Glimpses

2017-09-05T10:10:00.000+10:00

I Write Like Douglas Adams !

2014-08-13T10:39:00.000+10:00

I Write Like. Analyze your writing!

I confess, it took me not more than 4 attempts to finally get the site to declare that I write like Douglas Adams..my joy comparable to that of a child who for the first time tasted the best ice-cream ever; although I can very well imagine why Douglas Adams might turn in his grave, if he read what I just said.

While I 'stumbled', as always, on this site, I must say it over and over again, but still can't seem to emphasize enough, why StumbleUpon is probably the best thing that happenned on the internet, after Google of course (where else would I turn to feed my little brain and curious mind).

On my first 3 attempts, I was told I write like Dan Brown and H.P Lovecraft. And you might have guessed that I did not like my writing to be compared to either of theirs', although how much accomplished they might be. It's just that I never 'wrote' anything remotely close to blasphemy or 'necronomicon'; however weird and skeptical I might be otherwise in general. For that information wasn't fed into the "Analyze Text" box and they have no way of knowing it!

I realized soon enough, I was thinking too much - oh and somebody told me people with Master's Degree certainly tend to do that; no fault of theirs though, and that the algorithm was merely trying to figure out "which famous writer you write like", not "which famous writer writes what you write" ! The other funny part is that I've never read books by any of these authors, even Douglas Adams, although "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" was added to my reading list quite a while ago. Now more than ever I need to get my hands on it.

There was another little discovery that amused me - it's a write-up of mine, which I thought was funny, that disclosed my writing style similar to that of Douglas Adams. Although, my humorous reads have always been ones either by Scott Adams or P.G. Wodehouse, I couldn't imagine even this little laurel! I know I'm beaming at something very thin not to mention questionably credible, but to hell with it, a writer needs a push every now and then. A writer's block cannot be overstated !

Direct me..not fine me !!

2014-06-26T10:57:00.004+10:00

It was a Sunday morning and before the sky cleared to let the sun out, we started off from our place in Pune to Mumbai. We had an evening flight to Kenya from the Mumbai International Airport and thought that it wise to drive down to Mumbai and leave our car at my uncle's place for the week that we were away.

On the previous day, I did the routine tire air pressure check which I do every time before we do a long trip, especially if that involves driving at speeds over 100 kmph on the highways.

We also offered to drop off our friend at Mumbai, who was in Pune for the weekend. So the three of us set off from Pune at a brisk pace. Since we started early enough, the journey till we left the express highway was uneventful with us stopping only at the toll booths occasionally.

A little ahead after the express highway exit, we noticed there were a lot of road works underway, with diversion boards here and there to direct us. We strained our eyes to read the boards making sure we made the right turns. Although, that seemed working fine for a while, we got confused when we saw sign boards up ahead to Mumbai showing us right, when a few meters earlier it showed straight ahead. We were approaching a 'Y' junction, so we had to decide which way to go. My wife noticed that there were few policemen standing at the junction, so we kept going till we reached them.

We thought it was best to stop and ask them for directions rather than getting lost in traffic, defeating the whole purpose of having started early. As we slowed down, I put my head out to ask the policeman, who by then had waved to us to stop a little off the road, to let traffic behind us move.

"Mumbai jaane ka raasta kaunsa hai", I asked with a befuddled expression on my face. To which he replied " Hmmm..aapka license dikhaaye..". Err..what's going on! I pulled out my licence and he looks at it and says, " Aapko lane cutting ka fine bharna padega". For a second I didn't know whether to laugh or get angry. Fine!? What nonsense! I tried reasoning with the cop that we were merely slowing down to ask him for directions. Oblivious to my confession, he goes on to ask "Kahaan ja rahe ho?". What ! What the hell is wrong with this guy? I said we were going to the airport and we have an international flight. Then, he wants us to open the boot and check our bags. "Imported saaman kuch hai kya?", he asks. The three of us are stunned. I started to loose my patience. I told him that he is wasting our time and that there was no offence from our side. By this time, I noticed that the other cop standing beside us, who witnessed all the drama, had a nonplussed & bored expression. I called out to him and said, "Sir, kya ho aha hai yeh sab". He looks at the other cop and says, "Jaane do unko, woh airport ja rahe hai". Thank you, so he is the good cop ! But the other cop is adamant that I leave my license with him, which apparently my friend can collect (as he figured out only my wife & I are traveling). I was starting to get really annoyed; my wife and my friend also tried to reason it with the good cop. Finally, after arguing back & forth he let us off without a fine, although the cop who wanted to fine us wasn't one bit happy. If only he had his mate’s support, he must’ve thought !

As we move ahead, my friend tells me, all the while the cop was waiting for me to tip him off, which is something that never crossed my mind! Yeah, maybe they are working on a Sunday morning, maybe they are underpaid, but whatever the goddamn reason is, this is no way to share their misery!!

One can imagine such a nightmare it was "asking cops for directions"! Word of advice - stay off the radar even if you are a law abiding citizen; and you wonder why "men don't stop to ask for directions" ha !!

Cheers,

Air Attack

2013-10-01T00:26:00.001+10:00

These days, I've been flying quite frequently, cattle class (literally) as usual and much less proud to be part of the "herd". Flying in India, unlike in olden times, isn't a luxury anymore. I guess this is what Americans seem to be complaining all the time about. Back in the days, I used to think they were just not appreciative of flying because it was way too mundane for them and their expectations of quality was higher than the average Indian’s. But now I empathize with them; gone are the smiles on the faces of the crew, those greetings (that at least seemed fairly genuine), even plane food has become appalling; which I used to look forward to, given plane fares were never cheap and somehow delicious and neatly packed plane food (incl. in the flight fare) made the experience of flying more justified than just reaching one's destination quickly. Plane food is now just a lot of outrageously priced snacks.

Last night when I was flying, my co-passenger, after scrutinizing the flight menu for a while, decided to pick something to eat. He was obviously taking his time to carefully weigh all the options so as to pick the most appropriately priced item on the menu. He enquired with the crew, pointing his finger at the pack of nuts priced at Rs. 40 (Ha, quite impressed with himself)!

This was met with a rather difficult smile and a curt reply, "Sorry sir, we haven’t got that. Maybe you'd like samosas instead". Now, to me it seemed a bad proposition to a person who wanted a small pack of nuts. All the more inappropriate since these samosas cost Rs. 100 ( whereas elsewhere 20 bucks would have sufficed for the same). So I expected this guy to dismiss this offer with a shrug muttering “Bah, nothing then”, but to my surprise his only query to that suggestion was a mere "I'll have it only if its served hot";I thought to myself, “Seriously, that's what was stopping you from ordering it in the first place ??” I could see the smug look on the face of the crew for he had successfully upsold to the poor bastard! What a loser, I thought. "And you Sir?", the crew member asked, turning to me. "No, thanks I'm all right", I replied. He didn't seem very pleased with me.

Few mins later the air-hostess dropped off a box of samosas on my co-passenger’s food tray. Mmm..those samosas smelt good..I thought he might after all have bagged a decent deal ! I decided not to look that side (even through the corner of my eye), of course to alleviate myself of all the drooling. My co-passenger seemed to be enjoying his snack quite well and I happily went back to listening to my music. He seemed to shift around in his place making himself all the more jolly as he gobbled away. It seemed as though he was making sure the samosas did reach where his hunger pangs originated ! A little later, emerged the unspeakable - the obnoxious cloud of fart. It was so discreet that it caught me off guard, left me defenceless and gasping for air !! I managed to look up to see if the crew was enjoying their little practical joke, for all this suddenly seemed to me like their grand plan. Though I couldn’t see anyone, I shuddered at the thought of what my plane food had become after all - a secret bio-weapon to disorient unsuspecting passengers and leave them helpless !! Next time around, I'm going in dressed as Darth Vader !

Bon voyage o.O

Nutty High !!

2013-09-25T23:28:00.003+10:00

Ah..finally..it seemed like an eternity waiting for the "Draft" section to load.. you see I sometimes get these spurts of thoughts, which I wanna pen (err..blog) right-away, before I get carried away by some other random thing.

One of those moments, I guess, fingers itching to type (I thought that's something I would never say, when I put it that way) the rumblings in my head. Man, my head is throbbing after those peanuts I gobbled up; certainly couldn't let them get past that way, without the joy of chewing them thoroughly; but hell, that cost me ! My temples..ah, now I know where they are..damn. The things that you end up doing, when you walk in, no almost staggering (from hunger), grab the first thing you can find to abate those pangs. I did that exactly, you see. Found a packet of peanuts stashed away in the cupboard, ripped it open into a container and started to munch them all too quickly. Half a minute into it, before I realized my jaws ain't equipped at handling / working at the speed of an ICE. Ouch ! So I settled down to read my FB messages. We have group chats going on everywhere these days - it's like you start in one place (whatsapp) and then continue elsewhere - like facebook ! I know it get's difficult to keep track, if that's what you are thinking..but well, it doesn't matter really..ours is a fairly close-knit group of buddies from college you see, and we just talk about random things, some from the past, others stemming from jokes in the past or the likes. That's when I had this urge to capture the flow of thoughts in my head..it was as though I had to let them out at the same pace it was getting generated, unadulterated (though that's not so true, is it?, obviously I couldn't afford typos). Ok, now the question arises, as my head starts to clear up from the thick clouds of smoke generated by munching peanuts, when do I stop this non-sense. Right about now, I guess !!

Peace,

\m/ your's truly \m/

Holy Cow !

2013-07-16T23:15:00.001+10:00

Back when I was an NRI (I hate that term; maybe I’ll come up with a more appropriate one soon), on the rare occasions when I came across something remotely ‘racist’, like for instance an American TV show featuring somebody on the road stopping to worship the holy cow et al, I used to think we Indians, like a lot other people from different cultures, are probably the most stereotyped for things that in the modern age even in India might be considered quite ridiculous. Perhaps it used to occur more frequently few decades back, but in New Age India, boy, you don’t wanna know that even first world countries will be put to shame when it comes to westernization and technology.

But well let me confess, I was wrong. Ha! But the latter part of my assurance that India is still at the forefront of technology holds true though. When I landed in Pune a year back, driving around cows (holy and the others) became a routine event on my way to and from work. And strangely enough, people who look too busy to even let a bunch of school kids cross the road, stop to worship the cow – this time the Holy one! Amusing, I found it in the beginning and some part of me sought apology from the random American director whom I had cursed earlier for being ‘racist’. But then again the cows in turn, I’m not sure whether they really know they are being treated godly or not, sure started taking all this worshipping quite seriously I assume. For, these days, they just decide to sit right in the middle of the road! And quite unperturbed people continue to ply around them.

Peace,

$ur

The New Age Zombies

2012-10-13T01:06:00.000+11:00

1. Smartphone Users

For us, let's face it, it's all about the Battery Charge, Bq!!

I’ve said this before, briefly, in my previous write-up about the strange life of the phone battery. The golden equation of charge retention for uninterrupted power outage and misery avoidance goes something like this

14 ≤ (Bq) ≤ 17; and valid for all integer (only) multiples of this value.

Any deviation from this rule will invariably involve frantic moments with high levels of perspiration, pockets bulging with chargers, constant charge monitoring of the battery level indicator and/or the cell phone dropping dead between a call!!

Scary, I know!

Of course, there are conditions apply to this rule too. Assuming that your typical work day starts by say 8 every morning, you are taken care of at least till 10pm; for the late nighters till about 1am!! Often with new age smart phones if this rule is met, it’s more than good enough!

Battery Blues

Imagine now you get battery backup in non-integer multiples.

So when Bq < 14, you may have to put it to charge just as soon as you might be reaching home; and then if your night involves a dinner out, you gotta charge it a little at least before you hurry out and then put it back on charging before hitting the sack!

When Bq > 14, you still have some charge left in your battery when you’re about to turn in for the night, and you are bugged thinking you really don’t want to charge when your battery is still 25% full!!

So either ways, you end up having to do a lot of math if you want to get your phone’s charging cycle right, and that’s almost every day!!

Why this matters?? (are you kidding me !)

Well, to the casual user these things hardly matter, but make this a practice, and soon you’ll see that your battery charge retention has gone down.

So after being through this frustrating mental exercise the first few months of my smart-phone usage, I reduced the time spent on non-phone features – most of which drains out my battery – games, heavy internet usage etc during the peak times of the day. If I’m left

with ample charge towards my day’s end, I then liberally use my phone for gaming and 3G surfing!

Still, I do a lot of math, and I don’t deny it does get difficult at times. But I’m slowly getting used it – most of it now comes to me as though it’s all hard wired into my system – am now one of those new age zombies \m/ !

Peace,

$ur

Nokia's Leap with Lumia

2012-08-25T00:37:00.000+10:00

About 6 months back or so, I had blogged about how Nokia has been trying to keep it's loyal clientele happy with teeny weeny offerings such as the customizable apps for Symbian based Nokia smartphones !

I myself thought Nokia was almost out of the game when the Droids and iPhones were so much more intuitive and feature rich, while Nokia was still making phones on it's age old Symbian OS with updates that failed to capture anybody's attention. But then came the Lumia ! Bham !

Firstly, the Metro interface of the OS, then the awe inspiring form factor and the Nokia True Black screen resolution/clarity, Lumia is just mind blowing ! Bringing in a lot of innovation, and thankfully with an interface that even a Droid or iOS will drool over, Mr. Jobs himself would have been pleased to see this one !

I'm certainly not a person who buys the hottest thing on the market just because everyone's after it. But the first chance I got to check out this Baby - Lumia 800, whoa, it really made my eyes ogle.

So off I started with my research.

Sure, there were some minor software bugs reported, being the first generation of it's kind. But overall, the experience I felt was worth owning ! Then on, I tried to find reasons why it would suite my needs :P lol. Well not exactly, but I did read on a lot of different forums that most of the glitches were minor and fixes for poor battery life and tethering were just around the corner.

The thing I've realized about the battery life that seems most important is whether it will give you enough to get you through your entire day - 8 am to 11 pm or no more than 15 hrs. (A post will be dedicated for this one !!) and I managed to get a pretty accurate estimate that the Lumia will not fail my expectations !

Next what I loved was the social networking integration in the OS. Further, the MS Office productivity suite and the ever growing app store gave me a strong impetus to zero in on Lumia. Given a choice, I would have opted for the newer of the Lumias, the 900. But it was more expensive and available only in the US with the Verizon bundle. Basically, this one has a bigger screen, a faster processor and a better battery (though the processor will drain out more, giving it only a slight edge). But importantly, the newer one might be the first of the Lumias to support the Windows Apollo / 8 OS. But alas, this wasn't an option, so I settled for the Lumia 800.

But, I must add I certainly hadn't settled for anything less ! Pure indulgence is what you get with this smartphone ! Be it web browsing, Xbox gaming, Office suite use, scheduling and RSVP'ing events, social networking or navigation in some of the most interior of places, I'm thoroughly happy with my decision. It puts out a decent 12-15 hours of charge on heavy usage and close to a day on moderate usage.

I feel Nokia has really stepped up their ante in the Smartphone arena with the launch of Lumia following their collaboration with Microsoft. I'm still hoping though, that Nokia realizes sooner than later, what Apple's success factor has been with it's iPhone - providing iOS upgrades across all the models. If Nokia can somehow manage to pull this one off by making Lumia 710 or at least 800 upgradeable to Win 8, that'll be a huge bonus in terms of customer base retention !!

More to follow..

$ur

Curb the Krokodil !

2012-08-22T00:50:00.001+10:00

Few days back, I stumbled across something really disturbing, or more distressing perhaps, given the plight of a once great nation that had mostly just great examples of almost everything to look up to - Russia.

When I refer to Russia as a great country, that produced many bright and successful engineers, scientists, sportspersons etc., I'm referring to all the Soviet nations in general, largely because most people associate Russia more with USSR than any other country (though not meant to offend the other nations).

Anyways, so it was shocking to me when I found out about this street drug called 'Krokodil' that's taking the toll of millions in Russia. Krokodil or desomorphine, most lucrative to and used by people living in the lower strata of the society, is mostly home cooked off headache tablets and the likes easily purchased at the Chemist without a prescription. So what's drawing more and more people to use it? Well, it's supposed to be about 8 times stronger than Heroin and about 1/10th the price!! And also because it's a home preparation and not a drug that's sold in the market per say, it's even more accessible !!

This drug however is highly toxic and very difficult to wean one off, leaving addicts only about 2 years of life expectancy. It literally eats through the flesh of the addict until it falls off. The few pictures I managed to find were pretty ghastly and stomach turning !

Russia has fallen prey to this epidemic and the nation doesn't seem to be taking enough measures to curb the widespread and ever increasing usage. Some say the its country's indifferent attitude towards junkies' treatment. But then there is also a financial motive for the pharmaceutical industry which is probably benefitting the most from the sudden hike in sales of codeine based tablets.

Report says more and more such forms of drugs are hitting the Russian streets making drug addiction a serious concern and factor of deaths in Russia.

It was really sad to learn all this; and come to think, most people outside of Russia are totally unawares to this situation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/krokodil-the-drug-that-eats-junkies-2300787.html

Click the link enclosed to read more in detail !

Peace,

$ur

Glimpses: On the social front

2012-08-15T23:00:00.001+10:00

Glimpses: On the social front

Cyclic ?

2012-08-14T01:40:00.000+10:00

Off late I've been rediscovering old interests, of which, ones like last.fm, I never knew I missed so much until I rediscovered it for good. It is interesting how certain things stick on after one cycle. Like fashion, you know, people always say that it is cyclic in nature - that trends and fads change, but then after a whole cycle, one day a random guy decides to dress a little retro and BOOM you have it doing the rounds again.

So it may be worth trying that old hobby of yours' again; the one that probably didn't get you hooked onto for more than couple of days last time around !

Most of my hobbies have been that way too, pretty cyclic in nature, I get really involved in something for few months and then slowly that interest starts to wane off. Then somewhere down the lane, one day I get some new ideas to revive it up and am all excited once again !

Have you ever felt this way ?

Peace,

$ur

Food Blog

2012-08-06T00:00:00.001+10:00

I'm not sure whether I linked you guys to my food blog which I started like a few months back on tumblr.

Yea, tumblr blog designs and layout seemed so much better for a change and so I went for it when I was planning to put all my food-spotting into one place.

But yea, the cons of it is that it isn't as easy to find and follow a tumblr blog unlike the blogger. But anyhow, I thought I'd help myself a little and also you guys, if you haven't found your way to it yet.

Here - http://theinsanefoodie.tumblr.com/

Been a little lazy lately in updating the blog after the first little spurt of enthusiasm. But I promise there is a lot that's going to turn up there in the weeks to come.

So stay tuned and be well.

Peace,

$ur

Misleading Docomo Recharge

2012-07-29T20:13:00.001+10:00

Hola,

Finally something has given me the impetus to post here and reach out to the masses with an important discovery.

Some of you who are Tata Docomo customers might have seen the new SmartLife plan ad that loads on the Online Recharge page - http://www.tatadocomo.com/online-recharge.aspx

Well, like every other Indian perhaps who loves bargains, this seemed like a wonderful mobile recharge plan to me. What this plan essentially gives you, is a Rs. 219 talk time on a Rs. 246 recharge. But this isn't the good part. Within 48hrs of doing this recharge, if one recharges for Rs. 4, he/she gets 1GB of 3G Internet Data with a validity of 30 days !! Yeah, awesome right ?

Yeah, but here is the catch. You will not be able to do the Rs. 4 recharge !! :D read - screwed !!

But I was definitely not gonna let it go that easy. I figured it's just a matter of time before I'll be able to do this recharge, because all that kept showing up when I tried to do this Rs. 4 recharge was that it's not applicable to my number.

So after waiting for a day, I called up the customer care. But again, I couldn't find a way to reach the Customer Care Assistant. The menu just didn't feature that option !

By this time I was starting to get really pissed. I got online to check if I could find a way around this hitch. That's when, hidden way inside somewhere in the website, I found that there is a hot line number to get to the Customer Care Assistant - Dial 9 after you call 121 (Customer Care) !

So then I managed to talk to the Customer Service lady. As usual, she was courteous and asked me what she could help me with. So I related the whole episode of the SmartLife recharge. At first she tried to convince me that the Rs. 4 recharge had to be done immediately after the Rs. 246 recharge. To which, I countered saying that's not what it says on the site. Finally she agreed to check it for me. And then came the stunner of the information which I was looking for all along !!!

One has to dial the MAGIC CODE to do the Rs. 4 recharge which is, WAIT FOR IT ----- *141*15#

Well, my first reaction was to ask her who the hell knew of such a thing. Then I realized she is just another poor pawn in the corporate conglomerates' little game of saving some money ! So I decided against shouting at her, thanked her for this information and ended the call.

And the minute I pressed the MAGIC CODE, Kaboom ! It all worked. Now I have the 1 GB of data for the next 30 days and the problem is solved.

But one wonders, how much a customer has to take care in order not be swindled by corporations ! Looking at the bright side of things, it reassures you that you still have to be smart to survive in this era (and not iBitches :D) even though technology is making things easier everyday (so even an iBitch can survive) ! ;)

Peace \m/

$ur

Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay

2011-10-18T00:21:00.000+11:00

I've been putting off writing a review on Coldplay's latest album - Mylo Xyloto, up until now. Well, partly I was waiting to get my hands on the entire album and previously since I had heard only a couple of the songs, which themselves were bliss to the ears, I had a feeling that justice could be done only after hearing to the entire album.

Synopsis: The whole experience is surreal and exhilarating. Coldplay has included more electronic effects into the songs than ever before and the result is just beautiful. Close your eyes as you hear and it just plays on your mind letting it wander into an expanse of creativity and endless illusional possibilities ;) The beats and vibrations are very positive and uplifting. The feel good factor has always been a thing of Coldplay's songs and this time around, the inclusion of new experimental electronic sounds have added to the beauty of the tracks. It is a very matured Coldplay album with the band really coming of age here. I could really go on and on about how mesmerizing the music is, but I urge you to get the album asap and switch off your minds and let Mylo Xyloto take you on a wonderful and peaceful journey !

Make sure you hear them on high quality headphones/ speakers to catch all the sounds in their right loudness levels.

Genre/Ambience: Easy Listening, Electronic/Soft Rock. A definite on the playlist after a stressful and busy day.

Best Tracks: Paradise, Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall, Hurts Like Heaven, Charlie Brown (Just for the record, I do vouch for the entire album!!)

You will also like: U2, R.E.M

Rating: 8.5/10

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

Blogger Updates

2011-10-06T17:20:00.002+11:00

Sad to have learned the news of the passing of Mr. Steve Jobs, the Apple Inc. visionary. Anyhow, this post is not on that. There are already billions pouring their heart out on Facebook and though I feel a bit sad too at the loss of one of the world's greatest innovators, I'm not dedicating anymore time on what has happened !

So living in the present and moving on with life, when I learned of the new Dynamic Views feature on Blogger, I was once again excited to spread the novel updates on the web ! Dynamic view templates will definitely drive in more traffic into blog for one thing. It will also make the random stumbler on your blog click on more posts of yours and perhaps discover more interesting stuff on them!

I think this is one of the best things to have happened to blogger lately and I'm just loving it. Whats more pleasing is the fact that, the readers can themselves select the dynamic view in which they wanna see your posts and that customization is again very thoughtful on the part of Blogger.

So for those of you who've probably lost your interest in blogging because of the lack of reader outreach in spite writing fantastic blog posts, this is one way you can revamp your blog and make your mark once again on the web ;)

If you received this post via your email, do check out my blog page to see what I'm drooling about ;)

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

Beating the Stress - Take 2

2011-09-24T02:42:00.001+10:00

Hola,

Well, following my last post, I would like to add few more cues which I left out last time around.

I guess it makes sense to keep in touch or brush up those skills on your resume if you made the resume quite a while back when you graduated or last worked, but you are still looking for roles in that area. Well, I was finding it hard as the courses I did were quite technical and there is no way that I can get all the software that I used when I studied them at the university. Perhaps some of you used them at your previous workplace and don't have a personal copy of those anymore. Though I have to be careful not to endorse torrent sites to find these softwares ;), there is however a good chance you might find a copy there !

Or maybe you never knew before that the Linux, or more specifically the Ubuntu software repository has a lot of open source, free to download software for a number of different areas of study. They even have some finite element analysis (FEM) software !! Now, that came as quite a surprise to me. FEM software as such take time to get the hang of and I don't know how much less friendly a Linux version of that might be, but that said, I did download it to check out. Will be doing so sometime soon !

For those management guys out there, the repository has also got mind-mapping, statistical and a variety other software. Ah, well this I included for the specific benefits of few friends who said mind-mapping is all they do all the time these days :P !!

Well, so now that you've worked your way around getting that specific software tool, let's see if there is an alternative to re-reading all those lecture notes or presentations too ! When I graduated few months back and was looking out for jobs, I was already a bit grey on some of the advanced topics I had covered in my Uni, and some people advised that I keep reading my notes and ppts. But this is something that is easier said than done. It's one thing to go through your notes for an interview that is scheduled and totally another thing staying in touch by reading them every week till it gets into your long term memory !

A solution to this is to try and find web seminars in your areas of interest. These will most often be provided by leading companies in respective areas of expertise, usually offered free of charge. Although, prior registration might be mandatory. Trust me, this is something I have been doing the last few weeks and not what I picked up from some random career advice website, which mostly may not work for all you know :P

Wow, so much for keeping you razor sharp ! And not to forget the Zombie games that'll keep you firing all cylinders ;)

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

Beating the stress..Take a chill pill !!

2011-09-22T01:32:00.000+10:00

Hi there,

Last few days have been hectic ! Frantic job hunting for one thing, as I'm finishing my present assignment in another month or so. Though deviating from my usual topics that I blog about, I thought I'd share some cues from firsthand experience. As you might have been there before - the first few days of the job hunt are always fun, because you are looking towards something fresh. But as days pass by, you start to sense anxiety building up and fear creeping in. This can be coupled with low confidence levels.

Well, I decided to beat the monotony and end the misery once and for all.

Firstly, I took to some old time games - Lemon Tycoon and the likes. Refreshing I must say. This is not to say that I have given up my hunt; but I found a way to vent out some of my frustration this way. Believe it or not, good games are pretty good at keeping anxiety at bay. They work like a charm, mainly because you get fully involved in them sooner than you think. Oh between I'm also getting addictive to the Zombie games :D Well, so few random games and I'm good to go hunting again !

I'm finding the tactic more mentally soothing and productive. It's much like getting a fresh pair of eyes to read through your resume. You tend to see things more objectively for one and see new ways of tackling the challenge at hand.

Secondly, reading the articles posted in the various groups I'm part of on LinkedIn were quite invigorating too! Taking part in some of the discussions, reading industry updates etc. does really help blow off some steam.

Thirdly, supplementing self-introspection with discussion. Like discussing my strategy and plans with someone who understands me well. Have you ever realized that at times when something seems quite amiss and you have a hard time figuring out what that is, hearing yourself out loud while telling someone about it, gives you that answer?

So, I guess I've managed to somehow cope up with the current situation reasonably well. But I'll be honest, this aren't the best of times and a great deal of effort is required on your part to keep your cool, for only if you can do so can you hang in there !

OK, time to fight some zombies and then get back to work ;)

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

It ain't Game Over for Nokia, yet !!

2011-09-16T15:41:00.003+10:00

Hola !

I'm sure some of must have come across my blog app called The Maverick which went up on the Nokia Ovi Store. And when I checked this morning on my application summary report on my developer's page, I was surprised to see that my app has been downloaded from 6 different countries already ! So much for motivation :) cheers guys, I'm flattered !!

I've been wanting to blog about the Nokia App Wizard which I stumbled upon few days ago. To be honest, my regards for Nokia went up a tad for sure. I was very excited to see that it is all free to make your own app and that anyone with absolutely no programming skills could conjure up one. My first thought was to see if I could create a Symbian app for BeanHunter. But, soon enough my hopes were let down when I realized after signing in that there aren't too many options on what apps can be created. I was about to sigh in disappointment, when my eyes caught the Blogger Logo on the screen and I thought, "Wow, now that's not a bad idea. Let me make an app for my own blog!"

So I started off. Let me tell you this, it was easy enough and it wasn't too misleading after all the effort I put into deciding what pictures to choose to display as the logo, what to name my app etc. when finally Nokia allowed me to submit my app for their review before it went up on the Ovi Store. I was a bit skeptical that I might have to pay a small fee on submission that would have thwarted my plans. Anyways, so everything went on just fine and I got my app approved in less than 24 hours.

As I said before, I was impressed by Nokia's constant efforts to keep improving their services though I'm sure they themselves know they are fighting a losing battle to win back once loyal Nokia customers from Apple and Google with the launch of the iPhones and the Androids respectively. But Nokia has certainly not decided to give up without a good fight back. Yes, I do realize most of you would say that is a very meager attempt on Nokia's part at playing catch up with Android et. al. I wouldn't so much say myself that Nokia has upped it's ante, still, over the last few months, I was happy to have gotten Ovi apps for the World Rally Championship, Formula 1, and from a utility point of view, it even released an app for the Melbourne Transport Network - The Metlink. Now, that stunned me a little because who would have thought Nokia is even used so much in Melbourne. I rarely see a Nokia Smartphone here in Melbourne, though occasionally when I do I feel privileged to be part of that small and 'niche' community we've become !

Well, my loyalty has been attributed sheerly to the utilitarian and value for money aspects of my Nokia Smartphone than any intangible emotional attachment to Nokia. I don't mind saying that I would have gone for Droid if there were any phones offering me the same specifications at the same price, and most importantly not compromising battery life !

So, for all you Nokia Smartphone users out there, the Nokia App Wizard is really something to cheer about and check out. Here is the link to the page, http://appwizard.ovi.com/web_nokia/signIn.jsp

Hope you enjoy it !!

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

iRant - Food for thought ;)

2011-09-14T02:17:00.000+10:00

I'm personally of the opinion that though technology is supposed to make your life much simpler, making it too simple that your life is totally dependent on it, is a vicious ploy of the current "cutting edge" technology developers.

Well, it wouldn't be therefore farfetched to hint that this is one of the reasons why I don't like the Apple iPhones much. Though I'm sure it's arguable enough, why wouldn't anyone want to make communication as simple as possible. My issue with that argument is just that, the iPhone creates a big lot of snobbish users who act as though they've been given a very 'user unfriendly' gadget, if they have to at some point operate (god forbid) a Nokia or an Android phone. So my reasoning is that because the iPhone made things so blatantly 'simple' (as they claim it) or to out in my words, created so many iZombies, that if one fine day Apple decides to pull the plug (again god forbid, though this time it's them praying), we will have a population so typical of the one in the Idiocracy movie !

Don't even get me started on the iPad or the iPods. Though I imagine, and to an extent have experienced firsthand, the quality and seamless attributes of the latter, if you have ever stepped out of an Apple user's shoes, you will realize how much of an iBitch these users are. The reasons are obvious - you need iTunes to sync songs, it can be synced only with iTunes installed on just 1 machine at a time (though there is a hack, which I'm sure is out of question as it's too high level for the comprehension of, let alone of any use to an iBitch). The iPhone and iPad also have such limitations, but still it makes you wonder, then why on earth would so many people pay premium to use Apple products?

Well, if you ask me, I would say, there are couple of different reasons,

Initial success of the Apple computers, creating a niche of high quality, high end, virus free computing.
Benefits from the technology lock-in through increasing rates of return which mainly in Apple's case is through the externality caused by reasons of compatibility - almost every website/company offering some service has an iPhone app and this is one main reason why people are buying the apple products. Another example is that of the integrated car audio systems that are increasingly made iPod compatible.
But the 3rd and most important reason is that people like it more when their intelligence isn't questioned :P- and no one does it better than Apple; and no offence, but Linux did just that until Android came out !

Though the last reason may sound like the beginning of a new conspiracy theory, I certainly do believe nobody understood and applied human psychology much better than Apple. But, I don't disagree one bit that Apple hasn't done any good. They are pioneers in using some of the most eco-friendly and recyclable materials in their products and I personally am also a big fan of Mr. Steve Jobs.

The reason why I had to rant about this was stemmed from my thoughts on how they have to an extent manipulated the people so much that people (especially in first world countries) who are otherwise so used to complaining if one small feature is missing, have unbelievably accepted the shortcomings of Apple's products - be it forwarding messages, playing flash, very few customizable features etc. to name a few. The sheer number of Apple users (I do not include MacBook users because I truly believe they have the least malevolent influence among all other Apple products) henceforth is a testament in itself of how many Apple has actually brain washed and continuing to.

Well, so certainly, if you wish to have some food for thought, I have laid it out for you. It is definitely worth pondering, but if you think it is too much of a headache to think so deviantly, then it might be better to move on and enjoy life (to be read - go download some new app :P) !

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

For the Geek in you

2011-09-10T03:55:00.000+10:00

I came across a really cool website today. Well it's actually a computer geek site and goes by the name http://www.howtogeek.com/.

It has everything you could imagine to tweak or know about your computer. From simple, yet very powerful registry hacks to some complex troubleshooting and utility information. Some of the tips, tricks and hacks vividly reminded me of times when I used fiddle around a lot with my 386 model computer in my school days - and a particular time when I had to get a 400pg e-book unzipped using DOS commands and the only place I could find information on how to do it was at a local computer teaching center a kilometer away from my home. So I guess times have changed for the good and these days it's just a click away.

One might feel that there is a lot of a reading material up there and is a bit too cluttered, until you get a hang of the way the site has been laid out. This I feel is typically how a geek's room would like if depicted digitally, though I don't in any way suggest that only if things seem haphazardly arranged does it necessarily fit the stereotypical description of a geek :P !

Nevertheless, I suggest that you bookmark this site, for it will definitely be a lifesaver when you need help. It has almost everything you would need and you can most reliably turn to this site for troubleshooting tips if you ever go overboard with your crazy mods.

Till next time.

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

Ramblings of the Lazy

2011-09-08T19:41:00.001+10:00

On and off, I gain and lose the inspiration to blog. Well, I had thought I was out of one writer's block last time when I revamped my blog space with some new content, a change of template, 'unadulterated and straight from the head without filtration' ideas and what not. But alas, it was around the same time I landed some work commitments. Most part of me, was overjoyed by the welcome change - not to blogging - but to do something that I have been yearning to do - use the skills I had honed so much, which at one point was looking to go down the drain being left underutilized since my university days.

And thus the brief period of activity began with only rare phases of boredom. This I welcomed as part of recuperating my senses, by feeding the entertainment lover in me. Starting with the last week though, things started looking a bit more morose with little activity on the work front, more time at hand yet not being able to enjoy as much because of the unfruitful job applications.

Well, I've always felt that no matter what the situation in life, some days are better than the others. Sometimes for no reason, all you can see is why everything is just not right and on other occasions, no matter how unsure the future might be, you can see those silver linings. And today though there is nothing to really cheer about, scanning through the pages of Reader's Digest, which I'm sure I did the first time in a long long time, felt nice and refreshing. I noticed that the Reader's Digest has evolved from how it used to be. The columns and the styles have changed a bit, though just some harmless shuffling around. Laughter is the Best Medicine is now called " Laughter is still the Best Medicine ;)" ; yes the wink was there too !

Let's see how how far I go before I hit the next writer's block ;)

Inner Peace \m/

$ur

Introducing an idea..

2011-06-17T15:06:00.002+10:00

Stemming from my own funny (:P it is a personal opinion n I'm allowed to) self at times, the occasional adventures of sharing these whacky thought trains with my pals (some sane n some insane enough to tolerate me ;) ); Stewie Gryffin's character, Scott Adams n the likes butting in pleasantly into my life, now and then, has given me sort of an impetus to record the alter-ego of the self that is witty yet dark, dark yet lighthearted, brooding yet lively..I can go on..but you got it, right ?!!

Feedback is appreciated; while of course I may have to add a disclaimer here that says "All conversations might be recorded for the purpose of future referencing and that, though all characters depicted in the conversations might bear resemblance to any character, living or dead, it is purely coincidental and has to be taken in the spirit of the fun" ; there I said it; whew !

I have come to believe, after being mostly serious previously, that time spent is well spent only if you enjoy it; and so keeping that in mind (like how Scott Adams so effortlessly does in his work), let us all have that side in us, that once in a while laughs at ourselves only to remind us that life is supposed to be fun (I'm not an atheist :P, ha I knew you were thinking along those lines!) and not meant to be taken very serious all the time (I already said that didn't I; oh gosh!) !

Inner Peace ;)

$ur

Dengue Fever

2011-06-15T23:09:00.001+10:00

I came across this very different band called the Dengue Fever sometime back today, while stumbling over the plethora of sites on the WWW. The music struck as me a very different one and the band has identified itself to be of a rather interesting genre - Psychedelic Rock n Roll. Well, don't be fooled by the psychedelic music realm because it is nothing like Pink Floyd as you might expect.The band combines music from Cambodia with Californian Rock n Roll to generate a beautiful fusion that is quite unique and unusual.

"Lead singer Chhom Nimol’s haunting voice", as I remember having read somewhere, is catchy to say the least. For the sake of knowing that such diverse music exist, at least, I'd definitely recommend looking up some of their music on youtube.

Recommended Tracks : Sleepwalking Through The Mekong, Made of Steam, Sni Bong, Sober Driver

Ambiance: Whenever you need a flying feelin' (or whenever you are flyin ;))

Peace,

$ur

High Speed Rail

2011-06-08T19:33:00.000+10:00

Today morning's Age newsletter on Travel/Living featured a news article on a proposed High Speed Train concept for Australia. As you'd expect with most of such concepts, it always looks fantastic on paper and this was my first thought even before starting to read the article - let's say part of having acclimatized to the local culture here :P.

Anyways, but the prospect of it did sound reassuring given the pathetic state of affairs of the current rail network. So I read on. The company that put forth the concept has used a gimmick already by quoting that the design is inspired by the Holden Monaro of the 60s; in the sense that it is a super fast vehicle! I feel that it is pretty a lame and poor tactic in an attempt to get the concept "a thumbs up" from hardcore Aussie petrol heads and the likes !

Which was even more surprising was to find similar thought trains running in other readers' heads. Many have ridiculed this concept, as one being too far fetched for the Australians to handle.

Or maybe I'm being too much of a cynic like others who commented like me. Maybe there is just a social and environmental concern behind the whole plan. But whatever it is, it is quite known that Australia isn't really a country that can embrace such a huge leap in technology overnight. Things happen at a calculative and gradual pace. Certainly not a negative, but that's just the way things are around here.

Anyways, I have crossed my fingers; who knows, and even pigs may fly !

Peace,

$ur

Makes sense ??

2011-06-07T23:35:00.000+10:00

One of many ads you'd see around the city ! Makes you wonder, 1) if it's just you or are the others too not getting it 2) or is it just plain stupid ?!!