MyJottingz

On Twitter now

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:07:00 +0000

Well, finally on the Twitter band wagon. Due to time constraints posting blog entries is really difficult so jumping to the 140 character variety for now.

http://twitter.com/myjottingz

Microblogging @ Tumblr

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:53:00 +0000

Since time is a constraint to blog regularly, I am resorting to micro blogging using tumblr which I find is very convenient to use.

Check it out http://myjottingz.tumblr.com

How to make yourself unsearchable through Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:52:00 +0000

If you are like me, you are paranoid about identity theft etc. Also you want to keep your social network private from your professional life.

Now imagine this you enter your name like this "first name last name facebook" into Google and immediately you see your facebook picture and your friends show up.

The reason for this is the default setting in Facebook makes your profile viewable by EVERYONE. Yes Everyone under the sun.

So to turn it off go you need to take a few minutes editing your profile.

Go into Privacy Settings and explicitly say No to "Searchable".

Now try searching yourself or your friends again, and its going to say "Sorry, Page cannot be Found"

Technorati Tags: facebook, privacy, web

"It will be alright"

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:52:00 +0000

(This was forwarded to me by a friend, author is unknown. )

This is one of my favorite sayings. Whenever I am coaching someone in a distressing situation, I quietly remind them that it will be alright. This reassurance often gives people the hope to prevail through whatever is getting them down.

When someone is overrun by a particular situation, it is generally because their focus is too narrow. All the concentration is aimed at the "problem" while ignoring the bigger picture. It Will Be Alright transfers the attention to a time in the future when everything is resolved. It breaks the emotional paralysis to allow one to take the action necessary to move forward.

Consider any situation in the past that you felt was terrible. Are you alright today with it? Chances are, short of a terminal illness, every situation was resolved and is no longer an issue in your life. Even if it did not work out to your liking, it still is in the past. The only way that it affects you is when you think about it. The rest of the time it is a distant memory.

People often make the mistake of making problems permanent. They are not. Rather, they are temporary situations that will be overcome. If the checking account is overdrawn, someday there will be a positive balance in there. If you are overweight, you need not be heavy forever. Alone? That does not mean that you will not meet the person that you will spend the rest of your life with. Any circumstance you are presently experiencing is a temporary situation and should be treated as such.

The old saying "down the road we will laugh about this" applies. Instead of waiting until a later time, laugh about it now. Tell yourself that no matter what is occurring, it will be alright. Practice faith in this statement in all that you do.

The key is action. However, often, before we can take it, we need to break the emotional stranglehold that we put ourselves under. Pumping a degree of hope into a hopeless situation frees us to take the necessary action to move forward. Remember this when you feel circumstances in your life are getting you down.

It Will Be Alright. Every problem, situation, or circumstance that you are now experiencing will be far in the past at some point in time. The overcoming of present challenges makes us stronger in the future. It is this growth that enables us to handle bigger events as time progresses. View these situations from this perspective and you will get greater results in your development.

Technorati Tags: Life, personal development, inspiration

Yahoo Mail .. now offline through Zimbra

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:41:00 +0000

Yahoo Mail just has a way to get you back . Just when I was tired of looking at the tiny email window flanked on the right by ads and the navigation on the left.

I had almost stopped using it in favor of GMail & Hotmail both of which you can access through an email client like Outlook .

In comes Zimbra into the picture, after being acquired by Yahoo , you can download the email client and read your yahoo mail offline.

Not only this the Zimbra client allows you to set up accounts for GMail, AOL and any other POP/IMAP accounts which is pretty cool!

You can download it here

Technorati Tags: yahoo,zimbra,email client

Airline industry like a movie theatre

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Your market expert said that the airline industry was like a movie theater. You buy a ticket to watch the movie. If you want popcorn that is extra. So what would a movie theater look like if run by the airlines? I would never know the price of a movie ticket and while I pay $12, the family next to me pays $4. When I get to the theater, they have no seats, or there is a line of 200 people waiting to get in. The movie won't start on time and the air conditioner doesn't work. And then when you get out of the theater, you car is gone and you have to walk home. When you call the movie theater about your car, they tell you they are not responsible for lost cars. Next week, you go back to the theater and they now charge $25 to park you car. You come back out two hours late and despite paying the parking fee, your car is gone again. I would gladly pay more money for baggage handling if there was actually an improvement in service. But here in Detroit, despite a new $1 billion terminal, you can wait an hour or more after you land before you get your luggage. After spending years flying, I dread going to the airport. Today, I either drive, take the train, or telecommute.

An NPR listener has this very apt analysis of the airline industry.

Tags: airline, economic, pricing

The Hot Chocolate Story !

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:07:00 +0000

(A friend of mine sent this to me, I think its worth a read)

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking
at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.

During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups-porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:

'Notice that all the nice looking; expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups...

And then you began eyeing each others cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the
quality of life you have. Someti mes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate we have.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything.

They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Thank the Lord for your blessings in 2008.

And enjoy your hot chocolate!

My Favorite Firefox addons

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:03:00 +0000

If you are a great fan of Firefox you have to use these extras, here is my list:

Customize Google : You know how all the ads on the side are annoying when you google something. Well this addon removes Ads in your search and also shows links to other search engines such as Yahoo, Ask ,Live Search etc.

Read it Later: You come across a lot web pages which you want to save for later when you actually have the time to read it.. This provides the shortcut to having to specifically book mark each link. Just click on the icon and boom it saves it in the Read it Later Bookmarks folder.

Foxmarks : If you work across different computers this one is for you. After you save all those links you need to be able to access them on different machines too. This add on enables you to synch up your bookmarks.

Shareaholic : A one stop way to share your link with a whole lot of social bookmarking websites like Digg, Delicious, Stumbleupon etc.

Better Gmail2 If you really want to use Gmail efficiently, this one really packs a punch with all the best Greasemoney scripts packed into one nice extension.

IE Tab: There are some websites who simply refuse to get away from Internet Explorer, this is the solution for them. This add simply allows you to render a page like IE would.

Forecastfox : Weather forecasts in your status bar without having to download a desktop weather forecast application

FireFTP : If you are a techie and you need to move files across servers then this one's for you. Very simple FTP client inbuilt into the browser saves you the hassle of opening another application.

Tags: Firefox, addons, tech, browser, utilities

Change the margins & save some trees

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:33:00 +0000

A project founded by Los Angeles-based actress and writer Tamara Krinsky advocates a simple change that anyone can believe in: By altering the printing margin preference for Microsoft Word documents from the standard 1.25 inches to 0.75 inch, Americans can save a whole lot of paper -- and trees, and money.

The result is an online petition petition at http://www.changethemargins.com to get Microsoft to reduce the preset margins in Word. To date already 2000 people have signed up.

Via : The Small Margin Movement

Free Phone Calls to the USA or Canada

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Calling the US is always expensive but www.ooVoo.com is offering free calls to the US & Canada through the month of March.

How to test your internet speed

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:53:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered how fast your internet connection is. Does it even come close to what your ISP advertises.
There are several websites which help you test your speed. But my favorite is the Speed Test from speakeasy.net
You have to choose a server which is near your geographical location and immediately the tool calculates not only your download speed but also your upload rate.

Link : www.speakeasy.net

Save the Ocean, bag the plastic

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:22:00 +0000

The average American discards hundreds of plastic bags every year. Many of them will end up in the ocean, where hungry sea turtles often mistake them for food.

You can start making a difference for the oceans right away by helping reduce the amount of plastic bag waste.

And for joining in this cause you can even get a reusable Oceana Chico Bag.

Donate Rice by playing a word game

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:16:00 +0000

At FreeRice.com, you can "donate" 10 grains of rice to the needy simply by choosing the right answer to a word definition problem. Each correct answer results in another donation

FreeRice.com is the creation of 49-year-old American computer programmer John Breen, and is the sister site of Poverty.com, launched in January 2007 with a counter showing one person dying of hunger every 3.5 seconds. Breen is no stranger to such programs, having created The Hunger Site in June 1999.

As to who foots the bill for the food being donated, the site says: "The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen." As more people play the game, the site racks up more advertising revenue, which in turn is converted into food donations for the hungry.

Via : Urban Legends Reference Page

Easy Disposable Email

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 22:30:00 +0000

You know how you have these websites which force you to enter your email address to read any content.
And once they get your email address you're sure to be spammed with junk email forever.

Well now you do not have to give your personal email address anymore. 2prong.com provides you an email address which you can use.

And you have to nothing but simply load the page and it copies the new email to your clipboard.

They even provide a bookmarklet for Firefox which you can drag to your bookmarks on the tool bar. That's neat.

Gmail has enabled IMAP

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:48:00 +0000

Why is this great news? Simply because with IMAP you can read your email through multiple email clients like Outlook & Thunderbird and unlike POP mail you do not have to worry about synchronizing your mail on different email clients. For those who need more on POP versus IMAP question click here

I am still waiting however, for my personal email to show the IMAP settings.

For more details : Gmail Supported IMAP Client List

The Law of the Garbage Truck

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:33:00 +0000

A good friend of mine emailed this to me :

How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you're the Terminator, for an instant you're probably set back on your heels.

However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly he can get back his focus on what's important.
A learned lesson - in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened.
I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, and I mean without warning, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded and missed the other car's back end by just inches.

Here's what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. How do I know? Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face.
Now, here's what blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage,full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them,they'll dump it on you.When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You'll be happy you did. I guarantee it.

So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck." I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on thestreets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore."
Well now "I see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.
One of my favourite Football players of all time, Walter Payton, did this every day on the football field. He would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground after being tackled. He never dwelled on a hit. Payton was ready to make the next play his best. Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses.
Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks takeover their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
Here's my bet. You'll be happier. I guarantee it.

Tips on Saving Time in your Daily Life

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:32:00 +0000

Dumb little man has some interesting tips on how to save time
Here are some that I really liked

Prepare as much as you can to make mornings stress free. Set out clothes. Have bags packed and by the door. Make your lunch and have your breakfast chosen and partially prepared. Have a travel coffee mug ready. Put the coffee in the coffee maker.

Don't put your car keys or cell phone in a different spot each night after work. Choose a spot and make it a habit. There is nothing more frustrating in the morning than looking for the stuff you need. You WILL go nuts if you go through a scavenger hunt every single morning.

Wake up 15 minutes earlier and prepare breakfast instead of waiting in line and paying extra at the coffee shop.

For more on these see 35+ Spectacular and Practical Time Saving Tips

Friday Edition

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:15:00 +0000

Vivek Sharma talks about India's Twenty20 quarterfinal win and coming through in a crunch (@ Desicritics.org)

Amit Varma has this curious story about a couple who had online affairs only to discover that their online beaus were themselves. Love gone wrong in 2007 (@ Indiauncut)

And finally Amit Agarwal has a cool way to find out if your computer is connected to the web without your knowledge(@ Digital Inspiration)

How an IT guy became a script writer

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:35:00 +0000

The interesting thing about Jaideep is that at no point does he say,"I always wanted to write Bollywood films." But he did take different bends in the road which eventually led him there.

Firstly, he quit the engineering-IT way of life pretty early to do 'something creative' - in advertising. I am sure when he made that leap of faith he would have suffered a temporary loss of income (trainee copywriters are never paid as much as IT types!).

When he stumbled upon scriptwriting, he pursued it. And became a student without a 'teacher'. The vast resources of the internet are available to all of us, but how many use them in the way he did?
Then, at some point Jaideep quit advertising to work independently

Rashmi Bansal has a great post on Jaideep Sahni the script writer of Chak de India, Khosla ka Ghosla & Company.

Here are Jaideep's interviews in the Sunday Express and India FM

Via - Chuck de, India

Do you have Absolute Pitch?

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:01:00 +0000

Those who are into music will relate to this.

Just as people recognize colors (which of course is pretty normal), some lucky ones have the ability to recognize a musical note upon hearing it.
e.g. If a note on a piano was 'E' they can instantly recognize it.
Of course good musicians are able to do this naturally, therefore they are able to play a song 'by ear' as they say or even tune a guitar without a tuner.

NPR has this story.

Also Wikipedia has a whole lot of info on Absolute Pitch

Myspace layouts create a millionaire

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:09:00 +0000

Ok I know thats a very dramatic title but it's true.
A teenager gives away myspace layouts free and by the power of google ads makes so much money that she can afford to drop out of school, buy a house etc. Read the entire story it's inspiring.

Via Girl Power - Whateverlife.com

Slow Down Culture

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:50:00 +0000

My brother forwarded this to me and I thought it was worth sharing:

"An interesting reflection. : Slow Down Culture

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalization processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned
companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means
taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you
while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world. "

Wikipedia has and some more insight on this.

Google Docs Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:48:00 +0000

For those who have still not woken up to Google Docs, it's like a web-based free Google version of MS Office. It's online so you can access it from any computer and it is catching up with features to the real Office

If you have a google account, you can get to it by clicking "more" on the Google Home Page or simply go to http://docs.google.com/

Amit Agarwal has some cool tricks on using Google Docs.

Email documents to an email address : Since Google Docs provides you with a secret email address - any document or email that you send to this address would be save a new document in Google Docs which can edited or shared later.
Convert Html Webpages or Word Docs to PDF which is as simple as "Save As PDF"

For more on this check out How are you using Google Docs ?

Labor Day Edition

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:26:00 +0000

Made some changes to my blog this weekend.
The header banner has been changed. I have also added this cool feature at Aide RSS which analyzes your blog and actually rates your top posts based on how well they were received. You can see my top posts on the right hand side.
Then I have also added my Del.icio.us link roll it is at the bottom on the right.

And lastly I have changed by RSS feed to a full feed from FeedBurner. In case you are wondering what is an RSS Feed? Read my post on what is an RSS Feed.

There has always been a debate where a lot of folks leaned in favor of the partial feed but the tide is changing towards full feeds and I thought I should do the same.

And as always look forward to any comments or suggestions that you as a reader might have toward making this a better blog.

Friends at work you should not ignore

noreply@blogger.com (C.G.) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:03:00 +0000

In terms of friends, you might think the most important people are your team members and sucking up to the boss, but there are a few key people who are often ignored and could make your job easier.
These mission critical people are the ones you should be sucking up to...the receptionist, IT support, the mail guy, and the maintenance guy. When you have these people on your side, suddenly life is good.
And if they don't happen to like you...well, life can suck.

Wired's How To Wiki has some advice on who are the people at work you can't afford not to be friendly with.

Via - Make Friends at the Office Who Really Count