Sunday. Snore…..

Been a bit of a weird week.

Star Trek Voyager wrapped around, and started from episode 1. The difference is phenomenal – all characters seem to be made of cardboard, and the storylines are too corny to be true. Having just seen the last episode of the series, I could really appreciate how much the characters developed themselves over the years.

The captain is unbelievable. That hairdo, that attitude, that (aaaarrrrgghhhhhh!!!!) SciFi attitude.

The biggest change (apart from the fact that there is no 7of9) is The Doctor. Oh *man*, I can’t believe that this is the same character! This grouchball, anti-social misfit turns into what we knew as the Doctor in later years? Wow!

The office got shampooed yesterday – the carpeting was in a really bad shape. Looking at it after these guys finished cleaning it, I am stunned. The blues are blue again, the browns are brown. Whew!

Music scene continues to be solo. With Mrinal moving to the dark side of the moon, Gaurav testing Dell delivery vans for impact resistance with his head and Sony without his distortion pedal (he claims that he can’t play without one), I guess I am doomed to jamming with my PC.

A friend of mine recently bought a Guitar Multi-FX unit with “my” help (actually, I just passed on the query to Mrinal, then forwarded his answer back to my friend . He isn’t much of a rock musician, but he was very happy with some of the non-rock effects he got out of the box, including reverb, delay, flange and wah. He is currently sitting on my (mostly bust) wah-wah (an old Crying Baby), and he says that this unit he bought (a Zoom GFX-707 at $125) comes very close.

This sounds like something I want. Mrinal had once suggested that I should buy one, but seeing how these boxes are used by most people (distortion set to stun – fire!), I couldn’t see myself needing one. But now, with a bust reverb unit, I may even look at one, if for no other reason that it is cheaper than buying a standalone reverb unit here in India!

Anjali joins some Tennis coaching classes today, and I have to drag myself off to some inaugural function in Cubbon Park. I *hate* social dos, but I guess I have to go. I hope they throw me out seeing my beard!

Update: Thanks to our driver ditching us in the last moment (and my hating to drive in the dark), Shubha and Anjali went with our neighbours, and I remained at home, without power.

Sat out on the lawn reading a few episodes of Star Trek Voyager Virtual Season 8. This stuff is *really well written, and I highly recommend it.

After a while, I noticed Judo looking bored. Went out for a walk, dropped in on Foodworld (Germans – that is the equivalent of Aldi here) and bought Judo a nice chewbone made of hide, for 75 bucks.

He demolished it completely in 30 minutes.

Hmmm…

Well, last night, Voyager came to an end.

Part II of “Endgame” was a bit of a letdown as well – it looks like the script writers were in a big hurry to get it over and done with. Apart from Ensign Kim’s speech on loyalty and duty, there was really nothing overly memorable there, and having Chakotay take the helm for the final run home was completely out of character – the captain should have asked 7 or Kim to do that for maximum effect, and in recognition of their very special positions in the series (Kim with his “bottom of the heap, never rising” and 7 for … well … obvious reasons).

Ah well, tonight, the wrap-around happens and I get to see how it all started. In the meanwhile, for those of you who just *need* your daily Voyager fix, and want new stuff, head for Voyager Virtual Season project where you can read new episodes, starting from where Voyager ended last night. Even available in Palm-friendly format.

And for those of you who really need an unconventional Voyager fix – click here.

I have started assembling specs for my new home PC, meant to become my audio studio as well as virtual band. Dual processor, a gig of RAM, at least 100 GB of disk storage, high-end audio equipment, etc. Since this will also be my single-point entertainment center, a TV card and DVD drive will also be part of the lineup, as will a CD Writer. A Cambridge Quad-audio setup should complete the system, along with my faithful 17″ Samsung SyncMaster monitor that has been keeping me company for more than three years now.

Speaking of monitors – it always amazes me how little attention people pay to them when buying equipment. Most people do not realise that unlike a PC, a monitor will be around for a long time. A PC can be upgraded over time, a monitor not. We are going through a purchase process at the office right now, and maximum weightage has been given towards good monitors. In fact, if everything will go as planned, the monitors will cost more than the machines they are being bought for.

Proof of that particular pudding can be seen in my own monitor. I have a Samsung SyncMaster 700p Plus monitor, and have found *no* reason to change it for anything else over the years. At 17″, it is the right size for me (19″ is too big and power hungry for me, 15″ is too small), supports great refresh rates (even at 1600×1200 it can do 75 KHz) and has a display so clear that it will take a lot to make me give it up.

Tomorrow is *yet* another holiday, so maybe I can apply some thought to the annual family vacation.

Argh!

Saturday, both the phone lines at home died. So no connectivity *at all* over the weekend! Life is cruel!

Yesterday, watched part 1 of “Endgame” – the conclusion of the Startrek Voyager series. Having read the episode story before, I frankly expected a bit more – this was one case of the post-episode writeup being better than the actual episode! IAC, hopefully, things will pick up today.

It is amazing how many people took the trouble of SMSing me just as the episode was starting, to make sure that I didn’t miss it. From what I can see, I got SMSs from Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. Thanks guys!

Did some ‘accounting” and figured out that there are some 90+ Voyager episodes I haven’t seen (thanks to a moron for a cable operator), but only 20 or so are 7of9 episodes. Actually, the first Voyager episode I got to see (when our cable operator finally saw the light) was the one where 7 joins Voyager!

Reports from Delhi are that a certain hopeless Voyager addict is already writhing with withdrawal symptoms. He has been scouring the net for substitutes, and has been coming up with some interesting links. Unfortunately, my daughter reads this diary of mine, and therefore I cannot post those links here.

Speaking of diary – Anjali and I had an argument about whether this is a diary or a journal. The dictionary defines a diary as “a daily record, especially a personal record of events, experiences, and observations; a journal”, so my calling this a diary is correct English. I also prefer this to distinguish it from what some people think of when they say “journal”.

I also spent some time in the basement yesterday, catching up on some music practice by myself. There are times when I sound bad, and there are times when I sound good. After sweating off almost a kilo (or so it felt) practicing difficult chord changes and vocal gymnastics, I can honestly say that yesterday, I sounded good. *Very* good. I was very pleased with myself.

But I need to do something about my echo/reverb. It cannot be used with a guitar anymore because it goes into buzz mode. And I like it when my guitar(s) have a bit of echo/reverb to them. Voice is not an issue – ol’ Junko works great for singing.

Update: Friend PKR, currently in the Dallas, USA, is trying to rectify the above issue for me. Am holding breath!

Exciting. I manage to update the diary only once a week these days! Bad!

The eye infection went away rapidly after we figured out it was really a small boil – when treated, it quickly went away. Hurray for antibiotics!

Had the April meet of the Bangalore Linux User Group today. After a long time, we were back in the Ashraya. Excellent food (Channa-Bhatura, piping hot!).

I gave a little presentation on using Windows programs under Linux. Didn’t go too well – halfway through the talk, MS Office decided to barf on me. Don’t think I made too good an impression.

Watched the penultimate “solo” episode of Startrek Voyager. One more tomorrow, then the two-part Endgame, and that’s it.

But there is hope. I just sneaked a peak at Hallmark’s site, and found out that they are wrapping around to Episode 1 on Tuesday. This is good for me, because thanks to a completely braindead cable operator, I missed the first two seasons. Now I get to see them, and also catch those episodes I had missed inbetween. Hurray!

Kittens are growing – sizewise and closer. Not good. Sharada (our woman Friday – and Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday) has offered to take them both. Going to be a heartbreak for both my women and our cat, though I am sure Judo will be happy to be the center of attention again.

Speaking of Judo – he turned one year old on the 18th. So he is officially no longer a puppy, though he sure behaves like one.

Yesterday, I went with Mrinal to his college to watch Phenom practice. Nice band, very tight, but their equipment really lets them down. Imagine being forced to share one small 40 watt amp between the lead and rhythm guitar *and* the keyboard! And *no* mixer! No working mikes! No earth on the power sockets! Heck – my basement is better equipped than that!

Sadly, Mrinal moves out of the neighbourhood tomorrow to his new home near the college. That’s all the way across town – way too far to expect him to drop in on impulse, so I guess I am out of a musical sparring partner. :’(

If you are musically inclined, like my kind of music, live in or around my area and like jamming on Sundays and holidays, preparing for nothing in particular except having some fun, let me know.

On a lighter note – ads have started appearing in the papers for the Deep Purple concert in Mumbai and Goa. The ads confirmed that DNA really needs to have their heads examined.

After the fiasco of the Roger Waters show where they ripped off thousands of 1500 and 900 buck ticket holders (they could not hear or see a thing for the most part), they advertise the show with a contest asking which band Jon Lord belongs to, giving a choice of three bands, with DP being one of them. The photos in the ad and also on the site show JL at the keyboards.

The hilarious part is – JL left Deep Purple a while ago and will not be part of the tour! He has been replaced by Don Airey.

And of course none of the DNA advertising lets you know this. What a rip-off!

I am glad that I caught the tour last year. Though it was the worst organised show I had ever attended, I did get to see JL perform magic. That long classical prelude to “Perfect Strangers” was sheer genius, performed by one.

I feel so old.

Eye infection still keeps me occupied painfully. Yesterday I went to office, which appears to have been a mistake, since I woke up this morning with my right eye swollen shut.

As Gopi pointed out, with me being one-eyed, and a mate named Shubha, one wonders how long it will be before people make an LTTE connection….

Finally got a mini-LAN into place at home. The battle for machines was getting a bit too much, so brought home a hub that allows me to connect my notebook to Anjali’s XP machine. XP can now route and share Internet connections, so we are sort of content for the moment.

The week has been boring as such. The highlight was the incredible number of pageviews that my Roger Waters show review was experiencing from all over the world, easily becoming the most visited page on my site (and that means a lot, given the already high traffic I get). Much of it is because of a link from the official tour website that was placed under latest news. Also a lot of traffic coming in from GigPad. And now someone from the Rave Magazine seems to think I should be writing for them.

Hmmmm….

Kittens are growing fast, and soon it will be time to find homes for them. Still don’t have any decent photos of them, largely due to laziness (not entirely on my side!). Should happen soon. In the meanwhile – if anyone is looking for an extremely healthy and active female kitten in Bangalore, let me know.

Zero music. Mrinal appears to be busy with college and Cryptic work, and in any case, he is moving to the moon soon. Also, my echo/reverb unit is again buzzing like a demented bumblebee everytime I plug a guitar in, so no fun. The problem is – my last two attempts of locating a reasonable echo/reverb unit in Bangalore met with total failure. You can get any number of distortion and multi-fx pedals, but a simple echo/reverb? Bah!

Friends at LiveJournal seem to have given up. I guess people are now slowly beginning to understand the difference between a journal and a mailing list. I continue to be glad about my decision *not* to have a comments/discussion area on my site – I don’t want my diary to look like a Linux India or FSF-India mailing list!

Speaking of Linux India – friend Thaths got himself coverage in Linux Journal, courtesy Fred Noronha. Good for him – he was really a hard working guy in the early days of Linux India.

However, I take *serious* issue with his statement “My one single lost opportunity would be not registering LI as an official nationwide non-profit organization. I think for a brief moment during LI’s existence, there was a window of opportunity for the creation of a nation-wide body.” It completely glosses over the real facts of the case – that the attempt failed because no one (apart from a few core people) supported it. I didn’t support it either (in fact carry most of the blame for scuttling it), largely because I was totally against the Linux community being turned into (and being used as) a political body. Heck, even the mailing list that was supposed to discuss the registration process and form the charter was *secret*, with the community not allowed to see what was being planned *or* participate in the process!

I recently met Thaths when he dropped in at Linux Bangalore/2001 (in fact the photo in the article seems to be from there), and he certainly does not seem to carry a grudge about this, and remains as likable as ever. Pity that he lives in the US – he would have been able to achieve so much for the community, had he been in India.

Speaking about the “community” – I have a few thoughts on that. I guess I should document them at some point.

But not today.

No updates because I am suffering from an eye infection, and it is rather painful.

Don’t speak to me.

I can’t hear you.

Can’t feel you.

Am comfortably numb.

Read all about the Roger Waters’ concert here.

And yes, there were some negative points as well – but mostly with the organisation of the show, not the performance. I am writing those up as well and will post them as a separate note, linked to the review.

Now stop IM/SMS/email/calling me! I can’t hear ya!

One of those days. Nothing went right in office, and by lunchtime, I had a sinusitis to kill me. Went home.

Still no pictures of the kittens, though they have now been moved into a secure and shaded balcony where the dog can’t get at them, but the cat can. They are getting more adventurous by the minute, and it won’t be long before they figure out a way move out of the secure haven they are in now.

Judo seems to have resigned himself to his fate for the moment, and in any case – it is far too hot to chase cats and kittens around.

A little project I have been working on hit a roadblock when something that I had hoped would happen this weekend didn’t. Life sux.

Tomorrow is finally RW-day – Roger Waters hits town in all his glory. I suspect life will never be the same.

Mrinal, Gopi and me were in splurge mode, so we have tickets for up front, the “Blow your eardrums and your mind” 2500 bucks class. Reading the reviews of the tour so far, it is clear that we are in for a treat. A review of the show will appear here on Sunday.

To get warmed up, Mrinal, Gaurav and me are planning a minor jam session tomorrow morning. Would have been a major jam session had everything else worked out, but it didn’t.

OK, time to get some rest. With young girls poking fun at us hapless middle-aged guys, we need all the rest we can get.

The big news of the day:

Early this morning, Shubha suddenly screamed from downstairs, urging me to come down *immediately*. I fell out of bed and down the stairs, to see…

Honey the Cat in the drawing room, with her two kittens!

Finally!

One of them looks exactly like Honey, the other one is orange/brown like (what we guess is) her father. Very active beasts, and they quickly got named Misty and Tangy. Tangy promptly got stuck behind the cupboard in the drawing room, and had to be rescued.

I tried taking photos, but Honey wasn’t having any of that. After taking a vicious swipe at Judo (who is now firmly convinced that the world is coming to an end), she carted the kittens off into Anjali’s bedroom, and hid them.

More news when I manage to take some photos.

Not much news otherwise for today. Three days before the Roger Waters show, and I can hardly wait.

So ya
Thought ya
Might like to go to the show
To feel the warm thrill of confusion
That space cadet glow
I’ve got some bad news for you sunshine
Pink* isn’t well he stayed back at the hotel
And they sent us along as a surrogate band
And we’re going to find out where you fans really stand
–In the Flesh (Roger Waters)

*Note the dripping sarcasm!

Hmmm, been a bad boy. Been absconding from diary maintenance since Friday.

Not that anything major has been happening. The office is duely airconditioned, and it is finally possible to work again without dissolving in a sorry-looking puddle. I function much better at 22 degrees Centigrade than at 35.

Lots of photographs over the weekend – check out Mutts 2, where Judo and girlfriend Mona take centerstage. In case you are trying to figure out who is who – the one on the ground with a silly looking look on his face as Mona dominates him completely is Judo.

Did some work on cleaning up the sound from the video of Phenom’s participation at the MCC competition earlier this year. Broke the 12 MB MP3 down into smaller parts, added fade-ins/outs, and sent them to Mrinal, who has put them up here.

Phenom reminds me – met Gaurav online today. Good to know that he is recovering. He’ll have to miss the Roger Waters show – his leg won’t take any standing on for a while, but maybe he will be in a shape to jam again soon.

Had an interesting discussion with him regarding perceptions of what defines a “real” band. He had a real life example of Mrinal playing for a “pro-quality” band like Cryptic as well as for what Noella calls a “college band”. For Gaurav, Cryptic is a real band, Phenom is not.

I disagree with that.

There is no doubting that Cryptic is a great band. But that does not make an amateur band, with its members in college, a band that is any less “real”.

There are two reasons for a band’s existence: to enjoy themselves playing their music, and for others who watch and listen to them to enjoy it was well. As long as you qualify on the first count, you are a “real band”. And if you qualify on the second count, that’s a bonus.

Face it – some bands want to go on to become the next Pink Floyd/Yes/Rush/whatever, with all the trappings of commercial success such as CDs published, tours, etc.

But some bands just want to have fun. They want to get together and make music together, and want their friends and fans to enjoy their performances if possible. The best fun does not come out of a 90 minute gig on stage but out of hours and hours of practice, rolling on the floor laughing as someone muffs his or her lines, figuring out chords to a difficult number, playing a song and (hopefully) finishing all at the same time.

In the long run, these “fun” bands are the ones that get the most out of the experience. And they, and their experiences, are very, very real.