Don't settle

Dont_settle

An excerpt from Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech in 2005

Full video here: 

I watch it again and again whenever I doubt about myself...

Imagine being fired from the CEO position of a company you founded... then searching soul in India... 
Then starting two successful companies (one of them being Pixar) before going back to revitalize failing Apple for $1 a year...

Imagine if he settled... we wouldn't have iDevices...

(I ain't an Apple fan and hasn't owned anything Apple)

What is in your backpack?

It all started unexpectedly. From mid 2007 till mid 2008, I always had a backpack with me. All essential things in it for me to just disappear. I ain't a good packer. I just had things (documents, money) in it to get away.

Unexpectedly, from late 2008 till now, I didn't really have my own space. I used to have two bags. I carried around one of these bags with all valuable things in one bag due to security reasons. Things amassed over past 1 year. I now have four bags.

I gotta throw/give away some. It is really easy to stay light when one doesn't have to maintain any lifestyle. Now I have to maintain certain level of lifestyle that it is becoming hard to stay light. Soon I will be back as a student... so I could stay anyhow I like.

I happened to watch "Up in the air" movie in which the actor would appear as a guest speaker talking about what is in one's backpack...

I subscribe to his ideology with my own interpretation that knowing the essentials and getting rid of excess, I could focus and dedicate.

Others might interpret differently. I am open to other interpretations too. 

But I would want to try out living minimally for a few more years to come. I want to travel around (most likely on a bicycle) and see the world.

falling off a bike and focusing

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So I have this problem of getting lost in the "future"... I daydream too much and am known to others as the idea guy...

This is very useful if I am paired with people of particular personalities... and I have found people who I could have symbiotic work relationship...

however, when I am playing solo, this becomes a huge problem for me...

And I hardly learn how this can be harmful for me till recently...

It was a fine day in December last year that I went off for long distance biking with my friends. Just about 2 to 3 hours in, I bumped into a parked motorbike on the shoulder of the highway. Yep, it was not supposed to be there but still I should be on the lookout. At the time of this incident, I was thinking of 3 different things at the same time. Out of these, I was wondering why my bike was making a repetitive tick sounds.

I got some large bruises but I was lucky to continue cycling for 3 more days. If I didn't have that luck, I would have to head back home and not be on this life-changing trip.

Hence, I learnt it is very important to focus on the present, enjoy the moment and get present things done.

Still, it is quite hard to change my behavior that is so wired in me. I am writing it down to remind me; both carrots and sticks to improve myself.

Organic mesh networking for rural development

I have posted earlier about my keen interest in mesh networking with
XO laptops and cheap basic phones.

The purpose is to offer a way of democratic adhoc communication
channels at very minimal or no cost for users. My previous posts are
available here: http://bit.ly/relayrelay

Today, I stumble upon a great concept which is organic as well as sustainable.

More info here -
Bleating Edge WiFi Mesh Networking from Inveneo
[http://www.ictworks.org/news/2010/04/01/goatnet-bleating-edge-wifi-networking...]

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How to be a loser

A great read. Posting it to remind myself to read again.

http://jsomers.net/blog/how-to-be-a-loser

It reveals both my strong points and weak points.

A loser rests on his laurels. I once asked a winner — a smart, healthy, happy guy worth more than twenty million dollars — to name his greatest accomplishment, and he said “I haven’t done anything yet.” A bit of rhetorical flare there, but the point is that a loser has the opposite attitude: he is constantly recalling his latest accomplishment, either publicly (usually wrapped in modesty or nonchalance) or to himself.

It’s a common misconception, I think, to assume that losers are unhappy, or that they invariably have a low self-esteem. Quite the contrary: losers keep their egos fat with constant snacks. And they’re all the more satiable as they age.

One important thing I have learnt to keep my ego in check is to ask close friends and let them criticize me freely. Strike me hard and real, then I am out of my fantasy.

MobileNewsHub gets into semi-final of Knight News Challenge

I have been having left eye twitches for over 10 days... then two great news come to me on the same night...

one is the http://bit.ly/MobileNewsHub got into semi-final of Knight News Challenge.

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I will be meeting with experts in this area to get feedbacks and advice to further refine the concept.

And I need to submit final proposal by end of January. As one has advised: persevere, persevere, persevere!