Office Acronym's

I could not restrain myself, from putting this up...

An acronym thats used most commonly at our office is 'OOO' which stands for Out Of Office.
This is used across at all levels, when person leaves office during ''official working time'', which is 9 AM to 6 PM.
A mail is sent to all the concerned, with 'OOO' in the subject and an 'eom' (End of Message).

A few samples
OOO - after 1pm today - REACHABLE ON MOBILE (eom)
OOO after 5.00 PM today (EOM)
OOO for an hour and will be back to office - EOM
OOO from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM -- Reachable on Mobile ----- EOM
OOO from 3:00 PM today
OOO on 03/08/2007 and 03/09/2007.

Now you get the concept ???
This 'OOO' by itself sounds funny, and two of my crazy friends added to it....

OOO - Out of office (Sounds sensible ??? )
OOS - Out of seat (Alright)
OOSFL - Out of seat for a long time (Now thats going too much)
OOSFA - Out of seat for ages (Whoa !!! )
OOP - Out of project (reading fwds, wasting time) (Hee Hee Hee !!!)
OOW - Out of work (project completed, sitting pretty trying to spend time) (Isnt that nice??)
OOWWC - Out of work warming chair (Aaah Bliss !!)
OOSBM - Out of seat, bothering Manager !!! (LOL)
OFL - Out for Lunch (Nice)
OOM - Out Of Mind (Thats whats happens sometimes, right!!)
OTHO - Out tearing hair out (Rolling On the Floor Laughing)
OOO - NCB - Out of Office - Not Coming Back (:D)
OOOP - Out of Office Partying (Hehehe .. Thats welcome !!)

Dressing Up - Is it for Yourself or for the Others?

One day, at office we had quite a discussion on whether we dress up for ourselves or we dress up for others. My say was that - its for ourselves. We feel good about ourselves if we dress well. Three of my collegues / friends / neighborhood cubicle dwellers- were of the opinion that it was for the others. They even came up with '' Eat for Yourself and Dress for Others''. Well i still differ.
You dress up to feel good about yourself. Who would'nt like compliments from someone?
Reminded me of one incident...
It was Oct 18, 2006. It was my birthday. I was wearing a Calcutta cotton saree, and i thought i looked good. That morning, i still remember, George and me had an argument. It all started with a statement, that he would not be able to pick me up in the evening. Then we used to live with my in laws, and their house was quite a distance from my office. On my Birthday, the thought of bargaining rates with an autorickshaw driver in the evening and so on, depressed me so much.
He was dropping me at office, by bike. We stopped at a signal, next to an autorickshaw, when a lady (I guess an office goer) from inside looked up at me and said ''You are looking very nice''. I was shocked, because in India,its unlikely that a stranger compliments you. That person, whom i would not recognize the next time i see her, lifted up my spirit and i felt so good about my self. She made my day !!
Actually in the evening, George did come to pick me up :-)

Family - Pictures - George, Anooja, Tarun

The Family

Me

Tarun
Fav Photo 1
Fav Photo 2
Fav Photo 3

Weight Worries

Hii Anooja… Uve gained so much weight
You look like an aunty
You need to exercise
You need to loose weight
Hey can you not go on a diet
You can end up with diabetes and other problems
Just imagine, at this rate how you would look in another few years
Are you second time pregnant?
Your face is nice, but loose some weight, would make you look nice
Loosing weight would boost your confidence
Your feet will not be able to take the weight
Loose weight, you will feel good about it
Hey you know what, only fat people can make jokes about themselves on their fat.. and laugh, and that means they are not confident..
No mam we dont have the size.(and a stupid grin)..(This happens only when i go out to shop with my husband, George)
At a school friend's wedding - whom i had not seen for 10 years, my ''friend'' the bride, at the reception '' Hey you have gained so much weight, you look very auntish '' (in presence of George)
I am fed up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May be i am just finding excuses
I work 9 hours + a day, run a house, have a little fellow who is 2 yrs and 3 monthsI just cant seem to have the time
I need to sleep too...

No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office - George Bernard Shaw

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake-Author Unknown

If nature had intended our skeletons to be visible it would have put them on the outside of our bodies. ~Elmer Rice

I keep trying to lose weight... but it keeps finding me! ~Author Unknown

I'm allergic to food. Every time I eat it breaks out into fat. ~Jennifer Greene Duncan

You can't lose weight by talking about it. You have to keep your mouth shut. ~Author Unknown

Dieting is not a piece of cake. ~Author Unknown

Don't go out of your weigh to please anyone but yourself. ~Author Unknown

Toys and Safety

I happened to read an article on children's toys and its safety, and it got me thinking... Around the world, especially the US, Australia, Europe...there are so many regulations and restrictions on the kinds of chemicals used in making a toy. In India, there are no such things. If there are, then, the common man is not aware of this. We see so many toys being sold - from posh shops to hawkers, which i dont think adhere to any safety standards. The Indian market is flooded with Chinese toys. Every thing and anything, is Made in China. If China can supply inferior products to countries like the US and Australia, which have strict regulations, its quite scary to think of what they export to India, where there are no such regualtions; where 80 % of the population does not know what it is ment by product recall.

Thinking of such things gives me the creeps. My son Tarun, who is 2 years and 3 months old, plays with so many of the Made in China toys. Scary !!!!!

My ICICI Bank Credit Card

ICICI and me…
A pathetic relationship story that goes on and on ……
One day, I got a call on my mobile asking me whether I needed a Platinum Card (credit cards are of the category - silver, gold and platinum)from ICICI. The credit limit was 90 thousand. I never had a credit card, and thought this was a good chance. I got the card and lived happily for 3 months...

Well, on Saturday (3/11/07), I received an SMS that my credit card had been used to make an internet payment through the indiaideas.com site for Rs.2000 /-

On Saturday morning, I had a chalazion removed from my left eye, and my eye was all patched up. I was at home that day and was nowhere near the computer. Browsing was next to impossible, given my condition that day.

Then i called up the ICICI toll free number that was listed at the back of the card
The call answered by Abhinav
Gave him the details of the issue and also informed him that i had not lost my card and that the card was with me
He told me that i might have given my card details to someone
I guess they should understand that now a days people are aware of such things and would not divulge such info to anyone
For all i know, this card is just 3 months old and had swiped it at a very few establishments.
Customer is at fault was the attitude !!!
I guess its very easy for any one at a merchant establishment to gain the information from the card .
He just has to memorize the 3 digit CVD (Card Verification Digits) number at the back of the card, as the the 16 digit card number would be there in the bill; and use it where ever.

He also told me useless info like the merchant is in Mumbai and so on
Well, then he told me that the card was blocked and the conversation went on in circles, with him telling me that i have to wait for 1 day to raise a dispute and so on.(Sounded like i had to file a police complaint and had to wait for a court order :-))
Then i asked to be put to somebody senior and then i spoke to the Manager, Niranjan
He too told me the same thing and told me to wait for a day
Then on Sunday, i spoke to Priya
Well of no use again ...
she told me that the merchant can claim anytime in 20 days and so on
and that i had to keep checking, if he claimed.
I guess she thought that i didn't have anything else to do in life besides checking if the merchant had claimed
I am really not confident about the way ICICI works, as Niranjan should have told me on Saturday about the 20 day period. No one seems to know the process too well.

ICICI Bank, please take care of your customers, just costly advertising and catchy phrases '' Hum Hai Na'' doesn’t mean customer care.