When PhDs party

Just got back from a party at a friends house near the University. It was nice, quiet party. Was thinking how different it was during our undergraduate university days, when parties meant smoky rooms (sometimes with a hint of cannabis), lot of booze, loud music, etc.

Here someone actually turned the music volume down and nobody complained. Ended up talking about intellectual and philosophical stuff - what do you expect when you have too many PhD students in a room.

Some might say, "that's not a bloody party!"

The odd part is that, it was still fun.

I am getting old.

Wifi with BT Total Broadband

Our broadband contract with AOL ends this month and we are seriously thinking of moving to another service provider. Even though I have had no problems with my present service, broadband speed is a priority for me.

After doing a bit of research I discovered that BT broadband provides the fastest broadband speeds in the UK. The most attractive package is their Option 3 package. This package offers up to 8Mb download speed with unlimited downloads, 5GB FREE secure online storage with BT Digital Vault. It also comes with the wireless BT Home Hub and Hub Phone so that you can easily set up a wi-fi network in your home.

I already have a wifi broadband network set up in my house so that I can even use my laptop in the garden. However, the threat of intruders do worry me a bit. This is why the BT Home Hub is quite attractive to me. This next generation wireless router has an built-in firewall that blocks viruses and unwanted intruders and even updates itself automatically.

With all these features I am seriously considering changing to BT's Option 3 deal.

Boring academics

Yesterday, I attended the most boring seminar ever! I don't know whether it was due to the fact that the lecturer was dealing with a topic which was certainly of no interest to me or because this guy kept on droning on and on for hours in a monotonous tone.

I nearly dozed off twice even though I had a cup of coffee just before the seminar. Don't ask me why but I couldn't leave the hall. I asked a friend sitting next to me if he understood anything. He had been listening attentively (or so I thought). "I lost him in the first 10 minutes", he replied. Felt a bit better when I realised that I was not alone. Noticed a guy in the row in front of me dozing off as well and he was a lecturer.

It's funny but I suddenly realised that a lot of renowned academics have such poor presentation skills. Then I thought to myself "Am I this boring as well?". I don't think so but it is something I have to watch out now I am on the way to become an academician as well.

Loads of fun quizzes

If you are a blogger, I am sure you would have taken one or more of those online fun quizzes and tests. If you don't know what I am talking about, here's an example: Ladies, take the sexy test to find out how appealing you are.

Quiz Rocket has loads of online personality quizzes and fun tests. it's pretty amazing how these simple tests can tell about your personality. I don't really take them seriously and just reading the answers make me laugh. They have a few trivia quizzes to test your general knowledge as well.

Mommy blogger

Here's a long long overdue review. Sometime back, I had promised to review blogs for free but along the way I somehow forgot all about the list of blogs to review, until today.

Saw that on top of the list is "My Little Tribe", a personal blog of another mommy blogger. It has a really neat and clean template and the font used for the title is quite unique. Carla, the "matriarch" of the tribe blogs about her life as a mother and a wife. I like the pics she posts up - quite artistic. The fact that her blog does not carry any noticeable ads will definitely appeal to a lot of people who are sick of blogs plastered all over by ads (including my own).

Home improvement

After moving to the UK I have been doing a lot of small DIY projects. I would love to take on some major home improvement projects. Unfortunately, two major considerations prevents me from doing so. First of all, this is not my house and secondly, I am not exactly rolling around in money now-a-days.

Anyway, I was going through some of the Home Improvement Ideas, and thought about my dream home improvement project. If money was no object, I would definitely love to do up my own entertainment centre. I can actually picture it. It would be a mini movie theatre with sophisticated audio-visual system and of course, a comfy seating arrangement. The room would be full of extras that would make it the perfect den for a guy. A mini bar, a pop corn machine and computer with ultra high speed broadband access.

Do you have a dream improvement project?

Birthday Dinner

Had a dinner party at our house last Saturday evening. The occasion was to celebrate the birthdays of my daughter, my wife and her friend - Roby.




Roby had already made an extremely delicious Tiramisu cake on Friday night. Really sorry, forgot to take pictures :-(

My wife made Lamb rogan, Sayur Lodeh (lontong), Pulut kuning (yellow sticky rice) and Nasi Impit and Roby made a special vegetarian Italian dish something like Lasagna (I forgot the name).





Had a nice time. We must do this more often. Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts guys.