Meetings, meetings, meetings galore. My calendar runneth over.
Am seriously thinking of using Lotus Notes calendar, since Notes is the e-mail client at office. Yeah, it sucks big time, but its better than having two e-mail clients (Notes and Outlook) open at the same time. One more advantage is that I can access my calendar even on my laptop if I use Notes.
I'm off to Manipal for the weekend. Need to help Sindha with her thesis, its at the last stage now. I've learnt quite a bit of Excel over the past two weeks. Chi-square, anyone ?
Friday, February 22, 2002
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Back in business
Updating L-J after a long time. Was busy with my back. Then with work. Right now both are under control, so have some moments of breathing space. (take a deep breath...)
Hunted all over Bangalore for the second and third parts of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Finally found the second, The Subtle Knife, in the unlikeliest of places - Gangarams ! My opinion of this bookshop went up marginally after this. Was so happy I picked up a couple of other books too - Peter Carey's Booker winner A True History of the Kelley Gang and Terry Pratchett's Guards ! Guards!
I read in a web site that the Carey book doesn't use commas. Interesting.
Terry Pratchett's Guards Guards is the 8th in his Discworld series. The book is dedicated to all the guards who appear in movies around the 10th minute and are summarily dispatched by the hero. Poor souls.
Completed 2/3rds of The Subtle Knife. Quite good. Comparisons with Tolkien and JK Rowling are inevitable, according to critics. To my mind though, I don't think Pullman should be compared with Rowling - they are in two different leagues altogether. Not to pull Rowling down, but her books are targeted primarily at children. Pullman is also classified as a kiddies writer, but the two books I've read can be appreciated at multiple levels. Tolkien however wins the battle hands down for the sheer depth and range of his writing in The Lord of the Rings. Suffice to say that I think all three authors have their own space and market. The good part is that both Rowling and Pullman are alive and continue to write !
Tried to see Robert Altman's Gosford Park, but the audio was quite bad. Didn't like it much and switched off without bothering to find out who the murderer was.
Hunted all over Bangalore for the second and third parts of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Finally found the second, The Subtle Knife, in the unlikeliest of places - Gangarams ! My opinion of this bookshop went up marginally after this. Was so happy I picked up a couple of other books too - Peter Carey's Booker winner A True History of the Kelley Gang and Terry Pratchett's Guards ! Guards!
I read in a web site that the Carey book doesn't use commas. Interesting.
Terry Pratchett's Guards Guards is the 8th in his Discworld series. The book is dedicated to all the guards who appear in movies around the 10th minute and are summarily dispatched by the hero. Poor souls.
Completed 2/3rds of The Subtle Knife. Quite good. Comparisons with Tolkien and JK Rowling are inevitable, according to critics. To my mind though, I don't think Pullman should be compared with Rowling - they are in two different leagues altogether. Not to pull Rowling down, but her books are targeted primarily at children. Pullman is also classified as a kiddies writer, but the two books I've read can be appreciated at multiple levels. Tolkien however wins the battle hands down for the sheer depth and range of his writing in The Lord of the Rings. Suffice to say that I think all three authors have their own space and market. The good part is that both Rowling and Pullman are alive and continue to write !
Tried to see Robert Altman's Gosford Park, but the audio was quite bad. Didn't like it much and switched off without bothering to find out who the murderer was.
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
King of Pain
Woke up in agony at 3:30 in the morning today. The pain was just incredible - couldn't lie down, couldn't sit, couldn't stand. Took a dose of pain killers, but by the time it kicked in I had been through hell.
So went to HOSMAT without further delay (should have gone there the first day itself, of course). Doc takes an x-ray, mutters something and says I've got a pain in the neck. It masquerades as a pulled muscle, but is apparently due to a thingamajig between my neck bones. I've signed up for a week of physiotherapy at HOSMAT, starting today. And oh yes, he also recommended the tablets which asked me to take. Thanks, buddy.
Anyway, I guess that's enough on the subject.
I've almost completed Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. Its not bad, but of course nowhere near his best. To my mind, these are the best of King:
1. Salems Lot
2. Night Shift, a collection of short stories
3. It
4. The Stand
5. The Shining
So went to HOSMAT without further delay (should have gone there the first day itself, of course). Doc takes an x-ray, mutters something and says I've got a pain in the neck. It masquerades as a pulled muscle, but is apparently due to a thingamajig between my neck bones. I've signed up for a week of physiotherapy at HOSMAT, starting today. And oh yes, he also recommended the tablets which
Anyway, I guess that's enough on the subject.
I've almost completed Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. Its not bad, but of course nowhere near his best. To my mind, these are the best of King:
1. Salems Lot
2. Night Shift, a collection of short stories
3. It
4. The Stand
5. The Shining
Monday, January 28, 2002
PJ for the day
Q: Who is Joe ?
A: Kambhakt Ishq, because "Kambhakt Ishq Hai Joe...."
Hey, I'm just the messenger ! :-)
A: Kambhakt Ishq, because "Kambhakt Ishq Hai Joe...."
Hey, I'm just the messenger ! :-)
Monday Morning
First the bad news:
My home PC refused to start on Saturday. No amount of coaxing could make it budge. I've put in an SOS to Vinod Chandran, my dealer. The strange thing is that Mr Chandran now sells Pru-ICICI insurance policies. So though sympathetic, he was more interested in selling me life insurance. I'll wait for a day or two before calling someone else.
and , you can take it easy for some time. I wont be regaling you with my movie reviews till my PC gets cured. And , you wont get to watch LOTR till this gets fixed too.
I've learned to live with my back pain now. It greets me every morning as I rise, brings me coffee, sings with me in the bathroom, etc.
The good news was that Sindha was home. The weekend got over in two hours.
My home PC refused to start on Saturday. No amount of coaxing could make it budge. I've put in an SOS to Vinod Chandran, my dealer. The strange thing is that Mr Chandran now sells Pru-ICICI insurance policies. So though sympathetic, he was more interested in selling me life insurance. I'll wait for a day or two before calling someone else.
I've learned to live with my back pain now. It greets me every morning as I rise, brings me coffee, sings with me in the bathroom, etc.
The good news was that Sindha was home. The weekend got over in two hours.
Friday, January 25, 2002
Awaiting the weekend...
Aaah, the weekend approaches. Look forward to a good two days, as Sindha will be home. Moreover, my product release went off well and everything looks under control. Till the next fire, of course !
Haven't seen any new movies, after lots of hate mail from my fellow bloggers and . No, I'm kidding. Just didn't have the time, though I managed to watch American Pie 2 on my laptop the other day. Didn't like it very much, old pie on new pan.
Have a good weekend, everyone !
Haven't seen any new movies, after lots of hate mail from my fellow bloggers
Have a good weekend, everyone !
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