I was here ;-)

Well so getting married can sure put a huge dent in your social and personal life calender …and boy does it make you go about in circles…so anyways here i am with internet access for a limited time so i thought i’d drop a word or two just to let my ardent readers (yeah right )know that i am not dead hehe..just plain busy, putting make-up on my face and attending all those post wedding parties…whew that’s tiring…hope the blogging world’s all good..

Be back with something that makes sense a bit later, till then…pray for the people in Gaza, the sensitive Pak and India border conditions and yeah the intermittent quakes that are cming around the globe :-S Allah mian bless us all, aameen

A byte into “the real World…”

Note: The text ahead may make no sense whatsoever and tht’s pretty ironic since it’s all about logic….so if you’ll read ahead with a mind to understand something then think again

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Was listening to a team mate of mine as he explained how the different musical instruments were mixed after recording using that signal mixing console. I asked him about adjusting the ‘bass’ and ‘treble’ levels and that what in God’s name were those two knobs for.

He launched in on a summarized explanation of how the low, deep notes like that of drums are controlled by playing with the ‘bass’ while high pitched, shrill sounds sometimes like that of guitars are smoothed over by the ‘treble’…As he carried on about how the inputs should just match the range set for any of these or other options…my mind flicked through the graphs and figures in  Digital Signal Processing and the responses of various filters that we studied in them.

I smiled in spite of myself coz i had always loved those subjects that made logical sense   I remember i was in eternal awe of ‘Digital Logic Design’. A friend and I were making ‘4-way traffic signal’ for our DLD project and for the life of me i couldn’t understand how to convert the zeroes and ones into blinking , working lights…..until the journey from deciding logical states to truth tables, then equations and k-maps gave us our circuit…amazing!! the natural highs could be so damn exhilerating!.. The world of digital electronics has always mesmerized me because at the base of it lies the simple concept of presence or absence of a signal, very precisely timed. There is that software to hardware interfacing along with the tiny wonder machines called microprocessors and Digital signal processors that could do something as simple from sending a signal to an LED to acting as a complex speech transaltor… but at the base of these all lies the logic which tells when to or when not to send a signal.

In mathematics it’s a zero or one, in Computing a bit and in physical world a mere switch that turns on or off according to the defined patterns and that brings me to the wonder of having just the ‘right’ pattern…the proper sequence can regulate something as ordinary as accounting, tagging and shelfing of books to something as complex as booting of a pc…so at the apex of it or at the root of it all lies the sequence in which one command follows another.

I’m so keyed up now that i can’t even put together a decent and literarily respectable sentence to express my admiration for the magic, the tricks that logic and numbers are capable of…. I dont know if there is even a central idea to this post…it’s just a random set of words to pay my ode to virtual world of bits and frequencies that are making the companies run, control engineering the milk that goes into tetra packs, refreshing your monitor every fraction of a millisecond and ofcourse teaching u to be v careful and sure coz small mistakes in this environment mean big troubles in our world!!

Googl(E) talk!@|@

• Imagine …………sorry my imagination ran out and inspiration got buried somewhere so I leave you with nothing more than ‘Imagine’…….. and no This is not a tribute to John Lennon for his ‘Imagine’, I am not that well read into ‘Humanist Theory’ to actually start following it…

 

• Sometimes I wonder…..sorry to disappoint you people but I do have a brain, so I wonder…why do I have so many questions??? (Umm wasn’t that a question too? And this was also one?…yes they were questions!!) somewhere I once read:

‘It’s good to have some questions than all the answers!”……….but what good is having all questions and having an always questioning brain?? (Oh God…why do my statements always end with question marks?? …err )

 

• This 14^th August I saw places in Lahore decorated with blue lights…reminded me of 4^th of July instead…the bomb blast in Lahore just before the date changed to the Independence Day was so not worth having a blast !

 

• I saw the Lunar eclipse on 16^th umm say 17^th August…in the habit of watching the sky, had seen the full moon earlier that night and not being a newspaper licker, was totally unaware of the upcoming eclipse. At 2:00 am had gone out in the verandah of my Mamu’s place in Lahore and as usual looked up and to my utter horror saw a ‘Black’ Moon instead! It was a Stephen King moment…now it reminds me of his ‘Dolores Claibirne’, though it relived a solar eclipse

 

• Time is relative..that much was found by Einstein….man he sure had a lot of it to spare I think but dare anyone else say anything to the honorable scientists and mathematicians…I hold them in high reverence and esteem. So time passes and then you miss the stupidest things…time can stand still too…in ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens a jilted bride holds it forever for the same instance…nah not in mood to narrate how

 

• Carpe Diem! Whatever…right now I am too lazy and uninspired to even hold the day’s hand let alone seize it…hehe I am making no sense and yet I know if you’ll sit back and think senseless such thoughts will naturally pop up.

 

• Having Ideas is a good thing, as the tagline of a brand says: “an Idea! can change your life” I agree…good ideas are worth having…not so good ones can be made better however the evil ones can be slept over….but first we need to know these various types…

 

• In an E test that I took I scored 1% less than the average for ‘Face Recognition” and 4% less than the average in ‘Placement of the faces I recognized”…….God my memory is developing leaks very fast L…but have never been good in remembering faces however oddly I remember people themselves for always and ever…strange brain of mine :-S

 

 

• In a movie a lady once said: “G—- Dear, do not speak until you can improve the silence!”……..I think should follow the advice and shut up…:-)

 

Bidding farewell!

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Along came a Spider!

They said the advent of technology was supposed to get everyone connected and make life more relaxed….hehe but from what i see this networking thingy has got everyone webbed in to be forever more busy….no nobody has an excuse for not bieng able to work since they did not go to office….what the heck is the online Sharepoint repository for!!! …you should have just logged in with the account and have had a live conferencing with your peers.

You were not able to get your assignment done because you were sick, no problemo, email it just before the clock strikes midnight and the magic of this byting world will save you from the evils of an ‘F‘

You would just be glad to be lost in the wild, mad rush of the world but the ring ring of the tiny cellphone is the muse’s song that will have you hit the jetty of reality in 1 min flat, what with all the call rates being per min or per sec based. Yeah no wonder this tiny oracle of the modern world gives you a thousand and one excuses to be not there where you are supposed to be…but still you are connected and you cannot live without it neither live with it!

And yet when it has become so diffcult to run away from each other we are all so lonely or a bit lost atleast…no GPS to find the mind’s peace really…if  this or could tell the depths of moods then no wonder the computer would be a wonder machine but it’s so ironic that when we have to exchange small niceties with our neighboring colleagues we open up a chat session on VYpress and send an IM:

[3:41 PM] PS & QM – Rabia Sameem [533]:
AoA
[3:41 PM] PS & QM – Rabia Sameem [533]:
hru :)
[3:42 PM] ET-SAMRA [437]:
f9:) wht abt u?

 

Yeah people we are very busy coz we gotta make life easier for people so they can have a smart interface to communicate with machines..no miscommunications and no flawed protocols can be allowed when working a machine.. Why machine language isn’t very convenient to understand, now is it??

Who’s the machine btw, the smart humanoids or them…umm this question is no more in the boolean domain now…better search the Fuzzy logic:-P

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The numbing Numbers!!:-@

I am telling you if there is anything more irritating than a druggie staring at you with his red,  dazed eyes….it is the adjusting of the numbering lists in MS Word 2003!!! :-@

Just when you think you’ve figured out how to adjust the format, it goes ahead and totally messes the preceding sequences….and that you’ve checked the option askig it to restart the list and adjusted the numbers according to the levels….Aarghhh!!

It’s not the documentation itself that takes much time but the formatting that can drive you up the wall hehe no wonder with the clock showing it to be 6:17pm I have shifted into a cranky mode …….but anyways it’s undoing the tangles that makes us the experts now ain’t it??

Btw people check this out it’s a site which got its name after they were unable to register as inbox.com since this domain name was already taken it’s a free download site which can greatly help you organize your outlook inbox, esp if you are being bombarded with emails every now and then.

Thanks to Mr. Salman, a colleague and Team mate of mine at office, for sharing this little tool

YEah if anyone’s interested I’ve got its setup and manual with me as well, throw me an email I’ll send it to you  

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Just a Note!

As it is I have been very lazy in answering to the comments that I get….Umm i hope you people won’t mind and keep on commenting…that is IF you want to

Please don’t think that i have been abducted by aliens….nopse, just too much workload and blah blah blah

 

BUT I WILL be answering to all the comments, sooner than soon after all the weekend’s finally here

YAY!!

 

 

P.S I opened Google to search the pic in the post below which btw I picked from www.deviantart.com and noticed the google logo in this futuristic, zig zag font in flouroscent colors

OBVIOUSLY i put my cursor on it and i found that Google is commemorating:

Invention of the FIRST LASER!!

“I’ll wait for you…..forever!!”

XY asked: “Will you be willing to cross to the other side of the world with me?”

XX said: “Ofcourse dear! b..bb…but…..”

XY quickly interjected: “Oh I know! I know dear…I’ll never rush you!!”

…………..

No Wonder!!

 

 

The soup and ‘ Macchar’

 I have a huge fan following…..almost all of whom fall in the age range of 6mths till 11 years….as for the grown ups…let’s just say …I manage to survive.

So last night I had the pleasure of company of a 4 year old, who shares my name and probably makes me like me name a bit better….I like to think she was named after me…hehe “Dil kay khush rakhnay ko Ghalib ….” Anyways she was there talking about her little things with my little sister, who looked like a full grown child in front of her , however when I decided that I want to be the one to cook soup the little girl decided to keep me company in the kitchen.

I have a great love for soups and that is half of the reason, people, even my own parents do not prefer taking me to buffets….but love can’t be helped…it happens(especially if it’s as delicious as a bowl of hot, chicken and vegetable soup ) And since I like soup so much, I can cook it pretty well as compared to my standard cooking….on which I am not about to elaborate.

As I let the frozen stalk to melt, little Rabia asked me:

” Rabia Baji…..aap k ghar macchar aata hai? “

Me: “Jee baby bilkul aata hai…bohot ganda hota hai”

Little Rabia ” Acha …meri jo aunty hain na..unhon nay tou khud hii machar bana liya tha! “

Me: “Wow!! Kaisay banaya tha…apko pata hai?”

Little Rabia “Jee…unhon nay pehaly paani liya aur usko boil kiya aisay hee….”

She pointed at me mixing the stalk and chicken with a ladle….

Little Rabia “Phir cheeni lee aur  usko gol gol ghumaya zor say”

I listened to her as I mixed some stalk into cornflour and made it into a paste….I added the paste to the simmering  suspension of stalk, chicken and sweet corn kernels, meanwhile she continued…

Little Rabia “Aur phir dair  tak ghumayaa aur bann gaya machhar!!!”

She told me the last news triumphantly and I uttered my usual interjection “Oh Wow!….Chalo phir hum aik din machhar banayain gay” I told her as I added the  finely chopped cabbage and carrots in my soup and then went on to break and slightly beat an egg.

Little Rabia “Jee…hum banayain gay phir who urray ga “

He sounded more than happy at the thought and I felt sick internally at the supposition….but I smiled nonetheless and went onto add the egg in my almost done soup….

Little Rabia” Yeh kya hai…yeh kyun daal rahay hain?”

And as I explained her the complexities of making a dish of soup the little one forgot all about making a ‘macchar’…..ah such is the serenity of childhood, nothing occupies the mind more than it absolutely has too…with kids around….”Life’s GooD!”

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But as for the recipe of making a soup and a ‘macchan’,  I think what an odd combination it is, one thing I dearly like and the other one, almost drives me to the verge of becoming a ‘Phoolan devi’….almost but not quite …and I so do NOT like the ‘macchars’ in my mouth…the memories of ‘macchar in mouth’ have definitely not been pleasant

letting off steam

Just a thought which struck…

when you are frustrated and angry and just about to snap, you can go ride a very fast moving roller coaster or some such in an amusment park, where it’s all right to scream your lungs out just for the heck of it…..so to let the burst of emotions out you can not only scream but have a hell of a lot of fun too for speed along with fresh air is absolutely exhilerating.

Did you Macleans your teeth today?

  It was beautiful sunny day and I was lounging leisurely on the settee while talking this and that with my mother. Suddenly she exclaimed very excitedly:

“Oh yes Rabia I remember yesterday while reading the news paper I read this news which said that scientists have discovered after ten or twelve years of research that people with teeth problems tend to have memory problems.” She stopped for a second and then continued: “I don’t exactly remember it but yes it was something like this.” She delivered this news which as much cheek as it gave me a sudden attack of the blues.

“But Amma that’s terrible! You know how my gums bleed all the time and how my teeth have become weak…Oh no I’ll have Alzheimer with time” I whinnied and was most distressed…and when my Mother asked me right after that what I had thought about that fabric she had showed me the other day, I instantly replied:

                       “I wouldn’t remember, I have problematic teeth!”  

I had prided myself in having the best, strongest and the healthiest teeth in the family. Ones that you crunched the walnut shells with until I grew into a young lady and gave upon my milk consumption and proteins etc. To top it all, I have a maddening craze for those super white, Colgate Ad teeth…I have a fear of giving a yellow or even the off white smile but unfortunately my bones are not really milky white. So I took it upon myself to defy the law of nature and brush my teeth with such ferocity as someone rubbing off some nasty stain from clothes with no Surf Excel at his disposal. My poor teeth couldn’t stand such show of efficiency and temper and eventually my gums have become too soft, they bleed at the slightest excuse. Now I use a brush used by little kids, with small, soft tendrils and even a dragon tail!

 As I recounted these facts, I was reminded of my bouts of absentmindedness:

• I go open the fridge door and stand staring at its contents trying to think that what in the God’s name had I come to fetch. A good second or two lapse before the real reason comes limping to my brain and I grab an apple, or coke bottle or whatever it is I had come for. Imagine how many mips a mere silicon processor has done with before I carry out mine one.

• Sometimes I completely forget why I went someplace that I did, I go in the kitchen get a deep cool drink of water and come back settle myself comfortably on the sofa when suddenly at the exact same time I find the most perfect position to sit, someone’s voice rings out loud and clear: “Rabia ” or “Baji” “I asked for water?” God help me. Or at other times which is much more painful is that I go up to my room, splash my face with cold water, pick a comic or something and then come back down but as I step on the last step, my mom instantly reminds me that I was supposed to fetch her something or else from upstairs….aarghhhhh!

• At another instant I remember once sitting in the car and after putting the gear into Drive, I picked up my foot from the brake…but to no avail, the car didn’t even purr let alone start moving. I looked at Lubz and she at me, we were already late to reach the hotel as it was and now the car was giving us trouble? And then my brother who had gotten off at that point after driving us thus far came around and said, with a catch in his voice: “Baji…gaari chalanay kay liyay chabi bhi tou ghumani hoti hai na!” huh?…but not to undermine myself I did drive myself safely back home that night

• Also the worst condition is when I look and look, long and hard at a question in a quiz or an exam and I, for the life of me cannot recall what the answer to it is even though I had clearly fed it into my mind’s database. Very, very sadly at the most crucial of times somehow the pointer to my dynamic linked list is set to null at runtime…a fatal error, debugging requires a lot of time and time is what I don’t have

And all along I had thought this all happened because I was a notch too careless at times, lost in my own world and probably because I don’t take the vital vitamins and iron required by the growing, young people but no…. never had I thought that all my forgetfulness, sudden flashes of lucidity and then the fog of  uncertainty are the result of  the bacteria digging a hole in my premolar and because my poor gums have become too soft…. all because my natural DENTURES ARE FAULTY!!!

Now this was one problem I couldn’t help but sink my teeth into!