Archive of posts from November 2020
-
On Goal Setting
Setting goals is a great motivator to get things done. Without a goal, life goes on without much excitement and nothing to look forward to or work towards. But if you have a goal that is too hard or takes too long to achieve it may actually be demotivating. How do you get out of this situation. Simple, have a long term goal and then have a few smaller, shorter incremental goals.
...continue reading -
Take Care Of Your Mind And Body
Whether you are planning to retire early or not, one thing that everyone needs to take care of is their mind and body. It is surprising how little time and care we devote to both in our mad rush to achieve things. Life is not always about goals and achievements. Sometimes it helps to stop and think if that is all that we really want. Did you ever wonder how much time do you actively spend on improving the mind and body?
...continue reading -
Sensex Touches New High!
Ok, I confess I am late to the party. But it seems like the Indian stock market is enjoying new highs every other day. Is this sustainable? Who know? Does anyone know why the stock market is touching new highs even as the economy has not recovered and many things are still unknown? No one knows. But that does not stop one from making wild guesses. The most common and obvious theory is that the market is buoyant on the news that a vaccine may soon come. I don't know why that should be a good reason to hit new highs.
...continue reading -
Ability To Learn By Yourself Is Fundamental
Some people ask us if we are worried that our kid may not learn much because she is not going to school. Their primary worry is that she may not be able to find a job without education. Our worry on the other hand is that kids these days are spending so much energy on learning things that may not even interest them. And worst of all, they may end up with a job that they don't like to do because they have a degree in an education that wasn't of their own interest.
...continue reading -
Is It Better To Buy Or Rent A House?
There are already tons of articles about which is better -- buy or rent. In this post I will give my perspective on this subject. The topic is about buying a house to live in as compared to renting a house. If you are looking to compare investing in real estate vs equity investment, you might want to read my other article. The problem with making this kind of comparison is that it depends on a lot of factors. Lets take an example to help understand.
...continue reading -
Building a DIY 5.1 Audio Video Receiver – Part 7
Now that I have the front speakers, rear speakers and sub-woofer working, the next thing I wanted to do in my DIY AVR project was to bring up the center speaker. I ordered a TPA3118 amplifier board for Rs. 379 towards it. The only problem with the board (which I did not realize when I ordered it) was that it does not have a volume control. The repercussions of this mistake will soon become clear. Anyway, I connected the board to a 12V power supply. The same one that was powering the crossover board from my previous post. Output from the board is connected to my center speaker. The sound quality is fine to my ears. Anyway it is the center speaker, so we don't need a great quality output.
...continue reading -
Building a DIY 5.1 Audio Video Receiver – Part 6
In the last post I mentioned that I was looking for a crossover board. The one that I purchased is putting out a huge DC bias and I was not comfortable using it on my sub woofer. Wondering if it is a problem with the particular unit that I got, I ordered a replacement. Unfortunately, even the replacement has the same signature output. So I decided to do something about it myself.
...continue reading -
Managing Dry Waste - Part I
I have been composting my wet waste for a while now (roughly 3 years). The yield of the compost has been good and it has become an integral part of the kitchen. Lots of valuable plants have come out of it and it's been a worthwhile experience for me. I cannot say the same about our dry waste though. Our layout has a BBMP trash van that collects wet and dry waste. I stopped giving wet waste since I have been composting all of the wet waste. However, I have been religiously giving them my dry waste.
...continue reading