Punch-uation

(Update: Add 1 more incorrect reference to the following list. I wrote a reference with date December 26,2005. Ooops, Dec 26,2005 is yet to come and I already referred it??!! Yeah right! "That a typo". Everything is well now.)

Here is an interesting statistic:

15 missing commas,
5 missing periods (fullstops that is!),
4 unmatched references,
2 un-italicized words,
1 unnecessarily justified paragraph,
1 incorrect style of reference.

Pretty interesting, isn't it?! Well, those are the corrections that I was suggested in the last draft of my thesis by the UNI graduate college's thesis previewer. These corrections concluded a gigantic two year effort - crafting, drafting, and finally publishing my thesis. If all goes well, my final published copy in accordance with graduate college rules will be signed by the Dean.
After all these corrections, I am surely eligible for a Master's Degree in MS Word document editing and APA writing. And my mind sort of goes like this:

"No kidding; even though it is not necessary to put a semi-colon after 'no kidding' I wonder if I need double-quotes and a comma in the middle and am I missing a question mark right now."

Until the next blog,
Au Revoir!

Can you hear me now?

(Or, How to negotiate a free phone from you Wireless company)

Its unreal - I lost my cellphone! I could not find it anywhere - not in the library, not in my office, not at my apartment, NO-DAMN-WHERE!

I tried calling Verizon (my wireless provider) and I was told that I should pay for a new phone! I am supposed to get a free phone in August when my 2-year contract ends. But since its two more months, I was told that I must pay a little amount ($39.99) toward a new phone. I could not believe it ! I was with them for two years, and why cant they just give me the new free phone now and let me sign a new contract ?!!

After contacting the customer service twice, I was absolutely pissed off! I went to the Verizon kiosk in the nearby town and they could not offer much help either. Radio Shack, from where I have my contract, could not help too. I finally tried calling the customer service once again. I got the the same replies that I got the first two times.

There I fired the weapon that all the wireless companies dread - Account Termination! I told them that I don't care to pay the early termination of $175 but I want termination. Voila!! I got a free phone, that too upgraded with color screen, etc. I could have gotten a much better one, but yeah, I am OK with the one that I am getting. It will take a couple of days before I get my phone. So, until then I am partially disconnected with the world. eMail's the way for me now!

So, the next time you have trouble with your wireless company, use this technique. You know, it might help!

Until the next blog,
Au Revoir.

(A little sidenote: In my view, Verizon Wireless is the BEST wireless service in the US. I never paid a penny for roaming even though I traveled every corner of the country. They provide great customer service along with great mobile service. So, if you are considering switching, or planning to buy a new mobile service, I recommend Verizon)

Graduation Pictures

Graduate I
Originally uploaded by _Shriram.

Here is one of the pictures that I gathered from many people who took my pics. More of them are available on Flickr. Check out the Zeitgeist to your right!

Until the next Blog,
Au Revoir!

Decision '05

After a two-week-long hard time making a decision about which one of my two great job offers to choose from, I chose to go with the job in Texas. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, here I announce: I rejected the job offer from Google! Have I gone nuts? No. Not at all. There were certain terms from Google that I could not agree with. It was an extremely hard decision NOT to go with Google, but hey sometimes you gotta play safe and do what you have to do. (And after all, I can tell my grandchildren that I got selected to the hottest company in the world even before I graduated out of college! hehehe.)

Sure, Google's offer was great, challenging, and exciting. Google's a great company; Working for them is a real privilege and an opportunity that not many people get. However I was on a real tight spot because of some issues that we (Google and I) could not sort out. Finally, I could not take any more of this crappy dilemma and chose to go with Texas.

Interestingly, to solve my dilemma, I turned to Google. Yeah, Google - as in the search engine Google. I found a few folks who are in a similar situation as that of mine. Especially this article is sort of similar to what I was facing. There are some differences: the dude in the article is looking for a job after getting fired, and I am looking for a job after graduating. He is getting married soon, I am not. More articles like this, this, this, this, and this were also helpful in analyzing.

I will be moving down south to San Antonio during the weekend of the 28th/29th. There, I will be working for the Texas Transportation Institute as a programmer analyst. TTI is a Texas State Government organization and it is also affiliated to Texas A&M. I will start my work from the 31st, right after Memorial Day. Wish me good luck and success ahead :-)


Until the next Blog,
Au Revoir!

(Update: A very special thanks to my friends Siva and Sandeep for their input, time, and analysis. Thank you guys!)

2G || ! 2G = ?

Now that I have the two jobs - one from Google and the other from Texas Transportation Institute - in hand, I am having a heck of a difficult time to decide which one to choose. Both of them have their own advantages and attractions ! Boy, makes me wonder how people that got more than one job choose (dont you dare say pick the one with higher salary:) ! ) I must decide by tomorrow (Friday May 13th)

Which leaves me with the question: To google or not to google is the question, or in other (geeky) words,

2G || ! 2G = ?

Until the next blog,
Au Revoir!

>> Forwards

>> We are all used to getting many "forwards" in our email everyday.

>> While some of them are funny, some of them are outrageous.

>> Messages of friendship, love, sentiment, jokes, and fun are the

>> soul-matter of these messages. Many times, I receive some of these

>> messages that ridicule the way Indians (as in the people from India)

>> speak English. But fancy this: how would you respond if you receive

>> a "real" email with such English, that too from a prospective employer!!


>> (OK, let me get rid of the stupid ">>"s before every line)

Let me start with a little background. As with many prospective college grads, I was looking for a job the whole last semester. In the process, I registered myself and posted my resume on Monster.com and similar job search websites. What I observed later on is that there are a whole bunch of "desi" (Indian) companies that shop for the recent "desi" graduates that are hungry for work visas and green cards, and lure them to "excellent" jobs after a brief "training". I received my share of these calls.

But one company stood out: ZSS America*. Oh well, its not a company but more of a recruiting agency - or whatever! The first time they called me, I sort of sensed their "quality" and showed no interest. I made clear to them that I am not looking for any "excellent" company that files H1Bs (work visas). They repeatedly kept calling me even though I never returned their calls. Today, I received an email from them. What is below is an actual email text that I received. I did NOT edit this text in any way except for the company's name. Take a peek :

------------------------------------------------

"Hi! Dear Seema Rao,

Greetings

Thank you for respond to ZSS America Inc. We had a talk some time back regarding the requirements and the process how my company works on OPT's/CPT's. I now was trying to reach you but some how there is no respond to the telephone message my question would be your willingness to join us. I would appreciate if you could join ASAP. Well to state how is works, we would like to know the basic level (foundation) of the technologies that you feel comfortable. There would to a simple conversation with out General Manager.

I will be waiting for you mail or call regarding the same.

Do get back ASAP.

Thanx & Regards,"

------------------------------------------------

Wow, what a professional quality message! Without a speck of doubt, this message qualifies for a "forward".

Now, I am trying to compose my own professional quality reply to the above email. I put my best efforts, and after a couple of drafts here is the best that I could do!

"Hi! Sir ji!

I, seema rao, am writing my respond to your phone messaging. I am surely remembering our talk about "how is works on OPT's and CPT's". I am see your phone message and respond now to talk about my "basic level (foundation)" of the technologies "with out" General Manager. Since you "well stated how it works", I shall starting ASAP with you.

I am surely interesting to H1 and Green Card in Amreeka. I can phogram in She, Joba, and She ++. I am too good in programming.

I question about the timing to calling you. Please mail in hole. I am reverting to you.

Thanx & Buzz

Seema Rao."

If you guys think I need improvements in the mail text, please email me or leave your comments. PUH-LEEEEZE! My future depends on my email "respond" to those folks. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!

Hope you had fun!

Until the next blog,
Au Revoir!

*Note: I had changed the name of the company. I assume no responsibility if feelings of some one with a company that has the exact name or a similar name gets hurt.

The Graduate!

The Graduate
Originally uploaded by _Shriram.

Heyya! On Saturday, I officially graduated out of University of Northern Iowa. I have a ton of pictures to upload, and I will do that in the next couple of days. A small video clip is available here (Note: To keep the file size small, I made the clip low in quality. File format is Windows-based WMV. File Size ~ 570 KB).


Thanks to my roommate Mark for taking the Video. Yup, you can hear him proclaiming I am his roommate on the clip :-) Thanks a lot, Mark!

More details real soon...

Until the next Blog,
Au Revoir!

More Pictures

Hey, More pictures are online now. These include the ones from San Antonio, San Francisco, and some from UNI. Pardon the poor digital quality of the pictures, that's the best the scanners on campus can do! Check 'em out from Flickr to your right, down there

     

           |
           |
           |
            -------->>>>>>

Until the next blog,
Au Revoir!