15th anniversary

fav 'blog entries

leela @ 3 months

name that color

tip of my tongue

Thu, 31st Oct '02, 7:20 pm ::

Happy Halloween!

Thu, 31st Oct '02, 4:00 pm ::

I still can't believe that I finished my Discrete Math homework! Hehe. That one last problem took me soooooo long! I spent all of last night and today's morning trying to solve it. Trust me you don't know the ecstasy of solving that one simple problem that for some reason seemed sooooooo hard; just ask this guy!

Thu, 31st Oct '02, 3:55 pm ::

Yay! I did it! I successfully finished my Discrete Math homework! Today is a GOOD day for academics. Oh and I also filled out an application requesting extra scholarship from my college. I really hope they gimme that... pray for me...

Thu, 31st Oct '02, 3:00 pm ::

Just gave a Calc4 quiz. I think I did pretty well. Have lots of exams in the coming few weeks. November end is gonna be hell for me. Got a lot of homework to complete tonight. Wish I could write a nice lazy 'blog. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

Wed, 30th Oct '02, 11:55 pm ::

While doing my Discrete Structures II homework, I found this piece of text online:

"A typical digitized picture on your computer screen is 640 pixels long by 480 pixels wide, for a total of 307200 pixels. Using only 256 different colors, you can get decent resolution. Now if you take 256^307200 (256 times itself 307200 times) you get... well, a pretty big number, but a finite number nonetheless. That's the number of different images you can have of that particular size. Any picture you would scan into a computer at that size and resolution will necessarily be one of those images. Therefore, contained in those images are the images of the faces of every human being who ever lived along with the images of the faces of every person yet to be born." - The Math Forum

Tue, 29th Oct '02, 10:30 pm ::

Song for the day: "I'm a believer" - Smash Mouth

Tue, 29th Oct '02, 2:55 pm ::

Physics exam went bad. I got Comp. Architecture exam result yesterday - bad. I got Calc4 quiz back - bad. :( I need to study now... Bubye...

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 2:10 pm ::

I really wish I could believe what this guy is saying. And big red fonts on a black background aren't helping much either. But if it's a hoax, it's a pretty neat hoax I must say. Sounds cool: www.8march2003.com.

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 2:00 pm ::

Note to self: Always count the number of zeros on the wine list prices.

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 1:25 pm ::

The most awesome Flash game that I've ever seen!

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 12:45 pm ::

For some reason, New Jersey is called the armpit of America. George Carlin called it the tollbooth capital of United States. It's the butt of many a joke and recently this joke about a couple of Jersey hunters was crowned the funniest joke of the world. Well, here's an article that defends New Jersey for the change.

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 12:40 pm ::

This is quite possibly the most sarcastic satire article that I've ever read. It's sad that everything the article says, is actually true, and I bet there's a million people out there who actually ARE like the fake guy in the article.

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 12:30 pm ::

This has got to be the most awesome Flash graphics/scripts that I've ever seen: Arseiam.com.

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 12:15 pm ::

Presenting - The Opera Baby. Two words: Nasty & Hilarious! Admit it, everybody loves toilet humor. Hehe.

Quote for the day: "An economist is someone who sees something working in practice and asks whether it would work in principle." - Stephen Goldfeld

Mon, 28th Oct '02, 12:10 pm ::

I got all my classes! Yay! So now from Jan 2003, I have four classes on Monday, two on Tuesday, FIVE on Wednesday, and three on Friday. Thankfully I have Thursdays off. Wednesday's gonna be hell, but oh well, I have to take an honors class next term, and the only good one is on Wednesday from 6-9 pm. It's ok. I'll survive. At least now I won't have to come work on Saturdays like this term. Hehe.

Sun, 27th Oct '02, 8:40 pm ::

How I feel: "I am so high... I can hear heaven..." from the song Hero - Chad Kroeger

I dunno why. I just feel all happy. Maybe cuz I finished my Physics webassign, made my schedule for Spring 2003 semester, and completed this site (except for one feature)...

My schedule for the next semester is pretty intense once again. Physics Lecture + Lab, Design & Analysis of Computer Algorithms, Math - Complex Variables, Econometrics, and an honors class, scarely titled, "Trauma in Literature." I have no idea what they're gonna teach me in half of these classes, but I guess it'll be pretty interesting. Hey at least I'll have Thursdays off! That way I'll work on Thursdays and get Saturdays off. Right now I'm working on Saturdays cuz my whole week is busy.

Ok time to get back to more studies and work.

Sun, 27th Oct '02, 1:05 pm ::

This morning I learnt that acetole (in nail polish removers) and the chemicals in hair spray can take off most of the black ink from a ball-point pen that leaked into all your new winter clothes. But well there's not much you can do to save your favorite new red sweatshirt from a huge 2 inch black-ind spot right on the front, after it has dried with the heat on :( Today is a sad day.. I lost my best fav. new shirt to a horrible horrible washing machine and dryer. Tsk. Tsk. Now I'll have to go buy new winter clothes! :( Gonna go take a shower now and then make my new schedule for the next semester. I wonder what classes I will take...

Sat, 26th Oct '02, 6:10 pm ::

Random thoughts: I don't like boundaries. I like infinity. I don't like limits. I like continuity.

Crossroads where every driver stopsFri, 25th Oct '02, 8:35 am ::

Every time I take the GG bus to go from Cook to the Livingston campus, the bus drivers do a very curious thing. There's this open cross road, almost in the middle of nowhere, with a 4-way stop sign. Obviously, the drivers stop for a few seconds at this point, but I noticed that for some reason, as soon as they start crossing the road, they open the bus' doors for a few seconds, let a fresh gust of wind flow into the bus, and then close them after the bus has full crossed the road. Now I've noticed this almost every single time I've come to the Livingston lab in the morning. So I kept thinking why exactly do the drivers do this? Is it some superstitious belief ? I'm quite positive there's a graveyard somewhere nearby. Is it something scientific? Does opening the bus when the flow of the air current is perpendicular to the direction of the bus' velocity, reduce the effect of the friction coefficient of the air? Or is it something respectful? Had some student in the past met with an accident at that exact place and so all the driver's pay their homage to the student? I just could not figure out the mystery.

So this morning, I mustered up some courage and asked the bus driver: "Excuse me, can you tell me why every driver who crosses this intersection, always opens and closes the doors for just a few seconds?" The driver laughed and said, "Oh, the doors block our view of the oncoming traffic from the right, and so by opening them, we can check for any cars etc. heading towards us. Just a safety thing you know." I thought to myeslf, "No, I don't know! And thanks for killing all my mystery."

Yeah, so some mysteries should rather be left in the suspense without making any attempts to find the truth behind them. I think this law pretty much applies to everything. Secrets, ambiguity, mystery, curiousity... all relieve us of the mundanity of our daily lives, and keep things interesting. Not knowing everything is exciting, because it keeps us guessing. It's the same with people. It's more captivating to wonder why that girl in my economics class always leaves EXACTLY 20 minutes before the class ends and then comes back 3 minutes later, and tries to hastily write down what she just missed. It's pretty boring to find out that the only reason she leaves the class exactly at that time always, is to go outside in the parking lot, and put more money in the parking meter, because that's precisely the time the meter runs out.

Yeah, so learn to keep things interesting - have more secrets. Haha. Look who's talking! The guy whose whole entire life is out in the open for the whole world to read and mock. Hehe. Ahhhhhh the irony.

Fri, 25th Oct '02, 12:05 am ::

Meet Ellen Feiss - The "and I was like unh..." girl, the "beep beep beep" girl, the "bummer" girl. Hehehe. About 2 months ago, Wired had a good article on everything about her. I think my fav. is this 1024x768 pic. I've seen that ad starring Ellen over 20 times in the past hour and it's still sooo funny to watch. I think it's one of those things that get funnier each time you see it.

Thu, 24th Oct '02, 4:05 pm ::

I love away messages that I can quote out-of-context...

Thu, 24th Oct '02, 10:30 am ::

Sniper case most probably solved!!! Cops are 99% sure they caught the damn snipers! Phew. Now people in Maryland and Virginia can safely go back to filling gas!

Thu, 24th Oct '02, 10:25 am ::

Wow! Someone collects other people's grocery lists!

Getting used to stuffThu, 24th Oct '02, 9:00 am ::

It's funny how we keep doing the same things over and over everyday and seem to be getting better and better at it. I'm in my office right now, sitting back, relaxed, with my feet crossed and resting on my cpu right under my desk. When I started this job, it used to take me a full 3-4 minutes before I could get so comfortable, mainly because the keyboard & mouse wires got in the way, my chair wasn't positioned far back enuf, or the keyboard rest wasn't high/low enuf. Today it took me less than 20 seconds to enter my office and get settled.

I'm not trying to express random spontaneous thoughts here. My point is, we all get 'used' to stuff over time and things keep getting easier and easier (well normally). Take my websites for example. What took me weeks and weeks to design, now takes me just a few hours - mainly because I have all my 'systems' in place. If today, someone wants me to create a hi-end flash site for them, my first question is - "Do you want it within the next 15 days?" Just a few months ago I couldn't have imagined designing hi-q sites in a matter of days. Call this experience, knowledge, practice, or anything else you can think of, I think it's simply the case of my 'Cheese' being in place. If by some misfortune someone moved my cheese tomorrow, I'll be back to step 1. Then I'd have to smile and start all over again. If you have no idea what 'Cheese' I'm talking about, go buy this book.

Thanks to my dad's friend, Kiran Raivadera, I learnt not to get too comfortable ever. So if by some chaotic mishap my dean and business admins want me to change my office and go work some place else, I think I'll handle it pretty well without letting it affect my morale and confidence (especially if the new office has a microwave, refrigerator, cable tv, and a nice bed! hehehe *grin grin*).

Wed, 23rd Oct '02, 9:10 pm ::

Everybody loves the Game of Monopoly. Right? Well, how about this trump card: Bank error in your favor, collect $10 billion!

Wed, 23rd Oct '02, 9:45 am ::

Quote for the day: "The title of artist is not so difficult to wear. Simply make beauty your daily pursuit." - Derek Prospero

Tue, 22nd Oct '02, 9:20 am ::

Mmmmmm. Faster LANs...

Tue, 22nd Oct '02, 8:45 am ::

Ah wonderful Tuesday mornings - me in the Livingston lab. It's nice, cold, and dry outside. I'm listening to Castles in the sky by Ian Van Dahl on my mp3 player. (Damn she's hot!) I have no exams, quizzes, tests, assignments, or homework due today. I'm free! Freedom smells good. Hehe.

Last night I finally received this Photo Objects 2-CD pack that I had ordered almost a month ago. It is a collection of 10,000 hi-res digital photos (not crappy cliparts). I copied both the CD's to my hard drive and then started using it. It's such a nice software, I would highly recommend it to all web designers and anyone who likes making PowerPoint presentations. Within just 2 mins of using it, I was able to create some really neat pics. Of course, I'm not gonna go crazy and post all the pics I make in here, but I'm sure you'll see them all in the next website I make. It's good stuff.

Song for the day: Where are you going? - Dave Matthews Band.

Mon, 21st Oct '02, 1:45 pm ::

Comic for the day:

I'm a shameless momma's boySun, 20th Oct '02, 11:55 pm ::

It's been a pretty long time since I wrote a nice sweet 'blog entry. And it's been even longer since I admitted my flaws & mistakes. Tonight I do just that. This 'blog entry... for my mom.

Today was a pretty long day... I cleaned my room & bathroom, drove my cuzins around all day, did all my homework, and finally settled down to finish off my website work. I think I was almost done with this site when my mom came online. Ahh... It had been weeks since I last talked to her. The sad thing is, whenever she comes online, I'm mostly busy doing my homework @ 1 am, and so I can't really talk to her. But tonight fortunately, I had all the time for some good mother-son chattin'.

Well I found out my sister is on the way to a nice vacation to Singapore, Bangkok, and Pataya with all her friends from college. W00t! I need a vacation! I need a vacation! Well, come Winter break and I'll get one. Hehe. Anyways, things are all mostly fine back home, the only worrying news is my grandpa's health. Fortunately the docs are saying everything will be fine soon, so it's all good.

Ok now lemme get back to my mom. I think about her a lot... actually at least once daily - right after I have my lunch. You see when I went to India over the summer, my mom packed me a BIG box of Mentos, in fact so many, that I can keep eating 1 per day for the next 2 years! Ya so every afternoon, right after I chug down a yummy sub-sandwich, I think of my mom and how much I miss her. I'm really really really close to her, and I know that she misses me a lot too.

Tonight, before she came online, I was feeling kinda tired in my head, from all the work, studies and the overall drudgery of my daily life. My mood wasn't too good either. And if you've been reading my 'blog lately, you'll see how I've been mostly tired and boring in the past few weeks. I'll admit it; I kept blaming everything on studies, and too much work, and that I kept making stupid excuses that I have no time for this and no time for that. And day by day, I was getting more and more sick of everyday life.

But then she came on and told me she's worried because I'm working so hard and studying too much. She said that most parents are worried that their child is not studying enuf or not working hard enuf, but she is worried that I'm over-working and over-studying! And then she said she missed me and wanted me to have FUN in my life and not just over-exert myself everywhere. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I felt soooo good, realizing how much she cared about me.

My friend Jacquelin said, "it's cool how your parents are like, wired to your brain sometimes and know exactly when to email/call and say something that makes you feel good." That's soooo true! I really needed that chat tonight, to make me realize that no matter how much I think my studies and work are important, there's still one more thing important than all that and that is the quality of my life. I mean isn't that the ultimate aim? Living a happy, fun life? And here I am, doing everything possible to achieve something that's so far way, while giving deplorably stupid excuses for not enjoying my life! Damn! I have been soooo dumb. Thank you Mom! I know it sounds like a typical movie cliche, but you've shown me the light!

Now I'm not saying that right away I'm gonna stop all my work and stop studying! I'm just saying that from now on, I stop making stupid excuses and complaints about how tired I am and how much work/study I still have to do. And above all, I'm gonna go make myself some time to actually HAVE FUN with my family and friends! Enuf with this lots of studies and too much work crap! Chirag needs to have some serious fun! Now where's my little black book... gotta call up on that cutey from that class I took last semester... hehehe...

(PS: I love you Mummy. You're the sweetest, loveliest, kindest, and most caring mother in the whole wide world! Trust me! I KNOW I'm 100% right!)

Sat, 19th Oct '02, 8:20 am ::

Awake and online! I made a new online friend - a guy who works 24/7, and makes software, just like me. Hehe. Check out his site - East Bay Technologies. He's damn smart, and works in VB just like me. I was just giving him some free web-design tips. Hopefully he can return the favor by helping me beta test my softwares/websites in the future.

Well I have a long day ahead of me. Last night I successfully completed the Physics webassign. Yay for the me! Haha. Today I got lots and lots of work @ my job on campus. Ahhhhh. But it's cool. I'm gonna enjoy it, cuz it's some pretty interesting stuff.

In other news, life's good. I get exhausted a lot, but overall my mood is on the happy side. Hehe.

Thu, 17th Oct '02, 8:40 pm ::

I have NO idea what happened to me yesterday. I came home all tired from college, sat in front of my desk, opened up all my work, and next thing I know it's 6:45 am! I literally slept on my chair!

Anyways, I had a pretty good day @ school today. The whole morning I spent @ my old office building, having some serious meetings with Elaine, Doug, and later with Kathrine & Mary Jo. It's kinda funny because Mary Jo's son Nick is a friend of mine. Hehe. Well all the meetings went pretty well and I have enuf work piled up for me for the next 6 months. Hey that means 'bling bling'. .. Hehe. Some of the projects are pretty cool and very important. Seriously. I'm literally gonna become an indispensable part of the Rutgers Business office now, having created over 4 big systems!

Oh well, after work, studies went ok. I half-slept in the Calc 4 class, cuz it was sooooo boriiiiiing. After class, I chilled for over an hour with my new friend Lisa, also from the Calc class. It's odd how I found most of my best friends in math classes. But damn, she's a pretty neat girl. She actually gave me a free ride home! Yay! Saved me mucho money. Hehe. The neat thing is, we both have a common friend - Steph - the really good artist who helped me make this site. Oh and since Lisa and I both have a free period on Tuesdays and Thursdays after our Calc class, we can hang out @ the Busch student center & stuff. Phew. Finally some real friends to chill with!

Ok, got lots of work to complete tonight. Have to catch up on all the stuff I didn't do last night either. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Have fun & be good. Cya later!

Tue, 15th Oct '02, 9:20 am ::

I love this section of Tommy.com, mainly because it's such a clean smooth and easy-to-navigate interface. Ok, time for me to take some serious notes. Hehe. The guy who made this site, also designed the Yard NYC and Will Smith 2k sites. A pretty impressive portfolio if you ask me. Oh well, I have a LONG way to go then ;)

Gotta go now - Discrete Structures II class.

Tue, 15th Oct '02, 9:05 am ::

It's inspiration time for me now. Tuesday & Friday mornings I have 30-40 mins before class starts and most times I sit in the Livingston Computer lab... surfing... getting inspirationg... checking out tons of cool sites. After all, I don't want all my websites to look-alike. Do I?

Tue, 15th Oct '02, 8:50 am ::

Mid-October already huh? Four exams down, one to go soon. Of course, 5 exams again at the end of this month and during November-end - Decebember-1st-week. Urgh. So much to study, so little time.

I realize that my 'daily' blog in the last few weeks has literally been a bunch of complaints, from 'I hate physics,' to 'I am sooooooo tired.' Oh well, I have nothing to say to that. Sometimes studies are just so damn irritating. And almost always, they are way too time consuming. I mean literally every week the Physics webassign takes anywhere between 6-8 hours! Where the hell do I get the time to 'LIVE'? A *lot* of people have been telling me to take a break, change my schedule, or do something to give myself more time. Well I already said it earlier that I have a packed schedule and am willing to do anything possible to improve upon it, except give-up studies & work. So far nobody has come up with anything useful. So I guess that I'm stuck for the rest of this semester eking a miserable insomniac life. Ahhhhhhhhh. I can't wait for December when I'll *probably* get a few extra hours of sleep every night. Oh and also I'm going to Utah/SLC over my winter break :) Yay! I'm sooooooo looking forward to that. Gotta buy my tickets soon though. Hmmm...

Mon, 14th Oct '02, 2:35 am ::

The Most. Addictive. Game. Ever.

Sun, 13th Oct '02, 5:05 pm ::

Paper Wars - One of the most amusing flash animations I've seen recently.

Sun, 13th Oct '02, 1:55 pm ::

I should REALLY go and study, and stop making political statements, most importantly because I have an exam tomorrow, and also because no one probably cares what my political thoughts are.

Sun, 13th Oct '02, 1:15 pm ::

Before I hit the books, just wanted to talk about one of the things on my mind at the moment: World! What the hell is happening lately? From bombs to more bombs! Last year, despite the Sept. 11 events, I did not think that terrorism had reached a global scale, well mainly because it wasn't happening everywhere. I can't really say that now. Either the incidents of bombings and mass killings have actually risen sharply or CNN and BBC have got really good @ their jobs. Whatever be the case, I do agree there's one big threat to everyone - Saddam. While there are millions who support him, millions who think he's not a threat, and millions who think military action by US is not a solution, I, for once, am glad that there are still intelligent people who are able to assess Saddam's powers analytically, and are cautioning us to be wary of them.

While it'd be stupid to say that any form of warfare could be 100% good, the positives on attacking & denuke-fying Iraq, and removing Saddam from the 'throne' are definitely greater than the loss of lives. Why you say? Well simply because Saddam is buying uranium like crazy, and trust me he's NOT making a nuclear power plant in Iraq. Sure, India and Pakistan have been playing with nukes recently too, but it's different in Iraq's case - mainly because Saddam is a propaganda factory. (If you really want to see how much of BS this guy can make up, check out this music video - real video format. It's scary. Trust me.)

India and Pakistan have a beautiful bone of contention among them, while Saddam has nothing. He's armed, he's cornered, and he's ready to attack anytime. The main thing is, he's going for very low-tech weapons of mass-destruction, meaning he's not empowering himself to the new technology like India & Pakistan, but rather, doing whatever it takes to cause fear and quite possibly a mass genocide.

So yeah, like Oprah, I feel that military action to once and for all get rid of Saddam is the only option right now. Hey, even though the US didn't accomplish much in it's War on Terror in Afghanistan, at least it got rid of the Taliban and made the Afghani life bearable. I remember as a young boy in India, for my Hindi class, I had to read the story Kabuliwala written by nobel-laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore. From that day on, I had a mental picture of the common Afghanis, as being kind, giving, and generous. Too bad I grew up to see how some religious fanatics like Taliban hijacked the freedom of the common man, and how badly these honest people were tortured.

Sun, 13th Oct '02, 1:00 pm ::

Just woke up a few mins ago. For the first time in months I got some extra time to catch up on sleep. I really needed it badly. Well, my worries are not over yet. Tomorrow I got a big exam - Computer Architecture, where I have to know stuff multiplexers and flip-flops, things totally unrelated to what goes on in the real world. Anyways, I better get clean 'n shiny and then get started w/ studies, cuz I have NO idea what the hell is going on in that class. Hehe.

Sun, 13th Oct '02, 3:10 am ::

Wow! I'm done with my physics webassign! Yay!!! But it took me SIX HOURS! Damn I'm slow. Oh well, at least it's over. Tomorrow all day I study for my computer exam. After that about a week of peace - no exams...

Sat, 12th Oct '02, 5:50 pm ::

One word: Tired!

Fri, 11th Oct '02, 1:00 pm ::

Anyways, life's good. It's raining bad here - quite humid, cold, and gloomy... and yup, you guessed it right: I love it! Haha.

Fri, 11th Oct '02, 12:55 pm ::

Everyone needs a lap dance once in a while. Right? Hehe. No thanks! I'd rather not. Anyways, it's a really funny flash animation, so see it. Actually now that I think about it, the cat is a metaphor though, representing (I hope I don't get flamed for this): Women. All the poor guy wants to do is have some fun, but noooooo, he has to straddle the evil kitty for hours and hours... Oh well, still funny. Gotta love the ending.

Thu, 10th Oct '02, 9:50 pm ::

Had a long hard tough day today. Almost no sleep, too much studies, lots of work on campus, and lots of work @ home. Ahhhhhhhh. I'm gonna drop dead if I don't get a vacation!

Wed, 9th Oct '02, 10:30 am ::

And now my friend Vu from CS112 has finally succumbed too - to the enticing pleasures of 'bloggin! Welcome aboard boy.

Wed, 9th Oct '02, 10:25 am ::

From my friend Steph's newly designed site:

Zeroism

Tue, 8th Oct '02, 6:45 pm ::

Here's 100 new phrases, most of which I'd never heard before, but somehow all of them make perfect sense.

Mon, 7th Oct '02, 11:05 pm ::

I'm soooooooo sick and tired of studies! Well I didn't even feel like saying anything in here tonight. But then I HAVE to mention the cutest thing Vicky (from Calc2/3 and now in Physics Lab with me) did. She literally snuck in (right under my eyes) a sweet little chocolate cup-cake in the Physics Lab and kept it hidden till after the class. Right after the class, she took me out in the lobby, from somewhere whipped out a musical candle (yup, a candle that plays the Happy B'day tune!), lit the candle, and then asked me to blow it out. I was like whoa! Cool! And the cup-cake was sooooooo good too! Thanks Vicky!

G'nite world now. I'm tooooooo tired. Mentally.

Sun, 6th Oct '02, 5:25 pm ::

Hordes of monkeys invade Calcutta! Hehe.

Fri, 4th Oct '02, 2:35 pm ::

Oh and I forgot to add to the list: Vera (the funniest dear-old-lady), Astrid (Kath's roommate), and my bro Keval from Bombay. Sorry to say, I really cannot show what he sent me, it's waaaaay too raunchy for my 'blog. Hehe. Ah, just like a true brother :)

Fri, 4th Oct '02, 2:25 pm ::

OH MY #$%$% GOD! What a rockin' day already! I just came home and my monitor's in! This is the last 'blog (hopefully) that I write using my old 17" CRT. And then I checked my emails and my instant messangers and ohoooooooo!!! There's just soooooo many ppl who just wished me. I feel all special right now. Let's add to the listing:

Manzinder (the girl with the cute car) was the first, right in my Discrete II class and later she emailed me this really funny greeting card. She's sooooo fun to hang out with. Seriously. We skipped half our Discrete class and went to the Busch Student Center just to chill (and do some icky homework). Then it was Steph, and then Kathleen called. We talked for over 30 minutes! It's really been a longgggg time since I talked to her. We never see each other anymore :( Oh well, good thing is she's giving me a lil treat on Monday, so it's all good. Anyways, more to the list: Vicky (Kath's old roommate), Resha, Ritesh, Ashish, Elaine, Bruce & Tamara! Elaine sent me this really neat greeting. Thanks a lot :) And Bruce and Tamara just knocked me out of my senses with the BEST GREETING CARD EVER! No seriously! They sent me the single most best greatest greeting card ever in the world. It's a short powerpoint presentation, starring, *hold your breath*, my favorite awesome dude: StrongBad! Guys, I've already said this 10 times on this 'blog that you are the two COOLEST people in the wolrd, and today you just proved it yet again. Download their StrongBad birthday card here (140kb).

Fri, 4th Oct '02, 9:40 am ::

Ok class now. Cya later beautiful ppl!

Fri, 4th Oct '02, 9:35 am ::

I don't wanna be in the backseat of this taxi! Haha. It's one of the funniest pics I've ever seen!

Fri, 4th Oct '02, 8:50 am ::

I'm back. Haha! Ok that was taking it too far... I certainly don't love any weather better than a computer lab, so I guess I'll stick in here and type out more random stuff. Well, now the list of cool ppl who wished me so far, in addition to my cuzins & uncle/aunt that I mentioned above: Eric, Kiran Uncle & Family, my Dad 2nd time (in a sweet email), Steve, Yogesh, Ali (aka Alf), Nikhil, and the oh-so-lovely and cow-kissing Megan. Damn the list is getting longer. Hehe.

Ok now a reflection on my life. Everyone lives two lives: one on the outside and one on the inside. On the outside, I'm studying, making websites, making software, buying expensive computer stuff, buying cool mp3 players, and of course working 20 hours a week while taking 18 credit hours - 6 days a week, from 7 am to 2 am. On the inside, I'm easily handling studies, having lotsa fun making websites and software, getting extremely happy for finally being able enough to buy myself decent equipment to work with, loving my job 101%, and totally feeling guilty for not having enough time for my friends and family. So overall, I'm all good on the outside, and almost good on the inside; that feeling guilty-for-not-socializing part ain't good. But guess what? Things are just about to get purrrrfect... I'm buying a car soon. It's 100% confirmed. Just need to decide how to go about it now. I know one thing for sure, once I buy a car, I'll def. have a LOT of extra time, so of course, I'll spend it with my friends and family (and prolly online too. Hehe.)

I was kinda worried a last night about buying a car - after all it's a big expense and there are 1000 things that can go wrong. But then this morning I got an email from my dad saying he too bought a used car too longgggg ago. And now I'm suddenly not worried at all! After all my dad's best of luck & wishes are right here with me :-) So Daddy... I'm getting my 1985 Toyota Tercel right away! Haha! Just kidding. No matter how badly I need a car, I'm not gonna buy a crappy one. It'll be something nice and decent, and quite possibly much cheaper.

So there you go... a long 'blog. Happy now? Got any questions? Well then

You gotta love StrongBad!

Fri, 4th Oct '02, 8:45 am ::

It's mega blog time! I have an hour before class starts and so well, lemme just blurt out random stuff. First lemme begin with:

Song of the day: "Brand New Day" - Sting

I love this song, it's one of my favorite songs ever. Just makes me all fresh and optimistic everytime I hear it. Last night I put that song (along with 39 others) on my Nomad ;-) Oh and trust me, it's the BEST thing I've ever bought for myself. I'm listening to it as I write this.

Anyways, this morning my cuzins Sneh & Sagar woke me up by shaking the hell outta me! I was so shocked that I thought the damn house was on fire; turns out it was only my b'day :) Hehe. Then later my uncle & aunt wished me "Happy B'day" and here I am... on a lovely beautiful cloudy cold day, in a computer lab, writing my 'blog - couldn't be happier (except of course, if I was with my parents & sister instead).

I don't know what my fascination with cold gloomy windy rainy weather is. Everyone around me seems to totally hate it. I just love it. Hehe. I'm prolly weird. Who cares! It's beautiful outside. I'm gonna go and chill outside under a tree and read a book. Ok, good bye, see you.

Fri, 4th Oct '02, 12:35 am ::

Ouch! I just hit 22! Hehe. Yup, it's my birthday... turning the big fat double ducked twenty two now... It's just half an hour and already 14 people wished me 'Happy Birthday'! Isn't that sweet? First my sis, dad, mom, grandpa and grandma wished me online. Then Priya, her mom, and her dad. Then Taylor, Alex, Vicky (Calc2/3), Vicky's friend Sharon, Jenny, and Chris. And now I go and get some sleep. Not a good idea to stay up late the night before your b'day. Hehe.

Thu, 3rd Oct '02, 9:00 am ::

Lots of work and lots of studies. No time for anything.

Wed, 2nd Oct '02, 6:00 pm ::

I GOT MY MP3 PLAYER!!!!!! I'm sooooo excited. And oh my the sound quality is soooo good. Damn! I'm soooooooooooo happy. Hehe. Too bad I can't play with it... got a big economics exam tomorrow :(

Wed, 2nd Oct '02, 1:05 pm ::

Today is the 133rd birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Here is a very good site describing the life of the 'Father of India'.

Tue, 1st Oct '02, 11:45 pm ::

I'm shopping around for a good auto-insurance provider. My current contract will end in a few months and so I'm trying to get something cheaper than what I have @ the moment. I know a few things though: Cuz of my little accident in January this year, my insurance costs are gonna go waaaaay up! And when I buy a car, it'll add major costs to my insurance. But one thing I've learnt hunting online lately, is that picking an insurance company is a pretty complex job and no matter what price you get from one guy, you HAVE to shop around a lot before you settle down for anything in particular. And next year if they try to raise your premiums, just shop around again. Of course, changing insurers every year is NOT a good idea, but if they decide to double the premiums (as I'm sure mine will), it's better to go with someone else who might charge only $100 extra, and not double.

Yeah, life's about making simple decisions from a selection of complex variables. Like, do I want to buy a car or not? A simple yes or no question, but there's a lot of thinking that often goes into making the choice. As time goes by I'm getting more and more impatient with this question. Slowly I'm diverting to the 'yes' part. Everyday I waste a lot of time waiting for buses or commuting by mass transit. I can save 2-4 hours per day (YES!) if I actually drove to college and back, and did not have to stay on campus in between classes that were 5 hours apart. Also I do not need to leave the house at 7:30 am on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, cuz my classes start at 10. However, since my uncle can only drop me off @ 7:30, I have no choice. If I had a car, I could work/study 2 hours from home and then just leave for college @ 9:30. I was definitely gonna buy a good new car this August, but I couldn't cuz my college tuition was raised by $2000! That was my allocated budget for car. But now some things have changed, and I think I'll be able to shell out a few grands this year to buy myself a nice crappy old 1995-1997 used car, that will prolly last 12-24 months and at least save me 2-4 hours everyday. My budget is definitely less than $3000, more around $2000. Ahhhhh, let's see what happens. I'm too sleepy right now to think right.

Tue, 1st Oct '02, 11:40 pm ::

Wow. It's October already.... Anyways, the Physics exam went pretty well. I hope I get a good grade.

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