Cigarettes

Good thing about not having lots of work is that you can do what you want to do and the best part of working in a fairly big company is that there is always some event happening! Now mix these two together, on a day when you have no work you will not be bored, you will go attend some event. That has been my life for couple of weeks now!

On 30th May there was an event “Cancer Prevention” with special emphasis on Tobacco. Fortunately I don’t smoke but such was my not so busy work schedule I decided to attend it! and dragged my friend along. The start of the session wasn’t very pleasing for both of us since both of us were non-smokers and the Doctor conducting the session referred to the entire audience as smokers. It did hurt me for a while as I firmly believe in straight edge lifestyle.

What we were told cigarettes are made up of.

Some of the things I learned

1. Cigarette is just bad: It doesn’t matter how many cigarette you smoke, one cigarette a day can be as bad as one pack a day. End of the day it’s up to your body.

2. You may need help: It is not easy to quit smoking cold turkey. There were couple of people in the session who complained about health deterioration (nicotine withdrawal) after they quit smoking. So if you are going though it, you should consult a doctor. There are centres which help people in quitting smoking.

Managing nicotine withdrawal

3. Weight gain after quitting smoking: Tobacco suppresses hunger, so quite a few people put on weight after they have quit smoking. There was a real case discussed in the session, A six-year-old boy would eat Gutka on days he didn’t have enough money to purchase food. He said he didn’t feel hungry after eating Gutka.

When I was a kid, This Gary Lawyer’s song for used for anti-smoking campaign.

Mac OS X: Burining disc

There are many ways of burning a disc on Mac OS X. This is one of the way.

1. Insert an empty DVD/CD into the DVD tray/drive and wait till it mounts. Once it is mounted you would see an icon with name “Untitled DVD“. Drag and drop the contents to be burned into the icon.

2. Go to Finder Menu and select File -> Burn “Untitled DVD” …

3. Finder will, throw up a dialog asking for Disc Name and Burning Speed. For Disc Name give an appropriate name and for Burning Speed keep the default value or set the maximum speed available. Click the “Burn” button.

4. A progress dialog will be shown for the burn process.

5. DVD/CD icon will be replaced by the locked folder icon.

NOTE
1. If you cancel while the disc is being burned, the CD/DVD will be incomplete and unreliable. You should not use it.

How to Uninstall Apps (Software) from Windows 8

Steps for uninstalling application/software on Windows 8:

1. Press the Windows key to go to the Start screen.

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2. Type “Control” in the Start screen. Click on the “Control Panel” on the left handle.

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3. Click on “Uninstall a program” in the “Programs” tab.

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4. Select the software/application to be uninstalled and click the “uninstall” button.

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5. A confirmation dialog pops up. Click “Yes” to uninstall or “No” to stop uninstall.

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6. If “Yes” was clicked in the previous dialog, an uninstall progress dialog will be shown.

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Application/Software will be uninstalled after the progress dialog.

Good bye dear friends

Life at time is so cruel, you never know what is going to happen? One moment your loved once are there with you and the next they are taken away. When you meet somebody for the first time, you don’t know what kind of impact that person will have on your life. On 25th May four of my friends passed away in a road accident. I hadn’t met them in last few years but there were so full of life. Knowing those guys I am pretty sure they would be sad, looking at us sad. I don’t want to write about how sad I am, that I lost my friends. There are so many happy memories with these guys. Whenever I remember a friend I have this incident from our past that flashes by which makes me blush. I want to share such moments I had with these guys.

Back in the days I didn’t know these guys were going to play an important role in my life for four years that I am gonna miss them so badly.

Shushruth A S
Of the four guys Shushruth was the first person I met. We were introduced by a common friend in the library of Govinda Dasa Pre University College. At that time, Shushruth was a thin, short guy. We exchanged hello and didn’t see each other for the next 4 months, till we met each other some again. It was our first day in PA College of Engineering and back in the day I wasn’t very comfortable with everything to do with Mangalore. I always felt like an outsider. Our Graphics lecturer took us to the Graphics room on the first day. I felt completely lost. I wasn’t able to see any familiar face in the crowd. There were already small groups forming of previously classmate and I was all alone. When the lecturer walked out after showing the room. There in the corner stood a tall thin guy, smiling at me. He was Shushruth my first friend in PACE. Every time I think of Shushruth I remember that day. The smile on his face was so assuring that I no longer felt like an outsider in the college. What followed was four years of fun.

His birthday was one day after mine. We never forgot to wish each on our birthdays.

Shushruth A S

Sreekanth Anakala
By the time I first met Sreekanth, he already had a nick name “CD Sreekanth“. The nick name was funny because the guy who named him couldn’t differentiate between a floppy and CD. Sreekanth always carried a floppy and this friend thought it was CD and started calling him CD Sreekanth. I used to call him chiku, I don’t know why?

He was one of his kind. He would normally be the first person to ask for party and always take the least expensive item in the menu. There was this time in first semester when he stole Vinush’s gmail password. 6 months later after the last exams of the second semester Vinush and I stole Sreekanth’s password. Back in the day, gmail and orkut (social networking site) Vinush and I sent messages to unknown people from his account. When he came to know, he changed his password and laughed it off and never said a single angry word. That was Sreekanth: Simple, Humble, Carefree and a brotherly friend.

Sreekanth Anakala

Yogesh R
A dear friend. The first time we met we argued because he was sitting in my place. But his sitting in my place meant I got to sit next to Padmaraj who went on become one of my dearest friend. Over the years Yogesh and I became friends. I remember bunking classes and going to his hostel room to watch movies. Yogesh would be sleeping when we watched movies. He hardly attended classes during our final semester. He would show his face only during the internals and final exams. I always remember this incident, He went to check his Distributed Operating System blue book. The Lecturer didn’t recognize and asked

Lecturer “Who are you?”
Yogesh coolly replied “I am Yogesh R”
Lecturer said “I never seen you before.”
Yogesh said “I don’t create any problems in the class”
Lecturer said “Aren’t you the one who talks a lot during classes”
Yogesh said “That is the other Yogesh, not me. Can I check my blue books.”

I remember Mahesh, me and Yogesh laughing hysterically outside the staff room after the incident. We couldn’t believe Yogesh was able to out smart the lecturer so easily.

Yogesh R

Sarfaraz Ahmed
I met Sarfaraz in 3rd semester. When our HOD decided to dump all the guys into single class room which by the way was complete disaster. Sarfaraz by then was running an ultra cool low profile gang of his own. We would have this combined Mathematics class with SA Khan. I was passed somebody bag to pass on and I passed it. Minutes later my bag is missing and SA Khan asks everyone to take their calculators out and my bag is missing. He finds me without a calculator and gives me a lecturer. It turned out that I had passed Sarfaraz’s bag and in turn he hid my bag. This incident still makes me laugh. Sarfaraz was always full of energy and life.

Over the years he had helped lots of friends. I never needed his help, but if ever I needed his help I knew I would have got it.

Sarfaraz Ahmed

The best way to do things is to constantly move forward and to never doubt anything and keep moving forward, if you make a mistake say you made a mistake.

It was a pleasure to know these guys. Hope they find peace. They will stay alive in all of us as some of the best memories of our lives. Life has to end. Love doesn’t. I hope their loved ones find the courage to go through this rough period

Fourth is as good as a trophy!

Another season and yet no trophies! This brings the total count to 8 years and trophy cabinet is still empty. The team celebrated finishing fourth in a way that made me wonder whether Arsenal had won the English Premier league.

Arsenal player’s celebrating

The start and the end of the season (2012-2013) have been dramatically opposite to each other. Arsenal struggled and were knocked out of contention-ship of all the championship by the middle of the season and towards the end, while fighting for the UEFA Champions League place (Top 4) they played like a champion side!. Arsenal didn’t lose any of their last 11 matches going on to defeat Bayern Munich a feat which even Barcelona couldn’t achieve this year!

Fortunately this season, finishing fourth is a commendable achievement for arsenal. This team was one of the least talented team Arsène Wenger has fielded in a long time. With the lone world-class player Robin Van Persie leaving for Manchester United. Arsène Wenger signed Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla. Signing of Santi Cazorla was a game changer without which top four finish would have been a mirage.

If a team is formed out of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs players only Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny would be the automatic choices from Arsenal in that team. This speaks volumes about the quality of the Arsenal side.

The greatest positive from this season is that Arsenal is no longer a one man team, Robin Van Persie’s transfer to Manchester United changed the one man team into an actual team. Although the team is still reliant on Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere but there are quite a few scoring options available now. If everyone else fails, defenders are around to score the winners!

Arsenal still needs to sign 3-4 players: a defender, a mid fielder, a center forwards and a goalkeeper. Olivier Giroud and Gervinho are very inconsistent. Theo Walcott is more of a wide player than a center forward. Arsenal could do with somebody of David Villa‘s caliber.

Next season could be little easier compared to this season. Since there will be managerial changes at Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Everton. I know Jose Mourinho was at Chelsea before and David Moyes has been running his own version of Arsenal themed-budget team in Everton. It would still take some time for these guys to settle down in their roles as manager of Chelsea and Manchester United. On top of that Chelsea team has changed a lot since Jose Mourinho’s days. He needs to re-establish rapport with the players again. David Moyes will be running a successful team after a long time. It all needs little getting used to.

For last two seasons Arsenal have sold their captains: Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. Next season (2013-2014) this pattern may continue as Thomas Vermaelen might be on his way out! Hopefully he can be convinced to stay for a year and fight for his place.

This might provide Arsenal with an opportunity to start well. But I still believe the best chance for Arsenal to win trophies will be Capital One Cup and FA Cup (Emirates cup doesn’t count). Since Arsene Wenger and Stanley Kroenke have agreed to sign more player and concentrate on winning trophies gooners can finally look forward to next season with some realistic hope!

Positives from 2012-2013 season
1. Aaron Ramsey:
He is finally playing at the level he used to play before injury. His confidence is back. It would be fun to see him play next season.

2. Jack is Back:
Jack Wilshere’s recovery from injury was very important and the impact he has had on the team in unquestionable. The fact that an injured Jack Wilshere made it to the bench for the final game of the season is testimonial to his importance to the team.

3. Defensive setup:
Koscielny and Mertesacker have performed so well that Thomas Vermaelen has failed to get a look in. Monreal and Kieran Gibbs have also done well. Finally there is some hope for the much criticized defence.

4. Arsene Wenger has had a change of heart:
Finally Wenger has agreed to spend money on signing new player without selling anybody! Wenger in the past would say that he would sign a player if good players are available (read available for cheap). Thankfully that attitude seems to be changing.