Traffic Ticket - careless driving in Michigan incident

Continuing from my last blog, I cleaned my fancy s2000. right down to the inside the tires in 2 hours. Stood back and appreciated my own work (yeah I am like that) and took it out of the manual car wash, drop 1/10th of a mile, stopped at the signal to turn left. Its a T junction, with 2 lanes turning left and 1 right turn right. I am at the left most. The signal turn green, I take off as usual, normal speed, turn left and the car just skids 180' degree as if I were on the ice, seriuosly, not a sound, no warning, it just took a 180' just after the turn, so I gently hit the second car on the left, stopped at the signal. I gently hit his rear door and bumper, scratching font of my car. I am literally shivering. We come out, I make sure, nobody is hurt, we exchange information and I ask, do you want a report and he quickly says, lets go to the station one mile from here. We go to the station. We tell everything to the officer and he looks at our cars. From the moment I told him how the accident happened, his mind is made up. I must have gunned off from the signal. I must have accelarated hard, there is no other way the car would skid like that. Here you go. CArless driving ticket.. 3 points. I come home cursing myself, for going to the police. The other gentlman was nice, he had 0 deductible. We could have gotten away without going to the station. I come home, My wife also wonder why we went to the station, to do the right thing and end up with huge carless driving ticket.
The entire week, i do not touch my car again and I keep thinking how the accident happen. Its not the fear of the accident but the uncertainly of the car giving away so easily that keep me off the road. I did some research. The S2000 tires when washed and in winter (it was below 50') that day, gets really hard and so easy to skid. The turn was sharp, the vehicle on my right had cut me off causing me to turn more sharply that I would have.

I denied responsibility. I printed all the aerials of the site, measured distance, measured accident location, wrote down all my points and have couple of people look at it and make suggestion on the language. The day of the court appearance. I obtained my report, took pictures of the location and went to the court all dressed up in a nice suite and tie, 15 minutes before the time. Quite nervous and anxious but yet confident enough to discuss my situation. My officer did not show up, instead perhaps a junior office showed up in his place and he offered me plea bargain. He was very rude.
He called me to the side and said. What is your plan and I said not guilty. He said
"oh thats what you are going for straight not guilty". I said
"if you look at the situation, I really wasn't at fault". He said.
"Well you have 4 other charges", I said four, i thgouth it was 2. and he said. 2 in farmintong hills speeding, 1 in saginaw and 1 in southfield and you got break in all of them." I was quite.
2 in farmington were speeding in 2003, one in saginaw as speeding 75 in 70 mile at 1 in the morning 2005. and 1 in southfield was in 2006 for avoid the traffic block and turning in the lane with signal and everything on to telegraph from 696. I explained the judge and she took my points off.

I tried to explain to the officer, that I am really not at fault and I tried to avoid an accident hitting the guy who cut me but he said, I am not interested in details. Under michigan law, you lost control of the vehicle and that is under careless driving. If we go for trial, it will be tried for carless driving and thats a major offence. Its up to you.

I thought for few minutes and I said, can I atleast show you that I was not at fault. and he said no. I don't want to keep the judge waiting. You let me know. and I took the plea bargain. We went in, he told the judge that I have taken plea bargain to a small speeding offence of 1 point. The judge confirmed and we were out. I am thankful that we did not end up with 3 points and that i got out with 1 point. But the truth it. I feel very sad too. I wanted to really fight my ticket, It was not my fault. The other gentleman was also called in the court and he was willing to confirm that I was not driving carelessly.

May be I got off luckily. Who knows, what the outcome would have been if I had gone in the court and fought for it. But the reality that strikes me most is we are quite helpless against police. May be the court is on our side but only if we can afford some hot shot lawyer. I was not really driving carelessly. It was not my fault. We were cooperating. Even the other guy was on my side. I had all the supporting documents but the officer still gave me careless driving and from that point on I was guilty unless I can prove myself not guilty. The officer did not consider or ask for any other possiblity that could have caused the car to sway in like that. If i were driving fast, I would have skid outside the cricle instead of skidding inside.. but anyway..Sometimes you strongly feel, that you were treated unfairly and there is nothing you can do about it and more that how much more worse the police can do to you and you still wont' be able to do anything about it.. that is a scary thought.

Bad luck - bad days

Nothing big... Talk about embrassment, well it was pretty embarrassing today when I put on my best suit & tie like after an entire year (my job does not require me to dress up like a clown...), came to the office, rushed couple of people to print some material and just 5 minutes before the meeting, the meeting got cancelled. Damn.. ..NOw I have sit in the office all day looking like a hot shot who came all dressed up after an entire year for no freaking reason.

what the heck..Earlier, I washed my lovely sports car, at 40 degrees in a manual car wash, dried it like a baby, got out, took a turn and spun, hitting the car in front of me. not much damange besides my ego and esteem, but after than, we file police report and the crappy cop gave me a 3 pointer careless driving.... Dude I drive my car more carefully than you grand mother rides her 30 year old cadillac. What the fuck.. now I have a court date next week.. another crap..

Turned out, I went home yesterday and my apartment had a notice of 25$ fine for not putting the fire extinguisher out for a mandatory building inspection. crapp.. i know its only 25 freakin dollars but still..I looked at the notice and it did have the penalty warning.. dated oct 6th and the date to put out the extinguisher was also oct 6th. I don't know what happenend, we forgot to put it out there or we got it pretty late to notice Or I was having another warm up fight with my wifie.. what the heck again.. so I have been having bad 2-3 weeks. yesterday morning,, i got out and my mountain bike tire is flat, it wasn't flat when I brought it home but now its FLAT, so i have to get it fixed before this sat or sunday. What else.. my review went little better but with a threat that my misely tiny non existent raise will cause a firing of another very junior employee. WTF. Its not my fault that company is not making any money, I work my butt off to keep things running not to mention wearing a freaking suit & a tie for a non happening useless merger meeting..!!ranting of a creless stupid mind.

What if I was born rich!

Yesterday, I was invited to spend a day with my family at one of the nicest house I could ever imagine. Here are some links for the picture of those houses http://gavassociates.com/portfolio/customresidential/project05.html.

Alone the basement was 3,500 sq. ft. with marble floors and a view of the lake from every room. Not only that, the owner, father of my colleague had a boat to take us around the lake and I even had a chance to jump in the lake (with my swimming skills, i needed a life jacket and a friend holding my head above water. The experience was just amazing. On our way back, tired from the whole day of fun and excitement, my wife and I were just discussing how the life of people living in such lavish house with so many amenities, is so different. It was simply exquisite.
I thought about what I would do if I have so much money. Will I take a vacation, buy expensive cars, open a charity or build myself a castle. Well, I don't know. If I had all the money in the world, I don't think I would be able to spend on myself for too long, I would get bored and then I would do things that really matter. Starting from helping the poor and needy, going back to school. I would actually use that money to protect myself from the unnecessary insecurities that I feel only because people around me are shallow. I will stay far away from them, I will go hiking for days and not worry about payments etc. What will you do if you have lots of money.

We are good people

I am planning a trip to Pakistan after almost 6 years of staying in US. I am little afraid because of all the bomb blasts and violence, yet I get courage from the fact that my mother, my brother and my sisters live there in the midst of all the chaos. If they can, I should be able to as well. The only difference is that I have a choice to stay out of it and they don't. Is it wise to be so called wise? and make a wise decision not to go see my family, or should I once again test my fate.

The may 27 Bomb blast in Lahore happened close to where I will be living in Lahore. My town of Anarkali. Such events simply make me feel very sad and quite. Its like a village is burning and you sit on the side, quite, sad and grieving. You are losing your whole world in front of you and there is nothing you can do about it. There is absolutely nothing you can do. Or may be you are shocked by the inhumane, insensitive, barbaric acts of violences and you wonder. You wonder only about the creation MAN and its creator and seemingly meaningless purpose of the creation. Its indeed a thin red line. Why? Why is it so thin and why its so easily crossed by so many. Its actually crossed by so many people in almost all eras that one start to suspect that may be that is in fact the true nature of MAN. Barbaric, restless, destructive and cruel.

I don't know. All I know is that people of Lahore are mostly illiterate, simple, down to earth, fun loving, happy go lucky, faithful people. We are good people. We are good people and we are good people.

Don't murder the good people, infact don't murder anybody, dont do it for any reason and certainly don't do it for islam. Dont do it. walk away, stay away, let it go. let us go. Let us live, let us live to be with our kids and family. Don't kill us. We are good people

One at a time

In response to this article
http://pakistaniat.com/2009/05/13/idp-swat-buner/

I don’t know if its just me but I did not really get the article. My intent is not to critcize the writer. That’s the easy part. My intent is to make an effort to clarify some of the thoughts that were discussed in the above article.
Actually at times, if you read most comments as well, no matter how you write an article, no matter what the focus of that piece is, the commentators all consider themselves well qualified to suggest a perfect solution.
Its the same thing over and over again, its the chaos of comments and solutions that keep pouring in, on from one article to other. Are we losing the art of analyzing and staying focused.
When military was not doing anything, we were all booing the government for not taking any action. When they are doing something, we are talking about some other problems. Are we too near sighted or just a plain old complusive winers.

I don’t want to suggest big solutions as I am not neither educated to handle government affairs nor experienced in such matters. The problems that we are facing today are merely symptoms of a terminal disease that we have suffered since existence of our country. The army & the government both took over british style of ruling since 1947 and the people never in reality became free. Free to think and free to act. We were kept uneducated, we were kept away from opportunities and we were consistently in an organized well planned consipracy manner made to believe that we are somewhat lesser humans beings and we need a lathi or danda. We were made to believe that we were guilty until proven otherwise. We the awam were betrayed over and over again. And no tactics were held back. We were manipulated in every possible way. In the name of Islam is the top one. Nationalism is second.
We are asked for opinions in such matters that we havenot been educated or qualified for. We lack structure among awam and government affairs. And clearly our enemies, NO, not america or talibans or india. Yes my friends, our leaders, our elite class, our so called educated elite landlord, land cruiser cruising mofu class that are our worst enemies. They have blood of so many and they are the ones who have voluntarily kept our masses down under their foot. JUST LIKE IN BRITISH RULE.
Even though when you walk around streets of pakistan, you see many people displaying with no contempt or shame acts of illiteracy, whether its throwing trash on the street, crossing a read line, giving finger to a cop or beating someone in front of a whole crowd. The people of pakistan still always make me proud. The housewives and mothers who continue to feed a beggar or a poor afghan child out of coutesy. The bicycle riding simple man who would help when needed. Somewhere in the lower middle class where there may be some class left. Integrity and honor, fear of Allah and love for other human beings. The massively suffering class that never really had the opportunity to take bribe or corrupt themselves. They are also the people who volunteer in so many things at their town level.
Coming back to the article above. These events are very much out of our control. Talibans or zardari, both are equally disgusting. The government structure is best desribed as no structure. Our Muwashra is sick. but some of our souls are intact. Lets learn to observe, lets learn to be patient so we can make the right decision at the right time. Lets help those refugees in the name of Humanity but lets also teach our children to be open minded and free in their thinking. Lets keep our integrity, one house one family one town at a time. I am sure we can change things.

How to Answer 10 Tough Interview Questions

Came across this nice article on MSN
There's no worse feeling than when you're in an interview and the interviewer asks you a question to which you don't know the answer. The best way to handle this dreaded debacle is to go into the interview prepared. Familiarize yourself with a few common difficult questions and arm yourself with answers prepared ahead of time.
Check out these tough interview questions and some suggested responses in order to avoid an interview disaster:
Tough question No. 1: "Tell me about yourself."
This is usually the opening question in an interview and it's the perfect moment for you to toot your own horn -- not to tell your life history. Your answers should be a quick rundown of your qualifications and experience. Talk about your education, work history, recent career experience and future goals.
Suggested answer: "I graduated from University X and since then, I have been working in public relations with an agency where I have generated millions of PR hits for my clients. While I've enjoyed working on the agency side, I'm looking to expand my horizons and start doing PR for corporate companies such as this one."
Tough question No. 2: "Why did you leave your last job?"
This is your chance to talk about your experience and your career goals, not to badmouth a former boss or give a laundry list of reasons for your exit. Instead, focus on what you learned in your previous position and how you are ready to use those skills in a new position.
Suggested answer: "The company just wasn't a good fit for my creativity, but I learned that organizations have distinct personalities just like people do. Now I know where I'll be a better fit."
Tough question No. 3: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"
Let the employer know that you're stable and you want to be with this company for the long haul. Keep your aspirations to take over the firm with which you are interviewing, own your own company, retire at 40 or be married with five children to yourself.
Suggested answer: "I want to secure a civil engineering position with a national firm that concentrates on retail development. Ideally, I would like to work for a young company, such as this one, so I can get in on the ground floor and take advantage of all the opportunities a growing firm has to offer."
Tough question No. 4: "What are your weaknesses?"
The key to answering this age-old question is not to respond literally. Your future employer most likely won't care if your weak spot is that you can't cook, nor do they want to hear the generic responses, like you're "too detail oriented" or "work too hard." Respond to this query by identifying areas in your work where you can improve and figure out how they can be assets to a future employer. If you didn't have the opportunity to develop certain skills at your previous job, explain how eager you are to gain that skill in a new position.
Suggested answer: "In my last position, I wasn't able to develop my public-speaking skills. I'd really like to be able to work in a place that will help me get better at giving presentations and talking in front of others."
Tough question No. 5: "Why were you laid off?"
This question will become more common as the economy continues to slow down. It's a tough question, however, especially because many workers aren't told exactly why they were laid off. The best way to tackle this question is to answer as honestly as possible.
Suggested answer: "As I'm sure you're aware, the economy is tough right now and my company felt the effects of it. I was part of a large staff reduction and that's really all I know. I am confident, however, that it had nothing to do with my job performance, as exemplified by my accomplishments. For example..."
Tough question No. 6: "Tell me about the worst boss you ever had."
Never, ever talk badly about your past bosses. A potential boss will anticipate that you'll talk about him or her in the same manner somewhere down the line.
Suggested answer: "While none of my past bosses were awful, there are some who taught me more than others did. I've definitely learned what types of management styles I work with the best."
Tough question No. 7: How would others describe you?
You should always be asking for feedback from your colleagues and supervisors in order to gauge your performance; this way, you can honestly answer the question based on their comments. Keep track of the feedback to be able to give to an employer, if asked. Doing so will also help you identify strengths and weaknesses.
Suggested answer: "My former colleagues have said that I'm easy to do business with and that I always hit the ground running with new projects. I have more specific feedback with me, if you'd like to take a look at it."
Tough question No. 8: "What can you offer me that another person can't?"
This is when you talk about your record of getting things done. Go into specifics from your résumé and portfolio; show an employer your value and how you'd be an asset.
Suggested answer: "I'm the best person for the job. I know there are other candidates who could fill this position, but my passion for excellence sets me apart from the pack. I am committed to always producing the best results. For example..."
Tough question No. 9: "If you could choose any company to work for, where would you go?"
Never say that you would choose any company other than the one where you are interviewing. Talk about the job and the company for which you are being interviewed.
Suggested answer: "I wouldn't have applied for this position if I didn't sincerely want to work with your organization." Continue with specific examples of why you respect the company with which you are interviewing and why you'll be a good fit.

Tough question No. 10: "Would you be willing to take a salary cut?"
Salary is a delicate topic. In today's tough economy though, how much a company can afford to pay you might be the deal breaker in whether or not you are offered a position.
Suggested answer: "I'm making $X now. I understand that the salary range for this position is $XX - $XX. Like most people, I would like to improve on my salary, but I'm more interested in the job itself than the money. I would be open to negotiating a lower starting salary but would hope that we can revisit the subject in a few months after I've proved myself to you."
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
Copyright 2009 CareerBuilder.com. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without prior written authority.
Story Filed Monday, January 12, 2009 - 10:11 AM

Microsoft cutting 5,000 jobs, sadface emoticons abound

by Laura June, posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 10:34AM

Original article/

Amid the flurry of terrible economic news, Microsoft yesterday reported an 11 percent drop in profits for the second quarter (down to $4.17 billion from $4.71 billion last year). Well, now it looks like things aren't going to get any better in Redmond for the time being: the company's announced it's going to lay of 5,000 people over the next year and a half, citing the implosion of the global economy, saying they fully expect their revenue to experience further decline this year. Not fun. Check out Steve Ballmer's truly depressing (yet terribly non-dramatic) memo to Microsoft staff after the break.

From: Steve Ballmer
To: All Microsoft FTE
Subject: Realigning Resources and Reducing Costs

In response to the realities of a deteriorating economy, we're taking important steps to realign Microsoft's business. I want to tell you about what we're doing and why.

Today we announced second quarter revenue of $16.6 billion. This number is an increase of just 2 percent compared with the second quarter of last year and it is approximately $900 million below our earlier expectations.

The fact that we are growing at all during the worst recession in two generations reflects our strong business fundamentals and is a testament to your hard work. Our products provide great value to our customers. Our financial position is solid. We have made long-term investments that continue to pay off.

But it is also clear that we are not immune to the effects of the economy. Consumers and businesses have reined in spending, which is affecting PC shipments and IT expenditures.

Our response to this environment must combine a commitment to long-term investments in innovation with prompt action to reduce our costs.

During the second quarter we started down the right path. As the economy deteriorated, we acted quickly. As a result, we reduced operating expenses during the quarter by $600 million. I appreciate the agility you have shown in enabling us to achieve this result.

Now we need to do more. We must make adjustments to ensure that our investments are tightly aligned with current and future revenue opportunities. The current environment requires that we continue to increase our efficiency.

As part of the process of adjustments, we will eliminate up to 5,000 positions in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, LCA, HR, and IT over the next 18 months, of which 1,400 will occur today. We'll also open new positions to support key investment areas during this same period of time. Our net headcount in these functions will decline by 2,000 to 3,000 over the next 18 months. In addition, our workforce in support, consulting, operations, billing, manufacturing, and data center operations will continue to change in direct response to customer needs.

Our leaders all have specific goals to manage costs prudently and thoughtfully. They have the flexibility to adjust the size of their teams so they are appropriately matched to revenue potential, to add headcount where they need to increase investments in order to ensure future success, and to drive efficiency.

To increase efficiency, we're taking a series of aggressive steps. We'll cut travel expenditures 20 percent and make significant reductions in spending on vendors and contingent staff. We've scaled back Puget Sound campus expansion and reduced marketing budgets. We'll also reduce costs by eliminating merit increases for FY10 that would have taken effect in September of this calendar year.

Each of these steps will be difficult. Our priority remains doing right by our customers and our employees. For employees who are directly affected, I know this will be a difficult time for you and I want to assure you that we will provide help and support during this transition. We have established an outplacement center in the Puget Sound region and we'll provide outplacement services in many other locations to help you find new jobs. Some of you may find jobs internally. For those who don't, we will also offer severance pay and other benefits.

The decision to eliminate jobs is a very difficult one. Our people are the foundation of everything we have achieved and we place the highest value on the commitment and hard work that you have dedicated to building this company. But we believe these job eliminations are crucial to our ability to adjust the company's cost structure so that we have the resources to drive future profitable growth.

I encourage you to attend tomorrow's Town Hall at 9am PST in Café 34 or watch the webcast.

While this is the most challenging economic climate we have ever faced, I want to reiterate my confidence in the strength of our competitive position and soundness of our approach.

With these changes in place, I feel confident that we will have the resources we need to continue to invest in long-term computing trends that offer the greatest opportunity to deliver value to our customers and shareholders, benefit to society, and growth for Microsoft.

With our approach to investing for the long term and managing our expenses, I know Microsoft will emerge an even stronger industry leader than it is today.

Thank you for your continued commitment and hard work.

Steve

- Reality in Dispute

My response to the article:
Pakistan Theocracy

Rarely we see an eye opening honest analysis with such details. The truth is, the third most powerful group as you pointed out is really The Most Powerful Group in Pakistan. They were the reason we had the separate state to begin with, with millions of atrocities over the people of India & Pakistan. They are the reason we lost East Pakistan. They are the catalyst who are hogging up all our resources. They are the biggest thugs of our nations. They are the reason and Bhutto was part of it, that all the basic necessaties that he promised with “roti, kapra, makaan” were completely forgotten.
I don’t understand why all our politicians and army biggots, that have done Pakistan absolutely no good, are so freaking near sighted. Not just that, they have turned our police, our military against their own helpless people many many times. Do you realize why a policeman never has his proirities right? instead of serving the nation, he is only satisfying his supressed lunatic ego. Our army keeps taking over the country only to send it years behind. Any our political leaders are the biggest shitheads. Its their monopoly. No matter what they do, we elect them again, because they don’t let anybody else come up. If I am the only leader, I will sure get elected.
Unless this system is changed, and some leaders start value human beings, nothing will ever change. Near 180m population, people are most powerful, but they are like rats trapped in a wheel, that gets no where, only exhaust us. Unless their is accountability, nothing will ever change. Unless we start looking beyond Balochi, sindi or punjabi, nothing will ever change. Unless we start respecting human values, nothing will ever change. And if nothing changes, sufferings will not end and the beast will possibly collapse. We need to understand this and change for our children, so that they can live a better, happy, prosperous life.

Ayn Rand

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

—Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged 35th anniversary edition[3]