Highlights of 2011

Well well well.... my previous post on the low lights of 2011 sparked some concern among several of my friends. No, it wasn't meant to be all doom and gloom kinda post. There were and lot of positives in 2011 for me. To correct the balance, here's a post on the highlights of 2011.

- MBA: A big commitment and a tonne of work but --- a lot of fun. I enjoyed the experience and the learnings. Made quite a few close friends. Invaluable.

- Job: While not at the final frontier, I did make a big jump and became a product Manager (skipped TME and ditched testing). While QA was my passion but over time I yearned for something more but didn't want to go be a TME. Fortunately the MBA knowledge helped and persistence paid and I became a Product Manager. It has been a fun experience so far. When one of ex-directors recently asked "Any regrets?" the words that automatically came out of my mouth "Not at all". :)

- GND Alumni: This year I finally got back in touch with my engineering college friends and we had a couple of great reunion events. It is great to be back in touch with these buddies and relive the old times and more.

- GAP: I talked about the MBA but the GAP (Global Access Program - 6 month consulting project) deserves a special mention. It was an amazing 6 months which broadened my horizons in so many ways. Traveling to China was an experience in itself, the learnings from primary and secondary research, exploring a completely new field and writing a business plan.... wow. Mind blowing.

- Family: Kids and wife have been healthy this year. Kids doing really well at school. Wife has a great job.

- Travelling; Finally got to travel (other than LA) - China, 2 trips to Vegas, Austin (TX), Philly (PA), Willmington (Delaware), Pheonix/Scottsdale (AZ) and more.

More changes are in the making.... looking forward to 2012 when dreams come true. :)

As 2011 draws to an end...

A moment of reflection as the year draws to a close. It has been one emotional roller coaster ride. Although work, school and home was very hectic, I will remember this year more for the low lights rather than the few high lights...

- A close friend from college days is very sick. Doctor's have diagnosed him with a serious auto immune disease. He used to be a very healthy person but looking at him now, I feel immense pain. The doctors say there is no cure.

- Feeling of helplessness and sadness at dad's situation. His health is deteriorating steadily and I can't do anything. Sons are supposed to be a source of joy and caring for parents and I have failed miserably on this front. Feel totally helpless...

- Health has not been good this year. Surgery next year looks imminent.

- Have given a lot of reasons for complaint to my better half.

- increasingly complex extended family relationships.

... and so on. Dad always says that no matter how bad the circumstances and/or situation, it will all pass. I am amazed at his positivity whenever I talk to him.

Hoping for a better 2012.

Finally done with GAP

The 6 month GAP consulting project came to an end this past Saturday. Oh what a ride it has been. Some key highlights....

- forming a team and working out the team dynamics (continued right till the end)
- bidding for the companies
- primary / secondary research
- travel to china and LV
- 45 hours of primary interviews
- late night calls to China
- late night calls with team (sometimes 3-5 times a week)
- knocking on company doors trying to find contacts willing to talk to us
- 50 page awesome biz plan
- power packed powerpoint presentation
- dealing with a work alcoholic prof/advisor
- school work at work and company work at home
- iterations after iterations of documentation
..... all this and more leading to this weekend. Traveled to LA on Friday in prep for the final presentation. Attended a party at the consul-general's (of Finaland) house on Friday night. Headed over to school late at night to practice one last time in the presentation room. Meet adviser one final time over there at 10 pm. He tells us "You know your shit.... people who blank out are those who haven't done their homework". Reassuring words... our slot is the first one (9 am) the next morning (Saturday).

Head back to the hotel with team mates.... I can sense the tension on everyone's face even though everyone is trying to hide it. 6 months of hard labor is at stake. One screw up tomorrow morning and we would all regret it for a long long time. Saturday morning 5am - my team mates are up drinking coffee (I guess can't sleep any more). We all get ready and head over to the campus - all dressed in neat professional business suits (me: $800 at Men's wearhouse - ouch). Reach campus at 8 am and meet my company CEO, COO and US country manager. They have flown to the US just for this presentation - huge honor. There is a huge buzz around. grab a quick bite and head over to the battle field (presentation room).

T - 15 minutes: Only the videographer are in the room. Bright focus lights are on..pointing towards the podium. We all joke around until the video guy could no longer control it and remarks "You guys are the funniest I have ever seen". I think in my head "we got no choice..... the tension would kill us otherwise).

T - 10 minutes: We copy the slides to the computer, check out the clicker, I walk around the front of the room surveying where the panel of independent judges would be sitting. I try to visualize the sequence of events as they would likely unfold 10 mins from now. Strangely, I am calm and confident.

T - 5 minutes: People start walking in. Our advisor (Prof. Sussman) - he doesn't say anything. This is showtime and his reputation is at stake. I guess he is nervous too. 3 industry experts who have gone through our business plan and prepared to tear it apart to shreds. Then I notice (to my horror), long with my company execs walks in the Consul general of Finland - the lady who we met last night at her house. More strangers walk in.

Show time: Everyone takes there seat and my advisor makes a quick intro and then looks at it and motions me to get started. I take a deep breath and get started. The next 15 minutes were the most amazing. All eyes on me, all ears listening in rapt attention to every word I was uttering. I looked at my prof 2-3 times during the presentation but he betrays no emotion. Finally, I finish with a flash, right on the dot of allotted time and invite my team over for Q&A. As expected, the experts dive in and try to unsettle us. I let me team take the first couple of questions (they were supposed to take the Q&A) but I can't bear their defensive responses and suddenly I am in the middle of Q&A. 20 minutes of intense Q&A and finally it is over. Words of praise, appreciation and smiles from the panel, some pictures taken by a professional photographer and we are out of there. We all realize we nailed the most important presentation of the MBA program. :) Outside, we have a 3 hour intense follow on session with our company execs. They offer us country manager (China) job which we direct towards our Chinese team mates. Later in the evening we have a closing ceremony in Korn hall followed by an extravagant cocktail party. Lots of food, drinks and good natured jokes..... Finally, I leave to catch my flight home. Amazing journey for the past 6 months - one we will remember for a long time. Sleepless nights, long hours, hard work - all worth it in the end.

Spend Sunday doing chores around the house and early Monday off to Texas for company work. Same day present to my exec-staff on the next project they should be doing.... Tired now and done for the year. Can't wait to be back home Wednesday.

Living day by day

Here's my typical schedule...

Alarm goes off at 6:45 am .. struggle out of bed by 6:55 am. Wake up sleepy kids, rush them to get ready and down for breakfast by 7:25 am. Phew. 7:30 am kids are off to school (every alternate week I get the pleasure to drop them off as well). Reach work by 9 am (if I am lazy, by 9:30 am) after battling rush hour traffic for 45-50 mins.

Work: Everyone is already there (including boss, VP, peers...) and 100+ emails are waiting for me to read. These emails are the ones that other people have been reading since 6 am in the morning and replying to (to show how proactive they are...). Grr. No time for emails. first meeting is at 10 am or 11:00 am. Usually there is a deliverable from my side. Go in to the meeting, mumble something about "I am working on it and it will be done [today, tomorrow, this week ...]" depending on the criticality of the issue. Come out of the meeting and starving, head out for lunch. Come back from lunch and stare at the mountain of work waiting for me. Take a deep breath and the easy way out... i.e. start checking the emails and respond to a couple. Typically another meeting in the afternoon. Try to get some work done in between meetings.

Check school related emails and respond during the day (more later on this). Leave for home around 5:30-6:00 pm. Go home and sit down to help son with his homework. Then dinner... its 8:30-9:00 pm already. push them to change clothes and go to sleep.

10 pm. Log on to webex/skype for a meeting with school team mates. Bunch of action items handed out to everyone with a deadline usually 24 hours away. 11:30 pm - exhausted: try to do some school work. Lucky if I don't fall asleep holding the computer. Make little progress. 1:30- 2:00 am: realize productivity is low and that I need to wake up in another 4 1/2 hours. Quickly brush teeth and go to sleep.


Saturday: Wake up even earlier - 5:30 am, get ready and leave by 6 am. catch the 7:00 or 7:15 am flight to LA, rent a car, go to school, all day in classes, drive back to airport in the evening, catch the last flight back to home, reach home anywhere from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm (depending on class timings).

Sunday: wake up at 9:00 am or so with a terrible headache and a whole pile of work.

Repeat the above loop for ever.

All right ... enough cribbing. next meeting reminder just popped up. Got to go in 15 mins. Next 24 hours a biz plan (school) due and a PRD (from scratch) needs to go out for review. Need to develop CC slides from scratch and send them out for review by Monday (Thursday-Friday being off this week).

crash.... core dump. &(()&_(&&*(67

Update on life!!

It's been a while since I last posted (I sound like a broken record now with this line). I will keep this post short but so much has happened. Here's a brief recap.

China: traveled to Beijing, Shanghai and Ningbo for about 10 days for school project in mid-September. Food and language was a challenge but over the trip was very satisfying. Had a lot of fun and some hard work during primary research. Got rid of quite a few preconceived notions about China.

Vegas: Made a short 2 day trip to vegas in October - again for school project. Attened a conference there. Stayed at the famed Bellagio but didn't see the fountains this time (chiraag tale andhera). :) Won a brand new IPAD2 in a raffle at the conference. Talk about luck. :)

Work: Super hectic. did 2 BCs, 2 CCs and 1 EC in a single week. The PM role has been quite challenging as well as fun so far. I have learned and accomplished more in 6 months than I did in 2 years in my previous role. I mean a tonne of stuff other than the BC/CC/EC I just mentioned. Its been one helluva roller coaster ride.

School: The project has been going great. Just submitted a 95% complete business plan this past weekend. Work will continue on the plan but this was a major milestone. Now preparation for final presentations (and dry runs before that). My team chose me for the final presentation - yikes. Coursework also going along with the project. taking a very interesting psychology-business combo course.

Long-lost childhood friend: Went on a customer roadshow to Philly and finally (after the work was done), drove over to one of my best childhood friend's house. I met him after 25+ years. wow. amazing evening spent with him and his family.

In-laws: got their GC and ready to go back home. Will be interesting how we cope up with all the additional workload once they are gone. They were pretty much handling all the housework allowing me and missus to focus on keeping our heads above water at work/school.

Diwali party: Had a great diwali party again this year in our neighborhood. Loots of good food and fun.

Add a big dose of workplace politics to the above mix. Can't say life has been boring in the last 3 months. :)

Fun weekend

Fun filled weekend... Saturday - went to club one after a long time. took the kids swimming and swam myself too. Quite relaxing and the pool wasn't crowded at all. Had some fun and games in the pool. In the evening went shopping with wife. She outscored me 3 to 1 for clothes and 2 to 1 in terms of shoes. :)
Sunday, we got up early morning and headed over to the South Fork American river (~2.5 hrs from home) for an all day rafting trip. Since the kids are young, we opted for the Tom Sawyer trip. It was an awesome experience for the kids - getting into the rubber rafts, paddling, the beautiful scenery around, going through the rapids, getting soaked, jumping into the river.... squeals and squeals of laughter. All of us enjoyed it every single bit. In moments such as these, we realize how lucky we are. Overall, a relaxing and fun weekend.

Company launch

As previously mentioned (in a prior post), this summer there are no classes. Rather we will be busy in a consulting project for an international company. Our team of 5, has been assigned to a Finland based company, looking to expand operations into China.

This past weekend, we had our company launch event at school where the CEOs, CTOs and other execs of 52 companies from around the world came to the campus and met with us. We spent two full days interacting with our own company execs trying to understand their product, company and goals from the project. Based on prior secondary research on the industry that our team had already done, we capped off the two day event with a 25 minute presentation and Q&A session. All went quite well and the execs, advisors and other observers were quite pleased with our performance.

That evening we took our execs to a fine dining restaurant. Oh what an experience. :) Other than the standard white table and stuff, we had 2 dedicated waiters for our table. Glancing through the wine menu, noticed that the cheapest wine bottle was $50 (max was $500+... could be higher - I just stopped looking at that point). Menu was fixed as in FIXED. No alterations allowed at all (I wanted them to make me a veggie dish but was told bluntly that there are 2 options in the menu and that is all they are willing to do). Soft music, nice company and good food... the overall experience was very nice. The execs appreciated our gesture very much with the COO inviting us to come over to Finland (even said we could stay at his house) :) Very touching. The restaurant was located right on the Santa Monica beach and a post-dinner stroll on the beach front was the perfect ending to the great 2 days we spent in school.

Now the action will really heat up over the next few months. Travel plans are being finalized. More soon on those...

$$$

I am sure the subject got your attention. :) Well, positive news to start off this post. A significant part of my job is sales enablement i.e. help the account teams go out and win business deals (highly competitive deals). Without disclosing any of the confidential information, I am happy to announce I successfully helped bring in my first million dollar deal. yay!!! Here's hoping to and working toward winning more such and bigger deals for my company. :)

vegas

Flew out to vegas on Friday night - just me and the missus. In-laws watched the kids (it was difficult to leave the kids home since they so wanted to come with us) but I guess after 8 years of parenting, we felt we deserved a break for ourselves. :) Anyway, decided to splurge a little. Stayed at a 5 star resort (Venetian) and partied like anything. Night club, shows, gambling, good food.... the works. Very enjoyable but short trip. Flew back to home Sunday afternoon.

The same afternoon, went with a friend to a live concert by the legendary Ghulam Ali. He started singing in 1960 and still going strong. The amazing depth and variation in his voice, his energy levels and the quality of singing.... mind blowing. I felt fortunate to be there listening to him live.

Overall nice break. School wise summer/fall madness about to begin. This weekend we have the company launch where we get to spend face time with our company execs and chalk out business strategies. Good times ahead... :)

exciting weekend ahead

Sometimes things are meant to happen. I am an ardent fan of Ghulam Ali. As a kid I used to hear people praise him (one Mr. Oswal in particular). As I grew older, I had the opportunity to hear his ghazals and really liked them. But I never got a chance to listen to him live.

A couple of days ago, I was driving to work and briefly flicked through the desi radio channel. Right then an ad was being aired that Ghulam Ali coming for a show near our hometown. Talk about timing.... I pinged a friend and we are on... going to his show this weekend to listen to him. :)

The other wish I have is to listen to Ravi Shankar perform at Villa Montalvo... That would be an awesome concert... one day hopefully.

Life ...

... goes on. It's been quite a while since my last post. I have moved into Product Management within my current company. Amazing that a completely different culture exists here. The good thing is I am getting to lear a lot and so far it has been good fun. Lot more at stake in this job, small mistakes can be costly, let's see what the rewards will look like. :)
School coming along ok. Took extra 4 units as a block elective in order to speed up things. Very hectic 5 days. Now the GAP project starts. My company is in Finland and they want my team to analyze and recommend a market entry into China. Promising to be a very hectic but fun 6 months ahead. Will be meeting the company execs in late july (LA) and travel to Europe in Aug/September time frame.
Introducing the game of Golf to Nalin. He has a putter of his own now and planning to buy an iron also for him. He seems to be enjoying it. Bought a groupon for Horseback riding lessons for the kids. Summer is here and so much to do...but so little time. :(

Death of a Test Engineer!!!

First things first - I will admit that the title of this post is inspired from the title of the famous movie - Death of a salesman. :) I haven't seen the movie itself but vaguely remember what it was about. In any case, this post is not intended to be funny. I realize it has the potential to be hugely controversial and therefore I will refrain from taking names and revealing any identifying information.

Believe it or not, I started off my career as a Development Engineer, who wrote code, tested it, did telephone customer support, triage customer issues and fix them - an all-in-one package. That lasted about a year not because I couldn't handle it but because I found the technology and the company's medium-to-long prospects quite career limiting.

I moved on to a test engineer job in a large company. The initial period was quite rocky as I soon found out. As I was getting a hang of things, people around me were leaving the company left and right. :) Soon enough, I got used to it even though the company lost hundreds of employees through attrition. I liked the job I was doing and over the years I did quite well for myself. I was well respected in the organization and wielded significant power.

Y2K and the startup bug bit me and I went off in search of riches. Spent 4 years chasing a dream at a very dynamic, fast paced startup where the work changed from day to day. It was exciting and satisfying. Finally the dream turned sour as I realized that the big guys had screwed up over $180 M in investor funding.

Not willing to give up on the startup dream, I joined a second startup. That stint lasted about 10 months before I gave up and moved to my current company. The warning signs were right there as I saw (with horror) remarkable similarities in the first and 2nd startup. This company was headed for doom as well.

At this point I still found the test engineer job fun (I had my moments of glory in the past when I came TL and manager etc). Coming here, there was quite a bit to learn. The first year or so was fine even though I felt a bit stifled and suffocated by the mountain of process and slow moving giant. As much as I hoped that a big company culture would be the safety net, found that it was probably a well kept secret that it is a dark hole where people's careers disappear into a black hole. Long story short, over the years I observed lots of politics, frustration increased and the work became more of a mundane burden.

Finally, fed up with lack of career growth and increasing frustration, joined B-school in order to take charge of my own destiny. 2 years later, after long hard effort (school and home, sustaining effort at work), the test engineer in me died. I had no passion left for testing. I hung up my boots and moved out of testing and into Marketing. It is ironic that the last three weeks of my test engineer role were the worst of my entire test career with certain people around me falling to extreme low levels .....

Now that I am out of there, I can breathe again now. Don't know what the future holds for me but the sun is shining again and the dark night is gone.

Onwards to the next milestone....

Stay Classy Afridi!!!!

In my previous post, I promised to dedicate a separate blog post just to the Afridi controversy. Well here it is....

India Vs Pak Semifinal really lived up to its billings. Intense and enjoyable till the end. Post match comments from the captains were sensible and one got the impression that the game was played in its true spirit. Fast forward a couple of days. A video showed up on FB showing Afridi arriving in Pakistan and being quizzed by Pak media about the loss to India and it was heartening to see his reaction. His comments were something like this (loosely translated):

"Why do you guys hate India so much. It was just a game and the better team won. We may lose to many other teams but why is so much importance given to the loss to India. God willing, we will emerge stronger and win future matches against all teams".

I was very impressed. Pak captain making sensible comments in Pak (vs in India where people will say anything to grab media headlines and popularity). My respect from him went up.

Fast forward another few days and another video interview of Afridi shows up on FB. This time he is a completely changed person and his comments go something like this.

"Media in India is very biased. Our media is 100 times better than them. Indian media is very negative. Indians don't have big hearts. There is no hope of a bright future with India and talks will not achieve anything....."

wow!!! If I had not see the video myself I might have even blamed it on media distortion but no. He meant each and every word he said. Next day, after the furore, he claimed to have been mis-quoted etc etc. The damage was done. What a person!!! I don't respect him any more. Not because he said something against India but because how can you be so negative and such a pathetic person.

Next few days he kept denying but in my opinion the damage was done and he lost all credibility in my eyes. I don't know what his compulsions were but what he said and how he said it was not justified.

World Cup and beyond

So much has happened in the last week or so that a single post couldn't possibly do justice... but then I hate to end a post knowing there is more on my mind that I want to say.... oh well...we'll see how this one goes.

First things first. Heartiest congratulations to the Indian Cricket team and the Indian nation. We beat Pakistan in the semi-finals at Mohali. What a thrilling win. Before the match, the pakis tried to play all sort of mind games on us, even to the point of trying to turn home field advantage to a disadvantage (playing in front of home crowd would add additional pressure on Indian team...). what crap!!! Anyways, well and truly beaten. That was the finale for the world cup for me - right there!!! I applaud Gambhir for standing up and dedicating the victory to the memories of the Mumbai victims. It is very easy to forget even recent incidents and move on in life. We must not forget. i don't say live in the past, but definitely don't be a fool and pretend nothing happened. This victory was very sweet and satisfying.

The final against SL was almost an anti-climax when it started. I just did not feel the intensity (compared to the semi-final) during the first innings. Yeah, I was awake at 2 am watching the match with a couple of friends and my son. Didn't feel like the final, until SL thrashed us like anything in the final 5-6 overs. That's when reality struck me. Unfortunately, I had to fly before the start of the 2nd innings. Followed the game o the flight via in-flight wifi. Eventually India pulled off a magnificient win. Well deserved and played like champions. The final six was the icing on the cake - wrapping up in style.

Here are some other random thoughts.

Dhoni - Cool and smart thinking captain. He makes sound decisions and sometimes lady luck favors him even when his decision is wrong. A good leader, bringing the team together and leading them to a common goal. I feel he is tired from too much cricket. He should take a few months off to recuperate.

Sachin - Hats off to the little master. Records galore and he has been around for a good 20-21 years now. Amazing talent and a thorough gentleman.

Team - They started off shaky and gradually started coming together in game after game. I think they peaked at just the right time - the game against West Indies and never looked back. Compared to the 1983 team, I think Dhoni;s team has more talent. But both the teams were very high on self=confidence.

Aside - Someone remarked why are the indian cricketers being showered with money and gifts? Do they really need it? Would the money be better spent on other things like education, poverty reduction, health etc. ok, ok I hear you. These guys worked hard and made the country proud. Yes, and my counter is that they already made a Sh*t ful load of money playing IPL etc... there is much more useful things that can be done with all the new money. Anyways, the cricketers themselves should probably step forward and donate the stuff. Yeah, go ahead and tell me I live in too much of an idea world. :)

Afridi - this one deserves a post by itself.
Hazare - Another post.
ok I am tired now, back to work... will be back for sure later.

IPAD2 is out!!!

If there is one tech company that i admire, it is Apple. Sheer genius leadership or simply lucky (I bet it is the former). Simply superb in the UI, deciding what feature set goes into which device and what release, the pricing of their devices (although I hate paying them high prices), releasing new hardware periodically and often enough, 3rd party app support... u name it. Near flawless execution. They have the customers literally begging for the products. :)

This week the company announced IPAD2. Dual cameras (I had been waiting for this really bad), choice of 2 colors (not that important to me but might be for others), product is available within 10 days of announcement, thinner, lighter, faster... oh boy!!! I can see this product will be an instant success. Even their older models have a high resale value. The competition is nowhere close in terms of product features, apps, design or price.

Now my task is to convince wifey to let me buy the IPAD2. :) Very pricey indeed but you have one life to live. ;)

P.S. I didn't mention the most imp. thing reg. appl. Shareholder value. I don't think Apple shareholders have any reason to complain where as one tech company we all know about has hardly left any of its employees or shareholders happy with the stock price. :(

India Vs England

Late Night/Early Morning matches are simply killing for me. After a long tiring day, you stay awake all night and the next day is completely screwed - goodness me!!! Still, WC is WC and I decided to duke it out. Stayed awake all night to watch the match. Here's my take.

Pros

- The batting clicked once again
- Sachin was slow initially but later went really gung ho!!
- We tried to accelerate in the end even more despite losing wickets

Cons

- Sachin was slow early on. If he somehow was not able to accelerate in the later half of his innings (by getting out), he would have done the team a big disservice.
- Last 5-7 wickets were lost cheaply. Trying to milk the bowling and score as many runs as possible doesn't mean hitting blindly and getting out unnecessarily. I would prefer that those last 7 wickets had added atleast another 30-40 runs rather than go for a 4 or 6 on every ball and getting out in the process. Controlled agression is the key.
- The limitations of our bowling attack were in public display. Ugh!!!
- Fielding is so poor that even the commentators were saying "Indian team's age is showing in the fielding dept." Nothing much you can do here execpt cajole the players to try 10-20% harder in fielding. Any runs saved means more pressure on the opposition.

Eventually, India managed to get a Tie when it should have won comfortably. On the other hand, India were all set to lose the match but somehow miraculously pulled a Tie. Depends how you look at it. :)

Anyways, I felt like crap all of next day - too exhausted and sleepy. ended up sleeping most of the time.

World cup cricket

ICC World cup cricket is here again. Despite the huge disappointment last time around, I signed up for the package again this time. Even though the timings are really odd for us, I watched most of the India Vs Bangladesh match. It was a really good match.

Highlights for India:

- Batsmen were calm and composed. Displayed mental strength.
- Ruthless in their batting.
- Most bowlers did a good job with their line and length.

Lowlights for India:

- Very casual running between the wickets. At times they would be walking for runs.
- Fielding is quite sloppy.
- Sreesanth's bowling was inexperienced. He managed to beat the bat a few times but then went wayward. Didn't see any of the seniors come and talk to him and help him maintain a good line and length.
- Bowling/fielding lacked aggressiveness.

Overall, I think India won because they posted a huge total. If it was somewhere around 300, it would have been difficult for India to defend. They really need to pull up their socks because some of the better teams will not give India much opportunity to get away like this. Ideally, I would like India's bowling/fielding to be strong enough to defend any total of 250 or beyond. They are clearly not there yet.

Overall, good start to the tournament and hopefully better games ahead. :)

Not getting enough time to ...

I recently ordered a few books - looked interesting and once I started reading them, I found my decision was correct (to buy them). But, that's where the problem started. I have about 5 books in various stages - that I have started reading and each of them is really interesting but I am not finding enough time to read them. I have noticed that I enjoy reading books just before bed time when it is quite, the kids having gone to bed and wife busy with her stuff (computer, Iphone, reading or otherwise relaxing). Another slot (for reading) I have created for myself is when I fly to/from school.

A point to consider - none of these are technology books (not even remotely close to networking) and they are not fictional novels... hmm... should be a good indicator for which direction I should turn my career. :)

frustration reigns

As the subject indicates, I am quite frustrated these days. The level ofcourse varies from day to day and from one thing to another. Whether it is work life, financial, school life or personal life, there is no dearth of issues. Mind often wanders - what if the stock price was xyz, then I could do blah and not care about anything, what if I had financial independence, then I could maybe switch to full time MBA instead of part time, what if....what if .... what if....
I wouldn't call this the "grass if greener on the other side" syndrome.... rather I am struggling to find ways to make the quality of life better rather than worry endlessly about things I cannot change. Till I find the magic mantra, I guess I continue on my ek-khoj. :)

YPD

Went to watch "Yamala Pagala Deewana" at the mercado on monday evening. With Indian movies, lately I have set a rule for myself to keep my expectations really really low and I have noticed that in most cases I end up enjoying the movie. This happened in 3 Idiots, Robot, Golmaal etc. So, with YPD, when we went to watch it, I wasn't expecting much. My wife was reading out the review aloud from her IPhone but I tuned her out since I did not want to be biased by another reviewer's opinions.

In any case, the first shock was when we went into the theatre and upon inquiry we came to know that there would be no intermission. That is plain dumb. American theatre running desi movie - you gotta have intermission AND you have to sell Samosas. They were doing none of that. So, we ended up buying the usual super huge popcorns and coke drinks and settled down into the almost comfortable seats (kids and all).

The next 3 hours were a laugh riot and the movie was simply amazing. There were only a few people in the hall but there was no one who wasn't falling out of their seats laughing (including a sikh couple esp. given the controversy in India with this movie and the sikh community). Even my daughter who doesn't understand much hindi (atleast not enough to understand the whole movie) was jumping up and down in her seat. :) Overall, paisa vasool. Highly recommended movie if you want to have a good time. Go watch in the theatre and not on the DVD.

results are in

I have had high cholesterol for a number of years. I have tried to manage it through diet. Already being a vegetarian, I tried to further improve my diet such as fat free milk, reduce pizza, donuts and bagels, olive oil and so on so forth. Over the years, there was no increase or decrease in cholesterol levels - LDLs remaining high and HDL remaining low. Triglycerides were a bit on the higher side.
Anyways, last month I went to this South Asian Heart centre whether they do some advanced lipid panel tests (more than the normal LDL, HDL tests). Finally, the results came in today and they are quite scary. Looks like now there is no excuses to be made now. Effective immediately, I will need to

- start cholesterol reducing medicine
- start incorporating exercise in my daily schedule
- further improve my dietary habits (cut down on all the discretionary "indian sweets" and all).

There are too many risk factors with the way I am leading my life right now and I guess, if not to myself, I owe it to my family to keep myself healthy and be around till they grow tired of me. :)

sick

First cold for the year and barely 10 days into the new year. To be fair, someone or the other in the family has been sick for the past 2-3 weeks... my body could resist the germs only for so long. Even outside, you can see people coughing and sneezing. Fact of the matter is finally I am down and feeling terrible. :( Hopefully, will be better tomorrow. :)

School's has started. B. Strategy and EVI this time. Both instructors are good and both the courses are very interesting. Lots to learn. The schedule however is very tough this quarter. GAP coming up during the summer - let's see which foreign country I get to visit. :)

Missing my dad very much. Sometimes things are just not in your control and you can only watch helplessly but as he always tells me: "Even this will pass".

2011

A big hearty welcome to 2011. Right now I have mixed feelings. Kinda sad that all the holidays are over - just one more day left. :( On the other hand, we had a great New year eve party last night. We had invitations from a couple of friends to come celebrate with them at their house but we chose to go to BG. The place is family friendly and we had a good time. Reached home around 2:30 am.

In the morning made some calls to friends and family. Always good to catch up with them. Technically, it's just another day but somehow we attach so much significance to Jan 1st. People make New year resolutions but I don't. I believe any day is as good as New year's day for resolving to do (or don't do) something. I do have a wish to improve my health this year, concentrate on some projects that I have delayed far too long and so on. In many ways, this could be a defining year. I see a lot of challenges ahead both in personal and professional life but hope makes the world go around and hope I will come out on top when facing my challenges.

Wife and kids abandoned me today and spent the afternoon at a friend's place :(. So, I went to a book store, spent some time browsing books and had lunch by myself. Came home and put on "Break ke baad" movie on the tube but must say the movie is quite silly. This movie deserves to bomb at the box office and I hope it did. Ok, I am off to some bed time reading and putting the kids to bed.