My New 1TB External Hard Drive (WD)

Posted on by Roshan 3 Comments

After so many, many days of checking ebay, Rediff shopping, and bunch of other online shopping website portals for the best deals, speaking to a lot of people about the best manufacturer to go for, checking out a host of videos on Youtube for unboxings & reviews I finally settled on buying an external hard drive from Western Digital. With the company decided, I was left on deciding whether to go for a 1TB HDD or a 500HDD and should I get the one with an external power outlet or an internal one.

The ones that are internally powered, the 2.5 drives, were smaller, sleeker and sexier and took up much lesser space but they were also priced much more than the 3.5 drives which required a separate power outlet. I was opting to go for a 2.5 drive as I have a small desk and very little space on it that is free. But the cheapest offer for a 1TB 2.5 drive was atleast Rs.2800 more than the 3.5 drive option. I waited more days and checked out more reviews. Finally it was decision time.

I decided to go for the 1 TB My Book Essential from Western Digital and bought one from Cybermart via ebay and selected the option on the 27th of November (Saturday afternoon).

I got the drive through a courier this afternoon, Tuesday the 30th of November. Not bad, just 3 days to get it from Delhi to Cochin. It cost me a tad under 4k and that’s a good price. It’s 1TB capacity, is about 6.50 inches in height and 5.3 inches in length with 1.9 inches width and weighs about 2.60 pounds. It uses USB 2.0 interface that can transfer at the rate of 480 mbps. In the box we get the external hard drive, WD SmartWare software, USB cable, AC adapter, Quick Install Guide.

RIP: Leslie Nielsen

Posted on by Roshan 2 Comments

Leslie Nielsen, comedic actor famous for his roles in Airplane, The Naked Gun 3 movie Series & in the 1956 space drama The Forbidden Planet dies at the age of 84 due to complications from pneumonia. He died at a hospital near his home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. with family near him.

Nielsen was born Feb. 11, 1926, in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He came to Hollywood in the mid-1950s after performing in 150 live TV dramas in New York. His acting career spanned several decades, starting with episodes of series including The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse and Tales of Tomorrow and encompassing several genres. Moving into film, Nielsen first performed as the king of France in the Paramount operetta The Vagabond King with Kathryn Grayson. The film flopped, but MGM signed him to a seven-year contract and he starred in 1956’s Forbidden Planet for that studio. Although he was known for more serious roles, including that of the doomed captain in The Poseidon Adventure, he became known in later years for his deadpan delivery in comedies featuring absurd situations, including 1980s’ Airplane!

He also starred in a horror movie Prom Night with Jamie Lee Curtis in 1980 but since then has mainly been know for his deadpan humour style in movies such as Naked Gun, a huge hit in 1988 followed by two sequels – Naked Gun 2&1/2 & Naked Gun 33 1/3. Among his movies in the 90s were also Repossessed,  Spy Hard, Dracula : Dead & Loving It, Mr. Magoo & Wrongfully Accused. In the last decade he has acted in Santa Who, Men With Brooms & as President Harris in Scary Movie 3 & 4. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame & Canada’s Walk Of Fame as well as made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Some of my favourite moments of years gone by are watching his movies. We will miss you a lot Lt. Frank Drebin. As a mark of respect to the late funny man, I am going to download a bunch of his movies to watch as a tribute. I could use the laughs.

Leslie William Nielsen, OC (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010)

My 5 Best Qualities, According To Me

Posted on by Roshan 5 Comments

Sense of humour
I like cracking jokes and making people laugh. I especially like dirty jokes and enjoy it a lot when my jokes make people laugh out loud and tears form in their eyes. No one can be sad around me when they are my friends. I will make you laugh and if my jokes fail, then I will tickle you silly.

Loyalty
I’m extremely loyal and I know how to be a good friend. There’s a downside to this however; if I feel let down by you or betrayed, then I will avoid you like the plague. I will hate you almost as much passionately as I will like you.

Loving nature
This is no secret; I am loveable and I love to be loved. I’m also good at loving and I’m not just talking about a romantic relationship. I’d love you as a friend, as a brother and a loyal person who’d cry for you and is willing to help you. Your pain is my pain and my heart will ache for you. I love easily.

Imaginative
Although I love Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG, Star Gate and all the best Scify movies – they are nothing compared to what I can dream up in my mind. My imaginative world is far more complex, exciting, advanced and thrilling than anything tv or movies can think of. The only problem is how do I show the world what’s in my imagination?

Integrity
This is something that I would have wanted to be a long standing quality of mine. And according to some of my superiors I had it in heaps. That was actually part of the feedback that came along with my annual appraisal. My bosses at the time thought that integrity was one of my highest values & virtues. So I’m glad that they see that in me. Let me tell you that it’s not always seen as a plus point in this world. People in power may want you to bend or break it to further certain other aspects of the business. Be part of a corporate environment and you’ll understand what I mean. But that’s another blog post for another day.

Ofcourse my faults and negatives far outweigh my positives. I think I have posted a few times about my many drawbacks and will surely will this blog with many more posts about them in the future.

Arsenal 4 Aston Villa 2

Posted on by Roshan Leave a comment

After some really bad performances and defeats, Arsenal has seemingly come back to good form in their 4-2 away win at Aston Villa today. Andrey Arshavin cut in from the left to fire in a shot and Samir Nasri volleyed home to put the Gunners 2-0 up. Ciaran Clark gave Villa hope with an 18-yard strike but Marouane Chamakh’s poked shot for the visitors appeared to have put Arsenal safe.

But Clark nodded in to set up a tense finale before Jack Wilshere’s late header won it for the visitors. At that point it looked as if Arsenal were in for another devastating result, meaning a draw or even worse. But Wilshere’s injury-time goal came as a relief to Arsenal as they avoided being on the wrong end of another rearguard action. The Gunners, who lost to Braga in midweek, let a two-goal advantage slip last Saturday when they lost 3-2 to Tottenham and, after securing another two-goal lead at Villa, they looked unconvincing as they almost threw it away again.

The win meant that for about 2 hours Arsenal went to the top of the table but Manchester United won 7-1 against poor Blackburn and took the pole position back.

My Mouse Has Arrived (Video)

Posted on by Roshan 3 Comments

I got my mouse! It just arrived today in the evening by DTDC courier and I unwrapped & unboxed it around 6:45 pm today.

I quickly got myself some coffee and then tore off the paper wrapping. It was nicely packaged in bubble-wrap and cardboard as well and off it came. I took the mouse and bluetooth receiver from the manufacture’s packaging and was quite surprised to see that it came with a single battery as well. Shockingly it was a normal pen-torch or AA size battery and not the AAA size that I am used to for powering USB mouse.

Oh well, I had another surprise. The colour I had ordered the mouse in was a sexy red but I instead got the shale or dark gray that you see in this photo I snapped up. Lol, not exactly what I ordered but it’s cool. I do not mind this colour. As long as it’s not pink! Yeesh.

The mouse feels good in the hand although a bit chunkier than I am used to. It is still smoother to grip compared to my previous mouse so I’m liking it a lot right now. Here’s my rather bad attempt at an unboxing video. Sorry – 1.3 mp webcam. Shitty video quality.

Not Everything Happens For A Reason

Posted on by Roshan 1 Comment

I do not believe that everything happens for a reason. One might argue that atheists would chose not to believe that everything happens for a reason because logically it there was a reason it would indicate the presence of a diving or higher power/supreme being. I do not believe that there is a divine supreme being.

There are many things that happen in this world that has no meaning and no reason to happen. Rape for instance or miscarriages. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina and any other of the natural disasters. An innocent child being killed by a wild animal. Children dying due to neglectful parents/adults. Many, many other things.

The worst comment I hear during a natural disaster that claims many lives is – it’s god testing us! Fuck you and fuck your god. I never hear that coming from the victims. Anyone who has not been affected by the disaster can say such comments but it’s really stupid to say so.

I do believe that we alter or rather affects events by the decisions we make and mostly the outcome, atleast to a good extent. But not everything happens for a reason.

I Should’ve Walked Away

Posted on by Roshan Leave a comment

This song was a big hit back in 1986. I remember the first time I heard this – my sister was taping this radio show of the best & biggest hits of 1986 on New Year’s eve, when we still lived back in Kuwait. As they played hit singles after hit singles, she would record each song so we could play them back at our leisure. One of the songs we had heard for the first time, but fell instantly in love with was Cutting Crew’s I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight. I never understood the meaning of the title – I remember thinking at age 10, how is he still singing this if he is supposed to have died? “) at the time and later thought that it meant ‘devastated’!

It was only years later that I came to know that it’s a song about sex and that title was inspired by the French phrase “la petite mort,” or “a little death,” being an obscure metaphor for orgasm.

Sometimes I Feel Like Kicking ASS…

Posted on by Roshan Leave a comment
  • When the guy right in front of you at the ATM counter, after taking such a long time to punch in his details and get his money out, delays even more by counting out the money at a slow pace, leaves and then the ATM shows that it has run out of money.
  • The guy who runs into the bus and then proceeds to stand right in front of you, disrespecting your space even if there is a lot of free space in the bus.
  • Idiots who stand & crowd the wash basin area of the office bathroom and check their dumb hair and yak in front of the mirror.
  • People who sing as soon as they enter the public restroom – just what is it with these jerks who think they are the next winner of Indian Idol!
  • The fellas who talks so loudly on their mobile phones with no thought as to the fact that they are in public.
  • Guys with seemingly no jobs who have nothing to do other than congregate in groups and pass comments on each and every person who come in their sights. Especially if it happens to be women.
  • People who pretend that they know everything and are correct 100% of the time – even when it is so bloody obvious that they are wrong!

Give Me All Your Disk Space

Posted on by Roshan 2 Comments

Back in December 2006, I got my first pc – an HCL system with a Pentium 100 processor (I think), who know how little RAM and about 650 MB of hard disk space. No, I am not kidding, it was 650 MB of space. Save a few mp3s, wallpapers and you’re done. That was 14 years ago. How the times have changed?

About 15 months later I got a 2GB hard drive. That seemed like a big deal for me at the time. I got quite a few freeware games and mp3s. By 2000 that was history (meaning I had a hard drive crash) and then waited a while to get a 20GB hard drive. Wow, lots of space, rite? Not really! By 2003 my system died and so did the hard disk. I was PC-less from Mid 2003 till September 2006.

Bang! I bought a new assembled pc with an 80GB hard drive. Alright, now we’re talking. Lots more space! By 2008 that drive was feeling claustrophobic and so in May of that year I bought me a Western Digital external hard drive with a 160 GB capacity. Cool! Plenty of space for lots more mp3s and lots of videos. That was good while it lasted but I’m sure that I would need more. However it took me till February of this year to branch out – got me a 320 GB hdd from Transcend. Ah, that’s more like it! Lots more drive space. I can use the WD mainly for mp3s and split my tv series & movies between that and the 320 mainly.

I sold my desktop in June and now have a laptop with a 320 GB hard drive but I don’t like saving all the video files in it. I’ve almost filled the 320 GB external drive as of today. Time for bigger artillery. I’m going to go for the 1TB from Western Digital. That will give me lots of space and more to save my files and download even more. Cause I’m downloading a lot and I want even lots more.

Want This Album For £530,000

Posted on by Roshan 1 Comment

I just read in the papers (and then later online) that the album that John Lennon signed for Mark David Chapman hours before he killed the former Beatle is on sale for £530,000. The copy of 1980’s Double Fantasy‘was signed by Lennon as he left his home on December 8, 1980. He was then murdered by Chapman when he returned five hours later. It has Lennon’s signature on the cover and Chapman’s forensically enhanced finger prints on the sleeve.

Now why would anyone want that copy of the album? As a memorabilia item? Figuratively speaking it has the blood of Lennon and the imprint of Chapman, his killer, all over it. Why would a true fan even want to touch it? I do not think that it’s something to buy out of respect to Lennon, a great musical artist and songwriter.

After Chapman killed Lennon, a maintenance man found the autographed album at the entrance to the Dakota, where Lennon lived. He then handed it over to Police as evidence. Currently serving a life sentence, Chapman was recently denied parole for a sixth time.

Good! I hope the bastard never gets it!

5 Things To Look Forward In December

Posted on by Roshan 4 Comments
  • I want November to get over as soon as possible. I dunno what it is about this month but it’s worse than I expected. I just hope that December is much better for me, and traditionally it has always been a good month for me personally. So I really am looking forward to December 1st.
  • I was also hoping to go for a week long vacation. I usually take my leave in May but this year that did not happen. So I kept thinking each month that I’d take a week to 10 days leave and recharge my batteries as much as I can and come back fully refreshed. Things are not that great at work that I can just waltz away but I feel that I need a few days to just be with myself and think about things. I’m hoping to find a place that I can rent for a few days.
  • New Year’s eve and New Year’s day is always a great time. I can remember some good parties and good fun that I’ve had and this can be a great stress reliever. Also this is where great memories are made up. I still cherish the two New Year’s eve parties I attended with my cousins at my sister’s place.
  • I might hear from two companies that I have applied for jobs with by the first week of December. One of the companies is starting off a new project in January and ideally would want the new people whom they hire to be settled in by the 1st week of January. This makes December the right time for them to hire. I’ve got my fingers crossed. The second one is also hoping to close out their opening in 2 weeks. Being selected for one of them will be a big boost for me.
  • I think I’m ready for 2010 to be over. In just that way seeing off the final month will be a relief. And getting a chance to see off December in style is prime – I would love to sign off a hard year in style. I cannot stress on the amount of pressure that will be released if that does happen.

Sens Update, 23rd Nov 2010

Posted on by Roshan Leave a comment

Not a good way to start an update but the Ottawa Senators went so far of the rails that they were in danger of getting lost in the race for the playoffs. Yes even this early in the season it is essential for us to get those wins. So far it has been an up & down season for the Sens and we need more wins.

The emotional strain of the death of former Senator & current Assistant Coach Luke Richardson’s daughter played heavily on the minds of the franchise. On the 15th the Sens traveled to Philadelphia and lost heavily to the Flyer, 1-5. Jason Spezza scored the lone goal for Ottawa. If you think that was just a bump, worse was to come! The Sens lost so heavily to Carolina in an embarrassing 1-7 loss to the Hurricanes. The one-sided outcome provided a difficult conclusion to an emotionally draining day for the Senators. The team delayed its trip to attend a memorial service earlier in the day in Ottawa for Daron Richardson, the 14-year-old daughter of Luke, who took her own life on Friday. The Senators didn’t arrive in Raleigh until Wednesday afternoon.

That was followed by a trip to St.Louis and a 2-5 loss to the Blues, losing for the fourth time in five games. Mike Fisher & Jesse Winchester scored for the Senators. Perhaps a return home will do the Senators a load of good. And that it did – the Scotiabank Place scoreboard clock fittingly read “10:00” as Alex Kovalev celebrated a stick-shattering goal that delivered his 1,000th point. Kovalev got his milestone point when he scored on a power play midway through the first period and assisted on Spezza’s go-ahead goal in the third for his 1,001st point to send the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night. Milan Michalek also scored a goal. He joined Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny as the third Russian player to reach the milestone.

Beam Me Up

Posted on by Roshan 3 Comments

About time too! I was wondering where the sci-fi questions had gone off to!

Ever since the Star Trek original series, transporting yourself from one point to another has been an obsession with those of us who are followers of scifi. Imagine what classic moments were created when the transporter was working to it’s optimum and it took Chief Engineer Scotty to fix things, albeit after one of his famous lines “I can’t do it captain. I just don’t have the power!”

Ofcourse in the TOS series and the movies that followed them, Scotty always did manage to get the power. And he’d beam your ass back to safety just in time!

What about accidents in teleportation? Anyone remember the movie The Fly? I’ve seen the later version, in which a poor Jeff Goldblum gets merged with a fly, as it wandered aimlessly into the pod along with Jeff, and out came a disgusting creature that was half fly and half human. Disgusting!

Ok I’d first want to be teleported to the place where all my dreams will come true. Like the Nexus – no not the WWE heel faction, but the Nexus as in Star Trek VII Generations. Where you can’t die and things are just as you want. You feel love, joy and happiness and all that you ever want is given to you. You can ‘live’ out your life the way you chose to be and the way things happen is as per your heart’s desire. Not a bad place to be eh?

Ok, so beam me up Scotty! And I ain’t coming back!

Getting To Know About New Stuff Online

Posted on by Roshan 2 Comments

The internet is a wonderful thing. Social Networks is a beautiful way to spread awareness of cool stuff, communicating new thoughts, concepts, ideas and products out to the rest of the world. Well to atleast a good sizable part of the population. Take for example how I got to know about Rockmelt.

Rockmelt is a new social media browser developed by Tim Howes and Eric Vishria and backed by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen. It’s also based on the open source web browser Chromium, which is also the base for Google Chrome. I first heard that a new browser was in the market about 2 hours ago. Apparently an early access version of the software was published on the 8th of this month but I did not know. Someone told me about the browser and sent me a link to their website. I applied online – you have to connect to their Facebook account to get an invite for downloading it and was told that they would send me an invite.

But 2 hours later a cousin of mine, who had already received his invite, downloaded and installed the browser sent me an invite for Rockmelt. I clicked on the link and downloaded the browser. As of now it’s still installing, it’s taking a long time, but I’m happy to take a look at it and recommend it if it’s good.

My First Foray Into Online Purchasing

Posted on by Roshan 1 Comment

Although I’ve been online from 1998 onwards and have had an internet connection at home for over 4 years now, I have never bought anything online. Not a single thing no matter the price. Not even a cd or a magazine (hangs head down in shame)! Till today!

After many weeks of visiting & browsing through online shopping sites like Home Shop 18, Rediff & ebay and even laughable attempts to win something on bidding sites (yeah right!) I finally thought of buying stuff that I can afford and can also use practically. I can buy it in shops in the city but I might be getting a good deal online and hence opting for it. Sensible and practical choices. Anyway, today seemed to be a good day to try, so I finally went and both my first purchase online.

Nothing Earth shattering or ground breaking or mind blowing or anything exciting. I did a lot of browsing through the categories in ebay (I’m limited to the Indian version ofcourse as I can’t afford the dollar rates) and checked out the computer/laptop peripherals section. I bought a wireless mouse with the mini USB blue  tooth dongle. I already have one but I thought I’d keep one more and I wanted one with a smaller USB dongle rather than the huge one I have with my ismart mouse.

There are a lot fancier ones for sale but currently I do not want such a big fancy mouse with lazer lights coming out of the ass end – there’s even a very cool car shaped mouse that is just killer on the looks department and some other ones too. But I’m super psyched about getting a 1TB external hard drive. That’s gonna be my next purchase. I’m downloading a ton of movies, tv series and rock concert videos and all that requires mucho space. I have my notebook’s 320 GB hard drive plus a 160 GB & a 320 GB external USB drives. It’s time now to go for a 1TB and skip the 500 GB altogether.