tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97818222008-11-17T11:12:03.384-05:00Read about things I'm doing and what's going on around my life. I post about personal observations, random thoughts, and gripes.Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1169606278630416232006-09-24T20:15:00.000-04:002007-01-23T21:38:21.820-05:00

So I got the Oris watch back again. It seems that it is completely cleaned and functional. For the few days I've had it, it has proven to be incredibly accurate... only a couple of seconds fast.

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1169606118943020842006-08-20T21:34:00.000-04:002007-01-23T21:36:11.773-05:00

I got back my watch. They did a complete overhaul of the machinsm since it got moisture inside. However, I had to send it back again since they forgot to clean the water stain on the dial.

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1152503096235367292006-07-09T23:28:00.000-04:002006-07-09T23:44:56.250-04:00

I went to my cousin's wedding in Holland a few weekends ago. It was a whirlwind trip: Fly from Dulles to Frankfurt overnight Thursday, another cousin picked me up and the whole family drove to Maastricht, Netherlands. The wedding (in Neercanne Castle -- the same place where the treaty forming the EU was signed) was Saturday afternoon followed by a very late night reception ending around 5am.

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1146276127308185762006-04-28T21:46:00.000-04:002006-04-28T22:02:07.320-04:00

The other day I saw on the local news a story about Christian Yoga. I'm all for people adapting ideas from other cultures into their own, but there was just something about this one that seemed a bit odd to me. The video clip showed people performing the classic Yoga moves and poses while repeating what sounded like the instructor delivering some sermon. Overall there was nothing really

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1142541823094174402006-03-16T15:38:00.000-05:002006-03-17T11:21:00.060-05:00

Well, I finally got around to selling my very first item on eBay. I sold a surplus Cisco 2950 24-port ethernet switch. So far it seems like the sale went well. I may have to offload some other spare equipment I have sitting around. Some things I learned: eBay tries very hard to make you use paypal to collect payment (and to collect your fees) even if you prefer credit card directlyThey make

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1115740746502794492005-04-26T13:59:00.000-04:002005-05-10T11:59:06.506-04:00

Our third daughter, Shri, was born today! I have pictures online; contact me for the link. Her two big sisters are so excited to meet her.

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1112989478632877722005-04-08T15:40:00.000-04:002005-04-08T15:44:38.633-04:00

About a week ago I got a new mouse for my daily work use. It is not your normal Apple "one button mouse" for sure. I got the new Evoluent VerticalMouse. As it sounds, your hand sits vertically around the mouse. I find it quite comfortable and after a couple of days I got quite used to it. It has 5 buttons including the one on the scroll wheel (however, they don't provide free Mac drivers --

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1112990010008811602005-04-07T15:49:00.000-04:002005-04-08T15:53:30.010-04:00

So I finally replaced my cruddy old Motorola T730 cell phone with a brand new Motorola V710. It is an amazing improvement over the T730 to put it mildly. The radio on this phone can pick up where almost no other phone will, and the sound quality is excellent. The software seems to have corrected many of the problems I was having with the T730. The only major problem I have with it is that

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1111181465575557102005-03-18T16:22:00.000-05:002005-03-18T16:31:05.576-05:00

I've been using unix and unix-like systems since my first student job at the University of Maryland "North Lab". We supported the parallel computing facility there (the main system was composed of a few dozen Z80 microprocessors.) Back then it was mostly SunOS on the workstation (there was only one in the lab!) and true Berkeley 4.2 and 4.3 Unix on the VAX systems accessed via dumb terminals.

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1108007724125431482005-02-12T22:47:00.000-05:002005-04-08T15:57:15.066-04:00

The other day I read an article in the Business Week magazine about how Motorola is now making "cool" phones. I must admit that I want the new Razr model... However, my current phone, the T730 from Verizon, is a piece of junk. I bought this particular phone because it was at the time (March 2004) the only phone in that was sold by Verizon Wireless that also was supported by Apple's iSync. Here

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1108004514652393102005-02-09T21:56:00.000-05:002005-02-10T10:48:36.990-05:00

My original Oris watch was quite accurate. I set the time based on the clock on one of my servers which is synchronized to the rest of the world via NTP. After about a month, I checked up on it and it was a mere 20 seconds behind, which is incredible for a mechanical watch. Yesterday I checked how accurate my replacement watch is... After two weeks of wearing it (and having set it based on

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1106018327171194172005-01-14T20:49:00.000-05:002005-02-09T21:56:01.226-05:00

An interesting thing happened to me last Tuesday, when we arrived in Florida to watch the Deep Impact rocket launch: At the end of the day while washing up, my brand new Oris Formula 1 watch fell apart into the bathroom sink. After the initial shock wore off, I quickly picked out the case, gaskets, and movement from the water, and examined what was left on my wrist... All that was left was the

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1106016473695602972005-01-12T21:39:00.000-05:002005-01-17T22:27:07.970-05:00

Today we witnessed the launch of the Deep Impact probe sent to crash into a comet on July 4, 2005. Since it was a joint project between the University of Maryland and NASA among others, we were able to get VIP seating to view the launch. That basically means that instead of being about 10 or 12 miles away at the Kennedy Space Center visitor's center, we were driven to a viewing area about 4 miles

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1104865679690393352005-01-04T14:05:00.000-05:002005-01-17T22:28:11.623-05:00

Over the last couple of months, we've been working on getting a registered trademark for MailerMailer. Yesterday in the mail we got a couple of solicitations from some random companies offering us services and products on our new trademark. Funny thing is that we haven't yet received notice from the trademark office that our application was approved! A quick check on the PTO's website reveals

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1104506939103761492004-12-31T10:20:00.000-05:002004-12-31T10:28:59.103-05:00

I got a Sirius satellite radio for my wife a couple of weeks ago, and signed her up for the pay per month plan. I was preparing the $30 rebate form, and it says that I need to sign up for the 3-month plan to get it. Ok, I figured, I'll just go to the website and sign in and update the plan... After about 10 minutes of searching, deep in the FAQ, I find that to change plans or to get any kind

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9781822.post-1104000856546900912004-12-25T13:43:00.000-05:002004-12-25T13:54:16.546-05:00

After nearly 3 months of work on a 5 week project, the bathroom remodel is nearly done. All that is left is some touchup on the master bedroom, installing the new closet fixtures, and cleaning up the dust. Oh, and a shower door for the new shower. It will be very exciting to get back into our own bedroom, and the girls will definitely be happy to have their rooms to themselves again!

Vivekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08301048894634214933noreply@blogger.com0