All of a sudden my heart choked and I felt a lump of guilt and gloom in my throat....Here I was celebrating Christmas in my own small way, having a nice meal, relaxing and watching movies, shopping at bargain prices and then complaining to God about some ridiculous thing....
We all kind of live in our own small bubbles aware of the happennings around us yet aloof to an infinite level....For me the bubble bursts every now and then....Here I was leading a perfectly normal and nice life and there across the world the poor fishmen who already had so few things to be merry about on Christmas were clutching logs of wood for dear life.....The most powerful earthquake of the decade and one of the most powerful ones of the century had struck the coastal towns and villages of South East Asia yesterday...While the main quake was 9.5 on the Richter scale, scientists believe that many after shock quakes are yet to come....
Official numbers are still in the 13,000 range yet the real toll no ones knows.....Imagine the number of people dead and the innumerable shattered lives..All in one single day....God only knows what these people had done wrong..Nothing I guess...Why all of them had to die in such a dreadful and sudden way that too on Christmas...Sometimes its extremely difficult to understand the workings of God....
Was it really a merry Christmas ? Should we still say Happy New Year 2005 ?
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!
The Ideal Day! Was it really?
In some ways today was an ideal day. Well not at first, not really. I got up late as usual and rushed away to work. Work was okay: relaxed as well as fast paced as it should be. Learnt some lessons in life via deliberations and interactions with people. Thereafter, for once I left work early and hurray I went to the gym. This was a long awaited beginning of sorts. I knew I needed to exercise once I had realised that I wasn't snoring through the night. Perhaps I was getting mentally tired but not physically....Or is it perhaps that I sleep better on the left side of the bed and not on the right....
The next big surprise of the day was that after an hour's workout I felt revived and superb. I came home, relaxed for a few minutues, put on some music and then did the bit that I have been avoiding forever: cooking some good food. Its not that in the last 2 months I haven't cooked dinner. I have several times but definitely not as regularly as I would prefer! The most important part is that today for the first time I cooked the way I like to with great interest and with my heart. For the last few months I guess that hadn't happenned. I was so tired and so angry all the time that enjoying the process of cooking dinner for myself was never a priority....
So ya that boring chain of events has come to an end....From now on every day is going to be even more sunny and full of energy filled activities.
Wasn't this like an ideal day: me doing every regular thing that I should always do but never end up doing?
Not ideal for some other reasons: did not sleep early, did not bathe in the morning and did get mad at someone who tried to bully me.
Okay enough about me! Here are some great news items that caught my eye today. First the funny one with real serious implications::
All you guys out there, are you ready for this piece of information?
Laptops 'a threat to male fertility'
OKay so this is serious business: Guys might need to change their computing habits to maintain good health.
The next funny bit comes courtesy my very own Desh i.e. India....Cellular providers in India are now providing subscribers a new service that allows them to view a movie on their EDGE technology configured cell phones...Isn't this funny ? Okay ya so if you can't get tickets to a movie that's sold out and you can't wait for the DVD to come out, you just watch it on your small screen on your mobile phone...
Indian Movie to Debut on Cell Phones
After all this fun stuff how about appreciating a real nice deed done by a man I really look up to for his work, life and passion for persuasion. He is none other than noted Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla who donated money for addition of educational resources to his alma mater Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Vinod Khosla's $5-million grant for IIT
Okay last funny bit for the night:
Catherine Zeta Jones tells Jay Leno on the Tonight Show that its amazing what people believe! She was saying that people have actually come up to her and asked her about T-Mobile pricing plans and their 1-800 number. And she was like "Can you believe it? I have literally had to tell people that I just say "T-Mobile Get More"..I don't know anything else about them..."
The next big surprise of the day was that after an hour's workout I felt revived and superb. I came home, relaxed for a few minutues, put on some music and then did the bit that I have been avoiding forever: cooking some good food. Its not that in the last 2 months I haven't cooked dinner. I have several times but definitely not as regularly as I would prefer! The most important part is that today for the first time I cooked the way I like to with great interest and with my heart. For the last few months I guess that hadn't happenned. I was so tired and so angry all the time that enjoying the process of cooking dinner for myself was never a priority....
So ya that boring chain of events has come to an end....From now on every day is going to be even more sunny and full of energy filled activities.
Wasn't this like an ideal day: me doing every regular thing that I should always do but never end up doing?
Not ideal for some other reasons: did not sleep early, did not bathe in the morning and did get mad at someone who tried to bully me.
Okay enough about me! Here are some great news items that caught my eye today. First the funny one with real serious implications::
All you guys out there, are you ready for this piece of information?
Laptops 'a threat to male fertility'
OKay so this is serious business: Guys might need to change their computing habits to maintain good health.
The next funny bit comes courtesy my very own Desh i.e. India....Cellular providers in India are now providing subscribers a new service that allows them to view a movie on their EDGE technology configured cell phones...Isn't this funny ? Okay ya so if you can't get tickets to a movie that's sold out and you can't wait for the DVD to come out, you just watch it on your small screen on your mobile phone...
Indian Movie to Debut on Cell Phones
After all this fun stuff how about appreciating a real nice deed done by a man I really look up to for his work, life and passion for persuasion. He is none other than noted Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla who donated money for addition of educational resources to his alma mater Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Vinod Khosla's $5-million grant for IIT
Okay last funny bit for the night:
Catherine Zeta Jones tells Jay Leno on the Tonight Show that its amazing what people believe! She was saying that people have actually come up to her and asked her about T-Mobile pricing plans and their 1-800 number. And she was like "Can you believe it? I have literally had to tell people that I just say "T-Mobile Get More"..I don't know anything else about them..."
The Ambani Wars :: Reality TV :: Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki !!
One fine day when one of the Indian cable channels ZEE TV presented a comedy soap called HUM PAANCH who knew that history was being created. Promoted by the then 19 year old Ekta Kapoor, daughter of the renowned Jeetandra, a moviestar, the soap hit all time records for TRP ratings and ran on for 5 straight years..This was a loud but enjoyable comedy show about a couple raising 4 young and independent daughters in Bombay!
Then came those years where the letter K and Balaji Telefilms impounded us with one after another soap about family drama and what not...The very superstitious Ekta continued to rampage all the channels now with her newer soaps...She alone became responsbile for the success of so many new comers: actors/actresses/writers/directors on the tube that had more than half the country glued to their sofas.....
For more information on this topic refer to:
http://www.balajifilms.com/corporate/ekta.htm
http://www.balajitelefilms.com/tvs_h.htm
While these serials were coming out at rapid speeds akin to bullets fired left and right in Kill BILL, the Indian crowd slowly started getting bored with the same old story, same faces, day in and out....A bunch of taglines and jokes came out on the SAAS-BAAHU serials.....By the way SAAS means MOTHER-IN-LAW and BAAHU means DAUGHTER-IN-LAW in Hindi....So you can imagine that these serials were something like the ever-meddling Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond who keeps messing with her daughter-in-law Debra...But the similarities end just there...While Ray and his whole family try to get us laughing, the sordid tell tales of the Balaji "K" serials made you cry and feel sad.....
Anyways, I found them to be such a drag...and once in a while when I did watch them the whole concept struck as stupid and funny to me....
But why tirade so much about EKTA today...Well, the same SAAS_BAAHU story is today coming true in modern India..The biggest conglomerate in India called RELIANCE INDUSTRIES is today facing a similar situation as we have seen for ages....2 brothers fighting over the big Billion dollar business legacy that their late Dad left them....
Isn't it funny and amzing how the reel drama has come alive for real ?
Very interesting articles over the Reliance Ownership Issue :
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,78814,00.html
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N&autono=174575&leftnm=lmnu1&lselect=0&leftindx=1
Who should be the knighted king ? Mukesh or Anil ? Should they split ? After all their professionalism and higher education they have still come down to the same old Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki or for that matter Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi!!!!
Reliance :: What a company ! Ambanis :: What brotherly love ?!
Then came those years where the letter K and Balaji Telefilms impounded us with one after another soap about family drama and what not...The very superstitious Ekta continued to rampage all the channels now with her newer soaps...She alone became responsbile for the success of so many new comers: actors/actresses/writers/directors on the tube that had more than half the country glued to their sofas.....
For more information on this topic refer to:
http://www.balajifilms.com/corporate/ekta.htm
http://www.balajitelefilms.com/tvs_h.htm
While these serials were coming out at rapid speeds akin to bullets fired left and right in Kill BILL, the Indian crowd slowly started getting bored with the same old story, same faces, day in and out....A bunch of taglines and jokes came out on the SAAS-BAAHU serials.....By the way SAAS means MOTHER-IN-LAW and BAAHU means DAUGHTER-IN-LAW in Hindi....So you can imagine that these serials were something like the ever-meddling Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond who keeps messing with her daughter-in-law Debra...But the similarities end just there...While Ray and his whole family try to get us laughing, the sordid tell tales of the Balaji "K" serials made you cry and feel sad.....
Anyways, I found them to be such a drag...and once in a while when I did watch them the whole concept struck as stupid and funny to me....
But why tirade so much about EKTA today...Well, the same SAAS_BAAHU story is today coming true in modern India..The biggest conglomerate in India called RELIANCE INDUSTRIES is today facing a similar situation as we have seen for ages....2 brothers fighting over the big Billion dollar business legacy that their late Dad left them....
Isn't it funny and amzing how the reel drama has come alive for real ?
Very interesting articles over the Reliance Ownership Issue :
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,78814,00.html
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N&autono=174575&leftnm=lmnu1&lselect=0&leftindx=1
Who should be the knighted king ? Mukesh or Anil ? Should they split ? After all their professionalism and higher education they have still come down to the same old Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki or for that matter Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi!!!!
Reliance :: What a company ! Ambanis :: What brotherly love ?!
Sleep Deprivation Triggers 'Hunger Hormones'
Sleep Deprivation Triggers 'Hunger Hormones'
Oh my God! This completely caught me off guard....Dear God reading this article has made me realise how true it is...When I sleep less I do get more hungry ! I should now follow a strict sleep pattern..No more sleeping after 1 am and getting up at 7 am....I have to sleep well..At least a 8 hour sleep daily will have to be the order of the day....No late night TV or books...Sleep is important....Just a few days back someone at work said that he lives for sleep! Yes he looks forward to a restful sleep at the end of the day...Thats his key motivation in life...
Medical science and new studies never fails to surprise me !
All the Bridget Jones in the world - are you guys reading this!?
Oh my God! This completely caught me off guard....Dear God reading this article has made me realise how true it is...When I sleep less I do get more hungry ! I should now follow a strict sleep pattern..No more sleeping after 1 am and getting up at 7 am....I have to sleep well..At least a 8 hour sleep daily will have to be the order of the day....No late night TV or books...Sleep is important....Just a few days back someone at work said that he lives for sleep! Yes he looks forward to a restful sleep at the end of the day...Thats his key motivation in life...
Medical science and new studies never fails to surprise me !
All the Bridget Jones in the world - are you guys reading this!?
Be Proud to be an Indian :: JAI HIND!
Here is a superb presentation on India, its culture heritage, history and contribution to the world. It makes you feel nice and proud to be born as an Indian! Not that I wasn't a proud Indian before seeing this..But this is just great! Check this out folks..
http://www.geocities.com/upasu/India.pps
http://www.geocities.com/upasu/India.pps
‘Bhajji ka har bhajan dhyan se suno!’
indian satire: discard dead weights
For your regular but hilarious cricket update be sure to check this one out!
For your regular but hilarious cricket update be sure to check this one out!
Special trains to promote condoms, fight AIDS
Special trains to promote condoms, fight AIDS
What an innovative idea? How well it will work I don't know but hey its an idea...It will do something! Better than doing nothing about this tremendous looming disaster waiting to happen...India, China and Thailand are leading the race for maximum AIDS victims..With 1 billion people its no surprise that India is headed to win this race..But this is one race we shouldn't be wanting to win...Not only is it disastrous but the HIV virus has a multiplicative effect and the faster our Health ministry realises this and does something about it the better....
Baby steps are fine at least they are steps in the right direction: to increase AIDS awareness.
What an innovative idea? How well it will work I don't know but hey its an idea...It will do something! Better than doing nothing about this tremendous looming disaster waiting to happen...India, China and Thailand are leading the race for maximum AIDS victims..With 1 billion people its no surprise that India is headed to win this race..But this is one race we shouldn't be wanting to win...Not only is it disastrous but the HIV virus has a multiplicative effect and the faster our Health ministry realises this and does something about it the better....
Baby steps are fine at least they are steps in the right direction: to increase AIDS awareness.
Child is the father of man!
Okay a friend passed this along...Its funny hence I am posting it. Babies can really surprise you with their wit!
A first grade teacher collected well known proverbs. She had twenty-five students in her class and she presented each child in class the first half of a proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. It's hard to believe these were actually done by first graders. Their insight may surprise you. While reading these keep in mind that these are first graders...........6-year-olds, because the last one is classic!
1. Don't change horses......................until they stop running.
2. Strike while the .bug is close.
3. It's always darkest before ...........Daylight Saving Time.
4. Never underestimate the power of .....termites.
5. You can lead a horse to water but ...........how?
6. Don't bite the hand that .................. looks dirty.
7. No news .........impossible.
8. A miss is as good as a .................... Mr.
9. You can't teach an old dog new .......... math.
10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll ...... stink in the morning.
11. Love all, trust . me.
12. The pen is mightier than the ............. pigs.
13. An idle mind is .... the best way to relax.
14. Where there's smoke there's ............ pollution.
15. Happy the bride who .................. gets all the presents.
16. A penny saved is ........................ not much.
17. Two's company, three's . the Musketeers.
18. Don't put off till tomorrow what ....... you put on to go to bed.
19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and .........youhave to blow your nose.
20. There are none so blind as .......................... Stevie Wonder.
21. Children should be seen and not . spanked or grounded.
22. If at first you don't succeed ............. get new batteries.
23. You get out of something only what you ...........see in thepicture on the box.
24. When the blind lead the blind ............... get out of the way.
And the WINNER
25. Better late than .............. pregnant.
A first grade teacher collected well known proverbs. She had twenty-five students in her class and she presented each child in class the first half of a proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. It's hard to believe these were actually done by first graders. Their insight may surprise you. While reading these keep in mind that these are first graders...........6-year-olds, because the last one is classic!
1. Don't change horses......................until they stop running.
2. Strike while the .bug is close.
3. It's always darkest before ...........Daylight Saving Time.
4. Never underestimate the power of .....termites.
5. You can lead a horse to water but ...........how?
6. Don't bite the hand that .................. looks dirty.
7. No news .........impossible.
8. A miss is as good as a .................... Mr.
9. You can't teach an old dog new .......... math.
10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll ...... stink in the morning.
11. Love all, trust . me.
12. The pen is mightier than the ............. pigs.
13. An idle mind is .... the best way to relax.
14. Where there's smoke there's ............ pollution.
15. Happy the bride who .................. gets all the presents.
16. A penny saved is ........................ not much.
17. Two's company, three's . the Musketeers.
18. Don't put off till tomorrow what ....... you put on to go to bed.
19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and .........youhave to blow your nose.
20. There are none so blind as .......................... Stevie Wonder.
21. Children should be seen and not . spanked or grounded.
22. If at first you don't succeed ............. get new batteries.
23. You get out of something only what you ...........see in thepicture on the box.
24. When the blind lead the blind ............... get out of the way.
And the WINNER
25. Better late than .............. pregnant.
Thanksgiving Sale Update
Hello People,
Longtime no hear! Yup thats me, never expect regularity from me. Anyways, so last Thursday was Thanksgiving in the US and on Friday was the Day After Thanksgiving door buster sale....And in fine American fashion yours truly decided to make the best out of it...What did I do ?
Till about 2 in the night on Thursday I was busy with God only knows what ? Was I reading a book , or maybe watching TV, nah I think working online, which reminds me I need to do some rework on my website...Anyways, enough of diversions..So anyways, late in the night I set out to find the newspaper for Thursday i.e. the Union Tribune because all the electronics and other stores publish their Friday morning deals only in the Thursday or sometimes even Friday paper! Okay how smart of me to go looking for a paper at 8 in the night..I spent 1 hour looking for the paper. I went to all the gas stations nearby which generally have a 24 hour booth for basic amenities and yeah also the newspaper...They were all sold out...Man I also went to some vending stations and ended up wasting quarters as all the machines were empty!
Anyways, when I returned home helpless, I was even more determined to find out the rates..You see you can't really afford to go to all the stores..U have to make a list of your items compare the rates before hand and then head off to the place where you have the best odds of getting your stuff...
Finally, by 3 in the night I had found a bunch of forums with listed prices for all stores you could possibly imagine. After all if you have Google who needs a Union Tribune !
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=black+friday+deals+san+diego
http://247malls.com/GO1/thanksgiving.htm
BY 5 in the morning I was in the shower which was a first I might say, I was like yeah for the first time in my professional life I will be at work before 8 (which was only a dream, it never happenned okay!)
By 5:35 I was at Frys which is the biggest electronics chain in California and I was like "OH MY GOD"...There was a freaking line with at least 5000 people and there was no scene for parking...I parked like many others in an illegal spot off the street....Ran to get in line...The line started at the entrance to the store and do you want to know where I was relative to that ? I was at the very end of the line which by the way went all around the big store and ended again at the entrance...Only difference there was so much security, you really had to walk all around the store in the line to get to the entrance...In the line I saw the young and the old, the excited shoppers and the determined ones..It really is true, some people had camped through the night for they had folding chairs and what not with them...I saw a lot of students from UCSD and SDSU in the line, all in their friendly circles talking about you get 2 of those I will get 2 of that...It was all fun! Meanwhile I borrowed somebody's newspaper and checked the rates...They were slightly different..I referred to my list and had a thought that this might be a bad idea..I might still be better off heading to Circuit City which was my next best shot after Frys...Why, why didn't I follow my basic instinct ? Thats the million dollar question !
Doors opened at 6 am sharp...The line screeched in...I was in by 6:15 but by then there were long lines....Which line should I join the one for the digital camera or the one for the home theatre system/DVD player...I took a shot..I started in the latter line...It was long very long...By the time it was my turn at 7:15 all the home theatre systems were sold but I did get 2 DVD players for $15 each...I wanted one for myself and one for a dear friend who got married on Thanksgiving day in India! Next I hit the digital camera line which was again very long basically from one end of the store to another....Shortly came the announcement all digital cameras have been sold out! Aw man that hurt...My heart was set at getting one for my parents...It was going at $149 at Frys while Best Buy and Circuit City were at $199...Anyways, along the way I got a rice cooker for 5 bucks and then decided to join the checkout queue which was as long as it possibly could be!!! It started right near the farthest end of the store and kept going to the entrance/exit towards the cashier lanes....That was 1 long line...Thankfully, I found a colleague from office in the line and we started chatting...Another fellow also joined and we started figuring out the whole concept behind the maddenning sale....While being naive as I am, I was of the view point that why do these store keepers not stock pile..How come everything is sold out within the first hour ? If the prices are so damn cheap the only way they can make money is in volume so then why not hold more volumes...Someone suggested that but they are trying to be risk averse....And then came the right answer.....
The Black Friday or the Day after Thanksgiving sale is not for store keepers to sell tons of stuff cheap but the point is to hold very minimal stock of very low priced goods which they evidently sell at a loss...But the idea is to create the fantasy, to pull in just about enough people that most of them would end up being lost leaders i.e. they tried to get the booty but they just missed...Like me but then I ended up not being a lost leader....A lost leader would typically feel bad about not being able to buy his/her stuff and end up buying something else at close to regular prices just to feel better....The crucial thing for the average customer is "STICK to your list"...And thats what I did!! I endured the long lines but did not buy anything that I wasn't planning to buy! Okay I am not determined..In fact I am very impulsive but after my detailed research I really couldn't find anything except the rice cooker that was well priced and so that I picked frivolously...
I headed out of Frys very tired and dehydrated after 3 hours lamenting myself that why didn't I just leave when I saw the long lines....See the thing is that I could have bought the DVD players at the same rate anywhere but the Home Theatre and Digi-Cam would be SOLD OUT at all the places by now! And then it was after all a working day! Screw it! I thought hey people left work at 10:30 on Wednesday so I can go late....I'll deal with what people have to say!
So I went to Ciruit City..No it was not very crowded and EUREKA I found the Home Theatre system all with 5 speakers and 150 watts and a DVD player for just $68...The digital camera was expensive so I didn't bother to get it!
Now I was in the real sense WOMAN ON A MISSION! I knew what I wanted and where! I headed to Staples bought the wireless mouse, calculator and webcam at dirt cheap rates as I had decided last night....Next stop was the big W, WALMART! Here I wandered a little...They had changed rates and did not have many deals this year! But I bought a vacuum cleaner cheap..Basically I got a bagless one at the price of the old bag type with all the other factors same! Then I bought myself a set of cutlery you know with plates, bowls, etc...This is because last week I broke a plate and I had only 2 plates to start with...So now everytime I have to eat I have to wash my plate which is a big pain, right! Next I bought a set of nonstick pots and pans for cooking, which by the way I have been hardly doing since I left Stanford....Those were the days.....Oh I also bought an electronic can opener for 4 bucks...With the amount of cans I open every month you know for tomatoes, kidney beans and what not I figured this was a good investment!
By now I was dead tired and it was almost 10:30 so off I headed to work.....I left work by 4:30-5.. By that time most of the office was deserted.....I offloaded all the stuff at home, put in my sleepover bag and all the goodies that had just come from Mom in the car and off I started towards LA....Driving at 80 miles per hour without having slept the night before....It was all nice...The Desi Thanksgiving dinner was being hosted by my sister on Friday night and I was there to ravish all the Kashmiri style cooking....The weekend flew by with a trip to Catalina Island and a bunch of jokes with friends and family and I was back home by 10 pm Sunday night....
Its about 10 on Saturday night right now...Its been a week and after all that excited shopping I still haven't opened any of the items and checked whether they work. Neither have I bothered to mail out the mail-in-rebate forms...
OHHH What a week ! Did I forget to mention that each day this week I came home after 9 pm...I almost started hating my job...Things will be better next week, I hope!
RISE & SHINE is my new MOTTO!!
Longtime no hear! Yup thats me, never expect regularity from me. Anyways, so last Thursday was Thanksgiving in the US and on Friday was the Day After Thanksgiving door buster sale....And in fine American fashion yours truly decided to make the best out of it...What did I do ?
Till about 2 in the night on Thursday I was busy with God only knows what ? Was I reading a book , or maybe watching TV, nah I think working online, which reminds me I need to do some rework on my website...Anyways, enough of diversions..So anyways, late in the night I set out to find the newspaper for Thursday i.e. the Union Tribune because all the electronics and other stores publish their Friday morning deals only in the Thursday or sometimes even Friday paper! Okay how smart of me to go looking for a paper at 8 in the night..I spent 1 hour looking for the paper. I went to all the gas stations nearby which generally have a 24 hour booth for basic amenities and yeah also the newspaper...They were all sold out...Man I also went to some vending stations and ended up wasting quarters as all the machines were empty!
Anyways, when I returned home helpless, I was even more determined to find out the rates..You see you can't really afford to go to all the stores..U have to make a list of your items compare the rates before hand and then head off to the place where you have the best odds of getting your stuff...
Finally, by 3 in the night I had found a bunch of forums with listed prices for all stores you could possibly imagine. After all if you have Google who needs a Union Tribune !
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=black+friday+deals+san+diego
http://247malls.com/GO1/thanksgiving.htm
BY 5 in the morning I was in the shower which was a first I might say, I was like yeah for the first time in my professional life I will be at work before 8 (which was only a dream, it never happenned okay!)
By 5:35 I was at Frys which is the biggest electronics chain in California and I was like "OH MY GOD"...There was a freaking line with at least 5000 people and there was no scene for parking...I parked like many others in an illegal spot off the street....Ran to get in line...The line started at the entrance to the store and do you want to know where I was relative to that ? I was at the very end of the line which by the way went all around the big store and ended again at the entrance...Only difference there was so much security, you really had to walk all around the store in the line to get to the entrance...In the line I saw the young and the old, the excited shoppers and the determined ones..It really is true, some people had camped through the night for they had folding chairs and what not with them...I saw a lot of students from UCSD and SDSU in the line, all in their friendly circles talking about you get 2 of those I will get 2 of that...It was all fun! Meanwhile I borrowed somebody's newspaper and checked the rates...They were slightly different..I referred to my list and had a thought that this might be a bad idea..I might still be better off heading to Circuit City which was my next best shot after Frys...Why, why didn't I follow my basic instinct ? Thats the million dollar question !
Doors opened at 6 am sharp...The line screeched in...I was in by 6:15 but by then there were long lines....Which line should I join the one for the digital camera or the one for the home theatre system/DVD player...I took a shot..I started in the latter line...It was long very long...By the time it was my turn at 7:15 all the home theatre systems were sold but I did get 2 DVD players for $15 each...I wanted one for myself and one for a dear friend who got married on Thanksgiving day in India! Next I hit the digital camera line which was again very long basically from one end of the store to another....Shortly came the announcement all digital cameras have been sold out! Aw man that hurt...My heart was set at getting one for my parents...It was going at $149 at Frys while Best Buy and Circuit City were at $199...Anyways, along the way I got a rice cooker for 5 bucks and then decided to join the checkout queue which was as long as it possibly could be!!! It started right near the farthest end of the store and kept going to the entrance/exit towards the cashier lanes....That was 1 long line...Thankfully, I found a colleague from office in the line and we started chatting...Another fellow also joined and we started figuring out the whole concept behind the maddenning sale....While being naive as I am, I was of the view point that why do these store keepers not stock pile..How come everything is sold out within the first hour ? If the prices are so damn cheap the only way they can make money is in volume so then why not hold more volumes...Someone suggested that but they are trying to be risk averse....And then came the right answer.....
The Black Friday or the Day after Thanksgiving sale is not for store keepers to sell tons of stuff cheap but the point is to hold very minimal stock of very low priced goods which they evidently sell at a loss...But the idea is to create the fantasy, to pull in just about enough people that most of them would end up being lost leaders i.e. they tried to get the booty but they just missed...Like me but then I ended up not being a lost leader....A lost leader would typically feel bad about not being able to buy his/her stuff and end up buying something else at close to regular prices just to feel better....The crucial thing for the average customer is "STICK to your list"...And thats what I did!! I endured the long lines but did not buy anything that I wasn't planning to buy! Okay I am not determined..In fact I am very impulsive but after my detailed research I really couldn't find anything except the rice cooker that was well priced and so that I picked frivolously...
I headed out of Frys very tired and dehydrated after 3 hours lamenting myself that why didn't I just leave when I saw the long lines....See the thing is that I could have bought the DVD players at the same rate anywhere but the Home Theatre and Digi-Cam would be SOLD OUT at all the places by now! And then it was after all a working day! Screw it! I thought hey people left work at 10:30 on Wednesday so I can go late....I'll deal with what people have to say!
So I went to Ciruit City..No it was not very crowded and EUREKA I found the Home Theatre system all with 5 speakers and 150 watts and a DVD player for just $68...The digital camera was expensive so I didn't bother to get it!
Now I was in the real sense WOMAN ON A MISSION! I knew what I wanted and where! I headed to Staples bought the wireless mouse, calculator and webcam at dirt cheap rates as I had decided last night....Next stop was the big W, WALMART! Here I wandered a little...They had changed rates and did not have many deals this year! But I bought a vacuum cleaner cheap..Basically I got a bagless one at the price of the old bag type with all the other factors same! Then I bought myself a set of cutlery you know with plates, bowls, etc...This is because last week I broke a plate and I had only 2 plates to start with...So now everytime I have to eat I have to wash my plate which is a big pain, right! Next I bought a set of nonstick pots and pans for cooking, which by the way I have been hardly doing since I left Stanford....Those were the days.....Oh I also bought an electronic can opener for 4 bucks...With the amount of cans I open every month you know for tomatoes, kidney beans and what not I figured this was a good investment!
By now I was dead tired and it was almost 10:30 so off I headed to work.....I left work by 4:30-5.. By that time most of the office was deserted.....I offloaded all the stuff at home, put in my sleepover bag and all the goodies that had just come from Mom in the car and off I started towards LA....Driving at 80 miles per hour without having slept the night before....It was all nice...The Desi Thanksgiving dinner was being hosted by my sister on Friday night and I was there to ravish all the Kashmiri style cooking....The weekend flew by with a trip to Catalina Island and a bunch of jokes with friends and family and I was back home by 10 pm Sunday night....
Its about 10 on Saturday night right now...Its been a week and after all that excited shopping I still haven't opened any of the items and checked whether they work. Neither have I bothered to mail out the mail-in-rebate forms...
OHHH What a week ! Did I forget to mention that each day this week I came home after 9 pm...I almost started hating my job...Things will be better next week, I hope!
RISE & SHINE is my new MOTTO!!
Get A Life III :: What Life ?
Life has been lost for the past few days in the mundane activities at work.....There has been no time to do nothing not even to sleep well for me to even venture into blogging....Few quickies though:
Thanksgiving shopping was eventful and I bought a bunch of things!
Visited Catalina Island on Saturday, beautiful and not touristy!
Mon-Wednesday has been 12 hour work days and a numb brain and body at the end of the day!
Freakishly enough its freezing these days...
The change of roommies thing will work out fine I think!
More fun writing will be over the weekend.....
And yohoo BLOG is the most popular word this year
'Blog' Is Number One Word Of 2004!
Enjoy the WWW and keep blogging!
Thanksgiving shopping was eventful and I bought a bunch of things!
Visited Catalina Island on Saturday, beautiful and not touristy!
Mon-Wednesday has been 12 hour work days and a numb brain and body at the end of the day!
Freakishly enough its freezing these days...
The change of roommies thing will work out fine I think!
More fun writing will be over the weekend.....
And yohoo BLOG is the most popular word this year
'Blog' Is Number One Word Of 2004!
Enjoy the WWW and keep blogging!
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