This morning, i woke up at 8 went through the usual routines, got ready by 8:45 and was about to leave when i remembered i had to take my brother with me. Tried waking him up, but he wouldnt... so waited.... n waited..

n guess what!! he woke up 20 minutes later saying, "bhai, you go, i'll take the bus!" (aarggghh!!)

so i grab the keys, go down to my car, put the keys in the ignition, turned it, and....

nothing! :S

WTF?!? did some initial diagnostics, and learned that the battery had died over the night! which was pretty weird since, nothing was left open!!

two days ago, the car battery had died as well, the lights were left on by my brother. It started a while later though, but the battery water had depleted quite a bit. I did ask him to refill it, but being my brother he didnt and i also forgot about it.

Now im in a fix.. its 11:30, im still at home, and the car wont start...

Labels: at the office, my car, rants

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:10 AM | Permalink | |

A wonderful movie depicting one of the *possible* scenarios of global warming.. the coming of the next ice age. Only, they sped up the whole process to less than a week, rather than the 5 to 6 hundred years it takes.

A very old move too.. so why am i writing about it now? There are three reasons for this post (see! there's a reason to my madness afterall).

Reason 1: It was playing on Star Movies right now, and i had it switched on.

Reason 2: There's a scene in it where its raining really heavily in new york and the whole streets are clogged with water, cars are drowned and people are walking towards safety. The first time i watched it, i was horrified at how those people would be feeling, and what would i have done if i was in their place. This time, i knew. The events of the week before last (the rain week as i call it) flashed before my eyes, watching cars almost fully drowned, people being electrocuted, and myself wading through knee deep water just to get my car started. This time, it reminded me, that no matter what, the will of the people is what makes them survive even the greatest odds. And it is the collective will of the people, which makes order, even out of the worst chaos! Watching all the chaos in the movie, i kind of felt proud of my fellow city dwellers at how they had faced the real life drama and survived!

Reason 3: There's a character in this movie, the girlfriend of Jack's son, who was an over-acheiver all her life, planning everything around her to get into the top college, and get a top degree. They're sitting in the library, after the wave has hit the city, and she says, "All that planning for nothing". This line, rather the concept behind this line, hit me like a rock on my face the first time i watched it. And subsequently, i watched all my "planned life" go down the drain due to uncontrollable circumstances. I realized at that point, that life means making the most of out it while trying to fulfill your responsibilities to everyone around you, taking risks and feeling alive rather than just planning and following your plan. True, everyone suggests that, but in the end, we hardly follow what we plan.

Its 1 AM in the morning, im sleepy, and this post just had to be done.. dont know if im making sense or not, but i wanted to get it out.

Labels: my life, speaking out, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 1:07 AM | Permalink | |

Change marks both the beginning and the end!

This weeks blogword fits in perfectly with the theme i've been carrying out on my blog, regarding the changes in my life.

What will this change end in the current state of affairs i call life?

1. living with family
2. living on the clifton side of the bridge
3. living in the same community for over 16 years
4. sharing a bathroom with my brother (and getting in countless fights over fogetting to unlock his door)
5. coming late to office (a direct consequence of point number 4)
6. managing household finances
7. monthly groceries routine
8. bi-weekly fruit shopping (i now how to pick ripe fruit!!!)
   
9. going home on time (still a question mark)
10. sneaking into the house when your late
    
11. homecooked meals (though still available from relatives places)
    
12. and many more....

On the other hand, this also marks the beginning of a new era, such as

1. living on my own
2. sharing a room with an unknown person (always wanted to know what that felt like)
3. going out whenever i want (day OR night)
4. eating out more
5. getting a much more active social life
6. cant think of more... :S

Cool! This is the first time i've listed these things down! Damn it! its gonna be FUN!

Labels: blogword, change

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 10:30 AM | Permalink | |

I hereby title the second half of year 2006 as the "Half-Year of Change".

Since everything is taking an new turn in my life, i decided to go and do some more changes! This time, to my blog template, leveraging the new features in Blogger Beta. (thanks to uXuf)

It doesnt offer anything new, since i've just ported the widgets i used before to the new template. And i've been wanting to use this 'cleaner' template for quite sometime now. However, one thing which has changed "under the hood" is how feeds are retrieved on the sidebar. I used to use a script called feed2js, but now i use the feature provided within blogger.

One thing which still doesnt work, and i dont know how to fix it.... The google adsense links on the sidebar.. somehow, they're not being retrieved.. which leads me to believe that maybe the stat collecting links might not work either.. oh well, such is the price of change.

One note to other bloggers willing to check out the new features in Beta, when you add content, it will most of the times give you an error, or get stuck displaying the 'Saving...' label. Just ignore it, since it does the work in the background just fine.

Labels: change

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 3:58 PM | Permalink | |

Even though we dont realize it, over the years we manage to gather a whole lot of stuff which form what we call 'homeliness'. You only realize that when

1. Your spring cleaning or clearing out the attic/garage
2. Your moving

Which is how i came across this fact that, WE (read mom), have entirely TOO MUCH STUFF!!

I spent nite before last with my brother packing up the drawing room, it took us the better part fo 5 hours and 8 cartons before we managed to come out saying "we did it". (actually, we didnt to it completely, still have 3 cabinets/2 cartons to go through, but we ran out of cartons so that was it).

This is the first time i counted up how many plates/glasses/cups/bowls/spoons and what not we have. Suffice to say, if i ever have to throw a party of 50 people.. i wont be needing to borrow crockery/cutlery.

And thats just the drawing/dining rooms!! the whole rest of the house is to follow suit!

Good thing dad arranged for a five to ten professional packers/movers to help out with the stuff, or it would've been HELL! God bless you Dad!

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 12:53 PM | Permalink | |

Only recently, i ranted about a change in my workplace... and what was my initial reaction to it. Mashallah, im all settled in my new place now, which i think is a bit better, since now i get to interact with the people more. I used to be at the end of the office and mostly lost in my own little world. So that was good.

Just as i was settling into that change, another one happened! And this was TOO sudden.

My mom informed me three days ago, that she's decided to join my dad in Islamabad! She was just there for a week, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary (mashallah) and this bombshell dropped when she came back.

Now, i knew we had to move eventually, the house we're currently living in is marked to be demolished and we were served the eviction notice quite sometime back. But i was under the impression the move was going to be localized in Karachi. Now its suddenly intercity. My brother will be going with mom to islamabad as well, while i'll be staying back.

Why dont i join them? Two reasons... actually, just one reason. I have to finish off my university work (which is at its last stage) before i can actually leave the city. Oh yea.. and work. :D

Whats going to become of me then? Well, step number 1 is.. find a place to stay. I have the option of staying with relatives, and i *so dont* wanna exercise that option. Whats the fun of being alone in the city, if you still have to play by the rules... that too, someone else's? My parents offered a certain level of freedom to me, and we had a 'no interrogation' policy at home about each others well being, if we were home at night at a decent time.

Im looking for a room to myself, probably in one of the navy messes, which will allow me some degree of freedom and a taste of what life on my own is like.

And so I predict, this blog is going to take a new turn as well (yet more change), along with my life.

Labels: change

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 10:00 AM | Permalink | |

I switched to blogger beta... which, surprisingly, was not all that better. Now usually, betas offer something excting, (though uXuf disagrees), and that too... beta's by google. Through blogger though, they've missed the mark by MILES!

Not only is the new features unappealing to us power users, our current templates, on which countless number of hours have been devoted, mixing and matching stuff from everywhere, are not supported on the new system (yet).

How is that supposed to make our life better? Has google finally started turning into a big corporate master of evil? (like the current corporate master of evil, microsoft).

Why did i start this rant? Well, because basically i cant view my blog right now, thanks to a Google Error Page showing up! The one thing i hated about orkut may now become a reality for blogs as well. For some reason, the coding at google, supposedly robust coding, always makes ways to fail when being used by us mere mortals... resulting in...

Google
	Error

Server Error

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.

Please try again in 30 seconds.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!! I wanna view my blog!!!!!!! :@

Labels: rants

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 9:28 AM | Permalink | |

Dont you just hate it when people in your workplace go on their petty power trips every so often?

There's this guy in my office, he's in an administrative role, and the daily attendence comes under him. This is the first month that we have the daily attendance being done in our office, which ofcourse means that this is the first month im not gonna get my full pay. If we miss more than 8 hours a month of work, we get fined one days pay. This month.. i've missed around 16 hours.

Coming back to power trips, this guy started stating
"If you dont fill the attendance every day, im going to mark you abset"

"If you dont fill out-time every day, im going to report you and deduct your pay"

and what not!! I just hate it when people get all power-y over such stuff!

Labels: at the office, rants

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 12:11 PM | Permalink | |

The latest fad in the world... everyone goes on and on about how 'bad' they've got it.

Hindu's shout out...
Christians shout out...
Muslims shout out...

but above all... Jews shout out the loudest. And that too about how their ancestors were killed by the so-called Halocaust, over 50 years ago, while at the same time, performing their own little genocide in palestine and now lebanon!

This rant is based on the news of the Jew community, and Israel shouting out against a restaurant which chose 'Hitlers Cross' as its name.

Here's the hypocrisy.....

"The incident exposes the lack of understanding of the present generation about the atrocities of the past and the need to educate them about crimes against humanity," federation chairman Jonathan Solomon said.

Am i to assume, taking over Arab land forcefully is *not* a crime against humanity? Expelling people from their own homes is *not* a crime against humanity? Bombing the hell out of them is *not* a crime against humanity? Killing innocent civilians just because they happen to be of the same race as their 'enemy' is *not* a crime against humanity?

If the above is true, then the Halocaust was also *not* a crime against humanity! If it isnt.. Israel needs to be tried for crimes against humanity itself!

Labels: rants

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:11 AM | Permalink | |

Its so funny sometimes what they write in classifieds these days... whether just to shortage their space, or to get too much through.. many people often end up making serious errors in judgement.

This email i got portrays the same thing.... and i seriously laughed my ass of reading it!

These four classified ads appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper on four Consecutive days. The last three hopelessly trying to correct the first day's mistake.

MONDAY:
For sale - SK Shah has a sewing machine for sale. Phone 2555-0707 after 7PM and ask for Mrs Mani who lives with him cheap.

TUESDAY:
Notice: We regret having erred in SK Shah's ad yesterday. It should have read, "One sewing machine for sale cheap. Phone 2555-0707 and ask for Mrs Mani, who lives with him after 7PM."

WEDNESDAY:
Notice: SK Shah has informed us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of the error we made in the Classified ad yesterday. The ad stands correct as follows: "For sale - SK Shah has a sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 2555-0707 after 7PM and ask for Mrs Mani who loves with him."

THURSDAY:
Notice: I, SK Shah, have no sewing machine for sale. I smashed it. Don't call 2555-0707 as I have had the phone disconnected. I have not been carrying on with Mrs Mani. Until yesterday, she was my housekeeper but she quit.

Labels: hilarious

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 2:26 PM | Permalink | |

What inspires me the most to acheive *anything*?

My dad!

The look on his face when i break the news to him. The feeling of immense joy (the only feeling of joy i've ever known) when he says "well done beta".

Thats is what inspires me!

I love you dad!

That.... and being a techie, the built-in desire to try out any/everything new!

Labels: blogword

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 5:43 PM | Permalink | |

I was chatting with my gramps today, basically me and my brother, and he started off on the same topic which caused me much grief just recently. About when am i gonna get hitched.

My reply was the standard... "when i find a suitable person to spend my life with"

To which he asks "and what is suitable?"

That got me into thinking what qualities i would look for in the future Mrs. Mansoor. Would looks be up there? Would she just need to be of a a good nature? What?? I thought i had it pretty well thought out before, but today, i was stumped *yet* again.

My brother was not so tongue tied.. his perfect mate is someone who can listen to him talk about world in general.. someone who understands him. According to my grandfather, thats a pretty tall order.

But the question still remains... what would be "suitable" qualities in my partner?! I dont think im really that matured to figure it out. Or maybe, it is maturity which has led to this indecision.. of not being in a dream state wanting impossible things?

Labels: tying the knot

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 12:02 AM | Permalink | |

I'm being made to change my seat at the office. We're having new people coming in, and my spot was considered to be the most suitable for them. Aaarrggghhhh!!

This is BS! total BS!!!

Whats more BS is 'where' im being made to move... just in front of the bosses office!!! With no fan, and no privacy!!

I dont like this change...... i will probably adapt to it.. but not without a fight.

Labels: change

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 5:59 PM | Permalink | |

Many things have been written and said about the man who is currently the president of our country. Some of them have been very good, while some equally horrible. Some targeted towards his integrity as a president, some towards his keeping two positions at the same time, and yet some again towards his political agenda.

However, many people forget, that above all, he is a person, a human being. And as such, he has both qualities as well as flaws. And its these things, which describe him as a person.

George Washington, the first president of the United States, is remembered throughout the world for his line "I will not tell a lie, i cut down the cherry tree". It describes how he was as a person, describes his character and his courage.

The same goes for our current president. There have been many incidents, where the true image of the man called Musharraf is shown to the world. Yet, these have happened so innocently, so quietly that they've gone largely unnoticed by people, except for those who came in direct contact with him. And as an admirer and a believer, i will narrate just some of them here to show you why this man has become my Idol.

Before he was the president, in the days of being the Chief of Army Staff, he once paid a visit to one of his relatives, a naval officer residing in N.O.R.E. 1. As a rule, no one, except for residents and their notified guests are allowed to enter the presmises of the naval colony. Musharraf arrived at the gate in his civies, and in his private car. The guard at the gate stopped him, and the following coversation ensued.

Guard: Where will you be going?
Musharraf: To meet Commander XXXX. He lives at XXX.
Guard: And your name?
Musharraf: My name is Pervaiz Musharraf
Guard: Do you have any identification on you Mr. Musharraf
Musharraf: (searching his pockets for a card and coming up empty handed): No, i dont have my card on me.
Guard: Well, then you please wait while i call Commander XXXX and confirm your identity.
Musharraf: Okay (parks his car on the side).

The guard calls the Commander in question, and tells him a Mr. Musharraf is calling for him, the naval officer tells the guard to let him through, and the guard flags Musharraf to proceed on his way.

Does this story make you wonder why such an exchange even happened in the first place? Where people would use other peoples sources as 'bharams' to guards and policemen, here is this General, no less than the Chief of the Army Staff, who treats a lowly guard with respect and follows the rules. It wasnt even mentioned that he was an Army man, since at the time he was off-duty and out of uniform. When asked for his card, he even went as far as to search for it. Flag officers of the military (Generals, Admirals, Air Marshals and above) do not carry their own identification, as it is usually with their aide for any official business. And when he did not find it, he waited for his entrance to be confirmed by the naval officer he was going to visit. Above all, he had, as an official car, a Mercedes, however, when moving on his own, he still drove in his private, unmarked car. Many military and government officials here will let their private cars rust away happily once they were issued a official one.

This is just one of the incidents, where the simpleness, and the 'feet on the ground' behaviour annecdotes there are about this person, and this is the reason why people are in love with him.

P.S.
The next day, when the Chief of the Naval Staff found out that General Musharraf had visited NORE and was stopped at the gate, the guard in question was taken to task by the naval authorities.

Labels: speaking out

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 10:03 AM | Permalink | |

as having a Zinger at 2 AM!!

Yummmmmm!!!!

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 3:06 AM | Permalink | |

I started up a series here called "Pak Telecom Updates" in which i was writing up what the mobile companies in Pakistan were upto. Posting on their latest offerings, ad campaigns, and my opinions on their various services.

Now, I've decided to seperate that series, or rather promote that series, into a blog of its own. So.. without further ado... i present to you

PakTelecomUpdates.blogspot.com

Your source for the latest in Pakistan's telecom world.

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 10:18 PM | Permalink | |

and i hate this nation!

Very well put by MB on Karachi Metblogs in response to this post.

In a country made up of ignorant people mindlessly going on a path to destruction..... where everyones in it for their own benefit, largely ignoring everybody else, where appreciation for a job well done is lost amid the harsh words thrown at them for the tiniest fault... Where is the voice of sanity? Where, i ask, is civilized behaviour!

Labels: rants, speaking out

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:03 PM | Permalink | |

I felt free when i took my first ride on the bus on my own... but then i was bounded by the bus routes.

I felt free when i entered university... but then i was bounded by their rules and regulations.

I felt free when i left university... but then i was bounded by my job constraints.

I felt free on weekends... but now im bounded by household chores.

I felt free when my parents left for the week to celebrate their anniversary..... but i was bounded by taking care of my brother.

But then, i realized, i was free to ride the bus when i wanted to, to enter the university of my choice, to leave even though i had a job at the university, to perform household chores because i want my family to live comfortably for the rest of the week, and to care for my brother because i truly adore him!

That... is true freedom!

Labels: blogword

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 9:16 PM | Permalink | |

The lyrics from a new song Bad Boy - Remix, featuring Sophiya in the video, very succintly explains the whole teenage dillemma. The reason why every boy is looking for the 'bad girl' while every girls heart aches for the 'bad boy'! Not the ideal long term solution, but still very much a 'want' across the world.

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 9:07 PM | Permalink | |

I never knew this happened... ever!

Looks so damn beautiful!!! Next year, after the rains.. im gonna go visit this place!

Labels: world through a lens

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:46 PM | Permalink | |

The whole scheme just screams out Head n Shoulders! Dont u think?

Update 15th August - Guess i was right :-D

Labels: ad campaigns

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:46 PM | Permalink | |

Our staple lunch at the office consists of ordering biryani from the Premier Biryani chain of stores. The other day, a colleague went up to them as asked

Colleague: "A lot of places around here serve biryani, and at much cheaper rates too.. why should we come and eat yours"

The answer the guy gave, both simple and complex at the same time, gave me a food for thought (pun intended).

Premier Biryani: "Because you can eat our biryani even if its dark".

From that day onwards.. whenever i feel like having biryani... i order premier! Its Rs. 15 to 20 more expensive from the other retailers... but the confidence of even having it in the dark is worth the difference.

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:59 AM | Permalink | |

This video came out two years ago... and everytime i watch it, i get very emotionally moved by it!

It starts with a couple reaching Karachi by train... dresses as kisans.. and greeted by thier relatives here... lots of tears and emotions there. The picturization is amazing!

It then moves on to cover the lives of these two... from the birth of their kid, his growing up, him at graduation, then his getting married and having a kid of their own.

The underlying message of the video is (as i see it) that thanks to this country, such a life, considered a dream by many, can be acheived!

Long Live Pakistan~! Make my dreams come true too

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:59 PM | Permalink | |

We will not loose hope.. we will not let you down!

We are the ones who describe you... you are what describes us!

We will make you proud of us!

Happy 59th Birthday Pakistan! May you have many more!

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:33 PM | Permalink | |

I got this via email today, and it really made me wonder just how many ways there are so solve each and every problem in our life. Some being easy, some complex, some boring, some fun, some orthodox while others highly original. To be able to consider all of them, yet come up with the most simplest of solutions is the true pehchaan of a genious!

The email follows....
A teacher asks a student how he would measure the height of a very tall building using a barometer, evidently expecting to hear about the reduced air pressure being proportionate to the elevation ....

The student replies: Tie the barometer to a long string, lower the string till the barometer touches the ground, measure the length of the string !

However, what follows is much more interesting: This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed.

The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics.

To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles
of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use. On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows :

Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer." " Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper ."

" But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper.

The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi square root (l/g)." " Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up ."

" If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building ."

" But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper' ."

The student was Niels Bohr, the only person from Denmark to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 3:20 PM | Permalink | |

This morning i woke up with a stiff back which resulted in a stiff neck!! It was so bad, i couldnt even go to work in the morning. Took half off the day off... Still cant turn my head to the left without a pain shooting up like a lightening bolt up the left side of my body!

The pain is centered just below my neck... i dont know whats causing it.. since its been there on and off for about 2 weeks now. I think it has something to do with playing games on my mobile... :S

The painkiller i had in the morning is about to wear off.... and the pains coming back tenfold!! Time for another dose... anything you people can suggest to take care of this would be more than welcome!

.
.
.
.
aarrgghhh!! DAMN IT!! damn this pain to hell (isnt that where it orginally came from?).

Labels: my life, rants

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 6:19 PM | Permalink | |

I used to be a RadioActive 96 FM fan, where radio in karachi is concerned. Before that, it was CityFM 89. Then i shifted gears to RadioOne 91.

That last shift rewarded me today.

This afternoon, when i was coming in to work today (i was sick in the morning, thats why took half day off), i heard this promotion by Nandos on RadioOne giving two coupons of Rs. 1000/- to two people via lucky draw if you answer a question. The question was

Complete the sentence
"Birds of a feather...."

I immediately took out my mobile phone, and called, got connected and gave the RJ my answer.

"... flock together."

There! Piece of cake (nandos chocolate cake! yummyyy!). I was told that if i win, i'll be notified via phone by 3 PM. So that took care of that, i came in to office, and began with my work.

At around 2:49, the phone rang! I picked it up and here's how the conversation went...
Me: "hello"
Radio1: "hi, is this mansoor"
Me: "yes, this is mansoor"
Radio1: "this is beenish from Radio1 91 fm."
Me: "hi beenish"
Radio1: "hi mansoor, how are you doing"
Me: "im doing fine. whats up?"
Radio1: "i really hope you doing good and all excited, because you just won yourself a Rs. 1000 voucher from Nandos!!! Congratulations!"
Me: "cool!"
Radio1: "Are you excited?"
Me: "im esctatic!!!!"
Radio1: "great, then just hold on and we'll put you on the air in a while..."

then i went on air, and was doubly excited! i already love eating nandos! its double the fun when you eat it for FREE!! yaayyy!

Just as i put my phone down.. a friend of mine called and asked "so.. when are you treating us at nandos?" LoL!

Labels: my life

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 3:17 PM | Permalink | |

This teaser had started making its rounds almost three weeks ago, but since the rain season took over, posting it was delayed.

Im convinced its another stint by either Fair and Lovely, Dove or one of their competitors.

Labels: ad campaigns

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:37 PM | Permalink | |

Labels: blogword

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:18 AM | Permalink | |

I have doing finances~! Literally!!

I spent the last 8 hours trying to figure out what sort of a mess i've created for myself... :'( Since i was adamant of creating my own expense monitoring system and not using any of the pre-created ones (since i thought my requirements were different!) So much for that... i've now sucummed to managing them the way they're supposed to be managed.... it was a good (though mind-numbing) journey to reach here and am glad i took it up!

The good thing is though... i think i've figured it out, and am in not *too* much of a mess! yayy!

Labels: rants

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:27 AM | Permalink | |

UK has gone to battle with the media for making people "feel helpless" by broadcasting apocalyptic messages about the weather changes. One line in particular got my attention..

"The style of climate change discourse is that we maximise the problem and minimise the solution"

Isnt that what the media does always? How many articles have you come across where a solution was promoted? Solutions arent 'sensational' problems are! They spice up the copy and sell more papers! Even though, the media does have a very profound impact on the lives of the masses, its such irresponsibilities that make me wish for tighter controls! Where did all the unbiased opinions go?! Where did the 'truth will set you free' go?! Why put a spin on everything to make it sound more spiced up!?

On the flip side... it is also the fault of us readers, for *wanting* spice in our lives! Who would purchase a newspaper/magazine without some bold (and/or shocking) headline grabbing our attention. As readers, we tend to read more about disasters and gossip than actual truth.

Labels: rants

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:43 AM | Permalink | |

You are cordially invited on Tuesday the 1st of August to the inauguration of the biggest swimming pool in Karachi at the Clifton Underpass

RSVP
KPT

Text Credit: Teeth Maestro (on KMB) | Picture Credit: Geo News

Labels: blogword

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:03 PM | Permalink | |

Im starting this new series on my blog which will concentrate on the myriad of problems (and their solutions) that we have with the wonderful windows XP! This is the first installment...


My brothers PC had a problem of logging off immediately after you put in the password and login. I tried using other accounts on the system, thinking maybe it was a problem with his profile, but that didnt work either. However, i could still access the machine using a network connection from my computer. Access meaning i could view his hard drive and remotely manage his PC using the Comptuer Management MMC panel in the Control Panel. So i did a websearch and this is the solution i found to it posted by Jeff.

I have found that viruses sometimes modify the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

"Userinit" = "C:\WINNT\system32\userinit.exe,"

and change it to

"Userinit" = "C:\WINNT\system32\<some other virus exe>.exe,"

This will cause the issue that you are having.  To fix it, simply
change it back.  Of course you will not be able to do this by logging
on.  You can use another machine (computer A) on the same network (or
borrow a friends computer to network with A) and use regedit.exe to
remote connect to the machine with the problem (computer B) and make
the change that way.  Just make sure that the Remote Registry service
on machine A is running.  That same service may have to be running on
computer B (can't remember) but you can start it using Computer
Management and remoting from A to B as well.  Anyway, that is a bit of
a different subject and there are many messages regarding that.

I feel sorry for those that have re-built machines because of this
simple issue .

Hope this helps,

Jeff

Thankfully, now i wont have to re-install his windows installation.

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 12:43 PM | Permalink | |

This wonderfully hilarious, sarcastic, truthfully narrated article caught my eye today while surfing through The News, a local english language news paper here. Give it a read! The picture i took yesterday, while going home from work. Its shows a road which is now a canal at clifton...

The News - International

City submerged! By Lubna Jerar Naqvi

Anyone familiar with Karachi will tell you that there is hardly anything to see in this city. But what many aren’t aware of is the recent vast archaeological project that the present government has undertaken to give archaeology a boost in the country. A single journey across the huge metropolis will explain this. You can hardly travel on any road in the city without coming upon several mounds of dirt and concrete and craters resembling the Grand Canyon; Karachi has just about everything except for civic amenities, rule of law and peace! But Karachi got its first monsoon showers in the last week of July and more excitement for the people. Mainly because...

For several months a majority of roads all over the city have been dug up. This extravagant project was undertaken mainly because the nazim says that he plans to fix all the underground pipe networks, including water and sewerage as all the pipes laid underground in the last half century are in a mess which explains the mixing of water and sewerage lines, and the spillage of waste onto roads. He and his merry men and women pledge to fix this mess no matter how long it takes, even if it means the worst maniac traffic jams in the city’s history, the other roads of the city will be worn out so that this team can divert their attention and continue this vocation there.

But sages say that our foreign-educated nazim is actually trying to unearth an ancient civilisation, so that Karachi can become an international archaeological landmark and then maybe it will get the attention it deserves from the authorities. While others say that our nazim believes that Rome was not built in a day, and so will leave the dug-up craters acting as roads to become slush with the rain to provide each locality with their own small water place.

And unfortunately this is exactly what happened when the monsoon deluge suddenly snuck up on Karachi this weekend. Well not really, the city government had been telling anyone who cared to listen for the past three months that efforts were being made to face the rainy season by cleaning gutters, hauling away filth and God only knows what else. But these rains proved the government claims wrong (again) and most roads have become perilous watery trenches; one look at I I Chundrigar Road, Karachi’s equivalent to Wall Street of Pak, with vehicles stuck in the craters below the murky water one can just imagine the state of the other roads of the city. And there is no knowing what a nightmare the under construction underpasses must look like. There is no knowing how many parts of the city are submerged and how many cars are sinking. Many cars and trucks have actually been caught on tape and relayed by GEO where these vehicles are seen stuck and sinking! Now where else but Karachi can one see such a spectacle?

Ahhh, and to top it off where would this city be if the KESC didn’t play its role. Many areas of the city have been without power for more than 24 hours (this is apart from the load-shedding), added to this are the dangerous dangling wires, which incidentally, if you were paying attention, are not so dangerous since there is no power. And then there is the hazard of falling (read chopped) weak (not always) trees. The interesting part is that many other cities, mainly in our beloved Punjab, face worse weather conditions, but the electricity stays put unless there is a vicious storm and trees are actually uprooted and flung across the roads (it has happened) taking the wires with them. Then there is no time limit to the outage but otherwise; one can enjoy the rain without drowning or being electrocuted in the rain like in our adored Karachi.

And now after the storm, so to speak, water stands and will keep on standing until the warm weather returns; filth which has miraculously surfaced despite the three month cleaning up operation will rot and stink until the nazim can haul his men out to do the needful. And speaking about the nazim, the poor man just recovered from the political imbroglio last week, and is now faced with this. But the brave man keeps insisting on the electronic media that things are under control, does he mean under water?

Everyone in Pakistan, especially Karachi, is a critic and we whine too much. Thankfully our leaders have always given us something to think and criticise, which is the mark of a healthy government and an equally spirited public. But too much rioting, as was observed recently, is not good for the already harried people of Karachi; don’t they have enough to keep them occupied with all the power breakdowns, maddening traffic jams, crime available at all hours of the day and night, bomb attacks, price hikes and unemployment. All characteristics of large cities all over the world! What more could a spirited people ask for? But the ungratefuls want more and we all know what happens to those who want more (with reference to Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist). So the government just has to roll up its sleeves and call meetings (which are extremely important to while away the long hot days) so that the thankless people are kept entertained. This was the only reason the government came up with its own intrinsic fetish — excavation. And why not? It is innovative and no-one has done it before. And what if a little water has accumulated in these holes, another form of entertainment as is evident from the scores of people haphazardly parking their vehicles all over the place to get a glimpse of the water filled ditches below.

But why criticise for the sake of it (and it seems I am one of them), accolades must be given to the nazim and his team because there are some roads which have been completed and they are exceptionally smooth, in fact masterpieces. But what is the prudence of digging up well carpeted roads and redoing them at the inconvenience of the people if no new underground pipes are inserted. Why waste the taxpayers’ money and time on futile work where it isn’t needed, and ignore the road adjacent that actually needed to be repaired? Surely there is a reason for this official enigma, which the likes of us the commoners will never be able to appreciate. If we did wouldn’t we be the elected ones?

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 9:55 AM | Permalink | |