RANDOM THOUGHTS

Grease monkey

2010-07-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with UserScripts.org and saw that they have integrated with 100's of content distribution platforms including blogger so decided to try it out. It's a great site to find some amazing grease monkey scripts which leads me to a script that my younger brother wrote to find deals on Amazon that you can install from here:

Amazon Discounts

Don't know what grease monkey is ?
It's an amazing firefox add on that lets you tweak websites to fix/add functionality using scripts. You can read more about it here.

UserScripts.org is a repository of all such scripts. You can find scripts to tweak your gmail inbox to display weather alerts when it get's severe ( I use this one ). Feel free to check it out !

Mississippi Burning

2008-11-22T01:41:00.000-08:00

One of the best movies I have seen after a long time. Mississippi Burning is a 1988 crime drama film based on the FBI investigation into the real-life murders of three civil rights workers in the U.S. state of Mississippi in 1964.

Information About The Real Life Case And How It Was Resolved

Lost and found

2008-10-05T16:56:00.001-07:00

Even after a week, it feels unbelievable. Can't believe how incredibly lucky I am. Lost my wedding band twice but it came back to me both the times. It was as if the ring was wanting to be found.
Forgetting it in a restroom in a cabin or dropping it in a middle of nowhere on a volcanic mountain was not enough to separate us.
It sure is my Prrrecious ... the one ring to rule all ! ... well, maybe not all but at least me ;-)

When you have awesome friends and some luck on your side ... what else do you need ?

Hamare profile pe aate hain woh....

2007-12-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

Latest SMS making the rounds:

hamare profile pe aate hain woh....
(zara gor farmayein..)
hamare profile pe aate hain woh............
(wah-wah)
aur ek scrap bhi nahi chod jate hai woh....
(kya baat hai....)

itna bhi nahi maloom zalim ko....
(baat ki gahraayee dekhiye)

recent visiters main dikh jaate hain woh
(kamal ho gaya)!!!!!!!

Red Blossom Cherry !

2007-01-03T23:47:00.001-08:00

Awesome story, great actors and rocking music. This is one of the best short films I have ever seen :

Right Here Right Now :

http://rajshri.com/shortfilms/nowplaying.asp?band=high&fileID=shortfilmsDrama8

B.E.

2006-06-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

A nice forward ... Reminds us of those engineering days.... 4 years of non-stop of what follows... day after day...

Engineering Dialogues

1. On being Late -

-- (standing at the door... gesturing to a friend) "Andar aaon kya? Kab chalu hua?"

-- "Attendance ho gaya kya??"

-- "I was searching for the Classroom"

-- "Train was late"

2. During the lecture

-- "mera assignment tere paas hai??"

-- "Kya bore ho raha hai. Bola tha bunk karenge."

-- "Heads, we go home, Tails, we go home now!!!"

-- "Journal sheet hai??"

3. Lab

-- "Expt. 2 likha??"

-- "Idhar Karna kya hai??"

4. Unit Test

-- "Oh Shit!!!!!! Itna syllabus cover ho gaya?"

-- "Aaj kounsa test hai?"

5. For attendance (less attendance isliye attendance badane ke liye bahane)

-- "I forgot the I-card , so watchman didn't let me in"

6. Late submission of assignments

-- "Maine ukko bola thaa ki copy karke mera assgnment bhi saath mein submit kar dena"

-- "Last date extend hua thaa"

-- "I didn't know the last date"

7. Late submission of Journal (for printouts)

-- "Format pataa nahi thaa"

-- "Printer is not working today"

-- "Friday ko light nahi thee"

8. VIVA (after exam)

-- "Yeh bhi syllabus mein thaa kya?"

-- "Achha !!! ye aise hota hai kya?"

-- "Ye subject ka reference book kounsa hai"

9. VIVA (b4 exam)

-- "Submission ab tak hua nahi hai , VIVA kya Kjaq doonga"

-- "Dekh Boss!! external bhi aadmi hai. Usko pata hai students ka ab tak preparation nahi hua hai"

10. VIVA (General)

-- "Dekh , tu jo bhi padhega , woh (external) tereko woh nahi poochhnewaala, then watz the point"

-- "Roll no. 1 aur 2 ko wapas bulaaya hai"

-- "External is asking Bermuda Triangle ka Magnetic force kitna hai"

-- "Ye kounse subject mein aata hai"

-- "Aaj kounsa Viva hai?"

11. Submission

-- "Ye bhi chhapna hai kya?"

-- "Iska bhi print-out lena hai kya?"

-- "Tujhe Sir ka sign aata hai kya?"

12. A conversation:

"Ye tune kya likha hai????"
"Jo word samajh mein aa raha hai woh likh, jo nahi samajh mein aa raha hai uska drawing nikal" "Phir bhi, kuch to idea hoga??"
"Maine uska likha hai, mera assignment check ho gaya, tu bhi wohi kar. Jo word samajh mein aa raha hai woh likh , jo nahi samajh mein aa
raha hai woh chhod de."

13. Exam

-- "Jo (mujhe)aata hai, woh (paper mein)aata nahi hai; jo nahi aata hai woh aata hai"

-- "ye question 2 saal se nahi poochha hai"

-- "ye last time hi poochha thaa"

-- "tere paas is ke notes hai??"

-- "woh chapter... mark weightage 6 marks... (facial ex-pressions speaks the story)"

-- "nahi samjha to rat le"

-- (when someone is intensively doing his last revision) "Yeh nahi aayega !!!"

Testing !

2006-04-30T00:38:00.000-07:00

Interesting ways to help

2006-04-14T00:22:00.000-07:00

A nice paper by Prof Krithi Ramamritham at IITB
(http://www.mlasia.iitb.ac.in/docs/help.htm )

Each of us has our own philosophy regarding how to help India.
Whether we live in India or abroad, we always have this nagging feeling that we can and should do more. Indeed we can. And why not now?

Here is a quick list of some simple ways:

1) We all wonder, especially during festive seasons, how to send
unique gifts to our near and dear ones. There's a really nice way to
do this, while helping Indian artisans. By shopping online for some
exquisite handmade goods, and have them delivered to friends and
family in India, you'll be able to send some truly exquisite and
quality Indian products.
Visit http://www.icicicommunities.org/communities/shoponline/home.htm.?

This site offers a wide range fantastic items, from all parts of the
country.? Help the Indian artisans -- who have rarely had direct
access to customers -- bring their creations to your homes. You can
help those who have been exploited over generations, keeping them in
poverty.

2) If you're interested in being more involved and doing something more
substantial, you can be a part of a novel venture to help promote the
largely ignored entrepreneurial potential that exists in rural
India. Join the Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund
(Aavishkaar India or AIMVCF), a rurally oriented, for-profit social
venture capital fund. It aims to provide timely, appropriate venture
capital financing, management support and professional expertise to
promising micro ventures. It accords priority to projects with limited
or no access to established institutions.?

Visit http://www.aavishkaar.org/

As an investor and an advisor for Aavishkaar,
I can personally vouch for its value proposition.

3) Another exciting project is 'Fund a School' in Madhya Pradesh. The
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Digvijay Singh, might not have
won international attention for his computer literacy and for his
wizardry with laptop computers. But his education guarantee scheme -
that built a school on demand from any village - has been hailed as a
worthwhile social initiative in many forums. All it takes is Rs.16000
annually to support a school.?

To read more about it, please do visit http://www.fundaschool.org/

4) So, that takes care of your inner needs. What about your kids? You
can sensitize your children and help them learn about the real
India. Encourage them to become Indicorps fellows and thereby obtain
invaluable hands-on experience by geting to work with NGOs and execute
projects that are created/defined by local developmental experts.
Check out http://www.indify.org/index_indicorp.htm

5) Fine, before you decide, you want to know what is being done
to help the usually forgotten lot?? Many sites consolidate such information:
http://www.infochangeindia.org/
http://www.goodnewsindia.com/
http://www.propoor.com/
http://www.indev.nic.in/
http://www.cseindia.org/

6) Finally, you feel that nothing in India will change unless better
governance prevails?? You can join forces with many who think this way.?
A visit to
http://www.adrindia.org%20/
http://www.loksatta.org/
http://india-watch.com/

will convince you that there is hope.

---------------------------

my 2 cents - There is so much need for ppl like us to help .. there are women abondaned after their family members discover that she has Aids (even though its the husbands fault), disabled kids whos families cant afford to feed them, elderly ppl who just need somebody to talk to ..
there are so many opportunities to volunteer ... so many different ways to help ... if only we try a little harder

Vivek

kya popat ho gaya !

2006-04-04T01:22:00.000-07:00

Today we all thought that one of our friends birthday is tomorrow .. so ordering the cake, shopping for a gift and notifying ppl for planning the evening started . The birthday boy has no idea that friends are home not just for dinner but for supposedly celebrating his birthday at 12 .. It was a suprise event, for all of us :), he was suprised at the unexpected cake and we were surprised to know that his birthday is not when we thought it was ... In the end all of us were laughing at each other.
kaash usne birthday alarm bhara time pe bhara hota .. itna bada popat to na hota ;) .. fortunately cake khane ke liye hum kidhar bhi jaa sakte hai .. specially if its an eggless one ;)

This weekend

2006-03-14T00:41:00.000-08:00

What did I do this weekend ?? .. What do I generally do on weekends ?? ... writing this one hoping that after a couple of years will re-read this post and try to remember how it was.

Weekend fever generally starts getting its grip thursday evening when we try and decide over dinner what can be done friday night.

So its Friday ! .. Last day of work ! .. mails/phone calls start afround 4pm... unlike some of my friends I enjoy working on fridays knowing its going to be fun after work. This friday we started with our extended session of foosball at around 6 (I play foosball everyday anyways). Ro came up to our floor and three of us were playing for about half an hour with other teams. Later we decide on a restaurant to go have dinner. Three of us of us hop into Vishal's car to CEDARS - an Indian restaurant in UW area. They had about an hours waiting time so I get this brilliant idea that we do our grocery across the street to save time but end up missing our reservation. Finally, after listening to gaalis from friends who had come from Belleuve we decide on another restaurant near downtown - Roti. After eating (its already 11) we discuss the options -
Bowling - been doing that for the last 3 weekends,
Movie - seen all of them, nothing new coming up,
so we go to Vishal's place to play poker but end up playing judgement till 3 in the morning. Later that night we went home and slept.

Next day everyone was up by 12 which is pretty early for weekends, although lately I have been waking up early on weekends than on weekdays. Being a sunny day we immediately decide on soccer (football for ppl in India). After a few phone calls and planning, 15 of us meet at a ground near Microsoft campus. Soccer is an exciting but a tiring game. 4 of the 15 get injured while playing.
My right leg is in pain. We pick up Vinay and 5 of us head down to eat some fast food (samosas and something similar to pav vaada). Ro gets a DVD from the store and we crash into vinays place. Ro' first cousin is a super star in Mallu movies and he got a hit mallu DVD from the indian store. He starts the movie while we are resting and we end up watching the whole movie ... as expected, its like a typical hindi movie except its in malyalum which only Ro understands .. all I have is the subtitles which sometimes read funny. After the movie there is argument on where to go, everyone is tired but most of them still want to go clubbing ... so here
we go again, back to Seattle downtown from Redmond (its a 25 min drive). We go home, change from our soccer gear and head out for Belltown Billards at 12:00 am. I am not a huge clubbing fan but its a good place to hang out.

After couple of games of billards, we get kicked out at 2 am .. closing time .. Few friends wanna try out another club next door - Venom, which is open till 4. They go in while four of us head back. We drop a friend and drive back to Redmond to reach just in time for the first F1 race of the season. Race ends at 5 with Alonso winning and Shumacher coming in second ... and its sleeping time.
Everyone again wakes up at 12. Sunday is also sunny and so we decide to go to the beach and play volleyball. Before that its Udipi palace for our breakfast cum lunch. After lunch, we get back home, play some carrom and change from party gear and head out for the beach. Beach volley ball rocks. Tired after playing, we stop at Subway for dinner and head out home.

Monday morning, I reach office and I have no idea what I have been working on .. It takes half an hour for me to remember what is the work that I do. I think it's a successfull weekend if it makes you forget what you do for living ;)

People we meet

2006-03-04T03:49:00.000-08:00

I have been residing in downtown for a couple of months now. Everyday I see lots of homeless people. They are smiling, holding placards asking for clothes, money. They are kind, they will never tell you anything aout the problems they are facing, but I know they are in pain. They dont have the comfort of turning the heater on when its cold. They dont have the liberty to complain.
As I cross their path almost daily, they have become part of my daily life. There is this guy who will look into your eye and give a genuine smile everytime he sees you. He looks really intelligent and experienced. I dosent matter that I havent given him a dime yet, he will still smile. I often wonder what did he do to deserve such a life? As I think about them and their experience with life I cant help but say -

My life is perfect, even if it's not

Sunshine

2006-02-28T00:09:00.000-08:00

I have always been attracted to the sun. To the extent that even in my sleep I roll over to the side of the bed to catch the morning rays. I walk to work when the sun is shinning no matter how cold it is. What is it that attracts me ? I dont know. I love staring for hours at the evening sun visible through the passing trees, sitting in the back seat of a car.
Irony here is that I recently moved to a place where a visible sun is an occasion worth discussing. People pray for various reasons but today, I just pray that I wake up to a bright tomorrow.

Hello World

2005-10-02T19:18:00.000-07:00