On Niagra August 2005

Corning Libra Picninc


The picninc was at Watkins Glen state park and me and Sanjeev started out around afternoon , we reached corning HQ where there was a bus picking all of us up , A good amount of people decided to drive up . We started out around 1 and reached Watkins Glen picnic site by around 2 , BY now everyone was hungry and without waiting we all decided to have food . The food was excellent ,
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There was lobster as the main menu , I had neve eaten steamed lobster so it was an experience eating a lobster ...cracking out its shells and legs .( I had a food posinoning the same night but then that is a tale I rather not write about , trust me I had a hard time ) .


Well after a good food adventure we decided to play wiffleballl ,it is different version of baseball and if you are good at cricket you can pick up this game real well. It is really a fun game and I recommmend it as game which you can play in alleys and school hallways :D , I remember playing hallway cricket in school especially in the last day of school and the summer vaction starts .. WE used to play cricket with question papers tied with rubber ball , Everyone would be going off to their native places next day and you know you are not gonna see your buddies for another 2 months. SO you play like anything.. ah .. those good old childhood days . well getting back to picinc we played two rounds of wiffleball and we won one game and lost one and then the last game was a tie.

We later moved on indoors as the sun was scorching upon us and we had this really cool game called Marshmallow Engineers , (I dont knwo what the game was really called , Marshamllow engineers loks like a cool name ) . SO the game is about builiding the talles Marshamallo towers. THe tallest tower whihc stands stable for 30 secs atleast after the final whistle blows is decided the winner
Well strategies started pouring in and we decided to move with a pyramid structure a s building block . We had lot of fun building the tower , Although we were the runners up it was a lot of fun..

The winning marshmallow tower


After that the whole Librs project team was dedicated and although my contribution to Libra was limited to getting the Libra production system . It was a great feeling to be assosociated with such an intiative
The Gang





As we came down watkins glen in the evening; the evening sun had come out bathing the whole place in crimson .The glen had us enchanted . It was all in all a memorable day

Cousin Brothers. One of those rare photos which have most of us.. in one snap 

24 Hours , 24 Kids , One Big Family

Most of my friends who know me always say that I am a People Guy , well its true but then I have to thank all my cousins for that , 24 in all , This is just from my mothers side . I guess in this era when you have just one brother /sister and 2 or 3 cousins ,I must say we have been pampered with numbers .

Some say Size does not matter but then when it comes to the strength of your kith and kin numbers does matter . As they say about Wolves

The strength of the Wolf is in the pack
and the strength of the Pack is in the Wolf

One thing is that when you have so big a number there is always activity going on . May be it is going for a movie or having our own home cricket/shuttle /football team . We are there.

And we come in all sizes , ages and talents. We have Racing fanatics to computer geeks to Doctors , Engineers , Teachers , Hotel Managers.. let me just say we cover a lot of sectors he he .

and here I chronicle the whole pack. Amrith, Jugunu , Bimal , Binny, Dungu , Abhi(Your truly ) ,Archana, Unni , Cinu, Anu ,Laskshmi, Ullas, Doodi , Roshni, Ajit ,Chitra, Kuttu,Achu, Divya, Shreyas, Hari,Gautham ,Deepthi, Gopika

Well telling about each and everyone will take pages , but I will write in the coming posts.. keep reading this space

A nice Article on COM

I have programmed in COM for a good part of my early career . I am sure there are a lot of COM programmers still out there , In case you are one or are diving into te world of COM , This is a great link
COM Tips

First Anniversary Jitters

Well it is here , My first Marriage anniversary , Time has flown so fast I am still not able to believe it has been 1 year since I got married , looks like yesterday to me hm.. Now being the first anniversary I am not sure what to gift my dearest . To be frank I am little bit out of ideas now , I can see that expectations are high. For lack of original ideas for now it is a nice movie and a dinner at a cozy restuarant. MY wife being a vegetarian finding a good restuarant is always a problem

Oh Krishna

Well it all started on the day of Vishu .
It was the Festival of Vishu as I said and I wanted a photo of lord Krishna so that I can see him in the morning( Vishukani ) . I went to the neighborhood Asian Store ( 22 Miles away ) not exactly neighborhood , to find a photo of my deity. There was none there and I was a bit disappointed . Coming back home an idea struck me , I should be able to get a photo from the net and get it printed in walmart where they have a 24 hour photo centre with 1 hour processing. Right ! hm... I was soon to find out how wrong I was
Armed with this knowledge . I first got a photo of the lord from some temple site and I uploaded it to walmart online photo store. Searched my zipcode and scheduled a local pickup at the nearest walmart store.

Feeling too good about my extra-ordinary idea I went home and drove with my wife to the shopping centre . On the way I gave a big lecture about how man should adapt to his environment and get what he wants from the resources available to us. I could see that she was half bored but I kept yakking anyway .
Half an hour later at the store ..Photo Centre

Abhi : Hi
Lady at the counter : Hi
Abhi : I have a photo pickup
Lady at the counter : Uh . What's your last name ?
Abhi : Shanmugan ( Thinks.. what is it with this country in last names? Doesn't nobody want to know my Name ! )
Lady at the counter : I am not able to find it
Abhi: It was an one hour processing
Lady at the counter : Oh! I was checking in the wrong draw
Abhi: Itsalrite (grins)
Lady at the counter : Is it a small or a large photo
Abhi : Large 8 x 10
Lady at the counter : ok .. No Cant find it
Abhi : I uploaded it from the net
Lady at the counter :( checks the computer) gets the picture of Krishna . Sir is this your picture
Abhi : (Nods ) Yeah
Lady at the counter : Sir, We cant print this , This is a digital picture
Abhi : What , Aren't they all digital I mean
Lady at the counter : No sir this is a graphic and we need permission form the owner of this photograph
Abhi : Well it is a god's photograph
Lady at the counter :Sir We cant .It is against our policy
Abhi : What I am telling you that is a photo of GOD
Lady at the counter : Well
Abhi: Do you mean to say I need to get a copyright from God , I am sure god wont mind Walmart printing a photo of him
Lady at the counter : Well sir let me talk to my Manager
Abhi : Sure
Tall Man : Sir may I help you ?
Abhi : Yes you may , please ( explains the whole problem)
Tall Man : (nods his head ) Sir this picture is a digital picture
Abhi : Yeah I know So ?
Tall Man : We cant print it , We need permission from whoever owns copyright of this picture
Abhi : This is for my personal use and not for sale , And look I have this important festival coming up and I need to have this picture
Tall Man : Sir I understand but It is against our policy
Abhi : Are you telling me that if I have a photo of Lord Jesus here I cant print it in Walmart.
Tall Man : Yes that is correct sir
Abhi : Well what if I declare that I won copyright for that picture
Tall Man : Sir you have to be a licensed artist or a studio
Abhi : What ? Cant a normal human being work on paintbrush and get a picture
Tall Man : No
Abhi : Damn
(Abhi Throws his hand up in the Air , Stands near the counter , No budging , apparently Abhi has decided the Non -Violent protest is the way to go )

Tall Man : Sir , I can talk to Senor Store Manager of some other store
Abhi : Sure
Tall Man : Talks on the phone
( Abhi cant hear what is being said , long conversation, Abhi is not impressed , This is an old trick , he talks to his some buddy and you think it is some big shot on the other end when the joke is on you )
Tall Man : Sir we can't print it
Abhi : Why am I not surprised ?
Tall Man: We cant help you
Abhi : Ok
(Gives up walks a few paces dejected and then suddenly turns around comes back . One notices a sparkle in Abhi's eyes)
Abhi; Where is your printer Section ?
Tall Man : Over there
Abhi : Suppose I buy a printer , I can always return it If i am not satisfied with it within 14 days right ? I guess that is ok in Store policy
Tall Man : yeah ,That is correct
Abhi : I would like to buy a photo printer
Tall Man : which Model
Abhi : Oh the costliest and the best
Tall Man : Well that would be .... ( Groans as it strikes him and you can see a smile spreading across Abhi's Face :-)


PS: Abhi and Bini ultimately saw lord Krishna on Abhi's new laptop,
Happy Vishu to all

Tring.. Tring.. Mobile Phone.. and me..

Well I have got a new post paid mobile phone last week , well to most of you that is not anyting new but for me it is kind of a different situation . Some years ago I was one of those staunch believers that advocated , I can live without a mobile phone and I had a whole lot of reasons for it.

Camera rolls back to 3 years to TNHB , Chennai where I was staying as a bachelor with some of my college friends ,Whilst almost everybody in the house and peolpe around me had a mobile phone , I did not have one. Though there has been many a advice from people on the convenience of this little gadget , I remain unconvinced.
I saw this little gizmo as an intrusion into my private time .

My top reasons against mobiles included some of these ,It is an annoyance to people , especially to those without one; It is not good for the heart , cause Impotency.. and i Had tons of links in google to prove , It kinds of brings work into your home ,It costs me time and Money for somebody else problems, worse I spend money to attend some sales call;

Well I never did buy a phone for a long time back in 2000 when something unexpected happened , This was my friend /Roommate Sanju going to the US on a short trip , Now sanju had a phone which he had to leave behind. and this phone has a prepaid card which needs to be recharged so that the number does not get expired .
Me being the staunch believer against the mobile revoloution kind of resisted but then I decided to give it a try. Well boy was I hooked , by the time Sanju came back , I had been addicted to SMS and eventually I ended up with Sanju's original SIM because the number had been more widesread amioong my firends than his.
After that I did buy a couple of phones all of them Nokia and I ended up gifting phone to my MOm , Dad brothers and my girlfriend ( She was one of the primary reasons for mobile phone believer conversion in me , Thank god for Free SMS ) .And suddenly travelling on a train with my battery charge running out it hit me ,How much i had got addicted to the gadget.
But it was too late , rather i enjoyed the conversion I believe , later I moved on to USA and here is when I became De-Mobile once again . having landed in US with no prior credit history . I once agin started to subscribe to my old philosophy of
I dont need a cell phone , but unliek in India in the states I was almost an alien.
Soon my answers to What is you cell phone number changed from
" I dont have one "
to
"I am looking around for one"
to
"Let me give you a ring to store it "

Guess that conversion was long time in the making . I seriously wonder if i ever had a chance of a Mobile -free life .
But having became Mobile I love it. It is a Motorola V551 , Camera phone . Polyphonic, bluetooth , WAP , MMS, Quad band , color display and what not..

So here I am back in the Wireless world

I am Back

Back after the Septoplasty on to blogging . I was recovoring from the operation past couple of weeks and I have really not been upto anything . So It is nice to be back and start blogging..

Out of Blogging

I am having a small operation today Septoplasty . Hope everything goes well It is a small procedure. So i wont be blogging for a while I guess..

Bini I love you

Fiddler on the Roof By Corning West High School Kids

Went annd saw a broadway musical enacted by Corning West high School Kids . When I went for the show I did not really have too much expectaion from the children . But the performence was brilliant and I was really impressed at their talent .

The Musical itself is a based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem. Tevye the Milkman is a Jewish peasant in pre-Revolutionary Russia, coping with the day-to-day problems of `shtetl' life, his Jewish traditions, his family (wife and daughters), and state-sanctioned pogroms.


The Songs are beutiful especially "If I Was a Rich Man" and "MatchMaker Matchmaker" the rest are quite ok

All in all it was a wonderful evening .

Security Scan Tools for your PC

Dont have expensive Antivirus software Installed ,You can still get your PC scanned online for security vulnerabilities. Its a good way to test for spyware, virii, or open ports. Here are a list of sites you can check out for this:

http://hackerwhacker.com/
http://scan.sygatetech.com/
http://www.testmyfirewall.com/
http://www.auditmypc.com/
http://www.iggyz.com/Test.html

PS : Try using a firewall , In this era it is worth the investment

My Fish Tank with Gold Fish 


;

Current Affairs

Vineeth V , Well what can I write about vineeth . Well we used to call him "Current"... the name came becasue of the the speed in which Current went about anything ..:)

I was his hostel neighbour , My room was next to his and I never really met vineeth for more than 5 months since I came to the hostel and when we met we became thick friends . We have spent tons of nights listening to Jim Reeves and discussing about things varying from Politics to sports cars to what not . One of the most memorable moments in the life at Modern(thats the hostel Name ) was how we all Shyam , Jerry ,Anup , me, sanoop ,Hahu and vineeth used to practice for a group song that we never sang but , it was all fun now when i reflect back to it

Non Classified Vegetarians


Well what do you know about Vegetarians o Vegans . Well I personally have known different kind of mystic vegetarians in my life. Notice the use of the word Mystic in the previous line .. well I dont think I can find a better word to replace it . well soe of you atleast who is reading this blog might be vegetarians and you have a picture of what a vegetarian is ..
So close your eyes and think about a vegetarian you know ..
Have you thought about it , you havent haven't you .. well do that ..
ok .. so cool you thought about a person.. now think of his food habits and then ponder some thoughts over what i have to say below..

A Vegan is one who eats plant and plant products alone . These are pure Vegans

Now if you drink mile you are not exactly a Vegan but a LACTO- Vegetarian , meaning you drink Milk you are one of this

I have another set of friends who eat egg they are classified as OVO Vegetarian

If you eat fish you are a vegetarian too :0 , Who would have believed they are callled PESO vegetarian
and if you eat fish and milk , you are termend Lacto-Peso Vegetarian ..

well so you see the word vegetarian has so many scientific classifications
Now let me introduce you to another set of vegetarians whom i broadly classify as
:) well Non Classified vegetarians

Proxo Female vegetarian
This particular set of people turn vegetarian in love . That sound complicated did it not . well No what it really means is these gentlemen turn vegetarian if the girl they love/like is a vegetarian and somehow the benefits of these vegetarian tendencies largely depend on the females approval in particular

Proxo Male Vegetarian
I dont think this needs any explanation , but statistics shows that this section of vegetarians are a far lesser breed than the one above

Location Based Vegetarians
These are again vegetarians at say one particular place . This could include being vegetarian at home and Non vegetarian outside . A lot of my friends from highly religious family lie here and this vegetarians carry some amount of risk of becoming pure vegetarians once they get married

Seasonal Vegetarians
These vegetarians are something of a fad . I am also a subsriber to this category myself when important challenges in life are faced there is a sudden subscription to this category of vegetarianisms. FAST, Noyambu , SAbarimala season are all examples of seasonal vegetarians . This group go on a pure fast for a period of time and then once the time slot is over turn back to even more aggressive non vegetarians with renewed vigour , although there are certain incidents in which these guys get stuck as permenant vegetarians.

Diet Vegetarians
These are folks who belogn to hte weight watchers club and goes by the looks and kill themselves with lettuce and cabbage ,to get into hour glass shapes . A large number of diet vegetarians fall out of this regime sooner rather than later

If you have anymore intersting classification of vegetarians that you think I shoudl add here email me are Abhilashms2--AT--GMAIL-DOT--COM

Cool set of Interview questions

ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's Weblog - What Great .NET Developers Ought To Know (More .NET Interview Questions)

Money ,Money..Oh Money

Have you ever wondered looking closely at a currency held in your had , where all this currency has been , How many places it has traveled , What is its story , if they had a voice of their own , I am sure they will have a story to tell . To be frank I have wondered the same , more than once at different occasions for different reasons. So it instantly aroused the curiosity in me when I got a recent bill which has a message , Currency tracking study . Now there was a website which went along with it . This was a George Washington 5$ bill and I landed up in this cool website wheresgeorge.com . This website is started by a personal hobbyist and so far he has send out tons of notes into circulation. He has notes which have traveled internationally far and wide. It is fun to browse the site. There is an equivalent site called www.whereswilly.com for Canadian money . Maybe I should start one too.

www.WheresBapu.com / www.wheresGandhi.com /www.wheresMahatma.com

Wow that sopunds cool , I am all excited ,I am in high spirits, I go and tell my wife about this idea. And then suddenly she tell me it is a now against the law to write on Notes in India ..

So down I come crashing down . Now that idea did not last too long.. Did it ?

Well just when I thought I had an idea to float a website... Ah.. Merci..

In the Bowling Lane and guide to Mexican Food

We went bowling yesterday , This was a informal meet up the company had arranged for all the folks . I must say it was fun . I am bowling after a long time and One thing I realized is I am so much out of shape . My arm is practically gone . So plan is to get back in shape . So soon I guess I will be joining the weight watchers squad is a YMCA nearby , They have a nice pool . Swimming was one of my favorite.. past time /exercise .
After that we had some nice Mexican food at Gracias , Some Fajitas and enchiladas.. If you are quite New to Mexican food . Here is a handy guide

Guacamole
=========
A great entrée, guacamole is an avocado-based dip that is green, fairly rich and is made with some onions, lemon, lime juice, and chopped garlic. Complementary dips are salsa and sour cream.

Tacos
=====
A taco is a large, crisp, edible corn tortilla shell that usually contains minced beef, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, and is commonly topped off with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.

Tacos comes in different types

Original Taco -- a crisp corn tortilla filled with seasoned beef, shredded lettuce and shredded cheddar cheese. This is also called Hard Shell

Soft Taco -- a warm soft flour tortilla filled with seasoned shredded lettuce and shredded cheddar cheese.

You can choose roasted chicken, steak or beef as your filling.


Chicken/Beef/Veg FAJITAS
========================

Fajitas are a grilled marinated chicken/Beef/Vegetables, roasted onions and peppers, tomatoes, cheddar and pepper jack cheeses with seasoned rice and fajita sauce, in a warm soft flour tortilla.

Fajitas : Spanish word for Beef Strips!!


Bean/Chicken/Beef BURRITO
==========================

A burrito consists of an edible soft flour tortilla "envelope," wrapped around and stuffed with minced beef, lettuce, cheese, refried beans, sauce, sour cream? you get the idea.

Chimichanga
===========

A chimichanga is basically a burrito that is deep-fried and very, very succulent -- if you don't mind greasy food that is

Enchilada
=========

Enchiladas are quite similar to burritos, yet differ in content and flavor.

While a tortilla is folded in order to make an envelope that completely encloses its contents, an enchilada has the tortilla wrapped around the substance, so as to make a cylinder with much the same shape as cannelloni, uncut maki, or sushi rolls.


That ends the Mexican food tutorial and I am off to bed..

Cable and Dish

I am in a DISH JAM . To explain further it has been some time since I bought my New Super Dish and started receiving some Malayalam Channels straight to my home and I was getting to enjoy that .Now suddenly I have moved from New Jersey to Corning New York .This as such is a small town and after moving here I found out that there is not a single Indian restaurant in this city , not an Indian grocery shop . Now now.. You might be wondering why I am making such a hue and cry of not finding a shop in a small city in US .IF you are then you my friend has a thing or two to learn about Indians . Well for starters Every 2 out of 7 people in the world are Indians for that matter 2 are Chinese too.. Home.. kind of funny right more than half the population of the world live in 2 countries in Asia. Ya so the point I was saying is I was surprised to not find an Indian Shop. Well it is in this context that the next tragic incident takes place , the dish technicians who came to my house to install the Dish told me that they cant have the dish installed properly . I almost got a shock , What no more Sunday Malayalam movie for me.. No Surya /Kairali . Apparently the story is when I took this apartment they have some policy of not letting you keep the Dish Outside ur apartment . And Dish folks cant get it to install inside. Catch 22. I guess the whole thing is a nexus between apartment folks and cable companies. I tried to analyze my option but to no avail. I looked up FCC regulations the best I can get from my apartment is that they cant prohibit you from installing it on your balcony . Well for now my research has not yielded anything concrete on those lines
Just in case you are having a similar issue read this
http://www.sbca.com/site_files/child.asp?page=Faq&sec=industry#q2

Well anyway I succumbed to Cable television subscription after being close to two years cable free and being a proponent of DISH.

Valentine Confusion

With yet another Valentine's Day is on the cards

I am confronted with the usual problem , what to buy for my wife for valentine's Day . I did run and scan the usual list in my mind.. Chocolates , candy perfumes , cards .. No No it did not seem like what I wanted. Diamonds.. hm... they are too expensive.. and frankly I never got it what is it with a rock.. They have the same structure as graphite you know But they sure as hell is different

Well I was looking for a reasonable ( price ) but innovative. How about pets
Say cats ... No No not cats they kind of behave as if they own the house if you know what I mean . They lay there on your favorite armchair or sofa and when you get home tired as hell they give you that look .. You lowly mortal .. I decided No cats .. Definitely No cats . Maybe Dogs.. hm.. Dogs , I like dogs but then most of the apartments now have no pet policy , I believe our apartment people do . And I think I signed up saying I don't have any pets oh Boy . Who was to know that I would be soon having a pet . It is kind of annoying you need to sign up for this tons of paperwork before you actually get the house; and you end up signing lot of stuff.. like say for example The DISH policy . well oh boy .. I can really get started on that one.. wont I .. but then I will have another post on that .
ah coming back to my pet hunt .. Dogs are also out . How about Birds.. No not birds. I have to cage them up and I don't like that. Something else.. Fish YES ,Thats It ..fish an Aquarium , that would be perfect for her . She would love that and I too like aquariums , I always wanted one as a a kid never got one though . Well off I go.. to Petco ..


Ok Back . No No . not from petco . There was no Petco nearby but walmart had one and I ended up buying a 10 gallon tank and I filled it with water , Dechlorinated the water . phew.. There are tons of things that you need to do to have fish as a pet .. you need to have heater to keep water warm .. you should have a filter so that they call clear all the gooey stuff out.. and then .. woah underwater gravel cleaner.. well I am armed with all that . Spent $ 40 and no fish yet..

After another trip to walmart and another 15 $ on fish . Now I have 4 goldfish gliding along in my new fish pond.. my wife loved it.. Already she has named them .. Ah.... it was worth.. it..
Now she has some one else for company..