Leadership Lessons - Very Basic

I don't have the mental stamina to write anything today, but I am going to show you a video on some basic leadership lessons.



courtesy: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/

Some random aphorisms - Food for thought

"If opportunity doesn't knock build a door" - Remember from my high school days, most probably from readers digest.

"Tough times never last but tough people do"- This one was on my uncles promotional calendar  for his seafood business back in early 90's. I didn't know until recently this is a title  of a book written by the famous motivational speaker/writer Robert H Schuller.

"Smooth seas never made a skillful sailor" This is one of my favorites, can't remember where I read but stuck in my mind.

"What I take with me is what I leave behind - Ho Chih Minh" Read on someones farewell email and liked it very much. 

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. - Gandhi" you cannot walk into a Indian Railways train station without bumping into this one.  

( My dinner in picture - BBQ pork ribs)

Euphemism

I was thinking of writing something serious for a longtime and this topic crossed my mind last Tuesday on my way home in the train. Yes, train is where I do most of the thinking, probably others as well. Thank you Metro North for this wonderful experience !! by the way the conductor with the ponytail is very mean he makes my mind go tizzy. Also, thank you for those old smelly cars and the bonus roller coaster special effects from time to time during the ride. All this experience makes my train ride so special, one of a kind and add meaning and purpose to my daily commute. The bottom line is train is a perfect place to think, and you can do it with your eyes closed or open, stare at the oblivion or simply fixate to the window and see nothing, if you see silhouette of trees that means you are thinking too deep. You cannot do these sort of things at home or work without being called a weirdo or simply outright crazy. OK, enough rambling... Oops! I thought I was going to write about a euphemism, so lets call it articulation which sounds better for now.

With the economy getting rancid by the day, I hear many my friends who are still employed saying they hit a career "dead end" and there is no way to get out of the rut. I see both the words "dead" and "end" to be something synonymous to deadly and life threatening, while its not the case in reality. It's because you started smelling your cheese and realized it doesn't smell like cheese anymore (people who read "Who Moved my Cheese?" will know what I am talking about) or your cheese station is running out of cheese and no one bothers to replenish it, or even people who suppose to replenish the supplies are busy smelling their own cheese. This is the reality and let's face it, this certainly doesn't sound like a "dead end" for me, I know good cheese is hard to come by these days but trust me there is plenty of good cheese out there only if you can discover. So let's continue the quest for life liberty and pursuit of (good) cheese. Next time before you utter the sentence I hit a career "dead end" think twice, let's be euphemistic about it and just say "I hit a career cul de sac". Now see the difference, we just transformed something deadly into something more appetizing. In real estate terms cul de sac is most sought after among properties, studies indicate people planning to build or buy a home in a cul de sac are willing to pay 20% premium. I think living in a cul de sac gives home owners "All roads lead home" feeling. It's a stark reality of life that we all love to live in a cul de sac but not work in a dead end. I believe practicing this little euphemism in our daily "dead end" can only help us do better while we wait for the sun shine.

Happy Valentines !!

It has been a good 14 years together and looking forward for many more. I know your world revolves around kids and work, while I orbit around arbitrary things. Thanks for everything...

Tandoori Chicken

My fellow parishners were raving about the tandoori chicken I made during the parish picnic over the summer, many were asking for the recipe from time to time. I have been dodgy for sometime, finally decided to post it in my blog picture is a bonus. For those wondering why it took so long the answer is manifold, firstly I didn't had a recipe so I have to perfect one, I usually eyeball the ingredients and I am efficient at it. Secondly I didn't had a blog site so I have to create one. Thirdly, great things take some production time, this piece is gourmet; it even takes longer. Now lets get to the meat of the matter.

This is all the ingredients you need...

1. Tandoori chicken powder. This is comes in various consistencies and brands, for optimal results use Shan Brand and they are very inexpensive Click here for the picture
2. Plain yogurt two tablespoons.
3. Lemon juice two teaspoons.
4. 4 ounces of vinegar.
5. 10 chicken leg quarters or 20 Chicken thighs.

This is how you prepare…

1. Mix items 1 through 3 in a glass bowl and set aside. Please exercise your best judgment here. The whole pack of tandoori powder makes medium spicy barbecue, you may want to adjust the ingredient according to your heat tolerance. I like it this way because it compliments well with my cold beer.

2. Now we are going to deal with the meat. Please follow all the cautions and precautions highlighted by USDA. Make sure you thoroughly wash your hands, any utensils that would come in contact with the raw meet. Also, please don't forget to wash the car you used to transport the meat from the grocery store. Skin the chicken pieces and superficially score them on both sides using a sharp knife, 2 scores on each side is suffice more doesn't hurt the dead chicken.

3. Coat the chicken with the wet ingredients, cover and let it marinate in the fridge for 3 hours. I personally like it overnight.

4. Grill it under medium heat until the juices run clear. You may also prefer to bake it in the oven especially in the winter.

5. Serve it with diced red onions and a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice. Please don't forget to grab your beer, I personally like red stripe as it compliments well.

Finally don't forget to invite me for the party :-)

PS: I would add some twists and touches to the method elucidated here. But I wanted to keep it simple for the first timers, trust me this tastes equally good. We can go over the nuances as you graduate.

Interesting Article for those interested.....

Talks about traps in the dynamics of decision making
Click here

snow day

Typical snow day today. Oracles at our national weather station predict 18 inches of snow before midnight, but we only got 4 inches so far, could be tip of the ice berg. Word of caution for those on full size SUV's or any SUV for that matter, I'm sure your steel tank with the four wheels engaged gets you the respect of the road, but you need to respect the laws of physics especially with that few inches snow on the ground. This morning I went to pick up the wifey from work, there was an inch of snow already when I started. Trip on route 1 was like cutting through the butter, I didn't hurt anyone and my truck wasn't hurt in the process. On my way back home I took a sharp turn at the intersection close my house and found myself with my truck sitting on my neighbors yard narrowly missing a tree. I was riding ~20 mph when I took the turn, can't imagine what snow can do for you.

Today

Wat gRaMeR ?!!

Thinking why hot dog buns come in 8 pack while hot dogs come in a 10 pack. I was at the CVS pharmacy the other day and was wondering how a healthy dude can buy a pack of his cigarettes upfront while a sick/invalid has to make a trip all the way to the back of the store through the maze of aisles just to get the prescription filled.