My horoscope for today (by Francis Drake) says that today people want to give me gifts, do favours for me and lend me things.
Well if that's the case, let's see how much do i "get" from others, who are supposed to be benficial to me today. ;-)
PS: Horoscopes are seldom true, but atleast they can make you feel better [ or worse ;)], depending upon the type of prediction they proclaim.
Wednesday 30 March 2005
Tuesday 22 March 2005
Why was I away?
For a day or two after writing my blog on March 2005, I was under siege of laziness. But after that, on Friday 11 March 2005 there came a big blow. I got a news and after that for about a week I was nearly numb. Daily life routine was going on but deep inside I was shaken, and so were all my family members.
It was the news of a death. Death of an uncle of mine, who was the cousin of both my parents. The initial news was that he has passed away in an accident in USA. Later on we came to know that he had a heart attack that instantly took his life and thus caused the accident. He was 35.
We were too close to his family (his mother, his brother and him) and it was hard seeing his mother, having to bear such a burden. What was even sadder was that he had not met his family for nearly 7 years, and he was just planning to visit Pakistan.
Who knew that he would come to Pakistan in such a state, in a coffin.
The whole 8 days, till his dead body arrived from USA, were extremely depressing. The feeling of human helplessness was hard to bear. Some might say that death is inevitable and it happens all the time so why be so depressed. But it was not death but the whole 'unexplainable' situation that was depressing.
On Friday 18 March he was laid to rest. May Allah rest his soul in peace. Ameen.
It was the news of a death. Death of an uncle of mine, who was the cousin of both my parents. The initial news was that he has passed away in an accident in USA. Later on we came to know that he had a heart attack that instantly took his life and thus caused the accident. He was 35.
We were too close to his family (his mother, his brother and him) and it was hard seeing his mother, having to bear such a burden. What was even sadder was that he had not met his family for nearly 7 years, and he was just planning to visit Pakistan.
Who knew that he would come to Pakistan in such a state, in a coffin.
The whole 8 days, till his dead body arrived from USA, were extremely depressing. The feeling of human helplessness was hard to bear. Some might say that death is inevitable and it happens all the time so why be so depressed. But it was not death but the whole 'unexplainable' situation that was depressing.
On Friday 18 March he was laid to rest. May Allah rest his soul in peace. Ameen.
Monday 21 March 2005
No Abandonment
Some of you might think that I have abandoned my blog. But reality is different. I have not. Actually due to the turn of events in my life I could not spare even a minute to add something to it. So here I am and updates will follow shortly. :-)
Wednesday 9 March 2005
Dirty Laundry, Wet Laundry, Oh My God!
By this last Sunday all my clean clothes had transformed into dirty laundry. Situation turned so bad that i didn't even know what to wear to work on Monday, unless i washed some clothes. And so i did. Started at 9 at night and finished around 10. (What the hell was i doing the whole day!)
Sqeezed as many drops of water out of the wet clothes as i could and hung them on the clothes line. Came back in the house like a triumphant soldier. Satisfied that now i will have some clean clothes to wear to work the next morning.
The next morning came. I went out to get the clothes i had decided to wear. To my dismay they were still wet. Not dripping wet but not dry either. I felt like banging my head against the nearby wall but refrained from doing it. Instead took the clothes and brought them inside. Turned on the iron and started ironing my clothes dry.
And God! it took so long. 15 minutes alone on my qameez (shirt) and even longer on my shalwaar (trousers). :-S I was mad at myself for not doing the laundry on time and also angry at my fate that why did it have to happen in the morning when time is already short. :-S
Finally my mother came to my rescue. She took over while i was ironing my shalwaar so that i could go and change the shirt and at least comb my hair. :-D And finally i got dressed fully. But by that tim ei was about 10 minutes late.
Abbu was quite understanding that day. He didn't utter a single time to hurry up. He could see my plight and he was enjoying it as i could see him smile constantly. ;-) Finally when i got in the car and we set off i was also laughing deep inside at what had just happend. ;-)
Sqeezed as many drops of water out of the wet clothes as i could and hung them on the clothes line. Came back in the house like a triumphant soldier. Satisfied that now i will have some clean clothes to wear to work the next morning.
The next morning came. I went out to get the clothes i had decided to wear. To my dismay they were still wet. Not dripping wet but not dry either. I felt like banging my head against the nearby wall but refrained from doing it. Instead took the clothes and brought them inside. Turned on the iron and started ironing my clothes dry.
And God! it took so long. 15 minutes alone on my qameez (shirt) and even longer on my shalwaar (trousers). :-S I was mad at myself for not doing the laundry on time and also angry at my fate that why did it have to happen in the morning when time is already short. :-S
Finally my mother came to my rescue. She took over while i was ironing my shalwaar so that i could go and change the shirt and at least comb my hair. :-D And finally i got dressed fully. But by that tim ei was about 10 minutes late.
Abbu was quite understanding that day. He didn't utter a single time to hurry up. He could see my plight and he was enjoying it as i could see him smile constantly. ;-) Finally when i got in the car and we set off i was also laughing deep inside at what had just happend. ;-)
Monday 7 March 2005
Keep Your Right Hand Free
Yes, do exactly what I have said in my title whenever you go for an interview. Because if it is not free, it can land you in an awkward situation. ;-)
Well, I am speaking out of my own experience. Last week on Friday I had an interview at a company. I went there carrying my handbag on my shoulder, a tissue in my left hand and a pen in my right. There at the gate I had to get a Visitor Card. I got it but while doing that I grabbed all the small stuff (the tissue, the pen and now the visitor card) in my right hand and went in. There inside the company I sat and waited for the contact person (or whatever you call the person you are supposed to go and meet at a company for an interview).
And then the person appeared. Usually it does not matter for me whether I have my hands full or not, because that person is almost always a male. But this time is was a female. She approached me and while exchanging greetings she extended her arm towards me for a handshake.
I extended my loaded arm towards her. Then suddenly I realized that and took it back. Then I took the services of my left hand to put that stuff there. And then once again I extended my, this time empty, right hand towards her. All this time (even though it was a couple of seconds but seemed longer) her hand was frozen in the air, waiting for mine to finally get vacant, so that we could get over with the handshake.
She must have felt irritated but still she shook my hand warmly. And so finally I could follow her into the conference room to get butchered. ;-)
PS: If some people are still wondering why it wouldn’t have mattered if the contact person were a male, here is the answer: Males do not shake hands with females in Pakistan. ;-) heheheeeee
Well, I am speaking out of my own experience. Last week on Friday I had an interview at a company. I went there carrying my handbag on my shoulder, a tissue in my left hand and a pen in my right. There at the gate I had to get a Visitor Card. I got it but while doing that I grabbed all the small stuff (the tissue, the pen and now the visitor card) in my right hand and went in. There inside the company I sat and waited for the contact person (or whatever you call the person you are supposed to go and meet at a company for an interview).
And then the person appeared. Usually it does not matter for me whether I have my hands full or not, because that person is almost always a male. But this time is was a female. She approached me and while exchanging greetings she extended her arm towards me for a handshake.
I extended my loaded arm towards her. Then suddenly I realized that and took it back. Then I took the services of my left hand to put that stuff there. And then once again I extended my, this time empty, right hand towards her. All this time (even though it was a couple of seconds but seemed longer) her hand was frozen in the air, waiting for mine to finally get vacant, so that we could get over with the handshake.
She must have felt irritated but still she shook my hand warmly. And so finally I could follow her into the conference room to get butchered. ;-)
PS: If some people are still wondering why it wouldn’t have mattered if the contact person were a male, here is the answer: Males do not shake hands with females in Pakistan. ;-) heheheeeee
Thursday 3 March 2005
Doing Self Generated Work
So when you are not doing "Donkey's Work", what are you doing? You might be doing the "self generated" work. ;-) Since this is another of my coined terminologies i will not inflict any more curiosity on you and will explain what I mean by it.
Well it happens in an organisation that some people are continuously being monitored. they are constantly asked about their progress and are assigned various different tasks, one after the other, whether they have finished the previous one or not.
Then there is this category to which the boss says, "I will discuss this with you later". And this "later" in the sentence is a PAIN as it never seems to come. These people do all their groundwork, prepare each and every aspect of the assigned task and then start anxiously waiting for a few moments of attention from the boss.
And during these moments of wait one can get really impatient. It's like you are longing for work, tasks, assignments but all you are getting is a LONG waiting period. Now how long can you keep yourself entertained with the net surfing or chatting (or even blogging). SO you have to find something to do that can be regarded as "work" and can be appended to the already completed tasks. Something that would also not be responsible of wasting your precious company time.
And this, dear reader, is the "self generated" work.
As an example, your boss asked you to make an outline for a document only to discuss later to finalize it. So you can very cleverly take the next step and star filling in the outline. That is self-generated work. Your boss asked you to make an ER Diagram, and if you make it and make a Data Dictionary along with it, that is doing "self generated" work.
Some might say that there is no need to do what you are not asked to do. But i disagree here. When you work in a company you sort of understand the patterns of work there. You know that you will ultimately be asked to do that self-generated work of yours, so why not be wise and do it well ahead of time. ;-)
PS: It is ironic that it happens, and nobody likes it (at least not me), but it does happen, honest!
Well it happens in an organisation that some people are continuously being monitored. they are constantly asked about their progress and are assigned various different tasks, one after the other, whether they have finished the previous one or not.
Then there is this category to which the boss says, "I will discuss this with you later". And this "later" in the sentence is a PAIN as it never seems to come. These people do all their groundwork, prepare each and every aspect of the assigned task and then start anxiously waiting for a few moments of attention from the boss.
And during these moments of wait one can get really impatient. It's like you are longing for work, tasks, assignments but all you are getting is a LONG waiting period. Now how long can you keep yourself entertained with the net surfing or chatting (or even blogging). SO you have to find something to do that can be regarded as "work" and can be appended to the already completed tasks. Something that would also not be responsible of wasting your precious company time.
And this, dear reader, is the "self generated" work.
As an example, your boss asked you to make an outline for a document only to discuss later to finalize it. So you can very cleverly take the next step and star filling in the outline. That is self-generated work. Your boss asked you to make an ER Diagram, and if you make it and make a Data Dictionary along with it, that is doing "self generated" work.
Some might say that there is no need to do what you are not asked to do. But i disagree here. When you work in a company you sort of understand the patterns of work there. You know that you will ultimately be asked to do that self-generated work of yours, so why not be wise and do it well ahead of time. ;-)
PS: It is ironic that it happens, and nobody likes it (at least not me), but it does happen, honest!
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