From Brain Rules:
When girl best friends communicate with each other, they lean in, maintain eye contact, and do a lot of talking. They use their sophisticated verbal talents to cement their relationships. Boys never do this. They rarely face each other directly, preferring either parallel or oblique angels. They make little eye contact, their gaze always casting about the room. They do not use verbal information to to cement their relationships. Instead, commotion seems to be the central currency of a little boy's social economy. Doing things physically together is the glue that holds their relationships intact.
I found that to be pretty interesting, and mostly true, based on my own interactions and those I've observed between females in general.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Miss me?
We're having company this weekend. My mom's friend's family from India is visiting them, and they're staying with us on Friday and Saturday nights. So, it'll be 10 people sleeping in the house for 2 nights. Luckily, I don't think I'll have to share the basement.
They should create some sort of email protocol to exclude addresses on listservs. For example, if you have a list where everyone communicates regularly, but have specific messages that only certain people are interested in, it would be really useful to exclude other people off that email. I don't know if that made any sense, but it's a really good idea ;)
A while back, they asked us if we wanted to get Macs at work. They said it was highly unlikely we would get them even if we requested it since they had to show a substantial business justification due to the higher expense. Well, I requested one and it looks like it's a done deal! We should be getting them sometime next week. I use a Mac at home now, but to be honest, I still don't know how to do a lot of things on it. I've always been a Mac wannabe, and really didn't think we'd actually get Macs... I guess I'll have to learn how to be productive on it quickly!
There's a ridiculous amount of useful information that could be analyzed on someone's Facebook page. In addition to the info users choose to enter, there's also a lot of data from photos, wall postings, and friend circles. Assuming you use profiles that are updated on a fairly regular basis, it's possible to draw a fairly accurate portrait of a person just through this info.
Have you seen the new Daylife widget on the side? I know I mentioned the site before when it first launched, but my cousin had his picture and an article in BusinessWeek recently and the site has improved a LOT since it first went live. Here's a link to his (mostly work-related) blog.
They should create some sort of email protocol to exclude addresses on listservs. For example, if you have a list where everyone communicates regularly, but have specific messages that only certain people are interested in, it would be really useful to exclude other people off that email. I don't know if that made any sense, but it's a really good idea ;)
A while back, they asked us if we wanted to get Macs at work. They said it was highly unlikely we would get them even if we requested it since they had to show a substantial business justification due to the higher expense. Well, I requested one and it looks like it's a done deal! We should be getting them sometime next week. I use a Mac at home now, but to be honest, I still don't know how to do a lot of things on it. I've always been a Mac wannabe, and really didn't think we'd actually get Macs... I guess I'll have to learn how to be productive on it quickly!
There's a ridiculous amount of useful information that could be analyzed on someone's Facebook page. In addition to the info users choose to enter, there's also a lot of data from photos, wall postings, and friend circles. Assuming you use profiles that are updated on a fairly regular basis, it's possible to draw a fairly accurate portrait of a person just through this info.
Have you seen the new Daylife widget on the side? I know I mentioned the site before when it first launched, but my cousin had his picture and an article in BusinessWeek recently and the site has improved a LOT since it first went live. Here's a link to his (mostly work-related) blog.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Dallas
Get closer to your home base, whatever that means to you. It could be family, your place of birth or the home office, but you should find that you feel more confident and relaxed there.
That was my horoscope for Friday, and it couldn't have been more accurate. I returned to Dallas this weekend for my friend's wedding. It was great to see everyone and I think it's fair to say that I consider the city my "home base." Since I knew very few people when I first moved there, I had to create my own friend circle. Even though I met most of them through work, everyone has moved on to other companies yet still keeps in touch. Coincidentally, the couple that was getting married met through this very friend circle.
I was supposed to fly in on Friday night, and had even organized a little homecoming party (I'm a little vain and self-centered, so what?) for my arrival. But since the airline industry sucks, and especially American Airlines, my flight got canceled and I wasn't able to get there until 9am the next morning!
Needless to say, the entire weekend was pretty busy. I had lunch with some friends on Saturday who weren't invited to the wedding and then had about an hour to kill before all the groomsmen had to be at the venue to get dressed. It was a pretty short ceremony (which was good since being a groomsman and having to stand still in uncomfortable shoes for a long period of time is not fun), and we actually spent more time taking pictures afterwards.
I have to admit I got a little reflective during the ceremony since I (like most of the people in the room) saw their relationship from the beginning. It did make me question to some extent whether I should have done more during that same time period. I certainly don't want to follow their path (divorce, dating, child, and marriage in 1.5 years is a bit fast), but I also don't think I've grown/achieved as much as I could have.
It was supposed to be a dry reception, but my friends are creative and crafty (and huge lushes) and managed to sneak liquor in. Since it started at 6pm, the entire thing including ceremony and reception was finished by 10pm. We continued the partying at my friend's place afterwards and I didn't get to bed until 3am.
We played Truth or Dare (actually our modified version, Truth or Truth), and this time it got a little rough and very personal -- we had played it at a previous party but it was more light-hearted and fun (e.g. if you were gay, which co-worker would you sleep with). I don't think we should play that game ever again. Let's just leave it at that. There's probably some truths that are better left unknown.
It was a little sad leaving this time, since I honestly don't know when I"ll be back or if I'll see some of them again.
That was my horoscope for Friday, and it couldn't have been more accurate. I returned to Dallas this weekend for my friend's wedding. It was great to see everyone and I think it's fair to say that I consider the city my "home base." Since I knew very few people when I first moved there, I had to create my own friend circle. Even though I met most of them through work, everyone has moved on to other companies yet still keeps in touch. Coincidentally, the couple that was getting married met through this very friend circle.
I was supposed to fly in on Friday night, and had even organized a little homecoming party (I'm a little vain and self-centered, so what?) for my arrival. But since the airline industry sucks, and especially American Airlines, my flight got canceled and I wasn't able to get there until 9am the next morning!
Needless to say, the entire weekend was pretty busy. I had lunch with some friends on Saturday who weren't invited to the wedding and then had about an hour to kill before all the groomsmen had to be at the venue to get dressed. It was a pretty short ceremony (which was good since being a groomsman and having to stand still in uncomfortable shoes for a long period of time is not fun), and we actually spent more time taking pictures afterwards.
I have to admit I got a little reflective during the ceremony since I (like most of the people in the room) saw their relationship from the beginning. It did make me question to some extent whether I should have done more during that same time period. I certainly don't want to follow their path (divorce, dating, child, and marriage in 1.5 years is a bit fast), but I also don't think I've grown/achieved as much as I could have.
It was supposed to be a dry reception, but my friends are creative and crafty (and huge lushes) and managed to sneak liquor in. Since it started at 6pm, the entire thing including ceremony and reception was finished by 10pm. We continued the partying at my friend's place afterwards and I didn't get to bed until 3am.
We played Truth or Dare (actually our modified version, Truth or Truth), and this time it got a little rough and very personal -- we had played it at a previous party but it was more light-hearted and fun (e.g. if you were gay, which co-worker would you sleep with). I don't think we should play that game ever again. Let's just leave it at that. There's probably some truths that are better left unknown.
It was a little sad leaving this time, since I honestly don't know when I"ll be back or if I'll see some of them again.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Race
I neglected to mention in my last post that I was the only Indian at the party. Not a huge surprise really, most of the time I went anywhere in Dallas, I was the only Indian. This was a little different though, since there was only one white person and everyone else was black. I had never really hung out with black people before (my best friend in Dallas notwithstanding), but everyone was pretty friendly and cool to hang out with.
Obama finally clinched the Democratic nomination. It's still hard to believe, from lots of different angles.
- He had little political experience.
- He didn't even have a brand-name (Bush didn't really have political experience either, but at least he had a name). In fact, his name could very easily have worked against him - and might still in the general election.
- He was running against the entire Democratic establishment - everyone had written him off before he even started.
- By not taking money from lobbyists, he had to work even harder to raise money.
It's also interesting that a black person got the nomination before a woman, when the former was given the right to vote in 1965 while the latter was granted it in the 1920's.
It should be a very interesting election. The party's just getting started.
Obama finally clinched the Democratic nomination. It's still hard to believe, from lots of different angles.
- He had little political experience.
- He didn't even have a brand-name (Bush didn't really have political experience either, but at least he had a name). In fact, his name could very easily have worked against him - and might still in the general election.
- He was running against the entire Democratic establishment - everyone had written him off before he even started.
- By not taking money from lobbyists, he had to work even harder to raise money.
It's also interesting that a black person got the nomination before a woman, when the former was given the right to vote in 1965 while the latter was granted it in the 1920's.
It should be a very interesting election. The party's just getting started.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Weekend Fun
The last two weekends were pretty fun, and I'm really looking forward to this one.
I already wrote about Atlantic City, so I'll just recap last weekend.
I went to my first real party on Saturday! My friend in Dallas has a college friend who lives in the DC area and she was nice enough to invite me to her housewarming party. I was a little worried at first, since I wouldn't know anyone else there, but I later found out that most people didn't know each other either.
After everyone was feeling loose after some food and drinks, we played Taboo and Mafia. I had never played Taboo before, and my guess is that our Mafia game was more unruly that normal.
All in all, it was a pretty fun party and it was interesting to meet some people who work in different fields (most of them were lawyers or teachers).
I already wrote about Atlantic City, so I'll just recap last weekend.
I went to my first real party on Saturday! My friend in Dallas has a college friend who lives in the DC area and she was nice enough to invite me to her housewarming party. I was a little worried at first, since I wouldn't know anyone else there, but I later found out that most people didn't know each other either.
After everyone was feeling loose after some food and drinks, we played Taboo and Mafia. I had never played Taboo before, and my guess is that our Mafia game was more unruly that normal.
All in all, it was a pretty fun party and it was interesting to meet some people who work in different fields (most of them were lawyers or teachers).
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