31 August 2013

Her final word…

Nikita and I climbed to the top of the Stone Mountain this morning. After climbed back down, we sat down in the shade, took out our food from the backpack and rested for a while. Trying to gauge her future interest in climbing up a few more neighboring mountains, I asked “What do you think?”. Pat came her reply – “When I grow up, I am pretty sure I will not be a mountaineer” πŸ™‚

30 August 2013

This is too funny…

So there I was early morning at a regional airport in Florida waiting at the gate for the boarding to start on one of those tiny planes to take me to Atlanta. Eventually, the lady at the counter came on the PA system and announced pre-boarding. As always, anybody who needed a little extra time to board was invited to pre-board.
And the entire gate area got up in unison from their seats and started slowly shuffling towards the boarding door – walkers and wheel chairs in tow.
And there I was …. sitting all alone … waiting for my turn…
πŸ™‚

29 August 2013

Puzzle – silly mistake

My flight is very early morning tomorrow and a very short one. I intend to sleep in flight. So, here goes the puzzle for this week’s trip.

Somebody wrote

62 – 63 = 1

Obviously it was a silly mistake. Here is a question for you. Can you move (to a different place) only ONE of the digits above and make the equality hold true?

28 August 2013

Brandon Wilson!!!

Memorable evening with Brandon Wilson! We sat in cubicles next to each other in an earlier job. He ran Finances for my business (in other words, kept me honest πŸ™‚ ). Above all, he was my friend!! I remember spending quality evenings after work discussing life – how to not forget the perspective that money is an output, not the end (the company we worked in was an immensely successful startup that went public); how to realize what we are really good at – what kind of work makes us truly happy. Certainly set a lot of direction in my life. And he had just crossed into the thirties then!!!
It was great to see how he has continued with success in his career path. But it is his humble beginnings that stand out. Mother worked in post office, dad either farmed or was in construction in a small place called Muleshoe (west Texas) (as he said “are we happy at work” was not an interesting question for them). Brandon’s first job was as a call center rep. Worked there for six years!!! It is amazing to see how he has kept himself grounded in humility, good values and long term view of the road in spite of the phenomenal success he has had career wise!!
This evening was no different from those evenings. I again learnt a lot from him!!

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25 August 2013

Walmart trip

With nothing better to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to accompany Sharmila to the Walmart store where she needed to pick up something. Now, I have not been to a Walmart store in ages – so was not sure what to expect. But once there, I quickly commented to her that “Walmart must the #2 place (Niagara Falls being #1) for all the Indian diaspora to congregate on a Sunday afternoon”. πŸ™‚

With an air of authority that can come only with years of experience, she informed me that Walmart is #3. Evidently, Costco is #2 πŸ™‚

I would not be surprised if we find a couple of call centers near the back offices of Walmart (or Costco) outlets one of these days πŸ™‚