gofundme

A few days ago, I got a mail from Freia. Something to the effect that "I've helped out, you should too". And below was a link.

http://www.gofundme.com/4iik84?utm_campaign=Emails&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

I was curious enough to check it out. The link took me to the page of Katherine Landis, a freshman at NYU , like Freia. And her story was amazing. I was immediately encourage to and did my bit.

What stuck me was the platform, gofundme. A great idea. And like most great ideas, something simple that allowed a person in need to petition their case to their family and friends and through them to a larger social network. It was Crowd-funding at its best.

Going through the various cases,like every medium several were frivolous. But whats great about these platforms, is that their merit is decided by the donor. The probability of undeserving cases getting funded is not high and more important the probability of deserving cases like Katherine getting funded is very high.

And sure enough, Katherine did get fully funded in a few days.

fitbit

Earlier this month I had presented a fitness device called FitBit to Mabel. Imagine my surprise when I received a present from Mabel. A FitBit. And a message. "Its Awesome. Try it out".

It was ironic that I was being presented something I had presented. Seemed like I had no clue about its value. As far as I knew, FitBit was a simple wrist band that was a pedometer. Something that measured the number of steps you walked. In fact, its such a simple device that most smart phones have a free app, that will do exactly that.

I opened up my FitBit and set it up. The default setting was 10,000 steps, 30 minutes of moderate activity and burning of 2500 calories. I got an invite to become friends with Mabel and Claudian and Kurund. And was able to see that they were able to do their targets consistently every day for the last few weeks.

Seemed like I had no choice. If they could do it, so could I. And so I did Day 1. I realized that it was relatively simple but needed at least 30 minutes of walking in addition to the daily activities of moving around.

I found myself becoming conscious of the target and subconsciously began modifying my behavior in little ways. I began parking my car at the far end of the lot not the closest. Walk whilst on the phone,...

And then realization hit me. What made FitBit effective was not the pedometer. It had managed to integrate 2 simple but powerful things. The first was measuring your activity on an ongoing basis as opposed to a pedometer that you switched on and off. And the second was connecting and displaying the statistics of your friends. Human nature works very hard in the realm of relativity. If someone else is doing it, then so can you, and so will you.

I'd like to write more, but will allow you to check it out. I gotta go and take a walk.

Sky Diving

Yesterday I received a DVD. Of me falling to the ground from 14,000 feet. But let me start at the beginning.

A couple of weeks ago, Mabel, Sarah, Avinash and me went skydiving. Mabel wanted this to be a memorable trip. And 1 of the pending items in my bucket list was "Sky Diving". I checked if there was a place I could take Mabel to during her trip and came across Sky Diving Connecticut. Avinash and Sarah who were also visiting answered Yes, even before I finished asking if they'd like to join us.

http://www.skydivect.com/

All of us were excited and I was a little nervous but mostly looking forward to the experience. I'd like to write about the experience, but as they say a picture speaks a thousand words. A video, a million.

Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DELH-o0y_A

Why phones get stolen. And why AT&T doesn't care.

As part of Mabel and Prem's US visit, we went to our cousin Vanitha's house in Sparta, New Jersey. Vanitha took them along with Freia and Reia shopping to a few malls in their area. At the end of a full morning shopping, it was finally time to have lunch and head back home. There was a Chipotle outlet in the mall and it was decided to lunch there.

We found a table, and whilst we were doing the ordering, Freia and Reia went to use the washroom. 10 minutes later, they walked back and Reia seemed very upset. She was barely able to talk, but I managed to gather that her cell phone had been stolen from the washroom. She wanted me to go with her and see if we could lodge a complaint and try and get it back. She was in tears and sobbing and kept saying that the janitor had taken it. They had tried calling the number and it was switched off. Seconds after it was stolen.

We went back, and she once again went and checked the washroom. We went to security and they were not concerned. They reluctantly wrote down our details, in case someone finds and returns the phone, which I suspect they threw out as soon as we left.

The phone was an iPhone from AT&T. We went to an AT&T outlet that existed in the mall. We waited for 15 minutes before being attended and the staff who spoke to us had no idea, but was kind enough to guide us to the Manager. The Manager couldn't have been less bothered. As per him, they couldn't check if the phone was being used and basically would do nothing. Our options, "Claim Insurance" if you had insurance, else too bad.

This is where things get strange. His excuse for AT&T not helping find the phone. Privacy laws. The usual corporate reason for doing nothing. How can AT&T claim privacy laws protected tracing a phone where the registered phone owner in person is confirming that it has been stolen. We left AT&T completely disappointed and disillusioned. I was wondering who was the bigger thief, the one who had stolen the phone or AT&T which seemed to facilitate the same.

Interestingly if the telecom companies wanted, stealing of phones which is a huge problem in the US as well as globally, could be reduced to close to zero. Every phone has a unique identifier called the IMEI number. The telecom companies have this number and use it to activate the phone. All they need to do is come together and have a stolen IMEI database. And ensure that they do not activate any phone which is part of the stolen database. You would assume that something as simple as this, and technically it wouldn't even take a couple of days to implement would be in place.

For reasons known best to the telecom companies, they have chosen not to. This directly encourages stealing of phones, which have a value of a few hundred dollars. Why wouldn't people be tempted to pick up phones which is safer than even shoplifting. The telecom companies seem to think that the stolen phone market increases their business. The original subscriber buys a new phone, and the stolen phone finds a new subscriber for a phone at a cheaper price. What they don't realize is that in all probability the racket is funding criminals and drugs and all kinds of illegal activities. All of which have an overall negative impact. On each of us.

The only thing that will make telecom companies change is public outrage. And I believe its time that you wrote to your telecom company and the authorities to at least solve the simple issues. And who knows. We may actually be able to make a difference. The UK has already implemented a solution. When will the US and the rest of the world ?

Moving into the Big Apple

Earlier today was Freia's moving day. Moving to her dorm in the Big Apple. Her moving in time was between 7 and 10. We figured that getting there around 8 would be ideal. Not too early. And not too late. Freia just had a couple of regular travel suitcases. Mabel who were visiting offered to come along. The surprise was Prem, who offered to join in, especially since we were leaving at 6.30.

Freia who was excited was up and ready well on time. We drove over to pick up Mabel and Prem, and had yet another surprise. Prem was ready. Mabel took a few minutes and we headed out. The biggest fear I have of New York is the parking. And Freia's dorm, Rubin Hall in downtown Manhattan on 10th Street and 5th Avenue was guaranteed to be a nightmare. Even on Sunday.

We reached Rubin Hall and were shocked to see security guiding the car to a parking spot bang in front of the entrance. There were hundreds of students and their families as part of the moving, many with trucks and everything from couches to televisions. We felt light and wondered if we had missed something.

We quickly unloaded and Freia went in and registered. There were several volunteers who kept offering to help and made everything very seamless and convenient. It gave us an insight into what Freia's likely to be doing for the next 3 years on moving day. Most people were able to complete the process in minutes, but Freia took a while longer, since she had been allotted her room just a couple of days ago.

We got her suitcases and headed up to her room. We all knew that in New York, they call a closet a room. And in NYU dorms, the closet is shared by 2 people if you're lucky and 4 if you're not unlucky. Her room number happened to be 602, which coincidentally is our Mumbai house number too.

On the 6th floor, more volunteers guiding you to the room. We reached the door and there was a large welcome poster with Freia's name. Cool start. We entered. It was a huge single room, with a walk in closet and an attached bath with a bathtub. WOW. This was amazing. We helped her unpack. Mabel and Prem took over. Freia unpacked whilst Mabel arranged stuff in the closet and Prem made the bed. In no time, she was all set. Time to go for a walk.

We went down and there was water and snacks. We helped ourselves to some bars and cakes. And then Freia who had explored her surroundings took us on a walk. To Washington Park and then to Kimmel Center, the NYU central meeting place. There was breakfast served for all students and families and we decided to try and get some return on the investment.

As we entered the center, there suddenly was a flutter of activity. It seemed like some celebrity had come and everyone wanted to meet him. Freia was pushed towards the celebrity who gave her a warm hug. Mabel went up and she too got a hug. Everyone around was shrieking, "Oh my God, you got THE HUG". We learnt later that the celebrity was the President of NYU, John Sexton, and the hug was his trademark which students die for.

We went up to the breakfast area and it was a decent spread of croissants, cakes, yogurt, ... We had our fill, had enjoyed our time at NYU and it was time to say Adieu to Freia. We looked at the time and it was just 10 a.m. So much activity in under 2 hours.

As we wished Freia all the best at NYU, a thought occurred. After such an awesome first day, it was going to be difficult to better it. Or was this just the beginning of an eventful 4 years ahead ?