Posts from January 2012

I am having a terrible time with netspeeds today. So I have temporarily switched off all images and switched to a very barebones browser called Midori.

I can't tell you how awesome the web feels sans intrusive loud high-resolutions images, slow loading videos, ginormous bandwidth-hogging media and other crappy whatnots.

I am back to the text-only ages but it's awesomely fast. I think I am sticking to Midori and this image-free mode for a while just because it makes me feel like I am on some crazy-awesome broadband. Gmail loads as if it were local. Gdocs throws some nasty error on Midori that causes it to load over and over again. :/ Oh well. You can only win sometimes.

If you have a mediocre net connection like I do (and are not on Gdocs 105% of the time), take a break and go the image-free route. You will see what you have been missing!

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PS: I notice that the edit button and the comment button on estrip have no alternative text behind them. All the other buttons on the top and in the editor have alternate text. I edited this post using the mobile mode.

The City of Buffalo has teamed with Google to bring more online presence for the businesses in the city and make it easier for small businesses and start-ups to set up amazing websites with little or no expertise. They have this little blurb:

From

City of Buffalo
Buffalo is the second largest city in the State of New York, and the hub of the Buffalo-Niagara region. The City’s attractive quality of life, low-cost of living, and diverse economic base make it a wonderful place to live, work, and do business.
Located along the shores of Lake Erie, Buffalo has a prime spot along the Canadian-American border, less than 100 miles from Toronto.
The City of Buffalo remains fiscally strong. Since 2006, its residential property tax rate has been reduced by 15.2%, and commercial by 16.2%.
Buffalo is rich with history and museums, professional sports, vibrant neighborhoods, top notch restaurants, theater, and more. And thanks to a strong base of well-educated and skilled employees, Buffalo remains a strong stable business region.

Interesting. Wonder if all that is true...

I read this whole 25 hour work donation campaign at this by marketing firm, Crowley Webb for a Buffalo startup called, "You and Who" and thought, what about those who can't afford such marketing support and will not get it for free. I wonder if the answer is the "New York Get Online" initiative. On the surface, it looks pretty awesome, I hope it infuses some life into struggling businesses here. My first introduction to any shop or store or restaurant is always online. I am sure tons of others find businesses the same way.

This is what it feels like...



to eat this candy.



Dear officemate, thanks for the addiction.

Took me a while to get to this song...


There is so much anger between the lines of hope. In love with the chorus. Works like apple zotz.

But way better?


Wait, he and some American have Beiber fever.


I think I might just join the teenage throng rooting for this youtuber. That voice can launch a million R programmes.

EDIT: I just found out he is the most subscribed to youtuber in the UK. Who knew. He is famous. Already.

Okay, another quickie but super delicious soup. This time in 20 minutes (because nothing was pre-cooked today).

0. Put in some orange lentils to cook in the rice cooker.
-- From here on it's a timed contest between you and rice cooker!
1. Heat the wok to a high temperature (this is a given. If you don't get this by now, you might as well order pizza)
2. Add a tablespoon of sesame oil
3. Add some dried red chillies, shredded coconut, garlic and ginger fine chopped.
4. Meanwhile dry toast some almonds on a nearby burner.
5. Saute garlic/ginger till garlic turns a faint light brown.
6. Toss in finely chopped Kale. Stir fry till BRIGHT green.
7. Salt it (the kale will let some water out)
8. Add some finely chopped ripe tomatoes. Toss till mixed with Kale.
9. Toss and saute till tomatoes are fairly done.
10. If you have a decent rice cooker, the lentils should be done by now. Add to the spiced kale-tomato mix with generous amount of water and bring to a low simmer.

And you are done! Garnish with fresh chopped basil and lightly crushed toasted almonds!

My grand Toshiba died just before Martin Luther's weekend. It wouldn't start. It was exactly 6 months old and well within it's 1 year warranty. So I shipped it off to the Toshiba depot, I always had a high opinion of Toshiba. My last 3 laptops have been Toshiba. I recommend Toshiba to everyone I know. But this whole fiasco shakes my faith in Toshiba rather substantially.

They sent an email back saying that they would like to charge me for these

MOTHERBOARD - $150.01
KEYBOARD - $19.34
And labor costs $60. (TOTAL OF $229.35)
..
California Customer will incur California sales tax on parts charge

What on earth does the warranty actually cover then??? I suspect, NOTHING.

Toshiba machines are, for the most part, reliable and well- performing. I hate that my machine died. However, this is the first time I have actually done heavy continuous processing on my laptop and experimented extensively with linux non-stop since I got it. Maybe the laptop wasn't up to the rigors I put it though. Maybe my high opinion of Toshiba came from my years of light everyday processing needs and not day-in-and-day-out of number crunching applications.

This is such a massive disappointment! I don't know whether to pay the $229.35 or just let it be shipped back un-repaired to take a stance against scalping.

I wanted to get back to work fast so I made a super fast soup just now in 10 minutes flat. It was so tasty, it's all gone. I want to remember this soup on horrible days when I don't feel like cooking.

1. Heat the wok to a high temperature.
2. Add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
3. Immediately add some cumin and dried chillies
4. Add chopped red onions. Stir around till coated with the cumin, chillies and oil.
5. Add chopped ripe tomatoes. Stir around for a minute or so. Smash the tomatoes.
6. Add pre-roasted acorn squash. Stir till incorporated into the tomatoes and onions.
7. Add pre-cooked quinoa.
8. Add a generous quantity of fresh basil.
9. Add some water (preferably water that has been used to cook beans or lentils)
10. Salt to taste.

And you are done. Best soup ever!

Behold... and then behold some more!

Puffy and gorgeous