Rambly nonsense mostly

Have made near perfect use of the sunday - having gotten through nearly 200 pages more from 'The Snowball'. Im going MUCH slower than normal - im having to read, re-read certain parts of it because its so good.

Ive been influenced, you know,by books. like really getting taken in by reading something - hadnt happend to me for quite a long time (Hmm when was the last time i obsessively read and reread parts of just one book ? Dont seem to remember)

Onto to other things - We had convened a bit of a board meeting in the afternoon. We ought to do this often, on sundays or celphones switched off. The old man was in a preachy mood today and extremely listeny too. We all came out feeling warm, optimistic and significantly lighter in the head - talking things through thoroughly almost does that.

I have been spending a lot of time on introspection and because the next half year or so will involve several plant level challenges to be tackled - i have told him that i have taken this serious decision that i wont travel out until October for the annual show in Europe - i'l just split my time between the plant and madras - thus giving me sufficient leeway to work on my personal schedule, which is now, well, non existent.

Having already committed resources for all the necessary infrastructure (Gym memberships mostly) I have also sort of wrangled out a deal with the old man where he will pay me 1000000 (Indian, not USD) on 1 September 2009 if i successfully lose 20 kilos (and i pay him 100000 if i dont) on or before 31 August 2009

Its a sort of a win-win for me, as i see it. Ive been warming up for the last month or so and as i always know im always enjoy excercise and my body responds fairly well - so because i know in my bones that im serious this time, im just leveraging up my position with this bet with the old man.

Also gives me the incentive to keep an extra eye on the stock portfolio just in case i lose the bet :x

Related, but off track:

'The Snowball' features this interesting excerpt from one of the Great Man's lectures to a group of students - (Part 6, 'Chapter 53: The Genie' Page 687)

"When i was sixteen, I had just two things on my mind - Girls and cars", Buffett would say, taking a little poetic license here by leaving out the part about money. " i wasnt very good with girls. So i thought about cars. I thought about girls too, but i had more luck with cars.

"Lets say that when i turned sixteen, a genie had appeared to me. And that genie said,

" Warren, i'm going to give you the car of your choice. It'll be here tomorrow morning with a big bow tied on it. Brand-new. And its all yours.

Having heard all the genie stories, i would say, "whats the catch?' and the genie would answer, "theres only one catch. This is the last car your'e ever going to get in your life. So its got to last a lifetime.

If that had happened, i would have picked out that car. But, can you imagine, knowing that it had to last a lifetime, what i would do with it?

"I would read the manual about five times. I would always keep it garaged. If there was the least little dent or scratch, I'd have it fixed right away because I would'nt want it rusting. I would baby that car, because it would have to last a lifetime.

Thats exactly the position you are in concerning your mind and body. You only get one mind and one body. And its got to last a lifetime. Now, its very easy to let them ride for many years. But if you dont take care of that mind and that body, they'll be a wreck forty years later, just like the car would be.

It's what you do right now, today, right now that determines how your mind and body will operate ten, twenty and thirty years from now.

Exactly what ur grandfather wud tell u, eh ?

While i make it sound like an easy task - it aint - as any half decent gym coach will tell you - "you are what you eat" - i am a fucken glutton - so when i havent shaved in a while if A thinks that i look like a 'Teddy bear on steroids' - he has a point.

A person needs about 1500 - 2000 kcals a day for regular functioning. Give or take a 100 or two.

To lose weight one ought to hit the gym early - burn 500/600- get the metabolism up so that u burn through 1500 more easily through the day - do not overeat - keep consumption down to 1000 / 1200. Weight train - tone muscles - bulking them up burns 200/300 more without having to kill yourself at cardio.

Eating only 1000 kcal is NOT a small thing.

- the dietician at my gym says that one idly is 60 / 70 kcal - one dosai 120 - one 100 ml cup of dahi is 140 - one glass of milk is 140 and so on - 4 idlys, 2 dosais and a glass of coffee with 2 sugar cubes (2 x 40) totals to something in the range of 500 kcal and god alone knows how many kcals a half pack of ganesh vilas kadalai mittai will add to the tally.

- Its 19 April today - il probably check my weight on 30 April - just to see how much weight im losing at my rate of activity and take a call on the diet from there - for now just stay off kadalai mittai, thaiyir, switch to green tea without milk, sugar.

I'l start taking side bets from May - if rate of progress is satisfactory - may even talk the old man into upping the stakes.

We'll see, wont we ?