Blog Closed

Bad command or file name.

Blog is closed.

Go to new blog for postings:
India Blog

March 15th - The End...

• 44 BCE - Ides of March: Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic was assassinated by a group of Roman senators.
• 1493 - Christopher Columbus returned after his first trip to the Americas.
• 1906 - Charles Rolls and Henry Royce founded automaker Rolls-Royce.
• 1917 - Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, ending Imperial Russia.

... and my last day at Microsoft.

Leaving back tommorow, ideally this should be a post about my experiences here, how i will remmeber this time all my life.. blablabla... unfortunatly, I'm not gonna post an end..

the blog just sprang forth into the world one day and ends like that too. So, no endings, no conclusion. There will be no more posts on this blog from today. The name is reverting back to the original name.

My indian blog will be: This One. I'll start when i get back.

Today's plan:

1. Wrap up stuff in office
2. Farewell drinks at the hard drive bar
3. Pack stuff - no easy task this, have to dump a lot of trash.
4. Wait.

Tommorow, 5pm to bangkok, there one day, night flight to delhi and that's that.

It's been fun blogging china... thank you for reading...

Good night.

---------------

The End - The Doors

This is the end, Beautiful friend
This is the end, My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end

No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again

Can you picture what will be, So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land

Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane, All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby

Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake...he's old, and his skin is cold

The west is the best, The west is the best
Get here, and we'll do the rest
The blue bus is callin' us, The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken' us

The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door...and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother...I want to...fuck you

C'mon baby, take a chance with us X3
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, On a blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, C'mon, yeah

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill

This is the end, Beautiful friend
This is the end, My only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me

The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die

This is the end

Mr What-the-fuck...

Had a project related to Messenger here... had used my messenger's screenshot to make wireframes.

It got sent everywhere... was just checking through it...

Apparantly Vikram Singh is known as "What The Fuck" on msn X-(

Now will have to photoshop it out of my charts. And wonder who else is reading the stuff i sent... and of course there's Naznin Rao, whose name for the day was: "Post Republic Day"

X-( WIERDOS ALL OF THEM !!

8 45 AM Update

Ok I'm back in office after a quick brush, shave, bath, iron clothes, drop clothes at laundry, fetch egg dosa on the way spree.

Time to get back to work. Never seen the roads so crowded, thats the secret. They come to work at 8 in the morning. Wierd.. wierd place.

2 more days.

6 30 Update - Sunrise

Ok. Technically there's one and a half projects left, but since the Proactive Degradation Process is in effect, the last project has been taken off the list, increasing progress significantly.

Sun's up, cleaning staff is coming in and I'm going home to take a bath, change clothes, brush teeth etc etc

Will be back in a few hours. To complete it. Get my MON-AAY! Shop for trinkets.

Sleep is for the weak.

4 30 am Update..

... phew. Third project done.. 2 more left.

But they're not AS big. Still got 2 hours left till leaving. Might complete the whole thing. Or else...

Cant put in tommorow night too :-s Have shoppign to do today. Packing tomrow.

Made chinese tea and finished one jug. Wierd taste in mouth now.. and the lab's gettign too hot even though I switched off all ac/heater/ventilation. IT's them fucking computer moniters... ppl dont shut them and they keep heatign the room. X-(

Need windows...... back to work.

3 AM Update...

... and its not good. Managed to stretch it quite a bit, but there's 2 and a half projects left. I think it's time to start applying the famous Fork Interactive Patented Design Process, also known as:

The Proactive Degradation Process

Wherein, the quality of the product/design goes down in direct propotion to the time running out. The "features" are usually the first casualties. Then comes other bells and whistles.

Added to the fact that let's face it, its a THESIS, i mean.. after the first 20 pages, the reader looses steam..... i'm thinking about the user here... i can write non stop for weeks, but my persona for the reader is a person easily bored.

Hence, from now on, quantity and quality and on a downward spiral. And it's time for coffee and a walk outside.

2nd Documentation Fuckfest...

12 AM Status report...

Last sunday night in beijing and it's time to finish DOCUMENTS !! Woohooo !

there's food, ciggys and coffee galore..

More updates to come. Was mailing companies for naukri till now.

Found my TELEPHONE NUMBER!!

After 6 months..

The office number is 00861062617711. Some woman will talk in chinese first, then english. Then will ask u to dial the extension. That's 3243.

Some chinese person will pick up, after that u have to tell them (slowly) to get me. I'm right behind the phone.

So.... i got 2 days left.... start calling everyone. I dont get incoming calls here... Or u can save on ISD and call me after 2 days .

Coal

Coal, originally uploaded by bernardroth.

Advertising changed somewhat.. in the last 100 years..

A Sad Beauty of a Door

A Sad Beauty of a Door, originally uploaded by hurleygurley.

Flickr's new uploader

doh, originally uploaded by nico..

Earlier uploaders were plauged with instantaneous dying syndromw whenever you added a file bigger than the 5MB limit.

It was dump enough NOT to check that the file is big, and just proceeded to upload it anyway, when the site said NO, it got confused and proceeded to die.

Now after 3-4 modifications here's the new one, which offers to resize your photos for you.

Unfortunalty, it offers to resize smaller photos to big too. :(

ANOTHER EVIL PLAN OF FLICK.COM TO SAVE BANDWIDTH >:)

I want to go home

I want to go home, originally uploaded by Saad Akhtar.

Completing the greatest event...

.. of all times today.

Last time, it didnt complete completely. Therefore, with only a few days left... today is the only night I can complete the documentation.

Therefore, I boguht supplies to last the night.. the guard doesnt have biscuits on weekends.
Also the kitchen's out of sugar and coffee mate, so bought some 3 in 1 nestle instant shit aka COFFEE. Which is terrible..

Also bought these biscuit like thingys called COFFEE CRISP CHIPS, Traditional European Snack. Looks wierd.. but tastes nice. Also bought Ciggys and more biscuits.




I "liberated" this black cup today. It shall be freed from tyranny and live a peacefull life in India soon..

Now i'm eyeing those Maroon cups.... they're calling for liberation too..

12th March Status report...

3 more days to go... and it's 11PM on a saturday night and I'm sitting here, like all the previous saturday nights.. well most of them.

This time I got the perfect excuse. Due to some delay in payment our salaries are delayed... which is especially bad for me.. since:

1. I'm leaving in 3 days
2. I busted everything in anticipation of this payday.

Thus, I'm penniless. Hopefully they'll pay me on monday before i leave, cause its a long walk to the airport here... and what'll I do in bangkok. Gotta buy trinkets too.... china maal. Damn damn damn... this weekend was supposed to be for that...

Documentation still lacks major portions. Tommorow then !!

Beijing Capital Airport

Been checking the website for info..

has a few tips which u might wanna remember:

First and foremost:

You should arrive at the station building two and a half hours or three hours before the scheduled departure time of the flight

And of course:

Please take the valuables, such as passport, visa, traveling certificate, cash and receipts, with you.

No use dumping your passport and ticket back inthe hotel.. u need it for a few more minutes. and yes, that goes for your MONEY too..

Then..

Passengers should go through the security detective gate and personal baggage should go through the X-ray machines.Thank you for your assistance.

Following items (among others) are prohibited.. for entry and exit

• Print, film, photo, disk, movie, tape, videotape, videodisc, laser disk, computer storage medium and other objects, which are harmful to Chinese politics, economy, culture and morality;
  
• Various acrid poison;
  
• Opium, morphine, diamorphine, bhang, as well as other dope and psychoactive drug that may cause addiction;

WHAT! NO BHANG !! How will I do till then?? Withdrawl.... withdrawl... must get....b..h..a.n...g..

• Endangered and precious animals and plants (their specimen included), as well as their seeds and progenitive materials.

Cant take "progenitive materials" of animals! DAMN! There go all my souveniers.. :'(

Also, cant bring knives on board, but can check the following in luggage:

Professional knives, including surgical knives, sticking knives and gravers, etc.; Knives, spears and swords, etc.,

Will have to say away from my spear for a while. :( Really hard for a hunter-gatherer like me.

Cant take the following AT ALL

Other objects harmful to aviation safety, such as ferromagnetic objects and objects with strong pungent odour

... and that includes aromatically challanged people too.

6:45 AM Update - Sunrise....

It's morning... and the status.....

IT'S DONE!

Well, nearly. Just one last project remaining and that's mostly copy pasting mind maps. Basic exploration. Wont take more than one hour.

But now i gotta go.. pick up clothes from laundry and take a shower. Then come back to office.. or might NOT.... not if the urge to hit the bed gets too strong to resist.

Let's see... let's see... anyway.. i have 3 PM today to finish the job, like the first post said, 24 hours.

5:15 AM report..

Might as well read the earlier post.. it's still stuck there. Somehow i manage to write and copy/paste billions of words and the page count doesnt seem to increase.

Getting fucking cranky now.. it's time for a breath of fresh air outside... and a cup of coffee, with 2 sugar cubes, 2 teaspoons of coffee mate.

Will leave office at 6 45, go back.. have to pick clothes from the laundry - THE FUCKING DRYER DIED! so they will be wet still.... then gotta take a bath and come back. Meeting at 9 30. Then back to the documenting fuckfest..

WILL finish the shit today, or die trying........

4 AM update - NOT HAPPENING !!

Holy shit it's 4 am and i'm still pushing page 20. There's somethign SEEEERIOUSLY wrong.. sun's gonna come up in a few hours. MUST work faster..

Cant smoke any more.... if i take one more puff i'll throw up. Fucking overdosing on caffine and nicotine.. no space left in my bloodstream for oxygen.

Not sleepy.... just that mind's gone vacant..

2:30 AM update - tradegy strikes!

Suffered a wierd outage suddenly. MS anti spyware came to life and started scannin.. and killed nearly every software running.. messed up yahoo messenger, photoshop started saying it's licence has expired jsut now and word crashed... taking my documentation with it.

I couldnt open my hard disk even.. it said My account has expired !!

Troubling dreams of being locked out of my own computer at 2 in the morning started flashing through my head. The thought of going back home at 2 in the morning !!

But i restarted and it seems to work now.... word is working, my document is there. For additional security i am mailing it to myself.... evrey half hour now.

System's back online... back to work. Slightly sleepy now... ONTO project 2. The big one..
--------

A little side whine: Blogger's acting like a complete asshole now. It wont publish and the fucking HELP section says YAAA sorry, its a little slow. Log out, close explorer and re login and it'll work fine. YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! How about asking me to bend over also.. cant keep one fucking service running... Google fucked blogger bad. It's a rotting carcass now. I lost my last post, and i'm posting this one for the 3rd time now...

2 AM update..

Phew! Finally finished ONE project documentation.. with explorations and what not.. there were much screenshots, and mucher sketchbook shots. With cunning use of line spacing it's reached 10 pages !!

ONLY 10 pages!! what the FUCK is wrong here... it's been hours!!



Theres MUCH more to be done.. but now.. i shall take a ciggy break.. in ze loo.....

12:30 AM update: Pratibha speaks...

on chat:

Pratibha: hmm..seem u jst started
Saad: actually.. i started in the afternoon
Saad: and i'm goign to finish all docuemntation in one day..
Saad: TODAY
Pratibha: thats impossible..
Pratibha: u think we are fools
Pratibha: we been doin since months
Saad: No pratibha dear.. nothign is impossible and u are not fools
Pratibha: started in jan..and still documetnin
Saad: u can do it for years if u want..
Saad: or u can do it overnight
Pratibha: yea sure u can...
Pratibha: finish...stop chattin
Pratibha: else u wont finish
Saad: oh i will finish alright..
Pratibha: yeaaa..
Pratibha: keep up the spirit
Saad: woohoo !!
Pratibha: if u dont finish today..u '' finish tomm
Pratibha: Good for u..

Saad: so.. tell me... why have u been documenting for so long? what's keeping u from finishing?
Pratibha: hmmm...i wanted to keep it as short as possible..
Saad: short?? so that took u months?
Saad: to condense it?
Pratibha: and milndo made me realise that theres no escape..
Pratibha: i had to exxagerate on certain issues
Saad: which issues exactly?
Pratibha: the design issues

11:15 pm Update....

Everyone's gone home on yahoo.. except pratibha whose still surfing away to glory.. i'll bug her after i post this.

Seems like one night documentation is a big target to set. I'm only till the 2nd exploration of my 1st project :( and there's 4 more projects to go.

But rest assured.. I'm motivated. I'll sit here till weeds take root around my chair.. they'll have to pry the keyboard from my cold dead fingers. But the work shall be done...

Managed to "liberate" 2 packs of biscuits from the security guard. There's coffee... ciggeretes, water, hot choclate, music and a multi-flavour coke machine.. what more does a person need to finish documentation.

Hear me NID ADMINISTRATION

"If anyone gives me a follow up after this night of toil... I will personally hold a grudge against you for as long as i live, or as long as i wanna, whichever comes first. "

5 45 pm Progress report..

Documentation's going at high speed.... well good speed at least. It's got 1.5 line spacing, full justified alignment. Double spaces for new paragraphs... all this to make it look neat. That's all.

There are footnotes even !! Since a professional looking document can't even be worth that paper it's printed on unless it has neatly catalouged foot notes.

Had an observation while writing the technical and design breif.. Design breif sounds like ... well... Click here to get the Design Breif

The greatest achievement of all times...

...... will be done today.

My grand plan is thus:

I will start documenting my diploma project after i post this.
I will end it by this time tommorow.

If that means putting in an all nighter, so be it.

After all, it took me only 2 months to document my 1/2 month internship. It's only fair by that rationale that a 6 months diploma takes only 24 hours, or less.

Nevertheless, it's a great opportunnity to show that to perform a miracle, all a man needs is enough nicotine and caffeine in his system. And a little hatred for his fellow man.

Well, the coffee machine's stocked to last 24 hours, there's endless supply of ciggeretes.. and hatred is a common commodity these days.

So... there wont be any funny blog postings.. no mp3 player reviews.. no rants no NOTHING.. till the documentation is done.. by tommorow.

A new NID record. Welcome to the diploma document fuckfest.......