Insignia '08, Hackerdom

...And thus began Insignia '08, Hackerdom.

Day: 28th of August, 2008
Time: 10.45 p.m
Location: Room No. C1, Govt. Engineering College Men's Hostel, Thrissur

Scene1:
The work on video editing progresses as the darker hours of night close in. Midhun, eyes swollen with lack of sleep, continues into what seems to be his eleventh straight hour in front of the system. Sailesh, assisting and intermittently performing the job of waking him up from brief accidental siesta, looked as alert and enthu-filled as ever. The job was getting on my nerves. It was our fourth day with the process of preparing a trailer video for Insignia 08, Hackerdom, yet it was where we had left it last evening. The mixing was taking helluva lot time, what with the format conversion of video files, cutting out clips for back ground music etc.

Scene2:
It was 1a.m. The video files and picture slides have been successfully blended in. BGM yet to be added. Midhun on the verge of calling it a day or calling it quit, two others(Sethu and Arun Rushdie) and me peacefully sleeping at one corner of the room, satisfied that our job of filming scenes for the video was completed in time. Krishnanunni, Convenor, Insignia 08, Hackerdom, walks in to view our progress. Anxiety was evident on his face, as he inquired the sleepy workers about the status.
Seeing that there needs to be another two or three hours of work needed on the video to get it completely done, manipulations happen ( :P) , an offer of Puttu and Kadala from Double-X the only hotel open at night in Thrissur. We ( the words Puttu and Kadala woke me up from the slumber instantaneously!) agreed and a half hour later, there it was, steaming hot Puttu and Kadala. Another two hours and lights off....

Scene3:
around 6.45 a.m, 29th.
I was the first one to rise( quite an unusual thing). Woke up the editors and mixers and blah blah and went about my chores. Two hours of sleep taking its toll, as they moved like zombies to begin where it had been halted.

Scene4:
10.45a.m, Seminar Hall, Govt. Engineering College
The Chief guest and other people presiding over the function- Curtain Raiser of Insignia 08, Hackerdom seated on the podium. The official welcome speech, followed by all the other speeches..


Scene5:
12a.m
Time to launch the theme music for the event, prepared by Jain. That was some music! A melodious mix of keyboard, saxo and drums, and many more that I couldn't comprehend.
Our video followed. Cheers from crowd....

Scene5 re-take:
Time to launch the theme music for the event prepared by Jain. Wait! what's happening? a sudden commotion in the rear end of the hall, and there drifts out a large mass of third years.
Reason: Results of Third semester exams announced. Memories drift back to last March-April, the time when we wrote it. Adam's Apple stuck half-way in my throat. The results couldn't have come at a better time than this. Tense faces all around. People scurrying around, searching for internet access. Dubious emotions settling around temples. Eyes glittering, water in them ready to pour out given the green signal...

I hate results!!

My Toolbar

I had been going through some of the blog add-ons available online that could be added to my site, when I stumbled on ourtoolbar.com. This site provides a platform to create your own toolbar for friends n readers who can get access to your favorite sites and keep track of changes to their inbox, and many other features. I created a toolbar for my blog.


Do download it and install for your Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browser. Post your opinion and recommendations for further features that I can add on to this.

Comment if you wish your blog/site URL to be added in the RSS feeds.

Buzzing off

Living it out

Uncertain.... the feeling is that between total exasperation and hope. Realising that one's potential may or may not come in handy to tackle the situation at hand. Given the choice, I shall rather give the job of decision making to an Expert than myself.


Joy.... can't see the reason why I am writing this. Joyous for a reason. Can't help myself, for the position I'm in - perplexed with anxiety.

Advices flowing in, can't drink any.
Choices lay themselves in view, can't see any.
I go the way my heart leadth.
Its a blindfold. And I shall Unveil it.

P.S: Comment

Sushil Kumar: India Clinches Bronze

Another proud moment in the Olympics as India's Sushil Kumar wins the bronze medal in Olympics. The event was 66kg free style wrestling and the stakes were high. The youtube video is available.

bLOg CaMp hERe wE CoMe......

Its that time of the year, when event the rains can't hinder the best from advancing to you. The time when joys come with abound wonders, when depressions and desperation make way for hope and excitement.

Now that you've realized I really do know some adjectives, here's the news- Blog Camp Kerala.
The very first blogger's unconference to be held on a stunning house boat, in the charming backwaters of Alleppey(Alapuzha). And the crowd of bloggers on roll to attend the program is commendable, many of them being true masters at the skills of writing blog articles are viewed read by thousands.... Check out the list to see some known faces.

The Red Fort Govt. Engg. College is represented by a team of eight- Alex, Bristow, Arun Rushdie, Rohit Rajesh, Gokul, Denny and Aswin, Of which leaving Alex, Aswin and Gokul, rest of us are reaching Alapuzha on 14th eve itself.

That said, let me say why am I going there? I use bullets here:
1. Meet new bloggers.
2. Trip in a house-boat
3. Learn more on Campus blogging.
4. Learn more on increasing monetary benefits from ads on blogs and like wise..

The camp is scheduled to begin at 9A.M at Punnamada Boat Jetty.
I sincerely believe that the camp has great stuffs in store for us...
More details when we return....

warm wishes to the success of the Blog Camp and its Organisers for such a wonderful choice of location and themes.

Buzzing off.

Winamp @ fingertips

the circuit

Well, been seriously thinking of writing something geeky( or atleast semi-geeky :) ), and here I'm with something that's totally so un-geekish.

The following circuit is to control the Nullsoft Winamp media player using push switches connected via Serial-port. I had an estimated expense of 30-40 rupees in setting up the whole circuit and getting it to work.

The idea is to control the basic functionalities of Winamp via external control. I was searching for the same for amarok and landed up with a plug in that allows interaction with Winamp directly from serial port.

Bought the necessary components and the soldering session began. Its my first attempt at soldering and thus it ain't looking all that good. But then what's insulation tape for! Assembled the switches on an old CD box and let the cables long enough so that the box can be placed conveniently at any location near my table. Test run came out succesful!

The circuit is as follows. One terminal each, of the four switches is connected to port 4 of the serial port connector.. Rest is shown in the circuit diagram.

Then comes the time to configure the plug-in which is, in my opinion, quite an easy job.
This is how the plug-in window looks.

And, there I have my own private music buttons to control my favorite music player!!


comment!!