Wednesday, September 24, 2003


Overheard

Girl: My petname is Bizo
All else: Do you know what Bizo means?
Girl: OHHH yeah, Bizo means Bitch
All else: So you don't care that the guys call you "Bitch"
Girl: Oh no no, they don't call me bitch, they call me Bizo
All else: Ahh yes, the technicality...
Girl: No No, you've all got this wrong. I know what they mean when they call me Bizo
All else: So what do they mean?
Girl: How do I explain this... Hmmmm, in some context, Bitch can be a term of endearment

... tumultous uproar, insane laughter followed by uncontrollable rushing of blood in cheeks - such a tongue in cheek, sorry, foot in mouth statement!

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

U.S. stocks close with healthy gains

Can anyone please explain this sudden surge in the bourses to me? Everything I read in August pointed to a bear market but it has been anything but since September showed up on our calendars. You'd wonder why I'm complaining since MS stock is going up up and up - doh - I don't have any :)

Monday, September 22, 2003


My first tournament victory

I came out on top and earned my prize - a brand new squash bag. The Pro Club had it's in-house tournament this past weekend and I played 3 matches to win it. This was the first time that I had been pitted against the top 3 players on the Pro Club squash ladder (this includes Microsoft and non-Microsoft employees) and I beat the Number 3 and Number 1 player en route to the finishing line. The final was a humdinger, I lost the first 2 games and was down in the 3rd game. With nothing to lose, I started playing tighter and played every point on merit and, it worked. My opponent got progressively frustrated while I strung together a chain of good shots and lucky breaks. The final score read: 7-9. 4-9, 9-5, 9-2, 9-5.

I've been at work since 5pm last evening and it's only 2pm on Monday. Another 2 hours and I'll be outta here, off to bed - my fingers aren't moving that fast in fact, they are kinda numb. It's strange this phenomenon of fingers freezing - my office is hella warm, enough to make me wanna take my clothes off but my fingerrrrrrs are brrr - what's up with that?

Thursday, September 18, 2003


The birthday weekend

The dust has finally settled and I am back in my senses, a 100%. Rather than be pedantic, pathetic, prosaic and verbose, I'll state just the facts - and how I felt at every juncture this past weekend. So let me push the clock back to last Friday, the 12th of September and relate the story...

I visited the lawyer on Friday morning and he's going to help me out the rest of the way. One thing off my head. Spoke to my manager about the future and how I fit into M$'s scheme of things. So far so good. People had already begun calling since the weekend would be tough for most to get in touch with me (families, other engagements, whatever) but I couldn't meet 'em because I can't remember how little time I spent in my office. This though has become the biggest problems for me, I'm spending so little time on my seat, it's a big cause for concern - more on that in another update... But a big thanks for all who remembered and for those who didn't, you know who you are - you should be ashamed of yourselves ;)

After doing my bit at work, I duelled on the squash courts that evening but was denied victory in a close encounter. Karan was to swing by later in the evening and drive me to the party that was being thrown in honour of my birthday and the departure of Nitin to the Big Apple. I thought this like other Indian parties was not going to start before 11, so I planned my evening accordingly. Adana stopped by and gave me my present - a smart black jacket after which I got dressed and waited to be driven. To Seattle we shall go!

And what a night it was... The party had started at 9, I reached at 11:30 and by 1, I was totally smashed. 12 shots of random alcohol within an hour, no dinner and a piece of cake. The buzz was good while it lasted and everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves when I made my first trip to the bathroom - what I know of the remainder of the night is through vague memories and random stories I've heard since. But to sum it up, I wasn't a pretty sight. I flirted, gave a speech without speaking and then threw up - everywhere... You'd think turning 26 would be wizening - NOT!

Hats off to Karan though, he took really good care of me that night. And his gift - my new iPod - is yet to be surpassed in thoughtfulness and sheer grandeur - he knows I am a total Apple fan boy. Honeslty, the biggest take away from this weekend was the fact that finally, I have found myself a bunch of friends that are on the same wavelength as I am - in Karan, Arun, Geni, Wes and the rest of the gang, there is reason now to have a social life!

Saturday was the real day - hung with the boys and watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico - total time-pass and highly recommended. Dinner at Geni's was fun too, she was the butt of all our jokes and this time around, Karan joined in too. Of course, the joke of the evening, even later at Chirag's house warming party, was my drinking binge and my unslightly subsequent state but oh well, as the birthday boy, it was my birth-right ;)

Sunday was the day it all sunk in - you're 26 now Manoj - you're gonna have to settle down Manoj - and then I went a shopping with Karan :) When that didn't help with the brooding, I turned to Adam and Sam's invitation to dinner, drinks and a movie to lift my spirits. The Lonnberg cinemas feature the best movie screen in town. What enriches the experience is that admission is restricted to a privileged few - the guys were really generous - we had dinner at Spazzo's (we didn't use the Prime Card though - dohhhh), drinks at Adam's and finally ended the night with the Basic - John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson - a fitting end to a great weekend. Things can only get better...

Wednesday, September 10, 2003


Patch unpatched :)

The vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 exploited by the Blaster Worm wasn't a 100% patched by the earlier security update released by MS. If you are running any of the OS' mentioned above on your PC, you're better off installing the new patches that are available from here:

If you need help, send me email...

This is hilarious...

Switching on PC is too technical for many users

"A staggering one in seven technologically challenged employees needs help even switching their computers on and off, according to research commissioned by City "

'nuff said - the very fact that you have navigated this far, to this blog elevates you to the next level of computer literati ;)

It's air, no water, no it's the untouchable screen

Wired News: An Untouchable Video Screen

The Heliodisplay prototype display system, invented by a 29-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student, modifies the air above a video projector, creating a working, 27-inch screen that can display any kind of video.


Cool or what? The possibilities are endless...

Tuesday, September 09, 2003


RIAA decides it's time to punish all them swappers

12-Year-Old Sued for Music Downloading

But suing a 12 year old, that's taking it a little too far now isn't it? Sometimes I believe that stuff in the US doesn't happen in the correct spirit, like how we were once denied food at the Drive Through counter because we weren't driving a car but were walking instead. I think about India and about how people will do everything they can so that they get your business - oh well! Back to the original topic - so you like downloading songs, so you think CDs are a waste of money but are now scared that you might get sued too? There is a workaround. The RIAA is suing only those people that have a tonna songs shared out - the object at fault is the "My Shared Folder" on your computer. You can continue downloading as much as you want if you keep a lid on the size of this "My Shared Folder". Easy does it - and ofcourse, don't download a 100 songs a day, keep your bandwidth usage down to maybe 2/3 songs a day and you'll be golden... No RIAA but still, free downloads :)

Monday, September 08, 2003


Hi-tech solutions for India's train crashes

I was reading an article on the use of GPS in India to prevent train wrecks and a quote made right at the end of the article caught my attention. Here goes...

Hi-tech solutions for India's train crashes: "So it seems like Indian Railways has come up with a good strategy to keep its trains and drivers on track. But it remains to be seen if their plan stays on track too."

The story of progress in India is best summarized by the phrase, There is many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip. It's not that plans aren't put in place or that the government is unaware of the problems plaguing it's people; it's just not in the best interest of the powers that be to actually do something about them problems. But for them to keep their jobs, the common man needs to be appeased, so plans are drafted and promises are made. You'd think that being lampooned by the press would have an effect on the politicians - and of course, you'd be wrong... If you are a politician, you learn to ignore the press ;)

Thursday, September 04, 2003


Sombre

I have spent a handful of hours working since proceedings began after the labour day weekend. The spark is gone, the motivation is lacking and I don't feel the intensity that drove me through the first half of this year. This has a lot to do with my review and I know I should invest my time in preparing for the interview onslaught - but I'm unable to. As I said earlier, too much is going on for me to get a grip, on anything! This isn't a new phenomenon, I've been through this before and one must wonder, I should be a professional at dealing with this now that it has happened so often - NOT. Every time is different from every other time except that the cause of void, the hole is elusive - and then, the phase passes.

Ate dinner with Tazz this evening at a relatively non-descript but pretty authentic Indian restaurant - Sahib at Redmond Town Centre. I'm going to spend the better part of this coming weekend just catching up with all the studying that is pending. I'm also going to talk to Karan and harness any resources he has at his disposal. I am kinda happy about one thing today though, I've successfully completed the chore of informing every party of the change of address, and now, I'll inform the rest of the world...

Manoj Mehta
17751 NE 90th St, Apt D-123,
Redmond WA 98052


Since Mars is at it's closest proximity to Mother Earth (and won't be this close for another 60,000 years), I decided to bite the bullet and go see what the hoo-haa surrounding the Red Planet was. There was a lecture at the U of W and the local astronomy club had set up a bunch of telescopes on campus to facilitate the viewing of the planet after the lecture. We were late for the lecture (of course) but got a glimpse of the planet. What an anti-climax, Mars looks white through the telescope :) We stood in line for 2 hours (a whole bunch of us) and saw the planet through 2 telescopes, the sneaky way the first time around and the legit way (standing in line) the second time around. Do you see a theme here, sneakiness is just not as palatable as before - earlier, the sneaky way was good enough, now I compensate for having been sneaky by being legit - what's next, only being LEGIT?

Tuesday, September 02, 2003


So much is happening ...

and so little time to write all about it. Ishmeet came, saw Seattle by night and left, ready to take on B school with recharged batteries and a bucket load of expectations, most his, some ours. Malakv, a friend from RPI, visited me this past weekend. Great timing for me I say, because I moved to a new apartment on Saturday - I owe him one because he helped me move in to the wee hours of the morning. But the star of the move was Karan - his insistence on arranging and organizing things over-rode our desires to go to bed after we were done with the move. He stayed up with me till 8 in the morning, by which time most of the living room, kitchen, bath-room and bed-room were all organized.

So about the new apartment - it has 9 ft ceilings and is now set to become the next P.I.M.P. house. It was interesting to note how the place got arranged - the living room got set up first with the TV and cable entertaining us while we arranged the rest of the apartment. Poor Vishal though, he was dead tired at the end of the ordeal, I did everything I could to make it up to him - bought him dinner at a swanky Mediterranean restaurant on Sunday night - best way to appease a man, buy him food ;)

Now for the random tidbits of this past week:

- We stayed up till 5:30 the night Ishmeet departed for Austin - next time I have a party at my place, I'm charging $$ for admission
- We rocked the town on Monday night at Baltic Room - the place was seriously packed and hella fun
- Indian chics at Porta on Friday night were so stuck up, it was as if they had a rod up their corn holio ;)

Writer's block precludes further creative outpourings...