Ride to Norwich

Got my first major project assigned, and guess what it was not in London, but far in East Anglia. It was Norwich, yeah, Naarwiiiich. The only good thing about the whole thing was that I did not have to reach there early. We had to reach Norwich at about 3.00 in the afternoon.

So woke up a bit late and got ready to travel. I had already done most of the packing. I had also done a bit of shopping in anticipation of the project. I had got myself a pair of Nike trainers, 2 formal shirts and some swimwear. So there it was, I was ready to go. I fed the address into the Tom Tom and set off. I was off, but then I realised that I had left my luggage behind. Doh !!!

Came back to fetch my luggage, bid Guddu goodbye and was off finally. The drive was a good one. I did not get much traffic. It took me about 50 mins to reach M11 from Wimbledon. After that the ride was a really smooth one. I then cut onto A11, this was the potential delay causing route. Since there were only 2 lanes on these roads, they were a threat. But luckily I got smooth flowing traffic. I was enjoying my ride. I was not planning to take any breaks. But then I saw a really picturesque view of a column. I pulled over. It was called Nelson column. I took a snap, paused for a while to soak the enchanting view, then moved on.

I reached the Marriott at about 3 PM. Not bad at all. Nicec travel time. I checked in. I was the first to check in. Got room 123.

Websphere Users Meet

Free events are always an attraction. When it is organized by IBM and offers free breakfast, lunch and drinks afterwards, it just makes it even more irresistible. The only tough part was the early registration for the event. I had to wake up early in the morning and drive my way up to IBM Bedfont.

The office is set in a serene place. I had ample amount of food, especially the cakes. After all I was hungry after the struggle with the traffic on my way. Nice start to the day. I went in to attend a few of the sessions on MQ Series, SIB, ESB and Websphere Message Broker, they were very informative. The people who were giving the presentations were highly experienced and had huge amount of expertise in their respective fields.

During the breaks between the sessions, I went to the expo, where stalls from various IBM business partners had been put up. Each of them were promoting their product and trying to attract customers towards them. Alphacourt, Open Logic, Morpheus, Verhouf, MidVision, Macro4, Smart421 were some of the companies who were present there. It was a good move during this gloom economic times. They were also giving away several freebies to attract people to visit their stalls. I went to few of those stalls and collected some of the goodies.

Most of them were giving away pens and mouse pads and coffee mugs, the one that stood out was Alphacourt, who gave away pen drives with their presentation in them, which was pretty innovative and smart.

I also met a lot of people from my previous job. It was nice to catch up with them. Afterall this is what such gatherings are for. After all the presentations people went for the drinks, but I left for home. After all one should never drink and drive, anad anyway I was more keen not to get stuck in traffic again. Overall a great dayout.

Format and Reinstall Windows XP on Ur PC

Hey, Windows XP users: Have you seen the morbid blue screen lately? Any Virus which has infected your PC badly, and keep popping up? Do you have curse evoking frequent software crashes? Yearning for that fresh, new PC you unpacked with glee? If you've scrubbed for spyware and viruses, defragged and done the requisite rain dance but things are STILL wonky on your computer, it may be time for extreme action.

Today we're going to go over how to format your hard drive and reinstall Windows XP from scratch to get back that shiny new operating system feeling untainted by years of wear, tear and added and removed programs(and of course Viruses).

Before you start.... word of caution... You dont need to be a geek to do it, but you should have decent working knowledge on a PC, and most definitely have a brave heart. After all, this is the most extreme dissolution of your PC that you could do. LOL.

So here we go.

What you'll need:

1. A Windows XP machine in dire need of a fresh start
   
2. A Windows XP installation CD with a valid Product Key
   (Preferably the disc that shipped with the computer originally, in case of Dell, the product key would be at the bottom of the laptop, on the Genuine XP sticker)
3. The CDs and serial numbers of all the software you need to install on your fresh "new" machine (Basically all the CDs that were packaged with your PC)
   
4. Hardware driver discs that shipped with the PC and any components you added on.
   
5. Another 'internet-connected computer of any OS persuasion with a CD burner, thumb drive, or other removable disk (Recommended, for looking up stuff and downloading drivers in case of emergency)
6. One full day to get your PC fully functioning again.

Got all that? Good.

Let's get started.

Step 1. Back up your data.

First, make sure absolutely NOTHING you cannot afford to lose is on the drive you're going to install Windows on. Move all your documents off the machine. Back up your Firefox settings with MozBackUp, export your songs, movies and absolutely anything else that you want restored after you're done. Just make sure it's off the machine before it is sabotaged!!

Step 2. Audit your current PC setup.

PC's come with a whole wide range of video cards and network adapters and Bluetooth things, and it's very possible you'll install XP and it won't know exactly what brand of TV tuner card you've got and how to find the driver for it.

So, before we do anything, we're going to take an inventory of all the hardware you've currently got installed. I used to print a report from Device Manager for this purpose (Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager, Action, Print), or be more premival and get a pen and paper and note everything down. Believe me you will thank me for it later. Keep it nearby for reference later.

Note: for those of you who do not have the driver discs for all your hardware - go ahead and print out the report from Device Manager. You'll need all the help you can get, you dare devils.

Step 3. Take a deep breath, and kiss your slow PC goodbye.

Seriously. It's all going away now. Nervous? Revisit steps 1 & 2.

Step 4. Insert the Windows installation disk into your CD drive. Shut down your PC. Then, boot from CD.

This part is important: do NOT run the Windows installation from Windows itself. Shut down first, and then boot up the machine from CD. My Dell has a little message as it's booting up that says "Press F12 to boot from CD," so that's what I did. If you're not sure how to boot from CD, check your PC's user guide for more info.

The reason why booting from CD is important is because we're going to delete the C: drive partition where Windows is installed and re-format it. You can't do this if Windows booted from the hard disk, because it can't delete the partition from which it is running.

Be sure to boot from CD.

Step 5. Step through the Windows installation.

You'll be greeted by blue screens with white text on them, which always seem scary. All the directions are clearly spelled out on each of them. Still, we'll go over what to do.

At the Welcome to Setup page, press Enter. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement. You'll be asked if you want to repair your existing Windows XP installation. Press ESC to bypass the repair and install a fresh copy. All your existing disk partitions will be listed, like this.

You want to delete the current partition where Windows is installed. Use the arrow key to select it, and press D to delete it. Press L to confirm. Then, to create a new partition, select the unpartitioned space and press C. To create a new partition with the maximum amount of space allotted to it, press Enter. You can customize your disk space and also the number of partitions that you want to make.

Now select the brand spanking new partition you've just created to install Windows on. Format the drive as NTFS (Do a FULL format to be sure.) Depending on the size of the drive and how fast your computer is, this will take some time. Grab some coffee and indulge in some nostalgia of your late PC :).

Then, follow Windows Setup's steps, set your area code and name and password and let it reboot as many times as necessary until it asks you to log in for the first time.

Congratulations! Welcome to your fresh new Windows installation.But we're not done yet.

Step 6. Install any missing drivers.

Once you get Windows XP up and running, chances are everything on your computer won't be working perfectly. Are you connected to the internet? Can you play music? Is your screen resolution unusually large? The answer is probably no to all those questions, except the last one. Do not panic. This is the part where you install the right drivers for your hardware. First, get a list of what Windows doesn't have installed correctly. From Control Panel, go to System, then Hardware, and click on the Device Manager. Chances are it'll look something like mine did after my fresh installation:

Those yellow question marks/exclamation points are Windows' way of saying "I know this hardware is here, but I don't know what it is or how to control it." Insert each driver CD you've got stacked up beside you and install the software needed for all your computer's components. If you don't have a driver disk, get on that other machine you've got next to you, and Google up the brand and model of each of the components for which you need a driver, download, burn to disk and install on your fresh Windows machine. Those two handy hardware audits you printed out in Step 2 will be your friend, but without the discs that came with your machine, it will be a bit of a guessing game, matching up the yellow question marks with the items on your reports.

Take educated guesses. Good luck. Don't give up until all the gooey question marks are gone.

Step 7. Update Windows.

If you used the Windows installation CD that shipped with your computer, you've got an old version of Windows that came out several service packs ago. As soon as you're online (got that ethernet card/wifi card driver installed?) go directly to MS Windows Update Site and patch up Windows nice and tight and secure. Do not wait to do this as there are probably lots of computer baddies just beyond your network card waiting to ravage your virginal machine the minute it's out there alone in the wild internet. Yes, Evils everywhere !!!

Step 8. Install all needed software applications and tweek Windows to taste.

That's it folks, you're in the home stretch. Go ahead and have a big old software installation party with all the apps that run your life. When you're done, copy over your backed up data to the new partition. Then, sit back and give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. You have thoroughly deserved it.

After I formatted and reinstalled Windows, I had a lot more free storage space, as was the size of my Windows registry. But most importantly, the machine was really fast and Virus free - basically all annoying inexplicable problems had disappeared. Plus, things felt crisppy and happier in general.

Chicken Curry - First Hand Experience

My wife had been challenging me to cook something more substantial than mashed potato and boiled eggs. So I thought I should finally give it a go. And so I did.

Walked to the local market and got a whole baby chicken. I asked the shopkeeper to skin it and cut it to medium pieces. Cost £2.00. Now I had the chicken, I had to make out what to do next. This was the first time that I was cooking chicken, so it was very important I don't miss out on anything.

So in order to avoid missing any of the ingredients I got them out first. Here is what I got:

1. 2 Onions cut to shreds.
2. Garlic and Ginger paste
3. MDH Chicken Masala
4. Cinnamon and clove
5. Chilly powder and turmeric.
6. 1 tomato
7. 6 tea spoons of Mustard Oil

Now that was pretty much covered. I put mustard oil on the pan and heated it. I then cooked the onion until it turned brown. I put the tomato, garlic and ginger paste onto it. The I added some turmeric and kept on cooking it. In the mean time I had washed the chicken and added it to the gravy. It was all looking perfect. The only mistake that I did was I added the cinnamon and clove mixture a bit late. But it was looking great. It even smelt nice. I allowed it to cook for a while.

My wife was back home and she was happy to see that the dinner was ready. Although I am not sure how much confident she was about how it was going to taste. At last I added an adequate amount of salt, some water and sprinkled the chicken masala on top. Allowed it to cook for a few more minutes and Chicken curry was ready. Fine Indian cuisine at its best.

Dinner is so cheap when we prepare it at home. The entire curry cost me no more than £4 in all, compared to any Indian restaurant which would easily charge in the vicinity of £15, for the same food. We sat down for dinner and Deepika tasted it and confirmed that it was really tasty. Well what can I say... Cook Na Kaho.

Easy Money - Nothing Like It

Now that's very inviting is it not. Who in this world does not want to make some easy money? So was I !!! Surprise Surprise. So what did I do? I type 'make money online' into Google.

And Hurray ... I get a screen full of options. Man this is wonderful. I looked at all the links and most of the links were boogie traps. All they want is your bank account details. Parasites they are I tell you. They show glimmering ads to say that you can try everything for free and then they will start charging you with an excruciating rate.

I have received enough spam emails to know that these schemes are all traps to rob my bank account. But I did not give up. I kept looking for more links. And finally I saw an ad which was posted by someone who claimed to be a mathematician. I read through his article. He devised a method to win money from the casinos, by applying the probability theory. I quite liked it. Because his logic made sense.

So I registered with Ladbrokes and put his formula into action. It worked great. I made about £50 in the first day. I was walking in the clouds. I started making my calculations. If I make say 30 quids a day and play for 15mins everyday, I will be making 900 quids. Wow that was cool.

So I log on to their website the next day and start playing. I keep winning again.But not for long. I had hardly played for 10 mins when I started losing. No matter where I put I coins I just kept losing. Damn. Whats happening? Well sadly I lost all the money that I had made yesterday. It was my dream shattered. My extra £900 disappeared into thin air.

Well, I learned my lesson. There is no such thing as easy money. Going back to work now. Atleast that will assure me money.

Credit Crunch

What can I say? I still don’t understand the way the banks work. Ask a lay man and he would say that having a credit against your name is bad. I am one of those who like to live within his limits and not feed off plastic cards. So I decided not to have a credit card, so I do not have to worry about ever having a credit problem. Life was going on fabulously. I did not ever miss having a credit card. Everywhere I could think of would accept my debit card. So why do I need a problematic credit card?

There was one occasion when my bank offered me a pre approved credit card looking at my debit history. But then I thought who the hell needs it. Just shredded the letter and put it in the recycle bin. Dusted my hands off the credit crap. Things again went on normal.

But then all good things come to an end, and so did this one. I need a loan for some personal reason and tried searching up the best offer available on the market using comparethemeerkat.com :). Some great results showed up and I was very happy. So just walked into a bank and asked for the loan. The first thing they ask me is if I have a credit card? I flashed my million dollar smile and said NO. After all it is good that I don’t have any credit issues right? WRONG. They said since you don’t have a credit card you don’t have a credit history, hence the bank would not lend me money. I was bamboozled. What just happened? Why? How? Can you explain again?

And they suggested that I get my self a credit card. So much for the banks in credit crunch. I got no mercy what so ever for them. They brought it on themselves. Since I needed the money, I had to go back to my bank and get my pre approved credit card from them.

What am I doing now? Well building a credit history, that’s what I am doing. Damn ….

3rd Marriage Anniversary

Yes, its been 3 years since I was married to my lovely partner. The journey has been absolutely fantastic. We have been planning so much about this day. Yesterday was Valentine's Day. The weather was also good. In the evening we took Bus No 77 to Waterloo.

I had never seen so much crowd at the London Eye ever. The queue extended way beyond where your vision could reach. We had planned to take a ride on the eye, but it did not take us long to change our minds. The wait time was easily over 2 hours and we did not see the point of standing in the queue for that amount of time. Instead we decided to move about Southbank.

The atmosphere was fantastic. Love was in the air. There were many performers over there, each trying to lure people in their own unique way. The ambience was of fun and frolics. We had a good time there.

Now coming back to the 15th. I gave my wife her present, a diamond ring. She was very happy to get it. We had plans to go out for dinner tonite. And so we did. Finding a good restaurant in London is not one of the easiest jobs that you could find. It took me quite a while to figure out where to go. Finally we went to Green Chilli, an Indian restaurant in Hammersmith. The food over there was fantastic. Was so very full after finishing the food.

We then drove back and had champagne at our place. The day had gone by perfectly. All I got to say is that there are still many chapters left in our odessey.

Day Trip to Virginia Water

The weather was encouraging. It was a bright sunny day, after so many days of rain and gloom. So we decided to have a day out. I did not have to think much as to where we should be going. This had been on my mind for a while, so we got ready and fed our Tom Tom the postcode.

I made sure we carried enough food and drink to last the entire day. This was the first time that we were going there. The drive was not that bad, we did not face much traffic. It took us about 45 mins from Wimbledon to reach there. The only thing I do not like about these places is the parking fare that I have to fork out. The view of the lake was fantastic. The sun was out as well making the place even more inviting.

The entire walk around the lake was slightly less than 5 miles. We started our walk at a leisurely pace. It felt good to be so close to nature, I could literally smell the water. There was a small waterfall that was created. The sound of the water hitting the stones is always fascinating. There was no holding back to the clicks that followed.

There were not many guide maps to help us, but we did not care about it much. Just kept walking. It was a lovely walk. We took a few breaks in between to catch our breath. The trip was really worth going.

Finally after about 2 and 1/2 hours we finished the entire track. We were exhausted at the end. One thing that I was sure of, was that I was very hungry. the Mrs told me that she would make me some stuffed parantha when we get home. So there was no delay in jumping back on the car and driving home. We took the A3 onto M25 and then onto Garrat Lane. It was all clear. Took us about 30 mins to get back home.

The day trip was a real success. Would definitely recommend that you plan a trip there. Got to go now, the paranthas are here.

Car Service In London

Its been about a year now since I bought my car. So guess what ?? Its time to get it serviced. Its just another added expenditure on top of all the fuel that the car drinks. Although I have to say that my car is pretty economical.

They say that a service would cost me about 200 quids. Now thats expensive. But I dont really have a choice. I will be driving it to the nearest garage and asking for a quote. Yesterday as I was driving by I saw an advertisement saying that M.O.T plus a servicing for 99 quids. Now thats what I call a deal. Might just pop in there and see whats the catch. Yeah its just too good to be true.

I also have to get my car washed. After all I drive it to work, so it must look good. I will finish the rest of the post when I am done with the servicing of the car.

Snowfall In London

Ever since I was a kid, I have always liked to play in the snow or even just watch it falling down. Its always special to see it snowing. Last couple of days have been truely a spectacle from Mother Nature. I have experienced a few snow showers here and there, but this one is exceptional. Its by far the most snow that I have seen in my entire life.

Snowfall in London is rare, thanks to the pollution caused by myriads of motor vehicles in the streets. Last year it also snowed but it could only make a layer few centimeters thick. But last night was exceptional. It kept snowing all through the night. I woke up to the snow. I looked out of the window and everything was white, a brilliant white, pristine and pure. An eight inch snow blanket was covering everything that I could lay my eyes upon. That was enough of an invitation to me to put on my boots and gloves and run out.It is such a good feeling to see your own footsteps. You look back and think, 'those are mine'. Gives you a feeling that you are the first to walk on that surface. Its fantastic.

Although it looks great in movies when you hit another one with snow balls, in real life its not that enthralling. I could see 3 kids, rolling up huge balls of snow. No guesses for what they were going to do with them. It was great. People were coming out of their houses and talking to each other. There was no public transport operating today. Could you find a better reason to avoid work !!!

Everyone seemed to enjoy this seasonal change. But the truth is, London experienced this much snow after 18 years. So do we have to wait for another 18 years to see such camaraderie in the streets again ??

Cricketing Season 2009

Things are getting brighter for all the cricket lovers. The new season is just round the corner, and the practice sessions are already underway for most of the local cricket clubs. At least my local club has already started the winter nets at the Oval Cricket Ground.

But the bad news for me is that I am not advised to play any 'contact sports' for 6 weeks. In case you are wondering why... its due to the recent eye surgery that I went through. The wait for me is getting agonizingly painful by the day. Still have 3 weeks to go. Wish me luck to get through these days as casually as possible.

Well let me describe how restless I am and the reason behind it. I am from the Indian subcontinent, so cricket runs in my veins. I have been following this sport when I was about 7 years old, when I did not even understand the technicalities of the game. This winter I had the opportunity to go back to India for my holidays. On my way back I got myself the entire cricket kit for me. Its was quite a pain to package them properly and carry them to the check in counter, but I guess I was more willing to take this pain compared to paying a ridiculously high price for a good bat.

I had got the bat, a high end SG bat, now I needed a mallet to get it knocked in. I managed to get it from my club. Now came the hard part. After I came back from work, I would religiously dedicate 40 mins everyday to knock the bat. This became my routine for over 2 weeks. The bat has been in the closet ever since.

Its almost time to put the new bat to test. I have already rubbed a few of my club bolwers the wrong way, and they are all keen to have a go at me in the nets. Its not going to be long now boys... I will be at the Oval nets on Feb 16th. So get ready to be driven straight past ....

Laser Eye Treatment

I am sure you might have come across the ad screaming out and letting you know that laser eye treatment is JUST £395.00 per eye. If you haven't then you certainly don't pick your share of the free newspapers around London.

Well coming back to the ad, it such a big lie. I wonder if those clinic ever treat anyone at that price ? I went in for my FREE consultation and after a vivid and sickening description of what they were going to do with my eye, as if that was not bad enough, they quoted a jaw dropping £2500.00, and they never forget to add ONLY at the end !!! Now can anyone tell me if £2500 is anywhere close to £395 !!!

Well, the ball was in my court and I decided if I were to go for my laser eye surgery then I would rather go ahead with a company that says its gonna cost £2500 and charges me the same (with interest free installments) rather than with a company that lures you with a lucrative offer and then whispers the actual cost into your ears and tries to give you a heart seizure.

Yeah ... I did get my laser eye surgery done. It cost me a small fortune, or rather will cost me a small fortune (remember interest free installments). On the day of the treatment I was a bit nervous, nothing odd with that is it ? Just before the surgery as the nurse asked me put aside my specs for the last time, there was a thought racing inside my head asking me if this was the last time I would actually be able to see daylight. What if something goes wrong ? What if there is a power failure when the laser is operating? What is there is an earthquake? You would not believe how circumspect the human mind can become. The nurse also cautioned me that I would smell something funny.

The surgeon came in with his usual charm and went about doing his business. I did smell something as suggested by the nurse, but it was not at all funny. It was the smell of my tissue burning. How could that be funny ???

The surgery was over in 10 mins. I was relieved that I had not lost my sight completely. I was escorted to the resting room, which was more like a post trauma relaxation room. The ordeal was finally over. The surgeon confirmed that the procedure was a success.

Its been 2 weeks now. I have not washed my eyes with water since then. I have got a 20/20 vision. Life is back on track and running full throttle, without me having to worry about putting on my glasses to check the time when I wake up in the morning.