It took some cyclical iterations of denial leading to a random lapse of health for me to finally realize that stress was catching on to me. Added to the physical exhaustion aspect was the preceding emotional meltdown - a directly correlated event where all my pent up frustrations and anger erupted like a volcano. Holding on to things is not a trait of mine, or is it? When it comes to daily life no one can stop me from speaking my mind. Direct communication while not appreciated by some is good for the mind and soul because one feels best when what you think is what you say :) Unfortunately, to my surprise I do not apply this style well when it comes to human relationships. Family, friends and coworkers with whom I have an emotional connection I let things pile on for weeks and months until its almost too late. This in return catches by surprise the affected other person who then makes efforts to revive - often too little too late!
Leaving aside others for a minute, I think I have not even taken the time to understand myself for a few months. Back in April, I had an internal debate and then again in May but procrastination and half-hearted efforts in areas of interest resulted in meager if any results. Escaping seemed to be the easier route which is what I did through June-July by traveling and making merry while enduring an onslaught of work. The laziness and escapism is evident even as I look at my blogger dashboard - there are some dozens of drafts that were never completed, ideas or feelings that were never synthesized.
While procrastinating my personal thinking and thereby postponing decisions for my future has been my modus operandi so far; its time now for making some long due changes!!!
First, where did it all begin. Yesterday was a glorious Friday morning - there were no 7:30/8 am calls with international offices so I took my time to get ready. Munched on some cereal while reading the news, took a long shower and then decided to ride my motorcycle to work after a long hiatus. Of course this required some preparation, finding the gear (helmet, gloves and jacket) and going to a gas station to fill gas and inflate the tires. This is where it all hit me! The malfunctioning air pump machine meant it took me about 10-15 mins trying to inflate tires. As soon as I was finally done, and ready to take my long due (last year daily, now monthly/quarterly) ride I felt the world spinning and I had to just keep sitting on the bike with my head down on the fuel tank. Removing the gloves and helmet and opening the jacket made me realize how hot I was. After a couple minutes of stillness I felt capable enough to ride back home. Once home I ripped off all the layers to realize my shirt and jeans were completely drenched with my sweat. Some glasses of cold water and sitting in front of the fan finally made me feel calm. Few minutes later I drove to work in my car completely cold with high air conditioning and went on with life. But the single instance of a random heat-stroke or severe dehydration finally made me think hard.
Later in the day, I went to see my doctor who after making all the checks (blood pressure, sugar, hemoglobin, thyroid, EKG) declared I was in good health and should not worry :) What I learnt while waiting through the different tests was even more relevant. I ended up reading this article called The Rewards of Relaxation: Why Slowing Down Is Healthy in one of the magazines. It reinforced the idea that wasting time or doing nothing is good - it helps recharge the mind and body. It also explained why relaxing can sometimes be especially difficult for women who are efficient practitioners of multi-tasking, to-do-lists and getting things done. The final point of the article was that a task focused mind is not free enough to think creatively - "When we're engaged in "mindless" activities -- taking a stroll, listening to music, soaking our feet -- our minds are free to sort through the accumulated information stored there, making connections and finding answers that a focused, directed mind is too busy to make."
This Friday was the first time in 7-8 months that I left work early at 4:15 pm to go see the doctor but it was a step in defining boundaries between work and life. Ultimately, its left to every person in the work environment to look out for him/herself and protect oneself from a continued unfair onslaught of work. Its apparently never been a priority on normal (exceptions always exist in small %s) managers radars to monitor and protect hard-working people from being burnt out. After all taking for granted is a phenomenon in every aspect of life!
As if on cue, I took this entire weekend to relax, sleep, read, watch TV and do no chores; for once a messy home rocks if I am totally de-stressed! I also took the first steps to focus and think about life and my real aspirations not those artificially accelerated due to tags of $$$s associated with them. Fulfilling a fortune cookie message from many months ago that still adorns my bedside table I committed to "Stay close to your inner self. You will benefit in many ways.".
No major changes have been made yet the seeds have been sown :) I have ensured I eat proper meals and sleep for the sake of sleeping not out of sheer exhaustion. In August 2007, I made a lot of changes and all the decisions worked out in my favor so I am hoping my annual 2008 retreat and the subsequent changes will all help me grow in the right directions towards a more fulfilling life!
Showing posts with label school and work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school and work. Show all posts
Useful lessons from Meg Whitman's talk
- Enable, don't direct (simply put don't micromanage)
- Make size an advantage (its always easier to change direction in a startup)
- Disruptive ideas
- Price of inaction is far greater than the cost of a mistake
- Pick out companies where u r passionate about the product
- Take responsibility for your own career development
- Take risky choices where u don't know anything and can learn
- Realize u cannot be a perfect wife, mom, hostess and exec
- Know early on if u need intellectual stimulation
- Make trade offs - give up things unnecessary...her joke: she was elected as the worst dressed billionaire by some magazine..She couldn't care less for fashion
- Make mistakes; trial and error, be strategically agile
- In business, if u can absorb data, internalize various opinions and make decisions with 60% accuracy u r doing great!!
Long time no see, changes, Jawed Karim
I have NOT blogged since ages and find myself talking to my blog "long time no see my friend".... I was tempted couple of times in the last few weeks but sometimes sleep, at other times the sheer lack of finger energy have succeeded in keeping me from writing...This is bad since my goal of writing a book by 2008 now seems in grave danger....Either I need a sabbatical which is unlikely or I need to do nanowrimo and just get the story out of my system and done with....the fact that i haven't even blogged goes to say how much I have been writing, forget about serious writing!!!
Lotsa changes in daily life - new job, new house, triathlon training, fund raising, new toastmasters duties, savesantanu, side projects, new commute MOs, new lingo...through all of them life has been one exciting and adventurous journey.....can i pack in 1 more moving element, will the card castle come crashing or will i continue to flourish?
who says facebook, orkut, friendster and all other networking sites are useless.....most days they are good to waste away time or find a long lost friend or just fool around with ur mates....sometimes i stumble upon brand new information that connects to me in a certain way.....on a friend of a friend's wall i stumbled upon Jawed Karim on facebook....Intrigued I did a google search and found some background info such as With YouTube, Student Hits Jackpot Again
I also found Jawed to be one of the most entertaining commencement speakers!
Anyway, what I found most interesting about him was the humility of going back to school to learn more....inspiring indeed....
Lotsa changes in daily life - new job, new house, triathlon training, fund raising, new toastmasters duties, savesantanu, side projects, new commute MOs, new lingo...through all of them life has been one exciting and adventurous journey.....can i pack in 1 more moving element, will the card castle come crashing or will i continue to flourish?
who says facebook, orkut, friendster and all other networking sites are useless.....most days they are good to waste away time or find a long lost friend or just fool around with ur mates....sometimes i stumble upon brand new information that connects to me in a certain way.....on a friend of a friend's wall i stumbled upon Jawed Karim on facebook....Intrigued I did a google search and found some background info such as With YouTube, Student Hits Jackpot Again
I also found Jawed to be one of the most entertaining commencement speakers!
Anyway, what I found most interesting about him was the humility of going back to school to learn more....inspiring indeed....
Life is good
Life has this ethereal quality - it bounces back!
Where is this coming from? I had a weird day with an amazing number of things eventually going my way, which obviously has reinforced the idea of life's goodness in me.
I started the day late (my usual) at 10:30 am, was on my way to the city (as we like to call San Francisco) still in my 3 year old Toyota. When will I start riding my Kawasaki Ninja to the city? Confidence, where art thou? Reached my destination - the Indian consulate 10 minutes late but viola they agreed to let me in and accept my application for a mundane certificate! Come back in 4 hours, she said curtly.
With 3.5 hours to kill, I was in my adventure mode! I called a friend in San Jose for directions to her favorite sushi place called Blowfish. From a sushi point of view, I didn't like it much! Sushi in San Diego beats everything else I have eaten so far except of course the very spicy Dracula Killer roll that I had at Sushi Zen. At Blowfish, I enjoyed my white tea, the wasabi, free parking (yohoo), good service and the tranquility of my lunch! I actually thought thru a lot of stuff that was circling in my mind last 2 weeks. Cool kicker - a woman next to me was wearing my favorite tee - the Life is good brand :). As I walked out of Blowfish, my life was suddenly good - instead of chastising myself for wasting my life I had 3 strong plans in mind to make life meaningful!
Moved on to a Starbucks nearby, got very disturbed and frustrated with my online search results. I was looking for a 2008 research grant or fellowship to apply for in order to pursue some of my social ideas in Africa and Asia. To my dismay, 99% of US university/foundation sponsored fellowships are reserved for US citizens; even my own school Stanford is no different! The same applies if I would like my US school to recommend me for an international fellowship - limited to US citizens only. I thought - okay well, I can apply for these international fellowships with India as the recommending country; unfortunately in order to qualify person must be residing currently and immediate past 2 years in India :(! My manic search, terror and frustration had no limit as I kept looking and looking till I found a few grants which said "citizenship no bar". The reality of my situation stuck with me for a few hours - I've been living in US for last 5 years, my parents have been in Africa for a decade and my sister has been in US and Canada; maybe I am just a global citizen?!
For anyone interested here is a list of websites (in no order) to checkout for social fellowships/grants:
http://chronicle.com/cgi2-bin/texis/events/searchdeadlines
http://www.ierf.org/grants.asp
http://www.scholarshipsinindia.com/
http://www.globalartsvillage.org/Social_Development_Full_Fellowship.htm
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/2/10/fellowshipCombinesTechAndSocialEntrepreneurship
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/urp/PDFLibrary/fellowships/fellowships.pdf
http://www.pdsoros.org/about.html#expectations
http://www.yale.edu/iefp/fellowships/by_category/nonUS_citizen.htm#fox
http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/graduate.htm
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/grants.html
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/jacksonlibrary/articles/hottopics/social_entrepreneurship.html
http://www.socialedge.org/resources/edge-wiki/Funding
http://www.ashoka.org/team/leadership
http://draperrichards.org/process/guidelines.html
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/leadership/reynolds/applying/
http://www.acumenfund.org/About/opportunity.asp
http://www.globalknowledge.org/ysecompetition07/
http://www.ysei.org/?q=node/7
http://socialvc.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageID=109
http://www.skollfoundation.org/aboutskoll/jeff_skolls_vision.asp
http://www.idealist.org/career/morejobs.html
Last minute delays ensued due to my disbelief at Google on not providing useful answers to my fellowship question! Further, as expected traffic jams on Vanness ensured I was late even to pick my passport at the consulate. The lady helping me bickered in English "Indians are always late", I smiled, reviewed the certificate and told her the passport number on the certificate was wrong. She asked me to wait as she had the corrections made. This time she bickered in Gujarati to her colleague! Of course I understood every freaking word she said, the fact that I don't look Gujarati goes a long way in amusing me :) Laugh Out Loud!
With all the documents in hand I was headed home, a good view of the ocean persuaded me to get lost. I drove aimlessly for 30 minutes before landing at Cafe Lo Cubano. I realized the only 2 times I have truly enjoyed San Francisco is when I have wandered aimlessly - today and last year for my "Out of the Darkness Overnight" marathon!
Some more espresso, 2 more hours of search this time for non-profit jobs and nothing! Unrelenting unrest was building up inside me as I found myself locked in my current life. The brick house with bricks literally jutting out at the intersection of Presidio and Clay give me a few minutes of amusement relief. Later, the passive aggression I directed at myself was unbelievable - I was already at Foster City before I got out of my dazed driving. And eureka, it hit me (no, not a car)! I had an idea - this changes everything...I am no more locked, the wings are out and ready to fly! The sky is blue and beautiful, there are clusters of white and black clouds but now I have a destination, navigating through is just the fun execution part :)
Where is this coming from? I had a weird day with an amazing number of things eventually going my way, which obviously has reinforced the idea of life's goodness in me.
I started the day late (my usual) at 10:30 am, was on my way to the city (as we like to call San Francisco) still in my 3 year old Toyota. When will I start riding my Kawasaki Ninja to the city? Confidence, where art thou? Reached my destination - the Indian consulate 10 minutes late but viola they agreed to let me in and accept my application for a mundane certificate! Come back in 4 hours, she said curtly.
With 3.5 hours to kill, I was in my adventure mode! I called a friend in San Jose for directions to her favorite sushi place called Blowfish. From a sushi point of view, I didn't like it much! Sushi in San Diego beats everything else I have eaten so far except of course the very spicy Dracula Killer roll that I had at Sushi Zen. At Blowfish, I enjoyed my white tea, the wasabi, free parking (yohoo), good service and the tranquility of my lunch! I actually thought thru a lot of stuff that was circling in my mind last 2 weeks. Cool kicker - a woman next to me was wearing my favorite tee - the Life is good brand :). As I walked out of Blowfish, my life was suddenly good - instead of chastising myself for wasting my life I had 3 strong plans in mind to make life meaningful!
Moved on to a Starbucks nearby, got very disturbed and frustrated with my online search results. I was looking for a 2008 research grant or fellowship to apply for in order to pursue some of my social ideas in Africa and Asia. To my dismay, 99% of US university/foundation sponsored fellowships are reserved for US citizens; even my own school Stanford is no different! The same applies if I would like my US school to recommend me for an international fellowship - limited to US citizens only. I thought - okay well, I can apply for these international fellowships with India as the recommending country; unfortunately in order to qualify person must be residing currently and immediate past 2 years in India :(! My manic search, terror and frustration had no limit as I kept looking and looking till I found a few grants which said "citizenship no bar". The reality of my situation stuck with me for a few hours - I've been living in US for last 5 years, my parents have been in Africa for a decade and my sister has been in US and Canada; maybe I am just a global citizen?!
For anyone interested here is a list of websites (in no order) to checkout for social fellowships/grants:
http://chronicle.com/cgi2-bin
http://www.ierf.org/grants.asp
http://www.scholarshipsinindia
http://www.globalartsvillage
http://daily.stanford.edu
http://www.stanford.edu/dept
http://www.pdsoros.org/about
http://www.yale.edu/iefp
http://www.yale.edu/macmillan
http://library.stanford.edu
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu
http://www.socialedge.org
http://www.ashoka.org/team
http://draperrichards.org
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu
http://www.acumenfund.org
http://www.globalknowledge.org
http://www.ysei.org/?q=node/7
http://socialvc.net/index.cfm
http://www.skollfoundation.org
http://www.idealist.org/career
Last minute delays ensued due to my disbelief at Google on not providing useful answers to my fellowship question! Further, as expected traffic jams on Vanness ensured I was late even to pick my passport at the consulate. The lady helping me bickered in English "Indians are always late", I smiled, reviewed the certificate and told her the passport number on the certificate was wrong. She asked me to wait as she had the corrections made. This time she bickered in Gujarati to her colleague! Of course I understood every freaking word she said, the fact that I don't look Gujarati goes a long way in amusing me :) Laugh Out Loud!
With all the documents in hand I was headed home, a good view of the ocean persuaded me to get lost. I drove aimlessly for 30 minutes before landing at Cafe Lo Cubano. I realized the only 2 times I have truly enjoyed San Francisco is when I have wandered aimlessly - today and last year for my "Out of the Darkness Overnight" marathon!
Some more espresso, 2 more hours of search this time for non-profit jobs and nothing! Unrelenting unrest was building up inside me as I found myself locked in my current life. The brick house with bricks literally jutting out at the intersection of Presidio and Clay give me a few minutes of amusement relief. Later, the passive aggression I directed at myself was unbelievable - I was already at Foster City before I got out of my dazed driving. And eureka, it hit me (no, not a car)! I had an idea - this changes everything...I am no more locked, the wings are out and ready to fly! The sky is blue and beautiful, there are clusters of white and black clouds but now I have a destination, navigating through is just the fun execution part :)
Lessons of Life
Lesson 1 - Be Do Want instead of Want Do Be
A few weeks ago a friend of mine came to see. She was all excited to share her new found learnings from a life education class she had attended. I did not mock her, I listened to her attentively even asked questions. Somethings made senses, others seemed age old known tricks of the mind. She sensed my skepticism and exclaimed she had felt the same way initially. Nevertheless, a few logical ways of thinking that she mentioned stuck with me; I wrote 1 thought on my refrigerator white-board:
"Be; Do; Want (Get It)"
I possibly read this once in 3-4 days coming in and out of the kitchen but did not derive much meaning out of it. Last few days I had been feeling down, helpless and restrained from doing the things I wanted to do at work and outside. Today, it all made sense finally!
I Want to do X, Y and Z.
There is no point in me waiting around till people realize I am capable of doing X, Y and Z and give me permission/authority/whatever-u-call-it. Since I don't really care to lose anything why should I wait around fuming and wasting my energy and drive. Why waste the energy in selling myself to people?
Rather than Want and Wait I will Become what I wish by Just Doing the work that needs to be done. Once I have done it people will automatically realize what I Wanted to being with was valid and Give it to me. Even if they don't; heck who cares I will already be Doing it!!
Lesson 2 - Pain is real. U can either come out of it more humane yet spreading joy or bitter and spreading hatred.
Person N gave a speech on an offbeat topic "Why do bad things happen to good people" today at the toastmaster's club. She did not go in to an emotional overdrive; in fact she presented information factually and logically. We have all seen very bad things repeatedly happen to do-gooders, why? After eliminating several religious and age old excuses in the name of reason, she arrived at the point that it is not God who decides these things. God or an exterior power is not trying to teach a good person or anyone a lesson by doing something bad. Perhaps, it is just that forces of nature or the unknown do not discriminate between the good and bad karma. When a tsunami strikes a coastal city it doesn't impact just the bad people, it kills the good, bad and the ugly.
Instead of looking at pain as a life sucking parasite it helps to develop a positive attitude in life and moving on from the pain rather than keep cursing God, people, circumstances, etc. The success that can be felt in arising out of sorrow and making something out of your life must be unmatched. It is our primal expression if we strive to make life enjoyable for ourselves and others by doing something meaningful with our time on earth instead of wallowing in self-pity and misery.
A few weeks ago a friend of mine came to see. She was all excited to share her new found learnings from a life education class she had attended. I did not mock her, I listened to her attentively even asked questions. Somethings made senses, others seemed age old known tricks of the mind. She sensed my skepticism and exclaimed she had felt the same way initially. Nevertheless, a few logical ways of thinking that she mentioned stuck with me; I wrote 1 thought on my refrigerator white-board:
"Be; Do; Want (Get It)"
I possibly read this once in 3-4 days coming in and out of the kitchen but did not derive much meaning out of it. Last few days I had been feeling down, helpless and restrained from doing the things I wanted to do at work and outside. Today, it all made sense finally!
I Want to do X, Y and Z.
There is no point in me waiting around till people realize I am capable of doing X, Y and Z and give me permission/authority/whatever-u-call-it. Since I don't really care to lose anything why should I wait around fuming and wasting my energy and drive. Why waste the energy in selling myself to people?
Rather than Want and Wait I will Become what I wish by Just Doing the work that needs to be done. Once I have done it people will automatically realize what I Wanted to being with was valid and Give it to me. Even if they don't; heck who cares I will already be Doing it!!
Lesson 2 - Pain is real. U can either come out of it more humane yet spreading joy or bitter and spreading hatred.
Person N gave a speech on an offbeat topic "Why do bad things happen to good people" today at the toastmaster's club. She did not go in to an emotional overdrive; in fact she presented information factually and logically. We have all seen very bad things repeatedly happen to do-gooders, why? After eliminating several religious and age old excuses in the name of reason, she arrived at the point that it is not God who decides these things. God or an exterior power is not trying to teach a good person or anyone a lesson by doing something bad. Perhaps, it is just that forces of nature or the unknown do not discriminate between the good and bad karma. When a tsunami strikes a coastal city it doesn't impact just the bad people, it kills the good, bad and the ugly.
Instead of looking at pain as a life sucking parasite it helps to develop a positive attitude in life and moving on from the pain rather than keep cursing God, people, circumstances, etc. The success that can be felt in arising out of sorrow and making something out of your life must be unmatched. It is our primal expression if we strive to make life enjoyable for ourselves and others by doing something meaningful with our time on earth instead of wallowing in self-pity and misery.
I believe I can fly!
The winds were blowing west and shrill
with trees humming a calm beat
The trail went winding all the way
and a cool blue reservoir made my day!
Just walking down the Crystal Springs/Skyline trail last night was an amazing experience; the climate was simply put outrageous - high speed winds, serene noises all thanks to the waves and trees and a relatively small army of hikers on the trail. Although, I had company it was easy to find time to enjoy nature at its natural self all pristine and calm in my mind! When I reflect on such trips, I often question why people go to religious places to seek peace. Its truly the lovely woods that offer us the best refuge to attain peace of mind and body! I can't think of any church, mosque, temple or monastery that I have visited that have offered anything like it. John Muir was right when he said - "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks".
From a relaxing Sunday evening to an action packed Monday - the day zoomed by without so much as a pause. The climax of the day was actually getting all the things done on time albeit I was literally running and panting from 1 meeting to another task! Came home in time to log my 45 minutes of peaceful run time followed by eating, relaxing and loads of laughing.
The sudden deja vu realization of the week for me is that Silicon Valley disgusts me in some ways. How? Why?
I am always complaining to myself that I don't spend enough time reading the news. Of course I hate reading the NY Times or WSJ, they are way too uptight for my taste and any of the op-ed columns worth reading in them anyway get republished. Skimming through a 1 day old SJ Mercury newspaper at home is an almost daily activity unless today is the D-day when I shall spend 2 hours to read the whole thing cover to cover, word to word and all of a sudden I shall be a news enlightened person. But then reading a newspaper doesnt suffice. You gotta keep up with the business world, startup world, stock world, war world, Indian world, etc. Blog world news is a no-brainer; I must confess I have feeds from at least 100 sites/blogs that feed in to my google page that I see N- times everyday but how many links do I click and then how many do I read - well thats more like tracking google adwords click-thru ratio and conversion ratio - very very low! So what does news have to do with my disgust????
One of the popular feeds today brought me to this site: valleywag. While Peter Thiel is a person I would like to read about, the content and presentation of the first few postings on this blog filled me up to the mouth with disgust!!!!! Does Silicon Valley now work like Hollywood? Is trash talk and gossip now news in the valley? We might as well start talking about Paris Hilton's jail ride/upcoming movie-saga/her dog/her purse and all such nonsensical matters in the same line as Peter Thiel's political affliation/property/drinking habits etc.???!!! Who is reading this junk? I was shocked to see some 600 views on the latest post :(
Makes me feel like shunning the business world and Silicon Valley and most definitely the habit of clicking on feeds from tech news blogs!! What would the world be if its habitants would not pursue their need to impress others or to be cool/hip/rich/popular/successful all at the same time? Perhaps, we could then live as naturally as the cool blue water, be ourselves and relish every moment of doing something we really wanted to do...
I believe I can fly and I will fly! Sshh let no one hear that :)
with trees humming a calm beat
The trail went winding all the way
and a cool blue reservoir made my day!
Just walking down the Crystal Springs/Skyline trail last night was an amazing experience; the climate was simply put outrageous - high speed winds, serene noises all thanks to the waves and trees and a relatively small army of hikers on the trail. Although, I had company it was easy to find time to enjoy nature at its natural self all pristine and calm in my mind! When I reflect on such trips, I often question why people go to religious places to seek peace. Its truly the lovely woods that offer us the best refuge to attain peace of mind and body! I can't think of any church, mosque, temple or monastery that I have visited that have offered anything like it. John Muir was right when he said - "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks".
From a relaxing Sunday evening to an action packed Monday - the day zoomed by without so much as a pause. The climax of the day was actually getting all the things done on time albeit I was literally running and panting from 1 meeting to another task! Came home in time to log my 45 minutes of peaceful run time followed by eating, relaxing and loads of laughing.
The sudden deja vu realization of the week for me is that Silicon Valley disgusts me in some ways. How? Why?
I am always complaining to myself that I don't spend enough time reading the news. Of course I hate reading the NY Times or WSJ, they are way too uptight for my taste and any of the op-ed columns worth reading in them anyway get republished. Skimming through a 1 day old SJ Mercury newspaper at home is an almost daily activity unless today is the D-day when I shall spend 2 hours to read the whole thing cover to cover, word to word and all of a sudden I shall be a news enlightened person. But then reading a newspaper doesnt suffice. You gotta keep up with the business world, startup world, stock world, war world, Indian world, etc. Blog world news is a no-brainer; I must confess I have feeds from at least 100 sites/blogs that feed in to my google page that I see N- times everyday but how many links do I click and then how many do I read - well thats more like tracking google adwords click-thru ratio and conversion ratio - very very low! So what does news have to do with my disgust????
One of the popular feeds today brought me to this site: valleywag. While Peter Thiel is a person I would like to read about, the content and presentation of the first few postings on this blog filled me up to the mouth with disgust!!!!! Does Silicon Valley now work like Hollywood? Is trash talk and gossip now news in the valley? We might as well start talking about Paris Hilton's jail ride/upcoming movie-saga/her dog/her purse and all such nonsensical matters in the same line as Peter Thiel's political affliation/property/drinking habits etc.???!!! Who is reading this junk? I was shocked to see some 600 views on the latest post :(
Makes me feel like shunning the business world and Silicon Valley and most definitely the habit of clicking on feeds from tech news blogs!! What would the world be if its habitants would not pursue their need to impress others or to be cool/hip/rich/popular/successful all at the same time? Perhaps, we could then live as naturally as the cool blue water, be ourselves and relish every moment of doing something we really wanted to do...
I believe I can fly and I will fly! Sshh let no one hear that :)
productivity and 4Ps spoof
http://www.productivity501.com/interview-best-post/263/
found this amazing link somehow, somwhere on the web....checked out 3 to 4 links and they were all so useful...
note to self: be more productive, patient, proactive and passionate! these r my 4 Ps :)
the spoof 4 Ps are so much more coooler than the consulting/marketing 4 Ps: product, price, place and promotion
found this amazing link somehow, somwhere on the web....checked out 3 to 4 links and they were all so useful...
note to self: be more productive, patient, proactive and passionate! these r my 4 Ps :)
the spoof 4 Ps are so much more coooler than the consulting/marketing 4 Ps: product, price, place and promotion
Manic energy, sleepless nights and more..
Yesterday was a very strange day...In one single albeit elongated day, I was able to:
- priortize projects at work so I knew what to focus on when this week
- put my foot completely down and make a case for why I thought we shouldnt do project X
- bid on eBay for the object of my affection Kawasaki Ninja 250 cc motorcycle
- spend 3 freaking hours at the hospital getting some basic tests done (what is even the point of an appointment! American healthcare had put on its worst show...ahem sarcasm intended)
- attend a talk on Kiva.org
- do some work while struggling with a headache all thanks to the California heat and 1 beer at a going away party for a colleague....For someone who has never been drunk, such a reaction from my body leaves me shocked...
- do 2 hours of research on micro-finance in Eritrea
- rescue a friend with a flat tire late in the night
- come back and attend while meaningfully contributing (*rare*) to a late night conference call with our India team
- eat cereal for dinner at midnight
After all this, I expected to fall asleep and enjoy the pleasure of deep slumber as soon as my body hit the bed at 3 am. Instead, my brain experienced an occurence - one of those manic/frenzied/unexpected surge of energy moments. All of a sudden the atoms started colliding if you will and despite all attempts I kept thinking of new ideas for Janar on building Magis and site improvement ideas for Kiva.
Of course I had provided enough context to my mind during the day for these discussions to arise. I had a nice long conversation with Janar while waiting for my appointment at the hospital. Despite cash flow problems, Janar is very upbeat these days, has new plans, is back to his daily marathon workouts and an ever-increasing opportunity log. I think our new plan to tag team and make presentations at popular CA Jesuit high schools on all kinds of green and do-good topics is a step in the right direction. While selflessly talking about other non-profit ideas we can use the networking opportunities to increase assets under managemet with Magis. I am hoping that by the end of this year Magis will be close to if not net-positive!
Coming back to mania/fever: I had hibernated the laptop and was all tucked in when these ideas started popping in my brain - suggestions for Kiva. Of course laziness/procrastination won plus I didn't really want the guys at Kiva to think I was some crazy person trying to overwhelm them with 10 emails in one day. So I did the bad thing - after tossing and turning while drumming up things for 1.5 hours I finally dozed off. The first chance I got this morning at work I sat down to write all the things I had thought of. Lo and behold I had forgotten half of the ideas. This is bad, v. bad and its not the first time - since I like to write I have been in such situations before in the car, shower, meeting, lunch and even lounging on the couch at home; when random but cool ideas have struck me but just out of laziness I havent noted them down which means all those thoughts somehow evaporate and are gone forever. Never penned or typed down they are lost in some hidden cavities in my brain.
With continued nights of low sleep intake, I am hoping the brain tsunami will stike me more often AND this time I will be all gungho post-it note and pen all handy to write these babies down as soon as they occur to me!
Read these words on kivachronicles which struck a chord in me!
"If you're an entrepreneur, you should sound more confident than you are. If you're a social entrepreneur, you should be more inspirational than you feel. If you are an introverted social entrepreneur, you will face even more problems.
I struggled with depression for much of my young adult life. Sitting close behind a great optimism for other people lied a cloud of pessimism directed inward. In my short career in the corporate world, this pessimism would hang over me for weeks at a time. I would come home from work just wondering how I was going to escape the meaningless cycle I seemed to have fallen into. "
Further down on the same page one of the commenters Kevin Jones said...
- priortize projects at work so I knew what to focus on when this week
- put my foot completely down and make a case for why I thought we shouldnt do project X
- bid on eBay for the object of my affection Kawasaki Ninja 250 cc motorcycle
- spend 3 freaking hours at the hospital getting some basic tests done (what is even the point of an appointment! American healthcare had put on its worst show...ahem sarcasm intended)
- attend a talk on Kiva.org
- do some work while struggling with a headache all thanks to the California heat and 1 beer at a going away party for a colleague....For someone who has never been drunk, such a reaction from my body leaves me shocked...
- do 2 hours of research on micro-finance in Eritrea
- rescue a friend with a flat tire late in the night
- come back and attend while meaningfully contributing (*rare*) to a late night conference call with our India team
- eat cereal for dinner at midnight
After all this, I expected to fall asleep and enjoy the pleasure of deep slumber as soon as my body hit the bed at 3 am. Instead, my brain experienced an occurence - one of those manic/frenzied/unexpected surge of energy moments. All of a sudden the atoms started colliding if you will and despite all attempts I kept thinking of new ideas for Janar on building Magis and site improvement ideas for Kiva.
Of course I had provided enough context to my mind during the day for these discussions to arise. I had a nice long conversation with Janar while waiting for my appointment at the hospital. Despite cash flow problems, Janar is very upbeat these days, has new plans, is back to his daily marathon workouts and an ever-increasing opportunity log. I think our new plan to tag team and make presentations at popular CA Jesuit high schools on all kinds of green and do-good topics is a step in the right direction. While selflessly talking about other non-profit ideas we can use the networking opportunities to increase assets under managemet with Magis. I am hoping that by the end of this year Magis will be close to if not net-positive!
Coming back to mania/fever: I had hibernated the laptop and was all tucked in when these ideas started popping in my brain - suggestions for Kiva. Of course laziness/procrastination won plus I didn't really want the guys at Kiva to think I was some crazy person trying to overwhelm them with 10 emails in one day. So I did the bad thing - after tossing and turning while drumming up things for 1.5 hours I finally dozed off. The first chance I got this morning at work I sat down to write all the things I had thought of. Lo and behold I had forgotten half of the ideas. This is bad, v. bad and its not the first time - since I like to write I have been in such situations before in the car, shower, meeting, lunch and even lounging on the couch at home; when random but cool ideas have struck me but just out of laziness I havent noted them down which means all those thoughts somehow evaporate and are gone forever. Never penned or typed down they are lost in some hidden cavities in my brain.
With continued nights of low sleep intake, I am hoping the brain tsunami will stike me more often AND this time I will be all gungho post-it note and pen all handy to write these babies down as soon as they occur to me!
Read these words on kivachronicles which struck a chord in me!
"If you're an entrepreneur, you should sound more confident than you are. If you're a social entrepreneur, you should be more inspirational than you feel. If you are an introverted social entrepreneur, you will face even more problems.
I struggled with depression for much of my young adult life. Sitting close behind a great optimism for other people lied a cloud of pessimism directed inward. In my short career in the corporate world, this pessimism would hang over me for weeks at a time. I would come home from work just wondering how I was going to escape the meaningless cycle I seemed to have fallen into. "
Further down on the same page one of the commenters Kevin Jones said...
When the going gets tough, the tough get going?
Character is something you build through-out life and strength is something you acquire from within while building character. This realization has become more and more relevant and obvious to me in the last few months. Its the tough decisions one needs to make in life that take a lot of personal strength and conviction. A situation would not be tough if it did not demand an extraordinary amount of thinking, decision making and then sticking with it against all odds and literally the whole world! But doing just that is what makes you a stronger person.
In professional settings this is almost a weekly scenario - something important comes up and viola most people start worrying. Perhaps, that haven't heard of:
Of course there is his/her strategic reasoning, ability to rationalize, personal vested interest and a whole lot of politics that comes in to the picture. But this is also where the hammer meets the hot iron if you will. You feel cornered to take the path of least resistance, or the past of highest long-term or short-term personal benefit forgetting all about the company's future! The mark of a true leader (at least one I would look up to) is who comes up with the answer to what is the right thing to do for my team and company not for me!!!
Directors and executives who come up with popular decisions or decisions that help build their empires/organizations are a dime a dozen, who cares about them! Yes they will make a lot of money but they will also loose friends, loyalists, respect and their own selves as they continue to grow in the very rampant corporate model.
A really passionate leader should be able to make tough decisions without screwing someone. The first time you make a decision that works for everyone but screws up one person in your team; you are doomed you are going down the wrong path and every decision after that you will find it easier to screw others in making the most for yourself.
So keep it human! Be rational, reasonable, sensitive and less selfish if not selfless! Be strong, do good and inspire 10 others to follow your way; make the corporate world a good place to work in :)
In professional settings this is almost a weekly scenario - something important comes up and viola most people start worrying. Perhaps, that haven't heard of:
Of course there is his/her strategic reasoning, ability to rationalize, personal vested interest and a whole lot of politics that comes in to the picture. But this is also where the hammer meets the hot iron if you will. You feel cornered to take the path of least resistance, or the past of highest long-term or short-term personal benefit forgetting all about the company's future! The mark of a true leader (at least one I would look up to) is who comes up with the answer to what is the right thing to do for my team and company not for me!!!
Directors and executives who come up with popular decisions or decisions that help build their empires/organizations are a dime a dozen, who cares about them! Yes they will make a lot of money but they will also loose friends, loyalists, respect and their own selves as they continue to grow in the very rampant corporate model.
A really passionate leader should be able to make tough decisions without screwing someone. The first time you make a decision that works for everyone but screws up one person in your team; you are doomed you are going down the wrong path and every decision after that you will find it easier to screw others in making the most for yourself.
So keep it human! Be rational, reasonable, sensitive and less selfish if not selfless! Be strong, do good and inspire 10 others to follow your way; make the corporate world a good place to work in :)
Great Expectations
- I like the challenge of surprising people who underestimate me. Nothing gives me more pleasure than meeting and exceeding expectations of people especially those who have no faith in my potential to deliver.
- My theory has not worked out very well for me in everyday life. Since I would like people to give me a chance I try to give others a fair chance. The other day I went for a haircut and when it was my turn at the hair salon I was greeted by the newest member of the salon staff. He must have been a 25 year old young intern or something and I didn't have the heart to turn him down and wait for the next person to cut my hair. Since I did not want to prejudice against his gender and age I let him cut my hair. I gave him enough direction and answered all his questions but the end result was my worse fears come true. Boy I should have resisted my urge!
- Oft expectation fails, and most oft where most it promises; and oft it hits where hope is coldest; and despair most sits.
Generally speaking we are all told not to expect. Not having expectations or lowering them certainly makes it easier to be content and happy but is that really practical? Not expecting anything in return for acts of kindness towards strangers or a social cause is plausible. However, not having any expectations from people that we love or cherish is totally impossible. Of course we all have heard that true love is unconditional. On a high level, our parents and family members do love us throughout life unconditionally but even the best parents do have expectations. I think it comes naturally to the animal race to expect. The measure of expectations might vary from little to great but I haven't figured out yet the answer to my question: To expect or not to expect?!
Some interesting articles on IBNLIVE
Homemakers make a B-line at IIM-B
You go ladies! Its never too late to learn and get going on fulfilling your dreams :)
Rang de Bizarre
I think I agree with Sagarika Ghose! When will we stop over-dramatizing and glorifying life in Indian movies? Let me leave u with her closing lines:
"Rang De Basanti does a terrible disservice to the nationalism of India's young people. It wilfully paints modern day patriots as unthinking anti-establishment killers. It foolishly creates a myth known as Gen Next which does nothing but drink and dance. And it promotes a leviathan media as the ultimate interpreter of India. The fact that Rang de Basanti is a hit shows just how catastrophically distant we are getting from reality, where we're happy to live from media image to media image, from frame to frame, without realising the depth and profundity of "ordinary" human dramas."
The Young Executive Age
Ever since I became part of a young, vibrant Silicon Valley company I can't help but notice the average age of an executive....In most cases, its between 32 and 37....Wow thats young!
Going the traditional route in a bank, consumer products company or a Dell/Microsoft of the world you would be lucky if you have paid your dues by your lates 20s and by 30 you are a manager of some sort. By 40 you could go 2-3 layers higher in the pyramid and eventually you could possibly be an executive anytime between 42 and 52. In the our super speed technology backed global economy this picture is changing drastically. The fastest way to name, fame and the $$$ is to get into the right startup at the right time. So you are 27 and a founding member in a startup that skyrockets..You are set for life..If you do well you will pimp a ride on the startup's success wave and there you will be the gung-ho, ever so energetic, flippant, non-experienced, jeans-clad, yippie executive of a generation next company! No-no its not a done deal and there is no single shot to success!! And yes when your startup blows out of proportion and you realize you don't have the much needed experience or process setup to handle a very large organization you will indeed go out there and hire some 50 year old ready to become hippie-yippie experienced execs to help you do your job.....That's just in the interim till you can learn from them how to do your job better...:)
Some very young, highly respected execs I try to look up to:
Forget about Sergey and Larry. We all know their success story...Lets read about the young whiz-kids who got lucky: Salar, Susan and Marissa from the early founding gang; not to mention the newcomers: Omid, Miriam, Sukhinder and Nikesh!
http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html
In essence, with time people and kids grow smarter and acquire the knowledge much faster than their predecessors did...This is plain Darwinism at work! Did you hear of the record breaking 3 year old who created his own website yeah using html....:)..Blows my mind...At 3 I think all I could do was eat, poop and sleep :)
Going the traditional route in a bank, consumer products company or a Dell/Microsoft of the world you would be lucky if you have paid your dues by your lates 20s and by 30 you are a manager of some sort. By 40 you could go 2-3 layers higher in the pyramid and eventually you could possibly be an executive anytime between 42 and 52. In the our super speed technology backed global economy this picture is changing drastically. The fastest way to name, fame and the $$$ is to get into the right startup at the right time. So you are 27 and a founding member in a startup that skyrockets..You are set for life..If you do well you will pimp a ride on the startup's success wave and there you will be the gung-ho, ever so energetic, flippant, non-experienced, jeans-clad, yippie executive of a generation next company! No-no its not a done deal and there is no single shot to success!! And yes when your startup blows out of proportion and you realize you don't have the much needed experience or process setup to handle a very large organization you will indeed go out there and hire some 50 year old ready to become hippie-yippie experienced execs to help you do your job.....That's just in the interim till you can learn from them how to do your job better...:)
Some very young, highly respected execs I try to look up to:
Forget about Sergey and Larry. We all know their success story...Lets read about the young whiz-kids who got lucky: Salar, Susan and Marissa from the early founding gang; not to mention the newcomers: Omid, Miriam, Sukhinder and Nikesh!
http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html
In essence, with time people and kids grow smarter and acquire the knowledge much faster than their predecessors did...This is plain Darwinism at work! Did you hear of the record breaking 3 year old who created his own website yeah using html....:)..Blows my mind...At 3 I think all I could do was eat, poop and sleep :)
The Joys of the Simple Life
This week has been awfully great for some reason. I have been happy, like really happy for the most part and for no obvious reason. And this is abnormal, thats what my roomie told me just today: "Its strange to see you so happy". So what does that mean ? Am I generally an unhappy person or is it just that I set high expectations for myself or may be I get easily frustrated with the meaningless arbitrary arguments that every day life demands, especially off me!
The week also flew by much faster:
Monday: Went to see the eye doctor at Sharp Memorial, who tried to rip me off despite having quoted a free consultation when I made the appointment. I argued myself out of his charges but all along I kept thinking how businessy the 45 year old eye doctor was. He sounded more like a cheezy car salesman and less like a respectful M.D. eye surgeon. Worked late at the office on the damn forecast. Learnt about Danny's cool romantic escapades over the weekend. His story is kinda funny like the Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston movie "Along Came Polly". Saw "Crossing Jordan" on the TV and fell asleep. Tired, quiet and at peace with myself.
Tuesday: Again worked late at the office, this time I was preparing collages for the Diversity Event to be held this week at the office. Have to find some thing to keep me enthused, don't I? Surprisingly still not frustrated or mad at my job despite coming late from work. Watched the new family style "Amazing Race" on TV. Enjoyable series for yet another year. Saw a new legal show "Close to Home" that touched my heart. The plot rotates around an aggressive and passionate female lawyer who pursues cases that occur close to her home, in her neighborhood. The show last night was about a crazy guy who kept his wife and 2 kids locked in their house for 2 continuous years. The house being located in a nice and posh locality made it all the more difficult for the ADA to make her case against him. The fervor with which I watch these legal shows always maked me wonder whethet I should consider a career in law! Later in the night provided free girl advice to roomie#1. Thereafter, roomie#2 arrived with another problem. Her purse had either been stolen or was lost at some hep bar. We had to go through her motions of procrastination, card and phone cancellations et al; nothing it was any trouble. It just made the night long and tiresome.
Wednesday: Got up late and smoothly jazzed through work. Remarkable story of the day: The boss is throwing a birthday party with his new wife for her 17 year old dog! Doesn't that just crack you up? Ended up working late giving final touches to my great posters/collages on Indian culture and festivals. Dropped roomie#2 at the airport in time (Key Accomplishment!) but got lost on the way back home (Wrong Exit!). Had dinner with roomie#1 over mild banter and some cheezy karoake girlie tunes courtesy him. Watched my favorite TV show Over * There. I realized I like it so much because the plot is realistic which makes the show very credible. Looked aimlessly for jobs while blogging. Still happy and content with life....This is awesome....
Cons of the week so far:
- Carried gym bag for 3 straight days. Workouts: Zero. Jogs: Zero.
- Job Search and Enquiries: Zero
- Misc things to do: Infinite. Accomplished: None
Life is Good. Simple and Subtle. This week has been bright despite all else!
The week also flew by much faster:
Monday: Went to see the eye doctor at Sharp Memorial, who tried to rip me off despite having quoted a free consultation when I made the appointment. I argued myself out of his charges but all along I kept thinking how businessy the 45 year old eye doctor was. He sounded more like a cheezy car salesman and less like a respectful M.D. eye surgeon. Worked late at the office on the damn forecast. Learnt about Danny's cool romantic escapades over the weekend. His story is kinda funny like the Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston movie "Along Came Polly". Saw "Crossing Jordan" on the TV and fell asleep. Tired, quiet and at peace with myself.
Tuesday: Again worked late at the office, this time I was preparing collages for the Diversity Event to be held this week at the office. Have to find some thing to keep me enthused, don't I? Surprisingly still not frustrated or mad at my job despite coming late from work. Watched the new family style "Amazing Race" on TV. Enjoyable series for yet another year. Saw a new legal show "Close to Home" that touched my heart. The plot rotates around an aggressive and passionate female lawyer who pursues cases that occur close to her home, in her neighborhood. The show last night was about a crazy guy who kept his wife and 2 kids locked in their house for 2 continuous years. The house being located in a nice and posh locality made it all the more difficult for the ADA to make her case against him. The fervor with which I watch these legal shows always maked me wonder whethet I should consider a career in law! Later in the night provided free girl advice to roomie#1. Thereafter, roomie#2 arrived with another problem. Her purse had either been stolen or was lost at some hep bar. We had to go through her motions of procrastination, card and phone cancellations et al; nothing it was any trouble. It just made the night long and tiresome.
Wednesday: Got up late and smoothly jazzed through work. Remarkable story of the day: The boss is throwing a birthday party with his new wife for her 17 year old dog! Doesn't that just crack you up? Ended up working late giving final touches to my great posters/collages on Indian culture and festivals. Dropped roomie#2 at the airport in time (Key Accomplishment!) but got lost on the way back home (Wrong Exit!). Had dinner with roomie#1 over mild banter and some cheezy karoake girlie tunes courtesy him. Watched my favorite TV show Over * There. I realized I like it so much because the plot is realistic which makes the show very credible. Looked aimlessly for jobs while blogging. Still happy and content with life....This is awesome....
Cons of the week so far:
- Carried gym bag for 3 straight days. Workouts: Zero. Jogs: Zero.
- Job Search and Enquiries: Zero
- Misc things to do: Infinite. Accomplished: None
Life is Good. Simple and Subtle. This week has been bright despite all else!
Busy Bee
Time is Money; isn't it ?
WOW time just flew by these last few days! And what was I up to:
- Pondering a lot about career choices
Every few years we are faced with critical decisions that can make or break our professional lives. First there is the question of choosing a good High School, then which college to pick, what major and finally what career track. And if you go back for graduate school, there is even more pressure to make all those decisions all over again and this time hopefully bang on the bull's eye. There is some rome for error but not much to recover. Life is not that long :)
- Planning out the Great Alaska Trip
More about that in a few days. I will be posting everyday from Alaska so that I have a record of all the fun memories!
- Doing a whole bunch of crap
Cleaning a single girls apartment was never an easy chore and to make it ready for the parents to drop by; thats as scary as Fear Factor!
- Reading a lot
Online journals about Alaska and high activity in the North American Auto Sales industry has kept me hooked to the computer. By the way anyone planning to buy a car, now is the best time in 2005 to buy one. Employee discounts from the BIG 3 have also forced Toyota, Honda, Nissan and other dealerships to reduce vehicle prices.
And then there is also the fact that I have not been sleeping well. I ordered a ton of great books to read from eBay and Amazon and some of them just came in today so now I have even more distractions to keep me away from blogging.
More later...
WOW time just flew by these last few days! And what was I up to:
- Pondering a lot about career choices
Every few years we are faced with critical decisions that can make or break our professional lives. First there is the question of choosing a good High School, then which college to pick, what major and finally what career track. And if you go back for graduate school, there is even more pressure to make all those decisions all over again and this time hopefully bang on the bull's eye. There is some rome for error but not much to recover. Life is not that long :)
- Planning out the Great Alaska Trip
More about that in a few days. I will be posting everyday from Alaska so that I have a record of all the fun memories!
- Doing a whole bunch of crap
Cleaning a single girls apartment was never an easy chore and to make it ready for the parents to drop by; thats as scary as Fear Factor!
- Reading a lot
Online journals about Alaska and high activity in the North American Auto Sales industry has kept me hooked to the computer. By the way anyone planning to buy a car, now is the best time in 2005 to buy one. Employee discounts from the BIG 3 have also forced Toyota, Honda, Nissan and other dealerships to reduce vehicle prices.
And then there is also the fact that I have not been sleeping well. I ordered a ton of great books to read from eBay and Amazon and some of them just came in today so now I have even more distractions to keep me away from blogging.
More later...
The Business of Networking
The online networking industry is faced with a problem: the emergence of a few standardized leaders in the market. The business is still in its infancy and the landscape is similar to pre-Google days. Sure search capabilities existed begore Google, but we had one too many search engines and none that could really hand consumers the power of the web in a single click. We haven't seen a single example of a networking company proving itself financially profitable as yet.
Majority of the users of social and business networking softwares are clearly disappointed with the disparate and weak solutions available in the market. A plethora of mass networking sites like orkut, friendster, classmates, linkedin, yahoogroups, googlegroups, facebook as well as thousands of smaller regional and niche players are still in the evolutionary phase. So far not a single networking model has been able to capture the constant attention span of the users. The power of the network is both in its reach (various types of services) and in its depth (a critical mass of customers).
Customer satisfaction and business viability are sore issues for now.
Majority of the users of social and business networking softwares are clearly disappointed with the disparate and weak solutions available in the market. A plethora of mass networking sites like orkut, friendster, classmates, linkedin, yahoogroups, googlegroups, facebook as well as thousands of smaller regional and niche players are still in the evolutionary phase. So far not a single networking model has been able to capture the constant attention span of the users. The power of the network is both in its reach (various types of services) and in its depth (a critical mass of customers).
Customer satisfaction and business viability are sore issues for now.
Pensive Moments
Had quite a few pensive moments this past weekend.
Watched an inspiring interview of Bill Clinton and a MSNBC series on leaders and headliners which included the life changing journies of Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Rodham Clinton. I always have and still do admire Bill as a political leader. What beats me is how a sensible and shrude public figure like Bill could take the risk of extra-marital affairs ? Thats the reality of the American Dream; applies to the head of the country as well ! Another great example of the fulfilled dream is seen in the movie American Beauty. Can't help thinking why SEX is such a high priority on an adult American's agenda ? Note to self: Still haven't read Clinton's "My Life".
Coming back on track, Hillary's nomination was under debate on the famous show HardBall. Hillary is supposed to be a very strong contender alongwith Rudy Guliani and John McCain. It would be interesting to see if the most advanced and powerful country in the world will have a woman President or not ?
Meanwhile, a bunch of young kids continued to amaze me this Sunday afternoon as I watched the 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. These 8-13 year olds displayed their expertise at spelling unheard of words from the english dictionary over 19 consecutive rounds. The fact that the winner, Anurag Kashyap, a kid of Indian descent was a smiling hero one minute but just a shy kid the next second was kind of a let down for me. Anurag and his Dad mustered shy "Thanks" to all the press questions. This is strange for me. For a kid who definitely has a vocabulary far better than a average person; 2 lines as a winner's speech is not much to ask.
Not that I have a very different opinion of myself. I could easily identify myself with Jack from "All work and no play makes Jack a dull person". Work has been real busy this week...Its great when a day passes by and you realise you learnt something new from someone today. Now that I think of it, the last 9 months have not been a waste of life. Its been real. Its all been a great learning experience. The work, the new city, the people...
My next post is going to be all about my thoughts on San Diego, the top holiday destination in California.....May be I will also start shaping my thoughts on the future..
Watched an inspiring interview of Bill Clinton and a MSNBC series on leaders and headliners which included the life changing journies of Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Rodham Clinton. I always have and still do admire Bill as a political leader. What beats me is how a sensible and shrude public figure like Bill could take the risk of extra-marital affairs ? Thats the reality of the American Dream; applies to the head of the country as well ! Another great example of the fulfilled dream is seen in the movie American Beauty. Can't help thinking why SEX is such a high priority on an adult American's agenda ? Note to self: Still haven't read Clinton's "My Life".
Coming back on track, Hillary's nomination was under debate on the famous show HardBall. Hillary is supposed to be a very strong contender alongwith Rudy Guliani and John McCain. It would be interesting to see if the most advanced and powerful country in the world will have a woman President or not ?
Meanwhile, a bunch of young kids continued to amaze me this Sunday afternoon as I watched the 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. These 8-13 year olds displayed their expertise at spelling unheard of words from the english dictionary over 19 consecutive rounds. The fact that the winner, Anurag Kashyap, a kid of Indian descent was a smiling hero one minute but just a shy kid the next second was kind of a let down for me. Anurag and his Dad mustered shy "Thanks" to all the press questions. This is strange for me. For a kid who definitely has a vocabulary far better than a average person; 2 lines as a winner's speech is not much to ask.
Not that I have a very different opinion of myself. I could easily identify myself with Jack from "All work and no play makes Jack a dull person". Work has been real busy this week...Its great when a day passes by and you realise you learnt something new from someone today. Now that I think of it, the last 9 months have not been a waste of life. Its been real. Its all been a great learning experience. The work, the new city, the people...
My next post is going to be all about my thoughts on San Diego, the top holiday destination in California.....May be I will also start shaping my thoughts on the future..
The Stanford Stories
This is the most inspiring real life story I have read in a while. I am actually quite ashamed of the fact that in my 2 years at Stanford I never realised the importance and role of the Office of Accessible Education (OAE’s) Student Disability Resource Center. The amount of time, dedication and efforts that the staff at OAE put in to support the disabled students at Stanford is highly commedable. Giving an exam is such a long and complex process for a disabled student; just proves how easy giving an exam is for a student without any disabilities. http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2005/mayjun/features/blind.html
Another Stanford article that caught my eye was about the rejected Business school applicants who had tried to use a public hack method earlier this year to see their application results on the ApplyYourself website. Is this just a stunt for B-schools to maintain some integrity in public image or a shaping experience that will hopefully reduce the number of Enron type fiascos in the future. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/april13/bizkids-041305.html
Another Stanford article that caught my eye was about the rejected Business school applicants who had tried to use a public hack method earlier this year to see their application results on the ApplyYourself website. Is this just a stunt for B-schools to maintain some integrity in public image or a shaping experience that will hopefully reduce the number of Enron type fiascos in the future. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/april13/bizkids-041305.html
Drop it like its hot
While I totally abhor Snoop Dog and his pimp lifestyle, I did wish today that I could drop a hot cup of coffee on some HR person. The US Govt is good at doing that too. The hottest and most controversial stories of the week be it the Koran down the toilet in Cuba or Saddam in underwear, they just deny them categorically. The Govt even makes free news presses to retract stories and apologize only to drop hot matters off the public palatte. By the time truth comes out to corroborate the stories the news is as cold as a turkey and the public attention lost.
Some wise person aptly said this recently, the US is not a country with states and government its actually a corporation where Bush is the CEO and all he is trying to do is maximise profits. International governance is also thought to be a business tr
Some wise person aptly said this recently, the US is not a country with states and government its actually a corporation where Bush is the CEO and all he is trying to do is maximise profits. International governance is also thought to be a business tr
Dignity of work!
Learning a lot of lessons or shall I say one too many pearls of wisdom at work these days! I guess the honeymoon is over. Now its just plain normal work life.....The other day somebody said I don't do that shit work I have a *** degree...Hullo ! Thats so arrogant, brutish and indecent...I don't know how and why as people get more educated they forget the basic lessons of life...Didn't we learn from our parents when we were kids to respect all individuals for their work...I guess its a even a human right! There is dignity in all work and no man who forgets that can go very far in life, at least thats my opinion.....
Just because someone is a doctor or lawyer does not make his work or him more important and a janitor or cab driver any less important! While I talk to and thank the guy who walks by all over cubicles and clears our trash baskets every evening at 7:30 pm I guess for some other people you need to belong to a certain class in society in order for you to even warrant being respectful of basic human dignity!
Just because someone is a doctor or lawyer does not make his work or him more important and a janitor or cab driver any less important! While I talk to and thank the guy who walks by all over cubicles and clears our trash baskets every evening at 7:30 pm I guess for some other people you need to belong to a certain class in society in order for you to even warrant being respectful of basic human dignity!
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im convinced that normal people don't become successful entrepreneurs. only people who really really need to succeed to make a statement or learn something or transform something through the crucible of business. each of my businesses was a step along a journey to become who i needed to become. my pilgrimage has been through business.