Waamax

What’s one good thing about being super busy?

Wait! I have no time to think on that. Back to work.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” – Robert A. Heinlein

This year started with an MBA on mind. Almost all the paper works were done for my top priority colleges and admission results were expected. But still I was wandering on applying to few more colleges (I was so desperate to start my MBA this year). Time for results and loads of emotion swing with some results on my favor and some beyond my control. Joy when accepted at VT, ecstasy when accepted at Pittsburgh and was rejected at UMASS.

Work was always fun at Bikalpa. ‘Work hard, party harder’ anthem was never let down. Numerous ‘Party of the century’ by the Bikalpians, but the greatest was mine … says every one.

Came to VirginiaTech for my MBA, New road to New York in 18 hours, loved Blacksburg, learned the football game, all of a sudden my football became soccer, facebooked and twittered like never before, never been so confused and determined at the same time, cycling never was so fun, met some great new friends at VT, enjoyed all those VT Nepalese get together and parties, played bhailo in Tihar, danced for the first time, enjoyed the first snow fall, experienced the different American system of study, first semester - was smart enough to get lucky and loved the tail gates and the VT football games at Lane. Last weeks of 2009 was for the overwhelmingly impressive New York City and life keeps getting better and I have never been so sure that there is hell lot to be explored in one life. For the moment, it’s the New Year eve at Time squares New York.

Life was not always fun in 2009. I tore my ankle ligaments and rested for almost one and half months. Got rejected twice for F1 visa, made ad hoc back up plans (now I wonder some of my back up plans were better than plan A). There were broken promises and relationships. We are not perfect but we don’t live in a perfect world either.

Few things stayed the same in the year 2009. My faith in love, friendship and my belief on life and beyond is as optimistic as ever. And the new challenges keep on getting tougher.

Thank You Friends. Cheers to 2009!!

I never realized I talk about connecting dots more than a normal man does. A friend of mine made me aware of that. The startling question he posed was ‘Do MBAs have a fetish for connecting dots?’
Well I was like ‘Excuse me’. That’s an over generalization and I was never aware I was using that word so frequently. Well it’s nothing about sounding stylish, classy or sexy at all. It’s just a desire to know the truth. But as in life every things depends on your perception. When I told one of my MBA friend about my interests of moving towards consultancy, his only remark was ‘Wow consultancy sounds so sexy’. Duh?

But the thing here is about knowing the gaps and articulating facts and information so that it makes sense. And my nature says, either you have the full picture or there is no picture at all. It bugs me up big time when I can’t figure out the relation between things that matters to me. Two of my friends, one in China and one here in US were sharing comments in facebook and I had no freaking idea how they both know each other. Of course they never talk to me about each other. Now that bugs me up. And for me, to find out how they know each other is connecting the dots. There are numerous such scenarios everyday.

So Basically for me its more of a curiosity to know the truth rather than sounding stylish or sexy. And yeah, I have a fetish for knowing the truth.

Holiday starts early here at VT with almost 9 days for the ThanksGiving. The only complain about the holidays is that they run out quite fast.

Let’s enjoy the freedom.

Back in Nepal I never use to see the weather forecasts. Firstly, they weren’t accurate always. And secondly, I didn’t felt the need for that. So when I got caught in a sudden rain, it used to be a surprise and fun too (not that I always appreciate returning drenched from my office)

But here in US, the weather forecast are amazingly accurate and I already have this habit of seeing these forecasts for the anticipation of the first snowfall (Yes, I am yet to see a snowfall). So all this makes the everyday weather kind of boring. You already have an idea on what the rest of the week is going to be like. Where is the fun?

The process of using wide ranging and interacting data to understand processes, problems, and solutions. The opposite of one factor at a time (OFAT), where ones natural born tendency is to change one factor and “see” what happens. Statistical thinking is the tendency to want to understand complete situational understanding over a wide range of data where several control factors may be interacting at once to produce and outcome. Common cause variation becomes your friend and special cause variation your enemy. Attribute judgements of good and bad are replaced with estimates of significance with given confidence.

src: isixsigma

More to come on this….

You know about exams. I mean who doesn’t. I can’t remember how many exams I have taken till this age. But one thing has never changed. The dread.

I just took the stats exam today and I was all cool just before the start. I have read all the material pretty well and was confident enough to crack even the toughest probability nuts. But see. After exactly 75 minutes later I found myself all wrong. I was splashed by a bucket of freezing water just to remind how wrong I was. Needless to say I screwed up the exam.

So what’s the catch? Are exams always meant to be that way? Well one good thing about all these repetitive experiences is that, they warn you of your complacency. In a sense they will always charge you up with the feeling of insecurity or feeling of being a beginner again. That reminds you of facing the unexpected, facing the chaos or broadly facing the real world.

And you know the best thing about exam? No matter how much you screw up the last one, they always keep on coming. I better catch it next time.

Recently while planning my US trip I consulted a few ticketing agents in Kathmandu about the air ticket details: the prices, airlines and transits. The first thing that you notice (only after a visit to couple of them) is, they are not entirely sure what they really offer. It really discomforts me to see a sales man struggling to answer a client’s query. Aren’t they paid for that? The other most significant thing is their inconsistencies with the information they give. The most probable reason: They are all lying and trying to make the customer pay higher if he/she is ignorant about the ticketing information. They lie everything. I have experienced so many instances of booking the bus front window seat and ending up at the ever bouncing back seat. And they keep on lying.

And then I went to this agent (only the third one I visited) and when asked about the fare they mentioned almost 20% cheaper compared to what I was prepared to pay. I rechecked about the same airways and the route and everything was same. Hello? Obviously as every normal people I would be drawn to the deal. I reserved the ticket. Five days prior to the flight I went to pay for and collect the ticket. Then all of a sudden they tell me that the rate they gave me earlier was of a different route with transit in Delhi (which I was destined to avoid after my disastrous time on my way to Europe last year). The new rate was still higher than the one I have previously figured. Obviously just 5 days to my flight and so many things to finalize I won’t be running for ticket prices. I got the ticket and paid the price. I thought the worst was over but was proved wrong when I got into Abu Dhabi transit. I was assured by my ticketing agent that I had a hotel booking at the Abu Dhabi transit but later found out that my ticketing agent has left no stone unturned to torture me. The Etihad Airways staff had a hard time convincing that I was fooled by my ticketing agent. How could someone do such to his customer?

The issue here is, do they care about their customer? Not one bit. They only think about making quick money no matter what it costs them. With this mentality they would never get a loyal following. I would never visit that agent again nor would I recommend it to anyone. Someone please tell them the story of a goose that lay golden eggs every day.

So they have pretty much the same sort of customer pattern every day. They have new customer everyday and can never retain their old customer. And without the customer flowing, you never get BIG.

It really is. I mean do you even care if someone has a 5 star home, earns in 6-7 figures every year and have a dozen of BMW’s in their garage? I don’t even care if someone has grandeur fame or zillions of admirers. I really believe that an earned success is not worth it. How can you be successful when you are buried in your work every second and you have to think even before you breathe?

I really hate to be reminded that I should be working my ass off to be one of these so called “successfuls” in my society. Coz honestly it’s not worth it. When I see these “society claimed successful people”, I feel I couldn’t be more correct.

Business men: These so called Richs live on more than 14 hours work a day, less than 4 hours of sleep in the tyranny of their watch with messed up social life, messed up health and even more messed up family life. Give me a break. What’s the use of your millions when you can’t attend your son’s graduation, daughter’s birthday and your wife loves a man and that’s not you? Forget the friends’ get together and festive social gatherings. Do you even remember your children name? What’s so good about earning so much when you have lost almost everything in the process? What good a job you did when you are called a loner, while you find yourself buried in your enormous wealth which you no longer have time and zeal to spend. Take a deep breath. There’s more to life than earning bucks every second.

PhD doctors: If you have an option of marrying a library you would most probably have been married to a dozen of it. Why do you bury yourself with books all the time and do you know what? You have been sitting your ass off in front of this monitor for 8 hours straight. To find the details that don’t interest anyone, not even you? You go to the depths of such extent just to find that it has almost no practical use. And I too know that you have plagiarized your way through your thesis. Does is make any sense to you? I am not interested in this crap which you have apparently wasted almost all of your life researching on. Tell me how you feel. A “Dr” prefix to your name? Not bad. But all the life’s effort and work just for this? Think again.

Medical doctor: They got name and money and are the so called “life saver”. So what? Are they happy? They die every day while savings others life. Where is the pleasure and zeal in living when you found every day cleaning the wounds of everyone except yours? What’s the use of treating all the strangers while you have sickened all those that matters to you? Do you even realize that your social and family life is far worse than the wound you just cleaned? I wish you know the medicine to heal yourself.

Politicians: Ok just tell me what you do best? Let me tell you. You are best at finding the fault in others and making fool of yourself in the world stage where everyone can easily tell how crap you are. And yeah, you are best at fooling and troubling the people who have elected you. Being in so called top position doesn’t make you a top guy. Somebody has to be there. Unfortunately it happened to be you. It could be anyone or anything. how does it feels to talk crap all year, lavish on the money you don’t even deserve to touch, show the big dreams that you don’t even believe, and trouble the very people who have shown you the faith? Get a life.

Actors: Haha. Do you even act? Oh yeah. You act as if you’re an actor. How can you even be self esteemed to call yourself an “actor”. Stop fooling yourself.

Candle: To fight the load-shed darkness
Notebook: To fight the loneliness
Pills: To fight the injury.

This is most probably one of the hardest times for me. So many things to accomplish and non seems to go as my will. Have to worry about visa reapplication, been injured and resting for 2 weeks now - still 3 more to go, have to complete the MBA math quiz and submit to business school, no idea when can I return to work and no idea at what role I will restart again.

Perplexed. Trying hard to prioritize my responsibilities and concentrate.

Photo: Marbles in Maze inmagine.com

Well at times I really get bored with the everyday norms. Although I hate surprises, I do believe in experiencing a different feel every now and then.

Jack Johnson’s Break down fits almost perfectly.

I hope this old train breaks down
then I could take a walk around
and, see what there is to see
time is just a melody
With all the people in the street
walking fast as their feet can take them
I just roll through town
And though my window’s got a view
Well the frame I’m looking through
seems to have no concern for now
so for now I

I need this
old train to break down
oh please just
let me please break down

Well this engine screams out loud
Centipede gonna crawl westbound
so I don’t even make a sound
‘Cause it’s gonna sting me when I leave this town
And all the people in the street
that I’ll never get to meet
if these tracks don’t bend somehow
and I got no time
that I got to get to
where I don’t need to be
So I

I need this
old train to break down
oh please just
let me please break down

I need this
old train to breakdown
oh please just
let me please breakdown

I wanna break on down
but I can’t stop now
let me break on down

But you can’t stop nothing
if you got no control
of the thoughts in your mind
that you kept and you know
you don’t know nothing
but you don’t need to know
the wisdom’s in the trees
not the glass windows
You can’t stop wishing
If you don’t let go
of the things that you find
and you lose, and you know
you keep on rolling
put the moment on hold
the frame’s too bright
so put the blinds down low

I need this
old train to break down
oh please just
let me please break down
I need this
old train to break down
oh please just
let me please break down
I wanna break on down
but I can’t stop now

Song: Break Down (Jack Johnson)

Streogram: A stereogram is an optical illusion of depth created from flat, two-dimensional image or images (web definition)

I never learnt the art of viewing the stereograms during my high school days. I remember it was during my class 6 days that my health teacher asked us to try looking the stereograms. He taught us a few methods but none worked for me. I tried the cross eye viewing and the projecting the image some 30 cm backwards. But none helped. I virtually gave up. I was almost convinced that I could never see a hidden image inside the cryptic stereogram when my teacher told me that not all the people have eyes suited to see those mystery images.

The issue got the focus again during my engineering school days when one of my friends gave me a stereogram and asked me to identify the image within. It was a straight challenge. Thanks to Google, I searched for better ways to look at stereograms.

Still, it was a tough work to do something for the first time.

I concentrated really hard and slowly the trick seemed to work and I was getting really curious as the picture starts getting clearer. Then suddenly, there was a eureka moment. I saw the big clear picture. And. Wow it was really big. What a beauty?

I lost the focus again as I got excited but the art was mastered and it wasn’t a tough task any more. Since then I have seen lots of those. I have even created a few.

As with everything in life, if you complete something that ain’t a great deal. But till you’re successful for the first time, it’s always a tough job. And it’s totally worth the effort.

Have a look at few. And don’t forget to tell what you saw.

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My public speaking class at British council concluded recently. It was only a 16 hours course but there were so many things to learn. I will be writing on this experience on few topics. To begin with, here is public speaking 101.

public speaking 101 - Speech Layout

One of the most important attributes of great speech is its organization in the structure. As with most of the things, organized things are well taken by the audience and it serves the purpose better.

A well structured speech has the following part in the given order:
Greetings, name, position
Good morning. my name is (…..). I’m the new finance manager.
Ladies and gentlemen. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience
Good morning. let me start by saying just a few words about my own background. i started out in…
welcome to standard electronics. i know I’ve met some of you, but just for the benefit of those i haven’t, my name is ….

Title/subject
i’d like to talk (to you) today about..
i’m going to present the recent …/explain our position on../brief you on../inform you about../describe..
The subject/focus/topic of my talk/presentation/paper (academic)/speech(usually to the pubic audience)

Purpose/Objective
we are here today to |decide../agree../learn about..
the purpose of this talk is to |update you on../put you in the picture about../give you the background to..
this talk is designed to |act as a springboard for discussion../start the ball rolling..

Length
i shall only take (..) minutes of your time
i plan to brief
this should only last (…) minutes

Outline/Main parts
i’ve divided my presentation into four parts/sections. they are..
the subject can be looked at under the following heading…
we can break this area down into the following fields:
firstly/first of all..
secondly/then/next..
thirdly/and then we come to..
finally/lastly/last of all..

Questions
i’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk
if you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt
please interrupt me if there’s something which needs clarifying. otherwise, there will be time for discussion at the end

Reference to the Audience
i can see many of you are..
i know you’ve all traveled a long way
you all look as though you’ve heard this before

Main Body
explain the content on the points you outlined above in the same order
follow the explanation in the way in which audience can figure out the next approach

Summarize
after completing the main body explanation summarize the main outline point once again

Concluding
end your talk/speech in a high note with something significant that leaves and lasting impressions on your audience
thanks the audience

Questions
as promised at the beginning ask for audience questions

Thank
Thank your audience for being the part of this talk
end your note with a smile

I got this as an forwarded mail but the content is worth a read. You don’t need that much of a mention to feel the love for your country.  Just keep being positive.
An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the World.  So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to China.
On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he Noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read “$10,000 per call”.  The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what The telephone was used for.
The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God. The American thanked the priest and went along his way.
Next stop was in Japan . There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the Same golden telephone with the same sign under it.He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in China and He asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 He Could talk to God.
“O.K., thank you,” said the American.
He then traveled to Pakistan , Srilanka , Russia , Germany and France .In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same “$10,000 Per call” sign under it.
The American, upon leaving Vermont decided to travel to up to Nepal to See if Nepalese had the same phone.
He arrived in Nepal , and again, in the first church he entered, there Was the same golden telephone, but this s time the sign under it read “One Rupee per call.”
The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. “Father, I’ve traveled all over World and I’ve seen this same golden Telephone in many churches. I’m told that it is a direct line to Heaven, But in rest of the world price was $10,000 per call.
Why is it so cheap here?”
The priest smiled and answered, “You’re in Nepal now, Son - it’s a Local Call “.
This is the only heaven on the Earth.

I found this text as an email signature of one of the professors who replied to me. Well the response was not as I expected, however, this text was worth noting.

The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether his working or playing. To him he is always doing both” - Zen Buddhist