Personal
- Coconut Cauliflower Baby Corn Curry
- Steps Served with Jasmin Rice Read more – ‘Coconut Cauliflower Baby Corn Curry’.
- ★ 2012 in Pictures
- 2012 was great! Happy new year! Read more – ‘★ 2012 in Pictures’.
- Growing Vegetables
- I’ve been quite busy lately with another play application delivered into production at work. But lots of other things happening at home too. Last year I succeeded in growing tomatoes at home which were pretty tasty and good. This year to continue the tradition I started growing Two types of tomatoes, artichokes, aubergines and bottle [...] Read more – ‘Growing Vegetables’.
- The Making of “Chana Methi Matki Biryani”
- Sunday Dinner today is Chana Methi Matki Biryani. First an emergency Glossary so that the title makes some sense. Chana : Chickpeas Methi :Fenugreek Leaves Matki : Earthen Pot Basmati Rice: Basmati Rice The main ingredients Tomatoes – Deseeded, diced Red onion Methi Leaves Mint leaves Chana – soaked overnight and boiled Saffron – soaked [...] Read more – ‘The Making of “Chana Methi Matki Biryani”’.
- Bicycle trip from Scheveningen to Haarlem
- Today I joined a meetup group on a bicycle trip from Scheveningen to Haarlem along with 10 others. I met up with them at Scheveningen and continued on the Noordzee route along the dunes via Katwijk, Noordwijk, Zandvoort and finally to reach Haarlem. It was pretty good day with lots of sunshine and the wind [...] Read more – ‘Bicycle trip from Scheveningen to Haarlem’.
- Bike to work day – Scheveningen to Rotterdam
- View Larger Map Name: Scheveningen to Rotterdam Date: 17-Aug-2011 7:53 am Map: (valid until Feb 13, 2012) View on Map Distance: 29.0 kilometers Elapsed Time: 1:36:25 Avg Speed: 18.1 km/h Max Speed: 26.4 km/h Avg Pace: 03′ 19″ per km Min Altitude: 0 m Max Altitude: 109 m Start Time: 2011-08-17T05:53:08Z Start Location: Latitude: 52.113705º [...] Read more – ‘Bike to work day – Scheveningen to Rotterdam’.
- iKiva 4000+ Day and my birthday
- Thanks everyone for your greetings and wishes – today is my 30th birthday + iKiva’s 4K Day. We got a Cake to celebrate both – here it is - And here are the iKiva download stats: Read more – ‘iKiva 4000+ Day and my birthday’.
- Good Bye! Hippo!
- Almost 830 days ago I started working for Hippo. And today is the last day of my work. I’d like to thank all my colleagues for helping me when I was going through difficult times, teaching me some cool stuff and generally bearing with me and tolerating me for the entire period. I think I [...] Read more – ‘Good Bye! Hippo!’.
- The Tree of Life
- On 29th June 2011 at 00:10 my little sister gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl I’ve seen so far. It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago, I used to drop my sister on my bicycle every day at school, and she’s now a mom. Within a span of 3 years I closely [...] Read more – ‘The Tree of Life’.
- iKiva – One month in numbers
- It has been just over a month since iKiva has been released and it is time for an update! The app has been successful beyond my wildest imagination, I never thought It’ll have more than 100 users. But the popularity of Kiva helped and the app seems is used by many users. I think the [...] Read more – ‘iKiva – One month in numbers’.
- Glass Making at Murano (Video)
- Glass is a fascinating thing, at least for me. The making of Glass is a mixture of art and science. Murano – an island near Venice which is famous for Glass. On my recent trip to Venice I got a chance to look at one of the Glass Making furnaces in Murano. Here’s a video [...] Read more – ‘Glass Making at Murano (Video)’.
- Photos from Venice
- We went on a short half-week trip to Venice on our marriage anniversary, to divert our mind from the mistake we made a couple of years ago. It was a very nice and pleasant trip, we went around Venice and peripheral islands to take a look at the Glass Blowing, Lace Making and of course [...] Read more – ‘Photos from Venice’.
- Becoming Fully Who You Are
- Rather than feeling I’m competing with others, I can appreciate, enjoy, celebrate and encourage the work I see them doing. When I take this approach, it encourages me in the process, inspiring me to be my best while enjoying others’ success. It’s also a net positive, because those who are celebrated are encouraged to do [...] Read more – ‘Becoming Fully Who You Are’.
- A tale of two upgrades
- Last week while I was working on my iPhone app, XCode started to stuck and suck. The beach-balls were blocking me almost every hour. I was ver annoyed thinking why this machine is so slow. The MacBook Pro I'm using is reasonably fast and almost recent (bought last year). The whole point of buying a MacBook Pro is the ability to run at least two command shells, XCode, iOS simulator, Pixelmator (for graphics manipulation) and Safari for reference. Read more – ‘A tale of two upgrades’.
- “Where Good Ideas Come From”
- I just completed reading the book Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. An extremely well written book with very acute analysis of the genesis and life cycle of innovation and ideas. The book is one of most technical reader friendly books, especially if you are into software development you’ll find nodding [...] Read more – ‘“Where Good Ideas Come From”’.
- The Path of a Doer
- The Path of a Doer’ is a pocket guide to helping you to achieve more. To help you understand the ebb and flow of making something happen. via The Do Book Co. – The Path of a Doer. Read more – ‘The Path of a Doer’.
- What language do you think in?
- In my day-to-day life I use three languages to communicate. I use English at work. While at home, I speak mostly in Hindi and English to communicate with my wife, and when I need to talk to my mother or sister I use Telugu, which is my native language. Some time ago I wondered what [...] Read more – ‘What language do you think in?’.
- Reading Books vs. Searching on Google
- I have always been a fan of spending long reading hours at libraries. I used to spend a lot, I mean really _a lot_ of time at the Central Library in Hyderabad (India) reading all sorts of non-fiction books. But as I grew old, life caught up with me and in the growth of digital [...] Read more – ‘Reading Books vs. Searching on Google’.
- → The first step is to start
- I’ve heard enough from myself lately, and I’m going to act on it soon. To never follow a dream because you don’t think you’re good enough or don’t have the skills, or knowledge, or experience is a waste. In fact, these projects where there is doubt are the ones to pursue. They offer the greatest [...] Read more – ‘→ The first step is to start’.
- → Be Happier: Rent Everything
- This pretty much summarizes my argument against owing a house/pet/car/child etc. In short, ownership dampens your happiness and burdens you psychologically. Being able to leave your home and not worry about a pet adds to your happiness. Keeping your housing costs low and not accidentally accumulating stuff allows you to spend time and money on [...] Read more – ‘→ Be Happier: Rent Everything’.
- One week with iPad
- When iPad was announced, I wasn't really sure if I needed one. All the time I drag my mac around, so I thought I don't another device to keep an eye on. But when it was released in the Netherlands, I wanted one. My iPad arrived last week and so far it found its rightful place on my desk. Anyway, here's what I like and dislike about my iPad. Read more – ‘One week with iPad’.
- ★ Risotto à la Vijay
- Read more – ‘★ Risotto à la Vijay’.
- Fun with School Kids
- After a long grueling road trip for the past 5 days, I finally got a chance to get back to real India, the country side. I visited the school where my mother teaches and some pretty good fun teaching the kids whole afternoon. They are so curious and excited to learn new stuff. After a [...] Read more – ‘Fun with School Kids’.
- Virtual Tour of Trans-Siberian Railroute
- Amazing virtual tour of Trans-Siberian Railway courtesy of Google and Russian Railways. The Great Trans-Siberian Railway – the pride of Russia – is in 2 parts of the world, 12 regions and 87 cities. A joint project by Google and the company “Russian Railways” will allow you to not leaving the house to pass on [...] Read more – ‘Virtual Tour of Trans-Siberian Railroute’.
- → Pictures
- I don’t want to stare at some photo of me at 21 when I’m 50 and contemplate everything I was, or could have been. I don’t want to have to drown in partial truths, grasping at a falling memory to paint in details. I’d rather either remember, or not. Rather know, or forget. I’d rather [...] Read more – ‘→ Pictures’.
- Hand to Mouth to India
- I wrote Hand to Mouth to India in 1997/8 at the age of 20 and it’s the tale of how I hitchhiked from England to India with no money. via Hand to Mouth to India. Read more – ‘Hand to Mouth to India’.
- ★ Copenhagen – Mœrsk Building
- Read more – ‘★ Copenhagen – Mœrsk Building’.
- ★ Copenhagen – Tivoli
- Read more – ‘★ Copenhagen – Tivoli’.
- ★ Copenhagen – Driverless Metro
- Read more – ‘★ Copenhagen – Driverless Metro’.
- ★ Copenhagen – Angels
- Read more – ‘★ Copenhagen – Angels’.
- ★ Reverse Lens Macro Photography
- Some experiments with upside down lenses Read more – ‘★ Reverse Lens Macro Photography’.
- →Your Office Chair Is Killing You
- Frequent TV and Web surfers sitters have higher rates of hypertension, obesity, high blood triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood sugar, regardless of weight. Lean people, on average, stand for two hours longer than their counterparts. The chair youre sitting in now is likely contributing to the problem. “Short of sitting on a spike, [...] Read more – ‘→Your Office Chair Is Killing You’.
- Rules of Eating
- Never eat on an empty stomach. Never leave the table hungry. When traveling, never leave a country hungry. Enjoy your food. Enjoy your companion’s food. Really taste your food. It may take several portions to accomplish this, especially if subtly seasoned. Really feel your food. Texture is important. Compare, for example, the texture of a turnip to [...] Read more – ‘Rules of Eating’.
- ★ Makizushi @ Home
- Read more – ‘★ Makizushi @ Home’.
- Keukenhof Opens with Theme: From Russia with Love
- Theme 2010: From Russia with Love Russia: a colossal, beautiful and mysterious country. Under the theme From Russia with Love, this year Keukenhof pays homage to a special country that has a special past. Follow the themed route from the entrance of Keukenhof and you won’t miss a thing. You will walk between the main [...] Read more – ‘Keukenhof Opens with Theme: From Russia with Love’.
- ★ Turin – Ciok Art! – Chocolate Cabbage
- Read more – ‘★ Turin – Ciok Art! – Chocolate Cabbage’.
- ★ Turin – Gobino Chocolate Experience
- I’m not a much of a chocolate guy, but Gobino Chocolate experience is something I really enjoyed. Read more – ‘★ Turin – Gobino Chocolate Experience’.
- ★ Turin – Totally Tally!
- Read more – ‘★ Turin – Totally Tally!’.
- ★ Turin – Vittorio Emanuele II
- Read more – ‘★ Turin – Vittorio Emanuele II’.
- ★ Turin – Mole Antonelliana
- Mole Antonelliana (Also National Museum of Cinema) – The Quintessential Photograph of Torino Read more – ‘★ Turin – Mole Antonelliana’.
- ★ Turin – Training Capital of Europe
- I’m giving training in Training Capital of Europe Read more – ‘★ Turin – Training Capital of Europe’.
- → Holi 2010 – The Big Picture
- via Holi 2010 – The Big Picture → Read more – ‘→ Holi 2010 – The Big Picture’.
- The First Golden Hippo
- Yesterday I joined the hippo professional services team for a fun filled team event with go karting evening and the first ever Golden Hippo Award event. The evening started with go karting fun, we were competing with each other. This was the first time I ever did this, I failed miserably in the qualifiers. Clearly I’m [...] Read more – ‘The First Golden Hippo’.
- ★ Madrid – Carnival
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid – Carnival’.
- ★ Madrid – Royal Palace
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid – Royal Palace’.
- ★ Madrid – Puerta de Europa
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid – Puerta de Europa’.
- ★ Madrid – Iron Sculptures
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid – Iron Sculptures’.
- ★ Madrid Carnival – Laurel & Hardy
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid Carnival – Laurel & Hardy’.
- ★ Madrid – Fountain of Cibeles
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid – Fountain of Cibeles’.
- ★ Madrid – Palacio De Cibeles
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid – Palacio De Cibeles’.
- ★ Madrid Carnival – Marilyn Monroe
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid Carnival – Marilyn Monroe’.
- ★ Madrid -Ritz Hotel
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid -Ritz Hotel’.
- ★ Madrid
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid’.
- ★ Madrid
- Read more – ‘★ Madrid’.
- My Love
- My love is like an iron wand That conks me on the head, My love is like the valium That I take before my bed, My love is like the pint of scotch That I drink when I be dry; And I shall love thee still, my dear, Until my wife is wise. Read more – ‘My Love’.
- → Quote: War vs Peace
- In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace — and what did they produce? The cuckoo-clock. – Orson Welles, “The Third Man“ Read more – ‘→ Quote: War vs Peace’.
- → Letters of Note: Your pal, John K.
- In 1998, aged just 14, aspiring young cartoonist Amir Avni decided to get in touch with the creator of Ren & Stimpy, John Kricfalusi. Being a hardcore fan of Kricfalusis work, Amir sent him an introductory letter along with a few cartoons hed drawn, some of which contained relatively unknown characters of Johns. To call [...] Read more – ‘→ Letters of Note: Your pal, John K.’.
- → 50 Things we know now that we didn't know this time last year
- Grumpy people think more clearly because negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking. The calmest place on Earth is on top of an icy plateau in Antarctica known as Ridge A, several hundred miles from the South Pole. It is so still that stars do not twinkle in the sky because there is no turbulence [...] Read more – ‘→ 50 Things we know now that we didn't know this time last year’.
- Looking back & Looking forward – Happy New Year!
- Happy New Year! to you all whoever is celebrating it. 2009 has been a roller coster ride in my life with some major events happening. Some good, some bad and some best! First of all a review of what I was wishing to do, I made 5 resolutions last year January 1st and its time [...] Read more – ‘Looking back & Looking forward – Happy New Year!’.
- ★ Snowmen – I made two :-)
- More than an hour, 3 tools(cheese cutter etc) and a lot of snow resulted in two-face snowman They are now stuck in a blizzard! Read more – ‘★ Snowmen – I made two :-)’.
- Quote – Bill Watterson on work & life
- Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top [...] Read more – ‘Quote – Bill Watterson on work & life’.
- A course on Death
- Everybody who is alive is interested in their own Life, and I think anyone who is interested in Life, should be having many questions about Death. I ponder, albeit less philosophically, about the death, soul and other concepts. Because of my family background, I have fairly good acquaintance with various hindu religious scriptures – like The Bhagavad [...] Read more – ‘A course on Death’.
- The Hindu on Telangana Issue
- I completely agree with Hindu’s Opnion about the formation of a new state Telangana by splitting Andhra Pradesh . Aside from the unwisdom of breaking up South India’s largest State, a separate Telangana will fuel demands for a separate Rayalaseema, for a separate coastal Andhra, and, maybe, even for union territory status for Hyderabad — and [...] Read more – ‘The Hindu on Telangana Issue’.
- Converting .mkv to XBOX 360 compatible format
- 1. Download Handbrake 2. Select the .mkv file. 3. Click Toggle Presets if presets are not visible already. 4. Select “High Profile”. 5. Start. Once encoding is done, copy the resulting file to a USB drive, plug into XBOX. Read more – ‘Converting .mkv to XBOX 360 compatible format’.
- Photowall
- Here’s what happens when I’ve freetime and a photo printer. Posted via web from moc.nariKyajiV|VijayKiran.com Read more – ‘Photowall’.
- Hippo Forge Friday
- On October 30th, we at Hippo are organizing the free Forge Friday hacking event. If you are using any software from Hippo or interested in implementing it in the future or even just wanted to know more about Hippo Software, this is a great time to come and join us during the Friday Forge event. [...] Read more – ‘Hippo Forge Friday’.
- My OmniFocus Theme
- Here’s the theme I customized to use with OmniFocus. If you like it and want to install here’s the link for the theme file - OmniFocus – Clean Theme Read more – ‘My OmniFocus Theme’.
- UP 3D – ★★★
- The last 3D movie I watched, ICE AGE 3 – Dawn of the Dinosaurs, was pretty disappointing – both technical and story wise. So I was a bit hesitant to goto UP – 3D. But I really had a nice time watching the movie in 3D. As far as the plot goes, UP 3D wasn’t that [...] Read more – ‘UP 3D – ★★★’.
- Sneak Preview 1
- Version 0.01 Read more – ‘Sneak Preview 1’.
- Dessert Sunday: Orange Pudding
- Ingredients 3 Cups Orange Juice 3 Table spoons Ground Rice 1 Cup water Grated Rind of 1 Orange Sugar to taste Rosted Almonds Preperation Stir all the ingredients together-except the almonds-and cook over very low flame, stirring constantly, until the pudding thickens like thin custard. Pour into a shallow serving dish, let cool, and decorate [...] Read more – ‘Dessert Sunday: Orange Pudding’.
- Specialization is for insects
- A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook [...] Read more – ‘Specialization is for insects’.
- Already Broken
- I’m pretty sure that the Heaven, if it exists, has the Internet, otherwise it won’t be heaven. I hope my dad finally gets some time to get online and reads my blog. “You see this goblet?” asks Achaan Chaa, the Thai meditation master. “For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink [...] Read more – ‘Already Broken’.
- The sorry state of Hospitals
- Seems like Hospitals want to make sure that the patient’s attendants are also getting equal amount of pain and discomfort. Here is the photo of the people whose relatives are in ICU getting treatment, just like my father. I’m waiting in the same chairs and room every night for the past 10 days. Its a [...] Read more – ‘The sorry state of Hospitals’.
- Back in Holland with New Job
- I’m back in holland after getting married and yesterday I joined the new job as Product Consultant at Hippo B.V.. The last month has been really hectic, getting the necessary documentation for the new job and also because of other personal stuff like getting married etc. Read more – ‘Back in Holland with New Job’.
- Just Married
- After years of negotiations with our elders and longest drama of my life, I got married with Neha last week during my trip to India. And we have a brand shiny new website about us: www.VijayandNeha.com To keep noise to signal to a minimum, we’ll be uploading our photos, and publish our blog in that [...] Read more – ‘Just Married’.
- Last day of Work
- Today was the last day of my work at International Criminal Court (and with LegalCraft). I was working on JEE(Seam/JBoss/Oracle ADF and other stuff) for the past 1.5 years with them. Though the work was enjoyable at times, it was mostly disappointing and unsatisfactory for me, except for a couple achievements in introducing the Open [...] Read more – ‘Last day of Work’.
- Piquant Potatoes in Jackets
- Tonight’s Menu Piquant Potatoes in Jackets: Potatoes stuffed with fresh indian spices and yogurt Read more – ‘Piquant Potatoes in Jackets’.
- GrowlMail breaking Mail after Safari 4 Beta Installation
- After installing the latest security update on Mac OS X 10.5.6, Mail began to crash on startup. It printed out the message saying the problem may be because of the GrowlMail plugin. Disabling the Growl and removing the GrowlMail plug-in didn’t help. I’d to remove the GrowlMail.mailbundle from both the ~/Library/Mail/Bundles and /Library/Mail/Bundles. Now the [...] Read more – ‘GrowlMail breaking Mail after Safari 4 Beta Installation’.
- ★ Portrait
- Read more – ‘★ Portrait’.
- ★ Portrait – Valérie
- Read more – ‘★ Portrait – Valérie’.
- ★ Portrait – Valérie
- Read more – ‘★ Portrait – Valérie’.
- ★ Portrait – Valérie
- Read more – ‘★ Portrait – Valérie’.
- ★ Portrait – Chris
- Read more – ‘★ Portrait – Chris’.
- My Inspiration: Swami Vivekananda
- Just like every one else, I am continuously inspired by various people, phenomena, places, things etc. In these posts, I’d like to share/blog about those that inspire and motivate me in and drive me in various aspects of my life, work, thoughts. When I was in my 12th (at the age of 17), I had all sorts [...] Read more – ‘My Inspiration: Swami Vivekananda’.
- Update: Learning Guitar
- I made a little video to show what I’ve learned so far. The password is the name of instrument I’m learning to play, no caps. Read more – ‘Update: Learning Guitar’.
- 30th Jan: An Evening with Malcolm Gladwell →
- The John Adams Institute is proud to present an evening with Malcolm Gladwell. [30 January 2009] What if the Beatles had never gone to Hamburg in 1960? Would they have become a sensation? What if Bill Gates had been born five years later? Would he have revolutionalized the world? Excellence, we often think, comes from practice. But [...] Read more – ‘30th Jan: An Evening with Malcolm Gladwell →’.
- Happy New Year
- Happy New Year to all. Last year, just like every other year , was fantastic filled with all the joy, sadness and wows and oopses of the life. I hope every one had a good one too. Here we go again, another day another year, but still same old people, problems, joys, sorrows I need [...] Read more – ‘Happy New Year’.
- Photos from Swiss : Sneak Peak
- Read more – ‘Photos from Swiss : Sneak Peak’.
- Leaving for Winter Vacation
- I’ll be leaving today for my winter ski/snowboarding/hiking holiday for 10 days. Tomorrow I’ll be in Samedan, in Switzerland. This is the first time I’m going to a ski resort. And most of the time I’ll be in St. Moritz. As the ‘birthplace’ of winter sports, St. Moritz has achieved world fame and nowadays is the [...] Read more – ‘Leaving for Winter Vacation’.
- Learning Guitar: Month 3
- It has been 3 months since I started learning guitar. I’ve finished learning all the notes on the Major C scale. And most of the basic open chords (C, D, D7, Dm, E, E7, Em, G, G7, A7, Am). Still I’m not able to play some chords like C7, B7, A properly because of the [...] Read more – ‘Learning Guitar: Month 3’.
- ★ Untitled
- Read more – ‘★ Untitled’.
- ★ Louvre – A weekend in Paris
- Read more – ‘★ Louvre – A weekend in Paris’.
- ★ Louvre Park – A weekend in Paris
- Read more – ‘★ Louvre Park – A weekend in Paris’.
- ★ Wheel of Excellence (Night) – A weekend in Paris
- Read more – ‘★ Wheel of Excellence (Night) – A weekend in Paris’.
- ★ Seine – A weekend in Paris
- Read more – ‘★ Seine – A weekend in Paris’.
- ★ Wheel of Excellence – A weekend in Paris
- Read more – ‘★ Wheel of Excellence – A weekend in Paris’.
- ★ Eiffel Tower – A weekend in Paris
- Read more – ‘★ Eiffel Tower – A weekend in Paris’.
- In Memoriam
- I’ve very few friends and fewer well wishers. Sekhar was one of those fewer people. I had a previlege of being his friend for the last 10 years. Without him or his help, my life would have been completely different than it is today. My process of learning about computers and software started because of [...] Read more – ‘In Memoriam’.
- ★ Sinterklaas Parade
- Read more – ‘★ Sinterklaas Parade’.
- ★ Sinterklaas
- Read more – ‘★ Sinterklaas’.
- ★ Sunset in India
- Read more – ‘★ Sunset in India’.
- "Passenger Free Internet"
- Another “It happens only in India” thing. The WiFi network in Bangalore International Airport is “passenger free”. Read more – ‘"Passenger Free Internet"’.
- "It happens only in India"
- Priests offering prayers to Gods for Kingfisher London flight. [Photo from Economic Times, India] Read more – ‘"It happens only in India"’.
- New MacBook/Pro rumors
- Later today Apple is going to announce new updates to their notebooks range. As per the rumors 15″ MacBooks will get aluminum casing and upgraded harddirve etc. There seems to be no major update to the 17″MBP though. I need to wait and see. But from the information/rumors I heard till now it seems that [...] Read more – ‘New MacBook/Pro rumors’.
- Learning Guitar : After 1 month
- It has been a month since I started learning guitar and I’ve made some good progress. I’ve learnt all the notes on the first measure and I’m now able to play “Jingle Bells”, “London bridge is falling down”, “Yankee Doodle”, “Minuet in C” and “Ode to Joy” at 72-80bpm. Also, I’ve learnt G7 and C [...] Read more – ‘Learning Guitar : After 1 month’.
- Jenga Fun
- Jenga is a game of physical and mental skill, marketed by Hasbro, in which players remove blocks from a tower and put them on top. The word jenga is derived from kujenga, the Swahili verb “to build”; jenga! is the imperative form. Read more – ‘Jenga Fun’.
- Googling for my name in 2001
- Google has turned 10. And the search index of 2001 is available online for a month. I tried searching for my name, and the message I posted on 3rd March 2000 is the first link. And vijaykiran@engineer.com was my primary email address in those days . And here’s proof of my existence (online) in 2000. [...] Read more – ‘Googling for my name in 2001’.
- Transit Visa, Avifauna and Guitar
- I went to Amsterdam to get my “Direct Airside Transit Visa” for my trip to India via London. The ridiculous thing is for 1:30hr of transit via London I need to get a Visa from the British Consulate. And they’ve all sorts of silly questions in the Visa form: “Did you ever participate in genocide [...] Read more – ‘Transit Visa, Avifauna and Guitar’.
- Aperture WTF!
- Aperture needs -2 petabytes! I guess I need to downgrade my 160GB hard drive to -2PB. Read more – ‘Aperture WTF!’.
- My first guitar
- I learnt Guitar for a very brief period when I was in chandigarh. But after that I couldn’t keep up. Now my interest is rekindled again, and I got a new Washburn D10SB Guitar. I tried learning the first chord (E-Major). My fingers are hurting like hell. I guess it will take a couple of [...] Read more – ‘My first guitar’.
- My mobile phone usage history
- My (not-so-accurate) mobile phone usage history: Motorola T2288 (2001-2003) BenQ M560G (2003-2004) Samsung N620(2004-2005) Nokia 3220(2005-2006) Nokia 3230 (2005-2006) Nokia N95 4GB (2006-2007) Apple iPhon 8GB (2007-2008) Apple iPhone 3G 16GB (2008-NOW) Read more – ‘My mobile phone usage history’.
- ★ Matka Biryani
- I tried cooking the vegetable biryani in slow cooker I got yesterday. It took almost 3 hours to cook. But the taste was amazing, and reminded me of the DeeZ biryani in Gurgaon. Read more – ‘★ Matka Biryani’.
- Coding….
- Me writing code on 42 inch “monitor”. So I finally understood the “Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything“. Read more – ‘Coding….’.
- Brussels Trip
- After wonderful time at Scheveningan with Fireworks, this weekend started as a fantastic one. And it ended with a whirlwind one-day-tour of Brussels. After slacking in the Netherlands for the past 6 months, finally I got my b*tt out and went to Brussels, Belgium. Brussels seemed to be completely different and nice. High-rise palaces and [...] Read more – ‘Brussels Trip’.
- ★ Fireworks
- Read more – ‘★ Fireworks’.
- ★ Fireworks
- Read more – ‘★ Fireworks’.
- ★ De Pier Scheveningen
- Read more – ‘★ De Pier Scheveningen’.
- Fireworks Festival Day 2
- Photos from Day 2 of Fireworks festival 2008. Today I got a new Tripod. The photos I took are much better looking than yesterday’s. Click on the image to see the complete set. Read more – ‘Fireworks Festival Day 2’.
- वन्दे मातरम् (Vande Mataram)
- वन्दे मातरम् सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम् शस्यश्यामलां मातरम् | शुभ्र ज्योत्स्ना पुलकित यामिनीम् फुल्ल कुसुमित द्रुमदलशोभिनीम्, सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीम् सुखदां वरदां मातरम् || My obeisance to Mother India! With flowing beneficial waters Filled with choicest fruits With Sandal scented winds Green with the harvest O mother! My obeisance to you! Ecstatic moonlit nights The plants blooming [...] Read more – ‘वन्दे मातरम् (Vande Mataram)’.
- Fireworks Festival: Day One
- Click on the photo to see more Read more – ‘Fireworks Festival: Day One’.
- Fireworks Festival
- 29th International Fireworks Festival starts tonight at Scheveningen, Den Haag in a couple of hours. I’m getting ready with my Camera to get some good shots. Read more – ‘Fireworks Festival’.
- My birthday gift
- Read more – ‘My birthday gift’.
- ★ Windmill at Kinderdijk
- Read more – ‘★ Windmill at Kinderdijk’.
- iPhone 3G and ADC Select
- My birthday is a couple of days away, and I already bought myself gifts ! 1st one is my new iPhone 3G/16GB/Black version. I used my existing T-Mobile number and converted the number to subscription number. After activation, I was able to test 3G for almost an hour or so. The speed is impressive and [...] Read more – ‘iPhone 3G and ADC Select’.
- ★ sculpture at scheveningan beach
- Read more – ‘★ sculpture at scheveningan beach’.
- Non Duality
- Poem by Sri Adi Sankara, the essence of non-duality principle. aAtmashtakam – Song of Soul by Adi Shankara I am not the intellect, ego, mind . Neither am I hearing, taste, smell, sight . Nor am I space, earth, light, air, field of consciousness. I am the pure consciousness of bliss - I am Shiva [...] Read more – ‘Non Duality’.
- ★ Sunset at scheveningan
- Read more – ‘★ Sunset at scheveningan’.
- Online finally!
- After waiting for more than a month for the ADSL connection, today I was able to set it up. The ADSL line has been activated since 30th April, but I did not receive the modem yet. I ran out of my patience and bought Linksys Wireless + ADSL2 Router. I called up Orange to get the settings. [...] Read more – ‘Online finally!’.
- Vijay in Dutch is vyjeawy
- I tried spelling out my name to the Orange customer service rep. And this is what she wrote in her records. vyjeawy Read more – ‘Vijay in Dutch is vyjeawy’.
- The Hundred Gypsy Violins
- Yesterday I’d a great evening. I went to the The hundred gypsy violins orchestra. This is thefirst time I ever saw some thing like that. I absolutely enjoyed the performace. The second half of it was much better. The “Budapest gypsy symphony orchestra”, in Hungarian “Szaztagú Cinanyzenekar” (100 – head Gypsy Orchestra) is the worlds [...] Read more – ‘The Hundred Gypsy Violins’.
- Portraits
- Yesterday night was the potrait practical at the images photo club. As I said, I’ve never tried portraits before, and never thought of tryingeither. But I had a wonderful time yesterday clicking photographs of four models in the “studio environment” with flash and backdrop etc. I’m glad that I’ve joined such a wonderful club with [...] Read more – ‘Portraits’.
- ★ Flowers from Keukenhof
- New photos from Keukenhof, click the image to see them. Read more – ‘★ Flowers from Keukenhof’.
- Portrait Practical
- Tonight is the protrait practial at Images Photo Club, which I joined very recently. I’m very excited to and looking forward to meet and learn from the fellow members. I’m not that good at taking portraits and it was never been my cup of tea. But I hope to change it and this could be [...] Read more – ‘Portrait Practical’.
- New Apartment/New Bicycle
- I moved to a new apartment last week. I’m still in the process fo settling down. The apartment is located just 5mins from the sea and 2 mins from the Dunes of the Hague. It is prety nice and probably the luxuriest of all the places I stayed in till now. I’m still not able [...] Read more – ‘New Apartment/New Bicycle’.
- ★ Orange Tulip
- Read more – ‘★ Orange Tulip’.
- ★ Yellow Tulips
- Read more – ‘★ Yellow Tulips’.
- New keyboard
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A couple of months ago, some keys on my MacBook Pro's keyboard has started acting strange, especially the SpaceBar. And it is nearly impossible to clean the keyboard or remove/fix the keys back again. Yesterday I bought the new Apple Keyboard. The tactile response of the keyboard is amazing, and the keyboard is beautifully thin. I was not sure when I bought the keyboard, but now I carry it to work as well, So that I can use the keyboard all the time.
Read more – ‘New keyboard’.
- Bye Bye Bangalore
- Its time to say good bye! My duration of stay in bangalore is coming to a conclusion soon (21-Dec-2005 23:25 to 31-Jan-2007 10:20). I've had very nice time here, made few friends. And lost some. Bangalore treated me well, and its been a crucial in shaping my career ( if I've any). I'm taking with me some good memories, including Bike/Car trip to Sringeri, Foss.in, M.G.Road shopping, Traffic, good/bad/ugly house owners to pretty good colleagues, my bicycle, barcamps, moments of togetherness, and some unexpected exceptions, nice time with friend(s), bad times in the meetings, Kidney stones and etc. etc. For now, I'm gonna end up with my parents for some few days. Life is good, as always. Read more – ‘Bye Bye Bangalore’.
- MacHeist Bundle
- Finally, I bit the bullet and buying the MacHeist bundle. I've already purchased CSSEdit which is part of the bundle. But there are some great apps in the bundle I don't want to miss out. Also, being a Heister I've an extra discount of $10. So, all 14 apps for just $39.00 :-) Read more – ‘MacHeist Bundle’.
- Happy New Year!
- I hope you all had a very nice new year eve and parties. I started the new year with a nice long road trip. This time it was by a car instead of my bike. I went to Sringeri and Udupi, from Bangalore. The trip was for two days 31st Dec and 1st Jan and [...] Read more – ‘Happy New Year!’.
- Say Hello to iPhone
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Read more – ‘Say Hello to iPhone’.
- Candle
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Read more – ‘Candle’.
- sleep deprivation
- Many of my friends out there know that I'm nocturnal (active at night). And I get almost less than 4-5 hours of sleep a day. Since I can't sleep in the mornings, people keep on knocking and ambient noise etc. etc. Now, here's a warning from Live Science to all of you When we're sleep deprived, it's really as if the brain is reverting to more primitive behavior, regressing in terms of the control humans normally have over their emotions So next time, I'm behaving like a primitive cave man, blame it on my sleep deprivation. Blimey, I'm typing this post at 3:40am in the morning. Read more – ‘sleep deprivation’.
- Java Certification Deadline
- I work better when I'm on a deadline or my neck is in the line. So, finally I've set a date for using the two Sun Java Certification coupons before the end of November. The coupons are valid worldwide, so no problem with travel as well. I need to read a couple of good books on Java back2back like Thinking in Java. Although, I'm working on so-called Java Development for some good years, I think I need to prepare a bit. The problem with regular development and Certification is, when you are working on a project all you need to think about is how to get the task/feature done. You don't think about why something is like that unless you're fortunate enough to get a good Lead/Mentor who explains the things. Certification is a different thing, you need to understand almost every nook and corner of the language. But looking at the sample questions of SCJP 5.0 things are seeming to be easy. Let me see if I can finish the coupons by November. Read more – ‘Java Certification Deadline’.
- Selected Photos from Kailash Mansarovar Trip
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I'm back from the trip. Was busy fixing up the things and catching up with pending work. This trip has been "The trip of my life". I'd some wonderful experiences.
Also, I've learnt a great deal about photography, and tried to put my SLR and three lenses for a good use. I'm trying to create a calendar out of some selected images, take a look at them by clicking on the image below. If you like the photos and want the calendar, drop me a line. I'll try to send one your way. Of course you need to pay for printing. .
If you are very interested, or rather just want to kill some time, you can check the entire gallery on my new studio.vijaykiran.com.
Read more – ‘Selected Photos from Kailash Mansarovar Trip’. - So, it begins.
- In a couple of hours, the journey to the trip begins. I can't and won't be online/available for 15 days, till October 6th, 2007. Thank you to all the people who 'wished' or 'tried to wish' or 'thought of wishing' me. :-) More, on my return, if any. Signing off for now, Vijay Kiran Read more – ‘So, it begins.’.
- Photos from Beluru Trip
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I went for a one day bike trip with my friend to Halebidu and Beluru. We accidentally visited a couple of other places not in our list. Kondajji and Neerelli. Kondajji is a cute little village with a single road encircling it.
The place has a idol of Varadaraja Swamy of 11 feet height. Very nice quite place.
Later we went to Haelibidu and Beluru. Check out the full gallery by clicking on any image below.
Read more – ‘Photos from Beluru Trip’. - A little video for everyone
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Cute!
Read more – ‘A little video for everyone’.
- 101 Facts About ME!
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Well .. not exactly 101 .. sort of :-)
- I'm Single, and in Relationship.
- I was born on 7th August 1981.
- My Sex: Male
- I love Dosa.
- My native language is Telugu.
- I am 57Kgs.
- I'm 180cm tall.
- I love dogs, especially Retrievers.
- I like to eat Stuffed Crust Pizzas with cheese.
- My favorite Drink: Spiced Buttermilk.
- I love electronic gadgets.
- I've my own big backpack for camping and hiking.
- I've travelled to many places across India.
- The only country, other than India, where I would like to settle is Switzerland.
- I wirte software for living, and I love writing software.
- I'm a aspiring geek of Linux.
- I love watching cartoons.
- I never broke any bone in accidents till now.
- Other than telugu, I also speak English and Hindi very well.
- I was one of the top performers in my school days.
- I've my own high-end Laptop.
- I work connect to internet via my Bluetooth mobilephone.
- I've a palm Tungsten E PDA.
- Blue is the color which I like most.
- Snow Mountains pamper me.
- I love to read about philosophy.
- I'm a Leonite.
- I've been in love for more than 5 times.
- Palak Paneer is my favorite north indian dish.
- Java is my favorite Language.
- I know Perl, Python.
- Linux is my primary OS.
- If available I would prefer FreeBSD over Linux.
- I read at least one book a month.
- I'll buy 3 Audio CDs per month on an average.
- Long drive on my bike is one of my favorite pastimes.
- I've a website, and you're looking at it :-D
- I worked as a salesman.
- I don't know how to drive a car.
- I don't know what "Savings" means.
- Cooking food is mostly what I do on the weekends.
- I prefer to live alone.
- I watch atleast 4 movies a Week.
- I love to have an SUV.
- Mansarovar is on my must-see-before-death list.
- I don't have moustache.
- Matrix, Gladiator, The Green Mile are my favorite movies.
- I like Dexter's Laboratory and Timon & Pumbaa.
- I've a 5.1 Home Theatre System.
- I'm very spritual.
- I've very strong likes and dislikes.
- I'm prefer practicals to theory and giving lectures.
- I'm Short tempered at times.
- Moody.
- New Laptop
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I finally purchased the iBall laptop. After extensive market research for features/price/performance, I bought the Emperor High end model. The configuration of the laptop is :
- 1.7GHz Pentium M Centrino Processor.
- 1 GB DDR RAM.
- 80 GB Harddisk.
- DVD Plus Writer.
- ATI Mobility Radeon 256bMB Graphics Card.
- 15.4" Wide WXGA Screen - Resolution upto 1680 X 1050. Read more – ‘New Laptop’.
- Better late than never.
- It’s been a while I posted something onto my blog. Things are moving fast at my end. I couldn’t really keep track of them Okay here’s what happened during these days of no-posting: I got the Personal loan to centralize all my inherited-debts. Its 2.5Lac loan from HSBC. I am on a look out for [...] Read more – ‘Better late than never.’.
- Our First Masterpiece
- Created with Yahoo! Messenger’s Doodle IMVironment. Read more – ‘Our First Masterpiece’.
- I am famous!
- Saw this image anywhere? This was created by me last year for a colleague’s blog, When I was working for ESN Technologies, Hyderabad. One of my friends, sent me this recently via some junk mail, I just looked at the image, and how strange internet is! When I look at the image I feel like [...] Read more – ‘I am famous!’.
- Rain Rain Come Again!
- Seems like summer is over here in chandigarh. It was a rainy day till now. Clouded and very nice weather after a long time, although little humid. Temperature is down to 29Degrees and the Humidity is 85%. The temperatures during the summers have been 44Degrees+. The forecast for the next four days shows thunderstorms, so [...] Read more – ‘Rain Rain Come Again!’.
- Chandigarh – Topview
- The Google Map’s view of The City Beautiful. On the top-right corner you can see a large waterbody. Its the sukhna lake near sector one of chandigarh. Here’s the link. Read more – ‘Chandigarh – Topview’.
- End of One more month
- As usual the End-Of-Month-Economic-Crisis strikes again. I’d to get the money from Emergency Relief Fund (a.k.a The Coin Storage). I counted them today and it was Rs.150+, Can you believe it? I am rich!!! I picked a handful of coins to feed my bike, he was almost on empty-stomach. I went to the petrol bunk, [...] Read more – ‘End of One more month’.
- I live here!!
- Here’s the photograph of my house in Chandigarh(Mohali). I live at Sector 71. In the first floor. Its a bedroom + kitchen & all that I need .. A double bed, A/C, Small TV with 5.1 DVD home theater System, Kitchen, Geyser for summer, all in all .. Home sweet home. And my true companion [...] Read more – ‘I live here!!’.
- Photos in Blogger
- Finally .. its here! The feature I’ve been waiting for. Blogger has photo upload! Here’s the link. Now I can merge my two blogs into a single one. I’ll update the blog with new Images from manali trip. Here’s the one of the best picture from Manali-trip. The trip was a lot fun. And all [...] Read more – ‘Photos in Blogger’.
- The Flickr badge
- I’m loving Flickr a lot. Clean interface, excellent features. Now the latest feature is the flickr badge Look on the navbar … pretty cool, isn’t it? Read more – ‘The Flickr badge’.
- Photos from Manali Trip
- Manali trip in the last weekend had been great. The complete albums are here. Some of them are also on my photo blog @ photos.vijaykiran.com Read more – ‘Photos from Manali Trip’.
- Back from Manali
- This weekend we went to Manali for an Adventure camp at manali (pandrah meel – 15th mile ). After two days of activity, came back today early morning. The activities we’ve done .. Rappeling, Rafting, Traversing and trekking .. and above all sitting in a stupid bus for 11 + 9 hours Pictures are being [...] Read more – ‘Back from Manali’.
- Migrating to Ubuntu
- After 6 months of using debian, I am now migrating to Ubuntu Linux. I always wanted to keep my software at the bleeding edge, wanted to try all the latest features first. I’ve used many Linux distributions including Slackware, Redhat (7.2 – 9.0 ), Fedora, SuSE, Mandrake, Gentoo and Debian. I’ve been searching for a [...] Read more – ‘Migrating to Ubuntu’.
- New looks and new blogs
- New template for the blog. This template is from http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com. I’ve got a new mobile: Nokia 3230, loaded with tons of exciting features. I’ve just setup a flickr account. Flickr is really a great photo sharing service. I send a mail/MMS to flickr address, it grabs the photo stores it in flickr, makes it bloggable, [...] Read more – ‘New looks and new blogs’.
- April 1st
- I was looking at all the funny slashdot april 1st pranks .. This is wonderful: Ygoohoogle Read more – ‘April 1st’.
- Blogging from Desktop
- Here is my first blog from my Linux Desktop! I am blogging through the gnome-blog applet. This applet seems to use the blogger SOAP RPC API. I am going to give it a shot by writing a desk-top blogpost in Java, let us see how far I can go with it. Read more – ‘Blogging from Desktop’.
- What’s New
- It’s been some time since I posted to the blog .. here is what happening at my end: * Instant Messaging Server (Jabber).* eGroupware (online collaboration suite ). Both of them are installed on my machine which will be serving as the internal server for my Team (QDM R&D). And in the Java side, I [...] Read more – ‘What’s New’.
- Abou Ben Adhem
- Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,And saw, within the moonlight in his room,Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,An Angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,And to the Presence in the room he said,“What writest thou?” The [...] Read more – ‘Abou Ben Adhem’.
- New Mobile!!!!
- Finally, I got new MobilePhone! It’s brand new Nokia 3220 .. It’s a new phone every day …Some of the exciting features: Java Enabled ( MIDP 2.0/ CLDC 1.1). 65536 colors & 128X128 Pixels EGPRS (EDGE — to watch HutchTV clips). WAP 2.0 & MMS via TCP/IP Operating System: NokiaOS Shared Memory: 4.5MB 1.2 MegaPixel [...] Read more – ‘New Mobile!!!!’.
- ./configure complete … run make now
- At the outset: Some of the events that happened since the last post, not necessarily in Chronological order! Ø Joined Quark as Member – Integrated Products Group (R&D). First joined into Code Implementation Team, but from Monday I will transition to the Code Design Team, with some contribution to the CIT. I am part of [...] Read more – ‘./configure complete … run make now’.
- ./configure
- Okay.. here’s the first post .. Read more – ‘./configure’.