A Mid-day Combo

January 27th, 2006

My mom is a great cook. 😀 😀 She cooks so well that, once the aroma begins wafting through the house, you can’t help getting hungry. Today was such-a-day. The dishes are pretty simple…Lets go and have a look at what we have…

1. Vatha kuzambu – a typical tasty yummy south Indian dish, made in every home
2. Vendakka poriyal – to be precise, its fried “ladys finger”
3. Fried appalams – Pappads
4. Rasam – hopefully you should be knowing this
5. Vegetable salad – cucumber, carrot, onion, capsicum etc. etc.
6. Thick ice-cold curd (as usual)

As these got ready by 12pm, i just couldn’t wait for lunch…i grabbed a plate from the shelf and was making such a din with it that my mom had to serve me those…slurp!! Half way thro’ lunch, i felt, “hey!! why the heck we have to eat the same way everyday….sambar rice, rasam, curd”…its actually quite boring…so lets make a change by preparing a combo today ;-).

All the items were piping hot…i took a small vessel, put some kuzambu in that (cos if this didn’t work, i don’t want to spoil other’s lunch he he) and then broke about 2 appalams to get 8 pieces and made appalak-kuzambu he he…nice combination…Next, i put some rice and mixed ice-cold curd to form a thick mass (consistency of chapathi dough..) along with the vegetable salad to form a colourful curd rice…wow!! u shud have tasted this..it was heavenly..

Added to this, the appalak-kuzambu in small amounts blew the top…it was great…wow!! slurp! Curd and vendakka-fry is always a hit combination…u know what to do next…add lots of vendakka fry…The combo can’t get yummier than this. I tasted this a bit and devoured it myself. So here goes my thathuvam “A simple lunch can be a great lunch…but a great lunch can never be a simple lunch”. Want to taste some???

This simple lunch, combined with a 2 hour siesta is the best combo you can get. There is nothing else to beat this satisfaction 😉

Btw, i have started cooking too…Next time anyone is going to ask that question, im gonna punish you with my thakkali (tomato) chutney he he…

Start Button

January 24th, 2006

So…u have wondered why the hell you need a “Start” button…Well, even if you hadn’t wondered like that, this is worth knowing…

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/07/22/54559.aspx

Computer Upgrade

January 19th, 2006

Yippppppppppppeeeeeeee!!! yahhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooo!!! im dancing here. reason?? Its obvious…i upgraded my computer yesterday….and its flying now. Here is the upgraded configuration.

1. Added another 512 MB RAM to make it 768 MB. But my motherboard won’t allow that :(. So, it had to be 640 MB. Nevertheless, the speed increase has been quite significant. Able to run both VS2005 and Netbeans 5.0 simultaneously.
2. Upgraded my existing 40 GB HDD to 120 GB….Its cool now…lot more space…enough to have a full family sleeping 😛
3. A brand new APC UPS after the UPS burst. Haven’t tested this yet. But atleast now, the computer isn’t getting switched off after power cut (Phew!!).
4. An experimental purchase of the new iBall optical mouse. Its good too.

Above all, im having original windows server 2003 😉 because my college is having MSDNAA. But its human nature that, how much ever we have, we crave for more. Most of the time, the grass on the other side looks greener. So, heres my wishlist.
1. DVD Writer
2. A 1GB USB flash drive.

Oh…ya, i haven’t stopped dancing yet. The system is quite fast, and that too with broadband internet connection, i left the computer switched on through the night to download netbeans 5.0. First time, its running for a full 24 hrs. 😀 😀 The new year has been great till now. I’m enjoying every bit of it. Hope you are doing the same !!!

Happy Pongal !!!

January 12th, 2006

Happy Pongal !!!

Today is Bogi…this day, we burn all the old items so that we can start a good new life. On the whole, the idea is good. I guess celebrating bogi means washing away all the sins we have done, forgive others for their faults and starting a new fruitful life on this holy day. But, all we do is burn all the old household items thereby polluting the very environment in which we live. I sincerely think that burning old items is a waste of precious resources.

Instead of burning them, you can exchange them at some retail showrooms to get new items…ofcourse, you have to pay some extra money. Here the gain is personal, atleast you are not damaging the environment. The second thing you could do is, sell those goods to scrap dealers. The little money you get by this can be used to buy new dress that can be given to deserving people. Ultimately, by doing such small things, we not only get a lot of satisfaction but also making someone else happy.

Wish you a very happy pongal. Let our mistakes or faults we made/make perish and let the phoenix of goodwill rise from the ashes…

Update: Check this post too.

Linux from Scratch

January 12th, 2006

hi!!, came across this site called Linux from Scratch, that teaches you to build your own, customised linux from the source code. The site is very interesting and would be very useful for adventerous guys (he he).

Also check the linux documentation project. The site has also documented the linux kernel.

UPS

January 11th, 2006

hmm…yesterday night, my computer was getting switched off for every minute i switched it on. This continued for the next 30 minutes that i was frustrated (Grrr…). I disconnected the CPU and opened it and checked for any loose connections. Not finding any i plugged it back….and still the problem continued…Well, if you were sitting beside me, i would have strangled you. aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!! (screaming)…

Checking the connections again, i found out the problem. It was the power input to the UPS that was the cause for all this. It was partially hanging. Thinking to be a champion electrician, i patted myself and got ready to mend the loose connection. Without switching off the power, i pushed the plug slightly into position. Suddenly, a siren was ringing from the UPS and all the computer was out again…Grrr….i nudged it again and BOOM!!…the UPS exploded. The whole house was cut off from power now…thanks to the “safe trip”, it saved me from getting electrocuted. After disconnecting the UPS, my computer is running on raw current now… 🙁

ok…enough of this rant…im off to buy a new UPS…bye !!

Visit to the Temple

January 6th, 2006

I was enjoying the winter morning, snuggling under the bed sheets when a splash of cold water came down on my face (Drat!!!). It was my mom shouting at me, not to waste the beautiful margazhi month. Grumbling, had bath and was off to the nearest temple. Infact, mom was right in the context of beautiful margazhi because, the roads on the way to the temple were decorated with colourful kolams (rangolis), some in the center of which had akals (diyas) and flowers shining brightly. They had taken the trouble to do this the previous night itself, and for all the trouble taken, i made sure i didn’t step on any. My mood took a transition from the grumbling one to the sunny one :-).

Soon, i reached the temple. After me, came a small boy and his mom. The boy had not yet started going to school. He was sooooo cute with chubby cheeks smothered with powder, with his blue t-shirt neatly tucked in and his tiny foot making its way to the temple. He also had a ‘U’ shaped namam on the middle of his forehead, at the center of which was a bright red pottu.

He started singing some rhymes and was hopping around the sanctum, when his mom called him for accepting the theerth (holy water) given to us by the poojaris. He stopped and asked the poojari a superb question, “Why is God black?” by seeing the idol. The poojari was blinking for a second. Everyone around him started smiling. Getting embarrassed, he replied that he didn’t know. Then came the next question, “Without knowing even this why are you doing pooja daily?“…Well, this was something i couldn’t hold on to. I broke into peels of laughter with everyone following the same ha ha ha…

The poojari was too embarassed to talk anything…his face becoming paler by the minute. The boy’s mom was too bewildered to talk anything else. She surely didn’t expect such a question from this small guy. The boy had started hopping around again….I still couldn’t control my laughter….oh!!! what a superb morning i had…

A Quote

January 1st, 2006

hi!! came across this superb quote from BrainyQuote

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doingWalt Disney