Be content with what you have.

A short story i felt like sharing.

I was jogging one day and i noticed a person in front of me, about 1/4 of mile. I could tell he was running a little slower than me and I thought, good, i shall try to catch him. I had about a mile to go my path before i needed to turn off. So i started running faster and faster. Every block, i was gaining on him just a little bit. After just a few minutes i was only about 100 yards behind him, so i really picked up the pace and push myself. You would have thought i was running in the last leg of London Olympic competition. I was determined to catch him. Finally, i did it! I caught and passed him by. On the inside i felt so good.

"I beat him" of course, he didn’t even know we were racing. After i passed him, i realized i had been so focused on competing against him that i had missed my turn. I had gone nearly six blocks past it. I had to turn around and go all back. Isn’t that what happens in life when we focus on competing with co-workers, neighbors, friends, family, trying to outdo them or trying to prove that we are more successful or more important? We spend our time and energy running after them and we miss out on our own paths to our God given destinies.

The problem with unhealthy competition is that its a never ending cycle.There will always be somebody ahead of you, someone with better job, nicer car, more money in the bank, more education, better behaved children, etc. But realize that "You can be the best that you can be, you are not competing with no one." Some people are insecure because they pay too much attention 2 what others are doing, where others are going, wearing driving. Take what God has given you, the height, weight personality. Dress well wear it proudly! You’ll be blessed by it. Stay focused and live a healthy life. There’s no competition in DESTINY, run your own RACE and wish others WELL!!!.”

 

Listen, not for a pre-determined answer, but for the sake of listening.

A small story, which might make the point of listening for the sake of listening, not for getting a per-determined answer.​

“ A teacher teaching Maths to seven-year-old Laiq asked him, "If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?"Within a few seconds Laiq replied confidently, "Four!"

The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer (three). She was disappointed. "Maybe the child did not listen properly," she thought. She repeated, "Laiq, listen carefully. If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you have?"
Laiq had seen the disappointment on his teacher’s face. He calculated again on his fingers. But within him he was also searching for the answer that will make the teacher happy. His search for the answer was not for the correct one, but the one that will make his teacher happy. This time hesitatingly he replied, "Four…"
The disappointment stayed on the teacher’s face.

She remembered that Laiq liked strawberries. She thought maybe he doesn’t like apples and that is making him loose focus. This time with an exaggerated excitement and twinkling in her eyes she asked, "If I give you one strawberry and one strawberry and one strawberry, then how many you will have?"
Seeing the teacher happy, young Laiq calculated on his fingers again. There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher. She wanted her new approach to succeed. With a hesitating smile young Laiq enquired, "Three?"
The teacher now had a victorious smile.

Her approach had succeeded. She wanted to congratulate herself. But one last thing remained. Once again she asked him, "Now if I give you o

​​
ne apple and one apple and one more apple how many will you have?"
Promptly Laiq answered, "Four!"
The teacher was aghast. "How Laiq, how?" she demanded in a little stern and irritated voice.
In a voice that was low and hesitating young Laiq replied, "Because I already have one apple in my bag."

"When someone gives you an answer that is different from what you expect don’t think they are wrong. There may be an angle that you have not understood at all. You will have to listen and understand, but never listen with a predetermined notion.”

 

Story to Success. One does not have anything but will to succeed.

​Story to Success. One does not have anything but will to succeed. This is truly a story, which if not shared, would be a shame.
​

The business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.

Suddenly an old man appeared before him.

“I can see that something is troubling you,” he said.

After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said,

“I believe I can help you.”

He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying,

“Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.”

Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!

“I can erase my money worries in an instant!”

He realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed check.

At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried.

“I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller.”

And she led the old man away by the arm.

The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.

Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his new found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

 

Parenting on unspoiling your child

A wow worth read. The Minimalist mom. The spending way she teaches her kids is totally insightful. I really liked the idea of 8 years and 8 $ per month. Simply Simple and easy to figure things out.

http://www.theminimalistmom.com/2012/07/unspoiledkids/
http://www.frugal-mama.com/2012/06/how-allowance-works-in-our-house-by-sofia-suardi-10-years/

 

Emergency / Distress Numbers

With the terbulent times of Karachi we are faced with, it is always nice to have some distress numbers handy with you in case an emergency occurs. Imagine,

• if you or your loved one is met with an accident, or
• faced with a abduction, or
• there is Fire Emergency,

you can at least call some numbers on a moments notice and notify the right authorities.

Nowadays everyone is having a smart phone with them, and it truly makes sense, if those numbers are in your Cell phone, in case you need them.

If you are like normal user, all the numbers mentioned below could be saved separately and when need occurs, one could search and dial those numbers. But won’t it be nice, if all these numbers are displayed under one name, be that “Distress numbers” or “Emergency Numbers” and all one has to do is search “Distress Number” or “Emergency Number” and then choose which place / purpose to dial. Be that a Hospital, Fire Brigade, Police, etcetera. See below for an example.

Example of Distress Numbers are displayed on one’s Smart Phone as a single contact

If you want to have those numbers in an arranged way, then do follow these procedures.

Download the VCF (V Card File) based on your phone type, or download all of them in Zip format.

• Gmail Emergency Contact VCF (Most suitable for Android Smart phones, and importing them in Gmail)
• Outlook Emergency Contact VCF (Most suitable for Symbion / Nokia Phones)
• Apple Emergency Contact VCF (Most suitable for Apple IPhones )
• Download all the above in Zip format
• NOTE: For Blackbery users, you have to try with all of the above three to see which one works, untill I test it out with some BB user. Then I will update this post.

The basic most painless way is to download the Gmail Format, (first one), download it, import it in your ( Synced Gmail, that Gmail account which is synced with your phone ) account from your PC. Once imported in Gmail, that contact will appear in your phone, when it goes online and synchs from Gmail.  Gmail support bi-directional sync.  Link to Importing VCF file in Gmail

Alternatively, if you prefer another route, you could download them and then import them using the procedure mentioned below according to your phone types.

• Iphone or use this link
• Black berry or use this link
• Android (For Androids, Gmail option is the best.) or use this link
• Nokia 

In case you do not have a smart phone, we have listed the numbers for your convenience. You can either input them manually or Google it. on how to import the VCF files listed above.

• AMAN AMB: 1021
• CHHIPA AMB: 1020
• EDHI AMB: 115
• Rescue CDGK: 1122
• Police: 15
• KESC: 118
• SSGC: 1199
• Fire Bridage: 16
• Karachi Water and Swerage: 1339
• Railways: 117
• PIA: 114
• CM House: 919
• Civil Hospital: 02199215742
• Jinnah Hospital: 02199223307
• Abbasi Hospital: 02133260400
• Liaqat Hospital: 111456456
• PTCL Inquiry: 1217
• PTCL Complain: 1218
• Bomb Disposal Squad: 02199212680
• CPLC: 02135682222
• City Warden: 02199244561
• Rangers: 1101

In other words, in the moment of distress, all you need is

1. to open your phone
2. search with the contact named “Emergency” / “Distress” or which ever name you have kept.
   If you have marked that contact as your Favourite, then it is more simpler.
3. Dial the desired contact by tapping on the desired number.

3 steps is all it takes. Quite handy ain’t it.

If all the import export procedures fail, do not panic. The idea is to have these numbers in your cell phone. One can also keep them individually, and by keeping the starting string set as “Distress / Emergency”, so that all the numbers are still visible when searching with “distress / emergency” string.

The basic idea is to have these distress numbers at a moments notice and to use them when needed. Keep them updated, keep them synched with Gmail.

PS: The numbers are current at the time of writing this post. I will try my best to update these number and in VCF file, if you join hands with me to list the distress services in the comments section.

In case you are having any problems, feel free to drop any comments for further feedback.

 

Managing Time :: Ahmed and Billo Concept

Wow. What an Article. I am re-blogging this Article on my Blog, since I have seen many Billos in my life, and I would like to give the credit where it is due.

Imagine two individuals:

Ahmed and Billoo. Ahmed is punctual. He is always on time. Whether it is an official meeting or a social event, he is always there on time. The best part is that even on informal settings he is on time.

In the office, people know that when Ahmed says that he will be returning to work at 2:20 pm, then it is 2:20 pm, not a minute more. For a social event like a marriage ceremony, if the invitation is for 9:00 pm, he will be there no matter how many people show up. Even at home, if he says that he will be coming in at 6:00 pm from work then that is it. His wife and children know that he will be there because that is how Ahmed is: punctual. Since Ahmed lives in a real world of changing situations, traffic jams, emergencies and mobile phones, all who know him, know that in the event of an extraordinary situation, Ahmed will inform of the concerned people of the situation and renegotiate his appointment.

Mr. Billoo, is exactly opposite to Ahmed. He feels that life should not be so strict. If he says that he will be coming at 2:00 pm then in his mind, this means somewhere between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm. He believes that if one makes it to the meeting then that should be appreciated. Life is too imperfect to allow people to be on time. And if he is running late for work or a social event then people should be intelligent enough to realize that this is the norm of the world and should guess that something must have come up to cause a delay. And yes, on the home front he believes that his wife and children should be considerate enough to also understand that when he says that he will be coming at 6:00 pm then this means that it could be anywhere between 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm. He believes that happy go lucky lifestyle is the way to go.

Who would you like to work for, hire or marry?

Now here is a question that I would like you to answer honestly: if all other attributes were the same—education, competence, looks etc—and you had the choice of working for, hiring or marrying either Ahmed or Billoo (or for that matter Aisha or Billan—the feminine of Billoo), who would you choose? Close your eyes, imagine the personalities and answer.

I can assure you that you would choose Ahmed. If I were to ask you why? You would give me many reasons but the most important would be that Ahmed is predictable. You can count on him. He is dependable.

A few months ago, in a workshop in Abu Dhabi I asked the participants to tell me what attributes come to mind about a person who is never on time as opposed to someone who is always on time. Here are the attributes that the group came up with:

Ahmed	Billoo
Dependable	Undependable
Trustworthy	Irresponsible
Responsible	Careless
Organized	Inconsiderate towards others
Respectable towards others

The interesting thing is that this may be true or it may not be true but the image that this behavior creates is the above and you will agree how damaging such an image would be.

Who would you like to be?

This is your choice. If you say that you would like to be Ahmed then we are on the same page and if you feel that you would like to be Billoo then I would recommend that you should reconsider. Please check with people around you: friends, colleagues and family members and ask them as to what they think of someone like Ahmed and Billoo. You will be amazed at the responses that you would get and I have great hope that these responses may help you to change your perception.

The art of never being late

Ahmed and people like him follow the art of never being late and it is very simple. It has two elements:

Correct time estimation

The first is to correctly estimate the time for all activities. Of course, we can’t become too scientific in this but a good guess is what we are looking at. So if this is traveling somewhere then how much time it would take from the beginning to the end. Similarly, if this is writing a report or working on a project then how long will it take?

All it takes is to sit down and calculate the steps that an activity takes and individually calculate the time for each step and then add it up; the more complex the activity is, the more steps you should divide the task into.

For example if you are going to catch a flight that takes off at 5:30 pm? Work backwards from the time that you plan to be at the airport and estimate the time that it requires you to be ready and travel to the airport. This will look like this:

Activity	Estimated Time	Time
Flight time		5:30 pm
Arrive at the airport		4:00 pm
Travel to the airport	30 minutes	3:30 pm
Taking the luggage from the home and loading up the car and taking the car out of the garage.	10 minutes	3:20 pm
Shower and getting ready	20 minutes	3:00 pm
Packing up	20 minutes	2:40 pm

The interesting thing about breaking up an activity is that you would get a realistic picture. For you to catch a flight at 5:30 pm, you would need to start moving at 2:40 pm.

Now go ahead and apply the same concept to other activities in your life.

Keeping a buffer

I define a buffer as the additional time kept into an activity that accounts for delays that can be anticipated. For example in the above example, we can have traffic delays or if you have an old car which develops a flat tire once in a while then you should keep a buffer. The length of the buffer differs from situation to situation. For example in the above case you may decide to keep a 15 minutes buffer. This means that you need to start moving at 2:25 pm and not 2:40 pm.

Welcome to Ahmed-hood

So if you can follow the above two steps, i.e. proper time estimation and keeping a buffer, I welcome you to the life of punctuality, where people consider you trustworthy and dependable. A life which is much less stressed and more structured.

Say no to billooism!

via Envision Issue: January 2013-Timelenders.

 

Change mysql schema and table collation

I was working performancing the Mysql DB and realized that some of my tables needed to be changed to UTF 8 from Latin. Here is the quick script to changing the Mysql schemas and Mysql table.

 ALTER DATABASE `Database_name` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci 

 ALTER TABLE `table_name` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci 

Just by changing the Schema does not changes all the tables in it. Individual tables need to be change. All the table, until explicitly told, will be made in the new collation / character set.

[category Mysql, DbAdmin]