Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Life is Good!
Had a fun-filled weekend. Hubby's birthday went well - WM's idea was brilliant (a big thanks to u!). It surprised him and that's really what I wanted. Best was the first gift - toothbrush I could read on his face when he opened it - "is this all I'm gonna get?" Then when the other gifts followed he got a hang of it and kept looking around for more.. It was like a Treasure Hunt! I insisted that he had to use each gift the same day. Evening dinner was a lot of fun .... Had called over some of his friends and made Pizzas. One of them helped me decorate the table with flowers gifts and the cake - Boy wish someone did something like this for me! I've taken some pics.. will post after developing.
Sunday Class of ISP was brilliant... it's fun implementing these things and seeing her happy and react to it .. really wish I had done it much earlier!
Life is so good at this moment and I'm so happy - I don't want this state to change!!
I've posted some new pics of Ashna on her site. They are pics of the concert she had in school last month.. so they are really recent.
Hey Blog world seems to be very quiet these days.. What's up - Hardly any new posts anywhere....
Sunday Class of ISP was brilliant... it's fun implementing these things and seeing her happy and react to it .. really wish I had done it much earlier!
Life is so good at this moment and I'm so happy - I don't want this state to change!!
I've posted some new pics of Ashna on her site. They are pics of the concert she had in school last month.. so they are really recent.
Hey Blog world seems to be very quiet these days.. What's up - Hardly any new posts anywhere....
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Any Bright Ideas out there?
Hey I need some fresh ideas on what I can do for hubby's b'day over the weekend and make it really special and different... The limitations to the ideas are that it has to be an idea that should not involve going out. He would come back from work around 8 and it's my holiday.
A fwd that I found very funny!! Can't imagine that any of these really happened!!
Notes from recruiters (Courtesy: MBA Style Magazine):
. The recruiter asks: What is your greatest weakness? The MBA responds: Kryptonite.
. The recuiter from a tobacco company asks: Do you mind if I smoke? The MBA responds: Yes, I mind. I am allergic to cigarette smoke
. Candidate said he was so well-qualified [that] if he didn't get the job, it would prove that the company's management was incompetent.
. Stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application.
. Brought her large dog to the interview.
. Chewed bubble gum and constantly blew bubbles.
. Candidate kept giggling through serious interview.
. She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to me and the music at the same time.
. Balding candidate abruptly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.
. Applicant challenged interviewer to arm wrestle.
. Asked to see interviewer's resume to see if the personnel executive was qualified to judge the candidate.
. Announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer's office.
. Without saying a word, candidate stood up and walked out during the middle of the interview.
. Man wore jogging suit to interview for position as financial vice president.
. Said if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.
. Interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions.
. Wouldn't get out of the chair until I would hire him. I had to call the police.
. When I asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around my office.
. Had a little pinball game and challenged me to play with him.
. Bounced up and down on my carpet and told me I must be highly thought of by the company because I was given such a thick carpet.
. Pulled out a Polaroid camera and snapped a flash picture of me. Said he collected photos of everyone who interviewed him.
. Candidate asked me if I would put on a suit jacket to insure that the offer was formal.
. Said he wasn't interested because the position paid too much.
. During the interview, an alarm clock went off from the candidate's brief case. He took it out, shut it off, apologized and said he had to leave for another interview.
. A telephone call came in for the job applicant. It was from his wife. His side of the conversation went like this: "Which company? When do I start? What's the salary?" I said, "I assume you're not interested in conducting the interview any further." He promptly responded, "I am as long as you'll pay me more." I didn't hire him, but later found out there was no other job offer. It was a scam to get a higher offer.
. An applicant came in wearing only one shoe. She explained that the other shoe was stolen off her foot in the bus.
. He came to the interview with a moped and left it in the reception area. He didn't want it to get stolen, and stated that he would require indoor parking for the moped.
. He took off his right shoe and sock, removed a medicated foot powder and dusted it on the foot and in the shoe. While he was putting back the shoe and sock, he mentioned that he had to use the powder four times a day, and this was the time.
. Candidate said he really didn't want to get a job, but the employment office needed proof that he was looking for one.
. Asked who the lovely babe was, pointing to the picture on my desk. When I said it was my wife, he asked if she was home now and wanted my phone number. I called security.
. She threw-up on my desk, and immediately started asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.
. Pointing to a black case he carried into my office, he said that If he was not hired, the bomb would go off. Disbelieving, I began to state why he would never be hired and that I was going to call the police. He then reached down to the case, flipped a switch and ran. No one was injured, but I did need to get a new desk. (purported to have appeared in The Wall Street Journal 1989)
Notes from recruiters (Courtesy: MBA Style Magazine):
. The recruiter asks: What is your greatest weakness? The MBA responds: Kryptonite.
. The recuiter from a tobacco company asks: Do you mind if I smoke? The MBA responds: Yes, I mind. I am allergic to cigarette smoke
. Candidate said he was so well-qualified [that] if he didn't get the job, it would prove that the company's management was incompetent.
. Stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application.
. Brought her large dog to the interview.
. Chewed bubble gum and constantly blew bubbles.
. Candidate kept giggling through serious interview.
. She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to me and the music at the same time.
. Balding candidate abruptly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.
. Applicant challenged interviewer to arm wrestle.
. Asked to see interviewer's resume to see if the personnel executive was qualified to judge the candidate.
. Announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer's office.
. Without saying a word, candidate stood up and walked out during the middle of the interview.
. Man wore jogging suit to interview for position as financial vice president.
. Said if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.
. Interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions.
. Wouldn't get out of the chair until I would hire him. I had to call the police.
. When I asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around my office.
. Had a little pinball game and challenged me to play with him.
. Bounced up and down on my carpet and told me I must be highly thought of by the company because I was given such a thick carpet.
. Pulled out a Polaroid camera and snapped a flash picture of me. Said he collected photos of everyone who interviewed him.
. Candidate asked me if I would put on a suit jacket to insure that the offer was formal.
. Said he wasn't interested because the position paid too much.
. During the interview, an alarm clock went off from the candidate's brief case. He took it out, shut it off, apologized and said he had to leave for another interview.
. A telephone call came in for the job applicant. It was from his wife. His side of the conversation went like this: "Which company? When do I start? What's the salary?" I said, "I assume you're not interested in conducting the interview any further." He promptly responded, "I am as long as you'll pay me more." I didn't hire him, but later found out there was no other job offer. It was a scam to get a higher offer.
. An applicant came in wearing only one shoe. She explained that the other shoe was stolen off her foot in the bus.
. He came to the interview with a moped and left it in the reception area. He didn't want it to get stolen, and stated that he would require indoor parking for the moped.
. He took off his right shoe and sock, removed a medicated foot powder and dusted it on the foot and in the shoe. While he was putting back the shoe and sock, he mentioned that he had to use the powder four times a day, and this was the time.
. Candidate said he really didn't want to get a job, but the employment office needed proof that he was looking for one.
. Asked who the lovely babe was, pointing to the picture on my desk. When I said it was my wife, he asked if she was home now and wanted my phone number. I called security.
. She threw-up on my desk, and immediately started asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.
. Pointing to a black case he carried into my office, he said that If he was not hired, the bomb would go off. Disbelieving, I began to state why he would never be hired and that I was going to call the police. He then reached down to the case, flipped a switch and ran. No one was injured, but I did need to get a new desk. (purported to have appeared in The Wall Street Journal 1989)
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
New Look
I customized my template and played around a lot with the colors and fonts. Here's the result. Tell me....Do you like it?
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
An Elephant and a Tiger
An Elephant and a tiger made my day yesterday and a man spoilt it all!
Ashna coloured very clumsily when I drew some shapes and asked her to colour. I realised she probably needs bigger pics with bolder lines on the boundary to do it well. So I found this site yesterday which had good printable worksheets and took a printout of an Elephant and a Tiger. You should have been there to see her excitment and she colured it amazingly well. Today I've been asked to get giraffe & a lion. It's exhilarating making kids happy and helping them progress with each step. She got so involved that she refused to eat dinner till she completed those 2 pics.. I stole them & got them to work this morning to put it up on my board.
Coming to the man now! Is it too much to expect a father to give his daughter 100% time however little it is. I love the thought of winding up quitely with a nice fairy tail or a lullaby as opposed to doing the same with with the horrible tv soap sounds and flash lights in the background. In 7 years it must have been at least 1000 times that this has been the topic of argument between us- but nothing has changed much!
It blows my head to get divided attention, and more so when you are playing with your child. Give 0% or 100% - don't timeshare specially if you spend barely an hour with her everyday. It saddens me a lot that I haven't been able to get this simple thing into his head. Tried all ways but it probably just doesn't click for long. The effect of me saying this lasts for a day or 2 and I tire bringing it up again and again. I keep getting the feeling that one day when he does realise this it will be past the time when it's really needed and the damage will be done by then. Television for him is an outlet and entertainment after a day or really hard work.. just that I feel a child is a far better source of making you happy and you contribute in turn.
Guess somethings just don't change but I'm yet hoping for them to change. I also hope I stay sane to see that change.
Ashna coloured very clumsily when I drew some shapes and asked her to colour. I realised she probably needs bigger pics with bolder lines on the boundary to do it well. So I found this site yesterday which had good printable worksheets and took a printout of an Elephant and a Tiger. You should have been there to see her excitment and she colured it amazingly well. Today I've been asked to get giraffe & a lion. It's exhilarating making kids happy and helping them progress with each step. She got so involved that she refused to eat dinner till she completed those 2 pics.. I stole them & got them to work this morning to put it up on my board.
Coming to the man now! Is it too much to expect a father to give his daughter 100% time however little it is. I love the thought of winding up quitely with a nice fairy tail or a lullaby as opposed to doing the same with with the horrible tv soap sounds and flash lights in the background. In 7 years it must have been at least 1000 times that this has been the topic of argument between us- but nothing has changed much!
It blows my head to get divided attention, and more so when you are playing with your child. Give 0% or 100% - don't timeshare specially if you spend barely an hour with her everyday. It saddens me a lot that I haven't been able to get this simple thing into his head. Tried all ways but it probably just doesn't click for long. The effect of me saying this lasts for a day or 2 and I tire bringing it up again and again. I keep getting the feeling that one day when he does realise this it will be past the time when it's really needed and the damage will be done by then. Television for him is an outlet and entertainment after a day or really hard work.. just that I feel a child is a far better source of making you happy and you contribute in turn.
Guess somethings just don't change but I'm yet hoping for them to change. I also hope I stay sane to see that change.
Monday, February 16, 2004
Weekend was fun.. mostly partying and celebrating anniversaries and birthdays of close ones. Jan/Feb/March are all heavily booked by family b'days and annivs. My birthday will mark the end of this celebration season and give our tummies a break from the high caloried creamy yummy cakes!!
We also enrolled for the Infant Siddha Programme and had the first class yesterday. So far pretty good - have also started applying what we learnt yesterday.
It's basically a simple thing - we all want to give our child the best and do a lot of things towards it. This is just about chanellizing it better and applying some simple methods. All it needs you to do is spend 9 evenings (once in a week) for these classes. Let me know if anyone reading my blogs interested and I could share the details.
We also enrolled for the Infant Siddha Programme and had the first class yesterday. So far pretty good - have also started applying what we learnt yesterday.
It's basically a simple thing - we all want to give our child the best and do a lot of things towards it. This is just about chanellizing it better and applying some simple methods. All it needs you to do is spend 9 evenings (once in a week) for these classes. Let me know if anyone reading my blogs interested and I could share the details.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Buzy day!
Been a very busy but pretty good day today! Got lot's of more things to wind up before COB but just thought I'll spare a couple of minutes and put up a post.
We had our US manager come over here this last week and I'm amazed at his schedules and how he did his best accomodating all meetings even though most meetings ran over time! He has an awesome stamina - was up in office till midnight one day and back at 8:00 AM. Most meetings required him to do a lot of talking and he's hardly ever bothered about lunch etc. or shown any signs of exhaustion! Some people are truly admirable and he's one of them! Seeing him work this way is infectious!
There's a buzz around in the company - quite a few people leaving these days.. got 2 goodbye mails just in this week and a few more are in the pipeline! About me sometimes rather most times I just love my work... and sometimes I'm really really put off - especially when I see people trying to act smart and give so much importance to non-issues that they hamper everyone's productivity! Anyway guess such people exist everywhere you go... I need to learn to see the world without my rose tinted glasses!
We had our US manager come over here this last week and I'm amazed at his schedules and how he did his best accomodating all meetings even though most meetings ran over time! He has an awesome stamina - was up in office till midnight one day and back at 8:00 AM. Most meetings required him to do a lot of talking and he's hardly ever bothered about lunch etc. or shown any signs of exhaustion! Some people are truly admirable and he's one of them! Seeing him work this way is infectious!
There's a buzz around in the company - quite a few people leaving these days.. got 2 goodbye mails just in this week and a few more are in the pipeline! About me sometimes rather most times I just love my work... and sometimes I'm really really put off - especially when I see people trying to act smart and give so much importance to non-issues that they hamper everyone's productivity! Anyway guess such people exist everywhere you go... I need to learn to see the world without my rose tinted glasses!
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Thanks!
Thanks all for your wishes to my previous post they did help!!
So there was Pravin's engagement that we had to attend the day before the interview, and the wedding was on the same day of the interview - we rushed from school to that place. I may sound like a worrier - but in the engagement there were so many people (all family) that we met who knew about Ashna's interview the next day - and in their goodwill kept telling her that she should answer all questions that the teacher will ask. Each time this happened R and me exchanged a worried glance - we didn't want Ash to get mentally psyched up by this. Imagine even if an adult is told this a 100 times he would not be in a normal state of mind the next day. But we really couldn't do much to avoid it.
We reached school 15 mins earlier, and we could see Ashna getting into her shell on seeing the crowd of children & parents. So we took her away from the crowd and tried to normalize her and that really really helped.. all credit goes to R for this idea. So we literally made her shout the way she does at home and went near the crowd only seconds before our turn. There were 3 nuns inside - 2 spoke to us and one took Ashna near her and spoke to her. Couldn't concentrate fully on what was happening between Ashna and that sister but I heard her voice and felt good! It must have lasted just 5 minutes but in the end I heard Ashna say a poem fully - though she said it really softly. I loved her for doing that - it was way above my expectations! There were some fruits to identify and stuff which I'm sure she did correctly. Even both of us stressed to the principal that this is the only school we would like to have for our child. The normal statistics is what they tried to tell us - 490 applicants 95 to be taken - how can you rely on 1 etc...
Anyway now the results of yesterdays interview is on 28th so my fingers are crossed till then! But we've done our best now it's up to them and if we don't get through we'll keep trying each year till we do!!
Gosh after we were out from the school you should have seen the "tension release" mode that I was in. Went for the wedding after that and blessed the young couple who'll go through something similar a few years down the line!!
Thanks all once again!!
So there was Pravin's engagement that we had to attend the day before the interview, and the wedding was on the same day of the interview - we rushed from school to that place. I may sound like a worrier - but in the engagement there were so many people (all family) that we met who knew about Ashna's interview the next day - and in their goodwill kept telling her that she should answer all questions that the teacher will ask. Each time this happened R and me exchanged a worried glance - we didn't want Ash to get mentally psyched up by this. Imagine even if an adult is told this a 100 times he would not be in a normal state of mind the next day. But we really couldn't do much to avoid it.
We reached school 15 mins earlier, and we could see Ashna getting into her shell on seeing the crowd of children & parents. So we took her away from the crowd and tried to normalize her and that really really helped.. all credit goes to R for this idea. So we literally made her shout the way she does at home and went near the crowd only seconds before our turn. There were 3 nuns inside - 2 spoke to us and one took Ashna near her and spoke to her. Couldn't concentrate fully on what was happening between Ashna and that sister but I heard her voice and felt good! It must have lasted just 5 minutes but in the end I heard Ashna say a poem fully - though she said it really softly. I loved her for doing that - it was way above my expectations! There were some fruits to identify and stuff which I'm sure she did correctly. Even both of us stressed to the principal that this is the only school we would like to have for our child. The normal statistics is what they tried to tell us - 490 applicants 95 to be taken - how can you rely on 1 etc...
Anyway now the results of yesterdays interview is on 28th so my fingers are crossed till then! But we've done our best now it's up to them and if we don't get through we'll keep trying each year till we do!!
Gosh after we were out from the school you should have seen the "tension release" mode that I was in. Went for the wedding after that and blessed the young couple who'll go through something similar a few years down the line!!
Thanks all once again!!
Friday, February 06, 2004
All the Best to me!
If there exists something called Good Luck - I need it!
Monday's when we are called to the school I desperately want Ashna to get into. It's a 10 minute interview of parents and the child, where the child is just shown normal pictures, colours etc. and she's supposed to name them. This seems a straight thing really.. right?
It's just that my darling baby is an extremely shy child when it comes to strangers. She becomes absolutely mum - especially if you ask her a question I have 100% confidence that she will not answer!
The school officials say the child HAS to speak!
So I have to just rely on luck!! Please pray for me .. I am very bad at compromising when it comes to my child!
Monday's when we are called to the school I desperately want Ashna to get into. It's a 10 minute interview of parents and the child, where the child is just shown normal pictures, colours etc. and she's supposed to name them. This seems a straight thing really.. right?
It's just that my darling baby is an extremely shy child when it comes to strangers. She becomes absolutely mum - especially if you ask her a question I have 100% confidence that she will not answer!
The school officials say the child HAS to speak!
So I have to just rely on luck!! Please pray for me .. I am very bad at compromising when it comes to my child!
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Like I said in an earlier post A New Year gives us a Fresh Start and the fact that it's New makes us happy and we do better things.
What if we scale this down to each day and hour - wouldn't we be able to improve ourselves, improve productivity and just be fresh all the time?
Why these thoughts today? I'll tell you... Usually I get up in such a rush - knowing that I'm a bit past 7:30 - got to get Ashna ready and all that regular rut..... I don't give a minute to think hey it's a fresh day today, what can I do to make it good.
Today for a change I got up very happy and relaxed - Courtesy my early morning dream. There was some silly gathering of all friends in the dream and all we were doing was making each other laugh. It must have been a short 5 minute dream - but it was very real and I found myself smiling when I got up in the morning and have been doing so since then!
I may not get a happy dream every morning - but at least I can choose to be happy every morning. The rest of the day will take it's flow and we meet various people, events happen which make us happy or sad. To start with the least I can do is own my morning and chooses my feelings that time which is fresh and not polluted by people and events overpowering my thoughts!
OK so this post is a reminder to myself for doing it :-)
Philosphical post eh...?
What if we scale this down to each day and hour - wouldn't we be able to improve ourselves, improve productivity and just be fresh all the time?
Why these thoughts today? I'll tell you... Usually I get up in such a rush - knowing that I'm a bit past 7:30 - got to get Ashna ready and all that regular rut..... I don't give a minute to think hey it's a fresh day today, what can I do to make it good.
Today for a change I got up very happy and relaxed - Courtesy my early morning dream. There was some silly gathering of all friends in the dream and all we were doing was making each other laugh. It must have been a short 5 minute dream - but it was very real and I found myself smiling when I got up in the morning and have been doing so since then!
I may not get a happy dream every morning - but at least I can choose to be happy every morning. The rest of the day will take it's flow and we meet various people, events happen which make us happy or sad. To start with the least I can do is own my morning and chooses my feelings that time which is fresh and not polluted by people and events overpowering my thoughts!
OK so this post is a reminder to myself for doing it :-)
Philosphical post eh...?
