Monday, July 23, 2007

Good bye time

Today was my last group meeting with this group that was a total stranger to me just 3 months back, but are really good friends now. Thank you all for a wonderful summer at Cornell!


(Click to enlarge pic) L-R: Xiao, Mustansir, Tony T, Tony K, Sylvia, Zhongtao, Prof. Apsel, Rajeev, Paul, Me.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Swati

I was busy for the whole last 2 weeks figuring out what can I buy as a gift for myself from this USA trip. I figured out a cheap thing but a good one that can fit in my budget would be a Bose speaker set. I was navigating through various sites to find one when I came across many good deals. Then I figured out that I can spend a few bucks more and buy myself a laptop instead.

So I sat down and narrowed down on 3 choices - an AMD single core Turion for 449$, a Toshiba intel core2duo for 580$ and an acer intel core2duo for 550$. After consulting with many of my friends and cousins, I decided on the third one. The deal was on best buy, and said the laptop was not available in stores, but only available online. I nevertheless went to the best buy store here on Friday to ask about warranties and battery issues. It was there that I found out that the scheme expired the next day. So that was it. I decided this is the laptop that I want, so I asked Sasikanth if he could accompany me there to buy it the next day. He too wanted a laptop so he agreed to come along and have a look at one for himself. We went and bought that laptop the next day then.

So this is my swati, my new laptop. Many people ask me why I have named her Swati. Well, there is no specific reason as such, just that I like the name Swati a lot. Here's the config I got for 550$ (features):





14.1" WXGA TFT-LCD widescreen display with CrystalBrite technology and 1280 x 800 resolution



160GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400rpm)



Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with up to 224MB of shared memory; Intel® High Definition audio; S-video out



4 media keys, including play/pause, stop, previous and next



5-in-1 media reader supports Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD-Picture Card



3 high-speed USB 2.0 ports for fast digital video, audio and data transfer



Built-in Acer InviLink wireless LAN (802.11b/g) with Acer SignalUp technology; 10/100 Ethernet with RJ-45 connector; V.92 high-speed modem



Weighs 5.3 lbs. and measures just 1.4" thin for easy portability, lithium-ion battery and AC adapter



Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition operating system preinstalled; software package included with Acer GridVista, Adobe Acrobat Reader, NTI CD-Maker and more

It comes with a 1GB DDR2 RAM, expandable to 2GB. So what say, good deal eh? :)

Meet Swati: (Click to enlarge)

Friday, July 6, 2007

Weather

I was looking up my igoogle home page today morning, and checked out the weather comparison between Ithaca and Mumbai.

The Ithaca climate is probably as humid, if not more than Mumbai in summers. Just that the temperature scales are different though; I would say an Ithacan summer looks more like a Mumabian winter of sorts to me.

Nevertheless, I still miss that muggy hot and humid weather of Mumbai... however incovenient that may seem, that's where I have grown up and that's what I have grown to love... and would love to live...

Monday, July 2, 2007

What do I miss most?

What/who do I miss most in USA? I decided I should make a list of things I am most attached to and those I miss a lot here, and finally the thing I miss most.

I miss my family, my friends, the food my mom makes, my mess food, IIT, H2, Phoenix wing, GG building, WEL lab, Mumbai in general, local trains and BEST buses in particular, bus number 524 specifically, Laxmi restaurant, my comp, my cellphone, my room at IIT, bhandari's room at IIT, the squirrel who lived in my room at IIT, Mumbai rains (or floods, whichever way you prefer it), mangoes, Britannia Bourbon, Amul tricone, the nimbu paani and aloo paratha we get in H2 canteen, Dominoes 180 for 4 scheme, my tabla, tabla classes, the idli wada that I ate in our department canteen, Rin supreme, Lamington road, Lan ban, 8.30 lectures and plenty more...

More importantly I miss myself. I miss the way I was when I was at IIT just about 2 months back. I can't wait to get back.

Greyhound - I wonder why??

Here's the deal - take a Greyhound from Ithaca to DC and book a ticket 14 days in advance and it costs you just 36 bucks. But try booking a ticket from DC to Ithaca, no matter how many days in advance, the fare is 89 bucks. I wonder why??

Then again. Book a ticket from DC to NYC and it costs you about 50 bucks, with a journey time of about 5 hours. Fly instead within an hour and half for just 60 bucks or so. I wonder why??

Ithaca is closer to NYC than DC is. But the fares from Ithaca to NYC for Greyhound are more than from DC to NYC. I wonder why??

The shortline buses from NYC to Ithaca are cheaper than the Greyhounds from DC to NYC. But they are way better, when it comes to wider seats, more legspace, cleanliness and the service offered. I wonder why??

But still I love Greyhound for their kind of service in this otherwise anti-public-transport country :) I wonder why??