bookmarking another day of my life

No one could be as stiff bored as i am. i guess some of it is boredom and some is being burnt out.

so today I’m going to click on all the websites I’ve bookmarked , and either delete them or talk about them or maybe just post them. I’ve brought my gigantic pain-in-the-ass laptop with me. i never liked it – its been too heavy , too little battery and keeps reminding me of wasted time. i don’t want to ever see it again.

the internet connection at work is really really bad . and guess what my new updated title is – its manager outbound sales & internet marketing , oh and this i only found out when the HR department asked for the org chart of our department; that’s when i gotta to know “hey i gotta a new title- i wonder what the hell does it mean”.

i have to make a presentation talking about the future strategy of the portfolio based on which resources will be allocated to me. here’s my future strategy ” run as fast as you can”. yesterday was the 2nd time this i thought of simply quitting. but the thought of being home all day , for god knows how many days, no way Jose. just that thought keeps me showing up for work.

www.nbf.org.pk National Book foundation – this is run by Ministry of Education , Govt of Pakistan. I tried (very poorly may i add) writing a draft for a children’s book to submit in a contest that they were holding . they even gave me a discount but asthma , bad planning & GMAT kept from finishing it. Maybe i should finish it off – but where will i find someone who draws illustrations.

“www.pluggd.in/2007/12/2008-social-networking-predictions-for-india-rise-of-mobile-communities” a site which tells you what all the smart techy Indians are upto. informative but rite now I’m just not in the mood to learn anything.

Stomach hurting , but still ordered a grease filled paratha. ingrowing nail hurting but still wore heeled closed narrow shoes.

Following Demi Moore on Twitter actually doesn’t do much for me , well except when she exchanged nasty tweets with Perez Hilton on posting her 14 year old daughter’s slightly suggestive pics. I believe she was right when she said ‘leave my kid alone she’s didn’t sign up for this’ , but she was wrong to have ranted the way she did, well she should rant but she could have used that opportunity to ‘launch a ‘back-off’ revolution rather than ‘i’m not a bad mother’ tirade. Any ways Demi Moore posted this link , which really surprised me , its the list of must read banned books
onlinecollegedegree.org/2009/05/20/50-banned-books-that-everyone-should-read

Dr. Gillian will not be pleased . I’m constipated – i think I’m not drinking enough water. In a spin off version some Dr. Yuna, who so wants to be like Gillian McKeith’s You are what you eat , enlightened viewers that eating fish daily reduces by 50% the chances of getting diabetes. OK so lets do the math here – both parents diabetic , one was probably diabetic when i was born so guess what my chances are. yeah i know what they are , and its scary. with my weight ballooning & my eating habits it aint too good.
I have come to the conclusion that the Pakistani cuisine and I are not compatible anymore, maybe we never were- its the only cuisine I’ve ever known. I would one day like to go off it altogether – i believe that will be the day i will begin living a healthy life.

OK back to my bookmark list , next we have Abdullah Shah Ghazi , his mazar in Karachi is a landmark. it is also famous for drug addicts and this (in)famous palm-reader called Siraj , quite a few crazy people have gone to him , and have let him hold their hands. that’s like the oldest trick in the book!. So according to Wikipedia , Mr. Ghazi actually had a historical role as opposed to what his visitors believe “www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Shah_Ghazi”

Emmy, my pal is on gtalk – just asked him if he knew what ever happened to Siraj. Emmy the skeptic & pessimist , actually went to the guy himself and says that he did get some things right.

Have been skipping asthma inhaler duty. Lungs feel clogged right now. Inhaled Seretide Evohaler plus meeting canceled.

www.afaqs.com/perl/media/story.html?sid=21577#
Could there be a better TV ad than this one. Well not for me , it has Aamir Khan , Titan and inspiration. this TV ad is actually inspirational & motivational. It so well executed well thought and creative guys behind it are geniuses. the Indian Advertising industry is miles miles miles ahead. Wah kya baat hai.

Ambitabh Bachchan;s blog bigb.bigadda.com/2008/06/15/day-53/ , what he is writes is so poetic & lyrical and his entries are so heart-felt. Really good stuff.

I have written too much about the Neighbors despite the IPL row. So they snubbed Pakistani cricket players , that’s stupid sportsmanship , not wait that being a spoil sport. But the ones worth admiring from across the border , are really worth admiring.

Rest in peace , Pearl Padamsee , aunt agony columnist of Femina.

 

Leverage

In one of my notes on my facebook profile i wrote about how , when one is doing something on someone’s behalf , make sure that the Behalf for whom you are doing/picking a fight is with you throughout; to simply state it – don’t make someone else’s war, your war.

I learnt this lesson last year when i went on to make on commitment to a charity organization on behalf of some people & now that commitment has become mine – all i wanted to do was help and now i need help.

Having said all this , one of the behalf’s to whom i spoke clarified his position , that actually what the entire objective of committing to a charity organization was that each member would leverage his/her contacts to generate funds which would help far more than what a bunch of 10-15 people could contribute by emptying their pockets. it is using that same leverage that members were asked to become part of the group in the 1st place and the objective of the behalf (& a few others) still remains to leverage people with money. So what’s the problem i asked. Its that’s the Pervez Musharraf of the group has decided otherwise ; i still haven’t figured out what exactly that otherwise is , what the behalf told me was that Musharraf wanted to do something new & bigger – every month & on their own , which the behalf thinks just shows lack of focus. So basically he didn’t back out he just got lost like i did.

Very few people I have worked with understand the utility of leveraging when it comes to charity. I have worked , in my previous position , with many charities and the ones that worked best / or generated the most funds were the ones which had rich bored aunties as head of those charities. i always figured that they did this because they were basically bored housewives and charities really don’t care who is helping as long as they are helping. But in reality it was & is good that these rich old aunties are in charge of generating funds , because you see they have leverage. their husbands who are factory owners , tops execs having drinking buddies & golf partners plus the aunties family & friends are people with money who wouldn’t think twice about donating a hefty amount to these charities. and it is they who make the most contribution and hence bring about the biggest change.

So ‘Behalf’ is basically spot on with his leveraging spiel. So my new lesson is always know who the Musharraf of a group is & then maybe you will know what exactly you can & want to leverage.

Maybe its time I used leveraging for a job hunt.

A sibling’s birthday today and a parent’s death anniversary in 2 days time.

Jan22 moneytab:
20 bucks for food

food tab:
2 bananas
1 heavy duty paratha

 

17 days & counting

OK so before next bday comes i am gonna go guerilla-attacking job searching. why? coz i so stiff bored at my workplace and have been there for way too long. plus the portfolio that i built without any help over 2 years is now being evaluated for pricing by the ‘business’ team. really wow how considerate of them to just ask me for numbers and not include me in any discussion.

Watched the house of Saddam at 5 AM in the morning ; it was very gripping. also watched House rerun , Stayed up til 5 just to watch rihanna & TI video ‘live your life’.
Talking to emmy on gtalk , he’s obsessing over the bi-gay paki weblogs i told him to check out. he’s says its normal. yeah rite. he’s also tensed his company is downsizing , which made me revise my exit plan for 999th time about quitting without job in hand.

Got a diary & 2 calendars from junior assistant. have had him do quite a few personal work , which is one of the main reasons i hired him. but i think he needs a boss , as in i need a senior assistant , i cannot do daily management of the unit, and expand it at the same time. this kid has little leadership skills but has brains , the previous assistant had leadership skills but no brains , and both have unethical leanings.

3.15 – damn sleepy. that’s one of the reasons i stopped having lunch at all . i would get more work done but then i would be starving by 6 and when i reached home i would eat like crazy. I’m still sleepy.

Once again I’m procrastinating. that’s too big a word. I’m avoiding a few difficult talks i need to have. first one is with one of the agents whom i need to fire. i have this theory called ‘good riddance’ theory , which means that you get rid of the person in a happy feel good way , as in for him or her. the 1st kid i had to fire i paid her gratuity money from my own account because HR was being pigheaded about it. the girl took the check & vanished and life at the unit got better & more productive. this theory has worked so far. But right now i just don’t want to go through all those ‘please give me more chance’ pleas. Gave as many chances as i could now its time to go. but i just cant do it right now. and i don’t think it has to do with being lazy. it has to do with self-protection. I’m going to take away someone’s livelihood , and guilt , pain & sense of duty all will clash with each when i do so. its hard. no one taught me how to train people , hire them or fire them ; even after all these years i find that managing people isn’t easy. In fact it can be scary – this piece of gem comes from the horrific experience i had of that ex-assistant of mine.

Just had a good discussion with the analyst. he’s right about how the ‘business’ team has not worked out the issues that plagued the product’s beta version. this product has way too many cooks , and all these cooks believe that the minute it gets launched its going to be a super-success. How can they not look at the state of economy before making such assumptions. the World Bank’s The Global Economic Prospects 2010 report released on Wednesday says that “Pakistan is among the countries that entered the global economic crisis with large internal and external imbalances and were forced to severely crimp domestic demand. In such places “the growth has been the weakest”.
its not that I don’t want it to work – its just that with my experience & learning of the beta-version launch two years ago & then a mini-survey that i did later on , i think the actual launch will not be as big a roaring success as everyone is hoping it will be.

Jan 21 money tabs:
metro home to office 310 bucks , coz didn’t get up in time to go in van
henny’s sandwich 120 bucks plus whatever that damn messenger mite retain / not return

metro office to home will probably cost 360 bucks , so being a lazy ass is costing me 660 bucks daily. no wonder I’ve been skipping lunch , but not today, i gotta eat i cant afford to be unwell. OK its inhaler time no wait its probably an hour later but will take it anyway before lungs clog up any further.

Got 2 invitations to join to a new social networking site called InTheLoop.me ;wonder what its all about.

food tabs:
2 bananas
henny sandwich vege roll which has brown bread hotdog & veges
2 mugs of black tea with way too much sugar