Clean up your computer once in a while!

A couple of weeks ago, I observed that my computer got so damn slow I started wondering what happened. When I checked the free space it said I have just 2GB of free space. A month ago it used to be 20 GB. Something terrible happened which I was not aware of. I didnt know where to start looking. So I started checking where the most of the junk lied. I saw there were a lot of files which I no longer use. I deleted them. I deleted few other files, some debug files, it was still just 2GB gain. I looked under Start->Programs -> Accessories -> System tools -> disk clean up. It is a beautiful tool that Windows introduces (I dont know when) to clean up the disk. I ran the disk clean up utility. It took its own sweet time to return back with its analysis. A whooping 16.7GB that it says can be cleaned. It was mostly temporary files, some dump files etc. But I could have never laid hands on them manually. They were hidden in some n number of folders below C:\
After I did the above, my computer was considerably faster. I also ran a spyware software just to make sure I didnt accumulate any of the spyware/adware programs while browsing the internet.
Overall, I am much better now and my laptop is much faster.

While doing so I found out something very interesting. The same happens even at our homes. We keep accumulating a lot of junk (old clothes which you never use, some old mails, magazines, books) that occupy a lot of space and apparently serve no purpose except to take the space and invoke negative feelings in us. Once in a while, we should get rid of them to make more space and peace of mind.
Any suggestions folks?

Seek Feedback!

Many a times we deliver a lecture, a presentation or even just a public speech but never try to rate it. We never try to find out whether we were good, bad or worse, what the positive points were and what the negative points were. Even if we do it is not sure that we would get any genuine feedback especially if the seeker is the boss or superior of the person seek. But seeking feedback is one of the most important things to do if you want to improve. In electrical engineering, feedback loops are often used to keep the system under control and to make it robust. So should it be in the real world. Any time there is a possibility to seek the feedback it is best to seek. At the same time give the most genuine feedback to those who seek it. (You may have to make a disclaimer about the frankness :) ).
Samuel Johnson once said "Advice is seldom welcome. Those who need it most like it least." The same is true with feedback too. We would rather be happy with false praise than be rescued with true feedback. We should try to come out of this mentality and seek feedback so that we improve ourselves.
Seek feedback about your positive points, your negative points and seek feedback on how you can improve yourselves. Listen to everyone around, make a list on what they suggest, analyze them and make a plan for yourself to improve. You would be happy that you did so.
I seek genuine feedback on how this article went. I am sure I would get more negative points than positive, but I hope to improve myself in the coming ones. I followed "Write drunk, edit sober" formula. Hope I would get back and edit this sometime.

Wedding clashes!

Recently a lot of my friends got married. I was closely involved with the wedding proceedings of couple of them. In the process I found out that wedding time is a time of clashes. Elders think that bride and bridegroom dont listen to them and dont have enough respect for the rituals that go on at the wedding. Kids think that the rituals are ridiculous especially in this age. It got me thinking whose mistake is it that there exists this kind of difference? Do kids really condescend the rituals? So I asked them why, if they , condescend the rituals. Primary reason I got is, it is old style, its baseless and mostly why are they even there? What is their significance? So I went and asked elders what their significance is, and interestingly they dont know the answer. They did it in their marriage and so they want their kids to do it in their marriage. Why, dont ask, we cant answer such questions. You folks dont have respect for our culture. Wow! I thought. Just because you cant answer our questions, you lead to the conclusion that we dont have respect for culture. phew!
I strongly believe that the rituals exist for a reason. No civilization creates something unless they believe there is a reason. The reason may be absurd, but there would be a reason. It may not be a rational one but still there should be a reason. Unfortunately our curiosity to question and find out the reason has diminished and so did the duty of passing those details down to your next generation. If only our parents have found out why they are doing the rituals and answered our questions, may be the difference in the opinion on the rituals wont have been there. I ventured into and found out few of them and believe it or not, they make sense (at least when you put them in to the time line they were created). One can do a full phd on the rituals that happen just in a marriage.
How many of you know why there are games after the wedding in which both the bride and the bridegroom have to participate? How many of you know why apply turmeric and sandalwood to everyone who attends a hindu wedding? Why do they tie three knots? What do those vows mean? Not many people know the meaning. There are several of such small rituals that crept into our culture for a reason. If anyone is interested in either questioning or answering the questions posed, please do so. I would love to continue this discussion over to other topics too.
On a side note, ever heard of the saying, never clean your ears at night? Why do you think it exists?

My wedding invitation

Hello All,
It gives me immense pleasure to invite you all for my wedding on December 7th, 2008 at 1:35am (early hours of Monday) and for the reception on December 9th, from 7pm onwards. Please consider this mail as my personal invitation and plan to attend the wedding and the reception.
I can be reached at 9849961911 after 6pm.
Thanks
Suresh

Write drunk, edit sober

More often than not I set out to blog about something which I have a vague idea about what to write. I open the edit post only to realize the idea is not concrete enough, I do not know how to start the write up, or how its flow should be. I think for a while and then either write or totally discard the idea of writing. It happens to be the later case more often than the earlier case. Because of this, most of the ideas/thoughts are just lost. This happens to a lot of people, they get an idea which lingers in their mind, they think about it for a while, and get to a point where it is matured enough to put in paper, only to realize that they dont have good words to put it. They think that they can come back to write it down with better words. Yes, they would come back with better words only to realize that they forgot their original idea in entirety.
I used to be the same person. It is the same case for most of us. We need to be more proactive about this shortcoming and change our attitude a bit. I did mine when I read this phrase in a book by name "Living like Da Vinci" where it says "Write drunk, edit sober." The key point to what it says is, the idea is more important than how you put it. It is easier to come back and edit the words than to come back with changed idea. Idea should always be written down in whatever kind of words that come to your mind. Forget about grammatical mistake, forget about spelling mistakes. Just keep writing. Just get the complete idea out. There always time to come back and edit the words, but not the idea.
So my friends, I advise this to all of you, if you get an idea, no matter how small or big, put it on paper, even if it is just couple of words. There is always time to come back and enrich it and the words.
By the way, I wrote this post drunk now :) Let me see if I come back and edit it sober.
P.S: Trivia: Apparently only 10% of idea ever make onto paper, even in the worst form.

10 ways to kill time at work place

I am pretty free today at work and was wondering what I should do to kill my time. I figured out there must be a bunch of people just like me in the world. Please share your comments on this.

1. Solve crossword from Hindu at www.thehindu.com
2. Play poker online at full tilt poker
3. Stumble the web with stumbleupon
4. Read the news from google news.
5. Catch up with old friends.
6. Learn a new thing useful to your daily work.
7. Check your bank balances and finances.
8. Make a to do list for the weekend
9. Go meet your colleagues and see what they are doing.
10. Write blogs on how to kill time :)
    

Welcome to Trip Ladder!

Hi all,
I have been promoting my site www.tripladder.com Each time someone sees it in my profile, they ask what it is all about. This is my attempt to answering that.
www.tripladder.com is a site designed to make your trip planning easier. With a step by step approach to trip planning it is like climbing the ladder. We offer you valuable tools to effectively plan and organize your trip details.
Search for the reviews written by other travellers just like you. This would give you first hand information about the places and help you plan your trip better.
Currently I am looking for people who could write very nice and detailed reviews about the famous places near there home town or the places where they have visited. If you would like to contribute to my website, I would be glad to assist you in any possible way I can.
Thanks for your interest. Don't forget to check out the website
www.tripladder.com