Computer???Noooooooo........

The problem with switching on your computer is that it makes you stick to it forever. You hardly ever turn it off. You glue yourself to it. You would not have anything to do, but still you would sit in front of it, pretending to be busy doing something. If you are watching TV, you can atleast turn it off instantly and walk away. But your computer puts a spell on you - always. Have you ever turned on your computer, checked emails, and then turned it back off instantly? I am sure you have not.

New Soul

Have you watched the Mac Air commercial? Nice song, ya? It's called New Soul, sung by Yael naim.

IA

My profile has been edited. I am not in Normal, IL aymore. I am not a student anymore.

Reached Ames, IA just two days ago. I have not been really able to admire the beauty of this town (I get this feeling that it's beautiful, that is why) simply because the entire town is covered with snow. The roads have not been cleared properly because it just doesn't stop snowing here. Nevertheless, the snow should melt and all the trees should come back to life in a few months (!).

Blidget, Anyone?

So really, I don't know what I did. I was on widgetbox.com a few minutes ago, and was just generally playing with all the widgets (digression - pay attention to the sentence "playing with all the widgets". What would happen if I turn the "w" in widgets upside down? Now I become a politically incorrect, perverted bastard who loves to have sex with little people). I was playing some really cool games there, when I saw a link that said "immediately turn your blog into a blidget". Now I do not know what in the world a fudging blidget is, so I decided to give it a shot. I did something - and it made something. I do not know how to describe it, but I guess it made my blog's widget and called it a blidget (without the log's - if you know what I mean).

Anyway, You can find the blidget here, and if for some strange reason you decide to install my "blidget" , you know where to go. But for God's sake, please don't think that I am trying to promote my blog or whatever. The blidget is a result of an experiment/accident, and I am just sharing the reults with you all.

Conviction

Decided today to check what Sam Fisher is up to and got to know that Double Agent's successor is going to be out this year in the second quarter (stale news, but I got to know about it just today). It is called Splinter Cell: Conviction, and is being made exclusively for the XBox 360 and Windows platforms.

Apparently, Anna is in trouble this time.

Those of you who have not played Double Agent, Fisher is now an escaped convict, and the government is desperately trying to catch him. In this installment Sam would not have his trademark goggles (he is on the run, so has limited resources) and his SC-20K rifle, which is sad. But he has sixth sense now, so he can smell any cop/guard following him, even if they are not visible to him. He also has a sub machine gun hidden under his hood.

The crowd in the immediate environment reacts to sam's actions. If he does something funny, somebody from the crowd may attack him, or call for help.

For details, read this article on Wikipedia.

http://passionateteachers.ning.com

Background - Previous blog post.

Ms. Kathuria has been kind enough to appreciate my post on her contributions to education. After interacting with her (read her comments on blogboard) I get this feeling that even I should do something for the kids, community, whoever or whatever. Of course, I understand that I should not expect anything in return. I don't want recognition - no awards, no nothing. I just want my efforts to bring some kind of relief/support to someone somewhere. But of course, "talent" is a pre-requisite, which I totally lack. Nevertheless, let me see what I can do.

Just so you know, Ms. Kathuria has also networked with various teachers like her and started a website here: http://passionateteachers.ning.com/. If you are a passionate teacher who is dedicated and wants to contribute to society, you may contact her here. I have also added her blog link under "Buddy Blogs" on this blog.

Video Games

Was watching "Game On: Video Games" on CNBC and got to know some very interesting facts.

- Did you know that Japan had to mint many new 100 yen coins because so many were inside Space Invader machines.

- The origin of Pac-Man: The team that created Pac-Man went to eat pizza at a nearby pizza joint (before Pac-man was created, that is). The moment the pizza was delivered, somebody took the first slice and the remaining part of the pizza inspired the team to create Pac-man.

- Did you know how Donkey Kong was given that name? According to the Japanese creator of this game, he wanted to name the game dumb monkey. Now Kong is the word for monkey in Japanese, and somebody had told the creator that in English, a dumb person is also called a donkey. He joined the two words and named the video game "Donkey Kong".

- Tetris was the first game introduced on the Game Boy.

- Sonic the hedgeHog helped Sega bounce back in the video games market. By 1992, Sega had captured 52% of the video games market.

-The Sony PlayStation (in the 90s) was outselling the top 5 PC makers combined.

Samosas!

Warning: Explicit Content ;)!

Was watching The Big Bang Theory last night and was enlightened about a tiny little hindi slang word that I was just not aware of. Here are a few dialogs from that episode that will help you understand what i am really referring to:

Dialog 1 (Raj's parents are voice chatting with him from New Delhi (lol!). They recently got a brand new broadband connection (lol again!):

Raj's mom: "Do you remember Lalita Gupta?"
Raj: "That little fat girl who used to kick me in the samosas and call me untouchable?"

Dialog 2 (this is after Raj met Lalita Gupta. His parents are voice chatting with him again to know how it went):

Raj's mom: "You are wearing the boxers that we sent you, aren't you Rajesh?"
Raj: "Yes mummy."

Raj's Mom: "Because you know what happens to the samosas when you wear the tidy whities.."
Raj: "Can you please stop talking about my testicles?"

And there it was. I suddenly realized that testicles are (now?) called Samosas in hindi slang! I was dumbfounded, stupified, and laughed my lungs out! Samosas? Boy! Who would have though of that.

Did you guys know that Testicles are reffered to as Samosas? Please tell me I am not ignorant. Please tell me this is something new.

How could that word be not part of my dictionary? How did all my friends not use that word at all during daily life conversation? I thought I knew all the bad words, but I guess I was wrong! Did my ignorance/apathy/ennui discourage me from updating my already stunted vocabulary? Was I hanging around with the wrong people? (lol!)

I am sure the new generation kids from India came up with this word. However, I must admit that I found this word absolutely hilarious!!

War, and More

Last saturday we went to the Arlington National Cemetery in the DC area. More than 300,000 US soldiers KIA have been buried here. Well to be honest, we went there as tourists, probably wanting take pictures and all, but the moment you enter the site, you get a very different feeling. It is, well, not eerie, but silent, very silent. You see graves everywhere. Every tombstone has the name of the buried soldier, the war they fought in, and their birth and death date.

It's a very long walk inside the cemetery. You can either walk or take a bus ride. My sister wanted me not to take pictures inside as a mark of respect to the dead. I agreed. I got this picture from Wikipedia so that you all could get a glimpse.

At the end of the cemetery is the Tomb of the Unknowns - for those soldiers who could not be identified. The tomb is guarded all the times by a guard. During winter times, the guard changes every hour and during summer time, every half hour. It seems like guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns is a big honor. A short ceremony is conducted every hour (or half hour) when the guard changes, and both the relief commander and the oncoming guard are required for the "guard change" to take place. Read more about it here.

On our way back we stopped at John F. Kennedy's grave, which is also in the Arlington National Cemetery. Just so you know, you can see the Pentagon right across JFK's grave.

From the cemetery we went to the Iwo Jima Memorial, which is dedicated to all the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in wars since 1775. It is a beautiful (and extremely huge) statue based on the photo clicked by Joe Rosenthal when marines raised the American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The statue looks very elegant and life-like. It has been so beautifully sculptured that you can actually see the creases on the soldiers' pants. And of course, it is huge. You have to see it to believe how huge it is. When you look at the soldiers you immediately understand how tough the battle was, and how desperately they were waiting to raise the flag, announce victory and end four days of dreadful combat.

My life as I know It

Well, in a few pictures, I have tried to depict what my daily routine is (these days, that is). What you see in this slide show is not at all exaggerated. Believe me, This is what I do everyday, and probably this is what I will be doing for the next 10 days or so.
Life is so much fun without having to work!

Blogboard

Sometimes I wish I had access to the Internet when I was still in high school.

Read this amazing article on hindustantimes.com about a Geography teacher in Delhi who has been maintaining a Geography blog "trying to get his students excited about his subject." I saw the blog and was amazed at the kind of things he has posted there. It has puzzles, some wonderful facts, assignments, videos, quotes, sample papers and last but not the least, "Geographic information". View the blog here.

This blog shows Mr. Suryaveer Singh's dedication, devotion, and enthusiasm in making sure that every kid in his school (and other schools too) gets everything in their brain. I am sure he realized that classroom teaching is not always useful especially for subjects like Geography, which sometimes may tend to get a little too boring. Another important point to consider is that Mr. Singh (and other teachers like him) perhaps also consider it their duty to educate the children of our country. They don't just make money - They teach, they enlighten, and encourage children to respect education and learn as much as possible. Achieving such a goal can be a big challenge, and what Mr. Singh and other teachers are doing is absolutely commendable. It is very important to understand the importance of technology, and to use it in an innovative and creative way.

Another teacher who is doing something along the same lines is Ms. Rashmi Kathuria. She is a math teacher in a school in Delhi, and blogs about imortant mathematical concepts. Her blog is very impressive, especially the way she explains everything in terms of the "real world". She cuts carrots to explain ellipses and all that(sorry Ms. Kathuria, I ain't a big math fan!). One slide show that was really impressive was the way she..ummm..well I've forgotten, but it's about how the tangent is equal to the "something else". Check her site, it's a slide show posted in November, and it's got something to do with a circle and tangent. It's a like a theorem or something.

Okay, so I decided not to sound so vague and stupid. I visited her blog and stole this video from there. I still don't know exactly what this is about, but it is pretty cool. In fact, it is terrific.

Coool! Innit?
View more math videos/slide shows on her math blog right here.
I only wish our teachers had done something like this when we were in school. *Sigh*

Happy New Year!

I am glad I started 2008 on a pleasant and positive note. Well, what I mean to say is that I paid a visit to a local temple (which was long overdue) and prayed to God to keep everyone happy and peaceful. You might not believe it but I always do that. I have a tendency of praying for people I care about, and also everyone else in general (not muc hfor myself). I don't think I should be writing all this, but if you think I am bragging about myself then you can go fuck yourself.

I have always believed in God. I do not curse him during depressing/stressful times and feel that everything, whether good or bad, happens for a reason. My favorite quote, as some of you might know is "I will go down fighting!". If I want something, I will do my best to get/achieve it. If I fail to get it, then probably it was not meant for me and God has something else in store for me.

On 1st January 2008 my sister and I went to the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Lanham, a half hour drive from Baltimore, and since it was new year's day, it was crowded. We had to park our car around 500 feet away from the temple and walk to reach there. It was kind of cold and windy, and the weather that day somewhat reminded me of the midwest. Anyway, the temple is very beautiful, and I was surprized by the number of deities inside the temple. Actually the temple is not very big, but since there are so many deities, you end up spending a lot of time in there. We were lucky enough to observe "Venkateshwara Archana". There were a few families that were waiting near Lord Venkateshwara for some special pooja, and my sister and I noticed that the panditji gave prasada only to those families - not to everyone. I, however, shamelessly went to the panditji and asked him if we could get prasada too. He was kind of dumbfounded, probably was not expecting me to just walk up to him and ask for prasada so explicitly. He half stammered and said "yes, yes, let me get it for you" and gave me one banana (others got two! :D).

And just when we were waiting to exit the temple, I was pushed by a middle aged aunty who was perhaps in a hurry to go somewhere. It was typically something that used to happen on a frequent basis with me when I was in India. Auntyji made me feel at home. I did get pissed for a second, but then, I thought it's ok. I ignored.

I am glad I visited this temple on 1st January, now I am hoping to visit temples throughout the year.

Here's wishing all of you a very happy, healthy, and fun filled new year. I sincerely hope that all your wishes come true. To all the assholes around - stop bugging people and mind your own businesses. It's time to turn a new leaf. The rest of you can continue to be nice people.

Taney

My sister and I went to downtown Baltimore today for an outing. Well, we had a reason to go there - My sister had bought a Swatch that Was acting weird since the last so many days. Every morning it would stop at 8:45 AM! No idea why only 0845..

We got the watch replaced in no time. And just so you know, Swatch makes some amazing watches now - and by that I don't mean those trendy, colorful, kiddish watches that come to our minds when we think Swatch, but very nice, elegant, beautiful chronos. Most of them were $140.

Anyway, after our quick visit to the store, we started a tour of Pratt St., the most happening street in downtown Baltimore (I think). We could not stop ourselves from entering the USCGC Taney, a beautiful Coast Guard ship standing quietly at the harbor. By just looking at the ship you could tell that it is one of those deadly combat weapons that looks so calm and serene from the outside. The first glance would not tell you what it is capable of doing, you have to enter the ship and "read" and observe to understand how it survived so many years of combat and action.

Well, Taney is apparently the last survivor ship of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Once inside, My sister was totally overwhelmed by the design and "looks" of the ship. The passages were somewhat dingy, and very narrow, and the fact that there are actually so many people aboard a ship makes the passages all the more narrower. She also didn't like the bunk beds, because they were smaller than a twin size bed!

I thought that the most impressive thing on Taney was the automatic and semi automatic .5 caliber gun which could do (I think) 2600 rounds per minute. Of course, that is not really possible when there is human factor involved, but the gun looked pretty cool. It is an air cooled gun, which means that whoever is operating the gun has to make sure that they do not overheat the gun because air cooling can take time, and if the gun gets overheated during combat, chances of that person never getting to shoot again in their life are highly likely.

Taney was fun. Climbing up and down all the stairs on that ship was fun too. But really, you have to be inside such ships to understand what kind of a life naval soldiers lead. It can be interesting, it can be disgusting. Some of us may get excited and decide to join the navy, others may just run away and swear not to think of the Armed Forces as a career option ever.

Got a chance to watch R.E.M.'s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Dr. Sahab's 50 inch plasma TV. Pretty cool!!

Well, It's Over Now!

The New Age Super Mario Theme

I'm going down to South Park....

I recently told an interviewer that my favorite TV show is South Park. Can you believe that! Lol!

Thanksgiving Break

Ah! What a trip it was. I went to Minneapolis and Chicago in my thanksgiving break, not to see these places, but to meet a friend who is very dear to my heart. I went to Minneapolis on Wednesday 11/21, the day when 2.5 million people travelled in the US. Chicago airport was full of news channel people, trying to cover the weather (it was raining just a little bit), flight delays, the trauma and all that jazz. Luckily my flight was on time. I reached Minneapolis in 55 minutes (athough the flight duration was 1:30 hours), and boy, was I disappointed. Looking at Minneapolis made me feel like I was going from Bloomington, IL to Bloomington, IL. Downtown Minneapolis has some huge buildings, but that's it. Nothing exciting. The highest building probably would have no more than 50 floors. Anyway, I reached the airport, and took the "light rail" to Downtown. I reached Downtown at around 4:20. Roamed around a little and bumped into this beautiful Indian restaurant called "Bombay Bistro", but unfortunately it was closed, and was to reopen at 5. I waited for some time (I was damn hungry) and went in when it opened. I started with aloo tikki, and I really cannot tell you how orgasmic it was! I have not eaten such an amazing Indian dish in the US in the 2 years that I have been here. It tasted exactly like the tikki you would get from a roadside vendor in Delhi (except that they added a little sophistication to it - you know, ceramic plate instead of a pattal, sides of 3 chutneys and all that, and a spoon that had some beautiful design on it). After finishing my tikki, I had malai kofta and nan, and to tell you the truth, It was fantastic! So rich, so smooth (the gravy), so yummy! I felt like I was eating in a restaurant in Delhi!

After finishing my dinner, I decided to pee. I went to the bathroom where another Indian guy was already present to give me company. He looked at me, waited for like 15 seconds, and then said,"India?". I said,"haanji". Then he goes,"kahan se?", and I go, "Dilli". Well, that was just the start. Turned out that this guy was my neighbour in Shalimar Bagh. His brother still runs an apparel store there. He introduced himself as Teetu (He was in his 40s btw!). I told him my name, and we exited the bathroom smiling. In the restaurant Teetu loudly tells all the waiters, "arey ye to mere padosi nikle!". I kept smiling. Then a lady came wearing a chef''s dress. I told her that the food was simply amazing, and that I had never eaten such good food in the US before. She smiled and said thank you. I wished all of them good night, took a cab and reached Richfield.

Seeing Joshi after two and a half years was funny. At first, I felt that that he has gained a lot of weight. He was also wearing those big shoes with big heels. In short, he looked big. Or huge. Immediately after seeing him, I started making fun of him (like the good old days). And he could not stop laughing.

We were in Minneapolis for 2 days, and then we went to Chicago for another 2 days. I have always liked Chicago, and the city brings a smile to my face everytime I go there. Joshi liked it too. A lot. I hope.

We roamed on the streets during daytime, and drank in our motel in the nights. Talked a lot about all the people we know - when, how, what they are doing, who got married, who is about to and all that usual crap. Joshi is still confused about America and its culture. He thinks I have become very sophisticated, but I corrected him. I am still the same old...just a little polished ;).

End of the World

1987:

It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine).

2007:

I am gonna DJ at the end of the world.

Thanks R.E.M.

Kaapi - Update

I think I am slowly getting addicted to coffee. Getting a medium BK regular on my way to work is slowly becoming a routine now. I think I should buy a small coffee maker and keep it in my office.

Kaapi

Was reading "Critical Chain" today and got bored to death. More than that - felt sleepy, and did sleep in the library for half an hour (Yes, I did! Can you imagine?). Woke up and decided to smell the coffee - ya literally. Got myself a medium BK coffee and I was up and running in no time! This is probably the first time in so many years that coffee has actually worked for me, otherwise it always makes me drowsy :) !

Feast

My carpet had the time of its life yesterday. It got every good thing in life it could possibly ask for.

Cigarettes (the ashtray fell - thanks to me ),
Tea (the mug fell - Thanks Ban),
Chicken (Thanks Ban for dropping that tiny little piece of chicken wings),
and Beer (the bottle just slipped out of my hand (One too many you think? ;))).

Then we all laughed.

Gotta get a carpet cleaner real quick!..lol!!

A Small World, Or Is It?

I have to tell you this. Vinay's childhood buddy came home a few days ago. I was generally chatting with him when he asked me where I was from. I told him Delhi. So he goes - where in Delhi? And I go - Laxmi Nagar. He then told me that he used to go there a lot when he was a kid ( he is from Hyderabad, btw). Being a Delhite I told him that many people confuse Laxmi Bai Nagar with Laxmi Nagar. But he was pretty sure that it was Laxmi Nagar and he immediately called his Mom to confirm. He talked to her, hung up, turned to me, and said " Krishan Kunj" in Laxmi Nagar. And I go "wow"..that's just a few metres away from my home!

One Small World.

Broom Broom!!

My room is getting dirtier each day, and things are really going out of control. Gone are the days when my room used to be super clean - when I used to put efforts to make sure that everything was at the right place. But now, things are where they just land. I just sit on my chair and keep tossing things here and there, thinking that they would land at their usual place. If I don't toss 'em, I make new places for them ;).

One of the reasons why it's getting dirtier is because I have so many things in my small room. Also, I have kept my toys (yes, toys!!) and shot glasses where I can easily keep my books or other such things. The carpet has not been vacuumed in 4 months, and the trash bin is overflowing with, well, trash.

But something has to be done. I have to turn a new leaf (lol!)..maybe not. I will try to clean up my room again, and if I fail, then I actually don't care ;).

My New Phone

Just decided to show off my new Palm Treo 755p:

Only in America

Watched Canadian Bacon last night after a long long time. Can't really believe that Michael Moore wrote, produced, and directed this funny movie about how the US of A always wants to pick up a fight with any nation for no reason at all. Well, the movie is very good, with a grand finale that made and would always make me smile. I am not talking about the final plot or the final scene or whatever, but the credit lines, simply because "Only in America" by R.E.M. is played in the background when credits move from top to bottom. This song kind of has always "encouraged" me to take things easy because anything and everything is possible in America :). Moreover, it's so easy to play this song on the guitar :).

Congratulations Saakshi and Prashant :)!

Big Ol' Larry's Truck Yard....WOOOOOOO-EEEEEE!!!!!

From Crackle: Truck Sale!

Cool Cool..

I wonder why air conditioning is more powerful in bathrooms than in rooms and lobbies of a building...

Electrolyte

"Your eyes are burning holes through me.
I'm gasoline.
I'm burnin' clean.
Twentieth Century go to sleep
You're plasticine.
That is obscene.
That is obscene.
You are the star tonight.
Your sun electric, outta sight.
Your light eclipsed the moon tonight.
Elecrolite. You're outa sight.
If I ever want to fly.
Mulholland Drive.
I am alive.
Hollywood is under me.
I'm Martin Sheen
I'm Steve McQueen
I'm Jimmy Dean
You are the star tonight.
Your sun electric, outta sight.
Your light eclipsed the moon tonight.
Elecrolite.
You're outta sight.
(Instrumental)
If you want to fly.
Mulholland Drive.
Up in the sky.
Stand on a cliff and look down there.
Don't be scared, you are alive.
You are alive.
You are the star tonight.
Your sun electric, outta sight.
Your light eclipsed the moon tonight.
Elecrolite.
You're outa sight.
Twentieth century go and sleep
Really deep
We won't blink
You're eyes are burnin' holes through me.
I'm not scared
I'm outa here.
I'm not scared.
I'm outa here."

The most orgasmic song ever.

Thanks Tweety!

Are You Talking To ME????

Dancing Queen!!

My friend Preeti, Dancing to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"..

iPhone!!

This is the funniest review I have ever read about a product. This one is about the new Apple iPhone on http://www.cnet.com/:

"This phone does nothing special that we haven't seen so far except look pretty. I was watching landscape movies on a touchscreen phone 5 years ago (P800). If you have ever dated a pretty girl you probably found out they don't do as much, what they do-they don't do well, and they are high maintenance. Yes, all your friends go, wow, she's hot, but ultimately when you need her to pull you out of the shower because you slipped on her oil treatment residue and broke your leg, she can't, because she's too skinny and only ate a salad for lunch...and dinner--probably breakfast too.This phone probably has several problems but everyone is so starstruck they don't notice:

1. Battery life will be a problem-running edge and/or possibly wifi, with a large touch screen will devour the battery (probably why they kept it at 2.5G). My BlackJack comes with a spare out of the box-because Samsung KNOWS one battery won't last for the day-hopefully Apple does the same or begins using Alien technology we are unaware of.

2. It can't replace your current iPod unless you are content with the content of your nano. iTunes through Cingular will certainly cost something extra so keeping your library fresh will be burdensome and it will add to the long-term price of the purchase and you are still carrying around two devices.

3. Get the fingerprint cloth ready because you will be wiping this thing down constantly. Imagine what the screen will look like after playing a game. I could go on but these plus more will certainly be mentioned as we get more specs.Remember these are "previews" and not "reviews".

A phone you don't have in hand can't be a 10 or 9 or 8 or 7 or 5 or 4 or 3 or 2 or 1. It gets the benefit of the doubt for now with a 6. That is, unless all you care about is pretty - if that's how you roll, have fun at the clinic."

Calling Dr. Seuss

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. " - Dr. Seuss

Well, I have my own tolerance level, so wouldn't really want to say what I feel like. But yes, those who mind really do not matter, because seriously, assholes will always be assholes.

I Fell!

My haircut was discussed in class yesterday. Axel thought it was gross, he was like, "Where do you go for your haircut ??". Angela thought it was nice.

Angela tells Axel, " Hey! Venkat got a haircut". This guy goes - No, he fell. Lol!!

Disappointed

Ubisoft has disappointed me - big time. After finishing Splinter Cell Essentials in 3 days, I started wondering about the possible reasons why this game's length was so short. First of all, most of the levels in this game were taken from previous Splinter Cell episodes. So it was more like replaying "Splinter Cell: Stealth Action Redefined", "Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow" and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory". Since the story line of Essentials involves Sam being framed for killing Lambert, there were new levels too in order to justify Lambert's murder.

But as I said before, I am complaining about the length of the game. Maybe the game was indeed short, or I have mastered the art of manoeuvring Sam with ease. Well, I don't know.

Now Playing - Need For Speed: Carbon

Fisher's Keeping Me Busy

And so it finally arrived!

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from my PSP, but when I got it and switched it on for the first time, I was spellbound! The graphics, the sound quality, the features - simply superb! Since the last few days, I check my email the moment I get up, but there's a slight difference. Instead of doing it on my laptop, I now do it on my PSP, and that too still lying in my bed! It is a MP3 player, picture viewer, video player, "Internet machine", and of course a portable viedo game console built into one. But you have to see it to believe what all it can do. I am amazed. Simply amazed!

:)

PS: Every word of Jimi's comment on my previous post is true. I made her go to the mall with me to get some games for my PSP. I did leave a few minutes (read 20) before I was scheduled to, and I was (and still am) definitely excited! Thanks for the company, Jpp :).

I succumbed to temptation.

I have always been an anti - Sony guy. I strongly feel that their products are super inferior, not really great, and overrated to the power of n. When it comes to audio equipment, I have always relied on Philips simply because of the amazing quality and crispness offered by its products. In case of video games, I never considered the PS2 as an option, and I bought the XBox instead. Portable gaming systems - same thing. I bought the GameBoy advance long time back. But..

The GBA is extinct now. I wanted to buy the NintendoDS, but the only thing that always stopped me was the variety of games offered by Nintendo. I have grown up now, and Mario and Zelda do not fascinate me anymore. I don't even look at games like Pokemon and Cars. Nintendo's catalogue is more suitable for children 10 and below. Of course, they have some good games like NFS and Splinter Cell, but unfortunately, the graphics are not that good (NFS Underground2 looks so silly on a GBA).

A secret - I have always been fascinated by the Sony PSP. I really like the super huge screen, and its ability to display amazing "console like" graphics takes my breath away. I recently got to know that you can access the Internet on it too. Plus its ability to play music and movies is a big big bonus. UMDs are expensive, but honestly, used ones are not. However, my policy of not buying anything Sony made me ignore it for so long.

I could not take it any longer, though. I kept on thinking about the PSP. I realized what a wonderful piece of machine it is, and how it can help me fulfill my dream of playing "realistic" viedo games 24 X 7. I finally said fuck it, and bought the PSP yesterday. Now I am desperately waiting for it to arrive.

Just so you know, I am still against other Sony equipment.

Prince of Persia

It's Over!

The spring semester is finally over! But not without causing a lot of pain. I feel that this was the toughest semester I have dealt with so far. All three courses I had taken were pretty damn tough, and I slogged day in day out to get rid of it. However, I knew that I had not done my finals too well, and was very very nervous.

The grades were due today at 1PM. I opened iCampus at around 12 and started refreshing the "my grades" section, thinking that they might have posted the grades much before the scheduled time. The thought of getting really bad grades kind of killed me. I was preparing myself to buy a one way ticket to India (lol!), only to finally find out at 1PM that I survived!!!

So many down, two more to go! Thank you God for helping me :).

French CanCan

I first saw the French CanCan when I was 8, and immediately fell in love with the tune to which all the women dance! If you remember, Doordarshan had a collaboration with Transtel (German TV) and every afternoon, they used to show a musical program, and in every episode, they used to show the French CanCan. After a few months, they stopped showing it, and I was disappointed because I used to enjoy it so much. I kept on thinking about the tune for years, and how much I used to enjoy it.

A few days ago I just thought of googling it, and guess what - I found an mp3 of that tune!

Fender...Guitar??

I have been spending some money on music. Went to a music store in downtown Normal yesterday and bought two CDs - "Stunt" by Barenaked Ladies and "The Silver Lining" by Soul Asylum. Even in this digital age where people download songs and entire albums to save physical space in their rooms, I prefer to buy CDs and collect them. More so because I "bought" a song from Yahoo! Music once, and for some reason unknown to me, it plays only on my computer, not even on my damn cool Philips "Windows Media Ready" MP3 player.

Well that is what this post is NOT about. Today I decided to listen to the Soul Asylum album on my discman, and I also decided to replace the headset that I got with it with the one that I got with my electric guitar. I was a little apprehensive because the reviews that I had read online about the "Fender" headset were not really good. Of course, it is meant to be used with the guitar, but still it has the same pin that any standard headset would have. Anyway, I plugged it into the jack of my CD player and started listening - and boy, was I impressed! Man, the audio quality is so damn good, so amazingly crisp. The bass that it offers is very very impressive. Also, you can seriously listen to all the instruments used on the song. And considering the fact that it was a part of an electric guitar package which was $200 ( the guitar, a 15 watt amp, extra strings, 3 picks, an electric tuner, tremelo bar, and this fantastic headset), it is a steal! I wonder how much it would cost if you go to get just the headset.

If you have any plans of getting headgear for your audio player, try Fender. Some AAA shit this is.

Year Zero

Heard the Nine Inch Nails's new album recently. Too good. It will give you the "The Downward Spiral" feeling as soon as you start listening to it. Just like TDS, this one has a lot of electronica too, but I felt that the last few songs in this album are kind of soft (maybe like TDS, whose grand finale was a nice rendition of Johnny Cash's Hurt).

Listen to Year Zero here.

Dr. Robert Ballard

Got a chance to meet Dr. Robert Ballard a few days ago. In case you are wondering who he is - he is the guy who discovered RMS Titanic's wreck. He is an oceanographer, and has discovered more than a 100 wrecks in his lifetime. He said that the Titanic has been his most interesting discovery, but not his biggest one. During the question answer session he said that he would want 51% of the questions to be non titanic based.Funny.

Read more about him here. Audiocast.

Today's class got over at 7 instead of the usual 9, and like always, Axel was ready to give me a ride back home. I was surprised when he asked where the closest pub was the moment we sat in his car. We ended up going to Foul Shots, a typical frat bar where kids watch football and basketball games and drink till their souls are satisfied. Apparently, while chatting we discovered that we both share a common interest, something that is very very dear to us.

Gaming.

It was kind of funny when Axel was trying to explain a concept and could not recall the exact word for it. He said to me,"there is a word for it", and I go,"respawn", and he says," you really play games"..lol!!

Barenaked Ladies

Watched a few Barenaked ladies videos on youtube today while working - felt that the band is grossly underrated. Their music is different, and all their songs give you a unique feeling - a kind of "this song's making me happy" feeling. I have always liked "call and answer", and the video looks like a mix of R.E.M.'s Everybody hurts and The Truman Show. Wind It Up is an amazing song, kind of mid 80's popish rock and rollish.

Check out some of the bathroom sessions they have on youtube.

Now that I have heard a couple of their songs, I want to watch them live. Apparently, they are performing in Cleveland, OH on 06/17/2007.

Radioman

Got a little spare time after many days, so decided to really experiment with my new electric guitar - a Fender Squire Strat. Surprisingly, I tried many things that I never wanted to try on an accoustic and realized that it's not really difficult - I just need time, a lot of patience, and a whole lot of practice to do crazy stuff.

Thanks Geoff for lending me your pedal.

Monster Monster Monster Monster Pawn..Pawn..Pawn..

Paid a visit to Monster Pawn a couple of days back (the one in Normal, not Bloomington), and found out that it is a small store full of priceless items. Found a couple of CDs that I could never find when I was in India.

If your eyes are dying on you, and you cannot read the titles of the CDs that I bought, then read on (do you have a screen magnifier installed on your computer?):

Stone Temple Pilots - Core

Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music..Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop

R.E.M. - What's The Frequency, Kenneth? Single

Presidents of the United States of America - Self titled album

Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe...Eddie!!

R.E.M. was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame on March 12 this year. As Stipe's grandma says - R.E.M. is about remembering every moment, and this is what I have been doing, and would continue to do. I have been listening to R.E.M. since I was 14. I have always been motivated by these guys, and don't exactly know how or why. But they deserved it, and they got it.

R.E.M. performed during the induction ceremony on March 12, and guess who joined them...Eddie Vedder!! Yes - and he was the one who inducted them, thanks to the "strange" power invested in him for a few minutes. Watching two of my childhood (and adulthood) heroes perform live was a dream come true. I only wish I could see them perform right in front of me. Life is a bitch, however, youtube would not let you die!

Bill Berry also joined Buck/Mills/Stipe to perform four songs.