the three kinds

Having been an inhabitant of the blogosphere for over a year now, I reckon I’ve been around. The idea of maintaining a 'private' diary that the whole world had access to had me non-plussed at first. But then I realised that what I had to say about stuff, however inane, was not very different from what I didn't mind being read by the 3-4 people that would eventually visit my blog. Ramblings aside, there are some distinct types of blogs or rather bloggers you come across. My B-school education spurs me to give these categories names like "Blue-blooded Factualists", "Keyboard diarrhea verbosers" and so on but I'll show restraint.

So there are three kinds i reckon, the ones who started the whole thing called blogging by penning down their opinions and giving other information quite religiously. The information on such blogs is well-researched, more importantly, well presented and very often updated. They usually tell it like it is with scant obfuscation with personal (often vitriolic) opinions. Dependable, thats the word.

Second are those that essentially have no rhyme or reason for their existence. They often get laughably predictable in their effort to be politically incorrect. The odd post might strike a chord here and there but don't count on it. The blog is just an extension of the hare-brained thought processes of slightly twisted minds.

And finally, those that are essentially like marketing tools. Except they're selling themselves, to who?..well f*** knows! Reams and reams of print about some profound insight into humanity and relationships while all they're trying to say is how they epitomise all that's good on this planet. How they opened their hearts and emptied their bank accounts for a noble cause..sniff sniff...how quaint...jeez...talk about putting in your application for sainthood by proxy.

But then, if you've nothing better to do than try to tap into the thought processes of people you hardly know...nothing like it :)

p.s: such pseudo-intellectual gibberish can only qualify this one for that 2nd type i guess :)

hole sale

My longest break by far since making the move to the new job. Three whole days...courtesy the firm moving our customary third saturday off to this monday. I certainly am not complaining, atleast not till saturday. The weekend's been mostly relaxing with the expenditure of some quality time. S, counting the cd and the Gary Larson and C&H, I won't complain if you make it a weekly thing to give me cool stuff :)
We're in the home-stretch of my first assignment. Had what was essentially the presentation of our recommendations on friday, went well, I think. The sixty-four million dollar question I suppose will always be whether you've come up with anything that they wouldn't have thought of anyway. Don't want to overanalyze something I have scant knowledge about, so there'll be more posts once I reckon to have a surer hang of things. Will be starting on a new assignment tomorrow, will know more after the first meeting with clients.

Considering to-dos form a large part of my life these days, thought I should list some of 'em important ones...

Things I need to do in the near-ish future:

1. Figure out the business of management consulting...as in really figure it out


2. Get back to working out...regularly (this one's been part of other lists in the past...but this time I have 35 lbs of metal and two bars to vouch for me)


3. Get a half-decent car


4. Stake out agreeable residential localities in the city...no..not for potential targets to satisfy carnal desires or serial-killer tendencies but for actual places i'd like to live in


5. Read the three books I recently got (from that l'il basement store called 'The Bookworm' in a side-street in B'lore, faint mustiness and arrays of yellowed books...quite surreal)

kinky in the boardroom

Ok, so tying a thin strip of fabric (mostly silk) around my neck, with a neat knot (well, mostly and no...we're not talkin' S&M here..well not yet) with the end dangling under my chin, every day of the work week isn't exactly my idea of fun. The hour long commute each way isn't that flash either. Nor is wearing three layers with this city's humidity levels..(when one is one too many).. every once in a while because apparently, the additional layer automatically implies 'wisdom' and 'great analytical ability' and 'a huuuuuuge....ok well maybe thats tougher to imply...ford's done a better job describing the garment that endows you...Butt...and am talking one of those that make you want to reach out...and...well squeeze!...telling the top management of a company about how they should be running their organization...in their boardroom..oak-panelled walls et al...listing out a slew of things they should do/change/desist to maximize shareholder value (and believe it or not...thats not sarcasm!)...yup....thats not stuff you put on your regular weekly status report in your regular information technology services company with regular growth rates in triple figures before boarding the regular bus that takes you back to civilization. Yup...I think I could get used to that...

hurtle

First week of the month whistled by before I could even puff out my cheeks to throw a tantrum about not getting my coveted b'day gift...Ok, so maybe...just maybe, it isn't the most practical of demands to want a german-engineered high performance luxury coupe..K, S, S and V...u guys have been marked...u know why...Got back from my stint of primary research in the two southern metros...meeting umpteen organizations and some fairly senior folk in them...in some cases...THE senior person. Some insightful...some ho-hum. Got back to pressing deadlines...vada-pavs and strategy meetings...and a positively scrumptious chocolate cake delivered to office by a fittingly named "Just Temptations". Oh yeah..and also my first full-month's paycheck! after a veeery long time. Not having my bank accounts updated in the office records meant that it was a check in the literal sense and I actually had a time recalling how one goes about depositing money into an account! Halfway through the working weekend and wondering what the hell happened to the plan of scouting for a gym...getting a new phone...getting a haircut...in that order! Ok..now that the 'being a prima donna' is done with...i should get back to accomplishing things...like taking a shower for instance...A pause in the headlong rush...

what's that smell?

the fair question would be "who's that smell?!" yeah...that's what probably caused the president of the United States (Harrison Ford, yeah the real one..not Dubya) to toss the evil dude(he spoke english with a middle-eastern accent...duh!) off Airforce One after he said "Get off my plane..." So here you are, about 170 odd of you...packed like sardines in a can...the flight's delayed by the regulation 15 mins (they might as well write "departure time: 20.05 std deviation 15 mins"), been in the air for an hour during which everyone's partaken of dinner (the only reason am not making fun of the meal is the recall of the pathetic bags of peanuts/pretzels that airlines in the US hurl at you)...and then ...yup...you guessed it...someone farts. and you realize how helpless you truly are...strapped into the window seat next to a guy who really should be paying for two tickets considering the amount of space the two of them occupy...yeah..him and his protruding belly! am sure it must be the kind of thing they teach in the advanced levels of 'Torture 601' in the clandestine training rooms of the KGB or the Mossad or such arcane (but equally ruthless) organizations. your primeval survival instincts kick in and you press your face to the 'window' for some fresh air but then the plexi-glass presses back mockingly. so you do nothing but let it all dissipate into the air to be regurgitated by the air conditioning. finally you land, and you wonder how a flight thats supposed to take a l'il over an hour took almost three to get you to your destination....frikkin' air-traffic!

but its nice to be home...wouldn't even think it'd be a big deal, but then after a week and a half of incessant driving about in b'lore and chennai...it does feel nice...sigh. had read a news item a couple of years ago about how a car thief pulled a job on a swank sedan parked on a tokyo street at 7am only to be arrested 2 hours later in a traffic snarl 300 yards away...bangalore's not like that...he'd be about 100 yards away here. and chennai...barrelling down the wrong way on busy streets because the auto-driver decided to save some time, cutting in front of buses that don't look like they're used to being treated like that and millimeter precision so you're vehicle is exactly two coats of paint away from the belching exhaust of a truck...quite an art i think. serves me right for skipping the car on offer thinking it'd be quicker this way. am starting to have more and more respect for b'bay's traffic!

oh yeah...and happy b'day to me

p.s: the title is actually three doors down...cool song too...