A lesson while fixing blockage in the sink..

The other day my wife was complaining that there was a blockage in our Kitchen sink and the water is getting clogged. As a typical Martian, I went out immediately to fix it. After initial investigation, I figured out there was a small vessel which was obstructing the water. As there was water in the sink I tried to use sharp edged weapons in kitchen :) to take it out. It seemed like a real battle!

It looked like it was struck hard so the vessel didn't come outside after the initial attempts. The troubleshooter in me said that - "Know the problem well before you attempt to fix it". So I decided to take all the water out and see what is blocking.. Once we drained we figured out that the we were trying to take the portion of the sink itself and not the obstructing vessel.

If we had continued we would have damaged the sink itself. And once we isolated the problem we could just take the small vessel using hand and no sophisticated weapon or method is required.. So, the lesson learnt..

Know Your Problem well enough before you attempt to fix! :-)

The Art of Listening

How important is Listening? How does it matter? What difference does it make?
I pondered.. and that led me to write this blog.

Listening is a great thing especially when it comes to interpersonal relations. Some thoughts:

• When you listen to people, you make them feel important, you make them feel special. You encourage them to share their feelings, thoughts, sorrow. Eventually, you make good friends sooner. You see a connection established between you and the them.
  
• Listening, as explained perfectly by a Interpersonal relationship skills trainer years ago to me.
  

L - Look Interested
I - Inquire with questions
S - Stay focused
T - Test your understanding
E - Evaluate the message
N - Neutralize your feelings

This is Active listening.

• Looking interested makes a difference, for sure. Try listening with smiling eyes making an eye contact next time when you listen to your close ones and observe the difference. I'm not saying, listen to whatever crap the other person says without expressing your feelings or thoughts [sometimes you've to do this if you listening to your girl friend or boy friend :) ]. I'm saying whenever you listen make an attempt to look interested and not be indifferent and evaluate than being indifferent.
  
• Of course, the sweetest of conversations are the ones when a listener asks questions, understands and appreciates whenever appropriate. And I recommend, testing your understanding especially when it contradicts your theory or belief.
• Often we put so much emphasis on "Talking". We don't do that much on "Listening" whereas both are equally important.
• How many times we'd ignored our parents, kids, friends. It does no good to relationship. Even if you're not in a position to listen for e.g. tired, make it clear and telling them that you won't be able to listen attentively is much better. And how many relationship would have been saved if the involved people actually listened?
• I think good Listening is a great skill everyone should master along with being observant.
  

Variety is the Spice of Life!

Yup, the old template was boring. Just changed it to more livelier one. Also, the Blog name was too formal, changed it too ;-)

And, with regards to the title of this blog - Yes I believe, Life is more exciting when you try different types of experiences, when you meet people from different parts of the world, when you come across different culture, when you try new hobbies. So reminding myself, that Variety is the Spice of Life" :)

Journeyer Inside is born!!

As promised in the previous post, I have started blogging technical and work-related stuff here.
"Journeyer Inside" is the name of the blog. The URL is http://journeyerinside.blogspot.com/
I chose to keep personal ones here.

Take a peek at it once in a while.

Writer Sujatha

Writer Sujatha, a multi-faceted personality - a great writer, the man behind Electronic Voting Machines and a Linux enthusiast died on 27th Feb.

I am a great fan of Sujatha. Though I haven't read much of his novels, I like very much the way he
simplified and explained the complex stuff in various areas, right from Neurology to Computer science. He had always been curious about how things are working and explaining it to people such that everyone understands. He has made countless contributions in various fields.

May his heart rest in peace.

Time to fork?

I was thinking about this for a while - whether to separate work-related blog from personal blog?
I think it's a good idea mainly because audience are different and I would like to submit the feeds of my work related to some well-known websites.

Soon the announcement will follow :)

Catching up!

More than 50 days since my last blog. Was little busy, mostly personal stuff...

• Moved into my new home, settling down slowly (I'm a proud owner now :)
• Some of close friends got married, was attending weddings/functions almost all weekends.
• It took a while to get Internet connection at home.
  

Need to get charged up and have to do a lot better..