Sabera's Blog

Never say never

2010-10-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

Roughly three years ago, when I wrote my last exam of the last semester at Business school in India, I remember telling myself - this is it. I'm done. I'm never going to sit in a boring classroom again. I'll never put myself through a professor's drone. I'll never willingly place myself in a situation where I question the merit of spending large sums of money on learning things that are obscure,

Bittersweet

2010-09-30T03:08:00.000-07:00

I'm really looking forward to my upcoming trip to India in a few months. It'll be two years since I've been home by the time I visit. In a lot of ways this trip will be bittersweet for me. I've certainly changed from who I was two years ago, and going home will tell me exactly how much. Visiting home after a long time has a way of telling you so. I hope I'm not in for a shock! What I'm

The Dependent US visa and the educated spouse - How to constructively use your time

2010-07-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

It's taken a long time for me write this post. And a year and 8 months ago, I never thought I'd find myself writing about a list of things one can do when on a dependent visa in the US. For those who are unfamiliar, the dependent visa is a non-immigrant visa issued by the US to spouses and children of people who are in the country for further studies or full-time work. Spouses on dependent visas

Today, I am grateful

2010-06-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't been very grateful lately. I take too much that I am blessed with for granted. In a constant, negative quest to be better than someone else, trying to meet someone else's expectations of what I feel I should be, I've forgotten how fortunate I am. It took a near-miracle to make me realize this. Last weekend I was on a road trip with my parents (who are visiting from India), to Rapid

Has Social Media made us fake?

2010-05-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

This post is now featured on BrazenCareerist here. Just a little over 2 years ago, when social media wasn't as mass as it is today, we all read at least as much as we did online or otherwise, career related or not, if not less than today. Any career-oriented person I knew, consumed several news articles and analysis reports on a daily basis, at work or outside. The fact however was, that nobody

It's uncool to ask for help when you're an adult

2010-04-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Let's face it. Life as an adult is tough. While we are all grateful for our lives, and happy to have the gifted lives we have, we all go through rough days and phases in life. We're all living lives where we have to struggle with multiple forms of stress and at times, just getting through a day sane can seem like a huge accomplishment. Be it stress at the workplace, relationship troubles or just

Freebie Roundup

2010-03-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

Yes. I have received so many freebies lately, it's essential to do a roundup. You see, I NEVER win anything. And the ample luck in winning the mundane yet truly enjoyable freebie has made me question my luck. Is it just a spurt of good luck? Did the stars align just right and result in this? Could I have had much more?!? So these are the freebies I've got: 1. Beaded Candle lamp Did you know that

What's the boldest life decision you've made?

2010-03-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading this blog post by Kaneisha Grayson called 'Lessons from Power Couples' and it got me thinking about how underestimated the concept of marriage really is for women in my generation (before they get married). I had also read another post called '10 things I learnt in my first year of marriage' earlier last year, which only re-enforced this opinion. (I strongly suggest you

An ode to my friends

2010-02-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

Nostalgia overwhelms me as type this. Every time I speak to a close friend in India, I am reminded of all the things I miss so much about home. It's hard to describe if it makes me feel sadness, happiness that I was fortunate to experience these things, or regret that I'm no longer a part of what I loved so much. Let's say it's a mash of all these emotions. My rational mind then overtakes my

Baker's block

2010-02-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is about baking that most people I know feel wary of. Most of my friends are wonderful cooks but often say 'I'm not a baker' or ' I can't bake for nuts'. For me, baking is scary because it's all about exact proportions. If a single measurement for an ingredient goes wrong, things may not turn out the way you may want them to. And I'm not an 'exact proportions person' (no pun

Marriage, Expectations & Cereal

2010-01-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

Expectations overwhelm me. Specifically when they are based on society's norms. At the workplace, I have seldom had trouble stepping up my game to meet standards my team or manager may have defined for me. But outside the workplace, I tend not to be very strategic about how I conduct myself. It amazes me how nervous it makes me feel when I know I need to change myself to meet an expectation set

Me, Myself & Personal Branding

2009-12-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

This post is now a featured post on Brazen Careerist's Fortunecity.com Personal Branding series here Lately I’ve written a lot about how I have adapted to life in the US. While writing an email last week to a senior professional from whom I was requesting a meeting, it struck me how much I have adapted professionally as well. While I typed out a brief paragraph summarizing my professional

How do you stay positive in your job-search?

2009-11-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired from a recent conversation with @JRMoreau, @mehnazt & @abroman (Find them on Twitter) It is also a featured post on Brazen Careerist It’s a tough slog out there for a lot of us looking for job, and have been at it for a long time. There has been much blog-writing about what people can do to keep themselves clued-in and busy while seeking a job. From volunteering, to

A Birthday and an Appraisal

2009-10-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-11303982-1");pageTracker._trackPageview();} catch(err) {}Birthdays have a way of making you think of your achievements. Kind of like

Is Marketing going back to the basics?

2009-09-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

The following post was published on the Minnesota Chapter of the American Marketing Association's Blog and on Reltok.comThe recent months have seen changes in marketing practices that we have all been reading about. The economic situation seems to be driving a huge change in the way people are consuming brands and products. People are re-evaluating their purchases and are trying to garner higher

Consolidating my online presence via FriendFeed

2009-08-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

My exposure to Interactive Marketing and Social Media has been ample and rapid in the last month, since I started my Internship with an Internet startup. In the quest to learn by doing, I have been using several different web services and trying out some Twitter clients (which there are a multitide of! Consolidation anyone?)I recently realized how many social media profiles I have, and how

Taking money for granted

2009-08-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have lately blogged about my reactions, perceptions and adjustment to life here in the US, and opinion on how much my life has changed since I got here almost a year ago. Of all the stress that a new life in a challenging environment brings to a person's life, Money is usually the biggest source of stress.I often think about how my perception about Money has changed over the years. Being the

Accent

2009-08-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

It'll be almost a year since I moved to the US and I can't help but realize how much I have consciously changed so many things about myself to adjust to the life and people here. They say - When in Rome, do as Romans do - and I pretty much made this my motto, here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. One of the biggest parts of me I've changed, is the way I speak in English. Minnesotans have by far the

Quantifiable achievement

2009-08-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Today Monday, August 3rd, 2009 marks the first day I have achieved something here, in the land of plenty, a.k.a, the United States of America. Well... something quantifiable to be precise. I passed my driving test. In the first attempt. Which is highly uncommon amongst immigrants. (Woohoo!)I was certain I wouldn't pass the test on the first attempt. After over 4 months of practice driving, I

Information overload

2009-07-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to figure out a way to get more efficient at doing all the reading that I should do everyday. After several weeks of diligent trying, I feel like I'm still not out there in terms of reading everything I should.I started with making a list of all the wasteful activities I do everyday. Turned out it was just one thing - wasting time on Facebook (addictive, yet horrible for my

SATC's lessons

2009-06-23T11:49:00.000-07:00