Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Politik
Politics. Some reminences from being a student body leader at Rolla. Vamshi, Sanjeev and myself did campaign for this and went from house to house with promises etc. etc. However once we got into the top posts of the President, VP and Secretary respectively we formed our cabinet (Cultural, Sports, Web etc.) and tried to have meetings regularly and the final decisions were usually a consensus among the three of us.
The UMR India Association's work for a particular term was scheduled as Spring Sem (Fresher's Party, Holi, International Student Day, sports), Summer (More sports), Fall (New student pickups, Fresher's Party, Food Festival, dandiya and finally Diwali Night). Mind you this is a non-profit org am talking about over here. These were NOT paid positions.
Of course we bickered a lot n all but still all the events above did get done. This was possible mainly because decisions were made. The UMR India Association was a democratic body no doubt but when it came to making some hard decisions it was mainly on the VP and the Secretary (Our President was on a co-op but still was there when it mattered the most, Diwali Night)
I have long since graduated from Rolla and now am working in Lansing, home of MSU, Michigan State University. There is quite a sizeable Indian student population over here as well so obviously there is an Indian student 'organization' as well.
There is something that is however very weird with the structuring of this. First of all it is a non-profit org, the student cabinet (E-board) is democratic in nature with every member of the cabinet having an equal say. However this leads me to question that tomorrow if there is a misallocation of funds or some university property goes missing during an ISO (Indian Student Org.) event then obviously the president is the one to get pulled up over here to explain this.
However the president is just another member of this cabinet now and does not have any special powers which distinguish that post from the others. So basically, the web-coordinator has just as equal a say in matters as the president. This effectively makes a a mockery of the president's post. Since the president can neither justify commanding authority over the cabinet(democratic) nor can the president standup to a panel to explain misappropriations.
The president should have some powers which distinguish that post from the others. This ensures greater responsibility and accountability from the president as well. This also ensures that come election time the people will want to put someone in charge who they think will do it properly irrespective of the cabinet formation later on.
P.S. The word organization has been specially highlited to ensure that ppl who read this post understand the context behind it. :)
The UMR India Association's work for a particular term was scheduled as Spring Sem (Fresher's Party, Holi, International Student Day, sports), Summer (More sports), Fall (New student pickups, Fresher's Party, Food Festival, dandiya and finally Diwali Night). Mind you this is a non-profit org am talking about over here. These were NOT paid positions.
Of course we bickered a lot n all but still all the events above did get done. This was possible mainly because decisions were made. The UMR India Association was a democratic body no doubt but when it came to making some hard decisions it was mainly on the VP and the Secretary (Our President was on a co-op but still was there when it mattered the most, Diwali Night)
I have long since graduated from Rolla and now am working in Lansing, home of MSU, Michigan State University. There is quite a sizeable Indian student population over here as well so obviously there is an Indian student 'organization' as well.
There is something that is however very weird with the structuring of this. First of all it is a non-profit org, the student cabinet (E-board) is democratic in nature with every member of the cabinet having an equal say. However this leads me to question that tomorrow if there is a misallocation of funds or some university property goes missing during an ISO (Indian Student Org.) event then obviously the president is the one to get pulled up over here to explain this.
However the president is just another member of this cabinet now and does not have any special powers which distinguish that post from the others. So basically, the web-coordinator has just as equal a say in matters as the president. This effectively makes a a mockery of the president's post. Since the president can neither justify commanding authority over the cabinet(democratic) nor can the president standup to a panel to explain misappropriations.
The president should have some powers which distinguish that post from the others. This ensures greater responsibility and accountability from the president as well. This also ensures that come election time the people will want to put someone in charge who they think will do it properly irrespective of the cabinet formation later on.
P.S. The word organization has been specially highlited to ensure that ppl who read this post understand the context behind it. :)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Another Day
Am about a week away from the 23rd now. 23rd is my bday, but dunno if there is anything special over here. Its been a while since I left Rolla so the crazy parties are no longer in the picture.
Also 23rd being a Wednesday doesn't help, falls smack in the middle of the work week. Maybe I'll end up having a good time with friends over the weekend though. Also am quite sure that colleagues at work will bring a cake over too.Also time to go over some questions from the Gipsi.
1. Kept Fit - Ummmm...Tried to for a while
2. Attended any friend's wedding- No . I even couldn't attend a friend's wedding in the US since memorial day weekend i was away from town to Colorado. The last I attended was an engagement in 07.
3. Lived Well- For now, yes, quite well
4. Got My Car - Yup, its been a while to that now. Hopefully get another newer one by the time I get around repeating these questions next year.
5. Fell In Love- Lol, Of course, several times n then some more
6. Got promoted - Well I have been training someone so I guess am ahead of someone now.
7. Gave up my shopping obsession - Never had one to begin with
8. Stopped Being Bitchy - Never was an issue
9. Doubled my bank balance - Hell yeah (Ref. to 7)
10. Acted sensibly on a number of occasions - Yes, several actually, which is very very unlike me.
Also 23rd being a Wednesday doesn't help, falls smack in the middle of the work week. Maybe I'll end up having a good time with friends over the weekend though. Also am quite sure that colleagues at work will bring a cake over too.Also time to go over some questions from the Gipsi.
1. Kept Fit - Ummmm...Tried to for a while
2. Attended any friend's wedding- No . I even couldn't attend a friend's wedding in the US since memorial day weekend i was away from town to Colorado. The last I attended was an engagement in 07.
3. Lived Well- For now, yes, quite well
4. Got My Car - Yup, its been a while to that now. Hopefully get another newer one by the time I get around repeating these questions next year.
5. Fell In Love- Lol, Of course, several times n then some more
6. Got promoted - Well I have been training someone so I guess am ahead of someone now.
7. Gave up my shopping obsession - Never had one to begin with
8. Stopped Being Bitchy - Never was an issue
9. Doubled my bank balance - Hell yeah (Ref. to 7)
10. Acted sensibly on a number of occasions - Yes, several actually, which is very very unlike me.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Mp3sort
Ever since I got the iPhone I have OCD'ed on having a perfectly sorted music library with even the Album Art for each and everything. This is fine when it comes to rock/pop/hiphop etc. , however having album art for a bollywood album is an entirely different matter.
iTunes is a very nice s/w (which I run under Win Xp which is running under Vbox under Ubuntu) and it works well with Album Art. But Bollywood unfortunately doesn't have a very comprehensive section within the iTunes library. Also most of the tracks from Bollywood on my HDD are downloaded from a multitude of sources which also implies screwed up id3 tags. So when am getting the playlists updated on iTunes they often get screwed up from the album's view. And since the iPhone is capable of displaying some gorgeous album art it makes even more worthwhile to get it on there.
So far I have successfully kept everything working all good and clean with all album art working properly too. OCD is turning out fine so far. :)
iTunes is a very nice s/w (which I run under Win Xp which is running under Vbox under Ubuntu) and it works well with Album Art. But Bollywood unfortunately doesn't have a very comprehensive section within the iTunes library. Also most of the tracks from Bollywood on my HDD are downloaded from a multitude of sources which also implies screwed up id3 tags. So when am getting the playlists updated on iTunes they often get screwed up from the album's view. And since the iPhone is capable of displaying some gorgeous album art it makes even more worthwhile to get it on there.
So far I have successfully kept everything working all good and clean with all album art working properly too. OCD is turning out fine so far. :)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Car views
Before I say anything else let me state for the record I love my car. Its a 2000 model year Mercury Cougar V6, Automatic.
Ford stopped the production of these cars in 2002 just like GM stopped doing the pontiac firebird the same year. So there are very very few cars that you will see today on an daily basis that are Cougars (car). However since the population of these is less and also because of its very very distinctive styling I have often got hi5's, hand waves, head nods from other drivers at an intersection who have been driving a cougar. (I can assure you that Honda/Toyota owners do not share such an association/camaraderie)
Obv since its an old car though does mean that it has its set of problems though. Thankfully in my case those issues have been mainly electrical and common problems with the car from the day Ford started production on them rather than something new. (I had a blown AC motor, Auto door lock, and the worst being a new alternator in the past 1.2 years.) Mainly my commute is to work and back, around 13 miles in all and some trips to Detroit around the weekends.
I am a big guy so when I drive, the driver's seat has to be all the way back and all the way low. This essentially renders the immediate rear seat behind effectively useless unless the person sitting in that position has no legs. However the car has one of the largest trunk spaces I have ever seen. I mean it can easily hold an entire cycle in the trunk area(with the back seats flipped down) without needing the front cycle tire to be dismantled. I love the trunk space that can be afforded over here.
I do plan to ship the car if I end up moving out of the mid west area though and maybe sometime next year get a brand new car. (more like crossover/suv now) :)
Ford stopped the production of these cars in 2002 just like GM stopped doing the pontiac firebird the same year. So there are very very few cars that you will see today on an daily basis that are Cougars (car). However since the population of these is less and also because of its very very distinctive styling I have often got hi5's, hand waves, head nods from other drivers at an intersection who have been driving a cougar. (I can assure you that Honda/Toyota owners do not share such an association/camaraderie)
Obv since its an old car though does mean that it has its set of problems though. Thankfully in my case those issues have been mainly electrical and common problems with the car from the day Ford started production on them rather than something new. (I had a blown AC motor, Auto door lock, and the worst being a new alternator in the past 1.2 years.) Mainly my commute is to work and back, around 13 miles in all and some trips to Detroit around the weekends.
I am a big guy so when I drive, the driver's seat has to be all the way back and all the way low. This essentially renders the immediate rear seat behind effectively useless unless the person sitting in that position has no legs. However the car has one of the largest trunk spaces I have ever seen. I mean it can easily hold an entire cycle in the trunk area(with the back seats flipped down) without needing the front cycle tire to be dismantled. I love the trunk space that can be afforded over here.
I do plan to ship the car if I end up moving out of the mid west area though and maybe sometime next year get a brand new car. (more like crossover/suv now) :)
Friday, June 19, 2009
Let us rock
I am back from Los Angeles with the axe now and with the Vox Pathfinder 10 too. So now will get back to shredding after a long hiatus.
P.S. For the past several weekends I have been out of town to Boston,Colorado,Sandusky and Los Angeles and with trips to Mackinaw and Chicago within the next couple of months it will probably be a while before I get back to blogging.
P.S. For the past several weekends I have been out of town to Boston,Colorado,Sandusky and Los Angeles and with trips to Mackinaw and Chicago within the next couple of months it will probably be a while before I get back to blogging.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Traditions
A very interesting conversation with colleagues over lunch ensued sometime back over the whole concept of traditions.
Lets consider a sociological experiment first.
Put five monkeys in a cage with a ladder at one end which leads upto a banana. Now sooner or later at least one of those monkeys will go ahead to the ladder to scale it and grab the banana. As soon as one of the monkeys touches the ladder spray the other bunch with water. (At this point it is immaterial if the first monkey gets the banana.) Now place another banana and whenever any monkey reaches the ladder, spray the rest with water. After sometime there will be a scenario where if any of the monkeys goes towards the ladder then the rest will gang up on him and hold him back with the fear of getting sprayed.
Once this condition is manifested then remove one of the monkeys and replace him with another. Now obviously this new dude will go towards the ladder to grab the banana. But this time (no water spray) what would happen is all the other monkeys would hold him back (with the fear of getting sprayed if someone went to the ladder). Replace all the original monkeys now one by one with others and soon a pattern emerges that noone will be allowed to get to the banana. Even though there is no water being sprayed at this point.
None of them know exactly why they aren't supposed to get to the banana but the argument over here is "Since this is the way things have always been done, we continue to follow suit".
This is the whole point about tradition, most of us do follow several customs etc. but as to what reasons are behind this we hardly ever know.
Lets consider a sociological experiment first.
Put five monkeys in a cage with a ladder at one end which leads upto a banana. Now sooner or later at least one of those monkeys will go ahead to the ladder to scale it and grab the banana. As soon as one of the monkeys touches the ladder spray the other bunch with water. (At this point it is immaterial if the first monkey gets the banana.) Now place another banana and whenever any monkey reaches the ladder, spray the rest with water. After sometime there will be a scenario where if any of the monkeys goes towards the ladder then the rest will gang up on him and hold him back with the fear of getting sprayed.
Once this condition is manifested then remove one of the monkeys and replace him with another. Now obviously this new dude will go towards the ladder to grab the banana. But this time (no water spray) what would happen is all the other monkeys would hold him back (with the fear of getting sprayed if someone went to the ladder). Replace all the original monkeys now one by one with others and soon a pattern emerges that noone will be allowed to get to the banana. Even though there is no water being sprayed at this point.
None of them know exactly why they aren't supposed to get to the banana but the argument over here is "Since this is the way things have always been done, we continue to follow suit".
This is the whole point about tradition, most of us do follow several customs etc. but as to what reasons are behind this we hardly ever know.
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