Ideas

"A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." - John F. Kennedy

Nice quote, but the only problem being, I don't know if this is a good thing or not! Cause the idea itself maybe good, or bad!

Yay!!

Last 2 days have been awesome! I got an awesome rating from my manager yesterday. And today, I got to know that I have got a promotion! This was so unexpected!! Wow, this feels so good. I have not stopped smiling in the last hour!

A Wildlife park and London

Last week was pretty much uneventful. Work was a bit hectic though, and tempers were flaring (mostly mine). Somehow I am not able to deal with moronic people around me. I cannot believe that some people can be so dumb that they cannot realise what others are doing. Some people just lie to go ahead, and some people hide stuff. I suppose I should start dealing with it instead of getting irritated. Only problem is I don't know how to deal with it.

Friday night a bunch of us got together and we were just talking generally. And I realized again that I do not like talking about myself. At all. If some one asks me a question, I would not know what to say. They would mostly get 2 words. Or at most 10. Sad. I think I write better than I talk. We actually sat up till 2 talking! I don't even remember most of the things that were said (mostly since I was so sleepy).

Saturday we went to a wildlife park. Which was nice. Lots of animals and weird looking birds. I wanted to take pictures of an owl (which had a heart shaped face! ), and whenever I switched on my camera and tried to take a snap, it would turn. It happened 3 times. Then I went near the cage and was just about to click. And the owl just screeched towards me! And it perched itself right were my camera was! Scary! I almost dropped my camera right there! I jumped back and saw that all my friends were laughing at me. Nice. And they said that the owl was camera shy, it didn't want its picture taken, and that because I was insisting on taking that snap, it decided to teach me a lesson. Lesson learnt.

Was really tired on Saturday, but on Sunday there was the London marathon. And we were invited to join and cheer there. And we really wanted to go. So we did. It was exciting. There was a huge crowd, with people cheering for their family and friends. But what I liked most was the spirit of the people there. They were not just cheering for the people they know, they were cheering and motivating the runners who they didn't know. The runners too were responding by waving or smiling. I cannot understand how someone can run so much. 35000 people actually finished the race of 26 miles! Crazy it is! And they are all running for a cause, which is even more awesome.

I want to run a marathon now. Have already started reading on how I can train myself and everything. But I cannot really say if I will finally do it. But I really, really want to. Will start small, and finish big hopefully. Should start once I get back to India. I hope I find someone who is willing to run with me, else I don't know if I would run.

After spending 1 hour seeing the people run, we decided to eat something, and go to the museums. By the time we reached the Science museum, we were really hungry. We spent about 45 minutes trying to find a place to eat. Finally found subway! Yay! Had yummy sandwiches and was totally satisfied. Saw the science museum, which is really, really huge. In case you are seeing it, I would recommend you to directly go to the third floor and see the Launchpad. It is this place where you can get a hands on experience on everything (energy, lights, shadows, and so many things) There was so much to see that in 2 hours, we just managed 2 floors. Could not even see the other 3 floors! With what I saw - there were rockets, living in space, energy, trains, flights, something about the future, health, psychology and lots more! Unfortunately, the museum closes at 5:30, so we had to leave.

Since we didnt have anything else to do, we went to Hyde park. It huge. And green. With lots of trees. There's also a lake there. With ducks swimming in it. The ducks come so close to people hoping that we give them a treat (we didnt have any though). Also lots of pigeons. Who are not scared of humans. Who also come very close to people. Which scares me. I am scared of birds flying near my face. Freaks me out. Saw lots of people skating around, and I also wanted to skate! Did not happen though!

So it was a nice weekend. Totally satisfied. But I am so tired that all I want to do is sleep. Have to work now though.

Moronic team mates

There are such morons in my team. One is talking to 2 of my managers, and she is explaining something. And it is total crap. The worst part is that these wonderful people she is talking to has no idea what crap she is saying. She is talking something about encoding, and someone asked her what encoding the file will have. And she says it will have "Microsoft coded encoding". What the fuck is that? And these people are happily listening to it also. Ugh!

London , and other things.

It has been a week since I reached UK, and nothing seems new. I am working in the same office, with the same people, and I also know the person who is staying in my apartment. In a way it is nice, and in a way it is not nice.

This time the place that I am staying is pretty good. There are stores nearby, and I can atleast see people walking around. 

Had been to London on Saturday! We reached London around 10 in the morning, and left by 10pm! It was a long, long day! But it was nice and sunny, so it was all good! Saw Tower Bridge and London Bridge. Had coffee in Starbucks (Yum!!). Went to the Imperial war museum. Went to Trafaulgur (spelling?) Square. There was some music concert going on here. Entry was free! Hanged around there for 20 minutes. Had lunch in McD. Then we went to Buckingham Palace. Walked through the park to reach Downing street. Saw some men standing guard there. (For some reason, this is a tourist attraction!). Saw Big Ben, Westminster, London eye. Went to a restaurant in EastHam and had dinner. And then got back. 

Except the museum, I had already been to the other places before. But still, the day was good. I was so tired when I reached back! We literally walked almost the whole day! 

I like London. I liked it before and I liked it this time. I especially like the parks, and the greenery, and the walk from Tower Bridge to London Bridge next to the water. 

Today (it's Sunday evening when I am writing this, but it would be monday when I publish it) I just woke up late, had breakfast. Then I started sneezing. And I didn't stop. And now I have a cold. A very bad one. My nose is literally dripping. I know, gross! I just had a crocin and slept for half an hour. We had plans to go out in the evening. I told NS (the girl in my apartment) to wake me up if we are going out. I said I would be up in half an hour, and I was. But when I woke up, I saw that they have left. I was irritated initially, since there is no way I can contact them as they dont have a mobile number. But now, I am glad that they left me alone to myself. Cannot be with someone 24/7. It is even more annoying since I work with NS. And all NS can do is bitch about my team mates. I mean, you can do it once, twice. But not constantly. Everytime we talk, she will have some complaint about someone and she will not stop! Gosh, I do not know how to stop her! Even if I don't respond, she would not care, and she would continue. 

Oh well. Can't do much. I now plan to watch a movie, and then either read a book or play a game that I have installed in my laptop. Cannot go online unfortunately since these morons have decided not to give us internet in our apartments. I miss being online and browsing. I miss filter coffee. That's it. 

--

Just after I finished writing the above I decided to heat and eat a muffin. So I went to the kitchen and put the muffin in the microwave. And then, NS comes out of her room. So they had not gone anywhere. She was sleeping! Ha! So unexpected that was!! So I told her that I thought that you guys had left, and she said, "How could we leave without you!" 

So later we went to another colleague's house and sat there and yapped for a while. Then we got to know that there was a park nearby, so we decided to go there for a walk. And since it was nice and sunny as well, it was nice. There were a lot of kids playing, and their parents were sitting and watching them. It was a huge place though! And so many trees and open spaces and full of greenery. Refreshing. It is sad that such places are not there in Bangalore. Even if there is some park, there would be so many people there, that it would not be refreshing anymore. We would have to fight for some place to sit! But, of course, that cannot be helped. 

Got back, made dinner. And now I am just sitting. I'm too full. 

I had read a book called The Notebook in the airport and on the flight. My sister had said it is such a great book and all that. And I believed it. But it sucked so much, that I was literally pissed of half way through! Then I called up my sis and asked her how she liked such a book, and she tells me "Ha! Ha! I made you read it!" Damn! How annoying that was! 

UK, again!

I'm travelling to UK again. Will be there for a month and a half. Somehow, this time I am not as excited as I was before. I already told all my goodbyes to the country last time I was there. 

This trip is totally unexpected. I still cannot believe that I would be going there. But in a way, it is nice. There are a few places that I wanted to go last time, but I could not. So I am hoping that I can make it there this time.

Last time I went to a place called Lake District. We went trekking there. It was beautiful. A kind of place that I would have read in Enid Blyton's books. 

Trekking

When we almost reached the top

This time I want to go to Isle of wight. I like seeing castles and these typical English places. I took the photo below in Lake District as well. I found the place so charming!

PS - Why is it so hard to upload an image to blogger? I uploaded the second image 3 times, and yet, I am not able to zoom into the photo when I open it in a different tab! This totally sucks!! And that was one of my favourite ones! 

Deadlines!

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

 - Douglas Adams

Today

What a day it was! I have been running around getting stuff done since afternoon! Looks like everything I wanted to get done had some problem or the other.

Laptop, visa, tickets. All done. 

Sometimes people act like they are government employees. I hate that.

I like having my own laptop. Perhaps I should buy one. Was spending the last hour installing stuff. Firefox, Google Chrome, Google Desktop - and some applications for it. The best thing about having my own laptop would be the customizations that I am able do. Have whatever applications I like, in whatever settings I like. My own favourites. My own bookmarks. And my own history.

I hate jealously. And insecurity. I don't understand how people can live with themselves if they backstab someone else. Do they even realise that they are backstabbing others? Or are they enjoying it? I wish I could ask these questions to such people. 

I wish I could realise when people are lying to me or are keeping information from me on purpose. That would solve all my problems. 

I told a friend of mine that I got a twitter account, and he saw it. Then he asked if I had to update it myself. I said yes. So he said that it seems pretty stupid. What? Did he expect it to read my mind and send the feeds to twitter? 

I'm extremely sleepy now. I have a long day tomorrow as well. 

Twitter

I have always wanted to get a twitter account. I can type in whatever I am feeling/thinking and it would be saved somewhere. It has happened so many times that I would want to blog about something, but when I actually sit in front of my computer, it feels so unnecessary. 

Also, the time I am most stressed out - work and when I am stuck in traffic, I cannot put down my frustrations anywhere. So twitter would solve the problem. 

Right?

Wrong! Today, at a friend's insistence, I set up my twitter account and when I tried to set it up on my phone, it simply refused to work! There is some number where I am supposed to send a pre-defined text to, and the message would just not go! It is stuck in my phone. I don't know whose problem it is... either twitter or vodafone. But because I cannot send a text to twitter, the whole account is useless. Twitter is blocked in office - it does not even work with a FireFox extension. Which means the only place I can update twitter is at home. But why would I want to do that when I can blog? It is so dumb. Is there any other way to do this?

Dammit, I am so irritated right now! Ugh!

The joy(?) of work

I am currently reading a book called 'The joy of work'. It is written by Scott Adams - the guy who writes the Dilbert comics. 

I find this book funny. In fact, I like the comics and his blog as well. I started reading the book today in the bus on the way to work and back. It is so funny, that it actually made me laugh! There are not many books which are funny. The only other book that I can think of that made me laugh is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest  (This was hilarious. I wanna watch the movie as well). There might be other books too, but I can't remember any now. 

The book talks about how someone can find happiness in their work. It tells us how we can shirk work and how to make sure that everyone else thinks that you are intelligent. How to make your manager think you are doing lots of work when you aren't. Some of the ideas are brilliant and some are plain stupid. But I felt the best part of the book is the way his comics are integrated in the book. Also the emails which he received, which are embedded everywhere. 

The best idea that I liked so far (I have not completely read the book yet) was how to sleep in your cubicle, but not let anyone know that you are sleeping. This was in an email that Scott received. It says that you should keep a paper below your table. One hand should be down, so that it looks like you are about to pick it up. Another hand could act as a pillow to your head. And you could just sleep. Now, if when you hear anyone come, they would think you are just picking up your paper! This is so brilliant! It could actually work!

But seriously, some of the things he has written are so true. Like how your manager knows only 2 things about you: How you look, and how many hours you spend in office. I do not know if all managers are like that, but mine definitely is. He cannot differentiate between someone who actually works and someone who pretends to work! It gets really annoying at times. I just have to learn to deal with it, I suppose. 

Great Ideas

"To have a great idea, have a lot of them." - Thomas A. Edison

Interviews

I completely forgot to blog about it - I took two interviews last week! How cool is that!? It was a phone interview. My Tech Lead and I took it. The best part? The people who we interviewed were those who had more than 4 years of experience, and I knew more than them! It was such a high when it got over! I could not stop smiling! 

The place where they got stuck is when we started asking questions from their resume. One said that he has worked on ftp and sftp, and when we asked him the difference between the two, he could not answer! Similarly on other stuff as well. Atleast if they are writing something there,  they should read it up before the interview. They would not end up looking so dumb. What is the need to lie? If you want to lie, atleast know something about it!

One guy could not even explain the project he worked on. Whatever we asked about it, he had the same answer! And both of us didn't understand what he was saying! 

I have another interview to take on Monday( I know, wow!). I'm so proud of myself! :D

Food

Just came back from meeting some of my friends! We had planned to meet up for lunch - the only problem being one didn't want to have Indian food, one didn't want Chinese, one didn't want pizza, and one didn't want burgers! It is so annoying when people have so many issues about food! 

So we decided to go to Koshi's cause apparently it is a multi cuisine restaurant! But they said they will give us 3 separate tables! WTF? If we wanted them together, we "would have to wait for 20 minutes". Moron. Why didn't you tell this before we wasted 10 minutes outside? 

Then we stood and discussed where we wanted to go next! Which was not going anywhere, since there was no place that everyone wanted to go to. We finally went and had food in Mainland china. They gave us a room! (maybe they expected us to be noisy! Ha! Ha! ) Food was decent though. I was full with soup (yum!), starters and pepsi! Still, I managed to eat some Hakka noodles and ice cream. 

We were supposed to go bowling after that. When we reached the place, we were informed that we would have to wait for an hour! Yeah right. 

But the day was good though. I had not met a couple of my friends in the last 3 months(since they are now studying), and it was good catching up. It is somehow not the same over the phone! 

Tonight I would be going out with my family for dinner! I am already so full, I have no idea what (and how) I am gonna eat there! This morning around 11, I had hot chocolate fudge! Yum!! And I ate so much for lunch! And again dinner! Gosh! 

Cigarettes

Let me start by saying that I hate smoking, I hate cigarettes and I hate the smell of smoke. Now that we have that out of the way, let me begin.

So today evening while I was on my way back home, I got a call from home. It was my sister. As soon as I picked up, she said, "Hey I need a favour".

"What!"

"I need a favour from you, and you can't say no."

"No". I knew I should say no. If she says I can't say no, it means I would not want to do it. 

"Hey come on ya. Its a small thing. I want a pack of cigarettes."

SHOCK.

"What? Cigarettes? Why do you need them!"

"No ya, it is not for me. It is for a friend"

"Then tell them to buy it! why are you asking me to buy it for them? They should not be smoking in the first place"

"See, it is my friend's birthday, and I just want to irritate her. I had asked her what she wants for her birthday and she said she wants cigarettes and vodka and all. So just because she said it, she is gonna get it. hahaha"

There was a lot of haggling after this, and the conversation went on for 1 more unnecessary minute. But I finally agreed to get it for her.

So I get down from the bus. And go to this shady place where they sell cigarettes. I went and asked that guy , "I need a pack of cigarettes." As if I do it everyday.

So he looks at me, trying very hard not to laugh, and asks me,"which brand?". 

Like I know. So I looked around and just picked one. And I asked how much I had to pay him. He said Rs 44! Wow! Who knew! 

I walked back home, and gave the pack to my sister. 

My mom knew that my sis had asked me to get it for her, and suddenly when she actually saw it, she became real angry! And then began the yelling, and the 'what would the people in the colony think when they saw you buy cigarettes' talk. Both of us listened to it, and I had to actually convince her that no one saw me.

Even if they did, what's the big deal? Why is it ok for men to smoke,  but not women?

Goa

My friends are planning to go to Goa over the weekend. Even I was supposed to be going along with them, but somehow an unexpected trip of my own seems to be in the way. It seems like such bad timing but there is nothing I can do. I feel so bad since the tickets and the hotels are already booked! 

I just hope that they go on with the trip and not cancel it since I would not be going. I feel bad that they are going, but I would feel worse if they didn't go! Few months back we had made a plan of going to some place in Kerala, but that was cancelled later when one of my friend could not make it. I remember how annoyed I was because of it. But in her case, I was really sure that she would not come for the trip while making the plans. And I specifically asked her if she would come in spite of all the work that she had. And she assured me that she would definitely make it. And then in the last moment, when there were 2 days left to go, she says that she can't make it, and that she is sorry! I knew it anyways. And finally we went to Innovative Film City. A place no one should go to - because it is not worth it. Instead stay at home and sleep. Or watch cartoons. 

I've always wanted to go to Goa though. Had been there when I was 5 or so, and obviously I don't remember anything. There is this really cute pic of me standing in the beach there. And a pic where I am in my mom's arms - crying. Apparently I didn't want my photo taken. Well, some things never change. And there were a few other pics as well, but these are the two that I really remember. 

Now that I told my friends I can't go with them, they are not believing me! They think it is an April fool's prank! ha! Such bad timing!