Karthik’s Log

Well for someone who writes I don’t know how many posts on an average per day, I am finding it incredibly hard to do my project report. Well, part of the reason is the fact that I am yet to complete a few modules. (Damn me for being lazy.) Why haven’t I completed it still ? I am just a lazy bugger that’s all.

So now, I am forced to sit and do it chapter by chapter. Worst thing though and something I really hate, the modules I am working on right now is forcing me to modify the modules that I had already completed and hence redo the documentation too. Friggin bad!! Now I am doing them twice instead of once.

I know no one really reads your project report and juniors benefiting from my report is the last thing on my mind. (Which is why you won’t find any of the implementation details in it.) However, I do set standards for myself and I’d hate to hand in a crappy report with stuff copy pasted from Wikipedia. (Jeez, stop that for heavens sakes!!)

My circuits are incredibly hard to draw on paint and the simulation tolls I have don’t have all of my IC’s. I finally found one which had my IC’s (or rather let me customize the IC’s). Sadly it drew a circuit that I felt like puking on. (Thank God, my monitor is vertical. Else, I might have.)

And to be honest, using Word is crappy. Especially if you have to draw Flowcharts and stuff. Hear that Microsoft ? (Of-course not. But if you do, do something about it.) And equations can be a nightmare. (I heard the office 2007 has something for flowcharts and stuff. Visio ? Not checked it out yet.) Well, I know we can insert symbols, but it’ s so bloody frustrating. The worst of all, naming all my figures and tables. God ,save me…..

 OK, I better get back to it now.

It’s a shame really that Sony Ericsson’s PC suite allows you to do very little. You can copy files and stuff and charge your phone (duh!!) maybe, but other than that, it’s not so great. It has this feature wherein you can synchronise contacts and appointments and stuff. Like I am ever going to need one. 

I remember some 5-6 years back when Nokia has this 5100 phone, that we could send and receive messages form your PC using the PC suite. So I set out the find an application that would allow me to do the same with my Sony Ericsson phone. I found the Microsoft SMS Sender.

You can find the original article that I stumbled upon, here: (I don’t wish to repeat stuff that’s already there elsewhere on the Internet.) 

Sending SMS Using Windows XP

However, on going to the Windows site to download the same, it asked me to verify if my Windows XP was genuine. Else it would not allow me to download this crappy 625KB application. What the heck ? Well, my Windows XP is genuine alright, but nevertheless, I am not going to allow these guys to check that before I can download this application. So I got it from another site anyway. Here’s the download link:

Microsoft SMS Sender 1.0

In XP it seems you can only send messages and not recieve them. It maintains a crappy log on a notepad file and the sent message cannot be found on your phone. But then I was pleased that it actually worked. It is supposed to work with data cable, IR or Bluetooth.

I did find a better software afterwards and it rocks. I shall be writing on the same later. I am sure there are more such software available on the Internet.

I went to Pradeep’s place today. Pradeep and C Karthik are helping me with my project and I take this medium (as well) to thank them. Pradeep, especially has been doing a lot of work. I won’t go into details of that, but here are a couple of snaps of Easter Lilies I snapped while at his place.

Afterwards, we went to Parry’s Corner* (another first for me) to get a couple of things. I have never, till date traveled by MRTS trains. I have taken the normal trains a couple of time when I had to travel from Tambaram to SRM. Trains are very convenient actually. It didn’t take much time to reach the Beach station from where we walked to Parry’s Corner*. (another first. A day of firsts, eh.)  

Here’s a snap of the Kotturpuram MRTS station. If you look closely, you can see the Thiruveeka Bridge. (It’s called that, right ?) and Adyar estuary. Sadly, I don’t have optical zoom. So this is as good a picture as I could get from where I was standing. (You can make out the silhouette of the two of us.)

Read Marc’s post here December Isn’t So Bad

What are we talking about ? We are talking about the tentative date of reporting for training with Infosys. While, it is still not confirmed that it shall take till December for us to be called for training, if people have been intimated that they need to report by December , then chances are the guys who have not been intimated so far (like me for instance) will be called even later. (Very slim chances of us being called earlier.)

Possible Upside:

Sure, you can use the time to go an a vacation or something. You can definitely stay home and recuperate form the bad dream which lasted 4 long uneventful years (read B.E/ college)  by taking rest. (But haven’t we been doing that for almost 6 months now ? Right form the 7th semester study holidays.)

Definite Downside:

I was expecting to be called by say July. Now I shall be missing 6 months’ pay.   Damn, I could have saved at-least 50k by then. Now instead, I will have no money in December. What will I buy myself for New Years ?

Salary is one thing. Another thing is losing 6 months in life. It’s almost like we will be joining with our junior batch. We could even end up being colleagues. Now, how much ever cool you think the long vacations are, that’s pretty shitty man. It’s almost like flunking a grade. Now, Isn’t that bad enough. At around the same time next year, you won’t have enough experience to show on your resume. It’s a permanent setback.

Backup Plan:

Infosys was supposedly my backup plan. But I didn’t know that my college guys would be bastards and not let me attend other core companies. So, now I am stuck with no alternate options but this. I did have a few other things in mind. Like GATE for instance. However, my dad felt I should give CAT (why do all dad’s think that ? ) and disagreeing with him meant that I couldn’t take GATE either. (Well, he has to pay for the application and the classes you know) GRE (translates to an MS in US) was never an option immediately after college for me. That would have to wait another 2 years.

Keeping myself engaged for 6 months:

I could do a lot of things to keep myself engaged. I am thinking of attending a few symposiums. I could toy around with a few things I have been always wanting to experiment with but never had the time. I could learn MFC and VC++ with some effort. (I do know MFC to an extent. But nothing commendable) There is no end to the things I can do. Oh, wait, did I forget to mention that I am lazy ? Yea, I am. Which means that I might end up doing none of the above and just put on an extra 5 kilos in 6 months eating an sleeping at home.

On second thoughts, I could probably do a course in something. Prepare for GATE maybe. We will have to wait and see…

Well , here’s free publicity and advertisement for this shop. (Well , not in the strictest of terms. Not those many people read my blog. )

This shop is just below Mercy Thiruvanmiyur. Well, why am I writing this post for no reason ? Well, there is a reason. (Read the post below this if you want some continuity to the story.) So, I went component shopping to Mercy and for a change got them in less than half an hour. Whoa!! Some record that.

So I decided to check out this shop just below Mercy. I wanted the cloth you use to clean your spectacles. So I enter the store, ask for one and ask how much. This lady hands me one and says ,”No charge”. I am like, what ? She said she could charge me if I bought the cleaning liquid or something and honestly I didn’t want it. I wanted 2 of these actually. But now that they gave it to me free of cost, I was not going to ask for one more. (I am a man of principles you see.) So, I just took the one cloth and walked out after thanking her. I was stunned because people in Chennai normally take you for a ride. I went in actually expecting to have to bargain till I got it for say 10 Rupees or slightly more. Now, I know these things don’t cost maybe more than 5 rupees or maybe even lesser, but you don’t expect anyone and particularly in Chennai to give you anything for free. There’s always strings attached.

So, I decided I am going to write a post on these guys as a token of thanks. Next time you want to buy optical related stuff, do give these people a visit.

Well, this is the height of joblessness. I asked a couple of stores if they had a cover that would fit my phone and all of them seemed to have only those leather covers which serves no purpose really. (And I hate it when people put that pouch through their belts. Not very convenient if you ask me.) Thankfully, most of my trousers have a cell phone pouch inside the pocket so that your phone doesn’t fall out.

I am sure it’s available in some store somewhere. Maybe I should check out a few cell phone stores and also Odyssey and Mercy.

In the meantime , I thought I needed a cover for now. So I decided to make my own cover. After a bit of thinking over what material to use, I narrowed down to the cloth you get with your shades/spectacles. These are really soft and hence will not scratch you phone. I have a couple of them that came with my shades, but I was not going to use them. So I decided to go purchase it from a shop. Read about that in my next post.

Hand stitched Cell Phone Cover:

Firstly, I know it’s not great. Maybe it’s not even good. So save the ‘it looks lame’ comments.   

Anyway, here’s the end product. I stitched it myself (I learnt stitching when I was in boarding school. )  and intentionally used a thread colour that stood out. (I did have the same matching shade of yellow thread as well. )  I wanted to use twine actually, but then didn’t find a big enough needle at home.

Other Future Refinements:

Right now this is meant to protect the phone when it’s not in use from dust and scratches. Later on, I think I’ll add a window for the screen, the buttons and the camera. That way I can have it permanently on. Or, wait I could actually buy one by then.  

Ok, after babbling in my blog for eternity, I finally went and bought the phone. I haven’t had time to check out all the features just yet. (I am a little slow you see. ) A few things about the phone buying experience.

Poorvika Jackasses:

Bastards (In Russel Peters Tone, only angrier and not as a joke). I had this 300 rupee coupon. K810i costs 13100. (With 2GB M2 card) So he is supposed to sell it to me for 12800 and taxes on top of that. (for using a credit card. Don’t worry just for the credit card points) I don’t know this store guy must be a dunce or something at math. He tells me after the offer, I could buy it for 13000 or 13100 with card. WTF ??? So I decided I am not buying it there even if my voucher went waste and I had to pay more elsewhere.

Next Stop – Subiksha:

Decent people. Quoted a price of 12,795/- (With 2GB M2 card)  Only they didn’t have it on stock and wanted to sell me a K790i instead. They said I would get it by evening and I wasn’t prepared to wait. But overall, Subiksha guys are transparent and very decent. I suggest this shop for anyone who buys any phone.

Univercell Rippers:

Yea. Seriously!! They quoted a 13200 price with an additional 2% tax for credit card. Go to hell. Even if I like Madhavan, I am not paying 400 extra.

Final Destination: MMR Communication

Looks like a nice little store. He gave it to me for just around 13,000. Which by the way included the credit card charges. I would say just the same rate as Subiksha. But we didn’t even have to bargain. Nice blokes who don’t want to take you for a ride. The scree protector cost me 300 though. I am a little sad about that.

Now, I better go and check out the features. I am transfering songs and it’s taking a bit of time.

Oh and BTW, if anyone wants to buy a phone today, You get some entry level Sony Ericsson phone free with W810i. Go for it. It’s definitely worth it. Sangeetha Mobiles is the shop. It was in the papers.

Shankar, my junior in college had this video on his Orkut list of videos.  Awesome Bike!! Awesome video!! Awesome stunts!! Awesome Ad!!

(pic: Pulsar 200)   (pic: Pulsar 220)

Here’s the video:

Definitely Male and

Distinctly Ahead

I wanted to buy a Pulsar once I started earning, but then thinking about it, maybe I won’t buy anything. (For the salary I’ll get, I doubt if I can afford bikes and laptops and stuff. )

I know, I know. People want me to stop with this ORK business.

This time though, Just one Question. Winner will be determined based on first come first served basis (If ever there are entries. ) 

Answers can be sent to karthik3685@yahoo.comwith the subject reading ORK-04 Answers, latest by….well no deadline.

1) Connect

You will have to use all of your quizzing acumen to crack this one. Here’s hoping someone will take 1 Rupee from me this time at-least.

(ORK – Not FAQ afterall) 

Original Post: ORK – 03 Quiz

This is how ORK quizzes work.

• I set questions and give a deadline.
• Next I notify people about it
• When no one answers (or a few people answer thanks guys), I extend the deadline
• When no one answers by the deadline either, I SCRAP the event (Meaning, I do not reveal the answers)

 I am a kanjoos/kanja (read miser and not to be confused with drugs or juice ;) ) fellow. So I try extra hard to make questions that people can’t answer  all that easily. Well, if you find the answers though, you will probably see how silly it really is. Therein lies the rub.

So, far no one has won any edition of ORK. 

This time, I forgot about ORK -03 myself, before Vinod mailed me his answers today. Thanks mate. So no deadline extensions this time. In keeping with tradition, ORK 3 answers shall not be revealed either.

Here are the scores:

1) Vinod 10/12 (You didn’t get any answer right. But then as they say, “participation is more important” )

2) Abhi 11.5/12 (One answer right and an early bird 0.5 points )

So, Abhi top scores this edition of ORK. (I am pleased I have him for a team mate.)