Thanks Giving Sales

Today, it was thanks giving sales. Me, Padmaraj, Sheeba, Nikhil , Priya and Dhiraj went early morning to Frys. This is the first time I am seeing the time 3:30 AM here in Dallas, in a line. There has been a number of times when sleep was away, because of project works, exams..etc,.... but then, this was different. We were all shivering because of the cold breeze.

The shop was scheduled to open up at 6:00 AM. However, the line had become so big that the shop opened at 5:30. We all went in to grab our share of offers at Frys. One thing I noticed was that the majority of people who came there were Guys :)... which re-establishes that fact that guys are gadget freaks, and gals are dress freaks :).

While shopping, a number of familier faces crossed, when I realized that a major chunk of SMU students are right there, in Frys. It was fun!!!!

Then came the long wait!!! For checkout. It took me something like 10 minutes to FIND OUT the end of the line waiting for checkout. Finally, in another 45 mins, I reached the counter, to check out my catch from Frys.

Next stop was Best buy and Comp USA. Best buy had little to offer by the time we reached the place, and things were not very different with CompUSA. By 10:30, we all were hungry, and tired - but then, totally happy about the offers that we managed to grab.

I never saw the 11:00 AM of that day, as I was snoring away on my couch to reach the stars !!!

Trip to San Antonio

Today I went for a trip to San Antonio. It was just me, and a rented car. At times, you need to have some time for yourselves, and that was exactly I wanted that day evening. But then, the weather prediction was of thunder storms over dallas, and basically through out the way that I was going to take. I thought it would be a fun ride... and it was :)

At 4:00 PM, I started from Dallas. I did not go far, when I started seeing the clouds come together, and lightnings flashing. It was such a beautiful view. It was extremely windy. The car was swaying a lot because of the wind, but since everyone was driving slow, it was all ok :).

Finally, by 11:00, I reached San Antonio. I found an IHOP there, had dinner, adn by 12:30, after an hours rest at the IHOP, started by journey back to Dallas. I reached Dallas back at 5:00 AM.

Why did I do such a crazy trip? I dont have an answer :).

The Rava Dosa Day

Today it was Rava Dosa day in our apartment. Vikram took the initiative of starting off the day. Harish soon joined, with Malik handling the "Quality Assurance" department. Me.... err.. where do you think I am? :D.. that's right... I am the official photographer.

Vikram Starting off the Rava Dosa day

Masters Degree - The Last Class

Today it was my Last class while pursuing my Masters Degree in Computer Science. As I had said earlier, I am just days away from fulfilling mine and my parents dream, and most importantly, fulfilling the promise given to one person. A long cherished dream is coming true.

The class started with our presentation on "Synchronization on Distributed Systems". Aditya Raina started the presentation, and explained the basics to the class. I followed him, explaining about Mutual exclusion. Next to come was Chintan, followed by Purvesh, who also concluded the presentation.

When I first gave my presentation, days after i started my MS course, I was really shaking, and LOTS of butterflys running on my stomach, when asked to face the crowd. But, today, it was different. Today, the same crowd act as a driving force for my presentatoin. And as I was sitting there facing the class, I realized that 2 years of sternous MS course had not only given me more knowledge, but had helped me become a better person.

Because of MS, I today know, how to be independent. Today, I realize the immense efforts behind those thigns that my parents did for me, which many a times, I dismissed as trivial things. Today, I realize what love and care is. I know how to distinquish good from bad, realize people when they start talking to me. Mother nature has blessed each human with all these abilities. But, the fact is that, these abilities remain dormant until the need comes.

Before coming to US, I was protected by my parents. While I was sleeping, my parents went to the market to get provisions, so that me and my brother wont be hungry. I still remember mornings, when I quarreled with my mother saying that the break fast was the same all the time, even though that was not true. I remember spending lots of time with my friends, but less time with my parents and relatives. The school days flashed before me, as I took my final class towards a new world, where my father would come and pick me and my brother from school. We would come back home sitting on his Bajaj scooter. I considered going on a bus the extreme measure, as my parents made it a point to give the comforts of ride right from childhood. The day when I got my bike - I am sure my parents rejoiced seeing the twinkle in my eyes, but I failed to see the twinkle that came in their eyes.

And when I think about it... I just realized that for my parents, my brother and myself, this date is just the begining. There is a lot more to go. The dream... has just begun.

National Treasure - The Movie

Today Dhiraj, Tony and Me went for the movie National Treasure. I always have this habit of getting pop-corn when going for movies. So, after getting my pop-corns, we all went to the theater.
I liked the movie, but then, I also should say that many things seemed to be very unreal. For example... in one scene, the actor has to find out a password. The system is so secure that an incorrect entry in password can raise the alarm. Earlier, our actor had presented the actress (Who is the only person who knows the password) with a gift, which was coated with invisible ink. So, basically, when he reached the key pad, there was invisible ink all over the pad (I mean.. The keys on which she had touched). So, it was a pass phrase with some 8 chars length, and the number of keys pressed was 5. Hence, the total number of possibilities are 5^8!!!. And our actor made a comment saying that "R" has been pressed twice. I think there is no way he knows which key has been pressed twice!!. So, even before the computer could decipher and come up with all the combinations, the actor "Gussed" the right password.
Also, this trend continues in ALL the traps and puzzles in the movie.
Basically, he just very easily outwitted ALL the people in HISTORY, who tried finding the treasure. A Brain like that!!!. NASA can use it!!! :)
Hee heee... I am sure if you have not seen the movie, you are not understanding what I am talking about here:) .

We got out by 12:00 PM, and headed back home, when Dhiraj came up with the idea of going to IHOP. Off we went, and just sat there talking. We had been to this IHOP so many times that the waitress there knows us by now. We had dinner there, and headed back home. I had to go home then, as my presentation was coming up next day morning. The next day was going to be my very last class for Masters Course.

ASIMO @ Dallas

ASIMO visited SMU. Confused? Well, ASIMO stands for "Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility". ASIMO is the world's best robot, perfected over 18 years of study.

Today afternoon, me and Padmaraj went to watch the eagerly awaited event. The exhibition hall was understandably already full, even though we reached there well before time. I experienced what people say "Each second went like a minute". :). Every one was so very eager to watch ASIMO, and putting all the people who were there to a pin drop silence, there he was - ASIMO walked onto the stage. The silence was broken with lots of applause, and wistles. I could not believe my eyes when ASIMO intelligently computed that the croud is cheering at him, and CHEERD BACK!!! All of us were embarking on an exciting journey to robotics world, for the next 30 minutes.

The presentation started with an explanation on history of ASIMO. "Failure is the stepping stone to success". That was literally shown in the presentation. We all watched as the previous unsuccessful versions of ASIMO fell on the floor, could not turn..etc. But, with each those failures, ASIMO was in the making. And finally, HONDA perfected the robot, which had 26 servo motors on board. All these motors would be controled by an onboard powerful computer. But, how does ASIMO computer know what to do at what time? Its using the sensors on ASIMO. While Cameras formed ASIMO's eyes, Microphones formedits ears, enabling it to take voice commands from humans. We were going ahead with the exciting journey.

Finally, it was time for the Best Part- Something that no robot had ever done in the past - Climbing Stairs. While the audience was watching with disbelief, ASIMO climbed stairs and came back down the stairs. For appretiating the act, think about how many muscles and movements you make while climbing stairs. All these being controlled by feed back systems - Amazing!!!.

Today ASIMO is a marvel. But, with the birth of ASIMO, one thing is sure - The field of robotics is never going to be the same again. ASIMO also sends a powerful message and inspiration to us, students in engineering - Dare to Dream... Reach for the stars!!!.

Kumar goes to India

Yesterday, Swami went to India. We all started from home at 10:30 AM. Me and Malik went in Vikram's car, with Harish and Swamy in Harish's car. We went first to DFW temple. It was really a nice and different environment. Bhajans filled the air with a positive energy, and people who walked into the temple could instantly feel the presence of peace there. We were at the temple for about half and hour, and then, we went to Royal Sweets, to have some snack breakfast, after which we went to Airport.

Finally, it was time to bid farewell to swamy for a month's time. We dropped Swamy to airport, and finally, came back home....

Trip To (Houston/2) by 2 - For the wrong reason

Yesterday Dheeraj and Janet came to my place to get my AAA card. Janet had an accidet, half way to Houston (exit 198), and the car had to be towed back. They tried calling the garage where the car was parked, only to find out that it was closed on Sundays. And Dheeraj had mid term exam today. He asked me whether I could go with Janet today to take the car. I agreed. I was happy that I could go.. but sad that it was for the wrong reason that Janet had an accident.

Morning, I had a Hacnet meeting, and after that, I started to Arlington, to pick up Janet. This was one of those rare times, when I did not lose way much :). Well, I reached her place by like 10:15, and then, we started our trip to exit 198. It was a long trip as the gauges showed, but for me, it was a really short ride, as we were talking about interesting stuff all the way. We talked about things ranging from the beautiful Kerala, family...etc, about our colleges, and also, about our respective research fields. Time flew by, and before we knew it, we were there at the destination. I called up AAA from there, and they informed that it will be another 60 mins before the towing veicle reaches the spot. We decided to have lunch and wait for the truck.

After some time, the truck came, and we began our journey back. I was thinking that the truck will be slowing us down, as it cannot go fast with a car... but, I was totally wrong!!!. I was finding it hard to keep up with the towing vehicle. In an hours time, we reached back Dallas!!!!. Again, the ride was really nice, with interesting conversations keeping the boredom and sleep away.

Finally I dropped Janet off at South Western Medical Center, where I bid bye to her. I came back home, and cooked. I am feeling very tired, and hence, going to bed early.

Padmaraj's Car broke down

Yesterday, me and Padmaraj was going to Plano, to my Ammavan and Ammai's place to have dinner. Padmaraj came to my apartment to pick me up by like 6:45, and we started going to Plano. We were almost at Spring Creek exit, when Padmaraj noticed that the engine is stalling a bit. He was looking for the reason, when his eyes fell on the temperature gauge. It was well on the red mark. We immediately took the car to road shoulder, and tried to see what happened to the car. The obvious place to see was the radiator. We both were extremely careful opening the radiator, becuase in there, the water will be super heated (The temperature will be well above 100 degree celcius, but it is still in liquid state because of the preassure). So, if we open the cap in that state, the super heated water can spash all over the place, and a drop of water that hot, can leave a visible mark for life.

Well, it turned out, there was not even a drop of water in the radiator. We assumed that after the recent service Padmaraj had done, the mechanic forgot to put water in the radiator. We waited for some time, and drove the car .... very slowly... to the nearest gas station. We got some anti freeze, and poured into the radiator. Just as we finished pouring it in, we noticed that the radiator was leaking... in the same speed as we poured in the anti freeze.

I called my Uncle. He knows quiet a bit about cars, and he said that chances are ... the hose from the radiator has some problem He came and one look at the car revealed that the hose was detached from radiator. And... this joint is at the bottom of the radiator. With the hose detached, every thing we poured in was going out. No wonder :). Well, we then fixed the hose in place, and the car was up and running again!!. Tanks ammava, and 3 cheers for me, Padmaraj and Ammavan :).