It's nice here 9:17 PM, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2006 Weather in seattle - boy, is it great or what? A tad bit too warm for my tastes, though. Source: weather.com PERMALINK | 1 COMMENT(S)

How to build a $600 gaming PC 11:14 PM, MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2006 The PC that I "built" cost me less than $600 (taxes and shipping included) and has the following specs. • Pentium D820 - Dual Core Processor running at 2.8GHz • 1 GB DDR RAM • 160 GB SATA HDD • Dual Layer 16x DVD RW • ATI x1600PRO 256MB Graphics Card And I didn't even go through the trouble of shopping for each one of these and putting them together. Surprised? Here's how I did it. I was split between building my own PC and buying a stock PC. So, I costed the components. Anyway I look, it would take me close to $800 to build a PC with the above said specifications. However, somehow Dell manages to offer a comparable computer without the graphics card, for as low as $400. Amazing! (Don't forget the refurbished sections for bargains - some are brand new machines that were returned without even opening) I just hung out in TechBargains for a couple of days. An outrageous deal happens at least once a week and with the appropriate coupons, you can get a P4 D820/1G/160G machine without the monitor for less than $400. Now, get a good PCIe 16x graphics card from New Egg for about $150 or more. (I got myself a 256MB ATI Radeon card). Plug it in and you have a gaming PC for less than $600! Update: You can always spend a little more on your graphics card to suit your gaming needs. PERMALINK | 4 COMMENT(S)

About 25 years ago... 4:09 PM, SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2006 PERMALINK | 3 COMMENT(S)

Pondicherry and its vicinity 10:04 AM, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2006 I've added labels to some places in and around Pondicherry in the WikiMapia, including the school I went to, the places I hung out at and the college I went to. Go check it out! PERMALINK | 5 COMMENT(S)

Briyani 7:30 PM, SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2006 Mommy sent me the recipe and I tried my hand at it for the first time. It turned out ok, although no where near how it tastes when she makes it. I also made Raitha (that yoghurty thing) to go with the briyani. PERMALINK | 5 COMMENT(S)

It must not be earth, they're talking about 9:42 AM, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2006 According to this report 30 billion people will be tuning-in to watch the World Cup. Whoever came up with that estimate must have skipped his Math classes. Update: It appears like the website was talking about "cumulative viewership" - which is the sum of viewership across all matches. PERMALINK | 0 COMMENT(S)

You outsourced what? 6:47 PM, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2006 Last night, I went to McDonald's drive-thru to get myself a Big Mac. The voice cracked thru the tiny speaker. And instead of the "Welcome to ...", with a strong accent, that I was accustomed to, I was greeted by the voice of a young and professional sounding lady. I was pleasantly surprised. At the pay counter, I chatted up the friendly teller... Me: So, who was that lady that took my order? Teller: Oh, I don't know... Me: What do you mean you don't know? You work here. Teller: What I meant was, your order was taken by someone in South Dakota. Me: Wha...? Teller: Yeah, the machine dials a call anytime a car pulls up and some call center person sitting in South Dakota takes the orders and enters it in the computer and we fill those orders. Another day, another new thing! PERMALINK | 1 COMMENT(S)

$6.66 7:03 PM, TUESDAY, JUNE 06, 2006 I went to get some coffee this afternoon at the cafeteria and swiped my card-key and found out I have $6.66 left on my meal-card account. PERMALINK | 4 COMMENT(S)