Call me maybe

Travelers from India to the US frequently struggle with getting an inexpensive phone connection that works. I have tried various options over the years:

• Rented a prepaid phone from India which gets activated in the US: too expensive, no data plan.
• Used my India phone in the US: wound up with a phone bill higher than the cost of my smartphone.
• Used Google voice linked to my hotel phone: helpful only if you work out of the hotel all day, which sort of defeats the purpose of traveling to the US on work.

Thanks to a colleague at work, I think I have now stumbled upon an option that works best. Your mileage may vary, of course. This is what you do:

First, purchase a GoPhone from AT&T. There are two ways of doing this - one is to find a local AT&T store and purchase a SIM (or microsim if you prefer), or walk into any general store and pick up a $20 Samsung GoPhone (I tried Walgreens as it was the closest). You might also want to buy a $50 recharge card from the store while you are at it - will save you another trip.

I removed the SIM from the GoPhone and put it into my trusty Android phone. Followed instructions at the website and activated the number. Used the $50 recharge card and bought the monthly unlimited plan. Used the APN settings from this post,  restarted my phone and I was all set! I didn't get 3G, but EDGE is good enough for email, twitter and the occasional gchat with friends and family while on the road. The rate plan expires after a month, but the account should be active for another quarter and the phone number for another five months, which should help the next time I travel. Fingers crossed.

On Decision Making

A short video that I did for the Intuit India Managers' Forum, back in April.

Mylib

Finally got around to cleaning up the library, after it was taken over by the kids.

My comics collection, soon to be enhanced after the flipkart order, now occupies its rightful space.


I also moved up the movies books a bit. I still don't like the way some of the shelves overflow, but it can't be helped till we move into the new house.

What I learnt the last few weeks

I'm still on the emotional high of India's second world cup win. I stress the word 'second' because I am old enough to remember the first, one of the very few folks on my Twitterstream who were not in their nappies then. The win in '83 was a surprise because we were rank outsiders. The win this year was a surprise too, simply because we were the favourites and favourites always faltered. Or so a nation thought.

Till the night of April 2, 2011.

I learnt something from this win. Learnt about leadership. Learnt about the importance of self belief. About confidence. Instilling confidence in others. About bucking the odds, making your choices and sticking to them. Owning up to mistakes.

I also learnt about stepping up and leading from the front.

Thank you, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

 

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Meatspace

I have been doing a lot of traveling the past few weeks. Several train journeys, a couple of flights, long drives by car and a bus or two in between. As a result, I have also met a wide variety of people. For a person whose social life has been almost entirely on Twitter and Facebook lately, this was a refreshing change. 

 

The Twitterati are usually sarcastic, smart, clever with words and quick to take pot shots at all and sundry. Most of them work in IT or IT related industries. They usually think and tweet alike, most of the time anyway.  

 

My Facebook friends are mostly people I know in real life. We share family pictures, links to interesting websites and comment how much we have changed since we last met, which is usually a good twenty years back.

 

The people I met in meatspace the past few weeks came from all walks of life. An architect. A retired military man. An accountant. A business man who used to be a manual laborer. And I learnt something from each one of them.

 

The accountant taught me to smile at strangers, offer them food if you have some, share a joke with them and help them be comfortable during the journey. 

 

The retired military man showed me the value of being neat and tidy. Of holding your ground and getting people to do what's right. Helping your spouse and making her feel loved and cared for. Of enjoying life post retirement. 

 

The architect gave me tips on how to plan for the future. The laborer turned businessman helped me understand the power of determination, hard work and humility. 

 

I would not have learnt any of these online. The value of going out and meeting people, interacting with them, understanding them and ultimately learning from them, is immense. Even though the travel tired me out, I don't regret a minute of it. 

 

This is not to say there isn't value in being connected and active on the social networking sites. I enjoy that immensely. I have met some awesome people online, some of whom have turned into friends I will cherish for a lifetime. However, I do want to spend more time out in the sun talking to people who are from different walks of life, with different mindsets, different points of view. I am sure I will be richer by the experience. 

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Bridges takes on Wayne in the Coens' latest

Looking forward to this, though I haven't watched the original.

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Movie Posters Quiz

This is a quiz on movie posters that I put up at @kweezzz, the fast growing quizzing community on Twitter. Simple stuff, really. In all cases, name the movie.
A few easy ones initially, to set the ball rolling:
1.  2.  3. 4.  5. 6. 
7. Not an original poster, but a re-imagined one for TV. Name the film 8.  9. 10.  11.
12. Connect the image below and the now defunct ad agency Dazu, to an iconic movie poster.
13. Often appears in all time great movie poster lists. Name the movie and the person credited with this poster
.
14. 
15. Another re-imagined for TV poster. Film?

16. 
17. No movie posters quiz would be complete without this all time great image. Name the film.
18. Campy movie, but has a cult following. Great poster, too

19. Identify, should be easy
.

20. The first known instance of legs appearing as an A-frame in a film poster. Used repeatedly since.
21. While on the subject...

22. A classic. The lead actor specifically requested illustrator Adrian G Spear to create this poster.
23. Another easy one, but what the hell
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24. One of my favorite posters
.

25. A movie no one remembers, a poster that ranks among the best.
 

26. The first ever film made on this subject, it had just two screenings. Identify.

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