The prowess of Python

Being introduced to the world of Python, I just can't think of any other language which would pack so many features in so few lines. It is like punching every algorithm implementation in their face in slow motion as you would see in any modern action movie. I have been told to try Go which might be the next promising language which promises a lot of the same features but has been written with multicore concurrent architectures in mind.

While I don't want to get into a programming language comparison here - I am too old to fall for that. However, I must admit that I have tried learning python so many times but could never appreciate it as I could do virtually everything in C++ and I took pride in its speed and nativeness to the architecture. Well then, I never had to care about cross platform code compilation. I did not code in Java for a long time. It was a desperate measure to pick up Python - it's your friend when you have to quickly write up working code which does something and you don't have to spend hours debugging and making sure you took care of those edge cases. Think of these dynamically typed languages as shell scripts on top of C++. With JIT implementations available for many of these, programming has become a pleasure you get while driving a luxury car (think corvette) on 101.

I was going to write the content of this blog about sharing some of the punches python delivers. However I saw this posted on yc today which puts the words I wished to write into a beautiful post - http://sahandsaba.com/thirty-python-language-features-and-tricks-you-may-not-know.html

Somehow - there is a lot of power in desperate measures. You adapt. If your fundamentals are right, it is just a matter of time and you learn the new tricks. The beauty is when you learn to know when to use what - that takes lots of time and mistakes.

Wise people have said, it takes 20 days to learn how to write C++ and 20 years to unlearn how not to write C++. With this fast evolution of toolkits, I don't think we have 20 years. So build on fast on others' mistakes and learning - that's the only way to accelerate.

Route 66

On a lazy Saturday afternoon, I was watching a playlist comprising of songs composed by Lucky Ali and came across this one:

Well - we traveled much of the same route last year on our road trip to Grand Canyon and beyond. It is a real American treasure and cultural heritage. Seeing Santa Fe at the end brought a smile to my face as Sukhada lives an hour from it and we have been there as well.

The roads, motels, vast acres of barren land, deserts, mountains all make the route 66 so beautiful that it stays in your memory forever. Of course, you have to experience it yourself because the beauty lies in the journey not the destinations you would visit.

The good thing is the people have tried to preserve it and I would definitely wish to relive those 10 days of road trip with Sukhada if I can some day. I grew up watching this video and would always wonder what is so special about it. Well, now I know and so do everyone who have been on route 66.

Welcome 2014

Goal of this year (As I believe happens to quite a few of my age group who have not yet realized the real world responsibilities and are still living "in" their dreams) is to get more organized and focus on a To Do list. I have created one and shared it with Sukhada. I did feel that the list was realistic and achievable and I really hope I can finish things every month and be on track.

I moved out of New York and joined Intel couple of months back. Perhaps a very important and satisfying decision as I am learning a lot. I am also getting more time to focus on myself and improve my skillset. I am feeling every passing day that I can take on more challenges.

Weather in Portland is something which reminds me of all the good things I had in California and Florida - perhaps 2 of the best places I have spent my time in. If I were to win couple of million $$, I would just buy a house in Florida, get a one-way ticket for me & Sukhada and settle down. Portland is not bad - just the rain which does not stop; even if you sing "Rain rain, go away...".

After a long time I was hearing some of the new tracks from Coke Studio Pakistan. I am not sure why the Indian version disappoints me every time I hear it and I get more amazed with Sufi based soothing melodies of Rohail Hyatt's creation. I just listened to few tracks from Zara Madani (who participated in quite a few background chorus vocals in many of the Coke Studio tracks) and they are just amazing. Somehow this reminds me that you might not have that celebrity status but still possess that lovely talent which can do magic.

I hope 2014 brings peace, happiness and stability in all our lives. Cheers!

A year later

I always wanted to get back to this blog but the sheer fact that my last blog was in 2010 made me procrastinate a bit longer. I was afraid to see the date on my last post. So much has happened in so little time. Life has seen some important changes while still has remained more or less the same - although I must say, it's wonderful to have someone in it.

I am almost more than a month into my marriage, forgot the one-month anniversary (ya! you need to set up that reminder on phone - if you tend to forget a lot like me). It was one of the happiest moments of my life, my parents' lives and everyone around me had so much fun. Although my ancestral customs forbid the bride and groom to have a lot of fun by making us fast till the end - by the time we get to eat, all our apetite is gone and we wish we could sleep. But that one day, you wish it never ends. Sukhada looked awesome. Needless to say, her reception pics at Mumbai were the best I have seen to date. Photographers in Mumbai are 100% better than what we had at our place.

Rewinding a little bit, it is now two and half years in Bloomberg. Going strong and going good. I hope I can keep going some more. Things around me has changed. People are gone. New ones in. Subhendu & Chhavi still around in US :). I have spared very little thoughts about my office life in the last year. Mostly, it has been like keeping myself alive and awake.

I met Sukhada, fell in love, proposed, waited, felt the world slip away under my feet when she said yes, told near and dear ones and everything in between. There were multiple American Airlines and US Airways tickets made without the miles# before we realized - we need to make sure we have an account with every airline. Travel between New York and St. Louis was a bi-weekly thing (It still is, though sometimes monthly). The biggest fear was when our parents met and everything was sorted out without our presence. We were kept in dark for 2 days when all this was decided and we wondered what might be happenning. As it happened in December, I was given a 6 months deadline. I had given a 3 Year project estimate. Of course, I should have known - neither it was realistic, nor it would have been approved. Marriage date (after panditji made some mistakes citing the bengali calendar vs the oriya calendar) was fixed.

Every thing related to marriage - www.sukhada.in

I did not have so much fun in years. So much so that - now I want to go to India every year. I don't know what happened to me. I did not go for 3 straight years since coming to US. But it felt the best this time around. May be I was given the VVIP treatment. But it was great I could meet so many near & dear ones. Both sides.

Since December, days passed by like minutes. With Sukhada on top of my head with the trigger - I am usually lazy at doing things (Please consider my 3 Years Estimate). We managed to do a lot of things. Skipped some. Forgot a lot too. All in all - it was a total celebration. A momentous one.

Marriage ofcourse did not change anything except that Sukhada's surname is yet to change officially to Mishra. If it has changed anything - it makes me feel rich when I see the gold ring on my left hand :P. Sukhada is lovely more than ever before.

Now, that the jinx and fear has been taken off of my shoulders, I should come back here more frequently. Recently got a git username and plan to start participatng in stackoverflow. Picked up Code Complete to brush up my coding skills but returned it in 2 days - it has too much words & lot less actual stuff.

This has been typed while I am waiting for my food to be delivered. Sukhada just completed driving 100 miles to St Louis Airport and is going to board the flight in next 30 minutes. I am going to pick her up at the airport. She is coming to NY tonight.

Android/Incredible - Almost a Month Now

Well - I had followed the HTC Incredible hype since Dec 2009. So, when Verizon finally confirmed it, I just could not wait any longer. I had to jump to the offer. Here's is a review almost after a month of usage.

It is an Ultimate Phone with the Best & Most Open Mobile OS out there.

1. Home Screens

The Live Wall Papers and Personalization is wonderful. 7 Home Screens is just awesome. I hope app developers do keep in mind that Android is perhaps the best platform for Personalization & Customization. So, if there is any possibility to add Shortcuts or Widgets, they should invest time in doing the same.

2. Apps

Well, of course it does not have a zillion apps like iphone - but pretty much all the good ones have been "ported". There are some nifty ones which do not exist on iphone like the Newsroom or Google Navigation/Listen (I mean all the Google Brand). This phone runs like 30 apps any time. Just go to Usage and you will see the battery draining out with all the apps. But I love running all of them together - its like having a laptop in your hand. Why wouldn't you multitask?

3. Social Integration*

Facebook & Twitter Integration is awesome. It quickly recognizes your contacts and spits out the links to create a wholesome appeal to your contact list. It integrates facebook/twitter etc to create that individual so that you don't have to look at 5 different apps.

*I thought of calling it Facebook Integration coz today Facebook is virtually the Society.

4. Google Voice

I am yet to use this one properly. Its acting as my default Voicemail as of now. The more I read about it the more I get intrigued. It is just an awesome way to customize your usage of phone.

5. My Useful Apps - Checkout the Video

Newsroom - You have to get this one. It's perhaps the best one out there. Its like 36 sources pulling in beautifully formatted news for you. Of course, it cannot beat the way NY Times looks. But, it does it for 36 sources not just NY Times. And NY Times does not provide any customization either. Here in matter of seconds I can refresh the entire room. Some mentions - CNN, BBC, WSJ, Business Week, Google News, ESPN, TOI, NY Times, Engadget, Boing Boing etc.

Navigation - You simply don't need a GPS. I am going to beat the hell out of this app once I am back from India. Heard a lot about it and seems pretty useful.

Dolphin HD - So my iphone friend does not like the Stock Browser and dismisses the complete Incredible. Well, unfortunately the case with Apple is that if you build in something competing with the stock one, Apple kills it. Not in the Android World. That's how Firefox brings in Fennec. Opera bring Mini (well there was great hullaballoo over approving it on iphone in first place). Still, Dolphin HD is like the best browser currently. It uses the entire 3.7" to its disposal and runs awesome. Screen rendering is crisp. iphone users do not like the fact the the letters are small. Well, thats the customization again - I like to see the full page.

Skype - This is the deal breaker though it is recently been "ported" to iphone. Haha. Verizon is the shrewdest carrier to bring in all the nifty features. Skype is so deeply integrated along with multitasking, that you can't tell whether you are getting a call on Skype or Network. Its awesome to keep in touch with my Parents anytime anywhere (except for the subway/path).

NFL Mobile - Alert for *God* level Material

I don't know what Verizon had to do to get this on its App list. But it ****streams**** live NFL Channel to your phone on 3G. Let me tell you - it runs about 1-2 sec lag than actual TV but it is awesome beyond words. You can see every touchdown of Tim Tebow happenning when you are staying late in office or hanging out in some bar which is playing the oldies baseball.

So, there are a lot of more apps. I spend most of my morning and evening time reading Newsroom/Newsrob and listening to Google Listen. I believe this phone is more than apps.

6. Launcher

My iphone friends have no idea what I am talking about here; but then Apple never promised them anything like that. They give you one and you have to accept it. Moreorless it is like 80% satisfying. I tried LauncherPro on Incredible but I had to lose out the HTC Widgets. Launcher Pro is awesome if you like the 3D feel of Nexus One. But I have so much customization in place that the transition between Sense UI and Launcher Pro is not seamless. I enjoy using Sense and have stuck to it. Well, I keep changing the Live Wallpapers :) Try out NexusMod and Flying Android.

Ultimately - The winner is Verizon.

My monthly (thanks to some Corporate Discount) should be around $64 and that "includes" taxes. My data usage after a month was more than 2GB. And I *do not* connect to wifi coz Verizon is supposedly the best carrier out there for 3G. Oh, I did not mention about the 8Mpx Camera. This phone stands to its name. I am attaching a video herewith - all shots taken by my Incredible. I have not learnt use the flash etc, still it's pretty good. Enjoy in Youtube HD.

ps: For making the Videos, I used iMovie on my Mac. Shots were captured using USB Debugging. Checkout this page http://theappslab.com/2010/06/01/how-to-take-a-screenshot-in-android/. All Videos are in HD. Its 514am in the morning now.

What a play! Big Respect!

This post will be short.

I would ask you all to go and definitely watch the play titled "The Blue Mug". Awesome performance by the entire team. Its about all those childhood memories you had and would want someone to narrate you back. Its hilarious and makes you take a journey down those murky memory lanes of the past. The group is on a world tour and its advisable you book your tickets as soon they become available. We got a $75 one (I guess) and we were like 8 rows from the stage. Great experience as this was the first time I watched a play.

Running Chrome OS

(My ramblings as I wandered off to the Chrome OS era)

Well, hmm now I think thats not entirely true. I would have wanted it to run on Dell Vostro 1500. I had to steal someone else's :). There were hiccups. Any OSS usually needs bit of effort to make it run/usable. When google launched Chrome OS last year, I immediately went to the website to see if an image is available. Google never shared the image - instead gave a list of steps to build the source on Ubuntu. They were tedious and my Dell Vostro was almost dead. I still wanted to give it a shot (long shot of course) but was preoccupied with work. And then I bought a Macbook Pro on Thanksgiving. It has been just a fantastic platform and hats off to Apple to pull in such masterpieces every time.

One of my friend recently mentioned that his laptop is not running for the last year. The reason was something related to OS as he mentions. I already had Opensuse on the USB which I sometime used when I felt like working on Linux. My Windows is breathing its last due to bad virus issues. That gave me the motivation to finally search for Chrome OS image again. I got the resource here. Well, thanks to my windows laptop I ended up downloading the image for some 3-4 times and the worst case was it went till 200 MB and stopped. Mac to rescue. The whole distro is 327MB - so your wireless has to hold and not get disconnected (My Dell Vostro does). So, once I completed the transfer and image burning on my USB - with bated breath I tried to boot it up.

It didn't. Black screen all over. Complete let down. What to do now. I read some more. May be the md5 is wrong and file is corrupt. May be I did not format the USB properly. My search hit this page next (see the parent wiki page too; lot of info). Dell Vostro 1500 - Does not boot. Then there were few comments about Flow and Zero (builds). The next thing I saw was there were listings for Apple.

There were 2 reasons why I did not want to try it on my Mac. First - its Mac. Its pristine. Its still a virgin and I have not fiddled with it like I do with my windows/linux. The other problem was that I need to burn a separate image for the Mac (I guess) coz of the hardware differences. That would have taken some time to start the entire process again.

Solution - I saw in the list that HP works. It had like Y Y Y Y everywhere. Thats it. I know somebody who has a HP laptop. Its like my Dell Laptop - almost dead. But I had to try once. Thanks Rohan - I had to reboot your laptop to experiment this one.

Well, well. Initial start 22 seconds for the first (Google had 7 on its demo, hence there is no image available from Google. I guess the time is something which can be played around with). I am counting this from the moment I press the button. In 22 seconds you are on login screen. This time reduced to 15 in the next 4-5 boots. And its simple to use. Chrome Browser is amazingly (read lightning) fast & it feels light. The build version is of 20100213 0.5.31. It shows another version 6.0.321.0 which looks like the Chrome Browser version but I need to google further to verify that.

I could not find few important features like pinning & app area. But Ctrl-Alt-T brings to the familiar console and then the world is yours. This is perfect for Netbooks - there is no question about it. There are nifty UI tricks which are eye-candy. I don't have any screenshots coz I did not find the print screen feature (well thats something which might be useful to report bugs). Had I been running VmWare or VirtualBox, I could have posted few images. So task in hand is to get an external HDD and download all necessary stuff from my Windows BOX (>30G of my class lectures) and kill it. I mean put in something better (Linux for now).

Okay, thats it for now. Till Rohan is not in - I can decimate some more of his laptop functionality and do some cooking. Its good to see that I finally could get this one done. My plans to watch "Kick Ass" did not work out, but I can say the evening was worthwhile and Chromium is a kick-ass OS.

The iPad

iPad will be going on sale in less than a month now. It's available for pre-order and the more I see it, the more I end up deciding to get one for my Parents (Of course that includes some months of free usage by me before I send it over). The best thing which I found out about it is that as the apps you download is through iTunes library - your apps can be downloaded directly from there for iPad as well. This hence means that if you have an iPhone (which I plan to get in a few months - wish Mr. Jobs speaks about the mysterious OS 4.0) and get the iPad - the apps will be virtually in sync. The problem now is when I send the device over to India - what happens when I buy new apps. Of course the iTunes installations will be different and I believe it will recognize the folly. But is there a way around this?

I did my bit of research on phones - while I believe that HTC phones are way better than the iPhone and are a good device to be bought by any tech-savvy person, its not yet mature. Neither do I have enough money to have 2 phones like all those youtube posters who have bought both iPhone and Nexus One on the first day. Regardless, the only problem with HTC phones is the radiation level. While iPhone makes sure everything is way below the warning level, all major HTC phones kind of flirt with that mark. Nexus One does best among them - still its pretty high to be there in our pockets. I can't argue with what performance a 1Gz (1.5GHz coming soon, even iPad is just 1GHz) mobile processor can give you - just that I need to get rich more quickly to get going with the american way of buying things while still saving the way Indians hold onto their bank balances (Thats a gujju trait I wish I was born with).

I have an eerie feeling to hold on to my hunger for few more weeks and wait for the initial reaction by users. I know Apple does not mess up with things - so all in all its going to be awesome. But, there is no rush as I don't know anyone who is visiting my part of the country in the next few months (before I "plan" my visit in the mythical months of May & June).

Apps for "Great" Cooks

I rushed out from my office. Since few hours I could not resist the ideas coming into my mind. I had to write them down somewhere and may be work on it later (which has never happened yet and it stays in the story boarding phase forever)

Well, I had this amazing idea of designing an App specifically to cater the Indian palate in a better way. The entire ride from office to home made me hungry for food as well as thought as to how it can solve the problem of being a terrible cook especially if you fall anywhere within my range of cooking expertise. If I ever go to that show "Worst Cooks in America", I can easily give them a run for their money for weeks. May be they should have an Idol to celebrate my success.

Anyways, before I could start on my ideas and the images popping out in my brain causing enough bile to flow & making me hungry (this sentence is going no where like Sarah Palin) - I did my due diligence to do some research on Apple's philosophy of "There's an app for everything".

Believe me, this App was in the front featured section. Front Page. Was my idea stale? Nah, not really. But when I looked at the App - It put a dent into my thought process. Apple Apps are so picture perfect. It's made to be sold. At any price - the page looked so awesome that I was like ... hmm how can I better on this?

So may be if you guys have an iphone and want to try out some recipes at home or may be just want to get organized in the cooking department, Try these. I have no affiliations what so ever & neither I have an iphone (which should make me the last person to recommend you this). But, nonetheless I would vouch for everything Apple. Now, if the folks at Apple approve this to go on the front featured section - there must be something worthy about it.

Moral of the Story - Nothing beats Apple in Showing off!

What an end to the Week it Was

What a weekend it was .....

There was the Russell Peter's Green Card tour in New York City. Watching the show was worth every penny. After an hour, I was tired of laughing. My jaws hurt and the mouth was dry. It was hilarious and grose. If you know that there is a tour going to be in your city - You have to watch it. And do not, remember do not, get the first row seats. You are digging your grave. But then, somebody has to get those seats. So, good luck!

Ishqiya - the movie had a great preview but I did not know anything else about it. Nor had I heard the soundtrack. What a surprise. I have couple of friends from M.P. and U.P. Believe me the language used in the movie portrays the hindi dialect used by people of bhopal and gorakhpur. Some of my good friends are from there and I could literally hear them speak. The movie is awesome if you are well versed with the local colloquial terms used to describe adultery. And then there are punch line gags from Arshad Warsi. I was told that this movie was not directed by Vishal Bharadwaj - but it had all the essence and I found it a blend between Omkara and Kaminey. The story might not be 5/5 but everything else is. This is a great start to 2010 from the perspective of hindi movies. I hope you go watch it.

I am finding myself getting busy & tired every week with just about a lot of work pouring in. I am not sure how I am going to handle all this. But, I have to find something out. This weekend was a real stress buster.

Next week the Grand Dad of All Entertainment - The Super Bowl. Go Colts!!

No bells or whistles to start the Year 2010

There is not much happening these days. College Football is over. NFL is almost about to be done. I hope one of them - NY Jets, Vikings or Colts win (I root in that order). There's Lakers vs Knicks on 22nd which I have tickets for and then Russel Peters on 29th. But these are fillers.

Did I sign up for this not-so-interesting life? I think so. I mean I am just being a lazy ass here trying to put on some weight. I planned to do the following and did nothing:

1. Learn Ice Skating

2. Learn some version of Electronica (guitar, casio something)

3. Learn Badminton or Racquetball

4. Learn to F******* drive.

So, this weekend I am going to resume badminton for sure (hope the Manhattan Club reopens). I am going to find out whats the scoop on Ice Skating. This new year my wallet is just getting emptied on anything and everything. I have to shell out more for my new apartment (> $1100 man). Man! who says you can save in America. To top that, my favorite channel now-a-days on television is HGTV in HD. God damn it! I would love to buy property the way they show in there. At least, I will save something on rent. But again, the fifth thing which is missing in the above list is "Learn to Save money" which I don't think I will ever learn. Hence, there is no point in putting it there.

Past couple of days went like whirlwind and work has taken priority again. I have been listening to a lot of stuff out here Coke Studio. It got some good tracks.

Out of no-where: If I have to name 3 movies last year which you gotta kidding me if you haven't watched, they are (in no particular order)

1. District 9

2. Avatar

3. Hurt Locker

I did manage to watch a lot of movies last year and believe me I have watched 80% of these.

Last, I wish I could go home sometime this year. With every passing day, I think I keep forgetting my roots. Its about time I pay a visit to my Matrubhumi.

Aal is Well

I wanted to put an exclamation mark at the end of this title. But thats so cliched now-a-days. So much so that it is appearing as a strict no-no in many recent design articles. But as "woh kah gaye" ... bad habits kambakhath die hard. Now, blogger is giving me hard time with the spell checker.

What prompted me to write this post? Well, its pretty much obvious from the title that I must have just watched the movie. Yes, I did. Not without a struggle though. I had gone to the cinemas twice returning without watching the film as it was sold out. The turn out is good especially during Christmas. Not that the movie is too good, just that here the Indians stay pretty away from family and there is nothing much to do during holidays. To spoil it further, its raining heavily today.

The movie is excellent. I have not read the book "Five point someone". That must be an eye-opener for quite a few youngsters. If not, please help them. Coz, sincerely speaking I needed some and there was no-one. Those few who were there could not convince me much and "Here I Am" - just a cliched one from Bryan Adams.

So. We Indians deliberate a lot on that word. I mean its so wrong to make such a strong pause there. But we do the mistake and we repeat it a thousand times. It has never been a complete sentence. Still, we use it like it speaks of everything we want to say next. Whats the moral of the story?

Its not that you want to be the next waangdu. You might have already passed that stage. If not, good luck - hope you get to one without that surname. The real one is to believe that life starts at the age when you kick start it. Not when when you are still getting pushed in the blinding crowd. I don't want to elaborate on this now. In 3 words, "Never say Never".

My expectations of the movie were slightly lowered thanks to movie reviews on web and my roomies who did not appreciate the second half. I think the movie was excellent. Though some jokes were too predictable for any engineering college student, nonetheless we can still laugh at our past. I just wished it could have been more hilarious.

So as aal is well, I am going to microwave the paneel butter masala and daal from nearby "Raaz" restuarant (I donno why they keep such names). Enjoy your time.

Just when I was going to hit the publish button, I could not stop smiling that I had completely forgot to mention the virus which created so much trouble for us. I mean if someone can match that template of bhrastbudhhi, it can be khodu (1st prize please). Applause. Applause.

Whats happenning now-a-days?

So the inevitable finally happened today! Florida fell. Superman lost saving the gators for so long. I felt terrible.

Well, 22 games undefeated. I read all posts, followed blogs and read news - it was gators everywhere. And today it all ends in that Georgia Dome. The same stadium where we defeated Alabama last year. This year - Alabama proved that they are the better team. I won't feed to the fact that Urban Meyer or Tim Tebow did anything wrong in this finale. But we just didn't show up. We were lost. I was so unimpressed by the play that I couldn't watch the game for most of the time. Anyways, thats the end of the season. I save a trip to Pasadena, CA. More than $1500 savings - lets say (well it isn't savings actually - I was willing to shell out that much if FL reaches National Championship). I don't have high hopes from next year FL team. Still, I will root for them.

Coming back to title of this post. I am current running 3 OS's. Windows Vista (no 7 for me :(. Fedora 12 - this blog is being typed on Fedora. More or less, I am moving to Fedora and will __NOT__ be working on Vista anymore. The only problem I had with Linux (any flavor) in general was with networking. The wireless card and wireless router are just not willing to mate. It took some effort in making them talk and now we are here. I tried Ubuntu (latest version) but gave up. I found Fedora working and it helps.

Ok, the last OS - I bought my Macbook Pro 13" on Thanksgiving. I am just blown away. Why I am not using it? Its just too remarkable to be touched. Even putting my fingerprints on it makes me tinker. Its perfect. Well, as I plan to do some projects on it, I installed Eclipse on it. I found that eclipse was somewhat different from what I last used on Windows. Don't know its Mac related Customization or Eclipse Interfae has changed in a while. Well, the Macbook Pro 13" is amazing and you should buy one. I got a good deal but what I came to know is Apple is going to launch MBPs with Inter Core i7 and i9 processors in 2010. So, if you want to hold on, you may. I can gift this MBP to someone in India lateron and get a higher end one next year if I click to generate some extra income.

So, I bought a lot of stuff on thanksgiving. Will sending them soon to India. Listening to Fireflies (Owl City) now. Thats all! - over & out.

ps: If I ever get an opportunity to make my "hall of fame" - Tebow & Meyer shall be there. I am inspired, floored and feel proud. I wish: somedayI get a chance to meet Tim Tebow!

Mark Isham

I have been following his music as part of movie soundtracks for few years now. No doubt, he is one of the living legends in putting in some of the finest background score out there.

I watched Bad Lieutanant: Port of Call New Orleans yesterday. Awesome movie. I would suggest you to go forth and give it a shot. You might like it, you might fall in love with it or you might just disregard it. But its one of those movies you should not miss. After so many years, perhaps Nicolas Cage got a movie which fits his characteristic frown. He gels into the script so well - you think that the character Terence McDonah does and should exist. Of course you might question their ways of action but none-the-less you would love the addiction.

My views on Knot

Well, everytime I talk to my friends - I keep getting the updates as to who got married and who is going to tie that once-in-a-lifetime knot. Well, somehow one of my friends who recently moved to NYC with his wife did not turn up to meet me - I spent my time watching ManU vs Arsenal game for a change and then slept off. What happened in sleep is that I got some interesting quotes in my mind. Believe me; these exactly depict why I think bachelors (and that includes me) are afraid of wearing that ring (of death) . Oh well, pardon my "high" thinking!!

"Life is full of uncertain variables. You and me are just two good friends. Maybe, sometime more than that. But then, do we have to tie the knot? That would mean I have to understand your side of equations - mother, father, family. And you have to understand my side and inherit the complications. A study would show that these random variables are so many, that we have to spend more than a lifetime in solving these simultaneous equations and believe me - there is just no answer. And do you want to do this Math your entire life? And then you have relatives which are like solving differential equations; you take the derivatives of the primary and believe me - even in true mathbooks they solve it using approximation techniques. So, lets forget the knot. So much Math is detrimental for healthy living".

Undoing Some Mistakes

Have you got that realization that you have been unjust to so many things in life? That moment kills you.

I have been suppressing this feeling for quite some time now. As always; there have been excuses to kneel on. Life has been hanging between mundane and painful actions. Nothing enjoyable. Why?

Perhaps it is because I am still looking for the right moment. I still cannot define what it is? When I joined MS, we asked our seniors a question: How do you secure an on-campus job?

The answer was simple: "You have to be at the right time, at the right place".

I never did an on-campus job. Reasons many. Excuses galore. I still wish I had done one. Perhaps I never could grasp what it meant in the first place.

I watched luck by chance movie today. An Akhtar trend special, simply put, it should be on your next weekend movie list. It is that simple supper with all the right mix of palatable items with nothing overwhelming the other and exactly filling your stomach, leaving you satisfied and content. Give a listen to song the song "Yeh Zindagi Bhi" by Loy Mendonsa & Shekhar Ravjiani. The overall soundtrack is remarkably light & relaxed.

Diving deep, I found subtle nuances which ask questions so bold that even my soul fell silent and had no answers. I felt alone (and hence writing this blog).

I could relate to few, I got lost in others. Mistakes have been made. Undoing them would take a lifetime now. The question is: Have I realized it yet completely? Perhaps not.

It is today that perhaps I get a feeling what is the right moment. But still it is vague. And believe me I feel the pain.

Thanks to everyone who has been around for so long time with me. I am here now; 25, at the cross-roads - whatever I have achieved it is because of you. So you must know this and I have to speak it aloud - You are the Best!

Moving out of Gainesville

I am at the Charlotte (NC) airport and thought of writing the blog as I have loads of time before I board my connecting flight to Newark. My flight from Jacksonville had engine problems (US Airways 3222) and the cascading delays have resulted in this wait. But thanks to airline staff, I got my schedule changed from flight departing at 7:55p to one at 6:15p. That leaves me 20 more minutes.

Today is special. Finally making a move out of Gainesville, FL. Home of the Gators. It has been a heck of a stay for the last 18 months or so. So much so that while doing an internship in summer, I was desperate enough to get back. You can say it was a lousy summer experience, but believe me I felt like I missed school and wanted to be back at any cost. I felt at home as soon as I reached the Gainesville Airport back in August.

I feel sad today. Gators won the National Championship this year. I watched each and every game as if I had adopted a new religion. I started watching so much football that even till today I check the espn/cbs websites for school recruits for the next year game. I wish the Gators all the best and with Tebow I have supreme confidence and pride to state that we will go and have another one next year. Go Gators!

Back to me. It is going to be NY/NJ destination for an unknown amount of time. I am moving to the capital of US (I mean common, who goes to DC). The city, the culture. The events, the who&whos you see in televison. The madness, the blood rush, the competition, the die hard attitude and over all home of the New York Giants. Its going to be the start of another chapter. And I am as excited as anybody. And did I mention that my work kind of relates to reporting what happens in Wall Street? (Its just kind of; ok might be - I accept, I have no clue yet)

Low and behold, there is much to do in upcoming days in NYC. Places to go, things to do, people to meet. If you know of anything I might be missing out before Feb 9th, write in a comment here. If you are in NYC/NJ and would love to show me some places around, drop me a comment. Whats on Feb 9th; thats my joining day at work. So, before I get married to my workaholic schedule, lets get to enjoy for some more time the bachelorhood. Better, if you have a Giants Game Ticket, lemme know and I might* sponsor the party.

So, Adios Gainesville.

*Offer expires soon

Yet Another Interview

An interview call makes you really excited - you think of all the possibilities and aftermath. After the process is over, you are drenched. It might leave you elated if you have done exceedingly well or tired/fatigued if you failed to make a mark. So why am I talking about all this?

After the Bloomberg offer, I send denial emails to few companies I was being interviewed with. Believe me, its hard to send in such emails because I understand how much effort has been put just to get that call. I was lucky I did not try for many and not too hard (Y! rocks in some sense none the less).

I finally applied to Microsoft and going to have an interview on 16th. Everything was going on nice and fine. Till this happened and perhaps I have not had good sleep till yesterday. I can go for a deep slumber now as I don't have much hope from today's encounter :-|

I got an interview with Google. [Please do not ask me about questions - I cannot discuss, nor the emails;]. While I did not expect much preparation, I punched in several lines of code as this was supposed to be a coding exercise. I was doing fairly well with one fear that what if the question does not click me.

What I have realized is that if I know the solution well, I can jot down the code without making a lot of mistakes. Believe me, my code would show up with fewer compile time errors and hmm, a few runtime ones (those which are really really evil and happen only on full-moon days).

But when I do not know of the solution, somehow I am good at explaining them but if asked to explain as well write the code simulateneously, I falter. I perhaps manage to pitch in the overall picture correctly by picking up the grassroot problem; but when it comes to finishing it up - I just go eerie with design blunders. I am not sure what screws up my frame of mind. Is it the constant pressure which mounts every minute of the interview or is it that I have exhausted myself of that creative juice by not taking ample rest before the interview.

A lot of things can be spoken after the interview - the fact is plain & simple. There is room for improvement. I might have polished my coding standards and understanding of c++ a lot better. Given a known algorithm, I can write up the solution quickly and efficiently (something which again I need to work on; I found that I tend to do a lot of pre-optimization; something which brings in those runtime errors - there is a simple solution to this :: Hold yourself till you execute the code). I need to write in more and more code; code which makes me think while I write. I am more of a paper-pencil guy who likes to solve the problem separately and code separately. But this has to change. I don't know how! But perhaps more practice and more experience.

Now that I have begun with one down, lets see how I fair at the MSFT interview. I am not preparing for the same because I prepared a lot for today's interview. I want to take it all in the light spirit. Perhaps over-preparation spoils the party.

Summary:
1. Do not optmize before you execute. Let your code be verbose. You need to make that cut.
2. Relax, relax, relax
3. ?If the solution does not strike to you and you have to start coding any how, What should you do? - Try to find out.

Not just the pursuit, I am happy today

Well not just that I am sober, I am typing this at almost the stroke of the midnight making a lot of spelling mistakes and correcting them. So you know how difficult it is for me to keep it grammatically right till now (pardon me if I really made any).

I finally could score a job offer and look forward to join NYC for the next year. It's a dream to work in NYC. It reminds of so many things I have missed out and I have high expectations from myself as well as the firm I am joining.

I have time for almost Feb 9th to enjoy and make out something finally of this Masters. I know this degree gave me a lot of things to ponder and speculate. But still, the ambitions are not yet fulfilled. It is long road and I need to envisage it. This is perhaps the first step, or perhaps the first success of the few bold steps I have taken in the recent past.

For the die hard techie fans:

From now on::::

From now on::::

Whenever you compile using g++ and use inline ............................... yes u use inline to make your program faster;

Use g++ -O2 or -O3 ...... then only it takes into effect. AND, use gprof to actually measure it, otherwise there is no point in making a function inline - really absolutely no point at all.

Learn how to profile your code today before it is too late, regardless it is jprobe or gprof. I am sorry for the intoxication :)

Inactivity around

I need to order some fizzy drinks I guess.... something really fizzy!

For the past 3 days, since my internship has ended, suddenly I see myself sucked into a land of inactivity. All I do is sit in the Joe's chair (remember the one they had in Friends') and ponder on what should I do next and which one should I do first!! Of course, as you have guessed by now, its not that I can't figure out what to do next, but the list is so damn long and vast - I just can't come to a consensus on what to begin with. So the past 3 days, I have been just day dreaming. At nights, I sleep for 12 hours putting the blame on jet lag "I came from California last week, you know".

Semester just began. I can't still get used to the fact that their is no office to attend. I am a "office" person I guess, while I hate discipline. I can never go to office at 9, technically I can - I would be just half asleep. But if thats not there, there is a big void. To fill it in I come with these strange ideas to fill in my mind and the the rest of the day goes by dreaming and creating castles in air.

I have a long list of software upgrades lined up which include FF3. I am still not sure if I should reformat my laptop to run Ubuntu instead of Vista. I perhaps should do it sooner but I want to know how good Eclipse + Java 1.6 runs on Ubuntu - if you have tried it out, please leave a comment.

I am looking for doing something more this semester. Will probably look forward to build something on python, try my hands on web development and write some big chunk of server code in c++. While all of these targets towards getting myself noticed for a job interview, I sincerely think this is a long term fruit. And throwing away vista would be perhaps the first gear to kick in. But the only difference is that I am running out of time and I can feel it. I feel it really hard now.

Its high time I get high ... aghh .. I mean I dream big ... I mean .... you know what I mean.

[Give me some fizzy drinks]