blog-o-mania

blog orkut here and a facebook there.
here a youtube, there a blog everywhere a blog orkut facebook youtube......

I'm simply amazed at the surge in not just blogging....but orkut/Facebook the diff means of networking. A year back, when I was still new to the blogging world, being a silent visitor to a couple of blog sites. I happened to mail a friend whom I had no contact for the past year or 2. So general enquiries led to what have you been upto the past year/would you care to share some pics. The response it evoked was...."Its all there in my blogsite xyz." surprise surprise I didnt know where to look for information :-). It was like a whole generation gone past suddenly.

Rewind 20 years back.."Nobody has time to write(I mean pen and paper), when you are just a
phone call away".
10 years back "Nobody has time to call, when you can simply mail/instant message/SMS"
present --> "why bother emailing/messaging when you could more efficiently nerwork through
Facebook/just leave a blog for the whole world to read".

Why did I think of posting this. Its all been there for the past few years, nothing new there. What is new, is the dimension/spin added by this to - Politics, media, sports you name it.

For instance
- On Facebook, BO has 1,000,400 supporters while JM has 147,000.
Just wondering...can Facebook and like technologies be a difference maker in the broader general election?

- HC is said to have lost a few supporters, thanks to some of the Youtube ads misfiring.

- Back in India, a lot of the top brass of B'wood, have blogs as a way of reaching out to the masses/promoting
their movies/lashing out at their peers. It is become the latest fad.

Till recently I used to think of these as a mere hobby/timepass. But no, they can mean serious business to some. While on the topic of blogging....I never thought I would get so hooked(taken hook,line and sinker
if you may) to it. But I have had the best time blogging, and hope to continue doing so.

One nation in need of a vacation

As my own vacation to India looms around the corner, this article I was reading in VIA mag couldn't have come at a better time.

Its going to be close to 3 years since I last took a long vacation. I think the longer the gap between your vacations, the more the depression sets in and more the craving increases to get as far away as possible. That may be the reason I'm litrally counting days to jet set and be as far away as possible from my home/work/and familiar surroundings. Escapism, you may say. but hey everybody needs it!!

I have always been appalled at the paltry 15-20 days of vacation time offered here in the US. (we still don't take that little vacation we are offered) Acc. to the article on an avg we use only 11 days of the annual allotment.

Even Japanese have an avg of 17.5 per year. The french who gave us the word leisure - get 36 days and take 94 percent of them. In England you get 24 days vacation time.
Acc. to the researchers at NYSU, guys who took annual vacations reduced their risk of death due to heart disease by 30 percent. And women who vacation at least twice a year are less depressed than women who vacation every year. and why wouldn't they be. Studies have also shown that Americans would be more productive with the increased time off. In fact now some companies are mandating that their employees take the annual vacation.

I guess the article made a strong case. i'm def. going to stick to once in 2years trip to India and every other year in between plan a vacation close by.

In short it is not just our right to annually abdicate duty. Its our duty.

Gas Prices!!

Birthday blues??

Can you blame me if I have one!! Strange but true, somehow once you hit the magic number 30 you suddenly feel like a million years old and you actually want people to forget ur Bday!!I'm long gone, past the phase when people ask me "what are your Bday plans" and I actually have one.

2 years hence, I'm a little more saner and wiser today to realise it is just a number. I was attaching way too much importance to it. In fact I don't feel a day older than I was a year or 2 back.

Thankfully it is not hitting me so hard :-) In fact I'm looking forward to cutting the Bday cake with the kiddos and cherishing the great moments that this past year has offered and looking forward to making new memories. I was already in a super-duper mood thanks to the cutesy cards and Happy Bday singing in the morning courtesy hubby/kids/mil/fil/mom/bro etc. You get the picture. Needless to say, I'm grinning from ear to ear typing this blog.