Still Here

Well, not sure what should I say about why have I not been able to update the blog, it could either be that nothing much has happened since my last post or I have been really really busy with so much at work (and I am enjoying every minutes of that). Even this post comes because so many had to ask me to update my blog. So here goes...

Actually a couple of fun/intersting things happened last month (or last year), again not at personal level :) but in work life. First we had a Fun Fund Raiser (aka Meenabazar) in our office for the victims of Balochistan Earthquake. A few employees brought home-cooked food for lunch, everyone was requested not to buy stuff from outside as we might usually do rather buy the stuff that others brought at a bit higher rates. So the fun part was that one night before that I was also asked to make something in the office, now you would imagine what on earth can he do, well actually I make a pretty good cold cake and thats what I did in 30 minutes the end result a Cold Cake which apparently was not that cold :). So, the dish that costed about Rs. 300~400 sold out in Rs. 1500+ (hey its all for donations). In total within 2 hours we were able to raise almost Rs. 35000, which is pretty impressive actually. So all in all we had fun, good food and a good amount of donation.

This weekend I visited my old University (UCP/PICS) for a job fair, no I am not looking for a job, but actually to interact with upcoming Graduates, collect their resumes/schedule interviews. Well looking at the overall shortage of IT Resources, this was not much different as well, most candidates that came were there for Business/Commerce majors, which are not of much use to us. The good/refreshing thing was being able to meet with so many faculty members and batch mates from my University days after about 4-5 years.

I hope this year brings more interesting/fun stuff my way. So bye till someone pushes me to post something again:).

Guest Speaker @ Open Source Series Workshop 2008, UET

I have not only been using open source in my projects but have been leading a a couple of them for a few years now. So, I was really excited when my old colleague invited me as a guest speaker to Open Source Series Workshop to be held at one of Pakistan's very prestigious Engineering uiniversities i.e. University of Engineering and Technology (UET). Since I have been invloved with projects in Business Process Management (BPM) domain for more than a year now, I chose to speak on Intalio BPMS a very good open source platform for delivering BPM projects. I had not worked extensively on Intalio BPMS, but while preparing for this presentation I got a good understanding of it, so making the presentation went pretty smoothly.
Then came the day when I had to go in front of people and speak, I have given many presentations and delivered a few trainings both here in Pakistan and abroad so I had no issues with crowd, but still had not gone in front of say more than 20 people, but I am glad it went pretty well, people did not doze off. The other good thing was meeting with old colleagues and the academia at UET. I will try to get hold of some pictures and upload them.

Startup Insider 6 @ LUMS

Not that I am planning to become an entrepreneur, but I visited SI6 @ LUMS just to feel the intensity or the enthusiasm in Pakistani IT industry. And to tell you the truth I was not disappointed. For those who don't know what this is about, well finally someone has taken a good initiative and provided a great forum where successful entrepreneurs and upcoming ones sit together for a few hours and talk about the do's and dont's of a startup. It has really changed my perspective on our industry and after hearing their stories might have also gotten some inspiration :).

For more information about this series, keep watching Green & White's blog @ http://greenwhite.org/, the guys who have started all this.

Working yet not working (Trip to Beijing & Singapore)

Ok I really wanted to do this post in a much nicer fashion, but here is the thing I have been travelling for the past 2 weeks to deliver trainings at a client's site. The first week was in Beijing and the second one in Singapore. All was great except for the fact that I did not have a camera on me :). Writing this post without the pictures is not good at all, so will only do a quick summary.

Beijing was cold and I mean really cold, therefore did not get much chance to visit any place, especially since I had to be up at 6:00 am and leave for office by 7:30 am as it took almost an hour and a half to reach client's office from my hotel. The training sessions went fine, met my old colleagues both Chinese and Pakistanis, went to Silk Street for an hour, then to Acrobatics show and finally to Arabian Nights. Things that I missed last time around, I missed them again :).

Over the weekend left for Singapore, and everything worked out almost perfectly the moment I took off for Singapore. The trainings, the weather (almost the way I like it) and the places in Singapore. I managed to visit:

• National Museum of Singapore where Greek Masterpieces from the Louvre were on display
• Little India
• Night Safari at Singapore Zoo
• Sentosa Cable Car (to/from Vivo City)
• Sentosa Beach
• Sentosa 4D Magic
• Vivo City
• Orchard Road
• 2 movies in theater
• and lots and lots of walking

So all in all it was 2 amazing weeks working and yet not working :).

Techlogix vs TRG

If you are wondering this is a comparison between TRG and Techlogix then sorry to burst your bubble it is not. We actually had a badminton match with them which we WON :). The start was really bad since we lost the first game 15-1 & 15-8, but the comeback was amazing, won the second game 15-1 & 15-0 and the third game with similar numbers. The fatigue was obvious and slept till late in the morning. Now I am really anxious about our future games with other companies.

Those of you who are wondering why I have not been updating my blog, well it's becauase my internet service provider was not letting me sign-in and I am guessing it was because of the emergency in Pakistan.

An exhausting weekend

My cousin who is visiting Pakistan from Cyprus insisted that we visit Murree, it had been 5 years since we went there. In our childhood days it was a regular destination at least one trip per year was a must. Then of course we grew up and never got a chance to do that again. Anyways, left for Gujranwala from work on Friday evening, tried to jeopardize the plan, but no one supported me :), early Saturday morning left for Murree, and after a couple of stopovers in Rawalpndi and Islamabad, after 8 hours of journey arrived in Murree around 2:30 PM. Went to lunch at Red Onion on Mall Road, then did some shopping. In the evening we left for PC Bhurban, had a couple of pool games (which ended in a draw 1-1) and snacks there (I had an amazing Cheese Cake). Returned to our rest house in Murree (which was free :)). Our uncle and his friends were there as well, we got together and played cards till we got tired and then slept like babies. Sunday moring we woke up around 11:00 AM and it was time to go back. At 7:30 PM we were in Gujranwala, at 10:30 PM we were in Lahore playing golf at Mini Golf (another draw), had dinner, my cousin dropped me at my home, I tried to complete the first season of 30Rock, but was so tired that had to postpone that for another day. I really needed this change in scenery, the weather was amazing (cold), though I missed the most exciting season finale of F1 Grand Prix (which I am so happy that Kimi won) , but it was a great great short trip. I will be taking another 3 days off, because a very good old friend of mine is getting married. The good thing is that there is not pressure at work everything is normal so far :).

Promoted to Senior Software Engineer

Recently things have been slow, and boring but yesterday I was promoted to Senior Software Engineer, wohoo :).

I turned 26

I guess there is not much to write about, so simply putting "I turned 26 today". Thank you :).