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Frequent Flyer

January 27, 2011 by Ash

I am a road warrior. I like my Monday morning sleep and Thursday evening drink in an airplane. When you are traveling so much, you tend to develop certain likes and dislikes about how you want to travel. That includes your fellow passengers as well. For e.g. A newbie in the security line doesn’t know that he needs to take off his shoes. Entire line gets backed up by 5min – 5min is a lot of time in my travel life! Then, the newbie sits in a window seat and wants to enjoy beautiful scenery of nature while the sunlight keeps me up. Newbie, I can’t sleep – have the courtesy for your fellow passengers!

I am not being picky. There are thousands of people who would agree with me. This is just like your office space. You have it set a certain way and don’t want other people to change it. Airplane is my space.

Air travel every week is not easy especially with a perpetual “orange” security advisory. Check-in line, security line, boarding line, baggage claim line, rental car pick up – each of these activities take about 10-20min. My flight time is sometimes less than the airport administrative time. As a result, after running around the airport, only time I get to relax is in the flight itself. It’s not any different for not to frequent flyers as well.

So next time when you travel, think about people like us – come prepared, be courteous and relax!

Safe travels!

@saxenaas: written on a flight as I cannot sleep due to the sunlight in my face 🙂

Posted in Entertainment, Life, Travel | Leave a Comment »

The Future of Humans

January 13, 2011 by Ash

I have been watching a lot of sci-fi/ futuristic movies lately. Some of them are from the 1970s like the Planet of the Apes, and some are all time hits like Star Wars and Star Trek. And then there is a whole another set like Terminator, Idiocracy, Time Machine, Mad Max etc., which have their own unique concepts.

I am intrigued by the wide range of thought processes in all these movies. It’s not really about their stories but about how they envision the future of humans. And this is where I realized that we all think that we are going to hell! Most of these movies show degradation of human society and the emergence of a superior species. There is large scale destruction caused by humans, which results in a genetically altered species that dominates the Earth. In some cases apes dominate the Earth, and sometimes machines, but my point is that humans eventually become a low form of life.

Take for instance, machines rule after the apocalypse in Terminator, Morlocks eat humans in Time Machine, Apes rule humans in the Planet of the Apes and humans with IQ of a squirrel govern in Idiocracy. Whatever may be the event that changes the history of Earth, it’s humans who suffer.

So are the producers and directors of these movies trying to tell us something? If yes, are we even getting that message? Take a moment and tie this thought with the current phenomena like global warming, declining social integration, nuclear fear, rising terrorism, and cyber-crime. We are at the starting point of the journey which leads to the time that these movies depict.
Maybe I am thinking too much but maybe this is something we should think about for our generations to come!

Posted in Entertainment, Life, social, Society | Leave a Comment »

Email Overflow

December 2, 2010 by Ash

I am not a salesman or an executive who has to run a company (yet!) but when I see an average of 80 emails in my mailbox daily, I wonder about information clutter. So I talked to a bunch of my colleagues and found out what I am going to write here is a common phenomenon. We all suffer from the email overflow!

It begins with corporate announcements (about 10%) which I read selectively based on the subject or when someone in the cafeteria is talking about it (those I have to restore from Trash). Another 10% comes from reminders for deadlines or admin stuff which we should normally remember. This is a representation of how committed people are to their own plans. Sad but true – hence the email! 

Then there is a good 40% in which I am copied as FYI. Three words for the team – “just fix it”. So far 60% of the emails are about 25% effective but consume a good portion of my morning schedule. Now the remaining 40% are the interesting ones. This is where I have to really pay attention.

5% Emails highlighted in Blue are from the boss

3% Emails highlighted in Yellow are from his boss or higher

25% Pink emails are from my clients. Yes pink because I find pink to be a soothing color. Red was the original color of choice.

 As for the last 8% that’s mostly travel notifications. For my kind of job you need those – from one airport to another and another!

So are we email obsessed? Check this out

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373233,00.asp

@saxenaas

Posted in Efficiency, Leadership, Life, Management, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

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