Your Keyboard – One ‘Spec’ to rule them all

We all face buying decisions for laptops every few years. Those tend to be pretty important decisions as laptops these days are like our constant companions. So, we better like what we are stuck with.
When we make those decisions, the big questions (aside from deciding wide screen vs square etc) are around the specs. How many GB hard drive? Dual core? Blah blah.
Now, for those of you who use your personal laptops primarily for browsing, email and multimedia (and not for hardcore processor heavy tasks – I think we make a good 50% of the population), I have a tip.
Forget the specs, focus on the keyboard.
Of course, you have the basic decision to make – is it going to be a small portable laptop? or a bigger laptop with big screen, many USB ports etc. Once you are past that, I really hope you do focus on your keyboard because if that ain’t comfortable enough, it won’t matter how good your other specs are. All you’ll be doing is fighting pain in your fingers..
All the best with choosing your laptop!

Small hack when emailing or following up with a large group of people for information

We often have the task of requesting/emailing or following up with a bunch of people for information. Some of us do it to confirm attendees for a meeting, some others do it to collect material for a bit of research etc. And often, tracking responses can be a pain especially since those who don’t have information are unlikely to reply.
The issue we often face is we don’t know if the people who haven’t replied have actually read the email. And this can tend to be a difficult position especially if these are your superiors as constant follow up is not really an option.
In such situations, a simple line like..
‘Those who have read this and have no ….. to add, I would appreciate it if you could just reply with a :). Thank you in advance!’
..tends to works well. And takes off some stress from our system as well! :)

The Chopsticks Story

It’s 2 weeks from RealAcad at Stanford now and my mind went back to my first camp in Stanford in August 2007. The camp was due to start on Monday, the 6th of August. And on Sunday, a bunch of us ‘students’ got together to socialize prior to the camp.
We walked into a Japanese place. Now, we were a group of 5 – 1 Belgian, 1 Haitian studying in the US, 1 Kyrghstani studying in the US, 1 American and 1 Indian studying in Singapore (yours truly, of course). Food was soon served – there was just 1 problem. There were no forks and spoons, only chopsticks.
And I looked around clueless. The others who had begun digging in realized the issue and 1 of them offered to teach me.
‘You’re from Singapore, right?’ – asked another while I was going through Chopsticks 101 and I could feel my ears go red. I managed to get through the meal and thankfully, we didn’t do any ‘only chopstick’ meals in the camp.
I remember getting back to the office and making sure I ate every ‘Maggi’ Noodle meal in the next 2 months with chopsticks (We were a startup and we had plenty of maggi stocked) till I became very comfortable. I even remember going back home to India and eating rice at one of the Chinese joints with chopsticks!
And, I sure am glad I learnt that lesson early that it happened then and not at a Chinese meal with the consulting team on my 1st project or a Japanese meal with my boss. Many of us aim to ‘get into’ places. But, it’s often little things (not necessarily chopsticks mind..) can mean us being shown the door.
The other big lesson I learnt is that 1 year in Singapore had meant very little in terms of cultural openness in the food sense. And that changed for the better. It’s a beautiful world out there, after all.
Thank you chopsticks.

The Asylum forward

I was strolling in the gardens of an insane asylum when I met a young man who was reading a philosophy book.

His behavior and his evident good health made him stand out from the other inmates.

I sat down beside him and asked:

‘What are you doing here?’

He looked at me, surprised. But seeing that I was not one of the doctors, he replied:

‘It’s very simple. My father, a brilliant lawyer, wanted me to be like him.
“My uncle, who owns a large emporium, hoped I would follow his example.
“My mother wanted me to be the image of her beloved father.
“My sister always set her husband before me as an example of the successful man.
“My brother tried to train me up to be a fine athlete like himself.

“And the same thing happened at school, with the piano teacher and the English teacher – they were all convinced and determined that they were the best possible example to follow.

“None of them looked at me as one should look at a man, but as if they were looking in a mirror.

“So I decided to enter this asylum. At least here I can be myself.”

—
Some of these email forwards tend to touch a chord. I guess that’s why they get forwarded around!
This one did touch a chord.

Le Vie Est Belle

Movies and songs have a way into the depths of our soul.
And this one is a soul-ful movie. La Vie Est Belle or Life is Beautiful is a wonderful reminder of the power we exert over our lives and explains very simply that ‘management-y’ concept of ‘being proactive’.
The story is one of two halves. The first half is a sweet Italian comedy – a love story of sorts. Things change when the hero (Director Benigni himself) is whisked away to a Nazi concentration camp along with his son. And the rest of the story describes the events that follow – a period during which Benigni keeps his son healthy and cheerful thanks to his undying positivity and admirable strength of will.
If you haven’t watched this classic, I hope you do, as soon as you can get your hands/mouse on a copy. Roberto Benigni’s master class. There’s lots to learn from this one..