The Year 2003
I’m back. Not that I actually went away anywhere. If you know what I mean. Now I’m here, writing this with mixed feelings.
Slightly ashamed, since writing regularly over here was something I had told myself that I would do. Unfortunately, I didn’t exercise the self-discipline required to make it happen. A little happy, since I am writing this now. The first step that overcomes inertia is always the hardest, no? And finally a little sheepish - because the main contents of this post are a little dated.
What follows is a quick cap of the year 2003. I’m copy-pasting it directly from a New Year mail that I sent out, so the chances are that a few of you have already read this. Nevertheless, I’d like to think of it as an attempt to fill in blanks - the huge time blank between my last post and this one.
New Year Greetings don’t get later than this
Having said that, I hope you are happy to know that I’m alive, kicking and even emailing. To make up for the long gap, here’s a glimpse of some of the stuff thats been happening with me:
[Short story]
Lots of work, very little play!
[Long story]
Lots of work…
* Started a personal website
- This message should have been posted there
- That should indicate the state of the site
- Maybe I’ll still post this there
- Will send you the URL once I get active
* Setup SlaveCamp, a home grown webapp for:
- Project management, activity and time tracking
- Having done that, I’m hardly monitoring it
- However, don’t tell my guys that
* SlaveCamp rechristened to TeamWork
- Slaves happy… Oops! I mean team members happy
* PostMaster - Next Generation
- PM Express released. Looks great, works great!
- PM Enterpise is WIP
- If you’re going “huh?”, have a look at http://postmaster.co.in
* Developed a superb, brand new, anti-spam module
- Works great, 99% accuracy
- Now I have a built-in excuse to say I didn’t get your mail
* Begun a ’strategic initiative’ to drive the growth of QLC
- Its important to think ‘out of our well’
- There are other frogs out there, you know
- Lots of thinking
- At work, when I have my eyes closed, I’m not sleeping
* Did a bit of technical writing after almost 3 years
- Planned to do a series of articles
- First artcile appeared in The Economic Times a coupla months ago
- Haven’t started on the second
- Unlikely that this will be a ’series’
Very little play…
* Last year I grew. A little bit. Around my middle…
- Like I said, very little play
* Went for almost 3 walks
- 2 serious ones
- Approx 3-4 kms in 30 mins
- Decided against the third one just after getting out of bed
* Picnic with the technology team
- Celebration for good performance
- Good fun
- Team members saved a guy from drowning
- And no, they hadn’t pushed him in, in the first place
* In Dec., a wonderful, 17-day vacation in the mountains of Uttaranchal
- Delhi, Mussorie, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Ranikhet, Nanital
- By road from Delhi, by and large great roads
- Weather was chilled (by Bombay standards - like 3 degrees one afternoon)
- Places were very picturesque (by any standards)
- Pictures available on request
In the new year…
* Must exercise more
* Must play more
* Must earn more
* Must write to my friends more
* Must…
…sign off before I get carried away!
Here’s wishing you and your family,
A WONDERFULLY HAPPY & PEACEFUL (not so new) NEW YEAR!
Stay in touch ;)
Best wishes,
Sharad
If you noticed that the above email was dated Jan 21, 2004 - then you are reading too carefully for comfort. But hey, thats exactly the habit I’m trying to break. Procrastination!
If you’d like to share any ideas or thoughts on how you get things done on time, please do your good deed for the day and post them here. I think it may benefit a lot of us… ;)