Dec 25, 2008

A for apple

My daughter has been practicing or rather we are getting her acquainted with alphabets from the last one year. However, yesterday she picked up a crayon and wrote "A" on her own. I was immensely overjoyed at that moment and made her write multiple times....These appear like ordinary moments for any one but for parents, this is a significant milestone!

She has been identifying the alphabets for sometime now and it is funny sometimes when she reads the alphabets off some one's T shirt!.

Dec 7, 2008

Instruction manuals

Instruction manuals are part of the package when we buy any electronics, toys or other items that require some assembly or set of instructions to be followed in order to make the product working.

Let me confess that I've never read any product instruction manual completely or referred to them on a continuous basis to improve the product usage ( like exploring all the camera features, etc). This is mostly because either the products are too user friendly or intuitive that you don't 100% instructions or the lack of patience in reading the complete documentation. I have seen the instruction manuals getting thinner by the day - may be they heard people like me complaining or giving feedback. IKEA goes a way further by providing a one page doc with some funny cartoons... one exception being the "MALMA" mirrors that look easy to assemble but requires significant thinking!

I really try hard to maintain these product manuals/instructions because they are the first source for exploring additional features, warranty and other information. But over a period of years and lots of traveling - I don't find them when I need them most. So what I do then? Google or look up the product writeup in the respective company website...Given the push to reduce operational cost, even the camcorder/camera manufacturers might come up with a one page simple instruction manual and provide links to the Internet documentation!

Bottomline: I implemented a new rule that I will start using the product only after reading the documentation....There was a feeling of triumph and some satisfaction....I am not sure how long will this practice continue :)

Majestic Mount Rainier

Check out the link;http://www.katu.com/blogs/weather/35631614.html

Mount Rainier continues to be one of my fav places!