Yahvie's Saturday

HAPPY NEPALI NEW YEAR. Yesterday I had French Toast it was yummy and delicious. Thanks to my mom. Then I played with my baby brother.Then I went to karate  after I went home and took a shower.Then I went to a nepali  new year  party in Sunnyvale. I  won a set of air pods.                                                                                          

Then I went to another nepali new year party  I performed on the nepali national anthem then I went home and slept.

Yahvie's first journal - School day

Dear Diary, today at school I did some math and worked on my biography project. I did research about Rosa parks then I went to recess. I had veggie chips and Hide and Seek biscuits then I had buddies. My buddy was cesar we colored easter eggs then my class had computers we did coding  it was fun and a little bit complicated                  then we did more research.  Then we ate lunch I had corn I sat  between  Avery and Nila after I was done eating I played freeze tag with my BFF Audrey and her and my friends. After recess I did rotations.I was doing my biography so I had time to finish up. then I packed up to go home my mom picked me up. That is my blog about school.

I moved back to Nepal, then to Australia, and I still couldn't do it...

Then I returned to the US to get back to the same old job routine. That's when few things started to move in my favor.

Read this : http://www.fluentin3months.com/about/

We can only reach our preferred outcome by exploring, experimenting, and ultimately destroying all other possibilities.

http://jackpine.co/about/

After Trump won, I moved back to America!

Old post (published on later date)

The timing of the election and its outcome (Trump's victory) were mere coincidences. Everything else wasn't.

January of 2016, I moved to Melbourne, Australia with my wife and a five year old daughter. We were moving out of Nepal and moving into Australia. By then, Trump's presidential campaign was in full force. Although the primaries were still few months out, the presidential races, on both sides, were gaining momentum.

In Australia, I was hoping to gain my own speed towards somewhat stalled life. After spending all of the twelve months in the year 2015 in Nepal, I was ready to "move on" and "do something".

But Australia was a new territory. My wife went to school in Melbourne, but I had never lived there. Without any plans, I took a dive down under.

Sometimes you have to jump off the cliff, and only hope that you may land somewhere in between a swimming pool or a trampoline. As long as I knew I wasn't going to die falling off the cliff, rest didn't matter.

After enrolling in government welfare program within the first week of our settlement in the new country, I knew I had to make few decisions... very soon. Those decisions were eventually going to shape up my as well as my family's future. So, it was quite serious.

After few days of research, I quickly noticed that Australians were really into this solar power thing. With little research I decided that's what I wanted to do; learn about solar panels, and eventually have something of my own. If Trump can run for president, why can't I sell panels to the Ozzy's? Although for the record, Trump really wasn't my source of inspiration.....to be continued

Post interview trauma

Writing is from 06-19-2018 (published on later date)

Almost a month has passed since the job was posted online. I had a phone interview two weeks ago, and today, I had a full day on-site interview at SanDisk.

An onsite visit is usually scheduled for 5-6 hours in most companies. Mine was scheduled from 12pm till 5pm. So, I knew it was going to be grueling and excruciatingly stressful. 

So, how did it turn out? I would like to think it went alright today.

I am not a person that enjoys interviews. But without being in one, no one can have a job. So, as painful as it is, there is also no alternative to it.

My meeting started with a lunch - in a conference room, with a senior director of the group I was interviewing for. I must say a lunch interview was a pretty bad idea. Because talking and chewing don't go together very well. Between my interviewer and I, we took turns to chew, and then to talk. I tried to avoid talking while chewing but there would be a very awkward moment of silence between a question and an answer. So, to break the silence, sometimes I spoke with tuna fish salad in my mouth. 

What was more awkward, I don't know.

At 1 p.m., it was time for a new interviewer. This was supposed to be more technical, and the guy would be eventually training the new hire, Which I came to know while talking to him. That meant his feedback probably carried more "heavy" weight with the hiring manager. I could tell he wasn't directly making eye contact with me. But he asked few challenging technical questions.  I would like to think I performed decently with him as well.

The third interview was with the hiring manager. It turned out to be HR type interview with him. One of things he spent great deal of time explaining was the nature of the job. I tried to make a point that my background was suitable for the position, and anything new I was willing to learn.

After that, I had three more interviews. And they were all technical. 

For the last two, I ran out of gas. I dried up and felt like my head was about to explode. I managed to ride it through and do my best. I don't think I disappointed anyone with my effort.

The last interview went 15 minutes longer. I was out of there by 5:20pm.

Overall, I have a very mixed feeling about this interview. It is not so much about how well I did or didn't do. 

During the interview, I think I had enough "bright spot" moments to feel good later. But as I drove out of the parking lot, into the freeway, towards home, I didn't want to be happy. I didn't know how to feel about the interview. Everything feels so weird and, even while writing this post, I still can't identify my own feelings and what it is trying to say to me.

Do I need a job? Yes, off course. Do I want a job? Yes, I do. Is it the right job? Yes, it is. So, what's going on?

Blogging again

It has been almost two years since I blogged. So I thought it was a good time to write about what is all going on with life.

I just got back from my karate class (yup!). I try to go 3 days a week. This is only my third week though, and I feel like I have already learned quite a bit. Yahvie goes to Karate class as well, same place. That's how I got in it as well.

Ravi is my son, who is 10 months old now. Born 3rd April, 2018. He is precious.

Still living in Fremont, CA. Same rental house as in 2017.

I am working for WDC. At times it sucks. I log in between 50-60 hours a week. And sometimes weekend support from home as well. I don't really care working more hours, but it also doesn't leave me much time to do stuff I like doing outside of work, and family. Which is why it sometimes sucks.

Mop&Bucket

This is a new app idea I have been playing with since first week of January. It's an app for hotels and it's guests. Guest can schedule Daily House Keeping via the app, which encourages it's user to skip HK for a reward. Hotels benefit by cleaning fewer rooms.

I even have a wire frame for the app. But now I am stuck - as always when it comes to taking the idea to potential businesses. I suck at this. I am an introvert deep inside, so it's always hard for me to go out and market what I have. I can always have ideas but without this "extrovert" like skill set, I am doomed to fail no matter.

I came across a TEDx video on youtube yesterday. It was Jia Jiang 100 days of rejection. It's inspiring at the same time scary if I were to do it. Ask random things from a stranger, WHAT? RUN!!

But I realized that's exactly what I am missing in my ideas. For example, in case of Mop&Bucket, I have the prototype ready. Now.....all I have to do is go out, talk to a stranger (hotel/lodge), and ask if they would like to try out my app when I had it. Totally random right? Yep.. aaaaaaand scary.

Can I do it?

When will I start?

Is it possible?

Will I get all NOs? 100 hotels in Bay area and ask the same exact question to 100 managers?

Phew....

Even if I did 1 per day during my lunch break, that's 5 per week.
Then, over the weekend, may be 2-3 more. That's about 7 per week. One everyday. It's a lot of emotional roller coster.

I don't know if I can handle it.

But like Jia Jiang says, each rejection makes you stronger.

Maybe I really should do this - offer mop&bucket to 100 hotel managers in the Bay Area. Seriously..

Driving UBER is Addictive

If you like driving and going around the city, driving UBER might become an addiction.

Such is the case for me.

I recently moved to San Jose California, and while I am still searching for a full time job in EE, I decided to driver UBER.

I finished my first month today. Here is a snapshot of my earnings from one of the weeks.

That week was the highest earning week of my young driving career. The following week, I actually broke this record with $1100+ weekly earnings.

Not bad at all.

I like to drive Mon-Fri 12 noon - 8pm . Day to day, the earnings vary up to 20% even with the same number of hours.

I am learning how to make the highest earning for each hour I drive. If you're smart, I feel like you can make $30+/hr on average - with the bonus off course.

Last week, I did just that.

 I haven't tried driving UBER & LYFT at the same time. But I see many people with both stickers in their cars. I don't know how much more those drivers make.

So, what do I mean by driving smart?

Well, it includes driving in the right hours of the day, often being at the right place after drop-off thus reducing wait times, willing to take risks, etc, etc.

If you want to driver UBER, and need more information on how to get started, you can email me at ypoudel at gmail dot com.