednesday and Saturday to let the boats pass thr.

Olympics 2004
U.S Total Medals Tally is at 100 today. An impressive surge by Russia. India's position has not changed - at 63. 1 Billion people and 1 medal...
So much for blogging - You're Athletes, not journalists

GoodBye

This post is the last thing that I'm doing from work today. I've been making rounds of the office since morning bidding goodbye to everyone. The day started with reading a touching entry on Harper's blog that moved me to tears. Had lunch with Rebekah and the ones I didn't want to say goodbye because I feared they would make me cry were S (we just gave quick hug to avoid the emotions but it did not help at all and I cried on my way back) and Tim. So I kept them for the last. Infact when I went to see T, I carried tissue papers. I can't believe this is over. I'll miss you all and I have to stop saying this in every entry of my blog now and stop being a baby!

Countdown update - Last working day tomorrow. 3 more days to go. Saying goodbyes doesn't feel good at all.

Do NOT see Exorcist. The movie sucks and is very disgusting. H, his friends, V and I made the mistake of watching it day before night. I wanted to see Princess Diaries - 2 but had to live upto the image a of a grownup :( and went to see Exorcist.

If you use Gmail extensively then chk out the Gmail Notifier.

The wonderful Journey continues....

It is unusual for someone to continue in a project for more than 7-9 months in the IT industry. For me and a couple of others in my project, it was a 3.5+ years long association with this client. This long stint strengthened the bond making the distinction between our employer and the client seem insignificant. I'm moving out of the project in a few weeks and it was a tough decision - professionally and personally. This project has seen a lot of weddings (coinciding exactly with BIG launches) and cute kids being born. This past 1 year I've been at Chicago and I leave in another 10 days. People from work threw a going away party yesterday. I've been tight-lipped about this party but now that it is over, I can talk about it. Someone said yesterday, "This is As good as it gets" on the eve of my farewell and that is true..it was a fabulous farewell aboard the Mystic cruise. This weekend chicago is also hosting the 46th Annual Air and Water Show. We saw the blue Angels roaring past a few meters above our heads.
T got me a Strawberry Margarita - I can't believe that I actually drunk (well not in the true sense). It didn't taste all that weird but it did induce a good 10 hour sleep and I skipped dinner :) Thanks everyone for a great year! I'm going to miss all the nightouts, yelling across the cubicle, H's swearing (ofcourse not :)), AIM conversations, lunches/dinners and everything about this place and y'all. I seem to be at a loss of words and it is overwhelming to think how much I'm going to miss everything.

Countdown - 7 more working days and 2 weekends to go. Termination phase of everything....don't feel good about it but this is for the better hopefully. V is doing most of the packing. I have come to believe that he is very good at it especially after seeing him do it the past 2 times we moved at Bangalore with NO help from me. I'm looking forward to no more moving and packing for the next 2 years.

I'm finding myself in the throes of confusion standing at crossroads, not sure which path to take.

A good collection of quotes The 2548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said. A few good quotes:

"I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown." - Woody Allen

I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches. - Alice Longworth

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. - John Lennon

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits - Albert Einstein

"In England there are 60 different religions and only one sauce."
- Francesco Caracciolo

Operation Search "Remote"

I've misplaced my TV remote and can't locate it even after 1 hour. What can be more frustrating! The search has intensified. I wish remotes could talk or make a sound. I do this all the time with my cellphones or hand sets and locate them by calling the number from the other and follow the direction of sound. I wish remotes were intelligent! I don't want to believe my worst fear - it is probably down in the trash:(

Blah blah blah...
Last evening, after an extended nap I switched on the TV to see the Indian delegation march into the stadium at the 2004 Olympics Ceremony in Athens - perfect timing (I know it was a recorded version played on NBC, nevertheless). It must be a proud moment for the reinventors of Modern Olympics - Greece to host the games for the second time after 108 years. 16000 participants from 202 countries participating in 28 sports over a span of 19 days. More interesting facts. The sports I'm keen on following are:

1. Gymnastics


2. Cycling


3. Swimming


4. Badminton

Dad, we couldn't make it to Atlanta or Sydney. Probably we would do it when India hosts the games!

eBay has a stake now on Criagslist. to do something like Craigslist for Bangalore was our idea after we head back.

For 3 years my dream job was to work at Sun Microsystems. It still is. But I would also like to work for Google someday. For now there are no dreams to pursue, just going with the flow to where the journey takes me.

Blogger News
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--- via Blogger

It is 10:00 p.m. and I'm at work for another night of testing. T said, "No Video Games". So I'm going to stick to Rubik's cube tonight as I forgot to bring a novel.
On popular demand (just kidding :) ) "wore my hair down" today for short while - can't seem to get over the haircut.
A little while ago, as I was waiting at the bus stop, a horse carriage carrying 6 women stopped at the signal. One lady saw the ad for "Exorcist - The Beginning" at the bus stop and was quick to comment - "Exorcist - the Beginning ..mmm. Exorcist , the first part was not scary at all to begin with. I laughed thr it..So what is this all about?" I think "Exorcist", "Evil Dead" kinda big banner scary movies don't scare people any more. I accept that when I watched Evil Dead the first time as a kid I was scared. But flashy outfits, shining eyes, long hair and sharp teeth devils in the cemetery doesn't appeal much anymore..

Bizarre Mind

Nighouts are back! We worked until the wee hours this morning doing some testing. It felt good to come back to an empty office at 9:00 p.m. and work (or solve Rubik Cube) at peace. It is fun to do System Administration once in a while, especially when Web server/Directory Server tuning/administration was my strength 2 years back. I had a rough day yesterday and had composed a very strong post on processes only to delete it a few mins later as V's and my opinions differed. Chk this out - The Immaturity of CMM. The term "Organised Chaos" has been playing in my mind since yesterday morning for some reason. As a coincidence, came across the Fictionary site via Google Blogoscoped. One word for organized Chaos - Plandemonium!
I'm in a state of trance after these nightouts - with sudden bursts of freshness and tiredness. I got the best haircut(but the ones mom used to give) ever today. Thanks to V for encouraging me to be indulgent once in a while - after all this is what we earn for.

2 Books I'm currently reading:

1. The Seven-Day Weekend by Ricardo Semler - great book with impractical(?) solutions.
2. Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers - this book caught my eye at the Powell's City of books @ Portland (which btw is one of the best book stores I've ever been to). Nice Girls..talks about the behavioral patterns of women and their responses to common situations. I realized I do 30% of those mistakes. "Sabotage" is a rather strong word - I'd rather say growing up the career ladder could be accelerated if it were not for those mistakes.

In Retrospection

Starbucks' Tall Mocha Frappuccino did it again - my solution to exhaustion.

A friend e-mailed me today and asked "Are you all set to go? Do you feel excited or sad to go back? Did you like it better here or .." The timing couldn't have been better. I complete 1 year tomorrow since I came here. In retrospection, I would like to list a few things that I liked so that when I look back, there is this entry to remember this 1 year by.

The things that I would miss:

1. Living Downtown and N. Michigan Ave


2. The Public Library


3. 4 seasons (that are very pronounced) - Summer, Fall, Winter (my favorite) and Spring (my next favorite)


4. Summer - Biking along the lake shore, watching jugglers by the beach, Farmer's Market


5. Winter - Ice Skating (No. It is actually Ice Walking for me - never mastered the art of skating)


6. Friends - all of them who made this stay worthwhile!


7. Travel - Blue Line


8. Food - Brownie


9. The Silver Painted guy by Water Tower place - just kidding :)


10. Less crowded streets and a clean neighborhood


11. Public courtesy


12. Watching Friends every evening - Now that I have most seasons on DVD, it shouldn't be that bad. Still I wouldn't be surprised if laziness overpowers me in playing a DVD than just flipping the remote to switch on the TV.


13. The Adrenaline Rush at Work. After these highly demanding days, it would feel like vacuum - transitioning into nothingness, no challenges to look forward to everyday!

The things that I wouldn't miss:

1. occasional loneliness and being so far away from home


2. Adventurous trips to Devon


3. Thursdays and Crashes


4. Getting sick and going to a hospital - not that I love it in India but atleast there one doesn't have to wait for weeks to get an appointment and go thr the hassles of insurance.

Harper and Matiss juggling @ the Oak Street Beach 

The Village
Last evening, Harper, I and a co-worker of ours went to see The Village. After reading the reviews, I was very hesitant to see this M.Night Shyamalan's movie. But Harper insisted not to go by the reviews and we went to see the movie and I'm glad we did. It was really good. Well the suspense factor cannot be compared to The sixth Sense. But it is definitely better than his earlier movie, The Signs. What I like best about his movies is the brilliance with which he directs and portrays a simple plot. And this was in abundance in The Village. So don't go by the reviews and watch it this weekend!

After the movie, Harper invited me home for a Japanese dinner made by his roommate. It was a nice evening.

The weekend took off to a lazy start after a hetic day at work ysterday. Felt as if I had worked for 16 hours after spending a no-break 9 hours at work. I was on the edge and felt how it would be nice if everyone ........... well... There is nothing like a nice cup of Mocha Frappuccino and walk back home on a cool summer evening (probably a bike ride would have helped more) to calm the agitated mind :)

Tuberose (known as Rajnigandha in India) has a pleasant floral fragrance that continues to produce itself for days unlike other flowers. It is my favorite flower and I was surprised to see it this morning here. Reminded of the old times how V earned his nickname "florist" by sending me LARGE boquets of flowers once a week, I bought myself a few and my apartment is smelling good :)

July 30th 2004 - International Sys Admin Day

Today is the 5th annual Sys Admin Day. I agree with this...

A special day, once a year, to acknowledge the worthiness and appreciation of the person occupying the role, especially as it is often this person who really keeps the wheels of your company turning.

What good is an application if the systems don't have a good uptime?
Its no secret that developers and sys admins are always at loggerheads. They just can't see in the same direction though their objectives are the same - to keep the system/application up and running. I'm a developer and I have had a fair share of my differences with sys admins. But we've got past it and sometimes a lil empathising and compromise can work wonders and result in a good working relationship (the underlying truth is it iss a symbiotic relationship between the developers and sysadmins).
Lets face the facts. Sysadmins are required to be at the server's 'beck and call' :( - be it any time of the day or night. Its a privilege the rest of us have that they don't. I value my sleep so much and that is one reason I'm really appreciative of my sysadmins' effort and the nightless sleeps they go through. I wonder if there is a International Developer's Day!

via Joi via Boing Boing

I've posted an update to my earlier post "Connected, Distributed Work" as it elicited comments on Many to Many

Technology/Outsourcing - China vs India
"Doing our Homework" was published in the New York Times on June 26th. After listening to John Kerry's acceptance speech (which btw was very good) and reading this article, I wonder how outsourcing would be impacted after Novemeber.

When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me: "Finish your dinner — people in China are starving." I, by contrast, find myself wanting to say to my daughters: "Finish your homework — people in China and India are starving for your job."

Another good article - How a Technology Gap Helped China Win Jobs

Terrifying Thursdays

It was a beautiful start to the day yesterday. I woke upto a good news. I had this feeling that this Thursday was going to be an exception at work. It didn't take me long to realise this was no exception - if only worse. When the mess cleared up or atleast it seemed that way then, I decided to meet a friend for lunch as planned. But SOS calls started coming even before I reached the place. The day finally ended hours later than usual and it was very disappointing. Every time a system crashes, I get the feeling of flunking my exams (which I never did but once when the entire class did). I wonder if we ever learn from our mistakes. Do we look at problems with a different perspective? Its not the first time something like this has happened....well I hope it doesn't become a standing joke as "tell me something new" whenever I tll someone.."it is crashing.."

Anyways, the lunch with this friend was fabulous as always-- I got lost mid conversation as the sub consicous mind was thinking of whats going on at work and I couldn't resist temptation to call.

Looking back at my previous entries..there are many references to the nightmarish pattern of Thursdays which is not good.
Random Thoughts

Summer of '04

For 24 years, Monsoon, Hot, Hotter and Hottest were the only seasons I had experienced. I moved here last August when summer was almost coming to an end. Despite that the first few days were a nightmare in my apartment with no a/c or fan. It was a furnace :(. Thanks to the leasing guy for not telling that there was no air conditioning. Before I got adjusted to the city, summer was over and the cold spell in the last week of September took me by surprise. It is funny as I look back at the pictures of that weekend that I was the only one clad in a long black winter coat in September when Fall was just setting in. Anyways, the best memories are that of Winter. I was so happy to see the first snow shower ..it was about 9:00 p.m. and I went down to make snow balls after seeing a few kids. Spring was quiet but I was also glad that winter was over as shopping for groceries has become a lil easier.

Late Spring and Summer of 2004 will be very memorable to me.


I bought this bike in April. I have owned 2 bikes earlier as a kid. But for reasons unknown this one was very special to me. I would take it every evening for a ride along the lake shore. I parted with it today and it made me really sad. Last evening I took a few pictures of the bike to remember these good days by! Life has come to a full circle. 30 more days to go!

Connected, Distributed Work

As my interest in Wiki grew, I followed the session on Connected World - topic discussed in this years' Supernova. Read the transcript of this session.

80% of my time goes into coordination - communicating with people. The only tools that aid in communication are e-mail, instant messaging and phone. We made an effort to introduce all involved to the concept of Wiki and use it wherever possible to reduce the time and effort spent in writing/forwarding e-mails and communicating the same idea to a million people in a million ways (ok I'm exaggerating here). However all efforts went in vain. A lot of questions have crossed my mind (some of which were addressed in the session) since then. As Peter Quintas points out --

The technology there is the enabling piece of being connected in an effective and productive way. In today's collaborative environment, there are a few things that are missing. The first thing John touched on: security. Enterprises and organizations require that, but we can't let security be prohibitive simple fact is what's driving people to use email more and public instant messaging networks. It's uninhibited. People flock to what is easiest for them.

This is true. People are resistant to change. Changing a natural instinct to communicate an idea on WiKi page instead of drafting a e-mail addressed to 10 people is going to take time. The concerns of tracing an idea to its source will not be as easy as with e-mail. Only a tool that is easy to use e-mail will gain wide acceptance. The other issue I think is a very sensitive one - trust.
Ross states ---

JP mentioned trust. How do you get people to trust one another? If people are able to edit other people's work, that increases the amount of trust. Same with attention management. When people are able to control how they access information, it saves a lot of time. That can mean $1-2 million a year. We need to find ways to unlock all that value.

I beg to differ on this point. I don't think this is completely true. Editing other people's work might only lead to more friction in a diverse work environment than increase the amount of trust. Access control/workflow is the only way to preserve integrity.
I think I agree with Patrick --

Patrick: Another issue is trust. You might trust some of the people you work with, but not all of them. Especially if someone is two or three levels above the people working on a project, if they express themselves, it can be taken as an order, and communication quells that.

This is the best part of the discussion ---

And maybe it's a culture we created ourselves. Just look at email and bcc. Who ever thought that blind carbon copy would engender trust? Look at cc. That's just ass covering.

Now-a-days every time I 'cc' someone on a mail, I'm reminded of the term 'ass covering'. I'm keen to see how and what tools can improve work place communication.

Related Entries:
Wiki - Revolutionizing work place communication!


Connected Distributed Work - Updated (07/30):
This post has been mentioned in a post titled "WhyWikiWorksNot: 2004 Dance Re-mix" on Many to Many. It has spawned an interesting thread of comments. Ross in his post states that he agrees with Adina on how WiKis should have an objective and that it takes time for implementation and understanding. That was exactly my point. WiKi as a concept to be accepted and used is going to take time. Whether or not it will succeed, only time will tell. We had thought through how to use WiKi. Every project during the requirements phase spawns hundreds of e-mails as ideas float. We had setup a WiKi page - give users access, demonstrated how to use and as a proof of concept encouraged them to put in their ideas, so that all the relevant ideas can be collated and presented before the deciding committee. Now the obvious question is why Wiki? Well, so that one doesn't have to go through 10s of e-mails. The thought process is transparent when all the relevant information is on one page and there are no strings attached when a suggestion/idea is just a suggestion/idea without stressing on the source of its origination. Those of you who work amongst diverse functional groups will understand the politics associated and will be able to better appreciate this.

Spouses aware, Bloggers beware

--link via Ross 

GMail Features
Vote for the Most Wanted Gmail Features. I was composing a mail last Sunday on Gmail and decided to send it later. That is when I found out that there is no "Save as a draft" feature. I'm happy to see that it is top on this list.
--link via Google Blogoscoped

Blogger is continuously evolving into a good product. The new keyboard shortcuts for composing posts is neat.

The One on Ads

I used to like watching commercials more than the actual programs in India. However, a majority of the commercials here aren't very appealing - they either lack creativity or use sleazy humor. The ones that I like, the ones that are annoying are listed in the same order :

Good Ones:

1. Six Flags - Great America. This one was an instant hit. The ads go like this - A bright red bus stops. Out steps a old man, Mr. Six with a shining head and large ears , wearing oversized spectacles and a tuxedo with a red bow tie. The quiet atmosphere is interrupted with the dance number from the loud speaker on the top of Mr. Six's bus. There is more to it. Mr. Six turns into dancing wonder with his impressive hand movements. Party time! Mr. Six has become an idol for amusement.


2. MasterCard's Priceless commercials.
   
   Since 1998, Mastercard has sponsored a variety of "Priceless" commercials. Each ad begins with a list of stuff (or services) and a matching set of prices. Then comes a phrase identifying some intangible that can't be purchased. And finally, there's the single word "Priceless," followed by the assertion that "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard."
   --via Priceless Moments
   
   
   


3. Genworth Financial - a spinoff company of GE.
   
   Taylor Dent is out on a public tennis court with a little kid across the net who's hitting some pretty good shots. The kid is cute. He's got long hair, a bright smile and is constantly sticking his tongue out at all of the good shots he's hitting. Suddenly, Dent isn't just having a light hit with the kid, he's serving full force and ripping shots, and the kid is smacking them back with interest, running around the court with that big smile and tongue out of his mouth.
   
   Finally, Dent slams an overhead out of the court, raises his arms and let's out a primal scream, as if he's just won a grand slam. Then, a mini van pulls up to the public tennis court, just outside the fence. The driver honks the horn. Andre Agassi, rolls down the driver side window and yells to his son: "Hey, buddy. You ready?" Steffi is in the passenger seat with a little smile. Jaden Gil runs over to the minivan and says: "Coming." He hops in the back seat, next to Jaz, who is tucked in a baby seat doing a little dance with her feet.
   The commercial ends with a nice little slogan: "The right genes make all the
   difference."
   --via
   
   
   
4. Coke -Low carb ad.
   The Stones' rock anthem, "You Can't Always Get What You Want," will features in the first spot followed by a second ad, set to break in July, will feature Queen's "I Want to Break Free."
   
   Various scenes show people in situations where they can't get what they want. For example, a man rushes up to a crowded escalator while the onscreen super reads, "You can't jump the line." A group of beachgoers quickly gather up their belongings as a storm blows in. The onscreen super reads, "You can't change the weather." Yet another, shows a kid arguing with her parents and the line reads "You can't choose your parents".
   
   As the Stones' line, "But if you try sometime, you might find, you get what you need," rings out, people are shown enjoying C2. The legend, "Half the carbs, half the cals. All the great taste," closes out the spot.
   

The Boring Ones

1. Geico. All the ads show a situation where the person is in need of help. The rescuer walks in and says "I have some good news." and then delivers a bad news. It is followed by "I just saved myself a bunch of money on my insurance by switching to Geico."
   

I was a big fan of Raj Kapoor when I grew up. This is one of my
favorites. There were times when after listening to this song umpteen
times, I would solve multiple Maths practice papers for my tenth board
exams without a break! Listening to it after ages and it has uplifted
my mood :)

Pyaar hua, ikraar hua hai
Pyaar se phir kyoon darrta hai dil)

Kehta hai dil rasta mushkil
Maaloom nahin hai kahan manzil)

Kaho ki apni preet ka geet na badlega kabhi

Tum bhi kaho is raah ka meet na badlega kabhi
Pyaar jo toota, saath jo chhoota

Chaand na chamkega kabhi

Raatein dason dishaaon se kahengi apni kahaaniyaan

Geet hamaare pyaar ke dohraayegi jawaaniyaan

Main na rahoongi, tum na rahoge
Phir bhi rahengi nishaaniyaan

Pyaar hua, ikraar hua hai
Pyaar se phir kyoon darrta hai dil
Kehta hai dil rasta mushkil
Maaloom nahin hai kahan manzil

Sick. I'm having headaches again..this time so worse that I left work early and slept at 5:00 p.m. last evening and got up at 6:00 a.m. today!

20 Questions to a better personality

I took this test on personality.
My results were:

You are an SRDF--Sober Rational Destructive Follower. This makes you a font of knowledge. You are cool, analytical, intelligent and completely unfunny. Sometimes you slice through conversation with a cutting observation that causes silence and sidelong glances. You make a strong and lasting impression on everyone you meet, the quality of which depends more on their personality than yours.

You may feel persecuted, as you can become a target for fun. Still, you are focused enough on your work and secure enough in your abilities not to worry overly.

You are productive and invaluable to those you work for. You are loyal, steadfast, and conscientious. Your grooming is impeccable. You are in good shape.

You are kind of a tool, but you get things done. You are probably a week away from snapping.

"All animals are equal -- but some animals are more equal than others!"
I think of this line in unfair/smart-ass situations. George Orwell's "Animal Farm" is one of my all time favorites.

Blogging Addiction

A conversation this afternoon at a corner cubicle got me thinking. There was a talk about blogs and it surprises me how popular the blogging phenomenon is. Anyways, my coworker made this statement - "Why do all this people go on vacation?". She was expressing her disappointment when there are "no daily entries" on the blogs she follows closely, when the blogger takes a vacation. I'm sure this is not a alienated feeling. I start my day by reading a few blogs and am disappointed too when there are no new posts for a long span.
After this conversation, it got me thinking if blogging was an addiction or an obsession? What do you call this compelling feeling to read/write blogs everyday? Here is a post on the same topic - Is blogging the opium of the Internet Generation?

This story appeared on New York Times.

TO celebrate four years of marriage, Richard Wiggins and his wife, Judy Matthews, recently spent a week in Key West, Fla. Early on the morning of their anniversary, Ms. Matthews heard her husband get up and go into the bathroom. He stayed there for a long time.

"I didn't hear any water running, so I wondered what was going on," Ms. Matthews said. When she knocked on the door, she found him seated with his laptop balanced on his knees, typing into his Web log, a collection of observations about the technical world, over a wireless link.


I know I wouldn't go to such great lengths as to blog during a vacation or miss deadlines at work to make 5 posts a day. Comments on a blog and increased traffic can be compulsive reasons to blog regularly - because then you are not writing for yourself, you are writing for an audience and there probably is an obligation and yearning for acceptance of views. Well I don't know...........

Emergency Services

I walk a mile to work every morning. In the past 10 months not a day has passed without being intercepted by a speeding blinking red lights vehicle. Everything comes to a grinding halt paving way for the ambulances/fire engines. This just amazes me as I see them everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 of them in a row. Well, but come to think of it ,there is actually a dark and bright side to it. Dark side being that someone is in an emergency situation. The bright side being the respect for these vehicles on the road. The slightest negligence (which is very rare) to give way for a ambulance is often met with resentment. The whole process of dialing 911-what's the emergency-emergency vehicles coming to one' doorstep in a matter of minutes is probably not a big deal for any developed nation. But it is to someone who comes from a billion plus people nation. It wouldn't be an exaggeration if I say In India,ambulances have to race with other vehicles and make their own way on the roads. If they succeed, then it was the patient's good luck. No amount of honking will clear the way for them - it just adds to the already high noise level!

Bike Ride

Inspired by Harper, I rode 6 miles to the library on my bike on the road last evening. Distance wise, I have ridden more than this but only along the lake shore or on sidewalks. I was confident after reading the do's and dont's on bicyclesafe.com.

My headaches are back and it bothers me a lot. There is a persistent pain that just doesn't go away so I may have been in a lil irritant mood the past few days.

Countdown: Exactly 2 more months to go before I leave. "Going back" gives rise to mixed feelings. There are times when frustrating situations at work make me feel excited about going back, the thought of not having to deal with all this carries me thr the present. But such circumstances are also considerably low now. Anyways I hate to leave Chicago. This past 1 year has been great but it will also be history soon. It is time to move on!

I'm going to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Spider-Man2" this weekend. Read this good review on "Spider-Man2" in NYTimes.
Anagram for "Micheal Moore" is "Come Home, Liar".

A Summer Wedding

Last Saturday evening, I attended my first American Wedding. The outdoor wedding was at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The conservatory is a magnificent place too decked out with stunning gardens. It is open after-hours only for special occassions. It was a beautiful small wedding with about 30 guests and had an air of intimacy. As I entered the conservatory at 6:00 p.m., my eyes fell on this beautiful lady clad in a gorgeous white bridal gown. She in no way resembled the woman I saw everyday.
The ceremony began at 6:30 p.m. when the bride and groom walked hand in hand and looked perfect for each other. The 15 min ceremony was conducted by a judge. It was nice to watch the bride and groom exchange vows and say "I will". This was followed by a photo session, drinks and dinner. The best toast was from the bride's sister who narrated a funny story about the bride's sleep-walking habit. In all, the wedding was very well planned, organized and executed. I felt as though I was seeing "A Wedding Story" in action. This was my favorite program last spring and these lines still play in my mind....


and when the spark of youth someday surrenders
I'll have your hand to see me through
tears may come and go
but there's one thing I know
love is all there is when I'm with you

AFI List of Top 100 Songs From U.S. Films

This list features the top 100 songs from U.S Films. Check out No.36 in the list. It is "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" - supposedly the longest word in English Language and is featured in the Oxford Dictionary. The word was popularized by th movie Mary Poppins.

The Formula 1 Experience

Is Indian fanaticism for Formula 1 an accident of history? Probably yes and yet another natural ramification of the colonial rule. The influence of European culture and sports such as Cricket, Football (yes Soccer ofcourse) on India need not be explained in length.

Anyways, so I've been following Formula 1 for the past 4 years. We were excited on finding out that 2004's 3rd race was going to be at Bahrain. We couldn't make it. So we decided to goto the 9th race of this season at Indianapolis on June 20th.

Our day began at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday. It was a 3 hour drive from Chicago. The excitement was evident right from the moment we landed at Indianapolis. The whole city of Indianapolis was geared up for the action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was also a day for making quick bucks for the local residents. Signs that read "Parking available" were visible all over the town. We entered the stadium around 11:00 a.m. The weather was kind - as the 120,000 fans basked in the 78 deg sunshine. "Red" was the order of the day - 75% of the crowd was clad in Ferrari caps, flags, T-shirts. Ofcourse one could also see a few lone Williams and Mercedes supporters.

The test drive started at 11:20 a.m. and I heard the Ferraris roaring for the first time. Rubens Barichello (Ferrari) was at pole position followed by Michael Schumacher. As the cars started, it was a deafening noise. We were seated at the paddock. Paddock is where the race starts. The final action began at 12:00. It was a drama packed race right from the start. Montoya's car not starting, he rushing across the track to get into his back up car, only to be disqualified at the 57th Lap for making it 2 seconds too late in the formation lap was all a part of it. The most shockening one was Ralf's accident in the 10th Lap. It was a black day for Williams-BMW. Atleast 7 laps were led by the Safety car. Despite all the drama, watching Schumacher in action was a dream come true. He is in a league of his own - unbeaten this season but one race. For a while it seemed as though Sato and Button would bag the 2nd and 3rd positions. But Barichello caught up as always and he did push Schumi hard. If only he had overtaken Schumacher after his pit stop, he would have made it and Schumacher would have had to settle for 8 points.
Well, Schumacher went on to win the 2004 United States Grand Prix. He covered about 300 Kms (73 laps of 4.192 Km each) in 100 mins. He was followed by Rubens at the second place and Sato at the 3rd place. This time we saw Schumacher opening the champagne bottle and splashing on the other winners for real. Similar sights from earlier races on television was etched firmly in my head- this time it was for real only a few hundred yards away. The rest is history. I realise any amount of description wouldn't do justification to the experience. You've got to see it live, listen to the roaring sounds, be a part of the red fanatic crowd - in short its all about speed and you've got to experience the adrenaline rush!

Over 50 attempts to shoot pictures of the speeding cars went in vain. You see the cars approaching and before you blink they are gone. The only thing that crossed my mind then was what do these guys see ahead of them that they can drive at that speed. It really takes something to get into this sport!


Schumacher - Winner of the United States Grand Prix 

Schumacher starting after 2nd pit stop 

Wiki - Revolutionizing work place communication!

What is Wiki>
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslink between internal pages on the fly.
Click here to read more about it..

Is Wiki the right choice for you?
Leading projects that demand daily communication between cross-functional teams to resolve issues?
Managing many projects simultaneously?
Part of a onsite-offshore or a distributed team setup?
Discussions

If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then you are a victim of e-mail phobia. Walking into work every morning to see hundreds of unread e-mails overwhelms anyone. Especially when the responsibility lies on your shoulders to step in when a discussion is going haywire and your team is looking upto you. Common trend indicates that it takes about 7 e-mails on an average for a simple issue to get resolved. And if you are part of the onsite-offshore model it is another Herculean task to collate the discussion from various e-mails and send the relevant ones!

It is time to try WiKi then! This is where Wiki steps in. It collaborates content making it easy to follow a discussion than browse thr tens of e-mails to track a thread. Content is decentralized making it accessible to the relevant parties. Since the discussion is on a web page it is accessible from any where and does not require any additional software to edit the web pages. Different Wiki pages can be set up for different projects.

There are some disadvantages of using Wiki.
a) It is not the right forum where discussions require authorization or approval - but the final approval can always be done thr a e-mail.
b) The content in a page can be edited by anyone who is a user of the system. Certain WiKi systems provide administrators with the privilege to allow/reject edits to the pages. This however is less likely to happen when the users of a system are responsible. Moreover any content that is tampered with can be tracked down by viewing the change history.

All set to try Wiki?
Testing WiKi - Simple WiKi
WiKi Syntax
WiKiEngines- if you want to set your own WiKi

When I first read about WiKi, the first question that crossed my mind was, "How is it different from a group weblog?" Read this to see how

Yahoo! Mail
Mail wars have just begun. Anyone who logged into Yahoo! Mail this morning was in for a surprise. Yahoo! has upgraded its mail features with a cool user interface and 100 MB of storage. I don't see a reason why someone would now give up their already 3-5 year old Yahoo! Mail Id. I'm wondering if Yahoo! would consider giving 1GB storage to compete with Gmail. I really like this move of Yahoo! - clean sweepstake. Yahoo! has an edge over Google of not being shrouded by controversies such as breaching privacy.

Air Max - Nike Shoes

Air Max
Nike Shoes are THE best. They are so comfortable that the feel of anything else hurts my feet. I've been wearing these shoes for over 3 months now. Walking is no longer an activity, it is a pleasure and the urge to move forward arises automatically. They are so light weight that the feel of extra baggage on my legs is no longer there. I just remebered that dialogue from the movie "What women want". Mel Gibson presents his ideas for an advertising campaign for Nike- images of a lone woman running the highway. It has a punchline- Nike - No Games, Just Sports!

Favorite Five

These are my all-time favorite movies (in the same order). So it goes without saying that I can see them any number of times without getting bored -I've seen most of these atleast 10 times.

English

1. You've got Mail


2. One Fine Day


3. Stuart Little


4. Pretty Woman


5. A Few Good Men

Hindi

1. Dil Hai Ki Maantha Nahin


2. DDLJ


3. Ek Ladka Ek Ladki


4. Pyaar Tho Hona Hi Tha


5. Andaz Apna Apna

Good Bye Winter, Welcome Summer

The pleasures of summer are innumerable after the long cold spell. A very well written article on the numerous things one can do along the lake shore ..it is titled Lake Effect. Excerpts from the article about Lake Michigan,
Lake Michigan is 10,350 years old, 307 miles long and 118 miles wide; contains 1.3 trillion gallons of water; has a 1,638-mile shoreline and contains about 70 species of fish, including, of course, alewives.

Ironically, the term "Lake Effect" (as used in winter),adds to the miseries in winter making the cold seem all the more bitter than it already is! Anyways, now that summer is almost here, with temperatures soaring upto 90 deg, the Lake Shore is buzzing with activity - kids playing in the water, big cruises showing the spectacular view of the skyline from the lake, people sun bathing on the beaches and ofcourse the bikers and skaters along the trail. Waking up every morning to see the pristine blue waters is such a good feeling after having seen the frozen lake for months in a row.

In other news, my visit to the Printers Row book fair this Sunday was fine. There were too many people and very little space to move around. For the most part, only these categories of books were available (in the order of popularity) - classics/fiction, children, cooking/women and sports. Travel and Business/Non-Fiction Books consituted less than 1%.

Analogy between "directories/files in filesystems" and "packages/programs in programming languages"

The concept of organizing files into directories is an age-old concept. But also big enough to spark a discussion. It has provoked me to think and reflect on the different schools of thought. Here is the problem :

File naming convention to different formats - (viewable, printable and text only ) of a source file - Shrek_Characters.xml. How are these files used - In a website to display different views as chosen by a user.
Based on the 2 different schools of thought are the following 2 solutions:

Solution 1:

Directory
FullContent
Print
Text

File Name
Shrek_Characters.htm
Shrek_Characters.htm
Shrek_Characters.htm

Solution 2:

Directory	File Name
FullContent	Shrek_Characters-fullcontent.htm
Print	Shrek_Characters-print.htm
Text	Shrek_Characters-text.htm

Problem Definition:
As one can notice the only difference between Solution 1 and Solution 2 is the names of the files (solution 2 appends the format to the filename) . Both 'schools of thought' agree on the importance of segregating the files by directories (or atleast I assume so). The point of contention is group 1 feels why should a file name be called differently when the differentiating factor is already the directory. While group 2 feels what if a 'print' version file gets accidentally moved to 'FullContent'.

I wanted to offer an unbiased opinion though I feel strongly about Solution 1. Hypothetically, lets assume there could be thousands of such files. So I started thinking more about it, because it is not just 1 file that would be in each of these directories. This is when I reflected on the concept of packages in Java. A set of classes are grouped in to packages based on their functionality/purpose in the overall system. There could be 2 packages called com.movies and com.charcaters that have the same class called ListAllNames, for instance. The function of the class ListAllNames is to list all the names based on certain criteria. Just because they are stored under different packages, wouldn't lead one to change the names of the class. This class finally gets stored under 2 different directories called movies and characters but under the same name. To avoid class conflict is one of the reasons, the concept of packages was formed. The concept of packages can be seen even in PERL and any OOP language.
So one can see the analogy between directories/files and packages/classes.

Gene Hackman. Books.

Last evening, I saw Gene Hackman at Borders. Gene and Daniel Lenihan were there to sign their latest novel- Justice for None. This was the first time that I saw a celebrity so close.

The Annual Printers Row Book Fair event is scheduled for today and tomorrow. I'm looking forward to going there and for all you know the there will be a big addition to the collection of books @home.

Today was the worst day in probably 4 months. I was in such a foul mood when I got up this morning, mainly because even after 8 hours of sleep I woke up as though I hadn't slept a wink. The work and the meetings is not doing any good to me physically/mentally at all!

I'm all stressed and burnt out. Everyday, these 5 hour meetings and juggling my time between 3 projects - all of equal intensity is eating me up.

Anyways, I come into work and the day starts with this marathon meeting that goes on for 3 hours (POST DELETED...................)

All I need is this weekend 2 nights sleep without DTD's and tables swimming thr my head during my sleep.

Satisfying weekend

This long weekend was satisfying in all aspects despite the weather playing spoilsport.
Friday, we had a good dinner and ordered much more than we could eat. Well it was good in a way for I didn't have to cook Saturday.

Saturday morning, we set out to see the Baha'i Temple at Wilmette, Illinois. I'm told the Lotus Temple at Delhi is more beautiful architecturally. The Islamic influence to its architecture was very prevalent.

Gray and gloomy skies cast their shadow for most part of the weekend. Sunday morning, I woke up to see the enthusiastic bikers riding along the Lake Shore Drive, from my window. The event was "Bike the drive" - a 30 mile long event held very spring. Bikers of all age rode their bikes along the lake shore drive. What is significant is that there are no cars during this window and it feels exhilarating to ride the bike on the lake shore drive.

Late Sunday afternoon, as the clouds cleared up, we went to see Shrek-2. I must say it was worth every penny spent. Offers total entertainment and a lot of creativity has gone into its making! Felt good to see a good animation picture after a long time. This one, unlike the first part has a very pronounced American influence - it is more of a satire of Hollywood. Starting with FAR FAR AWAY in the style of HOLLYWOOD followed by GAP QUEEN, Burger Queen, Versarchery, something like Starbucks etc. The new addition - The Puss/Cat in Boots, was a good one. Donkey played it cool as always - maintaining its virtue of talking nonsense! This is the most memorable dialogue


Donkey: Don't I have the right to remain silent?
Shrek: Donkey, you HAVE the right to remain silent. What you lack, is the capacity.


Well, that was my weekend...

Information spreads like Plague on the web - Blogs' contribution

I was reading about the Memespread project on Wired. Meme is a unit of information that passes from one person to another person as defined in the Memespread project Analysis. The objective of this project was to determine the route a piece of information takes to be transmitted and the duration it takes for it to get popular. It is indeed a interesting thing to have used blogs to test this phenomenon. Regular bloggers will observe that any popular piece of phenomenon - be it a cool software or a game or a mpeg doesn't take more than 30 days to gain popularity! The ones that strike me instantly are the Penguin game (yeti and penguin), the big line in front of the new Apple store at Tokyo.
Some of the most popular blogs are listed here.

In other news, I'm really exhausted with the all-day meetings. It is taxing to listen to someone for 8 hours. It is a meeting after meeting and finally when it comes to doing real work, I'm burnt out! Right now I'm really looking forward to the long weekend.

Appearances can be deceptive. I looked at someone today and wondered why would someone so authoritative present himself not-so-elegantly. All it took was just a 10 min conversation with him to change my perception and more importantly be very impressed! What would have taken me atleast an hour or more to figure out took him a mere 5 mins and he presented it so beautifully and made it so simple.