Purani jeans aur guitar

What do you do with your favorite pair of jeans when they tear from the wrong places? I have three pairs of jeans that I simply can not let go of. What do I do? I was thinking of making bags out of them... but its too weird to have three denim bags of the same shape ;)

Ideas are welcome.

In other news, I finally got the strings on my guitar changed. The cute guy who did the change offered to give lessons too but I refused because I am just too busy. Arrgh!! There should be some sort of a rule in the company guidelines, "If the employee ever meets a cute guy, the company shall grant the employee compensatory off days on the days the employee wants to see him." If only I wrote the company guidelines, life would've been so much nicer.

$$ Richie Rich $$ and democracy

One thing I've found out: the more frequently you want to feel rich, the less frequently you should do your laundry.

My laundry had been past overdue. Nearly all of my clothes had made it from the closet to the laundry basket. I bought new clothes to sustain the luxury of wearing clean ones. But even those made it directly from the shopping bag to the basket. Didn't even get to see the light of the closet. It was just due to utter lack of motivation to wash. One or the other essential ingredient was missing each time I got the enthusiasm to clean. Sometimes I was short on time, sometimes detergent was missing. But mostly it was because I forgot to get quarters.

This past Saturday, I finally managed to get time + quarters + detergent + softner together. Ahh! What a reunion it was.

I felt so rich. I did one lot of delicates, one of blues, one of reds, one of yellows and of mixed cottons. WOW! Did I feel like one of those stars in movies??!! Pretty cool, ehh! Even my apartment is smelling of 'Spring Breeze'.

Even though I like the idea of being a movie star playing middle-class character, I vote for laundry cards. The amount of money that goes in the washer and dryer remains constant. Then why can't they switch to laundry cards? Just swipe the card, and you get your bill at the end of the month. Or in public laundermarts, you pay the cashier / tap-n-go machine. This is very similar to what they have at Kinko's.

If we can print that way, we should have the right to clean that way too. Obama? McCain? Listening??

Wish me luck

There are three things that I simply despise:
1. Getting sick
2. Getting sicker
3. Admitting that I am sick.

For past few weeks, my health switch had been flickering. This past Monday night, it decided to remain in off position. But after two days of continuously sleeping, I can now proudly say, "Sick? Who is sick? Not me, Guvv-nah!"

Yaay!!

I guess its time to make some lifestyle changes:
1. Early to bed, early to rise... let's not talk about wealth and wiseness, I sure hope to be healthy.
2. Sticking to the diet chart that RR 24Aug wrote for me.
3. Bike to work.
4. Read more books.


Wait. Lets take a moment here to face the facts. I am me. I can guarantee that I will strive to achieve 3 and 4. I am not too sure if I will even try 1 and 2.

But then its like conceding defeat even before the battle was announced. I must guarantee all four.

Hmmm, I hate me for doing this to me.

Wish me luck!!

Updates shall start pouring in from next Monday.

!dea

This is how I work:

I listen to a song on the radio. I listen to it on YouTube. If I still like it, I download the song. Save it in my iPod and listen to it over and over until I get sick of it. Then, I remove the song from my playlist.

This is a perfect strategy if I were to listen only to Hindi songs. I don't know how the paid version of digital Hindi songs work. But, I pay $0.99 at the iTunes store to purchase any English number I like. Usually I wouldn't mind. But lately I have been liking a few too many songs. This is rather exponentially proportional to the number of songs I end up buying (thanks to collaborative filtering algorithm being used everywhere). More songs to download means more money I spend. Frankly, I would rather spend my money on food and clothes.


So here's what I propose:

1. For every song you buy, you pay $0.99 at the iTunes store.
2. Next time you wish to purchase a song from the same artist, you are given a choice to exchange the previous song for this one.
3. You may not exchange any song that you have purchased in the past 3 months.
4. If you wish to buy another song from the same artist without the exchange offer (ie. you want to keep both the songs), you can buy the new song at half the price.
5. Once you exchange a song, the old song self-destructs.


Possible issues with possible solutions:

1. You can save the old song on a different media and exchange the version on 'this' media.
You are allowed to sync one hardware media with only one version of the software. The file will self-destruct if the user tries to save it in any other playlist.

2. You get bored of the new song and want the old one back before the 3 month deadline is over.
You can switch back and forth between the same two files for first three months.

3. You get bored of the new song and want to exchange it for an even newer one before the 3 month deadline is over.
Sorry! Can't do. You can only buy the new song. Can't exchange it before 3 months.

4. You accidentally delete a song and now can not exchange / listen to it.
You have a copy available online that you can download again to the same media.


That would be easy on the pocket. No? If there are enough people who support this idea we could sign a petition and send it to our very own dear Mr. Steve Jobs.

Update:: dt 18 May 2008:

5. The artists wouldn't like this idea of exchange offer. How will they make money?
One exchange of songs chain can not last for more than 5 songs. You buy song A. Then you exchange B for A, C for B, D for C, E for D, F for D... after this you need to buy the next song.
(thanks GB 29Mar)

phonetics et al.

Yes, its important for you to drink lots of water and it is not related to your reproductive capabilities.

So next time you say, "It's impotent to drink lots of water", you are wrong!!

GreenZo(ne)

The "Green 'n Clean" bug has bitten me hard this time. I hate it when the lights are on for no reason. I dislike taking out the car to go anywhere that is less than 3 miles away. I use my bike instead. I have started saving empty bottles for recycling. Instead of making a shopping list and sticking it to the fridge with the magnets, I make use of my cell phone's 'Notes' feature. I use a cloth shopping bag instead of getting the plastic bags from the grocery store each time. I know I still drive a non-CNG / non-Hybrid / non eco-friendly car but the aim is to eventually be able to afford such a car.

I think the government should give 'cash back' for every "green car" purchase. Or at least give incentives like free oil change for five years. Free car washes every week. Or just designated parking in your area of choice for two years. Lame? Think about it. Its not. I would buy a "green car" just for the car wash and the parking. No kidding!!

The spammers should also go green. The credit card offers that we get in mail every day use a LOT of paper that needs to be shredded. What if they just send out a postcard instead? Just a few lines saying , "You are the lucky / chosen one to get this fantabulous offer. For more info, remove the sticker and send the postcard back." I would love that.

And hey! What's with the no-plants-in-the-corridor policy that my housing management has adopted? Ridiculous, I say.

This world is making me crazy. I should sleep and enjoy my green-dream land.

Later, peeps!!

Update 1.2

There have been a lot of things going on in my life. To begin with the major one, tomorrow is my last day at my first job in US. I am super excited. The place is nice and everything, but it just is not what I would have liked it to be. Hence the switch. Life's super happy!!

The other change is that of lifestyle. For those who keep their general knowledge up-to-date with my life know that I got me a bike. Have been riding it regularly. Feels good.

One more change to the lifestyle is that I got into the swimming pool today. MC 25Apr made the mistake of telling me that she can swim. I roped her in to teaching me. She came down today and believe it or not, she is a good (read: strict) teacher. I can float, with one hand holding the wall. Feels great!! I think I am going to ride one day and swim the next day. Yeah! That will get the few extra pounds off my belly soon ;) A zillion thanks to MC25Apr for not letting me drown. On a side thought, I should keep her happy lest she tells me that the only way to swim is by holding your breath underwater for 15 minutes. I need to be incredibly stupid to believe that, but then... well, lets not comment on that.

Off I go for now. I am majorly pooped to do anything much anyway.

PS: Tips to learn swimming faster are always welcome!!


Not cool series #37 . When you have to part with something you know you can't live without.

Not Cool Series...

#1. When you wish you had something you know you can not have.

the coolest one

So, the cool thing was that I exchanged my ($20 worth) bike for $50 . An even cooler thing is that I got me a (relatively) new bike for $80. I have been riding it around town lately, one hour everyday!!

The accessories that I needed to ride it cost more than the bike itself viz the lock, seat cover, biking shorts, sports watch, but the feeling is priceless. Since its a new thing for my body to get acquainted to, I fall right off to sleep once I hit the bed. I wake up with a smile and the day passes by faster in the wait to ride my bike again (lame, very lame).

But I don't care. I feel like the little girl again.

In other news, Amy Winehouse simbley rocks machan!!

Simplicity simplified.

There are only two kinds of things in the world. Cool or Not cool.

What happened the other day was pretty cool. Me not telling you what happened is not cool.

Simple.