Thursday.
Ended the day with end of the world!
Yes, I am talking of 2012. The sci fantasy based on the speculation that cosmic (not cosmetic you dumbo! ;) ) situation leads to instability of earth crust and ultimately tends to annihilation of planet's life forms except a few lucky ones. And a few rich ones too. The producers are capitalizing upon curiosity of human race to see how it is going to end.
It was a good show indeed. The graphics of the scale that at least I have never seen in a movie. Amazing attention to detail. The only thing it was short was a 3D show. And only distraction was a bunch of guys who came to see the special effects only and did not understood a single dialogue. They preferred gossiping when nothing significant (for them) was happening. :)
Apart from some probability calculations that did not quite fit in for me and one of my seniors who accompanied us to the show, it is worth it. How can a family escape hundreds of falling buildings and meteors of the size of a house falling meters away? Not even a splinter hitting them all the way!
Anyhow it is fiction and that's how it has to be: Not real.
The world does not end that abruptly for all the humanity put together. Geological changes are slow, mountains and seas change shape but over a period of thousands of years, research has shown. Unless it is a meteor strike; or a world war; or an alien attack!
"The world does end that abruptly for all the humanity put together"
For individuals it does. For some, it ends in a flash!
World ends when someone close to you abandons you. World ends for an athlete injured beyond healing. World ends for a businessman in a single misplaced deal. World ends for a top scorer who falls short by quarter of a percent.
World ends when our faith system fails us. And we are utterly helpless, unable to connect the failure it to any possible logical explanation. Helpless we feel and there, we see a dead end. It's the end of our world.
That was a gloomy observation. Don't know where from it popped up in my head. Lets move on. Thats the best remedy for such endings.
Take care.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Bad start
A drowsy head, blocked nose and an upset stomach is not the best way to start a week!! But that is what I discovered myself with when I woke up this Monday. Have traveled from home the last night which has taken its toll on my health along with the changing season to which I am still adjusting. Most of the part of Adjusting meant gathering and buying warm clothes :)
Moreover when you know that you have lots of stuff to do at the office, a partially healthy body is the last thing that you want to carry to the office. Especially when you have a rep to protect ;)
you don't want to look drowsy and lazy all the time. And such a work-day won't be a very productive one. So taking the advantage of facility provided by the company to cater to such Mondays, it seemed the best idea to relax at home and recollect my energy and attentiveness.
However, when you are all alone and there is lot to think about, we usually let unpleasant things crop up more frequently in the Devil's Home. The day went by fighting the devils and engaging in some reading stuff.
The next two days (that includes today) went mathing the pace with missed work and fortunately that it is pretty much on track owing to some solution we figured out at the last moment. Akin to a six in the last ball of the last over :)
Good Night.
Moreover when you know that you have lots of stuff to do at the office, a partially healthy body is the last thing that you want to carry to the office. Especially when you have a rep to protect ;)
you don't want to look drowsy and lazy all the time. And such a work-day won't be a very productive one. So taking the advantage of facility provided by the company to cater to such Mondays, it seemed the best idea to relax at home and recollect my energy and attentiveness.
However, when you are all alone and there is lot to think about, we usually let unpleasant things crop up more frequently in the Devil's Home. The day went by fighting the devils and engaging in some reading stuff.
The next two days (that includes today) went mathing the pace with missed work and fortunately that it is pretty much on track owing to some solution we figured out at the last moment. Akin to a six in the last ball of the last over :)
Good Night.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Standing waves
Another weekend.
Went home with all my whites so that I can enjoy the luxury of our washing machine. Home is all the same with same routine going on when you are not there and you just fit in. Everything at its own unique place as decided by the homemaker. The sugar jar, the hand towel, the ear buds-nothing leaves their place and you can literally move about blindfolded and know what lies where!
Most of the Saturday went into traveling because the Ropar bridge was closed for repairs (again!) and the bus had to do a 1.5 hr detour to land me at my home town. The first thing (which was by no means first after relaxing and chatting with mom and having some evening snacks) I did was to take care of the greatest pain that I would face it at my room here: the whites!
So off I went with my laundryman hat...
Machine wash tip #1: Rinse them before adding them to the detergent solution to get rid of the dirt that can be just dissolved in water (and sweat too). So that detergent does not have to act on something that can be removed by plain water.
As the rinsed whites were being spin dried for the next step, I noticed a curious wave pattern forming in the wash tub by the vibrations of the spin drum. Still, standing waves, I was able to relate to the ones that read about in my high school-Fundamentals of Physics (David Halliday, Robert Resnick and Jearl Walker).
Now the geeky stuff began.
I stared at the beautiful pattern etched on the water surface for a while, admiring both the moment and the physics behind it. My concentration broke as the pattern started moving and changing its form-started diminishing. I wondered which variable has changed? Spin drum is vibrating at the same frequency (not slowing down), I am not touching the machine, voltage is not fluctuating.
Hell!! The pattern changed due to falling water level in the tub, reducing its surface area as it went down.
I left the wash tub's drain open! Half of my dear detergent solution went down the drain :(
"Enough of physics Mr. Scientist! After wasting detergent enough to wash one load of clothes, start over now", I said to myself.
Went home with all my whites so that I can enjoy the luxury of our washing machine. Home is all the same with same routine going on when you are not there and you just fit in. Everything at its own unique place as decided by the homemaker. The sugar jar, the hand towel, the ear buds-nothing leaves their place and you can literally move about blindfolded and know what lies where!
Most of the Saturday went into traveling because the Ropar bridge was closed for repairs (again!) and the bus had to do a 1.5 hr detour to land me at my home town. The first thing (which was by no means first after relaxing and chatting with mom and having some evening snacks) I did was to take care of the greatest pain that I would face it at my room here: the whites!
So off I went with my laundryman hat...
Machine wash tip #1: Rinse them before adding them to the detergent solution to get rid of the dirt that can be just dissolved in water (and sweat too). So that detergent does not have to act on something that can be removed by plain water.
As the rinsed whites were being spin dried for the next step, I noticed a curious wave pattern forming in the wash tub by the vibrations of the spin drum. Still, standing waves, I was able to relate to the ones that read about in my high school-Fundamentals of Physics (David Halliday, Robert Resnick and Jearl Walker).
Now the geeky stuff began.
I stared at the beautiful pattern etched on the water surface for a while, admiring both the moment and the physics behind it. My concentration broke as the pattern started moving and changing its form-started diminishing. I wondered which variable has changed? Spin drum is vibrating at the same frequency (not slowing down), I am not touching the machine, voltage is not fluctuating.
Hell!! The pattern changed due to falling water level in the tub, reducing its surface area as it went down.
I left the wash tub's drain open! Half of my dear detergent solution went down the drain :(
"Enough of physics Mr. Scientist! After wasting detergent enough to wash one load of clothes, start over now", I said to myself.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Indra's Monday
As compared to the weekend, which wound up with me watching the beautiful classic story of two teenagers' unfathomable affection towards each other forcing their egoistic parents to give in - I am talking about the Raj Kapoor classic-"Bobby", The week did not took off on as favorable note with Inradev waking me up to a overcast sky that ended into a rainy Monday morning just when I was about to leave for the office.
Had to drop my parents at the interstate terminus as well and then leave to the office at usual time. But plans seldom realize the way they are conceived. As a consequence of the rain, had to delay the office by one hour. One of the things that I don't really appreciate doing (neither do they).
Rest of the days are work as usual with an exception of changing weather taking a toll on my appetite. So have to go an extra mile to meet my own minimums. It hurts when you are not able to meet your expectations from your own self. Especially when you put the bar pretty high for your self.
Solution is simple, let go some extra effort you are making somewhere and you are recharged for stuff that matter more somewhere else. Some introspection & reorganization and all fits back in.
So here I am. Back in the pilot seat. Taking off for yet another day in 8 hrs hence!
Good Night.
Had to drop my parents at the interstate terminus as well and then leave to the office at usual time. But plans seldom realize the way they are conceived. As a consequence of the rain, had to delay the office by one hour. One of the things that I don't really appreciate doing (neither do they).
Rest of the days are work as usual with an exception of changing weather taking a toll on my appetite. So have to go an extra mile to meet my own minimums. It hurts when you are not able to meet your expectations from your own self. Especially when you put the bar pretty high for your self.
Solution is simple, let go some extra effort you are making somewhere and you are recharged for stuff that matter more somewhere else. Some introspection & reorganization and all fits back in.
So here I am. Back in the pilot seat. Taking off for yet another day in 8 hrs hence!
Good Night.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Home improvement weekend
Not exactly home improvement. But this time I decided to put on my mechanic's hat and fix some things that have been bothering me since last few weeks.
First to be fixed was my PC that had no covers on following
the hard disk catastrophe that I mentioned earlier. Since then I could not put it all together. So, I started on the mission #1. unplugged the Idiot Box Junior (you know the senior one :-) ) There were no major surprises except one. The screws holding the PCB that houses front USB and headphone jacks were no longer useful! Repetitive strain had dislodged them and the threading was no longer able to hold on.
Time to devise a solution...
I had to use a piece of used leather belt to hold the thing in place and reinforce the threading with a glue so that it holds. But the process was not straight forward and ended with me reading the instruction manual to fix the minute power cables that I had to remove and that powered various LEDs here n there.
Then came the blender!
It is a historic device that would qualify for an antique any moment now! Probably as old as me. Uh oh! Do not take that analogy very seriously...! :)
The thing has been pissing me each time I used it by dripping a stream of content from the Jug, down into the motor and the kitchen shelve. So today was the day to teach it a lesson. But I was careful enough to be gentle with it because it has served my parents for so long and now me. I sometimes wonder how these things last so long. The Germans definitely go an extra mile on designing equipment so that they outlast many other brands of their time. Unlike most Indian manufacturers were it is a bliss if any equipment survives the warranty period safely.
The fault is not in the design, the fault is in the customers. We pay thrice the amount for a foreign product without a slightest hint of hesitation but we never would for a similar product by a local manufacturer. What if the local guy gets the liberty of spending thrice the amount (or twice) on additional quality materials and afford to reject some (slightly) faulty parts that otherwise make into the assembly line, we would be at par with anyone around. We have been. In ancient times.
That was a bit sidetrack. Coming to the weekend mission#2, I carefully unscrewed the most accessible screws while taking care not to screw something up! :)
I was familiar with the ki
nd of stuff that I found inside. Windings, Coils, Limit Switch, Wire Clamping, Bushes, Armature, Stator etc. What I saw in there hinted me that many generations of various kitchen bugs have been taking refuge in my loving blender. I had to destroy those deserted dwellings and clean all the residues from various liquids. The task was difficult but the result was satisfying.
More unscrewing, unfastening and then cleaning, reassembling, looking for any left over, curious looking parts. There were none which was a good sign :)
There we were, a working blender as good looking as new!
Wondering why I posted this activity here?
Many reasons.
First being to tell the world that my dad's experience is not all wasted by me going into IT.
Secondly, Such a task done at home be it fixing a broken, blender, installing a new bedside lamp, greasing your bike's chain, fixing a leaking tap etc etc can be accomplished by using a mini arsenal of tools and to the greatest level of satisfaction. You don't have to run to a plumber, electrician, mechanic, mason for every nitty-gritty that keeps falling off in a house where people live. Also, it is a good stress buster as well, at least for me. (Stop wondering!!)
Thirdly, I hope some pretty lady might stumble on this page and feel envious of an in-house mechanic that my wife will get for free ;-).
But I warn you, if you don't know exactly what you are doing, do it discreetly so that you have a lifeline of running off to the mechanic should anything not go as you planned. Else, you will have a nagging wife, mom, or sister who will never fail to make you realize one 'herogiri' of yours that failed. If you succeeded! then definitely you are the one who just proved it! :-)
Finally, I love tweaking things since I was a kid. That had made me learn to fix them more than have my dad fix them later :-).
Give a try to something sometimes, I can advise ;-)
Good night.
First to be fixed was my PC that had no covers on following
the hard disk catastrophe that I mentioned earlier. Since then I could not put it all together. So, I started on the mission #1. unplugged the Idiot Box Junior (you know the senior one :-) ) There were no major surprises except one. The screws holding the PCB that houses front USB and headphone jacks were no longer useful! Repetitive strain had dislodged them and the threading was no longer able to hold on.Time to devise a solution...
I had to use a piece of used leather belt to hold the thing in place and reinforce the threading with a glue so that it holds. But the process was not straight forward and ended with me reading the instruction manual to fix the minute power cables that I had to remove and that powered various LEDs here n there.
Then came the blender!
It is a historic device that would qualify for an antique any moment now! Probably as old as me. Uh oh! Do not take that analogy very seriously...! :)
The thing has been pissing me each time I used it by dripping a stream of content from the Jug, down into the motor and the kitchen shelve. So today was the day to teach it a lesson. But I was careful enough to be gentle with it because it has served my parents for so long and now me. I sometimes wonder how these things last so long. The Germans definitely go an extra mile on designing equipment so that they outlast many other brands of their time. Unlike most Indian manufacturers were it is a bliss if any equipment survives the warranty period safely.
The fault is not in the design, the fault is in the customers. We pay thrice the amount for a foreign product without a slightest hint of hesitation but we never would for a similar product by a local manufacturer. What if the local guy gets the liberty of spending thrice the amount (or twice) on additional quality materials and afford to reject some (slightly) faulty parts that otherwise make into the assembly line, we would be at par with anyone around. We have been. In ancient times.
That was a bit sidetrack. Coming to the weekend mission#2, I carefully unscrewed the most accessible screws while taking care not to screw something up! :)
I was familiar with the ki
nd of stuff that I found inside. Windings, Coils, Limit Switch, Wire Clamping, Bushes, Armature, Stator etc. What I saw in there hinted me that many generations of various kitchen bugs have been taking refuge in my loving blender. I had to destroy those deserted dwellings and clean all the residues from various liquids. The task was difficult but the result was satisfying.More unscrewing, unfastening and then cleaning, reassembling, looking for any left over, curious looking parts. There were none which was a good sign :)
There we were, a working blender as good looking as new!Wondering why I posted this activity here?
Many reasons.
First being to tell the world that my dad's experience is not all wasted by me going into IT.
Secondly, Such a task done at home be it fixing a broken, blender, installing a new bedside lamp, greasing your bike's chain, fixing a leaking tap etc etc can be accomplished by using a mini arsenal of tools and to the greatest level of satisfaction. You don't have to run to a plumber, electrician, mechanic, mason for every nitty-gritty that keeps falling off in a house where people live. Also, it is a good stress buster as well, at least for me. (Stop wondering!!)
Thirdly, I hope some pretty lady might stumble on this page and feel envious of an in-house mechanic that my wife will get for free ;-).
But I warn you, if you don't know exactly what you are doing, do it discreetly so that you have a lifeline of running off to the mechanic should anything not go as you planned. Else, you will have a nagging wife, mom, or sister who will never fail to make you realize one 'herogiri' of yours that failed. If you succeeded! then definitely you are the one who just proved it! :-)
Finally, I love tweaking things since I was a kid. That had made me learn to fix them more than have my dad fix them later :-).
Give a try to something sometimes, I can advise ;-)
Good night.
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