Monday, December 10, 2007

[Original]: Review of Manorama - Six Feet Under


Summary: Slow movie, but liked it.
Cast : Abhay Deol, Raima Sen, Gul Panag, Sarika, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Director: Navdeep Singh


Satyaveer or SV (Abhay Deol) is a government engineer leading a drab and dreary existence in a small town in Rajasthan. He has a nagging wife (Gul Panag) who is frustrated by his lack
of success. Abhay's real passion is writing detective fiction. He writes a novel called Manorama that flops badly.

A mysterious lady (Sarika) with the same name as the novel comes into his life. She asks him to spy on her husband, a local and powerful politician (Kulbhushan Kharbanda). From
then on his life gets caught into a maze of mysteries - big and small.

Sarika gets murdered. Then it turns out that Sarika is not the politician's wife. The politician has an illegitimate daughter who is demanding that he recognize her. She and her boyfriend (the politician's personal doctor) are brutally murdered. Abhay is threatened by a couple of goons working for Kulbhushan for some photographs.
A cop (Vinay Pathak) who is Abhay's brother-in-law, is his only source of help, and even he can't do much as the politician is powerful.


Raima Sen is the murdered daughter's room mate. She and Abhay are subject to many twists and turns as the story unfolds.

The obvious questions -
1. Who was Sarika? Why was she murdered?
2. What is the link between the murders of Sarika and that of the illegitimate daughter?
3. What is in the photos?


The suspense is good but not outstanding - all questions are reasonably guessable while watching the movie. But what I liked was the simplicity and realism of the movie. Right down to Abhay's unpolished shoes, there has been a conscious effort to make sure everything is as real as possible. The dry and arid desert was used as a very good metaphor for Abhay's dull
existence.

The film pays attention to the relationships between Abhay and different characters - Gul, Raima and Vinay. No songs. It is more like an art film than the usual fare.


Performances:
Vinay Pathak has some of the best lines, but still has too small a role to make a big impact. Raima Sen is good.
Gul Panag did the nagging act well.
Kulbhushan - as good as ever.
Sarika - competent (but again has a pretty small role).

Abhay Deol is the main character and he does justice to the role. I had not liked him in some of
his earlier performances, but now he has moved to the +ve side for me.



Negative points:
1. Slow pace.
2. Gaps in writing as far as scenes or continuity is concerned.


Overall, worth a watch.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Windows: Your computer may randomly play Classical Music

Microsoft does its very best to entertain you as well as improve your "class".
Classical music on your PC:

Microsoft Link: Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Beware of Garbage Trucks!™

Very nice article.
From this link : " Beware of Garbage Trucks!™ - The Law of ...

Beware of Garbage Trucks

By David J. Pollay

How often do you let other people's nonsense
change your mood?

Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter,
curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day?
Unless you're the
Terminator, for an instant you're probably set back on your heels.
However,
the mark of a successful person is how quickly one can get back their
focus on what's important.

Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. I
learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened.


I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for
Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden,
a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver
slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just
inches!

The driver of the other car, the guy who
almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad
words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was
friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car
and sent us to the hospital!"

And this is when
my taxi driver told me what I now
call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

"Many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of
disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And
if you let them, they'll dump it on you.
When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it
personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
You'll be
happy you did."

So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage
Truck." I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me?
And
how
often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home,
on the streets?
It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it
anymore."

I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the
movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead People." Well, now "I
see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop
it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile,
wave, wish them well, and I move on.

One of my favorite football players of all
time, Walter Payton, did this every day on the football field. He would jump up
as quickly as he hit the ground after being tackled. He never dwelled on a hit.
Payton was ready to make the next play his best.

Good leaders know they have to be
ready for their next meeting.

Good parents know that they have to
welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and
parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the
people they care about.

The bottom line is that successful people do
not let Garbage Trucks take over their day.

What about you? What would happen in your
life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?

Here's my bet. You'll be happier.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning
with regrets. Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who
don't.
Believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance ,
TAKE IT! If it changes your life , LET IT!

Nobody said it would be easy… they just
promised it would be worth it!

____

I have sometimes wasted my mental CPU
cycles, trying to analyze my interaction with some people who were simply
unloading their garbage.

Of course, like other inspiring thoughts, it
needs to be applied judiciously. This is not a prescription to ignore feedback
from others when we don't like it. Or to be insensitive to another's plight.
Just to move on and spend energy on the next step forward.


Monday, November 19, 2007

[Original]: Review of Saawariya


It is now too late to save many people (including myself), but here's my review of Saawariya.

1. The title should have been SaBOREiya.

The movie is amazingly boring. At no point of time did I feel interested in what was going on.
The predominant thought that I during the movie had was regarding the money we wasted on tickets.



2. The main characters are a demented couple.
Neither of them has much logic to offer. Now love is beyond logic and all that, but still one is supposed to have some logic at all times.
Ranbir Kapoor has a "boxing your way out of grief" theory. Sonam Kapoor breaks into demented laughter from time to time. She has fallen in love with Salman – absolutely no reason given other than the fact that he stayed at her home. Instant coffee, and now Instant Love!! Show up at a girl’s doorstep during rain, grimace and stare at her, and win her heart!!

Both of the actors (Ranbir and Sonam) seem to be decent in acting. But the script and the dialogues that are given to them are so pathetic that they can't do anything. If both of these folks want to make a mark in the Indian Film Industry, I suggest they stay as far away from Sanjay Leela Bhansali as possible.



3. The side characters try to save the movie, but fail.
Zohra Sehgal (good as always) and even Rani Mukherjee have their good moments and provide some relief.
But since they are not the main characters of the film, they can't do much. What could anyone do about this turkey?

Salman Khan has a tiny role where he shows a grim face (perhaps because he guessed the fate of the movie during shooting itself), and says some weird dialogues like "Main mulk ka (secret) kaam karta hoon". Since the entire movie set is a fantasy land, I guess his country and work are also equally imaginary.


4. The sets, lighting and casting are weird/pathetic/psycho.
The whole set is pale blue. The women (a city of at least 60% prostitutes) wear various shades of blue. I think they got a group discount on blue clothing.

Almost all shots are at night in dim lighting. By the time the movie finishes, your mood has turned blue also.

The fantasy city is partly Venice, partly old city look and wholly weird.

The streets have designer potholes where Sonam and Ranbir can jump stylishly and then do "grief boxing".

There are approximately 7 males in the entire city, counting Ranbir and Salman (who is a visitor anyway).

Rain pours like a tap and shuts like a tap being closed, hence proving that it was filmy rain coming out of a tap anyway.



5. Sanjay Leela Bhansali thoroughly disappoints.
You find it hard to believe that this is the man who gave us a great movie like Black, and a very nice love story like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

I think throughout the shooting of the film, he was stoned/drugged. Which is the only reason that one can think of regarding the final output.
This would also explain the sets, lighting and casting.




P.S. The story of the movie is:
Ranbir meets Sonam and falls in love with her. But Sonam is waiting for Salman. Who will get the girl in the end?

Answer: Well before the movie ends, the public says "Either Salman or Ranbir can get Sonam, we don't mind - but please end this movie (and our suffering) quickly!!



More P.S.:
Somebody should have boxed Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ears (and other body parts) for making this movie. There is no way you can "grief box" your way out of this one.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Java: String class leaks memory

Java is also capable of inadvertent memory leaks.

Link: Xebia Blog

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Rules for Hotel C Park Inn, Delhi, India

See the highlighted one ….


Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Misbah jokes (Twenty20 cricket final)

Got these on email ....




Knock Knock !!


Who’s there?


Misbah.


Misbah who?


Mis bah 5 runs!!



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Misbah’s mistake:


Misbah thought he was hitting where there was no one. He didnt know that
there is a Malayali in every corner of the world!



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Joke: The Atheist

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods "What majestic trees!
What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself. As he
continued walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes.
Turning to look, he saw a 7 foot grizzly charging towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path. Looking over his shoulder he saw
that the bear was closing in on him. His heart was pumping frantically
and he tried to run even faster.

He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but
saw the bear raising his paw to take a swipe at him. At that instant the
atheist cried out: " Oh my God..."

Time stopped.

The bear froze.

The forest was silent.

It was then that a bright light shone down upon the man and a voice came
out of the sky saying: "You deny my existence for all of these years,
teach others I don't exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic
accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to
count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of
me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps,
could you make the bear a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice.

The light went out.

And the sounds of the forest resumed.

Then the bear lowered his paw, bowed his head and spoke:
"Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive and for which I am truly thankful.
Amen."

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A guy walks into a bar ...

The longest list of bar jokes that I got in an email ...


No one knows when the first joke beginning with the
six words "A guy walks
into a bar . . ." was told, or how it went.
Nevertheless, an entire genre of
jokes has been created revolving around that opening
scenario. Here's a
sampling of some of the variants that have sprung
up, many now involving
animals or inanimate objects:


A guy walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under
his arm and says, "A
beer please, and one for the road."


An amnesiac walks into a bar and asks the bartender,
"Do I come here often?"


A guy with dyslexia walks into a bra.


A young Texan walks into a bar and orders a drink.
"Got any ID?" asks the
bartender. The Texan replies, "About what?"


A pair of battery jumper cables walk into a bar. The
bartender says, "You
can come in here, but you better not start
anything!"


A Latin scholar walks into a bar and says, "I'll
have a martinus." The
bartender asks him. "Don't you mean martini?" The
man tells the bartender,
"Listen, if I wanted two or more drinks I would have
asked for them."


A horse walks into a bar. The bartender asks, "So,
why the long face?" A
variant on this joke during the 2004 presidential
campaign substituted John
Kerry for the horse, but the punch line remains the
same.


A penguin walks into a bar and asks the bartender,
"Has my father been in
here?" The bartender says, "I don't know. What does
he look like?"


A brain goes into a bar and says to the bartender,
"I'll have a beer,
please." The bartender says, "Sorry, I can't serve
you. You're out of your
head."


A little pig goes into a bar and orders ten drinks.
He finishes them and the
bartender says, "Don't you want to know where the
toilet is?" The pig says,
"No, thanks, I go wee-wee-wee all the way home."



René Descartes is in a bar at closing time. The
bartender asks him if he'd
like another drink. Descartes says, "I think not,"
and he disappears.


A bear walks into a bar and says, "I'd like a beer
and . . . . a packet of
peanuts. The barman says, why the big pause?"



A kangaroo walks into a bar and orders a beer. The
bartender says, "That'll
be $10. You know, we don't get many kangaroos coming
in here." The kangaroo
says, "At $10 a beer, it's not hard to understand."


A termite walks into a bar and asks, "Is the bar
tender here?"



A cheeseburger walks into a bar, and the bartender
says, "Sorry, we don't
serve food in here."


A dog with his foot wrapped in a bloody bandage
hobbles into a Western
saloon. He sidles up to the bar and announces: "I'm
lookin' fer the man that
shot my paw."


A baby seal walks into a bar. "What can I get you?"
asks the bartender.
"Anything but a Canadian Club," replies the seal.


A grasshopper hops into a bar. The bartender says,
"You're quite a celebrity
around here. We've even got a drink named after
you." The grasshopper says,
"You've got a drink named Steve?"


A goldfish flops into a bar and looks at the
bartender. The bartender asks,
"What can I get you?" The goldfish says, "Water."



A guy walks into a bar and sits down next to a lady
and a dog. The man asks,
"Does your dog bite?" The lady answers, "Never!" The
man reaches out to pet
the dog, and the dog bites his hand. The man says,
"I thought you said your
dog doesn't bite!" The woman replies, "He doesn't.
That's not my dog."


A guy walks into a bar. A horse behind the bar
serving drinks. The guy is
just staring at the horse, when the horse says,
"What are you staring at?
Haven't you ever seen a horse serving drinks
before?" The guy says,
"Honestly, no. I never thought the parrot would sell
the place."


A skeleton walks into a bar. The bartender asks,
"What'll you have?" The
skeleton says, "Give me a beer, and a mop."


A polar bear, a giraffe and a penguin walk into a
bar. The bartender says,
"What is this, some kind of joke?"


A guy walks into a bar in Cork, in Ireland, and asks
the barman: "What's the
quickest way to get to Dublin?" "Are you walking or
driving?" asks the
barman. "Driving," says a man. "That's the quickest
way," says the barman.


A fellow walks into a pub near Buckingham Palace in
London, sits down, and
says, "Give me a beer. I've had a rough day at
work." And the bartender
says, "Oh? What do you do?" The guy says, "I take
care of the corgis--you
know, the dogs the royal family owns." The bartender
asks, "Tough job, huh?
The guy says, "Yeah. All that inbreeding has led to
low intelligence and bad
temperaments. And the dogs aren't too smart,
either."



A man goes into a bar and says, "Give me a drink
before the trouble starts."
And the bartender pours him a drink. He drinks it
and says, "Give me another
drink before the trouble starts." He downs that one
and says quotation mark,
give me another drink before the trouble starts."
Finally, the bartender
asks, "Just when is this trouble going to start?"
The man says, "The trouble
starts just as soon as I tell you that I don't have
any money."



A tourist goes into a bar where a dog is sitting in
a chair playing poker.
He asks, "Is that dog there really playing poker?"
And the bartender says,
"Yeah, but he's not too smart. Whenever he has a
good hand, he starts
wagging his tail."



This cowboy walks into a bar and orders a beer. His
hat is made of brown
wrapping paper. And so are his shirt, vest, chaps,
pants, and boots. His
spurs are also made of paper. Pretty soon, the
sheriff arrives and arrests
him for rustling.


A guy goes into a bar, orders four shots of the most
expensive 30-year-old
single malt Scotch whisky and downs them one after
the other. The bartender
says, "You seem to be in a great hurry." The guy
says, "You would be too if
you had what I have." The bartender asks, "What have
you got? "Fifty cents,"
is the reply.



A Northerner walks into a bar in the Deep South
around Christmas time. A
small nativity scene is behind the bar, and the guy
says, "That's a nice
nativity scene. But how come the three wise men are
all wearing firemen's
hats?" And the bartender says, "Well, it says right
there in the Bible--the
three wise men came from afar."



A man walked into a bar, sat down, and ordered a
beer. As he sipped the
beer, he heard a voice say, "Nice tie." Looking
around, he saw that the bar
was empty except for him and the bartender. A few
sips later, another voice
said, "Beautiful shirt." At this, the man calls the
bartender over. "Say, I
must be losing my mind," he tells him. "I keep
hearing these voices say nice
things, and there is not a soul in here but us."
"It's the peanuts,"
explains the bartender, indicating a dish on the
bar. "The peanuts?" "That's
right, the peanuts--they' re complementary. "


A man walks into a bar with a giraffe. He says, "A
beer for me and one for
my giraffe." And they stand around drinking for
hours until the giraffe
passes out on the floor. The man pays the tab and
gets up to leave. The
bartender says, "Hey! You're not going to leave that
lyin' on the floor, are
you?" The man says, "That's not a lion, it's a
giraffe."



A guy walks into a bar with a German shepherd dog.
The bartender says, "Hey
buddy, can't you read that sign? It says no dogs
allowed! Get that mutt out
of here!" The man replies, "No, I can't read the
sign--I'm blind, and this
is my Seeing Eye dog." The bartender is embarrassed
and gives the man a beer
on the house. Later that day, the man tells his
friend about it: "I told him
I was blind, and I got a free beer!" The friend then
takes his dog into the
bar and sits down. The bartender says, "The sign
says no dogs allowed!
You'll have to leave!" The friend says, "Sorry, I
can't see the sign because
I'm blind, and this is my Seeing Eye dog." The
bartender replies, "Since
when do they give out Chihuahuas as Seeing Eye
dogs?" The man says, "They
gave me a Chihuahua?"



A blind man walks into a bar, grabs his dog by its
hind legs and swings him
around in a circle. The bartender says, "Hey, buddy,
what are you doing?"
And the blind man says, "Don't mind me. I'm just
looking around."



A man walks into a bar looking sad, and the
bartender asks him, "What's the
matter?" The man says, "My wife and I had a fight,
and she told me she
wasn't going to speak to me for a month. The month
is up today."



This guy walks into a bar and orders a drink. He
looks in his pocket and
orders another drink, looks in his pocket and orders
still another drink.
His curiosity aroused, the bartender asks, "What are
you doing? What's in
your pocket?" And the guy says, "It's a picture of
my wife. When she starts
looking good to me, I know it's time to go home."

Monday, September 03, 2007

Toilet Instructions


Instructions inside a toilet in a company in India. That should give you an indication that many folks in India are unaware of how to use western toilets :-).

Sunday, September 02, 2007

If the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon disappears in Windows ...

Don't panic. Run this command (Start --> Run ):

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll


Original Article: Safely Remove Hardware: ... Ask Leo!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Lyrics of Chadhta Sooraj

If you know this qawwali, then there is no need for any explanation.
If you don't know this qawwali, then there is no need for any explanation either :-).



Chadhta Sooraj by Aziz Nazan


hue naamavar ... benishaa.n kaise kaise ...
zamii.n khaa gayii ... naujavaan kaise kaise ...

aaj javaanii par itaraanevaale kal pachhataayegaa - 3
cha.Dhataa sUraj dhiire dhiire Dhalataa hai Dhal jaayegaa - 2
Dhal jaayegaa Dhal jaayegaa - 2

tU yahaa.n musaafir hai ye saraaye faanii hai
chaar roj kii mehamaa.n terii zindagaanii hai
zar zamii.n zar zevar kuchh naa saath jaayegaa
khaalii haath aayaa hai khaalii haath jaayegaa
jaanakar bhii anjaanaa ban rahaa hai diivaane
apanii umr e faanii par tan rahaa hai diivaane
kis kadar tU khoyaa hai is jahaan ke mele me
tu khudaa ko bhuulaa hai pha.nsake is jhamele me
aaj tak ye dekhaa hai paanevaale khotaa hai
zindagii ko jo samajhaa zindagii pe rotaa hai
miTanevaalii duniyaa kaa aitabaar karataa hai
kyaa samajh ke tuu aakhir ise pyaar karataa hai
apanii apanii fikro.n me.n
jo bhii hai vo ulajhaa hai - 2
zindagii haqiikat me.n
kyaa hai kaun samajhaa hai - 2
aaj samajhale ...
aaj samajhale kal ye maukaa haath n tere aayegaa
o gafalat kii nii.nd me.n sonevaale dhokhaa khaayegaa
cha.Dhataa sUraj dhiire dhiire Dhalataa hai Dhal jaayegaa - 2
Dhal jaayegaa Dhal jaayegaa - 2

maut ne zamaane ko ye samaa dikhaa Daalaa
kaise kaise rustam ko khaak me.n milaa Daalaa
yaad rakh sikandar ke hausale to aalii the
jab gayaa thaa duniyaa se dono haath khaalii the
ab naa vo halaakU hai aur naa usake saathii hai.n
ja.ng jo na koras hai aur na usake haathii hai.n
kal jo tanake chalate the apanii shaan-o-shaukat par
shamaa tak nahii jalatii aaj unakii qurabat par
adanaa ho yaa aalaa ho
sabako lauT jaanaa hai - 2
mufhiliso.n kaa andhar kaa
kabr hii Thikaanaa hai - 2
jaisii karanii ...
jaisii karanii vaisii bharanii aaj kiyaa kal paayegaa
sarako uThaakar chalanevaale ek din Thokar khaayegaa
cha.Dhataa sUraj dhiire dhiire Dhalataa hai Dhal jaayegaa - 2
Dhal jaayegaa Dhal jaayegaa - 2

maut sabako aanii hai kaun isase chhuuTaa hai
tU fanaa nahii hogaa ye khayaal jhuuThaa hai
saa.Ns TUTate hii sab rishte TuuT jaaye.nge
baap maa.N bahan biivii bachche chhuuT jaaye.nge
tere jitane hai.n bhaaI vaqatakaa chalan de.nge
chhiinakar terii daulat dohii gaz kafan de.nge
jinako apanaa kahataa hai sab ye tere saathii hai.n
kabr hai terii ma.nzil aur ye baraatii hai.n
laa ke kabr me.n tujhako muradaa bak Daale.nge
apane haatho.nse tere mu.Nh pe khaak Daale.nge
terii saarii ulfat ko khaak me.n milaa de.nge
tere chaahanevaale kal tujhe bhulaa de.nge
is liye ye kahataa huu.n khuub sochale dil me.n
kyuu.N pha.nsaaye baiThaa hai jaan apanii mushkil me.n
kar gunaaho.npe taubaa
aake bas sambhal jaaye.n - 2
dam kaa kyaa bharosaa hai
jaane kab nikal jaaye - 2
muTThii baa.Ndhake aanevaale ...
muTThii baa.Ndhake aanevaale haath pasaare jaayegaa
dhan daulat jaagiir se tuune kyaa paayaa kyaa paayegaa
cha.Dhataa sUraj dhiire dhiire Dhalataa hai Dhal jaayegaa – 4

Monday, July 16, 2007

[Original]: Article on Himesh Reshammiya


An original article written by yours truly (Amit Shirodkar).

Himesh Reshammiya

TanaHAIyaa!! TanaHAIyaa!! TanaHAIyaa …

These sounds from a passing car assault my ears.. I escape to a coffee shop. “O O OOOO --- Tera mera tera SurOOOOOrr!! OOOOOOOO…” is what they are playing proudly. I go home. Switch on the radio. “Naam hai tera tera – Naam hai TERA TERA!!”. Radio off. TV on. “Jhalak dikhlaja!! Ek baar aa ja aa ja aa ja AAAA JAAA!!”

There is no escape!! He’s everywhere!!

Thoughts swirl in my mind. Is there any place where “Himesh bhai” is not present? Apparently not. A TV set shows him, with the ubiquitous cap perched firmly on his head, his face snarled as if he just drank some castor oil, crooning away. Why does this guy never smile, anyway? I ask a friend (he is a fan of ‘The Cap’ ). “Because his brother died when he was just 11”, replies my buddy. Really? Has Himesh been this obnoxious for so many years now? His parents deserve a gold medal for patience then!! I would recommend them for a medal of valor - a Veer Chakra at least.

A Google search for "Himesh Reshammiya" results in 413,000 hits. Half a million!! Has the whole world gone stark raving mad? "Mohammed Rafi" returns 140,000. Where is the justice? People prefer songs sung by a guy who seems as if he has no mouth and instead has directly connected his vocal chords to his nostrils to those sung by the one and only Rafi?


It all started off so well. Himesh bhai was just giving music – and good music, may I add. The movie was “Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya”. Nice melodious songs. Pleasing to the ear. Many movies followed. Tere Naam was one such gem. It seemed as if ‘The Cap’ would give many hits. I was happy back then.


And then it happened. “Aashiq Banaya Aapne” was the movie. The title song was sung by Himesh Bhai. At first I said, let’s ignore the nasal sounds – it’s just a one-time thing. It will soon pass …

But no. This was just the calm before the storm. Before you knew it, ‘The Cap’ had gone off and blasted more songs that you could count. And best (or worst) of all – people were loving it!! They could not get enough of him. Hit after hit after hit followed.


As if the sounds were not enough, the eyes were being assaulted too. Cap-filled videos were sprouting all over the place like weeds. And just like weeds, they were very hard to get rid of. (They still exist). So now 2 out of my 5 senses were under a barrage of crappy (I mean cappy) songs.


Just when you thought that the end had come, came another chapter. Himesh bhai acted in a movie.The promos made you feel as if for once, the villain should win!! But alas, that never happens. And so AKS (Aap Ka Suroor) was about to be released. I thought that it would be a flop and so at least this avenue would end in a whimper. Things would go back to normal.

Wrong. Dead wrong. The movie is a hit!! People love him even in this avatar!! Looks like I am one of the few sane ones left on this planet. Stop this world, people, and let me get off!!


I suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Thus spake Hamlet, and exactly that is what I feel. What is to be done? What can be done???

Radio on.

TanaHAIyaa!!

I will not react.

TanaHAIyaa!!

I will not respond.

TanaHAIyaa …

Breaking news – there will be a sequel to Aap Ka Suroor.

Billions of blue blistering barnacles!!! Tana%@#$ HAI !#@ yaa %^$% !!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

AJAX / RPC - Prevent IE Caching During Partial Page Updates

Recently I faced a problem when developing an AJAX application. In Internet Explorer, the request was being cached - a new request would never go to the server in some cases. To prevent this, there is a workaround.

Read more at: AJAX / RPC - Prevent IE Caching During Partial Page Updates

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The Ten Most Common Photographic Mistakes

Nice articles on what mistakes we often make while taking a photo and how to avoid them.



Link: The Ten Most Common Photographic Mistakes



Sunday, June 17, 2007

Presenting dialogues by the one and only Mithun!!



Main hoon Do Numbri, ek se jyaada, teen se kam

Dikhne mein bevda, bhaagne mein ghoda, aur maarne mein hathoda




" Bheegi hui cigarette jal nahi sakti

aur yeh tay hai ki teri maut ki tarikh tal nahi sakti "




"Apun ka naam hai HEERA,

Apun ne sab ko Cheera..."





Mithun da: "mai hun tum jaise logon ki nafarat karne wala, garibon

ke liye jyoti, gundon ke liye jwala"

"tuze banake maut ka niwala, tere sineme gaad dunga mai maut ka bhala. dekh lenga salaa tereko."





Kyunki ab mein Indrajeet nahi......chandaal hoon

Tum chaho toh mera program note karlo

...Tum sab meri diary mein mar chuke ho!

Mein chahoo toh tum sabko abhi mar sakta hoon

Magar abhi maarne se tumhe maarne ka credit meri bullet ko mil jayega!!!!







Mantriji:- "Ye kanch bullretproof hai. tum mujhe chu bhi nahi sakte"

Mithun Da:- "Ye kanch bulletproof hai magar patthhar proof nahi"

AND HE BREAKS IT BY THROWING SMALL STONES ON THE GLASS.





"Mere seene mein itna lava hai...ki sunoge to tumhare kaan ke parde jal jaayenge..

tumhare haathon se hosh ke kabootar ud jaayenge"





"Truck Driver Suraj !! Raasta mera baap aur truck meri maa"




Mithun da is one of the greatest. Koi Shaq???

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Favourite Daily Dilberts

This guy has a good collection of some hilarious Dilbert strips.



Go visit: Favourite Daily Dilbert's

Monday, June 04, 2007

Poetry: W.H. Auden --> Funeral Blues (Stop the Clocks)

Funeral Blues (Stop the Clocks)


W H Auden





Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,


Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,


Silence the pianos and with muffled drum


Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.





Let the aeroplanes circle moaning overhead


Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead,


Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,


Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.





He was my North, my South, my East and West,


My working week and my Sunday rest,


My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;


I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.





The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;


Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;


Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.


For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Programming: Move up a gear with Google Gears

Google
Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications
to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript
APIs:


Ă˜      
Store and serve application resources
locally


Ă˜      
Store data locally in a fully-searchable
relational database


Ă˜      
Run asynchronous Javascript to improve
application responsiveness


 


 


  1. http://gears.google.com/

  2. http://code.google.com/apis/gears/

  3. http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=H2KKC1DR1SRFUQSNDLRCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=199703671

Friday, June 01, 2007

[Original] Poetry in Symantec, India


Some poetry that I and a few other folks wrote in Symantec, India as part of an email thread.


Original Post: Anshuman Atre

Hi,

Sorry for the group-wide spam,
I wouldn't have, but for my current jam!

I need someone to please free,
This particular static IP..

It goes 10.212.97.233..
And believe me, its not at all free!

All my work has got cut shorted,
And my downloads; they've aborted!

So whoever's using it, kindly see,
Don't "borrow" the IP that's been assigned to me!

Rgds,
Atre



Follow Up 1: Udipta Das
Twas my lappy
Who sent ur IP swappy.
And 'coz my lappy
Just *uses* DHCP ....

Why IS&T dear
Has set your IP free?
I know not, but I fear
IS&T should hear some poetry


- U Das



Follow Up 2: Hetal Rach
Can't resist the temptation to re-send the response that I'd sent to
Anshuman in September 2006 :-)

I checked my IP Address today, for a change
And also to figure out what was the DHCP range..

10.212.97.232 address is what I got
And it comes to me via the DHCP lot

When you use 10.212.97.233 address as static one
Are you sure that it is yours and can be claimed by none ?

hetal.



Follow Up 3: Me (Amit Shirodkar)
On Anshuman's travails I have to comment
Because things are not going well for him like he meant

All he tried to do was a Siebel download
But in return he got troubles by the truckload

After starting the download in the night
He came in next day all cheerful and bright

What he saw shook him to the core
He looked at the screen aghast
All his data was torn as if by a blast
"Oh no - my Siebel!!" he cried, "My Sap!!"
All ripped asunder by a mighty zap
He thought he heard a voice say
"You will see your data nevermore!!"

"Where is my data???" he roared
"In which deep dungeon is it stored???"


His productivity is not at all well
His feelings about the IT folks will land him in jail
He says aloud "What can I do, please do tell"
"Abort, Retry, Ignore or Fail???"


-- Amit Shirodkar

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Some good blogs ...


Some good blogs found on the net:

  1. Scott Adams Blog: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/
  2. Dave Barry Blog: www.davebarry.com


Below are popular blogs by people of Indian origin:
    1. Great Bong's Blog (this is the best known blog by a person of Indian origin): www.greatbong.net
    2. Blog of any IIM Calcutta Alumnus (humor blog): www.mydayzwithmyself.blogspot.com
    3. Blog of a female NRI software professional (humor blog): www.meghalomania.com
Brilliant piece of writing. Some strong language, but very well written.

Long, but definitely worth reading.





Link: Inside the Monkeysphere

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Developer cheat sheets

Lots of languages, commands, etc.



Link:Our Favorite Cheat Sheets - a definition from Whatis.com

Windows: Repairing and re-registering the WMI

If every you get any error related to WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation), then this might help.



Especially the

  • net stop winmgmt
  • Rename Repository
  • net start winmgmt
worked for me.



Link: Repairing and re-registering the WMI

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The Developer Cheat Sheet Compilation

Lots of cheat sheets for developers. Enjoy !!



Link: Bookmark Bliss: The Developer Cheat Sheet Compilation by Fuzzy Future

10 Eclipse Navigation Shortcuts Every Java Programmer Should Know

SNIPPET:

Man, I’m such an impatient guy. I cringe whenever I see somebody
squint and frown, looking for a JSP file in Eclipse by browsing
painfully through the gazillion JSPs in multiple folders in the Package
Explorer. I squirm whenever I see somebody looking for a Java class by
clicking through packages, one by one, backtracking if it’s the wrong
package, and so on, until he sees the correct Java class.


I mean, any resource in the workspace is literally seconds away. Ditto to classes (and interfaces, and members, and so on).



END SNIPPET



Link: 10 Eclipse Navigation Shortcuts Every Java Programmer Should Know

Monday, May 21, 2007

House Search at Pune - A big joke

*** Author unknown ***. This piece is about Pune, India.



I work in a Small IT firm at Pune. I have been looking for a house at Wanawadi area for last six months. I have visited several new Constructions as well as contacted various dealers.

i have had discussions with agents, who quoted Rs 45 lakhs on PHONE FOR A 3bhk and which went up to 55 lakhs the moment he come to know that I work in an IT Company.



I finalised a Dupleix for 30 lakh only to see the owner jack its price to 40 lakhs because some agent in his society told him that he is selling him cheap and he should sell at 40 lakhs. Till now the flat is unsold and i am now quoting 25 lakhs for it.





I have visited new constructions and they keep on hiking prices by 200 every week till last month. Its a another fact that most of the units are not yet sold.



One Builder in Lullanagar keeps on increasing his flat rate by 8 lakhs every four months with atleast 30 flats not yet booked. He has completed his construction four year back. This alone shows the type of demand.





In one society the rate has gone from 1800 to 3100 in one year and with the fact that only 50% of the flat has been sold and most of them at below 2100.

So what make them think that they are worth 3100 per sq feet or 60 lakhs for a 3 BHK when the going rate was half a year back.





The common answer is - IT is coming. They have very high salary and low mental aptitude and can easily be fooled into paying that rate.

There is an another angle to it. It is the agent lobby. They have now started to work on anything beyond X is mine policy.Talk to any agent and you find that They have flats at baner worth 1 crore and if you dont buy it in a day it will go. If you happen to meet the same agent six months back, he had said the same thing abouth that flat at Baner, but at 25 lakhs.





Suddenly Baner, Kharadi has become as expensive as the heart of Pune.

Its a another fact that it still resembles a Village and if you have not got your own car, you will be skimmed big time by any auto that you find after waiting for one hour.





House search is a big joke. I have simply laughed at whenever any agents tell me that if I dont take a decision in another Ten minutes,someone else will buy the flat. Trust me, no one is going to buy that. Ask your wife to call that same gentleman again after 2 months and he will still be selling you at the same time.



I have the following suggestion for any flat hunters-



1. Tell them beforehand that you are from IT and listen to whatever price they quote.

2. Go and see the flat.

3. Meet the owner.

4. Quote him and not the agent around 10-15 lakh lower than its price.

5. Come out.



Trust me, if he really wants to sell he will follow you after a month.

Till the time you can live on rent. At the maximum a 2 BHK will cost you 10000. Please remember that if you buy anything for the rate they quote and if you need to shift to Bangalore, you wont even get half of it. The same agent who sold you at that rate will quote 75% when you plan to sell.





Remember all the resale flats are owned by investors who themselve are feeling the pinch of high interest rate and want to get out. Its the greed installed by the agents which is stopping them.





Call every builder you get. Tell them that you work in Oracle and IBM etc. They will tel you that only two units are left. Then say that you dont want because you need a choice. They will then say that there is lot of flats from which you can choose.

Now ask for the price. The moment they quote laugh heavily and say that they must be joking and then disconnect. Please remember to give them your phone number. Trust me I still get calls from these guys.





This strategy has worked for me. Prices have come down from 65 lakhs to 50 lakhs now and I have become greedy. Remember Pune is not Mumbai. Just drive through 10 kms and you see so much empty land.





This is just greed where they have assumed some wrong things about IT

Industry--

They all are idiots.

Every IT person makes 1 lakh and above.

Again they are fools.





Remember there are guys out to exploit you.



Friday, May 11, 2007

Disable Ctrl+Enter shortcut in Outlook

If you press Ctrl-Enter in an Outlook compose email window, then it sends the email without any warning at all. This can be very annoying, especially if you didn't want to send the email just then.



You can turn this feature off by doing the following:



Original Link: Outlook Tip Request - Disable Ctrl+Enter shortcut





You can disable CTRL-ENTER
in Outlook by adding the two following registry keys:



Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes

String
Value: CtrlEnter

Value Data: 13,8



Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes

String
Value: CtrlEnter

Value Data: 13,8



NOTE: I'm using Office 2003 = 11.0
(XP = 10.0, 2000 = 9.0)





Step-by-Step Instructions:



1. Start
--> Run, type REGEDIT press OK

2. If you can locate the folder
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\

Microsoft\Office\11.0\ skip directly to
Step #7



ELSE: We'll need to create the necessary Registy
Keys



Locate and click on the folder
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\

Microsoft\

3. From the Edit
pull-menu, select New, then Key

4. Type Office

5. Click on the new Office
key folder you just created

6. From the Edit pull-menu, select New, then Key,
type 11.0



Note: Office 2003 = 11.0, XP = 10.0, 2000 = 9.0



7. Click
on the new key 11.0 folder you just created

8. From the Edit pull-menu,
select New, then Key

9. Type Outlook (the second time type Word)

10. Click
on the new Outlook (or Word) key folder you just created

11. From the Edit
pull-menu, select New, then Key

12. Type
DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes

13. Click on the new key
DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes folder you just created

14. From the Edit
pull-menu, select New, then String Value

15. Type CtrlEnter

16. Double
click on the CtrlEnter String Value and enter 13,8 in the Value Data
field

17. Return to Step #7 substituting Outlook for Word

18. Close
REGEDIT and restart Outlook for the changes to take
effect


 

Friday, May 04, 2007

Docs Change the Way They Think About Death

Very interesting article. Might change the way people with severe injuries are treated in the hospital in an emergency.



Link: Docs Change the Way They Think About Death - Newsweek

MoD opens its files on UFO sightings to public

UK: The Ministry of Defence plans to open its "X-Files" on UFO sightings to
the public for the first time. Officials have not yet decided on a date
for the release of the reports, which date back to 1967, but it is
hoped to be within weeks.



Link: MoD opens its files on UFO sightings to public

12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know

Good article on the US laws that concern blogging. Useful for US based bloggers ...



Blog Law » 12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Revolution OS


The film by J.T.S. Moore is about the growth of
the free software movement, and its eventual
co-option by the open source movement.
Has FSF (Free Software Foundation), GNU,
Linux, Open Source.
 
Worth watching. 
 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409 
 Duration: 1 hr 25 min

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Gmail Craze: 30 + Tools and Hacks for Gmail

All for Gmail: handy Firefox extensions, best Greasemonkey scripts, some desktop tools and lots of useful tips.



Link: Gmail Craze: 30 + Tools and Hacks for Gmail



Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Friday, March 16, 2007

Top 5 Things That Should Be Taught In Every School

A nice list of 5 things that really should be taught early to us, but sadly aren't. All of us would have benefited if these were known to us ...



Link: Top 5 Things That Should Be Taught In Every School



Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Some nice snaps



http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/87/64287_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/33/63233_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/16/63916_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/93/63693_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/42/64042_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache/ProInternalUse/6/64106_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/46/64046_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/50/64050_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/0/63000_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/90/61390_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/97/57297_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/68/59968_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/98/61398_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/11/54511_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/62/62462_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/29/61829_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/18/61218_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/68/60768_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/61/61861_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/53/60953_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/6/61406_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/34/62534_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/38/62438_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/50/62450_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/58/61058_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/46/62446_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/75/61475_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/2/62402_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/94/60494_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/45/62045_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/66/61366_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/0/48500_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/33/61433_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/98/61198_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/58/61358_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/73/52473_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/36/57936_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/1/60301_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/30/61230_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/78/61078_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/65/60565_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/93/61193_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/77/61177_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/10/61210_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/6/61306_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/62/61062_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/30/61330_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/66/61266_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/98/61298_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/45/61145_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/85/61185_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/14/61214_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/84/60784_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/32/61032_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/2/60902_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/61/60661_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/42/59742_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/74/60874_poster2000.jpg

http://webshots.com/s/cache1/ProInternalUse/82/60882_poster2000.jpg


Saturday, February 10, 2007

The Best Place To Hide Money

A conversation with a burglar reveals some good places to hide your money. Interesting.



Link: The Best Place To Hide Money: Conversation With A Burglar

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Monday, February 05, 2007

The Pompous Ass Words Home Page

Snippet from the site:



This is the Pompous Ass Words site, a place dedicated to identifying words that shouldn't be used on the grounds that doing so makes you sound like a pompous ass.





Link: The Pompous Ass Words Home Page

How to Make Google Go Crazy

Go try it ...



Link: Make Google Go Crazy

Sunday, February 04, 2007

10 tips for time management in a multitasking world

Link : 10 tips for time management in a multitasking world



Actual article (copied from the site above):








10 tips for time management in a multitasking world




Time
management is one of those skills no one teaches you in school but you
have to learn. It doesn’t matter how smart you are if you can’t
organize information well enough to take it in. And it doesn’t matter
how skilled you are if procrastination keeps you from getting your work
done.


Younger workers understand this, and time management is becoming a
topic of hipsters. One of the most popular blogs in the world is Lifehacker, edited by productivity guru Gina Trapani, and her forthcoming book by the same name is a bestseller on Amazon based so far on pre-orders.


In today’s workplace, you can differentiate yourself by your ability
to handle information and manage your time. “Careers are made or broken
by the soft skills that make you able to hand a very large workload,”
says Merlin Mann, editor of the productivity blog 43 Folders.


So here are 10 tips to make you better at managing your work:


1. Don’t leave email sitting in your in box.


“The ability to quickly process and synthesize information and turn it
into actions is one of the most emergent skills of the professional
world today,” says Mann. Organize email in file folders. If the message
needs more thought, move it to your to-do list. If it’s for reference,
print it out. If it’s a meeting, move it to your calendar.


“One thing young people are really good at is only touching things
once. You don’t see young people scrolling up and down their email
pretending to work,” says Mann. Take action on an email as soon as you
read it.


2. Admit multitasking is bad.


For people who didn’t grow up watching TV, typing out instant messages and doing homework all at the same time, multitasking is deadly. But it decreases everyone’s productivity,
no matter who they are. “A 20-year-old is less likely to feel
overwhelmed by demands to multitask, but young people still have a loss
of productivity from multitasking,” says Trapani.


So try to limit it. Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users suggests practicing mindfulness as a way to break the multitasking habit.


3. Do the most important thing first.


Trapani calls this “running a morning dash”. When she sits
down to work in the morning, before she checks any email, she spends an
hour on the most important thing on her to-do list. This is a great
idea because even if you can’t get the whole thing done in an hour,
you’ll be much more likely to go back to it once you’ve gotten it
started. She points out that this dash works best if you organize the
night before so when you sit down to work you already know what your
most important task of the day is.


4. Check your email on a schedule.


“It’s not effective to read and answer every email as it arrives. Just
because someone can contact you immediately does not mean that you have
to respond to them immediately,” says Dan Markovitz, president of the productivity consulting firm TimeBack Management,
“People want a predictable response, not an immediate response.” So as
long as people know how long to expect an answer to take, and they know
how to reach you in an emergency, you can answer most types of email
just a few times a day.


5. Keep web site addresses organized.


Use book marking services like del.icio.us
to keep track of web sites. Instead of having random notes about places
you want to check out, places you want to keep as a reference, etc.,
you can save them all in one place, and you can search and share your
list easily.


6. Know when you work best.


Industrial designer Jeff Beene
does consulting work, so he can do it any time of day. But, he says, “I
try to schedule things so that I work in the morning, when I am the
most productive.” Each person has a best time. You can discover yours
by monitoring your productivity over a period of time. Then you need to
manage your schedule to keep your best time free for your most
important work.


7. Think about keystrokes.


If you’re on a computer all day, keystrokes matter because
efficiency matters. “On any given day, an information worker will do a
dozen Google searchers,” says Trapani. “How many keystrokes does it
take? Can you reduce it to three? You might save 10 seconds, but over
time, that builds up.”


8. Make it easy to get started.


We don’t have problems finishing projects, we have problems
starting them,” says Mann. He recommends you “make a shallow on-ramp.”
Beene knows the key creating this on ramp: “I try to break own my
projects into chunks, so I am not overwhelmed by them.”


9. Organize your to-do list every day.


If you don’t know what you should be doing, how can you manage your
time to do it? Some people like writing this list out by hand because
it shows commitment to each item if you are willing to rewrite it each
day until it gets done. Other people like software that can slice and
dice their to-do list into manageable, relevant chunks. For example,
Beene uses tasktoy
because when he goes to a client site tasktoy shows him only his to do
items for that client, and not all his other projects. (Get tasktoy here.)


10. Dare to be slow.


Remember that a good time manager actually responds to some things more
slowly than a bad time manager would. For example, someone who is doing
the highest priority task is probably not answering incoming email
while they’re doing it. As Markovitz writes: “Obviously there are more
important tasks than processing email. Intuitively, we all know this.
What we need to do now is recognize that processing one’s work
(evaluating what’s come in and how to handle it) and planning one’s
work are also mission-critical tasks.”