Saturday went to my sis's place and a trip to lalbagh.. nice food and good cool day... sunday as is on most sundays, slept the whole day... just got up for the routine chores... looking forward to the holiday on 2nd... and if u r thinking (esp. rini) that I'm going home often... then here's more... I'm planning my April's quota on 12,13 .... lets see... and with "oru kaadhal vandhucho" (yeh ni romba azhaga irukka) song ringing in my earphones and slowly fading out to give way for the next song "engirundhu vandhaayada" (5 star).... Kicha

Saturday: Nothing seemed to work out my way. I was on leave. Home was a noisy and busy place that day with lots of relatives. Waited till evening to get away from there. I thought that the evening would have been much better as my schedule had been booked. Nothing went right. had been waiting for the singing classes with a couple of friends for more than an hour from 5 pm. Noone else turned up. After a call to my friends, I learnt that the singing practice had been cancelled, but the choir practice was to be held at 7 pm. After a cup of coffee and went to my friends' home. As she was going to a prayer meeting being held all night, she said she would not be able to make it to the choir practice. Somehow managed to get to the church (Church of Resurrrection) on time. Same old story. "if you can wait and not be tired by waiting.." Except a few, nobody turned up. Myself and a couple of others have a practice of going to a church (Our Lady of Fatima) every Saturday and have some fast foods out every week. As usual went to the church. Actually, the main reason I took leave onn Saturday was to attend the all night prayer meeting at this church. Our choir was supposed to sing there. Almost all the English choirs of various churches were invited. But due to some last minute reasons, we were unable to sing. So we decided to participate there. Only myself and my friend decided to go to the church for the all night prayer. It wasn't meant to be so. I called him saying that I was ready to go. He said thaat he was feeling sleepy. So the day ended with a dissapointment. As I didn't feel sleepy, I decided to write a story. I wanted to dedicate this story for my friend. It is a birthday present to her. If anyone wants to read it, Send me a mail. I'll send it to you by mail. Sunday: Everything as expected. Got up late. Hurrried to get ready for Church. Made it on time. had a short practice as yesterday's practice got postponed. This week, our singing had improved a lot. last week it was a total mishap. informed everyone about the evening practice. By 3 pm, I realized I didn't have breakfast and lunch. Rushed home. had a hearty lunch. Played "Age of Empires" and "Age of Mythology". The computer opponent didn't put up much of a fight. So I won easily. Evening, had a singing practice. After that, we had a great discussion about education. Went back home after checking mails at 9 pm. No mails from anyone. Spent about 20 minutes deleting junk mails from my various mail ids. Spent another 20 minutes waiting for my friend to finish browsing. Went back home. Expecting your weekend stories, Jax.

Hi everyone,
I came across this website today while browsing. It is a very cool site. A very likely scenario that the world would be facing in the aftermath of Gulf War II has been beautifully potrayed as a Flash Game. Check it out!!
Keep blogging, Jax. /credo, scio, durabo/

Hi,
Spent the last two mornings replying to mails from the group. It was a cumbersome and tedious process. Went home very late last night. Was not doing nothing much in particular at office yesterday. As a result, came in late today morning... Ranjini had asked mailed me something about my previous entry. This is for her.
WMD -> weapons of mass destruction, eg nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
dithers-> hesitates.
differs -> thinks otherwise. More info, visit www.dictionary.com
Bye,
Jax.
/credo, scio, durabo/

Hi, My weekend was almost the same as RamG. Not a surprise... as I spent half of it with him. I've been given some designing work... I mean... design of a component. Just a high-level design. But I'm struggling for that itself. Coding, I can manage. But designing... its pretty tough work. But my PL is insisting on me thinking it out... In fact, I got more work... I need to prepare for a presentation on BizTalk' s response time that I was measuring over the past few weeks. Yet to get that started. And still some measuring needs to continue after we port everything to a 2 CPU server. That might take time. But as of now I'm doing some multi-tasking b'n ppt and designing... boy... this designing stuff is taking the heck out of me... Kicha

Hi, On World Cup... So... Its all over... But not really... things r just beginning to build up... There r quite a few positive things that the Indian team can take forward after the world cup... 1. We were 202/5 after 34 overs. Scoring 200+ in 34 ov is not an easy task against an Aussie bowling attack. This goes to show our batting strength. But, the only trouble was all the bowlers had an off-day on the same day. 2. Dravid did decent job behind wickets all this time. From now on, they can look forward to grooming Parthiv Patel. He's an ecxcellent keeper and a fair batsman and above all he's only 16 !!! 3. Bangar was used as a frontline bowler when we went to WI and as a lower order one-day batsman when they came here. Right prospects to get a genuine all-rounder in the side which will effectively make India go with 5 bowlers. 4. With Parthiv in, as a specialist keeper, India might shuffle between Bangar, Agarkar and Dinesh Mongia depending on form and fitness of players. Srinath and Kumble are ageing and r already almost over-the-hill. 5. With Sehwag showing some weakness with the moving ball I feel they might well be back to Sachin-Sourav opening combination and Sehwag might come in the middle/late order to take care of slog overs. 6. Yuvraj and Kaif might also be retained for test matches. As these two have got excellent temperament and so could be quite a handful in the tests as they gain some experience. So, after all, nothing is lost.

In an article in TOI, Mr A C Muthiah, president of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said : "The aftermath of the war will give great opportunity for Indian engineering companies. We should be prepared to use Dubai as an entry point for steel and construction companies to supply construction material, he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. We should chose Dubai as a warehouse and move the goods. The opportunity in the aftermath of war is fantastic," he said. Businesses are so SICK that they relish in attacking another country and destroying it - so that they can look forward to "rebuilding it and making great profits" !!! Man thats cool - someday some country could decide to bomb India - so that the business in that country (and their allied countries) can also make "profits".... Disturbing.... Kicha

Hi everyone,
The war has finally started in Iraq.

My thoughts on the war:

It is totally unwarranted for. I believe that this war is just an excuse for Bush to browbeat the world into acknowledging the US as a world's policeman. Bush says that the people of Iraq have been suffering under Saddam and that Saddam is bad for the people of Iraq. I guess if someone (say a leader of any other nation) believes that Bush is bad for US, that person can initiate a war to topple Bush's regime in US (same logic as US invasion of Iraq).

Bush has also said that Saddam posseses WMD. Hans Blix differs. UN dithers. But tell what can the world if a couple of US special forces take into Iraq a few WMD devices and proclaim that they had captured it. Surely Bush would not allow anyone to inspect it clainmimg it as prize of war."Will America forget about nation building in Iraq -- the same way America forgot about nation building in Afghanistan -- as soon as the Iraqi oil wells are secured?" I can only feel sad that around 70% of the US citizens support "little Bush" in his war to depose the man from Tikriti. 'Today I weep for my country'

While it's raining bombs in Baghdad, it is pouring at Durban. India's WC seems to be a washout. the Kenyans might have been washed out anyway on the field, barring a few dodos and pigs flying. With heavy rains predicted for the rest of the week in South Africa, I hope that this tournamnet doesn't go the way of the ICC Champions League held a few months back at Colombo.

Hoping for your thoughts on the US invasion of Iraq...
Jax.

Dear Kicha, I hope you had read this article in the "Hindu" on Sunday. If not, read it here. I hope that answers a few of your doubts.

The founding fathers had an interest in sports. They might have never envisioned the growth of a sport as a religion. You might find that every constitution in the world doesn't allow sport as a major factor in public life. It might have been so in ancient Greece, but not in the present world.

BTW. When is George Bush going to quote Shakespeare? "Cry Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war. -Shakespeare, Julius Caesar III.i.270 . Jax

hi, something to ponder... recently there has been some lines being spoken in political circles on conferring Bharath Ratna to Sachin Tendulkar. ur comments on that...??? but the legal terms for conferring Bharath Ratna, as on date, states that "This ward is given each year by President of India "for exceptional service towards the advancement of Art, Literature, Science and in recognition of Public Service of the highest order". check it out here ... this is from the constitution. u'll find that sports is ignored. May be the good ol' people who framed our constitution thought sports wasn't as important... Kicha

Hi, I'm late... quite late by my standards. The great Tuticorin-BLR exp was late by over an hour and it was almost 10AM when I made it to my seat here... It was a pleasant weekend... what else could be a trip to home... couldn't see any of our friends there... but called on almost whoever is possible to be called... R Sindhu asked to convey her very BIG wishes to rini and also added that she's angry for not receiving mails for quite sometime... Others whoever I called asked me to convey my regards to everyone here... I talked to jax also over phone... Apart from calling on people I slept, slept and saw TV ... so that�s about my calm weekend. My April's quota of visit home might be in mid-April... Kicha

Hi everyone, I have started a new blog of my own. It will contain mostly poems and prose that have touched my heart.Visit it...
I also hope to soon put how each entry (prose or poem) has influenced me.. Bye, Jax.

It has been touted as one of most important games in the criket world cup - India vs New Zealand. Every Indian cricket fan wants revenge for India's performance at New Zealand. After the India-Pakistan match, this face-off was very much awaited for. But people keep forgetting the fact that cricket is a sport, where winning and losing is all part of the game. Yes, Cricket is a religion in India. I hope no one wants to be a religious fanatic. For the past one week, I have seen news reports which say that India is winning all its matches only after the fans at home had indulged in public humilation of the cricketers. This is ignorance and idiocy at its best. India got beaten by the best team in the world. That's it. Anyway, I will be rooting for India today. But I hope that the best team wins... Visit this...

hope u people had a good night's sleep after seeing India's thrashing of the lankans... an interesting prospect is that India might end-up facing them again in the semis... lets see... meanwhile, am trying to work on that problem... waiting for my PL... got a meeting at 10AM... a new build tool has been developed by my unit, something on that... an interesting piece... try to get hold of this week's BusinessWorld.... the cover story is about NR Murthy.... turn to page 32 ... there's something about the unit I'm in now - SET Labs... Infy wants to increase its investment in research which is what this unit does... Kicha

Microsoft Readies Its Answer To Autonomic Computing spacer By John Foley, InformationWeek spacer Microsoft next week will unveil its answer to autonomic computing, a software architecture and application-development approach called the Dynamic Systems Initiative. The first technologies to support the concept will be delivered as part of Windows Server 2003 when the operating system ships next month. Other elements will surface in Microsoft's development tools, applications, and management products over the next few years. The initiative represents Microsoft's attempt to provide a software environment for data centers that's more automated and efficient and less complex. "We're starting to deliver the plumbing that's necessary to do that," says Bob O'Brien, group product manager for Windows Server 2003. "We really see this as a dramatically different approach." Up first are new tools in Windows Server 2003 such as the Resource Manager, which gives more control over CPU and memory utilization, and Virtual Disk Service, for managing storage area networks. Next will be technology called Automated Deployment Service, to be unveiled next week, that will support what O'Brien calls "intelligent provisioning" of Windows and related software for faster setup on servers. If it works as promised, ADS, developed by Microsoft Research, will cut the time it takes to deploy servers from days to minutes, O'Brien says. Another related technology to be delivered this year is the virtual machine software that Microsoft is acquiring from Connectix. Microsoft's approach to data-center automation will require the participation of hardware companies, other software vendors, and systems integrators. It also means developers will need to think differently about the applications they build by designing software that runs across a more flexible infrastructure. "It's going to extend the way they build apps to include more intelligence in them via an additional design surface," says O'Brien. Microsoft will describe the ramifications for application development in upcoming conferences, though no changes to its VisualStudio.Net tools are expected this year. spacer

GOTCHA!!!! I found the problem... now, the bigger problem is, I have to make some major changes to my code to get it to work with BizTalk... and that too... following the cricket score and with sachin almost on the verge of another 100... phew... Kicha

ho....hoo... u r giving me new ideas for my 'start the day with a smile' routine... well, atleast I prefer to be a bit more moral in my jokes... my PL is not coming today... he's coming tomorrow only it seems.. meanwhile I got help from another guy for the biztalk thing... but there's some new problem... my app is not picking it up from the queue... there's no problem in the absence of BizTalk but once it came into the picture there's something happening.. I checked my code.. it seems to be perfectly fine... I dunno where the hell the problem is... got to get my head cracking on that a bit... but only after lunch... Kicha

I had great plans for the weekend. Thought of spending the weekend with my friends... But "the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry" came true. this is what actually happened... Saturday -> Came in at 8:30 am (supposed to be in at 8:00), worked ... , left office by 12:30 am. Sunday -> Came in again at 11:30 am, worked ... , left office by 11:45 pm That's it. Jax. Kicha, visit this.

My PL was on travel last week. He's supposed to get back today. Waiting for him... I can't proceed until he gets back and helps me out with the BizTalk Server thing... I'm not able to make head or tails out of it. Meanwhile, I'm continuing to do some work with the other part of my application - reading some measurements (without BizTalk) of response time for a message from a 'send' to a 'receive' ... its throwing up some interesting results in fact... a 11 byte message takes on an avg of 300-340 ms while messages of 1K, 2K and 3K take less than 100 ms ... that is pretty consistent on different loads of 60,120,240,480 and 560 messages/minute... Got to study this a bit more... but I need to check the results with BizTalk too and waiting for my PL for that... Kicha

Ha� ha... working in weekends... ha...ha.... good work rini, I can�t help but laugh� well, so how was ur single-day weekend� Saturday I spent most of the time sleeping and in the evening went to Higgin bothams to buy a .NET book and didn�t get that but got another interesting book �Microsoft Secrets� that speaks of how MS went about to grow this big� Sunday went to ISKCON temple and got some oodhuvathis for the house� btw., a reminder that I�m going home to mdu this weekend and will be there till Monday� monday being a holiday for holi� rather should I say Monday is HOLI-DAY� Kicha

Ah!! Two documents done. Got to go a long way still... Bye, Jax.

That's the whole raison d'etre of this blog. If people get interested and are ready to post atleast once a day, we can include them. Also it would be helpful for us to read the FAQs to understand the possibilities and limitations of blogging. Guess what, I am supposed to prepare 13 x 2-page pdfs. I think it might eat up my entire day today. More later, Jax.

Not many cared about batchmates did they...? and not many r going to care this too if we r trying to increase the strength to beyond a level. Only people who r constantly accessing mails throughout the day may be interested in this. So, that makes me feel that this is not going to be a hit by any standards if posted to msitmmb and asking people to join. The smaller with better accessible people, the better. We can post some useful things like the grammar stuff and some interesting pieces, technical or otherwise in this and use the mails for our normal communication like my start-of-the-day routines and whenever we expect some specific reply. In that way we can have the best of both worlds. BTW, jax try to find out how to post images/files to this. coz, that'll be very useful... Kicha

This entire week has been consumed by a translation work. Using machine translation engines has become a double edged sword. They allow quicker translations that are free, but the translations are illogical. I wanted to translate Plant (the green one which has leaves and flowers on it); Google's translation service is adamant on giving the translated word for plant( the one with lots of people and machinery spewing out pollution. Got to translate a lot of pages... French, German, Italian, Dutch (My head is already spinning with words). I'm still searching the net for free translation engines.. Bye / Adios / Au revoir / Auf Wiedersehen! Jax

this is nice... get going mates