BAGELS!!!!

All the Indians who have never heard of Bagels... Hail The Bagel!!

Ya I know, u think whats this post is all about. The answer is simple. Its about bagel. Its like a bun with a hole.

So my first job in Syracuse was with Blinker's Bagels. Crazy me thought Bagels would be the name of a guy. Then came the tough part.

Had to remember all the different types of bagles...asigo, dried tomato,blueberry.. the list is huge plus the different toppings and garnish. Also the different beverages and what not. Somehow managed through it.

So next time you see me with a black cap and a T Shirt, i'll probably ask you: Blinker's bagel, How may i help you :)

Tai Chi

Today was my first Tai Chi class. Yi had agreed to coach me. I thought it would be quite easy but man it really is difficult. I just learnt how to walk naturally. He also told me to do a WANG which is a gesture like pushing with outstreched palm... but doing it naturally with the flow.
It was awesome, although it was tiring but feeling the blood flow through your limbs is a great experience and it is unlike anything I had experienced before.

Although he agreed to teach me twice a week I suspended the class until i practiced walking perfectly. Well it wud really be kewl to add Tai Chi in my resume.

BTW Syracuse is what i call a global village... i have made many friends from other countries. My project mate is Jorge (its pronounced as Josh). He's from Costa Rica and is a geek in real sense.

Niagra Impresionante

www.flickr.com

Went to Niagra this saturday.... Man it was great.

Uploaded a few fotos in flickr ..just click the above picture to see all of them...
Niagra was really a spectacle. The whole environment was so wonderful. Apart from savouring the sheer beauty and vastness of mother nature I made some great friends. One of them is Brandon. If I write anything about him now it wouldn't be fair... i will dedicate one whole entry to him... we discussed lot of theology and philosophy.

Another good friend i made was Yi (though we became friends before this trip...met him at the dean's reception). He is another great guy doing his Phd in electronics. He is teaching me Tai Chi :)

The cultural diversity here is great. I am starting to love Syracuse.

Fear of mediocrity

Last year i had posted about Google's Topcoder competition...
this post is dedicated to the same thing.

I kindda thot it wud be good to give my best shot to this contest again... but somehow it gives me more creeps than my regular exams (i didn't get scared even when i was coming here at Syracuse...)

So i started coding right away at 12:00 EDT... and everything started falling apart. I opted for Java instead of my favorite C/C++ cuz had kindda lost touch with them (had been doing J2EE for the last 6 months... followed by a brief period of programming on C/D on Solaris)...
To start with the app hanged... the browser closed itself... i fired firefox... and started coding again... i was longing for eclipse... I wanted my programs to auto complete.. now u wud ask why???? Because I DID NOT KNOW THE METHODS OF SOME CLASSES...
so i fired javaalmanac.com and started lookin out and coding the 250 pointer (the easiest one)...
but alas in the confusion I lost track of time and i pressed the submit button after my time got expired. I did not even look at the 750 pointer.

I hate my self for the mess.... i hate not succeeding at something i know i am good at.... my performance shook my soul... If there is anything i fear in this world apart from God... it is mediocrity, of losing out...
I HEREBY RESOLVE TO SHOW MY METTLE IN THE NEXT TOPCODER.... HERE I COME GOOGLE ....YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

My First Notebook

Finally got my first laptop...
www.deals2buy.com
Its Dell Inspiron 600m (customized)... closed the deal for $1061 only including the delivery & carry bag. (after a discount of $600)

Well Dell is kind of official laptop of all Indian student as it is the cheapest (hey we r not cheap... just less spendthrift)... the other junta goes for macs (kewl dudes..), sony vios( rich guys) or hp/toshibas (different ;)

Man i'm in love with it and really cant wait for it to get delivered. I just ordered it so will probably be getting it next week sometime.
It has PM 1.6 GHz, 1 Gb RAM, 80 GB hard disk, wifi b/g, bluetooth enabled and really cool. I got a printer free with it... and of course i'll be sellin it out on amazon or ebay. :-)

I cant really wait for it....

Sloppy Sundays!!

So here i am this is me... ya ya am givin u another crap from Bryan Adam's ( the song is not crap though)

well the US surely is a stickler for rules and most of my time has in Syracuse has gone completing the formalities... but like India weekends are free :)

I was looking forward to salsa classes on saturdays only to realise that the only thing that was going on was Indian dance and Cricket/badminton. I kindda dont like both of them. The pesumed classes were scheduled at midnight so i slept while waiting... woke up...got my self together ..walked around 3 miles to the spot only to realise that i had made a total fool outta myself. now i came back and slept ... i was really lookin forward to a Great Sunday (sundae wud have been cool)

I got up at around 0630 hrs... finished my breakfast by 0730 and started watchng a movie... the movie finished and i started watching friends ... by the time i got bored watching them i realised it was already 1820 and my whole sunday was ruined....

I thot i will share this with u and go and take bath... I SUCK

finalmente en Syracuse

u guys r wondering wat language is the Title in???
Its spanish, meaning "finally in Syracuse".... nah havent been learning spanish..just added from google language for the effect. :D

so am finally in syracuse. The city although a popular city in US is devoid of any crowd. I mean we went to the nearby cofee shop to see find some people... the only things u see here are cars and buildings. Thot i'll just have a coffee ($1.5) :( ... i got it without sugar or milk... after putting some 6 packets it still wasnt sweet enough (i mean the desi flavour...) . The crowd is really friendly. People just say "Hi" or "Whats up" or just wink at u or give a welcoming smile whenever they see u (Strangely working Indians are too bored to accept that they r Indians). know what happened in Syracuse airport!!! the trolley vending machine needed credit card to operate so i asked a resident accept $2 from me and lemme use his credit card. He got me a trolley but refused to accept the cash, no matter how hard i tried. When i pressed him a bit he told me to keep it as a christmas gift... i am really bowled over by their hospitality.

The scene in my college regarding Open Source technology is really dismal. Well since i dont wanna be a lab rat so i didn't choose a college that was givin me AI/NN or any supposedly high fundoo topic. But people here dont relly give a damn to linux... my wud be prof worked for 16 years with Microsoft and ofcourse Microsoft technologies dominate the scene here. People arent really enthusiastic abt anythin here...
I guess where other people search oppotunities..I create them... planning to start a LUG here... wish me best of luck with my linux aspirations.

Have to search for an accomodation.