3M Car Care

Got 3M Car Care's treatment done last Saturday. Will post a detailed review later. Overall found the facility good however very expensive. Silver Arrow is completely looking new....factory Fresh...believe me.

Cheers,
Mayur

Rattling noise

The rattling noise has started coming again. So the happiness was short lived. Also the ride was bouncy. Another thing needs to be checked is Tyre pressure. If it is more than the recommended PSI then there is lot of difference in handling and especially ride quality. I was watching Megafactories program on National Geographic the other day. Michelin's factory was being telecasted. They demo a simple example of hous tyre pressure affects braking. One car had more PSI than recommended and one car with correct pressure. The car with more PSI stopped around 30 feet longer than other car under similar braking conditions. Isn't that amazing.
So first thing tomorrow is checking the tyre pressure.

Cheers,
Mayur

Chowgule Service Centre Review, Katraj Pune

I had done my previous 23000 km servicing at Sehgal Autorider’s new service centre opened at Bavdhan. This centre was near to my home and that was the only reason I took my car there. I was not satisfied with the service done still driven my car for few months. They were unable to fix the rattling issue of my swift despite taking it multiple times. Overall facility was also not up to the mark. So decided to do the next servicing early instead of waiting for the 5000 km service interval. Also the rattling sound was making me crazy. So called up Chowgule’s service centre for appointment since I knew they normally don’t accept cars without appointment. This centre is located at Katraj which is other side of the city where I live. I had done my previous two servicing from this centre and was quite satisfied. The only problem was the distance. So on Saturday morning went to this centre. I approached the reception and told them to prepare the job card. The lady asked me to wait in the customer lounge. As expected, the centre was crowded and I saw at least 200 cars parked outside. After waiting for 20 to 25 minutes, a service advisor approached me and took me to the car. He was the same advisor who worked during previous service. I told him all the problems and he listened patiently. He also answered my queries. When I asked about oil change, he candidly told me not to change the oil since it was replaced during my previous service and the car has not run much. I really liked that. I told him that rattling sound from B, C pillar, boot is the major area of concern. Asked him to change all door clips if needed. He asked to do the AC servicing since it’s over 25000 kms. I gave go ahead.  Expected price quoted was 4000 Rs. (break up: 1. Paid servicing: 900, AC servicing: 2000, Brake pads cleaning: 400, Rear Wiper: 400 Miscellaneous: 300). AC Servicing charges were expensive but thought of the hygiene and the time we spent in the car.
Delivery time promised on the same day. I called up the SA in the evening to check if car if ready. He said all the work is done and currently car is lined up for washing. I reached the centre at 7 pm. SA asked me to wait in the customer lounge.
Facilities at the centre:1. Customer lounge: it was small. Around 20 people can sit in simultaneously. It was equipped with AC and TV. I saw couple of magazines containing MGA for different cars. Was hooked to the Swift magazine. Overall good.
2. Bathroom: Excellent. Used it in the morning. Found way better than my expectations.
3. Shuttle service: Though it’s provided only till their Satara Road showroom. I availed it till Katraj Chowk. It was an Eeco car which was in bad shape. Chowgule need to pay some attention here.
4. Location: Bad. Being outside the city.
Quality of the service:1. Whether all the things completed: Yes. Excellent. The rattling sound was completely gone. I was very happy. The only other side is need to check how long this can hold up together.
2. Timeliness: Excellent
3. Washing and cleaning: Bad. Was dissatisfied with the work done. Especially interiors. I have two sets of mats. One set was not washed altogether. I am very particular about cleaning of my car. I didn’t notice this since I took the delivery after sunset and it was completely dark.
4. Staff attitude: Excellent
However, overall I was happy with the service. I will definitely recommend Chowgule. Final bill came to 4448 which was more than estimated. Will add the breakup later. The car was completely silent from inside when I drove back home. Will update later on the rattling sound.

Cheers,
Mayur

My ride...name...Silver Arrow

Swift Upgrades

I have decided following upgrades to Silver Arrow. It will be covered in three phases. Phase I is all the basic stuff. Once your basics are right then you can go for all the fancy things. Extremely excited to plan all these things.

Phase I
1. Servicing at Chowgule's Service Center
2. 3M Car Care treatment
3. Tyre Upgrade

Phase II
4. K & N High performance filter
5. Reverse Parking Sensors with Camera
6. Replace battery

Phase III
7. Door damping
8. Change cabin light, Add light for rear passengers
9. Headlights upgrade. Xenon projector.
10. Steering Leather Cover
11. GTA Type karbon fibre rear spoiler
12. New seat covers

Cheers.
Mayur

Last week I realised that Swift's 4th Birth day is coming in August. I really cannot believe that the Silver Arrow is going to complete 4 years and around 26K mileage without any trouble. I then decided to do something special for the Silver Arrow. It's time to give some gift and return favor to one of the best things I have owned till today.

Cleared PMP on 3-Aug...my experience of this journey

Posting this after a long time. However still useful.

I have successfully cleared the exam on 3rd August 2011. Sharing my experience of this journey. Hope this helps to all the aspirants. This is my personal experience, preferences and I have no intention to hurt anyone’s feelings.


Before I begin, special thanks to PMZilla Admin and all the users of this wonderful site for sharing their lessons learned. You guys were the main motivating factor for me to complete this journey.

Part I: Initial days and collecting PDU’s
I started thinking about PMP somewhere during Apr-May 2010. I had around couple of years of project management experience during that time. First requirement was to get 35 PDU’s. Enrolled in a 4 day PMP course arrange by local institute in Jul-2010. The course was wonderful. The trainer really charged up everyone to go for the PMP within three months. He explained everything from taking PMI membership, how to fill the applications, audit process etc. He asked everyone to take the membership immediately which I did. The course ended really well. I was fully charged up because of the course and trainer’s motivation and decided to achieve PMP within three months. However I was unaware that the journey will take one full year. I created a MPP and planned all the things. Spend around 2 days to define and refine the planned tasks. Immediately after the course, started reading soft copy of Headfirst book. Successfully completed first 2 to 3 chapter within couple of days. This was my first attempt. Next five months went very quickly due to work pressures. I didn’t spend a time in study, though achieving the PMP was always on my mind. It was just that I was unable to start.

Part II: Start…end…restarts…delays…final start

In Dec-2010, made up my mind and decided to really start the study. I purchased Headfirst PMP book since reading a ebook was not working for me. Initially I found the book wonderful. The approach taken in the book is really good. Many of the concepts are explained in simple language. The graphics/images are very useful. Will I recommend this book? Certainly not. Read ahead to find the reason. Started the study on 30-Dec-2010 (second attempt). Decided to finish one chapter a day. Completed first three chapters once again and lost the steam after that. In January-2011, I hardly studied for 2 to 3 days. Reached till Chapter 5. Then there was gap of another month. During every restart, I used to create a new MPP. However the study was not progressing as expected. On 2-Mar-2011, decided that enough is enough and I must get everything together and start seriously. Studied for few days (third restart) and gave up within a week. I was trapped in a dark tunnel with no sight of the end of the tunnel. In May-2011 there was the first light. Received Rita’s book from my wife’s friend. This friend had purchased this book however never used it. My real preparation started during the first week of June 2011 (fourth and final attempt). Rita’s book and LL’s on PMZilla were the real motivating factors. Another important factor was the news of PMP exam changing on 31-August-2011. This news was sufficient to scare me. I had only 2 months for the preparation and 1 month to re-attempt if I fail on first attempt. Studied for 2 hrs on weekdays and 4 hrs on weekends.

Part III: Ups and downs…distractions…confusion…tension
There were frequent ups and downs due to office work, personal commitments. Tried to stay away for everything for two months. However I could not resist watching Formula 1 races on weekends and the Tour de France. My wife used to yell at me seeing me in front of the TV. I survived somehow. There was another twist in the story. It was June end and I realized that my PMI membership was expiring in July. I got really confused whether to renew or not. I was not sure whether it’s ok to apply for exam during membership period and appear for it when you are no more a member. Spend couple of sleepless nights due to this. So decided to renew the membership on 26-Jun-2011. There goes another $119. During last week of June, started working on the PMP application which itself is a separate project and very complex. Spent few more sleepless nights and days. The preparation was really taking the toll on me. However I was very serious this time. I decided to take the exam on or around 10 August. The application process is definitely very difficult for a new person. Now since I have gone through it and felt the heat, I think it’s straightforward. Found few blog sites which explain the process. Prepared all the experience sheet, other details and submitted application on 28-Jun-2011. Prayed to God for not selecting my application for audit which will delay the exam scheduling even further. Received email from PMI on 3-Jul-2011 (I don’t know why they took almost one week) stating that my application has been approved and asked me to pay the exam fees. I was ecstatic and didn’t read the whole email (note to all PMP aspirants: whether the application will be selected for audit or not is decided after you pay the exam fee). I thought that there will be no audit. However destiny had something else decided for me. Paid the necessary exam fees on 4-Jul-2011. Immediately received email stating that my application has been selected for audit. Why me?……by this time, the tension and anxiety was really building up. Took the printouts of experience sheets and gave to my manager. Took photocopies of degree and PDU certificates on next day. Packed up everything on envelope and send to PMI office through express courier. Another $60 dollars down the drain. Received email from PMI that the audit material has been received on 7-Jul-2011. Then I waited for one full week to hear from PMI. Every day, my anxiety and tension was increasing by few percent. More importantly this was wasting valuable days and I was worried that I might not get planned date for exam. Contacted PMI customer care and asked them to confirm why it is taking more time for audit. On 15-Jul-2011 i.e. exactly after 8 days after sending the audit material, received email that I have successfully passed the audit and now I can schedule the exam. Immediately I checked the prometric site. Another twist…10-Aug was not available. Only slots between 27-Jul to 3-Aug were available. Booked the slot on 3-Aug 12:30pm since I had no other option.

Part IV: final preparation
So I had only 17 days to complete my preparation. Revised the MPP once again and aligned the milestones which are now driven by exam date. I found Rita’s book extremely helpful. She has used extremely demotivating and scary language in almost all chapters. Sometimes you feel like throwing the book in trash…I could not throw it since it was not my book J. This book also contains one chapter “Reasons why you will fail on first attempt”…simply crazy. However there’s no other option to this book and I recommend it to everyone. Rita does cover whole lot of things than expected on the exam. This book has definitely made me a better project manager…forget about the exam.

Completed Rita’s book with exercises two times. Hey, I haven’t mentioned about PMBOK. Read PMBok once quickly. Never went back to Headfirst since there’s no comparison with Rita. I found Headfirst immature and found few gaps compared to Rita. Whereas Rita’s book was more complete and very difficult exercises. Trust me you need such difficult exercises for the preparation which I realized after giving the real exam.

Part V: first eye opener
Solved the Headfirst sample test (200 questions) on 23-Jul. Scored only 75%. My score was very less as compared some of the members. Solved Kim Heldman’s 70 questions from ebook and scored only 64%. These two scores were my eye opener and set the tone for my further preparation. I got really tensed. Realized that I need to study PMBOK carefully and must not rely only on Rita.

Part VI: Final lap
On 24-Jul started reading PMBOK line by line and also started preparing my notes. This was the real turn of events. I uncovered and understood many things during this pass. Finished PMBOK on 29-Jul. I had applied for leave from 27-Jul to 3-Aug which really helped getting things under control. From the PMZilla forum got to know about hotel stay options near Mumbai center. Though I live in Pune and can reach Mumbai in 4 hrs, I never took the risk considering monsoon conditions. Risk avoided J

Attempted many sample tests during last one week. This is a must and prepares you for the real exam. Tests and Scores are as follows;


Booked Ace residency hotel and reached Mumbai on 2-Aug. This hotel is very very close to the exam center. It’s exactly 5 minutes’ walk which was really helpful. They charged 3500 Rs. for single room. Room was descent, food was really bad. It’s a small hotel with not many facilities. However good to spend just one night.

ACE RESIDENCY HOTEL

Address : Opp.N.G.Complex, Ashok Nagar, Military Road, Marol, Andheri (East). Mumbai 400 072

Phone : +91-22 29250604 , 29250608 , 29250629,

Fax: : +91-22 29250629

Email : info@aceresidencyhotel.com hotelaceresidency@gmail.com





Part VII: D Day

I was reading my notes, sometimes PMBOK, Rita intermittently on last two days mainly on the gaps identified during the mock tests and ITTO. This gave me much needed confidence. Went to the exam center 1 hour early. The center is like a fortress, believe me. The security guard asked me to remove everything (except my clothes) and keep it in bag. Another security person checked my pockets, even asked me to fold my full sleeves. Another employee took my identify proofs (pan card and driving license) and hold it in front of my face to verify that I am the real person. After the security checking circus was over, I though it must be over. Went inside where they asked me to fill exam form. Another person explained the exam process, rough sheets, pencils etc. He also verified identity proofs, re-checked by pockets. He took me to the computer room and asked me to sit in one cubical. I put down page 43, EVM formulas within 10 minutes.


Part VIII: the exam…hypertension and finally the ecstasy

The exam is tough…really tough. Within first 2 to 3 questions, I started sweating, my blood pressure must have hit the highest peak. Told myself to calm down. Due to the pressure, I was reading same questions 5 to 6 times to understand what the question is really asking. Don’t get fooled by the mock tests. The real exam is really difficult. To summarize the question types; around 65% questions were really wordy and of 4 to 6 lines long which was the most difficult part. It’s very difficult to sit for 4 hrs. After completing 50 questions, I thought I am gone and definitely going to fail. From the mock test, PMStudy comes the closest to the real exam. However, be aware that the real exam questions will really test your skills and knowledge. Took only one break after 50 questions. Marked only 10 to 12 questions. From the EVM questions (total 7 to 8) three questions were really confusing which I marked. I could not identify the variables from the question details. Took my best guess and choose the answer. Finished all questions in 3:45 minutes. Reviewed all marked question, first 20 questions and last 20 questions. I had observed during my practice exams that I tend to choose wrong answers for first and last 20 questions the most. Changed answers of 5 to 6 questions during second pass. With only 15 seconds remaining, hit the End Exam button. Closed my eyes and started praying. There was white screen for around 2 minutes. Then there was a 9 questions survey. Which I filled diligently. Again there was the white screen. I said come on…please don’t play such games with me. After another two minutes the white/blue screen flashed “Congratulations” yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Finally I made it. I had tears in my eyes and in a moment, last two months flashed in front of my eyes. I recollected all the hard work, not spending sufficient time with my wife and daughter. Special thanks to my family for helping me achieve this.

Part IX: recommendations

1. Read the questions carefully
2. Spend full 4 hrs
3. Evaluate the options carefully
4. Think in PMBOK way and not how you do project management in real world
5. Try to stay calm…yeah it’s difficult
6. Believe in yourself
7. Don’t lose hopes at any cost
8. Practice at least 4 to 5 full length exams. Physical aspect is very important.
9. Even if you get less score in practice exam does not mean you are not ready.
10. Dedicate at least two months to this project.
11. Read PMBOK thoroughly atleast 3 times

Part X: Thank you

Once again thanks to my wife and daughter, PMZilla, its members, deep fried brain pmp.com, pmstudy.com. Without your contribution this was not possible. In one of the LL, the member has mentioned that he has thrown the books in trash after clearning PMP. Will I do the same?…noooooooooo. PMBok and Rita are too good to throw away. I will keep these books forever.