New obsessions....

Watching the show Monk regularly made me realize something. I have something in common with Mr.Monk. OCD - Obsessive compulsive disorder, only that I don't consider this as a disorder. I just wonder why the other people don't have these obsessions. When tedka tagged me to write down 5 addictions of life, I was thinking for a few days. I couldn't get passed my #1 addicition in life and this might be the strangest - obsession.

My obsessions include

1. obsession for zeros - money in bank need to be like 1000, 1500 etc. I hate to have 1513.12 left in my account, I have to rearrange it so that it becomes filled with zeroes.
2. obsession to keep doing some trivial tasks like correcting mp3 tags of my 12GB song collection, arranging my photo albums. I know everone does this, but only that I can't stop till wifey points out the time I have been doing this.
3. obsession for researching and experimenting with my gadgets - Any new item I buy (sometimes even old ones I just pick up), I can't help but keep exploring it. Be it tearing apart old laptops, reinstalling OS or experimenting with my latest obsessions - my new camera, Amazon Kindle or iPhone3G and all the iPhone Apps.
4. and many many more........
   

So much about my OCD, back to the list. My top 5 addictions of life

1. Obsession
2. Good Food - If I start listing them one by one, you will be reading this for days. But let's just say, I love good food.
   
3. Big Picture - Most people who have worked with me have one big complaint - This guy asks too many questions. I love to get the big picture of things, even though it is none of my business.
   
4. Seinfeld - TV Sitcoms in general like Everbody loves Raymond, Friends and reality shows like Survivor, Amazing race is in the list. But Seinfeld has a special place - I cannot switch channels when that guy is on TV, even though I have watched that episode n times and even though I have the complete DVD set with me.
   
5. Science Fiction / Fantasy movies & novels - From an oscar worthy Lord of the rings to the vampire flicks like Underworld, from science fiction classics like Bladerunner to stupid movies like Aeon Flux, I can't help it, I have to watch it.
   

So now I have to tag 5 people? I usually don't forward any chain mails, but this looks like fun. So here you go - you guys have been tagged.

1. Vini
2. Vidhatri
3. Poonaji
4. Fareen
5. Alco
   

Windows, Ubuntu & Me.....

After 4 years of Windows XP, my old laptop finally gave up. It was dying and opening a couple of windows was freezing the whole system up. With both of us having office laptops for our day to day use, I thought this is the time to play around with something new. I installed Ubuntu in it and wallah! the dying laptop seems to have got new breath. With Ubuntu Intrepid, Firefox, Totem Movie player, Open office & Amarok, I pretty much can use it for the purposes I used it with XP on it. The reason for this blog entry is not to claim I know how to install and survive in Linux but reflect on why it took me 13 years after I started using PC to try my hand in Linux.

After coming to Seattle and interacting with some amazingly talented people, I felt like a dwarf in the open source technology field. I have used a PC with Intel 286 processor, 560MB hard disk (yes you read it right!) with MS DOS on it from 1995. Saw the evolution of Microsoft through Windows 3.1, 95, 98 & XP - installed each of these and never felt the need for Linux or anything else to run on my PC. Even all the computer labs in my college and in most PCs in the campus (some (ugh!) geeks had Linux) were running on Windows. Meanwhile most of the graduates here in US have very good knowledge of Linux or other open source initiatives.

Well, I can think of only one reason for it - Piracy!. I never paid for a copy of Windows in my life till I came to US and bought my own laptop. For the first time it hit me, I need to pay for the OS. It was readily available through out my college and career for free. Why should I spend all my energy in trying to make any other OS work on my PC, when I have my shiny Windows out of the box available for me. But when you are in college and if you had to spend $$s (oh sorry, Rs) from your allowance on buying an OS or MS office suite, we would have definitely had looked for alternatives and stumbled upon Linux or BSD much before than I did.

Was this good or bad? Well good and bad I guess. If no Windows, I doubt whether common man like my father, who has adopted PC in his late 50s, would continue to use it. I cannot imagine him running anything from a Linux terminal and getting some stuff working. Even today with Linux desktop like Ubuntu Intrepid 90-95% out of the box usable for people like him, I am not confident he would have taken this much interest. For me personally, I love Windows XP and even with a Linux desktop in office, I rely on it for most of my use. But somewhere inside me there is a person who is yelling "Damn you Piracy! I would have contributed to forums, I would have contributed to the open source community in efforts to make my PC & OS better for my use and I would have become a linux geek!".

Anyway my life is based on one principle, someone close to me recently commented that it is the most over rated statement in the world, but I still believe it with all my heart - "Everthing happens for a reason and Whatever Happens, Happens for the Best". Look back into you life and you will know it is true.

PS: Even if you are not a technical fanatic, give Ubuntu a try. No need to install, just run it from a live CD. I can guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised as I was.

Jabaaz Onam 08

Another Year... Another Onam... and this year it was rocking....

We got together in Seattle, WA at Ashwin's house and this Onam was a full of fun filled activities. Pictures and videos tell a thousand more words than I trying to blog the entire events.

So here it goes....

Some snaps of the celebrations below....


Thiruvathira kali by Vini, Suchitra, Kshema, Dhanya & Poornima

Maveli meets Bill G -- if Maveli came to our celebration..... 

Part 1 of the video... will upload the whole thing once i get hold of it and if anybody still interested in it:)

Lage Raho India.....

61 years! 61 years since India became an independent nation. Aug 15, 1947 the day which gave meaning to the sacrifice of millions of freedom fighters. But do we really value our freedom. Is democracy working for India. Would we be better off like a controlled environment like China where to the outside world they are excelling in everything including such an extravagant Olympics. I am not sure i am proud to be an Indian.

I woke up from my sleep thinking something alone these lines. Where am I, I don't recognize this place. It is not my house but some ashram. It seems vaguely familiar though. Oh, wait a minute. This is Sabarmati Ashram of Gandhiji. What, this is really absurd, how can I be here.

"How are you my son." It was Bapu, but how is this possible. Did he come to see our India the same place as he left in 1948.

"I am not fine Bapu, I am not fine. Today we are celebrating 61 years of democracy, our independence from British. But what is this democracy anyway, I am not sure I agree with this."

"Son, you don't agree with this democracy? You don't agree with the leaders of our country making these decisions? You don't like where we are heading as a nation?"

"No Bapu No, I don't. Why? Can't I question the direction my country is going? Can't I question our leaders? Can't I question this DEMOCRACY?"

Bapu's face had his famous signature smile. "Yes my son, you can! That is the beauty of DEMOCRACY!"

This time I really woke up and I was in my bed but I had a smile on my face. Not as beautiful as Bapu's but a satisfying smile nevertheless.

Happy birthday, India. I am proud of you...

Rose is a rose, called by any name?

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Well Mr.Shakespeare, I am not sure everyone agrees with you.

From the time I started blogging which I thought are my stupid thoughts, :) the few people who started reading it, started commenting about the name. Don't call it stupid. Well i never bothered to change it, cos i write so little and so inconsistently. But when suddenly i got 3 requests (or threats) from my friends on changing the name on the same day, well may be I ought to listen to them. I don't want to reduce my reader's list from 10 to 7.

Another thought that went through my head was, when parents name their kid, some do a lot of research or get suggestions from friends or decide to give the baby a suited name. Others just give them some name. My blog got the second deal. And as an arrogant parent i thought, well he got a name - he won't change it. Times are changing and kids if they don't like their name will change it themself.

So here it goes.... i have rechristened my blog. My dear blog, you are no longer stupid...

Friendship in Mars & Venus

Men are from MARS, Women are from Venus? Indeed!

I had an interesting discussion about friendship with two good Venus friends. I told them about my personal funda on friendship.

3 stages of friendship
Stage 1. You meet someone. You love the guy/gal. They seem to be a cool person according to your defnition of cool. He/She is my friend. People who don't meet this critirea usually don't end up as friends.
Stage 2. You start seeing the negatives in them. Man! he/she is getting on my nerves. I hate that part/attitude/behavior of him/her. Some friendship ends there or gets limited to a hi/bye friendship in this stage.
Stage 3. If you reach stage 3, I have accepted him/her as my friend with the negatives. This friendship is going to last for a long time. There will be times i just hate him/her, but he/she will be my friend. At this stage the friendship is based on "Nishkama Karma" - i am not expecting anything in return for being your friend, helping you out, i want to be there for you no matter what! (I try - cant say i always do. :) I am human!).

This is my idea of friendship and is a funda which works for me. I usually add a disclaimer when i tell this to others - "Not sure if this is applicable to the ladies' mind". And both of my venus friends who heard this said, in their own arguments, nope it doesn't.

Its very difficult for girls to go from stage 2 to 3. For stage 3, girls will try to change their friend to a better person (according to them) and remove their negatives. Its difficult to accept the negatives and say my friend has these flaws in him. Stage 2 to 3 is not final for girls. Its an iterative process. Friends do move from stage 3 to 2 :) or may be there is no stage 3.

Nish Kama Karma -- very difficult to follow for Venus. Especially if it is a :-) girl - girl friendship.

Another thing for girls, if you are not in constant touch, friendship sort of dies off. Even if he/she is your best friend in college, if you haven't talked to them, its difficult for girls to continue the friendship when you meet them after years. I met one of my best buddies in Dubai after may be 6 years and we just continued from where we left off, in our college hostel years ago. For the same point i had an argument with my cousin. She was telling me Dil Chahta Hai is a stupid movie. How can you continue friendship after such a big fight and after so many years of not talking, by just calling and talking to him. I told her, because we are from MARS, you won't understand it Venus girl.

I hope this doesn't happen to Vini, that in 5-6 years all her friends are my friends and their wifes/husbands. I will hate to see that happen.

This is my funda, which works for me. If you disagree :) please let me know. I love to hear about it.

Coincidence?!!!

In Amazon interview, i was asked a brain teaser during lunch interview with my manager.

"Imagine that you are driving to a very important meeting. You have a very important presentation to make in company's annual meeting. You have the only copy of the presentation on your laptop. You have to be there in the meeting. When you are driving through a hilly area, suddenly one of the car tire got punchured. You have no cell coverage, nobody to be seen nearby. You decide to change the tire and put in the spare one. When you remove the bolts of punchred tire, they roll down the hill. You cannot make it on time if you walk / run to the office and it is too far. What will you do?"

After going through one or two routes, i got the answer. Take one bolt from each of the other tires and fix the spare tire. So all 4 tires run on 3 bolts. Manager happy, me happy and i am an Amazonian now.

One week after joining Amazon, i am driving through Highway 520 in Seattle. Guess what, my tire blows. I park my car in the side of highway and change the tire, all the while thinking, man! the bolts shouldn't roll into highway. After putting in the spare tire, i take my car to tire shop to get a new tire. When they were removing my tires - bam! one of the bolts is broken. That needs to be replaced. So i am driving around in car with 3 bolts of one tire.

Amazon interview brain teaser... Tire puncture... 3 bolts per tire... Coincidence?!!!

Baby Steps....

One week in Seattle, it was about time that i stopped being a tourist and learned how to be a Seattleite. Atleast this was going to be our home in US for some time. And hopefully the last US home from where we will pack our bags and go back to Gods own country, Kerala. Seattle is a little over whelming for a guy who has stayed in huge but spread out Dallas & small and quiet Charlotte. So i have decided to take baby steps in exploring this city.

First things first, stop driving and start using the metro / sound transit buses. Seattle is really well connected with the bus service. Thanks to google maps, finding what bus to take even if it involves walking, transit from metro bus to sound transit bus has really been made easy. Found my bus route from corporate house and its timings. Daily travel in bus was a long lost activity, probably did this last during my early infosys days in chennai. So now i ride Bus route 70 every morning with a book. Time to catch up on reading. Joined Seattle Public Library. May be time to get an Amazon Kindle.

Later i decided to explore the South Lake Union area where Amazon has put me up. Weather was really good the first 3 days i have been in Seattle. Sunny, bright.. why is everyone complaining about weather here. Or so i thought. As soon as i started walking around the lake union park, it started drizzling. Seattle decided to show its true colors to me, now that i am settling in. Trying to become a Seatteite, but still something was missing. Walking through the South Lake union area, where all the yatches and boat houses are i realised what was missing. I walked into the nearest Starbucks and got a latte. Walking in rain with a Starbucks coffee in my hand.

Yes i was taking my baby steps in Seattle. Learning how to be a Seatteite.

Past, Present & Future.....

Seat belt is fastened, mobile phone turned off, air hostes are preparing for take off. I am leaving charlotte. This reality is just hitting me. Never thought i will be flying away from Charlotte 1 year after i drove to Queen City. Never thought i will come to love this quiet sleepy town.

Leaving Dallas was not easy. It was my first home in US. It taught me how to survive in the land of oppurtunities. It hooked me to America's sports NBA, NFL. No wonder Dallas Cowboys & Dallas Mavericks are two of my favourite teams. Leaving the huge gang of friends, my comfortable den in which i was the lion and moving to a place where we didn't know anyone, where we had no clue what to expect, was a really difficult decision.

But Charlotte had other plans. Loved the city, its tiny & pretty downtown, the fact that i could see all 4 seasons, its beautiful fall, the east coast, my new work place and new friends. No complaints in the past year. In fact we were almost certain that we were going to be in NC for a long time.

Then Seattle happened, just when i was ready to settle into my comfort zone in every aspect. When i started the phone interviews, even when i was called for the onsite slaughter :) i mean onsite interview, we were not thinking about moving. Wanted the experience, but in the end Seattle won and successfully tempted us into moving. So within four years in US, i am off to 3rd city.

Flight is taking off. Charlotte is looking pretty as usual from the sky. Bye Bye Charlotte.. i will miss you.

Off to Dallas where i am connecting my next flight, on the way from Charlotte to Seattle to pursue my new adventure. The past, the present & the future.....

An Interview with Superman

After a long hiatus i am back in blogworld.. Some background info about this story. This is the true story about my interview in Software Earnings (SEI) Charlotte one year back. I gave this story printed and laminated as a gift to Superman. Thought will share the story with the world.

A long long time ago, in a place far far away called Dallas there lived an Indian kid. No no not what you are thinking, not native Indians in America, a kid from the land "India" which Mr. Columbus was searching when he stumbled upon US of A. This kid had to come to Charlotte in search of a job. This is that story and the unexpected encounter he had with Superman.

Kid comes down to Charlotte on the eve of interview with Software Earnings. Ms.Jessica from his contracting firm calls him and gives him an overview of how his day is going to be the next day. And she adds "Ohhh, you need to wear a Suit". "Wot!!!!, I don’t have a suit with me. I don’t wear suits.""Well, you need to. SEI interview will be very professional. You NEED to find a suit and wear it for tomorrow's interview.""What the hell, where am I interviewing.." the kid said to himself. "I am not sure if I want to be in an office where I am wearing suit everyday. At least I have come here, let me give it a shot."So instead of preparing for C++ questions, he ventures out into Charlotte shops in search of a suit. He finds one and goes to interview next day all dressed up.

First round was with Mr.CTO, who explained to the kid what SE is all about and how SE is making the world a better place to live for everyone. Dressed uncomfortably and having understood nothing about a product called ETS; the kid goes to round 2 where he meets his future team lead. At around 7 feet tall with a huge pony tail there he was. The kid could see S in diamond clearly. Wearing his trade mark Superman T Shirt, the kid met him for the first time. His under cover name was Zman... Zickerman... or simply Zeke.

But for the Indian kid, he was Superman ever since.......

PS : The real superman and real indian kid in SEI