interviewing

of late I have been interviewing to recruit some engineers in our group. the good part being that interviewers are given a free hand ... i.e. we can ask whatever we want. in the past, I was requested to probe a candidate in a specific area which I have always hated doing. managers did the "social" part and engineers did the "technical" part. while its possible to get a general idea about the candidate's strengths, its extremely difficult to get an accurate measure. when I attend interviews I typically brush up on certain "must-know" questions and most likely get only those questions (of course some of them with dumb twists). I don't know how on earth I could be judged based on these type of interviews.

I like talking about some nice design issues that are based on the candidate's past projects. its a sure shot way to find his/her claims on a project. other than that I love talking about really gen stuff .. like movies, and even politics. after all, this is a person that I may be working with and would definitely be a big plus in knowing how interesting he/she is.

an interesting NBA season

after a long time I'm really happy to see a an ultra-competitive season in the NBA. and of course, when I mean the NBA I'm talking about the west teams and not the so called "leastern" teams. I've been following it since the "airness" days and dude this is a heck of a season. almost all the playoff teams in the west are contenders. and finally Kobe Bryant is going to be the regular season MVP, probably the only award that has eluded him so far.

until last yr, the phoenix suns sorta kept the NBA alive with their breath taking fast breaks. the suns were like a company that was still hiring with the economy in the trash :) and when the suns really needed some depth, they pulled off a big fat ugly trade and landed (probably crashed) with Shaq. poor steve nash. this time the self-proclaimed-superman will have to run a bit more. at least he'd shed some lbs.

my current inspiration

watch these when you have a few mins

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u55G1VGuTfs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5IXa2pNGVj8

and of course I won't post my recording. I'm still holding on, in spite of watching these monstrous performances.

if you like it, go buy a guitar and start learning the damn thing. loads of fun guaranteed :)

what do you gift

this is always a sticky point. often leads to confusion in the mall and keeps me running from one store to another to quickly grab a gift that is nice, and cheap as well. I can be termed as old-fashioned when it comes to gifting. typically I prefer giving plain cash .. comes from the "put urself in his or her shoes and think" school of thought. and of course I like cash, well who doesn't. unfortunately the median gifter and giftee population don't agree with me. I do like the pre-paid cash cards but hate that 10% service fee. and gift cards aren't as great as they sound. do you know that shops can go bankrupt, still be in the business and yet decline your gift cards. happens dude, and that too in a bunch.

why shout .. coz a friend of mine is getting married this month and I'm still scratching my head .. vigorously.

and by the way .. if you are the kind that doesn't like to give/receive any gifts, then never mind.