Friday, March 16, 2012

Budget 2012: What becomes costlier and cheaper - Business Today - Business News

Budget 2012: What becomes costlier and cheaper - Business Today - Business News

The Maestro - Reaches a milestone 100th 100

The whole Cricket fraternity and million of Indian Cricket fans have been waiting for this moment for a year now. The great maestro Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar completed his 100th 100 today against Bangladesh in the 2012 edition of Asia Cup.

Sachin has been an inspiration for many and will hopefully continue to inspire the young generation in coming years.

Bravo..Great Achievement.... A Standing Ovation for a Great Ambassador for the sport of cricket.

The Grand Indian Roadtrip Flagoff By Gul Panag.mp4

Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011- A Year of Joy & Sadness

Well it is that part of the year where you sit down and take stock of the year gone by....

On the sports front...Year 2011 will be remembered by every passionate Indian Cricket Fan in the same vein as year 1983...Yes WE WON THE CRICKET WORLD CUP and reached the pinnacle of cricket. In the same context would have loved to see India win the MCG Boxing Day Test and end the year on a high.

Every year has its joyous moments and sad moments...we lost some famous celebrities in business and film fraternity. Steve Jobs who turned the technology world on its head with inventions like Ipod, Iphone and Ipad. He has every other company trying to beat or try to match up to the innovations floated into the technology world. Shammi Kapoor who entertained the Indian Movie buffs with his "yahoo" moves passed away leaving behind us memories of "aasman se aaya farista". If this loss was not enough, Bollywood lost the evergreen 'guide' - Dev Anand who was directing/acting till he breath his last...songs like 'yeh dil na hota bechara', 'ek hazaaron mein meri behna hain'...list goes on. Hindi music industry also lost stalwarts like Bhupen Hazirka who gave my favorite 'dil hoom hoom kare' and the ghazal king - Jagjit Singh who gave the world ghazals like "Yeh Daulat bi le lo yeh sharuhat bi le lo", "hoton se chulu tum", "Kya koya kya paya", "tum itna jo muskara rahe ho"..the list is endless. We will always remember these great personalities whenever we watch or listen to their songs. RIP ALL


On personal front... resolutions have been hard to meet as usual. The weight problem continues..have been able to go down just 10 lbs as to the target of 20-30 set in the beginning of the year. Also our company has been acquired and as a result will be starting the new year under a new management and company logo. On the travel front, had the opportunity to see places like Seattle and visit Baltimore again. On the exciting front, was able to do PARA-SAILING this summer with my family. It was an awesome feeling and experience.

As we bid good-bye to the year-2011, looking forward to the beginning of 2012 with high hopes and expectations.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year.



Saturday, February 05, 2011

Countdown to WC-2011 - Just round the corner

ICC World Cup 2011 is upon us..it has been already 4 years since the last one played in the West Indies. The last world cup was won by Australia thus making it hat-tricks of wins for them. Apart from the on-field happenings the WC 2007 will be remembered more for its off-field events & controversies. The tragic end of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer who was found unconscious in his hotel room and pronounce death on arrival at the hospital. If that was not enough to dampen the spirits of the WC, the fiasco at the end of the finals in the dark & gloomy evening was the final setting for a tragic WC-2007.

With the WC-2011 round the corner with 2 weeks to go its time for Millions Of Cricket Fans across the world to put the happenings of 2007 behind us and look to another exciting world cup. With the WC this year being played in the Indian Sub-Continent be assured of it having all the extravaganza and sponsorship of the film fraternity.  The opening ceremony on 17 Feb'2011 is definitely going to be a class apart. It would be worth spending the time and $$$ to watch such an opening ceremony.

Finally, the ball will be set rolling on 19 Feb'2011 with Bangladesh taking on India. Bangladesh are no more considered the minows of the cricketing world. They can definitely put on a show and on their day turn the tables on any team. India can never forget the 2007 match were they lost to Bangladesh and thus ended their campaign in the WC in the preliminary rounds. A win by a good margin will definitely get the Indian machinery working.

As the teams wind up their respective series..we find Australia slowly getting into the groove for the WC. Their batting has suddenly come alive against England and are putting runs on the board. Clarke is getting is fifties, Hussey is back & more importantly Brett Lee is back to shoulder the bowling. Australia cannot be ruled out as top contender. Other team which is making strong waves is South Africa with their performance in the recently concluded series against India. Sri Lanka is another team that has got the right mix of all-rounders to win them the WC. No one can rule out England team which is slowly growing in ascendancy in the ODI scene and with their win in Ashes they definitely will be all charged up. Pakistan has always been a team that one can never predict. With their performance in New Zealand and if they can get away from infighting within..could be a team that could lift the WC this year.

Well India has always looked good on the paper and it is their performance on the on-field which will make the difference...This is definitely Sachin's last WC and hopefully as Dhoni said Winning the WC would be a good sending off gift for Sachin

Hope the best team win...Let's get the WC underway

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Abhishek As Duryodhana

My son - Abhishek enacting a scene as Duryodhana  from Mahabharat esp in the Maya Saba. He speaks the dialogues when Duroydhana finds a pond in the middle of the hall and believes it to be a mirage & steps straight into it. As Duryodhana falls he hears Draupadi - Paanchaali laughing and he wows to finish off the Paandaavs.

The dialogues are in TELUGU...as this is part of his MANABADI - Telugu School run by Silicon Andhra here in USA


Friday, January 21, 2011

Starbucks - Goes Mobile with Payments

Today Starbucks launched the mobile payment mode for your java beans...does this mean going forward mobile phone would replace our wallet..read more



Thursday, January 20, 2011

India World Cup Squad Announced - No Major Howlers

On 17 Jan'11 India announced a 15 man squad that will represent the country in the World Cup starting in Feb'11. The cricket world cup returns to the Indian Sub-continent after nearly 15 years. This time India partners with its neighboring countries Srilanka and Bangladesh to host the World Cup.

The following is the squad announced by India.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Personally, the team selected looks the best the selectors could put together. Though many may argue that Rohit Sharma missed the bus but with team already packed with 7 batsmen there was no space for another. Instead would feel that Parthiv Patel was the one missing the bus. He has been scoring runs in domestic and also in the ODIs he has appeared so far. Moreover, we all know MSD has the habit of breaking down due to the his bad back and that's when PP could have stepped in. Also there is uncertainty over the fitness of Sehwag/Gambhir/Tendulkar and in such case PP would have also fitted in the spot of an opener. The other person one feels could have missed the bus is Ojha who could have been a better bet than Chawla.

All said and done, India have announced their best 15 men whom we should all support and cheer.

Go Blue Khelo Ji Shaan Se Jeeto Shaan Se..

Monday, January 03, 2011

New Year Resolutions - 2011

Happy New Year to all

With the start of the new year, it is time to make new resolutions for the year.

1) Healthy - loose 20-30 lbs in the year. Starting at 206.8lbs as of this day.

2) Career - attend trainings & get some certifications that boost the career growth

3) Blogging - spin a web of thoughts (cricket, movies, technology, etc) at least once a week

4) Family time - spend some quality time with family

5) Travel - explore a new place with family & friends

For a change not going with long list of resolutions and hope I am able to achieve the set goals.

Wish everyone all the best in their endeavors

Saturday, June 12, 2010

WorldCup is here..4 years wait is over

11 June,2010 the hosts South Africa kicked off the FIFA Worldcup with the game against Mexico. It is astonishing to see how much excitement and frenzy a Worldcup of soccer has created around the world. Everyone on the streets, in the coffee area of the offices, restaurants seem to be talking about names like Messi, Henry, Rooney, Beckham ala carte :-). Soccer World-cup seems to bring people of different religions, caste & nationalities together. This may be the best time for office peers/managers/subordinates to bond and put their relationship on a different altitude.

32 teams battling for the supremacy......

Jabulani is the ball being used in Worldcup. it is provided by Addidas

Diego Maradona makes his reappearance in Worldcup..this time as coach for his home nation Argentina

Player of the year - Messi will be worth watching

Spain is being talked as the team to watch out...even front runners in the betting circles to win the Worldcup...Rafael Nadal has set the ball rolling earlier this month with a win in French Open

Guess what...people in US are finally talking about the true football and not the football with hands & legs...Frenzy working up for the game against England on 12 Jun'2010

talk of tournament...can't even think what happens if we have FINALS between NORTH & SOUTH KOREA

All the other sports in the world take a backstage as FIFA WORLDCUP entices and takes the CENTER STAGE

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Blazing Bhaji - Turbantor with Bat

Had the pleasure of watching the batting of the "Turbanator" - Harbhajan Singh... He was on a different level altogether and seemed to carry the 'midas' touch with him. Every shot he played was either disappearing into the crowd or hitting the advertising boards.

Tendulkar has been having a dream run of form with bat in this IPL so far. And to top it off with his knock today he came up with a captain's masterstroke idea today of bowling Harbhajan first up. My 2 cents..this masterstroke was prompted by couple of reasons
- The adrenaline was flowing for Bhajji after his batting blitz...nothing could be worse than having a charged up bowler bowling at opponent's batsman
- More importantly, the dew would have made the ball soft and Bhajji would not have the proper grip & loose the impact.

AND BEHOLD...2nd ball of the DC innings...guess what Sachin holds the "kamal" catch to c the back of the most dangerous DC batsman - Gilchrist.

I believe the wind was Knocked out of DC by Bhajji's knock but the fall of Gilchrist on 2nd ball of the innings knocked the spirit out of their fight..

With the result of the two games played today, has thrown IPL -3 open. Rajasthan Royals (RR) with their 4th consecutive win have climbed up the ladder. They are now placed 3rd in the points table after having played 7 games. Deccan Chargers (DC) who were riding a success wave are now struggling and are on the 5th position but very likely to be displaced by KKR or DD tomorrow. Look at the Points Table reference

We still have lots of games to go...And we may see some teams making a comeback

Watch the highlights on www.youtube.com/ipl

Sunday, March 21, 2010

IPL3 - Match of the Tournament so far

I have stopped blogging for many days (years).....but watching the match between Chennai Super Kings & King Punjab made me blog again.

Classic match. you could say one team tried its best to loose the match while the other sneaked through an ajar door. there were couple of instances for few players to make a name for themselves and they did not grab it

- parthiv patel had everything going for him. he had to play himself till the last over to take Superkings over the wire
- Irfan Pathan had a golden opportunity to become a hero for Punjab by bowling an over of his lifetime. he had to restrict CSK from getting those 10 runs in the last over

God knows had CSK played their full quota of 6 balls in the Superover...we might still have some more excitement left in the game..

In the end, Chennai Super Kings have themselves to blame as it is said..."THEY SNATCHED DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY".....

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Scribd - A good site

Guys...just came across this site SCRIBD where you can upload docs yourself or search for some reference docs.

I came across this site while reading LewisC blog http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/oracle/guide

Lewis Cunningham is an Oracle Ace, author of EnterpriseDB: The Definitive Guide and a Database Architect. I have been following his blogging on ITTOOLBOX very religiously. He definetely has good inputs on Oracle which are very helpfull.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

DST Update - Issue with BlackJack Mobiles

By now everyone would have realised that US Moved to Daylight Saving Time (DST) this weekend. So, this means that starting weekend the time zone delta with the US will be one less hour.

Keeping this in view, I noticed that the time on my 'BLACKJACK' had not changed to the DST timings. Oh god.... thinking I had put the time update to manual I checked the settings. To my surprise it was set to 'automatic' and then it dawned on me that the mobile had failed me. As per my naive belief it should have changed to DST based on the settings.

This got me surfing the net and it lead me to the following microsoft site which had an update available for the Window Mobile devices.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.mspx

You need to download the CAB file available.

I downloaded the file and my mobile changed to the DST timings immediately.

Hope this works for everyone.

FYI: I use the AT & T network.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Sync your data - Allway Sync

Last year in thanksgiving I purchased an external drive and since then have been struggling to synchronize the data between PC & External Drive..... some of it can be blamed on my carelessness or lethargy to keep data in synchronize. After quite a struggle & surfing the net, I stumbled upon "ALLWAY SYNC" a free download.

The software has easy to use interface. It helps in 'analyze' the files that need to be synchronized between the source & destination. Allway Sync also gives us a list of files that are questionable and waits for us to take action.

Feel free to download the software from http://allwaysync.com/download.html

Finally, my prayers are answered and data is synchronized between the drives

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Cannon SD1000 - Lens Error, Restart the camera

My cannon SD1000 died on me while taking pics of my new born baby. It kept saying "Lens Error, Restart the Camera". In the hospital, I could not concentrate or do any trial n error on the camera.

Back home now... I did the following and it worked

Removed the battery, recharged the same. Inserted the charged batter and very gently moved lens sideways couple of times. The lens immediately went in and I restarted the camera. Everything is back to normal.

I have clicked some more photos and it is working fine.

Not sure if this will work for everyone....no harm in sharing some tip

Bundle of Joy arrives


Wondering why I stopped blogging.....for a very good reason

Sudha and myself were blessed with a cute little baby on 29 Feb. She is named ALEKHYA and will remain 'young' always as she was born in the leap year.

She is our second child....Abhishek our first son is all excited and already playing the bigbrother.

Monday, February 04, 2008

SuperBowl XLII - Final Update

The Final Game lived up to the expectations....Eli Manning gave the 'slip' of his life...Patriots were left shell-shocked. Eli in the last 2 minutes of the game played probably threw the 'best' throws in a football game. NY Giants defense were the "MVP" of the superbowl. Brady was not able to create the moves and was 'sacked' very often or made to throw wild.

An interesting article that caught the attention "Patriots coach a sore loser"

It is point well made .....

"But when the shoe's on the other foot, and Bill Belichick's team has been beaten, he can't sit there and take the pain for a few seconds. "

Bill Belichick should have waited till the final whistle to blow before embarking on his mission to congratulate the winning coach. At the same time, other school of thought would debate that Bill Belichick was eager enough to admit his team was beaten and was being sporting enough to walk across to the other side. This action of the 'star' coach is going to rage for many weeks to come. While the debate is on, we should give Bill Belichick and Patriots there due credit, they were the best but failed the 'last' step to the zenith.

NY Giants are TRUE WINNERS....they were underdogs but played like "CHAMPS"...Congratulations Eli Manning and the brave 'defense' team.

Before signing off - on SuperBowl...the following were the last two commercials watched by yours truely....

Victoria Secret - let the real games begin
American Idol - even champs can dream.

Curtains have come down on another SuperBowl....

Sunday, February 03, 2008

SuperBowl XLII - NY GIANTS CHAMPIONS

NY GIANTS ARE THE CHAMPIONS....

Eli Manning gave a slip of the season...he slipped out of the pile to throw a "TOUCHDOWN" pass of his life.

SuperBowl XLII - TOUCHDOWN NY GIANTS

IS THIS THE TOUCHDOWN for the CHAMPIONSHIP......

Are we going to see the the end of "SEASON RUN-STREAK" of the PATRIOTS...

35 secs to go in the match and the Giants lead by 3 and now 'time-outs' will come into picture..

TOM BRADY - THE STATUE will have to bring out his best game out in the field..

HOLD YOUR BREATH ......