Saturday, June 30, 2007

After a long break....

I am back to blogging after a long break! Off late lotsa people have asked me why I stopped blogging. Well... there has been no particular reason. My new job had kept me occupied enough in addition to a whole lot of other things happening in life.... and now I am back! :)

One thing I would definitely want to write about is my new 30gb video iPod ! When I was planning on buying this, lots of friends suggested that I go for other brands like Creative, which comes with the same set of features or more, for a lower price. I was almost convinced till someone said that iPod is one of its kind - you cant get the look and feel of it with anything else and now I am glad I bought it! Some of the good and bad things about it.. according to me..

Positives - It has an amazing sleek design (you'll feel great operating it!), good battery life, bright screen with great clarity, lots of accessories that can be bought , and overall truly value for money.
Negatives - No FM radio, recording, wireless, a different USB cable (cant use the generic cables used to connect other USB devices), very specific video formats (converting is a pain) and the screen, though clear, is too smalll to make movie viewing a good experience.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Chronic chaos..

I guess there can't be better words than this to describe the current bangalore traffic state! This is probably the first time that I have been driving down to work every single day and have been able to experience what bangalore traffic is - at the peak hour or otherwise!! Frustration, exhaustion, a lot of abusing, anger, ear deafening honking and raising adrenalin levels...one hell of an experience in the last 10 days! Not to forget the state of many roads, driving on which can most likely injure one or more of your body parts!

Whether we like it or not... the chaotic, disorganized traffic in this city has ruined most of our social lives. I leave home much earlier than required just to avoid the nuisance...and leave office much later- again to beat the peak hour traffic... with hardly any time left to do other things! People alter work hours to beat the crazy traffic...shift residence to shorten the commute time...go to a restaurant somewhere unplanned coz you may not find that parking space at your favorite joint...well I guess everything in this city is getting planned based on the traffic!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

A new phase...

It's been a week for today since I joined work... a new phase that began with a lot of mixed feelings! I hated it the first few days (I love my new role though!). It sure is a drastic change from a product to a services company. Now I understand why people are usually apprehensive in taking this leap. Though I had read and discussed many times with friends as to how a company's culture can influence our work, I hadn't experienced it until last week when I joined this new organization. Gosh! I must say it does have a lot of impact... on employee morale :-) I'm not saying this one is bad but its different... VERY different and I guess my benchmark was of a high standard :-) I can for sure say now that Intel's culture is one among the best... especially with the kind of openness that it offeres between an employee and his/her manager and the flexibilty to achieve work life balance. Wish to go back there sometime again!!