On dreams and nightmaresSun, 29th Jun '03, 4:15 pm::
Researchers have come up a new theory on dreams, unlike Freud's oft perverse interpretation of dreams. If you know me well, then you've probably heard me blabber about this dream I had or that nightmare I had. The current theory holds that stress, anxiety, and tension are the primary causes of nightmares. I refuse to believe it. All my life I have had dreams and nightmares and the earliest I can remember is about 1985, when I was 5 yrs old. Surely I didn't have any stress at age five! I remember I woke up in the middle of the night and cried because I saw an evil dolphin/shark in my sleep - there were actually three but the other two were playing with me; it could be because I might've seen Jaws that night, I don't remember. But as long as I can recall, I have had dreams, good or bad, throughout my life. Generally I don't like to bore people all the time with my dreams, but sometimes it gets so confusing that I can't hold it in.
30-40% of the time, I have nightmares, 10% of them extremely scary. Whenever I talk to people about them, they just brush it off and tell me I need more sleep, even though I might have slept 8-10 hours that night. So while I didn't like the stress theory and totally hated Freud's analysis, I kept wondering what the real reason for my weird dreams was. Then a few years ago Wired had an article about Lucid Dreaming - dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming and the consciousness allows you to guide your dreams. Of course I could perfectly relate to it. I become aware during a number of my dreams and can easily recall most of what I see. Sometimes I control them too and instantly teleport myself from one place to another. I would say I have one or two lucid dreams per week that I control and two others that I just witness. Of course the other 2-3 I suffer because the last thing you want to do when you wake up fresh in the morning, is recall a realistic nightmare about a loved-one's death or hallucinate that the acorns on trees are turning into faces and talking to you (had this one last week - I was sweating when I woke up). And note: there is absolutely no relation between my dreams and what I eat or drink, how hard I study or work, and whom I talk to or argue with.
Sometimes I thought maybe I'm just plain-old screwed up in the head, after all not a lot of people have acorns trying to talk to them in sleep. Till of course this new research came out, stating that dreams, ability to recall them, and creativity are linked together :) Now that just makes me smile with pride, cuz now I can say I have weird dreams cuz I'm so creative. Hehe. Though most of the times I laugh off my dreams or plain old ignore them, the nightmares do haunt me for hours and sometimes days. It's hard for people who aren't in my position to image how the hell can a dream about a lost key cause me to panic for hours after I wake up and I have nothing to say in defense. Next time I run into you, you won't be able to know if I had a dream or a nightmare that morning, cuz well, I've got really at hiding/controlling the effects of weird sleep. And no need to ask me what my last dream was - if it was important enough for me to share, I would. As someone said, "There's a reason you can't show your dreams to anyone else - they are for YOU and you only."
I hope I dream of chocolates and veggie subs tonight :-P
Sun, 29th Jun '03, 4:10 pm::
I want this job :)
Sun, 29th Jun '03, 1:25 pm::
Height of Globalization: "Indian guy in US reading an article on an Australian news site syndicated from a French press about Chinese river problems." :-P
Sun, 29th Jun '03, 2:50 am::
Here's an article on irony - "The final irony." The only person I expect to read and understand this article is Jackie and Tamara. Seriously though, only English or Psychology people can digest it.
Sat, 28th Jun '03, 6:40 pm::
Having perfected the Maggironi (Maggi + Macaroni), I am now set to make the best microwave baked potato :) I'm trying out a different method each time I try. Once I have perfected my method, I'll post it. The other day I was thinking that I should start a new section on my 'blog: Lazy College Student Recipes - Cheap, Easy, and Tasty!
Sat, 28th Jun '03, 6:15 pm::
Song for the day: "Cat's in the Cradle" - Harry Chapin
Sat, 28th Jun '03, 5:40 pm::
Last night was one of those nights that you wanna remember all your life. Last night was one of those nights that is really hard to recall cuz you were soooooo wasted. Of course it wasn't THAT crazy but still, for a guy who spits out SQL for a living, it was pretty good. So after work ended @ 4:30, I came home, did some work, and fell asleep. At about 11pm, Michele came to campus - we were supposed to go to her sorority party on Morrell St., just a few buildings away from where I work. It's funny how I can work all day in one building and lose myself while drinking in another one close by.
First thing she said when she came into my bunker is 'Wow! You really DO live in a room with a bathroom attached!' What can I say, it's a tiny room in the basement. Anyways, we went to her sorority house and I started with a glass/mug/cup/whatever of beer. Now I HATE the taste of beer - honest to God it's icky. Since she had to drive home, she wasn't drinking and laughed when I made weird faces while sipping beer. I wasn't enjoying the drinking at all. She said, "you wanna try the girly drink?" Being the pretentious macho guy that I am, I said, "No way!" But all that was required to break down my machismo were her words, "but Chirag, the punch is really really sweet." I was like, "why didn't you tell me before?" I'm afraid one of these days I'm gonna drink liquid lead if someone tells me it's really sweet.
So the punch was basically EverClear and sugar. Yeah EverClear is pretty potent stuff and some people have had extremely bad experiences. But all I kept saying last night was how happy I was and how much fun it was. The party was pretty decent, basically just random ppl huddled inside a basement drinkin 'n playin pong. A few chics were dancing but seeing how this is summer session with relatively few students living on campus, nothing wild really happened. I'm glad though cuz I personally don't like people shouting and acting wild. I like my parties chill and cool :-P
So anyways, after only 4-5 glasses, Michele decided to play Mommy and stopped me. Wah wah! I remember whining her to get me more sweet punch :( Cuz the thing is, if I wanted beer, I could have just got it myself - but well I'm a guy and it's not ok for guys to go anywhere near the punch bucket. So only she could get it for me. I kept telling her I am not drunk and that I can drink a lot more. She did something on her cellphone and told me to talk. Only now do I realize that she had hit the 'record voice-notes' button and whatever I had said is still recorded on her cell. If I was any smarter, I'd have realized she was playin' with me and hit the stop button or smething. Instead I just kept babbling on and on. Anyways after drinking that yummy sweet punch, I got extremely hungry. I think my words were, "I WANT PIZZA" and she laughed. Next thing I remember is taking out my wallet and realizing I didn't have enough cash. I asked the guy if they take credit cards for small amounts and they didn't. It took me a while to go through all my change and pony up the $5 or so. I slowly staggered on to a table and from then on, all I remember is smiling. Michele said somethings, I said something, but frankly, it's all a blur. Next thing I remember is waking up at 6am!
I woke up with no hangover whatsoever :) EverClear is awesome! Of course I don't wanna make it a habit but it's good stuff. Hehe. Once in 2-3 months is good enough for me. I did some work and wrote a loooooong email to my dad after I woke up. Went shopping with my buddy Mason and bought myself LOTSA cool food stuff :) Once again, Mason has got to be one of my coolest buddies, esp. with his bald head 'n glasses. Ya, he cut his hair so short that he's practically bald. HAHA. God he's gonna eat me for breakfast when he finds out I'm making fun of him on my 'blog!
Life is beautiful...
Fri, 27th Jun '03, 7:20 pm::
Woohoo! I got myself a Delta SkyMiles - American Express credit card! Credit limit is not much ($2000 only) but this makes my total credit limit $6000 :) My MasterCard has 3k, Visa has 1k, and American Express 2k - meaning in the worst-case scenario, I can manage to pay 90% of my college tuition using my credit cards alone (though I will do anything to avoid it). This new card is free for the first year but after that it'll be $85/year. Also I get free one/two SkyMiles for each dollar I spend :) If I pay my tuition via this then I just might be able to buy a ticket to Salt Lake City this winter for free...
Fri, 27th Jun '03, 3:40 pm::
Mason's famous last words: "Chirag, you have surfed the Internet to the point of retardation."
Fri, 27th Jun '03, 1:25 pm::
Just had a nice veggie sub @ the new Subway on Easton Av. with my buddy Mason. Stuffed like a pig right now. Anyways, looks like the spam blocking techniques are getting popular. Spam Bayes works good with MS Outlook and if you're like me, using Outlook Expess to the fullest, then PopFile's the answer.
Fri, 27th Jun '03, 2:10 am::
I have now begun to trust the octopus, in other words, I'm now using PopFile spam blocking proxy-software. This is a really nice piece of code that sits between my server and email client, looks at each email and tries to classify it as regular or spam. In the beginning it considers all mails as regular and I have to go back and classify the spam mails as 'spam'. With time it learns my email habits and automatically starts classifying my emails and detecting all the junk I get :) Let's see if it lives up to the big hype or not. So now in addition to Spam Assassin running on my servers and over 200 filters in my Outlook Express mail rules, I have PopFile trying to classify my mails. My email gets a bit slow (like 1-2 seconds per email slower) but once all three of these are running at full efficiency, they will block 99% of the junk I get :) Cool huh... Normally I get 20-30 junk mails per day. Somedays I get upto 50 though, so it's all just random.
Fri, 27th Jun '03, 1:05 am::
Had dinner with Suprithi tonight. She ordered this really good mexican dish - was called something like chimchima or chamchala or chupa-thingy or something weird like that. And the fried vanilla was mmmm good too.
We chilled for almost two hours afterwards, just talking and stuff. Now that school is over, I miss talking... you know just talking... not discussing projects or plans or work; just talking, being yourself, sharing. And it's always better when both people , not just one-sided. Glad Supri's having night classes this month :)
Thu, 26th Jun '03, 6:45 pm::
I eat a lot of food right on my desk while surfing. As a result my keyboard gets dirty (and I change keyboards often). Now if I had this one-handed keyboard I could eat all the time and get all chubby again :) And be clean.
Thu, 26th Jun '03, 6:25 pm::
I love web comics - so do they :)
Thu, 26th Jun '03, 3:55 pm::
This simulation of traffic movement is seriously cool. If you speed up the time warp to max, you can see in a few seconds how traffic slows down overtime due to imposed speed limits, road barriers etc. On some tracks you can even change the politeness factor and see whether is slows down or speeds up traffic. Pretty pretty sweet stuff :)
Thu, 26th Jun '03, 12:55 pm::
Wow. President Bush is fabulous*!
* conditions apply
Thu, 26th Jun '03, 12:25 pm::
Woohoo! Classes have been cancelled! Or maybe not...
Thu, 26th Jun '03, 1:20 am::
Love StrongBad? So do I. Here's all of SB Email secrets - easter eggs from every episode!
Wed, 25th Jun '03, 10:55 pm::
Onion has an article about area man who has no TV - while it's supposed to be all funny, the last para is so true:
- Continued Green: "People don't realize just how much time their TV-watching habit—or, shall I say, addiction—eats up. Four hours of television a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 120 hours. That's five entire days! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of watching fictional people live theirs? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a television."
Wed, 25th Jun '03, 9:20 pm::
Song for the summer: "The Sound of Silence" - Simon & Garfunkel, The Graduate
Wed, 25th Jun '03, 3:25 pm::
I'm still using my old pc. My new pc is all messed up. Let's say the mother died while delivering the twins (meaning the motherboard fried up after we installed the dual AMD cpu's). Sad sad. Gotta go through a long process and return it and get a new one. Urgh... I was without a computer on Monday! Can you believe it?
That Monday night taught me a lot of horrible sad things about myself. First of all, in my room I have no means of entertainment outside of my computer - no TV, no radio, no CD/DVD player, not even phone numbers of some of my friends! Sure, I could go out and meet up with a friend, but I mean if I'm alone in my room, there is nothing to do other than read a book. I eventually ended up reading Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos all night. Great book. Highly recommend it to people who love math, people who hate math, and people who are absolutely scared of math. What scares me though, is that without my computer I felt extremely helpless - no confidence, no self-esteem, no strength. I was so panicky and nervous. Next day I told my friend Derek how bad my night was and asked if I could be suffering from extreme internet or computer addiction. He said you're feeling just like a mechanic who has lost the tools of his trade. As crude as it sounded, his answer comforted me. But just like Sharon said the other day, we've all become slaves of technology, myself more so than anyone I know.
I do think I am addicted to the Internet and to computers in general. However, as far as I know, it's not affected my real life. While I have refused dates because of website work etc., I've never said no to hanging out with a friend because I wanted to chat online. So I don't think my addiction is in the disease stage (yet). The day I tell someone sorry I can't go see a movie because I have to read Fark will be the day I need serious help. So far so good...
Now, on to better things. On Sunday, I saw The Graduate on cable. I'd heard about Mrs. Robinson syndrome before and knew it was from this movie, but finally I got to see it. While I loved the movie, what I loved more are the songs. I knew about Simon & Garfunkel before, but this was the first time I paid attention to their songs and now am absolutely in love with their music (at least for this movie). Looks like they are reuniting this fall.
Anyways, gotta get back to work. Lotsa stuff to do...
Sun, 22nd Jun '03, 11:20 pm::
Tomorrow I'm gonna upgrade my computer to a dual AMD CPU with 1GB RAM etc. It's gonna be a tough upgrade. I'm crossing my fingers...
Sat, 21st Jun '03, 9:40 pm::
I get a lot of emails, mostly clients, work, old friends, software users, and a LOT of spam. Once in a while I get an email that totally shakes me up. Tonight, Doris, an 80 year old woman, sent me an email after reading one of my college papers (I dunno which one exactly). Her husband was World War II veteran and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I suspect she emailed me after reading this paper I wrote for my 'Trauma & Literature' class. Here is her email and my reply. As my dad often says, "Truth is stranger than fiction..."
Fri, 20th Jun '03, 11:05 pm::
At my aunt's home right now. Got my new pc + all my amazon stuff and lotsa stuff from my clients in the mail too. Did some grocery shopping too. And saw one of the worst stupidest Hindi movies ever - Koi Hai. It was so bad I want to gouge my eyes and crush my brain.
Anyways, here's something refreshing: CNN's 50 best websites. Let's see, RandMcNally seems to be a great map/roads site, much better than Mapquest. Whoa and one of my favorite blogs actually made it (hint: DULL)!!! Now I should prolly start going to Consumer Search more often, esp. before buying stuff. Twenty-questions and The Smoking Gun made it too. The rest are just famous/big sites like G & Amazon or stuff I know of, but don't check out like Lonely Planet & IFilm. Where's Fark and Fazed huh?
Fri, 20th Jun '03, 4:35 pm::
Going home in a few mins! Finally... It's been looooong since I been home, missing it bad :( Also my new PC's come :) And lotsa cool stuff from Amazon. Anyways, I'm extremely happy right now. There's a hidden reason too but well, it's hidden. Maybe next week? Who knows...
Thu, 19th Jun '03, 7:45 pm::
Just read one of the most straight-forward common-sensical articles on Doomsday prediction on Wired . The last paragraph is probably what everyone needs to realize: "Yes, the world could end tomorrow. But if it doesn't, its problems will continue. It makes far more sense to focus on mundane troubles that are all too real."
Thu, 19th Jun '03, 6:30 pm::
As I walked into my bunker after picking up some food, my landlady Sunny, commented, "You are the only busy person in this economy." I'm still deciding whether it's a GOOD thing or not.
Thu, 19th Jun '03, 4:25 pm::
Good news on the business front: Got a new client - wants a website like this for $5000 :) Bad news on the personal side: I am soooooo busy - I'll never be able to sleep now. Oh well... I think after this site and my cool little project, I'll be in pretty good shape financially. Let's see how it all works out...
Thu, 19th Jun '03, 3:35 pm::
Thu, 19th Jun '03, 12:45 pm::
The highlight of my day is listening to 'Chalte Chalte' by Kishore Kumar @ work - live via my PC :)
Wed, 18th Jun '03, 9:40 pm::
Got my econ grade: 39/40 - highest in class :) Me happy... Back to work. Tired as hell.
Tue, 17th Jun '03, 3:25 pm::
And I just bought a new PC from NewEgg for $1020!!!!!!!!!!!!! Basically this is all I bought: Dual AMD Athlon MP 2400 2.0ghz CPU on AMD760mpx Motherboard, 1GB DDram - 64x72ecc PC2100, Ati Radeon 9500 128MB DDR, Antec Power Supply 450W, and an Enermax Case. In English, that's two cpu's on a motherboard, 1gig of ram, an awesome video card and a good power supply + case. Why? Cuz my system is over 2.5 years old! I bought it when I came to US and am still using it! So anyways, the stuff will arrive hopefully in a few days and by next week my buddy Chris @ work is gonna set it all for up me. He's a hardware genius - he actually knows what the crazy numbers and cryptic symbols mentioned above mean!
Anyways, gotta get back to work. Oh and I spotted Sharon today. Hmm. Wonder what's she's been upto lately. Turns out she lives just a block away from me - so will prolly go see her often now :) That's once I get my work done...
Mon, 16th Jun '03, 5:15 pm::
Kathleen's working all summer at Schoor DePalma. The company offers a lot of services; I think she's in the environmental service department. I dunno much bout her job per se, but damn this site is really well designed - especially with all the circles, a unique navigation system, and all the pretty pictures on the left-side.
Mon, 16th Jun '03, 11:30 am::
I'm such a dork. I'm listening to songs off my hard drive in my bunker AND watching my bunker live on my webcam. I am SUCH a dork. LOL. Totally loving it.
Mon, 16th Jun '03, 11:20 am::
I'm @ work and listening to Sting and Adnan Sami! AjooBlast works! (duh) By the way I love Sting's site; well-organized, sharp looking, full of content, and a relatively different color palette. Oh my buddy @ work, Nick, was just listening to Abbott & Costello's Who's on First :) Life is good. Just like my dad told me in his email last night. Yup.
Mon, 16th Jun '03, 2:05 am::
G search for dullest finally shows you the dullest blog in the world as #1. Sometimes I wonder if this guy is really so dull or just simply amazing. His #2 entry says "Noticing one or two leaves on the ground - As I was walking along I noticed that one or two leaves had fallen from the trees. This may have been due to the slight breeze that was blowing. I left the leaves where they were on the ground and carried on walking." Maybe he's not really dull. Maybe he's just observant. We live about our lives doing things and never noticing when and why we do them. But then his latest entry is just plain dull: "Leaning against a wall - I was standing next to a wall and began to feel a little tired. I leaned to the side against the wall and continued to adopt this slightly more comfortable posture for several moments."
Interstingly the search for dull took me to the Dull Men's Club - A place — in cyberspace — where Dull Men can share thoughts and experiences, free from pressures to be "in and trendy," free instead to enjoy the simple, ordinary things of everyday life. Wow. These dull men actually got together and formed an online club! Talk about being silly... Well at least I can look forward to this site 40 years from now. Hehe. Or who knows, maybe I should join it right away, especially since I love dull trivia.
Mon, 16th Jun '03, 1:50 am::
Midnight shoppin'! I just bought Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences by Prof. John Allen Paulos and Everyone's Burning by fellow Farker Ian Spiegelman. Now what was I just babbling about not having enuf time? *hits himself in the head*
Mon, 16th Jun '03, 12:55 am::
Who are the public heroes of the real Internet? No, not Lee, Linus, or Guido, but rather the ones who have made themselves celebrities online by their sheer participation in the virtual web. The ones who created these technologies have gained more than enough popularity. How about the ones who actually used these applications to their fullest? Take for instance, Harriet Klausner. She is the #1 Top Reviewer on Amazon.com. Or look at CrazyOne in the Experts Exchange's Hall of Fame. There are tons of other people like them, some with extremely high Slashdot Karma points, some with tens of thousands of positive EBay feedback, and some with millions of dollars worth of virtual property in games like EverQuest. In real world social hierarchy is defined by wealth, fame, and most importantly appearance. Online, the ones who rule the charts are those who work the hardest and give their best efforts; most of the ratings are done democratically, usually by the sites' regular visitors. Derek Powazek explores online communities in his book titled, aptly Design for Community. Someday I'd like to read that book by Derek or this one by Amy Jo Kim. When I have this little thing called *time*.
Since you can't really hack yourself as the #1 Book Reviewer on the #1 book store in the world, you actually have to READ two books a day and post intelligent reviews to gain such status. Or you could contribute to the online community by moderating newsgroups, writing reviews of products, giving free programming tips, and staying faithful (meaning paying a few $'s once in a while) to sites that need your support. I personally have a few friends like that, those who check out my software and sites before I release them, find spelling errors, suggest improvements, and try their best to spread the word. Without these folks, my progs would be EXTREMELY buggy and my sites would always be off-color. What can I say, my sister's not here @ the moment. Hehe...
Sun, 15th Jun '03, 7:15 pm::
1000+ views! Thanks a lot Mos! Here's a pretty picture for ya :)
Sun, 15th Jun '03, 5:50 pm::
Whoa! Over 100 people have already read/heard about AjooBlast! My friend (SA Goon - 'Mos') posted this thread on the Something Awful forums. Whoa!
Update: 500 views already! Wow...
Sun, 15th Jun '03, 5:10 pm::
Ah I just remembered why I slept so less - all because of stupid Microsoft! Why? Cuz I spent over 4 hours trying to super-impose the current song on the media player and just couldn't get it right. No matter what I did, either the fonts became jagged or the text disappeared. Turns out, Microsoft admit their mistake. Damn them! Urghhhh. Anyways just goes on to show another of my shortcomings - I don't give up even if it's impossible (and that is pretty stupid of me). Eventually I went with a much simpler solution (putting the text under the window) but it only came after 4 hours of frustration. Ahhhhhh when will I grow up?!
Sun, 15th Jun '03, 5:00 pm::
Two days ago, just about now I started AjooBlast from scratch. Fast forward 48 hours and it has over 10 users already. The software now supports play-all and random-play modes. Also has a live stats window that tells you how many people are connected to you and what songs are being played. Ahhhhhhh. Gotta get started on my next project now...
Sun, 15th Jun '03, 2:45 am::
After over three years I've finally made a software that makes me want to jump and shout in pride and I realize that my dad, mom, and sister are not here to see it. Since it's a software that plays music over the Internet and the dialup is pretty slow in India, they can't see it in action. Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, AjooBlast (download exe) is here! It's one of the most kick-ass softwares that I've ever designed. Took me a LOT of coding and a LOT of staying-up-all-night. But within days of me dreaming of a proggie like this, I managed to create version 1.0 :) Here's what it does - at home, you can run it in the server mode and select which folders to share. Go to your office and then run it in the player mode, enter the ip address of the server and just click 'Connect'! That's it. You can then browse through your big huge music collection @ home right from your work!
You can set a password on your server so that only you can access your music. You can give it to your friends and they can listen to your songs. Best of all, you can browse through your friends music collections while they go through yours. I connected with a couple of friends and went over their mp3s. God some people listen to CRAZY music. Hehe. Anyways, I talked to the editor of PC World magazine and he loved the software. He's writing a book about the Annoyances on PC's and hold your breath... but THREE of my softwares are featured in it - TrayPlay, HotChime, and now AjooBlast! I'm thinking of making a Pro version of AjooBlast and selling it for $5 per license. Who knows, if 2000 people buy it, I can buy me a car :) I haven't sold a software yet - only websites. So let's see how it goes.
I'm feeling extremely excited right now - considering how EVERYONE who has seen AjooBlast has been amazed. Here's a screenshot just for you to ogle at. I think I should go to bed now. It's past 3...
Sat, 14th Jun '03, 5:00 pm::
Still workin on AjooBlast... Need. Food. Need. Sleep.
Fri, 13th Jun '03, 1:55 pm::
Ok this is what I want to do - go to my work everyday, click on an icon and be able to listen to all the mp3's and wma's that I have at my home. I want to be able to browse through my collection and I don't want to make playlists. I also don't want to install some real big software to do something so simple. I finally found that StreamSicle does exactly what I want, except it doesn't support wma format. Since 95% of my files are in the wma format, this software's not for me. So it looks like lil me has a lot of coding to do now :) How does this sound - AjooBlast! Run a tiny 60k program on your pc and specify all your mp3/wma folders. Also enter a password (you don't want random people listening to your mp3's... do you?) Then go to work and download AjooBlast there also. But now specify your home IP address and password and browse through your music collection just like you are on your home pc :) Only requirement - fast internet connection. I can't wait to make this program asaigh (as soon as I get home)...
Thu, 12th Jun '03, 2:15 pm::
Me hungry! It seems all I want these days is to sleep and eat! Phew at least I'm still human. Oh and last night's Econ exam was decent. I better get an A in that! Otherwise I'll be real mad @ myself. Art came over to my bunker after the exam and I introduced him to the fine cuisine of the little chinese food place two houses down - "Panda House" - Veg Chow Mein @ its best :)
Thu, 12th Jun '03, 1:55 pm::
It's funny how, when you are trying to save money, all the advice you get is about spending more money. I asked Bruce 'n Tamara where I could get a bag of potatoes. I forgot to stress that I wanted to make my own baked-potato in the microwave to save some $$$ every now and then. Bruce said they have a good market down on Route 18. I complained that the problem is, I don't have a car so it'll take me 2 hours to walk there! "Why not buy a car?" said Bruce. Tamara's like "Cuz his insurance would be twice the cost of the car." Bruce suggested, "Go buy a moped. It's really cheap. The insurance will be a coupla hundred bucks at most." I'm getting confused, "But I can't ride a moped. I dunno how!" Getting surprised, Bruce said, "Anyone can ride a moped man! It's so easy..." And Nick (my work buddy) cautioned that "You can't really drive a moped on Route 18" to which Tamara suggested, "Ya but there's alternative routes. Will take ya a bit longer though..."
So then for a moment I began to consider how I'll buy a moped, where I'll park it, how I'll pay the insurance, how I'll figure out the alternative ways to get to Route 18... and then it strikes me - I JUST WANT A BAG OF POTATOES! I don't want a car or a moped! So I said, "Guys... I'm trying to save some small money by making my own baked-potatoes rather than paying $1 everyday to Wendy's and you're suggesting I spend even more for a moped!" Bruce said, "Well you should've said that before!" *sigh* My bad. I should've. Finally Tamara said that there's a good market down on Hamilton Street and would be a 10-15 minute walk once a week. I think I can handle that.
What worries me though, is that for a moment there, I was actually contemplating buying a moped and wondering how I'll talk my landlord into letting me park for free. If I was actually 'intelligent', I would've made sure to tell them beforehand about the main reason I want the potatoes - saving moolah. Just goes to show you that I'm not really as smart as I always pretend to be :) If you see me in my Econ class, you'll prolly assume that I'm some smartass who knows everything and will get highest grades in every exam. Prolly far from truth. I'm just a 22 yr old big dumb kid who wants his bag of potatoes. That's it...
Wed, 11th Jun '03, 11:45 am::
Wed, 11th Jun '03, 10:40 am::
Whoa! Guess what I just found on the Internet: Remember the evil-genius HAL computer from Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Oddessey? What do you get when you add one to each letter of HAL? H -> I, A -> B, L -> M = IBM! Kinda spooky. Like those Bill Gates is the Devil things. But of course, Clarke denies any connections... just a coincidence.
Wed, 11th Jun '03, 8:35 am::
I dunno if I mentioned this but last week I bought a new shaver. I have now a shaver and a trimmer by Conair. Have to admit it, after trying a number of different products, I've come to the simple conclusion that Conair is a totally awesome company. I shaved last night @ 6pm (after getting the most expensive haircut ever - $18 - ya I was stupid - next time I'm going back to my $8 guy). It's over 14 hours now and not even minor stubble. I can finally go two days without shaving now and not look like a grizzly :)
Got econ exam tonight. Kinda worried since I don't have the book yet (it's in the mail) and the course material is pretty hard. Gonna do all my studying online on G. Lotsa stuff to do @ my work too.
Tue, 10th Jun '03, 12:45 pm::
The Axe Effect matching system - VERY funny. Of course in the end they try to sell you crap but at least they make you laff. Funniest is if you pick 1 High-speed and then 3 Doll. Trust me the results are hilarious.
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 10:15 pm::
It's not everyday that I get interviewed by a sweet lil PhD from Cambridge University, UK. So I know this lady Penny from one of my classes and she told her daughter Dawn about me 'n my work. Dawn is researching trends in the small and medium business market and how it varies based on age, culture, and field. Being a 22 yr old Indian making websites according to her, I was a prime candidate. Had a nice Iced Mocha (on her 'business' tab) and talked about me and my work for 2 hours. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. I love talking about me (DUH! you should know that by now) and even more I love talking about my work. And here's a smart PhD actually interested in what I have to say. She taped my on her dictaphone cuz I was speaking too fast for her to write down. What can I say... I love talking 'bout me! Anyways she said the interview was very helpful & in-depth. So I guess it's all good.
Had International Econ class after that and then went to Taco Bell with Art. It's been over 3 months since I had Tacos... Mmmmmm.
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 2:45 pm::
I search a LOT. I surfer a LOT. I don't know how I ended up here but here's a few suggestions for new punctuation marks. Just think of this - "every sentence you will make in your lifetime will only have one of three possible punctuation endings" - Paul DeMaio! O if you're me, there's also the ellipses (...) But over all, only three ways to end a sentence, unless of course you use my fav. interrobang (?!). Personally I like "The Fuht" (scroll down - last one). Ya so what's my point? Unh... I dunno...
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 11:50 am::
I saw this video (3mb flash) and I just don't get it. The end was pretty weird though. Hell the whole video was weird. Here's Video Beat Box Sequencer. Pretty cool. By the way I found a lot of other cool links from the B3Ta newsletter.
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 11:25 am::
Presenting the Internet's tallest building. Scroll down a page or two and you'll see some GuImp owns an Indian cinema theater that is playing - Sholay, Pakeezah, Bobby, and some Hema Malini movie I can't figure out. Hey MOM! You there? Can you tell me which movie it is? Hehe.
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 10:55 am::
Is it a photo? Is it a PC? See it for yourself.
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 9:45 am::
This week StrongBad writes a song about Sibbie - teh funny is back :) In fact better than yesterday's episode 9 of RedvsBlue.
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 9:15 am::
Oh by the way, I completed levels 1-7 on Try2Hack :) Final two levels are not up yet. Level 6 was pretty pretty hard.. involved me installing a firewall + packet sniffer on my PC and monitoring all inbound + outbound traffic for the Try2Hack Level6.exe. Then had to use an olde English encryption system to figure out how to get to level 7. But then level 7 was easy as hell. Who can't spoof their browser + OS + referer page huh?
Mon, 9th Jun '03, 8:00 am::
I owe, I owe... So off to work I go...
Sun, 8th Jun '03, 11:55 pm::
Every alternate Sunday is laundry night for me - hopefully. Today for first time every I did my laundry before I ran out of clothes. See! I'm not a slacker. Though I might be the 2nd dullest blogger. Anyways, tired and sleepy. I did a lot of work this weekend. Gotta study till Wednesday night - International Econ - Midterm.
Sun, 8th Jun '03, 5:46 pm::
Woke up @ 1pm. Been working on the home-flash for this site for 4 hours now. Gonna freshen up and work on 2 more sites. Oh well... At least I'm getting a lot of work done :)
Sun, 8th Jun '03, 6:05 am::
Been working on this site for about 12 hours now. It's all Flash. I'm tired now. Going to bed...
Sat, 7th Jun '03, 5:55 pm::
Slept for 13 hours today! Finally :) Feel fresh and lazy right now. Just saw Cigir's favorite talk-show host Michael Savage on MSNBC. Pretty impressive guy. Gotta get back to web-designing now.
Sat, 7th Jun '03, 1:05 am::
Since early this evening, I've been busy writing The 'Blog Potential. It's my view on how 'blogging can and probably will change the world slowly. It's presumptious for anyone to claim that 'blogging will ever cause any major social revolutions, but that's exactly what they said about art, music, radio, TV, computer, and the Internet. I still have to complete the article... might do it tonight, might do it next year. I dunno...
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 4:00 pm::
I've been reading a LOT lately about 'blogs and 'bloggers and blah blah. There are 'blogs, 'blog search engines, 'blog competitions, top-blogs, celebrity 'blogs, 'blog stock market, academic 'bloggers, news 'blogs, comedy 'blogs, 'blog analysis sites... blah blah blah. The list goes on. 'Blogs are the new medium - a personalized medium. And tonight when I go home, I'm gonna analyze it myself and write a little article about 'blogging, what I think of it in it's present state and awaits for blogging in the future...
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 3:30 pm::
Ajay Puri is the world's youngest web-designer - he's five years old! I wonder who the world's youngest blogger is...
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 2:35 pm::
The 2003 Webby Awards are here. Glad to see Emotion Eric made it to the nominee list. But where's Fark? At least Google News! won :)
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 12:35 pm::
Presenting an Internet classic: Need more stickersssss! In addendum, Maddox's views on Civic drivers.
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 8:55 am::
So why was Frank Sinatra referred to as "Chairman of the Board?" Oh and here's some pasta fazool for you :)
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 2:45 am::
Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger, who asks 'Where is Raed?' has finally been recognized by his employer - Peter Maass. It's an interesting story. Salam Pax is an Iraqi whose journal has become one of the most famous 'blogs ever and has recently been recruited by The Guardian to publish articles about life in Iraq. Despite being an Iraqi, he broke all social norms and admitted that he was gay and spoke about Saddam's evil dictatorship. He went offline a while ago, but is back now. And just recently, his employer Peter Maass confirmed that Salam Pax is real and was in fact his interpreter when Maass was in Iraq. Iraq is a dangerous place to be defiant in. It's a big risk Salam's taking, though all he does is 'blog away like everyone else. Isn't it funny how he and I do the same thing but what he writes can be dangerous and potentially lethal to his existance, while what I do, can at worst result in people thinking that I am a bad speller or boring 'blogger? For him to live in Iraq and speak openly about the cultural taboos is playing with death. It takes courage even to speak up in a post-war dictator-raped regime, let alone bring about a revolution. But then if there IS a revolution ever, it'll only come around as an inspiration from someone so average and bluntly honest like him. The fact that honesty still exists somewhere in the world, even in some media-adultered form, makes me think there's still hope for mankind.
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 2:15 am::
A lot of you have probably seen the Honda Cog advertizement by now. I used to think that it was a computer generated animation, but I was just surfin' my friend Tony's journal and found out it was actually 606 takes worth of real effort! I can't believe how some people have so much patience. The making of Cog - a true masterpiece in advertizements.
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 12:05 am::
I'm not a big beer fan but this 48 Proof Sam Adams is amazing. Anyways, had some real good food tonight. Dinner with Suprithi @ Old Man Rafferty's. To quote from this review, "When is the last time you were treated to a menu that began with two pages of desserts, one more luscious than the next in the descriptions?" Though I didn't have any drinks, I just found that they also have a great bar. What can I say, the mousse cheesecake was just too good. It was a fun dinner, just talking with Supri about the cliched Indian-American life, from Masala Grill to Home Depot.
I was pretty afraid of spending a whole summer all alone, working 10-14 hours a day and studying 4 hours a night. But so far things have been going pretty good. This weekend I got a LOT of work but I think I'm revved up to it now :) Next week is my first mid-term for the Econ class I'm taking. Also gotta study for that. Oh well, one thing at a time...
Fri, 6th Jun '03, 12:00 am::
Behold and shiver! The Swedberg family site is up and live. It's my *cute-little-blonde-girl* Tamara's family website :) It's hard to believe it's her first all-flash site. She's extremely creative and though she doesn't code 'n script a lot, she's quite nifty with her animation ideas. Just click on 'Devon' and then wait for the fire-truck to emerge and then click on it; you'll see what I mean. A lot of people tell me that I'm creative cuz I make all these websites but I refuse to believe them. As far as I know, I'm 1% creative, 99% methodological + hardworking. Tamara on the other hand, fits my definition of creative. Give her a little paper and a box of crayons, and she'll make a museum! Give me a little paper and a box of crayons, and I'll complain about the lack of infrastructure. If you remember, she's the same creative genius who made me the awesome StrongBad B'day card :) Oh and if you click on 'Tamara' for some reason I'm in there too! Notice the hat on this old pic. She calls me the Professor, though I didn't do any edumacating!
Phew at least it's the good kinda professor. Back in India, I remember my buddies Chetan & Vishal started calling me Professor after watching the movie 'Sangharsh' - a Hindi (according to some morons, poor) remake of the original Hollywood film The Silence of The Lambs. Hannibal Lector's part was played by Akshay Kumar - The Professor. So in other words, according to my buddies, I had the personality of Hannibal Lector! I don't think ANYONE right now can tell me that I am like that anymore. Phew, at least I changed.
Thu, 5th Jun '03, 6:15 pm::
Has anyone seen those "Come to New Jersey" tourism ads on TV? They're so fake and poorly enacted. Hell after looking at them I wanna get OUT of New Jersey! Gov. McGreevey comes in the last scene and tells everyone to "Come to Jersey." Oh well, I just hope they stop showing these ads otherwise people will really stop coming to Jersey. No offense to all the Jersey patriots but someone needs to tell these guys that Jersey is not exactly Hawaii or Puerto Rico. It's a good place to live in but sucky ads are no way to bring in tourist dollars.
Thu, 5th Jun '03, 4:35 pm::
Tomorrow's Forecast: "Fri Jun 06: Mostly Sunny 79°F/56°F, Rain= 0 %" FINALLY!!!!!!! Some good weather :) I'd have loved if it were 65°F highs but oh well, this is still good. Been working all day. Did a LOT of stuff actually. I'm almost done with my major project (Rutgers Payroll system). Next project will be something to do with Card Readers. No, not this kind, rather kinda like this.
Thu, 5th Jun '03, 10:55 am::
Hundred years ago, Ford's Model-T would go 25 miles with 1 gallon of fuel. Today, Ford's average car goes 22.6 miles per gallon. A cenutry of innovation in what? I bet Henry Ford is rolling in his grave right now.
Thu, 5th Jun '03, 1:55 am::
Before I forget, had an awesome night tonight - chilled with Rita after my Econ class. Went to this really sweet little restaurant/bar down in New Brunswick - Marita's Cantina. Had some Smirnoff Ice's, a big fried chocolate ice-cream and a really great time :) I'm slowly slowly learning to control my excessive talking. Today I actually let someone else talk while I tried my best to not interrupt her at every moment. Well I'll eventually become a good listener. I'm sure :)
She's Croatian. Before I met her, I kinda knew where Croatia was, but didn't know exactly. Well now I know it's on the shores of the Adriatic sea in Europe, bordering Bosnia and Hungary, just a li'l swim away from Italy (esp. if you are a whale). The interesting thing is, my cuzin Purvi is going to Europe in a few days and on her way, she's gonna take a boat over the Adriatic and cross Croatia to Bosnia. Rita's going to Croatia in a few weeks herself. And next week my friend from work Chris is coming back from Europe. There's just toooo many people having too much fun this summer. Oh well, I should just stop complaining and go to bed. Work starts @ 8am tomorrow. G'nite world!
Thu, 5th Jun '03, 1:25 am::
Hi Vishal. Yes, Vishal. Not anyone else, but Vishal... one of my best friends ever. I know you read this once in a while, whenever you get a chance. It's been long since I talked to you. Hope life's treatin' ya well bro. Things are going good out here. If you've been following this self-centered 'blog, you prolly know that I'm working full-time (8am-6pm) and taking summer classes (6pm-10pm) and making websites (10pm-2am) every day/night. So life's pretty tough. But then there are good times too. Most of all, I finally found a peaceful place to live in. It's a tiny room, one-third the size of your bedroom, but I call it home. It's funny how I always assumed that I'll find peace only in my own large 25,000 sq. ft. mansion and yet I have found bliss in a 100 sq. ft. place already. Of course I'm still hungry for more, but just wanted to share my new found wisdom with you that just because one hasn't achieved their life-long ambitions yet, doesn't mean that they aren't successful. Achieving the dream will take a life-time, but who says we can't be satisfied during the journey itself.
I miss you and Chetan a lot. Trust me. I have made a lot of friends here, and thankfully some of them (Arthur, Mason, Mihir, Syed, and blah blah awesome doods) never let me think I'm alone here. But just remember, watch your weight, take care of your hair, get your passport ready, and in a few years we'll be sittin' on a tropical island beach, sippin' pina-colada with li'l umbrellas in them :)
Wed, 4th Jun '03, 11:50 am::
It's June 4th. Guess what the temperature outside is? 55F! It SHOULD be about 85F right now, prolly 95F. Damn it's cold. And raining. I feel like I've been living in London since last 3 weeks - 2 days of sunshine and 19 days of rain. I don't like too much sun either and would rather have a decent cloudy day than a burning hot sun, but this weather is too much even for cold-loving me. Hell last year (Dec., 2001) it was 60F in mid-December on some days! Forget spring, we don't even have a summer now!
Wed, 4th Jun '03, 11:25 am::
Tay showed me this nifty Font Browser made in Flash. Sweet concept done pretty well. Quite useful too.
Tue, 3rd Jun '03, 11:55 pm::
Happy Tree Friends aren't really THAT happy. Check it out anyway, extremely hilarious.
Tue, 3rd Jun '03, 11:45 pm::
Today was a long tiring day. Woke up @ 7:15am, went to work, worked till 5:30pm, got back home. Had some Veg. Chow Mein (good healthy stuff, since it's basically vegetables) and then tried to keep my eyes open but failed. Took a 3 hour nap. Someone called me during my nap and we talked for a while. Then I woke up afterwards and realized I had NO idea who I had talked to and what we talked about. I looked @ my cell's 'Received Calls' and turns out it was Cigir. I called her back to make sure I didn't say anything stupid or just random gooble-garble gojdfgneirgdfg-dgergndfgn cuz I've been known to be out of my mind when I'm sleeping. Turns out it was all fine. She's prolly coming down to New Brunswick tomorrow. Hope I get to see her.
Ya so here's a request to all of you - if you call me and I pick up my cell after a lot of rings and then tell you I was sleeping, PLEASE HANG UP. Cuz seriously if I'm asleep I have no idea what's going on. Now I gotta do some work. More work. Urghhhhhhh. When will this end.
Mon, 2nd Jun '03, 10:45 pm::
It's not everyday that a 65 year old lady talks to me for 15 minutes and makes me laugh like a best friend since first grade would. My landlady, Sunny, an asian woman (I don't if she's Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese) came down to collect the rent for this month. My bunker is right under her bedroom so sometimes when I play music loudly, I worry if it bothers them or not. I told her to instantly call me anytime my music is too loud. She calmly told me, "Chirag, you need your music. It doesn't matter to us if you play your Indian music, Rap, or Hip-Hop loud, because we have learnt to live with it." There are not too many people like this in the world, people who want to "step into a college student's shoes and look at life their way."
Sometimes I wonder what makes some people so understanding. She told me she recognized some song I was playing yesterday and I told her it was Frank Sinatra's "That's Amore." Her husband, Ed, told me when I first signed the lease, that he was a big Sinatra fan too. She admitted Ed sings quite well, but just lacks the "something" that was in Sinatra's voice. So every now and then she sits in front of Ed and his microphone and tells him to "talk to me... sing for me..." I tell a lot of people that I don't really want to live beyond 60. I mean come on, what exactly will I do after I get old? Just sit around and nothing! But just imagining that if I'm lucky, I could end up with someone like Sunny, who can make each day seem like the best day of your life, makes me want to live beyond 100.
Her elder son she said was into Heavy Metal, even had his own band and played guitar really well. But obviously only one in a million makes it big in the music industry. After years of trying to break into the music industry, he ended up being a successful accountant on Wall Street. At his wedding, she told him to cancel the regular wedding-band and instead get his own Heavy Metal band to play the music that he lives for. Her son's friends call her Ozzy-Mom, basically since she told someone her favorite musician was Ozzy Osbourne. Nowadays, she said, some people are calling her Hip-Hop-Ma since she likes listening to the latest music by Eminem and Naaz.
Times change and the only ones happy, are those who change with it. And yet she said "technology is not that good and someday you will realize that only music and nature will bring you true happiness, not checking your email." It's at this point, I guess I differ from her. I'm sure most of you reading this actually side with her but I can't. For me technology is just another aspect of life that brings me pleasure. I'm not writing this 'blog just because I want to write. I'm also writing it because I love writing and instantly sharing what I write with you. And technology is an integral part of it.
I dread the day when I might look at a computer and curse at it that it ruined my life. A lot of people have told me it'll happen someday. I have, of course, cursed at specific softwares on dreadful days, but never have I looked at a computer and thought that it has caused me pain. It's second nature to me. Call me a nerd/geek/whatever but technology brings a form of joy that is unfelt by me otherwise. I'm not an artist, I'm not a creative musician, but I am an innovative programmer. I don't understand how thinking up a new and faster way to access websites is any different from writing a poem, because as far as I know, both bring the same amount of joy to me, first when I create them, and second when others appreciate them.
The cliched saying goes that "Technology is most efficient when it's invisible." I'd like to say that "Technology, once it becomes invisible, is no longer technology at all - it's art; inspring, life-giving, and comforting."
Mon, 2nd Jun '03, 4:20 pm::
Ever felt like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are too ancient to be included in the list of 7 Wonders of the World? Here's your chance to vote for the new Wonders of the World :)
Mon, 2nd Jun '03, 4:00 pm::
Here's a moving photograph. Here's another - The Afghan Girl. Last night I watched National Geographic's "How They Found the 'Afghan Girl'" documentary right before I fell asleep. It was quite a moving story. 17 years ago, in 1984, photographer Steve McCurry took this picture and turned it into a world famous portrait for National Geographic. Since then the picture has been used all over the world in different forms, to signify the plight of the Afghani children and women, especially the refugeees. He took the photograph of the girl in a school at a refugee camp in Pakistan and after 17 years, they finally traced the girl, a mother of three now. It was hard to identify her, mainly because it's Afghanistan - there exists no telephone directory to just look up her current address. By word of mouth and by diligent field-work, they finally found her and identified her true identity by using Iris Recognition technology. The irony of the whole story is that her original photo is still being sold in Afghanistan, especially to tourists and she doesn't even know it. That was her one and only photograph ever. This is her second and quite possibly last pictre, since she's gone back to her life of simplicity and hardship. One thing I fail to understand is how I missed this whole story, since it was released to the media last year.
Mon, 2nd Jun '03, 3:00 pm::
Jpeg and Gif formats for images are so 90's. The format for 2000 was PNG - great improvement over both. And now there's even more formats coming. Jpeg 2000 and VFZ. The new Paint Shop Pro 8 supports the J2P format :) Oh and I'm gonna buy PSP8 tonight - $99. Good price for something that practically runs my business. And maybe after spending so much for a piece of software, I might actually start using the hi-q features. Right now I use mostly the basic features of PSP6-7.
Sun, 1st Jun '03, 4:55 pm::
The 3rd Era of Web is coming. I sure hope to be on it.
Sun, 1st Jun '03, 4:30 pm::
Just saw the latest funniest thing online - Red vs Blue - Episode 8. I've been watching the episodes 1-7 for a while now and from the looks of it, RvB is growing in popularity as much as, if not more than, HomeStar Runner / StrongBad. Basically these 7-8 guys write a funny script about a buncha army men stuck in a box-shaped crater in the middle of nowhere - the Red team fighting the Blue team. Then they enact the scene by playing a video game Halo and record everything on to a computer. Then dub the script on top of the Halo game sounds and bam! They come up with the funniest stuff ever :) WARNING: You will need a cable/dsl internet connection (at LEAST 24kb/s) and the latest Quicktime plugin to view these videos. But trust me, they'll be worth it.
Sun, 1st Jun '03, 4:25 pm::
I don't think I can survive in a place like this - without cute chics.
Sun, 1st Jun '03, 4:20 pm::
Just got back to my bunker after a nice weekend with family. We were supposed to go to Great Adventure 6 Flags on Saturday but cancelled it due to rains. Last night we went to Chichi's and today had lunch @ Moghals. Total awesome food. I'm sooooo stuffed right now I can't even eat for the next few weeks! J/k
Oh and I just woke up my mom and wished her Happy B'day! Well it's already June 2nd in India :) So here's another big HAPPYYYYYYYY BIRTHDAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY MOM shout-out to the coolest mom in the world!!!!! I miss her... And what's uncool is that my dad's on a business trip to Delhi and away from her. Oh well... at least my lil sister is there :) Ahhhhhh last year this time I was in India, having sooo much fun.