Whew ! .. that was tough ..

Its been a long time since i wrote something on this blog .. a lot has happened between then and now .. finally today i have found some time to share all that went during that period on this blog .. but first of all cricket ... what an effort by the Pakistan team in test matches and then the 2nd and 3rd ODIs ... this team has got the nucleus to go places, only one worry is that Inzi won't be there in a couple of years and that when the real test of character will come in for the team ..

Now to the events between then and now .. well office has been tough with me trying to meet deadlines and release dates .. its really nerve rattling handling a combination of two projects and one product .. then now i have the additional responsibility of training the new QA guy that has been hired .. (why couldn't it have been a QA girl though :D ) ...

Moving on to studies .. had my MBA finals and report submission + presentation ... a complete 40 hours no-sleep marathon made it possible to submit a pretty good report and did quite well in the presentation as well .. The finals were a horrible time never got to really study well but then had a great start with a great maths final, in which it looks i might get 100% and my first 4.00 in MBA ... then the management final went sort of ok .. not too bad nothing too great .. but the Accounting final went horribly wrong as i panicked due to time shortage .. the result of that was not surprising as well .. 26.5 out of 40 :( .. and hopes of a good GPA in acccounting dashed at the last moment ..

From MS point of view .. finally managed to give my presentation last Friday .. and what a presentation it was .. just two of the senior most professors attending it .. for those who know them they were Zafar Nasir and Hilal Qureshi .. HQ kept on sleeping through the complete presentation .. only kept on nodding his head .. but at teh very end came up with a googly of a question and found me stunned .. to be fair i expected a lot of those questions but looks like lady luck, if there is sucha lady, smiled on me .. i am pretty confident that i would get an all clear for the research and thus will officially seal my MS degree ..

Now to the most important thing that happened on Saturday 26th Nov at around 9.30 am, i was walking from Allah wali chorangi towards my office and was passing through the Nursery furniture market. Two decent looking guys on a bike came towards me, stopped the bike and asked me when will the market open .. i replied i don't know .. then the guy at the back of the bike asked me to hand over the mobile .. i replied what ??? ... and then i was shown a gun and i had no other option but to hand over the mobile ..
I came to the office and called my father and told him about it .. the end redult of informing my father about it was that in two weeks time i had a new MotoRazr delivered to me by the SHO of the area where the incident had occurred ...

So all is well now .. i have gone through a tough period over the last couple of months .. i wasn't supposed to be in office this week as i was officially on leaves but due to the product release i decided to put off my leaves as well as my plan for Dubai visit ... i have the visa with me and have plans to take leave for 6-7 days next week ... might also go for the Dubai visit ..

Nonetheless in Dubai or Karachi .. i do need a break from all the hectic stuff ..

The Quake : After thoughts

Its been 12 days since the devastating earthquake in Northern Pakistan. There has been a new sense of nationalism within the people of this country, they all are trying to whatever they can to help out people in crisis. The government and army has been criticized, i also initially was among the critics but as the scences have unfolded i find myself to have done a bit more than they deserved. But one can excuse that bearing in mind the affect of this disaster on the very existenece of each soul in this country. Tsunami was a news from distant lands, this one was closer to the heart.
The army has been outstanding particularly the helicopter pilots. Capt. Faheem set the example sacrificing his life along with 5 other military personnel in order to carry out rescue and relief efforts in one of the most difficult terrains in the world.
Yes there are things that could have been done a bit quicker and a bit better. But then aren't there always such things in a perfect world.
There is sorrow, grief and hopelessness among it all but there are positives too. For first time in my life i have seen this nation put aside differences and get united. Although media has been a bit over the top in criticizing the government, but they too have played there part making the world realize the extent of this disaster.
Amid all disaster and sad tales you do get the ocassional story of hope and success when a child is rescued, parents meet up with children and lives saved in field hospitals.
May Allah give us courage, strength and belief to pass this test.

Devastation, Courage and Scoundrels

Sat 8th Oct. will always be remembered as a reminder of how in control of our lives we are, the death, despair and sorrow that was inflicted on this nation in a matter of minutes can not be forgotten. Its really terrifying to witness the images of people buried under piles of rubble, injured people crying in agony, father lifting the bodies of their dead sons, mothers looking in despair for their children. People of this nation yet again have shown their strength by arranging for relief activites and funds all on their own. The government though claiming to have done everything possible, infact have done nothing more than cry for help from foreigners. The Army though in many respects have done although not all of the army people deserves the praise. The BBC report last night showed a man alive burried in rubble with local people trying to help him out. At a near distance was a group of army soldiers strolling around, on inquiry by the reporter they told him they haven't got orders to start recovery operations. The BBC crew though forced them into rescuing the person.
The story of insensitivity of some of the people in this nation does not finish there, what about the people of Balakot doing all recovery on their own while military helicopters hover above and do nothing. Then there is the core commander of Peshawar claiming loss of 1000 life is not a big loss to fret over. Then what about the political parties playing their political games over this issue, setting up stalls to collect funds and attributing them to the contribution to the nation of their great leaders.
These are not the issues i am dissapointed at this is expected of our lethargic government, overfed army, power hungry political leaders and incompetent officers. The real issue that begriefs me further is the stance taken by many shopkeepers and transporters. The trucks that can be used to transport relief goods from Karachi to affected areas have raised their price from 10000 Rs. a trip to 60000 Rs.
The kafan which was sold at Rs. 150 has been raised to Rs. 275. Similarly, price of other items that people are buying to be sent to the needy have been raised.
This devastation has revealed to us once again the pitiful state that our country and society is in. We are a nation that is killing itself but for some reason unknown we still exist .....

Hourlies, DMP, Research and more

Finally nearing the end of the week for me .. its been a tough week .. i will have to include last saturday into it as well ...
It all started me visiting the organization i have to study for one of my courses in MBA. Then i went to meet my legendary research advisor who despite providing me the time of in between 2.00 -4.30 pm never showed up and yet again i wasted 2 hours waiting for him without any luck in getting over with my research survey... well i consoled myself by remembering that whatever happens is for a purpose ...
A busy Sunday with preparation for hourlies and goofing about ...
Then it was office worries regarding two projects i am on .. had a burst out with the Project Manager for the DMP project but at the end of week managed to pull off important achievements to discount out that .. one of the vital achievement was the discovery of a great article for resolving issues of ASP.net with FireFox .. for all my web developers friend here is the link
http://asptoday.com/Content.aspx?id=2339

Plan to start our ranking and fantasy cricket game site on ASP.net this sunday after finding this link.

Hourlies went quite well also though had a tough time in managing the preparations for them ...
One tough week over but there are sure a number more to follow ...

Back in Black

Finally i have it in my hands ... my very own MotoRazr V3 (Back in Black) ... its an awesome piece of hardware ... costed quite a lot but anyways i do deserve to spend a little on myself after all ...
Yes the first hourly results are out as well ... 16.25 in Management (thats above the average) and 18.5 in Accounting .. both out of 20 ... so things looking good on the MBA front as well ... Managing time itself though is getting harder each day.
Been thinking a lot and still thinking .. thinking about leaving about thinking ... but to think of that its hard not to think about thinking something ...
ok you got it nothing more to write ...

Election Selection an Lara

As the antivirus on my PC tries searching for any traces of Zotob virus .. i figured i have enough time to waste and to write another post ..
Got no specific topic in mind for this one ... as if i had one for any of the previous posts .... let me see whats going on around .. a graphic designer working on some site; a developer busy making last minute fixes before a release; another developer sitting idle and wondering what to do; .... oh yeah just spotted outside my window .. it was election day yesterday ...
Being the great supporter of the democratic process and a passionate patriot at the heart .. i did go to vote in the afternoon but after spending about 2 hrs me and my father were not able to find our names in the voter's list .. a week earlier my father had confirmed our names were in the list but come the election .. err selection ... day somehow mysteriously a large number of voter's name were gone .... thats what free and fair elections are i think ... you are FREE not to vote and the ruling party playing FAIRly evil by using all means to win ...
Leaving politics aside .. I am hooked to Brian Lara Cricket 2005 on PS2 right now .. as a result my MS is sill in incomplete status as my Research Survey remains unresearched so far ... and all my plans of catching up with IBA studies are looking quite unplanned ...
Damn .. sometime i wonder what the hell life is all about ... it used to be so good when I was in my student life .. i miss it .. sob ...

Finally .. The Day Comes

Its been a long time since i resigned from Algorithm and was sitting at home wondering whether that was a decision i might have to regret. But almost one year after that day it seems that all that happened in that episode was worth it. Today i got my increment .. and that increment was a real increase and also as much as i had anticipated.
It was a good day overall yesterday .. received a call from one of my best friends in USA .. and also another one from Islamabad .. contacted another old friend by the nickname of KB for a get together this weekend ...
Things are looking good and well and i hope the trend continues ...

F*R*I*E*N*D*S

You watch the sitcom Friends and wonder what makes it such a hit show which shows 6 people sharing various moments of their life together .. well it is a hit because it really portrays what friendship is all about sharing, helping out and enjoying life together.
I have experienced all those in last few days ... first up my friends Adeel and Abdullah proved their friendship yet again as just one phone call to each of them made it possible for me to arrange for some urgently needed money ..
Then there are always Aamir and Ibrahim at the office who i can always rely on and we all know how much we have enjoyed life at Aamir's place ... formerly known as our HQ ...
Today its the Valima reception of the closest friend of mine .. Farhan Khan aka KAKA , and btw thats not the Brazilian footballer ...
Today most of us will be there ... and once again will be enjoying ... at the expense of whom is still unclear :)

Déjà Vu

Just when i begin to feel settled and secure in my life ... there you go somebody is right next to me telling me how uncertain my future is ... for once i would like people to tell me that i am doing a good job with my life and things are turning out to be great for me ..
I personally thing that although i am doing a job which was not my number one priority i am happy with it ... I am almost done with my MS from one of the best places to do your Computer Science degrees and have secured my admission at one of the best ones for Business studies ..
things are all good and ok with my family and friends ... and getting better each day ...
hmm .. i guess one has to keep thinking about the positives that life has to offer and keep trying to make things better .. rest is upto the powers that be to try and deny or accept and give ..
All I need to do is listen from others and filter out what suits me .. so i guess i have to believe in my destiny and that whatever is happening right now will be something that i will be thankful for in the coming future ...