My favourite Seinfeld quotes

I have this incredible short term memory of forgetting even my most favourite quotes and phrases. Isn't blogspot my perfect mate to help me here?
This is going to my forever WIP blog, where I am going to add more quotes as and when I recollect them.

"I am not getting it!
Women - they're so subtle, everything they do is subtle.
Men are not subtle, we are obvious.
Women know what men want!!
Men know what men want!
What do we want? Men want Women!!!...
:
:
We are everywhere!"
(Jerry in the 1st episode, The Original Pilot - "Good news, Bad news" )

"I don't know how you walk around with those" (Elaine in "The Hamptons")

"The sea was angry that day my friends. Like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.
:
:
It would have been 10 stories high if it were a foot" (George in "The Marine Biologist")

"You faked it"
"I faked it"
:
:
"Fake! Fake! Fake! Fake! "
(Elaine in "The Mango")

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'Create' 1 Month in a Year...

Over the years, I have kind of realised that the longer I stay awake at night, the longer I tend to 'oversleep'. (If you have the same issue, why don't we discuss this?)

Earlier, I was used to sleeping 7 hours a day, Provided I go to sleep by midnight (00:00).
If I changed that routine, and went to sleep any time beyond 12, then my (next) day would be screwed up. I would need more than 8 hours of sleep. If I wake up before that, I would end up a little drowsy, and irritable for the rest of the day.

Does the body's tiredness compound past midnight?
Why does one feel so tired when you go past a certain time?
Of course, long hours of work is one thing, but...
If you come across any research in that area, pass it on to me. Ungalukku Punyamaa pogum.

The only time I can get up early (regularly) is when I am on projects. During then no sleep is okai too (Oops! Not Forever).

Anyway, Sai and I are long-sleepers. Given a chance, we can sleep on forever. Once, in our BIL's place in Chicago, we were sleeping when our nephew left to school (owing to 2 hours time lag), and were still sleeping when he returned home after 4 hours (no jet lag explanation here)

We were once talking, "If only we reduce our sleep by 2 hours/day, we would get a whole month/year all for ourselves - extra". (1/12th of a day=> 1/12th of a year = 1 month)

Beautiful concept.
I thought of all the things (and favourite hobbies) that I have not been able to do because of my so-called 'Lack of Time', and here, I have been wasting 1 whole month sleeping :-/
This worked for a week, a month, and for 2. Then I gave up.

But, I do have to accept that I have been most productive when I have started working at 6am instead of at 8 or 9; Things get done in a wink. I have loved working in the early hours, but have not been a success in this department.
Can anyone tell me how to sustain this habit? (If you have sustained)

I can see my sister Sujatha and SIL, Preethi starting to work very early (6-7 am), and starting off very early (5 pm). Maybe, because of the kid(s) and the house to manage? I take it as an excuse (I am an escapist sometimes, you see).
I say to myself, "See, that's why they are motivated to get up early!!! May be one day, when I have my own kid, I may be an early morning mother too"

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The Originals...

One Friday evening when I had nothing to do, I recollected some english movies I had watched, and thought I would blog the "Originals" for some Tamil movies...


Anbe Sivam - "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"

Tenali - "What About Bob?"

Magalir Mattum - "9 To 5"

'Mani Chittirathaazh' and 'Chandramukhi' - Inspired from Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo"

Avvai Shanmugi - "Mrs. Doubtfire"

Pudiya Paravai - "Chasing Crooked Shadow"

Michael Madana Kamarajan - The hut on the cliff episode has its origin in Charlie
Chaplin's "Gold Rush"

Virumandi - Inspired by the concept in Akira Kurusawa's "Rashômon"

In many cases, it is almost a 97% Dippy, but how on earth are they claimed as an 'Inspiration'?

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Funny News...

I thought the funniest news I had read was in 'Maalai Murasu' where a man bit and ripped apart another one's ears in an avenge to an insult...but this one is cooler.
"Man bites panda after panda bites man "

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You Go Girl!!!

People have asked me, "Isn't consulting for men?", " I have not seen Desi women stand on meetings or work away from home. Why do you do this? "

I have asked this question to myself once upon a time (am I too old to use this-Once upon a time?) but have always concluded that women have more potential than we think we have.
Women can ask questions without fearing: "Am I supposed to know this by now?" or, " What are they going to think of me?", or, "I should not prove ignorant in front of him". We realise that it is easier and quicker to ask.

We understand that it is ok to be wrong initially, since we are going to put the fullest effort to learn and solve problems. The nuisance value (like in 'Ab Tak Chappan') is relatively less. We have more social and personal responsibilities, in addition to work, par-earning the family's bread and taking care of investments. So, we cannot go on unless we are organised. And, hence we are better at managing time. That gives us more focus. Client relationship; women seem to have lesser problems on that; men and women know the technical and business stuff equally well. It matters how well you can make the difference.

True, by our basic nature, we may lack the stamina to keep talking on meetings for 8 hours at a stretch, convincing clients, debating, and bringing them inline with our thinking, but we are not ashamed to bring protein shakes and nutri-bars to our meetings. We are not embarrassed to admit that we exercise to be fit and to cope-up with and withstand the long and hard day at work.

There is no prejudice when we push and push harder to get things done. It is the "Go, Get it" attitude that makes us stand out. In all projects we have resistance from the team, most of whom have not worked with women at their level (well, I am not referring to software and IT industries, that is a different ball game) .

I admit that it is very difficult to get along initially. I remember when I started I was a little shy and would think that anyone who kept his head high and lip tight knew what they were doing. I was completely wrong. It takes some time to learn the game.
But, now I know it is the one who can really work with passion, energy, perseverance, and focus, can present well, and who is not afraid of taking risks is the one who makes an impression, and the one who succeed.

Not only in consulting, this is the reason why women succeed in all the fields.

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Who says ChikunGunya is not fatal?

This was the outskirts of Chennai.
Life was as usual. until...

The grandma was sick...
Normally healthy, she is known to have high fever twice a year, which would be curable by Over The Counter medicines, no doctor visit required...she is known to have arthritis for the past X years, but it was not too painful;
Day 1. She is sick...she can eat, talk a bit, but was very fatigued...

Day 2. Her Fever got somewhat worse and the arthritis, even worse...joint pain or 'Mootu Vali' was pre-dominant in all the joints... she was too weak...Iodex and Icy Hot were applied, massages given; she could be given soup...some local pharmacy OTC medication was given; ChikunGunya was suspected and all relatives took some prevention medicines.

2 more days were similar...she threw up...
On the 3rd and 4th days, additional symptoms originated...she could not identify any one, she would stare at a window imagining and talking of a TV serial...
( she might have undergone something like Cerebral Paralysis (CP) which was due to lack of oxygen).

One more day passed like this with no improvement. The alarmed relatives realised that they have to rush her to a hospital, give an IV and give an emergency treatment.
As the situaion would have it, none of the hospitals or doctors they reached out to were prepared to stop by or send an ambulance to this remote bunglow, or gave up since the 'paati' was 'old enough'. (Isn't that sickening?)

One whole day was wasted; the daughter and in-law tried all they could but to no avail...the son immediately collected his passport and visa and started to India from the Middle East...
The next morning (6th day), they were somehow lucky to get her admitted in a hospital and an ambulance took her out...she was in the ICU, she realised some pain after O2 was given; she could talk sensibly once in a while...there were mixed signals of hope.
Late that night, she passed away.

All the news sites and all the Government issued pamphlets say that 'ChikunGunya' or 'Chicken Guinea' (or many other spellings for - G-Ui-N-Ea) is not fatal. But is it a fact?

May not be for the aged and the old who are left untreated...
All they need is a simple trigger that would suppress the immunity, thus invalidating organ by organ...and this ChikunGunya virus is one of them.
Not all of us are physicians, and we need to be aware of when to consult a doctor, when is a situation in its last state of control.
Keep your parents, elders, near and dear ones informed about the ill-effects of CG in the aged.

Tell them they need to rush an elder, who is affected by CG, to the hospital or emergency care, or to a physician at the minimum if:
0. The fever persists with joint ache
1. They realise that their functionality fails or drops day by day,
2. If they seem to talk insensibly (Anathal, Pinathal, commonly used terms for which the hidden meaning may be "Lack of Oxygen" )
3. they have trouble identifying others and/or are unconscious
- Make sure that they have the numbers of all call-taxi services or auto-drivers in their locality if they stay in remote neighbourhoods or stay away from their relatives.

The older are more susceptible to the virus. They have a right to live up to the number of years they were stipulated on this earth. Lack of awareness (in others) should not be a reason for the dear to depart. Let us be aware and act, rather than feeling guilty in the future.

Information about, Symptoms, Precautions are given in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikungunya

During and after this episode, almost all the family members were affected by CG. It has become such a joke amongst the patients in the hospitals. "Oh!!! Ungalukkum CGaa? Ok!Ok!". You call then up casually and they say: "Chikunu irukaravangala K(G)uniya vaikudhu paa".

This illness has taken a toll in AP, Karnataka, TN, MP and is spreading.
When I called up my parents in Coimbatore, asking them to be cautious, they tell me, "Priya, All is taken care of! There are some homeopathy medicines that prevent this (Or, is it?). And, the Government has sprayed the prevention medicine on all the water tanks".

Ohh My God!!! No prevention measures were asked to be followed by residents while they sprayed???
They did not know what medicine has been sprayed.
I remember the pungent ones that were sprayed on the streets when I was a school-goer, which could suffocate the whole neighbourhood for the day.
Also I remembered the DDT which was banned by the US Govt in 1972 for causing cancer in humans and birth defects in children (who were still in wombs), was used for ariel spraying till the late 1990s in cashew plantations in Kerala, leading to all those ill-effects in residents and children to come.
Awareness... When? Where? How? What are we doing about it?

http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/pn47/pn47p6.htm

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States I have visited

Saw this interesting site when I met nephew Anindit in Libertyville, Il. Thanks, Ani.
Thanks to my consulting job, I have visited these states in the US.
To create your set of visited states, click here

Reading Mihir's blog, I felt that I did not do enough (or any) justice to my article (copycat).

I have been to the following states in India:
1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Kerala
3. Karnataka
4. Andaman and Nicobar
5. Tamil Nadu
6. Maharashtra
No where else :-> Need to do it in future.

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My Driving Tales...

Sai had his septoplasty surgery today...
This morning, I was anxious and excited about two things...
2. Surgery's outcome,
1. "I will need to drive him home safely"

The Surgeon is a domain expert, and, Sai, as I've known in the last X years is pretty cool at handling these scenarios (ask me what kind of things he is not 'so pretty cool with'..we can have a discussion later ;) ) So, I was practically cool about (2)

I was more worried about (1) - my driving; the last things I wanted to do was to have him sit inside the car, drowsy, while a cop hands me out a ticket; No, not on the day of his surgery...

I had never driven on my own in the freeway earlier (Shh!!! Shh!!! Was this not supposed to be a secret???) I always had Sai sitting in the passenger seat whenever I did this (which was rather infrequent, since, I ve 'adopted' Sai as my unofficial driver while I am in the Bay Area, or whenever we are together); and, I do not have my car yet...

My driving records - Going back in timeline -

I have always been driving on my own in the local roads...
Sai was my passenger when I drive on freeways...
My last client in Newport Beach was merely a walk from the OC - SNA Airport; there was no reason why I had to rent a car in the last 7 months... and the hotel would provide me with a limo shuttle everywhere for free ( was that not a good excuse?)
I always carpooled in San Diego in Dec 2005 - Jan 2006 (ofcourse, to save expenses for my project ;) BTW, dos that deserve a raise?)
I drove in CA-237 on my own, for a week in August 2005 (I will not even consider this a freeway experience, because I hardly did 8 miles one way)

A day before that, there was an incident in August 2005...Sai was leaving to Washington D.C. that afternoon, and I was to take the car to my office after dropping him in his; I did drop him, I did take the freeway, I did exit correctly, I did reach my office; was that not perfect? Not Yet!!! There was 'Parking' to complete this picture. I was too proud to park in any of the completely vacant parking lots; I drove straight in between a Toyota Corolla and a BMW Z3; and I parked at an angle; now I had to take the car out and correct it, which I did...I tried a few vague attempts, but to no avail... in one of the final attempts, the car would not reverse out. Something was stuck up somewhere...I did not have a clue (nor did I think I needed to check it out); and, there I reversed, pressed the gas... to get out of that obstruction!!!!
Lo and Behold!!!! the car would not move any further...
I slided the window open!!! I do not want to describe this... the hood of my car was stuck between the rear rim and the tyre of the Toyota :-( Thanks to my parking skills...
Oops!!! How was I going to take it out???
I tried calling up Manish who was at the office...he would not pick up the phone...KJ came in as an angel and rescued the car, and parked it straight... the headlights on the left could no longer be called so...it was nothing but a picture of a crocodile with its jaws wide open...
and, for all this, there was no scratch on the Toyota :-/ (yet, I left my card inside, just in case)
For Sai, it was no fun to be called during a meeting, not when he had just 3 hours before the flight...

My hotel was a block away from my office in Winston-Salem, June-July 2005...

I got my driving licence in May 2005;
Earlier - Local Transport took me to all the places...
That is it for the history...

Well!!!
As it turns out, I have improved my parking 'skills' since then, and I need to admit (am I not humble ) that I am a pretty careful driver...and today, drove with absolute confidence while returning home with the still-under-sedatives Sai. And, I can drive anywhere else on my own, hereon...

Albert, beware!!! I am going to start renting cars from my next project... :>
Sai, I may need a new car!!!

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