Quirk-tag

These are the rules:
1. Link the person(s) who tagged you…Brocasarea
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours...
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them…
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged..
Quirks
1) Cant stand to explain something to someone more than once. If they dont get it at the first attempt...I feel that they dont need to understand it. At work it sometimes becomes an issue.
2) Dont like my hair touching the ear. Dunno why - but head starts feeling heavy if it does.
3) Have a knack of remembering things. The head is always buzzing.
4) Like connecting unrelated ideas and concepts to create a funny situation. Sometimes results in atrocious PJ's which even surprises me sometimes.
5) If I have to travel or have an early morning meeting always get up before the alarm - no matter how late I have slept or how early I have to get up.
6) Being an architect whenever I walk into a new restaurant with friends - everyone is interested in the menu - I am more interested in how it is designed and detailed and picking the best spot to sit and enjoy. Its a quirk as I walk in looking at the ceiling first.
Now tagging:
Ankur Sam Neetal Princess Mia Solitaire Xh

Are of ONE of these?

A while back we got a brochure at office to take part in the seminar "How to Deal with Unacceptable Employee Behaviour".
It was more for the principal and managers. Being a small office we really did not need to attend this as we have a culture - "Do it as you please - when you please - where you please - as long as you meet the deadlines".
Being a desinger I have never been in a corporate environment - well yes I was for a year in a corporate architecture firm here - but I quit the job...
Design or ideas cannot be time bound or specific, it is a process and a concept or idea has to be massaged, rethought and analysed many times over before one even draws a line. In short it is a continous process.
For me the shower is the best place to get best of the ideas....I sometimes forget I am showering...just waiting to get that Eureka idea like Archimedes.

So here goes a list of Unacceptable Employee Behaviour (At the end honestly comment and let me know if you are one or some of them or better still print this and ask your managers to evaluate you)
1) The Excuse Artist : Misses every deadline and goal, but always seems to be ready with a "good" excuse or to place blame and point fingers at others.
2) The Short Changer : Late to work, early to leave, "stretched" lunches, extended breaks....this person makes an art out of shortening and short-changing the workday, while leaving coworkers "holding the bag"!
3) The Intimidator : Everyone's tip-toeing around this person, lest they incur wrath and anger!. The Intimidator uses fear and bullying tactics to control coworkers and can single-handedly ruin an entire team.
4) The Gossip : The are guys who are waging a verbal warfare....everyplace, everytime....personal attacks, rumors,, carping and criticism are the tools of their trade.
5) The Clod : The master procrastinator who can come up with plenty of excuses as to why a task or a project hasn't been started. And when he does start the project it moves at snails pace..slowing everyone else down
6) The Downer : No matter what, this person is unhappy. maintains a consitently negative, stifling presence and spreads bad news.
7) The Minimalist : Apathetic and low-performing...these unmotivated workers can be counted on to give the "bare minimum". They turn up mediocre performances that are poor enough to frustrate managers but passable enough to keep them employed.
8) The Soap Star : Their continuing "soap opera" of personal problems not only hurts their own productivity, but distracts sympathetic coworkers.
9) The Itch : They need constant attention, reassurance and feedback....and take too much energy and time to manage, you often find yourself sacrificing job responsibilties to help them meet theirs.
10) The Smarty Pants : Challenges your management authority and questions management desicions and creates a harmful undersurrent of "anti management" chatter.

RGV Ki Aag - Ceedy Ka Paani - Revisited

Tis is the season of mangoes - so a kuch khatti kuch meethi (sweet and sour) story titled Alphanso @ shortceedy ------------------------------------>
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Am a bit caught up at work to post something new - so am reposting this from January of this year.
Some of the current readers have read this and had enjoyed it - so hoping you enjoy it again and many new readers can have a blast.....
Also non-Indian readers of the blog you can skip the video and read the write up instead.....it will still make sense....
Will be back with something interesting in a couple of days....thanks!!!!! ___________________________________________________________________________________ Remember this scene from the epic Sholay.
This is a scene where Jay (Amitabh) approaches Mausi to discuss a possible marriage alliance between Veeru's (Dharmendra's) and Basanthi (Hema Malini)

Just my take on it - What if it took place in the current internet era.
The basic assumption is that Veeru, Jay, Basanthi and Mausi!!! yes fan wielding Old Mausi are all internet savvy and Ramgarh is technologically connected to the world.
Mausi : Son, I have this huge pressure on my mind, I wish I can get Basanthi married. Then I will be at peace with myself and dont have to put her profile on Shaddi.com
Jay : Yes, you are absolutly right, you do have a lot of pressure on your shoulders. I have a friend though.
Mausi : But, I cant simply get her married to any stranger, can I ? It is very important to know which Tech Consulatant Company he works for, his internet browsing hours and habits and his per hour billing rate.
Jay: Per hour rate, well once he is off the bench he will start to make some money and then once he has to take care of wife and the kids he will actually go out and seek a job.
Mausi : So, it means he is does not have a job and is not looking for one!!!!!!!
Jay : No, no, where did I say that, he does sit in the internet cafe all day and keeps posting his resume.
Mausi : What, all he does is post resumes!!! What about going to these new offices that have spurted on the outskirts of Ramgarh.
Jay : Yes, Mausi, he will also do that, once he gets time in between blogging and commenting, his long chat sessions and scrapping to girls on Orkut, Facebook and MySpace.
Mausi : Scrapping girls!!!!!
Jay : Yes, Mausi, you know how these internet meeting places are. Allows for ample free speech and e flirting.
Mausi : So he is flirt!!!!
Jay : He and flirt, no, no, he simply wants to make some good friends there. But once he sees a cute profile and some nice posted pictures, what is he supposed to do? Its not Veerus fault is it?
Mausi : You are right son, he scraps women, flirts with them online, but it is not his fault.
Jay : Oh you are getting a wrong impression,.......he is very naive and straightforward.....get him married to Basanthi once and he will simply cancel all his online profiles.
Mausi : Oh!!!!! You are trying to explain this to an Old lady. Has anyone ever been able to give up his online addictions.
Jay : Mausi, you dont know him well, he is not that kinda person, once he gets married he will stop seeing porn and have live sex chats.
Mausi : Oh!!!oh!!!!.....now this was the only thing left. So he also frequents these kind of websites.
Jay : Yeah, whats wrong in that? So many people frequent these websites to increase their libido and add spice to their personal lives.
Mausi : Ok, so atleast tell me how does he manage to pay for all this when he does not even have a job.
Jay: Oh, he is smart, he has it all figured out, he is part of a group "internet fraudsters", he uses other peoples credit cards and information.
Mausi : Oh well, one thing I noticed, your friend does all the crazy things online but you still are all praises for him......
Jay: Now, now, what can I say Mausi, I always try to portray my online avatar - BigHeart. So should I consider this marriage fixed.
Mausi : FIXED !!!!! Are you crazy, I cannot marry Basanthi, to such an online deliquent. I am a real aunt not her step mother.
Jay: Sigh!!!! it is so sad, even though i tried to explain to you everything in detail....you are still refusing.

Poor Veeru !!!!!!!!!

Umm

Blogging has opened up a whole new vocabulary cabinet for me. I seldom used to chat or text, am more of a phone person - but now with the abbreviations that float in bloggerville I had to do some self study.

Thus the title of the post

"Umm" - (meaning found)-umm is a word commonly used in times of indecision.
(Also had this song to go with the post - Things That Make you Go Hmmm - C+C Music Factory - it has been disable for embedding - you can hear it here.)

There are so many abbreviations used all over that I did a search on Google just to make sure these exist and landed on this very interesting website - Urban Dictionary

Some words that I did a search on:
- LOL - this is understood as mentioned - (It's original definition was "Laughing out loud" used as a brief acronym to denote great amusement in chat conversations.Now, it is overused to the point where nobody laughs out loud when they say it. In fact, they probably don't even give a shit about what you just wrote. More accurately, the acronym "lol" should be redefined as "Lack of laughter.")
But what is "LOLSSSS" - is it someone denoting that he is an (a)sssss

- ROFL - (Rolling On Floor Laughing)
Now seriously do you guys do this. Reading a post and then commenting ROFL makes sense but please enlighten me how on earth do you type while ROFL'ing between two comments are made only probably a minute apart.

- Hmpf - (The sound one makes in response to something peculiar that has just occurred or has just been said. Most often used when irritated. Most often a natural response/reaction.)
When I read something with this word - once or twice the usage is fine...but multiple usage means that the person could have irritable bowel syndrome or might have an asthma attack

- Muah - ( the sound made by giving a kiss)
This word I love in particular, nah not because of the oratary sensation of a kiss but it reminds me of Gujjuland where an old dadi (grandmom) who if she is irritated at someone, she will clasp her hand together, make an outwardly movement and say Muah marela, nakhod jai taru!

- Hugz - (this means Hugs I guess as it was not defined)
Now are these real hugs or jadoo ki khuppi that Munnabhai proclaims....To me it keeps reminding me of diapers "Huggies" - wat to do.

- Gosh - (A word that teenage girls use in surprise,anger or sarcasm)
Evokes evil memories of my chemistry professor Mr. Ghosh.

- Argghh - (To show madness and shouting)
Do spell this correctly. If you spell it just ARRGH - it means (How a pirate agrees)

- Ahem - (The sound made when a person clears his/her throat, often interjected when speaking or writing to indicate that the next word or phrase is used ironically or euphemistically, (esp. with regard to sexual euphemisms).
This is directly from a Hindi Attorneys Verbal Palate - "Ahem" Mudda Yeh Hai Judge Sahib! dont know how it landed up here.

Well I guess I am learning and hopefully will be able to understand the comments better. Do goto the site - besides these it contains explanations of words/explitives from all over the world - you will be surprised to find many interesting meanings.

As for me I usually would prefer to SIP - (sit in peace) at a place like this -

Michigan Lake -Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

Pause

Two weeks - two major tragedies.....
May 2 - Cyclone Nargis devastates Burma (Myanmar) - killing more than 100000 people (estimated as per current report in Reuters
May 12 - An earthquake in China kills 10000 - (link)

Makes me pause and think - life is such a Conundrum.
On one hand we dream, aspire, work and bolster faith, have positive feelings and keep giving ourselves an "everything will be fine" appeasement to overcome our daily humdrum life while on the other hand nothing is in our control at all.

There might have been (in both these places and places where such tragedies have incurred their wrath before)

thousands of fathers and mothers planning for their families future......
thousands of kids with dreamy eyes.....
thousands of girls and boys dreaming of their future alliances......
thousands of students aspiring to be someone.....and so on and on......

Basically thousands and thousands of unfinished scripts that were being edited and added to daily by each and every one of those affected - are now forcefully compiled into a soon to be forgotten bound volume - to be stacked in archives of earths library - in the aisle

Natural Calamity.....

A blink, a flicker, a puff, a shake or a shrug and Mother Earth can end your happiness or misery.

My heart goes out to all these people......may god bring calm and peace to all of their lives soon......
but as I mentioned before that life is a conundrum and those of us who are still lucky to be here cant stop dreaming no matter what.....
and thus this song....
Bawra Maan (Bewitched)......

dedicated to Life.....

Back to reality

A small note: Many of you must have got an update on your blogs that I posted something with a title "TY" - it was an error by Mr. Blogger.
Was out for a small trip to Southern Texas. Drove close to 1200 miles in four days and visited San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Galveston.
Also got a chance to visit NASA SPACE CENTER near Houston. It was an interesting experience to witness a group of people are so futuristic in their approach to life. Such experiences are eye openers at the right time when we keep dwelling in the past and wasting away precious moments of life.
Before I post some pics - take a look at this video - it is hilarious and entertaining : (dunno how many have seen it)
Its from the program Britain's Got Talent - from a guy named Suleman Mirza (a Micheal Jackson impersonator but with a big Twist)....


Here are some pics:

Oasis on Lake Travis - Austin
This is the full view of the part pic I posted in the last post. Its a combination of 5 pictures joined together on Photoshop.

RiverCenter - San Antonio

RiverCenter - San Antonio

State Capitol - Austin (the squirrel in the last post was from here)

Inside the State Capitol - Austin - Central Dome

Downtown Houston

Inside NASA SpaceCenter
(sorry if this became too long - just tired from the trip and nothing else to post right now)

Still on a break

Am on a break and travelling but could not resist posting - so am posting some pics. Will be back full fledged next week.

Also added a short story THE Drive inspired while driving around.