Wow .. its been a long time.

2007 is ending and i did not blog !!

Phew ,,, another year on this planet gone by .... And this traveller is already tired..

Anyways, I have recently turned pretty serious about my finances ... Technology has seemingly lost its charm now .. or may be I am having a mid-life crisis with technology. I think for an average joe like me it does not really matter whether I like coding or not ... my kind is better off loving the paychecks that come in periodically.

I am 28 and only now I realise how stupid I have been about not caring for the 401(K) that my company offered me. I have never bothered about wealth management. And that sucks.
Anyways, I hope to change all that pretty soon.

Talking of investments, let me warn about E*trade. No, its not about their recent sub-prime mortgage problems and stuff like that. I know E*trade is a safe bet and the company is not going away anytime soon. I opened a CD account on Saturday last. Then a savings account on Monday. Its been 4 days and yet I do not see those accounts in my E*trade login.

Thats sucks as I wanted to start saving immediately. Then I call them and they cancel those 2 accounts and create 2 new ones and still after 2 days I dont see them in my login.

Why are some companies so bull-headed that they cant improve thier services even when they are in dire straights???
I thought E*trade would pull up its sock after what its going through ... obviously this company is not going to learn anything anytime soon....

webbrowser control sucks ...

I am not able to get this control to work on IE 6 machines without a memoryAccessException being thrown. Is this freakin rocket science or what ?

Oh and by the way I have a fact of the day today:
While loading sos.dll in your Visual Studio, if you find that the application is breaking then make sure
that the target application is NOT associated with any external tool; like the Application Verifier.

Save yourself some trouble ...

Finally ...

.. I managed to clean my room on Sunday. Damn I love it now :)
Cleaning your room from time to time is a good practice; everyone should try it ...

VS Problem

While doing the transition to VS2005 of a web service, we came across the following exception at runtime:

System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHeaderException: Server unavailable, please try later ---> System.Configuration.ConfigurationException: WSE032: There was an error loading the microsoft.web.services2 configuration section. ---> System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: WSE040: Type xxx.CustomUsernameTokenManager, xxx could not be loaded. Please check the configuration file.
at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.EvaluateOne(String[] keys, SectionInput input, Boolean isTrusted, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentResult)
at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.Evaluate(FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentResult, Boolean getLkg, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSectionRecursive(String configKey, Boolean getLkg, Boolean checkPermission, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Boolean requestIsHere, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSection(String configKey, Boolean getLkg, Boolean checkPermission)
at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSection(String configKey)
at System.Web.Configuration.HttpConfigurationSystem.System.Configuration.Internal.IInternalConfigSystem.GetSection(String configKey)
at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection(String sectionName)
at System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.GetConfig(String sectionName)
at Microsoft.Web.Services2.Configuration.WebServicesConfiguration.Initialize()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.Web.Services2.Configuration.WebServicesConfiguration.Initialize()
at Microsoft.Web.Services2.WebServicesExtension.BeforeDeserializeServer(SoapServerMessage message)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---

I had to spend some time fooling around the net to find the resolution. But I got it in the end.

The reason is that name of the dll that is output has changed in VS2005. Its usually called App_code. So kust make sure that your web.config file contains this dll name rather then the name
of the DLL based on the namespace that you are working on. The section is: securityTokenManager

Movies of the week past....

Sleepless in seattle - everybody knows about this one ....

Kings guard - Passable. Looked like a British TV serial !

Mystery men - Funny. Not exorbitant. But funny.

Breakfast at tiffanny's - Ah. Nice old classic. Check it out if you find it.

Of mice and men - I was not impressed by the story as much as by the acting ability of John Malkovich. Text book performance for aspiring actors. Simply too gud.

Raise the red Lantern - Lovely movie. I initially thought its another crap chinese movie. But if you
can sit through the first hour, this is a high impact movie. The first part is very "artsy" that really
bores me to death, but towards the end, this movie really comes out into its own !

Life. As it comes by.

These are bad days all around us.

so here we are ....

another week goes by and some more movies seen ....
Best movie I saw: House of Fools. Unfortunately there was some problem half way through the
DVD. But whatever I saw left some impression. Go and see the movie for yourself.

Another nice movie I saw was Sabrina. It was an old classic that I wanted to see for a long time.
But a movie that really touches you is "The Joy luck club". Its about 4 friends and their life stories.
The movie itself is in English but almost all the characters are chinese.
Verdict: Dont miss if you get the chance.

Then of course, I saw the Bond movie: Octopussy. Not much in it ... unless you are a Bond afficiando.

Highlight of the week ? I got myself a twin bed ..... and drove it all the way from the city on top of my neon. On the way back, we lost our way completely but I finally managed to reach my destination. As always ;)
And I got to do parallel parking in real time ! If I may say so, I did not do a bad job of it too :)

This week I also did some shopping in Gurnee Mills ... I hate shopping like the next guy but I
HAD to get myself a belt in any case. And now my room is complete.

Oh hell, did I tell that I ordered me an iPod also !

the week gone by ...

Another hectic week ... its same old same old life going on.

Muslims continue to provoke Jews in Israel.
In Bangladesh, and India, Muslims continue to kill or rape Hindus.
In UK, Muslims continue to conspire against the very people who gave shelter to them.
In sweden, the whites continue to defend their women against the Muslims who seem to rape
them with impunity.
In Canada, Muslims continue to DEMAND more rights.
In Saudi Arabia, Muslims continue to trample the non-muslims' religious rights....

And life goes on ....

Last week I saw soo many movies. Prince Caraboo - a time-pass kind of movie. Dead Poets' Society - engrossing movie. After watching this movie I can confidently say that Shahrukh
Khan, the muslim actor, virtually slaughtered Robbin Williams' character.

Then I saw, "A kid in King Arthurs' court". Another time-pass.
Lastly, I saw the BBC version of the childrens book, Narnia- The Lion, The witch & the wardrobe :)

Moving on to the weekend ... I had some fun last night ... went out with the boys for bowling and pool. Returned home at 2 in the morning ... most of the guys were half-drunk by then and immediately hit the sack ....

This week I continue my sessions with Hollywood.

More Later !

Baby's day out !

This has been a nice week. There were a lot of showstoppers at work. And I slaughtered them all.
Ok, there were some other people with me too. Ok there were more then 'some' people :)

Anyways, I went to this kewl chinese sushy place (sushy is chinese ??) near my home. I guess one
can always trust Anand to find out the best places to eat out. He has earned his girth ;)
The coolest part was - I ate crabs for the first time. Boy, they are tasty !
Did not take the octopus though; will do that next time.

I also went to the Swaminarayan temple in Bartlett. This is one temple that I could not locate on
the net. The address available on the net does not really correspond with any place in the maps.google.com DB !
Anyways, I decided to go ahead with the trip. The plan was to reach Bartlett & then follow any desi
that we spot :P A long shot, but it almost worked. We reached the Metra station in Hanover Park
& still could not locate any desi in a car. Then suddenly we saw this lady in salwar-kameez coming out of the train. Swallowing my pride, I decided to send Rishikesh to ask for directions to
the mandir. Thus armed with the directions, we finally reached the temple.
And boy - is it BEAUTIFUL. I am sure in the night, it would look even better. There is a nice
Mukhya Dwar, and then the main temple itself. There is another building adjacent to it which
houses a store + kitchen + huge reception area. All structures are intricately carved with various
figures from mythology or reality.
Since we reached around 12:30, we had to wait for the opening of the 'Kapat' till 4 pm.

Finally we had darshan, prayed for some time and left for home. What did I ask the lord ?
I prayed that may India prosper, may muslims die. Dharma ki vijay ho, Adharma ka naash ho.
Rishikesh asked me what I had asked for & I told him.
He went quiet on hearing what I had asked for :D

Anyways, we also made some funny videos there ! & took some snaps etcetra etcetra

God bless the jews.

the blasts ...

If there is anything that portends the future for India is the mumbai blasts & its aftermath. those
motherfucker hindus who cannot see it unfold are the proverbial ostrich. A thousand curses won't
be enough for them...

- Increasing demographic changes in favour of muslims - the sisterfuckers continue to breed like
rabbits.
- The ease with which they can make attacks on indian soil.
- the heavy political support that they enjoy from communists & politicians like mulayam singh.
- the full freedom of religion that they are exploiting.
- state governments like UP, tripura that are simply trying to garner votes at the cost of the honour of our hindu sisters ...
- the sheer impotency of the government to deal with pakistan
- the plight of kashmiri hindus whose life has been made a virtual hell in INDIA ITSELF
- the virtual extermination of minorities in pakistan & bangladesh.
- no longer does our blood boil when our servicemen are captured, tortured & their bodies returned like animals.


AND MOST IMPORTANTLY THE TOTAL DISINTEREST OF THE HINDUS IN MATTERS
OF NATIONAL SECURITY. NO Longer does a hindu feel the pain of another hindu.

wish i were a jew in israel :( at least they have the balls

oil prices ...

Coming back to the more real life problems of feeding the car - i saw the regular gas price in a mobil station as
3.35 USD :((

I dunno when this Israel thing will stop. I hope the jews win but I also hope they win fast... The prices are
beginning to feel now. All this Middle east thing had me doing another 'wiki'search on the Lebanese
civil war. One of the more interesting things I found is about the "Druze" people.They seem to be some kinda mix
of Jews, Xtians & mooselimbs. I did not know that there are non-jews that are  such ardent supporters of the state of Israel & that too amongst so-called arabs. There is always something to learn :)

another week goeth & the summer heateth

this was a mixed week ... there was another fire at office - seems like its going to be a hot monday :(

but i did see a couple of movies that I wanted to see for a loooong time. Constantine starring Keanu Reeves, is a nice movie. Another xtian mythology inspired "good vs
evil" kinda movie. But the graphics are nice. The other movie is "Kingdom of Heaven". Now this one really
rocks. The setting is around the end of the 12th century and tells the story of a crusader knight. Verdict ? Engrossing. I actually did some wiki search after watching the movie. It turns out that the
movie is loosely-based on some real life events !

Oh and I have started my weekly swimming schedule again .... yesterday, the crowd was chilled too ;P

Manoj night shyamalan ....

I saw "the signs" recently - & it comes across as a rather poor effort by manoj to build on his 'suspense movie' reputation. It does not scare - it does not entice. It does nothing ! Its a crude
mix of sci-fi with horror.
Verdict ? Passable.

I would much recommend "The Majestic". Funny man Jim Carrey comes up with a very mature performance... Nice movie.

Next in Line ? Constantine.... Woo Hoo :)

This is a step up

After going thru the wines in airlines, for the first time in my life, I am trying to develop a
taste in wines. I bought a [lemme rush to fridge & check] .... Cava Wine. Its a BRUT from Friexenet. Not a very expensive one ... but let me start small ;)

And I am listening to Jagjit Singh on youtube. The combination is gut !

The bloopers never end

Ok, this is the story of another adventure in the kitchen that I have just had. It is 4 o'clock
& I decided to do something about the voices in my stomach... So I decide to treat myself to
an omelette. I break the eggs successfully and manage to mix them without anything dropping
on to the floor.
So far so good.
Now it would be nice to make it spicy. So I decide to mix some salt and chilli powder into it.
I see the bag of chilli powder lying next to the electric stove. And I mix it. Now I see that plastic
cup of white granular substance -- what else can it be, it has to be salt. So I mix this 'substance'
into the omelette. But now I dont know if I should add more or not. So I decide to taste this
salt, to check its virility. And darn, it tasted SWEET :(( . I have just added sugar to my omelette.

I am anyways going ahead with my omelette to check what it tastes like. Also, since I did not add
too much of the sugar so let us see what its like .... I only added half a tablespoon of sugar.

As the weeks go by ...

Ok, Finally I did it. I saw "Casablanca" finally, this week.
Always wanted to know what makes this one of the all-time classics. Personally I felt though the
theme was nice, but I thought that some of the characters were jarring. Including the female lead.
Yes she is beautiful & all that, but how can her "love" be in 2 places at the same time. It is NOT
friendship, she is in love with the 2 male leads... :|
Anyways, I saw a disaster called "Love, Actually" starring Hugh Grant & an all-star cast.
Puppy crowd may like it.

Pick of the week - a movie called "It's a wonderful life". This movie is sweet & has morals too.
Its about this guy who does good to others all his life & then is about to take his life when god intervenes. Nice movie. See it if you get the chance.

Anyways, it was a loooong weekend & I spent the time in my appartment. And thank god for that.
The other option was to go out with a desi which thankfully I did not do. Ok, I did not do it for
3 out of the 4 days holiday. I did go out with him on the 4th day, & must I say, fully regret it.

The fireworks in the north suburbs were nice , & it must have been better in the city itself.
But come what may - I will not go out with a Desi - unless desi happens to be a 36-24-32 ...

Did I get the dimensions right ?

Independence day

This is a long weekend.
That means 4 days holiday.


Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy      :]

Neways, I saw 2 more movies this week. First, "My big fat greek wedding". My comments ?
It was like a Sooraj Barjatya movie minus the songs. But more importantly, the emotions were
more genuine here ...

Then I saw "Lost In Translation". It was just the kinda movie that I hate. First off, who said the
movie was a comedy ? Just because a movie has some witty dialogs does NOT make it a comedy.
Honestly I did not understand the hoopla around this movie last year. I mean, frankly, it was
passable ...

Next one on my schedule is an old Ingmar Bergman classic, "The seventh seal". Lets see how this goes..

sad commentary...

I wanted to write about the latest movies that I had seen, but just now I came across this link
http://www.indianpad.com/story.php?id=6134

This is heart wrenching  :(

 

the End oF JuNe

Statutory warning: Pls do not look for relation between the headings I chose for my blog entries
& the contents of the blog themselves.

The film festival of Hollywood continues .... I saw "The wild one" (*ring Marlon Brando) & "The manchurian candidate" as the classics of the week :)

My review ? One word - "Brilliant".

mid-june update

The past few weekend have been a festival of old hollywood classics. I have seen the following
till date :
- Roman Holiday
- Topper
- Topper Returns
- Singing in the rain

Somehow all these movies have the same feel-good kinda theme as present in the Hindi
movies of the same era.

Oh, and another movie I saw was Harry Potter & the goblet of fire ... but I think I mentioned that earlier.