The drawing is complete. It is quite different from all the ones that I have done before. Most of my former sketches were pencil sketches and quite articulately done. This one looks as though drawn by a 5th grade kid.

Anyways, I'm glad it is weekend since V is here this time. We are going out for dinner tomorrow with R and P to Sayat Nova.

The Apprentice took a good turn in yesterday's episode. Trump said, "Though everyone thought I would hire a beautiful young lady like Amy, I don't play games when it comes to business". I feel Bill would get hired but would be really surprised if Kwame does. Lets see what happens in the finale next Thursday!

I love Penguins

I love watching Penguins, yes, those cute 2-legged creatures that live around the South Pole. As a kid, I remember Mom and I spending hours watching Penguins on Discovery Channel. They have such a funny way of walking and always move around in groups. I particularly like the ones that have a yellow head crest. What prompted this entry was a sketch of Penguin that I'm doing now. It has been a customary habit for years now to draw sketches on my beloved ones' birthday. Mom has received the maximum number of sketches until now. This time I'm doing it for V. It has all these characters - Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse (for Stuart in the movie "Stuart Little"), Bozo, Polar Bear, Penguins and a big smiley that reads "Happy Birthday" in the center. I'm excited to see how it turns out. This one is being done on a 11*14 white poster sheet using crayons.

Erratic sleeping hours, watching movies non-stop (that is NOT very typical of me), fiddling with the new camcorder and a no-purpose trip to the mall constituted this weekend. Everything was so unlike me - I just wanted to tire myself out so much so that I wouldn't get bored and finally sleep for hours at a stretch - instead I slept lil and chatted a lot with P this morning - it was so nice talking to him after a long time - that was the best part of this weekend. I'm so glad the weekend is over.

Craze for Electronics runs in the family

For a while I thought it was just P who was crazy about gadgets. But I guess it runs in the family including V and Dad. DCR-HC 40 - the MiniDV handycam camcorder from Sony is finally here. It arrived today. Dad bought it. It is the result of a 2-month long deliberations, research on what, where and when to buy. Though finally what drove us to settle for one last Sunday was the ultimatum from mom - its either that damn camcorder or me. I'm sure she felt the amount of person hours we put into deciding the camcorder could have been spent elsewhere :) - just kidding. Dad was keen on buying TRV-33 - which is out of production now since DCR-HC40 replaced it.
So yeah I ordered it from IBUY digital I was apprehensive about ordering it from any of these sites that price a product $100 lesser than it is priced at Circuit City or Best Buy But the reviews for IBUY were the best in Yahoo Shopping So I placed my trust on Yahoo's rating of 5 for IBUY and Dad's research on the same - he did a great homework. As promised the product did arrive within 2 days of placing the order and it costed us a $100 less. However I'm not so convinced about the authenticity of the 5-star rating now. What IBUY does is, once a customer places a product and calls to confirm the order, they trick people into taking their 5-star survey with a lucrative win-a-Plasma TV contest. It is obviously too good to resist. So almost every customer that buys a product gives them a 5 star rating. And no wonder they are the only ones in Yahoo's shopping list with a rating of 5. Even Circuit City and Best Buy rank lower.

On the work front, I've finally decided to let it go. I am trying to come to terms with the fact that it is time to move on. There is no point cribbing when there is scope for a change. It is time to try something else. Most people I've talked to in the past few days say they dislike the jobs they do, but still stick to it when there are better options. We perhaps get so comfortable to the discomfort ( :- ) ) of the present job or perhaps it is so easy-going that we shut the doors to everything else. But unfortunately such jobs do not offer growth and they clash with ambition (if there's one). I hope it works for the better.

I liked this quote :
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies - Groucho Marx
At times, it feels good to just sit there and watch the game, the ball is in your court and yet you don't play it while others are waiting anxiously for you to make your move!

"The Apprentice" has been kind of getting predictable over the past 4 episodes. I read somewhere that Donald Trump has the final say on who gets fired every week. Wonder if he is going to choose Amy finally.

Countdown - 150 days to go and it is pretty exciting! In terms of months, it seems like a really long time!

I'm very infamous for the no. of hours I sleep. But last night, I beat my own records. Seeing TV, guess I dozed off at 7:00 p.m. last night and the next thing I know it is 7:30 a.m. this morning. It is crazy and need to use my time more effectively then sleep it away.

It is quiet after the storm!

Blog this, Blog that!

A lot of incoherent thoughts crossing my mind right now. It felt nice to stay away from work yesterday! And it feels all the more good when everyone is working and you can just laze around. I went to office early morning for a few minutes and then returned. At first when T asked me not to come to work, I asked him what do I do. I would get bored at home. But on the contrary, I realised I had so many errands to run and I was so occupied thr the day - doing grocery shopping, a quick visit to the library, got a haircut and treated myself to a good lunch! Oh well, a day off doesn't really hurt.

I was apprehensive about returning to work today. But the tension in the air cleared up and hopefully things will work out for the better. The tough phase is hopefully past me. I realise I don't thank Vinay enough for being so supportive all the time. He is my sounding board and never complains. No wonder everyone in the team likes him so much! Mark Twain said, "I think a compliment ought to always precede a complaint, where one is possible, because it softens resentment and insures for the complaint a courteous and gentle reception."

So finally spring is here. I was really surprised to see so many tourists around - it is spring break! The buses were really crowded with so many kids - these kids brimming with enthusiasm, asking amazing questions to parents, looking at all the buildings with awe and restlessly waiting to get to the museums.

Of late, I'm noticing many of my friends that write blogs. The blog culture has really caught up. Wonder what makes it so popular, in the sense personal websites have existed for a long time now. What makes blogs different from them..I like Mark Cuban's reasoning in his interview to Dan Gillmor. It reads..

Q: What else should I have asked you about the new world of communications?
A: It's not a new world. We all have been able to create our own websites for years. This is just a content management system, verticalized for diary entries. That diary-like format has caught the attention of the voyeur in all of us. Whether or not it's a long term impact, I have no idea.

I do think it is the diary like format with bits n pieces of personal information (amounting to enough gossip) that makes a blog more appealing!

Turbulent Waters

mmmmm..I'm just going to sleep now. I am so tired after today's events. I try not to discuss work on this space but it just affects me so much that I try to come out of that hole and keep going deeper into it. But today's events were so different from the past. In the past I have been either quiet or taken my negative energy on someone else or by diverting my attention..It is funny that I when I'm upset I drink a lot of water...Probably because drinking water makes me get up from my desk and I try to clear my thoughts gazing down at the river from the pantry.

Today's outburst was so much like me...It was the culmination of everything. I don't know what's going to happen from here but I'm prepared for whatever decision is taken. If I've to go back, that's fine by me. It just reached a point where I couldn't lie low and pretend as though it was not happening and turn deaf ears to the bull shit. Ok whatever..It was a relief talking to t and I'm not going to work tomorrow.

Exporting America or Importing Profits?

Every morning, I start my day with a hot cup of tea and watching Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer on CNN's American Morning. I have been doing it religiously for the past few months. Today's show was disappointing. Minding your Business, a part of "American Morning", is anchored by Andy Serwer. Andy spoke of an "Importing America" case today. Obviously it drew everyone's attention as much as "Exporting America" is getting. He cited a case where an Indian company was looking at the American market for hiring American call center consultants. As I was composing this post, I found the transcript of this morning's show on the CNN site. Neat. I was mistaken to have thought that the disparaging remarks blurted out by Jack Cafferty (of the Cafferty File fame) and Soledad were impromptu. I should have known better that such things are tactfully delivered by the news channels. Read the entire transcript here that sparked my anger..what were they thinking ? My comments in blue..

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": Insourcing. I don't know if this is man bites dog, role reversal. I think it's actually the exception that proves the rule.

This is interesting stuff here. Story in "The Wall Street Journal" about a company in India, call center. This is called V- Customer, they do all these big call centers. You call up, try to get information, it's in India.

Well guess what? Here's the company, V-Customer, they've got six call centers, they handle all those millions of calls. Three thousand employees, looking to double almost by later this year. They are looking to buy a company in the United States, of course, to expand their operations. Helping out with the call centers. And isn't that ironic.

Is it so difficult to digest the fact that a Indian company can hire Americans? I don't understand what's ironic. Business works both ways.

CAFFERTY: Maybe they could hire people in this country to speak English a little better than those folks over there do. I mean you get on the line with some of those folks in India, and you can spend the rest of your life there. They don't understand you, you don't understand them, it's takes forever.

I bet it does! I have seen both sides now. The AOL call center mentioned by Jack is indeed in Bangalore. I have seen them being coached for American English for 2 months. I will agree that I considered it funny when they would rut away the airport codes and the slang used by Americans, this was a part of their curriculum gearing them up for their jobs. It is a fact that one cannot 'remotely' learn a country's usage of language without actually interacting. And I definitely would give the benefit of doubt here.

HEMMER: Kind of like New York City.

SERWER: Listen, I was talking to someone from AOL at a call center in India and I was having a tough time, getting frustrated and I just said it's not her fault.

I can imagine the abuse this poor woman in India gets, day after day. She spoke English well, understood what she was doing. But you could see how frustrated customers with that job thing are giving her a hard time, right?

CAFFERTY: Well yes. I mean you pick up a phone to call AOL, it's an American company. The least you can expect to talk to someone who understands the language.

The best things in life come at a price. Be ready to pay $10 for a call and you will have an American chirping away with you.
(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Colin Powell was there this week trying to jawbone the Indians to lift trade restrictions to make the job situation better there. He is there.

Why are some Indian cities such as Bangalore, Delhi thrown into bad limelight now and are getting attention more than what is due? Check the picture in this article titled Questioning free trade Mathematics. It is a picture of a company in New Delhi, not is Jakarta or Beijing or Mexico City. So many jobs get exported to these cities too. Then why target only one?

Reason : Presidential elections. The democrats are advocating the cause for loss of jobs. Outsourcing is definitely not new to this country. Outsourcing in the manufacturing segment started way back in the 1980's. But hue and cry of this magnitude was not raised then, why? Then why is export of technological jobs getting more attention. Because the percentage of job losses due to this is more than that could have been in any sector. Software is not a industry by itself - its repercussions on other industries is known to everyone.

-- to be continued...

Here are some good reads..

http://www.ftponline.com/weblogger/forum.aspx?ID=1&DATE=03/16/2004
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/03/05/10OPconnection_1.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/business/18scene.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/international/asia/17POWE.html?th