rambling along

its late at night on thursday...the motel staff are behind bulletproof glass, late night customers drive up in fancy cars with lots of bling. Its been a full working day, part of a busy week and I am tired out.

I had a nice talk with my boss on the way back from work. He was explaining to me how things worked and how important the right environment was. It was a strange situation to be in, because usually I am the one trying to preach this message. I usually talk about thinking big and providing the best possible environment for people to work in and it was nice to be taught a lesson that I thought I knew. Goes to show that one often forgets what one knows.

This set me thinking about events and people that taught me something in this past year and I thought I would list them down...lest i forget.

Rule #1 - This would be the lesson learnt at the new year party. The rule is, if you have a party in the winter, make sure theres lots of firewood. Charu reminded me of this, when he went and sourced a 30 foot long bamboo pole at 2 am from a nearby construction site, which was impossible to cut or chop or burn...still the message was there.

Rule #2 - No matter how pissed off they make you, do not strike back at someone you share a house with. You have to live with it..better to turn the stereo on at full volume and get your message across. Break a few bottles if you have to, but dont break any heads.

Rule #3 - Two dogs are better than one. One dog chews up your trouser legs, two dogs chew each others ears.

Rule #4 - Before attempting any tricky technological undertaking, take a deep breath, read it up on the internet, check out the manuals, talk to someone who knows about it and then sit down with a calm mind and just do it step by step.

Rule #5 - If you have a plan and you realise certain flaws in it and drawbacks to implementing it then do not question the reasons for the plan. This is sometimes tough to remember. Hold on to the original plan and work around the problems. It may be harder than you thought, but you may be stronger than you estimated.

Rule #6 - Give all possible freedom to people, but take a daily report. If you cannot get them to make a report everyday, theres very little chance that you can get them to do anything else. If you dont have the time to read the reports then you probably dont have time to mentor them either.

Rule #7 - If you like someone, dont be afraid to ask them out for dinner. Coffee is fine and beer is nice, but dinner is what counts.

Rule #8 - Its always more lively in a bus than it is in an aeroplane.