Quinn's Quest For Laptop - II

Now that I got back to my senses the first thing I did was go to the Dell US site as I see that third world countries are uniformly snubbed out of "chat live" feature, an exceptional feature. I mean of course the toll free helpline numbers exist but any given time I would love to chat than talk.

One of my frustrations with Dell was XP option was completely wiped out with many models and I desperately wanted one. For this the dell fella proved to be hellava help. Not only that he also informed me about becoming "dell care customer", a one step sign in process, with which one can avail further 3% discount. Most importantly I learnt I can partition the disk with no issues at all. Prior to this talking Joy had told me some laptops especially dell ones can't be partitioned at all and with all my 6 year download-install-format experience I knew how important partitions are. Without any exception I make it a point to store all my files anywhere except C:.

There was something else running on my mind. Few months before when Hrithik was configuring his laptop Ranjit had strongly suggested him to go for 9 cell and a matter of 2 grand is worth every rupee. I called up Joy again and had a series of talks with him starting with the time of delivery, the warranty period, and also about the batteries. Somehow I feel he has the air of authenticity in what he talks and he talks no crap I tell you. I must have called him up like 5 to 6 times to talk about the same topic again and again i.e. the batteries, will it be worth it? Can I not wait? Will it not be heavy? Can I compromise? . Thanks buddy, I really admire patient people and you are the best. The twist of the story is : I had to compromise on 6-Cell (money problem :( )

Ok..here goes my final config list and I am freaking happy about it and the cost could have been much much lesser if not for Core 2 Duo instead of Dual Core...

• Midnight Blue
• Processor – Intel Core 2 Duo T5250
• Operating System- Genuine Windows XP Professional
• Memory – 2GB
• Hard Drive – 160 GB
• Internal Optical Drive- CD/DVD Writer

What follows next in the series is highly technical, stuff about what softwares I am going to install..Watch out!!!!!!!

Quinn's Quest For Laptop - I

(Note: Please Read this for continuity)

Now that I knew I needed to have one, the next question was which one to take with so many competetors- Dell, Lenovo, Compaq, Acer,VAIO. Programming is what I need and top of that after reading SO MANY bad reviews about Vista , it's hardware bankruptancy I decided on XP.

A Deadly Danger Averted:
....begin...
It was Sunday and was my first working "weekend" after I have come to the new project. Only the day before Teja had told me about his friend who would be coming to India and also that there are some real good discounts of 250$. From a week prior to this my search for the right configuration had begun with DELL being the ultimate winner. The reason being with the kind of configuration I need DELL turns out to be the lowest and in some cases I couldn't configure to what I want with others. The only glitch was this would take at least 3 weeks to come from the time it is ordered. Finally I had everything charted out and my initial configuration looked quite attractive and I still wasn't in i-hate-everything-about-vista mould.

• Windows Vista Home Premium
• 2 GB RAM
• Integrated Web Cam
• 250 GB HDD
• Intel Core 2 Duo
• Blue cover with Wireless Logitech Mouse.

and everything else that comes by default totalling aroudn $1380 with discount of $350. That morning his friend was online and hurried me on to confirm my details as the supposed "discount" period was going to expire. We both were hooked with gtalk and the talks went on. Time was ticking by and the cab fella wasn't the usual either. I went over the list thrice with him and gave my assent assuring that within few days the money would be transferred and left for the office.

!!!!!Could have almost ruined my life..that's Teja for you !!!!!

It was not until the cab reached Infy building did it strike me WHAT the hell am I going to tell my dad? Oh, god he would make a minced meat of me with his plus/minus point comparisions. Though I had mailed my friends, cousins and all I know in US for any "prospects" I haven't received any response. I mean I just struck out my first deal. That as far as dad is concerned i am dead. On top of that anti-Vista feelings have started to sink in. So I called up Chitti for his thoughts and I found out that everything was not that bad as the supposed discounts I might get around Christmas would be give or take 30$. I calmed a little.

Trrrrrrrrrrrrr... goes my phone and I was glad it was Mr.Ranganayakulu on the phone. Before I could really pour my heart out and ask him to hold the deal back I learnt that discount was pfff and that the next time it would come he would let me know. This my friends is what they call blessing in disguise or better still "Luck favors the brave " ( very very inappropriate .. i know..).

...ends here...

Holy Crap!!! What the hell was I thinking? Vista??? I mean....Vista?? Was I nuts or what after seeing how bad the perfomance is with Hari bearing the witness and a 20 GB of disk wastage for that chunky , non-impressive software?? Damn, how close I was in committing yet another grave mistake and man I don't know how much further I could have tolerated...

To be continued...

Prelude to Quinn's Quest For Laptop

Remember remember the month of September ??

Ok it was March, but it won't rhyme you see.. The Day Bofore the Big C series? . It's the turn of my laptop now and this time because I don't exactly know when it's gonna come but it IS gonna come in December. First of all I want to thank sincerely from bottom of my hear to my roommate, ex-classmate, friend and well wisher Hari Krishan a.k.a. harikris . The time he changed the password and refused to share it with me I knew I needed to do something about it and vowed myself I would not touch his laptop again and had sticked to it till yesterday ( when I had to use...) .

!!!!!HariKris...the Laptop Dude....!!!!!

In his place I would have felt the same. I mean wouldn't it be too uncomfortable for you to see someone else installing softwares that you would never use, reading and practising on your machine instead of giving it rest, watching movies at will whenever time permits? If your answers to the above questions is yes, well he has taken the next logical step. This wouldn't normally happen at homes but at room when you are forced to share systems these things matter. I saw no point in exlaining that all those things that he sees in Add/Remove components are bundled softwares and that I can't really chose what I won't use and what I would use. The softwares in question: SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, Visual Studio Web Express 2005.( Geeks your comments please?...Can I?). That's about him. And again ain't no finger pointing here. No sir, no..

!!!!!Eswar...obviously...the Desktop Dude....!!!!!

Now the other alternative: the desktop. I have a stiff competetion with what Eswar also practising real hard I had to have it. I am very much thankful to Eswar too for his dedication to work and working for hours in pursuit of glory!!! Frankly without these two guys displaying and doing what they did the thought of Laptop would have never materialized. And well like any software developer out there I wanted one.

What follows next is how I went about chosing for one....

A La Maudling in the making eh??

What's wrong with me these days? Why am I expecting abundant sympathy,words of comfort,pat on the back etc. from everyone?

Of course I knew she left because she had some work and for that what do I do? Write a long mail around 4'o clock in the night with overdose of sadness, masala and unnecessary details. It's good she gave a fitting reply. And with that I guess the situation has taken a slight different turn. It's too early to say but for days I saw the signs anyway.

Keeping that apart at the drop of the hat I am ready to cry like a baby babbling out everything and how things are going so bad for me. Mistake after Mistake. It's a bit reminiscent of how Ranjit felt initially in the project and me still managing two projects. But seriously what can I do? With the two options out of the way I might be stuck up in this bloody thing for the next one year to come? ONE DAMN YEAR!!!!!

I gues I have to accept it as is and keep looking for a way out and stick on with it. Here on this day and on this very blogspot I take a vow not to crib again to anyone about anything and "Chillax and get on with my work". Damn..I must have looked like a stalker ready to cry and embrace words of hope with the way I am going about cautiously asking for apology then thanking then again crying, ...phew..let me end this never ending saga now.

In the words of Kurt Cobain " I'd Rather be hated for who I am than be loved for who I am not, Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are . " - Bloody hell, I am back.

Ahem...Taking back my words from earlier post today I have successfully fixed a horrendous CR that has been literally plaguing me for so many days in fact 3 weeks to be precise and had well threatened my plans for Diwali..

!!!Happy days are ahead!!!

First Project, First..er..Second Impression

Haven't blogged for a month? Pathetic. That's what my state is now : Pathetic. It is not as if this is something new as I have done this quite regularly in the past. But this time it is out of emotional depravity and internal turmoil that has kept me away from blogging.

Came early today to get the e-ISBN done but it just refuses to make itself understood. My incapacity to tackle the problem and get it completed before the D-Day makes me feel terrible and it further bogs me down. It is so frustrating to find yourself helpless to get results not because you haven't tried different ways of tackling the issue but beacause you can't understand it. Added to this is the fact that feelings of Inferiority Complex have accumulated as a bonus. It looks like of all the people from the erstwhile team I am left to lick my own bloody wounds with everyone else in a better position.

Not a day passes without me thinking and recollecting that Terrible day of interview and the events that followed: Huge mail to Julie, 2 Euphoric blogs on this subject,"ippude gantuleyaku inka kotha project etlundo teledu kada" ani adarsh annappudu "edaina gani Usha kanna goramyinidi edi vundadu kada ra " ani nenandam, Talks with Potharaju and his subsequent molifcation, failure to see the simple difference between ASP and ASP.Net, not talking with Shrikanth when Ranjit had approached him. Asalu how did I commit such mistake? I feel as if I have done the biggest mistake of my life.

I have tried to crrect them but it was too late. After hearing so many people telling me so many things and opinions on how to keep cool and go on with life Julie's words stand out " Enjoy your work...Most important".

Well the funny part is my emotions keep on going from one extreme to other in the sense some days it remains light and some other times I just go into real bad depression. Coming to the project, heck I don't think I will ever write anything about this goddamn project and let me keep my blog clean at least..