Often times, your reactions come as a complete surprise to me. By "your", I mean the readers of this blog. There are times when I want a particular reaction from you, and I almost never get it. Other times, I write something, not expecting to hear a peek from anyone, and I get an email within a few days in response to my post. Hey, I am not complaining - the more often I communicate with you, the happier it makes me!
I think I have a solution to my sleeping problem, and I have narrowed it down to doing two things every night around midnight. The first is to pop my contacts out of my eyes, and the second involves making the trip from where ever I am to my bed, turning off the lights, and writing a quick blog post. Fine, the second step involves doing other things but you get the point, don't you?
Instead of going to the gym on what was a beautiful day, I chose to return home around 8, relax for a bit, and go out on a bike ride. I rode my bike for about 50 minutes, the highlight being an exhilarating patch of downhill riding on my way back home. I don't think I quite made it to Woodinville, but it was a good enough workout. The wonderful effect of riding outside was I felt refreshed, and more relaxed after the ride than I did when I first arrived from work. Curious, eh?
Worked a bit after returning back, watched a few episodes of Seinfeld (more on that timeless show at a later point), and am now ready to pass out. Good night!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
A Quiet Weekend
After the high ridik factor of last weekend, this one started on a quiet note. I didn't get back from work on Friday till after 11pm, which eliminated any chance of going out that night. In recent times, I have limited my partying to special occasions - a friend's birthday, someone visiting Seattle, or me visiting another city.
Disgusted by the fact that I had lost my phone, I got down to the business of finding my old phone, and rummaging through my move boxes for tools to crack the phone open. Juggy stayed at home too, as did Saqib, so the three of us hung out, caught up on the week's activities, and I cracked my phone open. I slept late that night, but vowed to clean my room up the next morning, even if that meant not doing anything till I was done folding the clothes strewn all over the floor.
I spent most of Saturday cleaning up: I did some chores, cleaned my car, and bought some tools to fix up the busted things I could fix. The shoe glue has fixed my ripped sandals, the screw-driver set was used to fix my old phone, and I finally figured out how to get rid of the intermittent "Brake Light Circuit" message that my car's computer throws. Juggy drove me around in his "new" old BMW as I knocked items off my list, and we ended the evening with dinner at Kanishka.
Two rotis were one too many; the first real meal of the day, and I was hungry. The meal was a fitting reward for a week spent working hard, and working out every day. Despite my best intentions, things just haven't worked out for me. Since there is no point dwelling on the days gone by, I have maintained a positive outlook. All has not been bad though - my progress at work, and on the squash court has been encouraging. Work has been a good hectic, with a lot of bugs to fix. As regards squash, I am hitting a stride similar to my peak in 2004. I blew Steve out of the court, swept Sarat away, drilled one evening for an hour, but was stopped in my tracks by Karan on Friday. It was a tough contest though, the final game score was 9-8 in his favor. No point going to the gym after a week like that, no?
Watched two silly, but funny movies last night - Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and then Van Wilder. Call them silly, but some sequences had me in stitches. Slept in this morning, and worked all day after conjuring up an interesting brunch of scrambled eggs with spinach, sweet peas, mushrooms, and onions. Coffee at Kahili, a long session at work, and I was ready to wrap up the weekend.
Watching the Yankees pummel the Mets was the perfect way to end one week and start another. It's almost 3am right now, and though it is late, I will sleep a content man tonight. Am back in touch with all my friends, I have a working phone again, have made good progress at work, and am looking forward to elevating my fitness to a new level. Can I get to 185 at the end of next week? Can I have only 10 bugs assigned to me come this time next Sunday? Keep your fingers crossed...
Disgusted by the fact that I had lost my phone, I got down to the business of finding my old phone, and rummaging through my move boxes for tools to crack the phone open. Juggy stayed at home too, as did Saqib, so the three of us hung out, caught up on the week's activities, and I cracked my phone open. I slept late that night, but vowed to clean my room up the next morning, even if that meant not doing anything till I was done folding the clothes strewn all over the floor.
I spent most of Saturday cleaning up: I did some chores, cleaned my car, and bought some tools to fix up the busted things I could fix. The shoe glue has fixed my ripped sandals, the screw-driver set was used to fix my old phone, and I finally figured out how to get rid of the intermittent "Brake Light Circuit" message that my car's computer throws. Juggy drove me around in his "new" old BMW as I knocked items off my list, and we ended the evening with dinner at Kanishka.
Two rotis were one too many; the first real meal of the day, and I was hungry. The meal was a fitting reward for a week spent working hard, and working out every day. Despite my best intentions, things just haven't worked out for me. Since there is no point dwelling on the days gone by, I have maintained a positive outlook. All has not been bad though - my progress at work, and on the squash court has been encouraging. Work has been a good hectic, with a lot of bugs to fix. As regards squash, I am hitting a stride similar to my peak in 2004. I blew Steve out of the court, swept Sarat away, drilled one evening for an hour, but was stopped in my tracks by Karan on Friday. It was a tough contest though, the final game score was 9-8 in his favor. No point going to the gym after a week like that, no?
Watched two silly, but funny movies last night - Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and then Van Wilder. Call them silly, but some sequences had me in stitches. Slept in this morning, and worked all day after conjuring up an interesting brunch of scrambled eggs with spinach, sweet peas, mushrooms, and onions. Coffee at Kahili, a long session at work, and I was ready to wrap up the weekend.
Watching the Yankees pummel the Mets was the perfect way to end one week and start another. It's almost 3am right now, and though it is late, I will sleep a content man tonight. Am back in touch with all my friends, I have a working phone again, have made good progress at work, and am looking forward to elevating my fitness to a new level. Can I get to 185 at the end of next week? Can I have only 10 bugs assigned to me come this time next Sunday? Keep your fingers crossed...
Friday, June 15, 2007
Lost my phone, at Kahili Coffee, and it sux!
I was there till they closed last night, I bused my table, and left. I remember looking at my phone while in the coffee shop, and when I set it on the fireplace, I had a stray thought that I would forget it there. Must learn to not ignore such stray thoughts. Thoughts that start with "would have", "should have", "could have" kill you because they are so insidious, so true, yet so pointless. I am just going to walk over to a T-Mobile store tomorrow morning, and buy a new phone. Or buy one from Craigslist, who knows...
Monday, June 11, 2007
India may get its first Apple Store
This might curb the people's propensity to buy Apple products from the Gray Market.
"Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail is actively negotiating with the $19.3-billion Apple Inc of the US to bring its high-end Apple Store to India. If the deal falls into place, India will be only the second Asian country after Japan and the sixth country outside the US to have an Apple retail outlet. Given that an Apple Store is a single-brand retail outlet, Apple Inc can hold up to 51% equity in the venture"An Apple Store in India will succeed only if products are priced competitively w.r.t. the pervasive gray markets. A competitively priced store bought product has two attributes that I can never get from the gray market - it is certified original, and it comes with a warranty. These 2 factors put together make me more comfortable while dropping approximately 10k rupees on a device. Go Apple...
Of Goals and Dreams
As I try to drift into sleep, the swirling thoughts in my head keep deep sleep at bay. Thoughts like these are sure to haunt my dreams, so best I type them out. A very righteous person said to me once, "...if you can't sleep, it is because your conscience isn't clear". That can't be true, because if a burdened conscience alone drove one to sleep deprivation, how does GWB ever sleep? This disruption in my sleep cycle can more likely be attributed to work; I spent most of today and a good chunk of yesterday finishing up my work assignments for the past week. Next week is going to be a very busy one with a lot of time spent ensuring that things work as advertised, but I'll take busy over idle in a heartbeat.
The past few months have whizzed by me, and the pace of work shows no sign of abating. A single night of frolic punctuates the week that is otherwise a blur of working and working out. Given the intense pace at work, I would have certainly gone mad had it not been for the Pro Club, and my nights on the town. Take last night for instance - I was stoked at the opportunity to get away from the office to celebrate Pooja's birthday at Tia Lou's. Excited enough to actually shave for the first time in five weeks!
With this change in pace at work, I have devised a new formula to keep myself energized. Work is always going to be around, so the key is to extract myself from the humdrum routine every so often, and witness, better yet, experience the vicissitudes of life, Time to wipe the goals slate clean and write a new one on there - to enjoy whatever I do, take it to the next level, screw balance and max life out! Speaking of goals, regardless of whether I meet my new goal to enjoy myself, I have inadvertently achieved another. The intent of this blog was to commemorate and celebrate notable events in my life, but it has been these quasi-postmortems that have guided me through the quagmire that is growing up. Enough of this rambling now, it's time to dream again...
The past few months have whizzed by me, and the pace of work shows no sign of abating. A single night of frolic punctuates the week that is otherwise a blur of working and working out. Given the intense pace at work, I would have certainly gone mad had it not been for the Pro Club, and my nights on the town. Take last night for instance - I was stoked at the opportunity to get away from the office to celebrate Pooja's birthday at Tia Lou's. Excited enough to actually shave for the first time in five weeks!
With this change in pace at work, I have devised a new formula to keep myself energized. Work is always going to be around, so the key is to extract myself from the humdrum routine every so often, and witness, better yet, experience the vicissitudes of life, Time to wipe the goals slate clean and write a new one on there - to enjoy whatever I do, take it to the next level, screw balance and max life out! Speaking of goals, regardless of whether I meet my new goal to enjoy myself, I have inadvertently achieved another. The intent of this blog was to commemorate and celebrate notable events in my life, but it has been these quasi-postmortems that have guided me through the quagmire that is growing up. Enough of this rambling now, it's time to dream again...
Friday, June 08, 2007
It Worked
Early to bed
Early to rise
No idea if this will make me either wealthy or wise. It will make me healthy for sure. Have a great Friday, and an even better weekend.
Early to rise
No idea if this will make me either wealthy or wise. It will make me healthy for sure. Have a great Friday, and an even better weekend.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Long Time No Write
I think it is time for me to resurrect "Free Form Writing", the idea that I should sit in front of the screen, and type away for 10 minutes. The post will be my raw thoughts (or blank if I don't have any) sans editing, and post typing touch-up. Here goes my *first* new attempt at this concept...
While I thought this new job would spark the creative juices inside me, the truth is that three months into this stint, I am tired like never before. Earlier, I used to be tired because I'd have worked out too much; physical exhaustion in isolation is completely my fault, and can be dealt with. The excitement of getting better at a sport or lifting more weights leads to temporary aches and pains. It is the physical exhaustion brought on by long and intense hours at work, the kind that accompanies mental exhaustion, which stays with you till you do one of two things - stop working hard or cut out extra-curricular activities.
Part of the exhaustion can be attributed to my wonky sleeping habits. I thought it was all the coffee and diet coke so I stopped, cold turkey. No caffeine, you'd think I'd sleep better now, right? Wrong; I forgot all about what the stress of work can do! I feel like I am constantly behind on my work items, and I have a whole slew of bugs assigned to me. Don't get me wrong, there hasn't been another phase in my professional life in which I have learnt more. But learning comes at a price, a steep one at that, is the lesson I am learning. Turns out, quitting caffeine alone isn't the cure, I must bust stress too.
Having enough work to do during the day has resulted in fewer indulgences, a consequence that my friends and immediate family have begun to notice. I logged on to online chat programs this week after a long hiatus, and social networking has been put on the back-burner to make time for other idle pleasures. This has certainly been a great change in my life - I read more, have more time to do stuff outdoors, and in general avoid spending time in front of the computer if I can avoid it. As exhausting as work has been, I have a strong reason to wake up every morning and work some more; there definitely is something about making a consumer product that my previous jobs lacked. This enthusiastically exhausted state has a lot to do with our tight delivery schedule. If you take into consideration the fact that the last product I worked on was in the works for 4 years, you will realize what a huge change this has been for me. The Zune is on a yearly shipping schedule.
Things have been trudging along on the social front. I have reached my breaking point with clubs. Henceforth, I am going to vote for the team to go to a lounge any day over going into a noisy club. With this being said, I have finally found the perfect crew to hang with, and my moving in with Juggy will only make my social life more tolerable :) I consider myself fortunate to have narrowly escaped the vortex that is the other Indian crew on the East Side; all that gossiping and bitching is bad karma. Given my track record, I don't need any more of that ingredient in my life. Phew!!
First night of the week that I am attempting to hit the sack before midnight. The idea is to wake up at the same time every morning, regardless of when I sleep. Let's see how long I can keep this up. I know one thing for sure, if this does work, I might have to go back to drinking caffeine again cuz there is no way in hell I am going to survive through the afternoon on less than 6 hours of sleep :)
While I thought this new job would spark the creative juices inside me, the truth is that three months into this stint, I am tired like never before. Earlier, I used to be tired because I'd have worked out too much; physical exhaustion in isolation is completely my fault, and can be dealt with. The excitement of getting better at a sport or lifting more weights leads to temporary aches and pains. It is the physical exhaustion brought on by long and intense hours at work, the kind that accompanies mental exhaustion, which stays with you till you do one of two things - stop working hard or cut out extra-curricular activities.
Part of the exhaustion can be attributed to my wonky sleeping habits. I thought it was all the coffee and diet coke so I stopped, cold turkey. No caffeine, you'd think I'd sleep better now, right? Wrong; I forgot all about what the stress of work can do! I feel like I am constantly behind on my work items, and I have a whole slew of bugs assigned to me. Don't get me wrong, there hasn't been another phase in my professional life in which I have learnt more. But learning comes at a price, a steep one at that, is the lesson I am learning. Turns out, quitting caffeine alone isn't the cure, I must bust stress too.
Having enough work to do during the day has resulted in fewer indulgences, a consequence that my friends and immediate family have begun to notice. I logged on to online chat programs this week after a long hiatus, and social networking has been put on the back-burner to make time for other idle pleasures. This has certainly been a great change in my life - I read more, have more time to do stuff outdoors, and in general avoid spending time in front of the computer if I can avoid it. As exhausting as work has been, I have a strong reason to wake up every morning and work some more; there definitely is something about making a consumer product that my previous jobs lacked. This enthusiastically exhausted state has a lot to do with our tight delivery schedule. If you take into consideration the fact that the last product I worked on was in the works for 4 years, you will realize what a huge change this has been for me. The Zune is on a yearly shipping schedule.
Things have been trudging along on the social front. I have reached my breaking point with clubs. Henceforth, I am going to vote for the team to go to a lounge any day over going into a noisy club. With this being said, I have finally found the perfect crew to hang with, and my moving in with Juggy will only make my social life more tolerable :) I consider myself fortunate to have narrowly escaped the vortex that is the other Indian crew on the East Side; all that gossiping and bitching is bad karma. Given my track record, I don't need any more of that ingredient in my life. Phew!!
First night of the week that I am attempting to hit the sack before midnight. The idea is to wake up at the same time every morning, regardless of when I sleep. Let's see how long I can keep this up. I know one thing for sure, if this does work, I might have to go back to drinking caffeine again cuz there is no way in hell I am going to survive through the afternoon on less than 6 hours of sleep :)
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