My Blog for 2008

Vox Hunt: I'm A Loyal Customer

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:03:07 +0000

Show us a brand to which you're loyal.

SONY

My laptop is a Sony Vaio. My mobile is a Sony Ericsson. I used to own a Sony walkman (now that's changed to an Ipod Shuffle or Creative Zen). Well... my name is Sony. I guess this is loyalty to my name. ;-)

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Tips for Goal Setting

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:47:42 +0000

Goals should be...

• Realistic: Start off with a goal that isn't too ambitious, so you can sooner experience the thrills of success. Build toward grander goals to keep your motivation high.
• Specific: Make sure it can be measured and tracked.
• Forgiving: It could be a two step forward, one step back kind of journey. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect.
• Crystal Clear: Find a photo depicting or symbolizing what you want. The clearer the point of the whole thing is, the easier it is to stay focused.
• Valuable: Remind yourself why you want to succeed in the first place, the reasoning beyond the scale.
• Challenging: What do you wish for? This is the goal that will hold your attention the most. There's no reason our wishes can't become our goals.
• Rewarded: Every little bit of positive reinforcement helps.
• Backed Up: Prepare for the unknown with contingency plans before problems come up. Have options waiting that will help you stay consistent in the face of the unexpected.

Courtesy: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_articles.asp?id=103

Eight Rules for New Year’s Resolutions

Rule 1 – Commit to Your Resolution
Rule 2 – Be Realistic
Rule 3 – Write It Down
Rule 4 – Make a Plan
Rule 5 – Be Flexible
Rule 6 – Use a System of Reminders
Rule 7 – Track Your Progress
Rule 8 – Reward Yourself

Courtesy: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_89.htm

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No comments / viewers so far...

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:43:18 +0000

I am not expecting a lot of aficionados to be reading my journal. But I would love to have opinions and criticisms and suggestions on my posts (a.k.a thoughts and actions). If not, why do you think, I am blogging in a weblog when I could used that black leather bound book or the online diary suite that was gifted to me a few weeks back? *wink*

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Vox Hunt: My Favorite Office Gadget

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:54:07 +0000

Show us your favorite gadget at work.

BuyTV Product Feature - Sony Vaio SZ Series Notebook

My 8 month old SONY VAIO laptop. It's really good... of course, it would be... it's got my name! ;-)

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Vox Hunt: Listen to the Lyrics

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:08:54 +0000

Audio: Share a song with powerful lyrics.

when you believe

When You Believe

Many nights we prayed, with no proof anyone could hear,
In our hearts a hopeful song, we barely understood.
Now we are not afraid, although we know there's much to fear.
We were moving mountains long before we knew we could.

There can be miracles, when you believe
Though hope is frail, its hard to kill.
Who knows what miracle you can achieve,
When you believe.
Somehow you will...
You will... when you believe!

In this time of fear, when prayer so often proves in vain,
Hope seems like the summer birds, too swiftly flown away.
And now I am standing here, my hearts so full, I can't explain
Seeking faith and speaking words, I never thought I'd say.

There can be miracles, when you believe
Though hope is frail, its hard to kill.
Who knows what miracle you can achieve,
When you believe.
Somehow you will...
You will... when you believe!

Easy to despair, when all you hear is fear and lies.
Easy just to run and hide, too frightened to begin.
But if we dare to dare, don't wait for answers from the skies;
Each of us can look inside, and hear this song within.

There can be miracles, when you believe
Though hope is frail, its hard to kill.
Who knows what miracle you can achieve,
When you believe.
Somehow you will...
You will... when you believe!

They dont always happen when you ask,
And its easy to give in to your fear.
But when you are blinded by your pain;
Can't see your way safe through the rain;
A small, but still, resilient voice
Says hope is very near.

There can be miracles, when you believe
Though hope is frail, its hard to kill.
Who knows what miracle you can achieve,
When you believe.
Somehow you will... and now you will...
You will... when you believe!

Prince of Egypt - When you believe (multilingue)

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More on choosing a hobby

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:24:02 +0000

I checked out a list of hobbies on from Wikipedia. The 5 top one I chose based on my passion are:

Internet-based hobbies
Literature
Photography
Performing arts
Film-making

The different hobbies classified under Internet Based Hobbies (with a few additions from my end) are :

Blogging
Web design and development
Knowledge Transfer: Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers
Random surfing: StumbleUpon, Digg
Forums: Newsgroups, Trolling
Social Networking: Beboing, Facebooking, MySpacing, Friendstering, Mindsaying, Orkutting
Chatting: IRC, MSN, Yahoo, AOL
Passing on: BookCrossing, PostCrossing, Currency bill tracking
Novel: Geocaching, Google whacking, GPS drawing
Gaming: MUD

The different hobbies classified under Literature are :

Reading and bibliophilia
Writing
Learning foreign languages
Penpal
Zines
Constructed languages (conlanging)
Geofiction, including model nations

Photography is in itself an art, and anything starting from people to objects in the sky unseen to naked eye could be photographed. Film Making is another similar art - it could be a personal blog to a full fledged documentary about anything.

Some of the Performing Arts are: Singing, Dancing, Magic tricks, Poetry reading, Amateur theater and Juggling. But there could be more.

Out of the above 5 types of hobbies what seems to inspire me is Blogging - it involves writing, photography and film-making. I could even get a good traffic to my blog by spicing up what I write and it would turn into a "performing art" too; if you could call it that.

Let me look into the other requirements that I want my hobby to have:

a) Is blogging scalable? I could start with a personal blog and turn into a technical, cultural, creative or political one. The sky is the limit to the various possibilities.

b) Is blogging repeatable? Blogging can be done at any time, any day - thanks to email blogging and mobile blogging and pen and paper.

c) Is blogging challenging? Getting a good traffic is in itself a challenge. Then maintaining the traffic becomes the next challenge.

d) Can blogging be done solitarily and socially? I would thing so. Mostly blogging is done solitarily. Once the comments starts pouring in, it becomes a more social activity.

e) Can I earn from blogging? That depends on the traffic again. I could earn from ads if I felt a need to.

f) Is blogging affordable? I would need a laptop - which I already have and a good internet connection. Internet connection would cost £15+ in UK and Rs.500+ back in India. Not very expensive if I can own the laptop and if I am employed.

g) Is blogging a portable hobby? The blogs are maintained online, and a backup can be taken on the laptop. Both are portable. An additional reporter's notebook should make it a complete portable hobby.

h) Is blogging Physically, Artistically and Intellectually challenging? Blogging is definitely not physically challenging for a normally healthy person like me. I could make in physically challenging by doing a bit of outdoor blogging. It is both artistic and intellectual.

i) Is blogging capable of bringing some sort of recognition? Another thing tht depends solely on traffic. If the content is interesting and useful to the readers recognition will follow.

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Vox Hunt: Work It

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:17:18 +0000

Show us your job.

Job

I had chosen to become an IT engineer, not because my parents or my relatives or my friends wanted me to - but because wanted to be one. And I haven't been bad at it yet. I had a job offer even before I completed my studies and 6 months after my joining the firm, I was deputed to work in UK. So not bad, huh?

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QotD: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:04:33 +0000

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. What's your strongest memory or impression of King's contributions?

I know this is not going to sound impressive. But whenever I hear his name, I get reminded that a few years ago I discovered that my Dad went to a Lutheran church long long ago... and that there are so many things about him I don't know. It makes me realize that neither does my parents know who I am, nor do I know who they are.

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Choosing a hobby for 2008

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:54:55 +0000

I have been trying to choose new hobbies for this year or re-enforce the old ones. As I resorted to my Google-Genie to help me make the choice, here are a few tips I got.

I should be interested in it and passionate about it.
It should be scalable, which means it should have room to grow more advanced as years pass.
It should be repeatable - irrespective of seasons or time.
It should be challenging. If it is too easy, then there wouldn't be any excitement to it.
I should be able to choose to pursue my hobby both solitarily and socially.
I should be able to earn out of it.
It should be affordable.
It should be portable - as I am bit of a nomad.
It should have various sides to it - Physical, Artistic and Intellectually challenging.
It should help me attain some sort of recognition at some level.

That's not a small list. Let me see if I can get anywhere with it.

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QotD: I Won't Miss This

nobody@vox.com(Sony) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:40:44 +0000

What won't you miss about 2007?� Submitted by uncagedbird.

The pain of the loss of someone I loved.

When all is lost, there is no fear of loss anymore! :-(

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