shaken - and stirred..

out of bed this morning by an earthquake.

this was my second experience of an earthquake.
the first, a few years ago, was in California.
that was reasonably mild - we were sitting on a sofa inside the new office being furnished, taking stock of the progress in the cabling work.
when i thought that the sofa moved a bit - as if someone got up and pushed it back, while getting up -and i also notices that the wires hanging from the roof were also swaying vigorously..

the other person, who has been a California resident, did not notice it. possibly because he was used to such small tremors.

when we came out and checked with the building owner, it was confirmed that i had experienced my first quake.

but this morning, it was far more intense.
i reached noida close to midnight and this was a new guest house, that i was staying at, for the first time.
this one, as minimalistic as some of the other guest houses i have stayed in - had a net connection and got connected and cleared a few mails and was in bed around midnight.

i was woken up when i felt the bed shaking.
before i realized and could stir out of bed, i could see and feel the door rattling, the chairs literally jumping, as if we were all in a sieve and someone was shaking it.

as i recalled the emergency steps to be taken, to get under a cot - which seems to be counter intuitive - and wondered if there would be sufficient space underneath.. it stopped.

check out this site from the Los Angeles Fire Department for some tips.
http://www.lafd.org/eqtips.htm

p.s. this post filed from the room that shook - less than three hours from the quake. could have done it earlier, but i went back to sleep :-)

Time to worry..

well, i got one of these multi-level forwarded mail with the subject line as this post.
hoping that the friend who sent it to me had done so with absolutely sincere intentions to warn me of something that i have not been taking care of, as i should have - such as my yogasana - i patiently opened all the 9 mails that were embedded inside.

it was an article from a wellness site - that had a very simple solution to manage our worries.

it said that worrying is distracting and takes away productivity from our daily work routine. how true - i read on..
after some more statistics about how worrying affects people and the negative side effects and so on, it had a simple solution:

set aside a specific time every day to worry. preferably before just as you go to bed - so that you can fall asleep, overwhelmed by the worries and go to sleep. a sure cure for insomnia

sounded simple enough. except that it did not say anything about the kinds of dreams or nightmares it might induce.

anyway, the experience from the traffic jam yesterday evening, back from work - i decided to set aside the driving time as my worry time.

today, unfortunately for this plan - fortunately otherwise, the traffic was relatively smooth and i had to answer a couple of phone calls, that i forgot that i need to worry.

home now, i am worried that i did not worry during my worry time...

please help..

Invisible Pink Unicorn

came across this reference recently.
the IPU represents atheism - invented by one of the olders usenet discussion groups - when i saw this, was wondering if the 'followers' of the IPU are also 'believers'..

wonder if richard dawkins [the god delusion] was inspired by this..

LoL

not Laugh out loud.
this is based on an observation that i heard recently.
this was about how on ecannot take anyone else for granted, as everyone seems to be Living their Own Life - hence LoL..

a lot has been written about nuclear families.
but, in today's competitive, consumerist world, it is more of I, me, myself.
and anything that is centered around onself is what seems to matter.

whether it is while standing in line for movie tickets or getting into a parking slot;
whether it is while ordering at a fast food restaurant or getting into a bus;

some of this agressive behaviour can be observed even in children.
is it because of the ads and programs they are exposed to?

many ads emphasize the individual and the rewards of pampering oneself -- 'i am worth it..'
or 'making your own road / rules..'

what are the new values of society?

tiny cheats

on the plan last night, noticed that most people, even in business class, love to break the rules such as:
. removing the seat belt even before the plane comes to a complete halt
. switching on the cell phone before the announcement is made
and in other areas such as
. starting before the lights turn green
. moving just after the lights turn red
. have a little extra dollop of ice cream when one is reasonably full

wonder why..
p.s. mea also culpa!

five wishes

I came across this site aging with dignity. (http://www.agingwithdignity.org/).

a simple concept implemented effectively, this is now a valid 'living will' in many states of USA.

these five wishes relate to decisions an individual would prefer - or would have used as as basis for decisions, when one is not medically fit to make such decisions.

usually, these ar tough situations for families and friends, as they can only second guess what the person would have preferred and also have to convince others as well.

the five wishes relate to the following:

1. the person i want to make care decisions for me, when i can't
2. the kind of medical treatment i want or don't want
3. how comfortable i want to be
4. how i want people to treat me
5. what i want my loved ones to know

the growing popularity of old age homes becoming more of elder care providing communities in india provide some options for elders to live with dignity and also have less worries about their physical care needs.