Home on Praveen Lobo

Take Pacman Warnings Seriously

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Take pacman Warnings seriously esp. when kernel is upgraded!

I have Packer and Vagrant setup to create arch Linux virtual machines. I create new VMs for various tasks and throw them out once done. I do have one or two VMs that I just keep long term. One of those VMs didn’t boot up after an update. pacman -Syuu updated many packages and the kernel was upgraded to 6.11.8. I remember catching some warning in the corner of my eye as I was closing the terminal. I didn’t think much about it and went about my business until I tried to boot it up.

To Refinance Or Not To Refinance

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Like nearly every home owner right about now in America, we were thinking about refinancing and called our mortgage bank contact. He compared our current loan and what we could refinance it for and said that we would save about $12,000. I wanted to do a little bit of research before going ahead as I had not done any!

Before I Explain

Please note that this is not an article that tells you whether you should or shouldn’t refinance. You should do your own research and decide based on your own circumstances and probably consult professionals who do this for a living. You should also read from websites run by people who do this type of work day in and day out. However, you may use the mortgage loan refinance calculator I built to do a detailed comparison. I think the calculator I built is more detailed than anything else I could find. If you find a more detailed calculator, please leave a comment.

Hugo Static Site on GitHub - Continuous Integration/Deployment

Sat, 25 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Original post date: 2018-05-01. Edited to include changes made in 2020. I don’t build locally anymore so the script is basically unused; however, I did update it to make it slightly better. The Travis script has been updated to make it generic. Only the environment variables need to be changed if anyone else decides to use it.

After migrating the blog to Hugo and making some custom changes, it was time to develop the CI-CD pipeline. The key objectives for my CI-CD pipeline were

Get Last Friday Of The Month In Java

Sun, 05 Aug 2018 20:00:00 +0000

Old wine in new bottle. That is what this post is except that in this case you are better off looking for new wine instead. The new bottle here being gradle, junit, GitLab-CI etc.

If you didn’t get the point, please use java.time or joda-time in that order before using mine. Apparently, even calendar has a slick way of doing this! Although the algorithm I outline works, the implementation suffers from the same limitations as the original java.util.date or calendar implementation.

Search

Sat, 14 Jul 2018 23:00:00 +0000

Bookmark Tool/Manager Using JavaScript And jQuery Autocomplete

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 20:00:00 +0000

How do you manage your bookmarks?

This is a regular question usually from new team members for the past ten years or so. My answer has been the same, “I use a tool I wrote.” followed by, “I will send you a link. You can use it from there or just make a copy of your own.”

I remember myself asking that question to others when I first started the job in mid 2000s. Most of my seniors liked to store the links in excel or a word document as we were not allowed to use any browser other than the Internet Explorer (IE) and the bookmarks in IE weren’t searchable. No tools were allowed either. This was, and in some cases still is, a common thing at workplaces in enterprises.

Markit EDM Classic Matcher Hands On Notes

Sat, 19 May 2018 23:00:00 +0000

IHS Markit defines Enterprise Data Management (EDM) as

EDM is a data management platform for acquiring, validating and distributing trade, operational, risk, financial and customer data. It creates a single version of the truth in a consistent, transparent and fully audited environment. Firms benefit from greater control, ongoing compliance and transparency of their data.

Markit has it’s own product for Enterprise Data Management called Markit EDM. I have fairly decent exposure to this tool including passing Markit’s core introduction and advanced course. Any MEDM person worth their salt would agree that the Data Matcher is the heart of the MEDM. It is also one of the complicated components that is daunting and gets out of hand easily at which point no one wants to touch it! I had limited experience with the matcher as it was already setup by the time I came on board the project and it was being managed by a few other people. This whole post is about my hands-on with the Data Matcher to gain more experience with the component.

Hugo Static Site on GitHub - Customizations

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 13:00:00 +0000

While working on migrating this site from WordPress to Hugo, I did tweak somethings to make it work for my liking. I usually keep things simple so that future changes are as painless as possible, however, I decided to go ahead with these changes as it improved maintainability and reverting these changes are very straight forward.

Hugo’s default publish directory

Hugo generates the static site content in public directory by default. This worked fine for me when I tried hosting this site on GitHub’s master and gh-pages branches. The only problem was that the actual source code and the generated content were in two repositories and that is one more than what I wanted to maintain. Using a submodule approach worked fine, but I think it complicates the setup unnecessarily and is easy to mess up.

From WordPress to A Static Site Generator

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I have been telling myself that I will get back into blogging again and again in vain. I have a bunch of drafts that I have not posted; I keep thinking about posting them and posting my views about current affairs and daily life. For some reason I just can’t commit to it. I feel like I have hit this big writer’s block and I somehow don’t want to get out if it. I have been very happy with my personal as well as work life and have been spending time learning and doing things that are fulfilling. I do have a few regrets and one them is not blogging; I wish I had written more that when I looked back I could see how I have evolved over time. Anyway, I getting slightly off-topic.

Tweets

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Over time the twitter feed just fills up. Here are a few tweets that I wanted to save!

Shell Scripts to Manipulate The File Name Extensions

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:00:00 +0000

The latest version of this should be available on GitHub repo. Please report any issues there.

The following snippets show how to change the file name extensions on multiple files on UNIX machines. Other commands like rename and mmv might offer alternatives when they are available on the systems. The scripts below use shell’s parameter expansion to operate on multiple files.

% in below scripts match shortest from the end of the string.
%% matches longest from the end
# shortest from the beginning
## longest from the beginning

test command controls if a rename should occur or not.

SQL Error Converting The Data Type

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:00:00 +0000

A team mate of mine approached me asking for help in debugging an issue that has been ongoing for a while. He mentioned that the issue with query he was dealing with was sporadic and doesn’t happen in all environments. That sounded interesting. I asked him to pull up a chair so we can go over it together.

The problem was with a query that used to run fine for a long time and started failing a couple of weeks ago. This had caused manual work for his team each time it failed. The error was with some conversion he said.

Reviews and Referral Links

Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This is a list of items I have bought from Amazon that I don’t hesitate to recommend.

Amazon Bestseller links

[Dell Ultrasharp LED Monitor](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NZTKOQI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=900f6b2576505c836f2b86787399f6bd&language=en_US)|

[Canon Lens EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens](https://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-8-STM-Lens/dp/B00X8MRBCW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4904Z9F42KRFPTSX51ZX&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=8ab0622fb2f12778b6e5eae63c620fdc&language=en_US)|

[Nest Learning Thermostat](https://www.amazon.com/Nest-Learning-Thermostat-Generation-Stainless/dp/B0131RG6VK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TR3HPRAR9KZ3S12T7M5G&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=4314ea42a1daafd35f2285c2662d54aa&language=en_US)|

[Epson WorkForce WF-3520 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer, Copier, Scanner](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091UBCB6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=a2f2d9425d243407872aa4f3379f5c2e&language=en_US)|

[Brother HL-L2340DW Compact Laser Printer](https://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-L2340DW-Monochrome-Wireless-Replenishment/dp/B00LZS5EEI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4BN473A5TDR0QWJRKBT3&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=13c76dfd64c7d032b139d57d1d870f8a&language=en_US)|

[Yongnuo YN-568EX II Flash](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DA8459G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=48e49fb568b25880b0a956fcb79cf7e6&language=en_US)|

[Cordless Hand Vaccum](https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-DECKER-CHV1410L-Lithium-Cordless/dp/B006LXOJC0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=ee9d8eec6d4b066464ee64bf91754a64&language=en_US)|

[Duracell Procell AA 24 Pack](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009V2QX/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=26369723ac0f5388f69d6eefe6d59cfb&language=en_US)|

[AA High-Capacity Rechargeable Batteries with charger](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FJBDVIM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=7e5ad47bf6b59f917e4fb598116bfbf8&language=en_US)|

[Panasonic Eneloop Rechargeable Batteries with charger](hhttps://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-K-KJ17M3A4BA-Battery-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00JHKSMJU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=74HQZAHYJDDAB6SFX2ZT&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=6fc10c9293ddb2f49b233129312dcb1f&language=en_US)|

[Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD](https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E500B-AM/dp/B00OBRFFAS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1508990849&sr=1-1&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=42d33151861c6c7143dcdc62d64bbeb8&language=en_US)|

[D-FantiX Moyu Aolong V2 Rubik Cube](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R12NJOE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=b8d91ce97ea08e7f5d471b0c5d76acfb&language=en_US)|

[Dayan ZhanChi Rubik Cube](https://www.amazon.com/Dayan-ZhanChi-3x3x3-6-Color-Stickerless/dp/B008U6V50U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1508989961&sr=1-2&keywords=dayan+zhanchi&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=cca752a4b03ae275b67aa9a19bc2a89b&language=en_US)|

[Combination Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm with Voice & wireless interconnect](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EVO7C2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=7cbc9acbaf59ddc7888771674d530ad3&language=en_US)|

[First Alert Heavy Duty Plus Fire Extinguisher - Rating/MSDS: 3-A: 40-B:C / F-9751](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000M2QR8U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=3e53ccd1cb2ed07762b1e1d997420a2d&language=en_US)|

[Carbon Monoxide detector](https://www.amazon.com/First-Alert-CO615-Monoxide-Battery/dp/B000Q5VMKG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=bce11d1531eaccefe85996a75b69967b&language=en_US)|

[Vivere Double Hammock](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019J1WFY4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=ce3cc53d36b5d80edbe1696affea3af2&language=en_US)|

[Frigidaire 50-Pint Dehumidifier](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006JNL87G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=27cb020d0ca31390a6b9374c6b0134df&language=en_US)|

[Zinus 18 Inch Premium SmartBase Mattress Foundation](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017YETI16/ref=as_li_ss_tl?th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=0b5345db6e9e88ea0d9f38533abd7072&language=en_US)|

[Wahl Deluxe Chrome Pro](https://www.amazon.com/Wahl-Deluxe-Chrome-Pro-79524-5201/dp/B00827ILWM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=79f0dfb0ae0b6b4561c365455ee69ad3&language=en_US)|

[Straight Razor ](https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Razor-Shaving-Blades-Single/dp/B01BBJMD2Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1508989795&sr=1-13&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=73c198ee4d3a021119b2ba4b256c2746&language=en_US)|

[Feather Razor Blades](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G5FOLI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=de9bf73633625c35d2134c65e2fd00d6&language=en_US)| |

[Inis The Energy of The Sea Cologne Spray](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OTZLFG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=bcbeddfe53cda69ded9d7729435770d4&language=en_US)|

[Pure Dkny Scent Spray for Women by Donna Karan](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00384UOZG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=c465b4060280be5d2ed825f8646b8f7a&language=en_US)|

[Armani Code By Giorgio Armani For Men](https://www.amazon.com/Armani-Code-Giorgio-Toilette-Spray/dp/B000P20U80/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=13P2ARPPNFZ6P4P6G18A&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=ac43c6ced9435099ea73821eff3cf468&language=en_US)|

[Dynarex SafeTouch Nitrile Exam Gloves Powder Free](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019QXACO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=507eb5ead6fbc335dc15c45ed15de046&language=en_US)|

[12 Node Massager]|

[RinseWorks - Hand Held Bidet Sprayer ](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CF51ZJ2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=226da1b38976eae0fb248acb3c57995c&language=en_US)|

[Deflecto Early Warning Road Safety Triangle Kit](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G773LC4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=ca3b10081b3b3a8822c5f3b05be6cb83&language=en_US)|

[Sunlite Outlet Timer](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009XS1GJE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=32acee0b3e48e6e55cefcf20ca736cbc&language=en_US)|

[HANG AWAY Universal Toothbrush Holder ](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YIEE52/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=43c69802f27b921daa3910173f6ff687&language=en_US)|

[simplehuman Slim Plastic Step Trash Can](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L9L3IO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=58f26bdfd535f6ca875d175f63144134&language=en_US)|

[simplehuman Semi-Round Step Trash Can](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J9646RS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=1bbe6c8ec9f083cbb52acc27e039fda5&language=en_US)|

[Blind Spot Mirror](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BOAX1G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=281ba76bd918106b93eede25335f14ca&language=en_US)|

[Seville Utility Shoe Rack](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00336TY0K/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=lobpra06-20&linkId=a6ba1bbddb8886dc09fd0156aa9b9096&language=en_US)|

US Presidential Elections

Sun, 20 Mar 2016 03:47:31 +0000

The 2016 US presidential election campaigns are underway, and they are very entertaining! I do not know to the full extent how this entire presidential election works. I doubt if many of the US citizens even understand how this works! So, I spent a couple of hours on this topic and decided to write about it. If you find any inaccuracies, I will be glad to fix it!

US presidential elections are important not just for the Americans but also for the rest of the world. We live in a world where a political change in one part of the world can have a big impact on some other parts of the world. When it comes to US, a dominant force in the world, any political change impacts nearly every part of the globe, and it is important that we, the rest of the world, know how the elections work!

HOLY CRAP!!!

Thu, 29 Oct 2015 20:58:12 +0000

HOLY MOTHER OF SWEET BABY CORN! It has seriously been a long while! 3 years? 4 years? Surprised the blog still exists! LOL! Actually not that much surprised. I pay every year to renew hosting so I know it exists! 😛

The TODO list thing I do. Seriously, it has gotten out of hand! I have unfinished drafts from 2011, 2012, 2013 which are still not posted! I feel embarrassed; at the same time I feel overwhelmed thinking how fast the time flies! Four fucking years! Seriously?!?!

Using Excel To Compare Multiple XMLs

Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The VBA code from last post explains how two XML strings that are already on the spreadsheet can be compared. This can be extended to add a search functionality to search and bring in the XML before running the comparison.

Search File:

To get a matching line from a file, use VBA code as shown here on the gists repo I maintain. Or just use power query as shown below and place the result in the XML cell. Note that the power query returns all matching lines as opposed to the aforementioned VBA code which returns the first occurrence. The VBA code can be edited to return multiple lines if needed.

Comparing Two XMLs In Excel VBA

Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The easiest way to compare two XML files would be to see if any available tool can do the job. My favorite compare tool to use at work is Beyond Compare - it supports folders as well as files comparison, supports multiple file formats, and has ton of options. For personal use, I prefer meld as it is free and gets the job done.

Although those are wonderful programs, they don’t fit every use case. Sometimes you just have to write VBA code to compare two XML strings.

Remove Commas From Values in CSV File

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:00:00 +0000

The latest version of this should be available on GitHub repo. Please report any issues there.

CSV files with values that contain commas in them is a pain if the system was built to handle the basic CSV format. This is especially true if the process that has been running for ages fails one day in production and it turns out that the file to process has a value that contains a comma in it.

What Have I Been Up To This Summer?

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 17:44:02 +0000

It has been a long time since I blogged regularly. We have a couple of weeks of summer left in 2012 and I don’t want to waste that spending more time on blogging. Lately, I have been feeling like blogging is a winter activity (not saying that I blog regularly in winter). There are a number of topics blog about but no time. I keep adding topics to the todo list and keep deleting when I revisit because it’s either too late or it is making the list too big. This has been my story for past year or so. I can’t sit down and just do it. Maybe I should fix a schedule and stick to it. I don’t know.

Ride Lobo Ride - UPAF Ride For The Arts 2012

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 16:46:47 +0000

Over quarter of a million participants have taken part in annual United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF) Ride for the Arts since 1981. According to UPAF, which provides financial support to 36 beneficiary groups, the ride helps keep the performing arts scene dynamic and a vital part of the community’s culture and that they are among the nation’s largest united arts funds in terms of dollars raised and number of donors.

My Second Bicycle

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 03:08:32 +0000

I used to love bicycles until I started working and moved on to ride motorbikes. Motorbikes were convenient, affordable, and fast. I had bought myself a TVS Suzuki Fiero DS (India’s first 150cc bike I think) and I was using it for everyday commute. I had sold my first bicycle and didn’t have one to ride. As it happens as one grows up, I had given up on bicycles.

After moving to US, I live very close walk to work and don’t need any vehicles for travel. Then there is always new rental cars at cheap rates if need be. Milwaukee downtown is not that big and I can easily walk to almost all places. However, commuting around downtown (like going to lake side, tennis courts, or coffee shop) really made me think about the bicycles again.

My First Bicycle - An Hercules MTB

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 01:50:53 +0000

As a kid I was jealous of my brother, my cousin, and all my friends (who knew how to ride a bicycle). I didn’t know how to ride a bike until I was thirteen or fourteen I think. My mom was too scared to allow me to ride a bicycle. I’d lie to mom and go trying to ride a bike instead of playing. I can’t remember anyone helping me how to ride. I somehow learnt by borrowing/renting bicycles on my own. We could rent bicycles from cycle shops for one or two rupees for an hour and as soon as I collected enough money, I’d run the cycle shops, rent a bike. It was indeed liberating to just bike away and explore the part of the villages that I had never seen before.

I'm An Indian Green Bay Packer Owner!

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 03:12:11 +0000

Well, the magic spell is over! Packers won 19 consecutive games before I ever saw them lose. It was rather disappointing to see them lose against Chiefs; it was heartbreaking to see them lose in the very first game of the playoffs. That doesn’t deter me from calling myself a Packer fan.

Oh, wait a minute, I’m not just a fan; I’m a mutual owner of Green Bay Packers! I own a part of NFL’s most mesmerizing team - the Green Bay Packers. I was just wondering if there are other Indians who own Green Bay Packers’ stock? Surely, there must be more!?!?

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.

Daylight Saving Time (DST)

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 our lifestyles automatically to adapt to the nature. Instead of adjusting the clock, we should have adjusted the schedules.

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 to 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 do too.

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.

Update: See this for more info

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.

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, some of my friends have been teasing me about it. I did what I wanted to and have no regrets. I have been able to shut them up with just asking if they have the balls to do it before talking smack!

I can take a good tease but 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. 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?

An Anonymous Halloween

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

Tombstone and eyeballs cupcakes

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 there, 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. 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. 😄

Deepavali in Milwaukee

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:27:34 +0000

My second Deepavali in Milwaukee. Celebrated by visiting temple, doing a small pooja at home and then at a friend’s place. Prepared gulab jamun, had lot of wonderful food at potluck in friend’s place. Concluded it with firecrackers.

My roommates kept American dollars next to Indian rupees on the alter. I wonder what they were praying for. 😝

Deepavali 2011, Milwaukee

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

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

Update: moved the code to github

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.

I tried roller blading

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. A friend of mine forced me to get into it 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. How many people might be there for the embarrassment part? I thought may be 10-15, but boy, I was wrong! This place was full of people. People on rollerskates, rollerblades. Zipping through the center.

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 2010. I kept on hearing about football for months before I really followed anything.

It Needs A Genius To Understand The Simplicity

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.

My First Game At The Lambeau Field

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 the rings to whomever they choose.

A Visit To The Frozen Tundra

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

Lambeau Field

I have driven around the stadium 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.

A Trip To Pictured Rocks, Michigan

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

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.

Rental Car

Plan: On the 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.

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

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

Finally on August 20th, 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 14,000 feet, descending at 120MPH (193KMPH). I wasn’t sure if the instructors will be able to guide me ntil 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 get dragged down the road.

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 ago 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 my childhood…

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 six years starting 1990 before I had to leave. We were not in touch and had not met more than a handful of times in the last fifteen 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.

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 s/he keep it her/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 their hard earned money, a life time of savings, what if if was from a poor father carrying it to arrange for his daughter’s wedding? It made perfect sense to return it. The happiness that it’d bring when one loses something precious and find it later; 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.

One Hell Of A Tiring Weekend

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 (Accelerated Free Fall - AFF). Don’t ask me why I decided to jump solo; I don’t know!

Bucket List

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:18:11 +0000

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - ‘WOW - What a Ride!’

Like everything else, a man changes with time. So does his dreams, desires, and abilities. The following is a list after all.

Note: I should’ve kept a log of changes to this list. As of 2018, I will add the year in parentheses before change.

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 suggests 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 still be missing. We need some extra code to get the last token.

How to scroll elements smoothly in JavaScript/jQuery

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.

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, at least some 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’.

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.

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 saved a copy of the code before he added comments.

Camping At Big Foot Beach State Park

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 Saturday night.

Some pictures from camping at Big Foot beach State Park.

Tent

Campfire

Sky

Some Trail

Swing

Soda Vending Machine!

Three Rules to Excel at Work

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

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!

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("<OPTION value="value-new">option-new</OPTION>");

// 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()

O_ops: You have no null items

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

Penny Auction Sites Auto Bidding Script (Sniper)

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

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

5. 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.

Penny Auction Sites Auto Bidding Script (Sniper)

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

Part I of this post series can be found here.

3. Requirements for the script:

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.
The script shall have an upper limit to bidding i.e. it shall stop bidding if the bid price crosses certain limit.
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.

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

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!

Penny Auction Sites Auto Bidding Script (Bid Sniper)

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 you - 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!

Weather comparison

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

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. Just for giggles.

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)

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 ago 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.

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…

The Lost Track

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. 😉

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!

O_ops: 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

The change made it a “better” script for sure - it never failed again!

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 installation i.e only one database and one set of code-base. Easy to back-up all blogs.

Abused

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 05:47:26 +0000

Abused

From archives. Not my original imagination.

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.

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!

/**********************************************************************************************
# MIT License
#
# Copyright (c) 2011 Praveen Lobo (praveenlobo.com)
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
# copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
# SOFTWARE.
#
**********************************************************************************************/

function CountDown(initDate, id){
 this.endDate = new Date(initDate);
 this.countainer = document.getElementById(id);
 this.numOfDays = [ 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31 ];
 this.borrowed = 0, this.years = 0, this.months = 0, this.days = 0;
 this.hours = 0, this.minutes = 0, this.seconds = 0;
 this.updateNumOfDays();
 this.updateCounter();
}

CountDown.prototype.updateNumOfDays=function(){
 var dateNow = new Date();
 var currYear = dateNow.getFullYear();
 if ( (currYear % 4 == 0 && currYear % 100 != 0 ) || currYear % 400 == 0 ) {
 this.numOfDays[1] = 29;
 }
 var self = this;
 setTimeout(function(){self.updateNumOfDays();}, (new Date((currYear+1), 1, 2) - dateNow));
}

CountDown.prototype.datePartDiff=function(then, now, MAX){
 var diff = now - then - this.borrowed;
 this.borrowed = 0;
 if ( diff > -1 ) return diff;
 this.borrowed = 1;
 return (MAX + diff);
}

CountDown.prototype.calculate=function(){
 var futureDate = this.endDate;
 var currDate = new Date();
 this.seconds = this.datePartDiff(currDate.getSeconds(), futureDate.getSeconds(), 60);
 this.minutes = this.datePartDiff(currDate.getMinutes(), futureDate.getMinutes(), 60);
 this.hours = this.datePartDiff(currDate.getHours(), futureDate.getHours(), 24);
 this.days = this.datePartDiff(currDate.getDate(), futureDate.getDate(), this.numOfDays[futureDate.getMonth()]);
 this.months = this.datePartDiff(currDate.getMonth(), futureDate.getMonth(), 12);
 this.years = this.datePartDiff(currDate.getFullYear(), futureDate.getFullYear(),0);
}

CountDown.prototype.addLeadingZero=function(value){
 return value < 10 ? ("0" + value) : value;
}

CountDown.prototype.formatTime=function(){
 this.seconds = this.addLeadingZero(this.seconds);
 this.minutes = this.addLeadingZero(this.minutes);
 this.hours = this.addLeadingZero(this.hours);
}

CountDown.prototype.updateCounter=function(){
 this.calculate();
 this.formatTime();
 this.countainer.innerHTML ="<strong>" + this.years + "</strong> <small>" + (this.years == 1? "year" : "years") + "</small>" +
 " <strong>" + this.months + "</strong> <small>" + (this.months == 1? "month" : "months") + "</small>" +
 " <strong>" + this.days + "</strong> <small>" + (this.days == 1? "day" : "days") + "</small>" +
 " <strong>" + this.hours + "</strong> <small>" + (this.hours == 1? "hour" : "hours") + "</small>" +
 " <strong>" + this.minutes + "</strong> <small>" + (this.minutes == 1? "minute" : "minutes") + "</small>" +
 " <strong>" + this.seconds + "</strong> <small>" + (this.seconds == 1? "second" : "seconds") + "</small>";
 if ( this.endDate > (new Date()) ) {
 var self = this;
 setTimeout(function(){self.updateCounter();}, 1000);
 }
}

JavaScript Counter

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, 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.

H1B Interview Questions

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 04:43:38 +0000

I had an H1B interview more than an year ago and written two blog posts about my travel to and from Bangalore and stay in Chennai (here and here). Surprisingly, even today “h1b” is one of the keywords getting highest number of visitors to my site (per Google Analytics). Most of them looking for interview questions. Recently I found a list I had prepared of probable questions the interviewer may ask. So, here goes.

jQuery v1.6 Checkbox issue

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:32:09 +0000

I have been visiting Stackoverflow a lot recently. This is a cool forum where you not only get your questions answered but also learn. Learn a lot, in fact. I always enjoy learning from others’ experience and mistakes; it’s dirty but it is also very easy and fast. This is exactly what Stackoverflow is providing me; an opportunity to learn from others’ knowledge. I’m also having fun with their reputation points.

Javascript Counter

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:52:10 +0000

John Watt sent me a request asking if I could help with changing the JavaScript CountUp Timer to show only the number of days in a counter. He also wanted to display the days in 3 digits.

I did reply with changes but it had a defect due to a last minute change! So, I wrote a clean script which is the reason for this post. One main improvement here is, the script doesn’t update every second. Updating the day counter every second is not needed since the number of days doesn’t change every second. The below script updates the counter only when the day count mentioned in the counter has to change.

A Small Gift Box For Me, Pain In The Neck For Most

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:27:27 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t mean most by “most”. It’s just the most I encountered here. The other day I had to send some gifts through one of my friend who was travelling in next couple of hours. The idiot that I am, I had forgotten to buy the gift boxes! So, I decided to make them myself. I had just about everything it takes - some cardboard boxes, gift wrap, glue, a pair of scissors, and mighty interest.

Niagara Falls and Cedar Point Trip

Fri, 27 May 2011 02:51:46 +0000

Niagara, New York, United States

Terrapin Point, Goat Island

The next day as planned we drove to Niagara falls. There were a lot of people; I could see a lot of Indians as well. You probably won’t believe me but I met my a friend from my college (India) with his friends on Goat Island, I had no clue he was also visiting. Then I met another friend of mine from Bangalore on the Observation Tower! My friends were right when they said be prepared to see the place full of desis.

Niagara Falls and Cedar Point Trip

Thu, 26 May 2011 04:47:18 +0000

Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, United States.

During the long weekend of September 2010, I visited Cedar Point and Niagara falls along with three other friends. It was an awesome trip. We took a flight from Milwaukee to Cleveland Ohio and rented a car from airport for the entire trip. The plan was to go to Cedar Point one day, visit Niagara next day, and head back the day after.

First we drove to Cedar Point (Sandusky Ohio) from Marriott (Cleveland Airport Marriott). It was already noon by the time we reached there. It looked a bit scary from outside. All those roller coasters, best in America rankings, and never-before-sat-in-a-roller-coaster feeling. Once we were inside there were huge lines near all coasters and rides. It was obvious that we would not be able to cover all of it especially because my friend and I wanted to sit at the very front in all rides that we take that day. So, we decided to hit the best of Cedar Point.

How To Remove The /blog/ slug From The Permalinks(URL) Without A Plugin

Tue, 24 May 2011 06:58:10 +0000

What is a blog slug? If you have no clue, this post isn’t for you and if you want to know what it is, it is an ugly looking additional “/blog/” in the permalinks (URLs) in your website that comes free with the multisite feature in WordPress. Why ugly? Because it comes uninvited, it’s there and most probably you don’t want it.

How do you remove the additional “blog” in the URL of your posts? Simple, install some plugin which does it for you? That is what I thought; however, before doing so, I just took a careful look at the wp_options table. BAM! There it was. After spending about 30 minutes with settings and checking the data in this table, I have figured out a way to solve the blog slug problem without the need for a plugin. No need to change a bit of code. You don’t even need to execute any queries. The query and the table values are shown below just to indicate what your action does to the database values. It’s a simple process; only step 2 and 3 need your action, you can skip the rest!

Keeping Personal and Technical Blogs Separate

Mon, 23 May 2011 06:15:07 +0000

Continued from here…

Advantages/Disadvantages:

Advantages of multiple blogs include monetization, ease of finding advertisers, reaching right audience, and building a resource of articles all in the same niche. Disadvantages? Unless you are an expert you will run out of good articles, might have to hire writers. Multiple blogs needs more time in terms of maintenance, updates etc. It needs more resources which cost money.

You will have enough time on your hand with a single blog and you don’t have to worry about all blogs that miss your constant love. Serious technical discussions happen on websites like StackOverflow anyway!

Multisite WordPress Installation On Sibling Directories Of An Existing Single Installation

Thu, 05 May 2011 05:33:39 +0000

Is it possible to create a blog in a sibling directory of an already installed WordPress directory? If yes, how to? If not, can it be done on a fresh installation?

1. Existing Installation:

Assume that the domain is praveenlobo.com and there is an existing WordPress installation in /blog directory (so, praveenlobo.com/blog is a WordPress blog and the root directory at praveenlobo.com is free). Now, is it possible to create a networked site or blog at praveenlobo.com/anotherblog by setting up the network and allowing multisite?

Dark Blue/Light Blue Maps of India

Wed, 04 May 2011 05:47:27 +0000

These are the India maps I created* when designing my homepage for the grand 2011 Cricket World Cup.

I had a tough time searching for a blue map of India online and ended up creating them myself. With this post they are released online; you are free to use them as you may wish. However, a link to this blog is really appreciated (which I’m sure none of you are going to do! 😝 )

First Time Clipper Self Haircut

Mon, 02 May 2011 06:39:24 +0000

[Dated 12/12/2010; Posted 5/2/2011 due to photos.]

If you think this is a “own haircut how to”, let me tell you, you’ll be disappointed because it is not. However, you can read further to find out my tale with giving myself a haircut for the first time.

When I was kid, I had this dream, albeit shot-lived, of becoming an hairstylist. But then I went to college trying to become an engineer! One fine day back from a bad haircut, I was thinking about it and decided to style my own hair for the first time. Just to give it a try! After some thinking, the easiest style was to go bald which is exactly what I used to do back in college; I used to shave my head twice a week and sport a beard. It continued for a couple months not only because I liked it but also due to the over-pouring compliments from friends and all those heads turned! So, this isn’t the first time I designed my own hairstyle.

Pencil Sketch

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 06:00:17 +0000

A pencil sketch of the greatest batsman to ever play the game of Cricket - Sachin Tendulkar. Sketched more than half a decade ago. Does it look like Sachin?

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar (scanned and GIMP’d)

Keeping Personal and Technical Blogs Separate

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:46:05 +0000

Disclaimer: I’m no expert in blogging. I do not have much knowledge about the Wordpress framework either. The following post is based on my previous couple of hours of reading on multisite blogging. Feel free to enlighten me in the comment section.

Why?

If you are starting/have started blogging as a hobby, at first it may seem that having one blog and blogging everything in it is a good idea. However, after sometime you will feel as if you should keep the posts separate and in their own blogs rather than having them all in under one blog. I was no different; I never gave much time to think about it until one of my readers (second category below) sent me a message.

RSS Feed URL Changed

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 06:14:56 +0000

Dear readers,

Though there are only a few of you and I’m very sure you are very capable of finding it out yourselves, I think I must save your time and tell you that I’m moving my RSS Feed address.

The idea is simple:

I post this post and then
change my RSS feed address.

So that, assuming you miss this post, in case you wonder why you are not finding any new unread items in Lobo’s blog feed, this is the post you find on the old feed and you know the answer. I have moved!

Strike Out Corruption In India

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:18:33 +0000

CORRUPTION IN INDIA

Will Jan Lokpal bill solve the issue? I don’t know for sure, but it will definitely set us on the right path by giving more power to those who matter. It’s heartening to see India united to fight against the corruption. If an old man [Anna Hazare] can do so much, why can’t the youth do more? If you can, PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT in any way possible. Spread the word.

Indians Are The World Champions

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:41:23 +0000

You know by now. Indians are the world champions! Yeah, say that again, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

Remember “More than a billion hearts and one shared dream”? That’s what I wrote when the world cup started. That dream has come true! Now more than 50% of Indian population can proudly say they saw their captain lift the world cup at least once in their life. Glory!

Homepage mania:

I dedicated the homepage to Green Bay Packers and they won the super bowl; they are the Champions!

O_ops: Facebook Image Compression Sucks!

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 03:08:10 +0000

Facebook [profile picture] image compression not only sucks big time, but it is also stupid. I don’t use Facebook as an image storage service, neither do I care about the EXIF data that they strip. I’m also okay with their approach to compress each and every image(?), but compressing an image which results in an image size bigger than the originally uploaded image? I think it fits in my O_ops series.

O_ops: Never Return null For A Collection in Java

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 06:50:13 +0000

I was enjoying a small break between the meetings when my a co-worker asked me to help her out with some Java error in the code she was working on. She was giving me walk-through of the code and I small piece of code caught my attention. Apparently, the coder knew not to return null when returning a collection.

/* Check if the list is null \*/
if(matchingCountryList != null) {
	return matchingCountryList;
} else {
	return null;
}

Of course, it was not her code. 😉

Camping At Devil's Lake State Park, Wisconsin

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:14:37 +0000

On a Friday’s evening, eight of us set out to Devil’s Lake State Park, Wisconsin in two cars. We reached when it was dark and setup three tents in two camps. The rain god was happy and decided not to play spoilsport; it poured only when we were in the tent.

Tents at Devil’s Lake State Park, Wisconsin

We setup campfire, prepared dinner. Made s’more in the campfire for the first time; I had no clue what s’more was!

A Year That Was - 2010

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:09:25 +0000

Year 2010 was a totally different and a very special one for me. It all started in late 2009; from someone who used to talk so less and hardly socialize to wherever I am right now was quite a journey. I had a jolly good time and I wish it is one of the many years to come.

2010 had some downs, but I hardly remember them. The good ones are so many that I don’t have time to recall the bad ones. In fact, I don’t even remember many of the good ones. There were a couple of things on my mind in year 2010 which I never posted. I was caught up in a lot of things and never really took time out to do it. Recently, when I was thinking about it, I was in a dilemma whether to post them now or not. Not because I don’t remember them but mainly because I don’t want to bore you to death (have I?) Anyway, since I’m using this blog also as a diary to share things, I will go ahead note them down here. All in one post!

Easiest Way To Solve Rubik's Cube

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 07:06:49 +0000

The following tutorials/videos helped me a lot in learning to solve the 3x3 Rubik’s Cube). I think these are the easiest ways to solve the rubik’s cube and hope you find it helpful too. You may find that the technique used is the same, just the explanation differs in most of the cases. Second and third videos take different approaches to solve third layer. Latter is easier and has less number of steps.

Skiing on Cascade mountains, Wisconsin

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:53:15 +0000

Another ski trip. This time just for a day. I loved skiing last time so much that when I heard that another group was heading to Cascade Mountains, I simply couldn’t resist.

We had two guys who had never skied before so we helped them on the bunny hills and moved on to others slopes. Though I’m a newbie I could tell that the snow at the Ski Brule was better. At Cascade it was kind of slippery compared to Ski Brule. May be it was due to the weather, it was mid 30s. Duh!

Preparing Chocolate Brownie

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:08:56 +0000

This is Sunday afternoon, I’m bored and I’m planning to prepare Chocolate Brownies. I have never prepared it before and looking at the instructions on the pack, I must say it is not big deal at all. All you need is, well, Chocolate Brownie mix, some eggs and vegetable oil. I’m off.

PS: Okay, I don’t have anything to blog about. Big deal. 😝

Brownies in the tray

A Ski Trip

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 02:43:22 +0000

Lobo(Ski Brule)

Buckhorn Chalet

Around twenty of us drove up to Ski Brule, Iron River Michigan, on Thursday and stayed at Buckhorn Chalet right in front of the slopes. The slopes looked so beautiful and scary at the same time. I was excited to ski for the first time the very next day.

With Staff on bunny hills

When we reached there, there was a free lessons for first timers (should register beforehand). The faculty was nice enough to allow me to join even-though I had not registered. They had first-timers-ski-free offer as well which I missed! Anyway, the faculty was helping the inexperienced on the bunny hills in using the ropes, sliding, stopping, turning. They answered my questions, helped me get up, skied down the slope along with me, helped me tremendously in getting used to the rope (this was so difficult at first, I couldn’t go more than two feet) and were very cheerful. Now when I think of it, I liked the skiing experience because of their good faculty as well. Thumbs up for them. 👍

Skiing

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:41:16 +0000

Skiing is fun. As a beginner, it is something you will hate during but love afterward. If you have skied already, you’ll easily dismiss me, but if you have not then you’ll know what I’m talking about. Don’t get me wrong here, if you have never been skiing before and if you have a chance, just pack up and go. It is fun. It is as much fun to ski as it is pain as a beginner.

2011 World Cup

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:27:27 +0000

My dear fellow Indians and everyone,

Remember 1983 Prudential world cup? Remember Captain Kapil Dev’s greatest catch that dethroned King Viv? No? Neither do I! It’s been 28 years since our captain lifted the cricket world cup. Not just me, nearly 50% of the current Indian population wasn’t even born back then!

More than a billion hearts and one shared dream, to see the men in blue lift the 2011 cricket world cup. Will it come true this time? Let us hope so.

Green Bay Packer on my Homepage

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:59:02 +0000

Hello world,

I dedicated my homepage for Green Bay Packers on 6th February, 2011 and what they got me the same day?! THE SUPER BOWL!

It’s hard not to be a packer fan.

Packer Fans on Super Bowl day

Northwestern Mutual Superbowl XLV celebration - Vince Lombardi Ice Trophy

Northwestern Mutual Supports Green Bay Packers

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:42:41 +0000

Pictures of Northwestern Mutual Insurance company in downtown Milwaukee during NFL 2011 showing support for Green Bay Packers.

Northwestern Mutual East Building lit up to support Packers, Milwaukee

Northwestern Mutual South Building lit up to support Packers, Milwaukee

Photo courtesy: Sushanth Mohan

O_ops: Re-try again

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 07:10:00 +0000

You can’t attempt more than 5 times, please re-try again!

The best part is that once this message comes, the only way to succeed is to call the service center.

Packers, Team Spirit Day

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 07:07:16 +0000

The whole office was green! Some pictures(scaled down) from the team spirit day mentioned in my previous post.

Yours truly

Rahul and I

Parth and I

Rahul and I, again.

Pravin, Shailesh, and Bharath

Shailesh, Pravin, and Bharath

The game at Major Goolsby’s with a couple of my friends - Shailesh, Myself, Balaji, Bharath, Mada, Ramendra (behind the camera).

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 04:13:17 +0000

To keep matters simple, just use the RSS feed in your favorite feed reader. If you don’t use one, you may use Google’s FeedBurner or IFTTT applet to receive an email (as long as those services offer that feature!).

Link to RSS feeds: https://praveenlobo.com/index.xml

FeedBurner:

If This Then That (IFTTT):

RSS feed to Email applet. You might be able to find other IFTTT applets to filter based on keywords etc. Google your needs!

The Bears Still Suck!!!

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:35:45 +0000

Green Bay Packers didn’t disappoint in the playoff; they did just what I hoped for in my previous post, First Winter in Milwaukee. They kicked the Bears ass.

I watched the game at Major Goolsby’s with a couple of my friends. Packers played really well in the first and second quarter with a touchdown in each. Then their game was down and they were struggling just like Chicago Bears (but, the bears still suck!). There was nothing in third quarter. Fourth quarter was really intense. The crowd went crazy when Raji touchdown on an interception. The score was 21-7 Packers leading. Bears fought back with a touchdown in next 80 seconds or so taking the score to 21-14.

First Winter in Milwaukee

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 06:30:42 +0000

Just when I started to laugh at people who were scaring me about the winter, mother nature made sure I shut up. It was a total pain to walk 6 blocks back home from office today! The main problem is the wind. If it isn’t for the wind chill factor, the winter is not much of a problem.

It’s getting freaking cold here in Milwaukee; it’s expected to hit -8°F(-22°C) tomorrow and with the wind and other factors, it’s expected to feel like -27°F(-32°C). To say the least, that sucks!

O_ops: It's Christmas Time

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 02:00:50 +0000

I had been wondering for a last couple of days if I should start a O_ops series to just list downs things that are O_ops. Then I get this email and here I start!

It was Christmas time and I got an unusual wish from a sweetheart friend of mine.

From: SS
Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 5:37 PM
To: Lobo
Subject: Its Christmas time :)
Hey Lobo Marry Christmas

Working on The Blog

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:16:58 +0000

This is a perfect example for a seemingly easy task taking up so much of one’s time. I have been busy working on this blog for a last couple of days. I spent so much time and yet there are so many things to do!

Here is what I have done so far:

Updated feed through FeedBurner: this was already present, I updated some settings.
Added Google AdSense: there comes a time in everyone’s life when they turn greedy. This is my time. 😛

Disclaimer

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:49:26 +0000

PRAVEEN LOBO’S BLOG TERMS OF USE.

PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY THESE TERMS OF USE BEFORE READING, COMMENTING ON, DOWNLOADING, COPYING, REPRODUCING, ALTERING MATERIALS OF ANY KIND, SUBSCRIBING TO, AND LINKING TO (COLLECTIVELY “USING”) THIS BLOG. USING THIS BLOG INDICATES THAT YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS OF USE. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS OF USE, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS BLOG.

Introduction: This agreement (“Agreement”) between You and Praveen Lobo (“the Author”) consists of these Praveen Lobo’s Blog (“the Blog”) Terms of Use (“Terms”). “You”, “Reader” or “Commenter” means any entity identified by its comments, e-mail, registration information, or IP address. If You use this Blog on behalf of your employer, organization or company, they shall also be bound by the terms of this Agreement.

RELATIVE Performance Evaluation

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:53:47 +0000

if( parseInt("1") === parseInt("1+") ){
 alert("Depends on 'the context' and is controlled by external factors!");
} else {
 alert("Loser!");
}
alert("Think again!");

Penny Auction Sites

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:20:12 +0000

Okay, you must have landed here through some search engine while trying to figure out a way to make a fortune by spending pennies. Those penny auction sites are amazing, aren’t they? The concept is so clear and it almost sounds like anyone can get one of those shiny new iPads, Macs, Nikkon D90, or Canon EOS 7D on auction just for a few pennies.

If you haven’t got a clue about it, I urge you to read about them. READ ABOUT THEM. DO NOT JUMP INTO BIDDING! I mean, I’m just saying. If you want go ahead and spend some money; however, do not hold me responsible for any damage. I have already shouted at you. You are lucky that I warned you; It’s kind of sad that nobody warned me!

Happy New Year

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 08:30:23 +0000

I think, this is the first time I was out on the new year (January 1st 00:00:00 to be precise). Either I used to be at home or with family in the Church at this time every year. Had loads of fun last few moments of 2010 and enjoyed starting of 2011 with friends at Whiskey Bar in Milwaukee.

Not sure why I’m blogging about it but hey this is my blog and I’ll post whatever I want…..

Holiday Gift 2010

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:48:40 +0000

I didn’t have any problem communicating it to Mom. She knew it since I was 10 years old or so. I had told her about this wish and so did she. We both want not just organs but entire body to be donated when we pass away.

This is a picture of an eye donation card I signed nearly 15 years ago! (I must have been 10 years old or so.) I still have it in my wallet, I know it carries little value but I still keep it.

Password Change

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:15:35 +0000

Last evening, I changed my passwords on all accounts on all websites that I frequent. Just curious to know how many did the same. Hopefully someone will come up with the stats soon.

I always use different passwords on different sites. All of them are at least 10+ character long with minimum one capital, special character, and number in it. Curious to know what my friends do, I brought up this topic briefly. After the discussion, I realized that even those who are into IT, IS, computers etc. use simple, stupid passwords. Most of them even create documents with the id, password combinations and store them on their desktop! Guess what, their systems are not even encrypted!!! When you tell them about the seriousness of the issue, they just look at me and say, ‘I’m not dealing with that important data here’ or ’nerd’ or something similar.

Thanksgiving 2010 - A Long Weekend

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 01:47:36 +0000

A long weekend (four days) - many of my friends are on trips visiting places. I’m sitting here writing this post! I couldn’t go due to work. I had to work for a couple of hours exactly in the middle of the four days so I stayed back. It sure doesn’t feel good but not as bad as I imagined it to be. Almost 3/4th of the long weekend has gone by. It’s work and someone had to do it. Moreover, it’s because of work I’m here in US in the first place so no whining.

Eat Oatmeal Idiots

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:14:47 +0000

I know, the subject is a bit harsh, but it’s well suited for all comments I get from my room-mates about eating oats. Oats is one of the food that I just love. I first started having oatmeal three years ago when I came across many articles on the net. I felt like, it was made for me! Why? It’s simple, easy to prepare, healthy.

Believe it or not with very little or no exercise I was able to cut down all fat and lose weight just by controlling eating habits. Needless to say one of the main ingredients (and the only one for sometime) being oats!

Walk of Life

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:36:48 +0000

This morning on my way to office I saw an old couple walking across the street. The gentleman was walking at a-couple-inches-a-step pace and the lady, it seemed like, was moving only an inch with every single step. They were crossing a relatively free street and he was holding her hands and leading her. They crossed the street and then turned left to cross another one. A few cars stopped in front of them. Finally, they crossed the street and reached diagonally opposite side of the junction from where they started.

My Culinary Skills - III

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 05:04:59 +0000

Another one from the old drafts. Only pictures this time. :-)

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Autosys and Unix Permission

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 04:10:51 +0000

Original post with the answer at the end.

Halloween 2010 - more pics

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 01:37:11 +0000

V and Evey

Hey, that’s not!

I was once told that people lose their inhibitions when they are behind the mask. I don’t think I agree completely.

Halloween 2010

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:37:08 +0000

Dear blog, as you know, uh oh you don’t, do you? I never mentioned about it! I’m in US right now. The very fact that I haven’t mentioned it till now shows how busy I’m here! Naah, not really, that’s what I say when I turn lazy and forget about you. I won’t promise you that I won’t again; I can’t keep such promises. Sorry!

Anyway, this is kind of new. Different lifestyles. Cultures. New friends. Work environment. Schedules. Meetings. Food. Currency. Everything. To some extent, I’m leading a different kind of a life which I don’t exactly prefer but don’t mind trying for some more time.

My Culinary Skills - II

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:21:53 +0000

This was in draft mode for over 5 months now! There is something with me and updating this blog. There are a couple of more drafts. I plan to post all of them in next two weeks.

If I’m not following the recipes which I read somewhere, I will keep it very simple. First I check what are the items I can use, then etch a plan, pick the items, and cook. That is exactly what I did today. The recipes are very simple and I’m not going to type it - I’m a little bored to do that now. May be some other day.

Cricket: India versus USA

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:28:39 +0000

It was about a month after the softball match between India and USA, the Americans wanted to try a match of Cricket. Rightly so, Cricket to Americans is like softball to Indians. We did have a match and due to less attendance on USA team, it was played after shuffling the teams.

Cricket: India vs USA

From India To USA

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 05:00:42 +0000

I can write a detailed travelogue, but I don’t want to bore you to death! I don’t think I’m good at writing! Here is the short version! 😃

A weeks notice was all I got about my first ever business trip. To work at client’s location, to deal with client interaction, to deal with the cultural differences, and the list goes on. Though I was prepared for all of it, I was caught off guard with other stuff.

Last Day at the Dance Class

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:25:30 +0000

A little sadness has taken over me. Today was my last day at Dance Verve. Remember this last paragraph? A week after that I joined Dance Verve at BTM Check Post.

I remember the very first day - I entered the class when Taj Khan (we call him sir) was not yet in. I talked to two guys (now I know them - Pavan and Manas) and sir arrived in about 15 minutes. He asked to join right then as I introduced myself. Somehow I was still very nervous and said I’d join from the next day. I didn’t forget to mention that I had never danced before (of course Salsa apart) and I tried may times and failed miserably. I used to get very conscious. He just smiled and said, it will take sometime before I can dance and I should be regular.

Hands of God

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:51:43 +0000

Uruguay vs. Ghana Quarter final match - 2010 FIFA World Cup

I was sleepy, but somehow this match seemed too good to miss. I had to wash my face with cold water to stay awake. I must tell you, it was WORTH it. Much much more than WORTH it. An exciting match. Last few moments I had my heart in my mouth. I wasn’t supporting any of the teams, but still I feel heartbroken; Ghana should have won. Unfair.

A Planned Visit Gone Wrong

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:20:06 +0000

15th July 2010 Early morning –

The shopkeeper A got a shocker when he opened the door. Some items inside the shop were displaced, the drawer opened, 200 Rupees missing. He informed my Dad - the shop owner. Since the door was locked and there was no sign of any damage to the door or the locks they decided that somebody has access to the keys or someone has got the duplicates done. They decide to change the locks and drop the issue because going to the police for a mere 200 Rupees is stupidity they thought and they might have to spend a lot more than that if they call the police!

My Culinary Skills - I

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:23:03 +0000

Keep the ingredients ready

I wanted to show off my culinary skill (if I have any 😛) the other day when I made a chicken dish, unfortunately, I forgot to post it. This was in draft mode for over 5 months now! I had completely forgotten about it until yesterday when I started preparing biriyani. Publishing it now, enjoy. 😃

If I’m not following the recipes, I will keep it very simple. First, I check what are the items I can use, then etch a plan, pick the items, and cook. That is exactly what I did in these two occasions. The recipe was very simple but I don’t remember it now!

Autosys and Unix Permission

Thu, 27 May 2010 17:57:27 +0000

Say Autosys job called jobName executes with xyz id. The profile used is profile; owner of profile is abc and neither group nor others have execute permission on this profile. jobName executes jobScript which is owned by xyz(both jobName and jobScript are owned by xyz). abc and xyz are two users. There is a group abc as well.

$id abc
uid=1234(abc) gid=10(abc)
$id xyz
uid=1234(xyz) gid=10(users)
$ll profile
-r-xr+++-- 1 abc abc 1000 [...] profile
$groups xyz | grep abc
$ll jobScript
-r-xr+++-- 1 xyz abc 3000 [...] jobScript
$autorep -q -J jobName | egrep 'command|owner'
command: jobScript
owner: xyz
$

When the Autosys job is executed, it fails with return code 1. This is correct since xyz doesn’t have execute permission on profile.

Automate Torrent Download Using Transmission

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A while ago I wrote about swget - A Simple wget Wrapper The methods described don’t work for torrents. Today I had to download a video which was not available through direct download, but I found a few torrents for the same. After fiddling around with the scheduler available in Transmission I found it to be absolutely useless; it doesn’t work!

After a little search on the net, I found a workaround for this too!

My H1B Visa Stamping Saga - Part II

Wed, 19 May 2010 19:05:23 +0000

The day of stamping - My interview was schedule at 8:30AM and I was expected to be there by 8AM. The previous day night I set alarm for 6, 6:10, 6:15AM. My usual pattern even after which I don’t wake up! I slept through all three alarms and woke up when Mom called me to wish me at 7AM. The cab guy also called at the same time. Cleverly, I had ironed clothes and arranged documents in Bangalore itself; I got ready in just about 15 minutes.

My H1B Visa stamping Saga - Part I

Mon, 17 May 2010 17:29:10 +0000

My H1B visa was approved in December 2009 and finally, I got to get it stamped on 18th May 2010. I had arranged all documents by last Thursday and booked air tickets to Chennai. I had never travelled by air before; it was going to be my first time. 😃

Monday morning I got a call from the cab driver who was lost trying to find me! After around 6-7 call and giving him directions, he finally made it. Travel to airport took nearly 1.5 hours and there was never a boring moment; he was more talkative than I’m.

Ubuntu 10.04 - Lucid Lynx

Mon, 10 May 2010 18:09:03 +0000

Very first impression(within a minute of installing):

WTF, it hung!

I had kept /home on a separate partition for the first time and wanted to check if it works fine for all users. I created an account and set the home folder as /home/irine and then hit save - switch user - log off - WTF!

Bug #574909

Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) is impressive; thanks to all those who made it possible :o)

Childhood memories

Sat, 08 May 2010 17:48:45 +0000

I’m feeling nostalgic today. Very much. I had lot of time at my hand and decided to clean up my cupboard, which I do from time to time. Until a few years back, I used to keep all things I used to have during my childhood days and one day I decided to get rid of all the junk. First time I did it, believe me, it was so painful. Each small item had so many memories associated with it, but I had to clean up stuff.

How I Put My First GIMP Work To Use

Sun, 02 May 2010 12:23:41 +0000

HotLinking. If you don’t know what it means follow the link and spend a couple of minutes reading about it. For those who are not interested in doing so - hotlinking is somebody else riding your superbike on your petrol without your knowledge and without giving you any credit. Bad analogy? :o)

How do you make sure you don’t allow something which you don’t even know is happening? Very simple, using .htaccess file - a directory level configuration file. I’m not going to tell you what you have to put in that file; there are innumerable tutorials on the net - just search for “hotlink prevention”.

JavaScript CountUp Timer

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:30:03 +0000

_Update (2018):_ I have moved the code to [GitHub - JavaScript Counters](https://github.com/lobopraveen/JavaScript-Counters) AS IS.

I was in need of timer to mark an important decision; I did what most of us would do - search on the internet. I found quite a few of them, but I didn’t like any of them. Some of them were unnecessarily complicated; a couple of others weren’t easily understandable; most of them were using approximation (esp. for months and years).

Quit Smoking

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:20:08 +0000

I started smoking, I guess, eight or nine years ago. For the initial four or five years it was more or less like two or three cigarettes a year, so I wasn’t a smoker then by any standard. :o) However, I really started smoking nearly three years ago.

I have been on and off at it. I quit smoking for a couple of months a couple of times in these three years. The longest period was around six months. I was very convinced that I’d never smoke again until one day, in late 2009, when a friend of mine asked me to accompany him to the smoking area (Anna shop next to Infosys Mangalore DC). Unfortunately, I couldn’t refuse when he offered me a cigarette. After that there was no looking back, I had on an average one a day!

BBMP Elections and Women Reservation

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:34:17 +0000

BBMP elections are scheduled for tomorrow. My ward is one of those wards reserved for women. That is nothing to be happy about! Reservation is a very noble plan with a pathetic implementation. I was trying to get as much information about the candidates as possible so that I can vote for the most eligible. There are seven women candidates contesting in the election from my ward. As far as I could see, all of them are wives or relatives of politically powerful men and I find most of them incapable!

First Glass Painting

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:15:02 +0000

This is the glass painting I was talking about here.

Lord Ganesha

The following two are made(on the window) by my brother.

Glass painting on the window

swget - A Simple wget Wrapper

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:24:15 +0000

THE PROBLEM

I have BSNL 500C+ broadband connection which gives me 2.5GB of data transfer per month. This limit is sufficient only for usual surfing. 500C+ plan also gives me night unlimited option i.e. the data transferred between 2AM to 8AM is not counted towards the 2.5GB quota per month. I can download around 4GB in this time frame. I use this time to download contents, but the real problem is starting the download at 2AM.

A Week That Was

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:33:46 +0000

Last week was the crappiest of all, but it ended in a good note. It oscillated between okay to bad, bad to worse, and back to okay and then to good. First two days were uneventful and I had no clue of what lie ahead.

Wednesday was the beginning. Firstly, a brand new system welcomed me to office on Wednesday morning; they had formatted my machine without any kind of confirmation. Secondly, two priority-one production issues on Thursday and some actions taken to resolve the issues came back on Friday as a different issue. To top it all, I had to deal with it using a newly installed operating system. No links, no data, no mail archives, and no software. Only notepad and the damned communicator which kept pissing me off! This whole thing happened in the same week in which I failed in a certification, which I’m not worried about, and a written test.

Contact

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:35:09 +0000

You can find a few ways to connect with me at the bottom of every page on this site.

OpenPGP Public Key ID and Finger Print

Key ID : 0xF7595292

Finger Print : 81AF 1A33 60C5 8DAD DBE6 7D75 D0CD 9F09 F759 5292

keyservers: link 1, link 2

A Weekend In Mangalore

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:34:54 +0000

Update (2018): TMI galore!

Mangalore. Stirs up a lot of feeling. The first city, other than Bangalore, where I spent more than a year, the city where I lived independently, the city where I gained financial independence, the city where I started watching movies (for real!), the city which has given me a few best friends, the city where I fell in love… I have so many fond memories of this city that I could go on and on and on. But this post is about my visit to Mangalore last weekend.

Highest Runs In An ODI Match – Sachin Tendulkar

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:30:36 +0000

I have come across a lot of comments, communications, posts, and people (even my Dad and Bro) where they mention how they hated a Pakistani cricketer(Saeed Anwar) holding the record for highest ODI runs in a match. I don’t understand! A cricketer is a cricketer, a game is a game, a record is a record, what does it have to do with the citizenship?

What would you(esp. Indians) have called Sachin, if he was a Pakistani? A devil? =P

Valentine's Day Gift

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:18:37 +0000

This valentine’s day she was very happy. She has been with me for quite long time now; I had never seen her so happy and excited in before. As I type this post she is on call and I can clearly hear her sharing it with her sister and this is her third call! :o)

Though she’d never tell me, I always knew that she wanted it. She is very interested in stitching, embroidery, and other creative stuff which mainly deals with fabric. She does stitch clothes at a very low price for poor women who work at construction sites. She never got support in terms of money, encouragement, or time to learn.

3 Nuts

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:43:49 +0000

The title is inspired by the movie 3 Idiots which the world around me is going gaga over. The picture was clicked over the weekend with a point & shoot camera when I was going mad with boredom. Reason for posting this? I don’t know! I started experimenting with GIMP and I have provided both versions of the picture.

3 nuts - Unedited

3 nuts - Edited

OS Switch: Fedora to Ubuntu

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:52:25 +0000

A post about switching the Operating System(OS)? Yeah, why not? After all It’s the OS that made one man the richest in the world. It’s the OS that has made so many people across the globe dedicate their own resources and time to better it. It’s the OS that makes people argue - be it MS vs Linux or different distributions of Linux itself!

I’m not a Linux freak or a guru but an average user helping the open source in a way that most of the people do - by using it! I have been using a personal computer since 2004 and have been using Fedora Core for more than 95% of my personal use. I have tried a lot of different flavours of Linux but no clue why I stuck to Fedora all this time. No, I’m not saying that it is bad; I wouldn’t have been using it for such a long time if it was, right? Fedora rocks but I just got bored of it!

Good Physique & Polio-stricken Chicken's Leg

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:43:59 +0000

I don’t know whether to be happy or doubtful when a stranger walks up to me in the gym and

Stranger

:

Hey
Me

:

Hi
Stranger

:

You are regular here?
Me

:

(have you ever seen me here earlier?) No. Second day in this gym.
Stranger

:

Oh okay.
Me

:

Why?
Stranger

:

You have got a good physique dude. (smiles)
Me

:

Aha, thanks buddy! (flees the scene)

This has happened a couple of times before; back then it was my friends/acquaintances and I knew I deserved it! :o) But now? Gentleman, you are either trying to motivate me or hitting on me!

Yet Another "Hello, world!"?

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:31:10 +0000

I’m bored of Hello, world!; I did that over

9000 days
1300 weeks
200,000 hours
13,000,000 minutes
750,000,000 seconds

ago. Yeah, about 25 years ago, I did my personal Hello, world!

Hello, world!

Yet another “Hello, world!”? Yes, this time not from me but from this very blog you are reading! :o)

On a serious note, I’m very happy to start this blog, it was one of the items pending on my Bucket List for a long time now. Keep watching this space for the list!

About

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:34:14 +0000

Praveen Lobo

I’m Lobo, Praveen Lobo. I have lived most of my life in Bangalore. Apart from Bangalore, I lived in a very lovely place called Mangalore from three years and since 2010 I have been living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’m married to Samantha and we have a beautiful cat named Ginger Pi Rani.

I did my schooling in Kannada medium in Patel Vidya Samsthe and St. Antony’s High School; Pre-University College (PUC) from BHS First Grade College(BHS-FGC) and Engineering in Information Science from PESIT, Bangalore.