Your One Stop Keyur Shop!

chapter 23

Welly well well...a white christmas indeed and then some! The snow has been a wonderful ongoing surprise, the more it snows the more surprised I am. Even though its only been about 7-8" worth of it so far, its still awesome. Alright gonna fall back on Thanksgiving style log with dates and such....

Saturday 12/28/2002:
Geelpi my mainest man come on over to my Jersey digs with his uncle. Much Blitz 2003 was played and the night of this Saturday December 28th, 2002 will be yet another to record in the annals of Keyurdom. I managed to round up god pimp Frank, Mr. Niren, Mr. Samir and Ms. Sumita to join the Shlep and I for an expedition to the city. Everyone except god pimp Frank met up at my place and we all crammed into the minivan to head down to Journal Square where god pimp Frank was to meet us on the platform. We were delayed but Frank hung in there. So we set upon a quest to find the mythical Cafe Ferrara and eventually after a bit of walking we did. Spiked coffee and spiked hot chocolate along with some pastry desserts I can't remember were had inside a very cramped but cozy and warm sitting area. After this Dionysian celebration we headed out to bum around in Little Italy where Shlep picked up a NYC shot glass for the apartment collection. Things sort of went down hill for a couple of really long hours as we tried to figure out where to head to next. We were looking for a lounge but something on the cheaper side of things. We put trust in god pimp Frank who led us to a place by the Port Authority Bus terminal. However the old POW veteran types sitting inside scowling at us sort of killed that plan. We were rather surly by now because we'd been beating random pavement in Manhattan and not getting to a decent watering hole. We decided to head back to the village and try to find the Village Lantern but my memory failed me and out of sheer frustration we decided to just crash into the Red Lion. This place had a hoppin' band but was so crowded that we didn't even have room to put our arms down by our side. Just as we were abandoning all hope and going back to the tried and true MacDougal's Sumita came through with some standing room at the bar. This is where our night began. To keep the money situation simple we decided each of us would get a round of shots. It began with a Buttery Nipple and then it was Lemondrops and Kamikazes and Jaegerbombs and Purple Motherfuckers and a Tequila round. By the time the Tequila came around we were all happy! We decided to head over to MacDougal and wind down the evening before heading back home. Somehow I got talked into another round of shots, this time of Vodka, neat. I was rather toasted by this round. 7 rounds of shots are always a party. We were all way out there, except god pimp Frank who seemed so serene. We shared many stories and made a memorable phone call thanks to Sumita. I had begun rehydrating myself in full force to be well enough to drive the gang back, but it took a lot of water. The walk back to Christopher St. station was super sweet. Shlep and Samir kept the beat going with some mad accurate recitations of Ludacris, Wu-Tang and other various hip-hop lyrics. I was very proud. The train ride back was very quiet and the drive home was even more so. Thanks to Samir for having the energy to stay awake and keep me talking. Getting home at 4a is very cool indeed! It was a great night. Big slump between the coffee and Red Lion but still an amazing night all the same.

Sunday 12/29/2002:
Woke up really late and had a late breakfast. Played a lot of Blitz 2003 with Shlep only to realize after a certain point that together Sheelpi & I are unbeatable, even the cheating computer can't break us anymore. Our defense suffocates and our offense just blows everyone else out of the water. Those who play us had best be very sure about their egos. That evening was spent at Indian parts of Edison doing some basic grocery shopping and then ending the day with some fine dining at the one and only Andra Palace, the best South Indian (Hydrebadi style) food in America.

Monday 12/30/2002:
Did a lot of chore running errands with Shlep and mummy in the morning. It wasn't very exciting but it needed to be done. Very uneventful day, just played more Blitz with Shlep and continued to prove dominance over cheating computer player.

Tuesday 12/31/2002:
A fine bagel breakfast was had in the morning. And then before I realized it was time for Mr. Shlep to head back to NY. Sadly he had to leave sooner than I originally anticipated because of sudden gelling of plans to head south to see family. After Shlep left mummy and I did some frantic packing and then dad got home around 4p and we were already on the road by 5p. We drove through the night into the New Year which was noted just outside of Salem, Virginia on Rt. 81.

Wednesday 1/1:
Got to my uncle's (Pappa's younger brother) place in Anderson, SC at 5am. Hastily greeted the eagerly waiting grandparents and immediately dove back into much needed sleep. Woke up in the pre noon hours to a full house of much missed family. It was really good to see my aunt and uncle and grandparents not to mention my favoritest cousin of all time Ms. Reema. Shes 10 years old. I can't believe how much shes grown. I still remember the day she was born and my uncle came to get me from school and he just told me dryly that his wife had just delivered a baby girl. That May in '92 seems rather far away now. None the less Reema is a lot of fun. Pictures to follow once I'm back in Austin.

Thursday 1/2:
Day began later than usual and we had lunch at a faux Greek place near Clemson University before hitting the road for Atlanta. It was hard to say good bye to the grandparents and Ms. Reema. I'll see them again soon though so thats good. Drive to Atlanta was too easy. Made it in less than an hour and a half. Rest of the day was spend dillydallying at a cousin's place where everyone had congregated. Big thanks to Bella and Rekha for the cake. Rekha sorry Miami lost, it wasn't pretty with the botched calls and all.

Friday 1/3:
Started driving north on Rt. 75 from Atlanta at around 12:30p and kept going until dinnertime in Cincinnati. Good Punjabi food was had in the heart of riverfront Cincinnati at Akash Indian Restaurant. The drive to north Dayton from the restaurant was easier than the drive from Anderson to Atlanta. The hotel room was small but warm, the night had grown massively cold. The cousin and his wife unit pulled in around 2a. I was sleeping hard by then, dad told me times next morning.

Saturday 1/4:
Explored Dayton. The Dayton Art Institute and Riverscape are neat although not very crowded. A quick restaurant dinner and then another jaunt to the Riverscape for the nighlights capped out this day. It was painful watching the Packers misfire, but Atlanta deserved it.

Sunday 1/5:
Sunday began way to early and it was way too snowy already. We were on the roady by 7:45a but driving through salty snowy slush with large semis and still falling snow will never be fun. Dad drove all the way from Dayton to Exit 12 on Rt. 76E and from then on it was my turn. Visibility was optional, traffic was plenty with abundant semis thrown in for good measure. Really all I can is when we got home at around 7:30pm it was a very happy feeling.

After coming home time has just been spent taking care of the little things before I head back to Austin this weekend. I can't believe that yet another Christmas break is over.

For all of you who actually follow Apple I am so glad I can publicly drool over the new Powerbooks and Apple's X11. I have no comment on Safari. Oh how I love thee Apple, let me count the ways....

I've been dogging writing here, partially because of the awful internet connectivity brought to me courtesy of a phone line. I've got much more to say if you can believe that. More of it will be poured out upon my triumphant return to Austin this Saturday. Until then hold your breath all of you. No no, just kidding!

Quoteses:
"Keyur my man I see why you've got the kids hoppin'." - god pimp Frank

awkward fluorescent barrels

Time is flying by, but it doesn't really seem to be flying by. I suppose its just going by but its pace seems to be throwing me off.

This Saturday(12/21) night was one of those nights to remember for all time. I finally go together with god pimp Frank, Jess and accompanying from Parsippany was the only and only Samir D. Samir and I took the Samir Civic up to Journal Square and took the PATH up to the Christopher Street station. Of course getting off at Christopher puts you right in the heart of the Manhattan gay district (Christopher & Hudson). Its always interesting to walk through there though. The store fronts there are very in your face, I'll leave it you to imagine what sort of store fronts there must be. We decided to walk to the Village and hit the Comedy Cellar for their great shows. We didn't get into the 9pm show so we decided to waste away two hours at the Macdougal St Ale House just drinking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, lemondrop shots and Bass Ale. Thankfully we got on for the 11pm show and we shuffled down to the cellar. Seating was very tight and I had the pleasure of seating next to this middle aged Jewish couple. Sitting next to them was very curious during some of the more off coloured jokes, but having 2 pints of Guiness in me made it all better. The comedy was awesome though. Got to see Darrell Hammond, Godfrey (new 7-Up guy), Dave Attell, Tom Papa and some other people . I think Hammond was funniest by far. He didn't need to curse or use vulgar situations to illicit a giggle. Of course his Clinton impression was even more awesome to see live as opposed to on SNL and some of his other political material was phenomenol. He was sportin' a nice Yankees baseball cap so that automatically made him 11% funnier. After the show was finished we were all rather tired. We had talked much, shared much and laughed much. It was time to go home. The drive home was far shorter than the drive there. Path at night is always an experience to relish. More than anything though it was the pleasure of chillin' with my god pimp, Jess and Samir, all of whom I had not seen or spent good time with in a long time.

Its begun snowing as I write this. Feels wonderful. Call me crazy, and probably rightly so, but I can almost feel the snow falling in my bones, its an odd tingle of sorts.Its not quite as cold as I want it to be, it got down to the mid 20s and since then its only been on its way up and hasn't come down below the mid to low 30s. I can still hope can't I?

Home life has been good to me. I've been cooking a lot lot more than I ever do at Austin. More importantly I've finally broken the news to my parents regarding my culinary ambitions. Surprisingly they've been very supportive. I think they like the idea because I told them I'd work in the tech sector for a while (pay off loans and such) and then eventually roll into the culinary career. I hope to use the time I'm going to spend in India after the end of school to gain some solid cooking experience. Just happy to know that the parental unit is being supportive. What they're not being supportive about is the whole marriage situation. They went so far as to suggest that I meet girls. When I declined that request and informed them that it was much too soon for me mentally Pappa said that atleast I should begin thinking about these things. I don't really want to tell them that I think about it often, but my god man, its one thing to think and altogether another to meet girls. Thankfully running back to Austin and then later to India will quell this unrelenting pressure. I'll get married, but theres a long arduos journey before me until I'll feel ready to get married.

Emotionally time at home is always very introspective. I suppose thats what happens when you have time to sit around and do a bunch of nothing, inevitably leading to a lot of quiet thinking. I've had a much easier time slaying some old monsters, however having to face your own mistakes and accept them is very difficult, especially when your shortcomings and stupidity have hurt others in ways words cannot describe. I'm glad I'm home though, its much easier to do this sort of work while one is at home, within the four walls that themselves seem like old friends.

The snow continues on quietly. I opened the patio door and took a peek, but sadly the ground is hot and angry and refuses to let the snow stay turning it instead into shiny cold water. Cars have given up much quicker and already most are covered with a thin confectioner sugar coating. The ones that just pulled in have a telltale turtle's back design over the bonnets of their warm engines.

It will be a good night's rest.

Merry Christmas to ye all and to all a good night.

P. S. Congratulations all around to Shoor & Sabrina on their engagement!
P. P. S. Don't put shaving cream from a can directly onto your mustache during shaving, the aerosol causes a dizzying head rush.

do you think i look fetching?

Little India is a little magazine I usually see circulating for free at the India grocery stores. It has some interesting articles, but mostly its an ad paper for realtors and immigration lawyers. The writing in Little India is almost always a bunch of "little essay that could" type of things, but today I ran across a really cool piece that I felt really connected with. I know exactly what Johnson is trying to get across when he says, "She was in some ways very strong and intelligent, and yet oddly demure."

Other than the reading I am so relaxing right now. Finally got around to getting my real Jersey bagel on this morning. There is really no better breakfast than a hot fresh sesame seed bagel with some soft creamy cream cheese and a hot mug of tea done up Indian style. Lovin' the home life. Last night was phenomenol for 3 reasons: Knicks beat up on the Nets at the Garden, Mavs gave the Pacers an always deserved beat down, and chilled with my boy Gustad (picture on right). Gustad introduced me to the joy of Belgium beers. In the photo on the right we're toasting with a nice glass of Duvel and later we followed that up with a glass of Chimay. Very good beers both of them, although I'd have to say I'm partial to the Chimay.

Okay its time to get back to MechAssault and Inside Drive. Theres a certain pleasure in playing with the Knicks even its with a controller, an Xbox and my TV. Also for any MechAssault players who are reading this can you beat the Rangnorok with the Elemental in Grinder mode on the River City map? I can!!!

Quoteses:
"I wasn't sure if those people were naked, so I took a picture." - Gustad M.

P.S. Banana and tomato can be combined for a great flavour during slow cooking.

thx for going 2 the spa

Just a song...

"Come Close To Me"

I know when your
thinking you on my mind
Your right, Your right, Your right
You promise the best but thats
mighty find, i hope your not tired
Tonight, Tonight

- Common featuring Mary J. Blige

17 minutes to home

Home sweet home! I can't really ask for much more right now. The Austin to Chicago flight was mostly lost in sleep. There was a delay leaving from Chicago because Newark had severe icing conditions and on top of that only one runway was open. However I experienced the worst turbulence ever to date. The air hostesses actually got into their jump seats and the pilot warned people with children to be extra careful and also mentioned to not be alarmed if the oxygen masks drop down. Later on he came on the air and said thats the worst turbulence hes had over the North American continent. Also what was interesting was the pilot would give them most unusual time estimates. For example while we were waiting in Chicago and got the all clear from Newark to take off, the pilot said we were in queue and would be airborne within 12 minutes. Then while we were circling overhead Newark (saw horizontal snow in the air) the pilot announced we would on the ground within 17 minutes. He was right only in the first case, we circled over Newark for far too long.

Ride home with Pappa was rather calm. Rt. 24 is a cool road, I don't like it as much as Rt. 80, but its pretty nice. Sleeping finally was all too good. Today was just spent driving around a bit helping Pappa out with some work. We were by Summit where some dumbass gas station finds it okay to charge $1.65 for regular unleaded. Also very comforting to hear Dominic the donkey on the radio, its a good sign that I'm home for the break. Not to mention the Knicks on MSG and MetroTV as part of my cable lineup. Tomorrow morning I'll be getting some real bagels for breakfast and then its just a matter of planning before I go hit up DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies with Niren. A little worried about the possibility of the NY Transit strike cause that'll kill mobility in Manhattan, but lets hope for the best.

Weather is not as cold as I'd like, but there is still much hope. Playing a lot of Xbox already. MechAssault really has me hooked right now. I'm on the "Not Again" mission and its starting to get pretty hard. Lets see how it progresses, but yea Xbox on a the home TV is super sweet.

Okay getting way too tired. Must sleep. Good night to all and to all a...good night?

Quoteses:
"Don't worry, I'm not going to start drinking, nor was I drunk." - Ram K.

tata Austin

Happy Birthday Capt. Strateg0 and Ovi!

Well this is it, I'm done and i"m going home. I can't put down in words how much I need to go home right now. Good God! The fact that it gets below 25F during the night only makes me want to hurry more! I feel super relieved that this semester is finally finished. For once I'm a little bit sad to leave Austin. I've really gotten to love the people I've spent the past 4.5 years here with and its tough now that the end is visibly in sight. I have no attachment to the city or this state, but if anything keeps me here and will bring me back its the people.

Okay next update from the one and only Jersey!

My hair grows out of my head like a giggling child running naked from its mother. It cannot be stopped it can only be "contained."

Fox Searchlight has made a movie that should make it sufficiently clear why one should not use Internet Explorer.

Quoteses:
"This was 1960's pornography, which wasn't so biologically extreme." - Dr. David H.

"angry monkeys eat seat belts"

As if the comments weren't stupendifirous enough now you can even tune into what I'm listening to right now! I can only support 2 listeners (128kbps stereo) and during the day I'll probably be using one of the connections but during the evening when I'm grooving at home you can groove with me. Check out the link to the right in the "about a keyur" section. If directly clicking on that link doesn't work than copy that link and in Winamp hit Ctrl+L, paste the link (http://ghar.ods.org:8000/listen.pls) in there and hit enter. For you iTunes users out there the link should be enough to get iTunes up and running. As a note turn off your software eqalizers otherwise it will sound distorted during the louder parts of songs.
You should be tuned into Your One Stop Keyur Music Shop!. If its not working properly or if you guys have any suggestions or requests or whatever leave me comments. I guess for requests you might want to try instant messaging me or emailing me. Anyway this is pretty neato, the geek factor here is pretty high. Okay go tune in.

So then I was reading Wired today and came across a story on a new oil spill containment method that promises to revolutionize the way oil spills are managed. I hate to be a cynical bastard sitting pretty in my warm comfy apartment, but haven't there been many many revolutionary breakthroughs in oil spill containment? It seems every time there is a major oil spill the world gets all up in a ruckus but nary is there a mention of even one of these technologies that have come and gone over the years actually being used to manage the spill. Furthermore if some whiz bang technology was used I doubt that the manufacturer would sit by quitely and not try to attract as much media attention as possible. Its bad enough that the old school tankers that are so leak prone are still being used, but its worse when everytime theres an accident you hear some new whiz band technology and then after n years the whole process repeats. This is one cycle I desperately want to see stopped joltingly.

Also today I was thinking about the whole concept of a University education and I realized that I really don't trust 97% of my professors. Over the course of my 5 years with my big moneyed university, I've come across 3 professors who've actually cared or put up a good enough show to convince me they care. The rest of the people were too busy just trying to get class out of the way so they could go do whatever it is they do. I can't speak for all the departments but I'd have to say that professors in the Liberal Arts department have time and again just set really high standards for my other professors. Most of my CS professors have been so incompetent in human to human interaction it blows my mind to think that these people have families, children, a normal human life. Clearly there are always exceptions to the rule and thank god for that. Academically I think I would have been atleast 2542.314% better off if I'd had gone to a small school in the northeast. This whole 50,000+ student population thing doesn't rub me the right way.

I'll update the Mozilla build info tomorrow morning, I promise!

Quoteses:
"If you worked for UPS could you work naked?" - John Z.
"You're sleeping in the bathroom tonight." - Ovi R.

Linkses:
Back on top baby!
This is not going to work.
This is too funny!

P.S. All medical advice should be dispensed by women with perfect English accents.

rin tin tin and a

Austin is starting to get quite again as UT whirls into dead days and finals. Its alway odd to see that transition. Shlep made an interesting point the other day when I said, hey that person looks familiar, "We've been here for five years, everyone looks familiar." I guess thats true, its weird to see that 5 years of my life have gone by. My god so much has happened, its as if I've been in a war the whole time. Even now I'm not out of enemy territory, you never know which sniper may have his scope trained on you.

So yea also today I finally got MechAssault and Inside Drive 2K3. I haven't really had a chance to play either of them beyond half hour each but they both seem really amazing. My little TV just doesn't do MechAssault justice, that game has stunning physics and visuals. I mean the self-shadows, particle and watter effect, and sound (yea even with mono) are just amazing. I can't wait to play some more MechAssault because the story line is remotely compelling and the game play is just fantastic. And then Inside Drive, that game is pretty damn realistic when it comes to player models, ball physics/handling/sound, and overall physics (human+ball). The speed and finesse of the characters on screen really seems lacking. For example collisions don't happen when limbs and torsos collide but more like icebergs colliding where players intersect with each other at an invisible boundary a few feet out from the player. Need to get in more game time though. It'll be good when finals will be over.

Enjoy the links, they're nasty like that girl at the club you go to that no one will dance with cause she be so nasty!

Linkses:
MPT slices, dices and purees the Opera user interface.
Why does the media choose the worst/least appropriate photos when writing about India?
Bug in your machine.
Linux worked for them last year. And it works for them even better this year.
I want to be just like this man. Minus the actual sticking of the jaw stuff.
Wow! Now anyone can understand men!

Quotses:
"Studying is knowledge, knowledge is power, power corrupts....i'm learning how to corrupt." - Niren J.
"I have never wanted to be a whore so much in my entire life!" - John Z.
"The easiest way to move on is to just completely take that person out of your life... and stop trying to contact them." - anonymous
"Do you have any Bon Jovi MP3s?" - Ram K.
"Good night sweet prince." - Akash K.

P.S. Damn you Chilly Willy! I hate you and your cold! Damn you Chilly Willy!
P.P.S. Sometimes life just has a way to keep you down. Maybe its best to just stay down during those times and wait to rise again.

so quirky

T'was doing a search on Google yesterday morning and maybe because I was really sleepy or maybe it was because the PML librarian just yelled at me again, but I was momentarily blown away by Google all over again. I mean here I am searching for some mathematical papers. I go to Google and type in my query and within 2 seconds it has produced for me a list of thousands of documents maching the topic I searched for from a pool of almost 2.1 billion documents. Yea I know how it works, but that doesn't take away my right to be blown away. If Google was a candy, I'd be very sick.

So yea later in the day yesterday I got into an argument with anonymous Bob about 'door close' button on elevators. It is my firm belief that those buttons do less than me when I'm sleeping. I mean really. When the doors are opening that button doesn't do jack. When the doors are closing that button doesn't do jack. When the doors are already open that button doesn't do jack. No it really doesn't. If you don't believe me, then time how long it takes the elevator to automatically close the doors. Now time it after you press the button as many times are you please. A lot of elevators are desinged to close the door at around the same time people in the elevator get antsy and go to press it.

Also I am still thoroughly baffled by the word Maufrais in all-caps appearing on sidewalks all over Austin. I've found out that there is actually a Maufrais lane in Austin but that still doesn't make sense. Why would the name of a street appear in all caps on random sidewalks. I really can't figure it out and its bugging me enough where I may call up the city and ask them whats going on.

A very interesting read of Microsoft's conduct and plans. Don't read it as fact, its some guy like me just saying what he thinks. Okay since we already are on the topic of MS, check out this neato spaghettio tool they released. I think this is definitely a step in the right direction for them, I need to find out though how scritable it is. I mean scriptable like can an admin get the tool to run preset tests on multiple machines and then produce a nice XML/HTML report which can then be sent to the appropriate people and or parsing engines. But still this is a step in the right direction for MS.

There is a certain satisfaction life delivers when hours are interspersed with beautiful code, mathematics, and pushing a bar weighing 250lbs. away from your chest lying down.

Quoteses:
"Did he just fuckin' say 'oodles'?! Fuck!!" - Alex O.
"You're a lyrical gangstah. You hash the words and dish 'em out half price!" - god pimp Frank
"Karate Endeavors Yielding Ugly Results" - anonymous Bob
"What? Baddy two shoes?!" - Shlep

Linkses:
McDonald's shops need to stop exploding, especially by themselves.
Do Austin or New York have these tours?!!?
I love it when you call me Big Business.
Mullets galore.
No words...
Somewhere a useful processor is going to waste.
Never talk to strangers on AIM kids.
Easy way to brighten your smile.

P.S. I need to find George Stephanapolous and trip him.
P. P.S. "Hes wearing parachute pants! The dirty ones always do."

eid mubarak

Thank you all for your prompt responses in assiting me with my project to get the Afghani family their computer. I will no longer need to purchase a modem and I don't have to worry about my possibly fritz drive as two generous gentlemen have stepped forward with these items.

So right now things are a bit busy to say the least. Have much much work to complete before I fly home. Also kind of in a this emotional funk. Not funk as in funk from Moore-Hill, but a loop-de-loop that doesn't seem to have an exit. Attempts to reconnect with the past are probably not the answer but I thought it might be worth to give it a go anyway.

A sheepdog went to a telegram office, took out a blank form, and wrote: "Woof, woof woof woof. Woof woof woof woof woof." The clerk looked at the paper and politely told the dog, "There are only nine words here. You could send another 'woof' for the same price." "But that wouldn't make any sense at all!" the dog replied.

Quoteses:
"You just want free acid! Thats what it is!" - Cassie B.

Linkses:
Wow. I hate pants, but wow.
U.S. culture still has fans....for me to poop on!!!!
Study of the sneeze.
This made me feel fuzzy and warm. No I'm not weird. Get that funny jacket away from me!!!
I've always considered the Russians as friends.

Song:

"The Face of Love"

jeena kaisa pyar bina [what is life without love?]
is duniya mein aaye ho to [now that you have come to this world]
ek duje se pyar karo [love each other, one another]
jeena kaisa pyar bina [what is life without love?]
is duniya mein aaye ho to [now that you have come to this world]
ek duje se pyar karo [love each other, one another]

look in the eyes
of the face of love
look in her eyes
oh, there is peace
no, nothing dies
within pure light
only one hour
of this pure love
to last a life
of thirty years
only one hour
so come and go

-- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Eddie Vedder

i need your help

So over Thanksgiving weekend when I was at Shlep's in Dallas I had the chance to meet a wonderful family. A family of refugees from Afghanistan. 3 sisters and their mom. The Bangladeshi community in Dallas, in particular Shlep's mom, are helping this family out as much as they can. Already the family has been setup with an apartment and furniture and such. From what I know all 3 sisters are attending school to some degree. I need your help because I would like to set this family up with a proper computer in their new home in America.

I already have an old computer system thats sitting out in my living room doing nothing. Problem is the motherboard on that system is fried. The processor is still good no doubt, but it doesn't make much sense financially to replace just the motherboard. Its an old Pentium II 350. Not very modern. I'd like to purchase proper replacement parts and get that system atleast up to summer 2002 standards and get this family hooked up. Here is what I need to purchase to make it happen:

Asus A7N266-VM Motherboard - $72.99
AMD Athlon XP1700 Processor - $58.00
SV GC68 Heatsink - $7
Crucial 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM - $75.59
Creative Labs Modem Blaster 56k (DI-5655) - $40.48
Antec SX630 II Case - $72.89
Total - $327.35

I already have two harddrives (10.9GB & 4GB), a CD-ROM drive, monitor, mouse, keyboard, video card, speakers. I might have to purchase a new harddrive because I'm not too sure about the reliability of the 10.9GB drive. I have a case and power supply too but the power supply is on the fritz and the cost of replacement case I have in mind is more or less the same price as a good power supply. I also have all the necessary software. I need help on the money front. I will accept any and all donations. If any of you have the parts on my list and are willing to part with them I'd be more than happy to take those as well. You can also go purchase one of the parts and get them to me, however check with me before you do so that you don't inadvertently buy something I've already got.

When I left Dallas I thought I could pull this off before I leave for New Jersey next Friday (12/13), but that seems outlandish now especially considering my schoolwork which must be finished. My goal then is to take care of this project no later than the second week of February.

If you have questions, suggestions, ideas or just general feedback please use the comments or email me.

Thank you all very much.

attributes and plastic dinosaurs

Happy Birthday Niren & Mita!

When my parents went to a secret lab that made me deep in the underground heart of a secret region of the Himalayas the mad scientists gave my parents a scantron and said, "You have 32 attribute points you can use to make your son. Use them wisely for they will determine his life for as long as he lives." This was all inside of a cave with a faint sound of water dripping far in the background as ominous neo-Italian opera music played. So my parents used the attribute points to give me the following...
Eyes: Like a hawk. Parents didn't read the fine print cause it actually said, "Like a hawk*. *Hawk is used to mean confused platypus."
Ears: Like an elephant's only more human.
Stomach: Invincible. Can process any type of input. One stereotypical superhero type vulnerability: eggs
etc. etc.
Anyway by the time they got to brain they were almost all out of points so....
Brain: Like an angry coconut's.

I don't know what the point of that story was, I just wanted to say "angry coconut".

Also if you ever start playing a video game with someone who is new to the game. Don't try to be a nice guy and teach them all the buttons, just point them to the manual. It takes a lot of the pain out of it and more than likely you'll avoid getting yelled at for trying to swindle a victory.

Have a look at this flaming blunder in the MacOS X finder. I personally know Apple is working on this, but even then, this is totally unexcusable. Good one Finder team. I guess this is what happens when the central Human Interface team is disbanded and you get a bunch of engineering yahoos designing the file management UI of an OS. However the MacOS 9 and MacOS X Finder team is the same, so this inconsistency is even worse. There is some solace in knowning that problems like this are being acknowledged and that the Macintosh community is so unforgiving with bad UI that problems cannot be brushed aside. Even with Jobs' excruciating attention to detail he can't possibly catch all of the problems. None the less the concept of file management is so core to an OS' primary UI that it should be done with the utmost care and highest level of perfection. I know Apple can deliver on the promise of great UI, sometimes it takes longer than most of us are willing to wait.

Quotses:
"Did you know that Texas has never lost a game in which they have outscored their opponents..." - ABC Sports announcer
"Roads are a suggestion, Marge. Just like pants." - Homer S.
"You need to take your Xbox home and make a stand." - Ram K.
"A small brown rock fell out of me. I call it Pheobos." - god pimp Frank

Linkses:
My guest appearance on Penny-Arcade.
I wanted to laugh, but I know in my heart I would have done the same thing.
Good thing I'm too lazy to ride my bike a lot.
Oh how I wish Santa finds it necessary to delivery this to me personally.

hey look...comments!

So I've finally managed to get some comments action going on the page. You my dear readers can leave feedback directly on the page instead of sending me IMs or emails. This should be fun. More later...must keep working today.

Look at the end of the post for the link to comments.

So yea today for dinner I had my favorite chilli (Hormel Vegetarian Chilli), but I added a bit too much of my current favorite hot sauce. Usually for fire I add about 7-9 drops. This time about 12-14 drops fell in. It wasn't fiery it was volcanoey. This is the kind of stuff that cures colds, cancers, AIDS and other such maladies. I feel great and very full, but there I feel like there is a ball of fire dancing with a blue flame in my stomach, my mouth is back to normal. Even with this much heat, I am severely tempted to purchase the one at the top of this list. My god man! I wonder if I would need a tongue transplant after eating that! Sooo tempted. Must contain self.

Got an email from a friend to take the "Which Care Bear Are You? Quiz!", turns out I'm the Cheer Bear. Yay.

Xbox is proving to be a good study break. Time is well defined so you don't lose track playing like you do with web surfing or chatting or such. However this is with the one game I have right now. With the impending addition of two more games things will be different I'm sure. Also I've been reading reviews of Jet Set Radio Future on the internet and everyone seems to love this game. I just don't get it maybe. I'll give it another go and see if I feel differently. Right now more pressing concerns are to figure out if its logistically possible to bring Xbox home for the Winter break without mummy and pappa breaking me for wasting useful luggage space. I'll call up United and see if they'll allow me two carryons, if they do Xbox is one of them! Xbox is now an entity, and his name is Xbox.

Quoteses:
I bet the same people who rice their cars for show make those damned skins. - Daniel H. on Winamp3 skins
Are the roaches dead yet? - Sheelpi K. when we moved into our current apartment

Linkses:
Gautam's hometown weirdos.
Results of apathy, corruption and greed. I'm getting rich so fuck you.
I don't know this Parekh, but hes spoiling our name with the $25M scam.
I wonder what Akash would look like dancing like these freaks.

"Little Thing"

Oh, hello and goodbye
So fast it's gone
I can't get your face from my mind
Can't get your eyes from my
Can't stop your voices
On that day you told me directions to where I don't know Now
It all flew by me
So all I can do is hope that you
Come my way

But I don't think it's going to happen that way
I fear you'll remain a dream
Rain, rain on me, yeah, yeah, yeah
Your life is burned
Your life burned into me

-- Dave Matthews Band

bizzle in the hizzle, fo' shizzle

For this entry I must resort back to the true form of a blog, which is more along the lines of an online journal. Anyway what a great Thanksgiving break.

Characters:
Shlep: roommate and brother from another mother
Shoor: Shlep's older brother
Sonia: friend through Shlep
Said (Saa-eed): brother from another mother of Shlep's
Ovi: friend through Said
Sadia: sister from another mother of Shlep's
Pavel: brother of another mother of Said's
Fareen: family friend of Shlep

Wednesday 11/27:
Missed class in the morning. Found out most of the other people weren't going at all for either crypto or parallel. Who am I to go against the grain!? :) Woke up latish, cleaned up the apartment somewhat, and then packed frantically trying to figure out what to take (belt) and what not to take (computer), forgot belt anyway. Packing done we left around 11:45-noonish and then picked up Sonia, Said, and Ovi. We hit I35N only to sit in the middle of a traffic lot caused mainly by rubbernecking at some spun out truck that hit the separator north of Round Rock. After that it was smooth sailing at around 55 mph (89 kph) all the way to Dallas. On the way Ovi had a game in mind: point to a word clearly visible on some signage along the road and ask another person in the car to come up with words for all the letters in the sign. Its rather fun and produce some rather humorous results ("coochie hidden everlasting...."). Finally when we did make it to the Shlep's house around 6:30p after dropping everyone off I was rather tired, don't want to imagine how tired Shlep was seeing as how he had to the driving. Sleep that night was swift in coming and deep.

Thursday 11/28:
Woke up around 11:30a and then just bummed about watching some football here, beating Sheelpi, chillin' with Shoor. In the evening we went to Sadia's house for breaking the ritualisting Ramadan fast and prayer and such and then hightailed it back to Shlep's house immediately after the prayer. Sadia's house was ridiculously overcrowded and it was just suffocating to be there, although I'm sure the socializing after prayer would've been a lot of fun. It was a choice between socialize and suffocate in the heat or watch football and chill. Football won. That night was spent doing a whole lot of nothing, I tried to get a bit of reading done but that was fruitless. Got the first 20 or so pages of Jihad vs. McWorld done, but couldn't plow forward beyond that. Came to the conclusion that Shlep's house is way too quite for me. In all likelihood I would go crazy living there, unless of course I got some permamusic going.

Friday 11/29:
Woke up around 10 or so and then headed out with Shlep towards Carrolton and saw my boy's old hood. There are a lot of very very large churches in that city and I wanted to have a picture taken of me humping one, but that didn't quite pan out. Although I did purchase the one and only Xbox at the Carrolton Target while I was there. Also picked up NFL Blitz 2K3 plus the two useless games (GT 2002, Jet Set Radio Future) that came with the console. In hindsight maybe it was not such a good idea to get an Xbox just prior to the final two weeks of school. Only time will tell how good of a decision this is. That evening we went to Pavel's house for the breaking of the fast and prayers. I met so many people and all with a smile, such hospitable people, even to a confused Hindu just going throught he motions. It was also there I saw the most beautiful woman I've laid my eyes on in a long time. She has the kind of eyes that should come with a warning; "Lifeguard not on duty. Strong undertow. Swim at your own risk." I won't even mention her smile. Thats all I should really say about her. I don't really remember what happened the rest of the night other than we came back to Shlep's house.

Saturday 11/30:
I don't remember when I woke up, but I gave my grizzled face a good clean shave and took a nice long hot shower. Truly a simply wonderful way to start one's day. Spent the morning and afternoon hours playing a lot of Blitz with Shlep, Shoor and Said. The hotdog, dougboy, robot and other characters illicited too many giggles to remember not to mention the multiple late hits. That evening's fast breaking and prayers were at Fareen's house. The drive there was rather comical as we ran the tolls after the Jupiter exit on the G. Bush turnpike. That last right turn Shlep took should also be noted. I felt a lot more at ease this time around because I more or less fully anticipated what was to happen. I wasn't just going through the motions this time around I was actually beginning to follow what was happening. I met Fareen's younger brother Ziyad who was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I am a Hindu and a devout vegetarian. I guess I broke his mind when I didn't fit the mold for the stereotypical vegetarian bodytype. I'm not sure what or how exactly he felt about me praying with Muslims all the while being a Hindu. To me it was a prayer to God, it doesn't matter much who that God is. In the matter of who God is as in is he Christ, is he Allah, is he one of the myriad Hindu dieties, is he Buddha, its really all the same and the devil is in the details. I talked to her after dinner about nothing in particular. In lieu to my earlier warning, I went for a swim.
The pranks on the way back from Fareen's and then again at Shlep's house will just foster more giggles in time to come. After the pranks we played some more Blitz for a bit and then went out for some coffee with Shlep, Said and Ovi. The night was heavy in the air and it was time for sleep.

Sunday 12/1:
We left from Dallas around 11a after picking up Sonia and made pretty good time. I was back in the hizzle at the computer around 2:30p. After that it was just some frantic replying to emergency emails, the long ones I'll do tomorrow, and setting up shop here again. Cleaning up a few things, showering, getting the Xbox hooked up to the massively small television, and other important things. Took care of some school work to set myself up for a hopefully productive day tomorrow. After Shlep got back from his 4p meeting I left with him to take care of my Xbox controller exchange at Target. I didn't appreciate the S controller designed for the hands of Japanese women included with the Xbox bundle. So I had it exchanged for a regular Xbox controller designed for my hands. In case you haven't read the prior posts: here is how I feel about the Xbox controller. Then it was off to the one and only HEB to restock the fridge with vitals for the next two weeks. No the vitals didn't include any alcohol, but there is always tomorrow. After we got home Shlep and I dueled the Xbox in some Blitz. Sonia called during our game and it was decided that we should catch the 10:25p show of El Crimen del Padre Amaro at Westgate. Shlep then headed to his 9:30p meeting while I caught up on some reading. I don't have much to say about the film, I doubt I ever will. For me it was a very numbing experience. I've never been so rattled by a film. Furthermore the content of the movie was made all the more powerful by its delivery in Spanish which to me is a language that can be sword and sweet nothings in the same sentence. I'm just so shaken. Its definitely time for bed. I thought the film would be a fitting end to this amazing weekend, (any weekend where you meet a beautiful woman and get an Xbox are amazin) but I'm rather numbed that I'm not all certain what type of end this is, but an end it is.

Linkses:
CSI solves everything in an hour, why can't you?
I am completely at a loss to describe this.