As you know for the past few weeks, I was away from twitter.
I was busy making the next career change in my life.
Currently, I am working at YellowPages.com. (Tomorrow, it will be was). There, I do a little bit of this and a little bit of this. I used to do a little bit of this too. My experience at yp has been great. Somehow, I didn't had my heart in it anymore. Lots of folks at my company left yp due to this and this. But, for me I didn't had any heartbeat left for yp.com, even before this deal began. So, I decided to move on(as one do in a relationship, when you don't love the other person!!)
Alas, I am extremely happy that I finally decided to join Eventbrite. :-) I totally believe in the product and the team there is amazing. It still has a long way to go and I want to be a part of this successful journey.
I think there is a reason I decided not to join NETFLIX. Stay tuned for a blog about it too. But, in short its because I dream big, how big, well thisBIG!
Its been a while since I made a post. With the advent of Twitter blogging has taken a back seat.
This post is dedicated on how/why I finally managed to deactivate my Facebook account for good.
I registered for Facebookafter coming to US in 2008. I guess Orkut was the major social networking website used by my fellow Indians. Only a handful of them used Facebook. Slowly and steadily they are moving to Facebook. This is the time of 2008.
Now all of my friends are on Facebook and orkut is considered old school.
I remember I created my account on Facebook after noting that all my schools friends at JHU are using Facebook. It was so addictive. But, since most of my friends in India were on Orkut, I had to login to both account. I had to maintain a copy of same status messages and albums on both my Orkut and Facebook account. I was happy doing the sync. But, slowly it was becoming a pain and one fine day I thought I would delete my orkut account. SO, may be after 6-8 months after opening my Facebook account I deleted my orkut account. With that all my connections with my Indians friends on Orkut was lost. As if I cared.
Facebook was so much addictive and such a time killer. But, then slowly all of my orkut and school friends started joining Facebook. There was a sea wave of status updates and photo uploads. People were getting enagaged, some were getting married and what not. It was fun to know the updates from my friend's life. Friends if they were. I mean friends with whom I haven't talked to them since years. I was lightning fast in replying to their status updates or even photo uploads. I was literally breathing Facebook every second of my life. As they say, I was living in a virtual world. I had more Virtual friends than I had real friends.
Facebook at some point of time became a status symbol for me.
This clipping of an episode from South Park will help you relate what it meant to me. Here is the full episode in case you are a South Park fan.
I wasn't the same anymore, noone was the same anymore. At times, I was only in touch with people who were added in Gtlak list. If you are not in my gtalk list, we were not friends. That was my motto.
I started to hate Facebook not only because I was living in a virtual world but also of the fact hat I started to considered it as a time waster which initially started as a way to kill my time. Of my 24 hours of day, I was literally spending 10 hours on Facebook. Okie, I made up that last line but my point is that I was spending too much time on looking for Friends status updates etc. I was finding happiness in my friends social life. In between I forgot that I had a social life. Not that I had a girl friend who wanted my undivided attention, it was just that I had no social life of my own. I mean a healthy social life.
May be a year ago I decided to deactivate my account. I didn't wanted to delete my account as all my photos were uploaded to Facebook and I didn't wanted to loose out on the comments my friends had it for me. So, the only temporarily solution was to deactivate my Facebook account.
But, even after deactivating my account I was not able to resist myself to re-login and check the updates my friends made in last 5 minutes. I mean it, I didn't wanted to miss out on any updates that happened in last 5 minutes. Such a Loser!
So, things went the same way every week for couple of months. Whenever I had a feeling that I am losing my focus in life and decided to deactivate my Facebook account. But, I was back activate in an hour. I was even ready to pay $100 for every reactivation I did after a deactivation of my account. I wish I had this option.
Facebook was partially to be blamed to provide such a easy re-activation process.
I think it was more self control that was required on my part for not to spend so much time on Facebook. I couldn't manage to do it, UNTIL YESTERDAY!
YES YES! Its been more than 30 hours and I have not logged on to Facebook. YayYay!
So, how did I achieved this. Self control, self realization --------- BULLSHIT!
To make things really work for you, if you really want to avoid something try to throw it away so that its not within your reach anymore. That's exactly what I did.
Remember, I said Facebook has an easy process to reactivate your account. I found a way around so that I can't reactivate my account any more. Its not within my reach. Not anymore!
More to come on how to permanently on a temporarily basis deactivate your Facebook account.
the year which has been the most memorable for me.......! not only because I have njoyed this yr soooooooo much .. but, also because this has been the most memorable for me........
staring with Jan 2008 ......
i resigned from my services of IT company(CoreObjects) in India....the exp. is the CO was a really nice one.... I would really miss my team and the quality of work I did there....... hats off to my manager , my team lead ...... and other team mates and colleagues......
next I embarked upon my new journey to US.....to do MS or what... ( I still can't make up my mind) ...... whatever be the reason .... I came to US with a mission ...... it has been a really awesome good experience been here at hopkins.....
the first semester in Hopkins was really above my expectation ..... too much pressure and hardwork was really that can sum it all....... i couldnt manage both.... it took me a while to really understand what was expected from me...... alaaaaas the year ended with not much success...but, I was satisfied if not happy with my result ......... but, who cares after alll...oh , did i miss.. i visited my sis's place to see my newly born nephew......! he is prince charm .... :) and I also had a chance to meet my parents after coming to US
here comes the summer.....goes the chilly spring .....! alaaaaaaaas..... the day the sem ended my cousin visited me ...... aaaha haaaaaaaaaa ..what a day it was... the following day and the day after we visited DC ..my bhabhi also accompanied along .it was really nice to be with them after such a looooong time........
aha haaa.......CA here I come ........ this was the most memorable visit I ever had with my "so called" best friend......... oh hooo..what all places we haven't visited..... SFO, silicon valley , mountain view...etc ...then we went on a roadtrip to Yosemite National park ....and then en-route to Lake Tahoe........ that has been the most memorable trip i remember ..(not becuase it was the most memorable.....but becuase it was the most memorable I remember.....) ....
then came the best time......my parents visited me....yes yes..my parents came from my sis place with all memorable memories of their grandchild..... ! my parents stayed for less than a month ..but, I wanted to spend the time with them so that every day count...apart from the usual qualiy time spend at home ..their where 3 days that were class apart .......
out first trip to NY.....! I had a regret that I couldn't take them to statue of liberty ....... but, the trip was well spent .....then our trip to DC was really awesome...my parents liked the DC much more than NY ....a typical feeling for a Delheites......no one like the sky scrapper of NY.......then was the celebration of fourth-of-july ......it was really a sad moment when they left to India...! i am waiting to meet them again ........
ahahah.........then came my trip to NY again ... my two best-friend were in NY ....and we had a quality time again ........I did all those thing i missed in my last trip to NY ...... not to mention walking on that Broklyn bridge and then going to US open.... it was a dream come full filled.......!
it was the best Summer time I ever had.......! :)
next come the fall sem...! that's too boring for me to discuss......lets leave the story ......
and here I am .....! having the TIME of My LIFe......!
hope u gUys too have the same quality time in your next year .yr after yr.!
Episode 1) "Vachan diya sohca nahi hoga kya parinaaam... Sooch samajh kar kijiye jewan mai har kaam" .. means You gave promise without ever thinking about the consequences. Hence, think before doing any work in your life.
Episode 25 : Jag mai aaye kisliye ..iska karo vichaar ....! it means
Episode 30 : Jano pratham nikas ko ...tab greh karo pravesh ....soochsamajh lo vidhur ka yuqti yug aadesh
episode 86 kstriya hota karm se, bade vansh ki shaan, veer putr se sarvada badta maa ka maan
Although, I am not a movie critic, but "ROCK ON" inspired me to write a blog dedicate to it. Just two word sums-up the movie "Its Rocking". :)
In midst of 3 assignments pending tomorrow and day-after, I am still writing to express how mesmerized I have been by the movie and its rocking Song.
The movie has some really nice Hindi-ROck songs. You really can't stop urself from feet tapping or head banging. The later one is the most natural though. ;)
Its a story of 4 members of a ROCK band named "MagiK", who reunite after having some ego clashes with in between them. I am not writing here to discuss the story of the movie. You can probably "google" to find about the drama.
For me, its more related to Jamming in a garage and performing LIVE shows !:) 4 guys.. Farah Akhtar - Vocalist, Arjun Rampal- The Lead guitars and other two really did a AWESOMEEEEEE job in the movie.
b) and c) are actually two back-2-back live performance. Song c) starts when Arjun rampal makes his entry in the Song with his lead guitar. The previous song is only sung by the trio, who have no other choice to perform when Arjun fails to turn up again! Keep an eye on how the tune of the song changes after he makes his entry. Thats the most enjoying moment in the movie ;)
Chekc out the mOVIE.. and u will really eNjoY Awesome work by Farhan Akhtar..his team!
Truly,the best LIVE song I have ever heard .. gotta be ROCK ;)
The day (July the 26 '08) started off pretty badly. We had a late night party at my friend's place the previous night. With all the guys bringing their own drinks, we had a blast last night. I was down, literally down after having 2 bottles of beer and 2 pegs of Swedka( Sweden Vodka). Its the mix n' match of them that caught me. One's asking for trouble, when you mixing two different types of hard drinks. I had to pay the price the other morning.
I slept late around 5 in the morning and was woken up by my fellow friend at 9. He and his roommate has promised me to take me to Walmart. I wanted to buy a bike from the store. (I don't understand why a cycle in India turns out to be a bike in US and a bike in India turns out to be a motorbike here! ). So, they were my only friends who had a car and cared to take me to store. Thanks guys ( Hitesh and Bharat)for the ride.
It was 1 pm and we were still sitting at my home, waiting for our friend to come and take us to Walmart in his car. The guy was busy finishing his personal and important stuff. Finally, we got a call and there we were ready and all set to go to Walmart.
It took us a while to reach the Walmart store. We parked the car behind the main street, as the Walmart entry was on the other side of the road from which we came. After doing some personal clothing shopping, I went to the Second floor to check out my bike. I was really so excited to the see the Bike which I was planning to buy. It was out of stock online, thats why I had to personally visit the Walmart to buy it. Luckily it was available on stores. I was so thrilled just at the thought of owing it today. Apart from the bike, I bought some accessories. I bought a helmet, a hand pump and a pair of flashing lights to help traffic see me on my bike in the night.
The online price of the bike was for $219 but, when I bougth it from the store they just charged me $125. A discount of flat $100, I was so happy to hear the news and so were my friends. Earlier, they were kicking me when they heard that I was about to buy such an expensive bike. Now when I got it this cheap, they were happy for me. So was I. The final price of the bike was a good surprise to me.
We tried to fit the bike in the car but somehow couldn't manage. With total of 5 guys and a bike, the options we had was that either I a hire a cab and get back home alone with the bike or I be bold enough to ride the bike all alone from Walmart to my home. I decided to choose the later. :)
But, hang on a minute, I wasn't aware of the route back home. One of my friend(Hitesh) explained me the route of getting back home. It seemed to be easy, Left right left were the turns I needed to take and I will be home after riding 8 miles. It didn't seemed easy to me. Luckily my friend had a GPS in his car. Just to be on the safer side, I took the GPS from him. Imagine a GPS on a bike, even the GPS would refuse to work on such a slow vehicle.
So, there I was in the middle of nowhere. With hands on my bike, I was ready to give push to the pedals. With not a single idea of what traffic rules in US were, I thought was I foolhardy to ride 8-9 miles from Walmart to my home. Naah .. I was bold enough to take such a chance.
Initially, I rode in the parking of Walmart, to get a feel of bike and gears. It was the first time in my life I was riding a cycle with gears. I was so very excited. With enough of practicing, I decided to make a move to my Sweet home. I tried to recall, what my friend has said me about the route back home. I double confirmed it with GPS that I was going in right direction. After getting the confirmation that I was on track, I decided to enjoy my ride on US roads. These are the roads where you actually enjoy riding a cycle. Unlike India, where roads were no more than filled pitholes, speedbreaker and pebbles, the US roads are a treat to ride on.
I went on and on with full throttle, changing gears whenever required. I was understanding the road signs as I pass them. This was another reason why I bought a cycle. I had this stupid funda in my mind, that to understand the US roads you need to get back to the basics. So, cycling was one thing from where I wanted to get started and get my basics right. I realized, you are treated like a king on road while riding a bike, no one tries to get closer to you, everyone gives some respect.
I was just pedaling and pedaling and pedaling. I was riding through some unseen roads and shops. I wondered, I was suppose to ride back on the same path from where I came from. I was no near to it. I check with my GPS, it said ".8 miles keep left for St Paul Street". St. Pual is the street I live on. I was happy that I was about to hit the street in less than a mile. I kept the GPS inside my pocket and started riding again. After another mile, I saw beautiful mountains seems to meet the end of road. Though they were very far off, I somehow starting liking the nature's paradise in front of me.
But, wait a minute, wasn't I suppose to see some tall buildings approaching my way(Downtown building are quite visible from my house) . Tall green mountains were the least I expected.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh........ What THE HELLlllllllllllllLLLLL ... WTF .. ! Have I taken the wrong route. Have I taken the opposite direction? Have I .. on my Godddddddddd... The stupid GPS was still showing that I was .8 miles from the Street. I said it can't be, I am already 5 miles away from my starting position and the GPS still says .8 miles. Something was wrong, I could smell it.. was it too late ??. I called my rommie Abhi(with low battery on my cellphone ) and told me the closest address I can read from where I have taken a pit-stop. After checking on maps.google.com, I got the confirmation, dudeeeeeeeeeeee you are going in the wrong direction. He repeated you are heading East, while you should have headed West.. I said to myself.... Oh man.. what have I done.. how could I ever go wrong ... ! What the F**K..
As in the map, I started from point A to reach point I as my final destination, but what the hell was I doing on point B.. ! I had just taken the road least traveled ..
The only option I had was to head back in the West of East Jopa road, to a place from where I actually started(Point A). This was the longest 5.5 mile I ever spent on road. I was totally exhausted, not by the fact that I was tired riding 5.5 mile, but I was tired mentally of the fact that I am -5.5 miles from my actual starting position.
I started to ride back to Walmart. I decided to buy a Gatorade to quench my thirst. I took a 5-10 mins rest at some random Gas station, got my breath back and said to myslef " You can do it .. . U can f**king do it" .. ! That's it .......... I started again with full power on ...! I reach back to Walmart after 2 hours of needless riding... ! I started at some 3ish and was back to my starting place at 5ish.... ! The phrasee "Back to sqaure one" was the most aptly written for my present situation.
Then I realized, why I took the wrong road. I remember while parking our car, we went to the back side of Walmart and my friend told me about the route assuming we were standing on the front side. Thats actually what caused the confusion and made me responsible to take the wrong road.
After riding 11 miles for no rhime and reason, I was still 8-9 miles away from home. For one instance, I decided to return this bike back to Walmart and take a cab back home. But "Noeees" was the answer that I heard from inside.
I called that stupid friend of mine Hitesh again and gave him the status of my proceedings. I was at point D, when I called him. He was under an assumption that I have called him to give him the news that I have reached back home safely. But, no... before he could say a word, I gretted him with 'beep' 'beeeeeeeeeeep' and 'some more beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep' . Dude, what the Hell have you done? I am still at Walmart and because of your so called route, I am still stranded in middle of no man's land. I asked him to tell me the route to get back home. And btw, the GPS was out of battery when I was at point B, so calling my friend was the only option I had. Anyways, who would have trusted and given a damn about that crappy little techie stuff. I had enough of it earlier. He sat in front of his Mac and I gave him my present location. There he was with a route back home. Google devta has come to our rescue again. My friend then explained me the route. He made sure that I remember all the roads and turns I should take for reaching home . I made doubly sure that he was telling me the correct route, this time around.... Atleast .. ! E and F were the turns which I shouldn't miss, if I ever wished to reach home for supper.
After another 8 mile of rigorous riding, I was at the crossroads of St Paul Street. I stopped there for a minute and I just smiled from inside and said to myself.. ALAAAAAAAAAAS ... I have made it ....
I was riding on roads, where I used to walk for the past 6 months. I reached the courtyard and my rommie was coincidentally there to greet me. .. !
"Welcome Home rommie "' .. ..were his word.... ( Seing my condition , with Arms wide open, he greeted me with words "" AAa munna aaa.... ""' .. He gave me a hug and finally, I was there in living room !
I was so happy to be back home..!
After 5 hours of shifting gears and paddling I was finally home in one piece at point "I".. with my new bike offcourse!
What a day it was.. ! I litreally had my share of Tour de france.
Later I came to know that the GPS had some antenna, which I never cared to open. I mean who the hell would have thought that a device like GPS still needs an antenna to operate.
I totally believe in the product and the team there is amazing. It still has a long way to go and I want to be a part of this successful journey.
I totally believe in the product and the team there is amazing. It still has a long way to go and I want to be a part of this successful journey.
