The Lectures

I started with my lectures and lab sessions, and the description I came up with to explain them to my parents is probably the best way to say it — the lecturers and professors sound like they know what they’re talking about. They’re actually good at explaining topics in a way that makes them easy to understand. They don’t teach a lot of topics at one go. It’s more about quality than quantity, which is such a big plus. That seems to be reflected in the time-table as well, where I don’t have more than 3 hours of lectures on any given day — and that includes days with 2-3 hour lab sessions. That’s a huge change from the 9 to 4 schedule that I used to have. Proof that you don’t need more hours of contact time¹ to get better results. It does make it hard sometimes to figure out what to do with the free hour between lectures, but thankfully there aren’t too many of those. The time-tables aren’t fixed though, and they change from week to week. Some might think it’s painful to have an ever changing routine, but I for one appreciate the flexibility. It allows for better scheduling and less hassles for the people making the time-table as well. I can’t really put my finger on why I prefer it, but I like it this way.

The curriculum is interesting, so say the least. Maybe it’s just a psychological effect of being in a new environment of study, but it feels like there is a purpose to what we’re learning². There’s some level of harmony between the lectures and the lab sessions. However, I do question the need to learn “Java”, especially when we will switch to “C” soon. It was and will remain a terrible tool; my lectures aren’t doing anything to change my perception. The Maths is easy, because it’s at a high-school level for me, but I am not complaining about that. I appreciate understanding the basics all over again if it means I’ll understand them better. We don’t have any “Physics” per se, which is a massive bonus. We have “Engineering” that takes the mathematical parts and the upper layers of Physics without going too deep into it. For example (and I’ll state an example our lecturer gave), knowing that electrons flow in a conductor is Engineering, but learning about the drift velocity of electrons, what the conductor is made of and how that affects the flow is Physics. We’re not studying to be physicists. You have no idea how sweet a music that is to my ears.

The lecture halls themselves are pretty good. Big and spacious. Not too different from what I had in Manipal (which says something about Manipal’s efforts at upgrading the infrastructure), except that lecturers make full use of the technology and equipment given in the room. I need to walk a little between lectures, since they’re almost never in the same room one after the other, but it’s nice to be able to stretch my legs after sitting for 50 minutes. I began taking in my computer to my Java and Engineering lectures since it’s easier to annotate the PDFs lecturers put up on the University’s virtual learning environment (called LUVLE). Keeps things in context. Understandably there’s no need for a computer in Maths. I will admit to being guilty of twittering from class, but that was from a Java lecture which was getting pretty ridiculous. I don’t let myself get distracted.

The Self-study

The assignments to be handed in were swift to come. We get assignments in our tutorials that need to be handed in the following week — about 4 days per assignment. In fact, I had my first assignment even before the term began, but it was a revision sheet so it wasn’t too harmful. I like the assignments here. They’re nothing too hard, and they’re not too long. Just enough of each so that it can be finished in a couple of sittings at the maximum. It’s annoying when assignments run into 40 something questions that are essentially just picked out from various books and solve no academic purpose. Plus, long assignments beg for procrastination because they’re just so boring. Thankfully, it’s not the case here. In fact, I find myself looking forward to them some times. That’s probably because I can complete them and I like that sense of achievement.

We’re supposed to spend 3 hours on self-study for every 1 hour of contact time. That seems to be the unwritten or unspoken rule here. I don’t spend 9 hours studying every day, obviously. But the emphasis on learning and understanding things on our own is a new concept. It feels nice to be given that kind of independence where there isn’t a teacher standing on your head or breathing down your neck. Some people might need that to get the job done, but most of them don’t.

The Entertainment

I joined 2 societies — RocSoc and LUGS — but haven’t been to any of the socials yet. I have also been eyeing the Philosophy Society, but I’m not sure how much time I’ll be able to make for it. RocSoc’s socials seem to be mostly bar crawls and local gigs (whenever they happen). I’ll probably go for the gigs, but bars aren’t my cup of tea. I do plan on going for the LUGS meetings though, as soon as I get around to installing Windows on my Macbook Pro again. LUGS is pretty much about LAN parties, which sound like fun, except that I haven’t really gamed in a while. I plan to buy one of the new (rumoured) wired Apple Mice so that I can play properly. I have some of the games they play (Counter-Strike, Command and Conquer) and will hopefully get my hands on the ones that I don’t. 6+ hours of gaming can’t be bad, right?

I managed to have something called an Ulnar Nerve entrapment, which has incapacitated my left hand a little. Hence, less playing the guitar for me. Hopefully it’ll fix itself soon.

There’s also a band evening on Wednesdays in the bar in my college. I’d like to go for one of them if I can remember it on time and not be lazy about it. Maybe even play there once in the 3 years that I’ll be here. There’s plenty of scope for music from what I’m seeing at first glance, but it’ll involve me not being lazy about it.

I’ve been downtown once, for a welcome dinner from the faculty. I’m still not comfortable with the place and the roads, and since buses are the only viable means of transportation it makes for a very uncomfortable outing. I’ll probably start ranking up my phone bills once I start going into town because I’ll be spending so much time with the GPS and maps trying to stay oriented. Public transport remains my Achilles heel even across continents. I’ll have more to say about it when I get around more.

The Special Mention

Throwing in a quick mention of my food and how I’m surviving here. I haven’t got around to cooking anything — it just doesn’t seem too exciting to spend half an hour making something that takes 15-20 minutes to eat up. Ready-made food is much more inviting — the microwave-or-add-hot-water kind. Even eating out isn’t as expensive as I thought it would be. Of course, it’s more expensive than what I had in Manipal, but it’s pretty affordable by British cost-of-living standards. Approximately £5 for a 7-inch ham and pineapple pizza is pretty decent I would say. And a 9-inch is about £7.

I’ve also begun keeping chocolates with me (dark, mint flavoured). I alternate between “After Eight” (my favourites) and “Divine”. After Eight’s are more minty, and Divine’s are more chocolate-y. They’re both pretty delicious, so it mostly depends on my mood as to which one I have. These too are decently priced, costing around £1.30-1.50 for a normal 4x10 size bar. One lasts me for about 4 days.

The Conclusion

It’s been an interesting first week even though nothing out of the ordinary happened. Sometimes it’s just better that way — for things to be normal — when everything else is so brand new and different. I hope to get around to doing most of the things I’ve planned. They will surely liven things up a little more. But even if it continues this way, I don’t think I’ll have too many complaints.

My father and I flew Emirates, since we didn’t want to change airports at London to catch our connecting. The journey was more or less pleasant, with in-flight movies making sure the time passed quickly. I barely got any sleep that day, since I woke up at 6 AM IST and slept at 11 PM BST. We got a room in a small Bed & Breakfast in Morecambe (called Glenthorne) since my father needed a place to stay for just a few days while he helped me settle in. I moved in to the halls of residence the next day to begin getting used to taking care of myself again as soon as possible. Being at home for more than half a year doesn’t help that at all.

More pictures of Lancaster University at the Lancaster University pool on Flickr.

The very first thing that struck me was that the people here are actually nice. It might have something to do with the fact that Lancaster is more of a village-town and the university campus is three and a half miles away from the city; the place hasn’t been urbanised. Or it may just be that living in India has lowered my standards of judging people. I have said more “thank you”s here in the past 5 days that I have in the past 3 years. It’s really just the smallest things — from holding the door open to suggesting alternatives to some thing. There is a hint of patience in people here, which really helps when you’re in an entirely new place where things are done almost entirely differently to how you’ve been used your whole life. I might even go as far as to say that this place might make me a tad nicer as a person if I’m not careful.

The place itself is absolutely beautiful. I was used to the green from being in Manipal for so long, but this is what it must truly feel like to be around nature. It rains quite a bit¹, so everything looks fresh almost all the time. It’s just the correct amount of cold this time of year, so a simple combination of jacket and jeans does the trick for the day (lecture theatres are warm enough to not need the jacket). It’s a beautiful assortment of blue, grey and green that makes me want to be outside more than in my room. Of course, I’d spent time outside if I had something to do (which I shall from tomorrow, as my classes start then), but the lack of traffic and bustle of people is very inviting.

I had a chance to travel to and from Preston and Morecambe in the little time that I’ve been here, and the drives were quite relaxing. We usually say that overpopulation is the bane of a country, but you don’t realise exactly how bad it is until you see the alternative. Except the occasional traffic jam because a road is being repaired or you’re bang in the middle of the office rush hour, you can just fly here. Speed limits are 50 mph on the regular roads and 70 mph on the motorway. Those translate roughly to 70 kmph and 90 kmph — speeds almost unheard of in India. Here, cars feel like cars. Of course, I don’t need to get into the massive boost in the quality of cars I see here too. Although I did see the WagonR, Fusion (called something else here) and my father pointed out a Swift as well.

I haven’t yet gotten around to getting a hang of the public transport system (which is mainly the bus), but I hope to do it soon enough so that I can use it effectively when I need to. I can’t be using a cab to go everywhere — they’re ridiculously expensive.

Like I said before, I’m staying in the halls of residence. I picked my room on the outskirts of the university campus, because it’s just quieter here and has less people-traffic. It does mean I need to leave for lectures about 10 minutes early since they’re a little far away, but that’s a very small payoff for keeping my sanity. In fact, I’m in the last building of my accommodation area, which is called the County College (I’m still coming to terms with the terminology used here, e.g. the difference between the university and college), and on the topmost floor. I don’t think I could be more isolated. All of that, and the fact that my room was a pleasant surprise (to say the least) means that I should have a very comfortable first year. I knew it would be better than what I was used to, but I didn’t expect to be this good. It’s almost like I’m in a constant tussle between spending time out and in my room, because they’re both so inviting. Once the little bit of construction going on around my building gets over, it’ll be a gem of a place to stay.

I haven’t yet met any of my professors, since classes haven’t begun yet, but I again keep no expectations. My friends here have told me that the curriculum is easier than what I’ve been used to in India, so that’s a good thing. I just hope to be able to find my lecture theatres in time, since the maps aren’t really that helpful; with the construction going on there are detours all over the place that keep throwing me off. Hopefully I’ll get used to it soon enough.

Going back over everything for a proof-read, it’s interesting to observe that I have nothing significantly bad to say about Lancaster and the university. Not yet at least. That’s what happens when one approaches something without expectations. There’s no disappointment, or it’s absolutely minimal. But I don’t think this place could have disappointed me even if I had expected anything from it. There are many things to like about Lancaster, and I’ve just touched a few of them that were glaringly obvious. It’ll be nice to come back to this in a year’s time and see if and how my view changes.

While I was at Manipal, I took a year off from college to work. I was still in college, but I was more focused on working; doing something meaningful and productive. While the time spent was definitely productive, I’m still debating if it was really as meaningful as I would have wanted it to be. Regardless, I have no regrets, and there’s a certain charm in taking life as it comes. I left my job to bring back the focus on completing my degree, and the first thing to do that was to enrol in a University again; bring myself back to take things one step at a time.

A really brief history

I applied to a lot of colleges, and I was accepted at most of them. Lancaster University was the best choice out of them. They offered me my first preference — BEng. Hons. Computer Systems Engineering — which was nice, since I’ve never been an academically strong student, so I had almost resigned to a thought of graduating with a BSc. degree. I did not want to go to the United States to continue my education — I was pretty clear on that. So UK was the best choice, and I know quite a few people at Lancaster, so that was a rather obvious decision. I was accepted at Newcastle and Southampton as well, but I decided to stay with the familiar. This was, of course, just the tip of the iceberg.

The amount of paper work that needs to be completed for these things is not a joke. It almost makes one wonder exactly when will these things become completely electronic. But then again, it’s better they aren’t if it means that I have to get out of my house and get some physical activity done. By the end of it all, I’ve become rather closely acquainted with Nehru Place and the people at the various offices over there. Thankfully, none of the documents (my education visa, bank drafts etc.) were hard to get and things went along smoothly. I wasn’t expecting them to, knowing the people here and their ways, but it helps to know people in the right places as I’ve come to realise again and again.

So after about three months of running back and forth, learning life lessons in dealing with people and “getting the job done”, here I am. I leave the country (and continent, if we’re establishing territories) tomorrow for the next three years while I study to become an engineer. It’s a little bittersweet, as these things usually go. I will miss home more this time around since I’m leaving everything familiar behind — the weather, the people, the food, the language. I don’t like change. Not in a big way at least. But small changes don’t significantly affect things. I believe that if something good has to come out of me, then a big change is the way to go. It helps fortify a resolve if we start from the beginning, with memories and past-experiences of incompetence and failures behind us. Hence, big changes and reboots are pretty hard to come by, and that’s why they make a difference.

So what happens now?

Even though it’s ‘09, anyone going to a foreign university from here still carries lots of expectations with him. I guess it’s more about a case of “he’s getting a better opportunity than we did”, so we’re expected to achieve more. I’ve never been the expectation-fulfilling kind, however. But I plan to make the most of this, and that means getting rid of almost all distractions. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt the past few years, is that there’s a time and place for everything¹.

There shouldn’t be any change in my Internet habits, since that’s just a part of me and not something I do when I have time to kill. Writing here or my Shorts and Twitter will all stay the way they are. Of course, I might not be able to write all the time, but that’s alright given that this isn’t a tablog. I’m looking forward to insanely faster Internet speeds, even if some things are blocked or restricted. I’m looking forward to new experiences to help take my mind off things that I repeatedly and unproductively keep thinking about day in and day out. I’m looking forward to renewed priorities, but ones that aren’t laboured. I’m looking forward to efficiency and clear feeling of purpose in things that I do.

For once, I’m looking forward to the change.

As with all things of ability, it greatly interests me to discern and understand how or what makes it tick. Unfortunately, most people don’t bother going deeper into it beyond the fact that they can do something. Some times it is actually hard to put it down to a formula. But that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t try. I’ve always considered knowledge as a person’s supreme advantage over others. No knowledge goes to waste, as they say.

Some of my personal heroes in terms of writing for the web are — in no particular order — Paul Graham, John Gruber and Jeff Atwood (even if sometimes he is a little off in his ideas). As my writing has developed over the years, I have sub-consciously tried to instil some parts of their style of writing in my own. It’s not a blatant rip-off, of course. My words, my thoughts and ideas are still my own, but I’ve taken some elements of what makes their writing appealing and applied them wherever I thought they would go well. Ultimately, no person can copy another’s ability in its entirety. Every person is unique, and hence, their ability is different.

If you’ve ever asked “Why should I write?”, I’d rather you ask “Why not?”. Writing is as much of an expression as talking, the only difference being that with writing, you’re not restricted to a known demographic. Writing allows us to bring our thoughts and ideas together in a coherent stream so that the reader might understand it. In doing so, we understand the same thoughts and ideas better, which leads to something bigger than they would have in their chaotic form in our heads. As Paul Graham once said about writing:

Further Reading — Paul Graham talks about how he writes an essay in The Age of the Essay.

Just as inviting people over forces you to clean up your apartment, writing something that other people will read forces you to think well.

While I don’t think anyone can control how they think, Paul is onto something. Consider what you think as raw material. Sharing that thought is akin to moulding it into something presentable. And since writing is a self-referential way of communicating, it helps to reinforce the idea and give it a form that is easier to understand for everyone — including you.

I’ve seen many people take up writing online and give up. I can’t get myself to figure out how that works. If someone writes about things they find interesting, and what they think about them, maybe share something new they found about it as well — how do they lose the motivation or interest to keep sharing? Reader base might be one answer — but that is a mistake a lot of people make.

Writing to people is hard. It’s like trying to be the best out of everyone in your field of interest. You can try to improve yourself bit by bit, but that’s all that you can control. Trying to be better than everyone else is not only not easy, it’s a destructive ambition simply because you cannot control how the others improve and better themselves over you. Being the best should be a by-product of improving yourself, and the same goes for writing. Writing things that people find interesting should be a by-product of improving your writing to the level that you like what you write. First priority is satisfying yourself. Once you achieve that, move on to understanding the demographic you want to cater to. As Matt Cutts said in a Wordcamp presentation about improving your website’s visibility in Google:

So if you are a cat blogger, or you like to post poems or you just like to keep up with your family, congratulations. You are happy. You have won. You don’t need me. You don’t need advice from anybody. Whatever you want to do you are doing it.

But most people want something from their blog.

Most people want something irrational from what they write. Okay, not irrational, but they have unusually high expectations right off the bat. They want to be famous, constantly quoted, and (heaven forbid) rich. When the priorities for writing are out of whack, you can’t expect to get too far.

As far as I am concerned, I believe that the only good reason to write is because you want to. That’s it. Nothing else matters. When you write for self enrichment, you research to learn more, you take care to use the right language and make sense. The text becomes a natural extension of what you’ve thought, like a log of your ideas that you can come back to later. I keep going back to my previous essays (which are many, since I’ve been writing for 4 years now) to see how my thinking has progressed, and to check if what I thought back then is still relevant and correct today. It might or might not be informative to you, the reader, but it’s a perpetual exercise is self-improvement for me.

Jeffrey Zeldman said Write when inspired; rest when tired., which was shorthand for “write when you want to write, because that’s when you will give it your best”. I try to finish whatever I am writing in one sitting (some times writing more than one piece at one go), because if I leave it to be finished at a later time, it’s almost a given that some of the initial thoughts will be lost. That is the single best step of the process of writing that anyone can give you. If you want to learn how to write, first develop the “want” to write and understand the “what” of what you want to write. The rest, will automatically follow. Trust me.

I wasn’t too surprised when news broke of Michael having accepted Ferrari’s offer to fill in Filepe’s shoes (or cockpit). He was the only one they could turn to who wasn’t a risk. He is probably the only driver (not currently racing) who has been so close to the car’s development. Also, both the test drivers have seen almost no track time this season because of the in-season testing ban. Plus, they’re test drivers. Ferrari has a reputation to uphold here, and so does Michael.

Fernando challenged Michael and defeated him convincingly, and that too at the peak of his career. Lewis, on the other hand, will get to put his money where his mouth is.

I’m very sure his ego would not have let him just ignore people calling him a coward, saying that he didn’t have the courage to face the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, especially at a time when the car isn’t that competitive and he is no longer the prime candidate to lead Ferrari’s charge. I certainly hope the management is aware of that, and not pitting their resources behind Michael. Kimi, who at this point is much more in tune with driving the F60 (and ahead in points), should be the focus.

Not that Ferrari are in any position to challenge for the championships, but they have made something of a comeback this season. It’s Kimi who needs to take the reigns. The problem with Kimi is all too obvious by now — his temperament. Give him a challenge with a fighting chance, and his talent and ability shines through from a mile away. If you cripple him, he doesn’t bother trying to make something out of nothing. He’s a winner whose eyes are only on the top step of the podium. But Michael’s return might change that. For once, Kimi has genuine competition. Not in terms of ability, but in terms of reputation. The last time these two really went head to head, Kimi was with McLaren in a fantastic but overly brittle car which robbed him of having a go at the title in ‘05. I would hope that comparisons being drawn between him and Michael (in the same car, same situation) would push him to prove himself, but his apathy might still win¹.

Greatest driver of all time

In any case, Michael is not coming back purely out of loyalty to Ferrari. He’s getting a lofty sum of €1 million per race at least (which may be on top of his annual pay as an advisor), and is slated to drive till the end of the season. With 7 races left to go, the math is pretty simple. He stands to earn a lot from his little return, and so does Ferrari. My bet is that bringing back Michael is more of a tactical ploy to infuse Ferrari with some confidence than purely for his relationship with the team, and bring the team back in the limelight in a mostly lacklustre season.

Yes, he does have a lot to lose and almost nothing to gain — apart from the boatload of cash. If he wins or even finishes on the podium in his first race at Valencia (which is highly unlikely), it will be written off as testament to his greatness without too much thought. If he doesn’t perform, the booing and hissing from critics calling his ability more to do with a dominating car than his actual talent will be too loud to be ignored. He will be going up against drivers he has never raced before, who are clearly in their prime at the moment. Nor will his strong arm tactics work anymore — the stewards will rap him and Ferrari hard on the knuckles if he tries any funny business².

All in all, Michael is coming back to a lot of scrutiny and opinions. Regardless of his reasons, he should remember that he no longer has a point to prove, and should work with the team to improve the car for the ‘10 season. He’s now perfectly placed to make a big difference to the development of that car, since Kimi apparently doesn’t add too much and Felipe is no longer in contention to do so. He also brings back a lot of eyeballs to the sport which has been slowly losing spectators thanks to the FIA vs. FOTA debacle which has gone on long enough to frustrate anyone who is interested in the sport and not the business.

He might be the messiah we all love to hate, but he’s also the KERS boost we need right now.

Update: Michael has pulled out of his comeback citing neck injuries from his bike crash back in February. Luca Badoer will substitute for Massa now. This is definitely a setback for Ferrari and Formula 1, as Valencia was the stage for a lot of hopes. Hopefully Renault’s ban will be successfully appealed against, so that something can be salvaged.

Palm didn’t actually need “hype” to sell the Pre. It is a solid product. Rubinstien brought much required aesthetic taste to the Pre, in a market that clearly failed to understand what it was that made the iPhone tick. Palm got it. Almost. Even then, I’m not hopeful that it’s going to do too well. Not in its current iteration, at least. Of course, there are people who have sworn against touching an iPhone even if their life depended on it, hiding behind the excuse of “better functionality” from other phones which are “more open”. They are the ones who’re going to lap up the Pre. There are thousands of reasons not to do something. There is only one reason to do it.

Genius of the iPhone

The point Palm has understood, is the UI. It is the UI of the software that matters. Not how many apps you can run at one time, not trivial features. It’s the intuitiveness of the controls, the look and feel of the software, the feedback from actions and events. It isn’t what happens at the back. It’s what the person can see on the screen. UI is not something that can be bolted on. It’s something that drives the features. Even so, it is only probably 60% of the whole experience.

I came to realise this about a month back, after using my Nokia 5800 for 2 months. The reason the iPhone has held the fort, is because of the App Store. The sheer beauty and utility of the applications written for iPhone OS X is staggering, compared to what is currently out there. I haven’t used a Blackberry, so I can’t say anything about it, but Symbian is terrible with applications, which is surprising because it has the majority share and is so open¹. Everyday, there is news of a new iPhone app that allows us to do X. With the promises of iPhone 3.0, these apps will only become more useful. It’s up for discussion as to why the App Store is thriving even though it’s the most closed and opaque marketplace ever, regardless of which, developers are making money — and in the process, so is Apple.

Palm on the other hand, is having a developer meltdown of sorts. From Walt Mossberg’s review of the Pre:

The Pre’s biggest disadvantage is its app store, the App Catalog. At launch, it has only about a dozen apps, compared with over 40,000 for the iPhone, and thousands each for the G1 and the modern BlackBerry models. Even worse, the Pre App Catalog isn’t finished. It’s immature, it’s labeled a beta, and Palm has yet to release the tools for making Pre apps available to more than a small group of developers.

That seems healthy. So while the Pre is making headway in some regards, it’s falling way short in the others. My argument pro-iPhone is a simple one — iPhone apps have much more utility and staying power than apps for any other phone out there, even if they run one at a time². They work well, look even better, and don’t cost a fortune. What more do you need?

While WebOS (the Pre’s OS) holds promise, taking away the learning curve might invite absolutely useless applications (a la iFart) that have a negative effect on perceived efficiency of an OS if left unchecked in favour of “openness”. If Palm decides to have Apple-esque strictness in approving apps to maintain quality, they’re going to risk irking the developer community even more. If they don’t, they’ll lose face to consumers who’ll see their iPhone toting counterparts getting more out of their device. Palm has a tough task ahead. Getting the Pre out is only quarter of the fight.

It’s the little things

When Apple decided to make a smartphone, they did something very clever. They decided to make a device that regular phone consumers thought was too complicated for them, in a way that even a kid could use it. They changed the demographics of the smartphone user. This one thing rippled through the phone industry with companies suddenly realising that their target audience had changed. It’s like asking a company that has always written enterprise software, to write a Web 2.0 service. It’s going to suck.

Which brings me back to my initial point. iPhone’s success has been majorly because of its UI. While the Pre does this well, it doesn’t do it well enough. Pre does for UI what, say, Symbian did for software. Functional, powerful, but not usable. I remember watching Pre’s demo at CES, and trying my best to remember what each gesture was supposed to do. Over time, one might probably get used to it. But that’s not what “intuitive” means, does it? People like simplicity — which is what Apple achieved. Palm, in its attempt at outdoing the iPhone at functionality, went one step too far.

It’s probably idle nitpicking on my part, but small things like these add up to the full experience. Something that Pre has to get as close to perfect as possible if it has any chance at surviving till the next iteration. Already making its first mistake, I believe Palm shouldn’t be launching the Pre just two days before a new iPhone is revealed. Apple is the undisputed king of launches, and it’ll suck all the glory away from Pre the moment Schiller takes the stage. William Hurley is of the same opinion:

Timing is another strike against the Palm comeback. The Pre is scheduled for release just before Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2009. Someone at Palm must have thought this was a good idea, but it isn’t. One week after the Pre’s release, the press will be dominated by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. If, as expected, Jobs returns, that will steal Palm’s thunder. If he doesn’t, that will only steal Palm’s thunder more.

Also making its debut right before WWDC, is the N97, which arrives with pretty high expectations of its own. Palm definitely couldn’t have chosen a worse time.

But, I still have faith in merit, and I hope people see the Pre for what it is, and buy it for the phone, not the hype. Some things like Synergy and being able to run multiple apps at once (even if it lacks a lot of apps) is very nice. I don’t care much for the slide out keyboard, since my Nokia has made me fairly competent at touch typing with an on-screen one. Competition is good, and competition is definitely the reason iPhone 3.0 has progressed so rapidly (not that Apple is one to sit on its posterior the second time around as well). This month is going to be very interesting as far as mobile devices are concerned. Let’s see if Palm achieves whatever they planned to.

Living amongst computers and other technical folk, one as young as me tends to forget that there is a life outside all that. A life with people who’re a part of it not because of your skills, but because of the kind of person you are. Sometimes, those same people choose to not be a part of your life because of the kind of person you are. That’s when you’re jolted back to reality that people, as they are, are not black and white. They’re not a boolean output. People are full of greys, and when one such as me spends a good amount of time away from them, they become as predictable as a game of Russian Roulette. Our lives are deeply affected by the people we interact with, and how those interactions go. At the end of the day, man is a social animal — and regardless of how much one tries to isolate oneself, it doesn’t work for too long.

So, when the system fails, it’s time for a change. And that’s been my plan of action that past month or so. There has been restructuring in my personal and professional life. The definition of “personal” means I will not get into that here, but I’m happy to share the rest.

Parting ways with Racked Hosting

It was almost exactly a year ago that I joined Racked Hosting LLC as a designer, and was quickly promoted to team leader/software architect. It’s a fantastic place to work. Of course, I have no other reference for comparison, but I’m quite sure that the work environment there is not easily found in other companies. So, it’s with some regret that I handed in my resignation a week back. It was mostly to step out of a commitment that I felt I could no longer continue without personal harm. I’ve never done too well with authority either, and I realised that the way things were going, something would have clashed soon in the future. I try to avoid conflict as much as possible. Troubles in one aspect of our life usually permeate down to others and cause rifts that would normally not be there. There is no reason to mix our personal and professional lives up.

Therefore, at the moment I’m unemployed. It’s a liberating feeling to not have that kind of responsibility. I’m taking a professional break, to concentrate on the things a regular 20-year old would find important. Going to college, completing my degree with high marks — things like that. I’ve realised that trying to achieve too much too fast means not enjoying each achievement. Trying to do many things at one time might sound glamorous, but it’s a lot more hard work than the rewards can justify. Sure, no hard work goes to waste. But there’s a time and place for everything.

I’m not sure if I want to take up freelancing again. I don’t know if I want to start something of my own. The point is to not over-think things, but to make the correct choices whenever they present themselves. There is no point in worrying when you’ve already left A and headed towards B. The trick is to not screw up at B as well.

More art, less tech

I’ve always considered myself an artist with a technical bent. I gave up my drawing and writing to surround myself with code and (systems) designs. I gave up design for development. I gave up a lot of music to concentrate on becoming technically sound with programming languages and software theory. But it’s at crossroads like these that I question if it was really worth it. Sure, some people know my name because of a new Web 2.0 service I helped make. But now that I’ve started paying attention to myself, I realise that personal satisfaction is way more important when compared to social acceptance than I initially thought.

So I’ve decided to revisit my roots. Twitter is one of the reasons why I’ve stopped writing here, but another was the lack of time. Work and other commitments always got in the way. Now I’ve decided to put aside some time to actually write here. Goodness knows I have enough to say (I chatter my ass off over at Twitter). I’ve also decided to finally get around to finishing the fabled redesign that’s lying in a very incomplete state. I hope to get it done and out before I leave for college in a few months. I did design my home-page after much deliberation. And of course, pay extra attention to my music. It’s a little surreal to learn that people don’t know that I play 4-5 instruments and sing, have been in two bands and have put up more than ten shows. I’m no celebrity by any standard, but you would expect the people who know you a little better than an average stranger to know about the things most important to you.

It takes something big to put in motion a change equally big, and I guess that’s actually what’s ended up happening. Here’s wishing myself best of luck for the next few months. I haven’t extensively planned it, so it’ll be interesting to see how things work out. No goals. Only journeys. Sometimes, to reach somewhere, it’s better to not know that you’re headed that way.

A friend. I’m actually pretty proud of this one.

Personal Presence using Wordpress and AIR

EDIT: Here’s a PDF version of the same for download: Talk at Wordcamp India ‘09

Straight out, let’s be honest - I never expected to get a real job before I was 20. I’m not a very optimistic person either, so I had been bracing myself for a rough ride trying to find a place to work after college. Fortunately, working as a freelancer with other skilled and knowledgeable people rubbed off. That, and the fact that Racked Hosting has broad minded executives. Any other company wouldn’t have considered a second year college student even as a potential employee (unless he/she was a prodigy), but these guys did. I’m thankful.

The interview

As it turns out, my employment was due to a chain of events started off by people I’ve never even met. I’m not going to take any names here, but they know who they are. Someone I was following on Twitter knew someone else on Twitter who knew my boss, so when she found out that I was a designer in Manipal University, she told him. A week or so later, I landed an interview.

At first, I didn’t think I was going to be interviewed for a job. I was contacted for a re-design of the company web site. I don’t know if it was me not understanding things, or just not expecting someone to consider me for employment, but I went to meet Swaroop to discuss their requirements and ideas for the design. A company web site is an important thing, and carrying out conversations through e-mail is a little too slow for comfort.

So after a long (I believe it was 2 and a half hours by the time we were done) talk, it was decided that I would join in as a trainee. I wasn’t sure of what to expect since I’ve never really been ‘trained’ for anything before. Whatever I know, I’ve learnt from experience, or I’ve taught myself. But it’s always intimidating when you meet a director of a company because he knows so much more than you. I went with it with an open mind, and three months later, here I am.

The work

Officially, I’m a graphics designer. I work in RH Presence, our web design and development department. Because I also qualify as a coder, I will be put into web development projects as and when possible. I guess I made a good choice going down both roads - designer and developer - simultaneously. Swaroop told me on a few occasions that he had trouble giving me an official title because I qualify for multiple things. I think we’ve managed to find one thing I’m good at, and are sticking with it for the moment.

Our work environment is almost perfect to be in. We’re currently in the process of setting up a branch office in Manipal – one that Swaroop and I designed ourselves. So until it is ready (we don’t have a concrete date yet), we have been meeting and working from our local Café Coffee Day. Coffee and food combined with half-decent music, along with regular talks about servers, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, and just generally everything technology, we’ve managed to find a nice and comfortable working atmosphere. I couldn’t have really asked for a different one.

We are a non-Windows organisation. Which means that designers work on Apple hardware and software (along with Adobe stuff), and coders work on Linux machines. We don’t like Windows at-effin’-all. The first thing I noticed when I went for my interview was that Swaroop used a Macbook. It was almost a relief to see someone I was going to work with/under also share my taste. Being designers, we share an equal hate for IE². All these common points make work fun.

The future

No-one can predict the future, but if I was to say anything about it, it looks pretty sunny. Like-minded executives, room to grow, learn and most importantly, a place where one’s word counts for something regardless of their rank.

Seeing the people who run the company, I think it is in good hands, and they’ll take it down the correct roads as and when required. That’s always an important thing when one is trying to judge their future with new people. I think we’ll do just fine.