Tax Time

Preparing taxes every year is an arduous task. Last year it was a friendly neighborhood H&R Block that helped. This year, the rate they decided to charge me was as much as $180. That was a little too expensive and I decided to try my hand at preparing taxes myself using the TurboTax software. I purchased TurboTax Deluxe and was simply amazed at how much information it could obtain with just my SSN and Employer's ID. It pretty much filled everything for me. The only confusion still lurking on my mind is the relocation expenditure part. Should I fill the 3903 form or not. Tax advice is expensive to come by and every friend I spoke to came up with a different suggestion so far. Hope that I do the right thing.

More on the home computer...

I managed to find a deal and buy the 8600GT on newegg. I also managed to buy the 4GB RAM from Fry's.

Now the confusing part is whether to go for the dual or quad core processor. The dual core 3GHz processor is more expensive than the quad core. Might end up buying the quad core processor.

Building my new home computer

I decided on building my new home PC. The first step was to decide on what I wanted. Here are the things that I finalized on:

• EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
• 4GB Kit 800MHZ DDR2 PC2-6400
• iNTEL e8400 lga775 PROCESSOR
• eVGA e-GeForce 8600 GT
• The other sundry items like power supply, case etc.,

Many thanks to Subodh and Ashok who helped me nail this configuration.

I took the first step towards achieving my goal and I got a used nForce 680i SLI Intel motherboard. I hope that it is not much of a compromise. Maybe, I can use the money saved on getting more accessories.

Now the challenge is to get the rest of the stuff in-place and build that PC.

Taro root Fry

One of my rare cooking experiments happened yesterday. I tried my hand at preparing Taro root fry. It is a simple dish to prepare, but there were other factors that had to be overcome, particularly because the last time I prepared it, it turned out to be a disaster (well, not exactly, but my wife didn't like it). For starters, the recipe from Shyamala Ramanathan-Edwards was of great help.

The key in preparing Taro-root is to boil it long enough so that it is cooked but not longer as it can get sticky. I think I overdid the boiling bit a little but managed it somehow.

The "dry batter" mix specified in the above recipe turned out to be the killer. I managed to get the ingredients and the preparation part right and when I had started frying, my wife returned home from work. The smell of the fry seemed to have attracted her taste buds and she was ready to try it this time. It turned out to be crispy and a little hard and it tasted great. My wife was impressed and I can eat more of one of my all time favorite veggies.

Weird story for the day

Came across this really strange story. A pregnant man! Whats happening to this world? Story credit Prem Panicker.

Cisco VPN Installer

I did this crazy thing of installing a new version of Cisco VPN client on my laptop without un-installing the previous version. Result: DISASTER. Sleepless night.

The VPN client that ultimately resulted from my stupidity was un-usable. So I tried doing the next best thing, un-install. The VPN client wouldn't uninstall as it was searching for a different installer than the version that was installed.

I had no other option but to delete the Cisco VPN installed folder and muck around with the registry to try and remove all entries and hope the installer would let me install the new version. But, no such luck.

Finally I stumbled upon this Windows Installer CleanUp Utility that helped make the VPN installer think that no previous version of Cisco VPN existed on my machine and allowed me to install the version I wanted.

Windows Live Writer

This is making it much easier to write onto the blog. Quite a nice tool compared to the unfriendly WYSIWIG editor that blogger has on their site.

Check it out here

Back to blogging again

Inspired by the several blogs that I have been looking at lately, I decided that I should start blogging again.

Hope I would be able to keep going this time.

Big Doggy

Well, the last weekend has been a pretty uneventful weekend for most part. I did go out on Saturday evening with Srikar to see Troy again. While getting back home got a little wet in the rain. I really enjoy getting wet in the rain, but driving is a bit difficult. (FYI, I was on my "bird")

Sunday also went unevnetful for most part. In the evening I went to the garage to check out the status of my car and also to pay up the rent. I was walking on one of the small roads near my home and lo! there was a big dog that came running on the opposite side of the road. I just passed it without giving a second thought, but soon I realized that the dog had turned back and had started licking my legs. I tried to get away and thought of running, but soon realized that it would be futile as the dog was pretty huge and looked capable of out-running me.

So I stood my ground and tried to scare it. (All dogs are basically cowardly, until you show that you are afraid, they tend to be a little scared) It just didnt relent and held me tight with its fore-limbs. I just couldnt move and felt the dog is trying to scratch my legs. This went on for about 2 min. I did try to struggle a little bit and also tried hitting the dog, but it was not giving up as well.

Finally, to my relief, the dog's master came out of the house and called it in. With much reluctance, the dog did go back inside. Luckily, I escaped without being bitten by the dog.

Apparently, the owner of the dog didnt even have the courtesy to apologize for the dog's behavior. I should have fought with him, but was so scared at that point, I just walked away. I gave him one of my glares though. I wonder what would have happened if someone who was more scared or a small child had been attacked by that dog in my place. Some of the Bangaloreans dont even have the decency to do leash their dogs or atleast, keep it in good control inside the house.