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.