Nike Shoes

This is insane. Nike Shoes post of June 12, 2004 is what gets 90% of the traffic to my blog everyday. When you search for "Nike Shoes" in Google and click on the images tab, the first image that you see is the one I've posted here. Unfortunately (well actually my stupidity), the original post was in the domain http://lakshv.blogspot.com. Later I happened to change the URL to what it is now. And the way Google works is if it find similar content in 2 URLs then it blacklists the later one (in this case the current site reflections) and recognises only the old one. Now that explains why my current site does not show up in Google results at all even though it has fresh content for Nike.

Anyways, all I wanted to say was Nike shoes are still my favorite. I still have the one posted here and they are so comfortable!

Crime Rate in Bangalore

The crime rate in Bangalore is increasing at a staggering rate every week. The no. of stories reported of bike riders, morning walkers and car drivers on the Ring Road being mugged every day is scary. It makes me think twice before stepping out in the evening to run quick errands. Can you believe that cellphones are snatched from people while they are talking on the roads? What is surprising is that Bangalore used to be a safe city until sometime back. So why this sudden surge in robbery? Are more robbers being encouraged seeing no action taken by the police when cases are filed? I just came across this book titled The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference today. Has anyone read it? If so, what does it talk of sudden increases in social behavior such as the one I have cited ..e-mail me.

Mozilla Firefox rules, Internet Explorer sucks

I've been using FireFox (FF) for a lil less than 2 years now. And I just love it.
Wired ran a story last year on how this new browser was gaining quick popularity over the browser leader - Internet Explorer. Thanks to FF's good features such as pop-up blocker and its speed. Since then, I have been promoting FF to family and coworkers. I must admit there is an initial resistance to adopt this flashy orange browser. It is a matter of habit (after all bad habits die hard!) just as any other tool. But once they start using FF, they all love it (in some cases people have even sheepishly admitted and thanked for introducing this browser) and see the obvious advantages over the annoying IE. What triggered this post was the fact that Firefox is not allowed at my new workplace.It is one of those difficult things to get rid of. I hate going back to IE. Damn! It feels like going back to Stone Age.

Formula One 2005 - San Marino Grand Prix

The Formula One Race today at San Marino is one I would have loved to see in person. Fernando Alonso did it again for the 3rd time in a row this season but the star was clearly Michael Schumacher. They were separated only by 0.2 seconds -- so one can imagine how electrifying the race must have been. Towards the end of the race I was almost sitting at the edge hoping Schumacher would pull it off.

The start was a little disappointing when I learnt that Schumi was again in not in the top 3. But he proved yet again that he is a class apart with his strategy and good driving. The decision to go in late for his first pit stop and the way he overtook Jenson Button and the Williams car was simply superb. It was indeed a brilliant performance to clinch the 2nd spot having started at position 13. If only the new rules were not in place and Schumi had an option of going for a new engine and new tyres for the next race, he would gone all the way and Alonso would have remebered this race for a lifetime!

It was told that of the 120,000 spectators present to see the race, 119,000 were Ferrari fans. And at times, the cheering of the Ferrari fans downplayed the F1 noise :) It should have beeen fun. I hope to see some good racing in the following weeks. After all as the commentator said today, Michael Schumacher - Ferrari - Bridgestone is the winning combination and they are back with a bang!

First day at work

Here I am..back home from an eventful first day at work. Having studied in 11 different schools during my 12 years of school education, one would expect me not to have any anxiety in meeting new people and getting accustomed to any place. On the contrary, I experienced first day jitters a lot today. And I’m glad the day is over now. On the whole the day was so so. As I have always done, I would like to maintain the anonymity of the place I work at.

I must say the induction process was just great and the people very amicable. This being my second job after spending 6 years at my earlier place, I was able to appreciate the way things were done. I’ll spare you the boring details and just narrate one interesting incident (or you could call a faux pas on my part..)

It was late afternoon and I settled down at my desk and was enquiring the procedure to get the keys to the cabinet drawer.
A coworker said, ”If you want the keys to your cabinet, you could call up blah blah number”.

So here I call up the blah blah number and following is the ensuing conversation…

Me : “I have joined today and I would like to get the keys to my cabinet, whose number is blah blah.”
Receiver person (X) replies: “What?” in a quite surprised tone and asks me again what I wanted.
I mutter the same thing.
X says: “Are you sure who you are calling?”
Me : “I believe so as I was asked to call this number.”
X replies aggressively: “Well in that case you better know who you are talking to. I’m blah blah—the CFO of this place”. . “Chief Financial Officer”.
Me: “I’m sorry sir.”
And I hang up.

Haaaa….Quite an incident to remember this day by. A lot of things seem to be going haywire…hopefully the positive streak in me will carry me thr this phase!

Riottech - Learning Search Engine optimization

I'm blogging on riottech as well. It is fun to be part of a group blog. In a way it is more challenging than a personal blog as one needs to be careful in orienting the thoughts and ensure that the same facts are not repeated by different authors. It is a good in a way that a lot can be written ..if 2 authors are talking about the same topic then one can take off where the other left. It would be interesting to see how it shapes up! Talking about Search Engine Optimization, the top prioirty on my list is to get this blog show up in Google's Search Results for the word "reflections" or "laksh". It is a pity that it is not placed even in the first 1000 results despite a PageRank of 4. So obviosuly something is wrong!

Vacation Time

I'm on a week long vacation which technically begun only today. Sometimes organisations forget that ex-employees are brand ambassadors for them. So relieving them happily is in the best interest of the organisation. Causing discomfort and annoying someone at the last minute is not a good idea. Anyways, so I decided to make the best of this vacation which meant no plans of drawing any plan for the next 5 days. Taking 1 day at a time and just doing what i feel like doing at that moment. I must admit it has been good so far...sitting in front of the TV for hours, some painting and loads of shopping! How I wish there was a Harold Washington Library here too and a few Sandra Brown/Nora Roberts novels..

Inzamam

As a true Indian, the tendency is to express animosity towards our neighbor Pa**n all the time. Forgetting that feeling for a while, I had to write this post on Inzamam. The current India Pak series is on. The 4th of the ODI macthes played at Ahmedabad today was an excellent innnings bringing in more than 600 runs and a great performance from both the sides. However, the star of the match clearly was Inzamam. Hats off to this great cricketer. A brilliant performance and he never buckled under pressure even at the last ball! I wonder how this guy plays so coolly under pressure. It was no surprise when Saurav called Sachin to bowl the last over. Huh..1 ball to go and 1 run to win the match. I was on the edge of the seat talking to Neetu over the phone and told her not to hang up..you know those stupid superstitions Indians believe in when it comes to cricket! She had been talking to me since the 47th over and it seemed to work...well you never know. Here's a suggestion to Ravi Shastri and Inzy. He should start interviewing Inzamam in Hindi. For heaven's sake you guys are playing in India and both the cuntries understand the language..so why try so hard talking in English! Ravi tried very hard to get Inzy to say he was tensed but Inzy said he was cool all the time :))

Game of Cards

Last evening, there was no power.. so V and I sat to play cards. Power cut is a common occurrence in summers and monsoon in India. So I guess we will get to see more of such dark evenings in the coming months. Now coming to the game of cards……
Believe it or not, for 25 years, all I knew about the game of cards was that a pack/deck consisted of 52 cards. I barely knew what the 4 kinds were – clubs, hearts blah blah. Cards was banned at home. My parents believed that their kids should never see cards, let alone play them. I don’t know the exact reason behind it. Is it probably because cards are considered to disrupt the peaceful existence at home in India (whatever that means). Or is it because of Shakuni’s role in Mahabharatha? I think I’m old enough to find out the reason now. Anyways the little knowledge on cards too was attributed to my mugging (rote) capacity. Every Maths exam had atleast 1 question on probability until my 12th Std. Wait a min… actually until 2nd year of Engineering. And the most commonly asked question in probability was on cards. So If I had to score 100%, I had to know this. Ever thought someone could actually know the answers to Maths questions without solving them? I’m ashamed to admit but I did. I would have been screwed if they changed the pattern of the question. I did score a 100% in 12th but couldn’t succeed in engineering.

Last winter when V and I had gone to Walgreens one evening, I saw these packs of cards neatly arranged and wanted to play but didn’t know how. So I bought one and persuaded V to teach me. Soon I was playing..I still don’t know many games in cards but atleast I know a few and I really love watching Poker. I wonder how my parents would react if they know…

Tata bye-bye (no double meaning :) )

Today was my last day at work. It was difficult to bid good bye to the place where I started this journey from almost 6 years ago. There are times when I think I have probably acted on impulse but I know it’s the emotional attachment with this place that makes me think so. As I was leaving today, everything seemed perfect – place, culture, people, surroundings and a sense of belonging - it seemed like the perfect place to be and to grow, every wrong seemed right, it felt like home. But I kept telling myself I had made this decision after a lot of thought and its best not to get overwhelmed and to just go with it….
A few touching moments of the day that I would like to remember….

One of my favorite manager's whom I would go by the name of CM)’s gesture of springing a surprise by coming in today from a different location. His e-mail in response to my adieu mail read ---

I never say bye as I always keep in touch. All the best in whatever you do….Expect you back soon…
We will do …… Design together…

Difficult part of the day – Ending the day saying bye to the person who recruited me 7 years ago. I have always admired him. His sense of humor and passion to talk might be boring to some but I have always respected this person….

reminds me of a song from beatles (i am a great fan of the group), which goes on like "why you say good bye, say hello".

With VD the association will continue forever so I don’t think it has even sunk in that I won’t work for him from Monday.

I have never believed in leaving an organization either in bad taste or bitching about it after stepping out. I’m what I’m today because of the 6 years spent there that gave me an opportunity to meet some wonderful people… I don’t know if I would ever be able to leave behind this baggage and start afresh but I’ll make an attempt to.