Nikhil.Net

Herein lie the stories sung of Nikhil when the world was young.

12-31-2001

Prepare for the end of the Millenial Year. Greets go out to Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary writer.

12-20-2001

My boss got some of us these little guns that launch foam discs. The launcher is cool, but makes annoying sounds. So, I opened it up and desoldered the leads from the speaker. My next upgrade? Perhaps a cheap laser pointer? NO!

I think I'm going to upgrade the launch motor to make it shoot faster. Then, I'd like to add a two-stage trigger, so that the gun will spin up just before firing, rather than relying on the user to flip the motor switch on. The faster motor will help spin-up time also.

This is what engineering is all about.

12-19-2001

So I saw Lord of the Rings, part 1. As The Continental would say, "Wowie-wow--wow-wow!" The movie was shot beautifully, had seamless special effects (including accurate specular lighting on skin) and good acting. It was just damn cool to actually SEE the things I'd imagined on the screen, like the Balrog.

Some parts were clipped from the book in the interest of time, but were not abandoned (for example, there was an introductory segment).

The movie is long, so be prepared. Before I tell you how long it is, let me just say that it is paced well, and it leaves you wanting more. That being said, the movie is over 3 hours long, so wear comfortable clothing and adopt a good posture from the start.

My gripes:

I think the knock-down, drag-out fight between Saruman and Gandalf was over the top. Plus, I don't think it was at all related that way in the book.

Sam Gamgee seems to be of a lot tougher stuff than Frodo. In the books, it is not until the second half of The Two Towers before Sam really comes into his own.

Elrond was shown as easily annoyed and was rather brisk in a dialogue with Gandalf. I thought he was more of a gentle lord type. Then again, he's thousands of years old and helped fight Sauron in the original war (with Isildur).

12-17-2001

I want a Segway HT scooter. Actually it's not a scooter at all. I'm willing to do whomever I have to, in order to get this.

12-15-2001, part deux

Company Christmas dinner day today. Don't call it a party - it's a dinner. Whatever. Anyway, no bonus for us this year. :(

12-15-2001

My goddamn monitor exploded!!!

Well a pretty large capacitor did, anyway. Made a hell of a loud pop! It was a Radius L-1 19" monitor. Anyway, it's under warrantee, so I guess they'd better send me a new one. Annoying thing though - Miro Displays (Radius) was bought by KDS, so hopefully they'll step up to the plate on this one.

12-10-2001

The random quote is now displayed with a snazzy background color. Ooooh! Aaaah!

12-09-2001

Ach! The Illuminati are out to get me! Ach!!!

12-08-2001

I need an 18V DeWalt cordless Drill/Driver. Anyone wishing to donate one, please contact me.

12-05-2001, part deux

It has occurred to me that I'd love to talk to my old friends from high school and college.

If you want to reach me, e-mail me at old_friends@nikhil.org. I hope to hear from a lot of you!

12-05-2001

My friends, I apologize for the total blackout on updates to this site for the month of November. I've had lots of things going on and just lost track of what I needed to do.

In any case, I will try not to let it happen again. A quick update on things going on:

I have almost hit 800 SETI packets

We had a safety problem at home that almost resulted in major injuries, but thankfully did not. For security reasons, information is on a want-to-know basis. If you want to know, e-mail me.

I am still overworked and underpaid. Wow. Real news flash there.

My 1400 is now my daily use computer. I am still trying to get ABIT to own up to the capacitor problem that resulted in the death of my Athlon 750 system. However, I am trying to pull that data across slowly to the new system.

I bought the Saitek X45 joystick/throttle combo. Why? I can't wait for Thrustmaster's HOTAS Cougar coming later this month. Also, I don't have $300 to spend on it. But get this: Saitek will not have Win2000/XP programming software until mid-2002!!! WTF?!?!?