If you have no time at all, forget it. This post is not for you. Some of us tend to have some time on hand from time to time to kill time. Reading, watching TV, sports etc. become usual. Then gotta find something else to try.

Try this when you have to pass time next time. Best done when you are in front of a computer. This can also be done on a simple piece of paper with a pencil. It becomes easier to do on computer and a word processor like MS-Word.

Game is simple. Just remember any name and put it down. Then try to recollect when was the first time you heard it. Normally we learn names in some context. It may be while meeting someone new or through some incident. Start writing about the incident in 3-4 sentences. This may also remind you the approximate timeline when you remembered it. You can note down that also.

Funny thing is when you start doing this with names, as you write the incident when you first heard the name, it is possible that you will remember another 3-4 names. Just capture them. You can analyze them when you have to play this game again. If you choose a common name, you have to try really hard to remember the first time you heard it. As soon as you thought you remembered the first time you heard it, a thought starts lurking which will lead you to another earlier incident when you remembered it and so on.

I find this to be an amazing activity to go back in time.

Now you may ask - what's the use? Only use I could think of is that it may help you reconnect with some people you have lost in touch with. Once you choose a name, you can try to search that on the net and may find a way to reconnect with that person if you want.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 8:05 PM EDT

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If you have VoIP based telephone connection from providers such as Vonage, you may notice that call quality becomes poor when you are uploading large amount of data during activities such as uploading a large file or uploading movies via Bit Torrent etc. This is when a neat gadget like HBB1 Broadband Booster can make world of difference.

On high speed internet connections, download speeds are adequate but upload can become a problem as upload bandwidth is much less. So, without an intelligent QoS (Quality of Service) mechanism, your networking infrastructure does not know what to prioritize when upload bandwidth contention happens. This broadband booster does an awesome job of prioritizing VoIP traffic over other traffic for the duration of the call and thus improves the quality of telephone call. You can check this for yourself. For example, you can notice how your uploads are throttled down as soon as you begin a telephone call.

Great gadget. It uses smart algorithms and there is nothing much to tweak at all. This is good as many do not know exact details as how to configure QoS on some latest routers which do let you manually configure QoS settings. Price is around 60 dollars. I bought it on eBay. Another good source for excellent prices is buy.com.

I had also tried similar gadget from Linksys (Cisco company). But, it was not as good as Hawking. Hawking pioneered this technology. It appeared to me that Linksys also introduced one to just be there. Somehow, that did not work well for me.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:42 PM EDT

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Magic Jack - a neat gadget. If it lives up to its promise of unlimited phone calls for $20 / year, this is going to do nothing less than revolutionizing the way we have come to use telephones. I think it will at least few more months before all issues are ironed out. It still has some rough edges and does not work consistently and reliably. So, even if you buy it and find it working reasonably well for you, do not rush to cancel your other telephone service yet.

This gadget has created a lot of buzz among VoIP enthusiasts. There is a very informative 'unofficial' forum for Magic Jack. You will find tonnes of good information. A lot of undocumented neat information as well. You may want to go there from time to time as technical support is not very good with Magic Jack.

Overall, a neat toy if you are a VoIP geek. Go try it. You have nothing to lose as they are offering 30 day free trial. Even if you want to keep it beyond the trial period, it is just 50 bucks.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:29 PM EDT

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Tim Russert, a famous TV personality, passed away last week.

I saw Tim Russert in person when he was the chief guest for convocation ceremony of my alma-mater, Suffolk University, Boston, in 2003. Russert was there to be the chief guest and also receive honorary doctorate from Suffolk University. He received such degrees from many universities.

He spoke pretty well. He talked about his life's journey, had several words of wisdom for graduates and gracefully received the degree. He did not last the entire function which went on for 4 hours or so. He was gone soon after his speech and receiving his degree. But, still left a good impression on many who were part of the function.

It was little over 5 years ago. May 2003. I too received my MBA degree in the same function. So, it is somewhat personal when I read about his demise. Moreover, he is probably the one TV personality I have ever seen in person.

My his soul rest in peace.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:22 PM EDT

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My old wireless router stopped functioning after giving good service for over 5 years. It works fine as a regular router but 'wireless'ness is gone for some reason. May be something wrong with the transmitter. It was an old Belkin router bought in 2003. Good service so far.

Bought a new router. Belkin G. Nothing fancy as I do not play games on the net to require a fancy router. I have a separate Hawking Broadband booster to provide QoS (Quality of service) for VoIP phone. So, the router QoS does not matter much. This is a simple router. Much smaller than my earlier bulky router.

Worked out of the box. The set up CD is a waste of time. You do not really have to run it. Windows recognizes the router easily and you are online in no time. Always remember to configure some sort of security for your router so that nobody easily steals your broadband connection. It is easy to configure security using the console and choosing some simple encryption scheme.

Somehow I messed up the settings while doing something and wireless functionality was gone. I could go online by connecting directly to the router but not wirelessly. It was a mistake I had done while renaming the wireless connection. This was hidden somewhere in their console and I could not easily figure it out. So, called Belkin tech support. The engineer was very knowledgable and helpful. He set me right in no time and I have had good experience with this router since then.

Bought this at Best Buy as I could not wait a week to order it online and then receive it. That's how we are addicted to net these days. Right? The price online is much better. You can probably get the same router for $30 or so. At Best Buy, it was close to $40 plus taxes etc. On top of it, going there, parking and all hassles. I wish I had bought this one at the first sign of my older router dyeing. Anyway...

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:52 PM EDT

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San Francisco bay area normally has nice weather all through the year. Sometimes during summer months, weather can become quite hot. Since the weather is nice most of the time, many apartments do not have air-conditioners. I happen to live in one such place and when it got really hot a few weeks back, need for a cooler or air-conditioner became apparent.

I bought this one - http://www.air-n-water.com/product/AF-340.html. No complaints about the cooler as such. It does seem to do its job pretty well. Pretty heavy duty cooler with a large water tank where you can put water and if you desire ice cubes too. I wish it was bit smaller. Picture on the internet site looked smaller but in reality it is slightly larger than a mini-fridge. Since it was going to be a chore to return such a large item, I chose to keep it. Hopefully, it will be a good investment.

Few things to keep in mind if your apartment does not have an air-conditioner. You can buy a portable AC but you have to work the details of installing it before hand. They are not easy to install. Even the most portable AC requires some sort of mechanism to push hot air out and you need to do some do-it-yourself work to fix it. Since I was not game for all that especially if it required alterations to the windows etc., I chose to go with cooler.

Coolers work only if the humidity is not high in your area. Most of the dry areas should be fine. If the air is humid, they do not work well. Also they need to be placed in such a way that, they can draw fresh air which gets circulated over a wet screen to provide cool air. If you can not place it in such a way, cooler may not work well for you. Coolers also consume much less power. If you put ice cubes also, the room gets cooled pretty well.

The online retailer Air-N-Water seemed like a good place to shop. They have a wide variety of coolers and ACs. Prices seemed very competitive. They also offer free shipping on selected models. Just be careful about their restocking fee and return shipping if you have to return something if you do not like. Their 15% restocking fee plus having to pay return shipping was certainly a deterrent for me to return my cooler. I would have bought something much smaller if returning was free.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:36 PM EDT

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"Our biggest problem is that we do not have a bigger problem."

Create problem and go solve it. Some people think goal setting does not work very well but problem solving does. OK, if goal are not for you, then go after problems. The problem does not necessarily have to be your problem. It can be anyone else's problem too. You can be sure that you will be welcomed by anyone if you say you want to solve their problem. Go solve it and see how minor your current problems look.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:00 PM EDT

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Not sure if you have ever used UPS' 'I want my stuff now' feature. It's pretty neat. If you are like many, most of the times when UPS tries to deliver your package, you are away at work. They a leave a note and then make few more attempts to deliver. In the mean time, you can call them, ask them to hold your package at their facility, then you go and pick up your package when it is convenient to you. That's the normal process. There is another nice feature that I discovered recently.

When you get that note from UPS informing you that they tried to deliver and missed you, you can normally go online and when trying to arrange for alternate pick up method, you see a small hyperlink 'I want my stuff today (now)'. Once you click that, you can pick up your stuff on the same day as long as you are making that request within their time window. What happens is that when you select 'I want my stuff now' option, you can go to the nearest UPS center at the end of the day and pick up your package. This is especially convenient if you miss your package on a Friday. You do not have to wait till Monday to pick up the package. After you select 'I want my stuff now' option, UPS arranges to take out your package when the driver returns at the end of the day and they open their center for a short time at the end of the day (normally after 8 PM) and you can go and collect the package. UPS is pretty good about making sure that they can really hold the package for you on the same day. That's why they ask you to expect a phone call from UPS after you have placed the request. Normally within an hour after you place the request, they call you and tell you the time and place where to come and pick it up. You go there, follow the same process by showing your missed-delivery notice and ID and collect your stuff.

I was very impressed. I had missed the first delivery attempt on Friday. It was not going to be possible to be at home on Monday or visit UPS office to collect on Monday. I was preparing to wait for next week end to collect the package. Then I came across this nice feature and thought why not use it. I clicked 'I want my stuff now' link, provided my phone number. As expected, got a call from UPS within one hour and was asked to come to their facility at 9 PM sharp and that they would be open only for 15 minutes and I should collect it within that time. I went there around that time and there were quite a few people already. Looks like people like this feature very much. No wonder. Collected my stuff and was back in no time.

It is because of this kind of convenience features that UPS has continued to excel. I will certainly consider buying some UPS stock in the future. If a company can execute so efficiently, it is worth my business and investment. I liked their process very much. They want to make sure that they can really hold the package for you on the same day. That's why they ask you to wait for their call and only after they confirm, they ask you to come and pick it up.

Good job UPS.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:41 PM EDT

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B - Believe

L - Listen

A - Apologize

S - Satisfy

T - Thank

BLAST, in the words of David Novak, CEO of Yum Brands (which owns Pizza Hut, KFC etc.), sums up the customer management philosophy at Yum brands.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 3:27 PM EDT

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"Honest man's secret to sound sleep is his pillow. His conscience is that pillow."

If you have this pillow, you won't need chillow. By the way, chillow is not a bad product. It does seem to address the problem of pillow heating up during the sleep. I tried chillow sometime ago and it does feel really nice to put your head on a chilled pillow. Recommended for hot headed people :) Not kidding...check it for yourself...Chillow.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:42 AM EDT

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"It is simple to be happy. It is difficult to be simple."

"Simple is better than complex. Complex is better than complicated."

"Creativity is making complex things simple."

So, be simple and be happy. Start off with your house. Get rid of all necessary junk. The day you are able to pack your all absolutely needed belongings in 2 suitcases and leave, you are almost there. So, rent what you can own. Keep all your assets in real liquid. That does not mean you have to stuff all your money in your mattress. Stocks and other forms of investments are pretty liquid as long markets exist. You may think real estate, gold etc. appreciate much better. But, if history is any indicator, stocks have out performed real estate, gold etc. You can refer to Prof. Seigals 'Stocks for the long run' and many other books. If you still want real estate component in your portfolio, buy REITs which are investment companies which specialize in real estate.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:29 AM EDT

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If you are in the market for accessories for your Toyota, you may want to consider looking at http://toyotapartspeople.com/. You may find their prices much cheaper than what you find at your local Toyota dealer. Since http://toyotapartspeople.com/ is also a Toyota dealer, they ship only Toyota or Toyota approved OEM parts. Service is fast and reliable. Parts come properly packed.

I do not know what is the thinking these days at Toyota but most of the new cars they make do not come with body side moldings. Those simple stripes which you stick to the doors of the car and which help protect from minor dents and dings to your car such as while some inconsiderate person opens their door next to yours or shopping carts moving helter skelter in parking lots etc. May be Toyota wants to give additional business to body shops by not installing such moldings. No moldings. So more such dents and dings. You feel annoyed when the first ding happens which could have been easily avoided if these moldings were present in the first place. Another theory is that Toyota thinks their new curvy designs loose their looks due to these moldings. I do not see how. Look at the nice formal look with these moldings.

Anyway, I checked with local Toyota dealers in the bay area. Half of them did not carry these on hand and said they have to order them. A few who had quoted at least $25 more than what http://toyotapartspeople.com/ quoted. So, it was a easy decision to go and buy from http://toyotapartspeople.com/. Local dealer quoted $60 to install. I was not comfortable going to local dealers to have the parts installed when I did not buy from them. Who knows how they would treat me or my car? So I went to some independent body shop and had them installed. You can Google for instructions which provide exact measurements at which moldings have to be pasted. They come with prefixed adhesive tapes. With time and patience, it is easy to do it by yourself. But, I did not want to regret later by either installing them wrongly or wasting one-time adhesive. Local body shop charged $25. Total savings more than $50.

I still like those boxy styled old cars with sturdy bodies. These days with all these curves etc. it is such a worry to drive them freely, park them where ever you like. Cars should come with body armor :)

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 8:03 PM EDT

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I use Qumana to edit and post my blogs. Noticed some problems recently with it when it starts. The splash screen comes up and that's it. Nothing happens beyond that. There is no toolbar icon. I was kind a puzzled. This is how I fixed it. May help you if you also Qumana for blogging.

OK, whenever software gives problems, pattern to use is 'Log files'. This pattern did not let me down. I went to the directory where Qumana is installed. There it was - qumana.txt. The log file. When I opened it, there was all the info I needed to find out what the problem was. As you can well imagine, Qumana stores blog entries and others in its local database at C:\Users\mahesh\Application Data\Qumana\db. It seems that the database file was corrupted and it was not able to open the database file. So, Qumana was aborting on start up.

I just deleted the qumanadb.data and restarted Qumana editor and voila it started working. Of course, since I deleted the database file, all settings etc. are gone. So you have to go through adding your blogs by providing user name and passwords etc and it has to set them up again. Any unposted posts are probably gone. So, do not leave unposted important posts. Blogs the rule of the game is to post it ASAP.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:58 PM EDT

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For a long time, I have been using ticket aggregators such as kayak.com, orbitz.com etc. to look for best deals on air tickets. They seemed to work very well for domestic travel. Even international fares started looking good. However, today I was looking for tickets to India in July. It seems July is a peak season and fares seemed quite high even after making adjustments. During non-peak season, round trip ticket should be around $1200. Add a couple of hundred for peak season and I expected to get something around $1500. But, the fares generated by all these aggregators were very high. More than $1800. I was about buy one such ticket. Luckily I thought of going to some airlines web sites direct and check out fares. I am so glad I did. I got tickets at much cheaper price. For example, Singapore Airlines did not figure for the dates I was looking for. When I went to their web site, found SFO-BLR round trip for $1551 from July 17-Aug 1. That's a good deal. Cathy Pacific showed in some searches and the price quoted on kayak.com was around $1700. On Cathy Pacific web site the fare was around $1500. Same thing with American Airlines web site. Kayak.com showed around $1900. AA web site quoted around $1700.

Something to keep in mind before buying tickets from aggregators. I do not know if this is true even for domestic fares. I will start checking airline web sites even for domestic fares now on.

Biggest disappointment was makemytrip.com which I thought was a great source for cheap tickets to India. Not this time at least. Their tickets were in the range of $1900. That too on British and some other European airlines.

Ticket buying experience from Singapore Airlines was very smooth. You can choose seats, meals etc. You can even do electronic check in and print your boarding card before you leave. Electronic tickets only. That is even better.

Some good lessons learnt.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:09 PM EDT

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""Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done." - Andy Rooney

I have started believing in this after my own habit of spending way too many hours in front of my laptop doing things like collecting this kind of quotations. :)

"It was said that million monkey banging at million keyboards would produce the complete works of Shakespeare. Internet has proved it wrong."

Have we become computer monkeys (like grease monkey)? For those who do not know, 'grease monkey' is an inept mechanic.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:11 AM EDT

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"Doing things you need to do changes things you need to do."

I had not come across a better quote to illustrate the nature of evolutionary (or incremental) activity than this. We do not need to know everything to get started. As such we know very little to begin with. Only way to know more is to do something based on what we know and that alone will open up what else we need to do. It is like starting the journey as and when the first light is green. Worrying about all the lights that may be red down the road is not going to help. On the contrary, it may get us some honks from angry people :)

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 10:58 PM EDT

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If you are thinking about what to do with your old eye glasses, you may want to consider dropping them off at your eye glass store. Most of the eye glass stores have a bin to drop off old glasses. Such glasses are used to provide glasses to the poor worldwide. It is a different story as how much of them really gets used well and how much gets simply trashed. But, at least I do not have go through the feeling of wasting glasses and frames by trashing them directly. I normally drop off my old glasses at Lens Crafter stores. They seem to be pretty well organized in terms of collecting old glasses. Considering how much frames cost, I think there is some real value in donating old glasses. With even very low end frames costing like 30-40 bucks, I hope they reuse frames and glasses well. Anyway, where possible donate and recycle to your best.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 11:36 PM EDT

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A lot of great Kannada audio stuff is available at - http://www.kannadaaudio.com.

Best part of (at least for me) the site is an excellent collection of Kannada dramas. Nice dramas from legendary artistes like Master Heerannayya, Dhirendra Gopal are too good. Dhirendra Gopal is my all time favorite. It is very unfortunate that he passed away a few years back. He was too good. His dialogs are simply superb - witty, funny and hard hitting.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 12:41 AM EDT

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"If you can't be funny, be interesting." - Harold Ross

Most of the time, funniness is inherent. You are born with some amount. You are lucky if you can be funny, not only to you but also to others, most of the time. Being funny to others is important because we all think we are funny. Danger is others should not find us as a pain in the neck. So, let's not confuse being funny. Perspectives of others matter.

So, if we can not be funny, we can try to be interesting. Easiest way to become interesting is to know as much as possible about as diverse topics as possible. You can probably relate to this experience. You are talking about something. You hesitate for a moment because you know what you are talking about is some sort of a specialty topic (say 'theory of constraints' (TOC). how many would know what it is.) How do you feel if the person you are talking to says 'TOC is interesting. Elli Goldratt pioneered it. I got learn a bit about TOC. Tell me more about it.'? Does it not light you up? How would have felt if the other person were to put a blank face? Not that we can know everything every time. But, people who read widely can become interesting without much effort. Being interesting will carry us much farther than being funny. Even serious people are impressed by interesting people. Moreover, funniness is very subjective. Chances are one or the other time funny people end up rubbing people wrong way even if they did not mean any offense.How others perceive our humor depends on their mood, personality etc.

Read widely. Watch interesting movies and shows. Most importantly listen with full attention. Good listening skills go a long way in making you interesting to other people.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:23 AM EDT

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?Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.? - Judge Judy (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/01/29b.html)

This is bound to shut anyone up. Nothing less is expected from judicial queen judge Judy. God! wasn't she entertaining!!! Not sure if she still presides on those TV court shows. But, when she was doing those shows, they used to so entertaining. Wish all court proceedings were that comical. Anyway, I do not watch TV anymore. Happy to run to such quotes once in a while.

Cheers!

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Posted by Mahesh at 1:07 AM EDT

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