My New PC

It has been ages that I haven't posted anything on blog. That's mainly because I was caught up into critical bugs (and am still struggling with one). Well, I don't wanna talk about that right now. The other secondary reason is that I got a new PC @ home and whatever time I could spare, I spent in making it more usable everyday, and today I've got it to the point that I can post thro my new PC with net connected over IrDA link to my mobile phone [Nokia 6610i], acting as a modem, which transfers data over GPRS! Yes, as exotic as it sounds, it was a REAL PITA to get all these links working right! Especially when you have M$FT Windoze XP to install your drivers on with absolutely no manual to RTFM! 2/3, Sleepless nights, a few unending-always-on-hold calls to Airtel customer care, digging net like hell, and BINGO! Things started working! Needless to say, I bothered a buddy or two as well! Phew! Finally I'm done (I cross my fingers and think so!)

Just to show-off ;-) I've posted the snap of my new PC here. I have tried to get a configuration that will survive at least 5+years of my computing needs!

1. Intel Pentium -4 2.80 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, LGA775.
2. Intel D915GAV Motherboard
(Something striking about this mobo is that its has got built-in 5.1 Intel High Definition Audio system, implying on-board support for DTS, Dolby, etc. Grantsdale, as this mobo is called, features multi-tasking audio ports, implying that it can sense whether you have plugged in a mic, speaker, or something else and switch to appropriate functionality without human intervention. Features GMA900 onboard graphics subsystem. Also has PIC-X slots. And hell lotta technical innovations)
3. 17" Samsung LCD/TFT Monitor (710N) [CRTs suck!!!]
4. 120 GB Seagate SATA HDD [Barracuda 7200.7 SATA - ST3120026AS]
5. 1GB (512x2) DDR 400MHz RAM
6. Creative Inspire 5200 (5.1) 6-speaker system
7. Sony CD-RW/DVD-RW (Sony DRU-710A) [review 1, review 2]

Yes, you read it right! It's DVD RW, remember ... about meeting 5 years of computing needs!!! Items 6 & 7 weren't planned for when I started researching about the PC. They did add to my total cost significantly, but I don't repent putting in extra money. Inspire 5200 rocks my room at mere volume of 5! I spent significant amount of time shortlisting each of the components. I almost stopped reading my novels after I started taking brochures/manuals/reviews back home to go through the nights!

I haven't installed Linux though, as I'm yet to get my hands on the distro I want: Debian Sarge! Well, I can keep writing about new PC and how I went about shortlisting each of the components, but I don't wanna bore you chaps! So I'll cut if off here!

Back from IITB TechFest!

Had been to IITB TechFest this weekend, and had TONS of FUN, courtsey my buddy, Harpreet, how played a GREAT ghost ... oops ... GREAT HOST to me!
I wouldn't give the detailed account right now, so the primary purpose of this post is just to show you the Mercedes McLaren Formula-1 Car that I saw there!!!

1. F1 from a good angle


2. F1 Closeup



3. F1 by my side!




4. F1 as it looks from Front!



5. F1's Full Length




6. Birds view

What a Farm House

Yes, ever since I've returned from my vacation, I have been more than busy and UNABLE to spare time for myself. Though there's definite increase in work load, it's not equivalent to increased time I have been spending at office, pounding arduously at the keyboards! I usually scorn when I don't get timely responses to emails (messages), and now I myself am having a tough time replying on time even a few mails :'-( I believe it has to do more with my efficiency and ... Wait a minute, I know what are you thinking ... I can read your minds ... So, I will take this matter off-line and while I decide what's the @%$#ing ratio of time spend at office and workload, you can read ahead to see how I spent my weekend.

I had taken an off on Friday last weekend. No, not to ditch work and get an extended weekend, but had to attend an important marriage reception out of town. This meant: No football on Saturday and Sunday, Driving nearly for 13+ hours (day and night) in 24 hours between Friday 0700 hrs and Saturday 0700 hrs, Meager Sleep, Driving Fatigue, No movies (damn, I haven't seen movie for pretty long now), No Jacuzzi and No weekend relaxation ; but all the pain was worth (in fact MORE than worth) the Farm House we had been to attend that function. It was MORE than palatial and adjective AMAZING would ONLY belittle the beauty of the house. To give you an idea of its MAMMOTH size, the size of living room alone is more than 50,000 sq.ft.!!! What ... This sounds less!!! Well, the owner, Godawat Family, is now building another bungalow in the same premises having a living room of the size more than 35,000 sq.ft.! And mind you ... this is a farm house, so there HAS to be LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of landscaping surrounding all of these gigantic bungalows!!! Now you can get an idea of how PALATIAL this might have been. We were an hour too early for the function and so had ample opportunity to have a nice look around the farm house, which took more than 2 hours. Living room was full of costly Swarovski Crystal items, landscape with LOTs of water falls, beautifully planted coconut trees, uncountable variety of flowers, very well maintained lawns and of course a BIG swimming pool too! I was repenting not taking my Digi-Cam out there with me :-( The function was very well managed, but the food was no where close to the standard of the function, despite mind numbing variety (Gujarati, Rajasthani, Continental, Chinese, Maharashtrian & Punjabi, etc). Then there was a live band playing pleasant music, mimicry, etc. on a BIG stage built there. We left the place at about 0030 hrs in the night after sipping a one of the variedly flavoured coffee and I was so much charged with energy that my eyes didn't have a slightest trace of sleep in them! Seeing all this, we only uttered one statement:

"How different is the palace of an emperor!"

Phew! Hacked the makefile

Being a U*nix programmer, one has to, at some time or the other in his life, play around with makefiles. Writing one isn't a big deal, plenty of tutorials available to get you started. But hacking and tweaking one 800+ lines worth of makefile without a single line of @$%#ing God Damned comment is a nightmare! I would compare it with walking with a small LED in your hand through a dense jungle on a dreadful moonless night! It was the length of the file with apparently many targets that made the task involving, and not the structure, which I later figured out (after 2 days of gruelling dives in and out of the file) was pretty simple. Time for a moral now:

Moral:
If anything that you write (code/makefile/script ...) is going to be read/tweaked by someone else (esp. with you NOT around), then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE in GOD's name put a comment out there explaining the flow and structure!

I bet your colleagues will bless you for that! Feeling much better now, the work isn't done though.

The Life of a Programmer

I start my day by sitting on a chair,
Giving my monitor a hard, cold stare,
By evening I m done with another coding,
Oh! this has become a routine so boring.

Like all, I entered this field with great hope,
Jobs were many and there was plenty of scope,

Dreams of joining the likes of Gates,
And a chance to make money in the states.

Thus, I entered the world of bytes,
Only to realize that reality bites,
B'coz a programmer's life, isn't all that cozy,
The bed of software, isn't all that rosy.

Seeing the monitor all day n night,
Have taken the power of my eyesight,

Working holidays, busy weekends,
No time for family, no time for friends,

My job steals most of my time,
Helplessly, I watch this crime.

When I should be out - having fun,
I m telling a comp, what's to be done.

GOD, to thee I pray,
If there be one - show me the way

Well, I'm not a poet, and yes you guessed it right, this is not my creation! Got it, as a typical software engg., in a forwarded email*. Though not completely true, some of lines are really as bitter as roasted coffee bean! And hence thought of sharing with you. I bet those who are working in this field would understand this poem a little better.
(* Note: This is not a verbatim copy of original poem, I chopped off a few lines)

Angels & Demons: Dan Brown

Crammed with Vatican intrigue and hi-tech drama, this is TRULY a fast-paced novl. An instant oage-turner! An ancient secret brotherhood! A devastating new weapon of destruction! An unthinkable target! Unthinkable connections with ancient history! WOW! What a combination.
Remember I made a statement about Da Vinci Code: "if this novel doesn't get your beats rising, you better get your medical checkup done" ... then let me tell you that I found this DAMN FAR More Interesting, More Intriguing, More Involving & More Enjoyable than Da Vinci!!! Do I need to tell more! Well, have a look at the facts that this novel touches upon, and you will be compelled to read the novel, maybe just to figure out the connection between all this apparently disconnected elements.
Once you have read the novel, don't forget to visit this page! Spoiler Warning! Please don't click now! It’s meant to be referred after you are through with the novel.
I bet his other 2 novels, Deception Point and Digital Fortress should be equally good. Am gonna read them too! Anyone read them already?

What next? I plan to pick up "A Beautiful Mind, by Silvia Nasar" a biography of John Nash, who shared Nobel Prize in Economics for their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games!

Back from vacation!

I know you all were feeling very lonely without any posts on my blog for more than a week! But don't worry, I'm back. For those who don't know, I had gone to Anamalai, South India, for Nature Trails in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park, with Foliage Outdoors. The trip was EXTREMELY invigorating! I took lots of snaps, some of which I'll share in coming posts where I intend to describe my 5 days stay in midst of a jungle. I learnt a lot about birds, insects, mammals, reptiles, plants, etc. etc. etc. And I have come to one conclusion, which I know many of you might oppose and despise me for saying:

Science is far too weak to defeat the Divine power of Creation!
Science may NEVER be able to unwind the mystery of Creation, despite the claims that we have been able to decode Genetic Code!
Nothing beats Mother Nature, no matter whether you land on Moon or Mars!

Of all the photos, the one below has THE BEST composition.



There was one cute butterfly which was playing around where we sat to take rest and she (yes, it was a female butterfly ;-) ) kissed my hand and posed on my watch. She was tolerant enough of my bodily movements when I clicked one of her snaps! Isn't that exciting!!! Now, this is what I call Eco-Friendly Watch! LOL! As of this writing, I'm still to come out of the vacation mood.

Nevis New Year Bash!

We had an AMAZING New Year Party (well in advance ;-) ) yesterday night at a VERY ROMANTIC place: Oasis, on Pashan-NDA Road. The open air ambience was GREAT. DJ sucked! But starters and dinner was good. An interesting thing happened that night ... there I discovered a VERY CUTE female. Her skin as Soft as Butter ... as Fair as an Angel ... she was as Beautiful as a Fairy ... So Cutie Cutie Cutie ... Sweetie Sweetie Sweetie ... And guess what, I'll share her photo with you all! But before I do that, I WARN you that she might take your breath away! So keep a life-supporting system handy ... and be careful! Here you go ... click 1 ... click 2 and click 3! Thats enough, I guess!

Here are some photos from the party ...

1. Look out bud! The liquid in those glasses is not meant for kids ...
Myself having ball of a time ...



2. We Will We Will ROCK You!
Buddies in FULL form ... (reminding you that this was despite the fact that DJ SUCKED like HELL!)









3. Angels And Demons ...
(second half not literally ... )




4. Men In Black ...
Hmmm .... not bad ... Barry Sonnenfeld can make a MIB trilogy!

That's it! It's 0940 hrs @ office now and only a few people have turned up! People indeed had a lot of ____ you know what ;-)
Party mood out ... work mood in! Have a GREAT DAY ahead!

Photo Credits: Atul Talesara
Equipment: Fuji FinePix S3000
Mode: All photos taken at AutoFocus setting

What next!

Hey Buddies, in my previous post about latest novel I read, I forgot to mention that I've picked up Angles & Demons, by Dan Brown. The reason I'm dedicating a special post just to tell that I've picked up that novel is not that I don't have any work. Far from that! It's just becasue it's SUCH A WONDERFUL novel that I couldn't wait to finish it and urge you guys to read it. It is a prequel to Da Vinci Code. And I tell you it's hell of a novel! Of the 100+ pages I read, I bet this is more exciting, exhilarating, enjoyable, action-packed ... than Da Vinci Code. So pick up a copy and devour it! Esp. with a hot cup of tea (or coffee, chilled beer, or whatever) in the balcony, yourself draped well in warm cozy clothing! What the hell ... I'm getting again and again to that mist! I don't want to sit here in my 10x10 cubicle with such a wonderful morning outside. Such a waste of Nature's Beautiful Morning!