“Practice what you preach”

So here I am – writing a blog about night-outs at 5:30 AM after an interesting night-out.

The night started with a late work-day. It was a very interesting day at work and I got that that feel-good thing that I did something today. You know the feeling of achieving what you aimed for at the start of the day? and doing a bit more?

I got introduced to Ruby and Rails recently. I was a skeptic first – never having tasted a dynamic language and also being under the heavy influence of Java.

But like so many other developers – and I have to say that – I am loving Ruby and Rails more and more each passing day. It’s fun! And you are at your best when work is fun!

Anyway so the aim of the night was to read on Ruby and Rails (with dinner/music and TV all side by side!) and sleep by around 2 AM. BTW, The Cult is coming to Seattle in March and so I am kinda deciding if I should go for it – so listening to their sound all the time to see if I like them. You can preview them here.

So anyway, I got engrossed in the music a bit too much – and someone reminded me about some Aerosmith stuff – and I realized that I don’t have some albums from them. How could I not have “Pump”, “Get a Grip” from the band that grew up with? So I bought them!

And some TV – let’s forget what – that’s not important

And then I caught and got caught by a few good friends on gtalk… (I have to note this new friend that I made – I am surprised by the amount of strikingly similar traits that I share – I am really startled sometimes). So anyway it was 1 AM already…

So the thought of a night out started lingering on my mind. Specially I have a lot of work today (today –> it’s already morning, duh!)

Still I thought, ok let’s sleep by 2 (try actually) so started off again on Rails. I got so involved that now it’s 5:30 AM!!! That’s how a night can go if you find your passion! No pun intended. The question is – most of you will be divided in answering this question – “so is this a good sign that I spent a night reading something – and more importantly that became the passion of the night?” I leave that to you to decide… Maybe you’d think I have gone mad, maybe I am turning into a geek. But remember I respect all sorts of people – you don’t have to – AND I GIVE A RAT’S A$$ ABOUT THAT!

So it’s morning now… And I am not gonna sleep tonight anyway… But I loved it. So here I am ending it with something I love doing more nowadays – a blog.

Now that we are through with the boring part (about how I spent the night) lemme try to analyze a night out – so that you can take something from my experience.

The following is purely based on my experience, your mileage may vary. However, note that this encapsulates a lot of night-outs – since my college days. A ballpark figure would be probably 35 nights in the last 8 years. “Ballpark”. Oh, is that nothing? Then why the hell are you reading my blog? Go write your own analysis on a night-out.

A typical night-out goes like:

1. The decision period: You decide it’s a night out. It can happen anywhere from a week in advance to the wee hours of the morning (before point #2, below) Lemme advice you here – you better a have a good reason – that’s where the passion comes in. Whether it’s –

catching up with some old friends (like so many times in my last few days @ NYC – 2007 end, catching up my school friends in Delhi and college folks at Bangalore – Jan 2008),

finding something passionate to do (project work with my class mate Nitin in college – 2003-04 and tonight with Ruby and Rails),

just bakkar (so many times in college and in NYC)

or maybe just driving the whole night (Cape Cod trip – Apr’2007)

Maybe you’ll have something passionately being thrust into you the whole night (no pun intended again, seriously) like in so many movies – you know what I mean. So why am I quoting movies and don’t I have an example from my life on this? Heh heh, Smarty pants, I am not gonna let you in on that!

You’ve got an exam and you dont know what the hell to do. I’ve been in this situation a lot of times but I am too un-motivated (when it comes to exams, or is it over-confidence?) to give up sleep over this. However you’ll see this often in hostels.

You’ve got an exam and you DO know what the hell to do, and you have already prepared thrice. But you can’t sleep – you need to revise at least 2 times more. I can not imagine why people do this – but I can understand (more like I understand an empirical formula) that they do! Maybe it’s striving for perfrection? My friends Dutta (and Debarshi and so many others from college) can explain this very well – what say Dutta?

The point is, you have to find something interesting to do. Or something bad enough (like a Moral Science paper in your engineering Course) Else it’s not worth it. Take my word for that. Anyway, the point is, you just gotta find “it”.

1. The smooth period: Upto your normal bed-time (between 1-3 for me) you’ll enjoy like hell. Knowing that you don’t have to sleep allows you to do what “it” is you are doing in a relaxed planned manner. As always, knowing how much time you have always helps in any activity right?

2. The dangerous period: This usually starts around 15-20 min after your normal sleep time. You feel more and more weary and wonder whether it’s worth staying up all night. This is the worst part of the night – but as you have more and more night-outs you start to enjoy this period too – knowing that if you overcome this one – you are done! It’s like a challenge.

Like tonight, it was 5 AM already – so I didn’t bother to sleep – One of the golden rules of a night out is that if you decide to have one, you cannot falter. If you do – the next day is hell. You feel weary the whole day.

However, there is a sort of cut-off time for this decision too – you will figure it out with experience. For me, the cut-off time to effect this decision (whether to give up and sleep) is around 330-4 AM.

If I sleep before this time , although I am already in the “Danger Zone” it’s likely that the next day will still turn out okay. However if you sleep past this point it’s highly unlikely that you’ll wake up in time or will be at even half your peak. I have seen people miss exams because they fell asleep in this period – so beware – this is really the most dangerous time of the night.

Then comes the best part:

1. The sunrise: The human body is tuned to feel less weary and fresher as soon as they see sunlight (okay things like “global-working-hours” and call-centers are striving hard to alter this. And they are successful to an extent too, right? But remember they are fighting against nature here. So let’s see).

Anyway this is the best part – look at the morning light outside and realize that you have done it! You feel much better now – a bit weary maybe. Take a shower and some nice breakfast – you are off man!

I sometimes feel more at my peak when I take a night out and I am feeling like today is one of them! So a blog to finish it off!

Post note: You know how everyone (from your Grand-Ma to your Vet) advices you eat regularly? 3 times a day, on time? And the same sort of people also advocate “fasting” – A day (or part of it, or maybe multiples of it) when you don’t eat anything. It’s supposed to help the body right? Why Islam advocates a month of fasting!

So why not a night out? The same folks advocate “regular sleep”. So why not break the routine once in a while and see if that works for you? Isn’t that the point of a “fast”?

For me it definitely works – nowadays I have a night out on an average every 45 days. Lets see – maybe I’ll have to tweak the frequency – but I do get the feeling that I am onto something here. Initially I used to feel weary – but with time I am getting better. Now I actually have better days just after a night out rather than a normal sleep day. (Maybe it’s like those instant shots of energy – but we do need them once in a while ha? And not sleeping is much better than taking those energy shots)

Maybe some day these people will see the benefits and start advocating “night-outs”

So here’s to my supposedly wonderfully productive day at work! And potentially some of yours too!!!

I was not a big fan of online shopping till recently – I needed to see and feel the product before buying it. Then I joined the world’s biggest e-tailer (and I have to say with pride that e-tailing is not the only thing Amazon is doing well – see wikipedia to know what I mean)… and that need to see and feel the products has magically disappeared. Oh, the employee discount helped – and did I mention I am a prime member now? (which means free 2-day shipping)

Anyway. I am moving to my new rented apartment tomorrow and went to Ikea today to get some stuff (Bed frames etc. TV stand, some furniture)… and figured out that it’s a time-consuming clumsily organized (or maybe I don’t have enough interest and/or intellect to SPEND at shopping. No pun intended. Oh, BTW, are you a typical gal? hmmm… I really did not mean any pun).

Another anyway… I am observing that I am digressing too much today (maybe it’s the shopping)… ooh there I go again…

Anyway anyway, so I figured that Ikea will take up-to 2 weeks to deliver the stuff to me. And the bed or the book shelve might be in like, umm, 72 pieces, which I have to install myself… So when Amazon does the same (I mean 72 piec-ed thingys that I have to install myself) why don’t I go for it (with a free 2 day shipping and discounts on everything?)

So yeah I decided to do that – I am like, 10% done now and am tired (I don’t know how you girls do this). So here I am taking a recreational break… Do check out my effort here – mind you, it’s ongoing.

Anyway. ummm I know I have said this enough times now – no more, I promise. So I made a list of things I think I need and started researching for the cheapest and the best (if there ever is such a thing) on Amazon. Of course Amazon’s “People who bought this also bought these…” does make my efforts longer and more interesting. Like I needed up checking at least 57 different types of bathroom floor mats.

(Ok I won’t say any more anyways right). So… Pretty soon I was checking adding unbelievable things into my shopping list. Like TPs – yes Toilet Papers. Online. One year ago I would not have believed myself.

I know that there are amazingly hilarious things you can buy at Amazon: like, Uranium Ore!!! But something absolutely made me laugh like mad – Comments about Toilet Papers. Yes people actually write reviews about TPs. Some people actually laugh while writing them (oh is that kinda like me? I am laughing while buying it – just one step away now )

Check out some – you’ll know what I mean… Lemme quote just one line: “Sure, this bath tissue isn’t going to be the softest you’ll ever find–but it does a great job”

Go and read them if you need a good hard laugh!!!

Ok it really does not rain that much here – but it’s overcast most of the time. And drizzling… yada yada yada… But statically it’s less than LA, NYC, Miami and most eastern-seaboard cities.

However – “RAIN” is a big part of of Seattle life (It’s not called Rainy City for nothing! That reminds me – it’s also called Emerald City – but I haven’t seen any lying around yet)…

Anyway so much so that our intranet has a full wiki devoted to jokes on Seattle and Rain (which is not a big surprize since the Amazon intranet, rather wiki, is full of, ummm, ANYTHING – from comparisons on Grocery Stores to Even-Horizons/Black-holes and to some really good tech material).

This page has a load of jokes – here are my top three:

3 You can apply the old Mt. Rainer forecasting guide.

1. If you can see Mt. Rainier it isn’t raining but it will be soon.
2. If you can’t see Mt. Rainer, it is raining, and if not on your head, it will be shortly!

(Mt. Rainier is a range of mountains to the SW of Seattle – there are 2 other ranges, Olympics and Cascades surrounding Seattle – hence the rain!!! Go read up on Seattle in wikipedia)

2 “I can’t believe it,” said the tourist. “I’ve been here an entire week and it’s done nothing but rain. When do you have summer here?”

“Well, that’s hard to say,” replied the local. “Last year, it was on a Wednesday.”

1 A newcomer to Seattle arrives on a rainy day. He gets up the next day and it’s raining. It also rains the day after that, and the day after that. He goes out to lunch and sees a young kid and asks out of despair, “Hey kid, does it ever stop raining around here?” The kid says, “How do I know? I’m only 6.”

Have you ever seen a grown-up man cry? I’ve seen myself a few times… But that never invokes the kind of emotion that I experienced today…

I was stuck in office and had almost forgotten about lunch. I noticed around 2 PM and since this-thing-I-was-doing was interesting enough, I thought about getting a quick soup from Specialty’s (it’s one of the 15+ cafe/restaurants near my office) – and when I am in a hurry and not very hungry, I go there… Nice thick soups for around $3-5.

Anyway, so I was just outside when I saw a beggar (it’s usual to see one in Seattle – and IMHO, more so in Seattle than in NYC). On an average, I usually see 1 beggar in a day (maybe because I travel back home around 9 or 10 at night? Maybe my opinion would have changed if I went home earlier, or if I was out around this time more regularly in NYC) It has become so regular that my instinct has been honed to murmur something like “I am only carrying cards – no cash” with a sad-smile and walk away. I won’t be lying if I say that I really don’t have any cash on me 99% of the time.

But this guy was different – most guys are used to such a reply and give a damn about it. This guy asked me again, “Please if you have any part of a dollar – even a penny” and I could see the pain or the need in his eyes… But I was walking away so fast – my brain could not catch up to my heart.

Once I got the soup I saw this guy again from the window – he was crying now – and I could see the pain in his eyes now again, only much worse. I checked my wallet but I really did not have any cash at all. And I had just paid for the soup with my card. I wanted to help him but did not know how… Anyway, I was still not so emotionally charged as I would be 2 minutes from then and so, started back to the office…

Just when I was about to enter through the door, I HEARD him cry… yes – he was crying loudly now… I felt so bad I stopped and looked back… I felt like giving him the soup I had with me… But before I realized he was already walking away.

Once in the elevator, I felt this sudden depressive emotion – man it was an awful feeling. I wish you never have to see that face or hear that cry/sob – of a grown man in real (emotional) pain.

I remember giving away $20 to a stranger in Jersey City one day – and earning a lot of flak from my friends… But I said it then, and I say it now, this guy looked like he needed the soup/$20 much more than I did.

I know (or at least, I perceive, like most of us) that most of the beggars are well-capable of acting. But what if this guy was not acting?

All this happened in a matter of 4-5 min, but left a lasting sad feeling in me. I know I cannot do anything for that man now but maybe putting this down in a blog will make me feel less guilty?

And a very un-important question – what the hell do I do with this soup now?

Came across a very nice feature of MySQL – thought to share it with you. Well actually, it is one of the main reasons why MySQL is succeeding – so not really an obscure nice feature at all!!! In fact, very well known and appreciated by the community…

(MySQL is a GNU Public licensed Database – and FREEly available. You can go for enterprise option and get support too. Recently Sun bought MySQL!!!)

Anyway, coming back to the point – it has a concept of a Pluggable Storages Engine. So when you write the DDL for creating the table, you specify which engine should be used to store the table – like so:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS MY_FUNKLY_TABLE ( MY_FUNKY_ID CHAR(4) NOT NULL, FUNKY_DESCRIPTION VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL, IS_IT_REALLY_FUNKY ENUM(‘Y’, ‘N’) DEFAULT ‘Y’,

PRIMARY KEY (MY_FUNKY_ID) ) ENGINE=InnoDB CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin ;

So what’s the deal? Well you can specify whether you want the table to be stored in memory or actually in storage; you can kinda tell what it’s used for – Archiving? Have BDB (BerkleyDB) type features!!! Different types of engines are MyISAM, InnoDB, BDB, Memory, Merge, Archive, Federated, Cluster/NDB, Other – read more about each type in the links given below…

Moreover, you can implement any engine (MyOwnEngine) and plug that into MySQL – cool ha?

The best part is a story I heard from someone recently – a table was taking up around 1.5 GB – after converting it to Archive engine, it became 47MB!!! A 32 times reduction in space!!!

Yeah yeah yeah – I agree it depends on what sorta data was there in the first place – but still 32 times (3200% to put it differently ) is a lot man!!!

Read more at: Wikipedia An article about this from MySQL