Saturday, March 31, 2007

10 Learnings

On the eve of my birthday I thought I treat my readers with a blog. So here I go summarizing 10 things that I have learnt since I landed on this planet.

  1. Never ask a women if she is pregnant, till you see a baby popping out of her.
  2. Writing funny without being offensive is difficult. Its much easy to be funny by teasing someone!
  3. People will like you the most when you keep your mouth shut. Your good friends are those who listen to you!
  4. Not everyone wants to read what you write. If you find yourself expressing your thoughts on a e-group and no one responds, its time you start a blog :) !!
  5. Not all left handed people are talented. (Yupp, you got it right, I am a lefty!)
  6. Girls don't like my kinda guys. (Statistically, I am the only one of my kind :P) You should be able to talk about more things in life than cars and computers.
  7. Money does not buy you happiness (accepted!), but happiness does not give you food, shelter, clothing, gas and that good looking car that you keep on eying all the time.
  8. Cake in your hair is much difficult to get rid of, than the one on your face. So on your birthdays, do not resist the cake smearing routine, unless you are bald.
  9. Singing in front of a crowd of 20 with a voice like mine needs GUTS. Period.
  10. Lists are always made of numbers divisible by 5. So your list can't have 9 points, the 10th one has to be made up :) !!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Undying love..

Okay Okay!! Thanks for your concern. I know that you guys are really worried about what has happened to my dear car!! Hmm, thought I write a blog and make it clear!! Whoosh, please don't express thy sympathies any longer :) !! When I said "I do" ;) (I mean when I signed the title in DMV), I made it clear that I shall accept her as my car "In sickness and in health, in poverty or in wealth...."

It all started almost a month ago when I went to Pepboys for a regular oil change (that mundane lowly thing that everyone does once in three months!). The friendly Pepboys mechanic advised me that I need a tire change cause the tread was wearing out. Being the gullible ideal customer that I am (I hate to call myself stupid, but I guess you get the idea :) !!), I succumbed to his innocuous suggestion, and then the ordeal started.

When he raised my car to change the tires he told me that there was a leak somewhere (and the stupid me fell for it too!). Looking at my "I am an idiot" expression, he thought he could trick me into buying a service. But, you guys know how spendthrift ;) I am, I refused.

Huh... I drove away my beauty in new tires, only to realize that she was somehow getting attracted to the oh-so-well-built Hummer in my left lane. I passed it off as just another fling (for her ;)!!), only to notice that she did that even when there was no car in the left lane.

Back, I went again to Pepboys, and the friendly mechanic advised me that I get a Wheel Alignment done. Huh, and then I had to go three more times to their place for them to just fix my alignment! I did some research on the Internet and figured out that wheel alignment is done by computers (no wonder they messed it up thrice then ;) !!). Being a computer programmer myself, I decided I forgive them.

Though I had declined service from Pepboys for the "leak" that they spotted (I had heard horrid stories of how car mechanics trick you into buying multiple services from them!)., I did my own research and went to an *exclusive* transmission specialist, Aamco. I thought, they are the experts, they will really let me know if there is a leak.

Off I went to Aamco, and lo-behold they could not find a leak at all!! If this is not enough, they told me that my transmission is in serious trouble and I need to change the fluid. I remember having done that before, but the mechanic is the God, and I decided to do that again.

All said and done, now my car has new tires, got her wheels aligned and now has new transmission fluid. Not that she gave me any trouble, but I thought I spend some hard earned money on some car mechanics around my area :) !!

That's about it. Now you know, don't ever go to a mechanic if you have no problem, cause they will create one for you.....

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Protect thyself!

This is a social service blog, and if you are reading this for entertainment, this one is not for you :) !! Also if you do not stay in Uncle Sam's land (US of A), then this ain't your stuff. The two of you who are left, read on :) !!

A few days back (7th March 2007 to be precise!), I applied for a new credit card and got it approved in a shopping mall ( you know those tempting offers which give you instant cash discount and stuff just for applying!). Now, I know that owning too many credit cards would harm my credit score, but I thought that applying for just one more wont do any bad.

The card was supposed to arrive in 5-7 business days. I patiently waited for the card for 8 business days, and called up the credit card's toll free number today. And lo-behold, they had already mailed me the credit card on the 12th of March. Under ordinary circumstances, I should have received it latest by the 15th. They have cancelled my credit card now, and will dispatch a new one in 5-7 more business days :) !! The error was that my address contains a '6' and they had mistyped it to be 'G'.

I was searching for articles on Identity and Credit Card thefts online, and I have come across couple of tips for my fellow naive readers :) !! First of all, I bet everyone of you must be getting those "Pre-screened" credit card offers which promise 60 second approval and a new credit card at your door step. Under ordinary circumstances you not only ignore them, but also throw them away in your dustbin or waste paper bin.

There is this interesting blog by a person who tried to obtain a credit card by sending a torn application. Its an interesting read, and you need to give it a look.

Torn Credit Application


Also, if you do not need Pre-screened offers of credit cards, you can opt-out of receiving them by going to the following address:

https://www.optoutprescreen.com/opt_form.cgi

This is particularly important for people like me who live in the US for a short duration and are most of the time stationed in India. You do not want strangers to receieve your pre-approved credit cards once you are in India. Also you will do your bit for saving the environment by reducing the paper used for sending those applications which you anyways don't use.

And finally, sorry guys for the serious blog, I thought I help a few people by posting this message on my blog.

And now, some nostalgia for my aged friends .. a Doordarshan video...






Monday, March 12, 2007

Happy Days

Two weeks past and nothing new to write. Blogging is much more difficult than I thought it to be. The typical life of a programmer is way too sad to write blogs...

As most of you have observed recently, I have been acting like a melodramatic Hindi movie hero with a over grown beard and a droopy look in my eyes (sans the pain relieving *intoxicant* of course ;) ), a complete social recluse!

I did a little bit of soul searching yesterday and I figured out that I am going through a *feel low* phase in my life! This made me wonder about the various moods that I go through, and here I have come up with a *catch all* listing of my moods.. This will help you to figure out when to approach me and when not to :) !!!

Happiest day of the week:
As you guessed right, it has to be a Friday. No questions asked :) ... Even if I have work over the weekend, this day for sure makes me happy. The last hour in the office on a Friday is the best time of my life :) !!

Happiest day of the month:
It has to be the day my salary gets credited in my bank account. It makes me feel as if I have been rewarded for spending soo much over the previous month, that I have been given some more to spend over the next month :) !!!

Happiest day of the year:
Well this is a difficult one to pinpoint on. But this year, I can tell for sure that it was the day I landed in India, and saw my mom, dad and sis patiently waiting for me at the airport. One look, and my fictitious jet lag was gone :) !!

And for everything happy in life, there has to be something sad. The concept of yin-yang you see ;) ...

Saddest day of the week:
Monday morning. Can you imagine my state of mind when I hear the sound of my alarm at 5:20 AM on Mondays?

Saddest day in the month:
Hmm, its the day after my salary. I mean, ok, I got this salary, and they expect me to last on this for a month?! Gimme a break...

Saddest day in the year:
Undoubtedly my birthday! How can someone celebrate getting old? I mean its okay to celebrate till you are 18 (you are actually growing into an adult till then!). After that its just getting older and older... I dread my birthdays :) !!

Now I understand why I am gloomy! Its just cause my birthday is fast approaching :( !! Somebody save me!