Asim Khaja’s Blog

Here is a link to Haniya’s Baby Shower
Baby Khaja’s Website

In my blog about my various ideas for projects I want to start, one of them was a project that would help people avoid traffic jams.

Traffic Monitor (Still need a name) - The idea is to have people report bottle necks in traffic that they encounter everyday, via a text message. They would simply enter the location where it started, ended, time it took for them to get through it, and what lane they were in. The idea is eventually I can collect enough data and write an Algorithm that will give people not only the fastest route (which every current traffic website already does), but also suggest what lane to be in and NO the left lane isn’t always fastest.

Well I guess Microsoft read my blog and implemented it, because they are about to come out with a tool that will help avoid traffic jams, the route i wanted to take for collecting this data was by having users input the data to my system, but apparently Microsoft was able to get a hold of 3 years worth of data and calculate traffic jams off of that. Only thing is I wonder if theres is able to specify the optimal lane to be in (as my idea was).

When people/organizations say they are going green, are their intentions really to save the planet or is it to save some green (money)? I believe for the most part its the latter.

This blog came to me, because I was wondering not how to save the planet, but how to save money. I am getting married soon, and although I’m not paying the expenses, I was wondering how I could save money if I was. Ideas that came to my mind were, instead of sending out wedding invitations, use evite.com. Instead of having it at a hall, have it at a park. There were others, but I won’t list them all. My point being that these money saving ideas also seem to coincide with “saving the planet”.

This also led me to think about what the company I work for has been doing in the effort to be “going green”.
- They don’t have arrowhead water, instead they have filtered tap water.
- Instead of having winter parties per division, they had one big one on the lot.
- Gave us mugs and water bottles to use rather then paper cups.

Although the above probably do save the planet, they save the company money more than anything else. If they really wanted to go green, wouldn’t they allow for telecommuting more often? Making us turn off our PCs before we leave work? And probably many more things they could do to save the planet (but won’t save them money/productivity).

Any ways my point is when people/companies get all high and mighty about how “green” they are, was there intention to save the planet or save money? Not that either way is a bad thing, since I guess its a win win for everybody.

The Patriots have signed moss to a 3 year 21 million dollar deal. I know its a lot of money, but I’m sure he could have gotten more. Is it just me or are the Patriots consistently able to sign players below market value? My new theory is that they are paying those players more money under the table to stay under the salary cap.

My initial thoughts on the Macbook Air, is that firstly it looks really good. And I was surprised and happy to see that it had a mini-dvi output. But, call me crazy but I think an CD/DVD Drive is a very important part of a computer (which it lacks). I know you can “borrow” the optical drive from a near by PC, but still.

Being a Laker fan for the past 3 season has been painful, not because they have been losing but because they have been so boring to watch. I use to enjoy watching the Lakers when they had Nick Van Exel, Cedric Caballos, all the other Lakers from the late 90’s, because although they were losing they were fun to watch. This year, the Lakers have once again become fun to watch. Phil Jackson seems to have allowed them to run a little more, thus making them play better and a lot more entertaining. And as an added bonus they are WINNING this year.

I think, since its hard for new drivers to check there blinkblind spot. There should be a bumper sticker that reads.
“Don’t drive in my blind spot, because I don’t check it”

Thoughts? Is this a million dollar idea or what!!

So, has anybody seen the recent Jack in the Box commercial where you can get a burger, 2 tacos, and a drink for $2.69? Great deal isn’t it?
…or is it…

The second or third time I watched the commercial, I realized how clever the executives at Jack in the Box really are. The fast food chain creates an illusion that they are giving consumers an amazing deal by offering a lot of food for a seemingly low price. Jack in the Box is simply grouping the food together to make consumers: 1) buy more food, 2) spend more, 3) attempt to attract customers and make them come more often because of this “Big Deal.” Here is a mathematical breakdown of it.

Chicken Sandwich: $0.99
2 Tacos : $0.99
Small Drink : $1.00
Tax: 8.25% ($0.24667)
_______________________________
Subtotal: $3.24

Jack in the Box Big Deal: $2.69
Tax: 8.25% (0.22192)
_____________________________________
Subtotal: $2.91

In conclusion, you’re saving about $0.33 with this deal. Saving $0.33 is still better than the original though, right? But let’s say you only want a chicken sandwich and a drink–but then you decide to get a taco so you can save extra money with this amazing deal. So you end up paying $0.99 more in order to save $0.33. You essentially just lost $0.66 trying to make use of the limited time only deal (albeit you get 2 more tacos to fatten you up).

Just found it interesting how Jack in the Box hyped up what seems like an amazingly good deal–when really it’s nothing more beneficial than those value meals

Sorry for the nerdiness of this post but hussain/asim whine when blogs are in the format i talk to ppl on aim…

I thought I’d do some journalism (at least by todays standards), and take things out of context.

So, I just finished listening to Musharraf’s Q&A session with the media, and I must say he was very impressive. I’m not saying I agree with all his policies or even know enough about anything to even judge, but I was impressed with what seemed like an honest Musharraf and how smart and articulate he was (unlike say Mr. Bush). I loved his example as to why western media has to try and understand the Pakistani culture before acting like experts and passing judgment. He gave a great example of how in the west if police put up a Yellow tape, nobody crosses, but in Pakistan if they put up a wall people would jump over the wall.

Best quote of the Q&A
“We are not a Banana Republic”, we can do things on our own.

Link to you tube of the speech (its in like 13 parts)