Monday, June 05, 2006

Its been a while...

The title says it all.

It has been a while, since I last posted. Visited my thoughts and wrote stuff about things I was thinking and textual representations of my reactions to other things.

Its sad that I do this on my 99th post, but I guess its time I gave up this blog.

The link to this blog is chandna.blogspot.com. I've been changing, and I dont think I am the 'chandna' that people called me in college. It was fun being 'chandna', doing all the things I did, all the situations I got myself into..

I could change the link, but whats the point in carrying all my old self along. I would rather refer to it as the good ol' days and forget the details. Most of the readers of this blog probably know what I'm talking about. Some of the readers probably even know the truth behind why I was being me. I'm still me, but not the same.

Farewell, and thanks for all the fish;)

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Will you look at that...

These were on sale!










OMG.

Friday, May 05, 2006

long time no post...

Hey!

Its been really long since I posted so I figured I'd post again. work is getting a little too much but that gives me enough incentive to make sure that my weekends are much better:)

Googling around I found my own Johari Window and saw that people have been updating it:)

Figured I'd repost it to the top and see if anyone has anything to add.

Will post again someday!

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Gautam%20Chandna

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

I'm on a blogging roll!

I'm soon going to hit 100 posts on this blog, so be prepared for a big one!
--

anyways, this post is about something big too! Its about the Gathering!!

The Gathering is the second largest gathering of computer enthusiasts. Be it gaming or programming, everyone loves their computer!

This where I am :


And my god this place is amazing! You wont believe the computers that these people are bringing in here!! There are people here with food and supplies for 4 days (the duration of the competition). They have sleeping bags, they brought their own easy chairs! they brought huge speakers! none of the stuff here other than the table, internet, network, simple chairs, etc (basic stuff) was provided by the organisers!

Plus, very important point. A lot of girls are here too! infact I see as many girls as I see guys. There are pink computers, dolls, fuzzy balls, everything! people have small scooters to scoot around!

Most computers here have names too, I'm sitting one table away from Nazareth. Pirat Soft is a small group of people sitting in the middle somehere. There is zoyzat.org with a big banner. These arent companies these are people!

Oh I forgot to mention the Huge Coca Cola air filled ice skate hanging from the roof.

:)

its all good!


*** EDIT ***

Its 8am and I missed the sunrise again. Not because I didnt wake up in time, but because I was inside an olympic sized arena gaurding our 11 computers (8 of them on and displaying stuff). I am not alone, I'm here with a friend named Sverre, we are taking turns to sleep. I slept for a couple of hours and now he is.

I now, once again, feel the need to know norwegian. Partly because there were some people interested to know more about the competition who walked away upon hearing the sentence - "snakker du engelsk?" (which is the same as asking 'do you speak english'. and the other part of the reason behind my learning norwegian is that I wasnt able to get into many of the conversations because I was speechless. People dont like it when you are speechless all the time, its an appreciated act though its value comes from the fact that it is rare.

I often feel that when you are half awake and half asleep, you exist in multiple universes and this is the time that you can utilize to get what you want. You can be a superhero, since its quite easy to be one while you are dreaming! and You can make sure the things you do as a superhero are carried over into the real world, cause you werent really sleeping!

I like analogies, so here I shall make another one. Being half asleep is like achieving mental success. All you need to do to end today is close your eyes, and all you need to do to make your dream come true is do what you would in your dream! - of course, if you want to get something done, this is the wrong time to do it. Dreams never result in 5 page papers on computational benefits of hex against octal. Dreams on result in 'yes' or 'no', give or take, yours or mine, this or that - binary if yo uget the drift.

Those of you who feel dead and just want the day to end, when you are half asleep. You are correct. Your feelings to end the day are totally understandable, but they may or may not be affordable. The reason you are half asleep is because you didnt sleep, and people dont just give up sleep for fun! If you have something important to finish then I suggest taking a small nap and not trying turn into your alter ego - The MadTypist or somebody.

Productivity is at its least at all stages where the mind and body arent co-ordinating well enough, and as you may have guessed - yes!!! its true! my brain is trying to tell my fingers to stop typing - but my spine is doing all my thinking for now. so this is unavoidable.

(This is what happens when you learn to type fast, your eyesight is no longer required, hence no link to the brain)

Though my friends would claim that I never used my brain for what I wrote in the first place:)

...sleep.. need .. sleep... passing out in 3 2 (press publish)

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Whats this! 3 posts in 2 Days!! OMG!

:)

A friend sent me this link and I just had to do this!

Please click on this link http://kevan.org/johari?name=Gautam+Chandna

and tell me what I'm like!

It doesnt really help anyone but me either for helping my ego or fixing screwed up parts of myself.

Thanks!

What is a widget??

hmm.. sorry for not supplying that half of the information.

A widget is a program written using any web-technology (html, css, javascript.. etcetc)

It is bundled with 1 configuration file that defines its size (height 5cm width 6cm) and other properties.

This 'widget' (package of configuration file and html/css/javascript files) will run inside Opera Version 9 (the one that is under development and can be downloaded from http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/ )

When it runs, it will be a small box (the same size that you specified) that acts as a normal window on your computer screen - but doesnt have the [Program title bar _¦× ] on top and cant be re-sized.

Though you can right click it and force it to 'always be on top' or move into another screen called the 'widget desktop'

You can activate this widget desktop by hitting F6
(The whole screen turns semi transparent grey and presents all your running widgets on top of that screen)

Examples of widgets are

Simple Widgets
1. Analog Clock
2. Calculator

Informative Widgets
1. Displays news from a particular news site
2. Displays posts from your own blog

Interactive Widgets
1. English Dictionary
2. Weather forecast (enter your location, and it gives you the weather report)

Entertaining Widgets
1. Jigsaw Puzzles
2. Music player

Useful Widgets
1. Bus timings in Oslo, Norway
2. Periodic Table

and so on..

the possibilities are limited only by the internet - and that has limitless possibilities:)


-- Ofcourse, you would need to download a build of Opera 9 from http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/ to get the widgets to actually work! --

Monday, April 10, 2006

A computer worth $6000



The competition ends on Sunday the 16th of April.

All you need to do is - make a widget that impresses us:)


[The Gathering is the second largest computerparty in the world. Last year, 5500 visitors attended the annual event which takes place at Vikingskipet Olympic Arena in Hamar, Norway, and lasts for five consecutive days.]