September 20, 2007

LG Service Center

I wanted to get an AMC for my LG TROMM Washing Machine. I called up the LG helpline number that I got from http://www.lgindia.com/Service/Services.aspx . Given below are the rates that were provided

AMC for
1 yr = Rs 2650/-
2 yr = Rs 3050/-
3 yr = Rs 3400/-
4 yr = Rs 3800/-

Need to call up the nearby Service Center to understand the formalities [Ph: +91-80-25202988, +91-9986506093]

Addr:
A1 Service, 56 Double Road
Opp Srinidhi-Sagar Hotel
Indiranagar, Bangalore
Ph: +91-80-25202988 (This no. is always engaged)


Other interesting cricket videos

Recently, Shane Warne listed Curtly Ambrose as his 3rd greatest cricketer. He mentions about the game in Perth (1992-93), where Ambrose turned the game and series against Australia through his devastating spell of 7 wickets for 1 run. Given below is the video that has captured Ambrose's performance. Click here to see Shane Warne's greatest 50 cricketers.



Given below is another intersting video titled the "The Top Ten Weird Dismissals Of Cricket!!"





Yuvraj's six sixes

Awesome sixes by Yuvraj... Check this out...

Yuvraj's Six Sixes




Yuvraj's Interview - I see hubris in him...




Yuvraj tasting humiliation from Dimitri Mascarenhas




Herschelle Gibbs' Six Sixes




Six Sixes from the legendary Sir Gary Sobers



I couldn't get Ravi Shastri's six sixes.

September 18, 2007

Every Second Counts

Some good quotes from Lance Armstrong's Every Second Counts
You ask yourself: now that I know I'm going to die, what will I do? What's the highest and best use of my self?

Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.

I've often said cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me. But everybody wants to know what I mean by that: how could a life-threatening disease be a good thing? I say it because my illness was also my antidote: it cured me of laziness.

But fame, I learned, is an isotope, and it's not good fir you. When you become celebrated, a kind of unhealthy radioactive decay forms around you, and the decay can be creeping, or even catastrophic.

J Craig Ventner (who developed human genome): Fame is an intrinsic negative. People respond to you based on their preconceived notion of you, and that puts you at a continual disadvantage.

I like to control things, like to win things, like to take things to the limit. A life spent defensively, worried, is to me a life wasted.

Lee Walker (Former Dell President): Schedule is how we make our intentions manifest in the world.

Mary Oliver (Poet): What will you do with your wild and precious self?

The world is full of people who are trying to purchase self-confidence, or manufacture it, or who simply posture it. But you can't fake confidence, you have to earn it, and if you ask me, the only way to do that is work. You have to do the work.

There comes a time in every race when a competitor meets the real opponent, and understands that it's himself.

Suffering is essential to a good life. It's a great enhancer. It might last a minute, or a month, but eventually it subsides, and when it does, something else takes place, and maybe that thing is a greater space. For happiness! Each time I encountered suffering, I believed that I grew, and further defined my capacities - not just my physical ones, but my interiors ones as well, for contentment, friendship, or any other human experience.

If you are willing to examine failure, and to look not just at your outward physical performance, but your internal working, too, losing can be valuable. How you behave in those moments can perhaps be more self-defining than wining could ever be. Sometimes losing shows you for who you really are.

J Craig Ventner (who developed human genome): It's unequivocally clear that life begins at birth and ends at death and if most people on this planet understood that, they would lead their lives very differently. We find religious or mysterious forces to fill in our inadequacies, but heaven and hell are both here on earth everyday, and we make our lives around them.

If you want to win something, you've got to have single mindedness and its all too easy to wind up lonesome while you're at it.

There aren't many clearly marked, signpost moments in your life, but occasionally they come along. And you have a choice. You can either do something the same old way, or you can make a better decision. If you are willing to make a harder choice, you can redesign your life.

If you want to do something great, you need a strong will and attention to detail. If you surveyed all the greatly successful people in this world, you will find a common denominator: they are all capable of sustained, focused attention.
A far more difficult test of endurance than a bike race is how you handle the smaller, common circumstances of your days, the more mundane difficulty of trying to make your life work.

People warn you that marriage is hard work, but you don't listen. You talk about the pretty bridesmaids' dresses, but you don’t talk what happened next; about how difficult it will be to stay, or to rebuild. What nobody tells you is that there will be more than just some hard days. There will be some hard weeks and perhaps even some hard years.

I've known guys who never quite put it all on the line, and you know what? They lost. One minute, after nearly a month of suffering, can decide who wins. Is it worth it? It depends on whether you want to win. I have the will to suffer. I do have that.

The experience of suffering is like the experience of exploring, of finding something unexpected and revelatory. When you find the outermost thresholds of pain, or fear, or uncertainty, what you experience afterwards is an expansive feeling, a widening of your capabilities.

Hot Ice

Don't get surprised in my listing down Nora Robert "quotes"! I did find some interesting quotes in her book - Hot Ice
Doug Lord: They say that knowledge is power. I used to think so, but now I know that they meant money.

Doug Lord: If you can't have fun with money, there is no point making it.

Dimitri: An employee remained an employee until death.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Some quotes from Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Most families work from Jan to mid-May for govt. just to cover their taxes.

When it comes to money, learn to manage risk. Don't insist on playing it safe.

House is a liability - not an investment.

Rich Dad: I don't work for money. Money works for me.

Rich Dad: You are poor only if you give up. Most of the people only talk and dream of getting rich. You got to do something.

Rich Dad: If you can't make up your mind decisively then you'll never learn to make money anyway. Opportunities come and go. Being able to know when to make quick decisions is an important skill.

Rich Dad: Most of the time, life does not talk to you. It just sort of pushes you around. Each push is life saying - 'Wake up. There's something I want you to learn'.

Rich Dad: If you're the kind of person who has no guts, you just give up every time life pushes you. If you're that kind of person, you'll live all your life playing it safe, doing the right things, saving yourself for some event that will never happen.

Rich Dad: Most people want everyone else in the world to change but themselves. Let me tell you, it's easier to change yourself than everyone else.

Rich Dad: The poor and the middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.

Rich Dad: True learning takes energy, passion, a burning desire. Anger is a big part of that formula, for passion is anger and love combined.

Rich Dad: First, the fear of being without money motivates us to work hard, and then once we get the paycheck. greed or desire starts us thinking about all the wonderful things money can buy. The pattern of - get up, go to work, pay bills, get up, go tow work, pay bills ... - is set. This pattern is the rat race.

Why grownups hurry off to work. It did not seem like fun, and they never looked happy, but something kept them hurrying off to work.

Rich Dad: When a poor amass money they end up fearing losing it. The fears that drove them to get rich got worse.

Rich Dad: Learn to use your emotion to think, not think with your emotions. Master your emotions.

There is only one rule to be rich. Know the difference between an asset and a liability, and buy assets. If you want to be rich that is all you need to know.

An asset is something that puts money in my pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of my pocket.

Unknown: Remember the golden rule. He who has the gold makes the rules.

Rich buy luxuries last, while the poor and middle class tend to buy it first. They often buy luxury items to look rich, but in reality they just get deeper in debt or credit.

We all have tremendous potential, and we all are blessed with gifts. Yet, the one thing that holds all of us back is some degree of self-doubt.

In the real world outside of academics, something more than just grades is required. It is called - guts, balls, daring, tenacity etc. This factor whatever it is labeled, ultimately decides one's future much more than school grades.

Often in the real world, it's not the smart that get ahead but the bold.

The world is always providing us with instant feedback. We could learn a lot if we tuned in more.

In most cases when someone gives you an advice - "You can't do that here", what they really mean is "I don’t know how to do that here .. yet"

Financial Intelligence is a synergy of accounting, investing, marketing and law. Combine those four technical skills and making money with money is easier.

Rich Dad: Leadership is imp. You got to learn that. If you're not a good leader, you'll get shot in the back, just like they do in business.

unknown: Workers work hard enough not to be fired, and owners pay just enough so that workers won't quit.

It is communication skills such as writing, speaking and negotiating that are crucial to a life of success.

The skills of selling and marketing are difficult for most people primarily due to their fear of rejection. The better you are at communicating, negotiating and handling your fear of rejection, the easier life is.

There are five main reasons why financially literate people may still not develop abundant asset columns. - Fear, Cynicism, Laziness, Bad habits, Arrogance.

Texans don't bury their failures. They get inspired by them. They take their failures and turn them into rallying cries. Failures inspires Texans to become winners. But that formula is not just the formula for Texans. It is the formula of all winners.

Rich Dad: Cynics never win. Unchecked doubt and fear creates a cynic. Cynics criticize, and winners analyze.

The most common form of laziness - Laziness by staying busy.

When you see something you can't afford but want to get, ask the question - "How can I afford it ?"

Greed is good. Guilt is worse than greed. For guilt robs the body of its soul.

There is gold and opportunity everywhere. Most people are not trained to see it.

If you cannot get control of yourself, do not try to get rich.

Stop doing what you are doing. Take a break and assess what is working and what is not working.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.


Tuesdays with Morrie

Some quotes from Tuesdays with Morrie
Morrie: Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.

Henry Adams: A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops

Morrie: Do what Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, 'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?

Morrie on why people hate aging: It reflects unsatisfied lives. Lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you have found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can't wait until sixty-five.

M Gandhi: Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.

Morrie: I believe in being fully present. That means you should be with the person you are with. When I'm talking to you now, I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us. I'm not thinking about something we said last week. I am not thinking of what's coming up this Friday.

There is no thing as "too late" in life


September 02, 2007

Entrepreneur

A bus journey from Kerala to Bangalore:

The conversation between two businessmen is given below.
Business Man1: Did you hear about that new law?
Business Man2: Which one?
Business Man1: The one that will ban the use of plastic bags in Kerala. The state govt is planning to restrict shops from providing plastic bags to the customer.
I was out of touch of the current affairs of the State. I had no clue of such a law. I felt good about the law that is aimed at protecting the environment. I thought Kerala was yet again setting the right trend and standard. I thought the two men will continue their discussion in that line discussing the far-sightedness of the govt. I learned soon that my prediction was wrong.
Business Man2: Oh yes. That is a very good thing to happen. I'm in touch with some paper mills in Bangalore. I'm thinking of distributing paper bags here. It is a very good business opportunity.
Lesson Learned: Look for opportunities. Think like an Entrepreneur


Ignorance of a Friend??

I was browsing the Moserbear DVD rack in Planet-M. I had dropped in Planet-M to give my friend a company. I thought to make use of the opportunity to add some good DVDs to my movie collection.

I was checking the Malayalm movies when my friend came to me and said: "Oh no! Not mallu movies." She is from North. I didn't understand what she meant. Her tune was definitely that of dissapproval. But did it have the faint touch of contempt? I didn't know! I didn't know what to say! I didn't understand why she said "Oh no!". How would you react to someone who comes to you and says "Oh no!" when you are checking a Satyajit Ray DVD or a Hitchcock DVD?

Perplexed on what made her say "Oh no!", I decided to play the incident down and said: "Have you heard the name Padmarajan. His scripts are classics."

What do you think? Why did she say "Oh no!". Was it ignorance speeking? Was it prejudice? It better not be the latter.


A proud Mallu

A bus journey from Ernakulam to Bangalore:

I overheard the following conversation from two North Indian Muslim Businessmen whose business base is in Bangalore.
Business Man1: Here (Kerala), the quality of life is really good!
Business Man2: Yes. True. Initially when others used to tell me, I never believed it. Now I see it. It is far better than any other states of India. The common man of Kerala has a much better quality of life.
Business Man1: Yes. Yes. Sometimes I wonder if Kerala were in some other state, India's Human development Index would have been really low.
Me (in my mind): Hmmm... feels good to hear an 'outsider' talking high about your own state. But this last point I disagree. The HDI will become low for sure. But nor "really" low.
Business Man2: But what I liked most is the peace. I have done business in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan. I had no major (communal) issues there. But when I came here, I felt the real difference.
Business Man1: Very true. The southern states are in general peaceful. But Kerala is much peaceful than any of them.
I wanted to record their conversation and post it. I felt really proud of being a Mallu and the manner in which the keralites are brought up. They are brought up in a communally congenial environment and are taught to make best use of their common sense.

Said that, I don't think everything of a mallu is great. There are quite a few things which I don't like about them. Guess I'll cover that in another blog