Time: 4:06 PM, Friday afternoon
Place: My cubicle at client place
Song: Leaving on a jet plane
Mood: High spirited to go home (After all its a Friday)
Climate: Overcast, will start showering any moment.
I was staring at my computer screen and wondering about the line ‘Building your request’ which is flashed on my screen! It has been like this for over last three hours. Then it blinked twice
I had a bad feeling about that. I don’t usually swear, but this time, got the best out of me. I am in the middle of a build* and some how the ‘CONTROL’ key and ‘WINDOWS’ key in my keyboard is stuck up!
I had to type out my username, which has a 'R' and a 'M'.
Each time I type R, the ‘run’ window will pop up
Each time I typed M, every window goes and the chimpanzee on my desktop glares at me.
‘cntrl+C’ and ‘cntrl+V’ are also gone as windows key is already stuck!
90% of any techie work involves copy and paste!
I cannot restart my machine as the 3 hour old build will be lost which is still in progress and I cannot sit for another 3 hour to get this done!
Faced with a big challenge, my not-so-creative mind started looking for solutions.
I searched for folders having an R or M there in it name to copy paste each time. Finally I got my username, letter by letter from some folder and file names. Each time I had to use mosue to copy and paste which is a umpteen task compared to cntrl+c to Cntrl+v!. Now comes the toughest part; I have to get my password also. I figured out that, it is too risky that if I try this too many times, I will get my account locked out which is like the worst possibility :(
So opened a text pad, typed out all the keys and went into the folder names to find the missing letters (I mean the missing alphabets which won’t get typed in note pad as they form some shortcut key as my ‘windows’ and ‘control’ keys are stuck). After a lot of work with F2 key and other keys, I managed to get all the 26 letters.
Wsshhhh ..That was hell lot of work man.(Wiping of sweat from my forehead!!!)
Then started copying the required characters from my text document to build my password and it went in. Then came the surprise bouncer, like the one Dravid got on Perth. But this was rite on my un-helmeted temple. It got me and I was knocked down flat on my back, thinking what next on this Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm! The server to which I had been building my MSI just crashed ……the hours I had been spending for the entire text pad, copying pasting …everything went in vane. When I left office later that night, some phrase rhymed in my mind …..
When god has decided to make you sit back and work on a Friday evening to late night, no matter what all u do, you have to stay back and work :(
Build- A build is a software package which is created by the machine using a building software from a package configuration. Usually a build is a time taking process, which has to be started from scratch if interrupted
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Choices
Let it loose to dangle or float
Had he got a choice or two
The celebrated one n the lost
At the verge looking at each
Had a split to set his mind
The lost one looked all too familiar
The color and lust glittering his way
The thought of celebration jolted the flurry mind
How many more ahead there?
The question still ringing on his head
He choose his lost path all again
The path ahead lay with color
Never lost n never will be
All is said and lot more to think
Coloring his way to juncture ahead …..
Had he got a choice or two
The celebrated one n the lost
At the verge looking at each
Had a split to set his mind
The lost one looked all too familiar
The color and lust glittering his way
The thought of celebration jolted the flurry mind
How many more ahead there?
The question still ringing on his head
He choose his lost path all again
The path ahead lay with color
Never lost n never will be
All is said and lot more to think
Coloring his way to juncture ahead …..
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Mayde Mayde Mayde…Kitchen 7114 sinking!!!
MAYDE MAYDE MAYDE….
THIS IS KITCHEN 7114…SINKING
ESTIMATE 3 INCHES OF WATER INSIDE COMPARTMENT 4 – KITCHEN
EMERGENCY EVACUATION AND PUMPS REQUIRED
MAYDE MAYDE MAYDE OVER…..
would have been the best way to describe the scene!
It all started as a part of shaking off my morning laziness. On a chilly January morning, early at 6:15 AM, I woke up and switched off my alarm. Usually alarm is snoozed at least three times before I get out of my bed. But that particular day, something urged me to be the early bird! My daily routine was broken that day as I started review of reports by morning itself, which I usually do at office. The last late night movie made me cut shot my dinner to a single glass of milk. It started showing its effect as I grew really hungry in early morning itself.
The idea of breakfast crept in, which is not a usual thing for me! I saw my last day’s lunch box was still on the table. When I entered kitchen, I could see a heap of soiled dinner plates in my sink. I added my lunch box to the heap and went on looking for breakfast options.
Options!
1. An apple, work involved: shave the wax out of apple skin, wash it properly, cut it and eat. (I cannot munch into an apple for obvious reasons. Refer here for details)
2. Bread toast / butter / jam: Work involved- Have to microwave the freeze bread, then toast it /apply jam / butter
3. Corn flakes: Pour in cornflakes and milk, add sugar and microwave it.
The first two options consisted of very tedious steps. The third one sounded most appealing as less work involved (Guess how lazy I am these days, blame it on US life style ;))
Before turning to the shelf, I opened the sink tap to let some water into my dried lunch box. Went ahead with cornflakes and milk! Kept it inside the microwave and waited until I hear the customary beeps. The hot milk with cornflakes really amused me as I was really hungry. Grabbed the vase with 'milk n cornflakes' and started eating. It took 8 minutes for me to complete as my eyes went on reading the heroics of Viru on the third test match in Perth on ‘cricinfo’. By the time I finished my breakfast and headed back to the kitchen, I felt some thing was wrong. The moment I stepped into the kitchen, from the hall, my feeling of something wrong changed to experiencing something wrong!
My Kitchen was flooded with at least 3 inches of water over the wooden floor. The water was icy cold and it was in search of its way to the carpet. If I don’t act fast, the whole house will be flooded soon. Having a wet carpet while the outside temperature is below 0 degree celcius is the worst thing one can imagine of!
Action plan:
The first two options consisted of very tedious steps. The third one sounded most appealing as less work involved (Guess how lazy I am these days, blame it on US life style ;))
Before turning to the shelf, I opened the sink tap to let some water into my dried lunch box. Went ahead with cornflakes and milk! Kept it inside the microwave and waited until I hear the customary beeps. The hot milk with cornflakes really amused me as I was really hungry. Grabbed the vase with 'milk n cornflakes' and started eating. It took 8 minutes for me to complete as my eyes went on reading the heroics of Viru on the third test match in Perth on ‘cricinfo’. By the time I finished my breakfast and headed back to the kitchen, I felt some thing was wrong. The moment I stepped into the kitchen, from the hall, my feeling of something wrong changed to experiencing something wrong!
My Kitchen was flooded with at least 3 inches of water over the wooden floor. The water was icy cold and it was in search of its way to the carpet. If I don’t act fast, the whole house will be flooded soon. Having a wet carpet while the outside temperature is below 0 degree celcius is the worst thing one can imagine of!
Action plan:
2. Check if any of the dangling electric wires in the kitchen is in water, if found, take them to a dry place
3. Move the dust bin out of flood, or it will end up in a filthy dirty water flood.
Rescue operation:
1. Stop the onward journey of water to the dry carpeted hall!
2. Attack the stalled water with turkey towels and paper towels.
3. Make sure that the water in sink is drained.
4. Make enough space in the sink in between the heap of dishes for water to drain out!
I acted up on the above steps in an organized way (I mean to say frantically) to dry my kitchen and save it from sinking. It took me almost 25 minutes of hard work (Spread out the towel on water over the floor, get it to the sink, dry it, repeat the same for about 50 to 60 times).Then the ‘paper towel’ part, to make sure that the wooden floor is dried out. Heater in the room was of great help.
Root cause analysis: Why all this happened?
2. Attack the stalled water with turkey towels and paper towels.
3. Make sure that the water in sink is drained.
4. Make enough space in the sink in between the heap of dishes for water to drain out!
I acted up on the above steps in an organized way (I mean to say frantically) to dry my kitchen and save it from sinking. It took me almost 25 minutes of hard work (Spread out the towel on water over the floor, get it to the sink, dry it, repeat the same for about 50 to 60 times).Then the ‘paper towel’ part, to make sure that the wooden floor is dried out. Heater in the room was of great help.
Root cause analysis: Why all this happened?
I should have ignored my hunger and slept for another 15 minutes which would have saved all this. It means no break fast!
Lessons learnt:
1. Never keep a tap open and leave the kitchen under any circumstances.
2. When adding any soiled dishes to the sink, make sure that the heap is not organized in such a way that water overflows.
3. Keep enough turkey towel and paper towel in case we have plans to flood our kitchen.
When roomie woke up and came out, he saw a tired looking me gazing at the wooded kitchen floor.
Roomie: Why our kitchen floor is a little sticky today?
Me: I am trying a new technique to keep my morning busy and kitchen clean.
Roomie: Hmmm… the floor is looking clean but what about the rest ?
Me: Will try tomorrow :)
Roomie: Good, keep up the good work!
Me: DON’T mention it!!!
Next time if you are going out of your routine to try some new things like having breakfast or a morning jog, be careful. 100 odd things can go wrong :)
But still I luv to have breakfast on a chilly morning, worth its effort!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Spices over Lunch
V: What’s up?
Me: Nothing, I’m bored as usual! What abt u?
V: Doing good (The famous ‘V’ grin after that)
S: How’s ur work man?
Me: Same old story! How abt u?
V: He is busy searching matrimonial sites
S: Nah, I don’t search, I know when my time comes!
V: ya, when the bride is ready to pay 60 lakhs, ur time will come
S: I never said that, I said I have constraints.
V: Constraints should never be such hard, what do you say C?
C: I am over aged guys; I have started looking for brides with lesser constraints (he is turning
25)
C: What about you (to me)?
Me: No plans, let’s see where it takes (I have no clue!!!)
A: (My Roomie, a soul which committed luv marriage) Why you guys have this dowry
constraints?
V: Because we live with money and a good start of anything needs MONEY
S1 (Lady, Slight feminist): Why ppl need money from gal’s dad’s pocket?
Why not guy’s Dad?
S2 (Lady, hardly talks): Curry is too spicy today
V: We have a culture to follow….
C: Culture never said about putting hard constraints!
S: I never gave hard constraints ….
The argument continues until lunch is over
This is one of the usual conversations that we (the group of V,S,C,S1,S2,A and me) run into almost everyday over lunch. May be it is because every one in that group are looking for bride/groom and all have a lot of expectations. Each of them (Including ME) has there own definition of dowry and some have put it in figures as constraints. I almost laughed over S when I heard he is looking for 60 Lakhs as dowry as he has spent 3 years in US. The luv marriage guy struggled hard to put his point that dowry is not required for a family life; it is just a bad tradition. The slightly feminist gal is never ready to pay some guy to marry her!
Every girl is expecting some one better than herself to marry her. ‘If you need some thing good, you need to pay- says the dowry supporters….This group is definitely different from other groups with which I used to have lunch with. So focused on marriage / dowry!
Some day everyone goes through this round of talks to some one or the other. Some pays off, some get paid. Many loose their principles of life when the family/ situation demands otherwise. Many go for dowry just to maintain the family status. Because the neighbor got 1 kg of gold, my son also should get 1.5 kg of gold. If anyone is willing to marry a girl without dowry, then the rumor spreads out as there is some thing wrong with the guy / girl.
Why can’t everyone live there own life leaving the bride’s and groom’s family to decide up and live along????? What I can see is, everyone in this age (24- 28) stumbles on peer pressure / family pressure / greed or any some other pressure and fumble into the dowry marriages. Not the one which ends up with a girl-gas-stove-accident but with a relation where for the initial two years, the dowry statistics will be popping up here and there in family talks when another marriage is in queue in house.
Good or bad the tradition grows on. The one who questions the tradition is considered as a fool, even when the tradition says marrying a donkey might give good monsoon showers! In that case who will give dowry, the daddy donkey or the owner of the donkey?J
This is one of the usual conversations that we (the group of V,S,C,S1,S2,A and me) run into almost everyday over lunch. May be it is because every one in that group are looking for bride/groom and all have a lot of expectations. Each of them (Including ME) has there own definition of dowry and some have put it in figures as constraints. I almost laughed over S when I heard he is looking for 60 Lakhs as dowry as he has spent 3 years in US. The luv marriage guy struggled hard to put his point that dowry is not required for a family life; it is just a bad tradition. The slightly feminist gal is never ready to pay some guy to marry her!
Every girl is expecting some one better than herself to marry her. ‘If you need some thing good, you need to pay- says the dowry supporters….This group is definitely different from other groups with which I used to have lunch with. So focused on marriage / dowry!
Some day everyone goes through this round of talks to some one or the other. Some pays off, some get paid. Many loose their principles of life when the family/ situation demands otherwise. Many go for dowry just to maintain the family status. Because the neighbor got 1 kg of gold, my son also should get 1.5 kg of gold. If anyone is willing to marry a girl without dowry, then the rumor spreads out as there is some thing wrong with the guy / girl.
Why can’t everyone live there own life leaving the bride’s and groom’s family to decide up and live along????? What I can see is, everyone in this age (24- 28) stumbles on peer pressure / family pressure / greed or any some other pressure and fumble into the dowry marriages. Not the one which ends up with a girl-gas-stove-accident but with a relation where for the initial two years, the dowry statistics will be popping up here and there in family talks when another marriage is in queue in house.
Good or bad the tradition grows on. The one who questions the tradition is considered as a fool, even when the tradition says marrying a donkey might give good monsoon showers! In that case who will give dowry, the daddy donkey or the owner of the donkey?J
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Drive to DMV
Finally I’m in line for my learner’s driving license test in US. It has been four months since I put my foot in US and only now I was able to make it to the DMV. In last four months I moved once and had to change my address twice. I can argue that this address change was one reason behind me taking the driving test this late other than my good old lazy approach to anything which affects only ME!
I had driving manual printout ready for the learner’s written test from my second week in US, but it served as the number one sleep tablet. The moment I complete the ‘Contents’ page and look at the first sign-board picture, some one will pop up in ‘Gtalk’ or I will get a call or I will feel hungry / thirsty / Sleepy! Any ways I had spent enough time sleeping over that book to appear for the test.
About DMV and other public relations office in US, it is organized in much better fashion than we have anything done in our country. But the farther the patch, the greener it! If you ask a fellow American, they might surprise you with a different notion. Until I got to the line, I never knew that officials in a DMV always ask for so many documents. Luckily I had enough documents, which mean I was carrying from my birth certificate to the latest MCSE certification to be on the safe side. The certificate bunch included the extra curricular sheet with an A+ from my high school in TVM, just in case
When I reached the DMV by 8:00 am, there was already a long line and I stood about 43rd or 44rth person. At least 10 people in the row where sent back as they do not have sufficient documents to get their request done. I had to give my PP, emigration document, my bank statement, my utility bill, my SSN and document from my employer. Then there was the intelligent machine which will check my finger prints and identify if I am the real guy who I am posing to be which these documents are trying to prove. No there is no grammar mistake in the last sentence J
I got a coupon and a number from the information desk. What is this with numbers and long queues? They give number everywhere these days, from Jails to SSN offices, client offices to even in apartments. I am named as ‘Uncle in apartment 7114’ by the desi kids who play in our tennis court. (Information about numbers in jail is from watching too many jail movies these days and I am not an uncle by age (26) but kids feel otherwise :) )
After the number, the lady at the information counter tried to write down by name on the form before handing it to me. She got it wrong three times before she asked me to spell it letter by letter. I got my sheet which has to be filled on three sides. When I got it filled, my number was called at least three times. I had to do all calculation from my height in Cm to feet and Inches, my weight in KG to lbs and what not! By the time I reached the counter, the next number came in. I had to wait until my number was displayed again. Finally it appeared and I gave her the sheet. She also struggled to get my name typed in to the system. But she managed! Then she asked me to take the test from computer named 2. I went to the system, clicked on a button to start the test. First an agreement page was displayed which read that I should not carry any messaging device, no pencils or pen, I had everything with me! But I agreed and went ahead.
Then surprise bouncer came! There were two tests, the law test and the signal test. I had seen only the signal part in the driver manual (I slept off after the signal chapter, always!). I figured out that I was supposed to know the law part as well. I had glanced through only the signal part and left the law part in the driving manual. I took the law test first. I was allowed to have 5 answers wrong. As I got 5 wrong out of first 11, I had to apply my little brain and all the commonsense to pass the test.
The signal test was easy as 70% of people read signs better than languages. I informed my results at the desk and she gave me the number 933 and asked to wait. The part which I hate about this queue and numbering system is that I am one among unlucky species in this kind of systems. I mean the kind of the guy in Queue who always gets the ‘house full’ board on a theater just when I am next. Here also the same thing happened. After 932, the number 934 appeared. I was not surprised as I am so used to it that, some thing or the other will go wrong. In SSN office, the token system itself came down after they issued my token!
After a while when the display hit 940, I went to the counter and asked about token 932. Then only she realized that 932 was never called. Then the back tracking happened and I got to know that my paper was still with the test authorizing person and it never moved. From there own my name was called instead of the number. You have to see my snap in the license. The face has a message written all over it saying “WHY ME???”
I had to spend a good 3 and a half hour to get my learners driving license. I guess I had spent much less time back in my home town to get the driving license. Said good bye to the DMV and looking forward for another three hours when I go for the actual driving test!
I had driving manual printout ready for the learner’s written test from my second week in US, but it served as the number one sleep tablet. The moment I complete the ‘Contents’ page and look at the first sign-board picture, some one will pop up in ‘Gtalk’ or I will get a call or I will feel hungry / thirsty / Sleepy! Any ways I had spent enough time sleeping over that book to appear for the test.
About DMV and other public relations office in US, it is organized in much better fashion than we have anything done in our country. But the farther the patch, the greener it! If you ask a fellow American, they might surprise you with a different notion. Until I got to the line, I never knew that officials in a DMV always ask for so many documents. Luckily I had enough documents, which mean I was carrying from my birth certificate to the latest MCSE certification to be on the safe side. The certificate bunch included the extra curricular sheet with an A+ from my high school in TVM, just in case
When I reached the DMV by 8:00 am, there was already a long line and I stood about 43rd or 44rth person. At least 10 people in the row where sent back as they do not have sufficient documents to get their request done. I had to give my PP, emigration document, my bank statement, my utility bill, my SSN and document from my employer. Then there was the intelligent machine which will check my finger prints and identify if I am the real guy who I am posing to be which these documents are trying to prove. No there is no grammar mistake in the last sentence J
I got a coupon and a number from the information desk. What is this with numbers and long queues? They give number everywhere these days, from Jails to SSN offices, client offices to even in apartments. I am named as ‘Uncle in apartment 7114’ by the desi kids who play in our tennis court. (Information about numbers in jail is from watching too many jail movies these days and I am not an uncle by age (26) but kids feel otherwise :) )
After the number, the lady at the information counter tried to write down by name on the form before handing it to me. She got it wrong three times before she asked me to spell it letter by letter. I got my sheet which has to be filled on three sides. When I got it filled, my number was called at least three times. I had to do all calculation from my height in Cm to feet and Inches, my weight in KG to lbs and what not! By the time I reached the counter, the next number came in. I had to wait until my number was displayed again. Finally it appeared and I gave her the sheet. She also struggled to get my name typed in to the system. But she managed! Then she asked me to take the test from computer named 2. I went to the system, clicked on a button to start the test. First an agreement page was displayed which read that I should not carry any messaging device, no pencils or pen, I had everything with me! But I agreed and went ahead.
Then surprise bouncer came! There were two tests, the law test and the signal test. I had seen only the signal part in the driver manual (I slept off after the signal chapter, always!). I figured out that I was supposed to know the law part as well. I had glanced through only the signal part and left the law part in the driving manual. I took the law test first. I was allowed to have 5 answers wrong. As I got 5 wrong out of first 11, I had to apply my little brain and all the commonsense to pass the test.
The signal test was easy as 70% of people read signs better than languages. I informed my results at the desk and she gave me the number 933 and asked to wait. The part which I hate about this queue and numbering system is that I am one among unlucky species in this kind of systems. I mean the kind of the guy in Queue who always gets the ‘house full’ board on a theater just when I am next. Here also the same thing happened. After 932, the number 934 appeared. I was not surprised as I am so used to it that, some thing or the other will go wrong. In SSN office, the token system itself came down after they issued my token!
After a while when the display hit 940, I went to the counter and asked about token 932. Then only she realized that 932 was never called. Then the back tracking happened and I got to know that my paper was still with the test authorizing person and it never moved. From there own my name was called instead of the number. You have to see my snap in the license. The face has a message written all over it saying “WHY ME???”
I had to spend a good 3 and a half hour to get my learners driving license. I guess I had spent much less time back in my home town to get the driving license. Said good bye to the DMV and looking forward for another three hours when I go for the actual driving test!
The story went this way
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Dreams - Table world
Edge : The thinker
Corner: The sarcastic dude
Leg : The practical gal
Nuts : Common man
Edge : Dreams are the signs for paths we take for tomorrow
Corner : The more you dream the more tired we will be !
Edge: No. Dreams gave us clear vision and steps to achieve them which gives us tranquility
Leg: Dream with in the limit or else we will end up as a day dreamer
Nuts : When do I sleep in this world to dream happily :( ?
New year - Tag
1. Where were you when the clock stuck 12 and the year changed from 2007 to 2008?
2. Who was the first one to wish you?
3. Who was the first one you wished?
I thought about the above questions before answering each and came up with this !
As we interact with people of different time zone, which one should we consider for this answer :)
The Indian time line where New Year was celebrated on my 31st afternoon?
My mom called up at her 10:00 pm on 31st Indian time and wished me New Year and I wished her back
Or
The Eastern Standard Time where it was only 11:00 pm for me as I was in Central US Time zone where my best friend from Bangalore called me up on my cell phone to wish me New Year and I wished her back
Or
The central time zone where the clock actually tic past 12:00 in front of me? :)
I was sitting on a cozy couch watching the Chicago fire works. I exchanged new year wishes with my in-law
4. What did you eat first in the start of the New Year?
If my memory is rite (which is pretty bad these days) I ate Appam with Kadala curry (Chole)
5. The most important question: What is the New Year resolution?
It has been some time before I left making resolutions as I am definite that I will break it. So I didn’t had any resolution this year. I will try to be in a happy mode and keep people around me also happy :)
2. Who was the first one to wish you?
3. Who was the first one you wished?
I thought about the above questions before answering each and came up with this !
As we interact with people of different time zone, which one should we consider for this answer :)
The Indian time line where New Year was celebrated on my 31st afternoon?
My mom called up at her 10:00 pm on 31st Indian time and wished me New Year and I wished her back
Or
The Eastern Standard Time where it was only 11:00 pm for me as I was in Central US Time zone where my best friend from Bangalore called me up on my cell phone to wish me New Year and I wished her back
Or
The central time zone where the clock actually tic past 12:00 in front of me? :)
I was sitting on a cozy couch watching the Chicago fire works. I exchanged new year wishes with my in-law
4. What did you eat first in the start of the New Year?
If my memory is rite (which is pretty bad these days) I ate Appam with Kadala curry (Chole)
5. The most important question: What is the New Year resolution?
It has been some time before I left making resolutions as I am definite that I will break it. So I didn’t had any resolution this year. I will try to be in a happy mode and keep people around me also happy :)
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