Buying startups is not really supporting startups… It’s the exact opposite!
Just saying…
Blog
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Stopping a startup
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Of coincidences…
Was browsing through my feed on Facebook today, and this happened!
I don’t personally believe in coincidences but this is interesting đ
One illustration is with Ram, and the other one a devotee in front of Shiv!
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Investments…
There is one thing that I haven’t yet understood is when is someone really upset or just saying it assertively here in Australia. Its confusing. There are times when in a meeting folks would be after each other’s lives, and right after the meeting are best friends forever! đ I am learning for sure!
Anyway.. So I was browsing for mattresses last week, and walked past this very interesting high volume conversation đ I would call it conversation because it did seem that the volumes were high, and a bit of assertiveness to it, but this was more of an advise which was being passed on!
A Harvey Norman employee (must be atleast 70, because he did look old, and not many 60+ plus folks look that old here), another one in his 50s, and a third one in his 20s were in the middle of a discussion. And the old man was saying out loud to the youngest one that “his generation does not invest well! This generation does not invest in themselves, but in more materialistic needs! How you look, how the world sees you, what you have, and so on.. Instead of how you would be when you are old, how your life would be when you have lived it enough“, and so on!I am not 100% of how true it is for the folks in their 20s, but I am sure that people at my age group (35-40) are lost at this concept of investing in ourselves! Not all of us, but most of us! We don’t eat well, we don’t work well! We are all after something, which will probably wouldn’t matter in the long run!
Investing in peace, and happiness, and life comes way lower in our priorities! We tend to put an investment in the house, buying a car, and such before the things that matter!
Can this change? May be! Maybe not…
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Decluttered – Zen Habits by Leo Babauta
I got this in the email today, and is definitely doable and worth sharing further…
Some rules/guidelines to declutter!
- Get yourself organized at the start and end of a day. As you start your work day, write down your 3 Most Important Tasks (MITs). Write down a handful of other things youâd like to do today as well. Clear your desk, get things in order. At the end of each day, tidy things up, check off your list, maybe even get things ready for tomorrow.
- When you get up from your desk, put one thing away. Whenever you get up for a glass of water, to go to the bathroom, to take a break ⌠pick up something off your desk and put it away. If your desk is clear, look for something nearby.
- When youâre done eating, wash your bowl. This is self-explanatory. Mindfully wash your dishes instead of leaving them in the sink. If there are other dishes in the sink, wash a few of them too.
- Wipe down the sink when you use it. Whenever you wash your hands or brush your teeth in the bathroom, wipe down the sink so itâs clean. Do the same in the kitchen sink. Clear away a few things around the sink too if you can.
- When you walk through a room, find one thing to put away. If youâre going from your bedroom to the living room, find one thing during that trip to put away. You donât have to get stuck in putting everything away, just one thing.
- When you take off a piece of clothing, put it away. When you shower or change clothes, instead of leaving them on the floor or on a piece of furniture, put the clothes away or in a hamper. Look for a few other clothes to put away too if there are more lying around.
- Keep flat surfaces clear. Your tables, counters, desks, floors ⌠keep them clear. If thereâs a ton of clutter there now, see the rule below about decluttering on Saturdays. But if itâs doable, just start clearing whatever is on the floor (except furniture and the like). When you walk by the kitchen counter, look for things other than oft-used appliances to put away.
- At the end of the work day, file stuff. If you still use papers, file them at the end of the day. If you are all digital, clear your computer desktop and put files where they belong.
- Deal with an email instead of putting it off. When you open an email, give it the space to deal with it immediately. Read it, reply, take action, or archive it. Or put it on your to-do list for later if itâs a big task. Donât just constantly open emails without handling them.
- Work to only having 3 emails in your inbox. Slowly clear away the hundreds or thousands of emails in your inbox. Archive or delete them, put a handful in a to-do folder, file others into informational folders, unsubscribe from newsletters.
- Put non-essential items you want to buy on a 30-day list. Create a 30-day list, and whenever you want to buy something thatâs not absolutely essential (other than groceries, cleaning supplies, toiletries), put it on the list with the date you added it. Then donât allow yourself to buy anything until itâs been on the list for 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, see if you still want it before buying.
- Put your clothes in a different closet or box, and only take out what you need. Move all your clothes to a closet in an unused room if you have one, or put them in a box or two. Only remove the clothes you really need to wear. After a month of doing this, youâll see what clothes you can consider donating.
- Declutter on Saturdays. Every Saturday morning, spend an hour or two (or half a day) decluttering one area.
- One in, two out. When you bring something new in your life (buy something online, get a gift), get rid of two other similar things. For example, if you buy a pair of shoes, donate two other pairs. In this way, youâll 1) think more about each thing you buy, and 2) slowly have fewer and fewer possessions. Eventually youâll want to switch to a âone in, one outâ rule when you think your possessions are at a good level.
- Limit how many things you have. Consider limiting yourself to 30 pieces of clothing, or 30 books, or something like that. Get rid of everything else, donât allow yourself to go beyond the limit. The individual limit you set is up to you, whatever feels slightly uncomfortable is good.
- At the end of each month, clear out computer clutter. Self-explanatory. Back things up!
- Every three months, purge. Also self-explanatory. Spend a weekend purging all your unneeded belongings.
This is originally published on : Zen Habits (Must read and subscribe in my humble opinion)
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Office Desk – POCO
I was in the market to buy an office desk for myself for a while now… Though Gumtree is usually my go-to website to find things that I need and I don’t, this time around I couldn’t really make up my mind for a few reasons..
- I was not sure of the age of a lot of tables advertised on Gumtree
- I did not want plastic/metal or glass tables
- The wood tables were very expensive even on Gumtree
- I would need to rent a van to get one home, as most of these were not flatpacked anymore (Which is how new ones can be picked up), and hence additional cost for transport
I finally decided to buy a new one from POCO… A wood finish Monte Office Desk, originally priced at $199, however available for $120 till stocks lasted, and I managed to get a further $25 off by signing up for the membership… So final price $95, which isn’t too bad considering all decent office desks on Gumtree were also in the same range.
Another advantage with POCO was that they let you use their van for free, for the first one hour if your purchase does not fit into the car. Mine did, as it was flat packed, and I was able to fit it in by laying the rear seat flat… Getting the 48kg pack from my garage to the the 2nd floor apartment is a whole different story, but I managed it alone in about 15 minutes without killing myself or breaking any bones or rupturing any muscles in the process!
The box stayed near the door because I was too lazy to open it and assemble (which I assumed would be amazingly simple) because I was told that all the tools required (basically a hex-key) are inside the packing! Also that this was hard wood and hence this heavy (NO its not wood, it just has a wood finish). I finally opened it a few days ago, and took out a 10 page manual with all the assembly instructions, a time estimate of 2 hours, and that I need a few tools like a measuring tape, a hammer, and a Philips screwdriver to assemble. Now thankfully I had everything but the hammer, but think of someone who would buy this based on the salesman’s comment! Its practically lying to the customer!
I took out all the pieces, sorted them along with the screws etc, and got to work… About 2.5 hours later the desk was ready for use! First I messed up with some screws for the top, and also realised that I had put in the drawers wrong way during the final assembly. This is a good desk, and I would recommend it to someone who is looking for a new office or working desk đ
However I would still want Poco to stick a note about an estimated assembly time, and the tools needed next to all display furniture in the showroom. Also the weight of boxes (I know they don’t do this because it would scare away customers, but still)
Photos below (Oh and because I didn’t have a hammer handy, a plumbing wrench was used)

Its usually good to separate out these things from the packet, and then pick up only what you need for a step while doing DIY projects 



Yup.. that Wrench did help đ 
My little helper giving it the final touches đ and assembly instructions on top 
There we go! All set! -
Living in Sydney – NSW Government
I am a subscriber to Business Insider Australia, and keep getting these wonderful “10 things you need to know this morning” emails! Love them… In yesterday’s email, there was a link to details of a document published by NSW government on various parts of Sydney… Attaching it here for my reference, and for the benefit of anyone who’d like to take a note…

Find the detailed article here.
Image in the post from : Business Insider Australia‘s post
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I fear small talk!
I really do! I have no idea what to do when I have do small talk! The self help articles make sense, but its not for me! I can only talk sense, and not small!Why don’t I like it? Well…
- It doesn’t make any sense
- Specially when you are talking to someone you know for a while, and all you two can do is small talk! I’d rather waste my time somewhere else
- Its usually meaningless
- It doesn’t tell me anything about the person I am talking to, or anything about me to the person I am trying to talk to
- Its more like an obligation, than a connection
- Not that every conversation needs to have a connection, but in my opinion there should be something less shallow in a conversation
- I feel awkward in small talk
- I don’t know when or how to finish small talk and move on
- There is too much of silence when I practice small talk
- I SUCK at small talk, but that’s obviously already very clear
and this also makes me realise that I love conversations.. Conversations that can talk hours, and days and weeks! and you can then pause, and begin where you left! and I am just thankful that I have friends who I can get into conversations with!
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Christmas and 48 degrees C
I just can’t get my head around it! Missing Milwaukee and London like crazy :/
