Puzzles, microsoft and such..

Gawddddddddd! Our server at work is so slow that everytime we make a change in our DEV environment it takes 25-30 mins to save it. Talk about productivity huh :).. I am in a much better mood now - I have decided that everything in life takes its time and you get your due course when its due. No point fretting, competing with the Joneses and so on..Just be yourself and live life I guess...On Friday another smaller consulting company called me for an interview - the recruiter then went on to tell me the interviewer who is also the Managing officer of this 300 person consulting firm likes to ask logical puzzles. I freaked as I really suck at these Scientific America type of puzzles so started looking up on the internet for Microsoft type interview questions. Which led me to buy a really cool book 'How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle - How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers' by William Poundstone. I must say it was an interesting read over the weekend, and it does give you tactics on how to approach these puzzles. I could not solve a lot of them, but I managed to solve some and felt it kept me busy and prevented me from brooding.
Here's an easy one : "Why are manhole covers round?".
Yesterday was the interview - it was brr cold as I made my way to the interview but I did get there and could successfully answer my programming puzzle.The logical puzzle also was something interesting and with a few hints, I could manage to solve it finally.I dont know if the Managing officer thought I am not so smart or not but suddenly I am interested in this stuff..:)..
Anyways they will let me know in 2-3 days - I am crossing my fingers, because although they are supposed to be small consulting company with only 300 or so employees, I think they could be a great place to learn..lets see no point counting your chickens before they hatch - first I should get an offer !What else what else.. since I have decided to pursue the techie route for now, havw bought a book from amazon and plan to get certified as a Java developer. Hmm studying after school requires some sheer willpower and that is something I am weak at but I did get certified on the stuff I work on, so that has prodded me on.
Made some awesome pasta for dinner yesterday and baked a cake ( a la Betty Crocker cake mix) .. thinking of all of it - is making me hungry !!! Will head on down to the cafeteria ( am in the office today) , so signing off now.. and yes Kanags - if you are reading this- all I can say is hang in there...

Ok back from lunch and our server is now being rebooted so have a good 30 mins to kill. Sometimes it amuses me how similar our work lives are to Dilbert :)...Anyways yesterday I re-saw Kill Bill Vol 2 ( I am the proud owner of the DVD) since we recently splurged .After much research by hubby we invested in a home theater system ( no home, so a theater will have to do for now !) .. Its HSU VT-12 Ventriloquist with a STF-2 subwoofer ( www.hsu.com) and an Onkyo Receiver.. sounds good and we have terribly patient neighbors who have so far not complained esp when we test it for a few mins daily by increasing the volume a ton , but usually are good about maintaining a decent volume. We were all set to buy a Bose - because its sort of like buying into a dream or maybe even a status symbol, but after the reviews and painstaking hours of research, hubby liked the specs and reviews of this combo a lot more. It gave him a nice little project and we even ripped the carpet and laid the wires underneath and all that stuff. Will post some pics soon..

What else what else.. nothing much ! Will truly sign off now !

Ok what else..