panic means no bounds :)

apparently there was a diesel shortage in chennai last monday and predictably people rushed to the nearby bunks. in the process a few of them became innovative and attempted to collect diesel in just about anything that could hold it. take a look at this article and particularly the the guy with that yellow kudam in his hand :)

http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/01/stories/2008070158470100.htm

few things that we never let go

we do most of our day-to-day things in an auto pilot kind of mode. the list is countless. some of the things that I do are outright out of the blue. I picked up most of these habits as result of a. suggestions from certain people and b. due to their purported do-good qualities. even though they were picked up for specific occasions, like reciting a special prayer before my 12th grade exams, I never had the heart to attach an expiry date and drop them. I'm actually better off, for I always hesitate before committing to such things. I know a few people who bear tons of these and are actually finding it difficult to handle. one of my relatives kept adding prayer after prayer to her morning recitals that she doesn't have her breakfast/lunch until 2 pm. every time I visit her I only find her lunch time being extended by a few more mins.

who should we blame

the news is mostly grim, when its about the U.S Economy. we are now hearing hardship stories, from people scattered all over the country. on the surface level we blame it on rising gas prices and of course, the sub-prime fallout. job market has started shaking and so are our lives. but after reading all these stories, one thing becomes very clear. we could have simply avoided this mess ... the government could have enforced tighter regulations over the lending industry, the lending banks could have been less greedier, and oh yeah, we the consumers could have consumed a bit lesser.

this is a country where even a 1% drop in consumption sends ripples across the globe. people are now cutting back on expenses. I read a story on CNN about a stay-at-home mom, who claims that by simply switching to local super savers mart for groceries is saving her about $200 a month. thats a princely sum. such stories make me think in the lines of "if only ...".

change is something that needs to take place within every individual. no one is going to wash our laundry.

yearning for a good dosa

its been ages since I had some good dosas .. exceptions being the rare trips to India. south indian restaurants in SF bay area (actually the entire US for that matter) simply don't know how to prepare a decent dosa, and it beats me. the dosas i've had are always super thin and super cold. can't figure a way to salvage it. I know my wish wouldn't be heard (by the chefs), yet I keep ordering. talk about hope :)

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 :)