8 things @ 8

My daughter turns 8 months today. so will just pen 8 things about her

1) She crawls on all fours. She follows me around, if out of sight will follow my voice, crawling.
2) She stands up with support. She seems to like the center table clean. anything on top of it like paper, flowers, toys are all on the floor in a matter of minutes. She might even lick it, if it takes to her fancy.
3) She can climb the stairs at home. 4 steps one after the other, only her long track pants offering some hindrance.
4) She says kakaka, gagaga, kaga to various tones. I am searching for whoever said mama is the baby's first word, bcoz this is taking its dig at my ego. Still hoping to hear mama soon ....I thought I heard them yesterday, but it wasn't.
5) She can wave. but she does it when I am at home and not when I am leaving
6) She shakes her head vigorously, as if imitating her dad, or providing rhythm to the lullabys I am singing
7) She hates medicines and shuts her mouth tight, guess got it from her mom. With every dose of medicine for her cough and cold there is this fierce activity of holding hands and legs and mouth (to avoid spitting) pitilessly.
8) Her favourite toy is a Giraffe, Aruna got her. She enjoys chewing his tail and scarf.
Bonus) She loves being carried on the shoulder where she is high above everyone else, she loves playing hide & seek, she loves to hear various kinds of noise and She loves to watch funny silly faces to which we oblige gladly.

(I know this warrants a picture, will try to put one up soon)

What the hell were they doing to crash through the floor.

(Testing, publishing through Google Docs & Spreadsheets )

You know they are married

when ...

1) Walking togather but looking in different directions.
2) Having a quiet lunch.
3) The phone conversations are short. "OK", "No", "Fine", "You?", "5:30" "see you" and sometimes "love you"
4) Neither smiles when they approach each other
5) Seem to be arguing in a low-calm tone
6) The guy driving is not trying to amuse the lady sitting next to him (however pretty)
7) You hear the guy exclaim "OMG!!you spend way too much".
8) You hear the lady say "please go to the barbar today".
9) Too many talks about finances and how the other got to save.

Take these hints and try to spot the blissful couples when you are out. You might ask, why in the world would I want to that now?? Now dont tell me you dont play games on the street with yourself, Spot "the chinese girl with the black guy" and there you go, all turning their heads franctically trying to locate the couple.

Notice Period

I started out commenting on Youthcurry but then I couldn't post it and hence saved it for latter. Now it wouldn't be fair to post a blog as a comment there, so here is my take about the so-called notice-period.

7 years into the industry and my 5th job. Of all I have read, I see a very important point missing in this debate here (which is the blog & the comments).

Hand-over of work. Hand-over of work is why we need notice periods. Once work is handed over in a manner satisfying both parties involved,I think you are ready to go. It might take a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks depending on the role you are handling, the skill you are handling ,the phase of a project and the skill/resource availability. The time-frame of 1 week or 4 weeks or 3 months doesn't matter but you need to hand-over your work. Just so that replacement and hand-over doesn't take
forever and at the mercy of either, notice period is a good concept. So it was meant to be a win-win scenario which is turning nasty. If handled professionally, responsibly & with maturity, negotiation should be possible, or so I believe from experience.

In my organization, I know freshers who have been under training for 6 months for various skills, technical & personal, with an upcoming project or phase of project in the pipeline, but at the end of six months, these people are already planning to take their first leap. So in terms of the company, the company has spent so much on
training this individual, grooming him but before he adds value to the company, he is already planning out. Isnt that so unethical. That is where bond comes in to protect the corporate interest.

With that said, whoever it is, the company or the employee, who behaves unreasonably, immaturely and with negative notions of hurting the other, will bear the brunt of it in the future. Companies loose out their brand value. Hiring good people, infact getting good people to come for an interview would be a real pain, if
you have earned a bad reputation. Anyone who is looking for an employment with a X company, will surely have a check up within his network and the word-of-mouth will
prove very ghastly for the company in question if it has sour relationships with its ex-employees. It will be very difficult to re-assure. Even if a person joins such
an organization out of desperation, be assured he is looking out already.

It all boils down to relationship management and you are as good as the opinion others have about you. So you are in a constant process of improving and there-by passing that positivity about yourself around, benefiting you in return ultimately

Finally, I am totally with Rashmi when she says,

In the longer run, it's not just about WHAT you know but WHO you know and what they think of you. Do people trust you? Do they like you? If a background check were to be conducted, would your former employers and co workers refer to you positively?

And I think it applies equally to people on both side of the fence. Ethics is a personal attribute of every individual with their very own definition. To quote Ayn Rand

“Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives.”

Antics of the MEN species

After lunch, I along with atleast another 15 are waiting at the lobby on the ground floor for the elevator. A pretty face walks in wearing a Jeans, kurti and a shawl wrapped around her neck. Needless to say she has everyones attention. Other than just 3 of us, the remaining is this interesting species called MEN or GUYS. Every head turns her way every second under the pretext of looking for someone in the crowd, or carefully checking the security(is he bin laden) or checking on their shoes and then stealing a glance her way or appreciating the architecture of the otherwise opaque glass seperator at the rear end or just plain exercising their head in rounds, as if that is their daily routine.
Now there is this guy who walks in and seemed to have known her and started talking to her. Now all eyes are fixed on this guy with an unique expression on every face, if to be read would be the likes of, who the hell is he, how does he know her, is he her boyfriend, Will he ?? and the kind of things the male species are capable of thinking. The elevator arrives and opens. While these 2 are engaged in their talks, the lift is full with the 3 of us plus the hopeful hearts. Now suddenly just as the doors of the elevator are closing, the girl turns towards us and exclaims "oh!!!". Suddenly one of these species hits the open button and the rest of the species squeeze around to make enough space for the pretty face. But thankfully(thankful because I am already on my toes), pretty face smiles and nods her head in the negative. The elevator closes and the losers look at the guy who hit the 'Open' with the expression "What a looser".

Should I click protect?

For the ones who couldnt read that

"This option can prevent computer viruses from harming your computer or personal data, but selecting it might cause the program to function improperly"

This was while trying to use "Run As.." for Lotus Notes.

PWD v/s Rains in Pune

The weather in the last couple of days in Pune can be best compared to that of UK. The day starts with a very sunny morning, sweating afternoons, windy evenings and rainy nights. Yes its pouring here in Pune for the last 3 days and pouring hard.
Of the many things thatz falling apart, its the Roads that the PCMC has just started to repair/build.
I pity the PWD because they waited this long to begin with, which I am assuming is to be 200% sure that the rains are over. In the past because of public protests they did start work only to be outdone by the immediate rains and the roads would be all potholed all over again and only worse this time with the gravel all over the place. It was attracting all the
bad publicity possible for the Shoddy work. They waited long enough but the rains dont seem to be in a mood to oblige and nor are puneries in a mood to accept any shoddy work anymore.

Please watch your "Ask"

After Google tried to protect its brand by trying to crack down on the use of its name as a generic verb, in phrases such as "I am googling.", Ask was being asked a lot of questions regarding their trademark and if people could "Ask" at all and here is what they came up with

The "Rules" (loose as they may be)

* "Ask" does not mean "ask." Ask means "Web search" and "search tools" and "smart" and "up-and-coming-growing-market-share-but-still-relatively-small-why-not-check-it-out."

* You may ask Yahoo and ask Google.

* You may not "Ask" on Ask Yahoo or Yahoo Answers, though you may "ask."

* You may ask Ask, but you may also search with Ask. A full question like "How old is Madonna?" will bring her age directly on the results page, and a keyword search for "Madonna photos" will work just fine.

* Regardless of gender, you may, of course Ask Directions, for example. You can also Ask Blogs and Feeds and other stuff.

Read the full post here

We build debts

..to ensure our kids have a secure future,
we create new debts for a comfortable secure future, and we spend energy & time far away from sight to repay them ofcourse.

I found this poem here and it will remain as a reminder not to stray :)

If I had my child to raise all over again

"If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging."

~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"