World's fastest Laptop, running Windows Vista

If someone asked you which is the fastest laptop that would run Windows Vista, what would you say?? How would you impress a friend with your tech knowledge( pseudo though) if you fumble answering this?

Well, I would have said DELL XPS range of laptops, it is supposed to the "High performance" laptops that dell offers and also it looks kind of sleek too (one of my friends who was also my project mate, had one).

I guess most of us would guess Sony ,Toshiba or HP.

But can you guess the winner ?? , well you will be surprised by the Google search result for "fastest laptop to run vista"(like me) :

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136649-page,3-c,notebooks/article.html.

The article is dated 10/25/07, but I believe it still hold's true. You can also find the slowest laptop too in the article (which on of my ex-room mates owns ;-))

Jonty Nair and महेन्द्र सिंह Ajay

Wow, the first thing I get to do outdoors in Atlanta was to play cricket. I played quite well (according to my standards, which by the way start at below ground level). Why was it a big deal for me? Well for starters I downright suck at it. If it is batting then it's just a matter of time when the bowler aims at the stumps and bowls and gets me out, yeah you guessed it right, that happens to me usually within the first 3 ball's . But I have got dismissed in more dignified manner too, instead of letting my wickets fly all out, I let myself (as I would like to think) get out by hitting the ball as hard as I can ( placement is a just a word to me, it does not mean anything) and the ball usually(mostly) never crosses the boundary and inadvertently finds its way to some fielder's hand. I can deal with that. It's the stump outs I can't deal with.

But the Atlanta game was different, man it really was a big time ego trip for me.Before diving into the details, let me go back to a small flashback session.

Year : 1999, 10th standard .
Venue : Kendriya Vidyalaya Pattom, Football ground ,Kerala.
Event : Interhouse Cricket match (not interstate, but it was a big deal to me)
My Role : summa cum laude (so I assumed) Batsmen number no 4.

We fielded first, So after letting go of some easy shots which were converted to boundaries , all thanks to me, my team's captain decided to rest their "star" batsmen, lest I get tried of all this unnecessary running . Well he was right though, after all there in no point it running around and chasing the ball if you can't catch it or at least stop it.

If you have seen all those karate movies, where the hero always start his training by running after the Chicken but never catches it.Well, that's how I looked in the field, running after the ball.Actually in the movies, the hero does catch the chicken after a while but I somehow never crossed the training stage.

The opposition made 58 runs off 15 over's . Not bad for guys who have just started to play with leather balls( ahem, I meant the cricket ball). We ( I speak for the team) were actually more scared of getting hurt by the leather ball than the humiliation of losing . So our first three wicket's went off in a total of 24 runs and in around 7 overs. So now it was up to me to step up and take me team to the path of glory . Well, it was around the same time my DAD and SISTER came looking for me (Since I had not called home to inform I would be coming late). My DAD parked the car near the football ground came out with my sister, watching the game. So what do they see, 3 guys working on me, two tying my kneepad, one helping me with the arm pads .Man I felt like a star (for a short moment though).

So I make up my mind to hit only 4's and 6's to impress my dad and make my sister burn with envy. I went to the crease, First ball and I swear to god I did not see where it went.When I looked back, the wicket keeper told me that it had just missed the stumps by millimeters .So I change my strategy, I pray "Please god , let me make at least 2 runs ", I don't want to get out on "DUCK" especially with my DAD watching, but as usual god had other plans for me. Second ball, I just swing my bat, the ball flies, my first thought "Could be a six , it looked little short of six , then I thought it has gone pretty high, should be at least a 4 , just then the god damn ball stopped traveling in distance any further (I was watching it) and dropped dead like a dead bird (you can say like "Chicken") and some dude had also been watching it (well he had to, he was the fielder) and this idiot caught it.

There you have it, my first professional cricketing experience. I was out, on a "DUCK". We lost too.We had only 3 good batsmen and my captain made the mistake of thinking I was the fourth .

On my way back home, no one spoke in the car(to my relief).But when I looked in the mirror (rear view mirror,) I saw reflection of a sinister smile in the backseat.Yeah, it was my sister, all smiles. Why you ask me, Well I had given her something to taunt me for a very long time.

So how was the Atlanta match different.....watch this space

Craigslist....not for the Greedy at heart

Let this post act as a warning note to all my friends who are interested in buying a used car online and looking for downright cheap deal. Some of the web sites to search for used car's other than craigslist are
UsedCars.com, Cars.com, CarsDirect.com and Car.com. You can specify your zip code too in these sites and search for good deals in nearby local addresses.

Before you start searching for a used car, first check for the car's price at "www.KBB.com" to get an price estimate of the car you are looking for . You can specify the make ,model ,year miles then select suggested retails price and KBB , which stands for Kelly Blue Book , would give an estimated selling price for the car assuming that the condition of the used car is "Excellent" i.e no accident,damage,engine in good condition and clean interiors.


People here swear by KBB's price , in fact if the car you have seen is priced higher than KBB then you can you can start negotiating from the KBB's value .On the other hand if the value of the car is very less as compared to KBB then again you need to be cautious.The reason could be many

*The car could have been involved in an accident

*There could be major mechanical problem with the car

*The car might be a stolen one and someone is just trying to sell it off quickly

*It would be better to avoid buying a used car that is freshly painted. There are instances
wherein the stolen car’s identity is being changed through changing its paint color.

*Avoid buying cars from a seller that cannot present the car’s “insurance policy.” This could
mean that the car is stolen or the seller is not the true owner of the car.

Next step is to check for VIN (vehicle identification) number, which as you guys must have guessed is used to uniquely identify a motor vehicle ,please don't confuse it with primary key (mokkai!!).

Checking the VIN would give you all record's of the motor vehicles including it's accident history if any. Carfax.com is the best place to check this .This service is not free though .Keep in mind though,If CARFAX does not show anything bad , still there is no 100% guarantee than the car would be perfect,because the report may not indicate minor/moderate collision damage or improper vehicle maintenance.

But spending a few dollars to get the car history can still save you lot of money in any case, VIN can give you

*Service and repair Records of the vehicle

*If the odometer was worked (tampered?) on

*if there was any damage to the vehicle due to floods.

* Vehicle use (rental,taxi or lease)

*Emission results

*Car was salvaged

Apart from CARFAX report ,make sure you get your vehicle inspected by a mechanic too.Ask him to do a "pre buy" inspection for the car.

Most of us will be using Craigslist.com to buy used car too, if you receive any message saying that the car will be shipped to you free of cost and the price seems too good to be true then beware ,let me share two fraud emails I have received . One even had a VIN and another one even had a contact number ,see for yourself.They are kind of obvious, but for first timer's like us it still poses a threat.

Hello,
My name is Kenny Banks and I am selling my car, 2007 Toyota Camry for $7,000. The car was purchased by my son for me on 04/11/2008. The reason for selling this new car is that I want to move in Canada with my son because I am 68 years old and is hard for me at this age to live by myself. The car has 35,485 miles and I am the first owner of the car. I am a non smoker so the car is clean and I keept it in my garage. The VIN number of the car is JTNBE46K973097651 in case that you want to verify. If you love the car please email me your full name and address and I will contact google checkout with the information and they will assist me and you in the process of buying the car. The car will be insured at the delivery service and if something happens on the road , you will receive the insurance from the delivery service. After the car arrives, you will have 5 days for inspection. If the car is different than the way I've described it, you will be fully refunded and the car will be shipped back on my expense. Anyways, I don't think it will be necessary, you'll love this car from the first moment you'll see it. I want to sell the car as soon as possible so please decide very fast if you want to buy or not.
Thank you!
Kenny

Another one had a contact number too, I have not called yet ,You can if you want to

1st mail

Hi ,

Thank you for contacting me regarding my car. I am a 28 years old single mom with 2 kids. I am now in a divorce with my ex and i am in desperate need of money to pay the mortgage on my house.
First of all I want to tell you that the car is in perfect condition, and the price includes all the shipping costs and insurance so you will not have to pay any extra charges if you can't come to Texas to make the deal.
My brother works at the shipping company and he has 1 transportation per year for free so the shipping will be free.

Mileage: 73,956 miles

http://picasaweb.google.com/daniellealire/2002BMW540iA/photo#s5209236450188767746

Year 2002. The car has a Clean Tittle which will come along with it.
I am in Fort Worth, Tx . The car is with me here and is in a perfect condition.
It's a great car, I am devastated that I have to sell it but i really need the money to pay my mortgage unless i'll lose my house, so I decided to sell it.
Tell me if there is anything else you would like to know about the car.

Thank you for the interest you have shown in purchasing the car.
Please reply,
Regards !

Danielle

2nd mail

My # is:239-628-3016

I decided that the payment to be completed using Ebay security because i want to
take this opportunity to assure you that this deal is 100% LEGIT but you must know that in
this way eBay will require you to send a ($ 4.100) prior shipping and they will have to
verify me and the car and you as well before we can close this deal through their service.
Your money will be keep by eBay agent until you will receive the car and send them the
confirmation that you are satisfied with the product received. In case you don't want to
keep the car all you will have to do is to ask them for a refund and you will be totally
refunded in 2 days.REMEMBER: i will take care of the shipping !

P.S. You must know that if you decide to buy the car i will need your full name and shipping
address as soon as possible in order to send your details to the shipping company and to eBay
agent to make the arrangements for shipping.
Thanks !

Moreover ,NEVER use Western Union or Moneygram to pay for online purchases. It's fraud if a seller tells you to pay via Western Union or Moneygram.

SO guys be careful .There a lot more I want to add . So watch out for this space......

She Could Hear my thoughts ......really!!!!

This blog is dated Dec 10 2007

I started my day feeling very low and the most awful part is I really did not know what was pulling me so down ,may be I did not have the courage to dig deeper down to really find the reason for it ,kinda stupid isn't it. Well I knew I had umpteen umber of reasons to feel this way but I really did not want to find out the real reason for my misery

So the first thing I did was to get out my house . When I went to the nearest crossing, guess what do I see there , I saw a over weight morose man who is uncomfortably confined to his wheel chair and "ALONE" .The very sight of him sank my heart. I really felt sad for him.For a moment I just thought that all my troubles are temporary and can be resolved but this man has to live the same monotonous life and I really don't think he had any choice otherwise. I really wished I could be proved wrong .





But, It was the second incident that really surprised me. I did not cross the signal for a while and I was there for sometime and I saw a blind women walking towards the crossing . I had seen her a couple of times before. This lady was so courteous , every time she crossed someone on the street she would say "sorry,excuse me" because she knew that the pedestrian would have to wait till she crosses him . She had said the same thing to me too ,every time she had crossed me. I always wondered how many people she would have had to say the same thing over and over again, everyday and how come she never got tried of it.



Now comes the "surprise" part which I had mentioned before, today when I saw her I thought to myself "She is glowing today, what is she so happy about" . I was thinking how ignorant she would of so many things that existed in the world. Does her life even have a purpose?? and then something really strange (rather surprising , to keep up with the whole "surprising theme") happened .It was as if she heard my thoughts and instead of crossing the signal when the "walk signal" buzzed, she stopped for a while ,then actually smiled and rubbed her hand on her stomach as if asking me to take notice . "She was pregnant" and I could make out she was very proud of that fact .

This woman was living a far more fulfilling life then I had imagined, I believe she is living a much more happier and fulfilling life than many people I know.People who have all the money in the world,successful career's but still don't want to go through the pain(that's what they say) of becoming a parent , they say it is too much of a hassle .I don't know what to say to that.





This song is really touching.You should see the Movie: Amrit
Cast : Rajesh Khanna, Smita Patil
This film is based on two elderly people, who are rejected and neglected by their own sons, daughters and relatives.

I now zoomed backed onto myself and my troubles, they all seemed kind of trivial to me now and I remembered a very important thing , It may sound strange ,but here it goes "As long as you have a place to live and you don't go to bed hungry at night, you are really do not have any problems which cannot be resolved by your own actions ".