Sand Dollar

Like US dollar, Canadian dollar, Singapore dollar, Australian dollar, this is:
Nature's own dollar! Though its a lil bit chipped, its worth is much more than all those $!

Luckily I snapped it before trying to pick it up from the beach. It started crumbling - literally, like many currencies - figuratively! Rattle rattle rattle...

Hybrid pets!

First there were space saving, modern furniture, targeted for more human comfort and the innovation is reaching beyond utilities and productivity tools. Yes, Cat/Dog Hybrids Become Popular Pets (link given at the end) post gives a run down on how this type of craze for comfort would end up in "designing" the pets. Though its a an imaginary post meant for 2028, this might ring a bell to someone who would make it a reality!

Cat/Dog Hybrids Become Popular Pets

Cloudy affair

See a shy fair maiden or rather fair old lady (depends on your taste!!!) followed by dark fella!


Suddenly the lady is trying to run away...


Now, the guy doesn't give up, he too starts the chase!

Path to clouds

Be it water way or...


Road way, my dream is to reach the clouds^^

These are taken in Pangkor islands, Malaysia.

State of the art technology based on antiques?

How can you expect to run DVD on your old CD player?
Well, agreed that it is not a logical question at all.

But, is it logical to expect that the latest browser based applications should run on low RAM, 10 years old, next to dead machines?
I ask this to myself quite often and I feel its an unexplainable pain:(

Can webtop replace desktop?

Excerpt from The future of desktop (link for this article is given at the end of this post):

Most other features of the future desktop will be commodities - but intelligence will still be difficult to provide, and so it will be the last remaining frontier in which competing Webtop providers will be able to differentiate their offerings.

Again am reminded of my favorite quote "Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"! Reason = when we dont know how to use something, no matter how advanced the technology is, it becomes useless!

Will webtop replace desktop?

When we are still new to web 2.0, the media is full of talks about web 3.0, where a lot of discussion is going on the concept of webtop.

My understanding on these two items:

Desktop refers to the data stored on a computer, locally. For e.g., all the data stored in your C or D drives of your computer are considered as your desktop items.

Webtop refers to the data stored on the web under unique user ID!

Now, the hype about the webtop is that all your data is mobile and can be accessed from anywhere like your mails.

And the feature that irks me most is that when my information is stored in two different IDs, am I supposed to log in to two different IDs and then access information? In these situations, am I access ing multiple webtops?

But, I like the google desktop, which allows me to do stuff on my local as well as on the web. Anyway, I like this kind of hybrid "deskwebtop "!?

Will follow and see how the webtop concept emerges.

Your two cents on this concept, please?

The future of desktop

Experience - an irony!

Happened to read this quote today:

"Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment."

Ironically, I was reminded of "Chicken first or egg first"!?

In any industry, experience is highly valued. Said that, now read the quote again.

Does it mean that people with experience have made a lot of bad judgment?
If so, then how can they make good judgment or what kind of experience can they have?

Sounds like ranting, right?

Well, since am in a positive mood, I can accept the quote in the sense that "experience comes from learning, applying and understanding something."

Wavy clouds

Clouds trying to duplicate the waves! Yea, my imagination is working overtime and I can see golden boat tearing the darkness behind the palm trees!

Parking trouble

Funny incident, but not at the time it happened though:)

Round about, 3, 6, 9, 12 o'clock cuts were all confusing to me, these were yet another slang that I came across. At home I was used to calling it as "roundtana" left, second or third cut.

Once we had to drive to a new area and it so happened that I had to come back on my own. Well, as usual I thought I knew where my car is parked. But, after coming to the lot my car was missing! At first I panicked, but then it dawned to me that I was standing at the wrong side of the round about. To add to my bewilderment, this particular round about had 6 cuts instead of the normal 4!

Like mad I started walking in the hope of finding where I had parked. At one junction there was no pedestrian walk and the traffic was heavy. To my relief I saw a traffic police on motor cycle coming towards my direction and to seek help, I waved at him. Guess what, he waved back at me and just zoomed away:):)

All are sustained on a Vegetarian diet

As a vegetarian since birth, I was attracted by this title, which I came across in an Indian veggie restaurant, in Singapore. Though the photo dint come out well, I still think its worth to post...

Difficulties of being a vegetarian

Difficult? Not because of being vegetarian, but for trying to explain why I am:)

Whenever there is a talk on food, be it with family and friends or colleagues, always there comes a question, what are you going to have? Of course, good food! Then, a volley of questions and surprised expressions are thrown. Here goes my answer for those:

Hey, aren't you bored with eating veggie?
No at all:)

Veggie, aik cattle food!
Thatz your view, and I can't help you!

You are missing the delicacies!!!
No thanks. I can't consider dead carcass as delicacy. My attitude!?

Don't you get bored with eating just veggie? You don't have any variety, right?
Poor you, for not knowing the veggie dish varieties:)

Must be difficult for you!
Yes. Difficult to answer, and not to have vegetarian diet:)

First time, when I saw skinned chicken laid on the butcher's table, somehow I was reminded of a newborn baby and when I told this to my kid, even she refused to eat chicken for a while!

Adventures on road

In Kuching, on my first drive, I was in the middle lane and a car in front of me was too slow! Out of irritation, I honked and then only I realized that few of the drivers were looking at me.
Yea, the major difference between home and Kuching was that there are no honks on road! Drivers are very polite and give way. What a way to live:)

But the life style is a bit too slow for me and in few months it started getting on my nerves as there was nothing much I could do.

Getting lost
Usually on Fridays therez a long lunch break, and on the second Friday after I started working, I went out to do some shopping on my own, assuming that I can come back to work using the regular route. It so happened that there was a road block on the way back and I had to take diversion. Here starts the adventure!

Am not very good in directions, so with guess work I started driving and went up a bukit (hill) imagining that I would reach office. To my surprise it led me to a high way and the sign boards were not familiar. I kept driving in the hope of finding my way. By then, I was lost for almost 45 minutes and suddenly I saw a sign board Ke Kuching (To Kuching)!! Yea, just then realized that  I was out of the city.

Furious clouds

They seem to be furious about something! Happened to meet them on the way back from work.

Happy clouds

To celebrate the azure clear sky, clouds are warmly welcoming each other with a hug!



Storm getting cleared and these friends tell me that after all the troubles, definitely bright and cheerful moments will give us warmth and life:)

Clouds with Silver Lining. Shows that after a dark depressing period there is hope and shine.

Clouds and Moods

Any time of the day watching clouds transports me to where I dunno, how to describe this feeling? Ecstatic? Happy? Crazy? whatever it is, I like and love to gaze at those majestic beings:)

In my childhood I used to enjoy lying down in the open and talking to clouds. when I mentioned about this to someone, I was told I must be nuts:p After that incident I didn't dare to talk about this to anyone.

Later it has become my hobby to capture fantastic designer clouds and now I dare to share:)

I've caught my beauties from my terrace, near sea shores and even while I drive!

Delicacy

In a neighborhood organic restaurant, we had cendol, which is a local delicacy made of scrapped ice, mixed nuts, beans and kind of noodles. Usually, they add palm sugar as sweetener, but here they had mixed honey and the flavor was unique:)

More feathers added to my wizard's hat!

Lack of resources and time constraints I've been asked to do the requirements for some of the CRM related stuff. My first feather after a long time!

At first I was hesitant to take up the business related research. But then on the documentation front the approach is not firmed and it looks like it might be dragging, so this research comes as a relief.

I remembered an Indian proverb and its translation is "Laugh when misery hits". Practically am doing it now:p

Then comes the next feather in two days!! Then comes the next assignment, which is to do the global changes in the XML GUI definition files!! Well, now I'll be learning more on XMLs. This is a great opportunity too. See now, I'm so matured and think positive:):)

Spammers Vs Junkies

Getting junk and spam mails are two different things. To an extent I can accept junk mails like marketing services or products to some extent.

But the spammers, who send, out of the world mails asking for identity and inviting to be a part of claiming unclaimed money is intolerable. Can't imagine how could they do send such offensive mails.

Learning curve of an expatriate!

It has been few years since we left home. As usual thoughts keep flooding about the early days, when we landed in Kuching, Borneo - East Malaysia. Like typical new commers, the striking difference was the slang and the cost of living.

Slang

At home, when we accept to do something, we generally say ok/yes/will do. Here they say "can"! So at first I was taken aback and was not sure how to react:)
Cost of living

When we went for shopping the first thing we used to do was convert the prices to home currency and keep wondering why is it so expensive. When I was slowly recovering from this syndrome, our friends/colleagues who were from our country started commenting that we do not know the value of money, whenever we bought some thing like even 1 kg of tomato!

Making Friends
After a year we moved to Kuala Lumpur (KL), East Malaysia. By then we dint know anyone in KL and initially we stayed at the uni campus guest house. It was term break and so no transport was available to go out. Then through the cleaner lady, we got introduced to a cabbie, who took us out for buying food. He had promised to come back in a couple of days and help us in finding an accomadation. It so happened that on the third day the cabbie couldn't come, out of no choice we walked all the way to the faculty, which was few Kms away in hope of finding someone who could guide us. Unfortunaltely, we couldn't get any directions and with heavy heart we started to walk back.

Even after all these years I consider it as a gift to us, yes on that day a van crossed us and in minutes it stopped. Then a man walked towards us with a friendly smile and told that just few minutes ago he had heard about us through a lab technician. He offered to send us back or to any place we wanted to go. At first we hesitated and then we agreed to go with him, provided he accepts to have lunch with us. He too agreed and thatz how we got to know him. He helped us to find house and then in buying car, basically get settled. All, at no monitory benefit!

Until now I wonder, if I could be so helpful to a total stranger, but in my own way I try to help expat friends who come here, as a good will to the GOOD friend who helped us:)

Why do I blog?

How often have I argued with my friends about the concept of blogging?

AT times I've been critical about people who write day to day activities. For a while these type of blogs are interesting to read, something like sneaking into other person's personal dairy! Once you know the pattern of these blogs the interest to read such posts starts waning!

Instead of creating yet another journal, here, I will blog on topics that capture's my fancy:) The first one is:

To blog or not to blog

Though am a writer by profession with a lot of passion, am not yet an ardent blogger. Recently I've been pondering as to why do a lot of us blog.

Some professionals, that I've noticed use their blogs to present their views on new trends, tools, ideas, issues etc., They also share useful resources in their blogs. These bloggers are usually followed their own community.

Noticed that some of the professionals, especially where written communication plays a key role, use blog to build a portfolio, which would help them to move forward.

The most intriguing part is to find the reasons behind the tendency of non-professional bloggers! Then I tried to come up with few reasons which I'd like to keep track and see how it shapes up.

• Tendency to pour out ones feelings
• No time to meet up friends and folks personally, so use it to keep abreast
• Just use it like a daily log book
• Sense of achievement
• Satisfaction that comes from airing out opinions

Especially, with Gen nexters blogging everything that happens to them and around them. Sometimes this tendency is like interfering in a third person's privacy. It's alright to mention or quote another person's personal stuff as long as they don't mind...but am wondering, if this is the case always?