Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Lessons in America

- Dont order anything edible which says "Large" against it.

Ordered a "Large" popcorn today, taking a cue from several Americans discussing amongst themselves the size of their orders.

What I was handed in return for my four dollars fifty can only be described as a paper bucket I could have taken a popcorn bath in.

- Dont attempt to look for anything in waist size 32 which you like, because its not gonna be there.

Ever seen size 40, 44 or heck, even size 48 pants??

- Dont attempt to confuse people by presenting your indian driving license as "id proof".

Many million years ago, I had a photo of mine clicked when I was thin :(.

- Dont be a pedestrian in the 300 metre radius of a School Bus.

Curious cops come around to take a look in mean lookin Dodge Chargers :( .



...............many more to come!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Yes, its possible...

Can a packet of Maggi be completely ruined ? Well..read the title.

A little background though.
You see, with no ability to move around myself, I have to be completely dependent on some kind soul to get me to a shop so I can buy the essentials of life.
But when there is no one in sight, I am left to fend for myself, especially at the end of the week, since the supplies bought a week earlier are about to run out.
So like millions of souls who find themselves in a similar predicament, I heaved a huge sigh of relief when I spotted a small packet of Maggi Instant Tomato flavoured noodles lying around. Maggi is one dish which even the most hamfisted of cooks cannot go wrong with. It is a safe, fulfilling,quick, economical and a distinctly non-healthy meal in itself for the hungry soul whose other option is starvation.
A suitable sized vessel was quickly found, and water added, the burner set to medium heat.
The water began boiling, and yours truly quickly opened the packet, emptied its contents into the water and discarded the packet in one fluid motion.
But..err.. Was it two cups of water or four I had added ?
What does the packet say ? Four? Two ? One ? How come I had never faced this issue back home ?
But the answer was evident, there was clearly much more water than this little packet was intended to be cooked in..
Needed a quick fix, so decided to add a spoonful of so of the leftover rice from the morning.
Clearly though, it was turning out to be more of a soup, so a little more fixing was called for.

An egg. For reasons not entirely known to me, I thought a couple of them would be a good idea.
So I did, broke and added a couple of eggs to the liquid, A little high heat, a little vigorous stirring, and I would be good to go....!! Sheer genius, that...

And the result was... ghastly! It looked like a sticky, gelatinous mess which someone had just regurgitated.
And it also turned out to be the most horrible thing I have ever tasted in my life.
Even a generous sprinkling of crushed red peppers (Pizza Hut) and about half a cup of Heinz tomato ketchup couldnt save it.
And now, I was stuck with about half a kilo of it..

I said a little prayer, mustered up the courage, and quickly swallowed two half bowls of it in rapid succession. There was still three fourth of it left. Gulp. I was now left with no choice, but to pour my precious maggi down the kitchen sink, but there is only so much of torture I could subject myself to.

That brings me on neatly to the kind of solutions we have been providing.
You write something, user finds it not upto the mark, so you attempt to quick fix it like above and end up discarding the whole thing.

PS : A tall glass of orange juice and some chocolate chip cookies have rushed to my rescue today.

PPS : I would be grateful if someone tells me the real amount of water to be added to a small packet of Maggi.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

.

As far as I see it, the city of Memphis is one long stretch of highway, with some buildings on either side.
So far, I have seen not even a single pedestrian on the road. Nor have I heard a single honk.

Friday, October 23, 2009

To be able to successfully carry of dwindling hair, you need to be looking like either this :


Or like this :

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Quarter life crisis

Symptoms of a quarter life crisis , amongst other things :

- insecurity regarding the fact that their actions are meaningless

- insecurity regarding present accomplishments

- disappointment with one's job

- boredom with social interactions

- a sense that everyone is, somehow, doing better than you.

WOW!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Log file.

8.30 pm - I have slept for two and a half hours in the day today. My "preparation" for the night ahead. Picked at the food served for dinner at home.

9.00 pm - Get a call from the cab driver,asking me if I have a pickup. Come to think of it, it was ME who made the call. Damn, most of my phone expenses seem to go towards calling back cabbies and calling up my ISPs technical helpdesk.

9.20 pm - Hope is a very nice thing. Hope is what gets me out of bed. Though I would rather get out of bed every morning (like a normal human) than in the evening. Hope for the day was having a very pretty cab mate.

9.22 pm - Hopes dashed.

9.30 pm - Its raining. In October.

9.45 pm - Reached office. Just in time to see tired software engineers hurrying towards the last bus and the management types ambling towards their cars. Ride the lift (elevator, for those who speak Americanese) up all alone (ofcourse!).

10.15 pm - No interesting mails yet.


11.03 pm - Just spent half an hour chitchatting with a guy who couldnt go home in the heavy rains.

11.55 pm - Called up onsite guy and spent half an hour chitchatting with him.

12.15 am - Shouldnt have just picked at the food at dinnertime, my innards are growling out their demands. No interesting mails yet.

1.00 am - Have sent a few pointless mails on issues which dont really matter. Even that feels like a big accomplishment.

2.00 am - Maggi instant noodles are perfect odd hours comfort food! No interesting mails arrived in the meantime.

3.37 am - Katrina in HD is a perfect way to keep you awake. Watching her is like watching the sun rising from behind a lush green hill..its just plain...invigorating.


4.30 am - I am thirsty. No amount flipping the switch seems to restart the water cooler. If tomorrow you find it broken, its because I was at it for some considerable time.

5.49 am - My attempts to keep my head straight up are failing. It is flopping from side to side and does not want to be perched up at all. No interesting emails yet.


6.30 am - Less than 15 minutes to go before I can packup and leave office. And I am absolutely inundated with issues! Suddenly I am not very sleepy anymore. Thinking about hope of the day again.

6.53 am - Shittt!! I am wasting time typing this...BUttt..... No interesting mails yet..

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Obama Nobel.

So Obama won a Nobel for peace. Apparently, for his visions and plans.
I didnt know visions and I-coulds were enough warrant a big prize. If visions are being considered, may I..ahem... have an Oscar please?

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Holiday

What a short week.. (though any week in which I have to work even for an hour is too long for me :( )
For the first time in a very very long time, I have holidays on both the public holidays declared.
All this time, we used to work on "our" holidays, as well as the client holidays (like 4th of July..).

So I guess when it comes to holidays, we are transnationals. Used in the same sense as transvestites.


PS : Check out the number of mails I have received overnight, the server is rather overwhelmed..

.

Cars cars and more new cars...in our office parking lot. Large and small. Petrol and diesel. Dozens being added everyday. Infact, I see almost an equal number of cars with newer registration series as the older ones.
Excuse me, but can anyone please point me to the recession everyone has been harping about ?


"Can I have a raise? Its way past my due period.. "
"Are you nuts?? We are in the midst of a deep financial crisis!! You are a lucky to have a job at all!!
Ohh, before you leave, help yourself to some sweets, I bought new Honda City".

Friday, September 25, 2009

.

I do not understand the purpose of the below questions.

- Do you plan to engage in export control violations, subversive or terrorist activities, or any other unlawful purpose?

- Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization ?

- Have you ever participated in persecutions directed by the Nazi government of Germany; or have you ever participated in genocide?

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

I am thoroughly disillusioned.
Its a sweatshop.
Worse part? Because of the airconditioning, the sweat isnt even visible.


Can this be a salvation ?


The Bullet isnt a bike. Its a mindset.
Owning and caring for a Bullet makes one more of man than..well.. a biggish number of other things.
Life getting nowhere ? get a Bullet.
Too many disappointments.. ? get a Bullet.
Have a bad boss? get a Bullet.
No love life ? get a Bullet.
Bought a car ? get a Bullet.
Feeling happy ? get a Bullet.
Want to celebrate? get a Bullet.
None of the above? get a Bullet.

I will have some chrome on mine, thank you.
The deficiency of Vitamin M(oney) is what seperates me from thumping away my worries.

Saturday, August 22, 2009


Its low, red ,topless and American. And its mine.
Damn...! Always wanted to say that.

This '65 model is also optioned to the hilt with whitewalled tyres and beige interiors!


Is it also the closest I will ever get to the real thing...? :(

Found this relic from my childhood while rummaging through a cupboard the other day.
Back then, owning-one-when-I-grow-up seemed like the most logical thing in the world.

Unfortunately, 15 years down the line, things are exactly the same as, except being herded into the school Autorickshaw is replaced by being herded into the company bus... personal transport continues to remain a pipedream....

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Million dollar question (actually, a 5,800 rupee question)...

Western Digital My Book or a Seagate Freeagent Desk ?


I have just realised that my current storage capacity (bought 5 and 6 years ago respectively) isnt enough to handle the storage requirements of ...welll.. 5 and 6 years later respectively.

You know its a worrying sign when the GPRS call volume on your phone crosses 45,000+ units in a single month.

Urgent measures needed to be adopted to compensate -

- Quit office breakfast.
- Quit office lunch.
- Quit office food altogether (better start begging colleagues for chai!)
- Wait extra hours in office so that my bus pass can be blackmarketed (I can use the free afterhours cab service).
- Invest in a thermos flask , to be filled with vending machine tea/coffee, and sold to all those guys standing outside the gate smoking.
- Start praying for the remainder (if any) of my variable pay to materialise miraculously.

Door Sign

"Oracle Apps Develpment Team"

Says a the sign posted on a door outside a closed, inaccessible to us section of my floor.
Says volumes about the stuff being develpd there. Infact, this reflects the overall attitude of the company towards dev work in general , as far as I am concerned.

Time to save naukri.com in my favourites.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

.

Heights of loserish behaviour :
Playing Excel games all day long to pass the time.
On your office laptop.


..on a weekend. :(

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

.

Need of the Hour - Pune Mental Hospital , Hinjewadi Branch.

Monday, June 8, 2009

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When did we lose it ?
Once thought to be a bastion of forward thinking.
Places where ideas were born and the future of the world was decided. Places in which pony tailed guys showed up in jeans and ideated.
Technology was the king and profit was somebody else's problem.
Engineers were the most important asset of an "IT" company and were suitably valued as such.
People who attempted to introduce unnecessary bureaucracy and related processes were routinely taken to a back room and kicked around a bit.
People were proud of their creations. These places had a character, and most of the time a face
too.
And then somewhere along the way... the plot was lost.
Most companies are now run not by people who loved it and are passionate about creating stuff, but by corporations who are in it for the money.
Every morning (or afternoon, or evening) I am bundled into a bus and herded to some large faceless company along with a few thousand others. Punch in , do my stuff according to the established "processes" and when my 9 hours are up, punch out and head with the herd back home. Exactly like an assembly line worker.
Ideating ? You got to be kidding...There is no column in my timesheet where I can put this
against.
Independent thinking? Who needs thinking when you got rules and processes ?
Coding and trying out stuff? I will be shot for SOx violations.
In the list of one thousand of the most important things in an IT company, I, as a software
engineer, come in at around number 758, right below door knobs and just above chair handles. I would have droned on.. but my body and brain refuses to co operate with my will at 4 am in the day , in office.

Do companies like the ones above still exist ?
Heck, do sections in my company exist which function like the above ?

.

This happened in the middle of last week. It was around 6 pm. Issues were dropping in like bird droppings on a statue.
I was staring at the growing unattended list in my inbox in a kind of glazed expressionless trance which can only come from continuously looking at hopelessness.
Felt a tap on my shoulder. "I need you to go ahead and carry out an exercise in facial expression control", said my manager to a very startled me.
"Me..?? But I... I mean..", I began. "Go..!", came the interruption, with some decisive thumb pointing ,not unlike a swimming instructor telling his very scared student to jump in.
What happened for the next 30 minutes can only be described as hilariously pitiful. One moment I wanted to laugh out loud...really hard, the next I was enveloped in a kind of why-on-earth-I-am-here fear. Every single one of my facial muscles was hurting from a concerted effort to not let them do what they were attempting to. I did indeed periodically nod in order to break the monotony of thought (self pity!) , and so did the other person. I am pretty sure both of us were thinking that the other one is,without question,correct.
Tips on how to keep a straight face while interviewing someone (while knowing you absolutely dont belong there) would be greatly appreciated..

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Quite relevant, I should say :

.

The company seems to run on only one philosophy these days : Employee miserability is directly proportional to customer satisfaction.
The fact that I have accepted that life is going to be considerably difficult in the days to come doesnt make it one bit easier.


Ohh, and my co's transport management SUCKS. And I am even more of a jerk to be still dependent on them for ferrying me to and fro. 2 years since I am here, and I still have to think 10 times before I can even consider buying a Nano. Second hand ofcourse. (New cars are the sole preserve of those "software guys").
Ofcourse, in theory, I just might be able to scrape together enough to get something like the above, but I will have to give up a few trivial things. Like eating. And electricity.
I have already given up on having an interweb connection.

Desperately needed : a panacea for boredom.


PS : Lack of sleep and being miserable in general is a great way of losing weight! I am well on my way there by shedding some excess load in the form of hair on my head.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

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I am getting old. Really fast.
The day you realise that you find separating your PC paraphernalia too frustrating a process, you are O-L-D. (Something you enjoyed doing a thousand times in a day in college now seems extremely daunting.Things also suddenly get very heavy.)
A fact reinforced by the looks young people hanging around give me these days. "Maan...he must be ooooldd.. Must be atleast TWENTY...ewwww". "No yaar, definitely looks much older, must be nearing twenty-two".
I stare at them whizzing past, as I stand at the bus stop and observing how their 16 year old brains make them believe they are invincible. Frankly though, my "extremely old" brain thinks that a scooter against a JCB isnt much of a match.
But doesnt really matter to the chick who is riding and glares back at me. "Urghh...this guy is old, must be old enough to be a colleague to my parents".

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Between a rock and a hard place

Long weekend, this one. One that I wish would end soon. Yes, you read right, I wish this weekend would end, so that I could get back to work.With certain new developments taking place, I have had some "change of circumstances", which put me somewhat away from my usual comfort zone.
So what do I do now ? Do I hang out at home, where I get decidedly superbored or hang out all the while in office , where I get decidedly superbored and decidedly frustrated.

To pass the time here, I am reading stuff like Mathew Reilly's (hadnt heard of him before) "Scarecrow" , which reads exactly like a script for a B-Grade hollywood flick. (Everybody is very good looking, every enemy is a communist and everybody can drive/fly/ride everything).
But it still temporarily gets my mind off everything. I think I should stock up on reading material other than manuals of old gadgets. Maybe technical books (which would probably increase my chances of cracking an interview).

Amongst office things, some more good things came to an abrupt end. (Though I had a feeling they wood)
You win some, you lose most. Life goes on..

Sunday, April 26, 2009

.

Cant help shake off the feeling that I am simply in the wrong decade. I should have been at this stage in the '80s..

To start off working with computers was so much easier back then. The ITDonkeys had respect..they were demigods ... .and had the world at their feet. IT was where the money was. If you were in IT , there was a real chance you did actually work on something that indeed was "cutting edge" .

There were a lot less big companies running out of money. The MBAs hadnt taken over everything yet.

And I loved the cars! I loved the fact their large engines did nothing in particular , and companies were not letting this insignificant fact bother them. Group B rallying was still around.

Did I mention I liked the cyberpunk movies ? Complete breakdown of social order and "robots and computers" taking over the world. LOL!

Seeing a Nintendo NES still leaves me with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. And I absolutely and totally adored the 8-bit games that came in with it.

This decade is simply too crowded, too fast, too unforgiving, too complicated and too vast to explore the edges of. ITDonkeys are well.. just that. And I am working on stuff which wont even cut through paper, let alone "edges". Everybody is bankrupt and an MBA decides whether the I get to keep my job or not.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I did.

First thing in the morning today. Before reporting for my Donkey duties.
You can see that the lady applying the ink was too preoccupied with something (maybe her husband...or maybe my rather strange face).

Ohh...and I fail to understand why the ink-application was shifted from the index finger to its neighbour (not the thumb!). Makes for pretty strange press-photographs.

PS : As a result, got to show my manager , the "birdie" today :).

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

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I am incredibly fed up of the pointless things around here (which is pretty much everything). Maybe I should just chuck it all and head to the Himalayas. Now where do I put in my cab request..

PS : Do I get broadband in the mountains ?

PPS : And cable TV ?

Monday, March 30, 2009

People's Republic of America.

Is the US slowly(or quickly, depending on your view) turning into the USSA ? (United Socialist States of America)
Their govt. forced the ouster of Rick Wagoner and has all but taken over GM. And indeed the entire American auto industry, the now-in-deep-shit (big) three.
The Govt. of America may soon be a giant holding corporation , with interests in banking, autos, mining, petroleum, aviation and defence. Chairman President will be at the helm, with an able politburo to guide him (or maybe her...who knows?).
Is the software industry asking for bailouts ? Not yet, but who knows.
The way things are going in India, I am wondering how long they can hold out. With many of their clients keeling over and dying, I am not sure how they may not be dragged down themselves.
Yes, one of the Big 3 ( I still like to call them that!) is client of ours, with a dedicated ODC and the works.
And I wonder what would happen to me , working in the ODC of a prime automotive supplier.

Finally...after decades of bumbling, they were finally getting a few things right, only to go bankrupt in the process. Too bad cars like the below may soon be a thing of the past, before I get to even see one in person :



PS : I have had conversations like the below with people who have returned from the venerable "onsite".
ME : Which car you owned "there" ?

Guy : Ohh..it was a Mustang.
ME: Cool... was it a V6 or a V8
Guy: (blank look)

Friday, March 27, 2009

Late night post.

Its past 3.30 AM here in office, on a Friday night .. Saturday morning..
I am just done with killing Joe , my lone companion for the night.
It doesnt quite matter that Joe was bugging me for quite some time and deserved to be killed. I lodged a couple of strong protests by hand gestures.But they went unheeded. So killed he was. I can post gory pictures I took right after his death, if anybody is interested.


His incessant buzzing was getting on my nerves. Yes, Joe was a mosquito, giving me company in the desolate and darkened premises.

Amongst other updates, I found that my office status symbol has been flicked by someone.
No one else in the six cubicles around me had one.
It was a sure image enhancer.
An attention grabber.
A guaranteed chick bagger.
My very own dustbin,right under my desk.

And now .... its gone.
My image has taken a beating.
I will no longer get the same amount of attention.
Gorgeous cubicle ladies will no longer gravitate towards my desk.

Without the reassuring touch of my status symbol to my feet, I am going to end up feeling inadequate.
I am frustrated.

I just killed Joe's cousin John for fun.

I need some sleep.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Eco Friendly




Yes, this is the latest craze to have hit the office admins.
Would love to hear their defence on this one. Contrary to my expecations though, it does not stink in its quest to go tree-hugging.
Except at night, post 12 am. When all I am doing to break the monotony of the night is down bottles of water.

Monday, March 16, 2009

.

How bad is it if the best part about your day at work is the going home part ?


PS : Posted from the workplace.... A case of the "Mondays".

Saturday, March 14, 2009

.

I think a big batch of people is going to be fired again in the coming weeks. Which means the entire building where perhaps upwards of 1500 people work will be even more empty. Then they will probably sell the building off.

Why do I say the above ? HR people were actually working on a Saturday...

Ohh... and they were also getting free meals from the cafe in return. As if working on a weekend is a super favour they are doing to the organisation. What about countless SEs who already do that and yet pay lots from their own pockets ?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

.

You know things are bad when you get the following dream :
A lazy sunday afternoon, and I am doing nothing at the moment. Hence to see what is to be done next, I open Remedy.

Why 'o why.. Its bad enough when you have your manager invading your dreams.
Ohh yeah, I had a freakishly realistic dream the other day, wherein the manager was , in his typical fashion, telling us "Yeah ... We have lost few onsite positions".

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

.

How about this : The bestestest feeling I have had at work for a long, really really looooooong time , ends tomorrow :_( .
Only week since... forever that I was looking forward to go to work, AND stay highly motivated through the day and beyond ends abruptly tomorrow (Thursday).
Back to my dreary old self from Monday (not going to show up on Friday because I need some time before I can get back to sitting on a normal, good chair).

Aahh the chair... How I am going to miss the flicking of my (in-good-condition) chair in my absence , and the giggles that follow when I show up and clumsily try to adjust myself into a wobbly,creaky old one, followed by some comments which I think, on hindsight, are rather stupid.

All good things come to an end.
And the best ones end rather abruptly.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Monday!!!

Never before, perhaps in the history of my entire working life, Have I been looking forward to a Monday morning as much as I am doing this Friday evening... :-))
Cant wait to get up and head to office !

watch this space. ;-) .

Saturday, February 21, 2009

.

Random thought... Over the past year and a half, I have sent and received in excess of 54,000 official mails (on client provided ID).

This is not counting the few thousands sent/received that I lost between April and June and last year, due to a stupid error on my part.
Not a single one of the above though, was memorable in any way. If someone asks me to choose a few of the above which I can keep and have to delete the rest, I wouldnt be able to pick even one.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Target Ads.

An interesting "behavioural targetting" by online advertisers. My case, that is.




These guys must be getting really smart. Since TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign language. I think, not sure) by ETS seems to be the constant one. I dunno how these guys managed to figure out that I need help in that department, and are urging me to study it.
The other ones are, as you can see from the above screengrab, are the ones urging me to tie the nuptials. How on earth do they manage to figure out I was single??
These computer guys and their intelligent programs continue to amaze me. :|

Personality Test

A good gauge of how pleasant someone's personality is the time required for the vacant seat next to him/her to be occupied by someone , whilst on public transport like the office bus.
People climb aboard, give the seats a glance, and if all of them have atleast 1 occupant, slide in next to the first non-repulsive co-passenger they find.
There are some people who have co-occupants on the seat, even when the 90% of the bus is empty. And then there is me.
99% of the time, mine is the absolute last seat to be filled to its capacity (of two) in the entire bus. The remaining times, it is not filled at all.
A few days ago, the bus was filled to capacity (well..almost), while I only had my laptop as a companion. Just as we were about to set off for home, in climbed a girl, not too unpleasant looking, I might add. She gave the entire bus a glance, hoping to squeeze in somewhere. But there was no other space available.
I , like a responsible co-passenger, lifted my bag off the seat and placed it on my lap, vacating it. But noooo.... She turned away and occupied the "cleaner's" seat in the driver's cabin. I guess
she found a rattly,noisy,smelly six cylinder diesel engine next to her better company to sit with than yours truly :(.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

.

Taking a leaf out of GJ's book, I am posting (one of my) my favourite Safari ads here :



"Slavery is not dead ..." . Darned right it isnt. Reclaiming my life is the need of the hour.


PS: Tomorrow is yet another day I have applied a leave for but plan to go anyway.
Yes I know. I am a chicken.

Monday, February 2, 2009

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Pathetic week, the last one. Around 200* people got the boot this Thursday and Friday, and thats 200 too many.
What is worse is the dreadful manner in which they were sent off,signing on pre composed resignation letters and later escorted to the gates by some of the HR girls, like criminals at the end of their detention. The chap was then bundled into a waiting car at the gates, with the cabbie having strict instructions to drop their cargo at the addresses mentioned by them without asking any questions.
I am sure they will deduct the cab fees in their final settlement. Security guards were placed on all rooftops , who were not letting anyone near the edges, citing "Wiring work" as the standard reason.
Everyday I go, I open my inbox half expecting the meeting invitation from a veep. Getting that, for lowlifes called common employees, has only one reason. The sack.
Not that I care anymore. Fear can be a motivation for only about a week.

Also, I wonder, shouldnt the non-direct revenue earners be the first ones to go ? Like HR, for example.

Amongst the Friday casualties, was Lovely Smile. This straightaway takes 10% of my motivation of heading to work. And thats quite a lot. I will miss the way LS's smile would light up my few minutes at work. I hope LS gets a better job elsewhere.
And that LS's beaming face will continue to illuminate a few more cubicles, in other, maybe more deserving organisations. :(

* Hearsay!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

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After the declaration of Team Champions, a few days ago, was suprised to find a mail from a client side bigshot in my (very overcrowded) mailbox. The mail was him explaining the IT Team's structure under him to his superiors.
To my utter and total surprise, yours truly has been declared by them as a "Champion" !!

I am now officially known as, and I quote here, "THE NOT IN SYNC CHAMPION".

While other champs get dedicated resources under them in their respective teams, my 'team' constitutes of .. err.. me.
Great..now that I finally got some authority, I am going to enjoy bossing myself around.

--
Fines have been declared for those who leave the electrical fitments on in their cubicles overnight. That might sound like a good move, but I have got this strange but overwhelming fear that the socket into which I plug my docking station into is going to crackle and burst into flames anytime. I have been leaving it on for 3 straight days now. Going by the multitude of slightly blackened switches around, I guess this aint a too unfounded a fear.

Monday, January 5, 2009

.

I just got one more boss!!
I dont know what sort of stuff they were having for lunch when they thought of this, but they did think that "Ohh yeah...the team is really overburdened with work and processes. We know JUST the solution...lets get them another boss!" was a rather good idea.

Its a bit like having a cricket team with 5 captains. Who make up the numbers,but sit out on wooden benches and shout out instructions.
The manager calls them.. wait for this... "The Champions". I kid you not!

Add to that the twisted team dynamics that exist in the upper layers, I dont see how we are going to accomplish anything productive out of this.

The year that was..

So 2009 has already begun. Time to reflect I guess (because everyone does that!) on the past year.

So lets see.... My journey through last year has taken me...umm...errr....absolutely nowhere.
2008 will be remembered as one big splotch of boredom. I dont think there is anything I will miss if someone erases my memory block for the year 2008 and uses it to store something else which is comparatively more exciting , like a ticking clock .
Honestly, staring at a wall waiting for the paint to fade would have been more exciting than my life in 2008.

Some of the things I had promised myself I would be doing at the beginning of 2k8 :
- Losing weight (ofcourse!)
- Use my bike more often.
- Behave more responsibly (dont laugh).
- Do something worthwhile with my life (again, do not laugh).

Heres how things stand now:
- I have gained (quite a lot of) weight.
- The bike still has done < 800 kms in a year and half.
- D'uh.
- I am still an ITDonkey, aint I ?

The way things are going, I don't think this year is going to be any different. If anything, it could possibly get worse. Much much worse.

On another note, managed to catch up on the this season's finale of Topgear. And was completely blown off!! Its absolutely AMAZING..!!
Its not just about cars or vehicles, its one of the most incredible Television content creation of the year. Its a Vietnam special, and well..true to its title, it is indeed special.
It is quite difficult not to associate the word War with Vietnam. But this was a revelation.
It is seriously worth a watch, even if you are not into cars or vehicles. For a change, this episode isnt about automobiles, they arent the main focus.
Its the country.