Spilled Water on Laptop

"What an Idiot!" Thats what I said to myself when I spilled water on laptop - not just drops but a lot :( In an over enthusiasm to show a fish bowl to my niece, I lifted the bowl above the keypad and unknowingly tilted it!! I know that you are just thinking "What an idiot!" But anyways,whats done is done and am out of action for days to come. Here's what I did immediately upon the spill: removed power,removed all external devices connected, removed battery,turned it upside down, bloated water on surface with tissue paper, vacuumed the keypad area (i don't mind if my vacuum doesn't work ever again) and left it turned upside down near a light bulb to dry.

Now I am keeping my fingers crossed as the warranty on laptop has expired!!!

Do you have any ideas on what I can do now??

Power Outage

We had a power outage in our apartment today (yes in US!!) for around 4 hrs. I still don’t know if it was an outage local only to our apartment or for the entire block… Since power outages are quite normal from where I come from (Chennai), I was simply waiting for the power to come back. But after 4 hrs, I thought that I’d call and inform. I was amazed by the kind of service esp this being a Sunday. There was a request created with a request number and they even offered a curtsey walkup call for any day in the week!! I could just not help comparing how power outage reporting happens in my place… Lets imagine I have a power outage in chennai, this is how my conversation would be:

Note: I must call within the first 5-10 mins to have the phone answered (else the intelligent people at the substation would place the receiver down!!)

Me: Sir there is no power in xyznagar.

Substation technician (SST) : which area?

Me: xyznagar, abc street

SST: Lineman is working. Power will come

Me: When is the power expected to be back?

SST: Power will come ma

Me: Ok.. (he hangs up even before I say okie )

Where as here, I get a request number, an expected time when the power is going to be restores and what was the issue that caused a power outage. They also ask if I want to be informed when the power is back and to which number they should call to inform. Within minutes two technicians came from the “Illumination Company” and did something to clear the outage. And as said, we also a got a call to confirm if the power has been restored..

How I wish this system was present in India where power outages are just a part of everyday life

New Disease around the corner - Beware

Shopping has become the new addiction - no I am not talking about the western countries!! I am talking about India. In our gratuitous chase to follow the west in anything and everything, this addiction seems to have seeped into the younger generation of India.
Shopping once used to be a two or three time event in a year. The feeling of ecstacy when daddy says 'we'll go diwali shopping on saturday' is all a thing of the past. Shopping seems to be a part of regular activities now.
To make the matters worse, the media keeps tossing products after products through the idiot box. The media seems to dictate what one must possess for a "comfortable" living. Advertising agency are real smart these days, they market saying what you already have is worthless but the sad part is that consumers never wake up to realise this. It was alright when it was only advertisements, but i was taken aback by two recent shows on TV.
One was Neeya-Naana 'compulsive shopping' was the topic for the day. I couldn't believe that people of chennai were shopping for 'dress for seasons'. As far as I know chennai only has three weather conditions - Hot, Hotter, Hottest. I can't imagine when one'd wear winter clothes there!! This atleast was a discussion with personal views. The other show infact left me a bit annoyed - that was 'kondattam' show in Sun TV. Thats a show for comedy clips, where the host would talk on a totally unrelated topic for the whole 30 mins. This day, she was talking about how to decorate your house. Thankfully, I just watched the last 10 mins, and she was talking about curtains. Curtains, carpets and stuff like that once used to be in bungalows. It is good that they have reached all walks of life now - no complaints there. But she went on saying how boring it can be to keep seeing the same curtain all through the year and went on to counsel how one should have atleast(!?) 4 sets of curtains.
It is indeed disheartening that China keeps chucking its produce and we are becoming the no.1 consumers in the world. Prudent shopping and frugality have no meaning to the younger India now. If you can spare 20 mins of your time, try watching the video at http://www.storyofstuff.com - it is done with brilliant animation and very meaningful presentation.
The shopping mania has grown to an extent that it is now classified as a disease - CSD (Compulsive Shopping Disorder). So the next time when you see an ad that says "Shop till you Drop" remember to run as fast in the opposite direction :) - These guys want you to be "Shopaholics" - Yes if there is a name for the disease, it is bound that the patient would also get a fancy name Right? So the next time you go on a shopping spree,

• Have a list of things you want to buy,
• Think twice if you indeed want that stuff and
• PAY IN CASH - then you will know the pain in spending.

The rise of credit cards is the major causing agent for this disease! One keeps spending imaginary money building on debts.

Even though I can come very close to be a CSD patient, I wanted to write this. I have resolved to exercise control over the disease atleast at a personal level if not extend it to my spouse - and so far it has been good. (our last two shopping excursions at walmart was less than $5 - definitely there is a scope for improvement)

90/10 Principle Huh!!

One great person - Mr. Stephen Covey has invented a principle called 90/10 and the principle says '10% of life is made up of what happens to you and 90% of life is decided by how you REACT'. And he gives a cute little example - daughter knocks coffee over father's shirt on morning, he yells at daughter and yells at wife for placing the coffee mug there. Changes shirt, daughter is crying & misses school bus, wife cant drop her as she has to rush to office, he drops daughter off at school, daughter goes without waving bye, he gets to office late (after receiving a speeding ticket for driving too fast) and then realizes he forgot his briefcase. Now Mr.Covey says that all this happened not because the coffee spilled but because dad reacted in the harsh way. Had the father said 'Its okie honey' instead of yelling at daughter & wife and goes over to change his shirt, daughter'd not have cried, not have missed school bus and day would have been just fine. Agreed here sir!

But does this always work is my question? Don't both the parties in question need to know the 90/10 principle? Is that how life work? I can vouch that Murphy's law is always true. i.e. If you know about the 90/10 principle, by default the person whom you have to deal with in a 'situation' DOES NOT!!!!

So all great athmas out there, the world is still not a beautiful place, until you educate your partners with such things. But for some poor souls (like me) where you'd only be ridiculed (making it another bad REACTION) for suggesting ideas such as these to your partners, have a laugh!!