I am a paranoid guy. But my paranoia borders on a potential disorder. I am paranoid about things that might not even happen. For example, I always worry that I cannot do great work. My fear is not about failing, though. My concern is that someone will dig up something I said on my twitter feed that I can’t entirely agree with today. Is that rational? But when has fear been reasonable? ...
I have been writing web applications for quite a while now. For a more significant part of this experience, I had been developing on top of an existing CMS type environment; moodle, drupal, WordPress, or the like. Very few of these are web applications written from scratch. I typically used PHP when I write for the web because it has the lowest barrier of entry. You can write HTML and then insert your PHP wherever you need dynamic content. I used to hate Javascript, which in turn meant I was not too fond of Ajax calls. So my web applications always submitted forms and handled the details in PHP. ...
Moved from Justhost to GoDaddy. And got myself a domain. And SSL’ed it as well. It has taken me 6 odd months, $80 and a lifetime of lethargy to get this done. Finally, what really got me to do it is a desperate need to bring back my blog online so that I can write down a bunch of things. Motivation is a tough sell.
I am largely techie guy. In the sense, I can rarely understand what it is to be a non-technical person. Let me explain that a bit. I cannot fathom why some people cannot see how a certain idea or logic could be written as software. While here I am, trying to see the world around me as though someone wrote down code to make it work the way it does. I guess people are just wired differently. I have more recently come to terms with this fact and that some people are just better at other things than visualizing software. Its perhaps the same way that some people are visually challenged or aurally challenged (is that correct?). And I continue to remain indifferent to this difference. ...
The International Airport in Chennai (MAA) is a statement. But before you start assuming its cultural significance, let me quickly say this: I don’t know how to frame the statement itself, but I’ll attempt to elaborate my understanding. As someone interested in UX and wanting to improve UX every here and there – no I haven’t improved UX anywhere yet – I cannot help but notice this about the MAA airport. The departure happens from the new terminal. This building has constructionally stabilized and withstood Vardah, so I guess its a safe place now. And since its a new building, they have incorporated a slightly better queueing system for immigration. Nothing great here and of course, there is a tonne to improve. The arrival happens in the older terminal. The arrival immigration hall is probably half as big as the new terminal itself and yet, it is the most time consuming and unorganized aspect of the entire “arrival” process. Baggage should have taken the spot, but immigration wins hands down. ...
Its 2018, almost. And I still find it hard to compose long form content on a handheld phone (iPhone/android). Its just not comfortable to enough to get out of the way and allow the thought flow. iPad was better definitely, but I decided not to upgrade since the last one. Seemed too redundant to our lifestyle and given that my Mac Pro is not all that heavy, I end up composing all long form content on the Mac Pro. Overkill you say, I’ll bet right with you. ...
It was a lunch time discussion between me and the wife. We were wandering multiple topics, as usual, and suddenly came to a point where we thought, there should be a coupon code to goto a specific place. And then I remembered my Dad was cribbing the other day about attending a wedding at some place so far away from the city, it almost felt like a picnic across the city. So we thought of this simple idea. ...
I can vividly remember the setting. It was only the two of us in the classroom. Right after a lecture on Spread Spectrum Modulation (and the associated theory). This friend of mine, B, had a few questions on the lecture but wouldn’t ask the lecturer. For some reason, he believed I might be able to help. In college, I was pretty egoistic. So clearly, I would help. I sat there explaining the theory to him, explaining the math as I understood it. It was an ecstasic moment. I could hear myself thinking ahead and could visualize the theory unfold in my head. After a point, I was explaining it as the understanding happened a few ms ahead of my speaking inside my moment. It was pure joy, a very first time I experienced this brilliance. I called it my “aha” moment. From that point on, I have purely running behind these moments. And have had them all through my learning and mind you, I am not done learning anytime soon. Though the topics that I go aha over today are vastly different from those that I did in college. ...
My favourite TED talk is the talk by Larry Smith on “Why You Will Fail To Have A Great Career”. It is also my worst nightmare. It is what keeps me looking hard for problems that I believe in, that I want to be assosciated with. I take part in multiple forums just trying to see what would interest me. After all, if you want to commit all your time to working on something, you might pick up something that you really believe in. Or you have to be one motivated personality (which I know I rarely am). I need a reason to do things however silly the reason may be. But I cannot fool myself into believing there is a good enough reason. Catch-22, right? ...