Elina's second month birthday

Elina has turned two months...

It feels like just yesterday she came out while i was still in the labor room. Time moves fast when you least expect it to.

Interesting patterns observed in the last month where she you see changes physically. Her checks have puffed up and it looks she has stuffed something in the mouth. She is gaining the baby fat and is beginning to turn sideways.

The crying...She like to be held in the arms and over the shoulder. She just keeps staring and seems to like the lights. Its like she doesn't like to waste time sleeping instead stares in people's soul.

I am already seeing the signs of being a food lover.

Some of my favorite shots...2016

Some of my favorite shots of 2016

This was taken outside the MBS Mall.

 The below three were taken in Gardens by the Bay.

The below two were taken in Batam, ID.

Some of my favorite shots...2014

These two are taken from the 43rd floor of Suntec tower on May 17th, 2014.

So, waiting at the doctor's for your turn is an excruciating activity. You ask why?, in one word, WAITING.

Isn't it ironical that you can't just argue with the front desk people when you see that people who walked in after you are actually being called first because you have to deal with the doctor in a short while. I am referring to the places where there is just one doctor. All you have to do is just wait.

Yes, Guess what am I doing now while I type this post.

Yup.

Accountability....

Off late, I had a lot of instances where I noticed that the one thing I always see being affected is Accountability. Most of the activities are in more than one tied to this and are constantly measured. My take on this, everyone is accountable for their actions and should be held responsible for it. Period.

If you are given a task, it is your ethical and moral responsibility to finish it. There are no exceptions under normal circumstances for it. Do it once and do it right. Once you finish, you are responsible for the rest of your life. Take instance of work place, if you are given a work, you are expected to finish it. Improvement would be measured on how you do it, how fast you do it and what can be done to automate it next time so that you don't have to spend time for it yet it is done. There is always someone on top of you to help out and validate.

Workplace accountability is very important. Every action, task is your responsibility and you are answerable to your supervisor. This also ensures that a hierarchy is maintained because your supervisor is also responsible for you apart from his own. So, that is one extra thing for your supervisor to handle and if he/she has done is right, that is what put them in the position they are. Accountability is one of the key factors to innovation.

Innovation is not an expectation these days, it has become a necessity. It is what sets you apart from the rest, kind of separates boys from men. With accountability, one get a moral sense of ownership. This ownership lets the individual see and identify ways to improve the action. As mentioned earlier, Automation is one of the key levers. It removes the proneness to errors and thereby results in higher quality, faster turn around time.

Accountability is one of the pillars of a strong character. It defines actions and predictability in humans.

Have it. Own it. Enjoy it.

Pebble

Two weeks ago I bought a new watch. It is a Pebble (https://getpebble.com). Interestingly cool and worthy is my opinion. I did a lot of research on the kind of wearable technology (not many choices using an iPhone) between Galaxy Gear, Sony and Pebble. The former two do not work with iOS leaving me the only option of Pebble. 

It is a cool looking black watch (that is the color I picked) with just one color to display, like a kindle (eReader). Because of this battery life is really good. Though it advertises of 5-7 days, I observed that 4-5 days is really comfortable. It connects to your phone using Bluetooth which means that your phone battery is gonna drain a bit faster than normal.

How it works is that anything that is a notification on the iPhone is displayed on the watch and apart from this one additional thing that can be controlled is the music on phone (start-stop play-pause). It has a small vibrator too so, if your phone vibrates, so does this (depends on what is set on your phone to vibrate). 

It can support up to 8 apps (very limited but...) that includes watch faces and apps. There is an SDK (Software Development Kit) that will let you program it (not for the non-geeky kind). So, you can keep changing the watch face whenever your mood changes. Some apps that I seen are for running a chrono clock, score etc. Since it has a accelerometer, it can track your hand movement and so, comes really handy to track your calories and activity while running etc.

I own a Bluetooth headset too so this is the coolest feature is that I can put my phone in the bag and just carry the headset and the watch. The watch tells me who is trying to reach me and the headset to communicate. I keep my phone on vibrate mode most of the time without disturbing anyone. I can answer and reject calls from the watch too. Watch faces are just great and I keep changing them very often. 

Overall, priced at 150$, I would say its worthy of the price. I am not too tech savvy about the features it has but this works for me, so I am good.

New age math calculations...

Well, this happened while I was in a bus.

This is the conversation between two guys after they purchased three bus tickets.The guys appeared to be 25-26 year IT professionals.

Guy 1: How much were the tickets?
Guy 2: 48 
Guy 1: So, how much is each (really??)
Guy 2: 3 tickets...48 Rs. So, that is 48 by 3...26...no...24...no..16. Yes, it is 16 Rs. (woahh.. Go home and open 4th grade math text book).

Me: With a really straight face and being as composed as possible (trying really hard). In my mind, I am like (ROTFL, LOL LMAO... #$%^&*)

So, in conclusion, 48/3 is a tough mathematical calculation....

Peace.

How many have used the feature of Mail Merge?

How many have used the feature of Mail Merge?

I remember the days when we were learning the science of computers in school and Mail Merge was one of the advantages of using a word processor on a computer.

I have been learning about computers since I was 11 years old (yes, I am a kid of the 90's) and I can honestly say that I have never used the feature till date. So, this is what I am gonna do for the new year. I am going to use the Mail Merge feature in Word and going to send out my wishes to all.

Take that...

Some interesting posts...

Top 10 interview questions in WCF
http://www.topwcftutorials.net/2012/06/wcf-top-10-interview-questions.html

Some jQuery questions.
http://www.webdevelopmenthelp.net/2013/09/7-jQuery-Code-Snippet.html

WCF or WebAPI
http://www.topwcftutorials.net/2012/08/WCF-Or-Web-APIs.html

Tracing in WCF
http://www.topwcftutorials.net/2012/06/simple-steps-to-enable-tracing-in-wcf.html

Thanks to the creators of the content.

So here's a solution to a problem...

Problem:

The macros I have written in my MS Outlook have suddenly vanished and don't seem to find it.

Solution 1:

Restart MS Outlook. Funny aint it? Yes. I think 80% of the problems in MS are solved by restarting, be is Windows or Outlook.

Solution 2:

The file VbaProject.otm is located in one of the below folder based on the OS.

Win XP: 

C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\

Win 8/7/Vista:

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Backup:

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Backup\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

So, just take the backup from folder and paste it. Make sure you do you it when Outlook is not running.

Start Outlook.

Okay, I just bought a pair the new ear pods from Apple and they are just fantastic. The bass and treble levels are just accentuated and give the right levels of music. It is just awesome to listen the music this way, the way you enjoy the most.

I always prefer to listen the songs that have high bass as it touches the music, I mean that's what get the heart vibrate to the beats of the song. There have been times I have placed my hands over my ears just to cancel the noise out and it was just an ecstatic feeling. 

Also, one other thing that I have noticed about the ear bugs is that, they are really comfortable to wear as they go into the ear and since it covers the ear canal completely, they automatically cancel the noise out.

Apple, you really out did yourself. I don't care that there are other products in the market that MAY be better than this but really, I don't care about them.

NM

Credit History

Why do we need Credit History ? Is it to show our Credit Worthiness ? What if I choose not to pay something even if I was capable of paying it.

I've got couple of friends back home who do not have a credit card only because they think it is a liability. So, it looks that such people cannot exist here in the US. Well, they are not here anyway.

I am finishing this piece after a long time. I realize that Credit History is a double edged sword. You keep it clean, it helps you out otherwise you are in for big surprises. Surprises like someone else is using your credit worthiness to get services.

I think Credit History is a complex result of various parameters like salary, spending, payment etc. But, why keep it so complex that the common man find it obfuscated. Simplify it and make people understand what it really is and how one can nourish it.

Indian Polity...


The Indian Polity is a very interesting one. It create divides under the disguise of being there for the people. A better example than Hyderabad does not come to my mind. So, it was decided that the state would be bifurcated and then the current state capital would be shared between the two states for a while (10 years, like that is sufficient time to for the new offices of government in the new state) it would need time to form the new offices at the newly identified location. 

I am sure that it is not a good idea. The current state of the state is very unstable (I would have used denial but then I don't want to be in two minds). The people who wanted a separate state were happy on the announcement but when the state went south, they are no longer to be seen. I guess they were unprepared for the news and did not know how to proceed. Well, that is a separate story.

Now, the state is in complete disarray. Those who wanted bifurcation are not taking the next steps to see it through. And, those who do not want the division are down to rebel the government. Finally, it is the people who are suffering as a consequence since, their day to day lives are affected and they were definitely not prepared for it.

(The view expressed above are completely my own).

NM

Learn....

Learning...

There is much to learn in life by experience than by just hearing about it.

This is very true. Over the past couple of months, I have learnt that you tend to learn a lot by experiencing it yourself more than just hearing or reading about it. When you read, what happens is you tend to come to conclusion and sometimes multiple conclusions. This confuses and you feel that you are on a fence. I would say, experience it and then there is only conclusion and that is what ever is happening.

My Neice

My neice arrived on Sep 12th. It was a great day for me. i was also very sad only because I was not there to see here. I am just waiting for the day when I can meet her(God, I hope you are reading this blog). All I can see of her are in pictures, and she looks so cute that I can't wait to hold her in my arms.

I am just missing the best days of her life.

Love to you Eesha,

Nick