You on Google!

Ever tried googling your name?
I know the answer…Yes!
I do it frequently too.
In 2005 when i used to google my name as a key word,i was expecting some where or the other i could find something that’s related to me on these millions of pages of web( look how dumb i was,without a web page or any major profile of me on the web how could i find me?)

But my search has’nt ended there.
Years passed by and i have so many profiles on web with all the social networking sites and  google search almost showed each one of them when i searched with my name.
I have a screenshot of my previous Youtube channel that got pulled down for infringement (That’s quite a big and irrelevant story for now) here.This channel was quite popular too when it was up.

Check out the Stats.(Click to enlarge)

Now i have my Blog on the top of google search with my name as a query
Coming to the actual point why i am talking about this is…
Imagine if you could find a Dream Job Through Google Search? Yes It’s true!
Check out the complete story..

Meet Alec Brownstein, senior copywriter at creative advertising shop Young & Rubicam (Y&R) New York. Last summer, Alec was just another tired, 28-year-old copywriter at a large international ad agency who wanted nothing more than to work at “a really creative shop for really creative [creative directors].”
While Googling his favorite creative directors last summer, Brownstein noticed that there were no sponsored links attached to their names. Since Brownstein Googles himself “embarassingly frequently,” he assumed that the creative directors did so as well, and thus he decided to purchase their names on Google AdWords.
“Everybody Googles themselves,” Brownstein explained. “Even if they don’t admit it. I wanted to invade that secret, egotistical moment when [the creative directors I admired] were most vulnerable.”

Since Brownstein was the only person bidding on the names of the five creative directors he most admired, he was able to get the top search spots for a mere 15 cents per click. Whenever someone ran a search for one of the creative directors’ names, the following message appeared at the top of the page: “Hey, [creative director’s name]: Goooogling [sic] yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too” with a link to Brownstein’s website, alecbrownstein.com.
Over the next couple of months, Brownstein received calls from all but one of the creative directors whose names he had purchased. And finally, at the end of the year, he received a job offer from two: Scott Virtrone and Ian Reichenthal of Y&R New York.
The whole campaign cost him $6.
But the rewards for Brownstein’s creativity haven’t ended there. He has also received awards in the self-promotion category at two major advertising awards shows, The One Show and The Clios.
We asked Brownstein if he has any advice for others trying to land their dream jobs via Internet marketing. “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there in an interesting way,” he said. “The people who you want to work for can’t hire you any less than they already are. So shoot for the moon.”
We couldn’t agree more with his advice. What do you think of Brownstein’s story? Have you or anyone you know used online marketing to land yourself a job?
Yeah! let’s give it a try.
That’s all folks…For now.

Courtesy : MASHABLE

Love Actually.

With Valentine’s day round the corner,my brain was filled with several questions about  LOVE like

• What is love actually?
• Does love ask for selfishness/sacrifice?
• Am i truly in love with the person whom i think i am in love with?

Looking for the answers,the first thing that came to my mind was to watch some romantic-love story movies.
So, i started with my first question – What is love actually?
What’s better than watching a movie with the same title –“LOVE ACTUALLY”.
Few minutes in to the movie i realized that i already saw this movie but not with these set of actors.It was so tiring job to watch several couples with their share of problems in a single movie.
It took me few hours to recollect that the movie was Salaam-e-Ishq.It was almost a rip-off of Love Actually but was horribly made with a length of almost 216 min’s,can you believe that ?
This made me to reconsider my idea of watching a movie to understand what love actually is.
So i dropped that idea and got to work,but the questions are still haunting me.
Hope i find these answers in coming days…
Wish you all a Happy Valentines Day.

Las Vegas – The City that never sleeps!

Ok folks,here i am again after a week long hibernation…ooops! vacation!!
Had a great weekend with friends at Vegas and Grand Canyon.Though it was my second visit to Vegas,this city never stops to fascinate you.I had 3 full days(actually nights) to spend at Vegas and wish i had more time (not to loose more money) to enjoy!.Still can’t forget the money i lost in poker,the thrill of the rides at Stratosphere,the fountain show at The Bellagio and The Volcano eruption at The Mirage!
   
While checking out from the hotel, a middle aged couple got on to the lift along with us and the lady started pressing all the buttons in the lift starting from Floor 23 to 1, the husband tried to stop her by saying “everyone on the lift are going to kick you out!”.She replied ”i don’t want to leave Vegas and i am ready  get my self kicked out rather than leaving Vegas!”
That’s the magic of Vegas!!
What i like in this city is the never ending night life,especially the fully packed night clubs and what i hate is the people standing on the streets distributing the “Girls to your room” pamphlets to everyone including kids!
It was last December when i visited Grand canyon and i was disappointed to see it covered with snow!This time i was quite happy to see it with out any snow.It once again proves that  whatever architectural wonders human develop ,cannot beat the Nature’s own Architectural skills!!

By the way Firefox has turned 5,Take some time to wish the best browser ever a very Happy Birthday!!  HERE

Last page of my Notebook.

Miss those doodles in a boring lecture,

Love the moment getting caught drawing our fat,bald chemistry professor,

Still remember the love letters i practiced,

Can still smile to the jokes we shared,

Can’t forget the weird poems i wrote,

You were the one who made it all – “Beloved last page of my notebook”.

Thank you for being with me for so long,sharing my feelings!

Lucky day..

Like always,bored to go for work i started the day lazily and expected my day to be like my mood(real bad!).
I was asking a lady and gentleman sitting at the restaurant where i work if the food was good,the gentleman replied he loved the food and he has been eating Indian food for almost 20-25 years and he loved the food very much.So,i asked if he lived in Fremont ( place i am located ),The lady interrupted and said “ He is the mayor of Fremont”
Was i dreaming? I am so ignorant that i even couldn’t recognize the mayor of my city.
There has been a talk among us for half an hour about local developments and he was quite friendly to give his Business card,i was quite surprised how down to earth he was! The lady (Irene Koehler) was sweet enough to take a picture of me along with mayor!!
What surprised me was there are no body guards or the so called security measures like in India to them..Why is it so ??
Signing Off..
Andy

Back Again..

Has been real busy for the past 20 days,actually i took an intended break from blogging!!
yes, you read it right.
Creative writing was too difficult a job for me.so i went back to reading some stuff about it…and now that i have gained some confidence to get back at blogging,i have decided to blog seriously and regularly..
Hope everything goes on smoothly….i.e., i don’t keep on eating your brains LoL!

Journey with a genius!

image by my friend shailesh

I can’t  remember the day(i was only 8 then),but it was in March 1992 the first time i heard
the track Roja Janeman (of course in Telugu) on Radio! it instantly gave me goose bumps,
was it because it was the first time ever in my life that a song caught me instantly?i was too
young to think about raga’s or the so called classical music.Music those days were only on
cassettes and i could not even afford to buy one and my parents were least interested about
music too..here comes the real drama – on my way to school,located a few lanes from my
house there used to be several hoardings and stickers of various new movies playing at theaters
in my city.i used to stare at them each day to see if i could find a picture of the genius who scored
music for that song,much to my disappointment i could not find a picture but got the name
of him – A R RAHMAN.

Few days later my cousins were talking about a movie they watched last night,it was ROJA.What
i heard from them was that the movie was a masterpiece and the music is excellent,But much to my
surprise Choti si Asha became more popular.i asked if they could take me to the movie with
them, they said that their pocket money is over! Disappointed and frustrated, i kept on thinking of
this song which was giving me sleepless nights.

Days,months and years passed by and i was in my 6th Standard,heard my parents talking about a
film that is making a lot of controversies called BOMBAY.I was too young to understand the
controversies related to it,but this time i was lucky enough to get an original audio cassette of the
film which i actually borrowed from my uncle.I started playing the tracks on my 5 year old Panasonic
cassette player and there comes the magic of Rahman!! i was awestruck and could not believe my
ears..a soothing flute theme that was making my mind fill with energy and happiness – BOMBAY 
THEME( this remains my all-time favorite).That is exactly when i became a fan of ARR.

                                                                   to be continued……..                         

Google Voice

Whoohoo!! I have got an invitation to try the new voice service from Google called
as Google Voice
Google has been coming up with so many great products that even the major giants
in the market like Microsoft could not think of!!

Google Voice is a free Internet service that uses VoIP technology to link phone numbers together.
Grand Central was re-launched as Google Voice on March 11, 2009 with new features, including
\voicemail transcriptions and SMS managing. Users of Google Voice are able to select a single U.S.
phone number, from various area codes. When a Google Number is called, any or all of the user’s
phones may be set to ring. Which phone(s) ring can be set based on the calling number, based on
contact group, and/or based on time of day. The service includes various additional features, like
centralized voicemail and indexable, automated voicemail transcription, accessible by PC or phone.
Coming to the mobile version of it  Google made apps for Android, iPhone and Blackberry.But apple rejected the Google voice app claiming that it obstructs their principles.Though an user of iPhone, one
reason why i hate the apple is it’s policies.Though apple claims that actually it was at&t  that
wanted to remove the app from the app store showing it violates the exclusivity policy of at&t.
Jail-breaking is the best thing i have ever done in my life.GV Mobile-an Cydia app that replaces the
official Google voice app on iPhone has the same functionality.Just get on to cydia and search for
GV Mobile!!
Enjoy using Google Voice and if u don’t have one try to get an invitation a HERE

Introspection..

Sitting at Starbucks with my
favourite Black Coffee to pass the two hour break that i get at work,started
thinking what i learned in the last 3 years in United States.
After an hour of introspection , i analyzed few things what Indian students
who come to study abroad do not seem to understand.
We ( including me & excluding the wise) tend to mingle and get along with people from our
home country and stay away from the rest of the fellow students!
We are missing the point that they(or similar) are the people with whom we
are going to work in future.Befriending them only helps us in learning
about their culture,their thinking style,most of all increasing your personal
skills!
Graduating from a School where most of the students are either American/Chinese/Indian
i could hardly remember the names of more than 2 students who are not
Indians(you guessed it right both are beautiful girls ) , today i see an oppurtunity lost.

Couples Retreat – Official Music

Academy Award-winning composer and internationally renowned musician
A.R. Rahman makes his first foray into composing music for an American comedy
feature film with Universal Pictures’ forthcoming romantic comedy, Couples Retreat.
The soundtrack will be released via Relativity Media digitally on October 6, 2009, and
in all retail outlets nationwide on October 13, 2009.

For Couples Retreat, A.R. Rahman has conjured up the sounds of a tropical island oasis
fusing the laid-back rhythms of island music along with his gift for creating golden melodies.
The opportunity to work on Couples Retreat was a welcome challenge for Rahman who
created a score that complements the film’s light-hearted tone with just a hint of his
signature “Indian” sound.

“”There are so many musical avenues to be explored,” says Rahman. “I’ve wanted to
try new things and for a long time and had hoped to have the opportunity to venture
into American comedy. This film presented a lot of creative challenges and was deeply
rewarding to be apart of. “