A very very relaxed weekend

Now this weekend was just exactly what I needed and most people should try this too. Slept for longer hours than usual at several stretches. Never left the apt except on Sat night for dinner and just lazed more and more.

Now I am really rearing to get back to work tomorrow as more of this lazing stuff means trouble. The only thing pepping me up on a Monday morning is the fact that two days later is Wednesday (my fav. day btw) as half the work week is over come Wed evening.

This lazing around is because of the fact that on a working day I come home, eat food and just crash ASAP. I need to crash ASAP as I have started running 3mi in the mornings on the treadmill. (Will post on the running bug sometime)

The PS3 is there. But I am not that big a gaming addict to keep through it and online too for hours on end. Sure its fun sometimes but never so much that I forget that the weekend is meant for relaxation.

So ideally if you look at it a five day work week isn't that bad now.(or is it ;)

Star Scream Awards

Just caught the argument between Ashutosh Gowarikar and Sajid Khan. Now if even this kind of entertainment cannot generate higher TRP's then I don't know what will.

Publischer

Since the past several months I have been working on some publishing tasks through Apache FOP (Formatting Objects Processor). The basic goal was pdf generation through FOP. Since there is a ton of paperwork in the insurance business and taking care of it is a manual cumbersome process so I come under the document production/letter generation aspects of it.

Working on FOP from scratch since the past 3 months now have made me realise a couple of things about the printing/publishing/typesetting business.
1. Production Printers differ greatly from Regular Printers. (The same pdf that you see may not come out the same way from both the printers)
2. Absolutely no one actually knows the innards of a publishing system. (Even my tech lead/dev lead weren't aware.)
3. Everything is in the details. It isn't enough to just make a document by eyeballing it but you will need to go and zoom in several hundreds of times to make sure that absolutely everything is just that perfect.
4. Fonts are BIG BUSINESS. The weird font you see on the bottom of a check for the account number/routing number is a font approved by the ABA.(American Banker's Association) That specific font can cost anywhere from 2k -3k $.
5. Barcode changes made by the USPS to replace legacy barcodes which have been around for ages can be very hard to implement especially if the USPS does not communicate those barcodes in a widespread fashion.
6.There are some things which are just dumb in the way they were designed/coded. But since 'kaam chal rhaa hai' noone would bother to find out why this was so.
7. Paper quality is very very important. It won't matter if the typesetting is perfect but the paper quality isn't.
8. There is vast difference in 300dpi and 600dpi prints. (Unseen to the naked eye)

Maybe someday I get my hands on an intaglio press and then would start some real fun ;)

The Infomercial

Anyone who has seen TV atleast once in the US has definitely run across Billy Mays. I mean c'mon there isn't a product on tv that this dude has hawked. He is 'the face' of the teems of hawkers all across the world who will exhort you on every opportunity to go and buy a product, any product.

I have often felt sorry for the salesguy who would move from house to house in India to sell the bathroom phenyl cleaner etc. etc. but this guy takes it to the limit. You feel like a kid again when he starts the screaming at you to go and buy the product. I seriously believe that people who do buy those products have some major issues. I mean the guy literally screams at you to pick up the phone and buy the item. Just by looking at the wiki page of his you come to realize the sheer extent of idiots who are keeping ads like these in business.

It is true there is no such thing as bad publicity but still there is such a thing as a pathetic ad atleast. The standard ad for any product goes as "HI, BILLY MAYS HERE. THIS (insert Product Name) IS GREAT !!!.(If you are wondering why the previous text was in caps its because caps = 'shout' to the netizen.) The premise pretty much stays the same for all the other products too.

And as long as there are crappy infomercials like these there will always be the motivation to press the MUTE button or just to switch channels randomly. Anything to get past an infomercial by Billy Mays.

FPS World

Just got done with COD Modern Warfare(MW) and World at War(WW) and about 30-40% done with Resistance 2(R2). I started out on WW which took getting used to but since it didn't have a training tutorial mission of sorts and so was just slam bang go. Learning the controls the hard way was probably the best way too but sure it required a good amount of patience at first.

Will start on other difficulty levels now since I played all the above on the recruit mode(most basic). Soon (hopefully) I get good enough to go online and then kick some serious ass.

Carfest

Yesterday had been to the Detroit Auto Show. The Detroit Auto Show has primarily been one of the world's most looked forward to of all, thanks to the presence of GM, Ford, Chrysler. Due to the gas price wars and the economy not doing great either there were many skeptics present. Then again if driving is a passion for some then an auto show is a treat to attend.

I knew what to expect since I had been to the one in St.Louis sometime back. The cars to attract the most spectators this time around were the Camaro, Prius, 10' Buick Lacrosse, Ford Taurus and the Audi R8 (wow). The Viper SRT10, Shelby GT500, AM DB9 , Gallardo Spyder's are always present to attract crowds but they are like the white elephants of the show as there will be very few from the general crowd who will buy them ultimately. And the people who will buy those cars don't need to mess around in admission tickets and the food court. So they are basically just there to remind people that there is something called as the 'driving experience' too.(without bothering about gas prices,traffic jams,bad roads etc.)

There were quite a few desis scattered throughout the show as well but no surprise that they were mainly milling around the new civics and camrys. I saw very few around the R8 and even fewer around the Lacrosse. (Expect a post on this trend sometime.) There was a 'test-drive' session of the latest hybrid cars too for which there was a long queue,(I skipped that and went onto the Sprint nascar racing sim instead and ended up winning that :).

Also since this is Detroit there was a special 'Tuner' section too which had the cars and bikes from the Midnight Club games. The tuner series had a very rare Saleen Mustang. But since not a lot of people were aware of the tuner possibilities there were mainly car nuts like me around it. My only disappointment was the Bugatti stall as there wasn't one for the general audience but only for the press release. Also since Nissan skipped out too so couldn't get the Skyline GTR or the new 370z. The other usual suspects were present too including BMW,Lexus,Merc etc. The Jaguar stall brought back some desi pride but which was later squashed when Alok told me about the bailout package Tata Motors had asked for the marque.

This was the first apperance of the Chinese brands Brilliance and Denso, both of which were quite brave and innovative. (Denso even had a snowmobile...probably the most apt vehicle for Michigan). Overall the Auto Show could have been bigger (The St.Louis one was bigger than this 2 years back.) and more extravagant. (I remember seeing pics of the Dodge Tomahawk when it was unveiled in detroit some years back.)

Falling Wickets

This post comes after going through GK's. In the past year a lot of friends have got hitched and this year has just started and already I have a long list of ppl who will get hitched. Being in the Sam land is a real downer at times like these cos you are missing out on these 'special' occasions more often.

The funny part is that seeing all the shaadi pics of my friends drives me away more n more from the very thought about marriage. I mean love n all that is fine but c'mon you can't be serious. Especially for those whom I know quite well.(Shweta(Houston)/Mayukh/Gala/Ugands/) Marriage definitely is an institution and requires a tremendous amount of patience above all else. I am very very happy for now being single. (For those who doubt this, let me state for the record that I HAVE BEEN THERE AND DONE 'THAT').

On an India trip this year is a plan for a good outing to Goa. But being hitched deters some of my buddies from joining the others as would not have been the case in the good ol days.(I can say this as being the only reason and not the lack of holidays because the trip is during a rare, Good Friday long weekend when most offices are off). There are a huge amount of responsibilities after getting hitched and I totally understand if some folks abstain from reliving the bachelor days.

The freedom that one gets is unparalleled when one is not married. Basically it means one only has to think of doing something and can do it without effecting anyone else in the process. Like now that am a working stiff I prefer my weekends being just lazing around the house and catching up on just general housekeeping and stuff. The whole point of a weekend is that you get to unwind at home and during those rare long weekends make plans well in advance for that Miami/Vegas vacation.

But this is hardly ever the case with ppl getting hitched as ppl work through the entire week they want to spend more and more 'quality' time together which leads to them going out to movies, shopping etc. etc. This is one the main issues I have with marriage. I prefer doing general housekeeping,cooking,laundry,groceries on the weekend so that I won't have to deal with them during the middle of the work week. If someone does want to spend quality time then plz do help me in all the previous housekeeping activities too. But unfortunately the term 'romance' is never associated with practical stuff (Washing dishes, car cleaning etc.) and more so with the most impractical ideas.(Watching sunsets, Long Walks etc. you get the drift)

I have no doubt that plans are already being well laid(pun intended) for my upcoming vacation in India. (I feel like Israel now surrounded on all sides by Arabs but still existing). There will be a few survivors left by the end of this year from my old friends list who will still be unattached and I hope to be among those few.