Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

I see you!

A facebook friend recently posted this video on her Wall.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY&

The news piece does actually inform viewers of a real threat to safety that comes with geo-tagging photos that you upload online. But the exaggerated sense of danger that they portray is, IMO, uncalled for.  

I buy and sell a lot on craigslist, and I like posting photos of my family online, and so I am extra careful when it comes to giving out PII in information that I put out on the Internet. However I do like to geo-tag my photos so that I can find photos by the place I clicked them in. So I turn off Location Services on my iPhone whenever click a photo that I plan on posting online. Alternately, I email the photo to myself and edit the EXIF information manually (using Windows Explorer) to clear out the location data before I post the images online. 

This information is not exactly news to me, but if you were part of the blissfully unaware masses, watch the video till the end to see how to prevent geo-tagging your photos.

Feedback

I recently received some indirect (from them to my manager, and from manager to me) positive feedback about my mentorship from a colleague. And this got me thinking about how important feedback is. It helps you know if you are on the right track with what you are doing. There were some challenges mentoring this person and, I must admit, it was pretty frustrating. In a moment of inspiration (or maybe reflection*) I decided to change my strategy. Instead of giving them an answer to their question, I sat them down and had them derive the answer to the question by themselves. At the end of it, my colleague knew the part of the product for which they had the question like the back of their hand. And they thanked me for taking the time to walk them through it. 

Thanks to this feedback, I know I am on the right track with mentoring this person, and this makes my job easier. They think that they were the only one who stood to gain, but they are wrong. I learnt something too :).

 

*I remembered that sometime in the past, I was that kind of person that might have caused a lot of frustrations for my colleagues with the constant questions. If it wasn't for their patience in dealing with me, I wouldn't have been where I am right now. Always pay it forward!

Homesick

I was talking to my father yesterday. He had just gotten back from a trip to Kannur. He was talking about our home there and the updates they've done.

Later last night, while recounting the conversation to my wife, I felt this overwhelming sense of homesickness. I wasn't missing Bangalore where I grew up and feel more at home because I know the language better and have a lot of friends there. I kept seeing flashes of myself relaxing in our home in Kannur; in my dad's house where he grew up, where we'd go as children during our mid term vacation; on the beach nearby; the lake near our home.

I also saw flashes of Nana and Nani (my maternal grandparents), of Ammamma (my paternal grandmother) and my uncles and aunts and cousins. All flashes of happy memories, of a more carefree time of my life. Of a time where I wasn't chained to a mobile phone or a laptop or a desk.

And then a sad realization washed them away. The realization that I'm no longer that carefree person anymore. I'm older, with more responsibilities. I may not be able to go back to being that carefree person anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I love my life. I enjoy being a husband, a father, I enjoy my job. But lately it seems like these things have taken over the real me.

Maybe I just need a vacation.

GTD

Or getting things done. There are lots of apps and tools available for GTD, and I've tried a lot of them; outlook, Things, Remember the Milk and so on. But the one thing that always works for me is pen and paper. It's a lot easier to maintain than an app. I always have my notebook with me (while at work or at home) so referring to my list is easy.

• What I do is make a list with all items left pending from my previous list and add new tasks to that.

• Completed items get a tick against them, so they get ignored when the new list is made.

• Meeting notes are made on separate sheets; action items from the meeting are added to the running To Do list.

So far this has worked great for me, and until I can afford a secretary, I think this is what I'll continue to do.

Unless you, dear reader, have a better suggestion. I'd love to hear it.

Hello world

Welcome to my blog, where I'll be writing about anything and everything that I fancy. Most of it is going to be about photography, cars, my complaints about traffic, food, my complaints about people, gadgets, etc. Hope you find something that you enjoy reading.