This is to let you know that the thing that has been bugging me all of these past two weeks is now history.

It is a long and painful story, and it is going to take a while to write, so I will not be putting it here in the diary, but will put it up as a separate article on this site. As this is also destined for publication, it may take a couple of days for me to get clearance for putting it up here, so hold on there. I can guarantee that it will change the way you think of some technology, products, people and companies.

In the meanwhile, I am gearing up to be productive again. But not this weekend – I am currently bachelor, with wife and kid away in Hubli for a family function.

Tomorrow, I stay at home. It has been weeks since I did any decent music, and tomorrow I intend to make up at least partially for this. Mrinal is in the middle of exams, so I won’t bother him – I guess it is just me, my equipment and a sequencer

Mrinal was talking about this fabulous multi-track hard disk recording thingy for Linux that is supposed to put Protools to shame. Problem is that it hates the sound card in my current system at home (an old AWE64), so I guess it is about time to order a new card.

These days, I have been watching Star Trek:Voyager more often than I should. After the sometimes serious look at humanity in Star Trek:TNG, Voyager is a bit of a let down, focussing more on corny, unreal situations (and way too little on Jeri Ryan’s anatomy . The story lines suck ostrich eggs, but what can I say? Hallmark Channel shows ST:VOY twice a day, 5 days a week! And I am a sucker for SciFi!

Fabmart is currently off my recommended list. Despite all good intentions, these guys have screwed up badly with their revamp, and the number of complaints I have been hearing (coupled with my own painful experiences) is not funny. It is clear that this switchover to the new system has not gone well. The new site is behaving seriously weird – searches don’t work, there is still no “One Search to Find Them All” across departments, the customer data management is totally haywire, 90% of their inventory seems to be out of stock, and the ordering system is kaput. Period.

I hate it when good guys with good intentions go and break a good thing. I definitely preferred the old system – at least it worked.

If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear-stained eyes
Don’t be surprised when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet
You slip out of your depth and out of your mind
With your fear flowing out behind you
As you claw the thin ice

–”The Thin Ice”, Pink Floyd