(मेरा) झंड लोकपाल बिल!

This is my version of Lokpal bill. May be Govt. can take a look at this as well, but it's not as important as some of the other bills scheduled to be discussed today :)

(मेरा) झंड लोकपाल बिल!


W: 58 P: 57 Words: Unknown

अन्ना जी की झंड करने के उपाय (व्यंग)

This is supposed to be a pun/satire on the what's going on right now in India. I am quite fed up of it, but instead of venting my anger by writing something that nobody would read, I chose to write it in a way that may be someone will enjoy. Let's see :)


अन्ना जी की झंड करने के उपाय (व्यंग)


W: 57 P: 56 Words: Unknown

31 Day Life Hack: The Pause (NOT the End)

Today should have been the 18th day of 31DLH experiment but to tell the truth I left the experiment mid way almost 5-6 days ago. When I started the experiment I was super excited (I had trouble sleeping the night before!). But as the days progressed that enthusiasm kind of waned off (nothing new, happens with me, all the time).

In fact, for the last 3-4 days I am doing nothing (absolutely nothing!) productive. So, it is appropriate time for me to "end" this experiment prematurely. I know I failed (as I suspected/feared) but I did enjoy doing it (whatever little I did) and I also learned a few things. The most important one of that was not to start such a big project abruptly. Slow and steady is ALWAYS (/most of the time) the way to go. 

I have trouble calling this an end though because I still dream of living a super charged month but right now I don't think I am ready for it. In fact, right now it will be better for me to recollect myself and get back to the plain old productive self (little productive is always better than unproductive).

And once we are there, we can try to restart this project (this time doing it hour->day->weekend->week->month wise). Thanks for supporting (or not giving a damn to) this experiment of mine :) Will make a come back... sooner or later. Promise!

Corruption: A Different Perspective

We are all talking about corruption right now (and rightly so). I thought I should also pitch in, but with a different angle.

Corruption: A Different Perspective


W: 57 P: 55 Words: 758

Some changes on AOSM

Hi there, you readers of blogRSH! Today (and also in last few days) I made some (subtle and not-so subtle) changes to the blog. And I thought I should let you know about this (no surprises!):

• First and foremost, the name of the blog is now "An Open Source Mind" rather than "The Open Source Mind" because:

1. I thought my mind is not "thumping" enough to be called "The"
2. I can't claim to have the only open source mind (in fact "The" and "Open-Source" sounds oxymoronic :)

• Removed the "Twitter" and "Google Friend Connect" gadgets because I thought they weren't serving any purpose. Now the page looks cleaner (less garbage/distraction) and also loads a little faster (I think).

• Changed the color of the header from white to black, which I believe gives it a bit more "authorative" feel.

• Have adopted minimum color (mostly "blue" and "black") combo on the blog so that everything looks consistent and also gives it a bit more polished (and hopefully not bland) look.

• I found out I had used a number of fonts at different places. So instead I have changed everything (except the Headlines of post) to "Philosopher" font (I quite like it :). Again going for consistency.

• Also changed the color of the main text to a more saturated black. Let me know if it's easier to read now or was earlier.

• Removed the "Reactions:" checkboxes (nobody uses it) and moved the labels close to the heading so as to help you know what the post is about.

• Share options have been moved again at the bottom, so that you can share it (please :) only if you think it is worth sharing (after reading it of course).

• And at least a few more changes (I will let you figure them out :)

I hope you like the new look (but the changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary). Let me know what you feel. Cheers!

Happy? Independence Day

Well the title of the post is self explanatory (or is it?!). But I have also been made to realize that not many will agree to the expressed thoughts here. And well that's why I would like you to read it out. Once again...

Happy? Independence Day

W: 56 P: 54 Words: 765

Digital Art Day!

Well today was slightly better than yesterday. At least I did some work that I liked. I posted a new blog, worked a bit on another one.

But basically today went to Digital Art! Spent the whole morning with GIMP and then reviewed insanely high number of wallpapers in the evening. Did a bit of programming (but still nowhere near the amount that I would like) and wrote the journal (something I missed yesterday. Damn!).

So, all in all today was a better day. At least I can look forward to making tomorrow even better.

जिंदगी भी सही मजाक है!

This is something that I wanted to post for a long long long time. I had the idea in mind, but just didn't know how to get started. But thanks to a friend who gave me just enough spark to go ahead and write this shit down.

This only proves I am NOT a poet. But this will never deter me to write what I want to write. And if it can make someone feel good, it's just win-win for me! Hope you like it :)

W: 56 P: 53 Words: Unknown

जिंदगी भी सही मजाक है!

Promise Day!

Well I think I have got a bad case of motivation-drop right now. When I started this month, I was on a high with loads of things looking up. But in just a week it has gone pretty low!

I don't feel like doing anything these days. And as a result, things I normal enjoy (watching movies, Twitter, Gmail etc.) aren't as enjoyable as well. I know it happens with a lot of people (some to greater extent than others). And I also know that the best thing that I can do right now is to work my way out of it (Action rather than Inaction).

So, today rather than telling what happened (or didn't happen), I promise to get this project going honestly. To actually live the days (even if it takes some/a lot energy for doing it) rather than celebrating *Blank Days* like yesterday. Let's hope, I keep up my promise.

Blank Day!

Kick Procrastination's Ass Day!

Well I had a brilliant opporunity to make today really awesome but it couldn't happen because procrastination got a real hold of me.

I did some of regular tasks pretty easily. But I haven't been able to write anything new for the blog OR program, for about a week now. And haven't studied book for about 3-4 days now.

And by the time, I realised this, it was already a bit too late to really make significant inroads in any of those tasks. It was too easy to leave them today also. But I decided to pursue them anyway. So, today I programmed for about 15 minutes, read half a chapter from book and completed a previously half written post (something that was incomplete for about a month, another form of procrastination!).

I know they are not really too much of a big thing to do. But starting out on something is the end of procrastination, I am glad I was able to do that. Now, if I try it again, tomorrow will get easier. So, today may just turn out to be a stepping stone of restarting the habit of doing these activities on a daily basis. But, let's not get too far ahead right now.

Don't Know What Day!

Well today was a total disaster. I couldn't do anything significant enough, to use as a theme for this post/day. Though, I won't be as harsh on myself as on other days, because I had all the intents of making today successful. It started well as well, but thanks to today's Goddamn bank visit and its manager, all plans went haywire.

The 2 minute work turned out to be an over 2 hours affair, and by the time I returned home, I was mentally and physically exhausted to do anything good.

But I was able to complete out last remaining posts to be read (Yay!) and also kept GIMP habit going (Yay! again!). Now since I have to sleep early, I would be posting this tomorrow only.

Today wasn't the greatest of all days, but thankfully, I still kept myself going (even though at crawling speed). I hope tomorrow turns out to be a better one (at least I hope I have better title for it :)

What do you Love?: Twitter

Not a lot of things that I can claim to absolutely "Love". And those I love should get some love back. This series of posts is expression of that gratitude, the acknowledgement that these things have improved my life.

What do you Love: Twitter

W: 55 P: 52 Words: 444

Code!.. Err.. Read Day?

Well this is embarrassing, I set out to make a code day out of today, trying to make up for the last 5 days of missed coding (I had thought of programming something, anything for at least an hour everyday this month), but since the thought of coding for hours seemed a bit overwhelming (scary!), I started it up by reading various blog posts lying in my Feed Reader's ReadItLater (starred) list. As the day went on I had to do a few other tasks (GIMP, spend quality time with a friend) so when I returned to actually starting coding, I had really less time left to actually do anything (not enough to call it a "Code Day"). So, I ended up reading a few more posts from the aforementioned list. 

OK, here it warrants a little story. I am a little addicted to reading feeds, and at one time it became almost like an obsession of keeping up with ever growing list of feeds. My starred items kept on growing and growing and reached over 400!. At that time I realized, that I was trying to take in too much. And from there on I have been clearning away the feeds that I can't keep up with without giving significant part of my day. I specifically removed Lifehacker, DZone, and DumbLittleMan (though I really liked all of them :). What it did was, it made it easier to actually read the things everyday and not *star* it for the future RavS to read (who already had so much to read!). Anyways, after removing the clutter, one thing that was still left was to get rid of starred items by either deleting them OR by reading them (what's the use of storing something when you will never use it?).

For the last 50 days or so I have been reading around 10 of those articles everyday (also deleting a lot of "not good enough" posts). And today, since I went for the kill, here is what I achieved...

Success!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, not quite! I have around 2 dozens blog posts still remaining to be read but I have moved them to another "more urgent" list where I *will* read them in a day or 2. I also know that just reading so many posts together is NOT doing me any good since I am hardly going to keep so much information together, inside my head, but that's again the obsessive RavS at work :)

Alright, so the *Code Day!* turned out to be *Read Day!*. So, from today I do another change in my 31DLH experiment. Instead of announcing what I will do the next day, let me decide the thing on the next day itself and then do it accordingly. So, I won't tell you what I will do tomorrow (may be *Code Day!* :)

ExScreame Day Take 2!

Nothing much to scream about Take 2 also, and the same fact makes me want to SCREAAAM in frustration! I did do some good things today, spending a lot of time in GIMP, reading a lot of blogs kept in reading list for a long time and construing a new (Epic!) blog post for the main blog (in addition to spending a lot of time in Twitter!). But still a lot of work (like programming :( were left out today.

I think, may be I am doing it the wrong way: trying to squeeze so many things in the day and trying to do them all extremely efficiently. May be I would be able to perform better if I concentrate on only one thing in a day. Keeping that in mind, we will try and do a *Code Day!* tomorrow.

ExScreame Day!

The day was supposed to be extreme (so much extreme in terms of words, that I would end up screaming!) and it started the same way with me going to sleep early (9.15 pm!) and then waking up early too (5.45 am). And then I read a tough chapter from book(or the one that I thought was tough), and then did a few other tasks quite efficiently but then a spate of unexpected events caused the day to almost stop after that. First the Internet wire again broke down (screw neighbors for dropping wood logs on it yet again X(. And then a friend came (though that was a welcome surprise since I am getting a little crazy sitting at home constantly staring at the system) and in the evening electricity went off.

So, in a way in turned out to be *Half ExScreame Day!* today. Let's try *ExScreame Day Take 2!* tomorrow.

Maintain Balance Day!

Alright, so after not so perfect last 2 days, today was a really good (if not great!) day.

Today we did "Maintain Balance Day". And what I basically did was to mix Work time and Play time, so that I feel frustrated for not getting more play time, and don't feel guilty for spending less time on work.

One of best things I did was to read a chapter from book first thing in the morning, which gave immense confidence. After doing that I went to do a flip flop b/w 10-20 minutes of break and 25-30 minutes of work. I made sure I set a limit on the time I spent doing low priority tasks (but the ones I like), but as I expected, I would unfailing spend a few more extra minutes. Even then, surprisingly I was able to gather enough will-power to leave the the "play related" things and come back to "work related" things again and again.

So, by using this mixture of both the things, I was able to make sure that I ended up doing both the types of things and leave the system for brothers to use and enjoy, earlier today as compared to other days (also indicated by the time post of this blog). So, not perfect but still quite a satisfying day. 

But even after trying to live these days in a different ways, I am not really become super-humanly productive that I want to be. So for that I want to approach my work yet another way. I will go through an *ExScreame Day*. And also resolve to live it more properly than the last 4 days. Let's see...

Mind Your Own Work!

"OK, first what's Mind Your Own Work Day?" you ask...Well it's the day where I mind my work! In other words, give full focus to my current task, not thinking about the one just completed, or the things still remaining to be done.

"So, how did the day go?" you ask again...Well it was path3tic, but still a success!

"How come it can be both?" you wonder... Well, the day started as idiotically as it can. I just gave in to my temptations and ended up spending 2 hours checking mails and other updates. Actually, when you have just posted an awesome blog post and made your blog public, you can't really blame me for that also :) But it was all downhill from there. After I was done with that, I went to watch a few TV series episodes, fully knowing I would end up watching more than I intended to. After that it was lunch time.

So here I was, with already 2 pm on the clock and nothing significant done since morning. Worse, there was no motivation to do anything (it happens with me on at least 2-3 days per week).

Now there were 2 options, either go on with my lethargic day and at the end of the day write a post that say "sorry people, I couldn't spend the day properly" (or worse, just lie about it since no one will know!) OR fight off the mediocrity and get at least something done.Thankfully, I chose the later option (really!).

I went  on to do almost all the things mentioned on first day, except reading 1 chapter from book (I don't like to read the same book again :). But what was good, that going with today's theme, I gave full attention to the current task and so the work completed was more satisfying than the other 2 days.

I think the reason I slacked in the morning is because I just can't maintain balance in between work time and play time. Sometimes, I just get shit done without really giving myself any rest, so automatically I start craving for more play time later on.

Keeping that in mind, I will try and seek a "Maintain Balance Day!" tomorrow.

"Well that's appreciable!" you would be thinking. Then why just think, let me know through a comment! Appreciated!

Early Bird Day!

It's my taskbar, Make it Large!!

Today's experiment was also a success! But not exactly, the way I wanted it to be...

Well I wanted to get up as early in the morning as possible and get all the work that I did yesterday, done ASAP. I decided to give myself a head-start by sleeping around 9 pm. But then I started writing (not typing!) something which became interesting and took away 40 mins and I ended up going to bed by 9.45. And from there, all things started going wrong. I uncharacteristically woke up around 1 am at night (may be because of excitement of EB Day!) and then just couldn't sleep for an hour or so. What's worse somebody had taken the mobile in which I had set alarm; and even after asking, nobody woke me up at 5. Thankfully, I woke by 6 myself out of habit (now!).

It wasn't an auspicious start. And because it wasn't Get Shit Done Day today, I wasn't obliged to do work before play. So I ended up checking mail and commenting on friends' blogs. Once again couldn't stop myself from reading newspaper while having breakfast (eating away even more time).

Thankfully, the motivation to write this blog post gave me enough spirit to get (almost!) all the yesterdays' tasks done before 12 pm! Though, on Early Bird Day, I wanted to get it all done by 11 or even earlier but after all that happened in last few hours, I will accept this.

OK, so Day 2 also went fairly good, and my 31DLH Experiment/Project is rolling!

But what I noticed in these 2 days was that I was more concerned about just getting over the tasks and thinking of the next one of instead of actually enjoying the present one and being mindful while doing it. So to tackle that, tomorrow we will celebrate *Mind Your Own Work Day!*

Superstitious Views

This may be my most ambitious article on buzzRSH (officially and forever blogRSH from today onwards!). And that is because I just wasn't the single author of this one. It took 7 awesome authors to articulate this one. I believe it has turn out to be exactly the way I wanted (though a little longer!) and I think it serves as a great launchpad for Open sourcing The OS Mind today.

Superstitious Views

W:54 P:51 Words: 2198 (Holy Cow! the longest ever!!)

Get Shit Done Day!

As I write this, I am drenched in sweat. But I am proud to say that the Get Shit Done Day was a success! And it really launches my August the way I wanted!

So, what's Get Shit Done Day anyways? Well, nowadays I have only 2 options: To Work, for which their is no obligation OR To Play (which includes all recreational activities). Now what happens is that I usually end up doing things that are not high priority, and not work as much as I want during the day. So, on Get Shit Done Day I decided to first complete all kinds of "work" related (high priority) activities before doing any play related (low priority) activities.

Here is what I did since morning (8 am):

And in between all this, I managed to do daily chores like breakfast, lunch and filling water! BTW I did programming after weeks today and it felt great :) even though I just wrote simple code snippets to get started. I hope I will continue to do that tomorrow too. 

To make sure all this gets done, I didn't open system till point-1 was done. And didn't open browser till point-6 was done. I didn't go to next task until the previous one was complete, so as to make sure that I don't end up skipping anything. I didn't measure exactly but I estimate that I have done 6 hours of work today and that is a stupendous achievement for me. And I assure you, doing 6 hours of continuous work wasn't a walk in the park either.

But by the time I would reach point 9, it would already be 3 pm which means just a few hours of play time :( So, now to maximize my play time, tomorrow I will observe *Early Bird Day!*

Definitely visit and find out what happens tomorrow!

PS: It wasn't all hunky-dory today. While doing breakfast, I ended up reading newspaper for half an hour. It's one thing that is not easy for me to skip.