So much for a tooth, which is useless

After more than 2 years of sporadic toothache, I finally got rid of the wisdom tooth. It was a minor surgery lasting around 70 minutes. The dentist injected 6 syringes of anesthetic substance in my mouth followed by one each in arm and buttocks. Even after such a high dose of anesthetics, I could very well feel the drill going on in my mouth. At many occasions, my mouth was filled with my blood. After many ouches and uffs, the tooth was out. The dentist charged me 50% extra for the complicated case. Nevertheless, now when it is out, the pain has gone down - thanks to the painkillers and the antibiotics.

Wisdom tooth, as I have read is rarely used in chewing the food. It usually gives pains when there is no place in the gum for it's uproot. I spent so many days and nights with its pain, surviving on liquid diets sometimes and having painkillers for it.

After the surgery, I vowed to take a good care of my teeth and gum lest visit a dentist (besides regular checkup). To my surprise, the dentist advised me not to use mouthwash regularly. Twice in a week is fine, but not daily. She said that a regular use might tarnish the enamel and the whiteness on the teeth. An alternative for the mouthwash is to gargle with salted lukewarm water.

Search Engines and Browsers WAR

Many of us would not be amazed to know that the most widely used search engine is Google. But can u tell the market share of google? It is around 90%. Now that is monopoly. What about the traditional monopolist in the software industry Microsoft? Microsoft's Live is well below 1%. Yahoo comes second with market share of around 8%. Here is the graph for the search engines.




The war in the web browser's zone is interesting. Here, Microsoft has maintained the top slot, but its market share is declining continuously. Mozilla's Firefox popularity seems to be increasing. Very recently, Microsoft has launched Internet Explorer 8, but it has very few takers. I am sure that Microsoft will be able to maintain its lead in browser domain mainly because of its dominance in OS battlefield. IE comes pre-installed with Windows, even when the version is pirated. Try uninstalling IE from Vista and if you succeed, let me know.

Am I a smuggler?

I just thought about it while reading a newspaper article. On trips to US, I have brought many cameras back for my friends, relatives and myself. For all these cameras (4 of them), I did not pay any duties. One of them was very expensive ( $1300). I have been to US 4 times and I am aware that I can bring one camera for my personal use per trip. So technically, I did not break any rule. Still, I felt the guilt of bending one. Now you people tell me - Was I wrong not to pay any custom duties?

Resurrection of my blog 1

I am very very sorry for a really long gap in posting on my blog. A lot of things have happened in this gap of 7 months:

• A trip to US - This one was memorable. I was working with one of the Directors of Wachovia. Saw some biggies falling like Lehman Brothers, Merill Lynch, AIG, etc. Visited Smoky Mountains, Philadelphia, Dallas.
• Marriage - I got married to Madhura on 29th November. The marriage took place in Bhopal and Pune. The function was very long. It lasted 7 days. :) I created few webpages for the marriage. I will post the URL and the snaps soon.
• I moved to a new place which is a 2BHK apartment.
  
• I have bought PS2 slim version.
• I went to Kodaikanal on a long weekend.
• I saw AeroShow in Bangalore on 14th Feb, Valentine's Day. I saw some of the most wonderful flying machines like Sukhoi, F-16, Apache, etc.
• I watched some good movies like Slumdog Millionaire, Billu, Malena

I now promise you that I would regularly post on this blog.

Different kinds of creatures on Orkut

Yes, I don't have anything better to write (or rather type). So what the heck? This is my blog. I would type whatever I like. If you don't want to read it, get the hell out of here.

So, if have come to this line, it means that my blog interests you. So go ahead read on.

Saturday night I have nothing better to do, so I started browsing random profiles on Orkut. Though frankly speaking (or rather typing :D ) I occasionally this site to respond to my friend's scraps. But today's intention to visit the site was different. I had time to kill and I decided to visit random profiles just to check how people make others view their self portrayed image.

Some creatures( I actually mean many creatures) login to orkut to find where their friends are and what is going on in their personal life. I don't understand what pleasure do they get doing so.

Some just upload 100s of photographs depicting them standing next to some great monument. Some with fascinating cars or bikes. Some with their girl friends or wives. And the captions go like these - "Me at Times Square", "Holiday in Las Vegas", "With my better half", "My new car" or "Prized Possession" (to tell ya that the car is expensive), "Birthday in London". Some for the fear of getting their pictures posted on "obscene profiles" just upload celebs snaps or postcard snaps.

Then there are those people who like to tell everyone what they are doing as if anyone cares. Like our Mr. A who has mentioned that he in on a world tour. He hasn't failed to mentioned that he is making everyone jealous. Miss B will mention that no random friend requests are accepted. Mr. C will talk about his latest adventure in some exotic country. Mr. D will put some poetry in their "about me" section describing how much he is in pain. Mr. E will post some random job openings. Mr. F will talk about the latest orkut screen.

Some creatures will keep changing locations and statuses to tell people that they are abroad. Some interesting statuses - "Back to the States" or "Bangkok calling".

No matter for what purpose do people login to these so called social networking sites, these sites will make sure that people waste enough time on these to generate revenues for them.

PS: The writer doesn't intend to offend anyone here. In fact, the writer confesses to be part of some categories described here. :D

Some more movies

• The Ruins - A group of friends visit an old temple in deep forest only to find that it was not a proper picnic place. The bushes in the ruins were evil and very soon they find that it is impossible to leave the premises. Ratings: 5/10
  
  

• The Bucket List - A drama which unfolds with Jack and Morgan lying on hospital beds in the same room. They have very few months with them. They decided to enjoy the time doing things they always wanted to do. The movie also takes you to The Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal looked very beautiful. I also liked the conversations between Jack and his PA, Thomas. Ratings: 8/10
  
  
• Batman Begins - A good movie to watch if you like the superhero movies. It is surely better than the Spiderman and the Superman. Moreover, the lead actress is Katie Holmes. If you are planning to watch The Dark Knight, it is advisable to watch this movie before watching the former. This shows the story of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman. Ratings: 7/10
  
  
• Zombie Strippers - The worst movie I had seen recently. This movie is a proof that even Hollywood can make non-sense movies. No story, no characters, no sense at all. Instead, watch Gunda one more time. :D Ratings: 1/10
  

Movies I watched this weekend

• 21 - a story of a group of students from MIT who tried to make a fortune in the sin city, Las Vegas. This is based on a true story, however some parts were fictitious. If you want to read interesting facts about the movie, go to IMDB. Ratings: 7/10
  
  
• Pathology - story about a freak game between forensic doctors. The game is about killing any random person and the ease of getting away with it. The doctors used novel ways to kill someone and made others to guess the modus operandi. Ratings: 6/10
  
  
• Hancock - A very unpopular superhero who meets a PR executive willing to work on improving his public image. The superhero discovers something about the PR exec's wife, who can be a threat to his existence in a different way. I wanted to watch this movie for one more reason - it has been shot in downtown LA, where I stayed for a month. Ratings: 6/10
  
  
• Untraceable - The best pyscho movie I watched this weekend. The killer broadcasts the killing on the internet live. As the number of viewers increases, the death expedites. The ending could have been better. Still it deserves a good rating. Ratings: 8/10
  
  
• Chaos Theory - A highly organized man finds out that everything in life cannot be planned. Ryan Reynolds in a very different role than Van Wilder. A very different movie. Ratings: 6/10
  
  
• Apna Sapna Money Money - Ritesh Deshmukh trying to do another Bluffmaster. He is a con man who tries to help his friend Shreyas Talpade who in turn helps his "poor", "desperately needing money" friends. Watch this movie if you like to watch Riya Sen, Koena Mitra or Celina Jaitley. Ratings: 4/10
  
  
• College Road Trip - Watch this movie if you don't have anything better to do. A super boring and time wasting movie. I should have known by seeing "Raven" from the Disney channel in the movie. I really admired Chris Tucker before watching this movie. Ratings: 2/10
  
  
• The Prestige - A very good direction and screenplay. Slow in the beginning, but keeps you involved. Shows how rivalry between two fellow magicians have dire consequences. Superb ending. Nice magic tricks. Ratings: 9/10
  
  
  

CFA level 1 cleared

It was always on my wish list ever since I joined Headstrong. There were dozens of people writing this exam, but only few managed to pass. I was betting on not only the money, but on the time too. The stake was too much - almost Rs. 90000, 6 weeks and two onsite assignments. I am not counting the numerous movies I could have watched during this time.

29th July, 2008
The entire month of July went very hectic for me. I was away from family and friends on my birthday, worked on weekends, slept for less than 7 hrs on most of the days ! I was relieved to get released from the project (after completing the work I was assigned). On 28th July, I left Los Angeles. I stayed in Hong Kong for a day. I almost forgot the 29th July D-day. I was at the HKIA airport, when my mom called me and asked me about my result. I had forgotten the password to login to the site! I hurriedly reset the password and logged in to see that I have cleared the exam. Here is the snapshot of my result:


I have scored the maximum marks in the dreaded FSA (Financial Statement Analysis) :D. This result was worth taking the risks. I am happy. I feel satisfied. July ended well for me.

Hotels around the world

Temenos, a private rental property in Anguilla, consists of three villas that uses white and spare elements to bring the attention to the beautiful Caribbean surroundings.

***********

Schloss Velden, located in Austria, is a combination of old and new. The historic castle is the focal point from the view of the new modern wing.

***********

Asaba, a 19-room inn in Shuzenji, Japan pays homage to traditional Japanese architecture and landscaping: guests must pass through a Meiji-period gate into a gravel courtyard before entering the inn.

***********

Cocoa Island's 23-room hotel that features suites resembling local dhoni fishing boats that are anchored to the ocean floor with pine poles. Best feature? Steps in the back of each suite/boat lead right into the water. Located in the Maldives.

***********

Washington D.C.'s Park Hyatt Hotel celebrates one of its finest springtime treasures: cherry blossoms. Taking cues from nature, this hotel has one of the prettiest pink tile backdrops paired with warm wood, making this modern lobby particularly inviting.

***********

Hollywood Sign

The hollywood sign - everybody knows about this. The sign was visible from my hotel room in LA. Though not this clear, but yes anyone could read out the letters: H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D