All feeds from Lobo's blog

Who or What Is Lobo On The Internet?

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:30:09 +0000

Another lazy afternoon without a thing to do made me a little narcissist and I set out finding out about Lobo on the Internet. I didn’t know that I’m a famous person on the Internet and there are hundreds of pretty women cheering for me, chanting my name and all.

Lobo is an anti-heroic interstellar annihilator Guy Ritchie is making a movie about, Lobo means greay wolf, Lobo is a Java based web browser, Lobo is a musician, Lobo is the official mascot of University of New Mexico, Lobo is name of some places, Internet service provider, a cultivar, a car, a computer clone etc. For updated information on Lobo on the Internet, read this wiki page.

There are two videos I thought I’d share here. One is cute and other is funny.

Everyone’s a Lobo, Woof Woof Woof! ;-)

How To Convert JavaScript Local Date to UTC And UTC To Local Date

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:04:40 +0000

DST is such a pain when it comes to programming. I wish they just get rid of it. It’d be helpful, however, the programmers will still have to deal with the timezones. I was answering questions related to the timers on this website and I keep getting a lot of questions on DST and the timezones. Even though it seems easy, this topic is very confusing. There are lot many sources on the Internet and reading them confuses the hell out of me.

To avoid conflicts when dealing with the transactions from many different timezones, it is essential to normalize the dates and by normalizing I mean converting it to UTC. Let me take an example in JavaScript.

Let the date in question be in Indian Standard Time (IST)

January 02, 2012 22:00:00 GMT+0530

How to convert the date into a local time(CST)?

var now = new Date("January 02, 2012 22:00:00 GMT+0530");
// now = Mon Jan 02 2012 10:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)

How to convert a date to UTC? This is where many of the online sources go wrong. The simple answer is to convert the date into milliseconds since Epoch and add the timezone offset and convert it back to a date object. Simple? No, this is partially correct. When the calculated milliseconds are converted back to a date, you get a local date.

var nowUtc = new Date( now.getTime() + (now.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000));
//nowUtc = Mon Jan 02 2012 16:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)

Notice the GMT-0600 (CST) part at the end. That means the resulting date is not GMT, it is CST. If you convert this date to GMT it will read – Mon Jan 02 2012 22:30:00 GMT but we want it to be Mon Jan 02 2012 16:30:00 GMT.

There is also another incorrect way mentioned all over the Internet –

var nowUtc = new Date(now.getUTCFullYear(), now.getUTCMonth(), now.getUTCDate(),  now.getUTCHours(), now.getUTCMinutes(), now.getUTCSeconds());

The result will be no different than the one that you see above.

How to convert the local date to UTC date?

now.toUTCString()
//now = Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:30:00 GMT

How to get the local date from the UTC date?

now = new Date(now.toUTCString());
//now = Mon Jan 02 2012 10:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)

That is a long string to store, is there any alternative to store the UTC time? Just store the number of milliseconds since Epoch converted to UTC by adding the timezone offset.

var millis = now.getTime() + (now.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000)
//millis = 1325543400000

How to convert the milliseconds in UTC to local date? Subtract the timezone offset.

now.setTime(millis - (now.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000))
//now = Mon Jan 02 2012 10:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

I just used the below HTML to test the above mentioned code. If you wish, create an HTML file out of it and open it in a browser.

This code prints the following –
IST time – January 02, 2012 22:00:00 GMT+0530
IST converted to local time: Mon Jan 02 2012 10:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)
Local time converted to UTC:Mon Jan 02 2012 16:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)
Local time converted to UTC:Mon Jan 02 2012 16:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)
Local to GMT Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:30:00 GMT
GMT to Local Mon Jan 02 2012 10:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)
GMT in millis 1325543400000
Local in millis 1325521800000
Local from millis Mon Jan 02 2012 10:30:00 GMT-0600 (CST)

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Daylight Saving Time (DST) Should Be A Part of Our History

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:03:14 +0000

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who is convinced that the Daylight Saving Time (DST) change is good and makes perfect sense. I, for one, think that the DST is not useful anymore and it could have been avoided altogether. Just imagine if we didn’t have clocks and a way to time. We would have adjusted out lifestyles automatically to adapt to the nature. Instead of adjusting the clock, we should have adjusted the schedules.

The idea of DST was to save energy and people more social time, but the technology and the lifestyles have changed. The definition of social itself has changed; it’s all online now. With the advanced technology compared to the time when DST was first introduced, the problem with forgetting to spring forward and fall back, the pain it causes to the programmers who deal with the date and time functions, the global workforces and so on, I completely oppose DST.

DST is so last century that it should be a part of history. Definitely not present.

If you think, I could have explained more about DST, don’t worry, someone else already has. Check out the video below. Don’t miss it after 4:30 into the video.

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Will Google Voice be free in 2012 and beyond?

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:41:50 +0000

From the recent notes I made on the Google Voice and how it uses the carrier minutes and data to operate, it should be free in 2012 and beyond.

Why? Currently, Google Voice is not a VOIP service and it uses the carrier minutes and data to operate which means to make or receive calls the subscriber has to pay the carrier. See the image in that post. If Google Voice doesn’t offer VOIP service and starts charging for the voice calls, the subscriber will be double charged. For every call made or received, the subscriber has to pay to use Google Voice and then, since Google Voice uses the carrier minutes, has pay the carrier for using the minutes. If this is exactly how it works, it will be very difficult to justify Google Voice. I’d definitely drop Google Voice and, I think, many other will too.

Charging Google Voice makes sense if either Google Voice offers VOIP services (like Skype which uses just data) or if it charges on a monthly basis – an amount for using their services. The free text messages and the call management service are worth paying for, but if it’s too pricey, one would rather pay the carrier and get rid of call management service. Many plans offer unlimited text messaging ( and do you really need unlimited?) and the call management service isn’t something that one can’t live without. Lo and behold, the biggest benefit would be that you won’t be providing any more self-data to Google than you already have or are.

There are some apps (Talkatone, GrooVe IP etc) which use VOIP services like Google Talk along with Google Voice and allow for free calls over data. What happens if Google decides to get rid of the free calling service in 2012? Even these third party application will not be able to make free calls. The applications will use only data (and save carrier minutes), but Google Voice will not be free. It will be interesting to see what direction those third party applications take at that time.

All this will just be opinions/guesses/rumors, until Google comes out and announces their plan, which should happen not too far from now.

Does Google Voice Use Minutes or Data?

Does Google Voice Use Minutes or Data?

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:55:41 +0000

Does Google Voice Use Minutes or Data? Does Google Voice cost money? How does Google Voice calling or texting work? The answer is Yes, Yes and I don’t know.

Google Voice is an awesome idea and piece of software (if you are willing to give away more self information to Google than you already have). It is not a VOIP service like Google Talk; it is a call management service. It will always cost you money in one way or the other (cellular minutes or data) and you will not be able to make free calls. If you consider cellular data to be free or use wifi, there are workarounds to make it free like using Talkatone or GrooVe IP or other third party apps. These applications use Google Talk free calling feature(VOIP) along with Google Voice, which integrates with Google Talk, to make free calls using only data. Keep in mind that by using more services, you are distributing your own information all over the Internet companies.

Let us recap. Google by itself doesn’t allow free calls on the cellphones. Google allows free calls on the computer using Google Talk. Third party applications allow free calls on the cellphone using the cellular data and Google Voice + Talk.

Are text messages free on Google Voice? Yes. Whether you use it from a cellphone or a computer, messages are free.

But, hey how does Google Voice use your minutes or data to send/make or receive calls/texts? From what I read about it on Google forums, I put together a simple diagram. Notice the color coding in the image.

Incoming and voicemails – Google transfers the call to your cellphone which costs carrier minutes. If you are using Google for voicemail, whenever you miss a call, your carrier forwards the call to Google voicemail. Call forwarding uses carrier minutes.

Outgoing and voicemails – First, if you notice a voicemail and call your voicemail box, you are using carrier minutes. Second, whenever you initiate a outgoing call, Google Voice uses data (a tiny bit) to connect to the server and initiates the call by calling your cellphone, which costs carrier minutes, and then connecting the call to the other phone.

Text message and voicemail – Why is voicemail mentioned here? Because Google transcribes the voicemails which can be accessed as email or text messages. Now, all text messaging happens over the cellular data or wifi and it doesn’t use any cellular minutes.

Oh, why did I say I don’t know how Google Voice works? Because I really don’t know how it works. I just know how they use the carrier minutes/texts (on high level) and I hope by now you do too. Let me know in the comments below.

Note about setup –
You are using Google Voice number as primary and transferring calls to your cellphone number.
You have disabled the carrier voicemail and set it to forward to Google Voice voicemail.
You have disabled text message forwarding (to cellphone) on Google Voice.
You have free calls within US/Canada using Google Voice.

Will Google Voice be free in 2012 and beyond?

What Was My Skydiving All About?

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:40:54 +0000

Ever since I posted my skydiving post/video and dedicated it to the people fighting against corruption, I have become a laughing stock among some ignoramus friends of mine. I, for one, mostly don’t care of what others say. I did what I wanted to and have no regrets. I have been able to shut them up with one line – ‘If you have balls, do it and then talk.’ The topic closes there with a – ‘oooooo.’

The attitude of getting things done quickly and avoiding lines even if it means paying bribe irks me to the core. I don’t mind having a healthy discussion, but with some so determined to pay bribe to get things done quickly and wholeheartedly oppose anyone who fights corruption, any discussion is a waste of time and energy. Many of my American friends are optimistic and talk positively (esp. knowing the Gandhi episode), but many of my own countrymen are very very skeptical and pessimistic.

Below is the actual video (with some cuts and text) I got from the skydiving place. The one I used in my previous post was edited to change the audio track.

I have been teased a couple of times and the discussion usually goes like these…

You jumped for Anna – There’s is difference between doing something for and dedicating something to. I didn’t do it for anyone; I did it for myself and though it’d be a good idea to dedicate it.

You are a strong supporter of Anna – Well, I am. In fact, I will support anyone who fights corruption, won’t you? If you don’t, shame on you.

The Anna thing won’t work – If well educated people don’t support a cause and act overly smart, what do you think will change? Everything has to start some way and someday, why not make this a starting point for a good future?

I planned it for publicity – It’s been a while since I did it and I’m a super star now. No, really I am.

Then why the dedication? – I don’t know. I had a lot of waiting for my turn and all of a sudden I came up with this idea of dedicating. It was the peak of protests. I chose to support by spreading the word and raising awareness in my own possible way.

Skydiving won’t stop corruption – No, it won’t. I never said it will. My skydiving didn’t have anything to do with the protests directly. When I decided to skydive on my own without any prior skydiving experience, I was nothing but full of skepticism. Many of my friends warned me; the instructors were crystal clear about the possibilities. I spent some time studying skydiving, learning from others and I was confident about doing it right even though the inputs coming in from many sources were scary.

I’d be lying if I say I was never afraid. I didn’t even know how it’d feel free-falling and scared about so many possible outcomes. I even went to an extent of thinking of so many things about life as if it was going to be my last day! When you think that it could be your last day and just look back, so many things come to mind. You really appreciate what you have; the hearts you have broken flashes right before your eyes; memories from the past starts to haunt you; you will realize the words you haven’t spoken yet; most of all you will start to love life. It’s an overwhelming feeling. I’m glad I could experience it.

My skydiving was all about overcoming the fear, believing in myself and having the courage to do what I wanted to do. I’m glad I did what I did and I learned a lot from it.

An Anonymous Halloween – 2011

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:04:35 +0000

It was that time of the year again when the pumpkins are carved, people get costumed, and walk around downtown, of course, showing off. Guess what I did different this time – I carved a pumpkin! The family I was with loves cars so I thought of carving a Mustang(they own one). I made a sketch of it from a picture I had taken of their car, but decided not to do it as it’d be difficult and was probably going to take more time. I left the sketch at home and when I reached theirs, I didn’t know what to carve other than a smiley face. So, I just decided to go for the Mustang carving with the sketch out of my mind. Well, it didn’t turn out to be a Mustang (not even close), but it looks like a car at least. See them below. Oh, that’s them driving the car. :-)

It was the second Halloween for me and guess what I became this time? Anonymous!. Though all of them mistook me for Vendetta, people(well, a few who passed by) on the streets just loved it and just like last year, some recanted, ‘Remember, remember the fifth of November…’ Anonymous was in news all year round and I thought it’d be appropriate for me to be an anonymous this time. I didn’t have to do a lot; like a true IT guy, I just reused the mask from last year. I love that mask and don’t be surprised if I wear it next year too!

Remember, remember today is the fifth of November. :-)

Java: Get Sub List of Elements between two elements (instead of indexes) in a List

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:51:59 +0000

Java List APIs provides a way to get the elements (sub-list) in a List between two indexes using List subList(int fromIndex, int toIndex). However, there is no API to get the elements in a List between two list elements List subList(Object fromElement, Object toElement) . The following code is an example to get the elements (sub-list) “between two list elements”. This works even if the given element doesn’t exist in the List. Imagine a list of items with different prices and a sub-list of items between price X and price Y when ,say, there are no items with price X or Y.

The following code, sorts the list and creates a clone just to make sure the original list is unaffected by the method. If the list of items are always expected to be in sorted order, then the clone and sort can be removed. Also, note that this method uses binary search; if the size of the list if small, brute force approach would be efficient than this.

Note that the Item needs compareTo() and equals() override for binary searching and Collection.sort() respectively.

import java.math.BigDecimal;

public class Item implements Comparable {

 private String name;
 private BigDecimal price;

 @Override
 public int compareTo(Item item) {
  return this.price.compareTo(item.price);
 }

 @Override
 public boolean equals(Object o) {
  return this.price.equals(((Item)o).getPrice());
 }

 @Override
 public String toString() {
  return this.name + " - " + this.price;
 }

 Item(String name, BigDecimal price) {
  setName(name);
  setPrice(price);
 }

 public String getName() {
  return name;
 }

 public void setName(String name) {
  this.name = name;
 }

 public BigDecimal getPrice() {
  return price;
 }

 public void setPrice(BigDecimal price) {
  this.price = price;
 }
}

import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

public class Store {

 // list to hold the items in stock
 private List itemsInStock;

 public List getItemsInStock() {
  return itemsInStock;
 }

 public void setItemsInStock(List itemsInStock) {
  if (this.itemsInStock == null) {
   this.itemsInStock = itemsInStock;
  } else {
   this.itemsInStock.addAll(itemsInStock);
  }
 }

 public void setItemInStock(Item item) {
  if (this.itemsInStock == null) {
   this.itemsInStock = new ArrayList();
  }
  this.itemsInStock.add(item);
 }

 /**
  * Answers a List of Items from the items in stock between the low price and
  * the high price passed to it. The List returned is backed by the
  * actual items in stock so changes to one are reflected by the other.
  *
  *
  * @param lowPrice
  *            the lowest price of the items to fetch
  * @param highPrice
  *            the highest price of the items to fetch
  *
  * @return a List of Items in stock; null if there are no items between the
  *         lowest and the highest price.
  */
 public List getItemsInStock(BigDecimal lowPrice, BigDecimal highPrice) {

  // create dummy items for search
  Item startItem = new Item(null, lowPrice);
  Item endItem = new Item(null, highPrice);

  // clone the list so that the ordering of the items in the list is not affected
  List itemsClone = new ArrayList(this.itemsInStock);

  // sort the items for binary search
  Collections.sort(itemsClone);

  // Read binary search() documentation for more details.
  int fromIndex = Collections.binarySearch(itemsClone, startItem);
  int toIndex = Collections.binarySearch(itemsClone, endItem);

  // If the low price is not found, get insertion point
  if (fromIndex < 0) {
   // After this, fromIndex will be between ( 0...total items)
   fromIndex = -(fromIndex + 1);
  } else {
   // binary search doesn't necessarily return first matching item
   while (fromIndex > 0 && itemsClone.get(fromIndex).equals(itemsClone.get(fromIndex - 1))) {
    fromIndex--;
   }
  }

  // If the high price is not found, get (insertion point - 1 )
  if (toIndex < 0) {
   // After this, toIndex will be between ( -1...total items-1)
   toIndex = -(toIndex + 2);
  } else {
   // binary search doesn't necessarily return last matching item
   while (toIndex < (itemsClone.size() - 1) && itemsClone.get(toIndex).equals(itemsClone.get(toIndex + 1))) {
    toIndex++;
   }
  }

  /*
   * We have items between start and end ONLY IF fromIndex is <= toIndex
   * and fromIndex is != total items and toIndex is != -1
   */
  if (toIndex < fromIndex) {
   return null;
  }

  // Return a view of the list
  return itemsClone.subList(fromIndex, toIndex + 1);
 }
}

import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.util.List;

public class Test {

 public static void main(String args[]) {

  Store s = new Store();
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("Nexus S", new BigDecimal(300)));
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("Galaxy S 4G", new BigDecimal(400)));
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("Nexus S 4G", new BigDecimal(400)));
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("Galaxy S2", new BigDecimal(700)));
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("Xperia Arc", new BigDecimal(500)));
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("Sensation 4G", new BigDecimal(600)));
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("Galaxy Nexus", new BigDecimal(750)));
  s.setItemInStock(new Item("iPhone 5", new BigDecimal("799.99")));

  // Get items from Store between 299 and 799
  List itemsInRange = (List) s.getItemsInStock(new BigDecimal(299), new BigDecimal(799));

  if (itemsInRange != null) {
   for (Item i : itemsInRange) {
    System.out.println(i);
   }
  } else {
   System.out.println("Sorry, no items found in the price range!");
  }
 }
}

/* OUTPUT for items between 299 & 799
Nexus S - 300
Galaxy S 4G - 400
Nexus S 4G - 400
Xperia Arc - 500
Sensation 4G - 600
Galaxy S2 - 700
Galaxy Nexus - 750
*/

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Put Your Ass On The Floor

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 05:54:36 +0000

On the Sweetest Day of 2011, I just happened to visit the Incredi-Roll Skate & Laser Tag Family Fun Center(on Oklahoma) for some rollerblade fun. I always wanted to learn rollerblading, even though I never went out with that friend of mine and tried. He forced me for sometime before giving up on me. But this sweetest day, I gave it a try. It’s indoors so there’s no danger of getting run over by a truck and how many people will be there for the embarrassment part? I thought may be 10-15, but boy, I was wrong! The moment I entered this place, it was full of people. People on rollerskates, rollerblades. Zipping through the center.

I knew I didn’t want to do it right then, but I’m not a chicken. What’s more embarrassing? chickening out seeing some 7 year olds doing it or giving it a shot and rolling next them on the floor. Well, literally! I tried, it’s been a week and my wrists still hurt. But that’s not the point here. The point is I was able to do it, albeit, slowly. It was fun and yeah, a little embarrassing. I fell down once even before entering the ring. Once there I was ok-ish for a first timer on rollerblades who has never even tried anything that starts with roller other than those that end with coasters.

There are somethings that you shouldn’t do. I mean, you just shouldn’t do. Like you are on the rollerblades for the first time and go to rest-rooms to pee with the rollerblades on. The toilet floors are made of tiles and they slip easily. I somehow managed to get there, but after that was, well, funny. Tried the usual way, but the damned rollerbladed gave that back and forth rocking motion, which I’m sure would’ve ended up on some epic failure or funny video sites if shot. So, I held the water pipe that was running down the ceiling in one hand and tried with the other hand. That didn’t work out well either! I bet it won’t work out on a low waist jeans. Thankfully there was no one in there all that time; I zipped out without dirtying the floor or my jeans!

A couple of more laps, no falls, thumbs up from the guys who watch over people. All went well. I just re-chanted the words a guy told me while I was wearing the rollerblades. “First time? Uh oh, don’t leave that person, just stay next all the time. It’s all about the confidence man, you go out there and do it.” At first I was staring at my feet and soon realized that’s wrong when I fell on my ass. I could feel my legs just rolling and then all of a sudden upper body is falling back and is in air. I just put my wrists to the ground before my ass hit the floor. Ouch, that hurt. Learnt a lesson but couldn’t avoid the next three wrists-hit-ground-before-ass-falls while all the kids, what it seemed like, going at 50MPH right next to me. Anyway, it was fun. I should do it again, albeit, with the wrist guards.

At the end, I was just trying to find a seat to remove the rollerblades and going down the hall. This same confidence-guy saw me from a distant and gave two thumbs-up with a big smile. I should have known better and just continued on my blades. I twisted a little bit to see him, showed thumbs up and fell hard on my ass still holding the thumbs up. He might have regretted the two thumbs-up! For the next five minutes I was sitting across the tables, he never looked at me again!

A Perfect Season – Green Bay Packers

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:11:09 +0000

Elle Meissner – The Lions haven’t won a championship since her grandfather was 5 and haven’t won a playoff game since her father was 10, in her lifetime, the Detroit Lions haven’t lost a game.^more

This news reminded me that I haven’t seen a single game that Green Bay Packers lost! The first time I heard of American Football was at the end of 2006 in a session helping people understand the basics of the game. It was conducted by one of my senior colleague in Mangalore office. I never really got interested until I moved to Milwaukee in July of 2010. I kept on hearing about football for months before I really followed anything.

Lobo's Lambeau Leap :-)

Packers had just beat New York Giants and were about to play Chicago Bears on January 2^nd 2010, it was the beginning of the post-season, Packers were playing good and I was in Milwaukee. What else does one need? it was a perfect setting and I became the Newest Packer Fan in town and boy oh boy, they didn’t fail to impress me. They won the first game, then the second and then the third and on and on and on and the winning streak is still on. Packers have not lost a single game since then!

Can you believe it? I must be the only fan in the world to see his team never lose a game¹. We even came back from 0-16, 0-14 to win the games. It’s too early to talk about a perfect season, but I hope we do it; even if we don’t, I will still be a proud Packer fan. As I said before, it’s hard not to be a Packer fan.

Yours truly,
The Luckiest Packer Fan on Earth! :-)
And, now an owner too!

GO PACK GO! Gimme a 16-0

45 – 17 vs New York Giants (I wasn’t following football yet)
10 – 03 vs Chicago Bears (I didn’t watch the game, but I followed the scores online)
21 – 16 vs Philadelphia Eagles
48 – 21 vs Atlanta Falcons
21 – 14 vs Chicago Bears
31 – 25 vs Pittsburgh Steelers (SUPER BOWL!!!)
42 – 34 vs New Orleans Saints (My first game at Lambeau Field!!!)
30 – 23 vs Carolina Panthers
27 – 17 vs Chicago Bears
49 – 23 vs Denver Broncos
25 – 14 vs Atlanta Falcons
24 – 03 vs St. Louis Rams
33 – 27 vs Minnesota Vikings
45 – 38 vs San Diego Chargers
45 – 07 vs Minnesota Vikings
35 – 26 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
27 – 15 vs Detroit Lions
38 – 35 vs New York Giants
46 – 16 vs Oakland Raiders

[ updates: included win vs Rams, Vikings, Chargers, Vikings, Buccaneers, Lions, Giants, Raiders; updated the signature ]
¹ Finally, we lost to Kansas City Chiefs (14-19) :-(

Your Influence Is Ubiquitous – R.I.P. Dennis Ritchie

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:53:02 +0000

I didn’t post it on my technical blog, but on personal blog for a reason.

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It Needs A Genius To Understand The Simplicity – R.I.P. Dennis Ritchie

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:41:54 +0000

U changed the world; it is because of the people like you we C the world the way it is today. You didn’t make billions, but billionaires. You have such an impact not only on those who lived in your lifetime, but also on those who are yet to C the light of the day. Your influence is ubiquitous. The mankind will forever be grateful to you.

R.I.P. Dennis Ritchie.

[homepage]

My First Game At The Lambeau Field – Packers vs Saints

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:37:11 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, I was able to get the tickets for the opening game of the season on September 8th, 2011. The world champions take on the New Orleans Saints. We also managed to make some time to visit the hall of fame. One thing I learned during this visit was the super bowl ring is not given just to the players but also to coaches, trainers, executives, personnel, and general staff! The winning team can present rings to whomever they choose. I saw one ring a staff.

My number 22 - I am a hall of famer!

Vince Lombardi's office

Bicycle ride to practice

Offense team practice :D

This was the first football game I ever watched in a stadium and there was no better place to witness the Packers play. Green Bay was totally packed with Packer fans and a dozen of Saints fans. I have been to a game of Cricket between Royal Challengers Bangalore versus Kolkata Knight Riders and have seen a huge turn out before, but this was a different experience altogether. People tailgating, 99% of them wearing team jerseys(apparels), music concert by Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum and Maroon 5, the two stunts, and most of all the majority of the fans supported one team. The Green Bay Packers. And they didn’t fail to deliver. It was a high scoring game and Packers won 42-34. Highlight of the game was Randall Cobb’s touchdown, a 108-yard kickoff return that tied the longest touchdown return in NFL history. This win was the first of many to come in this season.

Stunt 1

Stunt 2

Stunt 2 from another angle

Lobo's Lambeau Leap :-)

GO PACK GO!

The Title Town’s Super Bowl Titles –

Super Bowl I - January 15, 1967

Super Bowl II - January 14, 1968

Super Bowl XXXI - January 26, 1997

Super Bowl XLV - February 6, 2011

A Visit To The Frozen Tundra – Lambeau Field

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:45:28 +0000

Lambeau Field

I have driven around the stadium in a car once while returning from the Door County last fall. This time while returning from a trip to Pictured Rocks, I visited the Lambeau Field a.k.a The Frozen Tundra and took a tour of the stadium. It was just so unbelievable to be there and to learn some history about the Packers. I even got a customized replica jersey and a Packer’s Rubik cube among other things.

Ice Bowl

Tunnel Walk

Lambeau Field

Oh, by the way, I got a ticket for the opening game of the season!!! A fortnight ago I missed grabbing the tickets for the opening game against the Saints because I was late to reply to a friend who had an extra ticket. But as the fate had it, he called me back a week later to tell me that another ticket became available and to ask if I was still interested. There was no way in hell I decline it. I was really lucky! I’m going to The Frozen Tundra this Thursday in my own jersey to see Packers beat Saints.

A 1958 Green Bay Packers Chevrolet tailgater pickup truck

Packers Custom Replica Jersey number 22

Packers vs Saints Ticket

GO PACK GO!

A Trip To Pictured Rocks, Michigan

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:15:45 +0000

Beach

Pictured Rocks is a U.S. National Lakeshore on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a beautiful place up north, just google and you won’t disagree. Kayaking in the sea? Wouldn’t it be amazing? We set to find out.

Plan: On September long weekend(Labor day holiday) start from Milwaukee on Saturday, explore Mackinac Island, Pictured Rocks sea kayaking on Sunday and sightseeing and returning on Monday.

Bad start: Designated person delayed booking accommodation and in the end I chose Manistique so that it’s in between Pictured Rocks and Mackinac island. Since we had to do nothing but just spend the night, Budget Host Inn served the purpose, no thrills, no frills. and it was cheapest I have ever spent to stay anywhere.

Light House in Lake Huron

Mackinac island

Mackinaw bridge

Mackinac Island – The drive to St. Ignace was around 6+ hours and there were a lot of pit stops. We played on the beach, passed Bombay Motel, splashed water on each other. It was fun. We dropped our bags in the motel on our way and when we reached St. Ignace it was mid afternoon. We took a ferry that takes people to the island. It’s a nice place on an island with a road which runs around the island.

Streets

We rented a bicycle which had back peddling as brakes! Irksome at first but was okay after getting used. We rode around the island, stopped at many places, took pictures and before we knew it was already time to catch the last ferry back. I had so much fun riding the bike without hands and flapping hands like a bird flying. We also noticed someone’s wedding there, you can wed there too, but it might be really costly. This is a lovely place overall.

Bicycle on Mackinac

Back to Manistique Motel – Nothing much there. After weighing out dinner option we went to Big Boy restaurant and boy did we make a decision. It had a good buffet. Best option around. They had a currency collection from around the world; the employees there said their boss is very interested, so my friend donated a Indian Currency ( a 20 rupee note I think). I’d love it if they actually added it to the collection.

Pictured Rocks

Shore

Pictured Rocks sea kayaking – yay! We were excited, got up ready and reached the Munising on time, but the mother nature had other plans. The kayaking was cancelled due to high waves. Nearly 15 feet high wave! It was the main reason we planned the trip, to see it wash away in the high waves was very disappointing. Flop.

Sand dune

Country Road H-58 – After talking to the tourist information center, we decided to go around sight-see. The main hiking trails were closed anyway. We hit H-58. It was unexpected but the drive blew me away. Tall trees along side the narrow road, no median, totally curvy stretch. A beautiful drive during that time of the year.

Miners Castle

Don’t miss H-58 – Don’t miss it because of the places it takes you. Just look at the map here. We stopped at most of the places.Woodland park, Sable falls, Log slide, Chapel beach, Grand Portal point, Miners castle. One can easily spend a day on this beautiful stretch. Don’t miss the sand dunes and breath taking view.

Sable falls

Log Slide – Don’t miss this one. Just go down the slide and come up. Go with friends, not alone like I did unless you want to feel bad. However, I met two 6 year old boys down on the beach and we competed against each other on climbing up. No need to mention, I came last.

High Tide and Low tide – I don’t want to complete this post without mentioning this. I don’t remember the beach name, but it was like a long stretch and at the one end, back water was connected to the lake (like a foot high water level) and then a small area of sand at the end. We just walked carelessly and within no time the water level started rising, withing a split second it rose up to our waist, we managed to get back and thankfully the water level went down. It was a little scary considering the high tides that day.

Christmas village

Christmas came a little early – Not really, we visited a village called Christmas!

Back to the motel and to Milwaukee – We reached motel at dark, having nothing to do we went straight to bed. We set out to Milwaukee the next day, or did we?

Lambeau Field, Green bay – We had a lot of time on hand, we stopped and played in most of the beaches on our way and decided to visit, lo and behold, The Lambeau Field.

Play

What did we miss? – Of course, the sea kayaking. We also learned that there was an annual walk on the Mackinac Bridge on the Labor day, but the group was not much interested. Right time, right place, wrong group. :P

Even though the planned event went haywire, the unplanned events such as the drive and places around H-58 and the visit to Lambeau Filed made the trip worth and memorable. I’m posting this nearly 4 months after the trip and I remember it like yesterday. I’d definitely go up north again to kayak in the sea. Definitely.

PS: How does Pictured Rocks look in winter? Someone has a good answer for you here.

or View all

Do It Now, or You Might Never Get A Chance Again

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:58:27 +0000

Finally on August 20^th, 2011, I skydived for the first time, not only unheeding my friends’ suggestions to go for tandem first and then solo/Accelerated Free Fall(AFF) but also my own fear of jumping into the unknown. I didn’t know how it will be to fall from 14K feet, descending at 120MPH(193KMPH). I wasn’t sure if the instructors will be able to guide until the pull; I wasn’t sure if the parachute will open fine or not; I wasn’t sure if I would land on Interstate-94 and dragged down the road.

Why did I chose to do it then? I don’t know. I felt I can do it; they won’t be stupid enough to let first timers go directly to AFF if it was so dangerous. After watching a couple of YouTube videos of AFF level 1, there was no going back. The ground training boosted my confidence and reviewing the dive flow in mind over and over again just filled in the gaps. I was/am even sure about handling parachute malfunction and using reserve, however, I don’t wish it upon me or anyone else for that matter.

I was anxious but not really scared. Last thing I told myself was that even if I die, it will not be a boring death; I’d rather die doing something exciting! Anyway, this post is to let everyone know that anyone can do it. If you want to do it, all you have to do is just do it.

The video from my first skydive(homepage) – I dedicate(at 5 minute mark) it to the people involved in the India Against Corruption. I can’t be there during this historic moment, but I can still spread the word and support it. Just remember, You Might Never Get A Chance Again!

The Story Of My Childhood

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:54:12 +0000

Last weekend, I had one of my friend come over from Chicago. I hadn’t met him in nearly 6-7 years until a couple of days when I met him Chicago. We went skydiving, and visited Lake Geneva and had good time together. Meeting him brought back many memories from my childhood, and school days and inspired me to write. I think, it’s time to share and put them down here before they are completely erased from my already weak memories. So, here it goes, arranged in order with my failing recollection of the great days…

Days before my school – when I was below 5.

The railway track

Well, there’s is nothing much to say. Other than a couple of visuals I have in my head about those days. I don’t recollect spending the first six months of my life in Coorg. My mom says, Dad moved the family to Bangalore looking for a job. We were in Venkateshapuram for 6 months and then moved to Kadugondanahalli for about 2 years. I remember it was close to a railway track. My dad and uncles would take me to the track and tell me how the train creates magic and turns the coin kept on the track into a magnet! I used to wonder.

nut and bolt

The only other thing I remember about the track was that once my brother and I went to the track and found a bolt near the track and got it home. At home, mom got a little upset thinking we had removed it from the track, and told us that the it can cause accident and the train might have gone off the track. I don’t know about my, then extremely mischievous, brother but I was terrified. Thankfully, no train went off the track that day.

I know these two below things only because my mom told us.

sparrow

1. Once my brother went missing. He used to go behind those insects, dragon flies, sparrows, catching them and torturing them. So, my parents, uncles, entire neighborhood went frantic and thought someone might have abducted him. When they decided to give lodge a police complaint, he walked in holding an old military man’s hands who the entire neighborhood knew. ( My brother hasn’t changed; in his recent facebook picture, he had a green parrot on his shoulder!)

2. We used to have three bicycles. So, we used to go to church on Davis road every Sunday. Mom and Dad on one cycle, my brother and I used to ride on our uncles’ bicycles. Every time on the way back, these crazy people used to bet and race home!

Then, that dark place. It was the ground floor of Ranka (Corner or Park) apartments where my dad used to sell tea and coffee to the construction workers. Usually the ground floor is where they park the cars, it’s not the basement. I was on the walkway and to my right was the building and to the left was the apartment complex compound and some trees. I remember looking at the ground floor through the dark spots here and there. I don’t recall anything, nothing scared me, but I still have this visual very rich in my mind.

Bicycle

Lastly, I can’t forget the testicle-crushing experience sitting on the front bar of the bicycles. My dad and all my uncles had Hero cycles and the kids used to get the front bar without any seat to sit on. I recall my dad taking me along with him to get ration from far far away place. They finally fitted it with a small seat heeding an old Muslim uncle’s advice. Those used to be hell of a rides! And fortunately nothing was ever crushed. That uncle was god send! ;-)

Where did we move from Kadugondanahalli? Later…

Picture courtesy – Google search for pictures labelled for reuse. Thanks!

A 21 Year Old Friendship

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 07:10:47 +0000

Krishnamurthy. He is my oldest friend. We were in same class in Bangalore for 6 years, starting 1990, before I had to leave. We were not in touch and had not met more than 5 times in entire 15 years. Then when I met him, he was still the same! He had moved to a new place and before I knew it, he was gone from there. I tried to find him but in vain.

Then the Orkut and other social networking thing happened and I came in touch with him again. He was in RVCE pursuing his bachelors in Computer Science and I was in PESIT running after a degree in Information Science! Though these two colleges were just 5KM apart, the communication between us was extremely rare!

Then all of a sudden, he asks for my number and says he is in Chicago! This dude was in Chicago! I met him once in Chicago and had him come over to Milwaukee last weekend. It was great meeting my oldest friend.

That’s my oldest pal, Kris.

That's my oldest pal, Kris.

That’s my oldest pal Kris trying to kill me.

That's my oldest pal Kris trying to kill me.

Because I told him I own this building(Milwaukee Art Museum). :-)

because I said it's mine!

I Paid A Bribe Once

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:44:24 +0000

When I was growing up, I used to read the articles in the newspaper about people returning the money/jewelry that somebody else had lost, the auto driver returning thousands of rupees the passengers had left behind. I used to wonder what made them do what they did especially when the person who did it was indeed very poor. Why didn’t he keep it himself, used it to feed his family, made a life out of it. One moment I would think, returning it made no sense at all and the next moment I would just imagine the plight of the people who lost it. What if someone lost all his hard earned money, a life time of savings, what if if was from a poor father carrying it to arrange for his daughter’s marriage? It made perfect sense to return it. The happiness that it’d bring when you lose something precious and find it; the good feel that it’d instill in one’s heart; the give-back/do-the-same-thing attitude that it’d bring seemed much more valuable than the actual item’s worth.

If I found even a handful of rupees on the road and if I knew who it belonged to, my mom would ask me to return it. My parents taught me that to die in hunger is much more satiable than stealing or cheating. However, I’d listen to them, though very rare, discussing about bribing to get things done because everyone else does and there’s no other way. For a lower middle class family living on daily wages, bribing might have looked so easy. But I was never asked to follow the same; they’d always preach me against it! I never wanted to bribe, instead I’d argue that it’s their duty to serve people and they get paid for it and there is no need to pay bribe. I was a child. Even the good old movies in which the hero fights the officials against corruption, bribery used to influence me as a kid.

In schools, my teachers would always urge us to fight against things like dowry and bribery. The haves can do it but what about the have-nots? The deeds of the haves will haunt the have-nots and it’d become a vicious circle of influence. They’d call it an epidemic and rightly so. Honesty and ethics is what they taught me in school. Always. Even during my college days, I hated corruption, bribery. I used think, it’s very easy not to pay a bribe. There’s media, police, internet and what not to bring such incidents to light, but then those involved have no shame. Then there was Lokayukta. People, I was no exception, were so impressed that they’d call Lokayukta if somebody asks for a bribe. Even that fell apart; eventually everyone realized that they had no real power! The common man had no other option but to surrender.

In 2010, I paid rupees 100/- to my travel agent for getting a four wheeler driving license in spite of driving reasonably during the road test. Why? After the tests, the agent was collecting 100/- from each saying that the RTO inspector demanded it. Everyone there was paying it and so did I! I will never know if the inspector asked for it or it was just the agent fooling us. But whatever it is, all I know is I paid a bribe!

Even with such teaching and bringing up, I paid a bribe! Why? As we get older and mature, with all that we see and experience, it is easy and reasonable to think that paying a bribe and getting things done is the easiest way. It’s very difficult to fight the system; it forces you to become part of it. As grown ups, we don’t have time to think about the profound repercussions of paying a bribe. We don’t realize that it rots the roots of our society. The mob mentality also has such a great influence. The very thought that ‘everyone does it; if I don’t, I will be left behind’ leaves no room our ethics. It’s a race out there after all and I succumbed to that race; I became a stinking rat.

I am ashamed of what I did. I really am and I have decided that I will never pay a bribe again. NEVER EVER. The fight against corruption should start from within.

Have you paid a bribe? What are your views on it?

–
PS: I’m one of those who believes that ‘power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ The Jan Lokpal bill proposed by Anna Hazare and co. gives such high power to the bureau that it frightens me. In spite of it, I’m all in for Anna Hazare and the fight against corruption. Just like any other young Indian elsewhere, I’m sick of family politics, the bloody politicians, and the corrupt officials. All I hope is that this will bring the much needed change in the system and awareness among the people. Jai Hind.

One Hell Of A Tiring Weekend – Skydive Plan Gone Wrong And Lake Geneva Again

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:37:17 +0000

If everything went according to the plan, I’d have had my first ever free-fall by now. But the mother nature had some other plans. Six friends and I had planned for a skydiving weekend on my room-mate’s birthday last Saturday. Two of them had come down from Chicago. The venue was none other than the closest Skydive Midwest. None of us had previous experience and were looking forward to having a great time. We reached the place a couple of minutes after our scheduled time and registered at the manifest. Basically, we just put our lives on the line and signed contracts saying Skydive Midwest will not be liable for any accidents. Six of us were to do tandem jumps and I solo (AFF). Don’t ask me why; I don’t know!

It rained during out skydiving

A French guy was my only classmate! My classes went until noon and by the time I was out my group also had training. And then it was the waiting game. It rained heavily once and the plane had to come back without any jumps. By evening, our turn had come. My group completed their tandem jumps by 6PM and was ecstatic and engrossed in the pictures and videos of themselves skydiving! I was scheduled to go in load 21 and it was only 17^th load running at that time. Within an hour the weather changed – it got very dark; clouds moved in and wind picked up speed. AFF jumps were canceled for the day.

The group came back with everyone except the organizer doing what was planned for the weekend. I went again on Sunday morning; everything was perfect except the north winds. I decided to visit later in the day and left.

Btw, I must tell you, the staff at Skydive Midwest is so amazing. We loved the day spent at Skydive Midwest. Though I didn’t get to dive, it was worth spending a day with friends; attending the classes with a wonderful teacher(Susanne); another young lady staff I talked to; patiently waiting; watching people; cute announcement once in a while; and lovely Laura at the manifest (I think she is the one on the mic :-) )

Fountain at The Riviera, Lake Geneva

After returning from Skydive Midwest on Sunday, I took my friends to Milwaukee Arts Museum and a bit of lake side for site seeing. We then headed to Lake Geneva (fourth time for me!). The plan was to rent a boat and spend time but due to time crunch we decided to take the boat tour around Lake Geneva. I skipped it this time. The group had been on boat and I walked around the shore path(between the lake and the houses) for sometime. I didn’t like it this time much as my role was reduced to that of a guide!

Anyway, I dropped my friends to Kenosha Metra station and came back to Milwaukee in the evening. On my way back, the weather was good and it didn’t look as windy as it looked in the morning. I was supposed to go Skydiving in the evening if the weather turned out good; but, I dropped the plan as I was too tired and didn’t feel like going. Now, I need to rent a car again to go skydiving which costs me around $50!

Whatever it is, my personal record of jumping from a whopping 6 feet above the ground still stands unbeaten!

A couple of ways to tokenize a delimited String in Java

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:54:41 +0000

StringTokenizer:

It is a legacy class and its use is discouraged in new code. I don’t like to use this class even if it weren’t a legacy class because it ignores blank tokens. Below code will not output the blank(“”) between A and In and the last blank token after Me.

		StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer("I,Have,A,,In,Me,", ",");
		while (st.hasMoreTokens()) {
			System.out.println(st.nextToken());
		}

split method:

Javadoc suggets split method of String or the java.util.regex package as alternatives. The split method returns the blank tokens in-between two tokens, however, the last blank token(after Me) will stll be missing. We need some extra code to get the last token.

		final String DELIMITER = ",";
		String string = "I,Have,A,,In,Me,";
		for (String value : string.split(DELIMITER)) {
			System.out.println(value);
		}

		// Check for last token
		int lastIndex = string.lastIndexOf(DELIMITER);
		if (lastIndex == string.length()-1) {
			System.out.println(string.substring(lastIndex + 1));
		}

Write your own tokenizer code:

		String string = "I,Have,A,,In,Me,";
		final String DELIMITER = ",";

		int i = 0,  j = string.indexOf(DELIMITER);

		// while there are tokens
		while (j != -1) {
			System.out.println(string.substring(i, j));
			i = j + 1;
			j = string.indexOf(DELIMITER, i);
		}

		// extract the last token
		if (i <= string.length()) {
			System.out.println(string.substring(i));
		}

I got a little crazy and changed the above code.

		String string = "I,Have,A,,In,Me,";
		final String DELIMITER = ",";

		int i = 0, j = -1;

		// while there are tokens
		while ((j = string.indexOf(DELIMITER, (i = ++j))) != -1) {
			System.out.println(string.substring(i, j));
		}

		// extract the last token
		if (i <= string.length()) {
			System.out.println(string.substring(i));
		}

Same thing using for.

		String string = "I,Have,A,,In,Me,";
		final String DELIMITER = ",";

		int i = 0;

		// for each token in the string
		for (int j = -1; (j = string.indexOf(DELIMITER, (i = ++j))) != -1;) {
			System.out.println(string.substring(i, j));
		}

		// extract the last token
		if (i <= string.length()) {
			System.out.println(string.substring(i));
		}

The most basic benchmarking – using System.nanoTime() in while loop with 1,000,000 iterations. The average of 5 such runs are below.

Tokenizer	2.569156437(quicker but doesn’t give the desired output.)
String.split()	4.567683168(remember the last token?)
While	2.690626660
2nd While	2.765533696
For	2.717799994

No related posts.

How to scroll elements smoothly in JavaScript/jQuery without plugins

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:08:01 +0000

There are multitude of ways to scroll the page to bring certain elements to view through code. A few of them below. The code given below can be used to scroll any element with an ID on the page. The demo scrolls the page as well as the contents of a DIV and bring an element to view. These methods also use jQuery’s animate() method. To best view the code in action click on RESET before clicking on the buttons.

Do you have a better way of scrolling elements? Ideas/comments/suggestions are always welcome.

The simplest one will be to use an anchor tag. Note that the anchor can be used on any element with an ID. This works exactly the same as scrollIntoView(true) – see [2] below
```
Scroll to element
..
...
```
[1] JavaScript scrollTo method:
This method takes coordinates on x and y axis to scroll. The problem with this approach is that if the element to scroll is inside another element which has a scrollbar, it will not work as one might expect.
```
function scroll(element){
  var ele = document.getElementById(element);
  window.scrollTo(ele.offsetLeft,ele.offsetTop);
}
```
[2] JavaScript scrollIntoView(alignWithTop) method:
alignWithTop=true will align the element with the top of the scroll area.
```
function scroll(element, parent){
    $(element)[0].scrollIntoView(true);
}
```
[3] JavaScript scrollIntoView(alignWithTop) method:
alignWithTop=false will align the element with the bottom of the scroll area.
```
function scroll(element, parent){
    $(element)[0].scrollIntoView(false);
}
```
[4] By adjusting scrollTop:
I think, this is the most commonly used/suggested way. However, if you try to scroll again, the scrolling goes for a toss. Try clicking on scroll twice on the demo page.
```
function scroll(element, parent){
     $(parent).animate({ scrollTop: $(element).offset().top - $(parent).offset().top }, { duration: 'slow', easing: 'swing'});
}
```

[5] scrollIntoView(alignWithTop) and by adjusting scrollTop:
This is just a combination of [2] and [4]

function scroll(element, parent){
     $(parent)[0].scrollIntoView(true);
     $(parent).animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).scrollTop() + $(element).offset().top - $(parent).offset().top }, { duration: 'slow', easing: 'swing'});
}

[6] scrollIntoView(alignWithTop) and by adjusting scrollTop:
This is a combination of [3] and [4]

function scroll(element, parent){
     $(parent)[0].scrollIntoView(false);
     $(parent).animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).scrollTop() + $(element).offset().top - $(parent).offset().top }, { duration: 'slow', easing: 'swing'});
}

[7] Using scrollTop and animation:
This is same as [5] but scrolls smoothly.

function scroll(element, parent){
     $(parent).animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).scrollTop() + $(element).offset().top - $(parent).offset().top }, { duration: 'slow', easing: 'swing'});
     $('html,body').animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).offset().top }, { duration: 1000, easing: 'swing'});
}

[8] Using scrollTop and animation:
This is same as [6] but scrolls smoothly.

function scroll(element, parent){
     $(parent).animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).scrollTop() + $(element).offset().top - $(parent).offset().top }, { duration: 'slow', easing: 'swing'});
     $('html,body').animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).offset().top - $(window).height() + $(element).height() }, { duration: 1000, easing: 'swing'});
}

[9] Using scrollTop and animation:
This is essentially same as the last two methods except that this one will scroll the the page to bring the parent element to align the top with 1/3rd of the viewport.

function scroll(element, parent){
     $(parent).animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).scrollTop() + $(element).offset().top - $(parent).offset().top }, { duration: 'slow', easing: 'swing'});
     $('html,body').animate({ scrollTop: $(parent).offset().top - ($(window).height()/3) }, { duration: 1000, easing: 'swing'});
}

Reset scroll:
This method will remove scroll from all elements on the page.

function resetAllScroll(){
  $("*").animate({ scrollTop: 0}, { duration: 'slow', easing: 'swing'});
}

Check out the demo and let me know what you think. demo. To best view the code in action click on RESET before clicking on the buttons.

HTML SELECT/Dropdown with JavaScript/jQuery

Comments are beautiful

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:57:52 +0000

Knowing what the hell you are doing is very important and in the world of programming, letting others know what the hell you are doing is just as important.

We, well most of us, code for a living. We cannot support it forever. We might change profession, move on to a ‘grass is greener’ place, worst yet we might not exist at all! There will always be another person working on our code, making a living trying to fix the issues (that we thought will never exist), making it better suite the ‘current world’.

This job is certainly not easy. Code is a way for us to let the machines know what we want them to do. They don’t understand it, they just follow your instructions blindly. A human can not change these instructions without first understanding them. Understanding these instructions are like understanding the thought process of the original programmer and you know how messed up our thoughts are. How is one supposed to understand it?

This is exactly where comments are life savers(literally). They are not ugly; they are beautiful. They let the lesser mortals know what the creator was thinking when he created his masterpieces. They make someone else’s life easy. I’m not kidding you, they earn you respect.

We will not exist forever, neither do these code that we create. However, they might outlive our short IT lives. What kind of a legacy do we want to leave behind?

Why Are Comments Important?

WordPress: Moving Some Old Posts To A New Blog

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:16:33 +0000

I recently moved a bunch of blog posts to a new blog installation. This wasn’t necessary but just an exercise to learn what it takes to move the posts. It was easy after a lot of reading. Here is a checklist I prepared. Hope it helps someone looking for similar stuff. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Use it at your own risk!

WordPress: Install WordPress.
Plugins: Install necessary plugins. Enable all of them and set them up. Some plugins do provide an option to import/export settings. Export settings from old blog to a file and replace all occurrences of old blog URL to new blog if needed.
Export Database: Using MyPHP Admin from CPanel export the all tables from old WordPress database except wp_options. (I’m not sure about other tables but this one gave me some problems when I imported). Also export the entire database for the new blog before next step so that you can clean it up by importing the new database SQL in case anything goes wrong.
Import database: Replace all occurrences of old blog URL in the backup file and import the tables(basically run the SQL file). If you see anything amiss, try exporting and importing the tables excluded in previous step!
Permanent Redirect: Once the old blog is gone, all links on the web pointing to the old blog posts will throw 404 error and will affect the site rankings. To avoid the side effect and to keep all traffic to the new blog, redirect the old URLs to new ones. This can be done via plugins. However, I noticed that the plugin needed me to keep the posts on old blog as well for it to work which I didn’t like. There were also other problems. So, I ended up adding 301(permanent) redirects in the .htaccess file.
Check redirect: test a couple of old blog post links and see if 301 redirect works correct.
Test new blog: go to new blog and just click on links and mess around a bit to make sure nothing is broken esp. the tags, categories and other meta stuff.
Delete old blog post: Delete(move to trash) the old blog posts on the old blog. Don’t remove them completely yet; you can keep that task when you are sure everything is setup correctly.
Update Tags and Categories: Go to the old blog and delete all tags and categories that were unique to the moved posts. Easiest way is to check if they have any posts associated with them. If there are none, just get rid of them. The new blog will have tags and categories from old blog due to import. Delete orphan tags and categories from new blog as well.
Update other settings: if you are using custom search engines, AdSense, Analytics etc, make sure you update the settings on the new blog.
Media: Move the media(such as images, videos, documents etc) to new blog. Since we did a replace all on the SQL file, the image URLs will be pointing to the new blog.
RSS: The most important task. Provide correct RSS. If you do not want your old blog RSS subscribers to get new blog RSS, you don’t need to do anything. If you want to provide old as well as new posts to the subscribers, you need some more settings. This is where services like FeedBurner are valuable. If you are using FeedBurner and want the original RSS to include both old and new blog posts, create a combined RSS feed using Yahoo Pipes. You can update the FeedBurner settings to include the Yahoo piped RSS so that RSS readers will continue to get all posts.
Don’t fret if you are not using FeedBurner. You can create one now and redirect your old RSS link to FeedBurner’s link using htaccess. Once that is done, just use pipes as described above. The Subscribe All option I provide uses Yahoo Pipes.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Pictures Of Billionaire Homes From Lake Geneva Bay Tour

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 04:07:28 +0000

Lake Geneva Bay tour costs around $23 and is an hour long. The boat will take you around the lake to show the beautiful and the extremely expensive homes. The tour is fully narrated and makes your jaws drop at times. This is a must be on your schedule if you are planning a trip to Lake Geneva.

Most of these are summer homes for the rich from Chicago. Wrigley’s own a lot of properties over there and according to wiki, Charlie Chaplin, Phil Collins, Michael Schumacher had/have homes there.

Or watch them here.

Why Are Comments Important?

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 03:04:53 +0000

Around three months ago: I was shocked looking at some newly added code in one of our applications. It was naked. Not a single line of comment whatsoever!! I asked the person who wrote it to explain the code and it turned out that the code is indeed very cleverly written. I’d rate the code as top notch if only it had comments. When I demanded an explanation, it turned out that he thinks commenting is an utterly boring task. We had a small chat and after explaining how difficult it is to maintain the code without comments, he agreed to add comments, albeit reluctantly. I had a plan and saved a copy of the code.

Back to present: The end users had an issue in the existing application and also had a change request to the functionality. It was to be assigned to the person who wrote it originally. I sat with him and pulled the copy of the code I had saved. He had trouble understanding the code and asked himself, ‘what am I doing here?’, a couple of times. He eventually figured it out and when we pulled the code with comments, he agreed that it was difficult without comments to figure out what was going on.

This is not a one off case. I’m sure this is the deal with most of the IT world. If it is difficult to understand your own code just after a couple of months, imagine what the life will be for another guy trying to support it after you are gone. Now, why are comments important?

Comments are beautiful

Camping At Big Foot Beach State Park, Lake Geneva

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:36:14 +0000

Another summer, another camping. This time at Big Foot Beach State Park, Lake Geneva. It is located very close to the lake and is right in the city. Four of us camped from Friday evening to Sunday morning with two friends visting Satruday night.

Some pictures from camping at Big Foot beach State Park.

Tent

Campfire

Sky

Some Trail

Swing

Soda Vending Machine!

We had a wonderful time. Setting up the camp, the fire, the food, the conversations, a walk, the trails, swimming in the lake made the camping trip a nice one. We also went on the boat tour in Lake Geneva which is must for anyone going there. The minuses – a lot of insects(bug spray is must) and the campsites are smaller and are very close to each other. Btw, I got an eye infection after the trip; mostly due to swiming in lake without goggles and handling contacts with hands cleaned with plain water without any soap!

View Larger Map

Three Rules to Excel at Work

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:23:03 +0000

I think this is just as important as any technical stuff hence posting it here! :o)

My day at work had just began, when I overheard a colleague of mine talking about rule number two. He is very senior to me and is dangerously intelligent! I couldn’t stop myself from asking him what the rule number two was.

“Hey, what is rule number two?”, I asked.
“Well, do you know rule number one?”, he questioned.
I replied, “Nope”, thinking why didn’t I ask about rule number one first!
Wicked a smile he said, “Rule number one – know what the hell you are doing. Rule number two – if something goes wrong, always find someone else to blame.”
Then walking towards his cubicle he announced, “and there’s a third rule, take all the credit.”

The smart man had proved himself again!

No related posts.

HTML SELECT/Dropdown with JavaScript/jQuery

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:54:08 +0000

A list of commonly needed operations on HTML SELECT/Dropdown using JavaScript/jQuery. Let me know if you find it useful or if you have additions/suggestions to improve the list.

JavaScript


// get the element
var dd =  document.getElementById("dropdown");

// Get the total number of options
dd.length;

// Get the index of selected option
dd.selectedIndex;

// get the value of selected option
dd.options[dd.selectedIndex].value;

// Get the selected option/text
dd.options[dd.selectedIndex].text;

// Reset the dropdoown option; select first option
dd.selectedIndex = 0;

// Reset the dropdoown option; select last option
dd.selectedIndex = dd.length-1;

// Create and attach an option dynamically
    var newOption = document.createElement('option');
    // create option/text
    newOption.text="new option";
    // create option value
    newOption.value="new value";
    // attach the option to the dropdown
    dd.options[dd.options.length] = newOption;  

// Create and attach an option dynamically
dd.options[dd.options.length] =
            new Option("new option","new value");

// Create and attach an option dynamically
dd.add(new Option("new option 2","new value 2"));

// Remove all options from the dropdown
dd.length = 0;

// Remove all options from the dropdown
dd.options.length = 0;

// Remove the first option from the dropdown
dd.remove(0);

// Remove the last option from the dropdown
dd.remove(dd.options.length-1);

// Remove the last option from the dropdown
dd.remove(dd.length-1);

// Remove the dropdown/select element.
// ParentID must be an ID of the parent element.
document.getElementById("ParentID").removeChild(dd);

jQuery


// Reset the dropdoown option; select first option
$("#dropdown").prop("selectedIndex",0);

// Reset the options on all SELECT/Drodown elements.
$("select").each(function(){
    $(this).find("option:first").prop("selected","selected");
});  

// Reset the options on all SELECT/Drodown
// elements to last option
$("select").each(function(){
    $(this).val($("option:last",this).val());
});  

// Get the value of the selected option/text
$("#dropdown").val(); 

// Get the index of selected option
$("#dropdown").prop("selectedIndex");

//  Get the selected text
$("#dropdown option:selected").text();

// Get ALL text in the SELECT element; space separated
$("#dropdown").text();

// Select an option with value
// selects the option with value="value-2"
$("#dropdown").val("value-2"); 

// Add an option
$("#dropdown").append("");

// Remove the last option from SELECT
$("#dropdown option:last").remove();

// Remove all options from SELECT
$("#dropdown option").remove()

// Remove the SELECT element from DOM
$("#dropdown").remove()

How to scroll elements smoothly in JavaScript/jQuery without plugins

O_o: You have no “null” items says Google Reader

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:22:37 +0000

I was browsing through my RSS subscriptions on Google Reader when it confirmed that I have no null items.

Google Reader - "null" items

O_o: Never Return null For A Collection in Java

Penny Auction Sites Auto Bidding Script(Sniper) – How To – Building and Using the script

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:24:11 +0000

Part I and II of this post series can be found here and here respectively.

Build the script:
Assume that the HTML skeleton given in previous post is indeed the code and when the bid ends the timer gets a class called BIDEND. Finally, say the code used by the site to place a bid is PennyAuction.placeBid(itemCode);. With this information build a script.

// Get the codes from the user
// Note : If it's integer then parseInt method can be used around the prompt.
var itemCode = prompt("Please enter the item code:");
var lowPrice = parseInt(prompt("Please enter the price at which you want to start bidding:"), 10);
var highPrice = parseInt(prompt("Please enter the price at which you want to stop bidding:"), 10);
var maxBids = parseInt(prompt("Please enter the maximum number of bids you want to place:"), 10);
var secondsToPlaceBid = parseInt(prompt("Please enter the remaining time below which a bid should be placed:"), 10);

// Build the identifiers
var who = "Winning_" + itemCode;
var priceID = "Price_" + itemCode;
var timerID = "Timer_" + itemCode;

/*
 * This method places a bid if the item is in the price range if the timer goes below
 * "secondsToPlaceBid" and if the maximum number of bids has not been reached.
 *
 * Note that the "BIDEND" and the "USERNAME" needs to be updated for the site in question.
 *
*/
function placeBid() {
    if (document.getElementsByClassName("BIDEND").length == 1) {
        // The bid ended; stop bidding.
        return;
    }

    // Get the price; strip $ sign
    var currPrice = parseInt((document.getElementById(priceID).innerHTML.substring(1)),10);

    if (currPrice <= lowPrice) {
        // Price limit not reached; wake up just in time for next bid
        setTimeout("placeBid()", 8000);
    }

    if (document.getElementById(who).innerHTML != "USERNAME") {
        // You are not the current bidder

        if (maxBids == 0) {
            alert("All of the allocated bids have been placed!");
            return;
        }

        if (currPrice > highPrice) {
            alert("Price of the item has exceeded the high price set!");
            return;
        }

        secondsRemaining = parseInt(document.getElementById(timerID).innerHTML.split(":")[2], 10);

        if (secondsRemaining < secondsToPlaceBid) {
            // Time to place a bid; update counter & wake up just in time for next bid
            PennyAuction.placeBid(itemCode);
            maxBids = (maxBids - 1);
            setTimeout("placeBid()", 8000);

        } else {
            // Enough time left; wake up later to try
            setTimeout("placeBid()", 500);
        }

    } else {
        // You are the current bidder; wake up just in time for next bid(if exists)
        setTimeout("placeBid()", 8000);
    }
}

// Call the method defined above to take care of the dirty business
placeBid();

This is it. This code should do the trick; Note that ‘BIDEND’, ‘USERNAME’ and PennyAuction.placeBid(itemCode); needs to be updated with respect to the auction site in question.

Using the script:
update: Executing code from address bar as described below has been blocked in newer browsers. Please read one of the comments below for more info.
Now that you have all the weapons, you should know how to use them. The above script can be saved as a bookmarklet and can be invoked on the auction site’s bidding page. Of course, you should update the above mentioned values before you do that. Or you can simply copy paste the updated script in the address bar of the browser.

To run the script from the address bar -
1. Remove all comments. The lines starting with //
2. Remove all new line characters – the script should be in a single line. Some text editors allow Replacing newline character. Just perform a ‘Replace All’ to replace \n with nothing.
3. Append javascript: in front of the script
4. Copy and paste the script line in the address bar and hit enter.
Just copy, paste the below line in the address bar of the browser and hit enter and see how it works -
javascript:var response = prompt('How is your day today?');alert('and you typed - ' + response);

That’s all. I hope it was helpful and you know how to build and use a snipe bot yourself now. I did try this on one of the famous bidding sites and it placed bids as it was designed to. However, I didn’t win because I had very less bids to place and exhausted all of it. Let me reiterate, this script or anything for that matter won’t guarantee winning. It all depends on the auction sites. They control the bidding with bots on the server side which keeps bidding until there is no one else to place a bid thus keeping the item as well as the price for bidding. However, they do frequently give some items away to make it look legitimate and fool people into participating. I’m not guessing this. I’m convinced that this is what they do. Their business model doesn’t make sense otherwise!

Edit: Don’t believe me? Take a look at what Joshua Stein found – link.

Use the information found here at your own risk. I shall not be held liable for any losses or damages – monetary or otherwise.

Penny Auction Sites Auto Bidding Script(Sniper) – How To – Requirements & Preparation

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:26:40 +0000

Part I of this post series can be found here.

Requirements for the script:
1. The script shall have a lower limit to start bidding i.e. the script should not start bidding if the actual price in the bid hasn’t crossed a set limit.
2. The script shall have an upper limit to bidding i.e. it shall stop bidding if the bid price crosses certain limit.
3. The script shall bid a fixed number of times i.e. the script shall stop bidding if the total number bids placed by it exceeds a preset number even if the upper limit has not been reached.
4. The script shall place a bid only if the time to bid is less than a predetermined number of seconds.
5. The script shall not place a bid if the last bidder is self.
6. The script shall stop bidding if there is a winner.

Preparation for the script:
This is a bit tricky because there is no one-script-works-on-all-auction-site solution. There would be one if only all penny auction sites are built by the same team and used same code. So, this is where the basic of HTML will come into play. Look up the code using inspect element and find out the following.
1. Item identifier – there migh not be a seperate identifier for this. Some sites use a number for this and just append it to all other identifiers mentioned below.
2. Price identifier.
3. Timer identifier.
4. Current winning bidder identifier.
5. Identifier or class used to denote the winner when the bid ends. This can be found when the bidding ends. Usually there will be a style(class) applied to the timer or winner DIV element. Just keep the Inspect Element window open and notice the change at the end of the bid.
6. Last but not least, find out how a bid is placed. This could be a bit tricky. Once you are logged in, inspect the bid button and find out how the bid is being placed. All sites use AJAX call so it must be through a JavaScript method call.
The following is a bare-bone structure. The actual site’s code might have a lot more style/class and other elements in between.
```
    $0.01
    00:00:22

    
        
        WinningBidderName
    

    
        Place A Bid
        OR [ Place a bid ]
    
```
The above code doesn’t have styles assigned whereas the penny auction sites will definitely have classes assigned. The bidding button can be any element, just inspect element and find out what it is and what it does, which method it calls etc.

Building the script and using it in the next post. Enjoy.

34th Roots & Wings Annual Run/Walk 2011

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 05:15:17 +0000

Facebook status on July 24 at 12:40am – 1750 to beat.
Facebook status on July 24 at 9:57am – 1753 seconds to finish; just 3 seconds dammit.

Says it all, doesn’t it?

Roots & Wings T-Shirt

I didn’t want to miss like I did last year so I slept a little early, well, just after I posted the first message. I could get up on time but was a little late to arrive at the event. It was the 34th Roots & Wings Annual Run/Walk 2011(in Milwaukee marks the beginning of the Northwestern Mutual’s Annual Meeting of the Association of Network Representatives) and there I was a good 5 minutes late at the start line!

Roots & Wings Start (courtesy - NM Photo Team)

I completed the 5K run in 29:13 just 3 seconds shy of my goal. Not sure if starting late hurt the time. It was difficult to get around the walkers and was forced to walk frequently. Again, not sure if it helped me complete or made it difficult to keep up. During Bastille’s day run, I started almost at the front and had picked a good runner and stuck with him. I really think it helped me complete the run with just one small walk.

Lobo - A few more steps

Anyway, it was a good Sunday morning and a great run. I also got to spend some time with colleagues immediately after the run enjoying the fruits, cookies and Gatorade.

Group of runners

May be I should try to complete a 5K within 25 minutes, what say? The results can be found online here .

Penny Auction Sites Auto Bidding Script(Bid Sniper) – How To – Introduction

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 04:11:36 +0000

I wrote a prologue to penny auction sites beginning of this year, but never posted the bot script I promised I would! I didn’t because I didn’t want others to lose money, but shouldn’t one use his own judgment before using any advice found on the Internet? Before anything else I would like to warn readers. Use the information found here at your own risk. I shall not be held liable for any damage – monetary or otherwise. Also, this will not guarantee winning; the auction sites are built smart enough to cheat most users and pick winners rarely and randomly!

I will explain the idea for automatically bidding on most penny auction sites on behalf of the user. I will also give an example script for a virtual auction site. At the end of this post series, one should be able to build a script on their own. I hope.

Basics of HTML
How to dissect a web page
Requirements for the script
Preparation for the script
Build the script
Using the script

update – [ Part II ] & [ Part III ]

Basics of HTML
HTML basic are necessary to make this idea work. Google may be a good start. I will, however, explain the least basic thing needed.
HTML is a markup language used to build the websites. Each page on the website is made up of a number of different elements such as dropdowns, input text boxes, radio buttons, checkboxes, paragraphs of text etc. Each of these elements will be represented by a element tag in HTML. Dropdowns are can be identified using document.getElementById(“btnID”) in JavaScript or simply $(“#btnID”) in jQuery.

Similarly there are methods and properties around these elements that can be used to read, write, manipulate the elements. For e.g. the following code will click the button using the script – document.getElementById(“btnID”).click() or $(“#btnID”).click().

Then, there are styles. Styles are used to decorate the elements on a web page. A text in big red font is a style; a underlined text is also through a style. These styles are usually placed in .css files, also called as style-sheets.
```
//a line in style sheet
.styleName {font-size:100px;}

// An element in web page

    This is 100px text!


// accessing it using JavaScript
document.getElementById("divID")
//OR
document.getElementsByClassName("styleName")
//OR
$("#divID")
//OR
$(".styleName")
```
These basics should help one in extracting the fields that show the bid timer, last bidder, item code, last bid amount elements and their identifiers. Why on earth would I write about them here in this how to? :-P
How to dissect a web page
Once the basics of HTML are familiar, one need to know how to dissect the web pages at a very high level. This is needed so that one can get the elements, identifiers of the bidding site and build a bot to bid without any manual intervention. There are many ways of looking at the internals of the web pages.

Most basic will be to right click on the page and view page source and searching for the element using the text. This, however, is not the best that is available. FireBug can be used on the FireFox browser to get to the internals. Similarly, on Chromium browser, any element can be directly reached by right-clicking on the element and selecting Inspect Element. I’d suggest using Chromium browser because of it’s simplicity in this matter. Go right ahead and Inspect Element for the bid timer. See how the timer keeps changing in the source as well. Give particular emphasis on the element tags, the identifiers and the styles(class).

more to follow…

Weather comparison – Bangalore vs Milwaukee

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:10:05 +0000

I have a 5K run tomorrow as part of Roots & Wings Annual Run/Walk 2011(in Milwaukee marks the beginning of the Northwestern Mutual’s Annual Meeting of the Association of Network Representatives). You know by now, I’m a bit concerned about this weather. While checking the weather forecast, I came up with this idea of comparing the weather between Bangalore and Milwaukee. Hope this makes sense.

The below graphs are drawn with the data available freely on the net(weather.com, wikipedia and wunderground.com). I believe they should be fairly accurate.

Bangalore vs Milwaukee - Weather(°F)

Bangalore vs Milwaukee - Weather(°C)

Check the interactive graph on weather.com.

Data used –

°F(°C)	Bangalore – India	Milwaukee – USA
Average High	84.1(29)	55.9(13.2)
Average Low	65.5(18.6)	39.1(4)
Record High	102(38.9) (Mar 1931)	105(41) (Jul 1934)
Record Low	46(7.8) (Jan 1884)	-26(-32) (Jan 1982 & Feb 1996)
July 17-22, 2011 – Average High	81.2(27.33)	92(33.33)
July 17-22, 2011 – Average Low	67.7(19.83)	73.4(23)
July 17-22, 2011 – High	82.4(28)	98.6(37)
July 17-22, 2011 – Low	66.2(19)	71.6(22)

Doesn’t this weather remind you of India?

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 23:44:50 +0000

The weather has been truly devastating this summer(Milwaukee 2011). National Weather Service issued heat advisory; many sources reminding the deadly heat from 1995 and 1988 which took a lot of lives! The weather forecasts, news-sites and other sources of information on the internet are terrifying.

Rewind to 2010 – I landed exactly one year back in Milwaukee. The weather was not bad. It compared to the weather I was used to in Bangalore. I didn’t notice much difference at all. Move forward to Fall, I was being constantly warned about the winter ahead! I kept hearing this for a long time as the winter arrived very late.

When I was a kid, I used to think that the seasons are all made up! I could never clearly distinguish between the seasons; they all looked nearly the same except the monsoon(because it rains :) ) I hardly remember people getting prepared for summer, winter except buying sweaters for December. Milwaukee was different. For a first timer, being prepared was the key. It was the coldest I had even been exposed to. So much so that once I called moving to Milwaukee as ‘walking into the refrigerator‘ Now when I look back, I don’t think it was as bad as I expected it to be. However, I, just like everyone else, was wishing for the summer.

Forward to summer 2011 – Where was summer hiding? It was cold for a long time and no summer in sight. Many joked, ‘this time around there is no summer; it’s gonna be winter next!‘ How I wish it was true!!! Now that it’s here, I don’t think there’s one sane person who likes it. I, for one, have completely detest it. It’s so terrible that I have never been exposed to such worse weather. I keep hearing comments from people – ‘isn’t this just like India?’, ‘come on, this is better than India’, ‘doesn’t this remind of India?’ etc.

Of all the comments, the best one is, ‘doesn’t this weather remind you of India?’ Yes sir, ABSOLUTELY. This harsh weather reminds me how wonderful the weather in Bangalore was. Hope the heat waves die down soon. Stay fluid.

Storm The Bastille 2011 – Milwaukee

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 05:28:06 +0000

The Bastille, the medieval fortress and prison in Paris, was stormed by the demonstrators to acquire the ammunition on 14 July 1789. This day marks the start of the French Revolution and is celebrated as a national holiday in France. The same is celebrated in across the world. One such place is Milwaukee. Yes, the place I live now!

Bastille Days is North America’s largest outdoor French themed festival held in downtown Milwaukee in Cathedral Square Park. more…

Storm The Bastille

As part of the celebrations, Storm The Bastille, a 5K run, was started back in 1985 which kicks off the festival each year on the Thursday evening at 9PM. Thousands participate in the run each year. This is an untimed fun run.

I had no intention of participating in this run especially just a day after The Lost Track. I was only planning to go there with my friends who were willing to participate in the run. At the very end, I decided to give it a try. I’m not a runner, in fact, I have hardly run 1K before!(ok, except once in Mangalore in an event organised by my employer; I finished within top 20 I believe).

Getting ready to storm The Bastille

We were a group of 6 and we had decided to stick together if possible. It started off very well, with the event anchor making people stretch and warm up. Once the storming started, there were big air balls on the route being kicked, punched. I got to punch it once too!

After the initial 200 meters or so, I lost the group and started running alone. I was later told that the group stuck together throughout except me! It was a little embarrassing to be overtaken by people twice my age, I continued nonetheless.

Storm The Bastille Map

I slowed down once to drink water and then I walked from Buffalo to St. Paul Avenue. I started only when I was cheered by a group of bystanders shouting, ‘just a few blocks away’, ‘you can do it’ etc. I high-fived some of them and took off only to stop at the very end and asked an acquaintance of mine, ‘was it 5K?’ I really didn’t know. I was thinking I had covered only 60-70%.

I don’t know my timing; I didn’t care to time it. When I reached the end, I saw a timer go off 1-2-3-4… I didn’t understand!! It must have been under 30 minutes. Anyway, timing wasn’t important to me, the participation was. I have come to realize that I really enjoy running! Hope to run more!

The Lost Track – On The Streets of Milwaukee

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:16:00 +0000

I’m one of those lazy ones when it comes to gym or jogging. I don’t even remember when I jogged last. Gym has been on and off with a total I can count with my fingers of one hand. After all it’s for those who want to be fit; not for those who are already fit. :P

Anyhow, I started practicing for a 5K run scheduled for June 24th Sunday morning. I jogged 3 times in last 10 days. First two were short, may be 2 miles each. The last one went crazy and that is what this post all about!

Yesterday at around 7PM I started jogging and was planning to jog till Alterra Coffee by the lake side(1.3 miles), take some rest and then come back on another route to join my friends in a tennis court and play. The coming back took a wrong turn. I had an idea about which direction I should head but I forgot to take into account the curve from Oakleaf trail to tennis court and then from there to Lafayette. I started running perpendicular to the place I wanted to go!

After a while as I couldn’t see any familiar places and the tall buildings in downtown was nowhere to be seen. I realized I was kinda lost. But I still had some idea on which direction I should go. couple of more minutes of jogging and I knew I was in the wrong direction. I tried to see which side are the tallest buildings of downtown Milwaukee. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any! It was around 8:15PM and started getting a little dark. The roads I was on didn’t look as safe as the downtown. It was time to ask for direction.

The Lost Track

First up, a some communication shop on Holton and Center street. He didn’t understand my pronunciation of Cass Street and asked me to go ask elsewhere. Damn, in my country people would try at least. On the other side of the road, there was a store and as soon as I went in, I knew these guys are from India! However, they were more confused than I was; I got scared not being lost, but because of their tone. I turned back to see 2-3 guys trying to eavesdrop. I got out and checked with a couple for direction.

I took a turn on Holton as directed by my fellow countrymen and confirmed by the couple. As soon as I turned, I could see my apartment building right from that place. I don’t know how I missed seeing it a minute ago. It would spare me from asking others. Anyway, it was another couple of minutes of jog before I stopped at tennis courts to find my friends still playing. From there, we headed home together. After a little more than an hour and thirty minutes on The Lost Track, I finally reached home at 9PM.

I watched a video of Jaycee Lee Dugard yesterday and read about Leiby Kletzky, an 8 year old boy from Brooklyn, in news today. Even though I’m an adult, I know, I’m(/we are) not safe on the roads in US. That’s sad!

O_o: Better Logging To Solve Problems

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 03:52:23 +0000

Logging helps in pinpointing the code block that threw an error. Only if they are used correctly. During once such failure, a guy noticed that a script lacked logging and ever promptly promoted the updated script with better logging. A part of the script is shown below.

Script before:

1>>${LOG} 2>>${ERRLOG} ${BINPATH}/${PROGRAMNAME}
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  print "ERROR: Something failed"
  exit 101
fi

Script after:

1>>${LOG} 2>>${ERRLOG} ${BINPATH}/${PROGRAMNAME}
echo "Program completed successfully."
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  print "ERROR: Something failed"
  exit 101
fi

Sure, it is a better script. It never failed again!

No related posts.

I Need A Hug From Jaycee Lee Dugard!

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:07:57 +0000

Yep, Jaycee Lee Dugard! A name that stings my heart. A name that shows what’s hope. One moment I feel I should have never watched this video; one moment feels this video I’m glad to have watched. Such a beautiful woman! I was in tears. At 50 minute mark, I couldn’t hold it anymore. What have you been through! I need a hug Jaycee. :-)

Here’s the video –

Why I choose to go against using WordPress Multisite?

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 07:58:39 +0000

When you start out with the WordPress, it’s common to assume that each blog needs a separate WordPress installation. But there’s a simpler way. WordPress Multisite installation. This lets one have different blogs with just one installation of WordPress. But, why did I choose not to use it?

Advantges and Disadvantages of WordPress Multisite

Advantages:

The multisite blogs have all features of a regular blog with just one isntallation i.e only one database and one set of code-base. Easy to back-up all blogs.
Easy on maintainability – Since it uses only one database and one set of code-base, it’s easy to upgrade and apply patches. There is no need to update blogs individually.

Disadvantages:

You break one thing/blog and entire network of blogs will come down.
Not all plugins support multisite installation.(most of the high rated plugins do.)
If you ever need to move one blog out to separate domain, it’s a pain in the neck process.
With WordPress multisite it is not possible install a blog in a directory and have another networked blog in a sibling directory. If you don’t want to install WordPress in the root directory, it is not possible to have domain/blog and domain/techblog kind of setup.

The last point was the nail in the coffin of WordPress multisite for me.

JavaScript CountUp/CountDown Timer

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:57:51 +0000

This might be the last one in the JavaScript Counter posts unless I make all-in-one script or a jQuery plugin off of these scripts.

This counter acts as a count down as well as count up timer. As soon as the count down goes to 0 i.e. the future date is hit, the counter turns into a count up timer and keeps going. This counter takes a date to count the time to, an ID to put the timer in. It is possible to have more than one timer on a page. Demo page.

Please do leave me a comment. Thanks!




JavaScript CountUp/CountDown Timer - Praveen Lobo



Contents of this DIV will be replaced by the timer

JavaScript CountDown Timer

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:44:13 +0000

This counter takes a date to count the time to, an ID to put the timer in. It is possible to have more than one timer on a page. Demo page.

As soon as the count down goes to 0 i.e. the future date is hit, the counter stops at 0 years 0 months 0 days 00 hours 00 minutes 00 seconds

Please do leave me a comment. Thanks!




JavaScript CountDown Timer - Praveen Lobo



Contents of this DIV will be replaced by Count Down

JavaScript Counter – Count Days Hours Minutes Seconds

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:44:31 +0000

I keep getting requests and I can’t help but post another JavaScript related counter! As always, in case of any issues/doubts/suggestions or you just want to appreciate, feel free to leave a comment.

Javascript Counter to Count Days Hours Minutes Seconds –

This script is very simple; it takes a date to count the time from/to, an ID to put the timer in. To be very precise, this counter shows the total number of 24 hours intervals between the date-time given and current date-time. It is also possible to have more than one timer on a page. Demo page.

JavaScript Day, Hours, Minutes, Seconds Counter – This works with past as well as future days. If a future date is used, it acts as a countdown timer and when the date is reached it just rolls over and acts as a countup timer.




JavaScript Days-Hours-Minutes-Seconds Counter - Praveen Lobo



Contents of this DIV will be replaced by the timer