Lakshmi the Rattler

iPhone 6 in water and Touch ID not working - solved!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 20:43:00 +0000

My iphone6 accidentally fell into the clean toilet commode and fell with most of the phone in water with home button area fully inside. This happened at about 2pm and I immediately used dry tissues to clean it up. At first everything seemed ok. I tried to unlock my phone and Touch ID wouldn’t work.

So I kept cleaning my phone as there was water drops coming from sockets. By then I read up internet about immersing the phone in uncooked rice. So came home and at about 6:00 pm I kept my phone in rice. I let my phone battery drain by itself. It’s at 2% now.

Took the hair dryer and started showing near the charging socket area beneath the home button. By now I already removed the phone from rice. The phone heated up. So stopped the dryer and let the phone cool down. Meanwhile, I removed the already added finger prints and tried to add new. First success was that for about a second the phone tried reading my thumb impression and then stopped working. I tried many times and it won’t work. By now phone was about to die so I put the phone on charge to see if all well with battery. Thankfully it was. So I let the phone charge fully.

Used the dryer again few times and allowed the phone to cool down. Them tried setting up Touch ID and tadaaaa it started recognising by thumb prints.

I added finger prints and the phone started working normally. With a great sense of achievement I slept and woke up next morning to check if it’s working still and it worked!!!

So, try the hair dryer technique to revive the Touch ID. Good luck!!!

International Driving License Verification (IDLV) from VFS Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Fri, 05 May 2017 07:14:00 +0000

Today I walked in to VFS Sydney office at 8/189 Kent Street to get my Indian License (from Tamil Nadu) verified.

I had with me the below documents...

1. Original Indian License
2. My passport
3. Photocopies of #1 and #2 above. Please keep two copies of each with you.
4. Driving extract from RTO Chennai which has details like license number, DoI, DoE, etc.
5. Affidavit from Notary in India. Thanks to my name. My initial is not expanded but in passport it is. So you need an affidavit.
6. Filled VFS form for IDLV. Just google the site. download and print the form. Fill it.
7. 2 by 2 photograph is needed. I took a normal passport size photo and it was not accepted. Need not worry. They have a photo guy there who can click photo in a giffy. They charge you $15 for 4 photos.

Despite submitting all these, I was asked to get my first and last page of my passport photocopies attested by Justice of Peace (JP). So I walked more than a km to Level 2, 456 Kent street and got the attestation done. This is free of charge. JPs work from 10 am to 2:30pm. So I stood in the queue and got that sorted out and came back to VFS.

Now the lady at the counter tells me to get another document done called Attestation of Documents under miscellaneous services. That is because I got the affidavit (step 5) above done from India. Thank god there is a guy there for printing, etc services. He charges $5 for quick browsing and $1 for printing. I filled the form online in his laptop and got them printed.

This form also needs a 2 by 2 photo. They will help you with the glue. So stick it :)

Then I went to the lady for the third and hopefully final time. Now she charges me $104.12 for both attestation of documents and IDLV. She took my original indian license too. She said that the license and the VFS verification will be couriered to me. I will receive an SMS (it is an optional service but i opted for it by paying $2 as I wanted to track my original license). The lady told me that from the time I receive SMS, it would take 24 hours for the courier to arrive.

Once I get this letter, I need to visit any RTA and upgrade my P90 to a full license.

Hope this write up benefitted atleast a few of you!!

Cheers!

Beautiful Years - For your elderly parents

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 03:36:00 +0000

Ageing is such a natural process and it presents unique challenges to all sections of our society. Be it children that have ageing parents who have huge responsibility to ensure that parents do not feel insecure and helpless or be the ageing parents who don’t think they are a burden on their children. Parents take care of children and the role reverses when children become adults and parents become senior citizens. There is a lot of emotional ordeal that goes in on both sides. These emotions have to be channelized in a way that the elders feel taken care of. In addition to lots of love received from their children, they also need health care.

When you think of health care, how about having receiving services on click of a button or a phone call? Do you know when in need which is the best hospital or clinic for your particular type of ailment? Do you read reviews before choosing your health care provider? The best place to look for answers for all these questions is from Beautiful Years. Here they link you with the best possible health care service providers based on your area, customer feedback, facilities of the hospital or clinic and what not. So what are you waiting for? Visit Beautiful Years now for more information.

LATEST Dec end 2014 - How to apply for NOC for your two wheeler and four wheeler without agents or bribes?

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 10:22:00 +0000

Dear Readers,

Here is the way to get NoC for your bike or two wheeler at the cost of Rs.70/- in all.

The first step to getting NoC is the police clearance certificate (Crime Bureau Clearance) from the Asst. Commissioner office which is located in Chennai Traffic Police headquarters, Atkinson Road, Periyamedu, Chennai near Egmore station.

On Dec 24th 2014, I went to the above location with the following documents for my TN registered Car which I am driving in Bangalore by paying road tax but without NoC.

1. RC Book Original and 1 photo copy
2. Insurance Certificate Original and 1 photo copy
3. ID Proof (Driving License) original and 1 photo copy
4. Local Address Proof which can be any govt issued document like voter id, pan card, et al. RC book address and this address proof need not be the same. 1 photo copy of the address proof

Take all these documents and reach the venue as early as 9:30 am. In the entrance to the right side there is reception. Enter your details in the registry and they will give you a visitor id card. Wear that and go to the first floor of the next building. There are indications and arrows to guide you there.

Once you reach the first floor, you will see a person in a counter. Submit all the above documents to him. He will help you fill the application form with details like engine number, chasis number, etc. Pay Rs.20/- at the counter and he will give you the acknowledgement. This person will let you know when to collect the police clearance certificate. For me he told to come the next day at 2pm to collect and it was ready when I went there.

I also applied for police clearance for my husband's bike. Since husband could not make it in person, I submitted same documents listed above for the bike and my marriage certificate photo copy as a proof that I am his wife. So I could get it done seamlessly for the bike too.

These people are very considerate and nice.

Note: You need not take your vehicle for which you are getting the NoC. They will not see your vehicle.

How to get NoC for your car?

On Dec 26th 2014, I go to the RTO where my car got first registered. The below documents are needed to get the NoC.

1. 4 copies of Form 28 (download from any RTO website and fill it. Take the Chasis number 3D imprint on the anywhere on the first page of Form 28)
2. Original RC Book, Insurance Certificate, Police Clearance Certificate, Pollution Control Certificate
3. Two court fee stamps of Rs. 5/-. You need to stick this on the first page of one of the Form 28 sheets.
4. Glue, Yellow folder sheet (shops next to RTOs sell this for Rs.5)
I was asked to meet the RTO who will verify your papers and sign and seal. After this, he will ask you to meet the PA to RTO. Once the PA also signs the sheet, they will ask you to get no objection report from a Grade 2 officer. Grade 2 officer will inspect your vehicle and then provide you the report. Once you get that, you will be asked to pay Rs.50/- at the fee counter who will give you acknowledgement for the paid fee. All these documents will need to be enclosed in the yellow folder sheet that you got and submitted in the postal section. Who will verify and provide a seal in the fee receipt. They will ask you to come after a week to collect the NoC.

How Grade 2 officer inspects?

I had to take my car to the place where FC happens. I waited for 2 hours and generally grade 2 officer comes post lunch or during lunch time which is after 12 noon. Since I did not go through any agent, I was given first preference for inspecting my vehicle. He will look for engine and chasis number and then give a no objection report and that the details are accurate.

If not for the waiting for Grade 2 officer's inspection, all other formalities completed within 20 minutes.

I am getting my NoC tomorrow, 6th Jan 2015 :) I will keep you posted on the validity of the NoC and other formalities of re-registering the vehicle as soon as I complete them.

My DevOps Journey and Experimentation

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 03:34:00 +0000

Hello reader,
I hope my post helps you by few pennies :)

I am aspiring to deploy DevOps/Continuous Delivery in my entire Organization. Yes but are we there yet? Well, I know our destination but I want us to enjoy the journey which is filled with fun, learning and contentment. DevOps is a mindset and culture change to begin with and then comes the methodologies, tools and framework. I believe a bit on the opposite. Without a proven working model it is not going to be a trivial task to change the mindset of people in any Organization. The reason is that they see to believe it!

Nearly a year and half ago when many of our development and test teams in my organization were in jeopardy as the test automation was not up to the mark. With so many defects reported, regressions kept on multiplying like piglets. Since we could not directly use any open source test framework due to the complex embedded domain we are in and those tools if had to be used needed a whole lot of mocks and then we went round and round with severe loss of time and very few tests running.

When frustration was at its all-time high and our motivation was at all-time low, I decided to pick a cup of coffee and started chatting with few of my team members in our team work area. In India we have a chain of coffee outlets called Café coffee day that has a tagline “A lot can happen over coffee”. Let me disagree and say “A hell a lot more can happen over coffee with the team”.

That’s when we to write a functional test automation framework on our own that befit our embedded requirements. We started with a small PoC and took it to our technical mentor. He was honest enough to say nice things about our framework but brutal enough to pin point the short comings. Our framework went through an overhaul and few plastic surgeries and there you go, we branded it as Genie, a functional test automation suite. It is now open enough that it has a DSL that can be extended to test any product so that others benefit too.

I always consider that quick turnaround of builds and reduced cycle times to execute tests are the cornerstone for DevOps/Continuous Delivery. While I believe that one major hurdle of test automation has been crossed decently well, the challenge now am facing is to ensure all teams understand the importance of this and embrace test automation in their respective projects. So we formed a test automation guild and I organized in a way that we meet up weekly and share best practices, share APIs that can help across teams just to prevent reinventing the wheel. Of course, who wants to change? I went through similar hassles of poor attendance in the guild and I was not really sure if am able to reach the last developer. Then a senior helped conduct technical debt reduction day in which we stressed the importance of test automation and encouraged people to do only test automation that day and slowly we gathered momentum. Now, I can confidently say that all of them have understood how important test automation is. Teams are trying to have a user story to reduce technical debt in every sprint.

The next big challenge was build time reduction. Each clean/full build takes about 50 minutes during peak development hours and about 35 minutes during other times. Every developer is making so many builds a day in our Continuous Integration system and it is imperative to reduce the build time so that the overall productivity of every developer consequently the organization goes up considerably. By this time my Organization gave me the responsibility to implement DevOps across the board. With more vigour we started solving the build time issues. We wanted to ensure that after the first time always incremental build happens. We worked towards this goal and now the build time has considerably reduced to approximately 9 minutes in the same environment. Needless to say that there were many challenges including the clock skew issue that was not guaranteeing the correctness of the build and the linux servers were hosted and owned by some other team and it was indeed a task to ensure that the servers came in synch with NTP (Network Time Protocol). And then I started asking teams across the board to adopt these incremental build changes so that everyone benefits. As I write this abstract, many teams have tried and found it working and currently they are in the process of configuring these changes in their CI environment. The simple math of productivity improvement is as below:

Build time reduction in CI (triggered by CI) - ROI

Total number of builds per day (worst case) = 2250 builds (Actual data took as a sample)
How long one full build takes (avg) = 30 min
How long one Incremental build takes (avg) = 10 mins
Time saved per build = 20 mins
Time saved for 2250 builds = 750 hours every day

*Statistics may vary depending on the no. of builds that happen everyday

Build time reduction in BUILD Server by developers – ROI

Total number of builds per day (worst case) = 800 builds (Actual data took as a sample)
How long one full build takes (avg) = 30 min
How long one Incremental build takes (avg) = 10 mins
Time saved per build = 20 mins
Time saved for 800 builds = 266 hours every day i.e., 33 man days every day

*Statistics may vary depending on the no. of builds that happen everyday

Total time saved = 750 (CI) + 266 (Dev) = 1016 hrs a day

We also realized that we can get away with building on the servers (due to its load it does slow down) and use one’s own desktop machine as their own exclusive build server. In order to realize this idea what we are doing is have developers install a linux VM on their windows machines and do the builds on that. Any 8GB RAM PC should be enough to get this idea through where in 4GB for VM would be great. This way the build dependency on one supreme build server is avoided and the hardware capabilities of the developer’s machine are used to the full extent possible.

We are also evaluating the usage of emulators to run the automated test suite to solve insufficient hardware problems. One of the counterpart teams in the other region developed an emulator for their platform by using PC virtualization customized on top of specific device drivers. Instead of reinventing the wheel, what we did was to take their emulator and planning to make it work for us for our platform.

Another tangent to this problem is that we are trying to use the developer’s hardware to be submitted to the continuous integration system such that during night times the automated test suite can be run using the developer’s hardware. This way we are looking at a global optimum wherein many more test suites can be executed in parallel.

That is the power of looking at the big picture – DevOps/Continuous Delivery. So, as of now we are in the process of crossing the two big hurdles which are test automation and build time reduction.

What is the next one that we are attacking as part of DevOps? For that let me first explain the DevOps pipeline that I came out with for my Organization.

May sound like basics but trust me it’s a mammoth task to get these things going especially across the organization. We have a lot of legacy that we are carrying forward when the whole world is going open source. It is time to dust it all up and move ahead. So, as part of that my team is working towards migrating to Jenkins, an open source CI server. What we have currently is an in-built proprietary system and it comes with its own overheads including poor documentation and people dependency.

Hence the work on Jenkins migrated started few months ago and we try and reuse all those available plugins and at the same time write our own custom plugins to fit some of our specific needs. One of my counter parts is also working towards migrating to GIT from ClearCase. While GIT migration came as an Organization mandate it also helps us as GIT and Jenkins works in tandem with each other quite well.

Whenever a build fails, Jenkins shall trigger an email and text messaging notification to the culprit’s mailbox and mobile phone respectively.

On the ops part, currently part of the staging part has been tried where is the application is digitally signed and pushed over the air (OTA). Our focus has been on the dev side of the DevOps to ensure that we get our basics strong and right.

Passport walk-in for kids in Sai Arcade, Bangalore

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 08:44:00 +0000

Hi all,
Yesterday, Sep 18th I had walked-in for passports for my two children one aged 6 yrs and the other one aged 2.8 yrs. I got the passport without any prior appointment and hassle. Here is what I did.
1. Fill the online forms in passportindia.gov.in and then submit the application form of your kid. This will generate the ARN number and proceed towards printing the receipt
2. Children under 4 years, the parents need to bring the passport size photos. Only above 4yrs they will get the photo clicked at the passport office.
3. If you have applied for any name change of your kid (I did for my elder one - change in the last name), just follow the document advisor link in the website and get them ready like Annexure H, Affidavit from notary for the name change, etc. For name change, please note that you MUST have the newspaper publication one in English and another one in Local paper. The entire news paper page is needed to be taken as part of your documentation. Do not just cut the ad alone.
4. You walk in at 8:45 am the next morning with the above details and you will go to a counter where they will check if you have all the documents. After that they will give you all your documents in a brown cover along with a token number and you will be asked to go inside. There are three counters A, B and C.
Counter A will ensure all your kids' details are uploaded to the system and you pay the passport fee here. They will file all your artifacts and then it will go to counter B and here is where the do the paper verification - like address, signature verification, etc. Once this is through the C counter is where you will be granted the passport.
Since it is all token based system, it is very straight forward. DO NOT GO THROUGH ANY AGENT. You will save lot of money and this entire process is very seamless. After counter C, you will be asked to move to the exit gate where they will have you fill a feedback form and provide you with acknowledgment.
Two important things to note
1. Effective Sep 20th 2013, kids below 3 years of age and Sr. citizens above 60 years of age can avail a passport without appointment
2. Only Tatkal can be applied
For normal ones, just apply online for an appointment and ensure proper documents are ready and you will be through.
Good luck!

Laya Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 11:38:00 +0000

Dear all,

Launched Laya Designs during Diwali 2012. These are my own creations. Hand made ethnic yet contemporary looking Terracotta Jewellery. They are available for sale!

Laya Designs is all about giving you great pieces of Terracottal Jewelry that is made of clay. We want to GO GREEN definitely through this way as well.

Do visit http://www.facebook.com/Laya.Designs website.

If you like my designs do LIKE my page and Subscribe. Thanks & Cheers!

Strategy, Context, and the Decline of Sony

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:53:00 +0000

I got the below article forwarded to me.... worth the read

HBR Blog Network

Strategy, Context, and the Decline of Sony

Sometimes it's useful to be reminded that a great strategy is only great in context. From the early 1980s and into the 90s, Sony's was great. The unrivaled master of the consumer electronics world, its name was synonymous with cutting-edge technology, sophistication, and desirability. People had a collective vision back then of a thrilling yet humane future, and Sony's hyper-capable, slightly fussy gadgets were its clearest expression. It was much more than just the Walkman and the Trinitron—everything the company made was of impeccable quality, satisfying to hold and intricately detailed in its functionality. That last statement is still true today, but everything else has changed. Sony still makes exquisite products, but fewer and fewer people get excited about them.

The strategy address recently delivered by the corporation's new CEO, Kazuo Hirai, earned press coverage that verged on mocking, with The Wall Street Journal notingthat the brand's "once-sterling cachet has deteriorated," and The New York Timesgoing further, placing Sony in "a fight for its life," and accusing it of "an astonishing lack of ideas." Both observations are correct, but they only hint at the underlying question: why is the strategy that once served Sony so well now failing so badly? It's not as if its cameras now take fuzzy pictures or its boom boxes fall apart after three months. And the market for consumer electronics is larger than it's ever been. The Timesarticle rightly observes that Sony's current product line is crowded and confusing, but offering customers a wide array of choices was fundamental to Sony's success in the past. What changed?

Part of the shift is technological. Apple's iPhone—the product often described as getting everything right that Sony got wrong—only comes in one current model and two colors, yet it's tremendously customizable. With so much of the experience coming from the software, not the hardware, consumers aren't using a product designed for them; it was designed by them. This is an especially powerful offering because it replaces the single moment of instant gratification—buying the perfect camera, TV, or phone—with dozens of such moments. Every time they install an app or download a song, users are getting a customized experience with an emotional impact on par with the one-time purchase of a product. This suggests a more fundamental explanation: consumers today care more about the experience, but Sony is still focused on the product. It's gotten trapped by its own past success. In the early 80s, simply delivering technology in a usable form was still the biggest challenge, and Sony got it right before anyone else. It had an astonishing ability to find the next technical hurdle—a brighter TV, a smaller tape player, an integrated camcorder—and leap over it with grace, before its competitors even thought to try. In an industrial, product-oriented economy, this was enough.

Every year saw new products with unprecedented capabilities. As long as it could do something new, we didn't seem to care what kind of experience we had using it. Plowing through 70-page manuals and fussing with Dolby II and Metal/Non-Metal switches was just part of the deal. In the experience economy, these expectations are reversed. Technology is a given, and the question of "what are the specs?" has been replaced by "what is it like to use?" Sony's expertise at making the next great thing has been matched by companies like Samsung and LG, and soon enough, they'll all be caught by increasingly sophisticated Chinese manufacturers. Without modifying its business model, Sony has been left behind by a world that's changed its relationship with technology. What's tragic is that Sony still has all the resources to execute well on a new strategy. Its engineering capabilities are impeccable, its R&D resources are highly developed, and it has massive amounts of high-quality media.

The success of thePlaystation shows its ability to deliver a good experience through an integrated ecosystem of products and content. But the Playstation is now just another platform struggling to keep up with innovative alternatives like the Wii, Xbox, and Kinect, and it's been years since Sony's other divisions unveiled a real game changer. What's missing is the strategic vision to emphasize the delivery of powerful and resonant user experiences. Mr. Hirai acknowledged several times the need for the company to change, but the goals he stated were still hardware focused: sell this many smartphones, that many camcorders. The user is still missing in this equation, as is a sense of what Sony stands for, and what its vision is for an integrated experience. For Sony, it may be too late. For other brands, there may still be room for change. Every industry has its Sony, still trying to get ahead by solving a problem that's already been solved. But every industry also has its Virgin Atlantic, its IKEA, or its Procter & Gamble: the major player that continues to innovate. Even Microsoft has shown signs of sensitivity to user experience in its latest mobile operating system. There's nothing magic about innovation, just as there's nothing magic about technology. Both are hard work, but as Sony has shown, all the hard work in the world won't matter if you're working toward a strategy that was framed for an another era.

Massage rollers

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:29:00 +0000

Here is one stop shop for massage tools so that you can buy them at affordable cost. The massage rollers, wood foot roller, handheld back massager, Thera cane massager and many such products are available for you to buy. Instead of going to the parlors and beauty salons and spending so much of money, you can buy the massage tools at home and use them at your free and convenient time.

There are pressure points in our body and applying right pressure there while massaging, can get your body relaxed and also increase the blood flow. The massage tools are designed to achieve these. As the saying goes ‘Health is wealth’, it is imperative that you are fit as a fiddle. Bodyback.com Company has numerous testimonials from people like you with various health challenges who have finally experienced relief by using our products. Their product line has expanded significantly and they are always introducing new products.

When you purchase their products, you can avail free shipping for over $25. There is also a discount sale going on currently and you could avail that as well. The featured product listed are single speed Jeanie rub massager, springerz, rainbow scalp massager, Jeanie Rub Foot and Leg Massager massage stick roller and many more in the list. The Body Back Buddy Trigger Point Massager is their most popular design and reflects years of feedback from massage therapists, chiropractors, and physical therapists. With 11 therapy knobs, the Body Back Buddy stimulates in between muscles and pinpoints trigger points for a more finely-tuned treatment. It has been engineered to be lightweight, strong and easy to use. Also do remember to check out the Best sellers section and product quick list section. So what are you waiting for? Just visit this website now for more information now.

Nature fundraising

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:36:00 +0000

Social service is not something that has become an optional activity. These days many of them have quit their jobs and are doing social service as a full time one. There are many non profit and service oriented Organizations that currently do this. Most of them have got an overwhelmingly positive response. They sell products that are made by the children and make money to run their Organization. One such Company is Nature’s vision.
You can feel good knowing that the products in their collection promote awareness of environmental issues in your school and community, and a portion of profits from purchased items are funneled into environmental causes. They have programs for fundraisers for schools. Nature's Vision actively participates in supporting the environment by offering an array of eco-friendly products and donating to Gulf Coast restoration projects, nature conservation projects and efforts to support a sustainable future for our planet. Nature's Vision provides your organization with a way to show your passion for a better world as you reach your nature fundraising goals.
Nature's Vision is a service oriented company. Their mission is to provide you with everything you need to ensure your organization an easy, successful and enjoyable nature fundraiser. They provide all the tools you need free of charge without any risk to your group including free catalogs and order forms for each of your sellers and free samples and posters to advertise your sale.

Happy Mothers day

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:21:00 +0000

What does a Mother do ?I am a Mother

The officer at the Driving License counter asked the lady "What is your occupation?"

The woman seeking renewal of her license seemed to be puzzled. So the officer said "Ma'am, are you employed, have your own business or........

The woman replied "Oh, yes!! I have a full time occupation. I am a Mother"

Officer: "We don't have 'Mother' as an option for occupation. I will write it down as 'Housewife'. That takes care of all questions."

This had happened long ago, and was forgotten. Years later when I went to get my license, the Public Relations Officer was a somewhat pompous woman.

"Your occupation?" she asked in a rather authoritative tone.

I just had an inspiration and replied "I am a researcher in the field of Child Development, Nutrition and Inter-personal Relationships"

The lady officer stared at me in amazement. I calmly repeated my statement and she wrote it down verbatim. Then, unable to conceal her curiosity, she politely asked "What exactly do you do in your profession, Ma'am?"

I was feeling good about having described my occupation so calmly and confidently. So I replied "My research projects have been going on for a number of years (Mothers never retire!!). My research is conducted in the laboratory as well as in the field. I have two bosses. (One is God and the other is my entire family). I have received two honours in this field. (A son and a daughter) My topic is considered to be the most difficult part of sociology.(All moms will agree!!). I have to work more than 14 hours every day. Sometimes even 24 hours are not enough and the challenges are tougher than many other professions. My compensation is in terms of mental satisfaction rather than money"

I could see that the officer was thoroughly impressed. After completing the licensing formalities, she came to the door to see me off.

This new viewpoint about my occupation made me feel much better on my way back home. I was welcomed by my 5 year old research assistant at the door. My new project (my 6 month old baby) was energetically practicing her 'music'.

I had earned a small victory over the Governmental red tape today. I was no longer 'merely a Mother', instead I was now a highly placed functionary in a service vital for Mankind -Motherhood!!

'Mother' - Isn't it a great title. Fit to be added to the nameplate on the door!! By this standard, grandmothers deserve to be called Senior Research Officers, and Great Grandmothers qualify as 'Research Directors'. Aunts and other ladies of that age group can be called 'Research Facilitators'

Steel storage cabinets

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:19:00 +0000

Durham manufacturing has built a sterling reputation as one of the top producers and distributors specializing in industrial metal and plastic products used in packaging, storing, and organizing maintenance products. Heavy-duty material handling equipment, storage units, steel storage cabinets, industrial workbenches, and work stations are also part of the core of the Durham Manufacturing business. Distributors and end users seek a state-of-the-art flammable storage cabinet for containing flammable material. These lockable flammable storage cabinet are all-welded units and are the perfect solution for storing compressed air, gas cylinders, and other potentially flammable items safely and securely.

In addition to these products, they manufacture top-of-the-line shelving and racks, first-aid boxes and cabinets, safety products, and literature and mail organizers. Adaptable to a variety of uses within many workspaces, Durham Manufacturing also produces heavy-duty pegboard steel cabinets, janitorial metal cabinets, industrial cabinets and heavy-duty extra-wide bin cabinets. They also offer a comprehensive selection of industrial storage products.
Do check out the other products in this website. Also if you are interested in doing a business with them then you can do so by taking up distribution. For becoming a distributor, you need to fill out the form that is present in their website and they will contact you. You can also search the website if you are looking for a specific product.

Malware protection

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:11:00 +0000

There are thousands of malware variants released on a daily basis. What is the guarantee that your Company’s data is safe? Your users may not be aware of all the threats to your Company’s data. There is so much damage that can be done to your data like spear-phishing, poisoned search engine results, social networking worms, weaponized PDF documents and weaponized Office documents. Apart from these, there are also browser-based threats. You need to ensure malware protection is given to your data. In your business, you need to reduce risks, reduce costs and most importantly improve productivity.

Invincea BrowserProtection and DocumentProtection solutions are the most effective endpoint protection to combat breach. They provide complete endpoint protection from the broadest attack surfaces and are completely unobtrusive to users. Invincea delivers the first and only fully virtualized browser and PDF reader solutions that seamlessly run in their own virtual environments separate from the desktop operating system to protect your users against all types of Web-borne and PDF embedded threats. Invincea protects your intellectual property, financial and client data, and sensitive information. They also maintain their Labs where they do extensive research and development by investing on next generation technology for malware protection and prevention. This becomes the heart of their business. For information about Invincea Labs, you can also write to labs@invincea.com. They have also written white papers about data protection.

If you are interested to know more about Invincea and their content protection solutions, you can also visit their website and sign up for an online demo or check out their webinar. There is also a section about industry experts’ opinion. Invincea is a one stop solution for your business’ cyber security solutions. So what are you waiting for? Just visit their website and understand ways to solve your business problem at an affordable price.

Colt pistols

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:08:00 +0000

There are many on-line gun stores out there for you to choose from. If you are in Texas then there is one stop shop to buy the guns from. Shooters Station is a firearms store and indoor shooting range in Texas. You can buy top quality rock river arms, STI pistols, Colt pistols, Glock pistols, Kimber rifles and many more online. You can also check out their featured products like Kimber stainless II 9mm, SAV 19662 11 HOG HNTR 308 TB, Henry 8 + 1 22 Long Rifle Semi-Automatic w/Black Finish & Plasti, Glock 10 +1 Round Small Frame 45 ACP w/Fixed Sights, etc.
At Shootersstationonline.com, they strive to give the best customer service in the business. Not only are their prices extremely competitive, you will also get a pleasant shopping experience. All items on this website (excluding firearms) can ship directly to your residence within 24 hours. You can also find personal safety products like Pepper spray, pepper foam defense spray, etc. They are very cheap and useful. If you are a woman it makes it much easier for you to carry this in your hand bag. So what are you waiting for? Just choose your favorite product now.

Jury duty

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:06:00 +0000

Mrs. Swanson declined to serve on the jury because she was not a believer in capital punishment and didn’t want her beliefs to get in the way of the trial. "But, madam," said the public defender, who had taken a liking to her kind face and calm demeanor, "this is not a murder trial. It is merely a civil lawsuit being brought by a wife against her husband. He gambled away the ten thousand dollars he’d promised to spend on a cruise for their anniversary." "Hmm..." reflected Mrs. Swanson. "Okay, I’ll serve. I could be wrong about capital punishment."

Pregnancy advice

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 08:39:00 +0000

Women of this era are multifaceted, empowered, informed and there are so many responsibilities they shoulder - be it taking care of children, spouse or going to work or doing daily chores at home. So we can understand how important womens health is especially when they are pregnant. Pregnancy affects every part of women's body from head to toe. It becomes so imperative that you take the right pregnancy advice and be aware. There is so much of pregnancy information in this website like frequent urination, congestion, mouth and tooth changes, shortness of breath, heartburn and gas and many more in the list.

During pregnancy, ligaments and tendons throughout our body stretch, both to accommodate the growing baby and to allow the baby out during labor. This can lead to achiness and even pain, particularly in the lower abdomen. Such important information related to pregnancy and parenting is elaborated in the website. You can also ask the expert if you are unclear of any topic. Do avail free shipping facility on thousands of select items. So what are you waiting for? Just visit this website and benefit by browsing all the useful articles about dos and don'ts of pregnancy and parenting.

Diagnosing car troubles

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:49:00 +0000

A software engineer, a hardware engineer and a department manager were on their way to a meeting, driving down a steep mountain road. Suddenly the brakes on their car failed. The car careened almost out of control down the road, bouncing off the guard rails until it miraculously halted along the mountainside.

The car's occupants, shaken but unhurt, now had a problem: they were stuck halfway down a mountain in a car with no brakes. What were they to do?

"I know," said the department manager, "Let's have a meeting, propose a Vision, formulate a Mission Statement, define some Goals and by a process of Continuous Improvement find a solution to the Critical Problems, and we can be on our way."

"No, no," said the hardware engineer, "That will take far too long, and besides, that method has never worked before. I've got my Swiss Army knife with me, and in no time at all I can strip down the car's braking system, isolate the fault, fix it and we can be on our way."

"Well," said the software engineer, "Before we do anything, I think we should push the car back up the hill and see if it happens again."

Now Foods

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 04:26:00 +0000

Not everyone gets a healthy diet due to the pattern of eating or interest. This might weaken one’s body as the required nutrients are not fed back to our system. Supplements can play a very important role here. It provides you with required vitamins and minerals which are lacking in your diet.

Calcium is very important for our bones and teeth. If there is insufficient calcium, not only do the bones weaken but this will lead to many problems like arthritis, heart palpitations, etc. It is imperative that your body gets the necessary vitamins and minerals.

So now comes the question that there are zillions of supplement products available in the market, how can we choose the right product that we need? This question should also answer points like no side effects, value for money, what other consumers are saying, so on and so forth. If all these products are available to you at a single place for you to evaluate won’t that be very nice? The answer is yes we have healthdesigns.com website which has products on top supplements, top brands and many more. Few of the famous and top brands are Now Foods, Nutiva and ThorneResearch. There are discounts going on currently for these top brand products. We can clearly see that Vitamin B complex is a top seller. There are also Health conditions supplements for Adrenal support, Bone health, Menopause, Thyroid, Mood health, etc. Do not forget to browse through the new categories section too which contains beverages, bulk foods, cooking oils, honey, tea, etc.

You can buy discount Supplements that save you 30-65% on Supplements Including Calcium Supplements, Herbal & Mineral Supplements and more at healthdesigns.com website. So what are you waiting for? Just visit this website and evaluate the products and choose yours from the many.

Sports Optical Equipments

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:17:00 +0000

Bird watching is one of the newest hobbies of many people including me.I love the chirping birds, their variety of colors matching the lushgreen nature. You need good quality binoculars to watch them especiallywhen the birds are far away from naked eyes. They can be useful forFishing and hunting too. When you go on a weekend getaway to enjoynature then you will need these sports optics equipments.

Similarly for long distance target shooting, you will need Riflescope.They come in numerous varieties for different types of weapons. Riflescope ensures that you get clear images of your target. There are manytypes like Swat Rifle Scope, Benchmark Riflescope, Tactical Riflescope, Ridgeline Rifle Scopes and many more in the list. There areumpteen numbers of varieties for you to pick from.

You can research these products by browsing this website sitting fromyour home as Barska which is a Southern California Company has itsstrong brand recognition in the optics industry. You will get all theuseful information you need. So what are you waiting for? These areavailable for you at affordable prices. Just visit the website now andgrab the product you like.

Our Vacation to Goa

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:15:00 +0000

Dear readers,

We had been to Goa for a vacation. It was for for a week. The places we visited were

Day 1 - Bom Basilica church, Fort Aguada, Sikkerim Vivanta fort, Fort Chapora, Dolphin Cruise

You can read about the places in details in internet. Needless to mention that it will be great to carry a camera. DSLR is a must for folks passionate about photography. Dolphin cruise was awesome. We went on a small boat to mid of the sea and saw Dolphins jumping around. This is available only till 5pm in the evening. As it gets dark, Dolphins would not show themselves.

Day 2 - Kesaraval falls, Big foot, shantadurga temple, Mangeshi temple, Shopping at Panjim, Mira Mar Beach

The temples are several 100 years old and worth the visit. Big foot is all about Portugese way of living when they conquered Goa and covers pre independence era of Goa

Day 3 - Dona Paula, Forest garden, Calangunte Beach, Baga Beach, River Cruise

Lots of water sports available in all the beaches. You can choose whichever you like.

Day 4 -Japanese garden, Iron ore discharging point, Naval museum, Bogmolo Beach, Mazorda Beach area spa, Colvo Beach

Photography point is this Japanese garden. Really cool location. Goa is all about Iron ore shipping, so do not miss this.

Day 5 - Forest garden (yes again), Panjim for Shopping

We wanted our day 5 to be relaxed as we went as a family with 2 children. one is 4 years old and the other is about 1 year. So we needed this rest :)

We stayed at our friend's place 'Vasco' named after Vasco De Gama. This is literally 5 mins drive from Airport but yes about 15 kms away from the city. I did not see any difficulty driving down everyone to the other side. Goans are very good with driving sense. It was absolutely a pleasure to be on their roads.

Post any questions you have if you are planning for a vacation. I can try to answer them up :)

Photo shoot - PrasadPhotography.com

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:18:00 +0000

Hola friends,
I went for a photo shoot last weekend in Bangalore. The photographer Prasad is a very down to earth and cool person. He has lots of patience and it is really required to capture candid moments of kids. We went for a photo shoot of my family. Prasad has done a great job in clicking the photos. They have come out so well and natural. :)

If you want to have portfolios done for you, your kids or your family as a whole then do not hesitate to get in touch with Prasad. His website is www.prasadphotography.com. The money spent is really worth it.

Note: GK Vale has become quite expensive and not worth the money I guess. I had been there few years ago for my first child. The then quality is not there today in my personal opinion.

Cheers
Lux

Worth the read...

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 04:18:00 +0000

Binoculars for bird watching

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:16:00 +0000

Do you have bird watching as a hobby? Many times I have visited bird sanctuaries and even taken a boating around the places where birds were nesting, chirping. As James A. Kern rightly said that Bird watching is a bloodless expression of man’s primitive hunting instincts. Similarly you have hobbies like hunting, fishing, etc which you could pursue. Now having said that these hobbies do require products like rifle scopes, telescopes, Binoculars, lasers, tripods, microscopes, monoculars and spotting scopes. If you have to buy them, it is definitely a good investment considering the hobby. So you must ensure that you buy them from a trustworthy shop. Barska.com website is an expert in this line of business and you could choose them for buying your Binoculars and other equipments.
Their products offer the best and latest technology in optics and they are sold at reasonable prices to accommodate consumers all over the world. Also their products like Binoculars or a rifle scope can be researched from home through this website and can be purchased through various sporting goods retailers. You will not regret the shopping experience and the quality of the product. So what are you waiting for? Just visit this website now.

Floor grinder

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:32:00 +0000

If you are into construction business then it becomes imperative that you use productive tools be it residential, commercial or industrial buildings. You need some serious machinery there. Innovatech is a company which has a one stop solution. From the name you can understand that they have patented quite a few products in this line of business. Some of them worth mentioning are i-shine, predator, terminator.
For example, you might be interested on I-Shine product. This is the most advanced concrete polishing system in the world. The superior pads are meant to work with the Predator line of floor grinder. They deliver ease of use, exceptional speed, value and more. This product line also boasts no diamond glazing and can handle uneven floors with ease. When a serious concrete polishing is needed, the I-Shine line will not disappoint. Not only does laying tile become a mammoth task but also tile removal is a big deal. Their patented product terminator addresses your concerns for tile removal.
There are other products like dust collection and vacuum units which are again required for commercial purposes. They have high performing machines that provide superior results. So what are you waiting for? Just visit the website now.

24th main - JP Nagar restaurant - review

noreply@blogger.com (Lakshmi) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:15:00 +0000

During last weekend, we had been to 24th Main restuarant in JP Nagar. The food was good, the ambience is nice but it is quite expensive. 2 small kids and 4 adults went there and the bill was easily 1800 bucks which is high definitely compared to other multi cuisine restaurants. It is a huge hall and if you have infants then you should look for corners where there are sofas, all other places have chairs.

Also, during weekends there is no booking and only first come first serve basis. Parking is another big trouble. If you are going late then you will need park on the stree side. You can visit this place once definitely but price wise I would rate it high and question if it is worth it!