Category: Uncategorized

Kobe’s – Restaurant Review- Chennai – Naaaiiiceee!

Had heard about Kobe’s coming to chennai a while back from a friend who tried the place, and she was pretty excited with the quality of food that she got. A group of friends and I finally got some time to go there, and I was pleasantly surprised to eat there. Tucked off the main road, its very easy to miss this place. You end up driving through a rather large parking lot, and the valet parking is a bliss. We were seated almost instantly even though we did not have a reservation. We ordered almost all the meats that were there- fish, lamb and chicken. I had the veg burger, but tasted the meat, and I was quite impressed with the food.
The quantities were sufficient for a single person, and the toppings were decent. There was a sizeable meat portion with an equally balanced helping of vegetables on the sizzler. The sauces were different and you could at certain points taste the individual flavours of the sauces.
I must comment here on the quality of the meat. It was very well cooked. Not under done nor over cooked. However, I might have been a little happier if they had not microwaved my burger before serving as it made the bun hard as a rusk, but i foudn that to add a nice crunch to the burger. I personally woulde have liked the patty to be a little more moist with the mayo or sauces being offered on the side for me to add.
The staff were courteous and the place appeared clean and neat. There was sufficient ventilation as our eyes did not start burining from a table of 4 sizzlers. Which is a feather in their cap.
I would recommend this place and will surely visit again.

Mainland China- Restauran Review- GWAD Aweful!

I went to mainland china last week with my wife and a few friends. They had a special offer for platinum card holders which at that point looked like an awesome deal. there was a soup of your choice, a series of 4 starters and 4 main course dishes which comprised of 2 non veg side dishes, 2 veg side dishes and 1 rice and 1 noodle and 2 deserts (i dont remember if it was 2 or 3)
the hitch is that it has to be a minimum of 4 people and you hvae to have a platinum card.
the deal is a good deal, but i was quite dissapointed with the quality of food presented. The soup was excellent, but after that everything was downhill. Yes, the crispy corn and the dimsums was still how i remembered it, but that was the star attraction. They served some fish starter in which the flavor had not reached the fish. The maincourse was pretty much the same. There were two veg dishes – which I can classify just that veg dishes – it was a hash of tasteless vegetables thrown into some gravy. I dont know what they were trying to serve- left overs or just all the excess greens that they had in the kitchen. I had half a mind to ask the staff if they thought we were cows – and looking for greens to graze on. I could not eat much of the main course as it was sub par to say the least. The chicken that they served was tasteless and almost the entire portion of the food went for a waste. The only saving grace was the desert. My wife loves the chocholate spring roles and they did not fail to dissapoint this time either. I was trying the honey fried something with icecream and loved it.
I suspect the fish was a little spoilt as it tasted a little off- and i spent the rest of the night and early morning rushing to and from the rest room. Yes, i did get an upset stomach the next day, but i also got a bad case of indestion from the food. I dont know if I can pinpoint it to the fish or the overall food. But this time I was really disappointed with Mainland china.
So if its chinese you stay far away from mainland china and try some other place.
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Update – 1st September 2010
I should have posted this earlier – but as soon as my review came out, I had someone from Mainland china contact me. It was nice to see them take some solid action against what was being said. They said they would look into the entire issue and sent me an apology as well. What i really appreciate is the fact that there was some follow up. Whether or not solid action is taken I guess would be secondary, but the fact that they extended a helping hand to look into this issue is nice.

Finally – reasons to dump #windows and move to #linux

http://www.cio.in/node/6258/nl

Taken from the CIO website – linky above.

What’s your excuse for sticking with Windows? Here’s why there’s never been a better time to get rid of it.

Now is a particularly good time to ditch Windows for good, for workstations as well as servers. For instance, now that Microsoft stopped supporting Windows Server 2003 on July 13, you’ll need to find something different to use for your servers. Whether it’s switching from Windows Server 2003 to 2008 or to Linux-based servers–or changing out tired and faulty Windows Vista desktops for the alien Windows 7 or something more user-friendly–Linux provides you with freedom and freedom of choice.
You might believe that dumping Windows and switching to Linux is a difficult task, but the change in thought and the perception of that switch are the most difficult. If you’ve attempted an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, you know what pain is.

Business owners find that Linux, for what was once a “niche” operating system, provides the necessary components and services on which many rely. Linux continues its entry into the world’s largest data centers, onto hundreds of thousands of individual desktops, and it represents a near 100 percent domination of the cloud services industry. Take the time to discover Linux and use it in your business. Here are ten reasons to give Linux at least a second look:
1. Commercial Support

In the past, businesses used the lack of commercial support as the main reason for staying with Windows. Red Hat, Novell and Canonical, the “big three” commercial Linux providers, have put this fear to rest. Each of these companies offers 24x7x365 support for your mission-critical applications and business services.
2. .NET Support

Businesses that have standardized on Microsoft technology, specifically their .NET web technology, can rely on Linux for support of those same .NET applications. Novell owns and supports the Mono project that maintains .NET compatibility. One of the Mono project’s goals is to provide businesses the ability to make a choice and to resist vendor lock-in. Additionally, the Mono project offers Visual Studio plugins so that .NET developers can easily transfer Windows-based .NET applications without changing their familiar development tools. Why would Novell and others put forth the effort to create a .NET environment for Linux? For real .NET application stability, Linux is a better choice than Windows.
3. Unix Uptimes

Linux stability offers business owners the peace of mind that their applications won’t suffer lengthy outages due to operating system instability. Linux enjoys the same high uptimes (often measured in years) that its Unix cousins do. This stability means that Linux can support your “99.999 percent available” service requirements. Rebooting after every patch, service pack, or driver change makes Windows an unstable and unreliable choice for those who need nonstop support for their critical applications and services.

4. Security

No operating system is 100 percent secure and Linux is no exception. But, Linux offers excellent security for its users. From regular kernel updates to an almost daily list of security patches, Linux code maintainers keep Linux systems very secure. Business owners who rely on commercially supported Linux systems will have access to every available security fix. With Linux, you have a worldwide community providing security fixes, not a single company with closed source code. You are completely dependent on the response of one company to provide you with timely security fixes when you use Windows.

5. Transferable skills

One barrier to Linux adoption was the idea that Linux isn’t enough like Unix, and therefore Unix administrators couldn’t successfully use their knowledge when making the switch to Linux. The Linux filesystem layout looks like any commercial version of Unix. Linux also uses a standard set of Unix commands. There are some Linux commands that do not transfer, but this is also true of any version of Unix.

Windows administrators might find that using a keyboard instead of a mouse is a difficult part of the transition, but once they discover the power of the command line, they might never click again. Don’t worry, though, for you GUI-bound Windows types, Linux has several desktop managers from which to choose–not just one.

6. Commodity hardware

Business owners will like the fact that their “out-of-date” systems will still run Linux and run it well. Fortunately for Linux adopters, there’s no hardware upgrade madness that follows every new version of the software that’s released. Linux runs on x86 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. If your system runs Windows, it will run Linux.

7. Linux is free

You may have heard that Linux is free. It is. Linux is free of charge and it is free in the sense that it is also free of patents and other restrictions that make it unwieldy for creative business owners who wish to edit and enhance the source code. This ability to innovate with Linux has helped create companies like Google, who have taken that ability and converted it into big business. Linux is free, as in freedom.

8. Worldwide community

Linux has the support of a worldwide community of developers who contribute to the source code, security fixes and system enhancements. This active community also provides businesses with free support through forums and community sites. This distributed community gives peace of mind to Linux users, because there’s no single point of failure and no single source for Linux support or development.
9. Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is a corporate collective of platinum supporters (Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Novell and Oracle) and members who, through donations and membership dues, sponsor Linus Torvalds and others who work on Linux full time. Their purpose is to “promote, protect and standardize Linux to fuel its growth around the world.” It is the primary source for all things Linux. The Linux Foundation is a big positive for Linux users and adopters because its existence assures continued development of Linux.
10. Regular Updates

Are you tired of waiting for a Windows service pack every 18 months? Are you also tired of the difficulty in upgrading your Windows systems every few years because there’s no clear upgrade path? (Ubuntu Linux offers new, improved versions every six months) and long-term support (LTS) versions every two years. Every Linux distribution offers regular updates of its packages and sources several times per year and security fixes as needed. You can leave any upgrade angst in your officially licensed copy of Windows because it’s easy to upgrade and update Linux. And, the best part? No reboot required.
If you’d like to give Linux a try, there are several distributions that are free to download and use without the need for any commercial support contract:

• CentOS — Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based free distribution
• Ubuntu — Free, enterprise Linux distribution (Commercial support available).
• Fedora — The Fedora Project is the free, community-supported version of Red Hat Linux.
• OpenSUSE — The free, community-supported version of Novell’s SUSE Linux.
• Debian — The parent distribution for many Linux distributions including Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
You can find information regarding switching from Windows to Linux through the Linux Foundation or any of its platinum members. When it comes to increasing your efficiency, saving money, and providing non-stop services to your business and its customers, how many reasons do you need?

This post has been copied from the CIO website, if it is in violation please contact me and I will take it down immediately.

#Kites- A #review

Kites – i did not get too many positive reviews on the movie, so i thought i might just give it a skip, but then tata sky decided to feature it on showcase and for 75 bucks, i got to watch it, cheaper than buying a DVD and much cheaper than watching it in the theater, plus its legal – so i can relax! 🙂

At first i thought, how would they make a Spanish woman talk hindi – and with her saying “Mey ullu ki patti hu” was hilarious, but very nicely done, i must comment.

Though the end was a bit depressing, I would have preferred an end where “they live happily ever after” but in this case they live in the happily ever after. The baddies play some crazy baddies. the best part was it was a short movie, and it did not seem to drag. no song dance in the meadows with hero and heroine running towards each other. Rain dance happened, but it was classy.

The cinematography was interesting, with some different lighting angles and shots. The car chase scenes were interesting, though copied from a wide selection of movies, the jumping onto the balloon and jumping off into the lake, as far as i remember – a first for a Desi flick.

None the less, a good entertainer. Kudos to the team.

ESMA for IT?

Today’s paper carried an article – http://www.livemint.com/2010/05/04155853/What-is-Esma.html?h=E

About the AP government bringing the IT sector under the purview of ESMA or Essential Services Maintenance Act – now this is rather scary.

As one manager from a company has been quoted as saying:

”[W]hat this means for employees is that they cannot resort to strikes. Also, they cannot cite bandhs or a curfew as an excuse not to report to work. Moreover, companies which depend heavily on outside transport providers had to bear the brunt as the transport services were hit during a bandh or a curfew.”


ESMA needs to be invoked in the event that larger establishments like truckers unions, ATC etc which, if they go on strike will bring hardship to the common man, however, with the IT sector coming into this, it is both pointless and another step towards draconian measures that are being taken to ensure that the golden goose is squeezed till the last egg drops. When has it been in the past where the IT sector has called a `strike` ? there are strict rules in anyones offer letters about forming or even joining unions, and this is to prevent the exact same thing from happening. There are a lot of injustices being meted out to employees, yes, there are cushy jobs, high salaries but the work timings are crazy and equality is non existent.

I dont think its correct to bring the IT Sector under the purview of ESMA. Period! how is it that if a bandh is called, the government can invoke ESMA for the IT Sector? that means the government must then ensure that no bandh is called, else it will make it impossible for them to work. I think its crazy involving the IT sector under ESMA.


Twist with the public transport

today, I decided to attempt using the public transport system in chennai. Well. i failed! i realised that summer has begun, and more importantly, its hot at 11am. I waited in the bus stop after a meeting for nearly 15 mins. But then i reaslised that I dont know what bus i need to take! Damn! strike 1.

So i decided to take an educated guess. Now route no 54 – seems to be a frigging popular route. More than 12 busses of that route went in the 15 mins that I was there. I really need to try and understand how MTC does its route planning. Now imagine if they actually implement some yeild management methods to work on the routes.

There are three essential conditions for revenue management to be applicable:

  • That there is a fixed amount of resources available for sale.
  • That the resources sold are perishable. This means that there is a time limit to selling the resources, after which they cease to be of value.
  • That different customers are willing to pay a different price for using the same amount of resources.

If the resources available are not fixed or not perishable, the problem is limited to logistics, i.e. inventory or production management. If all customers would pay the same price for using the same amount of resources, the challenge would perhaps be limited to selling as quickly as possible, e.g. if there are costs for holding inventory.

Yield management is of especially high relevance in cases where the constant costs are relatively high compared to the variable costs. The less variable cost there is, the more the additional revenue earned will contribute to the overall profit. This is because it focuses on maximizing expected marginal revenue for a given operation and planning horizon. It optimizes resource utilization by ensuring inventory availability to customers with the highest expected net revenue contribution and extracting the greatest level of ‘willingness to pay’ from the entire customer base. Revenue management practitioners typically claim 3% to 7% incremental revenue gains due to revenue management activity. In many industries this can equate to over 100% increase in profits. A competent revenue management analyst with good decision support tools can generate $10,000 per hour..

Yield management has significantly altered the travel and hospitality industry since its inception in the mid 1980s. It requires analysts with detailed market knowledge and advanced computing systems who implement sophisticated mathematical techniques to analyze market behavior and capture revenue opportunities. It has evolved from the system airlines invented as a response to deregulation and quickly spread to hotels, car rental firms, cruise lines, media, and energy to name a few. Its effectiveness in generating incremental revenues from an existing operation and customer base has made it particularly attractive to business leaders that prefer to generate return from revenue growth and enhanced capability rather than downsizing and cost cutting.

I think it will make MTC more economically viable and more importantly – profitable!

They have a great group of talented drivers and conductors- the thing is now to optimize that specific factor to bring out the best in all necessary parties involved.

some info taken from wikipedia.

of #gyms and #excercise!

Over the past month and a half, i have had my “wake up call” and have started visiting the gym regularly, and am watching my diet to the T.

the last few weeks at the gym have been interesting. been seeing quite an eclectic mix of individuals, body builders and just regular folks.

so i jog for about 10 mins and run for another 10 mins, over the 20 mins that i walk to warm up, this is what i like doing, and have been able to push my stamina, by either increasing the speed, inclination or just duration. step by step, its been painful, but rewarding.

i see some folks, who come and jog for 1 minute, keep wondering – HOW does this help? 1 minute?

another group – they put their weight onto the handlebars of the treadmill and walk- yes now this IS going to help you exercise and loose weight.

yet another group get onto the cross trainer and move really crazyly fast. again, for a grand total of 2 mins.

Like schools, i think gyms need to insist on high levels of personal hygine. this one dude stinks- not the best fragrance you want near your nostrils when you are breathing hard to keep your pace at 12kmph.

well, its been a fun journey, and i guess this is something one has to live with! 🙂

Amazing Picture

Picture taken during the opening ceremony of the Bejing olympics – if you scroll down – it appears as though the same drummer is caught in various positions.

– not my picture.