Reformation

"Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever." -Mark Twain

So I thought it would be wise to give up on this habit of smoking and lets see if Mr. Twain was correct.Its been an awesome year and I am looking forward to a riproaring and a very rosy 2007

नये साल की हार्दिक शुभकामनायें

Heri ya mwaka mpya

Xin nian yu kuai

Shuvo noboborsho

Naya saal ko hardik shubakamana

Gelukkig nieuwjaar

Eutychismenos o kainourgios chronos

Hauoli Mahahiki hou

Boldog uj evet

Selamat Tahun Baru

新年おめでとうございます

Sehe Bokmanee Bateuseyo

La Multi Ani si Un An Nou Fericit

Feliz ano nuevo

Laimingų Naujųjų Metų

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Rollercoaster

Whenever I come home it is an emotional rollercoaster. So many a thing happen that I am more or less zapped. Best expressed in the following floydian lyrics

Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.

And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb toward the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can

And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
And no one speaks and no one tries
And no one flies around the sun

Cloudless every day you fall upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Comes streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no one sings me lullabies
And no one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky

Eastward Ho!

Finally that time of the year came around. I am starting in a few hours to get home. It is always exciting to think about the idea and so far I was counting the days towards this trip. Now, I sign off work for the rest of the year. The best emotion I left with is the fact that a bunch of folks at work are keenly interested in what happens during this trip. Some are excited, some wish well while some are nervous. I am glad to have so many people interested in my well being. Long story short, this is going to be memorable for a long time to come and I hope it is worth the while of all those who stand by me :)

Movie Reviews

Since it was raining today, I had finished watching two well executed movies back to back.

South from Granada is a movie based on the real life experiences of author Gerald Brenan. It has echoes of One Hundred years of solitude and one of the spanish tracks is a perfect treat for the ears. Its something to watched over a rainy day sipping coffee.

Thank You for Smoking is a brilliant masterpiece of spin in current day US. Mind you, it has effective debate techniques and other educational pieces thoughout involving your grey cells all the time you are watching the movie. One of the best things in this flick is when the protoganist's son is asked to write an essay about "Why is America the best managed place on planet earth?". It has a very interesting answer that finds a resonance in me. The keyword is to "love" your job well enough that you would do anything to get things done. Go watch this right now and you would see my point. Another movie in the same kind of genre but more of a drama thing was this femmy one called The Contender.

Now I need to hunt for more titles.

Another Haiku

Once in four years
Shooting the breeze wont do
A Leap Frog!

The Cocktail Party

"You and I don't know the process by which the human is
Transhumanized: what do we know
Of the kind of suffering they must undergo
On the way of illumination?"
-T.S. Eliot, "The Cocktail Party"

My first ever black tie event happened yesterday. Prepping up for it was a kind of an elaborate ritual like a fancy dress competition. I was thinking of the price people pay just for an evening like this. I picked up an Oscar de la Renta suit. and then a formal white shirt and black dress socks at Brooks Brothers.The tie was from pierre cardin. Even though people wear contacts for such a thing, I was comfortable with my zeiss lenses held in an oakley frame. Had an oxford style bata which carried me enough times through important meetings. Why am I going through this name dropping crap. Because, despite all these attempts, I was the least expensively dressed guy at this party.

Just to give you a taste of these folks, the host had his residence very near Sandhill road where the house alone would have costed 2-3 million USD. The moment I parked I saw a Valet coming up and telling me he got it. I glanced around the other parked cars and managed to see a Bugatti, a Maserati among the usual constellation of S-Class Mercs and M3 beemers. Whoa! My golf must be the least valued car in the lot.

The theme for this event was "Moulin Rouge" and I could see women dressed exactly for the theme while the men were mostly black tie. I had no clue how to find my host till I ran into a a co-worker who was also invited. Dom Perignon was served initially for the kick off and later we went to this invention called Tequila Tunnel where you pour in the patrone silver tequila off the top at one end of an ice sculpture like a lady and out comes the tequila chilled by the ice at one end. After the usual banter where I met a couple of Venture Capitalists and a head of global sales for a company who was all praise for India.

Later, we went out to the deck with a glassful of grand marnier and smoked Cohiba. This was the exact moment where I felt like playing "Have a Cigar" on the stereo but it was playing "Come Together" by the beatles to which we started singing impromptuly like a group slowly joing a chorus. Then we went down to the basement that was converted to a dance floor with all the equipment and lights. We were dancing and singing to the tunes of "American Pie". It was one fabulous moment in the party.

Waiting in the line for drinks or the restrooms I met up folks like founder of a company bought by google and executives of some famed companies.

Slowly people started to wean away saying their good byes, with their hugs and kisses. I was the last person to leave wondering what does it take for hosting such an extravagant affair. I was asking my host as to why is this an yearly affair instead of semi-annual to which he replied this is all that he can do. The host was none other than my own boss :-) which was my entry ticket to the in-crowd of the valley.

Snappy Preview

In this google dominated world of search you hardly ever hear of other sites that can actually stand ground and be different. Bill Gross actually was the father of the AdWords idea and Google added the auction twist to this and now makes tons of money. He however made his stuff via Overture and now is spinning his wheels in the next venture called "Snap".

I love Snap and its folks for their refreshingly nice design of the site. Whats more, in Google you pay by clicks whereas Snap takes it to the next level where you pay for an ad only when an actual sale is made following this lead. What more can you ask for as a merchant when you want to do targeted marketing.

Why am I blogging about it now? For one, they are one my most pleasant and a very tech-savvy smart customers. More than that they recently released this feature called "Preview" which is what I incorporated for my links. It works great for in blog sneak peek at whats there without going to the site while making it neasy to search as well.

Keep up the excellent work, Snap folks.