Bottoms Up

It is devastating to see damages of Katrina. It reminds me of the Tsunami that hit us here in India and shattered lives, people are still coping with the damage. We learnt a couple of things, reacting to it. When you are contributing to the Katrina Relief, it is very important how we respond sensibly than emotionally.

Choose credible organizations: American Red Cross, Salvation Army, .. complete list is available on MSNBC site, be careful about vultures preying on your generosity.

Donations: Make donation in CASH unless these Relief organization request for materials.

Just by gut feel a few groups might collect blankets, clothes, and packed food items for the relief victims. It is very hard to transport, preserve, and distribute. Unless you are really close to the place and part of the distribution / relief team.

Update information in CNN Safe List + Craigslist Lost and Found : Update information that you are safe or if you are looking for someone. A Katrina Web Project is also available for victims to touch base with their loved ones.

Remember “this too shall come to pass…… “

I was thinking about Dress Code and Uniforms after reading Seth Godin’s Blog on uniforms. Dress Code, is it really required for a work place. Does it really influence the way you work or think. Does it really improve your productivity. Oh.. I got this great idea because I was wearing this blue tie and chinese cotton shirt. I am not sure….

Maybe I am wrong, maybe it does make an impact when you visit clients or more in the services industry. Working for a product development company most of the time we spend in our office. The climate is full of friends and casual environment, I feel that I am more productive when I dressed comfortable in my jeans and t-shirts.

We develop database migration and search products, searching for information on that I accidentally hit upon Burleson Consulting. They are one of top consultants for Oracle. I guess they are really specific about their dress code. Check out their section about Dress Code for Men and Women.

Let me throw a couple of lines that will force you go there and read their complete stuff.

Dress Code for Men

….. Protruding nasal hair is prohibited…. read more

A few example snaps of how MEN should NOT turn upto work

Dress Code for Women

You should always shave legs (if wearing skirts) and exposed armpits………more


A few example snaps of how WOMEN should NOT turn upto work

Finally the author has a cool note stating only clients define dress code. At head quarters, you can be what you are….

!!!!!!!!!

Earlier

It was ok for us to wait for web pages to load
It was normal to have heavy webpages with images and asking the user to wait
It was considered cool to play a flash intro before actually starting on the webpage contents
It was understandable that after you purchase a software you allow two weeks for the product to be shipped.
It was normal for Applications to say.. not available due to maintainence….

Now these things are stone age. Still a lot of companies only ship software in boxes…. I can safely say that most smart applications are easily downloable. It is the bloatware that comes in a carton boxes and take weeks to be shipped.

Now you are doomed if you say you are closed for maintainence, or imagine what will happen if google.com or yahoo.com was closed for maintainence for just a day.

Still a few people get away with “Not available under maintainence” card.

Check out HDFC Bank’s message

Round the Clock —and also showing services cannot be accessed.

If that seems bad check this out… 24 hrs to register…..

Isn’t that just too much. “Wait for 24 hrs” is too costly a word to be used today.