IT Onsite and Offshore Telecon 1

IT Onsite and Offshore conversations. Insprired by a blog by my friend Pradipta - here's a typical onsite (US) and  offshore team (India) telephone conversation :
Onsite Co-Ordinator (OC): I will be back home after 2 months.
OffshoreTeam(OT): Are you coming back for good? (Hopes getting raised .. somebody will replace the guy..here comes an opportunity finally)...
OC: (raised eyebrows..thinking...Back for Good ..now wats that)
Hell No. Have to get my VISA stamped. Will be there for two weeks. I will be in office for a day and will meet you all. What should I get for you.
OffshoreTeam(OT):(Hiding the sudden rush of dissappointment) oh We thought so..maybe T-Shirts and chocolates will do
OC: Sure! You guys are doing a great job.Keep it up.
Offshore Team: (Thinking... Hope to meet u at least once in person) Thanks . GNite. Team lets get back to work.

3 months later
OC: Hey guys.. am sorry..I could not come to meet you all..had some work at home ..blah blah blah...
Offshore team: We thought so. (Thinking : we knew it for sure)
OC: One person is travelling back. I will send the T-Shirts through him.
Am so sorry guys... You guys are doing a great job.Keep it up. Let's start the discussion on this new enhancement request!!

Dilbert - Timeless

If you have been working/have worked in a corporate, then there's a 99.99% probability that you would have come across Scot Adams Dilbert. If you belong to the  0.01% outlier group (and I would fail to understand the reason - Maybe you have a pointy haired boss :0 ), then drop your pen, close your books,  switch off your ipad, command+W your work windows and go to Barnes & Nobles/Amazon/Flipkart and get that Dilbert series  OR visit the website. You will be all smiles!

I first came across this comic strip on my newspapers Sunday edition. It was later, when I got my job and started working that I started to appreciate the sly humour.

So why am I writing a blog on Dilbert after being 12 years in corporate world. Well , time and again you come  across situations which you can directly relate to those priceless/timeless gems from Scott Adams.

Am having some "Dilbertian moments" and so here are few classic ones which I think everyone can relate to :

This one is just awesome :

My favorite :

You sure must have gone through this :

iPad Paintings

This is the second of my experiments  with Art Brush Pro iPad app. The app is pretty good.

This is based on a painting of Jimi Hendrix from voka.at

Quiz 2 - Crack This (Level - Moderate)

"A's" first movie was "B" and was directed by "C" who has directed and acted in a number of classics and is considered as one of the greatest film directors of all time.

"A's" last movie was  "D"  directed by "E" and was inspired from the movie "F".

"E",  is considered as one of the finest actors in the country. Arguably, "E's" most notable role was in the  movie "G" directed by  critically acclaimed director "H". "H" has directed a number of critically acclaimed as well as commercially successful movies in multi-languages. "H" brought in upcoming music director "I" for his film "J". "I" himself has been described as one of the worlds most prolific and prominent composer by "K". "K" also lists  "G" one of the all time 100 greatest films.

"K's" most famous feature "L" started in late 1920s and had "M" as the first "L". "N"  is the only Indian so far to be chosen as "L". 

"N's" image was used in a poster advertisement (T-Shirt Prints)  that cleverly re-used the tagline "O" from the advertisement for brand "P" . And "P" is the screen name (given by "C") by which we all know "A".

Connect (CQ2)

Another one. Connect. Not that easy but not tough either :)

Easy Connect (CQ1)

Not much to do so thought of posting a connect quiz. Easy one to start with . Connect along with  the funda.

Movies I saw in 2011

Here's a list of movies that I saw in 2011. Not many compared to 2010.

The Good Ones ->

Super 8 - Enjoyed this movie.
A super tribute to Spielberg. If you enjoyed E.T, chancer are you will like this one.

Rise of the planet of Apes - Awesome CGI. Enjoyed it.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Saw the Swedish version. Nice movie.

HP and Deathly Hollow 2 - A very well made final chapter. Did justice to the book. Probably the best of the series.

X-Men First Class - Thoroughly enjoyed this on flight.

Transformers - Dark Side of the Moon -Amazing CGI. Super first shot of the dark side of the moon. Enjoyable.

Source Code - Nice concept. Enjoyed the movie. The ending seemed deliberately stretched to
give it a happy ending. Overall nice watch.
7/10

Kung Fu Panda 2 - As good as the first part. Watch it if you are searching for Inner Peace!!

The Dirty Picture - Good hindi movie after a long time.

Paul - Absolutely hilarious. Totally loved it. Went to see this just because it was a road movie and was pleasantly surprised. 9 on 10.

No One Killed Jessica - Another good watch

Midnight in Paris - Nice movie.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - A road trip video made into a movie. Was enjoyable in parts though.

Bodyguard - Another mindless action , a la Rajnikanth kinda movie. Strictly for Sallu fans. Rest avoid.
This one is featuring in the "Good" section is because "it was soooo bad that it was good" :)

The Bad Ones ->
Cowboys and Aliens - The trailer was way better than the movie. Waste of money and time.

Fast Five - Mindless but amazing action. Din't enjoy as much as the first part of the series.

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan - I thought this movie was a bit stupid.

The Ugly Ones ->
Aarakshan - This one gave me a sever headache.

RA.One - The top contender for India's Razzies (Kela Awards) and This.One deserves it more than any movie. Big let down by SRK.

Dhobi Ghat - This was na gar ka na ghat ka. Though the performance by the relatively lesser known stars was admirable.

I am Number 4 -  Totally avoidable. Didn't even remember that I had seen it.

Divine Intervention

Kabhi kabhi kuch aisie ghatnayein hoti hain jise explain nahin kiya jaa sakta.

It was Saturday evening around 7:30pm and I was hungry. One of my roomie Ankur was talking to his fiance on phone and the other Abhi, had just taken a shower. 

It was full moon night. Abhi had bought a telescope. I asked my roomies to get ready for going out on a random drive to a place where we could setup the telescope and enjoy the view of the moon.

While they were getting ready, I decided to make myself some tea. Had bought Earl of Grey flavored Iranian tea and I absolutely love it.  So I placed the tea pan on the stove , added water, sugar and tea leaves and turned on the stove.

Meanwhile Abhi was all ready and Ankur had reluctantly ended his call to get ready. Abhi got his telescope and started fixing it. It was a Celestron table top telescope and is good for beginners. Easy to setup and light to carry. Ankur was ready as well and we decided to go to Joseph D Grant county park which was a 35 minutes drive from home. He was wearing slippers and I asked him if he wanted to change to shoes instead, to which he replied in negative.

I have been to Joseph D Grant park many times and am always awed by the calmness of the place. You can "hear" the silence here. And the drive to this place is awesome as well. The curves, the bends, the view of the valley , especially during sunset and after.

I took my flashlights, picked up my pullover, camera, wallet & keys, put on my trekking shoes and was ready. Since all of us were hungry , we first decided to go to MacDonalds which was just a block away.

So off we went to MacD in my 2002 Honda CRV and ordered a couple of Southern style chicken sandwiches. Abhi, being a vegetatrian and with MacD not offering much veggie choice,  decided to go to Subway instead. Ankur and I had the chicken sandwiches and then I said I would walkdown to the Starbucks to get a Latte.

We came out of MacD and were getting into our car when just like that I just suggested on going to 

Golden Gate in SFO (which was about an hours drive) and its vista points to observe the city and the full moon from there.

It was 8:10pm already. Abhi jumped into the idea and said yes. Ankur had no other choice but to agree :)

So we decided to get coffee first, then drive down to Subway from where Abhi would pickup a Veggie Delight and then we would start for Golden Gate.

As Ankur was getting into the car, I again noticed that he was in his slippers. I asked him if he still didn't want to change to shoes, as Golden Gate area would be very cold at night. Ankur finally agreed and decided to walkdown to home and change to his Reebok shoes. I also asked him to get the Canon DSLR from my room and said we would pick him up from 7-11, which was next to our place, right after we picked up the veggie delight.

  

It was already 8:30pm. So Ankur went back home and I picked up a tall extra Hot Latte from Starbucks. We (Abhi and I) drove down to Subway and after our transaction there we reached 7-11.

Ankur wasn't there so we waited.

After some time (which seemed a tad long)  we saw him coming towards us, wearing his white sneakers with the camera bag in his hand.

As we pulled down the window of the car, he asked "Did any one of you leave the stove on?"

And then it came back to me - pan on stove, Iranian tea ... I had completely forgotten that I had left the stove on.  Ankur then said that when he entered home, the room was completely filled with smoke and the tea pan was hot red. For some reason the smoke detectors had failed. He opened the windows,

switched off the stove and cleared the smoke.

Another few hours and it would have been a disaster.

It was for some reason that Ankur had put on slippers....that I suggested going to Golden Gate..that I asked him to change to shoes. God knows what would have happened had we left for Joseph D Grant park.

I still dont know what prompted me to suggest going to Golden Gate when we  had already planned for JDG park. Divine Intervention is what I call it.

Woh kehte hain na - Jo Hota Hai Achche Ke Liye Hota Hai :) 

Buddha Speak

A friend of mine wanted to buy a specific car from Maruti but was short on budget. He looked sad and I asked him the reason.
He replied "Dezire is the cause of sorrow".

A couple of years later I met him again. He had already bought the car but he still looked sad. I asked him "Now why are you sad."

He replied "Dezire is the cause of sorrow". Apparently his car was giving problems. :)