Forty things that changed...

1.       You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

2.       Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

3.       The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4.       You respect your body ... finally.

5.       You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

6.       You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

7.       You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8.       You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9.       Your heart breaks much more easily.

10.    You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11.    Every day is a surprise.

12.    Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)

13.    You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

14.    You become a morning person.

15.    Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

16.    You discover how much there is to say about one tooth.

17.    You finally realize that true joy doesn't come from material wealth.

18.    You now know where the sun comes from.

19.    You'd rather buy a plastic tricycle than those shoes that you've been dying to have.

20.    You realize that although sticky, lollipops have magical powers.

21.    You don't mind going to bed at 9 p.m. on Friday night.

22.    Silence? What's that?

23.    You realize that the 15 pounds you can't seem to get rid of are totally worth having.

24.    You discover an inner strength you never thought you had.

25.    You no longer rely on a clock — your baby now sets your schedule.

26.    You give parents with a screaming child an 'I-know-the-feeling' look instead of a 'Can't-they-shut-him-up?

27.    You take the time for one more hug and kiss even if it means you'll be late.

28.    You learn that taking a shower is a luxury.

29.    You realize that you can love a complete stranger.

30.    You find yourself wanting to make this world a better place.

31.    If you didn’t believe in love at first sight before, now you do!

32.    You start to appreciate Sesame Street for its intellectual contribution.

33.    You have to quit watching the news because you see every story from a mother's perspective and it breaks your heart.

34.    You just plain love life more - everything comes together and becomes better because of one tiny person and your love for them.

35.    You finally find out the real reason you have those breasts.

36.    The support you get from other people surprises you, because the people giving it are not always the ones you'd expect.

37.    Nothing is just yours any longer. You share EVERYTHING!

38.    No matter what you've accomplished in life, you look at your child and think, "I've done a GREAT job!

39.    You want to take better care of yourself for your child.

40.    You can have the most wonderful conversation using only vowel sounds like "ahhh" and "oooo."

Pre-Employment Inquiries and Citizenship

Employers should not ask whether or not a job applicant is a United States citizen before making an offer of employment. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 12986 (IRCA) makes it illegal for employers to discriminate with respect to hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, based on an individual's citizenship or immigration status. For example, the law prohibits employers from hiring only U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents unless required to do so by law, regulation or government contract; it also prohibits employers from preferring to hire temporary visa holders or undocumented workers over qualified U.S. citizens or other protected individuals, such as refugees or individuals granted asylum.

IRCA requires employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all employees hired after November 6, 1986, by completing the Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) Form, and reviewing documents showing the employee's identity and employment authorization. The law prohibits employers from rejecting valid documents or insisting on additional documents beyond what is legally required for employment eligibility verification (or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form I-9), based on an employee's citizenship status or national origin. For example, e.g., an employer cannot require only individuals the employer perceives as "foreign" to verify their employment eligibility or produce specific documents, such as Permanent Resident ("green") cards or Employment Authorization Documents. It is the employee's choice which of the permitted documents to show for employment eligibility verification. As long as the document appears reasonably genuine on its face, and relates to the employee, it should be accepted.

Because of potential claims of illegal discrimination, employment eligibility verification should be conducted after an offer to hire has been made. Applicants may be informed of these requirements in the pre-employment setting by adding the following statement on the employment application:

"In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire."

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) also prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin by smaller employers (with 4 to 14 employees). IRCA prohibits retaliation against individuals for asserting their rights under the Act, or for filing a charge or assisting in an investigation or proceeding under IRCA. Discrimination charges under IRCA are processed by the Department of Justice, Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for Immigration- Related Unfair Employment Practices. For more information, contact the OSC at:

1-800-255-7688 (voice for employees/applicants),
1-800-237-2515 (TTY for employees/applicants),
1-800-255-8155 (voice for employers), or
1-800-362-2735 (TTY for employers), or
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc

snow shower

Yes, we got our first snow shower a little early this time. We generally never get the snow till December, but seems like this is going to be a tough year, with heating oil in more demand and less people who can afford it, not sure, what's going to happen in US economy.

btw, the grey car…that's my car…

Paperclip @ work

I was browsing net and stumbled upon this pretty video. This is for those who are too lazy to hold there fone/camera in there hands while watching it. This is a hand made / home made tripod/ (camera / fone) holder. (Phew....too many slashes)

Office trip to Ann Arbor, MI

So the end of a 5 day office trip to onsite location ended peacefully, without much happening. Office was good, staff is too less and needless to say, with the amount of clients, I must say, they are doing pretty well. I was daily picked up and dropped off by colleagues. Big thanks to them.
Few noticeable things, the place where I stayed, Extended Stay Hotel "Deluxe", was too good. Had a incident related to that, will share that too. Firstly, the area. I am not exaggerating, but there should be around 10 hotels in 1 mile radius. And around 25 restaurants in the same radius.
So it happened that this colleague dropped me off at a different ESH location as opposed to ESH "D". He was completely ignorant about it and so do I. M, who took a vacation with my business trip, already checked in the hotel. So I was pretty sure about the hotel room, and the hotel receptionist, was also pretty sure, that the same room does not exist here. Anyway, finally had to take a cab to reach to the right hotel.
Anyway, I must say, the transport system is too good. It’s well connected. It’s a nice and quite city. Lots of young kids in University of Michigan. And lots of consultants as well. There is this pathway along each and every road for the pedestrians and the bicycle riders. Only thing, I should say I dint like is the people of Ann Arbor. They are very rude. Starting from the hotel staff, to the bus driver to the bus passenger. Being from the East coast, I was expecting at least not to be rude, if not polite. Anyway, somebody rightly said, you can change the clothes of a body, but you cannot change the soul.
Another funny thing happened. We were walking on the streets, and we happened to ask this guy, the way to the grocery store, and this guy first went into minutes, talking about each and every grocery store in the vicinity and the time it would take to reach there, by walk. Then after a while he asked me who I am, and as soon as I said Computer Programmer, he said my computer has a key logger file. How do I remove that? I asked him to Google, and he offered me dinner, at his place. We dropped the idea, and somehow managed to move forward. Sometimes funny people meet you, unknowingly. And you never know what happens next.
After a stay of 5 days, and 4 nights in Ann Arbor, we drove to Chicago. We booked the car and the hotel a week in advance. So here we are Chicago.
PS:Pics would soon be added onto another post.