Trip from Chennai to Coimbatore and Back on my Yamaha-FZ all alone!

Dear Friends, 

After a long time I had a chance to quench my long distance driving hunger with my Yamaha FZ Motor Bike. I enjoyed the ride all alone; most of the distance is covered with good road except some detour as I missed the route. 

I stared from Chennai by 11:30 AM Friday Morning (25-07-2014) and reached Coimbatore by 08:15 PM, I missed my route by going to Trichy which made me travel extra 40 KM and the route from Trichy to Coimbatore was just 2-way and was flooded with Sand-Dump Trucks moving at 40 KM Per Hour speed which was really irritating after 07:00PM as I had to Navigate through Hi-beam Head Lights from opposite side which made over taking riskier and irritating because the hi-beam lights from opposite vehicle made me partially blind. 

I returned from Coimbatore on Wednesday (30-07-2014) , Started at 07:30 AM and reached Chennai by 03:15 PM. While I returned, I took extra care not to miss the route and came through Salem. The route was near to complete four ways and I enjoyed the comfortable drive as I have rectified most of the issues, I faced, when I drove from Chennai.

Caution: 

1. For any riders in India, Never allow any of your bare skin exposed to sun for more than 20 mins continuously as for sure you will get Sun Burn and its takes weeks of time to recover from sun burn, as I have experienced the same. 

I was wearing just a round neck cotton T-Shirt, Denim Jeans and a Canvas Walker shoe. My hands got completely burned as I did not feel any irritation or pain when I was driving, you only feel only the wind at the speed of 100 KM Per Hour. But your skin gets burnt. 

2. Your bum will start to ache when you sit in the same position for hours to gather. It depends on your seating position. Yamaha-FZ seating position is'nt favourable for long distance ride. 

3. You will start to feel the pain in your knees and back vertebral after 3-hours. 

4. Your head will start to irritate because of wearing the helmet for hours.  

5. If your Back Pack is heavy you will find it difficult to balance in your shoulders as most of the time the wind will push the backpack to one side depending upon the wind direction and will strain one side of your shoulder and will minimize the blood circulation in your hands after three hours. 

Advise: 

To avoid all these you can just follow simple tips. When I was on the return, I have corrected most of the issues and made my journey comfortable. 

1. To avoid sun burn I brought a light cotton denim full hand shirt which was comfortable to wear and cover till your wrist. ( also have a glove to cover your fingers too, but I did not and got black fingers)

2. To avoid bum and back vertebral pain I had a cotton turkey towel on my seat folded, I changed the folding width and position of the towel at regular intervals at least after every 100 KM which gives you some comfort and less strain on your bum and vertebral. 

3. To avoid knee pain, I used to stretch both of my legs while driving after every 15 minutes, Stretch your legs till your toe. Did some stretch and bend exercise whenever, I stopped for a break.

4. To avoid head irritation, I used to remove my helmet when ever sun goes down a bit and will were again when sun comes back. This helped me to keep my hair and head dry from sweat, which helped a lot in reducing head scalp irritation.

5. To reduce the back pack issue, I - ½ emptied my back pack while I was returning, hence the weight of the pack did not hurt my blood circulation in the arms much. But still I felt minor numbness after 7-hours. I think is better to tie your back pack in the back seat or hang in the hooks or don’t have it. 

6. Make sure your Horn is sound enough to warn haphazard road crossers at every village through your highway drive, at times heard of cattle cross the road taking their own sweet time, No other go you will have to wait. Its one of the greatest risk when you drive across any Indian road.

Great Risk

7. Make sure your head lights are positioned proper before you start your drive. 

8. Fill your Tank whenever possible at least after every 200 KM. 

9. Check your tire pressure at least twice in between your travel; minor puncture will lose air very slowly. If your air checking intervals has at least 5PSI difference. Make sure you go to the nearest a puncture shop to check for any minor puncture. 

10. If you know when you have to change your engine oil its fine if not just change it, do not give it a try.

11. Check your brake pads and brake lights. 

12. Have your Rear View mirrors in proper strength as it will turn constantly in high winds and its riskier to drive without a rear view mirror as you will not have time to check for vehicles overtaking you at 150 KM Per Hour speed. A slightest miscalculation will be a catastrophe. 

13. Make sure you are not racing, enjoy the driving. Take as many breaks as you like stretch and bend. 

14. If you like coffee, you will find lots of Kumbakonam Degree Coffee shops through the route. It will keep you awake and active. 

15. Have proper sleep before the day you start, if you feel drowsy please stop at the nearest town and book a room rest and then drive. Nothing is important than your life. 

Cursing Speed:

At an average I was driving most of the time between 90 to 100 KM Per-Hour, which I and my bike felt comfortable.  

Top Speed:

I reached 122 KM per hour as Top Speed; my bike did not go any further even with full accelerator.

Kilometer Driven:

In total: 990 KM (Up and Down)

Chennai to Coimbatore : 511 KM (Through Trichy - Karur )

Coimbatore to Chennai : 479 KM (Through Erode-Salem)

Loved & Enjoyed: 

1. My Bike! Cursing at the speed of 100 KM per hour, the little beast showed no resistance or harshness. He was smooth and stable even after pushing him to his top performance hours to gather. I was happy to own him and tame him. 

2. The Crushing and Guzzling wind when I was driving along the Kavery River bed (Trichy to Karur)  

3. The Welcome Chill wind that I felt before entering Karamadai through – (Trichy-Karur). 

4. The evening drive between Karur to Coimbatore. 

5. Morning Drive from Coimbatore till Erode.

6. I challenged a Volvo Multi Axial (Kallada Travels from Perindurai to Erode). I over took him multiple times by honking him with my musical horn and he over too me the same way. He will overtake me in 120 KM Per Hour also he will honk while he over take but poor guy he has to slow down in between every village crossing where I get a chance to tease him. I took a short break at Erode then I missed him. 

7.Kumbakonam Degree coffee at regular intervals.

8.Enjoyed my passion. 

Waiting for another memorable drive ! Guys if you need any last minute advise you are welcome reach me @ +91-9790111080 or mail me @ regan.gpr@gmail.com. 

Thanks & Regards,

S.Grace Paul Regan

Shuttle Badminton Clubs In Chennai !

Dear Friends and Shuttle Badminton Enthusiasts, 

This week end I was searching to find a Shuttle Badminton Court near (Pallavaram, Thambaram - Chennai area) and I came across this b-log which has lot of badminton club details in and around Chennai. I fortunately found a non-maintained wooden court inside MEPZ premises only allowed for employees within MEPZ . Hence I thought to share and help badminton enthusiasts like me. 

http://badmintoncourtsinchennai.blogspot.in/2012/10/list-of-badminton-courts-in-chennai.html

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Seven Signs You're Wasting Your Talent !

Today I was going through a post in linkedin : Seven Signs You're Wasting Your Talent. I recommend any one working in the IT industry to go through this post when you get some time. You will find it worth. 

Some of the key points which intruded me: 

1. There is no sense in fear-based management. The Godzilla system in place in most large companies and institutions isn't run on common sense but on a bizarre and self-referential Business Logic instead. 
2. We would not insult salaried employees with an attendance policy
3. When you aren't moving forward you are sliding back, because time moves on.
4. it's reasonable to want some recognition for your contribution!
5. Living well is the best revenge!
6. Get yourself into a place where you can find your voice and speak your truth, a little more every day.
7. No employer is worth damaging your resume for!

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

ERP Project Failures - Key Reasons !

ERP Project Failures:

Most of the highlighted points posted here are gathered from various sources, through web, Project Discussions, White Papers, my personnel experience and research magazine, I will keep adding the Key Reasons as I get through. Keep a tab on this post if you want to know more…

It’s complicated:

Expect it to be hard than your present legacy system.  The KISS rule – Keep it Simple Stupid – just cannot apply when it comes to many public sector projects and the validation rules that get in are too high for any ERP software to handle.

Take your time:

Don’t wait until your software is about to pack (or Freeze as outdated) it in then scramble about madly for a replacement. This was the first step on the road to ruin for the Queensland Health project worth 1.2 B$ AUD, says IBRS research analyst Sue Johnston.

“People know the old system has an expiry date and they wait until it’s getting critical,” they are left with very minimal time to implement and test the new system and are forced to jump to the new boat without proper testing.


Put someone in charge who knows what they’re doing:

Having someone competent in charge lessens the chance of things going horribly wrong as the person with knowledge can identify a problem by seeing the tip of the ice berg.




Find the right partner:

It pays to test the waters before you tie the knot. Running a small pilot project before going full steam may help ERP implementing company to know for what they are going to opt and pay will help them out in solving their present and future ERP related issues.

Share the bad news early:

When you’ve got bad news, get it on the table as soon as possible, don’t sit on the issue until the last minute before it erupts, this causes irrecoverable damages.

Big Bannered Armatures:

Misrepresented IT skills and experience during the RFP processes and after contract signing failed to resource the project with staff that had the necessary skills to complete the work successfully (the so called “bait and switch” maneuver). This is done my most of the Big Bannered Companies where you go them by their name and brand value in the market without actually testing their present capability to address your issues. They may be a trillion dollar company, it’s not necessary they should have all the solutions for your issues.

Withheld Risk:

Withheld critical project risk information translates to hiding a hurricane forecast to a sailor who is about to sail. Weather he sails or not depends upon the calculated risk taken by the sailor but at least he is well informed about the near future disaster that may threaten his survival.

Influencing Might Be Ideas:

Committed conflict of interest by influencing client’s Project Manager into accepting incomplete work and concealing project risks from senior management so that the software releases could go live or you may create an illusion that you are progressing.

Not Doing your Job:

Being the Project Manager from the client side, the failure to oversee the work of the Implementation Project Manager and establish an appropriate robust acceptance processes appear to have been direct causes of the failure.

Being the client side project manager you will have to keep an tab over project progress and make sure you get everything delivered up to the moment as per approved and agreed upon plan, no backlogged delivery should be accepted.

Baseline Existing Practices:

Failure to baseline existing practices and to establish effective measures for the desired outcomes, Taking some quality time to prepare the existing operating procedures and analysing with the standard of Sigma 4-6 and rate the efficieancy of the process. If major changs are demanded to enhance the existing operating procedures take the time to implement the required major changes and get comfortable with the new process then think about achieving the same through ERP. 

Specific ERP for Specific Project:

Military Organization Implementation, The structure of a military organization and its focus on operational capabilities rather than financial performance meant that using a COTS system that was designed for a profit making organization was a poor fit; hence the right ERP software should be selected for the right project requirement.

Decision Making Authority:

The hierarchical decision making structures in the military were poorly aligned with the governance structure in use by the project (functional sponsors were at times lower in rank than the people whose groups were impacted by the changes). Companies who go for ERP implementation should look their approval hierarchy and make sure the right and relevant personnel approves the request that he should.

Resistance for Change:

It’s common for resistance in any system change in an organization but when something like an ERP is introduced, management should educate the employees and make them understand what change can bring for them and for the organization.  Unwillingness to adapt operating processes to match the capabilities of the software, Focus only on schedule and budget will result lack of focus on actual project performance resulting in quality related issues being swept under the carpet.

ERP Implementation is an Organizational Transformation Project:

Seeing the project as an IT project rather than an organizational transformation project. The importance and involvement given by higher management differs according to this classification of Project.

Shallow Vision:

Lack of experience in large scale, complex integrated systems development and deployment. Organizational silos. Failure to effectively engage all affected stakeholders. Lack of collaboration and a lack of understanding of “change management”. Failure to establish process ownership will lead to straight forward project failure.


Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Seven Brilliant Quotes From Famous people Can Brighten Your Day

• Never play with the feelings of others because you may win the game but the risk is that you will surely lose the person for a life time.” – Shakespeare

• “The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of good people.” – Napoleon

• “I am thankful to all those who said NO to me. It’s because of them I did it myself.” – Einstein

• “If friendship is your weakest point then you are the strongest person in the world.” – Abraham Lincoln

• “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King

• “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi

• “It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone.” – Dr Abdul Kalaam