me in vegas!

Its been a long time since I posted anything in the blob. Working like crazy these days. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this job of mine. May be I will.. who knows!! Otherwise, I'm soooo bored here. Hotel to office to hotel. I wish I was there with Arvind. Hmmm... :( what to do. I'll be back in Dublin next week. Ranju &Janu called me yesterday, I was talking to them about Halloween and pumpkin carving. I miss them more than ever. Gotta make time for them, when I return to dublin.



Today, me and Carol are going for dinner and movie. Even she is bored here. Hopefully that should cheer me up. 6 more days to go.....

Congratulations to the Red Sox on a well deserved win in the World Series (for the first time since 1918!!). I watched with Stephen & Rachael. They were, as is to be expected, thrilled! Cute photo, ain't it? :)

Now that I finally have a single place to store all images from the last 2 years or so, I have plenty of images to share. Here's a funny one, from last year when I first went snowboarding. I got stuck in this well and couldn't get myself out. The snow was powder, so I didn't have much leverage. Angela was busy taking the picture before she helped me up. With the weather as it is now, I'm looking forward to snow this year (we didn't go last season).

Personal Satellite Radio (and XM at that!)

I love XM Radio! I might even pay for it. I've had XM for over a year now and have only just started listening to any regular shows. I like chart shows that play the kind of music I like. Between XM 82 BPM's 33 and third Dance charts and XM 29 U-Pop's Chart countdown, I find that I can keep up with most European hits that I would otherwise catch up with only through the "NOW! That's what I call Music" CDs (I love that series, that's material for another post all by itself). Also, Ethel (XM 47 I think) plays some pretty cool alternative tracks. Anyway (I'm easily distracted), that's not what I set out to post.

There is this cool new player on the block that lets you listen to XM satellite radio on the move, best of all it has inbuilt flash memory that you can record up to 5 hours of music on that you can listen to later. Pretty neat, I think. A bit pricey but if this is popular I'm hoping the prices will come down in a year or two.

Gizmodo has the scoop.

Good friends!

Well, I usually post a lot about technology (and Apple at that). Life is not all about technology though.

Today I feel like posting about people. I like interacting with people as much as I like interacting with tech. I have been blessed in life to have been surrounded by good people. Many friends that stay in contact, some that I am not in regular contact with but am sure would still feel close to when I meet. Its the kind of bond that was built in younger years that lives forever. The bond I share with people like Sudhish (before he developed his Suderman alias, he was actually normal once if you can believe me), Venky (Kaka, hardly has an online presence but am sure is enjoying his last single days), Harish (we speak irregularly but I'd have no qualms about calling him up in the middle of the work day and throwing curses unimaginable at him) and many others who shall be named another day :)

I don't think I have ever felt alone in this world. Well, there was a period but that was a really short period - I've met with friends in my hiking group and of course, wonderful neighbours in Torrey Pines that have become friends for life. So, to all the fantastic friends past and present, cheers! Here's to the good times we've had and will have. A special mention to Roshni (Happy B'Day, Li'l Girl!). Last but certainly not the least, I want to say to the greatest friend I've had, the one that I spend the most time with, who I see and touch every day and who is my companion for life - I miss you baby, come home soon, I love you :)

Windows *sigh*

I use Microsoft's Windows OS day in day out and have used it for more than 10 years now. Of course, anyone that I've talked to in the last year knows that I think Mac OS X.3 is the best OS on this planet. I've had a lot of people disagree with me but I just think that the Windows approach is just not 'there' yet. A little example from my experience setting up Windows today -

I was updating Windows through Windows update. I was connected to the internet through my Netgear wireless card. Windows update shows that there is an update available for the wireless card driver. I select it to be installed. It downloads it and start installing it. What happens next? It deactivates my network card, I'm guessing here that it was trying to install the new driver but of course, the update is running as an ActiveX control from the MS web page. Network disconnects, web page hosting ActiveX control loses connection and the browser displays a 'page not found' error and the driver install has disappeared leaving my network card in limbo. I reboot hoping the network card will connect.. nope. I reinstall driver - no go. I unistall driver, reboot, install driver, reboot, insert card, configure network and voila - 5 reboots and countless curses later I am back online.

Please try something similar on an Apple Computer because I just can't describe how worlds apart the experience is. Just no comparison. An avergage person is a zillion times better off with Apple. Now, if they'd just realize it and converted in droves.. :)

Opening windows

Its been a tight week, thanks to work mostly. Managed to do a few other things that needed to be done. I do not have my beloved iBook anymore and am typing this from a noisy old Dell Latitude. The iBook has been sold to raise funds for my iMac G5 which shall be purchased when Tiger is out :)

Now that I am back to Windows for personal use on a limited level, I am looking into some cool software for Windows that I haven't used before.

Thunderbird seems to be the best mail client for my purposes. Of course, it does not support HTTP so I will still be using Outlook for that.

I also installed Miranda which is a multi protocol IM client for Windows. On the mac, I am addicted to Adium X which achieves the same but is much more cooler.

If you haven't switched already, Firefox is the premier browser for Windows.

Laser tag!

Well, App's company keeps playing musical chairs with her schedule. She is back again today but will be gone for 2 weeks (yeah, right!) in 2 weeks time.

In other news, I played my first game(s) of laser tag today at lunch with some colleagues. It was a lot of fun. For the uninitiated, its a game where you get points "shooting" others with a laser gun. You have to wear this plastic vest with a sensor and you get a "gun" attached. Get loose in a maze with black light and fluoroscent paint and you can kind of picture it. At the end of the game, you get a scoresheet with results. I did well even if I wasn't as accurate as I'd have liked to be. A good way to bond with colleagues and also get your heart rate up! I think App would love it, gotta go with some buddies later.

Well, App is in Vegas and I'm home alone so its kinda boring but I'll live. Nothing interesting happening of late. Of course, the Yankees vs Boston series is on, watched that last night at Stephen & Rachael's, the 3rd presidential debate was today - it was not that exciting this time. Apple announced stellar 3rd Qtr results today. One interesting product that I came across recently is Solio - a solar charger for DC powered devices. Check it out. I dig it - it can charge my iPod, Minidisc and Cellphone!