Witty Bits

Finally... Dumbledore Vanishes!

2007-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Finally... Dumbledore Vanishes! posted at my Live Spaces

New Seven Wonders of the world...

2007-08-27T23:46:00.000-07:00

... proud to say that Taj Mahal is one of them. (Not that I did anything wee-bit towards it ;) )

This raises a few questions. Why is it that then I am proud of that Taj Mahal, which I don't even remember seeing once, made into the seven wonders of the world?

The only few who should be proud are those who contributed towards its construction, who are long gone now, and those who are currently contributing towards protecting it. They deserve an applause.

Is it patriotism to be proud of any achievement that I am not even remotely connected to? What difference should it have made had Taj Mahal been in Nepal, say? Should I be not proud that the Great Wall of China is still a part of the Seven Wonders? Isn't it mother earth that we all reside in?

Where does the "my circle" begin and end? When in school, kids would cheer for one sect of the class he (I did my major schooling in a boys school) supported. Then, when it came to a bigger match, "we" became the division that one belonged to. Now, on an all-school competition, the "we" now is my whole "Standard" ("Grade" in US lingo). Everything else seems "alien". But all of a sudden, for an interschool competition, "we supported" "our school". It was not much of a surprise that it soon became "our district", "our state".

I thought the next obvious step was "patriotism" and "we" would be "people of our country" when I stepped into US for my Masters education on August 5th 2001. I expected that the group that moved together would be bound by the common thread of India. Also definitely expecting an interweaving into the host culture.

I was mistaken, by a mile. I was shocked to find "Tamil" gangs, "Telugu" gangs, etc! The cricket teams were made by this lingo-based seperation! I had zero respect for this split. It is agreed that it is easy to converse better on a known language. But, 21 years of schooling in English, 2 years of preparation for a 650+/800 Verbal score in GRE, and breeze on TOEFL, was for what? What about Hindi? National Language exists not as another 3rd Standard GK question.

I see myself really fortunate to hail from a country that has so much of varied culture and heritage. But, the culmination point of that should not be to retrieve into water-tight shells, when put face to face. To eat dal makhani with my buddy from Punjab, and to shed tears for a bit of Gonghura chutney from Andhra... I am proud! I am proud to state that I could learn at least a few dozen Kannada words in the last couple of years. The fact that we have different cultures and different language at home is not to mean that it has to remain the same way when left out of the box.

But, planting one self in the US provides a lot of other opportunities. US brings together a lot of other cultures - people from US (of course :) ), China, India, Kenya... the list goes on. I find myself really lucky to be in the mix. And I find it an opportunity wasted for those who pull into the self-defined-"we" cove.

Enough said on an aimless ramble, I would like to re-iterate "I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage!"

Ssshhhh… Think twice before you disturb...

2007-08-13T14:30:00.001-07:00

… some one might be trying to get some work done.

All of us, while working, can get into a state where the concentration is absolute and intense on the task at hand. This is often referred to as being "in a state of trance", "in the zone" etc. From one of my former colleagues, Ray, I came to understand that this is a state of immense focus and a state where the mind is receiving immense happiness. Work tends to flow and get done quickly during this time. I have also learned from him that while one is in a state of trance, the mind does not like to be disturbed. I now realize that this was the reason for all the shouting and yelling, when my mom rang the buzzer to invite me for dinner while I was neck deep in "Halflife", trying to get that monster out.

Well, well, I learned an extra piece to this puzzle just yesterday, from Hari. It takes about 40 minutes for the mind to get back into another state of trance. I have not validated this, but it sounds totally true. I am also sure that the interest the person has on the task at hand can increase or decrease this time. But, yet, on an average the 40 minutes seems about right.

So, guys, the next time you open up that messenger or pick up the phone to "ping" a buddy - just because you are idle - be warned that you might be taking away the "talk time" + 40 minutes of your friends time.

This adds to why emails are sometimes better :)

Gift of the day!

2007-08-10T09:01:00.001-07:00

Just stepped into my office… and followed another person, with a parcel in his hand.

My three much awaited books are here:

Microsoft Windows Powershell Step-by-Step

Inside Windows Communication Foundation

Inside Windows Communication Foundation Step-by-Step

Ab aayega mazaa (Now comes fun!)

The million dollar question is… which one do I open first :)

Things that steal my processor cycles

2007-08-09T17:22:00.001-07:00

Well, here is a rant about some random stuffs that keeps me thinking - more so to the point of worried.

What is the best way to organize my music? I need access to them - read/write from home, office, travel. When I say "best" way, there is an implicit requirement for cost effectiveness. I don't want to be spending another 400$ to buy an extra piece of hardware now.
How far should I believe my One Note? The intention is to ask, what happens if my HDD crashes! I need a way to back it up as well.
How do I continue my blogging, without shooting into my own foot at work?
I need another pair of headphones :( My beloved Sony noise cancelling headphones snapped.

Laptop... Souped up...

2007-07-08T03:12:00.000-07:00

... to the max! My Sony Vaio now runs like a rabbit on a full 2GB RAM and handles slick with a flawless space key on the keyboard! More fire power for all my IT works!

Still alive...

2007-06-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

... the title says it all.

I 1 note

2006-11-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read the title correctly: I OneNote.

It was just yesterday did I ever have the "mood" to click on this fancy little icon that has been sitting under the Office 2007 option in my Start menu - of my Vista installation!! And right then, I discovered its utility. It's a definite tool for me, a person for whom ideas -whims and fancies included - fly by at eerie instances. And, they promptly die if not documented somewhere, which usually would have been the last page of a notebook lying around or a loose sheet of paper. Now, I at least have a place to "jot" them down in a collected place - One Note 2007.

This is blog is just an embodiment of this effort. I am writing this as the first idea-capture on my One Note workbook :). I hope the effort lives and continues.

The problem that worries me - as with any digital data - is of a possible HDD crash. Must find a way to fight it. Probably a periodic back up of my One Note folder to somewhere. But then, if I were capable of such periodicity and order, I wouldn't be needing One Note in the first place. Lets see what I can come up with as an alternate. Till then, I will be busy scribbling… err.. One Noting :)

What a fortune!!!

2006-07-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Confluence...

2006-07-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

... is defined as "a flowing together of two or more streams".

In my case, I am listening to the fusion album "The Confluence" where Sitar and Piano are flowing together, carrying along with them, my already-on-a-coffee-high mind!

Shock of the afternoon!

2006-07-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

NEED I SAY MORE? :(

I'm loving it!

2006-07-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

No! No! This is not a blog about McDonald's super famed burger. (Note an extra 'g' at the end of 'loving' as opposed to an apostrophe :) )

This is about how much I've begun to love to blog these days. The inertia for writing a new post has gone. Just Ctrl+B from my Flock browser, type all my heart wants, click publish. Another reason might be the fact that the blog doesn't bite back. I can write all I want. Quench and relish my love for improving my language!

Thought that needed a mention. Thanks, dear blog!

Delight to disdain

2006-07-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

This morning at office started with the a new malayalam music album: Keerthi Chakra. I added the songs to my iTunes collection, and pretty much jumped off my seat to see the names of the singers. Especially the name "Kailash Kher". Just mentioned his name in a blog yesterday, and a song sung by him in Malayalam? "Amazing", I thought. The rest of the artists had my next favorite: "Karthik" (Not my roommate, though he sings well). "Aha!", I was delighted!

Double clicked on Kaveri Nadiye. Karthik's voice reverberated. But then, familiarity came to the fore. "Kaaveri Nadiye..." echoed with "Pooncholai Kiliye..." from tamil movie Aran. Was abt to do more factor analysis when the great Shankar's (Bangan, Donkar) one time comment about Aran clicked: "Unga Mohanlal thaa nadichirukkan"... "Worst", I thought. And yes, both movies have "Joshua Sreedhar" as music director... "Suthamada"... So much so for the height of anticipation for a new Kailash Kher song...

A song for me?

2006-07-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

I was rummaging through my collection of songs in my iTunes to listen to something different, that would captivate me, and all of a sudden Kailash Kher's name came to the fore (So did Karthik's name - Why? Because we both love the song "Podhumadaa" in Majaa.)

"Well, then", I thought, "Why not that?". Typed in "Podhumadaa" (no quotes, of course) in iTunes' search box without any backspaces (thats rare!), and bang! one search result: THE SONG. Double clicked it. iTunes waited for a while for my external harddrive to wake up. It did, with a couple of clicking noises, and I have the song flowing into my headphones.

Listened to the song once, Kailash Kher singing away to glory. Remembered those evenings when this song would be playing on my 300$ music system, with two sidekick voices, one would be Karthik's and he would be cooking, and the second would be mine, snuggled cozily on a decrepit couch. Let the word "sidekick" not misguide you, our voices would be competing with the 300$ Onkyo music system, literally putting it to shame. This would happen in a loop, once, twice, thrice and then either food would be fully-cooked or throat would be half-boiled. Those were some days!

But then, today, I listened to the song, and suddenly the lyrics made more sense to me and describes my current state of affairs.

Here goes the lyrics [Courtesy, Music India Online]

podhumada saami naan vecha paasam
veguthada bhoomi ellam veli vesham

[podhumada..]

vidhi vecha theeyila manam kasangi ponathae
vizhi rendum neerule uyir posingi ponathae
kanorum kannir endral sogam illai
kannire kannagal endral yetho solla

[podhumada..]

mamaraththil koodu katti poongkuruvi vazhayilae
ver arunthu ponathenna.. vethanathaan bhoomiyilae

pavam patta jeevan agiputten naane
egapatta sogam thedikitten veene

puli vesham poddathenna poona kutti
atha naanum kaapethenna veli katti

[podhumada..]

[music.. ariro ariro ..araro ariro...]

kora mazhai thurayilae, vangi vanthen kola podi
vidu vanthu pakkurappo, kanaliyae vaasapadi

uthupathi vaasam, veesum koncha neram
vanavillin jaalam, vazhum konjam neram

adimaada agiponen yaarum illai
ada poda vazhthu onnun aavathulla

[podhumada..]

[vithi...]

[podhumada..]

Huh! How true!

Nothing is permanent...

2006-07-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

... thats what I learnt over this weekend! Not even seemingly great friendship! Without pointing fingers and calling names, here is what I am gonna do... er.., Well, instead of me talking, let one of my greatest buddies - Calvin (I know he wont leave me, for sure - just like how he wont leave Hobbes) talk:

I really apologize for having screen-shot this picture and put it up here. I intend no plagiarism. All rights goto whoever its supposed to. This picture just echoed a response to my current state of affairs! Got this picture from here

What is love?

2006-07-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

With due respect to a fellow blogger nicknamed "wild wolf", I accept the following definition which appeared as a caption on her blog:

"Love is when you take away the feeling, the passion, and the romance in a relationship and find out you still care for that person."

Neat, eh?

My melakartha Kharaharapriya?

2006-07-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Have I found out my most favorite melakartha raaga? Can't answer yes or no to it. But, to this point, I have been mostly drawn towards the following raagas

1. Kaapi
2. Kanada
3. Shivaranjini

All the above happen to be janya raagas of Kharaharapriya.

Hence for now, Kharaharapriya is THE melakartha raaga for me ;).

Can change? Might change? Time will tell...

Identifying a raaga

2006-07-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Found the following article on how to identify the raaga of a song.
http://sunson.livejournal.com/145903.html
Looks good for carnatic music dummies like me ;)

The Solitary Reaper

2006-07-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

Here comes another favorite poem of mine...

The Solitary Reaper
William WordsWorth

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

Kaapi and Kaapi: What more do I want?

2006-07-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

The title raised a frown in your face? It was intended! As I write this blog, I am listening to "Enna thavam seithane", a beautiful song set in the raaga Kaapi (a janya of melakartha "Kharaharapriya") - easily one of my favorites! As a matter of fact, today has been a Kaapi raaga day! Amongst other songs, "Enna Thavam" and "Jagaddhodharana" in musicindiaonline.com has been played over and over for at least 10 times today!

Meanwhile, the second Kaapi enters: this time its Kaapi as in coffee. (Coffee goes by the name "Kaapi" in malayalam/tamil). I am sipping a cuppa Folger's medium roast coffee - straight black, not a bit tainted by any creamer! Two "high"s in their pristine best. Now, I ask the question once again: What more do I want?

Here is a comment while I am on "a high": Don't know why people seek other "harmful" "stuff" for "a high"!

While I was about to finish the post, my "temp" roomie Sreeram (he shares the name with me), answers the "What more do I want?" with a passing comment: "Kalyanam!".... Amma...!!

Test blog from Flock!

2006-06-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

Heard abt this new Flock... begging to become the Web 2.0 browser! Checking it out. Writng this from within a tool box in the browser. Its supposed to push this in straight to my blog. Lets see what it does!

technorati tags:Technology

Blogged with Flock

Longest .com domain

2006-05-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

I was browsing through an orkut group on etymology that I am member of, and came across the word: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

A google search for the word directed me to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com

The site states:
"Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com is the longest single word (without hyphens) .com domain name in the world. It was registered by Internetters on 21st October 1999.

This Welsh town actually exists and its name translates as "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".

For brevity, it is understandable that many of the locals simply refer to their village as "Llanfair" www.llanfair.com or "Llanfair PG" or "Llanfairpwll" which, of course, makes for easier typing and is faster to pronounce."

Neat trivia ;)

Reflection can be wonderful!

2006-05-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken while getting out of Cilantro's restaurant with despair. (No items in the menu was pleasing to our most refined, sophisticated, palates.)

While capturing the fancy "Texas Midnight" number plate was the main intention to click this snap from my multifunctional, multi utility, MP3-abled, blue tooth enabled (ahem ahem) cell phone, I was surpised to see that I captured most (7/8) in the gang!

Find 'em and name 'em!
Clue: There is a trouser pandy and that is Karthik!

Oh! By the way, it was Ranjith's treat as he is leaving to San Jose to join QualComm on his internship. Thanks a bunch, Ranjith and All the best!

We ended up eating at CaBoose (50th and Slide... Bangan's suggestion... for once was good :P)!

Downside of IT certification

2006-05-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

Adverse effects of IT certification. Read it here.

Bright future... Glorious past...

2006-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to create this post ever since PP and Nemeldi mentioned this to me. At the gym (yeah! I work out.), we were once discussing as to how a person's profile is spoken about.

When a newbie joins, he is said to have a Bright Future...
As he ages, he is said to have had a Glorious Past...

As for the present... well.. he had a glorious past and has a bright future, why worry abt present??

South plains to south west via south-west

2006-04-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

WARNING: This blog was written when the vetti meter was way up in the red-zone. Use caution while reading!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

In an optimist's view: I am catching up on blog-reading, blogging, and other activities for which I didnt have time for so long.

In a pessimist's view: I am killing time, going through a boring time...

In a realist's view: Should plan better next time

Here is what it is in MY VIEW!!!:
---------------------------------
If the title gave u a shock or a sense of non-sense, I am sorry to say, it was intended! Level of vettiness (idleness, boredom) knows no bounds when you have paid 3oo odd bucks to fly from Lubbock to San Jose and sit stuck up in an Econolodge's room #222, having nothing better to do than sipping a cuppa coffee and sapping the internet bandwith to the max. Had a chat with almost anyone free, read through some fancy blogs, even read some news... I AM BOREDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.....

Well, though yesterday could have end up the same way, there was Karthik with me - so spent the day, talking talking and talking abt all the things happened since he left Lubbock last week! Also, saw a bit of Santa Clara while helping him scout companies. I must admit that it was fun. Moreover, for the first time in our lives, we tasted Ethiopian cusine... Well, anytime is funtime for me with K around... Evening was even more bliss with Deepak around and a trip to SARAVANABHAVAN!! You all MUST know what I ate: Kaima Idli, Sambhar Vada, Filter Coffee (ooooooooooooohhhhhhhh), mango lassi... DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL on folks!!!

The same agenda was planned for today... but...

Fortunately for K and not so for me, he got a mail saying that he is getting an interview with TI this Wednesday. So... no (sc)outings today... and I dont wanna disturb him in his preps... for it is ever more critical... BUT WHAT WILL I DO ??? Walking down the streets alone is not my ball game unless I am very depressed... But driving... oooh yes... however... the rate of car rental (abt 50 bucks) is kinda ticklish... thinking... still thinking... I do have my GPS with me... so... thinking towards it...

However, some enlightening moments on the day so far has been the fact that K is getting some interview calls.. And the next best thing that will happen this evening is the arrival of Dummi Kuppam Vavval.. aka.. Pisthu!!! And then, I am expecting some... "just like old" times...

But till then... mein kya karoon? Time and impulsiveness will tell... Will I tell you that? I dont know... for I dont know when I will be vetti enough to write some more...

Interesting Quotes

2006-04-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

You get fifteen democrats in a room, and you get twenty opinions.
- Senator Patrick Leahy

Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.
- Marston Bates

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
- Oscar Wilde

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.
- Jeff Valdez

Source: www.quotationspage.com

Good Quotes

2006-04-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
- WH Auden

The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
- William James

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it.
- CP Snow

Source: www.quotationspage.com

Tribute to a good friend

2006-04-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here goes the lyrics of a beatiful short n sweet song... Raaja rocks! S. Janaki... fabulous!

Movie: Thalapathi
Song: Chinna Thaay Aval

Lyrics

Chinna thaay aval thandha raasaave
Mullil thondriya chinna rosaave (X 2)

Sollavaa aaraaaro
Num swandhangal yaraaaro
Undhan kannil yendhaan neero (Chinna)

Thaay azhuthalee nee vara
Nee azhuthayee thaay vara

They pirai kaanum vennila
Theyvathu undo enn nila

Unnai naan intha
Nenjil vaangida

Methai pol unnai
Mella thaangida

Vizhi moodatho (Chinna X 2)

Birthday gift from Rod

2006-04-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Morgan Freeman (Halflife fame ;)) wishing me a happy b'day.

See that it appeared in The Times too...

Thanks Rod!

Wait a sec for leap into 2006

2005-12-25T18:01:00.000-08:00

From CNN:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds. Scientists are delaying the start of 2006 by the first "leap second" in seven years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth's rotation.

The adjustment will be carried out by sticking an extra second into atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight Coordinated Universal Time, the widely adopted international standard, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology said this week.

Although it is possible to have a negative leap second -- that is, a second deducted from Coordinated Universal Time -- so far all have been add-ons, reflecting the Earth's general slowing trend due to tidal breaking.

Deciding when to introduce a leap second is the responsibility of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, a standards-setting body. Under an international pact, the preference for leap seconds is December 31 or June 30.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

2005-12-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

Here goes one of my fav poems... By Robert Frost

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
-Robert Frost

"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it's queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

Are our websites citeable?

2005-12-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

It is with great regret and disappointment that I write this blog. This thought has been in my mind for quite some time now and has been made stronger by today's incident which compelled me to pen it down.

Without further ado, let me get to the issue. I am talking about the websites of most of our (India's) government websites. I am aghast at the total lack of presentability in them. Most of the sites appear to me as an HTML beginner's play ground. The incident that happened today was my browsing of our space-research portal: ISRO-'s website: www.isro.org . If by the time you read this, a revolutionary change has not happened to the site, you will see what I am talking about! A marquee in blue on a green background? The resolution of the images used and the color choices makes me giddy. Is this the face of India's - nation basking in IT glory - premier research organisation? I took a quick look at NASA's website: http://www.nasa.gov/. A comparison in research of the two could be possible (today or tomorrow)... but comparison of their sites... well, question of comparison should not arise!

ISRO's site was just an example. Try "India's No. 1 Telecommunications Company" - BSNL's site: http://www.bsnl.co.in/. Look at the flashing "new" in the site. Which era of websites are we in?

"Class" in terms of look and feel, and "Easy access to information" in terms of the layout should be the buzz-words to any serious site, in my opinion. I am more comfortable browsing through a site with these features than a horrible site with possible good information. Another such site to my disappointment is that of our leading newspaper "The Hindu". About 50% of the total width of the page is taken up by ads an the menu. While its ok for such sites to have ads, news should have the priority.

Now, I don't say that all Indian sites are crap. Rediff.com does a good job in combining ads and info, sensibly. I am yet to find an Indian government website which I would call "decent".

What does it take to maintain a proper site? A person with proper knowledge of web development and a another with a decent knowledge of image editing. These two could be combined. Another important ingredient is the timeliness of the information and the attention to detail.

Are the websites portraying the "well-famed" negligence in our government offices?

Mad in Malaysia

2005-10-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

This morning greeted me by presenting a new Dell Inspiron 610 laptop from office. While I arrived at office around 9 AM after a sleepless night due to India-Srilanka cricket (We won by 152 runs!!!), my colleagues were complaining that I was late while they had started playing with their new toys (they got new ones too..., Thank you General Steel!). Rushed up, I went over to open my toy box.... Layers and layers of cardboard opened up. Finally, when I was about the one that was "hot", I was sitting on the floor laughing!! The box read "Mad in Malaysia!!"... I said "read" though I need to make clear that Dell did print the required "e", except that it was too faint to be "read"!!

Anyways, we had a good nice laugh in the morning, thinking of the wording's consequences...

Keep out food and drinks

2005-10-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is about a very humorous and customer friendly, yet state-the-point, sign board that caught our attention (Karthik, SAP and me) at the mall. It said:

"HUNGRY WORKERS INSIDE: Keep all food and drinks outside!"

Wow! That was just amazing... For the first time in life, I badly needed a camera phone!

Sree RAM squared!

2005-09-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

It happened this morning when I saw a sheet of paper lying infront of me by my GM, agreeing the purchase of more memory (RAM) for my computer.

See it for yourself!

Its Onam Time

2005-09-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

Once again, its onam time! All I can do sitting up here is to enjoy the images of pookalam that my buddies send.

Here is one.

Every day is a One-day!

2005-06-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting thought that has been striking me for quite some time now. So thought of getting the word out to you all there. I have also been experiencing the effect of this thought.

As the title claims, I feel that every day in our life is like one-day cricket. For the type of work I am doing, research, the amount of work done in a day is not always readily "measurable" and hours of peering into the computer monitor is never a gauge for it.

To what I have experienced, the mood for work for a whole day is almost always set by how I "open" the day, that is to say, how the initial few hours of the day come along. Those days when my openers have performed well, have seemed to put up a good fighting total against the "firing" side (boss?), and gives me enough good-length "deliveries" (explanations) to attack the opposition.

On the contrary, those days when I was little slack in the morning, the mood for the rest of the day has mainly been depression for having wasted the openers. "Pressure mounting in!"

Let me not lose any more deliveries for today, as middle order is also critical, you know ;) Moreover, I am playing my World Cup (my thesis, guys!!).

Dallas Trip

2005-04-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

This trip to Dallas started on 14th April evening, when I took off from Eric's class presentation at around 5.15 PM! The occasion for trip? To drive Balaji to his sister's place ensuing the house warming of their (Balaji's sis Vaishnavi and her husband Rajesh) new house.

This time, I rented the car from Enterprise A/p. It was a white, 2-door Chevy Cavalier... Hmmm.. the feel of Austin - San Antonio trip came into me! However, we started the trip, the two of us - Balaji and me. I drove all evening to enter Dallas city vicinity somewhere around midnight.

Enter Toll Booth

As we were following what Google maps have to say, to reach the place, here comes a toll booth in George Bush Turnpike! The toll was 75c and I was wonderstuck! The toll booth was unmanned! It reminded me of the scene in the movie "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" where they throw the money into the toll-collection unit mindlessly just to lose the only coin they had! In our case, luckily, Balaji came up with 75c after a rummage through his bag. I, being a credit card guy, had nothing to offer! After a sigh of relief, we went on when Balaji commented that he had paid 75c for the development of Dallas city! "Close", we thought!

We drove through, putting faith in Google Maps... and, laughing about the pretty close encouter with the Toll Booth...

screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeechhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Toll Booth#2 - The villian: 5c!!

Just as I turned another corner, almost aroud the last step in the route... here comes another toll booth, this time asking for 40c!! Once again, the desperate attempts to find a few pieces of metal in Balaji's bag and my wallet started! This time, I could dig out a dime that I had, as a bye-product of some previous vending machine purchase. However, Balaji hit a quarter! 35 it is.. and 5c is all we needed to get some sleep! I had some luck with copper, where I came up with 2 or 3 "1c"s! But damn! No "1c" accepted! The m/c was so arrogant that it would accept only a min of 5c! Now where do we go for a nickel??? We called Balaji's bro (sis's hus) and he gave us the most brilliant idea of running the toll-booth! I wasn't ready for it 'cos I had already drawn close to the booth and my num plate should be in black and white in the camera! Thinking of what to do, I saw some "lighted" areas ahead and I suspected it to be a gas station! Voila!! "I could find an ATM there", I thought. Without wasting a min, I started to walk (I wanted Balaji to wait in the car, as we didn't have a proper parking place nearby and we had just pulled over to the road side). I walked, walked and walked in the dark, pretty much afraid of meeting with some thug on the way, the initial enthu draining rapidly.. at least for 15 mins before I caught sight of a gas station. I hopped into it and found an ATM inside. "Relief", I thought. The ATM said that I had to pay a surcharge of $1.5 (what a trouble for 5c!!) !! (By the way, my bank also charged another $1.5 surcharge for having pulled put money from a different ATM => $3 for getting 5c!)

Time to go.. will update later..

2005-04-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

What a pose!!!

2005-04-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Once again, but with a tired player !!

2005-04-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

Lagaan Team inside the cave :)

2005-04-03T15:49:00.001-07:00

At the mouth of the cave....

2005-04-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

Whats plans, guys?

2005-04-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

Lagaan Boys?

2005-04-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

Having a break for a hot cup of French Vanilla Cappuchino!

2005-04-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

Master driver at work!

Reason for silence

2005-01-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

It has been quite some time since I posted anything here.. Here is the justification. I have created a site http://www.sreeramv.com and have a blog section up there. But, since I dont have an automated way for blog management, I think I will be sticking with blogger for some more time till I master PHP and make my personal blog management automatic..

2005-01-16T20:36:00.000-08:00

Test message

Impromptu comedy show

2004-11-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

Ok.. Now for some serious "comedy" stuff.. Today, we (this trouble buddy of mine Ranga and me) had been to a live impromptu comedy show by a troop called "Altenative Fuels" (AF) at the University Center (aka UC) at our school. This is the first live "English" comedy that I'd been to and boy! we enjoyed it so much that we signed up for the paid show on Nov 17th.

And guess what.. we went to the show after listening to Crazy Mohan and SV Sekhar's "CRAZY THIEVES IN PALAVAKKAM".... Wow! This is what I call an evening... It was really fun....

Naan unna vida maaten

2004-11-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

Unakku pona jenmathula yenkooda periya pagai polirukkku.. adhukkaaga dhaan unnoda computerlendhe unnoda p/w vechundu unakke thanni kaamikaren.. haa haa haa

Rowdy Ranga

Trouble by Ranga... Some one pls help...

2004-11-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

This so called buddy of mine somehow got my password and is "junking" my blog!! Someone pls help!!!

I begin blogging!

2004-11-04T19:09:00.002-08:00

Alright.. Here I start.. My blogging! It has been a lot of "scene" by my buddy Karthik (aka Ranga) after he having started blogging.. I cant take it anymore.. I am here with my own way of revenge to him ;)

Jokes apart, let me see how long can I keep this up... Need your support and comments for that, buddies..