Bloggomania...just for fun...

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2006-11-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

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Originally uploaded by vgurukumar.

Its been long time since i updated my "photography" blog! I should say, i was sooo busy taking pics that i dint have energy left to type out all the details. But, its always fun to write that and more fun to read days later or even years later :-)

I did go on to buy that Sigma lens i was talking in previous post :D I thought i wont, but i did. In photography circles its called LBA - Lens Buying Addiction! I hope i am only addicted to photography and not to lenses..

This shot was pure random. I was bored to hell and was not feeling sleepy. So, thought of taking one more shot at the Moon. Turned out to be much better than my previous attempt. Also as my brother tells me, half moons are the ones which r sharper than the full moons--owing to too much light when in full moon.

I took one more pic of moon during early morning against a blue sky..thats not sharp but looks great.

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2006-10-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

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Originally uploaded by vgurukumar.

My trusty mp3 player broke down after 2 years of faithful service :-( I had long back decided to open it up and check out its hard drive once it crashes. and the day jus arrived!

The 20g Hitachi drive can be bought here online for $65, but thot its not worth to spend on a old mp3 player. and i am no need of a portable memory drive, in case some other part fails after i get the new drive! So, jus took pics of it..

but, the moment i took the pic, i knew i could have done a better job if i had a Macro lens. I agree, even that lens would have failed if the lighting was similiar!

I was even on the lookout for an avg. zoom lens which can double up as a Macro...something on the lines of Sigma APO 70-300mm Macro lens. I know its latin/greek to the newbies ;-) but still, i dreamt of lot of Macro photography, but i guess this is too a waste of money, considering i will not be able to devote anytime to photography after japan! The only lens i might ever need in India might be Nikon 50mm F1.8 maybe--very good for indoor photography, which is what i might be doing mostly in india..

Come to think of it, Camera, tripod, lenses! all expenditure for nothing once i leave japan :-(( Maybe i should keep the camera in a showcase after i go back :-))

Ashikaga fire festival

2006-09-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

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Originally uploaded by vgurukumar.

Its been more than a month back since i went to this. But, as i havent gone any other "shooting" rampages, i thot i should update my blog abt this. and definitely. fireworks shows r the ones when u take the max pics. i filled up 1.5gb of jpegs :-)

On that day, i run around shops looking for tripods. i get one. Though my bro had put some fundaes on what to look for, i couldnt understand everything. and i was in a hurry. In the end, though after the days work, i was extremely satisfied by my half-informed purchase!

So, in the evening, me and my friends here started to the fireworks place. its a half hr journey by train. It was exactly 2 years back when i was taken to this festival by my Jap boss. i loved it soooo much!

Even this time the crowds were huge and i like the idea of sitting in the green grass , and enjoying the fireworks. for some ppl, its a big family outing while they bring lot of things to eat and drink. and yeah, u can find lot of ppl with hteir huge tripods, serious photographers and all the likes.

but the fun is the fireworks. its so close that u feel the fireworks r blowing up right in ur face! and it was a struggle to take the pics :-) frankly, fireworks was the most tough thing i ever shot in this short photography stint. u gotto to track so many things!! focus, shutter speed, tripod stillness, etc etc.. Things looked so fine in the preview screen on the cam. only when i got home, i saw sooo many pictures out of focus!

Maybe i could have just put wide angle and forgot abt focus..that would have solved the problems but thats not all that i wanted. For example, this pic is a wideangle pic..

in the end, i ended up getting my master class in photography :-) with a bit sore arms after trying to keep the tripod still all the time. it was my first time with the tripod too.

i have a lot of tripod ideas to be shot.. lets see. this year is gonna be the last one here. so i gotto see what all i can shoot. lot of dreams though :-)

A million people at one place.

2006-08-04T04:15:00.000-07:00

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Originally uploaded by vgurukumar.

I have been quiet busy at office these days. Quiet frankly, the most challenging specced up project i did until now. I have got involved in better projects but i had not "developed" enough to do them well. They say an Analog designer takes years to mature. I sure can say that my mugging sessions of the first 6 months of this year are bearing fruits :-) and i have delivered the report for an important module today. Hope it creates some ripples ;-) while i improve it further!

Anyway, coming to the picture, it was Sumidagawa River festival last saturday. I barely remember having a glimpse of it in the National Television here 2 years back. Supposed to the biggest firewo rks show in japan. I was hell eager to see how can i do with my new cam. 2 years back i had kept clicking for almost 3 hours in my old hp camera at ashikaga fire festival.

The moment i landed at the nearest station, it looked that it will be a busy day. ppl ppl ppl everywhere. subway inspectors jus collecting tickets thru hands instead of the usual exit machines. i came out to see a sea of ppl heading over the river and going to other side. I was waiting for two of my friends, but even after waiting for half hr, there was no sign of them. All this while, I was wondering why ppl r all heading in one direction? and where to??

Anyway, I couldnt wait any more than 45 min and i jus followed the crowd to the opp side of the river. after a few turns i saw what was happening. A whole 2 or 3km stretch of roadsides, parks, bylanes all filled with ppl. they brought some plastic mats and sat on them. TV crews, photographers with tripods, families, basically everyone. all eating like hell(as japanese only can do) and sitting there at 4pm/5pm when the fireworks start at 7pm. i was jus overwhelmed by the number of ppl. I tried to walk to the end of this stretch of ppl. but even after i walked for an hr, i couldnt find the end, nor the place to sit!!!

I gave up and holed myself at one good spot. but unfortunately, most other ppl thot its a good spot too. so, by the time of fireworks it was jus thirumala types :-)) i could keep my cam still for only a few pics. In fact, this show is a competition between two guys vying for ppls attention. But, lucky r the ones who can find a spot to clearly see both.

After enjoying for an hr, i thot i should head home, bcos my last train is at 9:20pm and i was not so confident of crossing the bridge in this crowd easily. I started back at 8pm. And i realised the true size of crowd then. It was massive. i could look further and further ,but no end to it. I tried at one bridge, cops said entry closed, take the ohter bridge. and i was in a hurry. i had no time. i ran to other bridge, cops said same story. some roads were fully blocked and had other routes to prevent any mishaps. but it was jus sea of ppl. all this while, the best part of show was going on. but i was busy running around, finding ways to get to the other end of the bridge sooon. Or else, night stay in tokyo only!

At last, maybe near my 4th bridge i got in. but they had stopped ppl from moving. i was told i wil have to jus wait. cant do anything! luckily, after sometime they allwoed and i got to other side by 9pm. i ran to my station, to find it closed! they closed the land station and opened jus the subway, i think to control the crowd. the entry to subway was regulated and i joined up behind a big queue. My turn came at around 9:15 and caught the train to my next station where the last one is at around 9:20. I did get my train and i got to my place at around 11pm. but it was great tension filled adventure if i will really be able to make it! More than the fireworks, the amount of ppl caught my imagination. By wikipedias estimates a MILLION PEOPLE come each year!!!

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2006-07-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

DSC_0369
Originally uploaded by vgurukumar.

This picture was really something i dint expect. Especially the railing in the side is good :-) Overall, i like the pic a lot.

Incidentally, this triggered a "giving up" mail from Vashisht saying he is going mad over the number of flowers i am picking up for my photographs :-)) but, i love flowers!! and i think I will continue taking as many flowers as i come across.

Today had gone to Tokyo. My main idea was to go to Shinjuku which has historically been a strong place to look for SLR lens and professional stuff. I had some look at the lenses I can have later on. In fact, this lens lust is called LBA in some forums on dpreview.com etc. It stands for Lens Buying Addiction ;-) Of course, I dont have any intention of getting into that addiction! addiction to taking pics is all that i like to have :-)

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2006-07-09T00:52:00.000-07:00

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Originally uploaded by vgurukumar.

My friends cancelled their Tokyo trip due to rain(i was never part though)..i was doing my chores like cleaning up the room,ironing etc when i realised it was a good time to take pics.. evening 4pm.. rain had stopped..so i headed on my mission..as i started it started raining.. but somehow i took a few pics without risking the camera.. jus took a few photos fast and headed home.. i wish i had more time to look all the possible angles or atleast to keep myself more steady while taking pics.. but i am happy with the output as its only just begun :-)

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2006-07-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

DSC_0192
Originally uploaded by vgurukumar.

I am trying out this facility to blog directly from the flickr pics..

Yeah, I know its been quiet a while since i blogged previously.... and i read it jus to know wat i wrote last time! I hope i am on track of my new year resolutions :-)

Anyway, as many of u know(i am quiet a showoff in gadgets ;-) ) i got a SLR cam for myself one of these days....I hope to write some stuff abt my pics occassionally. Forgot to say, i just love the cam to bits :-) its so nice!

This saturday i got up at 5:41am..on my own! The "land of rising sun" is living upto its name and filling my room with light and heat very early..and its the 3rd consecutive day i have got up earlier bcos of this reason.. This time i used it to go around taking all the flower pics around my town, but i want to sleep! hope i dont wake up early tomm.

Flickr

2006-07-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

A new year, but no great resolutions.

2006-01-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

In fact, after getting my laptop and now Wi-fi in my room, i thought I will be able to contribute more to the blog. Unfortunately, I am finding some work or other , or plain simply am spending more time reading up for my job work!

Right now, coming from King Kong movie. I liked the whole movie except for the ending. SPOILERS...those who want to watch movie , read from the next para. I am not against tragic endings, but surely wont like seeing someone(even animal) getting killed in the way, king kong dies. I mean it was not even a level playing field! cornering it(high in the sky!)and using ur air power!! i wouldnt have had any cribs if it were killed in the forest itself rather than the way it actually ended. but overall, a good scenic film. great graphics.

Ok..enough of tears for king kong. Regarding the rest, pavan is heading to germany for his mba. just awaiting his visa. and i am busy mugging up for the current project. It might get a bit tight towards march. but i am loving it :-) Maggu finally mailed...it was a great relief to know that he was indeed alive. Muthu too has been out of scene, but atleast we know he is living :-)

As it goes with my nature, i am following the gadgets being unveiled at CES right now. some r quiet amazing.

And yeah, a new year came! i dint take any resolutions,but i am hoping to do better at my job and hopefully its a happy year. But, i should definitely improve in maintaining contact with friends. I have been quiet miserable in that aspect. i havent gone public in ymsgr for something like one or two years!! Max i do is login, read any offline msgs and then reply to them asking them to mail, rather than sending offline msgs :-) There were times when i saw my offline msgs two months after they were posted! Also, losing all my phone numbers as my phone died once, only compounded my problems. I stil have to collect lots of numbers from friends...

ok..c ya.

Yesterday..

2005-12-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was very eventful. Pavan somehow was fixing up everything blazing fast. Cracked GMAT, got aid, booked tickets to chennai, applied for visa, We all went for bowling celebrating Manu's birthday and Pavan's admission.....and we gave bumps to Anil(tangudu) for keeping us in dark regarding his departure and arrival to/from US :-))

Pavan was on the edge all day! but he raped us all in bowling..Of course, there were sterling performance by Ashok who managed to lose all bets! Dont know wat happened to him, but his balls either go to extreme right gutter or the left one..always! The only time i saw him playing him, he was not that bad. Maybe senti time for him that pavan is leaving by Jan 8/9th. Actually, senti time for all of us :-((

In fact, all things go well as ppl r trying to, come July, there wont be anybody left in my room. Ppl r trying either for higher studies or phoren jobs etc..So, maybe the good times might end with this year!

Apart from that, there was this minor scuffle with our neighbour yday night. At 11pm, he was cribbing that we r making way too much sound. We had not switched on any TV or music system either !! nor anyone of us were drinking! He was especially fond of Manu calling him "Topiman" as he had worn a woollen cap :-) but, we let him go the first time(as we r good boys ;-) ). but he came the second time again cribbing of noise..this time i couldnt resist.. i went and made my point that even if i switch on my TV it wil create more disturbance for him. He didnt see the logic in my argument, but saw a threat that i am going to start a high sound TV session! At one point replying to my question - Whats your problem? he replied "My problem is me, Your problem is me, My problem is you". And he used the f word too.. i dint use the f word in return but made it clear that he is unnecessarily creating nuisance. Some ppl even doubted he is drunk after his line "My problem is me..." :-))

After that put the Sin City movie on.. we knew it was too late and i have to get up early in morning for office. Finally by the time one cd got over, only two of us were awake and we promptly shut shop.

Totti...RSS pushes u feeds without u going and asking for. One way it can be used is to push news headlines to ur browser. Check the pic for how my browser looks and how i get news from CNN, BBC, CNet, Extremetech, Rediff, Slashdot at the touch of a click without ever visiting their site. and the links keep getting updated by minute daily.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/105910553/530174261dKsQeG (view full size for clear view).

blogging...back to where it began!

2005-12-24T06:08:00.000-08:00

Here i am back to blogspot(now blogger).

i have been thinking of restarting for a while, but seems like i was just being lazy. Its been a nice day today. Done some things at the bank, insurance, barber got rid of the weight on my head, lot of browsing in aftie and now just lazying my bum, so thought i could start today. My roommates are all out! one to office, one to watch 'king kong'(i want to watch that one), one to his friends. And i am left alone all day here.

but its been all that bad as it sounds. afterall, i have just had two tasty pizzas, garlic bread :-) home delivery is god given gift really hahaha. and yeah, watching "the league of extraordinary gentlemen" on hbo. i think "bourne supremacy" is next. good enough for a lazy weekend night for sure.

Also i am loving my laptop more and more as days go by. god bless Gollu, for making it possible to get from Singapore :-)

I stil dont know if i can stick to one topic during any of my blogs. i see ppl all around sticking to one topic per blog. but, i doubt if i will ever get to learn to be so. My strength seems to be TRASHTALK ;-))

Moreover, I will be trying to keep blogs on hardware tech as little as possible. but unfortunately, i am reading more tech news than ever recently! but sometimes i feel like blowing my top explaining ppl on the advantages of good tech. like Firefox over IE. i remember talking of it in my blog, mail to friends etc, but sadly they stil ask me again and again on wat is RSS! sigh...so i just leave it.

one more coming soon...tata.

Redirection to a new Blog site..

2004-06-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

This idiotic blogspot allows only registered users to comment....so i am shifting my allegiance to livejournal.com

so from now on, my future blog site is

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gurukumar/

bye, bye, blogsfart..err blogspot ;-))

Kurnool Trip

2004-06-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

hi fellas ...

just back from a trip to kurnool...had to apply for a replacement for my lost 10th certificate..and kurnool is the place where i studied my 10th. it was both a great trip and shove trip . First thing i realised after landing in kurnool is that i forgot to bring a xerox copy of the certificate...immediately called up samara, woke him up from sleep , pained him big time during a weekend morning. thankfully, he sent me a scanned image of the xerox.

after the first few steps of the process, we needed to lodge a complaint with the police that i lost my cert. realised we have to spin a big story to support the way it was lost. The final story on paper said that i am working as salesman in V.C. Plastics (a shop owned by my friend's relatives) and live in a nearby room in kurnool. The day before, i tried to get a xerox of the cert and lost it on the road. Searched the whole road, asked the passersby, and couldnt get it even then. So, am filing a complaint....And all this story in a complaint letter in gult!!!not in english!!! That too that idiot cop made me write the whole thing 3 times(with modifications all the time..it seems he wasnt satisfied with the first two)....the first line went like this (in gult)......

kurnool pattana 3 town police station sub inspector gariki namaskarinchi vrayunadhi emanaga........********* ...dhayachesi naa certificate vedhikinchagalaru...itlu, mee vidheyudu...

u can understand my plight in writing that letter ;-)) comedy that i am working as a salesman..living in a room in kurnool!!!! but after all this, he hasnt given me the fir copy!!! he said come after 1 day, come in evening, come tomorrow...i even tried to bribe, but dint work...actually, i had come thru the referral of a policeman of another branch in kurnool.even then, i was made to run around like this with no success..i dont know how it woould have been if i had gone generally..

saturday evening farted a lot at kurnool medical college(few of my friends, sudheer, kashyap, etc study there..) then we decided to watch movie at sudheer's place(where i have put up during the stay at kurnool) at night..So, at night we watched Troy, Van Helsing until 3 ..

By next day aftie my stomach started giving wrong signals of all kind..by 7 it was obvious..it was screwed up..ate hajmolas...with not much effect..then went to some series of "pit stops"...had a few tablets(recommended by sudheer....budding Dr naaa)..adn finally boarded the bus back to blore...

actually, thulped big time at sudheer's place , but my stomach position changed everything..right now i am tired like hell..ready to doze off anytime...