Friday, December 22, 2006

Long Weekend!!!

Yippee!!! Yet another long weekend for X'mas! Its so nice to have this day, cos
i) Today is Friday and we dont have to get back to work till Tuesday . Things are the quietest on a Friday like this as there is not much activity and lot of folks are out on vacation.
ii) Tonight, sal would be credited most likely! Love to see those $$, though i have a sal cut these days :)
iii) Its so nice to know that all your major deliverables are completed and all you need to do is come down to your room, and hop onto your comforter and write this blog :)

I lost my cell phone somewhere, while winding up things at work and leaving for home in all the excitement. Hopefully my roomie DG should pick it up from my desk (i instructed him :) ) or i should find it in my car!

More blogging later :) TC :)

Monday, December 18, 2006

The Wait

Since Sat night, i have been visiting yahoogroups, orkut on information on R1 admits at ISB. Its indeed positively intimidating and threatening to know the good quality of folks getting into ISB. The GMAT scores are nowhere below 700, so even though we know the standard line - "GMAT Score is JUST one of the criteria", still am not really that comfortable that my GMAT score of 660 will get a call. I would have logged into the ISB site for atleast 4-5 times in the past 2 days, trying to see if there is any further progress on my application evaluation and that most awaited interview call. Hope it happens! The wait for the interview is just like a pregnant women waiting for her child to be delivered. With due respects to all women, i understand that its more painful then than the wait that i have to endure here, but nevertheless mentally it is the same.

I indeed have to literally drag myself to work each day and see through those 9 hours (though it passes of in a giffy amist conference calls, lunch, tea-breaks, email). Need to do something different. There are close to 200 ppl in this account of Infy in Middletown and all have been almost doing the same thing for the past 2 years. This is my second trip here and its just like, nothing happened between my 2 trips to the US and i was never in India. Things haven't changed at all!

Finally glad now that no longer i have that bad tooth ache i was suffering from about 2 weeks back. That molar, which survived all the grinding, biting,chewing, acidic pepsi and coke, was finally removed and laid to rest. He had consolidated his position so much that Dr. Shashi had to "divide and conquer" - cut the molar into 3 pieces after giving 5 shots of local anesthesia and then pull this guy out. The other tooth were not that happy i guess, and now that the molar has left, there is void between the two teeth he earlier fitted into. Hopefully with the passage of time, i would get an artifical molar there, so that it keeps them company :)

Was on NUS site today. Looks good and impressive. Neverthless, nothing like ISB though :)

Weekend chores - laundry,folding clothes, filling gas in car are done. No ironing needed for tomorrow as i already have ironed clothes from last week :)

Achievement of this weekend: It was undoubtedly cleaning and clearing the clog in the restroom potty. The house maintenance guys were to leisurely come on Monday after i lodged the complaint on Saturday. Me and my roomie - SS thought that we shall fix it before them, so that life is much more convenient. We went to Wal-Mart and got a pump - the one with a long handle and a rubber cup at the end. Used and using suction and air pressure, cleared the traffic jam, cleaned the potty and we were all set!

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Of Appraisals, Introspection and Future Life

Closed my appraisal yesterday. Wasnt way too happy with it as things were
A) pushed to the end by my appraiser and reviewer and consultant
B) ratings were rolled back from the earlier ones given by previous ML (who left the company cos he could not be promoted) to a level below as they felt he had over rated all people who worked with him. Voila! What a crap reason ? Couldnt it be that the person who got an A, atleast some of them deserved it? What about all those initiatives i took to create KT Documents? They weren't rewarded at all. The usual sling was - "U are a PA, and thats expected" Expected my foot. I dont see my peers taking so much pains to create documents and give so much attention to detail.
C) All the technical and behavorial competencies are satisfactory. Phew..also agonizing comments with each of them.
The list could go on, but the thing is that Infosys appraisal , though tried to improve itself this year, still is way away from where it should be. My appraiser was of the same band as me and its a lesson learned for me that from the next time, i would like my appraiser to be the next role and not my role. I will make that evident in my 1-1 scheduled some time in the next 2 weeks.

Now that this year, when i had a tumultouse personal relationship and now the professional boat also rocking, need to really see what i need to do to get where i want to see myself. Also gave a go ahead to folks for releasing my horoscope :) Thought, what the heck..lets see how life takes a turn from there. Would definitely like to make my expectations clear and what my aspirations in professional life would be :)

From next time, wouldnt chide my friends, as i usually do, asking "Shaadi Kab Kar Raha Hai?". Hehehe...

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Sleepy Eyed Wonder

These days i have got into this regular routine of sleeping late by 1am or so and waking up by 7am and getting ready for work. Its not that am utilizing all the time that i am awake productively, but its just that i am wasting a lot of time into stock markets and other miscellaneous items. Need to cut the crap and start working in app's to other B-Schools. After all isn't that the reason i travelled onshore and said a "yes" for this assignment, when asked to travel just 2.5 months back?

Yesterday finally returned the Sony Car Stereo to CC and the Antenna Adapter to BB, since i completely agree with my roomie SS that its waste of money, as i cant take them back to India, and it would stay with the car when i sell it. So settled for the Belkin Tunecast 2 FM Transmitter that i had picked up from Walmart this weekend. Its good, and much better that i had expected it to. Of course nothing can beat a direct CD player or the Cassette Adapter- MP3 player combo in a car, but hey i am no nosy geek. Tunecast2 is good. I will return this to Walmart this Friday as i have already ordered it from Amazon for a lesser price and also some books on Management Consulting. Got to know what this consulting is all about, so that i can give some funda's when required and also seriously take a call as to where to go from this crossroad of my career. Also in my order at Amazon, was able to use the 20$ Gift Coupon i got as recognition from 'Jersey Rhythems' for the help for their show in NJ in Oct.

Today was doing a Business Analyst's job and working on some real detailed requirements for a change for a new application. Glad with what i could complete by EOD. No turns for cooking today! Will check appraisal to see if its closed and then will check ISB to see if there are any further updates! Pls pray that i get into a B-school!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Of Stock Markets, Cooking Turns

Woke up this morning to note that there was yet another fall on the stock market in India and it was down by 400 points for the second consecutive day. My unrealized profits head southwards by 20k INR not counting Mutual Fund's. Phew...looks like the predictions i had heard on stock market stabilizing around 11.5 on the BSE by Dec 2006 end will come true!

Today was my turn for cooking food and prepared "Karela Sambhar" by a very tedious process. Tedious process was to ensure that the karela, which is bitter in taste has the right mix of spices and bitterness. Though time consuming, nevertheless it turned out too good and i was proud of myself.Though ppl hardly appreciate as its just routine! I dont mind, cos i know i gave it my best :) So next turn comes on Friday for me to cook.

Finally modified appraisal and sent it back to appraiser. Dont know if the ratings would need to be negotiated, but am open to be a pain in the butt this time cos i think i deserve what i self-rated. After all, dont we all feel so?

Got an email acknowledgement from ISB that my application packet contents were verified. Oh Lord, pls help shortlist me for the interview and let me make it into ISB! Jai Hanuman! Hope the ad com goes through my CD and is impressed by all info in there! Lord Balaji, pls help!

Am dozing off now..sold IDFC @ 70 tonight..12% profit (including brokerage).

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Lazyness

Sorry for writing in after a long time. The wanderer who is the lazy,pipe dreaming geminine in me found yet another excuse for not blogging. Its been couple of weeks since i submitted by ISB Application. In the past few weeks, i have been checking their website regulary to see if there are any updates with regards to being shortlisted for interview. I hope strongly that i do. That reminds me..i have to start preparing for my interview soon and not laze around. So will plan not to indulge in my racquetball games that i have everyday with my roomie DG @ our apartment clubhouse from 9-10pm. Eventually i end up loosing most of the games to him, but nevertheless enjoy most of it.

Need to check appraisal status, send monthly expenses for consolidation :)