The Road to Laptop

Finally I got it! The laptop!! Well, it didn’t come without its (what I think in a way is somewhat fair) share of hassle. I ordered one using the SBI Vishwajatra card online. I got a confirmation email and everything looked fine. But after 2 days I got another email stating there was a verification problem with the credit card company and my order had been cancelled. Well, I already knew there could be some problem regarding the billing address, so gave it another shot, this time using the debit card of a senior guy. Then I waited and waited for 5 days before checking the status. To my utter annoyance, the order had been cancelled again. The guy whose card I had used got a call for a confirmation of the shipping address. He didn’t know the address and gave my number for confirmation. This somehow convinced the company agent that it was a fraud order. I have had enough of ordering online and finally went to the store to pick up a machine on my own. So in Diwali of 2006, I got my first laptop. It’s a HP Pavilion 15.4” Widescreen Notebook PC (DV6119US).

The Call

The scene is set in my room. Saturday morning. I am in deep sleep after a round of partying last night. Suddenly the cell phone starts ringing.

Voice: Koushik?

Me: Yes

Voice: @#@$$@!$ (I don’t understand & don’t reply)

Can I speak to Koushik? (Confused a bit)

Me: Ya, speaking.

Voice: Hi Koushik, this is Sudip here.

(I have a friend named Sudip but why the hell should he talk to me in English)

Me: Which Sudip?

Voice: Suuuudiiiiiip (He can’t believe that I don’t recognize him).

And then it strikes me …. Guess what? He is my advisor.

Me: Oooooooooo (I should have said sorry and apologized and all but I was unable to find the right words may be due to alcohol jamming)

Voice: Are you sleeping?

Me: Yes.

Voice: Sorry to disturb you on Saturday morning but I need your help. Can you come to the lab?

Me: Ya, sure!
(I wasn’t that sure but anyway I got up and what followed wasn’t interesting enough to write in the blog.)

First Snowfall

Yesterday Chicago experienced this year's first snowfall, and I, the first one in my life. It was nice but only for a very short duration that too when I was rushing for a class. Not the perfect situation to enjoy! People are not supposed to forget the first experience of snowfall but this wasn't that good. May be, it's just a demo version. I will wait for the real one.

So it begins ...

So it begins … yet another phase of erratic blogging. When I am not writing one, I feel like writing one and once I start, all my tempo vanishes. Still let me begin. May be it will be different, who knows. I wanted to give this a broader perspective, broader than what mumbaidays.blogspot.com was, so that I do not have to change my blog once I move to a new place :D I went through a whole lot of names, all my brain could come up with and blogger had just one answer
“Sorry, this blog address is not available
How about one of these?
kb-abcd
abcd-kb”

‘abcd’ stands for the different phrases I searched for. By the way, I just checked even abcd.blogspot.com is already taken. Tired, I tried the name some people had already suggested, chicagodays.blogspot.com, and you guessed it right. Someone who has posted just once stating “please check back after september 1st.” has already taken it. He forgot to mention the year though. Finally I landed up at this place. Hope to be regular this time though I am afraid whether I can fulfill that promise till I get my laptop. I have not yet ordered it, and it will take a while before I do, waiting for a right deal. Let’s see.