Inspirational

This was Dr. Randy Pausch's last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away last week. After watching this lecture, I was very moved and realized how important it is to dream and do everything possible when you have an opportunity to make your dreams come true. There is nothing more imperative than loving one's own life and making the most use of it. After all you live each day just once!

CNN-IBN's latest Cricket news

This is what the title of the article says.. "Sachin's new haircut, thanks to Bhajji!!" Can u believe it?
This links to an article in cricketnext.com.

My iPhone Adventure

It all started with me deciding to buy the iPhone on Thursday evening after my prolonged discussion with friends and tireless forum hopping :) My miscalculation of people's enthusiasm in Dallas made me go to the AT&T store at 7:45 am on Friday. I drove by the store and for the first time I couldn't find a parking in that strip mall. Then I decided to park at a close by shop and walked to ATT. There were some 80 people in front of me.. I actually thought that there might be some 15-20 people max waiting in line on a weekday morning.. Looks like there are a lot of people like me who would go late to work rather than miss getting the iPhone on the day of its release!

I waited in line with no place to sit or even stretch.. By 8:30 am, our dear Mr.Dallas Sun started showing off his colors and brightness and ofcours the heat.. All of us were asked to fill out some form and were patiently waiting in line . There were some onlookers with a smirk and a "how stupid and jobless can u people get" look on their faces.. We waved and smiled and told that some of us came just that morning and there were infact people who camped overnight! After 1.5 hours of wait in the "stand here for a free tan" line and with just 10 people in front of me, the store manager came out and announced that they were SOLD OUT!!! I was so damned.

"A true hero is one who never gives up" said Master Shifu (Kung fu panda). Following his words, I decided not to give up and try again the next day. In order to better prepare for my battle with iPhone, I gathered statistics and found out that one of the stores was getting a shipment that midnight and will be open for sale on Saturday at 10:00 am. After having burnt my finger (actually my whole arm) the previous day, I decided to get to the store early.. how early was the question. I took a poll with my friends and decided to be at the store at 7:30 am. So I missed partying on friday night with some friends here and went to bed early. I set 2 alarms just in case :)

I was at the store at 7:40 and there were 14 people in front of me... People get a life.. There are better things to do than wait in line for an iPhone... Oops, I was there 2.5 hours before store hours for the iPhone.. I better shut up!! But this time around I was well prepared to brave the heat and the boredom. I took a bottle of water, sunscreen, sunglasses, a book, my iPod and my cellphone. I finally got my dear, lovely, amazing and splendid iPhone at 10.30 am!!! Since then I haven't been able to stay away from it :) It is worth the wait but not worth the sunburn.

Nocera to Yang

Oh Jerry, It’s No Longer Your Baby

This was an article/memo published on New York Times about Jerry Yang, the CEO of Yahoo!
It was a pretty strong article addressing how Yang has failed to work in the best interests of the shareholders. An interesting read.

Was it worth the wait?

Picture source: wikipedia.org

After all the waiting and waiting, the movie was finally released. With a lot of expectations my friend and I went to watch the much hyped movie. And the result:

We had to wait in line for 1 hour just to get into the theater. They had a very stupid system. People who had bought the tickets online had to stand in a separate line just to get the ticket stub and join a separate rather long line to enter. After all that we got into the theater.. As expected we got pretty bad seats.. we were sitting on the fourth row from the very front and that too not in the center but the side seats!!

I was just hoping the movie would be worth all that.. The movie finally started (30 min delayed), Kamal's entry as Rangarajan Nambi was awesome. I thought the movie is going to surpass my expectations.. The next Kamal was Govind, a bio-scientist in the US. What was the director and story writer thinking? The character of the Avtaar Singh was absolutely unnecessary. He had nothing to do with the story. It felt like this character was created to fill the 10 roles. In the last 10 mins, the doctor says that the bullet through Avtaar's throat "correctly" removed the cancer better than a surgical procedure!! The only thing I could say was "aiyooo".

Asin was personification of overacting when unnecessary.. It appeared to me like the only dialogue she had in the movie was "give me my God's idol" (I don't remember the exact dialogue).

Overall I felt that the movie did not meet my expectation. Kamal as usual did justice to his roles. The main thing that was lacking was story.. too many characters and unnecessary plots. Go for the movie for Kamal's sake..

My Rating: 2.5/5

Feeding my hunger

I am a Zero when it comes to investing.. Back in India, my mom being a banker was the one incharge of handling our investments and my dad always found it convenient that he doesn't have to bother about it!! I did not know about credit and debit for a very long time, never stood in line to deposit a check.. The only times I have gone to a bank was with my mother or to see my mother :) My first time banking experience was when I came to this country, I went to a local bank in Texas and stood in the hallway like a kid with excitement in her eyes on seeing an alien mother ship ;) I slowly learned personal banking and now that I am working for a finance organization I can say I know a lot more than what I knew 3 years back!

I felt it was high time I learn about managing my $$ in terms of investments. So I asked my friend at work to help me out.. He gave me 4 books on managing your finances. One book which I found very interesting is "Real Money" by Jim Cramer. It is about making educated investments in the stock market. I totally love this book. He talks about doing your 'homework' before buying any stocks. I am not done with this book yet.. Planning to finish it by this week.

So if you are like me, don't know why the numbers change on Yahoo finance every second, don't know what the hell is P/E ratio and want to learn about the stock market, I would definitely recommend this book for starters.

Startling

I was listening to the radio on my way back from work today.. I stay pretty close to work and it is usually a 5 minute drive.. But since I left from office at the peak time around 5.30 or so, it took me 15 minutes to get home!! The traffic at rush hour is just unbelievable..

So getting back to the topic, the radio show had this "call us and tell us" thing happening.. The topic of the day was "Interesting ways in which you have taken revenge on your boyfriend/fiance/husband"... In the 10-15 mins I listened, I was appalled at the things women can do to get back at their guy..

Some of the interesting ones, rather ones that I remember :)

• Wife baked cookies and made their dog lick one side of them.. Put the licked side down on the baking tray and watched her husband eat everyone of them!

• Boyfriend was allergic to fabric softener.. This girl washed all his inner T-shirts and underpants and used fabric softener.. She quietly placed these clothes in his closet and the poor guy was covered in rashes the next day :)

• And the very common one, the couple had a very romantic dinner.. the girl made sure that her fiance realized what he might get that night... She did all the dishes, went to the bedrooom, locked and slept.. The guy slept on the couch that night

So to all you men out there.. Don't think that you can easily fool a woman and take her for granted.. We have our own ways of getting back at you :)

Helium Effect

Found this pretty funny.. Try inhaling helium and then speak - your voice comes out very different.

Sleep, The

I thought I should stop making a fool of myself especially after my previous post.. But just couldn’t resist

Here is my lame attempt at poetry!! (Have a nice laugh)

The Sleep

The night so dark and scary
I wished I could see a fairy
To make all my dreams come true
Little did I know I didn’t have a clue

I was singing and dancing
Everybody around me was laughing
Suddenly I heard a monstrous thunder
And thought someone had committed a blunder

I got scared and woke up
In sweat I was soaked up
I searched for the noise that made me weep
And found my dad snoring in his sleep

I wonder why

There are so many things about me which I don’t understand.. I am almost a quarter century old [Yes, I am Very Young :)] and I just don’t seem to get answers to the way I feel about things and the way I react.. Has this ever happened to you?

Of late I have been questioning myself a lot and haven’t got convincing answers.. Simple things like I cannot go to bed until 12 - 12.30 am every night.. Like yesterday, I was very tired due to lack of sleep the previous night, yet couldn’t get some peaceful sleep.. So I called up my friend in the west coast and started talking to him.. I dint let the poor guy go to bed until 1 am (his time, ofcourse)... I am sure he must have been thinking like what the *^&# is wrong with this girl, acting like a nocturnal creature!

I seem to get worked up on simple issues and then immediately feel stupid about getting worked up.. Like the other day, my mom brought up the topic of "settling" down and I started talking to her about how life is not just about marriage and stuff.. Then I realized that my mom asked me a simple question and I could have just told her that I need time!

I have been saying things to freak out people close to me and have been too conscious not to let people get close to me.. I told a very close friend of mine that I don’t trust him all that much!! Can u believe it? He has been a great friend and I actually told this to him on his face.. Thankfully he understood what I meant and dint get worked up like me ;)

So I started thinking of a work around for this idiosyncrasy phase of my life and came up with these options: write poems, go on a euro trip, join martial arts, go to Las Vegas and gamble or just shut up!! None of them make sense except for the last one..

After reading all this, don’t you feel like I am loosing it? I was flabbergasted by my post that I almost deleted it.. But hey, may be 6 months from now I will have a hearty laugh reading it!

Hungry kya?

My parents took me to this restaurant Cholayil in Nugambakkam, Chennai. It was very nice healthy food. We were served around 7 juices and were asked to drink them in a particular order. These juices are supposed to induce generation of the digestive enzymes. Then we were served raw vegetables followed by semi-cooked vegetables and then fully cooked ones.

Source: cholayilsanjeevanam.com

Then we had brown rice with dhal and then white rice with the usual sambhar, rasam and buttermilk. The interesting thing is that none of the items had tamarind or any masala in them. Only pepper and salt was used in the preparation. Then came desert, you heard me desert! two payasams, one with sugar and the other with jaggery.

They have some branches in Chennai and are doing good business.. Not very expensive. Btw, if you are like me who drinks more water than eating food, you might find it a little difficult eating at Cholayil.. They don't serve water until the very end :)

I'm in love

Addiction is very hard to get over. Being in love is something you don't want to get over.. You want the initial sweetness to remain for eternity!

Little did I know that it would happen at the very first sight and would last this long.. I cannot go one day without listening to his voice.. All I can think about is him, even at work and while I am asleep. I wake up thinking about him and feel so delightful. There is distance in this relationship, but I know this love is going to be consistent.

And this is him :) - Tom Higgenson's "Hey There Delilah"

Simple yet inspirational

Cincy and nasal allergy?

It is going to be almost 3 years since I made the brave move of taking the longgggg longggg hour flight from Anna Airport to the US, withstanding the pathetic food they serve on flights.. And in all these years, I have fallen sick twice.. Any guesses where/when?

When I was in Florida I never fell sick; be it cold, sore throat, fever, insect bites.. nothing. But after moving to Cincinnati I have already been sick twice... once in Jan and now. I don't know if this has got anything to do with Cincy being a sinus valley.. I wonder!!!

During both the times Nyquil has worked wonders for me. The first time was very bad.. sore throat, fever and running nose! I tried everything - Indian medicine, vicks, tylenol, zycam.. Now thinking about it.. may be this was the reason I was sick for 2 weeks!!

It is beautiful spring weather outside and I am just too tired to go.. May be I will pull myself together and go for a stroll..

US Airways - No Way!

I went to India in March for a 3 week vacation. This is my story with US Airways on my way to India.

I was supposed to catch my connecting flight at Philadelphia to Frankfurt. I did the mistake of taking US Airways. There was a ground strike in Frankfurt and the US Airways people asked all the passengers without a German visa to rebook their flight. The staff was totally discourteous. They were not prepared to even answer out questions. So I got my flight re-booked for the next day. I was asked to go to "US Airways Special Services".. The female at the counter told me that she cannot check for the availability on other airlines and asked me to go to the International Ticket counter. So I went and found out that the US Airways staff there was more rude. She asked me to collect my baggage at a different terminal and go to DOMESTIC to check it in.. All she wanted to do was GET RID of me. When I went to Terminal B to pick up my baggage, I was informed that they did not pull my baggage out of the flight to Frankfurt. What a mess!!

I came back to the International Ticketing counter and went to the same lady who asked me to go to the Domestic Counter. She literally yelled at me and told me that she cannot do anything about my situation and that they will not provide me accommodation as well. I got totally frustrated. She told me that it was no big deal if I spend that night at the airport and that things like this happen! Can customer service get any worse? I wish I had the presence of mind and made note of her name. I for sure would have taken it up with US Airways corporate office.

There was a Lufthansa counter next to the US Airways counter. I went to the representative there to find out about the strike since I was flying Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Chennai. I could see a marked difference in how they treated their customers. I asked the floor manager if there was anyway I could take their flight that evening to Frankfurt. He took my passport, went inside and came back with my boarding pass. He told me that there was only a ground strike and that all flights to India were operating. It was 5.35 pm and the flight was scheduled to leave at 5.45 pm. I rushed to the gate and was almost the last person to board the flight. My sincere thanks to the Lufthansa people for helping me get to India as scheduled.

Although I was flying US Airways to Frankfurt, they refused to even help me out! US Airways could never offer the same customer service as Lufthansa. I can bet my money on that.

Bottom line, if you are flying international - DO NOT fly US Airways unless you are ok with a pathetic service and a don't care attitude. At least that has been my experience. Probably I am not lucky enough to get better basic service from them!

Aloha

After a long hiatus, I am back! Had been on a 3 week vacation to India.. That is a whole different story to write about. Yesterday at work we had a Hawaiian day.. It was a lot of fun. I learned the Hula dance.. It is not very different from the normal hip movement. With a little bit of hand movements, it was a very slow dance. One thing which I didn't know is that the dance tells a story like the happiness of the people in the islands, a girl trying to woe a guy, elements of nature, etc.

Me in the blue skirt - trying Hula

Hula Hoops - Big No No

Although I sucked at at the Hula Hoop contest, I had a good time! Bottom line, I had a 2 hour lunch break ;)

The Gas Price Monster

How many times has each one of us felt like cursing our car or have the "Not Again" feeling when the gas tank becomes empty? Have you noted the price of gas on your way to work? Have you wondered how much profit the oil companies make? Have you wondered if the price will ever become what it was in 2004/2005? I have done all that!!

Source: cartoonstock.com

It has been over a year since I saw the gas price fall below $2.75..
When the price of gas refuses to come down, let us at least make sure we are getting our money's worth :) (These pointers are from a friend’s email)

1. Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening, your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products play an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
2. When you are filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and hi. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.
3. One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is half full. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.
4. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

What not to get

I have come across a lot of websites which lists the things you can get your friend (girl) or girl friend... But do you know what Not to get? Based on my limited knowledge here is my top 5 what not to get her :)

1. Gym classes or Jenney's meal plan (weight loss plan.. Dont try to hint anything about a woman's body, especially "your body is not so great" aspect)
2. A teddy bear (why do guys think all gals love cute cuddly stuff?)
3. Movie tickets (that is not so creative)
4. A make over session (Hey, how would you feel if you were told you look like a squid?)
5. A knife set (It is for your own good..unless you would like to be the apple in a knife throwing session!!)

I wait and wait and wait

Every time I had to call a service provider be it mobile company, insurance, bank or airlines I always get frustrated waiting on the phone to get to a representative. The IVR systems suck big time and the call center people make sure that the customers are made to wait for as long as possible.. I use this website called gethuman.com which has direct numbers to operators/CSRs. I noticed that some of the numbers are the same as listed on the company website but they have short cuts for e.g. press 2 and say agent etc..

Hopefully you will no longer have to go through the frustrating ever lasting wait on the phone to speak to the Angel at the other end :)

No more speeding :)

Got this in a forward... Interesting! Hopefully people don't get into accidents thinking every pothole or damaged road is just an illusion ;)

Eureka!

This past whole week has been full of discoveries..

• Found out that my dearest friend is getting engaged this summer. Congratulations!
  
• I registered for Jazzercise and realized that I could have immense fun while exercising. - Hurray ;)
  
• A close friend and neighbor of mine is a radio jockey at a local desi radio station in Cincinnati.
• A friend's friend is dating someone and shared it with me and also asked me not to tell my friend :)
• I learnt what relationships are all about.. They are about 3 As : Acceptance, Adjustment and Adoration.
• I am not very patient (oops have known it all my life) - hehe
  
• And that I am the long lost Princess of the land of fortune - Now that's a wish :)

Now all this made me think as to how many things surprise us (happy and sad) every week and how much we learn.. Ever wondered why certain weeks are boring while certain others are a lot of fun? Imagine a week where u do not find anything fascinating or interestingly new.. Imagine a second week like that.. I would feel bored to death! Life is all about learning...Now I am getting philosophical..

Anyways, I did learn something very interesting about relationships from a friend. He told me that it is not about finding the right person, it is about feeling right with that one person.. So far I have never felt right and confident about being with a person in my life.. I have always had the fear of commitment and I never knew what it was about me that made me run away from things I wanted.. I was discussing this with my parents and my mom told me that I am scared to make a commitment.. This got me thinking.. Am I really terrified about loosing my freedom? I guess not.. I know that in relationships, one will loose his/her space to a certain extent.. Then what was it? I racked my brains for more than a day and finally I think I found the answer.. It is about feeling right and the 3 A's. Will I be able to accept, adjust and adore the other person with all my heart? Will I ever feel so right and confident? I guess lIFe is all about the "If" and"?".

I'm awestruck

Picture source: photoseek.com

Another place added to my ever growing list of ‘must visit before I am too old to travel’. Meteora is the second largest and complex monasteries built in Greece. The way to get to the monasteries is by staircases which are cut through the rocks! Although women are not allowed into the monasteries, I at least want to get to a point from where I can witness the majesty of these architectures :)

And the result..

I tried being a 'guy' for a day and I should say I was pretty successful. The day started off by rolling out of the bed at 7.15 am after having a very sound sleep and not doing the bed, ofcourse :). Then got ready to go to work.. Didn't pay too much attention to whether my shoes matched my shirt color or if I looked pretty. I was at work at 8.10 am and logged on to espn.com, yahoo finance and then cricinfo! Then the day went by pretty smoothly, had a couple of meetings, as usual projects were behind schedule and as a guy, I let my manager worry about it ;)

During lunch, I went with my friends to a Thai place. Ordered food and were chatting for a while about company politics and cars. Came back home after work at around 6.00 pm, made my coffee and sat in front of the Tv for 2 hours. Then I realized that I had to cook something for dinner. I did not panic, instead I picked up my phone and ordered pizza with extra cheese! Did not bother to clean the dishes from the previous day.. I continued to watch the idiot box and answered a few phone calls, spoke to my mom for 5 MINS and then put the phone down :) That itself is an achievement coz conversations with my mom last atleast 25 mins everyday! I felt lazy to put my bed and ended up sleeping on the couch!

On the whole, pretty relaxed day, no worries, and did nothing productive ;) Now I realize why guys love the way they lead their lives..

Guy For a Day

Sometimes I wonder why life is so complicated for women. We worry about the most trivial of all things whereas the men seem to be the easy-go-lucky type. Although every time I have asked my guy friends about their not so emotional attitude, they always seem to give me the same reply - “We just don’t show our emotions”. Why is that men seem to feel it is not important to show their emotions? We are not asking you to cry at the drop of a ball, but why not tell us how you feel instead of making us “nag” you for things?

Wouldn’t life be simpler if we women are also the carefree type? We not only worry about things related to us, but also why the men (friends, father, bfriend, husband etc.) close to us don’t worry about things.

For one day I am going to try my best not to let things bother me. I am going to be a guy for a day!

A short week

Took off Monday, Tuesday was a holiday and ended up working from home today!! Nice :)

Thanks to my friend who snowboards like a maniac, I was introduced to this amazing stand up comedian!

What now?

Another year has gone by. Every year seems to go faster than the previous... Was speaking to a friend of mine and found out that he retrospects his new year resolutions at the end of each year and evaluates how much of it he actually accomplished.. I have made resolutions, but never actually sat and thought through how did on those resolutions!!

This year, yet again resolutions have been made.. But I am going to remember to do a monthly instead of a year-end evaluation.. Following six sigma :)

Oops almost forgot.. Wish you a Very Happy New Year!