Random Musings

… and slow over rates make for useless cricket. Therefore, imagination isn’t quite cricket, is it now? So, taking that further, to be a good cricketer, you should have no imagination. Or am I just imagining things? Hmm..

So, since we have established that over rates are overrated (or was that imagination), lets move on. I’ve been listening to some good stuff these days. The new album from the Killers, one of my favorite bands, Viva la Vida, and so on. And as I wrote that, I stretched my foot out, and knocked over the adapter for the wireless router, thereby rudely severing my connection to the Internet. Apropos, how limited does it feel to have a computer without the ‘net these days. This brings me to the first computer we bought in 1997. We (my brother and I) used to use Abhishek’s computer (ah that little 286 with 1 MB of RAM, and a 40 MB hard drive… we had some great times with that. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, anyone?), but we didn’t have one of our own. Computers were pretty damn expensive back then, but since my brother was doing Comp Sci at school, he had a (vaguely) legitimate reason to petition Mom for this.

After some negotiation, we bought one! This was a second hand computer picked up via Ranbir Mamosa’s colleague at the bank. It had a 486-DX2 66 Mhz (AMD, and overclocked to 90 MHz!), 16 MB of RAM (a lot back when 8 MB was the norm, and we insisted) and a black and white CGA monitor. It came with a 1 GB HDD, and cost us Rs. 16,000.

Many thanks to Mother for that, since it led directly to where I am today, typing this in on this fancy machine with oodles (that’s a technical term) of storage, kickass monitor, and blah blah blah..

Getting back to what I was saying, back then, that computer was pretty self-contained, and we had ages and acres of fun with it. No need for net, no need for nothing. Now, it’s impertive that we’re connected all the time. Heck, I use a Blackberry, with the unlimited data plan, and am never far from the net. Good thing? Bad thing? I prefer not to go down that road, since I like Asimov, and absolutes are no fun.

The song says, “there was snow, white snow”, and I realize that I’ve never played around in snow. Seen it, from afar on the tops of mountains that looked like jagged teeth, but never actually stepped in it, run in it, felt it go down my shoes and freeze my toes to bits.. It’s quite strange that I haven’t been to a snowy place. And that reminds me that I haven’t read Tintin in ages (Snowy!). It’s expensive these days, but one day, when I have lots of money (or even if I don’t), I’m going to buy the box pack and keep that. It’s one for the ages.

Jingle bells, and Christmas is near. Now, to atheistic me, the festival itself does not hold that special value that it does for the devout, but it’s still got that feeling of holiday spirit. When we were kids, we used to hang up stockings (we had long gray socks that passed for stockings) on our bedpost (no fireplace, y’see), and sometime in the middle of the night, Mom would get up and fill them with, if I remember correctly, one Daily Milk, one little push car (red for me!) and some sundry sweets. So we had our very own Santa moment the next morning.

I took a moment off just now to read some old posts, and I noticed that I had actually set up categories for these posts: Linux, Random, Sad, Happy!, and Xbox. Of these, at this point in time, Linux has two posts, Sad has three, Random has one hundred not counting this new post, and Happy! and Xbox don’t even show up in the list, since I never wrote anything under those categories. This says something about me, but I’ll be hanged if I know what, besides the fact that I am, indeed, very random.

Talking of hanged, heard that old one, “We must hang together gentlemen, else we shall most assuredly hang separately”? Benjamin Franklin said that, I believe (resolutely refusing the temptation of that little box with the big G), and it’s as funny now as it must have been then. I bet they died laughing.

“Fill their heads with rumors of impending gloom.”

Nice line, that. Gloom is such a lovely word. No one can say that enthusiastically. It contains in itself an infinity of gloom and doom. The double oo does it, I think, but not always since boom! is good, but boom can also be something you hang a mic from. Gloom isn’t like that. It’s a very self contained word. It’s the kid in the playground who’s always playing on his own, but seems perfectly happy doing so, to the point where those who observe him feel a sense of vague apprehension. Put gloom in a sentence, and instantly the eye is drawn to it. The two o’s are like wide eyed accusation, staring at you unblinkingly, till you feel like hanging your head and mumbling, “wasn’t me, I didn’t do it”.

Once, long ago, on a dare from someone who shall go unnamed, I wrote a story on The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. It was a funny (ish) story about a minor devil named Bob, who took some of his annual leave and came down to earth, to stay at the Deep Blue Sea inn. Naturally (since I have no imagination), he falls in love with the innkeepers daughter, and then outwits Satan himself to win through in the end. How does he do that? As I recall, it’s because he’s a minor legal clerk, and he wrote the fine print. And as it turns out, even Satan doesn’t read the fine print! This was before I went to law school, by the way. Sadly, I lost that story somewhere; it fell between the cracks of many hard drive transfers.

Here’s some unsolicited advice: Buy the new Killers album.

So my update is done. The problem is, every day there are about 80 MB of new updates released, and I am no longer on a 2 Mb line. So I have decided to freeze the upgrade till the full version releases, on the 18th.

Why the subject? It’s from this book that I am reading: The Stone and the Flute. It’s translated from German, and it’s really good. There are some books that you know are good as soon as you read the first few lines. This is one of those.

I have now been in my new place for just about three weeks, and it’s quite nice. I’ve got an phone line, and a ‘net connection, but no gas range or fridge. Why? Well, food can be outsourced, especially in Bangalore, where you can get good food at a reasonable price. And I don’t mean KFC and McDonald’s. I mean plain simple fare, the kind that fills your belly after a hard day’s work. Not that I put in a hard day’s work, but I’m trying to make a point here, cut me some slack.

So yes, food has been outsourced. I do my own cleaning and washing, and attempt to have a comfortable home. Comfort is a variable thing, of course, and one man’s comfort is another man’s purgatory, but I do believe that I live a reasonably comfortable life.

Of course, it could be better. To wit, I could have my Xbox here, with some new games. I am putting the wheels in motion, and if all goes well, I ought to have the Xbox here around the 20th. In fact, to anticipate it, I have just purchased Project Gotham Racing 4. Yes, yes, I know that I am spending money hand over fist, but I shall not eat for the next week to make up for this.

I wonder who reads these posts anyway. I know a few people who do, but is there anyone else who reads this? Would I be surprised? Oh well, as long as you enjoy reading, good for you.

I was going to write something witty and brilliant, but of course the moment I tried, my mind opened up like a yawning chasm and everything fell into it. Sigh. Never mind, gentle reader, I feel your encouragement (or your bug-eyed and very bored stare), and I shall keep plugging away. If nothing else, at least when I read this later on, I will be encouraged by the distinct improvement in my writing. I mean, ANY pap I write later will be better than this. Forethought kids, forethought. Always plan ahead. Your future self is going to be bald, fat, stoop-shouldered and wheezy. Don’t let him feel that the past was a wonderful time, full of beauty and fun, when he was young, strong, and women did not run screaming when he smiled at them. No, let him remember his miserably boring youth; the acme of acne; the feeling of complete and total insignificance; and of course, never having enough money.

Then your future self will look proudly down at his sagging gut, and decide that a little fat does not matter, at least he does not have a pimply face anymore. And so what if he can’t run a mile in four ( or forty ) minutes, at least he has enough money to buy himself a nice car and drive that f’ing mile in 30 seconds.

Hah, I must plan for the future they say. This mysterious “they”, that always seems to know everything. I’d like to get my hands on them, just once, and ask them about their sources of information. It’s more than probable that they just make it up as they go along. Just like me in this post. Does what I am writing make any sense at all to you? It does?? Are you sure???

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Just HOW drunk are you exactly?

I will try and be clever now, and segue from drunk to the great Indian October Fest. Of course, I can’t resist pointing out to you my clever use of the word segue.. nice, na? I’m in danger of drowning in a sea of self-admiration here. Well,anyway, it’s not a bad way to go, eh?

Screw the Great Indian October Fest. Let’s talk the great white shark. The terror of the seas, the silent predator. You know, I couldn’t spell predator.. I spelled it predeter, predetor, preadator, before I finally snapped and googled it. So you see, I can use segue, but I can’t spell predator. Where does that leave me? In the hungry maw of the great white, that’s where.

Chomp chomp chomp…. BWAAAK. Damm, I got thrown up. Not a nice feeling. Apparently, my tortured prose is not the only thing that’s indigestible. And the worst bit is, I agree with great whitey!

Well well well, ring the bell bell bell and I am off to bed. This was another one of the free flow posts, brought to you proudly by Drainex, the free flow experts. Good night everyone. Take care.

The sad news was that my X360 power supply died a month or so back for no clear reason. And Microsoft wanted $80 for a new one. After spending tons of cash on the X360, $80 more was a bit much. So I did some searching, and reading and thinking, and found that you can run an Xbox 360 on a ATX power supply!

I couldn’t try it in college, but yesterday night I took a knife to the adapter, cut away the cable, and some creative wiring ensued. After this, I plugged it into my SMPS and Bob’s your uncle! It’s ALIVE…..

The ancillary advantage is that I don’t need a honking big 220v->110v Step Down transformer. I can run a cheap and cheerful little SMPS, and life is good. If you want to do something like this, here’s where I got it from. All thanks to Hackaday.

In fact, I’ve been having Power Supply problems. My Thinkpad adapter decided to die on me too, and took out the Thinkpad’s charging circuit with it. I’m out of warranty, so I’m hoping the chaps at Nehru Place will be able to help me. Some little hole in the wall shop kind of this. Hopefully they won’t ask me to shell out big bucks, cause I’m deadly broke.

I re-did the phone wiring in my home today, and now my ‘net connection is so much smoother. DSL is susceptible to interference, so the slightest bit of hiss, crackle and pop on your phone line can kill it.

Ok, so that’s the geeky stuff over with. There really isn’t anything else, so I apologise to my lay readers if most of this post was Greek to you.

Fedora Core 5 installed and updated and setup with all the multimedia plugins and java and all that jazz. Why did it take so long? That would be due to my trip to Delhi. Went to meet my brother and catch up with the capital.

Dod (that’s my brother, Narendra) has rented a new place, to bring his new wife to. No, not new as in out with the old in with the new, new as is never before.. Most of you probably know he’s getting married in a couple of months. Anyway, this new place is great. Nice and large, brand new, spiffy marble flooring, the works.. with one small exception. There’s absolutely NOTHING in it! Not a stick of furniture.. well, apart from one wardrobe, and a pair of chairs. He’s got lots of work before him.. and then he gets married and finds out what WORK really is! heh heh, one can’t wait!

Delhi was fun, if a bit full of driving around town. I met a few old friends, and absolutely no-one from college, which was a nice change. My last few trips to Delhi always involved meeting someone or the other from college, and not all the meeting were pleasant. Anyway, nothing like that happened this time, and I played loads of Winning Eleven 9, ate loads of good food, and watched the Pink Pather and Ice Age 2.

Talking of food. If you are in Delhi, and it’s late at night , and you are hungry.. there are a few places to go to. One is Comesum, at the Nizamuddin Railway Station, where you get good food at reasonable prices, and the place is always packed. Loads of pretty women there, cause the Delhi party crowd comes there after they get kicked out of the discs. So if you are starved for food, or just want to check out the chicks, head to Comesum.

On the other hand, if you are feeling flush/you killed your rich uncle and got away with it, head to the Maurya Coffee Shop. Open 24/7, this is a nice place to get some good food, at exorbitant prices. Think 575 bucks for a club sandwich. (INR) On the other hand, the food is really really GOOD. The Club Sandwich is huge, and can easily do for two people. Me being me, I ate one myself They also have some great ice-cream concoctions. Take your date there and impress her.

So I went to Buzz at PVR, which is fairly old, and Calypso, at the Hauz Khas village, which is new. Both places were nice, albeit a little pricey, but then that’s par for the course in Delhi. Had a great time, and actually danced.. if you can call what I do dancing!

I was supposed to be in Delhi for two days, ended up staying for a week, I finally got back yesterday, and immediately installed Windows Vista CTP. I must say that I am not very impressed. It’s slick and all, but it ran like a dog ( a dead dog) on my system ( Athlon 2400, 1 Gig Ram, GeForce 6800 GT), and seemed a long way away from a final release. There’s  still time, since they won’t be launching before next year, and it does show some promise, so I will be tracking it, and checking it out.

So Vista was no fun. What’s a geek to do? Install Fedora! I tried it before, but it failed for some reason. So I burnt a new DVD, made a new partition on my newest hard drive, ran naked around the house, killed a chicken and sprinkled the blood on my monitor(oh no! Bird Flu!), and got down to it. This time all went well, and it installed smoothly. The next thing to do was run the Fedora Frog, for all the multimedia plugins and jazz. I updated Fedora first, of course, and that took an hour ( 360 MB of updates). The Frog took another couple of hours, but now all seems to be well. My Gamespot video’s are still not working though, so I will be looking into that next. But Fedora is really really nice..

Talking of Gamespot, I sat and watched the Nintendo Event live, and I must say that I am bloody impressed. They seem to be hitting all the right notes, and suddenly my Xbox 360 doesn’t feel that special anymore

I am downloading the demo for Top Spin 2 as I speak (write?), so I off to play that now..

More later, as always

Slept yesterday through the day. When I say through the day, I MEAN through the day. 9 AM to 9 PM. Have been up all night working on various projects and assignments. Am excited about reviewing Fedora Core 5, and am waiting desperately for this semester to be over so that I can head home.

Eric Clapton playing, and the sun in rising outside my room. Have to stay awake through the day and make a few presentations and then collapse into bed sometime in the early evening/late afternoon. Looking forward to that.

I’m also looking forward to reviewing Fedora Core 5. It’s been a while since I looked at Fedora, and this new release is supposed to have some great features, especially in the speed thrills department.

These summers are going to zip by thanks to all the work associated with my brother’s wedding. He gets married, and I do all the work. That is a fair division of labour. No, I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe lots and lots of hard work awaits him after he gets married! heh heh

Still, I have some Xbox goodness to look forward too, and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is beckoning.. I also need to get some Linux-y work done and set up some new interesting things at home. Think Asterix server.. and some work on Xen virtualization. I’m falling behind on the geek quotient, and I need to catch up.

I’ll be hoping to switch from XP to Linux on my laptop as well. Last time I tried it, my battery life went for a toss because the fan control wasn’t working too well. I tried, Debian, Suse, and Ubuntu, and all the howto’s and forum threads i could find, but nothing seemed to work. So this summer, I shall try once again to exorcise the Windows demons!

Oh well, back to work I guess, got a TRIMs assignment to submit. For those who don’t know what TRIMs means, don’t bother.