My Own Correspondence

Just Another Day That History Will Never Forget

2011-05-02T17:39:00.001-07:00

Back in school days, the night before May 2nd would be filled with a bit of anxiety and a bit of excitement. This was the day the final verdict - pass or fail - of the final exam used to get published on the school notice board. When I started working, May 1st became the day to cheer - The Labour day - with funny messages targeted at the tragedy of appreciation and appraisal at work. Now, in USA, the labour day is "celebrated" on first Monday of September.

That said, it should have been just another day, but it turned out many won't forget this day. Last night President Obama announced the "Death of Osama Bin Laden". Apparently Bin Laden was killed in a firefight with US military at his Mansion in Abbottabad. Quite coincidently Hitler was also confirmed dead 66 years ago the same day.

After reading through the news, a quite few thoughts flashed in my mind. What if the one killed turned out to be not the real Osama. It would have been another big embarrassment for Uncle Sam. But then, they have confirmed it was him by conducting DNA tests. (For the skeptics - reports says FBI has his sister's DNA). The dead body was not brought to US or taken to another country. He was stripped of his citizenship in 1984. So not even Saudi would accept his body. Hence his body was buried in the sea to prevent his followers from turning his grave into a shrine. Very convenient argument. If a handful of his followers can hijack a few of planes and run into a twin tower, his grave in the very same country is not safe from being converted into a shrine either. Why should you think US is not vulnerable to such an unparalleled movement in history.

As I read elsewhere : "Osama bin Laden's legacy lives on with every traveler being herded through body scanners, with every illegal search in our 120-mile-radius Constitution-free zones, and with every warrantless wiretap. Until his legacy dies, he lives on, as strong as ever".

In a name

2009-12-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

Forbearing or Patient were my reply when someone ask the meaning of my name. But according to my fathers boss in QTel, "sakeeb" in not an Arabic word. I didn't quite buy this argument as I have come across a few (though a very very few) people named similar to mine - though with different spellings - like Shakeeb or Saqib. I once even got an abusive mail from a stranger as he couldn't get his preferred mail id. Even now I occasionally get mails (legitimate mails - not spams) whose intended recipients are someone else with name similar to mine.

Yesterday, I found another meaning for my name. It was during the project review meeting that Yair asked how to pronounce my name. As per him, "Sakheeb" means friend in Arabic. He should be correct as his father is from Egypt and mother is from Iraq. I have another friend from Egypt here. I need to check with him as well.

That reminds me of Hong-Sub's advice about stressing the last letter B when telling my name to a Korean. It seems the sound "sakee" has the meaning pest in Korean.

So at times I am very patient, most of the times I'm very friendly.. and occasionally I can be a pest!. I can't complain about my name as I have got very flexible choice.

New York Saga

2009-11-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

The New York trip was eventful though NYC didn't live up to the hype I heard about it. My first impression is its "a better Bangalore" ;-). I wondered what is so fascinating about the Times square to become a major tourist attraction. But I liked the students crowd hanging out at that place. Like everyone else, I also took some snaps though I didn't understand what is so attractive in it.

The funniest part of my trip was the hotel where the stay was arranged.

From NewYork

The hotel has no marked entry or anything to identify the hotel. The only mean to locate this hotel was its building number. When entered through the door, there is an escalator leading to a twilit hall and it took me sometime before realizing that its the lobby and the counter looked like the bar was the reception. Every inch of the hotel looked like a night club - no lights on the ceiling not even inside the room. The room has queen size bed and space barely enough to walk around it. The bathroom is made of glass which is see through from the bedroom. Fortunately there was curtain. All these were facilitated only for 250$+tax per night. The Internet costed an additional 10$ per day. The TV had only news channel and Movies come with additional charge.

The best thing I enjoyed in NY was the food from street side vendors. There were many different chain of street food vendors and most of them are run by Arabs. I had some spicy food after a long time.

At the Bloomberg office, I was the only intern candidate. All others were on their final year and had full time offers. My seat was with a MIT guy and the other guy on the table was from Harward. Later people mistaken me also from MIT. Being a proud Hopkins student, inspired from the Facebook movie indent I eagerly corrected them pronouncing the name of the "one of the nation's most selective colleges". After all Micheal Bloomberg is a Hopkins Alumnus.

Later in the evening, we all went for Bowling and not without loosing the modesty I am saying I was unbeaten. I hit turkey in one of the game and to give others a fair chance I started bowling with my left arm.

On Saturday due to the checkout time pressure (or rather the haunting thought about paying 250$ from my own pocket for the room rent if I miss the checkout time) I ran out of the queue for the Emperor State building observatory deck. After checking out, I joined with a few students from RPI and I went for an Indian Buffet Lunch. Once again I was disappointed with the taste though the guys with me really liked the food. Looks like my standard about Indian food hasn't come down yet (comment from one of the senior student in Hopkins about my dissatisfaction about the taste of food in O's place - an Indian restaurant in down town Baltimore).

The train journey between Baltimore and New York made me proud and feel happy about the quality of the Indian Railway service. Here the tracks are very shaky and even for the Business class, there is no reserved seats. Considering the similar train service - the the Shatabdi Express, the Amtrak service is not even match for comparison. Some of the trains are even late by 2 to 3 hours. At the NY Penn station, not even a bench was provided for passengers waiting for the train. People were sitting on the floor. A flight ticket booked as early this train ticket, a round trip flight ticket would have come cheaper than one way train ticket.

Overall the trip was a nice experience. I accepted the Bloomberg offer and so I will be spending the summer in New York. Hope I can enjoy NY even more during my internship time.

Google Startup!

2009-10-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

>< Tring Tring... Tring Tring..

>> Hello, Am I talking Mr. Ran Podolski?
<< No. I'm sorry. wrong number
>> Ah, thats fine. I am Sussy John calling on behalf of a google start up.
<< Oh cool. Can you do me a favor ?
>> Sure, how may I help you !.
<< Can you please stop calling me and please please remove my number from your hit-list.
>> But, Mr. R... P... we are ...
<< I have already spoken with many of your customer representatives and I am not interested in your product. So Please spare me.
>> Sure, I'll do it right away Sir. Have a good day!
<< Sure I do, if you don't disturb me again. Thank you.

If you are one of those who wanted some relief from bane marketing calls, give this "google startup company" your number. They will give you professional training on how to make you unconcerned about the marketing calls.

Doubt my claims ? Then see this.

I gets their call at every 20-30 minitues from morning 8:30 to evening 6:30, except on sundays. Really hard working people. And every week they change the number. The above link talks about last weeks number. Today I am getting call from a new number.

I have an ATT GoPhone - Pay As You Go. Once in a week (usually on Sundays) I switch to unlimited calling plan (3$ per day) or I will be on their simple rate plan (25c per airtime minute). So even if I wanna enjoy their nonsense, I will have to pay. Yea, incoming calls (even incoming texts messages) are charged in this not so competitive telecom market.

For those who interested to about this "google startup company", they claim that they help you to earn money through Google advertising just by browsing and one need to give the credit card details so that they can send a software which will enable you to do that.

Fridge Curry

2009-10-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

Anyone heard of "Fridge Curry". The term was first tossed by Jyothish. The idea is to put together all items available in the fridge and cook . Add other ingredients as you wish. But today result was awesome - a special kind of Sambar. Recipe will be made available on request. ;-)

I attended an interview with Bloomberg L.P at career center this week and I guess I am selected. They asked me to upload my resume so that they can track my application. After the technical round, there were two different meeting with HR managers. I was kind of boring to repeat the same kind of answers in the second meeting.

Since Then...

2009-10-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

Its about five weeks since I reached Baltimore. Life is good so far. Tried a few campus job openings. Not surprisingly many of the high paying jobs skill requirements doesn't math with my resume . Have to content with a CA (course assistant) job. Thankfully, my role is to train students to use various lab tools rather than grading their assignments.

Attended a career fair in campus today. Most of them recruiters were federal agencies. Needless to say, not very exciting for international students. I went to the fair pretty late. Most of the stalls were preparing to pack up when I entered. Handed over resume to one or two companies. More importantly collected some free goodies like pens, keychains and other fancy stuffs from the not-yet-closed stalls.

Thats all for now!