#Trust30 | Day 1 - Fifteen minutes to live

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This post is part of the #Trust30 Project. #Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge from TheDominoProject that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Learn more at RalphWaldoEmerson.me


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I have always been afraid to find the potential in me. Self-doubt is the greatest enemy in my life.
So given these fifteen minutes, I want to do something that destroys this self-doubt. What could I do in 15 mins you ask? I know the one thing that will give me freedom from self-doubt and that is "to let it go". 


Let go of the doubt in me that I will possibly under perform at something
Let go of the awkwardness when it comes to admitting I don't know something
Let go of the fears - fear of losing someone I love, fear of failing at something really really bad, fear of speaking truth even if it means that I will break someone's heart
Let go of the moments that made me look shameful and embarrassed and humiliated
Let go of the constant urge to prove my self to others. Why? Why do you care?
Let go of the comparisons I draw with other people. I am unique. I can create a parallel world if I want.
Let go of all the inhibitions and be what I used to be when I was a little child. Selfless. Inquisitive. Happy. Smiling. Rebellious. Passionate. Fearless. Awesome.


Thank you Mom, Dad and A. 


If I live beyond the hypothetical fifteen minutes, I will print the above in a poster format and hang it up my wall.
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Today's prompt:

We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.

2. Write the story that has to be written.

(Author: Gwen Bell)

What do you want from me?

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This is my entry for Indie Ink Writing Challenge - Week 4
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She flipped through her journal and sighed as she realized her entries over the past month sounded so unhappy. Whenever she felt low, she found respite in her diary - a journal of her 20 years of life so far. She fondly mused at her maturity over the years. She wished she could show it as a proof of her maturity to her parents who still treated her a child. But the journal was too precious to be revealed. She suddenly felt vulnerable at the thought of someone bumping into her diary. She pushed aside bad thoughts instantly and flipped back to the pages she knew had happy entries.

"Oh this one...", she giggled to herself when she came across an entry titled "The day I punched the douchebag in his face". She read it out (probably for the 50th time now), softly so no one could hear, although she was the only one sitting by her apartment window.

1991, May 26

Title: The day I punched the douchebag in his face

...I wonder why he is so mean to us. Why would a boy throw stones at girls, hiding behind the big rock at the playground. I know why. He is a douchebag. I told Miss. Carter about him. She never listens to me. She asks me to finish my assignment instead and stop complaining. "Dont whine Katy". That's what she tells me. Always. God, if you grant me a wish, I will ask you to send an army of tarantulas to her bedroom. Miss. Carter hates spiders. I would like to see if she whines then. Haha. I dont know how I did it today. I couldn't take it anymore, watching that douchebad of a boy hurling bigger pebbles now at Sarah and Martha. 


Papa always told me I shouldn't fear anything except God. And he is not God. He is a douchebag. I still remember when I came crying to Papa one day and told him how the boy hurt us, over dinner. He looked straight in my eye and said "And what do you expect me to do? Talk to your teacher and get him caned? Is that how you you are going to get your self-respect back? If you got self-respect, you defend it. Your Miss. Carter is right. Stop whining". After that night, I planned every moment of my life on how to fight back for my self respect...


So today when he tried to hit us with stones, we cornered him at his hiding place. He didn't seem to be scared. Until, I showed him his priced collection of baseball cards that he kept in an old tin box. In the other hand I held a cigarette lighter that I stole from Papa's coat pocket. I put on the most spiteful face I could and said "You stop this stoning and I will spare your treasure. Or I will burn them." He didn't know I could never get the lighter on. It never worked. But I kept my threatening face intact. I saw his face go pale but he recovered quickly.


"I will complain to Miss. Carter", he warned.


"Oh yeah? Miss. Carter is on vacation and I will burn your cards anyway. She can do nothing about it.", I scowled back. 


By now a big crowd of boys and girls had gathered around me. The girls started to cheer for me. The boys, being stupid boys that they are, stayed neutral. He felt awkward suddenly. He suddenly moved towards me and tried to pry the tin box from me. I resisted. 


"Fine. Give it to me and I will spare you girls", he grunted.


I don't know what had happened. I think it was the word spare that drove me crazy. I instantly drew all the strength I could muster and punched him in his face with that tin box. He fell down with a loud thud and I heard him say "Bitchhhhhhhhhhh.....", but not for long. I was down on him and clawing his face with my nails. 
I think I kept punching him and ripping his shirt apart until the Coach had pulled me away from him while I flapped my knees in the air...."

She stopped reading and laughed so hard that Becca, her dog who was sound asleep woke up and peered at her with its round eyes. "Go back to sleep Becks!", she said, stealing a few gaps from her laugh.

She thought, how can she be upset over her encounter today with her angry boss. She had mindlessly started an entry an hour ago in her diary....


2011, May 26


Title: What do you want from me?


I can't believe he told today what I think he told. He called me a loser. He said I was incapable of judgement. That I was a liability to the firm. All because I did not suck up to the wealthy client and make a decision that favored the firm over my integrity. How could he speak those harsh words after all the months of hard work and dedication? I am so hurt. I am so depressed. I wish I never lived to see this life.


Even though it wasn't my fault, I had knocked on his door in the noon to apologize. He looked up at me and yelled "What do you want from me?" 

That's where she had stopped her entry. She took her pen and continued...

"What do I want? A little self-respect you douchebag! 
SCREW YOU MR. ADLER.


Reference:  "The day I punched the douchebag in his face", dated May 26, 1991."

She shut her journal, emailed her resignation letter to Mr. Adler and kissed Becca good night.

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My challenge came from Michael Webb this week. I initially wanted to write a dialog between an adolescent kid and a parent. But then I tried to think through my childhood for inspiration ;-) And this incident, ladies and gentleman, happened for real, haha. Of course, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved, ahem. *Grin*
So Michael and others who stopped by to read this entry - "Hope you liked it!"

My challenge went to Sir this week. My challenge reads as: "If there was one thing you would like to change in your childhood life, what would you change and why?"
I am just curious to see what others would like to change in their childhood, given a chance. So the weird topic :-)

Why I hated Mickey Mouse..

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This post is in reply to this week's Indie Ink Writing Challenge - Week 3

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She woke up all groggy. It felt like a weekend morning. Sort of like the time when she wanted to pull the sheets on her and go back to sleep. Only that she saw what she assumed was a Mickey Mouse standing right in front of her. Wait is that Minnie? Or Mickey Mouse? She rubbed her eyes a little unwillingly. She always thought rubbing her eyes made her sleep escape instantly. But she wanted to make sure that WASN'T Mickey Mouse. Because of a freak childhood incident, Mickey Mouse always gave her the creeps.

She rubbed her eyes twice. Sleep had long eluded her now. Instead shock had taken over. Wait. "Is this a joke?", she thought aloud. "What the....", she heard her abusive word fade away as shock took over again.

"You are a freaking mouseeeee", she heard herself shriek.

It was then that she realized. Except that it wasn't her bed that she was sleeping on. This wasn't her bedroom. Wait, what are these loose white clothes I am wearing and what's this arm band?

"You are in the World's most friendly and fun hospital!", said Mickey.

"What the...", she said. This must be her nightmare. She always knew that childhood incident was going to haunt her back. But she hadn't expected it now. Not after last night.

Slowly the reality dawned. Last night. Candle light dinner. The daisies. Romantic walk on the pavement. That important phone call. Her rushed exit after that. And then the car heading right at her at a breakneck speed. Blackout.

"Where...where am I? And why isn't anyone I know here? Why are you here? I hate you. Go away!", she yelled at Mickey.

"Everyone loves magic. That's why I am here!", said Mickey.

"You and your stupid bow. You are nothing but a stupid little mouse", she said. No sooner than 5 secs had passed after she uttered those words when she felt taken aback at her own despise for Mickey. Where did all that hatred come from? If only THAT Mickey Mouse had behaved during her Orlando trip as a kid...She tried to mask her complex feelings as Mickey kept smiling and waving a wand...

"Great, so you think you are a magician? Well genius, then tell me why I am here listening to you when my family and friends should be here!", she yelled.

She felt a sharp tab at her neck suddenly but she kept yelling at Mickey.

"Wait you aren't supposed to speak, are you? I don't remember you speaking in real life. Err..I mean movies..."

"Hot Dogs! Hot Dogs!", said Mickey

"Ehh, what?", she said.

"Those were my first spoken words on TV!", Mickey laughed. "I met Alex today. Do you remember Alex?"

"Alex who? I don't know any Alex", she said looking in disgust. Her head was throbbing now.

"Tch tch. You must be in pain. Wait, have some hot tea", said Mickey as he waved his wand and there was hot piping tea cup on the table beside.

"Wowwww. Wait. You must have tricked me. Where did you get that tea from?", she said

"From the magicland! Alex wanted me to give this to you."

Alex...Alex the kid she taught at school. Whose parents were separated. And he was put up at a foster home since none of then wanted his custody. That poor kid.

"He's a bright kid you know", she said now slurping some tea. The tea seemed to work and her head slowly seemed to settle. "Hey but how do you know Alex?", she asked.

"You like Alex among all the kids in your class. Why?", asked Mickey instead of answering her.

"Umm..I don't know. I guess I like him because he's bright despite all the hard luck he has. I guess he's the only kid who never whines. Although he's the one who has all the reasons to whine..."

"Yes and no. Because you had a friend like Alex when you were a kid yourself."

"Heyyyyy...why are we talking about this? And wait, I am looking for my family and..."

"You hate me because I hurt Austin. Austin was just like Alex. You both always played together in the tree house, at nights, when he would run away from home and guys would play backgammon...all night.."

"...till the sun rise", she choked. Suddenly her eyes welled up.

"He loved Mickey Mouse. He loved you. So much. And you hurt him! How could you do that to him? How could you?"

Mickey waved his wand and she suddenly saw her childhood play in front of her, in a crystal ball. That day at Orlando, when they had finally arrived at Disneyland. Austin was so fascinated and happy and clapping his hands at every sight of Mickey. Until the unexpected happened. She had gone away to buy some ice cream when Austin came running to her. His blood had drained from the face. His palms sweaty. "Run Kristy run!", he shouted..

She took his word and ran. And they never came back. Again. Never.

It took days before Austin confided to her about what had happened. All he said was he saw Mickey Mouse eat a young kid! "Mickey had a kid for his lunch Kristy. He eats humans!"

But now she saw what had really happened in that crystal ball. The man with the Mickey Mouse suit was hungry standing and entertaining the kids the whole day. Disneyland apparently had some kind of "Make the biggest gingerbread man contest" that day. And guess who ate the foot-sized head of the gingerbread. Mickey Mouse. Or rather the man under the suit.

She burst into laughter, holding her tummy and burying her head into the sheets. "Wait till I tell this to Austin", she said as she lifted her head back.

Only that Mickey was gone. And the hospital attendant was looking down at her, puzzled.

"You need some rest now. Also your family will be here in some time. They were here all night, last night. Here are some flowers a gentleman left for you..", he said as he pulled the window blinds and arranged the daisies by the window sill.

"Wait, Austin would never believe this, would he?", she thought. She switched on the TV and watched Mickey on the Disney Channel, smiling to herself.

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My challenge came from transplantedx3 this week. I was challenged to "You were in a car accident. You (or your character) wake up in the hospital to find a man dressed as Mickey Mouse standing next to your bed."

Honestly, I was stumped by this topic. I NEVER watched a single Mickey Mouse cartoon in my life. And obviously I couldn't pass off being a Mickey Mouse afficianado. So I chose to start the story with a negative tone to it..

I challenged Karla V with "You can now hear people's thoughts aloud. What are you going to do?;)"
Waiting for her post! Excited to check her story out:)

The Hurt Locker

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This post is in reply to this week's Indie Ink Writing Challenge - Week 2
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I had woken up to a beautiful sun-kissed morning earlier that day. Life looked so promising.
I sang my way through the bathroom shower, had a long and relaxed breakfast, chose my wardrobe as if I was getting dressed for a prom. You get the point now. I took the time to smell the roses and all that good stuff. Until...this! This thing that threw me under the bus. Turned my life upside down. Got my life to a screeching halt. How can life get so painful all of a sudden?

It was predictable though. This had to happen. I had been living through this for 20 odd years. Hoping this was just a nightmare that would pass but alas, it came back to haunt me and give me grief. I loathed at my co-worker biting into a juicy sandwich and fresh espresso she picked up my favorite coffee place. Why God? Why me? Why only me? I turned my eyes away from her and tried to focus on the task at hand. But the nightmare dragged on. Thats it. I had to do this. Today. Now.
I cannot live like this any longer.

My co-worker swung by. I heard my manager congratulating her on something. She beamed and flashed her feasty smile, her perfect set of teeth shining through it. Damn it!

It was that instant, I picked my phone and made that call that was long due.

"Yes. This is an emergency", I spoke in a hushed tone.
"Sure. 4 pm is brilliant. Thanks.", I said as I headed back to my desk.

The next 3 hours were unbearable. Twitching. Arranging and re-arranging my papers on the desk. Constantly looking at the clock. Getting up for frequent bathroom visits. I saw my to-do lists on my desk and cringed. "If I live through this nightmare, I will never take these goddamn to-do lists seriously", I promised myself.

Clearly, I was dreading the moment. My nerves got the better of me.
The moment had arrived. I hadn't even planned on this. I hadn't even known this was coming earlier in the day. 4 pm struck. And the fateful moment had come. I was ready to go through hell...

I braced myself in the operating room. The doctor got out a gigantic looking syringe and poked me. At that moment I wished I was dead. I then saw metal pliers and other tools brandishing in front of me. And when the exact time had come I wimped out.

"Can I...can I get a break doc?", I choked in fear.
"Please..", I repeated myself.

The doctor's jaw hardened and then he shrugged. "OK, but make it quick. We need to work on this before the anesthesia wears out." He walked out frustrated.

I took a deep breath. I imagined blood and gore and pain. I tried to get rid of those images.
I sighed as I saw the doc walk back right in. It was hardly 5 mins, god damn it!

This time he seemed to move at a panther's pace, giving no attention to me.
How can he be so callous? I watched him and wished I was dead. I was about to yell in pain when in less than 30 secs he said "Busted! It's a freaking tooth for lord's sake. You are good to go now."

The next day I "victory walked" to work with two cups of fresh espresso and a gigantic sandwich, swinging right by my co-worker with a huge smile.

Wisdom tooth problem - Check.

And then I crumpled the list and threw it in the trash bin.
I logged onto twitter and tweeted "Life is good"


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My challenge came from Katri this week. I was challenged to "It was only going to end up hurting you, but you did it anyway." I enjoyed this topic so much, thanks Katri!
I challenged Jen O. with "She was fed up with everything! She instantly decided to lead a life of no regrets...(Continue the story)"
I am excited to check her reply:)

PS: The title has nothing to do with the topic except for the word "hurt", haha. I guess I just wanted to keep it foolish so I wouldn't give away the story with the title;)

PS: Your Secret Admirer

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This post is in reply to this week's Indie Ink Writing Challenge - Week 1

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I am not a die-hard romantic. In fact, I am too busy to notice anything around me. Until I bumped into you one day. The first thing I noticed about you was your generous smile. But let me tell you before you conclude this as a "cheesy" comment. That I have seen people smiling. So yes there is some credibility to my knowledge about "smiles". It was not the face, it was the eyes that smiled along, that drew me. You then did the most unbelievable thing I would imagine a grown-up adult would do. You climbed a tree! A freaking big tree! Unabashed. In fact you were wearing those teenager type of shoes. I don't know what they call them, those slippery sneakers? And you fought yourself to reach to the top while slipping along the way. You know I am talking about the carnival in the Valley don't you? Or do you climb trees, wherever you go?:) I was embarrassed for you when you kept falling down initially. But not once did you flinch or look ashamed. It looked like you didn't care about the world around you and the sole purpose of your existence was to climb this tree! I found it pretty amusing when I thought about this later. Each time you fell, you cursed. Of course, your friend was embarrassed. When you reached the top, you flexed your muscles for a picture. And as you looked below, to make your way down, I saw that terror spread all over your face. You were so scared and instantly you masked your fear with a smile again. The same smile. I wanted to wait longer, maybe even introduce myself to you, but I had to rush to conduct a workshop for children by the camp. By the way, you could learn a bit about ropes from me. I don't climb trees, but I do climb rocks!

I never met you again. Maybe I will meet you soon. Not a day went by without that day replaying in my mind. Did I tell your smile is pure genius? Oh I did tell that already?:) I am not even sure if this letter will reach you, because I am publishing this on my blog. This is my message in a bottle on the Internet...And I hope to God, that smile never vanishes.

PS: Your Secret Admirer

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My challenge came from Illogical Being this week.
I challenged Wendryn with "You stumbled into a time machine, what would you do?" and here is her reply. Very very different from what I would have wrote:)

Its a woman thing!

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I think its a woman thing....Read on to figure what I mean by that.

Late Saturday noon as I deep condition my hair with castor oil..I notice a whole bunch of hair falling on the floor. Like autumn. No kidding. One look at the mirror and my off-white home t-shirt seems to be sticking at my belly and giving it a pot shape. No kidding again.

Frustrated I come back and switch on the webcam and look at my boyfriend.

BF: Helloooooo
Me: (In my mean-est expression ever) Hi
BF: Whats up sweetie??
Me: Nothing
BF: So you done taking care of your hair?
Me: Ya

If there is one thing men should learn about women, it is this - if a women speaks in short syllables or one word, it means TROUBLE
BF: (Sensing something's wrong) Whats wrong?

Wow, he dived straight into it, didn't he? If it was a woman she would have cajoled me before asking whats wrong. Men always want straight up!

Me: Nothing
BF: Are you bored?
Me: (giving up) My hair's shedding...
BF: That's cause you worry too much
Me: (Heeding no attention to what he just spoke) I mean its FREAKING falling. What should I do?
BF: You should learn to take less stress
Me: (Exasperated by now) OK.
Me: (Continuing..) I dont get it. I do everything. Also look at my abs, there is no abs only flab. I have been working out in the damned gym for a year now. 1 WHOLE F****** YEAR. And no abs.
BF: You should worry less and take it easy.
Me: Oh so it's my fault?
BF: What? When did I say that?
Me: Fine, you should sleep now
BF: What??????
Me: Go to sleep now.
BF: You sure?
Me: Your wish
BF: Hmm ok
Me: Good night.
BF: Ok bye...
Me: (no reply)

10 mins later...my phone rings

BF: I am sorry
Me: (Aha!) Why?
BF: I make you upset for no reason. I shouldn't have said it was "your fault"

Realizing I have taken this too far. I told ya, its a woman thing.

Me: Hmmm
BF: I will google about what to do for your hair
Me: Ok now thats enough. Go to sleep please.
BF: Sure?
Me: Yes. And I am sorry too.
BF: Don't worry ok? Speak tomorrow then. Night!
Me: Ok, night.

By now you think I am the meanest...but hey its a woman thing you all. So suck it up men. We come with a high price. LOL.

Ho ho hoboken...

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Hoboken is the only place in Hudson County that never ceases to surprise me (read food surprises, haha). Also it is the home to this guy 'Buddy' (whatever!) who bakes cakes and was supposedly on some reality show called Cake Boss. Every Saturday I see people standing in this long line outside his shop for cake consultation (ya, you heard it right, I ain't crazy, he is consulted for wedding cakes I believe). And people wait an hour long to buy pastries and cakes. Now, I am not a fan of standing in lines, sorry. A cake is a cake and does not warrant a long line like that...

Ok, that was enough promotion for nothing. But I bumped into this brand new truck called 'Two pitas in a pod' - was pretty good but thought it was a bit pricy for truck food :D Now I will tell you since last week I have been dreaming about Middle Eastern food. I am not sure why. Falafel, shawarma, tabouleh....you name it! So I am intentionally exploring the food truck scene in nearby areas and in and around downtown Manhattan. Think am ready to make a shawarma imposter at home. I don't think it takes a lot to put that thing together. Just need a pita, some homemade tahini and fresh cuts of lamb. Yeah, thats about it. Now if I may stop the food talk creeping into my blog. LOL.


Even the folks here are crazy. I remember the day I saw some teenage kids getting into the PATH to hoboken. You know the hoodie-jeans-spiked hair-bright nail paint sorta kids...Anyway this guy with his girlfriend and a circle of friends make some noise. No one pays heed. (Thats how insensitive people are in NY/NJ. Nothing bothers them. LOL) But our guy here was craving for attention. So he starts sort of tap dancing. Yawn. Doesn't work out. Then tries to crack a joke. Naah...Then the white kid does something totally dramatic. No no, he did not flash us or something (if thats what you are thinking;)). He pulls his hood to his head and pulls the strings of the hood to encase his face until his face goes totally inside the hood and there is a tiny hole. And then he shrieks...."Look ma, I am coming out of your womb". And he comes tearing it open. ROFL. That was his genius moment, he caught our attention. Look how much it takes to get attention from the subway crowd?

A whole day of daydreaming, fighting cold and keeping awake

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It is one of those days again. Your co-worker catches a flu. And then you get it. And it continues. And just when I was day dreaming about warm spring and cherry blossoms, there is snow, hail and winds coming from nowhere. What is this? New York or Snowville?

Never mind. You know how you take those sedatives and suddenly nothing around seems important with a nasty cold that drives you crazy? Sleep seems the most important thing to do. And as if that was so much fun, I decide to do Tabata today. For those who don't know what the hell that is...well, its best unspoken. You can google it I guess, if you are dying to find out (which you are not, is my guess). Its simply said, 30 minutes of near-death exercise. The kind where you know you are about to die in the name of physical endurance. LOL. That too when you are sick. Not cool Manju. NOT COOL. Anyway I kept at it, and looked all glorious in sweat and triumph, smiling end to end. Only to come back to my work desk and waiting to binge it out. I look up at the TV and CNBC predicting stocks and all those timezone billboards on the floor suddenly make me nauseous. Why do I care what the time is in Hongkong or Sao Paulo? I look around me, everyone typing into their keyboards, staring at their widescreen triple monitors. I mean it is really funny, humans are made for unitasking, yet we hurl ourselves into half a dozen screens. Does that really help our focus?

Then I rummage thru my desk drawers and pull out a surprise dark chocolate coconut bar. Great. The only thing that got me excited for today. And you know how the average programmer gets oh-so-confident about his/her code. Yeah, thats right, that was me today. But somewhere my little voice spoke up and said, just give that regtest (regression test) one last shot, just to "be safe". Ah whatever, I pressed a key while munching on my new found chocolaty goodness. And baaam! Suddenly a whole lot of null pointer exceptions sneak in from nowhere. That SOB! My code was supposed to be nullpointer-proof! Well, well, wakey wakey Manju. Mediocrity is yelling at you right now. Sigh. I fix it and run with it and deploy it. Time to get a cup of hot water for that sore throat - silly cold. You know whats the most annoying thing about common cold? Makes it hard to breathe fresh air! So hard. *Sniff*

You can make it hard to breathe, but you cant take the day dreaming off my eyes, you nosy cold. LOL.

And just like that, I am returning to my "can-do-it-at-night" day dreaming;)

I am moving all cooking posts to 'The Cooking Mile'

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Hello readers,

I am moving all the cooking posts to a brand new website 'The Cooking Mile' starting RIGHT NOW!
I am still weeding out a few issues in fixing posts imported from blogger, transferring my feed, followers etc. So can I please buy some patience meanwhile?:)

What is changing?
I will continue to blog here at Life's like that with my personal posts. All cooking posts will reside in The Cooking Mile

What should I do?
If you wish to continue to receive the feed for my recipes, please visit The Cooking Mile and subscribe there or alternatively (you lazy bums!) click here to subscribe.

But Manju, why are you doing this?
I think keeping the cooking posts separate on a website, will help declutter lives, both mine and yours. Plus, I am hitting the maximum storage limit on blogger.com. If you think otherwise or have any other advice to give, please email me at cookingmile@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you (yes, even the brickbats..haha)

I don't give a rat's ass about your recipe posts, can we just continue to connect here?
Absolutely! I will continue to post here, anything non-cooking, non-baking..just like before.

**Shameless promotion***
But if you get hungry, you can do one of the following:

You can go to my website 'The Cooking Mile'

Follow my facebook page


Follow my twitter page



Love,
Manju

Book review: Delivering Happiness - A path to profits, passion and purpose

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This is an incredible book. Not because it is glamorous or an easy read. Well, that is a plus of course. But the part that stands out is the honest tone in the book alongside the personal stories that are very engaging. This book is written by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos in three simple chapters - Profits, Passion and Purpose. Although bulk of it is about how Zappos was built and the culture at Zappos, it also touches upon core values that can be applied universally to life. At the crux of it, the book does a good job of showcasing how customer service formed the core of Zappos and made it a brand to reckon with.

What I liked about the book:

- Tony's honest narrative including transparency to the actual emails that were exchanged between him and Zappos employees.
- Personal stories, some hilarious and some eye-opening
- Fast pace. The book didnt feel dragging except at one place where he mentions a lot
abt rave/techno music. I might have to experience it actually gauge his passion when he talks about it.
- Pages where he draws parallel between poker and business, good one there!
- You gotta like someone who names his warehouse WHISKY (WareHouse Inventory and Supply in Kentucky) while all you or I got is LOL ;)
- It's the story of a passionate entrepreneur but what makes it so real is he sounds like any other person, could be you or me, and that's why it inspires many to be resolute and hustle like him and the rest of Zappos. In short, the book is inspiring in not the usual sort of straightforward way, but through Tony's unique experiences...which again could be one of our experiences. The only difference is he got inspired from every experience in his life, related or unrelated to business.

Book review: Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

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I am a sucker for book reviews. Part of the pleasure is to sift through loads of books to find the one that you know you were looking for. In my previous life it was physical bookstores, now it is Amazon.com, Twitter feeds, yada yada yada..basically Internet.

Anyway, so the author of this book, Hugh MacLeod has this hugely popular website gapingvoid.com and an even quirkier hobby/profession - drawing cartoons on the back of business cards. This book is a collection of his blog articles. Sweet deal. Of course, I wouldn't exactly care to write a review if it was BS. So you can be rest assured that it's definitely a good read (read as - the book's got something for everyone).

As always, I love good fast reads. It is a 175+ pages book on eating, sleeping and living your creativity in plain, no-nonsense, crystal clear chapters in English that does not mandate a dictionary. (I really do not understand the premise behind all those prize seeking authors who jot epics in words that are merely page fillers)

Alright, so coming to the book, what I like about it:

1) Simple stuff, littered with funny doodles/comics in each chapter.
2) Makes sense (it is annoying how many books are out there that make NO sense and are touted as bestsellers). It talks what it's title suggests.
3) A bit of New York art scene/lifestyle/experiences put in perspective. I would love to shove this book to people who think NY is only abt nightlife and elite lifestyle.
4) Amazingly, this can also be touted as a business/leadership book. Really. Of course, then Hugh MacLeod might have to tone down those racy doodles..hmm, on second thoughts, racy or not, read it and house a copy in your corporate or school library.
5) I am a sucker for anything humor, short, and fun to read compared to those bulky, gathering dust on the shelf, sleep inducing, hard to read businessy books. Both make the same point. Only one is endearing than the other.
6) Although I find it ridiculously priced for its Kindle version (19$ compared to 24$ hardcover, really Amazon?). So I simply looked up to the public library. NYPL, you are god sent. Of course, those who don't have this privilege, just get an ebook or buy a used copy.
7) Let me warn you, the stuff you find in this book aren't particularly eye opening (nothing is, these days if you ask me). It is just repackaged stuff, only its fantastically repackaged and to top it off, it is motivating.

Now how do I say Bon Appetit but mean 'Enjoy a good read'?:)

End of year resolutions

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Ha ha, isn't that weird? End of year resolutions, that's right. I mean, it is rather predictable that a ton of people go MIA from the gym around thanksgiving/Christmas and then hustle to the gym come January...and then you notice the crowd thinning down around March/April. So much for New Year Resolutions, ha!

I am not going to look back at this year and analyze and waste time over something that has gone by. I am simply going to think a month ahead. Yes. Inspired by Matt Cutts 30 day challenges, I am going to set my monthly goal from now on. So the first thing that came to my mind was..PUSH UPS! lol. I have never been able to go past 10 push ups without losing form. So my aim will be to go to a perfect 15 (although 20 would be sweet..but knowing me, that's probably stretching it a bit for a 30 day challenge). On second thoughts I can do a perfect 8 push ups. Yes, so aiming for a perfect 15 sounds reasonably achievable in the next 30 days. OMG, that means by end of the year I can do a 15!:) How exciting is that?! Oh BTW, since you are not me, push ups might not sound oh-so-appealing I am sure. You might want to begin learning a sport or finish that book or do whatever. Just make sure your challenge is fun and something that you always wished for! Who knows it might just end up liking your 30 day activity and make it a habit. Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me:)

And now I go back to counting down my Sunday, sigh. On a livelier note, I will have finished 2 great books this week! Reviews to follow soon:)

Why I dislike "networking" events

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Yes, I said it. I don't like the so-called networking events. More so, the business networking events where you are supposed to introduce yourself to a random person, flash a fake smile (while your jaws are wearing out) and nod to boring conversation just because you intend to exchange business card with the opposite party. Great! Is that how relationships are built? I usually try to avoid these type of events, but that's just me..I reserve the right to have my own opinion anyway. So if you like it, go ahead please.

However, statistics prove that building relationships is a whole different ball game. It's abt being genuinely interested in the new person you meet. That means you are really not worrying abt a business opportunity with this person. You are just open minded and ready to learn something new from this person. Yes, you always have something new to learn from people. It might be as random as advice on how to shop for kitchen stuff online for cheap or how so and so book is amazing if you are learning a programming language. So really, dont network in the traditional sense of the word. It clearly does not work. Memories are short-lived, but relationships and mutual sharing/interest last longer than you think. Opportunities will follow. If they don't, hey, you atleast found great company! Its a win-win if you ask me.

What is your elevator fantasy?

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A good proportion of my time is spent in elevators. At work I sit on the 23rd floor and at home on the 31st. And to reach the 23rd I take one elevator and transfer to another. Now dont ask me why 2 elevators. So the natural thing to say next is, I have had my share of elevator encounters and incidents - some nice, some not so nice and some dreadfully boring. Btw whoever advocates "elevator pitches",no, I haven't had an occasion yet to exercise my "elevator pitch".

So, instead of asking you guys who would you like to be marooned with on a lonely island, I would ask who/what would you fantasise about in an elevator (isn't that more probable to happen given that I am nowhere near to going to an island, that too a lonely one. Because my friend, no matter where I go, I will always find Indians.
Joke. You see where my already fading sense of humor is going with this.)

My apartment elevator is one of those old ones that gives you a jerk (as if you are falling top down on a roller coaster) Yes, very turbulent. Elevator belts anyone? LOL. But since recently it also blanks out all the pressed buttons when it wants to crap out on the passengers (Is that what they call people traveling in an elevator?). So, being the superior human being that I am, I always jump in and rescue all the elevator members by pressing the right buttons again - I love how I get a "are you kidding me, you remember about half a dozen numbers" expression? What can I say,
my memory is of superior quality (only when it comes to remembering ridiculously useless things). Of course, this grateful expression of the co-passengers changes into wrath the moment they see me pressing one or two wrong buttons. Hey, my memory just ran a little low today ok?

Sometimes I am in the deep corner of the elevator staring up a huge backpack or worse, dangerously close to smelly armpits (some people just sweat too much). But generally speaking its not that bad at all unless of course somebody had too much food and decided to fart. Yes, that happens and is not tolerable. (I once exited the next nearest floor and ran 10 or so stairs to my home).

And abt the people, hey not judgemental, but I just feel funny. Those Asian girls in their pink Victoria Secret night pants and fluffy slippers, nigers with sparkling nail paint, fake eye lashes and braids, babies in strollers crying or salivating, people with dogs so tiny that I am so afraid I might just mistakenly stamp them to death on my way out, kids who are always amused of the elevator buttons and parents who drag them away, guys who hear to music on the largest volume on their iphone/ipod (btw why do people crank up their volumes so much on a headphone, beats me), janitors, plumbers and other labor workforce who always know where to get off without as much as looking at the floor number, old couples who are always smiling and greeting you, young and just-fallen-in-love couples who, lets just say, dont mind public show of affection, girls whose conversations always begin with "Oh my god..", people on Blackberry, people reading books (I belong here), Indians who are talking abt their next potluck..

I could go on forever now but after all that BS I unloaded on you, I fantasize:

- ***beep***
- ***beep***
- and ***beep***

Sorry, as much as I want to list the above three, I cannot. LOL. And no, I wont reveal them even if you email me.

So, what is your elevator fantasy?;)

PS: Of course I glossed over my elevator experiences, I will continue with them on my next post. But right now, blame it on the Turkey lunch aka "I am sleepy right now"

2010: The year in reading

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The recommended list is below. I read a host of BS books that were just a drain on my time and energy, so I am not even going to mention them.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Financial Lives of Poets
The Facebook Effect
The Pragmatic Programmer
Born to Run
Shit my Dad Says
Right ho Jeeves!
Sarah's Key
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Shanghai Girls
A Prisoner of Birth
Crush It
Delivering Happiness

In progress (and loving it!):

Code Complete 2
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
The 4 hour work week

Nowhere close to my "50 books to read in 2010" goal (incl. non-recommended books) but hey its a start!

Ginger & She

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She propped herself on the couch and thought hard. Ginger immediately followed her
and snuggled between her feet. She had tried everything that day to spark her memory.
She changed her posture, cooked dinner, gave Ginger a good bath, even tried to call her friend up (which was unusual). She let out a heavy sigh and gave up.

"Come on Ginger, dont be a sloth, get up!", she said pointedly to her pet. Ginger showed no signs of moving. Maybe I will just wash those dishes piled up in the kitchen sink, she thought. She dragged her Macbook and turned the volume up as she played her favorite Itunes playlist.

"I gotta feeling...that tonight's gonna be a good night.."

Ok, am I excited or what, she thought to herself as she looked at the pile of dishes.
On an impulse she went back to her Mac and updated her facebook status "Washing dishes like nobody's business". As if the status update was the most critical task at hand.

Ginger meowed lazily as she took the first dirty dish to wash. Just as she began wiping it dry, her alarm clock went up. Damn, she thought as she washed her hands under cold water. As she turned off her alarm, she couldn't help wonder what the time was on the other side of the world. "Wish I was in the East now, would have atleast passed the dreadful Monday morning meeting", she chuckled, forgetting her worries for a brief moment.

Ginger meowed again. "Stop it Ginger!", she yelled, distracted. Ginger looked up, startled for a second and then went back to half-asleep state. She headed back to her dishes. She loved making bubbles out of the dish washing liquid. Usually. But today wasn't all joy. She sighed as she did a half-hearted job of cleaning up. Atleast I can get rid of this vapid stench of the dishes, she grumbled under her breath. As she hurried, her left arm hit a precariously positioned glass tumbler that fell crashing on the floor.

"Oh nooooooooooooooo!", she cried out loud. "Darn it!", she yelled louder and suddenly burst out in tears. She was surprised at her emotional outburst as she picked up pieces of glass from the floor. Ginger came running to her. "Don't step on it, you idiot! Go back to sleep, goooooo now!", she ordered. Ginger backed off.

She probably needed some sleep herself, she decided. As she prepared to go to sleep, she turned off the lights and pulled up the blinds by the bed. It was a full moon night, she noticed. She had always dreamt of a bed by the window that would overlook the moon and stars at night. She shrugged now. As if that is going to help her remember anything right now. It didn't matter. She tossed on her bed and tried hard to shut her eyes and catch some rest. But her mind kept racing.

Ginger meowed again.

She tried to avoid Ginger's constant whimpering. When she could no longer take it, she threw her sheets to the side and dashed out of her bedroom in the dark. She was so annoyed to the extent that she wanted to hurl something at Ginger when she saw her paw bleed. "Oh my god!", she let out a scream.

It took an hour to bandage and comfort the cat. The clock read 2 am. In 6 hours she would have to give the Sales pitch. Something she worried abt all day long, since she missed the critical piece. As she cupped her face in her hands and stared out at nothing in particular, Ginger limped onto the coffee table and curled herself up on the last week's Wall Street Journal.

"I ought to clean my apartment more often. This is getting disgusting..I never...", and then her train of thought stopped. Suddenly it all came to her mind. OMG, that was it! That was the thing she tried to remember. Last week, when she was reading thru WSJ, she had made note of the number on a piece of paper torn from the WSJ.
She had stuck it in her coat pocket and forgotten! She raced to her closet and pulled out the insides of the pocket. "YES!!!!", she gave out a triumphant cheer. She punched in the number and got what she wanted. "Oh Ginger Ginger Ginger...",she wailed, as thought it were a song. She then picked up her cat and victory danced to her bedroom..

Tales from the FIRST Robotics Competition

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Well, a little background doesn't hurt before I dive into my last weekend activity.

FIRST stands for 'For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology', an organization founded by Dean Kamen (more popularly known as the inventor of Segway, although he has got tons of other far more accomplished inventions/patents. But I wont go there..go figure on Google!). And the name says it all abt their mission.

Anyway, so FIRST conducts a robotics competition called FRC held annually that is designed to inspire high school students to pursue engineering in the future. So what more exciting than getting a bunch of kids to put together a robot as a team and then have a robo competition! So I recently volunteered to mentor one of the teams that will participate in FRC in Jan 2011. And if I got to mentor I got to put it together myself before bossing them around right? LOL. Just kidding, its a collaborative effort of course and I will hardly be required until the robots start spinning around themselves instead of getting out of a maze. Haha. But the sheer energy in these kids puts me to shame! I sometimes wonder where all that passion vaporizes once we become adults. The raw passion and excitement to learn stuff and do stuff. I miss that! (I wont digress here, don't worry:))

So I had to attend a mandatory bootcamp for mentors as a prerequisite. Although I will admit it was mostly a dull day (also too far away in Brooklyn and too early for a Saturday - gosh I cant stop whining, can I?). As I said, adults are boring, kids are fun!:) All of us poured through the manuals and tried to figure out wiring of the control system (mostly a National Instruments compact RIO controller) and doing a smoke test before the robots hit the road. You know, adults are just so STUCK UP! (incl. me) LOL. I am more excited abt the team training camps where I will be assigned and dedicated to one single team of kids. So let's see.

Btw, checkout the awesome material on programming robots by the lead mentor at NYC FIRST.

PS: I happened to attend in person, Dean Kamen's speech on his next invention/mission (and that is to make clean drinking water accessible to everyone in the world). I was so blown away. There was a ~15sec applause from a spellbound audience after he finished speaking. Among other things, he spoke abt a black box he built (that works on bio fuel) that takes dirty water and purifies it. No electricity, no batteries required. What a genius!

Just wondering..

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So like all days, I walk into my apartment (that manages to look like a dump by Friday of every week), take off my shoes (with laces on!) and open the fridge. I glimpse (which also happens to be the name of a search tool at my workplace). Umm, lets see...aha! Got a killer quickie junk food to gobble up. Frozen pizza gets tossed into the toaster oven. If ever my toaster oven comes alive, it will come after me with a spade. Then I make a cup of tea which turns instantly cold once its off the stove. WTF!!! And these are one of the days when I curse my sans-microwave-life.

Then I log on and wonder. Yes, its a pretty addictive habit to wonder. This has been by far the most exhaustive work week this year and yet I managed to complete The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Legendary! I mean, off late, I get bored and simply skim through the many books I read. But this one, oh boy, got me hooked. But, dare I warn you, the initial pages are painful. I almost gave up. Like who wants to listen to pages and pages of Swedish politics. Crazy. But, I sailed through.

Anyways, I picked up Essays of Warren Buffett (wonder why?!). I mean its probably a good book for investors or anyone interested in learning from the guru himself. I am by no means that person. lol. But...again the but...I was simply intrigued. And it didn't scare me like all the other business books do. I remember getting a author signed book that was one fat pile about the Great Depression. Hmmm, I didnt read a page yet. It's lying on my bookshelf, gathering..you heard it..DUST!

So since I am still wondering and there are no signs of my fingers willing to budge away from the computer keys..I will continue writing. Oh btw, there is this strategy game called Triple Town on Amazon Kindle (and if you are a game junkie and are right now smirking at me for getting gung-ho abt a little game on a kindle, eff off!).

Great, now I am drinking frozen tea. What the hell. And these winds blowing and howling outside my apartment window. Stark raving mad. Its time to resurrect all the heavy winter coats I believe. Fall is gone. No more prancing around in a shirt and a tee. And lazy that I am I wont even moisturize my hands. Which means dry dry skin days ahead...

I wonder if I should watch a movie now. Everyone back home is probably enjoying the festivities (Dusshera) and the FOOD and all the movies and special programs on TV. Sigh. Its as though, USA doesn't have a life. Doesn't it? I wonder if I ever feel nostalgic about US when I return to India. My head says "No way, you won't!"

I also happened to watch the new Bollywood movie promo - Break ke Baad since I happen to follow Deepika Padukone on twitter (what?! why???). And I think I am TIRED of all these movies trying to depict that this generation is SO COOL...that they will actually have tons of partners and wont even realize they are in love with their childhood friend (YAWN) have niche jobs (sorry, did you forget half of us happen to be IT engineers?) and then they will have break-up parties (What the hell Love Aaj Kal!) and now in this promo I am supposed to believe that a girl will get drunk in a cinema hall and her boyfriend will carry her home. So that's how you become cool. BULLSHIT. This is making me THROW UP!

Btw read this interesting piece on Norwegian traders hacking through a trading system and manipulating the markets. And now sentenced to prison. Wondering...(just wondering..), what the hell, isn't that what the e-traders do every damn day? Use algorithmic platforms and learn trading patterns and rewrite those algorithmic platforms? LOL. Ok I am just wondering, since all the data up on that link is arguably vague and with zillions of regulatory laws and restrictions, I will quit judging. And anyway, who the hell cares what I think. Do you?

Just wondering.

Aaaaaaaaaaargh!

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Yes, that's what happened to my seemingly peaceful start to a bright Sunday morning-afternoon. All I did was go to my building basement to collect my laundry and here's a sight that greets me.

I see a dude piling my clothes off the dryer.

I go stand beside and say:

"What are you doing?"

Dude: (Silent, continues to pile my clothes out)
Me (losing patience): "What the FUCK you think you are doing?"
Dude: "I need a dryer."
Me: "So you think its cool to pile my clothes on the floor like its garbage?"
Dude: "Maybe you should come in time to take your clothes out then."

(In my defense, I was only 5 mins late. But of course i wasn't going to explain myself to him.)

Me: "Maybe you can haul up your ass early morning to use the laundry room then. How abt that?"

I use profanity very sparingly in public until its exasperatingly intolerable to talk to someone as retarded as this one.

Me (continuing): "..so why don't you bounce this idea off to people here in this room (by now an old Indian couple was looking at me like they couldn't believe it..I give a shit anyway)...We all will line up here and stand with a timer and pull the clothes off the dryer as soon as it beeps. Jerks like you, totally make my day. Next time you drag someone's clothes, make sure it's not mine, because you don't want to mess with me."

By this time, the dude was looking at me like deer in headlights. He probably didn't expect a good looking girl like me (I am quite a looker even if its an old lavendar t-shirt and pajamas. Yes, lavendar is my color) mouth profanities at him without as much as a pause. With that I stormed out of the facility.

What a turn off! I hope the guy finds bed bugs in his apartment today, thousands of them. MORON.

Book review: Sh*t my dad says

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After a long time, a light and a refreshing read! This is a book that came together as a result of Justin's (author) hugely popular twitter feed. Also, for me it reminded me so much of my own dad.

Good things:
- Honest, real and witty
- There's nothing up there that you haven't heard. It's just a collection of Justin's dad's everyday ramblings and I am a sucker for anything humorous and real.
- I liked how it was organized into chapters with titles that made sense and resonated with the rest of the chapter (how many times did you read a book that had mindless sensational chapter titles?)
- Short read! Yes. Thats a huge for me. I am happy this author didn't find the need to make it a 500 page epic. That would have stole the thunder of this book.
- The book is now also a CBS TV show. FTW, I think.

Some of my fave quotes:

Father to son on yard work:
“What are you doing with that rake?…No, that is not raking…. What? Different styles of raking? No, there’s one style, and then there’s bullshit. Guess which one you're doing.”

Father on seeing his son's bloody nose:
“What happened? Did somebody punch you in the face?!…The what? The air is dry? Do me a favor and tell people you got punched in the face.”

Father to son on importance of watching evening news (ah! this is so much like what my dad would have told):
“Let’s finish talking in a bit, the news is on…. Well, if you have tuberculosis, it’s not going to get any worse in the next thirty minutes.”

(And this one's classic..)
Father to son on asking to have the candy passed to him during Schindler's List:
“What do you want—the candy? They’re throwing people in the f**king gas chamber, and you want a Skittles?”

Silent Saturday

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I successfully got A mad at me and then got mad at A. Its a mad mad Saturday you see. Hopefully we both get out of it. I haven't been the best of me for weeks (months in fact?) now. Sigh. Every time I promise to be good to him, I flake. Now I don't even believe me when I say the word "promise". Hmm. Sad state of affairs. I need an intervention of sorts. Who is ready to take this herculean of a task? Anybody? I hear my own echo. So I take it as a NO. Sigh.

And since I have got into this baking fetish (since my hit Tiramisu last week, haha! Wait...I did get a lot of compliments! So I am not blowing my own trumpet, if that's what you thought x-(. So ya, since I have got this little spark for baking now, I am deciding between chocolate fudge squares and lava cake. See how I picked two easiest baking recipes? LOL. Its still an ordeal, coz I am not stocked up on baking supplies. Plus, am NOT EVEN a dessert person. Sigh sigh sigh. But I gotta learn. And doing is learning. So anyway, I think if I get a set of ramekins from Target or Bed Bath and Beyond for a decent price, I might be up for a lava cake. You can't go wrong with it because if you cook it precisely, you get a lava cake (duh!) but if you overcook it, you get a brownie. Its a win-win, ha!

Oh btw, I saw this baking cookbook at NYPL and got totally sold out. Man o man! I was right there, leafing through it after a late lunch, not ready to go back to my desk whatsoever, but the darn clock wouldn't stop ticking. Big sigh! But I will let it pass for now. I want to see how long I continue with my baking adventures to warrant a massive book that is better off left on the shelves for a deserving person to pick up. I am such a noble soul (have I told you that before?;)). And if you knew me as much as A does, you will know my small excitements don't last long. That is because of the inherent laziness in me. But I hope I prove myself (and transitively A) wrong and
pursue this thing. I also, in fact, in a fit of a moment declared today morning that I will bake my own wedding cake. Very very wishful. What the heck was I thinking? Was I on an adrenaline drive? (The sort of things that shoot my adrenaline..sigh)

On other news, I got this link on funny source code comments from an old colleague. Super hilarious. Check it out here. Totally made my day. My favorite is "options.BatchSize = 300; //Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!". Hmm, maybe I will use this line one of these days. HAHA.

Also, I have been still toying with the idea of which Kindle cover to buy. A naked kindle in NY/NJ subways is too much of a risk :O But I cant decide if it should be this one or this one (with a built-in light). The cool thing abt the cover with the light is, it works off the Kindle battery which is so super cool since I don't have to stock up on batteries and also dont have to carry around a book light with me. Plus I hate to get up from the bed to switch off the darn lights in the night. But 60$??? Really? So maybe I would want to settle for the simple cover for 35$. Beats me how I can still not decide :(

PS: I am reading The boy who harnessed the wind. So far its all abt witchcraft and things. Not liking it x-( I hope it picks up to the main theme of the story sooooooooooon. Running out of patience here, as always.

Kindle my man..

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Imagine my joy when I found this link to P G Wodehouse collection in Kindle format. Oh of course, the news being I got my Kindle 3 delivered. So so happy:) Now I need to find a good kindle converter software to get all of my favorite books on my baby. Yay!

What if I could actually get on-the-shelf books at home into my Kindle? Wishful thinking. So long..

Just saw this..

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...video on howitshouldhaveended.com (ya you can read that without the spaces, so tells me an old forwarded email from a friend, ha!). Totally made my day (or night?). Ok you slackers, you can catch the video here:

Happy Vinayaka Chavithi!!!

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There is something magical about a festival day! I woke up with a rotten mood today (I slept in a rotten mood actually). A tried to cheer me up and talk me out of it, didn't work. I slept in until late noon (huge pile of work, chores and all of it running at the back of my mind). I somehow dragged myself out of the bed and thought "Ok, lets jus make some payasam. That's easy right?". And then the magic started.

With the cardamom, butter, raisins and milk flavoring not just the dessert but also my kitchen my spirits lifted. (Food's always been a big bait for me, lol). I got some fruits together, cleaned the place and began to pray. Fat tears rolled down my cheeks. Overcome by so many emotions. In a flash, I could see the most cherished festival days I spent back home. I cribbed abt getting early in the morning then. Taking a bath and stringing flowers together to make garlands. My dad would throw a bait (I always had to be bribed to do something) - if you clean up, hang all those garlands at all the house doors and clean the porch and all the photos of God at home, you will get the highest marks in that toughest exam. That sealed the deal for me.

Of course, I would keep prancing in and out of the kitchen waiting for the vadas (spicy donuts?) to get done :) I was never a dessert fan (thankfully! given my huge appetite, that would have spelled disaster). And the same straight answer from my mom: "If you eat it before God was served, you will not get those highest marks in that toughest exam". Wicked! x-(

So after the prayers and after God and the crows were served, it would be my turn. Oh but the crows..lol. That is another funny story. I would keep pieces of vada, payasam, chakra pongal and sambar and rice on a piece of an empty milk packet and keep it on the terrace waiting for some crow to come eat. Sometimes they wouldnt and that made me mad because I wasnt supposed to eat until they ate. Hmmm. So just because I was such a gullible idiot and I would believe anything (when good food or education was guaranteed), my dad assured me that if I screamed "Kaaaa Kaaaa" into the sky as loud as possible the crows would come eat the prasadam (Kaakaa means crows in Tamil). I am SO embarrassed even telling you guys this story. But honest to God, I did it. Just for some good food and great scores in exams. Wicked wicked dad. Hmmm.

But the rest of the afternoon that followed would be heaven. A big fat meal. A great movie on TV. Afternoon siesta before heading out to the temple in new clothes. Then playing cricket, taking a walk, sipping piping hot chai, watching people and gossiping...FUN! Thats what I call a festivity! And when at school, you get an extra day off, didn't have to study or do homework or anything (that was a big deal then right?!). Everything about a festival spelled HAPPINESS.

I miss those small pleasures SOOOOO much. Even thinking about those moments makes me happy. Happy Vinayaka Chavithi to all!! God bless you all:) Pullayar appa will make all your dreams and wishes come true.

Book review: The Pragmatic Programmer - From Journeyman to Master

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I heard a lot about this book. If you are like me, you just heard about it and never read it. Sigh. In fact, it's a mandatory read in many of the software firms. I finally did manage to read it though:) So instead of giving a detailed review (which you can find here) I will mention what I liked in this book.

- The book draws parallels between real life situations and programming problems. It delivers excellent analogies on the way. Its a fun read.

- The book is crisp and to the point. This book is not meant to be a reference, its a collection of different design techniques, refactoring and testing nuggets, common programming and project management problems and recommended solutions. This appeals to me because I don't lose my train of thought as I read through it. If I need a reference on a particular topic I will pick a book on that than sit on a 1000 page heavy book that often deviates from the theme.

- The book has some good exercises at the end of the chapter that made me "think". I get bored by just having to read through verbose and not think. I retain very little if that's the case.

- Also has good number of references to useful resources, books and web links.

- It is by no means "read it in one sitting and then forget it" kind of book. You will want to refer some parts again and incorporate some of the techniques in your everyday programming. The book sticks to its title - honestly pragmatic.

All in all a great book. Better late than never, so grab a copy and read:)

Relational DB vs No SQL fanbois

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"..I suggest you pipe your data to /dev/null. It will be very fast..". LOL.

Sushi for life!

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So it turns out its Fri evening and labor day weekend and I am sitting down in my apartment with Sushi and cold water. And its not even dinner time. Like I care.

Its crazy how I never liked Sushi before and now I am absolutely devoted to it! I refuse to eat takeout, but Sushi is a rare exception my friends. All of you who don't love Sushi, shame on you. Of course I am NOT kidding. You gotta try this. It just grows on you. Spicy Salmon rolls in Wasabi and Ginger melting in my mouth. Divine.

The first time I tasted Sushi with all its accompaniments, I had a near-death experience. Its what I like to call - "Death by Wasabi". As naive as I could be I imagined that greenish thing to be guacamole (LOL, I know!). So of course after a passing thought on why they would give sooo little of that greenish paste (I was pissed abt the quantity until I found out the reason later of course..), I picked a liberal amount of the wasabi and put it in my mouth. 1 sec, 2 secs....and then the near death experience - fumes blazing out of my 3 senses. I underestimated the Japanese horseradish. After all, we Indians take pride in our spices and think we know it all. That no one could ever invent anything more spicy than our peppers. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Sorry to break it to you Indians, the Japs have caught up with us. LOL.

Anyway, so I thought I was this kickboxing champ or whatever (after 4 months at it) and walked straight into this Martial Arts class today. Result: sore kneecaps, aching arms and worse still..a deeply scarred ego. Tch tch. Little did I know the power punches and jabs and round house kicks are going to totally wipe me out. And going to the class on an empty stomach? BIG MISTAKE. I never even do that before a gym class on an average day! Conclusion: Martial Arts is THE MOST EFFECTIVE endurance training I have ever taken. Set in stone. Period. I come back to my desk only to be told I could leave as early as 4 pm as markets close early today. Oh the joys of a long weekend. Meanwhile I heard some desis murmur "potluck". It made my stomach churn. One more time someone even mentions that word, there will be blood. Damn it.

On happy thoughts, I have devoured half my sushi plate. *Grin*. And the rest half shall be duly eaten tomorrow by yours truly.

Btw, I am calling Amazon guys starting today, everyday, till they ship my Kindle 3. I am delirious with excitement and I am NOT even exaggerating.

Book Review: The Facebook Effect

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I have been reading The Facebook Effect for the last 2 days now and I am already tired of Kirkpatrick (author) repeating time and again that Zuck's (Mark Zuckerberg) intention was never to make money. OK, we get it, but does this have to be repeated like a ton of times!? It appears like Kirkpatrick is Facebook's fanboy.

Isn't describing Facebook as a tool to bring about "world peace" (how tacky?!) is stretching it a bit too far? Or may be I just lack the vision to see Facebook in that light? As I see it, Facebook's majority users are those who look to Facebook for FUN than anything serious. I love Facebook for making things around us more transparent but I am unable to concur it's larger role in society. (One million voices against FARC did put Facebook in that perspective but I have never heard since then of any other major movement. It's always Farmville or Mafia Wars on my news feed. Maybe I just need more serious friends on my network? haha.)

Despite some of these minor irritants, I have liked it so far (and that is probably why am continuing to read it). My only disappointment being I expected this book to be an objective view of Facebook than only painting the biased view. I wanted to know the mistakes, trials and tribulations and honest opinions of Facebook's foundation and growth as seen by both Facebook loyals and rivals. Isn't journalism all about that? Perhaps that would have made it more of an interesting read?

Ok, enough said. This book is definitely recommended despite my critique for the general perspective on startups, marketing/advertising and passion to build on your ideas. Like Kirkpatrick quotes the former Intel CEO - "Only the paranoid survive"

Things I learnt this week

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Do not worry. I wont make this a series or something. LOL.

But this is what I learnt this week. (This is more a journal entry than a blog..but then hey, this is MY blog :) I sometimes love the smell of narcissism)

- I can whip up satisfying tasty meals in under 20 mins (this includes prep time apart from cooking time and no this isn't your microwaveable ready to eat stuff!). I have only one thing to say to the guy who marries me - you are very lucky dude;)

- Testing on the toilet. LOL.

- This heaven of a fruit shake cart on the intersection of Water St. and Hanover. Dreadfully delicious smoothie combos I can die for. I actually got a berry mango and banana fruit smoothie that totally kept me in happy spirits for the rest of the afternoon. I am telling you, this stuff can change you as a person. Ok, I will stop now. The important takeaway is - Its THAT good.

- That I can rant SO much about people, but also I will be the first one to help them with anything. (You see the halo on my head right now?;))

- With great power comes great electricity bill. Amen.

- That each day I walk by this huge building guarded by cops and then realize after 2 months that its the Fed Reserve.

- Leader (telugu movie) is quite likable. I haven't seen it fully yet.

- That I still hate hate hate SODAS.

- Programming by contract

- I learnt to make Zapiekanka (Not rocket science, just a simple Polish street food)

Lots more but I dont think its worth the Sat afternoon time. YAWN.

Reading old mails and other boring stuff :)

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Oh yeah. Do any of you do that sort of thing? I don't. But my oh my..what a surprise. I did a random search for an old email and I see email threads running as long as 87 replies! Fun times! Miss that so so much. Wonder how it will be to sit and read emails when I am 70 yrs old. Ha!

There hasn't been so much of an update in my life. But I got my earphones today (cheap ones from buy.com) and I can tell you for a fact I don't find an effing difference between these and my old ipod earphones. LOL. So I resurrected my old ipod which had been lying cold and dusty and abandoned in an old box. And there's music in its life now. Yeah, I am such an angel. I know.

Also as much as I hate sitting through classes ALL DAY LONG, I took a moment today to appreciate all the new things I am getting to learn. Feels nice to appreciate for a change than curse. Haha. I should probably do this more often. Maybe it is time to go to that meditation class instead of dismissing those email reminders.

Btw, I got completely taken aback today morning when a colleague told me that I am probably one of the fastest walkers hes ever seen. Hmm ok, not to brag, but I thought I was taking my own sweet time today. You know smelling the flowers and the like. Haha. But now that I map my downtown Manhattan walking route on google maps, it looks like I do nearly a mile in 10 mins walk (not run). That's probably fast.

Hocus Focus

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These days (ok i confess, for a long time now..) I CANNOT focus. This is driving me up the wall. Like, REALLY! I just miss my pre-college days, right out of high school, when I was the epitome of everything that was focus. I was anal about making lists and revising and re-revising before an exam. I used to derive a kick out of watching a movie right before the supposedly most important entrance exam of my life (every damn exam was considered important then. LOL). I can't help but wonder when all that focus crap got wiped off me. Sigh sigh.

So now it gets so tough for me to even sit on my ass and concentrate on a small piece of problem I need to solve at work. The only thing that comes to my mind is "Maybe I will go grab that cup of espresso and then I will have the 'Aha!' moment". Needless to say, that sort of a caffeine trip ends up in more wastage of time and nothing remotely 'Aha!' seems to happen during the course of it. In the last 4 weeks of training, the only class I actually woken up to was the one I had yesterday on market making. And not because I learnt to do some genius yield curves but because the instructor actually told us the difference between Federal and State prison facilities in USA. (Ya tell me abt it. The things that seem to get my focus these days. Sigh:(

All said, life is STILL good. You know, when I see so many homeless people on the streets of New York city, I feel life's not all that unfair to me. Of course, the moment I get into a subway I am all about whining abt XYZ and the 'homeless thought' vanished off me in sub-second of time. HAHA. Such is the human mind. And if you read carefully, you can see how my train of though is not focussed right now. I started off on how I am unable to focus and ended up talking abt homeless guys and depressing subway commute! LOL.

Btw, if you happened to be in Manhattan or would want to someday and you heard about the Soup Nazi (I imagine everyone has watched Seinfeld atleast once), please don't just walk into the Soup Man place and order a soup. Because you will GO BROKE. A lobster soup costs 16$ here. No, I am not in a mood to kid you. I am not sure why still people flood this place. Even if the soup is SO heavenly I wouldn't pay so much for a soup. A soup is a soup. Period. Plus, if you are extremely hormonal like me, this is not the place for you specially since you have to abide by some "rules" here to order a soup. (Its not called Soup Nazi for no reason).

Oh whatever! My only time away from the Manhattan madness was at Niagara last week. I wasn't particularly excited abt the falls when I started on the trip. I thought waterfalls are after all waterfalls. But little did I think about how wrong I would be. It was WORTH the trip for those 15 mins of jaw-dropping sight. And if I wasn't too self-involved in clicking my pictures I might have enjoyed it more :D

And now I need to walk to Best Buy and analyze my bday gift. This is probably the only thing I love abt NYC. Staying at a stone's throw distance from anything and everything. LOL.

What NOT to do in New York City

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Since it is the summer season and the city is full of tourists, I thought I could contribute to some local wisdom to the city visitors. Here's my take:

- Please don't take the cabs. Subways anyone..Hello?? Subways are the cheapest, safest, quickest way through the city. Plus you get a lot of free entertainment, people gazing and subway performers:) And whoever didn't think of walking in NYC? One of the funnest things to do is exploring the city on feet.

- Please don't eat out of any food cart you find. Most of them are rip-offs. Ask the locals which cart offers the best. Like the halal cart off 57th and 6th. Yum!!

- Empire State Building...whyyyyyyy????? Gosh, please please skip this tourist rip off. Go to Rockefeller Center. If you haven't heard of Rockefeller, please google it right now and get onto the 'Top of the Rock' for the most splendid views of the city. Atleast you don't have the fences to cut off your view.

- Ok, what's with people heading to Magnolia for Cupcakes? That is by far the most hyped place and over the top prices for a teeny weeny cupcake. Blame it on the Sex and the City. DAMN. Check other pastry shops off Bleecker St. if you are a cupcake fan.

- Eat in Times Square. NO! AVOID! All the world's crappiest chains are at Times Square. And guess what - they are OVER EXPENSIVE. Savor the lights and energy of Times Sq instead and head else where for food.

- Best way to find your way around Central Park is no..NOT walking. Rent a bike on a Saturday morning and ride along..you will fall in love with Central Park, I can bet.

- I know everyone loves Starbucks (sigh). But the whole point of visiting a city is to TRY OUT a new cuisine, even if it is coffee. As I am not much of a coffee person, I wont be able to give you a horde of coffee places you can go to. But there is this charming little French cafe in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I found it after I lost my way after an apartment search on a biting cold afternoon. I even forgot its name. I just googled and its Athom Cafe. And their croissants are something to die for. PLEASE GO. Plus, if it means anything, I never really had a thing for croissants till I bumped into this place.

- A lot of places are Cash only. So...if you are like the old me, you need to carry couple of coins and notes. And the ATM's nearby will always have a line. This is NYC, what do you expect? lol. Plus, if you think all places have restrooms, umm think twice. haha. Even select Barnes & Nobles stores in NYC wont have restrooms. (Is that even legal? :O)

I would write more, but I am tired. It's a huge list. Sigh.

How to use aliens to solve your network problems

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My dad has this passion..to sue people. No he is not a lawyer. LOL.
I often tell him he should be in the Americas. He can do that sort of a thing here with more impact maybe?

So recently he completely switched off his mobile and started using my mom's.
I asked him what's up with that thing switched off? Knowing him I asked if he was trying to do some sort of cost cutting or if he was unhappy with the mobile network service? Alright it's Airtel. As if I have something to lose if I take their name. LOL. Anyway, what I least expected to learn was this:

Dad: I keep getting text messages from this website or service I am not subscribed to and each such message cuts down one rupee from my talktime.
Me: Whoa.
Dad: Ya I get these texts from some IleanaWorld or something
Me: LOL.
Dad: Things like Ileana is going to take a bath. Ileana wants to talk to you.
Me: Double LOL.
Me: Well..cant you just ask the Airtel guys to like block that?
Dad: I sorta liked it in the beginning.
Me: Why am I not surprised..
Dad: But it cuts my talktime balance and there are too many messages. If only it was a free service.
Me: Ya right. So did they block it?
Dad: I went twice to them. Its worser now. I get these messages on mom's mobile too.
Me: Uh oh.
Dad: I think its a virus..
Me: Sorry, what?
Dad: Virus, don't you think?
Me: Nice try. Tell that to someone else, not me. x-( You would have given your cellphone numbers on some crazy website. So you go and solve it now.
Dad: Sigh.

After couple of days..

Me: So whats up?
Dad: I am suing these guys..I have had it.
Me: What happened?
Dad: They are unable to block it.
Me: Really? :O
Dad: I went there and yelled at them..
Me: ..your style? "I will sue you and write to the local newspaper and take you to the consumer court" thing?
Dad: Ya, initially..
Me: What do you mean?
Dad: Well, I sort of went soft on them.
Me: (Oh my! Thats a first time). I dont believe that for a second! You would have gone ballistic..
Dad: I initially did. I said I am gona sue them all. And then I did the faux pas!
Me: ????
Dad: I said their service will die when aliens come down to earth.
Me: (By this time I got bored of his conversation and was chatting with A on the other end...jus when I heard the word aliens I jumped up). Did you say aliens???
Dad: (Eating a snack on the other end, in a muffled voice) Yes.
Me: LOL.
Dad: As a matter of fact, I said the day aliens come down they are gona destroy all of us. And they would take over. There would be no democracy, no sh*** mobile networks, nothing. They will take control. They didn't get it..
Me: Of course. LOL.
Dad: The customer service reps took a deep interest in this subject. One of them asked me: "aliens ante yovarandi?" (telugu for "who are aliens?")
Me: LOL
Dad: I said "They will be tiny. Green in color. And their blood would be brown in color with large ears and smarter brains"
Me: Was that necessary?
Dad: (Still eating..) I am surprised they didn't watch all those brilliant alien and space movies. Specially Spielberg's.
Me: Ya well, pride yourself. lol.
Dad: That blew up into a conversation abt aliens and unnecessary chatter. I lost my way thru it. But one of them got friendly with me and believed all I told abt aliens. She promised me she would block the damn ileana messages.
Me: Sure. So now you solve problems thru storytelling. Good for ya.
Dad: I guess I will talk Armageddon the next time..