8 December 2019

What time saving practices do you have?

The new year will soon be upon us. Which can only mean one thing – more New Year’s Resolutions (including that cheesy – “my resolution is to have no more resolutions”). Truth be told, all of us think of New Year’s as an opportunity for a “Restart”, as it were.

And usually, those resolutions start off well. Till they peter out. Research gym membership sign ups for the month of January versus any other month to get an idea for this.

So why do those goals wane? It is not like we feel they were wrong goals to begin with. Inevitably, it boils down to other priorities taking over. We could not make time for our goals.

The fallacy, in my opinion, is to take up new goals without understanding what we are going to NOT do. There are still only 24 hours in our days. Unless we stop doing something, it would be difficult to make space for the new things. It is like the Yin and the Yang.

I am sure I am going to have new goals for the new year. And for that, I need to give up on something that consumes time. Would love to hear about your experiences… what have you given up in the past to make space for your new goals? I am hoping to get some tips and ideas from what has worked for you…

Category: Reflections | LEAVE A COMMENT
6 December 2019

Do these things happen only to me?

Last night, Natasha dropped some broad hints about her Christmas gift list. Something to the effect that she would not be particularly upset if she were to receive some Glossier stuff this year. After reassuring her that we would not take it personally if she got upset :-), I had to ask myself the inevitable question any 53 year dad would legitimately ask – “What the heck is Glossier?”.

I know she is into Journalism and all that. Maybe she is looking for a Glossary??? That made no sense. So I Googled it up and had one of those “Okay boomer” moments. And then I remembered something else.

A few days back, I had seen a news item where somebody who I knew from my past had just joined as the CTO of a company called Glossier. I had been meaning to call Pawan up to congratulate her (and also find out what Glossier was). I had figured she would be too busy for me right now – so I noted it down as a new year action item.

I had a chance to work with Pawan way back in the mid 90s. A fresh graduate from UT Austin, she was an amazing professional. Over the years, she has built a sterling career spanning two different continents. Undoubtedly one of the smartest persons I know of (but not smart enough to avoid working in the same team as I 🙂 ) , she was fairly close to Sharmila and me when we worked together. Recently she has moved from being one of top executives in Amazon to Glossier.

I let Natasha know that I know the CTO of Glossier. Her text messages back opened up a sliver of a chance that she might have finally found something about her dad not to be embarrassed about.

“Actually, you know her too”, I texted her.
“NO WAY!! HOW COME NOBODY TELLS ME THESE THINGS?”, came the response in disbelief. All caps, no less!

I reminded her of a couple of times that she has met Pawan in the past (she was too young though). This morning I remembered something else. On my flight back home, I dug thru old pictures and managed to retrieve the picture below and sent it to her. With the message that..

“Believe it or not, Natasha, this picture is from when you were six months old. That dress you are wearing in this picture was gifted to you. By the same lady who is now the CTO of the company that you want your gift from this year!!”

What is the chance of that?

Life is such an incredible tapestry of rich memories and even richer relationships!!

Category: Intersection Points, My Family | 1 Comment on Do these things happen only to me?
1 December 2019

Came across an interesting chart…

This apparently is the population of the earth (in 2000) by latitude. I knew that most of the earth’s population lived in the northern hemisphere – but what I did not realize is that more than half the population live north of 27 deg North! That is even beyond the Tropic of Cancer!!! That would imply that more than half the population in the world do not experience the sun directly above their head ever!!

(Source: Radical Cartography)

Category: Musings | LEAVE A COMMENT
30 November 2019

Great airline, weather and local spirits karma

We had a fairly messy schedule – to reach the Azores islands and come back, we had to use three different airlines, seven different flights, three different countries (I am counting the autonomous zone of the Azores as the same as Portugal) and five different airports. Not a single flight was delayed or had any other issues. Every single flight was early in landing at its destination. That is some real good airline karma.

Also, we had some great luck in getting local spirits this time – we got a gin and an anis liqueur made in the Azores Islands, another anis liqueur from Porto area in Portugal and of course, some Port wine. Even the TSA folks had become suspicious. Every one of our suitcases had the note from TSA that they had to open the suitcase for inspection. But each of the bottles and the ceramic pieces made it without any damage!!

Finally, the weather Gods were super cooperative this time. The whole week was supposed to be raining in the Azores and Portugal. For some reason, for every day of the week, the weather forecast would change the previous night to no rain and full sunshine. That followed us the whole trip!!!

We can do with some luck like that. Of course, if not, we had some spirits with us to keep our errrr… spirits up!

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT