Oh, it's been brought...en.

This Means War: The Shot That Started It All

My fellow friends, feel the pain for my concubine, Stacey. She has had someone hack into her blog and put up a bunch of bad things about me. I hope only that she is able to kick this hacker out so that we may once more see the shrine to the living perfection that is Nikhil.

EDIT: I have added a picture that was a snapshot of Stacey's profile before the hacker got a hold of it. Note the highlighted areas - click the picture below to expand it. 'Nuff said.

Democracy reigns free...

Due to the admonishment of my biggest fan Stacey (I love you too, honey), I have removed the comment moderation feature. It will allow your comments to post immediately after you submit them.

Stacey, for those who don't know, is my personal dominiatrix. She puts the tricks in dominatrix. What can I say - I'll quote Han Solo: "She's got it where it counts, kid."

By the way, Stacey assures me she is not my biggest fan, but her modesty is one of her best qualities. What an unassuming person - a refreshing change from most people's ego's.

Cliques at work

I want to do a little case study to determine how cliques form at work... it could be an interesting result. Plus, I've always wanted to write a book...

Feeling much better

And now the requisite post that is the counterpoint to the "feeling sick" post. I think that it was just some sort of a 24-hour deal, because I was really bad Sunday evening, but feel a lot better now. I'm still not quite feeling 100%, though - I still feel like I'm moving slowly and not up to my usual pace.

We'll see. Nothing that a gourmet pizza (with goat cheese and all the other hoidy-toidy accoutrements) and a shot of sake cannot cure. While I'm on the subject of sake, I have to give a shout out to Anurag and his preferred method of imbibing sake.

Musings on Salt an' Pepa and Ping-Pong

The big match...

Today was the first big matchup of Team USA (Karen and Nikhil) vs. Team India (a couple guys I've never met before) in the Table Tennis doubles championship.

While Team USA put up some great plays, including a couple aces and some strong spin play, it was ultimately not enough to withstand the attack of Team India and their lightning-fast flip shot. The final score was 14-21, with Team USA losing 4 points to serve faults.

Cube invaders

What's with people that just walk up behind you in a cube and stand there. It would be bad enough if they were polite enough to look elsewhere, but when they start staring at your screen, then it gets REALLY rude.

I generally follow the rule that if you cannot knock and/or say excuse me, I'm not even going to turn around to look at you. This presents some unique problems.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

So much for a good day

Not feeling well at all... Life is indeed pain, but that doesn't necessarily make pain any more fun.

Heading home - request for comments

First AudioBlog... from Trattoria

Offend them all, Kojack!

In case I haven't mentioned it, one of my professors looks a lot like Kojack. In addition, he has some of the best quotes we've ever heard. It basically moves straight from offending one group to another to another. The entire class pretty much just sits there in stunned silence.

Top quotes today:

• "When I used to work as an accountant... well, really I just kept the books, when I was 12..."
• "If you want to have a real democracy, you'll need to go to another planet. Seriously."

Yikes!

Time for class. No wait, for bed.

This is why one should not do homework on the last day. Ah well, 4 hours sleep will be fun. YAY ME!

A shout out to Jennifer

Just want to welcome yet another friend to BlogSpot...
I've permalinked her first blog entry here.

6 years of college for this?: Birthday party

She apparently knows some chick who keeps mocking me at work. I dunno who that is though. :)

More Dancing with the Stars...

I'm not ashamed to admit I watch that show. Besides, the show has a few rather attractive ladies on it (some as the celebrities, and some not). My current favorite (well, she's tied with that boy-band dude's brunette partner) is Stacey Keebler. I can assure you I will definitely keep a closer eye on WWE wrestling from now on.

(OK, I won't, but I certainly won't change the channel if I see her pinning someone in a leg-lock.)

Dancing with the Stars idiocy

OK, I'm angry. I'm angry about that idiot Master-freaking-P. OK, so you go on a show and say some tripe about your 'hood and your peeps. Blah blah blah. At that point you damn well better put up or shut up. This yahoo has the audacity to say he's not even trying and it's a good thing.

I have NO respect for these inner-city types that consider non-education and violence to be commodities. Plenty of people grow up in crime-infested urban neighborhoods and lift themselves up and become excellent citizens. Not so with these idiot rappers. Yet another reason I don't like rap - I can't allow myself to appreciate any music from morons with no morals. (Yes, yes, I'm generalizing, but I'm still 80+ % right, and you KNOW it.)

Flesh this out

OK - time for the first Nikhil's Pet Peeve on the new 'blog. I can't stand it when people say "flush that out." The correct term is "flesh that out." As in, we have the skeleton of something and we need to get the rest of it put together - we need to FLESH it out.

Flush it out makes no sense... we want to push an end result through what, exactly? Makes no sense!

Pop... goes Jack's head

What is the sound of a foam ball hitting Jack square in the back of the head?

POP.

(Click here for audio.)

A little hibachi action

Tried a new place for lunch today - your basic Japanese hibachi/sushi setup, but done pretty well. The sad thing was, we were the ONLY people in the place. I hope that does not mean that they aren't doing enough business to stay profitable. There was at least one semi-cute girl working there, so there is that.

The chef guy was pretty damn skilled too. Nothing to argue with there. I also met a new person from the office, so that was fun, too. No sake though... :(

Adding Shareholder Value

Today I definitely added shareholder value. So, no matter what else happens, they can't take that away from me. ("Who are *they* anyway?")

Karen has made me sad today, by pointing out that I have to buy a Playstation 3. This saddens me since I had not figured this cost into my camera purchase model. Argh!

Canon Leak - old news?

Whoopsie... perhaps this is old news? Note these images. As always, images are clickable.

Making some trouble...

Another day, another 8 hour meeting. Seriously. And another tomorrow. But that will be that for a while.

But on to the topic of making trouble for myself. It has come to my attention that there is some speculation about the successor to the Canon EOS 20D (supposedly due out in February/March). The question is, what has changed? The following picture was "supposedly" a leaked image from Canon R&D. I repost it here to test that prediction. The second image is a shot of the current 85mm L-series lens attached to an existing body. The lens in the leaked image is supposed to be a new Mark II version of it.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility for the accuracy or source of this image. If asked politely by Canon to remove it, I will do so at once, though this text commentary will remain and be amended to note this. If Canon wishes to contact me, the only correct method is by posting a contact e-mail address (NOT a phone or postal mail address) as a comment to this post. This address MUST have either canon.com or canon.jp in its address. This comment must also specify if the lens picture or the body picture is to be removed.


And now the analysis:

1. The body size appears to be consistent with a prosumer model.
2. The quick-command dial is on the correct side, and appears to have all the creative modes of the 20D, unlike the 5D.
3. The nameplate reads EOS 3__? But, the number 3 does not match style or font weight consistent with current Canon D-series badging. (Normally the number is in half-shaded text, which would appear dimmer. This could well be a fake. I'll Photoshop it later with some edge detection.)
   
4. The switches above and below the lens mount release look different than the 20D, or maybe it's just me.
   

More camera madness - lens choices

A good camera is only as good as the glass you hook to it. In that spirit, I found an excellent side-by-side review of the major Pro-series Telephoto Zooms for recent Canon cameras.

http://www.pbase.com/fstopjojo/teletest

This guy did a hell of a job lugging these lenses around (each one weighs around 3-4 pounds), and it is most impressive to see a "real-world" test of this caliber. Most tests revolve around a few fixed shots in contrived settings, and do not tell you anything about actual usability of lenses. The best quality lens is useless if you can't get the shot on your terms.

One more link: a forum post at DPReview.com that covers most of the key competitors.

Statistics Boot Camp - Day 1 (and Camera stuff)

Well, today was largely basic review, but I can imagine it was useful for those folks light on math background or Excel skills. Thankfully, the TA teaching this class did not have the anti-technology fixation of the main professor, so we had our laptops out. It did give me some time to review my choice between the 20D, the 20Da and the 5D.

After careful consideration, it's looking like the live preview functionality of the 20Da is really not worth paying double (and then some) price for. The winning combo appears to be the 20D with the 17-85mm f4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM lens. The downside is that this is an EF-S lens which will not fit my Elan 7, but then again, the change from my 28mm to an 18mm would be a little beyond my needs anyway.

The 5D is out due to extreme price, and lack of on-board flash. The 20Da is out due to the live view and the Hydrogen Alpha filter (and a vague mention of "better noise reduction") just not being worth $1000+. Besides which, buying a proper Meade ETX125 would cost me at least another $1000, and I don't think it would be worth it. I can essentially get the scope for "free" at the same price.

All's well that ends well

I'm not exactly sure why I'm happy to be leaving here at 9:30, but I suppose it's because I'm not leaving here at 11:30.

Saturday work

Yay! The chance to work on a Saturday! Ooh, ooh, can I volunteer??

Of course the giant mocha in my hand makes it a little better.

("That's not a mocha.")
("Well, that's not my hand.")

Good tequila makes all the difference

I just finished a nice dinner at Don Pablo's. I figured the proper drink for a Mexican restaurant was a margarita (not the pansy-a$$ flavored ones either). Anywho... I tried the "Primarita," which uses Reposado tequila, instead of the usual el-cheapo stuff. Very impressive. Also, I got an extra flask worth of the stuff, so not a bad deal for $9. Of course, they mixed it with a good deal of lime juice - I'd have preferred a Will-style margarita, which consists of 80-85% tequila, but ah well. On a related note, no, you cannot get Anejo (aged - higher quality/cost) tequila with that.


Also, from a food-related standpoint - try the Baja Chicken Fajitas. AWESOME food. Possibly the best chicken I've ever tasted.

Hatfield!!!

A friend of mine at work has seen the coolness of Blogger (gee, wonder how that happened!), and has put up his own site.

The URL may change, and I'll update this post when it does. For now, refer to this link.

(Oh, and since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I applaud him for picking the "XML..." moniker.)

Invasion: 2, 2, 2 hot chicks...

[SPOILERS FOR INVASION below this point]
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OK, so if I wrote/directed Invasion, the scene when Larkin ends up at Mariel's place with Russel would have ended up quite differently. Also kudos to seeing the one pregnant character on a current TV show that looks neither pregnant nor unattractive - I mean wow!

LOST - "The Others" speak!

[SPOILERS FOR LOST below this point]
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OK, this is getting pretty damn cool... The head honcho (maybe?) of the Others confronted Jack, Sawyer, and Locke. Very interesting. Of course, thanks to Kate's stupidity, they now have more guns and our guys have less. Brilliant move, Freckles. I did like Sawyer's reference to calling Locke Mr. Clean - I never thought of that before, but he REALLY does look the part.

And what's with Charlie apparently starting to go back to drugs? What does he have to be stressed over now? Geez!

Blood? Where?!

So time for the yearly blood test. Little problem though... what happens when they take 4 large vials of blood out of your arm? The answer: you get dizzy. (And, no, not from the sight of blood or the needle...)

My dad's theory (which I think makes sense) is that they are using the surplus DNA to create an alien-human hybrid. Very X-Files.

Damn, but that's going to be one smart, and attractive alien...

Cute Starbucks girl

I'd like to give a shout out to the cute young brunette, Missy. Nothing like a cute girl handing you a venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte and an Espresso Brownie.

Yum!

And the food is good too.

Movie Review: The 40 Year Old Virgin

Just saw this movie, and all I can say is: WHOA!!

First of all, this is about the most non-family-friendly movie I have seen in recent history. Of course, that's a good thing, as the usual Disney fare gets old pretty quick.

The real winner was the old Indian guy giving Andy (Steve Carell) a pep talk. That little talk has single-handedly removed my perceptions of knowing slang. I had to look up most of that little exchange. Of course, the unedited scene in the bonus features must be seen to be appreciated, and is the one I refer to.

And how can one argue with Beth, the bookstore girl...

All in all, this is a 5-star comedy, but don't watch it if you are at all squeamish about language or adult-oriented comedy situations.

Parking - yay, another trip to campus...

I finally got my parking situation taken care of, and it only required another trip to campus. What a blast. I did remember to take my access card this time, hence the reason for the wasted trip Friday. At least Night Train joined me, which beats a rainy day walking around by oneself. Is "oneself" a word, or should it be "one's self?"

As much as I hate to admit it, I admit my error. I see the value in a blogging tool such as this, to add quick posts from wherever. I may try the cell-phone audio post later tonight.

Nikhil.net comments to be transitioned

I will be transitioning the content from Nikhil.Net to this site as I can over time. As you can imagine with the number of postings out there, this will not be quick, nor will it be easy for me to do, but it has to be done if I am to commit to using this as my blog tool 100% of the time.

Stay tuned to share in my pain.

So, it's up and running!

OK, we all know I was very poor at updating the "Daily Log" on my site. It turned from multiple daily updates, to daily, to pseudo-daily, to just a total mess.

So, I have bitten the bullet and gone to a "real" blogging solution. I want to do it here, as it's quicker and easier than hosting this from my site, what with security patches and such things. It's funny, I find that working in the technology industry has actually made me less tolerant of things not working for you behind the scenes. Arthur C. Clarke was right: "any sufficently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." The problem is, our computers today are just bordering on that magic. The best ones so far are from Apple.

But anyway, I ramble on. I must now get to bed, so that I may go to work tomorrow (yay!) and then still have time to catch up on the 4 hours of the 24 season premiere!