Credit Crunch

Read this on the underground this morning:
What is confusing about the credit crunch is that, if one of my cheques is returned stamped “insufficient funds”, I won’t know whether that refers to mine or the bank’s.

 

Walkabout, Shaftesbury avenue

As the name suggests, its just a walkabout. One of the most awful pubs that I’ve been to in London. The staff are awful and rude, starting from the bouncer(who thinks of himself as a combination of James Bond + Hulk). Music isn’t much inspiring either. Reasonably priced drinks(and you get 25% off if you buy a £3 walkabout card). Overall its been quite disappointing, don’t think me and my mates would ever go there again.

 

A “Different” Friday

Friday nights always had a special status in my mind. Its the time of the week when you can put your worries and troubles behind and look forward to cherishing all that the world can offer you in the next two days. Keeping this in mind I always made it a point to make my friday night’s memorable. But today it has been one of those days(in an year ) when you sit down and don’t do/think/plan anything. Just stayed home all evening doing the toughest thing that one can do.. Not doing anything at all.

 

Answers I need to know

Index up 6.7% portfolio up 16.68%.
Will the sensex hit +1000 today ?

 

Random thought for the day

Are traders trading or guessing ?

 

As it is ..

Been a long time since I came here.. In the meantime I’ve learned this new art of ‘accepting things just the way they come’. Call me incredibly lazy or disconnected .. but I’ve stopped trying to (over)analyze all the stuff that goes around. And this has let me to come up with a certain set of rules by which I’m accepted to play my part. (But I have to warn you that because of the inherent nature of these things the rule priority tends to change, and maybe the rule itself might be overwritten). Anyways, here we go ..

Rule 1: Life is not fair.

Note: No one likes a smart ass.

Rule 2: Don’t panic.

Note: Incase you think you are, stop thinking

Rule 3: Don’t analyze a lot.

Note: Please feel free to call this, ‘paralysis by analysis’

Rule 4: Don’t lose money.

Note: This rule has to be followed, only after Rule 1 and 2 are true.

To Be Continued ..

 

ASSET India Foundation

I was reminded of J.Carney’s quote, “Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean, and the pleasant land.”

Every change in this world would have had a humble beginning. I am sure every one of us would have thought, at some point of the time or other, that we were very lucky to have all the opportunities and things ready in place put together and provided. And would also end up thinking about contributing our bit to the society. But I believe what is holding us back is the single thought that ‘Well.. May be it wouldn’t really make a big difference, just by my contribution alone’.

It is during one of those moments that I got to know about ASSET India foundation and some of the wonderful people associated with it, in particular Mr.Ray Umashankar, Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering at the University of Arizona, Tucson . When I read about the idea of providing better opportunities and alternate livelihood for children of sex workers in India, I thought it is gonna take a couple of years. But in an year ASSET was able to provide alternate computer based jobs for 26 of their students.An article in the Arizona daily.

Based on its strong performance and growth, Parade Magazine and Case Foundation have asked ASSET to participate as a partner in a fundraising challenge. Here is a wonderful opportunity for you to make a difference in the lives of these children by going to the Global Giving link for the Case Foundation/Parade Magazine Challenge now:

http://givingchallenge.globalgiving.com/dy/registry/ag.html?regid=608&cmd=prevfund

As the drops of water assemble to make a great ocean, I would appreciate your donation of $10 and request you to share the link with your wide circle of friends/contacts in the U.S.

 

ǝsɹǝʌǝɹ uı ƃuıoƃ puɐ uʍop ǝpısdn ǝɟıl

Thats might probably be the best way to describe whats going in my life now . Thanks to Flip for the description.

 

“Think” Pad

I was more than happy to finally grab my T61 after its one month journey. The entire episode began when I chose to place an order for one to be delivered to a New York address, during the first week of october. A friend of mine said he would help in getting it across the atlantic during the last week of october. The customer support told me that they would be able to deliver the laptop in two weeks time, which I though would add for the delta delays.

So, I kept waiting for an update from Lenovo.. No news and I decided to dial them up. The customer support guys say that my credit card was held up because they were not able to located the Bank’s phone number !!! I patiently tell give them a number and after a week later they tell me that they are not able to reach the bank. This was in the third week of october. I spent an hour explaining them how the credit card system works and they said they would make a special request on my behalf.

I couldn’t get the laptop delivered on time and so it got stuck up at New York. Finally in the second week of november I found someone who could get it across. And here I am spending a first weekend with my T61 .. . I have to admit that I have a huge liking for ThinkPads. In the market we have a lot of nice glossy coloured lids, but I believe there is something about the matte black finish of a ThinkPad which sets them apart.

 

Needle in the haystack

Couldn’t resist posting this story across.

The romantic tale of a New Yorker.