Krrrr Krrr...

Know what that sounds like, scratching the bottom of the barrel. On one end (no pun intended), we have Obama getting elected raising hopes in ways nobody ever dreamed off, and on the other in India, we find crooks like Sanjay Dutt and Azharuddin to run for power.

The Dutt guy cannot act, cannot live his life straight without drugs, leads both his private and public life in a despicable fashion and receives support from another scumbag Amar Singh. To top if off, Amar Singh pulls off the Manyata stunt. The other Azhar -- what a role model he is? Screws up his cricketing career, ditches his wife and children for another bimbo and now wants to find his place in politics.

How in the world do these dumbwits have the audacity to stand up after all their fuck-ups? It isn't as much crime for them to run for power as it would be if we voted them in. So, please don't.

Rehman Rocks!!

I came across this song while I was reading one of my favorite blogs. She pointed to a song that she could not just sit back and not dance to and I see why. This is from Delhi 6 starring Abhishek and Sonam Kapoor. Listen to this song called Masakkali. Boy, does Rehman Rock or what? I love songs which are totally bindaas, and invite people like me who cannot break a step to do what they best do, Jump. And, I am at this very moment. My wife would kick some butt, she can practically pick up any step in a minute or two on this song..

Here India, I come to jump and live two months of carefree life. For now, increase that PC volume and break a sweat...

Bizarre Week..

This past few days have been stressful to say the least. Anytime one has to move, it is painful. To mitigate some of it, I hired a couple of movers. As usual they came in an hour late, were lazy a***holes, and to top it off, worked only a couple of hours leaving behind a bunch of tiny stuff that I had to come back and break my back to finish the job.

Since I leave in a couple of days to India, there were ton of invitations from people to come by and join them for dinner. I usually am one of those 'cannot-say-no' types and hesitatingly said yes to a couple of them each involving a 20 mile drive.

Yesterday night was one of them where I pulled into a gas station to fill up my Lexus. Filled, moved a feet forward or so, and out of no where, a Chevy truck came in front and ripped my front bumper apart. The guy was pretty decent, exchanged info and on my way..

Had my dinner at friends, headed out to another friend to crash for the night. Drove another 10 miles with the bumper half kissing Lexus and the other half kissing the road. Got home, wanted to call my wife, and the battery goes dead. Had a Sony Ericsson, so their cell phone chargers are the crappy kind with no USB support, so had to wait for the next day.

Got up next day, went to the collision center to get a quote. Asked them if I could use one of their computers to call a few office colleagues, the answer, our office blocks all sites. WTF?

Decided to drive the same half-bumper-falling Lexus to my friend's apt where i had my second car parked, and saw that I had a flat tire on Honda Accord.

What are the freakin chances that two cars, cell phone dead and two insisting friends invite for dinner on the same day? Change people, please, leave the dinners alone when the guy is busy. Puhleezz..

I am waiting for this bizarre week to end. Waiting to sit back on British Airways with a glass of wine and head home...

UPS -- unparalleled service

I was very impressed today with UPS delivery service. I was expecting a package from British Consulate. At 8AM, UPS called me that it is on the delivery truck and I should expect it. Unfortunately, the window was too big, 8AM to 7PM. I could not really sit and wait home, so I left to work.

At 10AM, they made an attempt and left a note on my door. I noticed at 11 AM online, called them to hold the package at their office instead of making another delivery run. The lady at UPS customer service took my number and told me I should expect a call within an hour from the local office here in Austin to let me know the time to visit their office.

It must have been not more than 5 minutes when I got a call from local Austin office informing me to come by their office at 7:30 PM. Just to avoid the drive, I asked if she could intercept the driver of the truck and let me know where his next stop would be so that I could run and pick it up. She said, she would try, in another 5 minutes told me the address. I went by, another 5 minutes the truck was there and voila, I had my package. Now, that's putting technology to use. Amazing...

Confused Destinations

As humans, we've always had the innate urge to succeed. Success in an organizational structure that is driven by quotas and percentage profits is achieved when a set number of features are completed in a given (i.e. ridiculous) amount of time (possibly at a reasonable cost).

In my 10 years of Software Engineering career, I have been part of various different processes RUP, Waterfall, Iterative, Scrum, XP. Often when a new process is adopted with in a organization, it becomes the mantra of a few who have learnt it by the book and see it as a panacea for all existing problems. This mantra gets picked up by a few management officials who extend their so-called 'full support' to ensure the process is successful.

Once this magical alignment between the official and mid-level manager happens, the chosen process becomes the new destination replacing the actual product it needs to focus on. In Scrum, Velocity is an indicator of team's predictability in delivering set of features. Unfortunately, for some, velocity at 60 hr work-week is a successful scrum project.

At the end of project, you might have had a successful launch but you have just killed the thing that gives your golden egg, your employees.

Scrum intends that all parties, both internal and external be successful. When done right, it provides great benefits. But, when done right for the sake of proving a point, disasters occur. We sometimes achieve completion of economic goals with 'come what may' attitude and that does not necessarily translate to overall success.

Was that the destination you intended when you incorporated a new process?

Convenience Fee: Why?

My new year drive from Phoenix started me off with a ticket. Sad, but in a way, its a lesson not to take 290 freakin ever. Its a bloody cop-trap and it seems like the speed traps are in place just to loot money. Oh well, enjoy suckers.

But, wait, here's more. I decided to do the DD course to save 100 bucks and the grief of insurance and such, so I had to get a driver's record. Online is 10 + 2 bucks of convenience fee. What for? You just print the damn letter and put it in mail. In fact, it should be less coz it is much less work for you all. If all of us had to come your office, you would have to hire more people to cater to all of us. Instead now you run a batch process that print these records out and mail them.

If you would like to be more efficient, then encourage the use of internet, not discourage by adding stupid fees like these.

Trace Number: 405DI27070152
Date and Time: 01/06/2009 at 13:34:06 CST
Items ordered:
Type of record(s) requested Qty Price
Type 1: Status Record $0.00
Type 2: 3-year Driving History $0.00
Type 3: Complete Driving History $0.00
Type 2A: 3-year Driving History (Certified) $0.00
Type 3A: Complete Driving History (Certified) 1 $12.00
Type AOR: Abstract Driver Record $0.00
Total driver record request Fee $10.00
Convenience Fee: $2.00
Total charged: $12.00

Premier 'jolt' in a mild way

I had one of those casual conversations today for a Software Manager positions. The HR lady was very courteous and beaming about her company. During our conversation, she asked me for my educational background, and after hearing, she indicated how they mostly hired IIT's.

I guess if they can find only such talent and all talent that they find from IIT's are excellent, goodness to them. That was not too surprising as I have heard some good things regarding this firm. I am not sure if that was enough hint for folks who went to the so-called less exemplary schools that they are not welcome, but I don't want to just bow down.

I am going to go attend the interview and see what they mean by it. I suppose if they mow me down, it will only get easier from here.

NRI to TTRTI

My status right now should be 'Trying to Return to India'. I say trying coz I think I suffer from 'US-expectations' effect.

What job do I get? What is the work-culture like? What kind of salary do I expect? What about the expenses? What about a house, car, school? You see this is the state of my mind any given second. I suppose this ain't bad. Its a pretty big decision and I dwell over it a lot.

But each time I do, and I weigh the options of staying in US vs staying in India, the fact that my wife and I miss our folks always trumps the financial benefits. With Pattu in our lives, it becomes doubly more important to give her the same lovely upbringing that we had as kids.

The leads are trickling in and I hope my two month working-vacation gives me enough leads to head home.