If cricket is religion, Sachin will always be my GOD!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
I think I've never felt life to be so monotonous since I was born :)
I assume the major reason for the "non-boring" aspect was the fact I was always with a group, hanging out together and atleast one face to see when I wake up every morning and atleast one person to talk to about how the day was before I went to bed....From the very fact that I'm rambling something so incoherent, I dont want to write more. It'll probably take a long while for me to start the blogging spree again. Come on! There has to be something interesting that should happen in life to write about!
I'm really really looking forward to:
1. C's grad party in Lafayette... It's going to be so nostalgic to visit Lafayette again!
2. ARR's concert in Atlanta
3. My parents visit in June
As of now, nothing else is exciting in life :(
I assume the major reason for the "non-boring" aspect was the fact I was always with a group, hanging out together and atleast one face to see when I wake up every morning and atleast one person to talk to about how the day was before I went to bed....From the very fact that I'm rambling something so incoherent, I dont want to write more. It'll probably take a long while for me to start the blogging spree again. Come on! There has to be something interesting that should happen in life to write about!
I'm really really looking forward to:
1. C's grad party in Lafayette... It's going to be so nostalgic to visit Lafayette again!
2. ARR's concert in Atlanta
3. My parents visit in June
As of now, nothing else is exciting in life :(
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Weekend story!
Friday, March 9,2007:
We officially got approval to get the DirecTV package for World Cup Cricket in the office. That means, endless screaming during office hours! Me turning into a cricket fanatic again!
Sometime around the evening, my manager offered to send me to a summit at the headquarters in SFO. I booked the tickets immediately before he could change his mind :))
The temperature was close to the 60's for the first time in 2 months.
Saturday, March 10,2007
One of my best friends had come to Pittsburgh from NJ. It was great meeting her after 3 years!
Spent the day with her and went around Pittsburgh for quite sometime.
Sunday, March 11,2007
Flew to San Francisco. Reached SFO late that night, and had "aathu" rasam and authentic home-made lemon pickle after a REAL long time in my cousin's place!
Monday, March 12,2007
Got ready early in the morning for the summit. SFO rocked!!!! The weather was beautiful and I was awstruck at the first sight of the NetApp headquarters in Sunnyvale. The infrastructure at the HQ was simply phenomenal!
Day 1 @ the summit was good, though, I was totally swamped with information. Only 20% went inside and rest all were OHT!
In the evening, while waiting at the HQ for my cousin to come and pick me up, I sat in the sun for quite sometime as I realised I'd never get this chance when I get back to Pitt. :)
I loved the roads, the weather and just everything about SFO! By the end of the day, I was pretty much sure I would get a transfer to the HQ after a year more at Pitt, the earliest I can get a transfer!
Had dinner at a Thai restaurant in Silicon Valley and a perfect end to the day with an icecream at an Italian place.
My cousin's place is the best! I watched SUN Tv for quite sometime that night before going to bed and that night was the best sleep I ever had in 2 months!
Tuesday, March 13,2007
Called Sundar and made plans to meet for dinner that evening.
Same routine at the summit-Day 2.
Met Sundar and Prashanth that evening and had dinner at an Indian restaurant, which made the trip complete in all ways! :)
They dropped me at the airport and I am back here at Pitt!
So, that was a great weekend I had after a long time!
We officially got approval to get the DirecTV package for World Cup Cricket in the office. That means, endless screaming during office hours! Me turning into a cricket fanatic again!
Sometime around the evening, my manager offered to send me to a summit at the headquarters in SFO. I booked the tickets immediately before he could change his mind :))
The temperature was close to the 60's for the first time in 2 months.
Saturday, March 10,2007
One of my best friends had come to Pittsburgh from NJ. It was great meeting her after 3 years!
Spent the day with her and went around Pittsburgh for quite sometime.
Sunday, March 11,2007
Flew to San Francisco. Reached SFO late that night, and had "aathu" rasam and authentic home-made lemon pickle after a REAL long time in my cousin's place!
Monday, March 12,2007
Got ready early in the morning for the summit. SFO rocked!!!! The weather was beautiful and I was awstruck at the first sight of the NetApp headquarters in Sunnyvale. The infrastructure at the HQ was simply phenomenal!
Day 1 @ the summit was good, though, I was totally swamped with information. Only 20% went inside and rest all were OHT!
In the evening, while waiting at the HQ for my cousin to come and pick me up, I sat in the sun for quite sometime as I realised I'd never get this chance when I get back to Pitt. :)
I loved the roads, the weather and just everything about SFO! By the end of the day, I was pretty much sure I would get a transfer to the HQ after a year more at Pitt, the earliest I can get a transfer!
Had dinner at a Thai restaurant in Silicon Valley and a perfect end to the day with an icecream at an Italian place.
My cousin's place is the best! I watched SUN Tv for quite sometime that night before going to bed and that night was the best sleep I ever had in 2 months!
Tuesday, March 13,2007
Called Sundar and made plans to meet for dinner that evening.
Same routine at the summit-Day 2.
Met Sundar and Prashanth that evening and had dinner at an Indian restaurant, which made the trip complete in all ways! :)
They dropped me at the airport and I am back here at Pitt!
So, that was a great weekend I had after a long time!
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Summit Syndrome
It was a regular team meeting at work today. We were discussing the usual achieve milestones,meet deadlines, fix bugs, status updates....After half an hour, my manager started talking about doing a self-evaluation of performance once a week. He gave an awesome talk for about a half hour. Given a chance, I could keep listening to him talk for hours together. He's been in the industry for about 15 years now and he reads a lot. One thing he mentioned today really affected me and made me think a lot.
He talked about the term "summit syndrome", about which he recently read in a Harvard Business Magazine article. Summit syndrome is something that hits extremely talented, aggressive and intelligent people when they overcome their challenges, they find it extremely difficult to carry on with the normal routine. They lose the fire to perform and become obsessive with other things, like sudoku and crosswords at work. And this is very difficult to spot in the early stages. Some of the few effects of people affected by this, which he mentioned were very troubling. This could make people do grave mistakes for which they will repent their life-time, their personal life would be in danger, health problems, people just quit organizations for no reason and start focussing and diverting their attention on other hobbies which are far-less interesting.
So, he talked about how a best manager would be able to actually identify this syndrome before it becomes a threat and avoid it by exposing his employees to other challenging problems.
The talk has been on my mind for quite sometime now and it has sunk in pretty well. Work and personal life are inter-connected with each other, atleast for me and any small ripple in either one of them affects the other drastically. So, thanks to the good talk today, I have decided to do a self-performance evaluation every week, or every 3 days to assure myself that I love what I am doing and if things are going on track.
For people who are more interested, you can read the actual article here:
Harvard Article on Summit Syndrome
He talked about the term "summit syndrome", about which he recently read in a Harvard Business Magazine article. Summit syndrome is something that hits extremely talented, aggressive and intelligent people when they overcome their challenges, they find it extremely difficult to carry on with the normal routine. They lose the fire to perform and become obsessive with other things, like sudoku and crosswords at work. And this is very difficult to spot in the early stages. Some of the few effects of people affected by this, which he mentioned were very troubling. This could make people do grave mistakes for which they will repent their life-time, their personal life would be in danger, health problems, people just quit organizations for no reason and start focussing and diverting their attention on other hobbies which are far-less interesting.
So, he talked about how a best manager would be able to actually identify this syndrome before it becomes a threat and avoid it by exposing his employees to other challenging problems.
The talk has been on my mind for quite sometime now and it has sunk in pretty well. Work and personal life are inter-connected with each other, atleast for me and any small ripple in either one of them affects the other drastically. So, thanks to the good talk today, I have decided to do a self-performance evaluation every week, or every 3 days to assure myself that I love what I am doing and if things are going on track.
For people who are more interested, you can read the actual article here:
Harvard Article on Summit Syndrome
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Mozhi-A musical feast!
The movie Mozhi has been hailed as a very simple and sweet movie in the recent times. I've been mesmerized by the song "Kaatrin mozhi". It just melts my heart whenever I listen to it. Have been humming it all day long since I woke up. A beautiful melody after a very long time! Vairamuthu has been too poetic and both the male and female versions are equally awesome!
One another song from the same movie, is "kannal pesum penne" by SPB. From the lyrics, I am guessing the song is about a guy trying to console his sweetheart who's angry with him. This song's lyrics is just too sweet. He says, how his life is without talking to her!
"vaazhkai thuvarkudhadi, vayaso kasakudhadi...
saigaiyile enai manithu, saabam theeradi....
sella konjam vendaam...chinna cheendal podhum
paarthu pazhaga vendaam, paadhi chiripu podhum
kaara paarvai vendaam, ora paarvai podhum
vaazhkai kadakudhadi, naatkal naraikudhadi
iru kanaal en vaazhvai nee eeram seiyadi!"
This song is inspired by "walking in the moonlight..Ilamaan kanilude" - (A mallu song sung by Hariharan) by vidyasagar himself.
After a very long time, I've liked all the songs in a movie :)
One another song from the same movie, is "kannal pesum penne" by SPB. From the lyrics, I am guessing the song is about a guy trying to console his sweetheart who's angry with him. This song's lyrics is just too sweet. He says, how his life is without talking to her!
"vaazhkai thuvarkudhadi, vayaso kasakudhadi...
saigaiyile enai manithu, saabam theeradi....
sella konjam vendaam...chinna cheendal podhum
paarthu pazhaga vendaam, paadhi chiripu podhum
kaara paarvai vendaam, ora paarvai podhum
vaazhkai kadakudhadi, naatkal naraikudhadi
iru kanaal en vaazhvai nee eeram seiyadi!"
This song is inspired by "walking in the moonlight..Ilamaan kanilude" - (A mallu song sung by Hariharan) by vidyasagar himself.
After a very long time, I've liked all the songs in a movie :)
Friday, March 02, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Iyengar veetu azhage!
While I was relentlessly thinking of topics for my blog which has been devoid of posts for a longtime now, I was listening to this song "Iyengar veetu azhage" and was simultaneously looking at one of my friend's wedding pictures....(She belongs to the Brahmin caste, more sepcifically Iyer, which is a class within the Hindu society).
While there are a lot of differences between Iyers and Iyengars, what caught my attention the most was the way they tie the madisaar! [Phew!!!I know what you guys are thinkin'....Women indeed never change!!!], I have tied an authentic madisar once during my school days for a fancy-dress competition (wonder what they thought was fancy here!) and I loved it! And like Monica in F.R.I.E.N.D.S, "If only there was a job where I could wear it all the time!!!".....So, I started looking into Iyer kattu and Iyengar kattu and also watched a few tamil movies where women tie the madisar......Oorvasi in MMKR, Kamal in Avvai Shanmugi and Shreedevi in "Meendum Kokila" wear the Iyer kattu and Vasundhra Das in Hey Ram wears the Iyengar kattu AND I am not all surprised all of them are Kamal movies!!! :)
While there are a lot of differences between Iyers and Iyengars, what caught my attention the most was the way they tie the madisaar! [Phew!!!I know what you guys are thinkin'....Women indeed never change!!!], I have tied an authentic madisar once during my school days for a fancy-dress competition (wonder what they thought was fancy here!) and I loved it! And like Monica in F.R.I.E.N.D.S, "If only there was a job where I could wear it all the time!!!".....So, I started looking into Iyer kattu and Iyengar kattu and also watched a few tamil movies where women tie the madisar......Oorvasi in MMKR, Kamal in Avvai Shanmugi and Shreedevi in "Meendum Kokila" wear the Iyer kattu and Vasundhra Das in Hey Ram wears the Iyengar kattu AND I am not all surprised all of them are Kamal movies!!! :)
Virtual Stock Exchange for Cricketers!
Cricket and stock trading enthusiasts!!!
Check out this cool website:
www.cricstock.com
CricStock is a stock exchange with a difference. Here, stocks of cricketers are traded instead of companies. Once you register with the website, you get 1 million units of 'virtual' money. Using this money, you can participate in the initial public offering of current international cricketers. Once the stocks are alloted to you after the IPO, you earn further virtual money through dividends(which are decided by the actual performance of the cricketers) and by intelligently trading stocks in the secondary market. Register right away!!!! You could have amazing fun during the world cup!
Check out this cool website:
www.cricstock.com
CricStock is a stock exchange with a difference. Here, stocks of cricketers are traded instead of companies. Once you register with the website, you get 1 million units of 'virtual' money. Using this money, you can participate in the initial public offering of current international cricketers. Once the stocks are alloted to you after the IPO, you earn further virtual money through dividends(which are decided by the actual performance of the cricketers) and by intelligently trading stocks in the secondary market. Register right away!!!! You could have amazing fun during the world cup!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
My first snow!!!!
And it was just like I'd always imagined!!!I am totally excited.....Sitting by the window with a mug of coffee and watching the snow settle down on the window panes has been awesome......I really really wish I had some company to go out and start playing with the snow....I want to make a snowman :( Nevertheless feeling and smelling the fresh snow was wooooooow!!!!
Let me be the crazy girl who goes all gaga over the snowfall! But who cares!
And Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Happy Valentines day folks!
Let me be the crazy girl who goes all gaga over the snowfall! But who cares!
And Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Happy Valentines day folks!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
sugama....
anbe sugama....
un dhaabangal sugama....
thalaiva sugama,sugama?
un thanimai sugama,sugama?
kannam rendu sugama
en kadaisi mutham sugama?
undhan kattil sugama...
en otrai thalaiyanai sugama?
anbe unnai pirindhen
en arivil ondrai izhandhen
veliye azhudhal vetkam endru
vilakkai anaithu azhudhen!
vaazhkai oru vattam pol
mudindha idathil thodangaadha!
un dhaabangal sugama....
thalaiva sugama,sugama?
un thanimai sugama,sugama?
kannam rendu sugama
en kadaisi mutham sugama?
undhan kattil sugama...
en otrai thalaiyanai sugama?
anbe unnai pirindhen
en arivil ondrai izhandhen
veliye azhudhal vetkam endru
vilakkai anaithu azhudhen!
vaazhkai oru vattam pol
mudindha idathil thodangaadha!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
annaikaaga.....
malar pola malargindra manam vendum thaaye
palar potri paaraatum gunam vendum thaaye
varam tharum annaiye
vananginom unaiye!
oru noyum theendamal anai podu thaaye
nadhi kaaya neraamal neer ootru thaaye
nan nilam paarthu neeye!
eliyorai magizhvaaka vazhi kaatu thaaye
valiyorgal vaataamal vagai kaatu thaaye
en valamaana thaaye!
pasi dhaagam kaanamal payiraaku thaaye
rasiporgal sevi thedi isai ootu thaaye
isai paatu endrendum inipaaku thaaye!
pugazh selvam nalam kalvi kuravindri vaazha
puvi meedhu irai gnaanam emai endrum aala
pon kuriyaamal vaazha!
arulodu porul bedham arivodu gnaanam
thelivodu dhinam kaanum nilai vendum
adhu thiralaaga vendum!
pala veedu pala naadu pala dhesam endru
unaraamal vaazhvorai ondraaku thaaye
uravodu magizhvodu emai maatru thaaye!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Yay!!
Yay! I successfully complete 1 week at work and it was just today I felt, "Ahhh! Finally, I am making some progress!"....
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
A lot of things happened in the past 1 week....
1. I moved to Pittsburgh,PA
2. Started my new job - Corporate world,the perks and the free stuff rocks!!!
3. I got to experience my first snow in the U.S - It was mind blowing! (first day was a charm....Not anymore!)
4. I went to the Pittsbugh venkatachalapathy temple - made famous by manirathnam and sujatha in the movie aayutha ezhuthu! during the weekend (the moment i knew I got a job in pittsburgh, all that came to my mind was the scene from aayutha ezhuthu, where siddarth tells trisha (I am totally lou-struck!...I knowwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!)
5. I got an offer from Cisco yesterday, three days after I joined Network Appliance!
1. I moved to Pittsburgh,PA
2. Started my new job - Corporate world,the perks and the free stuff rocks!!!
3. I got to experience my first snow in the U.S - It was mind blowing! (first day was a charm....Not anymore!)
4. I went to the Pittsbugh venkatachalapathy temple - made famous by manirathnam and sujatha in the movie aayutha ezhuthu! during the weekend (the moment i knew I got a job in pittsburgh, all that came to my mind was the scene from aayutha ezhuthu, where siddarth tells trisha (I am totally lou-struck!...I knowwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!)
5. I got an offer from Cisco yesterday, three days after I joined Network Appliance!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
adieu Lafayette!!!
I am leaving a second home....Yes, I am leaving Lafayette for good to start my new job in Pittsburgh,PA. I've been totally busy with my job search and other stuff for the past few weeks and did not find time to write about my interview experiences and about whats happening with me. Would like to come back and write about it once I get settled at PA.
Lastly, thanks everyone at Lafayette for those 2 years of fun and support! Will miss this place so much!
Lastly, thanks everyone at Lafayette for those 2 years of fun and support! Will miss this place so much!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays :)
And enjoy the best Christmas song ever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=995csL2wmRA
The coolest thing ever!
One of my friends sent me the following link this morning...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0BdAdRL_2Wo
This is funny as hell and this guy owns!!! I got goosebumps watching this!
Check it out guys.....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0BdAdRL_2Wo
This is funny as hell and this guy owns!!! I got goosebumps watching this!
Check it out guys.....
Friday, December 22, 2006
Cant get better!
My day-to-day life can never be complete without quoting something from this audio clip! So famous!!!
Listen to it here:
http://www.pixfolder.com/viewmovie.php?file=7025.mp3
Listen to it here:
http://www.pixfolder.com/viewmovie.php?file=7025.mp3
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Smells and Memories.....
As I gently open the rice cooker lid, I cant seem to get enough of the smell of the freshly cooked rice with the steam.....All of us experience this in our day-to-day lives...But the experience is just so out of the world that I wanted to write a post on it!!!
Smells have this strong power of vividly bringing back memories....of people, places, things and incidents....
Here are a few ones:
Petrichor.....or in Tamil "manvaasanai" - My childhood days when I would be gazing through the window, waiting for the rain to stop to play with my fellow mates....
Smell of photocopies and new notebooks - When I rushed to the nearest shop 2 hrs before the exam to make copies of my classmate's notes.....and the smell of new notebooks when you put on brown covers and labels just 2 days before the school reopens!
Petrol - When I used to ride the scooty and when it stopped half way, would walk to the nearest gas station.....
Crackers - The smell of crackers during Diwali after they are all burnt out with the million pieces of papers lying on the road!
Incense sticks - When appa does pooja at home with the camphor and incense sticks burning and when u prostrate before Him, that is divine!
Rasam with the coriander - The smell of amma's home made rasam with the coriander and curry leaves on a late Sunday Morning.....Wowwww!!! (Can anything ever beat this??)
Smell of coffee @ StarBucks - The million times I've gone to Starbucks, just because I luv the smell of coffee there.....
And many more....
As always, contributions welcome!
Smells have this strong power of vividly bringing back memories....of people, places, things and incidents....
Here are a few ones:
Petrichor.....or in Tamil "manvaasanai" - My childhood days when I would be gazing through the window, waiting for the rain to stop to play with my fellow mates....
Smell of photocopies and new notebooks - When I rushed to the nearest shop 2 hrs before the exam to make copies of my classmate's notes.....and the smell of new notebooks when you put on brown covers and labels just 2 days before the school reopens!
Petrol - When I used to ride the scooty and when it stopped half way, would walk to the nearest gas station.....
Crackers - The smell of crackers during Diwali after they are all burnt out with the million pieces of papers lying on the road!
Incense sticks - When appa does pooja at home with the camphor and incense sticks burning and when u prostrate before Him, that is divine!
Rasam with the coriander - The smell of amma's home made rasam with the coriander and curry leaves on a late Sunday Morning.....Wowwww!!! (Can anything ever beat this??)
Smell of coffee @ StarBucks - The million times I've gone to Starbucks, just because I luv the smell of coffee there.....
And many more....
As always, contributions welcome!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Yipeeeeee!I'm graduating today!
Yes, Its a BIGGGGGGGGGGG day! I'm graduating today and I'm no more a student!!!!!!!!
Friday, December 15, 2006
Happy Birthday Sandyyyyyyyyyyyy.........
Wishing you a fabulous birthday Sandy....Have a fantastic year ahead!
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