Recently I have seen number of users reading my feed on outlook. Its been increasing month by month. So I thought there could be many more users who will be interested in reading feeds in outlook. The recent version of outlook, i.e outlook 2007 has feed reader built into it. Using which you can read the posts just like mails.

This is useful as most of us, corporate users have outlook installed by default. You don’t have to fight with your IS/ITS department for a new software or you don’t have to keep your browser always open.
Your browser should recognize outlook 2007 as a feed reader when you access a feed. You can easily subscribe from there. Read the rest of this entry »

OK.. After a lot of thinking..rethinking and multiple calculations, I gifted myself an early birthday gift, a Cannondale F8. It costed a bomb but worth every paisa.

well its been a long time dream to own onw of these which came true today. As of now I am planning to cycle twice a week to office. More to come, cant type much on mobile.
Updated: on 25/May/2005
You can get more info on the bike on their site.
Read the rest of this entry »

I had a conversation with my team mate about the recent buzz word in the market upgrading yourself. The buzz word used by most of the bosses to warn the young generation mostly in connection with recession and pink slip.

Both of us were of the opinion that continuous learning (or so called upgrading) is part of culture you have grown up with. I am not just talking about the work related learning here. I am talking about learning in general.As kids we used to be very curious about the things surrounding us. We always wanted to know more about radio or pictures in TV. The motivation for learning new things was fun or simple curiosity. As we grew up the motivations changed. It was degree in college, job change or promotion when we started working. But the problem was the motivations like job, salary or promotion are not sustainable. Once you get the promotion you are free till the next season.

Simple curiosity or fun of tinkering with the stuff around never dies. Think of kid lost in toy shop. It just goes behind one after the other. Kid never loses interest because its having fun. When was the last time you learnt something new just for fun?

Ourselves to blame?
Mostly yes. Last year I started learning Spanish. My Spanish class mostly had university students, few working professionals. In the second class my Spanish teacher asked me “Are you going to get a promotion after you finish diploma?”. To her I said “yes” but in reality I just wanted to learn another language (one of my dream is to follow the path of Che in South America. Now you know the motivation…its Che). The point I wanted to make is we are mostly behind money than other things. I want to ask you again When was the last time you learnt something new just for fun?

Is it Indian education system to blame?
May be. Most of the parents have a very simple advice for their kids. If you don’t learn this you wont get good marks. If you don’t get good marks you won’t get a good job. That is where we set a wrong motivation to learn something new. Its not just parents, its teachers, professors, bosses and society. We all motivate people around us learn for money.

How about our work place/culture?
May be that too. We will wait till the recession to learn or to innovate. Its not just about the people I am talking here. I am talking about the organizations too. Organizations should also understand person who is not interested in how telephone works probably wont be interested in how internet works. So be careful when hiring the candidates. Motivation for learning is as important as learnability.

So how do we inculcate the culture of learning?
I really don’t know. I am looking forward for tips from you, my readers. All I can say is if you still have kids curiosity, You don’t have to learn anything special to beat the recession.

I have been hacking my sleep to achieve the optimum sleeping period. Two months back when I started this experiment, I was sleeping almost 9 hrs per day. Today I am spending only 6.5 hrs per day on sleep. The gain of 2.5 hours per day is very big.

It started with reducing from 9 hours to 7.5 hours. It was tough, specially during the afternoon. Initially I had to take a quick nap (20 minutes) at my desk after lunch. But then my body got used to it. A month & half later I took another giant step and reduced the duration to 6.5 hours. Again I went through the same cycle which involved similar noon naps. As of today, my sleep duration is only 6.5hrs per day *with out* any noon naps.

Another change I made w.r.t to my sleeping is to have fixed timings. Before I used to sleep anytime between 9pm-2am and get up anytime between 7am-9am. Now it is more fixed. Now I sleep strictly at 12am and wake up by 6am. My body is so used to it that I don’t need wake up alarms.

The standard side effects of reduced sleep are loss of weight, irritation, low concentration etc. As of now I don’t see any side effects (or I don’t know). In fact my other experiment of “Put on weight” is also giving positive results :)

The ultimate plan is to reduce the sleep duration to 6 hours. But I am still not sure if my body can take it. I am planning to go with 6.5 hours for six more months and then take my next step.

Additional Reading:
1. Polyphasic sleep
2. Why We Nap
3. Dymaxion Sleep-Time Magazine

I am not sure why I started feeling like that. But by the end of the year 2008 I had this feeling that I am wasting my time by sleeping.
On 2nd Jan 09 this came into my mind.

“If i sleep one hour less everyday. I will get 365 hours per years. And that is 365hrs/9hrs = 40 working days. Awesome ..i am reducing my …”

Since then I am trying to reduce my sleeping duration. Initial plan was to reduce from 8.5 hrs (I live near office) to 7.5 hours. I am almost there. Even before being completely successful I have set a new target to reduce it to 6.5 hours.
Whats the use?  I get more time to spend with my family (cook, talk), more time to read/code and less restlessness as I have more time to do what I want. Lets see how it goes.

I am not a great western music listener. But thanks to Atul for pointing out this song by Bon Jovi. I am amazed to see how much this lyrics represents state of my mind.

Seven days of saturday
Is all that I need
Got no use for Sunday
'Cause I don't rest in peace
Don't need no Mondays
Or the rest of the week
I spend a lot of time in bed
But baby I don't like to sleep no
I won't lie to you
I'm necer gonna cry to you
I'll probably drive you wild 8 days a week
Until I'm 6 feet under
Baby I don't need  a bed
Gonna live while I'm alive
I'll sleep when I'm dead
Till they roll me over
And lay my bones to rest
Gonna live while I'm alive
I'll sleep when I'm dead
So you're looking for some action
I got got everything you need
Better keep your motor running
 'cause I was built for speed
This ain't no slumber party
Got no time for catching z's
If they say that that ain't healthy
Well then living's a disease
We're never going to die baby
Come on let me drive you crazy
We'll make every night another New Year's Eve
Full Lyrics