Are only White people allowed?

I was waiting in a hospital waiting room yesterday and there was this African American kid waiting with his parents. His dad was an African American and his mom was white. His mom was pregnant and had come to visit the doctor. As her name was called, she walked in and his dad told the child ‘We are not allowed inside. Only mom should go’. After a little while another person who was waiting was called and both the parents went in. Incidentally they both happened to be white. This kid who was watching this immediately asked his dad ‘So only white people are allowed to go in?’ Everyone who heard this was shocked and I could see that the dad was very embarrassed.

How Sachin showed me a sign!

For those who weren’t following the India vs. Eng series, Sachin was unfairly given out when he was on 91 and as usual I was totally frustrated. I was so down for sometime that I couldn’t even eat my breakfast. Then as I was watching the match, I saw Sachin come out on the balcony with an ice cream in his hands with his usual smile looking totally unbothered. It was one of those moments. I immediately hurried for my breakfast feeling totally embarrased.

Why I haven’t been blogging?

I worry too much about our Indian cricket team, probably more than the team management. The last few days, instead of writing my own blog, I have been visiting a series of cricket blog sites and reading all the blogs about the latest India vs. Eng series.Obviously I feel frustrated to view comments that conflict with my own views and happy to read what I would like to see. But it has kind of kept me occupied. My mind is kind of filled with cricket thoughts and refuses to look outside of it. I guess that has kind of made me stop looking at fairly obvious day to day observations I write about in my blog. I hope I get out of this cricket halo soon and start observing the world around me more.

Iphones Bringing down Wireless LAN

I heard from a lot of people around that Apple Iphones are somehow flooding wireless LAN's and bringing the servers down. I read an article about it Network World. Here you go.

My Dilemma

I walked into my doctor’s office for my yearly medical checkup with a lot of apprehension. I knew in the back of my mind that my triglycerides are high and I expected the doctor to confirm the same.

The doctor came in and went through my blood work reports with a lot of enthusiasm. There were 5 pages of it and she went through page by page. I saw her skip the third page in the process and I immediately knew it was not a good sign. She usually informs the bad news at the end. As expected she returned to the 3rd page after the 5th, moved her chair a little bit closer, and informed me the bad news. As usual she prescribed me TRICOR and asked me to start on it immediately.

I have gone through the same chore for the past 4 years and just like the last year I went back to google to look at the side effects of TRICOR. I had done the same thing last year and know it does have some nasty side effects. I just wanted to make sure that nothing has changed and as expected nothing had changed. So as I am typing this mail, I have this hope at the back of my mind that I can reduce it through exercise and diet just like I did last year. May be I am right.

What if I am not? Any Advice?

Celebrating mediocrity

Celebrating mediocrity is a part of American culture. Here People tend to celebrate anything that would be deemed ‘silly’ in other cultures. As an example, here in school, they celebrate graduation for moving from one grade to other. So if you are moving from 1st to 2nd grade, they celebrate it as a big thing. Parents, grandparents etc. attend such ceremony and make it a big thing.

Lately I have been wondering whether it is a good thing to do. Is it good to celebrate mediocre achievements? Would that leave a contented child even though he/she is capable of achieving more? Or will it instill a lot of confidence in the child’s mind?

My wife always says that a little encouragement to the child will make him go a long way. I accept that. But at the same time, wouldn’t even a small failure affect him immensely when such things should be just brushed away? I personally feel that there should be a good balance in celebrating mediocrity. But where the balance lies is something hard to figure out.

What do you think?

Microsoft Surface

Have you guys seen the demo video of new Microsoft Surface? It really opens up a whole lot of possibilities. If this thing really works like it's shown on the video, it'll definitely revolutionalize various day to day things we do.

Check it out

Microsoft Surface

What does Apple’s IPHONE success tell others?

We all know that companies like Samsung, LG, and Nokia etc. come up with new phone design every other quarter or so. But none of them have been a roaring success like IPhone is. We all know that it’s because of Apple’s great design team which is above par compared to others. Their user interface is so sleek and beautiful that it attracts people of all age groups.

Another major factor is Steve Jobs. The man is almost always followed by a mob of journalists. Everything he talks about is overly analyzed and that by itself is a free marketing for Apple products. Who knows the CEO of Samsung, LG, or Nokia? I don’t. I am assuming most people don’t. I think the first thing these companies need to do is to recruit some good PR people and spend more on Marketing rather than focusing more on technology. Motorola is doing a decent job with this. They have some decent publicity because of RAZR. But I still feel that they are still losing the battle.

These companies must somehow come up with ways to hype up their products. Also they need a good design team who can design something with good aesthetic sense. Then we can see some stiff competition for Apple.

Xplorer air dry system - Sideeffect - Deafness

Have you came across the new ‘Xplorer‘ air dry systems installed in most restrooms these days? Aren’t they obnoxious? I am not sure who came up with the idea. I understand it saves paper, it’s environment friendly etc. But I see that almost everybody who uses it is just frustrated by the amount of noise it generates while using it. After you walk out of the restroom, you’ll be deaf for a few seconds.

It definitely does a good job of drying your hand fast. But the side effect includes deafness, scaring kids etc.

Channel Shopping time!

It’s almost time that my cable contract ends with Comcast. I have been paying a reasonably low price for the past 1.5 years and it’ll go up steeply in the next few months.

I have like 300+ channels in my package. They call it a sliver package and package has all kinds of crappy channels. Our family hardly watches 10 of them. But the package is so designed that to watch all our favorite channels, I have to subscribe to all 300 channels. I don't understand why the cable companies can’t let consumers choose the channels they want and pay accordingly?

Now I have to go through the ordeal of shopping through various cable/dish providers. Also I have to go through the hassle of installation and other crap just to save some money. I know most people go through this cycle once every 2 years or so.

I just wish that our legislators pass some kind of a bill providing flexibility to consumers so that we can just stick with one provider and save all the hassles and of course save a good amount of money.

"congress" must be the opposite of "progress."

“Con" is the opposite of "pro," so "congress" must be the opposite of "progress."

I came across this in one of the websites and I laughed out loud after reading it. If you have been following the proceedings in congress for the last few years, you'll agree with the above statement - Immigration bill, social security reform, Health care reform etc..

Possum Story

Today while driving I had to make a sudden stop to make sure that I didn’t run over a possum. The person driving behind me totally did not expect it and somehow he also managed to apply the brakes. But he was so furious at me for braking suddenly. He actually came out of the car to yell at me (Here in US people usually don't get out of the car unless it's really necessary. I guess it's mainly because of loose gun control laws). I then explained to him that I was trying to save the possum. For some reason he got even more furious when I told the reason. I guess he had the right to be. He would have been hurt if he hadn’t braked at the right time. Thankfully nobody was hurt.

I always used to wonder about a Michigan law that states that you’ll be ticketed if you actually brake and don’t run over a deer. I guess it’s to avoid situations like this.

Future Cell Phone concepts

Now that IPhone is the current hype, I have been reading a lot about it. While doing so I came across these 4 interesting future cell phone concepts. Check it out.

GrandCentral

This is the best I guess. One number for everything. Here is the review about it in New York Times.

Read this and you’ll be amazed at all the options it offers

EQO

This is a cheap way to make international calls through cell phones. But you have to download some software. I am not sure how compatible it’ll be with all the cell phones

Spinvox

Voice to text. Text to voice conversion.

Simulscribe

Voice to text. Get your voice mail as email. May be useful for high profile people who are very busy to check their voice mails.

Iphones Future

FDA Approved?

I got this interesting/disturbing piece of news from NPR.

Did you know that 20% of the drugs prescribed by doctors are not approved by FDA for the treatment they are prescribed for? As an example, a doctor may prescribe a drug that is FDA approved for heart disease, but for an eye disease. They probably do it because it is a common practice among other doctors. The news anchor said that we should question the doctor every time they prescribe a drug to make sure that it is FDA approved for our specific medical condition.

My question to you is – How many of us are comfortable questioning a doctor about the drug they prescribe? We always assume that the doctor knows what he/she is doing and accept it as such. May be one thing we can do is Google it and make sure that it is FDA approved for our condition (i.e. if our condition is a simple one and we know the medical term for it). But I am not sure how practical this is. But this really was a shocking thing to know.

Call Center

The most irritating thing that can happen to you is waiting to get a customer service representative over a phone. Most companies have too many menu options and it almost feels like they are discouraging you to call them. I was waiting for almost 15 minutes on the phone today calling Comcast. They encourage you to email them or chat with them online. But personally for the problem I had, I had to talk to them. I went through so many menus and submenu’s before I could get in touch with a rep. On top of that, the call got dropped in the middle and I had to go through the whole process again. In some companies they note down the number to call you in case the call gets dropped. That’s nice customer service. Many don’t do that.

I am sure many would have gone through with this at least once. I guess it’s justified if people here complain about calls going abroad.

1. They have spend eternity reaching the customer assistance
2. Once they get a customer rep, they have to put up with a different accent trying to figure out what he/she is talking.

Why should people go through this especially if they are paying boatloads of money every month to that company?

What do you think?

Ever changing life

My toddler just moved from toddler room to Pre school room in his child care. This basically means that he is with a different set of children whom he has never been with before. As expected he was very scared and concerned. I guess the biggest challenge in a young one’s life is how soon one can adapt to varying circumstances that befall them.

I and my wife often talk about how good it would be to become a baby again just out of the mere frustrations and tensions in work and life. But looking at my toddler, I feel that it is even scarier to be one. They still have heaps of challenges that they have to face and deal with, that we as an adult have already dealt with. Of course we have our own sets of challenges in life. But I am happy that I am done with some of them already.

What about you?

Socially Responsible Investing

There is always an uncomfortable feeling inside me whenever I think about investing in companies like Philip Morris, Diageo etc. These are all companies that make their earnings by selling tobacco, alcohol etc. I have wanted to buy those 2 company stocks for quite sometime now. But every time I wanted to pull the trigger, something stops me. I just feel bad that I have to make profit at the expense of other people’s health and life.So I have been avoiding it for quite sometime now. But every now and then when I see the stock price soar, I get this feeling as to whether I am being stupid to not buy it.

What do you think?

Careless!

There is this cost saving initiative to conserve power at work. So the employees are very diligent in switching off the restroom lights before they leave when there is no one else in the restrooms. But every now and then some careless team members just switch off the light and leave, not minding to see whether there is someone else in the restrooms. This really puts you off if you are the one sitting in a dark rest room. This happened to me once today and I realized how irritating it is.I think they should install those automatic sensors. That is the best way to deal with these careless people.

We are expecting a second baby!

First the good news - We are expecting a second baby!

Now here is the part where I vent my frustrations.

There is this rather annoying tendency with some people in a way they reacted when I shared the news with them. Most people congratulated me when I shared the news with them and wished me luck with a broad smile on their faces. This is the kind of response you would expect.

Here are some annoying responses I got from people

‘Your life will totally change. Don’t think you can be like how you are right now’
‘Your stress level is going to shoot up like you cannot imagine’
‘You are not going to have any personal time.’
‘You are going to get more annoyed and frustrated’

In fact this is exactly the same kind of response I got from these same set of people when I told them that I was going to have my first baby.

Come on guys - I am sharing a good news with you. Shouldn't you all at least try to feign some happiness instead of responding like this?

The funny aspect of it is that most of these people already have 2 kids. So my question to such people is – ‘Is this what you feel about your second kid? – Annoyed and irritated’.

I downloaded Apple Safari

I downloaded the safari browser from Apple yesterday to check it out.
Here are the nice features

1. Looks cool. Has the same feel as IPOD
2. It is definitely faster than IE or Mozilla.
3. I like their bookmark page which has the same look as Itunes.
4. The default font is a bit different and looks cool.

The bad feature

1. The only bad facture is its security. I tried to access a financial institution site (T. Rowe Price) using it and the site recognized the browser as a Netscape Navigator and asked me to upgrade to its latest version. It said that the current browser did not have all the security in place. I don’t have any problems accessing the same site with IE or Mozilla.

Other than this everything else looks the same as IE and Mozilla. Now that their browser is open in Windows, I think they could potentially gain a decent market share. Just like me others might download it just out of curiosity. Here is the link to download safari on Windows

http://www.apple.com/safari/download/

Innocence!

This weekend we took our toddler to a local Zoo. He was very excited to see all the animals and birds there. He was particularly impressed with the monkeys.

While casually chatting with him near the monkey cage, I asked him

Me : ‘Do you have a tail like Monkey on your back?’
Varun : 'No Silly. We don’t have tail in our back. We have it in front'.

We laughed and laughed thinking about what he said.

No Spare change to tip!

It’s always embarrassing when you have to tip someone but you don’t have any spare change. I usually don’t carry too much money in my purse and has encountered this situation so many times.

Few weeks back we had to get to a car rental company from airport using a shuttle bus. We were the only ones in the bus and the driver was rendering all possible help he could to us. His body language very much suggested that he was doing it for tips since he was going very much out of the way to help us out. I realized as soon as the bus stopped that I didn’t have even a single dime to spare. So I apologized to the driver and felt bad that I did not have any spare change.

Humidity and Smoke is a bad combination

People here in US are crazy about going in an open car. I was going out with my friend here the other day and he rolled down all the windows of his car while traveling in a freeway. Not only did it make a lot of noise, but it felt like the dust was blowing all over my face. After the ride, I kind of felt dirty.

That reminded me of my days in India, when I would travel in a motorcycle with my friend to work. If I don’t wear a helmet, I can be assured that I can take a layer of carbon out of my face. Humidity and Smoke is a bad combination. In India you have no other choice but to take a shower every time you go out and come back home. That’s why I have always hated traveling in open. Here in US, even though the pollution is well controlled, I guess I just couldn't redeem myself from my past experiences.

Characters

Lately I have been using ‘characters’ to scare my kid off to get things done during crunch situations (like getting to do some stuff when we are running out of time to go to work). Every time he refuses to do something, I say that the ‘cops’ are going to get him and he immediately agrees to do it. It’s been working pretty good so far.

Once in a while, I feel bad about doing it. But looking back, I was raised like that. I was scared of some fictitious character my parents used to come up with and they used it to get things done. But you eventually grow out of it. So I don’t think it’s a bad tactic. It definitely works in crunch situations.

Any advice / suggestions?

Directions

When I first came to US, one thing I really found it difficult to follow is the directions that people give. In India people usually direct by asking to ‘go right, take left’ etc. But here in US when I first stopped in a gas station to ask for directions, he told me something like ‘go south, take east and then go west’. I had no idea which way was east or west. But now after 7+ years I am getting comfortable with this east, west, north, south directions. But it certainly was quite confusing for me initially. Even now sometimes I have to map in my mind that ‘Facing North, east is my Right Hand Side and west in my Left Hand Side’.

Interesting contrast between Indian and US economy

Indians are earning more and spending less. Average Indian is now saving and investing more rather than spending. This is in direct contrast to Americans. Here in US, people are earning less and spending more. Check this out

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070601/consumer_income_spending.html?.v=4


I guess I didn’t need a financial expert to say this. It’s a very obvious fact that we Indians are big savers. But it’s nice to see the proof in numbers.

Other interesting numbers

1. US GDP this quarter is 0.4%. Indian GDP is 9%
2. Indian key Inflation is 5.5% vs US 2.57%

Indian market is roaring right now. But it'll be interesting to see whether this kind of growth is sustainable in the long run. That's what is going to define whether Indian economy will transform from developing economy to developed.

Best Value stocks

If you ask me, what the best value stocks are in this heated market, I would say Finance/Bank stocks.

Banking stocks are good buy now I think. Look at Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Citigroup ( the 3 big banks).Their P/E is very low and I think the stocks will go up when Fed begins to cut rates, which is most likely to happen in the next 6 months. Also take a look at their dividends. If you want to minimize risk, buy XLF – Financial ETF which comprises of a good percent of all bank Stocks. Overall I think Finance stocks are cheap right now.Also the housing and related stocks are cheap. But I am not sure whether it's the right time to buy them now.

What do you think?

P.S. I am not a financial adviser.

Please call!

Have you noticed that almost all consumer products have a helpline number in their boxes? Colgate toothpaste carton had 1800 number on it and said that it is available 24 hours a day for concerns and questions about the toothpaste. Excuse my ignorance. But who in heck would be calling them? I feel sorry for the person working in the help desk eagerly waiting for a call. Maybe they would explain us proper techniques of brushing.Whatever it is 24 hr hotline is a little too much.

Happy Memories

I was on a 2 week long vacation in Boston and Connecticut. I am back in Michigan. We had lots of fun and my kid especially had a lot of fun with his cousins and family. It kind of reminded me of my childhood days when I used to visit my Cousin's house every vacation. We used to have a lot of fun. Their house was located near the Besant Nagar beach in Chennai and we spent most of our time in the beach. We also used to play a lot of cricket.

I can't get back those days even if I wanted to now. Now it's my turn to provide my kid the same kind of fun I had when I was young. The most precious thing we can give our kids is memories and we hope to give him as much happy memories we possibly can.

Azaleas

I am in Boston and first thing that caught my eye when I landed is a big bloom of azaleas. The bloom is so good and very attractive. It is much better than what we have in Michigan this year. I guess Boston must have had the right weather for the bloom this year.

Atrocious!

There is a new security check in place at all airports that we are not allowed to carry water with us in the aeroplane. Atleast it's new to me. I went through the security check and then stopped by the food court to have some grub.As usual I asked for a cup for water. But the person at the desk said that they have stopped giving courtsey water. This is ridiculous. So i had to pay $4 to get a bottle of water.

It's atrocious that these shops take advantage of this already uncomfortable situation for the air passengers. They know that we couldn't get water anywhere else and the only option is to pay them and get it. I dropped in a complaint about this.

Just show the price already!

One aspect of internet shopping I really hate is the idea of putting the merchandise in the shopping cart before you can know the price. I don’t understand why the websites want to make the customer go through that extra step of putting it in the cart, knowing the price and incase they don’t like the price (which is the case most of the time!) remove it from the cart.

Wouldn’t it be easier for everybody if they can just display the price? I guess there is a valid reason for it. But whatever be it, it irritates me.

Gas Trading!

Buying gas is like trading stocks these days. I am always looking for the price to come down. The other day I went to Costco to fill up gas and it was $3.19. I thought it was very high and decided only to fill up half my tank with a hope that it’ll come down in the next few days. But alas it keeps going up like Apple’s stock. So I have decided that I am just going to fill gas whenever it is needed irrespective of the price per gallon and hope that Dollar cost averaging works in my favor just like how it works for stocks. Just trying to save some money here.

Yellow ribbon on a hummer!

I am sure you must have all seen mails floating around about the one day boycott of gas stations. Personally it doesn’t make sense to me. There are so many better ways to do this. Buy energy efficient vehicles, carpool if you can, don't overspeed, walk wherever you can etc. The best way would be to come up with an efficient alternative for gasoline.I am sure that the day is not very far when this would happen.

Today I saw a man driving a big gas guzzling hummer with a yellow ribbon on it in support of the troops. Seeing it I wasn’t sure what to think. He should realize that he is indirectly helping the hegemony regimes in the Middle East and ofcourse the big oil companies by driving that hummer. I guess he would look a little more patriotic if he put in on a hybrid rather than on a hummer.

P.S I am feeling guilty typing this. I own 2 SUV’s! But my next vehicle would deifinitely be a hybrid.

A/C or Heat?

Spring is the most confusing time of the year when I am not sure whether to turn the A/C 'on' or heat 'on'. If I keep the A/C turned on all the time, it becomes very cold in the night and if I keep the heat on all the time, it becomes very warm during the day. So everyday I have to keep changing between heat and A/C at various times depending on how the weather is. I am sure most people here in Michigan go through this at this time of the year unless they have something to automatically switch between heat and cold depending on outside temperature.

I don’t work here!

Don’t go to a retail store wearing the same colored outfit as their official uniform. I went for shopping yesterday and since the store was being remodeled, I had to ask for help to locate various items. So I asked for help from one of them wearing the same exact outfit as the store employee not knowing that he is also out there like me shopping. The man was so upset and said that he did not work here. I could see that he was furious as soon as I asked the question. But it wasn’t my fault that he happened to wear an outfit that looked exactly like the store uniform. I simply apologized and walked away.

MasterCard Surge

If you guys have been following Master card which IPO’ed last year, you would have noticed how the stock has jumped almost 250% in a matter of months. This leads me to the question as to the credibility of the people pricing these IPO’s. It’s just stunning that this IPO was priced so low ($39) especially knowing what a mammoth MA is. Now the entire sets of analysts are coming out one by one with an upgrade saying how mammoth MA is.

What were they thinking when an IPO price is set? Or is this a Wall Street ploy to reap huge profits that an individual investor like me cannot understand?

Marketing Drugs

The most disturbing thing about the drug industry is the fact that it pays doctors incentives for prescribing their drugs to patients. Granted the industry helps the masses by researching and creating a cure for different kind of diseases. But for it to survive, it has to market like any other company that markets consumer products. I am not sure how much federal help is lent to these companies. But based on the aggressive marketing, I can conclude that it is either very less or none.

The negative side to it is the fact that consumers may end up taking medicines that might be unnecessary for them. Even though it is not harmful, it may still be unnecessary. So ultimately we end up being the losers. But this is the reality and we have to put up with it.

Export quality?

Every time I go to Indian grocery store to buy stuff, I always feel good seeing ‘export quality’ label on the merchandise. Recently I read that most of the goods that are imported into US do not require a quality check to be performed in the originating country. Also only a very tiny percent of what is imported is sampled and checked by FDA for quality and assurance here in US. FDA attributes it to usual complaints like lack of resources, funding etc.

So essentially most goods we buy here that are imported is not assured to have good quality. After knowing that piece of info, ‘export quality’ label doesn’t make me feel good anymore. In fact it makes me very nervous now.

Freedom to make my own decisions

It’s a well known fact that most Indians in America buy Japanese cars. Just go to any Indian party or gathering, you’ll know what I mean. Just the other day I was talking about this to my American friend and he remarked that it would be unimaginable for him to possess a foreign car. He said that his neighbors and friends would make fun of him if he owned a foreign car and there is no way that he can even think about buying a foreign car even if it is more reliable than the American counterparts. (FYI - I live in a conservative Republican city.)

That’s when I realized how I can make any decisions I want here, not minding about what my relatives or neighbors think about it. Being away from home does have its advantages.

Office Space

This morning I saw a trouble desk record in my email saying that ‘Level 5’ Report has failed. My mind almost immediately remembered the movie ‘Office Space’. Many times I have laughed thinking about the movie 'Office Space' and the significance of ‘TPS Reports’ in that movie. If you are in software and haven’t watched the movie ‘Office Space’, I suggest you watch it. It’s a funny movie and you can very easily relate to it.

Watching too much TV

Yesterday after dinner I was sitting in my living room which doesn’t have a TV. My son looked at me and said ‘No TV. You cannot turn it on.’ I was so embarrassed. I guess I am watching too much TV in front of him. It’s probably because of all the world cup cricket I have been watching the last 2 months. Now that the world cup is over, I hope I can change his opinion.

Comedians

I am always intrigued by the kind of creativity most comedians are bestowed with. Most of them have this ingenious capability to take ordinary things that unfold in front of their eyes and make it into something very funny. These are mainly what I would call ‘Jerry Seinfeld’ kind of comedians. It’s a clean comedy which usually does not get into other people’s nerves or senses. It’s something you laugh about and forget when you go back home. No nonsense comedy.

There are many out there doing comedy by making fun of people and their feelings. Some are no doubt very hilarious. But what seems hilarious to me may not be the same way for somebody else.

So personally I don’t rate them as much as ‘Jerry Seinfeld’ kind of comedians. Many might disagree. But this is what I personally think.

We are not that great!

Human beings, no doubt, have been a very dominant in planet earth. At least that’s what I have been thinking all along.

For the past few days I have been suffering from severe cold and sinus. That has made me realize that we still haven’t been successful against these damn viruses. These viruses are supposedly so smart and could mutate in such a way that prevention and cure is almost impossible.

I almost laughed when I watched the ending of ‘War of the Worlds’ by Steven Spielberg where aliens couldn’t sustain the earthly diseases. But now I guess Spielberg must have had bronchitis when he wrote that story.

Your kid looks up to you

I usually eat a lot of fruits daily. Yesterday my 2 year old stayed at home because he was sick. When I came back from work, he was so excited to see me back home. He immediately ran to the refrigerator and got me a plum and got himself a plum and started eating with me. I was so happy to see it.

Just goes to show how kids observe you each and every day. It’s a good lesson for me as a parent. Instead of just telling your child to eat healthy, you should lead by example. They automatically look up to you.

We take things for granted

We take so many things for granted.I was listening to NPR today during lunch and they were discussing about the water scarcity in Kenya and how tough it is to get decent supply of water to a household everyday.

I came back from lunch and a guy who just participated in Boston Marathon was talking about how good the Kenyan runner was who came first in the marathon. He was going on and on about how these guys are very athletic and was wondering what they eat to keep themselves fit.

The Kenyan runner must have gained his strength by walking many miles everyday to fulfill his daily needs. I am not sure whether he really had all the luxury, comfort and time to think about what he should eat to run good in a marathon.

How ironic?

Bunny bites!

Rabbits are no doubt cute to have around. Spring is finally here and all the rabbits are finally coming out of their burrows to have a bite of all the beautiful plants and shrubs that are blossoming right now.

I was very curious to see how the tulips would bloom in my front yard this spring. But those hungry bunnies spoiled my curiosity by biting away a lot of flower buds from my tulip plants. I sprayed some repellants yesterday to save the remaining. But it is a little too late.

I’ll have to wait one more year for the blooms. Damn Bunnies!

Virginia Tech Shooting Revelation

When the news first came out about the Virginia Tech. shooting incident, everyone was curious to see who the killer was.I was amazed to learn the response from a few after it was known that the killer was Korean. Here are a few responses I heard -

One Afro-American guy said that he was happy that it wasn’t black.

There was a loud remark from a Caucasian friend of mine – ‘Did you see it was a Korean?’

A Chinese friend of mine was angry that the media reported it as Asian and Asian mostly refers to Chinese.

We talk all about democracy and everyone being equal. But in heart we are still divided by Race. I have no doubts about it.

Did you hear similar responses?

Not My Daughter

Today I met a friend of mine who was shopping in a store with his little daughter. I greeted him and he introduced his daughter to me. Then I told him that his daughter looks exactly like him just to be polite. That sentence usually brings a smile in a parents face. But to my embarrassment he said that it was his step daughter and not his own. I was very embarrassed and didn’t know how to react.

Our Little One!

My 2.5 year old is going through a phase right now where in he says anything to anybody irrespective of time or place. We are trying to be as cautious as we can when we talk to each other these days. It won’t seem like he is listening when me and wife are talking to each other. But his sharp ears are listening to every word we talk. He is amazing us every day with a new word.

He also puts us in embarrassing situations sometimes by telling things to others - things that they are not supposed to know. But it really is a fun phase.

More TV's than People

Did you know that there are 2.73 TV sets for every 2.55 people here in US? This is according to a research by Nielsen.

Almost every household these days have 2 TV sets. These days even the refrigerators come with TV attached to it. TV's these days come in many possible dimensions so that it can be fit in any possible nook and corner of a house- kitchens, bathrooms etc..

So I wasn’t surprised when I saw the above numbers. Are you?

Marriage and Indians

How Indians have progressed with respect to marriage

1. Parents strictly wanted their child to marry within their own caste.

That changed.

2. Parents were OK as long as their child married within their own caste or sub caste.

That changed.

3. Parents were OK as long as their child married somebody within their own religion irrespective of caste or sub caste.

That changed.

4. Religious barrier is broken. Parents are OK as long as their child had a happy marriage.

With globalization in place and people moving to different countries the current scenario is

5. Parents are OK as long as their child married somebody within their own race.

6. Even the race barrier is broken to some extent. Parents are OK as long as their children have a happy marriage.

The common joke here in US among Indians now is
‘As a parent I am fine as long as the marriage is between a Man and Women’.

Even though not everyone’s thought has progressed this way, many are open-minded these days.

What do you think?

Always think Long Term

It’s always better to take decisions thinking about its long term implications rather than making it based on your current situation. I am sure most people must have encountered stressful situations at work or other places which may have made them think that they should just quit and move on.

The most important thing to do in such a situation is to control your anger and then think about the long term implications of it rather than making a decision in a fit of anger/stress. If you think about it, there is no guarantee that such situations will not arise in the other place we move out to. So we should always have this in mind before we make decisions.

I am not saying that you should ignore what’s happening around you. But make sensible moves to avert the current crisis especially if the long term perspective of what you have is good.

What do you think?

Frequent Accidents

Have you noticed that accidents happen at particular spots very frequently? This almost seems like a coincidence. But it is hard to accept it as a coincidence.

In fact back in India wherever such a thing happens, some people attribute it to evil spirits and other un-natural phenomenon. In fact I have seen few spots where they had kept idols of god with the hope that it would ward off evil spirit.

There are those who don’t believe in such things and they attribute it to physical imperfection of the road, signal placement etc.

Science or religion -Whatever be it, I think it would be wise to be precautious if we are driving through such a spot.

What do you want today?

I am becoming very predictable. These days any time I go to any of the fast food places that I usually frequent during lunch, they seem to know what I want. I have this habit of eating specific food at specific places and as soon as I walk in, people there guess what I want even before I tell them. It’s probably because I am the only guy getting the same vegetarian dishes day in and out.

It’s embarrassing sometimes when I walk in and the person there says ‘So what do you want today? Veggie sandwich?’.

The hype about American Idol

Somehow it seems that everybody is obsessed with American Idol. I don’t see the show much and I can’t understand why it’s creating such a sensation like it’s a crisis. It’s after all a cheesy television show with no values in it. It’s mostly filled with misfits and people just watch it for insults that the judges make.

Why does the entire popular newscast talk about it all the time? Why do they care if some guy Sanjaya, who is supposedly, not as talented as others keeps progressing in the show? I don’t mind if the news appears on the entertainment section of the newspaper. But it really bothers me when I see it as a headline. I am just waiting for this show to end and for all the hype and buzz to be over.

Smoking inside a theatre

I never thought this would happen here in the US.But it did. There was this guy smoking inside a theater and nobody ever questioned him. It was very unpleasant and we had to move to a different seat to avoid smoke. It totally ruined our movie experience. I was surprised that the smoke detector did not go off.

How do Private Equity firms do it?

Chrysler is up for sale. I am sure many private equity funds and individual investors are lining up to bid for it.

The ideology of these private equity funds is to buy a company which is weak currently, somehow improve it and then sell it to somebody else/make it public again and make money out of it. But the question I really have in my mind is, if a private equity firm has the confidence to turn around a company, why can’t the current company management do that? This always baffles me. I am sure there is a very good explanation for it. Please share if you know the reason. I am curious.

Prejudiced mind

Some people are very loud. There is this guy at work who talks really loud that I can hear his conversations clearly even though he doesn’t sit close to me. Because of his loud voice, people generally surmise that he doesn’t do much work. They see him mostly as a big talker and not as a big doer, even though this is not essentially true.

It is true that sometimes your personality overrides everything you do. You are almost always judged based on your personality if you are too bombastic in your actions. For some reason there is a perception in our minds that big doers are generally not pompous in their actions. Even though this is not essentially true, this I think is a great example of how prejudiced we are in some common situations.

Hard to accept!

One thing I have noticed is that if someone gives an advice that is contradictory to a popular belief, they are usually booed out. There is this guy Robert Kiyosaki, who writes in the financial section at Yahoo. He almost always writes a column suggesting how it is dumb to invest long term in Stock Markets and rather beneficial to invest in Real Estate and Precious metals. If you look at the comments to his article, most people just make fun of his assessments. Another glaring historical example I can think of is Galileo. We all know what happened to him when he opposed the popular belief at that time that Earth is the center of the universe and not sun.

I think it’s tough to think beyond years and years of beliefs/ideas implanted in our minds. If somebody comes up with a contradictory idea, we are almost always, not very welcoming of that idea. Even if our common sense tells us that the other person might be correct, we still prefer to go with our ingrained belief and ideologies. If not for this inexplicable odd behavior in us, people would have been able to look beyond religions, faith and bad principles and live a happy and harmonious life.

To Lick or not?

The other day I went to the post office to mail some documents. I realized that I needed a bigger envelope than what I got and decided to buy one on the counter. I stuffed the document in and realized that I had to lick it to close it. I was so embarrassed to lick it in front of the person in the counter. Thank God the guy had a cello tape. I asked him to put that instead of me licking it. The counter guy said that he was waiting to see if I am going to lick it or not with a chuckle in his face.

It was one of those awkward moments.

Over the counter!

Aren't you afraid when a popular drug company suddenly pulls their popular drug of the market citing patient concerns?

I think you all remember the days when Pfizer and other big pharmaceutical corporations pulled their popular arthritis medicine off the shelf citing concerns. If I was one of them taking the medicine, I would be deeply disturbed. Call me crazy, but I like to avoid drugs as much as possible unless it's a serious condition.

On the other hand there are people who gobble up drugs like Tylenol, aspirin even if they sense slightest discomfort. I think Human body is more adaptable than we think. I sincerely feel that it’s not a good idea to be taking too many over the counter drugs for slightest of problems.

What do you think?

Money – Marketing!

Lately I have been stumbling upon dollar bills with Ads in it. Recently I got a dollar bill in which somebody advertised their website in it. It seems like an easy and effective way of advertising. But I am not sure whether it is legal to do it that way.

Some people try to get their message across by hook or crook. I have tried to do some research on Internet marketing. From all my analysis, I can see that the startup websites success depend on the most part on Google results. They somehow have to find a way to make sure that they stay on top of Google ranking. If not there isn’t much chance that someone is going to visit your website by chance. There are lots of websites who claim that they can ensure that your site stays on top of Google rankings and charge hefty fee for the service. I am not sure how effective they are.

It’s a tough world out there. Anybody can create a website. But it takes real talent and patience to market it.

What do you think?

Casual writing

One thing I have noticed with people’s casual writing these days is that they have started composing sentences in a manner easier for them rather than being grammatically correct. It has become a vogue these days. E.g. ‘Where as’ is getting replaced by ‘Were us’, through getting replaced by thru’ etc.

I am not a purist by any means and I always believe that language is just a means of communication. As long as we are able to deliver the message, the purpose is served. But I have heard people complaining about it. I usually avoid doing it out of the fear that that I’ll get used to it. Once you get used to something, it’s tough to revert back to original. Also this kind of a language does not help in professional writing. You’ll inadvertently write it that way if you get used to it.

I think the main reason for this to happen is because of advent of SMS, blackberry, cell phone etc. People want to convey their message as short as possible and have come up with this easy way. There is nothing wrong with it. But it sure will anger some purists.

Begging Problem in India

One of my friends recently visited India and said this story to me which I found shocking. He was traveling one day in Chennai and his car stopped in a traffic signal. A beggar who had no legs was pushing himself on a wooden slab with wheels begging for money.So my friend out of sympathy handed over five rupees to the beggar. But to his surprise the beggar started cursing my friend saying that he is cheap and demanded more money from him. My friend was totally embarrassed and didn’t know what to do.

I am not sure how I would have reacted in that circumstance. But I think such things should not be encouraged. Begging has become more like a business in India. I have heard horrible stories about people choosing begging as a profession since its easy money. I have also heard stories about how people force their kids to beg since it extracts more money from people out of sympathy.

What would you have done?

Cage free farm fresh Vegetarian fed hen eggs

I was walking in the grocery aisle at my local retail store and decided to buy some eggs. I usually get the 'cage free farm fresh eggs'. There is some theory that eggs from hens which are bred on a farm, are supposed to be tasty. The reasoning seems to be that those that are not caged are supposed to be happy and happy hens produce tasty eggs (?????!).

Yesterday I was surprised to see 'Vegetarian fed hen' eggs. I am not sure what the reasoning is behind it. Are Vegetarian fed hen supposed to create more tasty eggs? Whatever the case maybe, we should appreciate the good marketing idea.

So far the best of the eggs according to egg companies are ‘cage free farm fresh Vegetarian fed hen’ eggs. I am wondering what’ll be their next move!

Who will she support?

This weird question popped in my mind when we where watching the India vs Srilanka match on Friday. Who would Muralitharan’s wife support? As most of you know Murali’s wife is a native of Chennai, India.

As we were watching the proceedings, our doubts were cleared. She was cheering for every move Murali makes thereby supporting Srilanka.

Typical Indian girl? Something in light vein for an otherwise depressing day.

Toddlers Grocery List

My 2 1/2 year old almost always wants to go to Meijer, a local grocery store, just to buy candies. I was intrigued and I thought I would try to get the list of things he would buy from Meijer.

Me: Varun, What do you want to get from Meijer today?

He thinks for a few seconds and came up with this list

Cheese
Waters (This is how he says if he wants lots of water)
Suckers
Lollipop
Kit Kat
Candies

I wish we can eat like this everyday.

Mexican food makes me sleepy

I have always felt very sleepy after I have had Mexican food. Same is probably true with South Indian food. But I know that for south Indian food, it is because of the carbohydrate load.

So I decided to do some research on what in Mexican food makes us feel sleepy. To my surprise I found that both black and pinto beans have high level of tryptophan. This is the same substance found in Turkeys which supposedly causes sleepiness.

I guess it’s better to cut down on my bean burrito lunches.

Cricket is not boring

There are many who feel that cricket is a boring game since it is played for quite a long duration when compared to others. They are accustomed to watching Basketball, football etc. which usually runs for 2-3 hrs.

As far as I am concerned, cricket is like chess but physical. You work on your opposition for quite a long time, coming up with strategies to defeat them. You have to Plan, Analyze the pitch, Pick players to suit the conditions, Keep adjusting to different situations that arise during the course of the match etc… I don’t know about others. But I am always tensed throughout the proceedings wondering what would happen next.

You can imagine how these people would talk about test matches which are played for 5 days. But I like test matches too because for those 5 days there are always twist and turns and you are always worried about what would happen next. If you are a cricket fan like me, following cricket since your early days, you will definitely understand my feelings.

But for others – Oh Well! Some thing’s cannot be described in words.

Cricket - my passion

I am kind of enjoying my days as a cricket fan. I usually get much tensed in a crunch situation of a cricket match. I am one of those who wouldn’t like to eat or in fact do anything when things are tense out there.

One of my colleagues asked me whether I remember the match where Miandad hit a 6 of the last ball to fetch that famous victory for Pakistan. I very vividly remember it. I was probably 11/12 at that time and I was so tensed that I walked out of the house for the last 2 overs. I was walking aimlessly in the street praying that India should win not having the courage to watch the TV. I was just back to watch the last ball and we all know what happened. You can never forget things in life if you passionately love it.

Cricket is my passion just like many other fellow Indians out there. Go India!

Bluetooth wireless headphones

With the advent of Bluetooth and wireless headphones, you see people everywhere using wireless headphones. The other day when I was walking in a mall, I saw somebody walking toward me saying something. Then I realized that he was talking through the wireless headphones. Since these headsets are very tiny, sometimes you might think that somebody is talking to themselves.

But this is a better solution for driving and talking with cell phones. At least you would have both your hands on the steering. What do you think?

Reacting to things we see

Have you realized that we usually react faster to things we see rather than the things we don't see?

Take for example, eating five servings of fruits and veggies a day. We all know it’s good for us. But still we don’t eat it. The main reason, as I see it, is the fact that we don’t see the ill effects, since it is happening inside the body. So we just ignore it. Just assume a condition that we get rashes all over our face if we do not eat 5 servings of veggies/fruits in a day. Wouldn’t we react to it? We sure would.

Too much Information?

Are we getting too paranoid these days because of too much media exposure? With the advent of internet, all the information is at your fingertip. Any news that happens in the nook end of the world gets to you in a jiffy.

With that comes the concept of 'too much information'. Media always has this habit of blowing bad things out of proportions. So people these days are getting paranoid about those things they really don't have to.

Think about bird flu and the headlines it made last year. Most people experienced an 'end of world' like phenomenon because of the way in which it was covered by the media.Before this media explosion most wouldn't have known about these things and they would have been calm and happy. Now we are made to worry about every possible thing that can happen to us.

Some people may argue that too much information is better than very little information. This helps us to be prepared.

I guess we should somehow learn to just absorb the crux of the information and leave the exaggeration behind.

What do you think?

Indians and Tourism

Indians have a penchant for touring places. I have been to many famous tourist attractions in US and Europe. One thing you can count on for sure is that you’ll be sure to see fellow Indians wherever you go. I guess it can be partially attributed to our population size.

Here are 2 things I cannot forget that clearly shows how we Indians dominate in many tourist places.

1. We went to Switzerland for our honeymoon. We had to travel for a long time to go to the highest point in Europe called Jungfrau. To our surprise there were so many Indians tourists out there. So many that somebody decided to start a samosa stall out there.

2. We went to Niagara few months back and we saw so many Indians out there. There were so many of them that one of the Americans inquired my family whether there was any Indian carnival that weekend in Niagara.

Have you noticed the same ?

Carpets and Toddlers don’t mix

One thing I hate in houses here in US is carpets. It’s very hard to get any stains out of it and keep it clean all times. Granted there are so many cleaners available in the market and so many different kinds of vacuum cleaners. But it still doesn’t help.

Hard floors are easy to clean and once it is cleaned, you’ll have a satisfaction that it is clean. You can see it with your eyes that it is clean. But with carpets, even if you vacuum it multiple times, you’ll still not have the same satisfaction. There is no way to confirm that it is clean. If you don’t have a good quality vacuum cleaner, you can be assured that you’ll leave some filth in the carpet even if you vacuum multiple times.

Another major disadvantage of carpet is the allergy factor. There are lots of people here in US allergic to carpet fibers.

I have a toddler at home and kids are well known to vomit. So we have a hard time at home cleaning the carpets and maintaining it. Carpets and Toddlers just don’t mix.

Email vs Voice communication

Have you been in a circumstance where you write something in the e-mail to somebody and the other person misinterprets it because of the way it’s written?

I have always found that, if possible, it is better to talk face to face instead of communicating through email. If you observe carefully, any sentence can be interpreted in different ways with different tone of voice. So if a topic is very sensitive, then I think it’s better to communicate through voice than through email.Also an email is a legal evidence in case you type something bad in a fit of anger. It's something irrevocable.

I heard recently about a new email system called 'self destructing' email ,which would basically leave no trace of where it originated.
http://www.forbes.com/2000/09/12/feat.html

Isn't this interesting?

Superficial

Most people must have read about Arun Nayar – Liz Hurley wedding and how grand they are. Also most of you must have heard about Lakshmi Mittal’s daughters wedding and many other Indian big shot weddings. One thing I don’t understand is why are Indians so obsessed with extravagant weddings?

One thing I have observed with most of my fellow Indians is that, they are not shy to display how opulent they are to the whole society. People wear these big gold ornaments; celebrate opulent weddings etc. just to show the society that they are rich. What is even more pathetic is that sometimes people, who are not really rich, spend beyond their means just to show the society that they are no less compared to others.

We talk about how superficial western society is. On the other hand we do the same thing.

I really don’t understand what people gain by showing off their opulence and by being so superficial?

Students??

I was reminiscing my years as a student here in the US. It was mainly because of the fact that I heard a presentation from my University’s chair today, who is now the president of the company I work for.

One thing startling for me when I first started my masters here in the US is the fact that most of my fellow students in class were old folks. Most of them were over 40 and it really surprised me that people here in US go to school even at that age. That is something unheard of in India. I haven’t seen any uncle or aunt going to school after their early years.

Corporate America is a bit severe sometimes. If you don’t keep yourself updated with latest skills, you could be left behind. Of course it does do it part of helping employees, by providing incentives to learn new things. Most companies reimburse for courses we learn through school. That is one of the inspiring reasons for people to go to school even after they age. In fact that’s what motivated me to do my masters.

But it really was a surprise for me the first time when I attended school.

Naariyal Paani

I used to drink fresh coconut water when I was in India almost every day. That is one thing I really miss here. We get ‘Thai coconut water’ here in grocery stores. But some how it doesn’t taste like the ones we get in India. I find Thai coconut water very sweet.

There are lots of tropical fruits we get in India which we don’t get here in the US. Some of them we get it only as canned food. Even if we do get them, it is exorbitantly priced.

I really miss them.

ICC World cup 2007

After a lot of deliberation on my mind whether to subscribe for World cup cricket or not, I decided to do it yesterday. It was a bit expensive at $200 for the whole series. Its 50 bucks an year since it is once every 4 years. So what the heck! I decided to subscribe for it.

Most of my friends suggested that I watch it through those illegal online streaming websites. Some how I didn’t feel it was a right way to do it. Plus you are at the mercy of some web site admin whom you have no way to contact. So I decided to do it the right way and I am sure I won’t regret it.

I am all set month and half of cricket fun. Hope India goes all the way at least till the semis.

Smoking to lose weight

There are lots of people I know who smoke with the intention of losing weight. People smoke and starve to lose weight. There is this common consensus that smoking curbs your appetite. So people smoke to curb their appetite and in turn lose weight. But isn’t it common sense that it’s not the right way to do it?

I think this practice is especially prevalent with teenage girls and women in US who would do anything possible to lose weight. I just don’t understand why people would do something that is detrimental to their body just to look slim. Western culture is becoming very superficial day by day. I hope this culture doesn’t spread to India.

Video Resume

I hear that ‘myspace’ is popularizing video resumes. One thing I am very skeptic about this concept is the fact that people might get rejected based on how they look and act in front of the camera, rather than being considered for their talent. Currently your call to an interview is most likely based on your professional credentials rather than anything else. But with Video resume, you may have to end up putting a well enacted video to gain advantage over others.

We have to accept that we live in a superficial world. So if your looks are not appealing in the video or if you don’t present yourself properly, then there is a fair chance that you might not get selected. You can argue that the same is true in a face to face interview. But this video resume is more like a pre-interview and could pose an unfair advantage to some individuals even if they are highly talented.

As far as I am concerned, talking in front of a camera is an art. So if a person is not well versed in that, then he/she should probably consider hiring a professional to create a video resume.

What do you think?

Nonsense talk

Some people always speak out in the meeting even if they don't have anything meaningful to convey. I don’t mind people expressing their opinions as long as they have something genuinely good to say. But some people do it just for the sake of showing their presence in a meeting. They back up their ideas with very little facts. These people eventually end up looking like clowns.

I have come across lots of such people and it always amazes me how they can be like that and how they don’t change even after many insults.

Have you come across people like that?

The other perspective

Once you begin to strongly believe in something, you just can’t look outside the box. There is this person I know who is a staunch believer in her/his beliefs. The person is so staunch that he/she began questioning my beliefs. So I told the person that no matter how hard I try to prove to you that there is always other perspective to everything, you’ll just not accept it or take it because you strongly believe that you are right.

This I think is the main reason for all the chaos in the world. Every religion/political parties/individual etc. thinks that their way of life is right. Those who strongly believe in their faith just cannot accept that there could be a better alternative. There are some who just shun others who don’t believe in their faith, and others who are rebellious to insist on others that their way of life is right. If people become rebellious and insist that their way of life is right, then it becomes a problem for the society.

What do you think?

What are you?

There are 3 kinds of people here in US – People who watch Fox news, People who watch CNN or People who hate both and watch non partisan channels. For those who don’t know, Fox viewers are viewed as staunch republicans and CNN viewers are viewed as staunch democrats.

One thing I have figured out after my long stint with these 2 websites, fox and cnn, is an easier way to find out whether I am a democrat or republican or independent by heart.

If you want to find out whether you are a democrat or republican or independent, take the online polls on political issues in those 2 websites. If you concur with the majority opinion in CNN online polls almost all the time, then you are a democrat. If you concur with the majority opinion in Fox online polls almost all the time, then you are a Republican. If you are kind of in between, then you are an independent who votes for people rather than the political parties.

Now I know who I am. What are you?

Playing lottery for the first time

I have never played lottery in my life. I remember my father used to play it when I was young. Today I was offered by one of my colleague to participate in some big draw here and I participated for the first ever time in my life. Now that I have participated, I am very excited about it even though my heart knows that there is no chance.

I remember this is how I felt when I gambled for the first time. I remember gambling on slot machines a few years back in Las Vegas and winning close to like $100 with just $50 cents. I was so excited and greedy that I spent all the $100 on the same slot machine hoping to win more. You all can guess what must have happened.

But who knows? I might win several millions tomorrow and just quit my job. But one thing is sure - I’ll still continue to blog. Wish me luck.

Human Animal bondage

The way in which pets are treated has changed immensely in the last few decades especially here in the US. Most of the pets here live and sleep with their owners unlike a few decades back where they live in a kennel or basement or elsewhere outside the house.

Funny incident happened yesterday wherein I walked into a middle of a conversation between my 2 American friends. They were talking something like ‘how he has grown and how things change day by day’ etc. For a second I thought they were talking about their babies. Once they started talking about taking him outside on a leash, I realized they were talking about their pets.

This seems to be the mindset of most people here with pets. They are now a part of their families. Even in India, I know a lot of people who cherish their pets like their babies. I think Human Animal bondage has grown immensely in the last few decades.

I love pets too. But the only reason I don’t have them or want them is because of their longevity. If they would outlive me, I might buy. But I am very weak hearted to buy a cat or dog and see them die before me.

Interesting tidbit-
Did you know that Pets have blood banks? Healthy pets can donate blood just like humans.

Everybody is moving out of Michigan

I heard a very interesting fact today that bees are required for survival of almost 20% of Michigan’s farming. Bees as most of know is responsible for the transfer of pollens which in turn spurs the growth of fruits, flowers and vegetables.

There is a latest report that has shown that bees are moving out of Michigan and there is a major concern about the farming growth this year. Nobody knows why this is happening (Let’s just blame it on Global Warming! People seem to be blaming that for almost everything these days.)

Lately it just seems like everything is moving out of Michigan– Bees, people, auto industry etc...

Importance of Chewing food

One thing I have noticed with people’s eating habits is the ‘lack of chewing’. There are very few people who I have observed chewing their food for a long time before actually swallowing it. I should accept that I don’t do a good job of chewing too.Chewing is supposed to break up the fiber that holds the food together so that the digestive enzymes have easier access to the contents inside.

If you think about it, god has provided humans with so many teeth whose only purpose is to chew down food. Don’t you think that he has made it very clear to us that it is very important to chew down before you swallow? He couldn’t have been more explicit.

What do you think?

Water - Oscar

Water as most of you know was nominated in Oscars ‘Best Foreign’ film category. Even though it is a total Desi movie, it was still nominated as a Canadian movie since Deepa Mehta and the producer were citizens of Canada and chose to be that way.

I wouldn’t blame Deepa for doing that because she wouldn’t have had an iota of a chance of getting nominated as an Indian because of all the politics and the perceived ‘anti-Hindu’ elements in the film. Even though I don’t think it’s ‘anti-Hindu’ (Please see http://blog.my-random-thoughts.com/2006/12/widows-in-india.html for my old posting on this issue), it is so sad that she had to represent herself as a Canadian for getting through to Oscars.

There was a beautiful article about ‘Water’ in Times and the whole world appreciated her daring effort despite all the troubles she had to go through. But one of the intent of the movie was to reach those ‘close minded’ people who still adhere to those age old practices and rituals. I am not sure whether the movie actually got through to those people.

What do you think?

GPS – What to Expect

I got a new GPS for my SUV last week and have been trying around my city. After having toyed with it for almost a week now, I should accept that there have been some frustrations. The basic reason for most of my frustration stems from the fact that the GPS makes it’s decision on some algorithm and mathematical calculations and doesn’t always direct me the way I think it should.

Now that I have lived in this city for almost 8 years, I am used to traveling to certain places in a certain route. Every time GPS guides me through a different route based on its ‘shortest time to destination’ calculation to a place I am very used to, I am getting frustrated. I almost thought that I should return it at some point. I guess I wouldn’t be having this problem if I was living in a big city and not know most of the crossroads.

But as a GPS buyer, one should accept the fact that it is only going to make choices based on some algorithm and mathematical calculations. It’s not going to route you exactly as you think especially if you know the place very well. Now that I have accepted that fact, I am enjoying it very much.

My URL has changed

I am now publishing at blog.my-random-thoughts.com. So for those behind firewall blocking 'blogspot' , please use this address.

I was told that using the old address would redirect to my new domain. So I think you should be able to use both new and old URL.

Thanks all for your support.

Don’t almost give, GIVE

I saw this AD on TV yesterday which ended with a caption ‘Don’t almost give, GIVE’.

I think it’s true that whenever most of us hear or see something bad happening to people around the world, we have this initial reaction or thought that we should somehow help those affected. If we don’t react to our initial response and act then and there, somehow the enthusiasm diminishes off as days go on. Hence mostly we end up not helping those in need.

This has happened personally with me lots of times and this ad really made me think.

Do u want to be a Passive or active smoker?

I personally think that the Non smoking sections in most restaurants in US are a joke. My colleagues took me to TGIF today for my birthday lunch and we all sat in the ‘Non Smoking’ section. Even though I was apparently in a non smoking area, I can smell smoke very obviously. The only thing separating non smoking and smoking area was a glass screen on one side. I am not sure how they believe that smoke cannot get through the front entrance of the smoking section.

There is one Chinese restaurant nearby where they just have a curtain between smoking and non smoking area. That too the curtain doesn’t cover the entire height of the room. It looks more like a shower curtain.

I think restaurants like these should classify their seating section as ‘active’ or ‘passive’ smoking section instead of ‘smoking’ and ‘non-smoking’ section. Don’t you think that would be appropriate?

I just hope that government bans smoking in public places in US like they did in India. Indian government really deserves applause for passing that legislation.

Working from Home

One thing that is catching up here in US is the concept of working from home. This is true especially for people in software. Many companies these days allow one day a week to work from home. This is really cool and it’s a break from getting up early to get ready and then commuting to work.

According to many reports I read, people are said to be very productive working from home. Now with all technologies like VPN etc. available, I do not see any difference between working from home and working at office. In fact I have a friend here in US who is allowed to work only on a specific days at work since his cubicle is being shared by somebody else. This is especially useful if the office space is being rented on an expensive downtown building.

Working from home is a good thing and really helps if you have family and kids. I am very happy that this trend is catching up.

What do you think?

P.S I am turning 32 tomorrow

Home Improvement skills

Most men and women here in US have decent home renovation skills. I have lots of colleagues who work with me who have completely built their basement or remodeled a room in their house by themselves. One of the main reasons for it is because the labor cost here in the US is very high. Another reason is that there is a lot of help available through the home improvement stores if you are really interested. They offer a lot of free classes to teach you how to do it. So people in middle/lower class generally tend to do things by themselves just to save some money.

Apart from housing stuff, even big furniture, toys etc. are usually sold unassembled here in US. So you have to assemble it all by yourself. This is one thing I found it particularly tough when I initially came. The only instrument I have used in India is a screw driver. I really haven’t assembled anything before. When I initially came, I bought some furniture and it came with assembling instructions. I found it really tough to assemble it. Even after assembling it I wasn’t completely satisfied. I go through this all the time even now because of all the toys I buy for my son.

But that’s the way of life here. Of course you can pay big bucks and get it assembled. But if you are like me, beginning your life here in US directly coming from India, you’ll definitely go through this. In fact this is one of the topics every Indian who comes to US afresh whines about.

Technology replacing Humans

We went shopping today at Meijer retail store and went to a self check out lane.For those who don't know, self checkout lanes are lanes where people use a computer system to checkout without a humans help. As we were about to check out we overheard a couple talking. This couple had less than 5 items and the man wanted to use the self checkout lane to checkout. But the woman did not want to do it. She said that she would not use anything that replaces humans and that she would only checkout on a lane serviced by humans. The man said that she was nuts and went ahead and used the self checkout.

But it surely was very interesting the way that woman felt. I guess she must have some kind of bad experience in life with technology replacing human's job.

I heard that one of the big car spare parts companies is opening up a factory employing 700 people. The CEO was saying that 10 years back he would have needed 3000 employees to do the same thing and how tech improvement has cut down the company’s SG&A costs. We definitely have come a long way in the last 2 decades.

What do you feel about technology replacing Humans?

HDTV accentuates facial imperfections

HDTV as you all know is known for its picture clarity. But one problem that I see with it is that it accentuates even the smallest imperfection in human face. So I think it adds even more pressure to all those anchors that appear on TV.

In this world where plastic surgeries have become a very common trait even for most rich commoners, it kind of becomes imperative for these celebrities and anchors. They are now forced to do it to survive in their businesses.

This problem is even more accentuated when I play Indian channels on my TV. In Indian channel (Sun TV is what I watch), most anchors don’t pay attention to superficial traits as much as anchors here and so when they appear on HDTV, their facial imperfections become even more obvious.

I think with all US channels becoming HD by 2010, this will be a main issue for media folks. I guess it already is.

What do you think?

Papaya

It used to be the most ignored fruit back when I used to live in India. There used to be a papaya tree in my house and I remember papayas growing in it and falling down unused.

After I came here I came to know what kind of nutritional content it has and now I buy papayas at an exorbitant price at my local grocery store. Back home it used to be considered as poor man’s fruit and is totally ignored by others. Also back home there used to be a negative publicity for it since it could potentially abort fetus. But here in US it is a delicacy.

Even though I don’t like its taste that much, I would still eat it for all it’s nutrition. So for guys and girls back in India, eat it and don’t ignore it.

Here is the nutritional info
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=47

Bold and Daring

I always wonder what drives people to do things that could potentially cost their life. I was watching a program on discovery yesterday where they were showing people attempting to climb Mount Everest. According to the report the climbers know that there is a very high risk for them to die. But they still go ahead and do it. Some die and some are successful.

Regular humans do not usually try to pursue something like that. I guess you got to have an extra special courage and a totally different mindset to attempt to do something like that. Whenever I see programs like that it always makes me wonder how some people can be so bold and daring.

I guess these are people who don’t want Normal ordinary life. At the end of their life they want to say that they tried to do something different and daring than others. I think it’s more of a personality thing than anything else.

What do you think?

Failure

Failure is something that is very hard to accept especially if you are the decision maker. You always want to give your one best last shot before acceding to it especially when you have been working on something for a long time.

I have seen many software projects in big companies which have failed after years and years of hard work. The decision makers try to push the limit until it really begins to bite them. Finally they accede to failure. I guess a good manager will be able to for see such failure during planning phase of the project. But unless he is heard, he will just have to follow his orders and be a part of failure. If he is smart he’ll move on to something else and not be a part of it.

Sometimes acceptance of failure has a very positive effect and helps you move on. I once met a person who got let go from his job because of his bad performance in the job. He said that it was the best thing that happened to him since he was able to find something that he really enjoys doing now. I guess he accepted his failure in whatever he was doing and moved on.

What do you think?

Saving money

Americans do a poor job of saving money. Their savings rate according to latest data was -1 % last year. So they are spending more than their earning power. Thanks to credit card companies most people have forgotten to live within their means.

I have lot of American friends who don’t think a wink and buy stuff as long as they get a good financing rate and can pay it back over a period of time. Most I have observed don’t worry about their earning power or about their future. I know it’s wrong to generalize. I should also say that there are some people who are extremely careful with money.But 'most' average American I talk to seem to be bad spenders. So I wasn’t surprised when the report came out last week that the savings was -1%.

On the other hand people like us from developing countries place more emphasis on saving money. I sometimes feel that we are the other extremes.

I personally think that there should be a good balance between saving and spending money. We should not be too stingy nor lavish.

What do you think?

I am ready for spring

I was shopping in Costco the other day and one thing that caught my eye is the big display of Tulips, daffodils and other spring flowers. Whenever I see those on display it is always a great feeling that spring is around soon. I am little bored of this cold winter and I am just waiting for spring to come so that I can start my Garden chores. I juts love to see my plants spring back up to life. I am just waiting to see those green leaves, colorful flowers spring back up in my garden. I am ready for spring. Are you?

This is the shot of a blue hydrangea that bloomed last spring in my front yard. Believe me,It’s very tough to make it bloom in blue.

E-Fencing

For those that haven’t heard this word, this is nothing but selling stolen goods on the internet. E-fencing is a big business on the internet fetching several billions of dollars in revenues. This is revolutionized because of e-bay.

This is how it works:
Products are stolen from the shelves of retail stores. They are then sold on the internet at a rate much cheaper than MSRP most likely through E-Bay. In E-bay as most people know, all business transactions happen through seller and buyer trust. These E-fencers build up good reputation on EBay and so they’ll have no problems selling it.

One guy who was interviewed on CNBC said that he was a student and made close to $45000 per annum by e-fencing. He was quoting that before E-bay he found it much harder to sell such stolen goods. But now life is easy for him.

So next time you buy something on E-bay, it could be stolen goods.

I personally think that it should be up to E-Bay and Internet Security experts to stop these. We are just consumers looking for good bargains. So I don’t think we should care.

What do you think?

Gossip

Whenever I am in the check out aisle of any retail store, one thing that captures my eye is the headlines that appear in those B rated magazines that lie on the shelf. They almost always come up with eye popping headlines. I saw one yesterday where they said that Laura Bush has hired Divorce Lawyers to consider divorcing George Bush. Headlines like these are so catchy that you almost feel like buying it. But once you buy it and look inside, you’ll see that it is some kind of a fake headline designed to capture people’s attention.

People have this insatiable longing for gossips. When I used to live in India, I always see people gossiping about one thing or the other especially when they are in a group. In fact when my mom was here with me in US, she once remarked that life is very boring here without gossips. Celebrities I am sure go through hell because of such gossips.

Media like the one’s I mentioned above make use of human’s fallibility for gossip for their own monetary gains. This is the main reason why the so called B rated media have managed to stay in business so long and they will continue to do so.

What do you think?

Driving and Cell Phones don’t mix

Weather is treacherous here because of freezing temperatures. Roads are very icy and it is very difficult to drive in these conditions even though I have 4 wheel drives. There are drivers like me who are quite careful when I drive in such conditions. On the other hand there are drivers who drive as if they are beyond par than anybody else. These drivers not only increase their chances to meet with an accident but also increase the blood pressure of guys like me.

Today I saw a guy driving with a cell phone in one hand and cigarette in the other. I am not sure how he was steering the vehicle. Personally I would like to see Cell phones banned during driving especially in highways and freeways. With an allowed speed limit of 70 mph here in Michigan even a small mistake could be fatal. I have heard about this law being implemented in other states. But this is really needed for all states which go through harsh and snowy winter.

What do you think?

Believe

I was watching an old TV sitcom yesterday (‘Roseanne’) where they were discussing about how the ‘Power to Believe’ could make wonders happen. In this episode a premature baby struggles for life and Doctors give up hope. So they talk about looking at alternate means to help the baby out like Reiki etc… They even quote that in India sick people take a dip in some holy rivers with the belief that it would cure their sickness and it miraculously does some times. One of the characters says to the mom that if you believe that the baby will survive, it surely will. Pretty serious stuff for a sitcom I guess. But the message behind it is very powerful.

I totally believe in the ‘Power of belief’. We some how have this power of controlling spiritually what happens to us physically. Most of us don’t realize it. This is applicable for things that are within humans reach. This doesn’t mean that you can walk on water if you believe you can. It's always important to think positive and believe that you can achieve whatever it is you want.It’s only those who really work hard and believe that they can be successful, turn out successful. Even during times of failure, they believe that they can achieve their goal. So believing in ourselves is very important.

What do you think?

Having a baby around

One thing that puts a smile on people’s face for sure is when you talk to them about their babies. Lots of people who work with me have babies, toddlers etc… Every time I talk to them about their babies, you can see a smile on their faces. This works with both genders. This also works on any kind of situations. It totally makes them light even if they are really angry with you.

You may get really tired taking care of the toddler / baby through out the day. But once you get away from him/her and go to work or elsewhere, you then begin to think about him/her and you’ll miss him/her very much. I am sure every parent goes through this. Having a baby around is the best thing that can happen to a person.

What do you think?

My Best Hitter!

I was just going through google analytics today to see what ‘search string’ in google gets the maximum hit to my page. The top search string was ‘IPC498A’.

I am really surprised at the number of hits I get through ‘IPC498A – Anti Dowry Law’. I see that most of the hits are from US network locations. So I did a little research and found out through various columns that many NRI’s here in US are afraid that the law may be used unjustly against them by a woman. I can see that how it can be used wrongly against men since the cops have to arrest and impound the passport of an NRI (in India) as soon as a complaint is lodged by a woman. So some woman could try to use it for the wrong reasons.

But at the same time it is nice to see that it’s working. This could at least make those few people who are studying/working here in US solely for the purpose of demanding more dowries from in-laws shiver. Believe me there are definitely people like that here and in fact I have even met a few of them.

It’s really nice to see IPC498A making people to think twice/worry about it.

Somehow we stay as one

I used to live in the border of Karnataka and TamilNadu and there was always this eternal tension as to when violence would break out. It was like I was living in the border of India and Pakistan. This was all because of the animosity between Karnataka and TamilNadu over cauvery water. This animosity is mainly fueled by politicians more than anybody else.

I recently heard the news that more water was released to Tamilnadu and violence again erupted because of it. Central government really doesn’t do much about it because their fate lies on the support of coalition. This has been going on for 17 years. So many politicians have talked about it. Some many comedians have joked about it. But it’s sad that there is still no resolution to it even though they say that the latest verdict to open more water to TamilNadu is final.

India somehow continues to stay as one irrespective of all the differences in culture, languages, religion and things like this. We truly are a very diverse democracy.

Super Bowl

I am not a big fan of football. But I make sure I watch super Bowl every year. This time I watched mostly for Colts and Tony Dungy. Even though I don’t watch football much, I have always been a secret fan of Colts. I don’t know why. I just like them. I wanted Colts to win yesterday and I am happy they did.

Another reason for watching super bowl is the Ads and half time shows. But this year I wasn’t worried too much about it because I know that even if I don’t see it that day, I can see it on 'Youtube' later. In fact some of Ad’s were already there even before it aired on TV I think.

Also did you know that this is the first time there were 2 African American coaches in the final? Even though it’s a game dominated by African American players on the field, it’s the first time 2 African American coaches have reached Super Bowl. In fact I was listening to NPR where they were discussing about how African American coaches were disregarded as management material at one point of time and how they had to struggle to get included in the management. So this is a huge win for that community.

Did you like the Super Bowl yesterday?

What is Curry Powder anyways?

We were watching food TV today since we had nothing better to do as we were stuck home in a winter blizzard. This is probably our favorite family channel. It always surprises me how they make it so interesting to watch. They also make it look so simple that it makes you want to try the entire dish at home. Also you get to know so many things about the food you eat through that channel. There are some things I have wished I didn’t know. Did you know that marshmallows have pig skin as one of its ingredients?

One thing that really bothers me and my wife is that whenever they show an Indian dish being cooked, they always add the same generic curry powder for every dish. I am not sure whether it's the same powder everytime, but they sure call it the same everytime. We use multitude of ingredients in Indian cooking and in most cooking shows everything boils down to just the generic curry powder.

I wish Indian cooking was as simple as just using the same generic curry powder for every dish. What is curry powder anyways?

Mail In Rebates

Mail in Rebates is probably one of the cleverest innovations by the retailers / manufacturers to improve sales. I guess this concept was developed based on the theory most people are fail to mail in the rebate.

There are various points of failure that I can see

1.Most people lose the receipt after buying. Some stores are courteous enough to give a duplicate receipt but most don’t.

2.Almost all mail in rebates need the product upc mailed along with the rebate. There has been at least one instance where I have thrown the box away after I opened it.

3.Only one per address. If you are greedy and buy two and send in mail in rebate for 2 you will actually get money only for one. So always read the fine print.

4.We have to mail it by certain date. Usually the date seems very far away that we postpone it and forget it.

5.Some times you can miss out a minute detail while filling the form and it can get rejected.

So if you are not careful, diligent and do not really pay attention to details, mail in rebate is not a good option for you.

But I do accept it is a win for the customer because of those really low prices you pay.

Helpers!

There are different kinds of helpers.

1. Some people help others with the hope that others will reciprocate when situation arises.

2. There are some who help with no expectations.

3. There are some who don’t help others and don’t take help from others.

4. There are some who help others but very shy to take help from others.

I think the first kind is most common in our society. Number 2 is very rare.

What kind of a helper are you?

Exercise - Pushing the limit

One thing that surprises me the most in this country is some people’s enthusiasm to jog or run even on dire conditions. I saw a person jogging in the street today while I was going to work and the temperature here is 15 degree Fahrenheit (- 10 degree Celsius). Don’t these people understand that it is actually bad to jog in such conditions? I think that some people are so obsessed with their body shape here that they would go to any limits to keep it that way.

One thing I have noticed in common with runners is that it becomes an obsession after a few months of regular running. I don’t know why that happens. But I have personally seen a lot of runners over exerting themselves and finally getting injured. They then give it all away and end up depressed.

I think it makes no sense to over do it especially if you are not a professional athlete. What do you think?

Passion to work

Have you noticed that some people work with so much passion? I went to the cafeteria today for my breakfast and one thing I noticed was that the lady working there was working hard to make sure that she pleases everybody’s palate. She had to serve lot of people and she did so with the same amount of passion, enthusiasm and detail. On the other hand I have seen some people who work in the same cafeteria doing their job as if it was imposed on them.

I think it’s very important for everybody to enjoy their work. I understand that some people, even if they don’t enjoy what they do, continue doing what they do because of different circumstances. But if possible they should move on.

What do you think?