My grad classes have been started and I completed my first week. Just by looking at this past week, I can gurantee you that I will be super busy with my weekends :( and won't really get any time for myself. I am taking two courses this semester, Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI), both of which are harder than my last class, Database Systems.
AI's professor seems good and the activities are very interactive so the problems make more sense and students learn better. We have homeworks due every week :( and I just spent my entire weekend trying to finish the homework that's due tomorrow :(:(. I still haven't completed it as I have some doubts in one of my solutions but I will figure it out before I go to bed (hopefully?).
Algorithm's professor on the other hand is really nice too, very smart, and funny. Before she starts the class, she asks if anyone got a good joke to tell, if not, she just throws some joke in which either is funny or sarcastic or something which ends up being funny. This class is going to be tough too since there is a lot to cover. I have 10 pages of notes just in 2 lectures so imagine how much material she could cover in one lecture. Her notes makes sense but somehow it seems she teaches fast in class. I guess I will get used it once couple of weeks passes and before the semester ends :P.
That's it for now. Ohh...the rain kinda cooled down colorado which was nice :). It was nice to have that change. Let's hope it doesn't continue raining because that brings the cloudy weather which is dark and depressing.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
2008 Olympics
As all of you may know, 2008 olympics have started since Friday (8/8/08). I'm not really an olympics fan or have never been excited to watch it. But somehow I've been watching it everyday this year since it started on Friday with the opening ceremony. It's been like an addiction. As soon as I get home from work, the first thing I tune in is the olympics channel...no matter what sport is competing. BTW, I got to tell you that the opening ceremony in Beijing was pretty amazing. I was really impressed with the whole olympic enviornment whether it was the performances delivered by 15,000 performers, the stadium look, or the audience and the backdrop of chinese culture was fantastic.
So far I've watched the following sports where US is competing against another country:
Swimming:
I saw live competition of Michale Phelps 400 m individual medley where he won the gold medal. It was pretty amazing. As soon as he got in the water, he was ahead of everyone and his timing made it to second world record. As of today (8/11/08), he won 3 gold medals!!! Also I saw the female 400 m backstroke which was cool and US won gold and bronze medal in that one too.
OMG! Michale Phelps is on FIRE!!
After Yesterday's (8/12/08) swims, 200m butterfly and 4x200m relay, add two more gold medals to Phelps' achievements!! So far 5 gold medals won and 3 more to go. He's on his way to break the world record to get 8 gold medals in one olympics :). Luckily NBC is showing the live telecast of swimming competition from two days at night so it's so much fun. Don't forget to tune in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for his other 3 swims!! Go Michale Phelps!!!!!
After Thursday's (8/14/08) 200m individual medly, Phelps won his 6th gold medal making world records in all of his races.
Friday's (8/15/08) 100m butterfly race was quite interesting to see. If you didn't see it, the race was very tight in the last 15 m where phelps beat the participant from Australia (I think?) by 1/100th of a second and won his 7th gold medal. With this gold medal, he has tied with another 1972 olympian who also won 7 gold medals in one olympic.
Here are my thoughts on the 100m race. I could see that phelps swam really fast in the last 5-10 m to get ahead of Milorad Cavic but I am having hard time believing that Milorad didn't touch the wall before Michael Phelps. I didn't believe when they showed on TV that phelps touched the wall first and I certainly thought that they cheated somehow to get Phelps his 7th gold medal. BUT, when they showed the underwater video of both swimmers touching the wall, you can somewhat see that even though Milorad had his hands near the wall, phelps' hands came super fast from the sides and touched the wall. I have to see the video couple more times to actually get it into my system that phelps won!! I'm a Michael Phelps fan after watching all his races in 2008 olympics but still the fact is hard to believe :P.
AND Michael Phelps has won his 8th gold medal in his last swim!!!!! In history of 112 olympics, he's the first olympian to win 8 gold medals in one olympics!!!! Go Michael Phelps!! Now that he won't be swimming any more I don't know what's left to see in the olympics game :P.
And for my earlier statement regarding his 7th gold medal which he won by 1/100th of a second, I'm not going to think anymore about it on who touched the wall first because since the difference is 1/100th of a second, it's nearly impossible for a human eye to catch which swimmer touched the finish wall first. So I think anything is possible in that 1/100th of a second. I'm just really happy that Phelps won 8th medal and made his dream a reality on this olympics :).
Women's Beach Volleyball:
This one I've been watching since saturday when they first started playing. In Yesterday's match, Misty May and Karen walsh won against Cuba. This is a really cool game to watch because it kinda keeps you on your toes. You never know who'll snatch the game point when and how. This game has so much interaction which makes it more exciting.
Men's and Women's Gymnastics:
This one I've been watching on and off, so don't really know where US stands in this sport.
Men's Synchronized diving:
This was alright for some countries while other countries like China or Russia were 99% synchronized in their diving. One advantage of watching this sport from home is that once they dive, the recap is shown from like 4 different angles and in slow motion as well where you can clearly see the different timings of actions taken by both team members.
So if you haven't tuned in to the olympics channel yet, do that and I'm sure you'll find a sport that won't let you move away from your seat.
PS: I'll update this post on regular basis if I can on olympics for the games I watch. So come back to read more if you're interested in Olympics news :P. I'm telling you I'm addicted to this thing. I was really sleepy yesterday (8/12) but didn't want to go to bed until NBC showed the Michale Phelps 4x200m relay LIVE!
So far I've watched the following sports where US is competing against another country:
Swimming:
I saw live competition of Michale Phelps 400 m individual medley where he won the gold medal. It was pretty amazing. As soon as he got in the water, he was ahead of everyone and his timing made it to second world record. As of today (8/11/08), he won 3 gold medals!!! Also I saw the female 400 m backstroke which was cool and US won gold and bronze medal in that one too.
OMG! Michale Phelps is on FIRE!!
After Yesterday's (8/12/08) swims, 200m butterfly and 4x200m relay, add two more gold medals to Phelps' achievements!! So far 5 gold medals won and 3 more to go. He's on his way to break the world record to get 8 gold medals in one olympics :). Luckily NBC is showing the live telecast of swimming competition from two days at night so it's so much fun. Don't forget to tune in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for his other 3 swims!! Go Michale Phelps!!!!!
After Thursday's (8/14/08) 200m individual medly, Phelps won his 6th gold medal making world records in all of his races.
Friday's (8/15/08) 100m butterfly race was quite interesting to see. If you didn't see it, the race was very tight in the last 15 m where phelps beat the participant from Australia (I think?) by 1/100th of a second and won his 7th gold medal. With this gold medal, he has tied with another 1972 olympian who also won 7 gold medals in one olympic.
Here are my thoughts on the 100m race. I could see that phelps swam really fast in the last 5-10 m to get ahead of Milorad Cavic but I am having hard time believing that Milorad didn't touch the wall before Michael Phelps. I didn't believe when they showed on TV that phelps touched the wall first and I certainly thought that they cheated somehow to get Phelps his 7th gold medal. BUT, when they showed the underwater video of both swimmers touching the wall, you can somewhat see that even though Milorad had his hands near the wall, phelps' hands came super fast from the sides and touched the wall. I have to see the video couple more times to actually get it into my system that phelps won!! I'm a Michael Phelps fan after watching all his races in 2008 olympics but still the fact is hard to believe :P.
AND Michael Phelps has won his 8th gold medal in his last swim!!!!! In history of 112 olympics, he's the first olympian to win 8 gold medals in one olympics!!!! Go Michael Phelps!! Now that he won't be swimming any more I don't know what's left to see in the olympics game :P.
And for my earlier statement regarding his 7th gold medal which he won by 1/100th of a second, I'm not going to think anymore about it on who touched the wall first because since the difference is 1/100th of a second, it's nearly impossible for a human eye to catch which swimmer touched the finish wall first. So I think anything is possible in that 1/100th of a second. I'm just really happy that Phelps won 8th medal and made his dream a reality on this olympics :).
Women's Beach Volleyball:
This one I've been watching since saturday when they first started playing. In Yesterday's match, Misty May and Karen walsh won against Cuba. This is a really cool game to watch because it kinda keeps you on your toes. You never know who'll snatch the game point when and how. This game has so much interaction which makes it more exciting.
Men's and Women's Gymnastics:
This one I've been watching on and off, so don't really know where US stands in this sport.
Men's Synchronized diving:
This was alright for some countries while other countries like China or Russia were 99% synchronized in their diving. One advantage of watching this sport from home is that once they dive, the recap is shown from like 4 different angles and in slow motion as well where you can clearly see the different timings of actions taken by both team members.
So if you haven't tuned in to the olympics channel yet, do that and I'm sure you'll find a sport that won't let you move away from your seat.
PS: I'll update this post on regular basis if I can on olympics for the games I watch. So come back to read more if you're interested in Olympics news :P. I'm telling you I'm addicted to this thing. I was really sleepy yesterday (8/12) but didn't want to go to bed until NBC showed the Michale Phelps 4x200m relay LIVE!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Obsession of Art
There are two reasons for naming the title the way it is: one is because this post has to do something with art (drawing) and second is my obsession of it. It's 12:20 am as I'm writing this post and usually I go to bed around 10 - 10:30. The reason I am still up is because I wanted to finish a drawing that I started around 6 pm yesterday (since it's already past 12 now).
I was chatting with one of the friends yesterday and she mentioned me this place called "Golconda Ruins" which is in Andra. I have never heard of the place so I got curious and googled it up. I went to the wikipedia site which showed some really cool pics of this place. Surfing down my way to the bottom of the page, I found row of pictures for this place. I've always loved to draw and my interest became my hobby since I was in 9th grade when I did my first big art project. Then life got busier and never really got a chance to sit down and draw something properly. I might have drawn something once a year maybe if I was bored. Once I saw the second picture on the wiki site of the Golconda ruins, it suddenly hit me that I should draw this. Don't know from where and how it came to my mind but somehow it got in my head that I have to draw this when I get home. I couldn't wait to get home from work and guess what? As soon as I got home, I changed, ate something, took paper, pencil, and started sketching down the picture. I felt silly but then I was so focused on it once I started it. I couldn't sit still and finish it in one time since I was interupted many times, and may be that's the reason it took me so long to finish it. I finished it and I feel great about it. I feel I have accomplished something today and it kind of brought back some of the high school memories.
Below is the original picture along with my drawing in two different shades. It's definitely not perfect and not same as the original but I tried my best and to me, it looks good :). Tell me what you think. Do you think it turned out ok? Do you think it's so bad that I shouldn't have wasted my time in it. I would love to hear from you.
PS : Thanks to my friend for letting me realize my interest and love for drawing :).
I was chatting with one of the friends yesterday and she mentioned me this place called "Golconda Ruins" which is in Andra. I have never heard of the place so I got curious and googled it up. I went to the wikipedia site which showed some really cool pics of this place. Surfing down my way to the bottom of the page, I found row of pictures for this place. I've always loved to draw and my interest became my hobby since I was in 9th grade when I did my first big art project. Then life got busier and never really got a chance to sit down and draw something properly. I might have drawn something once a year maybe if I was bored. Once I saw the second picture on the wiki site of the Golconda ruins, it suddenly hit me that I should draw this. Don't know from where and how it came to my mind but somehow it got in my head that I have to draw this when I get home. I couldn't wait to get home from work and guess what? As soon as I got home, I changed, ate something, took paper, pencil, and started sketching down the picture. I felt silly but then I was so focused on it once I started it. I couldn't sit still and finish it in one time since I was interupted many times, and may be that's the reason it took me so long to finish it. I finished it and I feel great about it. I feel I have accomplished something today and it kind of brought back some of the high school memories.
Below is the original picture along with my drawing in two different shades. It's definitely not perfect and not same as the original but I tried my best and to me, it looks good :). Tell me what you think. Do you think it turned out ok? Do you think it's so bad that I shouldn't have wasted my time in it. I would love to hear from you.
PS : Thanks to my friend for letting me realize my interest and love for drawing :).
Friday, August 1, 2008
Damaged Baggage Situation..
Alright, so if you have read my earlier post "Back to US Journey", you might remember that I said that almost all of our bags were damaged (well 5 out 6) when we got back to US. Just to refresh your memory, we came back in United Airlines. The bags didn't come with us in our flight so we had to wait for 1.5 hours for the next flight since our bags were coming in next flight. Once the bags arrived, almost all of them were damaged badly such that we were sure that those bags can't be used again. We filed the complaint for the bags. The lady who took our complaints said that they can't guarantee that any of the bags will be repaired or if they will take responsibility for any damages (since the lady thought that some were manufacturing defects :P). This statement made us mad but it was 1 am and we didn't have the energy to argue with that lady. I told my dad that let's at least file the complaint and then we'll see what can be repaired and what not. We couldn't leave our bags there since they were all full but we came back in 2 weeks and dropped off the bags. The damage luggage agent was very nice. She talked with me on the phone very nicely insuring me that she'll do her best to get the bags repaired and if they can't repair them, they'll negotiate something with us. I was relieved after hearing that :).
It had been two weeks and I still didn't hear from her regarding the status of the bags or anything so got little concerned and called her up. Couldn't get hold of the agent so left a message. She called me back and said that 4 new bags have been bought to replace the 4 damaged big bags and one of the bags will be repaired...so they'll probably ship them out to us once they get them all in (Wooohoooooo!). I was really happy and satisfied to hear that they got us 4 new bags to replace the old ones. I'm very glad that things worked out and now we don't need to worry about our bags.
Advice: If there is any kind of damage, definitely file a complaint. File the complain and see what can be repaired. It is the airline's responsibility to reimburse us, or repair the damage they did to our bags. Worse comes worse, they might say "no" to have anything to do with your bags, but it's worth a try. You might get lucky or unlucky depending on what kind of person you deal with.
Tata for now!!
It had been two weeks and I still didn't hear from her regarding the status of the bags or anything so got little concerned and called her up. Couldn't get hold of the agent so left a message. She called me back and said that 4 new bags have been bought to replace the 4 damaged big bags and one of the bags will be repaired...so they'll probably ship them out to us once they get them all in (Wooohoooooo!). I was really happy and satisfied to hear that they got us 4 new bags to replace the old ones. I'm very glad that things worked out and now we don't need to worry about our bags.
Advice: If there is any kind of damage, definitely file a complaint. File the complain and see what can be repaired. It is the airline's responsibility to reimburse us, or repair the damage they did to our bags. Worse comes worse, they might say "no" to have anything to do with your bags, but it's worth a try. You might get lucky or unlucky depending on what kind of person you deal with.
Tata for now!!
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