Senior Prom

Yesterday was an event that Reia and I had waited for ever since we moved here. It was the 2nd most awaited event, The senior Prom. The most awaited event, Graduation is scheduled to take place in a couple of weeks on June 20.

The Senior Prom is the first event that leads up to Graduation and the completion of School Life. Its the end of childhood and the beginning of Adulthood. And the Senior Prom is one of the final opportunity for School Kids to be Kids and have a good time, before heading out to college where along with their freedom, comes responsibility and the first experience of being an Adult.

The preparation for the prom started more than a month ago in picking up the Prom Dress. Reia considered several options that went from making her own dress to renting one and then to buying one.

An ideal rental option was provided by an interesting business "Rent the Runway". You could rent a dress for around 25% of the price. When I asked Reia how this made sense, her answer was simple. You normally wear this dress just once. Why would you not want to save 75%? She picked a dress, but the one she wanted was not available.

In the meanwhile, she also designed a couple of dresses. she quickly concluded that she was not confident enough to make it. It may not come out well or it could malfunction or ...

Reia also visited several malls and stores with her friends looking for their prom dresses. Reia found one that she liked, but she wanted validation. And her fashion challenged Dad was not an option. Luckily for her and me, Freia visited. And the sisters went to Macy's. And were able to in less than 30 minutes, finalize and buy Reia's prom dress. Clearly Reia had already decided, and Freia seconded her choice.

Reia had reserved our car from Friday evening to Sunday morning. On Friday evening, the day before the event, Reia went and got a manicure and pedicure, before heading off to work.

Saturday morning, Reia headed off at 8 to meet her friends for breakfast. Back at 10, she got everything ready and packed for her big day. She has swapped her evening shift with a colleague for the morning shift and planned to leave directly from work. She finished work at 4 and headed off to her friend Cassidy's house. Here Cassidy helped her with her make-up and she got ready. She left for Rebecca's house where her date Christan and other friends along with their dates were to assemble for photographs.

A large Town Car rented by them arrived at 6 and took them to the Prom. I asked about the event and all I could get was "It was fun, and the food was very good." So I'm assuming it was awesome and they had a terrific time. After the Prom Dinner and Dance Reia and her friends headed off for their friend Erica's house for an after prom sleepover party. But not before dropping in home to pick up some food for the party.

I finally got to speak with Reia this morning and get the details of her first Prom. And as you can see from the above I didn't get much. Reia was happy and enjoyed herself. And I as a concerned Dad, relieved that the Prom was finally over.

News: As it should be

A strange thing has happened in the last decade, possibly in this century. News, as objective reporting has ceased to exist. I first noticed this trend in India several years ago and assumed that it was peculiar to the developing world, where I assumed, mistakenly as it now seems that its easier to manipulate the media and get a point of view across that is never objective and often not even factual. Its having a point of view and then twisting the facts of every event to have a narrative that furthers the point of view.

It seems like this would be obvious and no one would believe it. Unfortunately it seems like its not obvious and the vast majority do believe it. The minority who don't are completely irrelevant to the opinion makers who rely on the majority opinion to influence and get things done.

I've been based out of the US for almost 3 years now. And I was surprised at the media here. Not only was it nowhere close to what I had imagined it to be, it was way more biased. In India at least there was a pretense of the news channels being biased. Here there was no pretense with even Presidents calling unfavorable news channels biased, which is true and alluding to the news channel of their party being objective and fair which of course is untrue.

3 years ago I discovered a channel where I could rely on the news to be factual. It was a comedy channel and the show "The Tonight Show" with John Stewart. One of the more interesting presenters on that show was a young British comedian John Oliver. He wasn't the funniest, but definitely one who made you pause and think, all the time smiling, if not laughing. A year ago, on April 27, 2014 John Oliver premiered his own talk show, "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver. And this is now my favorite place to find real news.

You may not believe this, but you'll know more about any subject just seeing John Oliver's take on the subject. The research that is done and the simplification of facts that everyone else attempts to complicate, is unbelievable and awesome.

My 3 favorites are:

Government Surveillance
There are very few government checks on what America’s sweeping surveillance programs are capable of doing. John Oliver sits down with Edward Snowden to discuss the NSA, the balance between privacy and security, and dick-pics.

Wealth Gap
John Oliver discusses America's growing wealth gap and why it may be a problem in the future.

Net Neutrality
Cable companies are trying to create an unequal playing field for internet speeds, but they're doing it so boringly that most news outlets aren't covering it. John Oliver explains the controversy and lets viewers know how they can voice their displeasure to the FCC.

And an additional bonus ones for students about their student debt.

Student Debt
John Oliver discusses student debt, which is awful, as well as for-profit colleges, who are awfully good at inflicting debt upon us.

If you want to keep abreast of what's really happening in the world, all you need to do is subscribe, for free to watch his show.
https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight

Affordable Wearable Fitness

I've been a Fitbit fan for around 2 years. Until a few days ago. I share an office with Tom and Al, and we had gone for lunch, a rare occurrence. That's when I found out about a Fitbit alternative.

Tom showed us a fitness band he was wearing. It was similar to Fitbit and several other fitness bands. It had a display that gave similar figures as the Fitbit did. Steps, Calories, Distance, Time, ... Tom who was a Fitbit user, till he lost it, mentioned that it had a few bugs, and whilst it was getting progressively better, it wasn't as seamless as a Fitbit. Yet.

So why is a wannabe Fitbit, not as good, interesting ?

Because of the price. Its just $12. For a band and an app. For a year. And 1 year later, you get a brand new device, the latest version, for believe it or not, just $ 12.

It made absolutely no sense to me. This was too good to be true. So I went and checked it out. And it was everything Tom said it was. And more.

The company. Pivotal Living.

Here's what they say about How and Why ?


"What is Pivotal Living?

Pivotal Living is a health and wellness technology platform.  We are committed to building wearable technology at price points that everyone can afford. We don’t believe in charging a high upfront cost for our products, and instead hope that our members will be members for life.

For $12 a year, Pivotal Living members get access unlimited access to a personalized app and brand new fitness tracker.  Members can check their daily stats, explore historical data or simply sync and save progress made. They can also set natural awake alarms and activity reminders, build social teams and view personalized goals."

Its probably the company losing money in an attempt to gather a few million users, get a phenomenal valuation and dominate the fitness market.

However none of that matters. What does matter is that the consumer gets a great deal to keep fit. So now you have no more excuses. Go get your device. Today.

http://www.pivotalliving.com/

Jumping from a plane

My nephew Siddhant was visiting. He and Reia wanted to jump out of a plane. And so we planed it for yesterday.

Reia wanted her favorite aunt Vanitha to try it. Vanitha conferred with headquarters in Mumbai (Her Mom and brother) and finally agreed. But then chickened out after giving a few zillion reasons why she couldn't make it.

That's when I realized that the 2 kids were really brave. Siddhant summarized his bravery, when told his Mom had also jumped by "but I have so many more years to lose than her."

We woke up bright and early and left at 5.30 to make it to SkyDive CT at 7.30. To be told that the rain and cloudy weather would not make the jump possible. They agreed to reschedule the jump to this morning. The weather forecast was promising.

Early this morning, we repeated the drill. On the road at 5.30 a.m. and arrived at 7.30. Cloudy again. Luckily this time, the weather was expected to clear off in a few hours. And Siddhant and Reia waited getting more and more anxious as time passed by. Finally at 9 the sky started clearing up and they got suited up and ready for their first jump.

The rest you can see for yourself.

5 Simple Steps to Improve Productivity

5.
Track your time

The easiest way to know how little we do, is by tracking what we do. We think we work 10 - 12 hrs. Try and allocate your daily, weekly and monthly hours against what you've done. You'll very quickly see how little we typically do. Just this knowledge will help you double your productivity, overnight.


4.
Make lists

Having a "To Do" list is a very good way of getting things done. Quickly. Efficiently. And Effectively. The note to yourself that you need to get all items on the list done before you leave will help you complete it before you leave. Time taken for each activity, takes up the time available. And the more items you have on the list, the faster each one will be completed.



3.
Use the FIFO methodology

Our typical reaction is to use the LIFO or the Last In First Out philosophy in our day to day actions. This is because we have a tendency to act on whatever is the most recent. The problem is that previous activities keep collecting and the time taken to deal with them later is much more that if it were relatively recent. The other advantage of using the FIFO or the First In, First Out methodology is that we end up getting much more done, since we typically want to get the recent tasks completed.


2.
Check e-mails and voice-mails 4 times a day

Most people measure their efficiency by how quickly they respond, especially to e-mails. What this actually means is that they're monitoring and responding to e-mails in real time. What this also means is that they're only partially focusing on whatever it is they are doing. Making them less efficient and hugely unproductive.

You could have been at a meeting. Or traveling. Or at an event. Or at dinner. Or ... The e-mails would have waited. So why exactly can't it wait when you're at work? Try checking your mails just a few times a day. Morning. Afternoon. Evening. And night, if you have to. You will not believe the amount of time you'll suddenly have. To do whatever you please. Even working, if you so desire.



1.
OMG's

When you come across something exciting, you exclaim, "Oh my God", or as the trendy ones would say, "OMG's". We recently introduced OMG's at my workplace. We all did exclaim OMG's when it turned out to be "Objective Measurable Goals." What this does is Simple. Have a goal that is objectively measurable and then measure it. Its that simple. Having a OMG that is transparent will ensure that you outperform since you yourself now have a way of measuring what you're doing.

And most importantly, Have Fun. If you're not working, that's when you're the most productive.