Bits and Bytes from my Life

Saw this amazing video on Bill Gates. It is worth a watch… Bill really changed the way computer industry has come along…

Enjoy

Today while flying back from Dallas I picked up this book. I wanted to read something that I could finish in couple of hours and was valuable in business terms. This book turned out to be a real good one. There is some fluff in it but some content is real great. George has really done a great job of keeping it in around 100 pages and highlighting the key future strategies.

According to George the 5 key strategies to look forward to are

1. Supply Chain Gymnastics : Our infrastructure on west coast is crumbling and in future importing things from overseas through sea route may not be feasible. How can you react as business to this?
2. Sidestepping Economies of Scale: Bigger may not be always better. George talks about disposable factories. It is not a new concept, it is very common concept in project oriented industries where you setup small manufacturing operation on project site. 
3. Dynamic pricing: Ability to provide unique price to individual buyer. I have heard about this in past but George brought it home with a great example. Example he gave was of toll charges which change based on traffic patterns using RFID. It is being tested in Washington state.
4. Embracing complexity: Other way of putting this is increasing and accepting configurability of products. Every individual should be able to uniquely design the product he desires. Great example of this is MINI.
5. Infinite Bandwidth: Leveraging high speed Internet bandwidth to change business processes or even define new business models.

It is a good book and will highly recommend it to everyone. Enjoy

It was a long weekend(memorial day) in US. We had 3 days off so we decided to go to Vancouver for couple of days. Vancouver is very similar to Seattle, similar weather, similar shopping places and life style. We loved the downtown area and Stanley park was beautiful.

The only negative part was 2 hours wait at border while going and another hour while returning. That took away all the excitement we had. We visited the Punjabi market in Vancouver. It is a good place to visit you feel as if you are visiting a small town in Punjab(I have never been to one. :)).

Stanley Park & Downtown area

Just came home and switched on the TV to watch Hillary’s comments on Bobby Kennedy’s assassination. From first look of her comments it feels she wants Obama assassinated so she can get the nomination.

That is disgusting. I am not sure what to say about this. What does she want? She lost the delegate race. She has lost more states to Obama. Her supporters disenfranchised Florida and Michigan first and now she wants to count there votes because she can do anything to win the nomination. If she cared about them she should have done that in Jan when the decision was made. She says she won the popular vote without counting the caucus states like Washington where I live. WHAT THE F**K is this. AND now she wants to stay in the race so someone can assassinate Obama and she can become the nominee. THAT IS DISGUSTING AND I AM DONE WITH HER.

This is amazing. Never seen that many people for a Rally. Waiting for results from Oregon and Kentucky. Obama will get majority delegates and I don’t think DNC has the guts to refuse him the nomination. I know Obama can win because this campaign is run not by just him but millions of people like me who have never actively participated in politics and are now ready to do our part.

Go Obama. :) 

Portland Rally: "Wow, wow, wow"

By Christopher Hass - May 18th, 2008 at 9:07 pm EDT

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More from Portland, via the Associated Press:

Barack Obama : : Change We Can Believe In | Obama HQ Blogger: Portland Rally: "Wow, wow, wow"

Couple of years back I wrote a post titled 4 Cars in 5 years and yet not satisfied…. It described my obsession of buying cars. I had owned 4 cars in 5 years. Since few more things have changed.

After moving to Seattle, we sold our 2 cars and bought 2 new cars. We bought a Toyota Camry 2008 model which I will drive and just last week we bought Mini Cooper for Swati. It is an amazing car and Swati loves it. It was her dream to own a MINI. Take a look at few snaps.

It is very tiny car but really spacious for 2 people. The best thing, it is convertible. :):):) Love it.

I have never looked up to Moore but I read this endorsement from Michael Moore and I was impressed. "Obama the movement" and I am part of it. The movement that has excited many folks like me. I really hope he wins tomorrow. I hope Pennsylvanian’s denounce the negative tactics of Hillary and elect Obama.

It is amazing Hillary calls Obama a elitist. If elitist means more intelligent that makes sense but a black man raised by single mom who choose public service instead of high paying job is elitist and First Lady married to Bill Clinton the governor and president is not. I just don’t get it. I have stopped watching TV because of Hillary and her negative campaign. I hope and pray Pennsylvanians do the right thing tomorrow.

What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.

That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man. But what’s going on is bigger than him at this point, and that’s a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him

Michael Moore Endorses Obama, Calls Clinton Tactics "Disgusting" - Politics on The Huffington Post

This weekend we visited Copper Creek Lodge near Mt. Rainier. We reached the lodge on Saturday evening. The house/lodge was GORGEOUS!!! Just 2 miles from the entrance of Mt. Rainier. It had a rustic log home feel to it.

We all had lot of fun. We played multiple card games, played Taboo, had some drinks and sat in the outdoor hot tub in middle of night at freezing temperatures. It was amazing.

Today morning we went to Mt. Rainier visitor center at Paradise. We also stopped at a water fall on our way. Whole mountain was covered with snow. It was beautiful but most of the trails and views were snowed out.

From left: Sudhir, Swati, Mel, Anush, Lea, Bose, John

Palm Springs is a small desert town near LA. I had some official work for 4 days in Palms Springs. We drove from LA to Palm Springs. Palm Springs is an Oasis in the desert. The city is full of Golf courses and Wind Farms. It was amazing to see so many Golf courses in one place. If you love Golf or love to laze around the pool this is your destination. The only problem we had was we don’t enjoy either.

We loved the place and our resort hotel was beautiful. We stayed at Westin Hills Resort. I was too busy to do anything but I found couple of hours to visit Aerial Tramway. The view from the top was beautiful and we could see how a desert, Golf Courses and Wind Farms come together.

Last weekend we got a chance to visit LA. It was an amazing weekend. Swati got a chance to meet Sonaly her friend from Mumbai. Sonaly lives in LA with her family.

We visited Santa Monica Pier in the morning and had brunch at Mariasol restaurant. The restaurant is on the ocean and has real great views of the Pacific Ocean. Food was ok but views filled in the gap.

From Santa Monica Pier we went to Rodeo drive to check out the most happening place in LA fashion. The street has shops from every designer. You can easily spend $$$$$ on Rodeo street in few hours. Swati liked a dress too. Not sure what I will have to do to afford it. :):):)

Next we went to Kodat Theater area and spend some time at the mall their. It was a very happening place with lots of people everywhere. You can also see the Hollywood sign on Mountain from the Mall. We also walked with(on)  the stars.

Next we went to Sonaly’s house and spend a day with her. It was really a treat to play with Neil and Nikhil.