A Month's Recap

January proved to be quite a busy month for me. All the courses I've taken for my Masters are dumping loads of work in my way. My life has completely become confined in Home->Office->Home cycle and I feel like griping to everyone that I haven't gone out once in this whole month doing something for myself only.

On the 12th I had to appear in DST midterm. Since the exam was on Saturday, I had a decent preparation and since it was a 40 min exam with relatively easy questions, I performed quite well. After that I faced the Graph Theory exam on last Wednesday (Jan 30). I took a day's leave from the office to get prepared. But the tiring 2 hour exam was too much to handle with my writer's cramp. I'm satisfied with what I've answered but if could've been better. This coming Tuesday I have to give a presentation for my Computational Geometry class. I am supposed to be working on that right now, but blogging instead.

Joel Iwashige, our colleague from the US office, left on the 31st. Before that, we had two get-togethers. One was organized by my boss, Ellis Miller, in his home. We had a prolonged dinner there and took part in some silly but funny games. I was again bored with the homily about religious and moral scruples from the Americans, but the occasion was a highlight if you take into account how boring my days have become. On the other occasion, we arranged a treat in Boomers at Banani. Besides the food, I got to meet Shafi and gang after quite a few times.

I know the city dwellers will all give me an oblique look at this point, but after all these days, I finally got the chance to watch a movie at Bashundhara, Star Cineplex. Since I neither have a girlfriend, nor much contact with friends, so I went alone to watch Pirated of the Carribean - At World's End. Don't frown at me, I am completely normal and straight, I just don't socialize much. The experience and the movie both were fantabulous.

One of my bestest friends, Niaz visited my office once this month. I forgot the date, but I was very happy at this. Also, I visited Shabuj Bhai, at his MBA Dormitory a couple of times. We took some initiatives to prepared for GRE and apply for PhD together but that effort took little time to go to the dogs.

During the whole month, I spent a lot of time fantasizing between a new Sony Ericsson mobile or a PS2 or PSP. It looks like Sony is hell-bent on taking some money out of my pocket. But so far I haven't made any purchase. I don't know what I'll do in future.

Lets end this post on a high note. My another bested friend, Joyee, will come from China on the 5th of this month. I look forward to seeing her after a long time. Most important of all, a couple of days ago, I learnt that my cousin Sharmin is expecting a baby and I'm going to be a Mama (maternal uncle) soon.

FIFA 08 - ManUtd vs Arsenal

I am a great fan of EA Sports' football (American soccer game FIFA. This is one of the main reasons why I started to take an interest in football. Earlier I only watched cricket but now football has moved it to second place.

Since buying my first pc in 2002, I have played all FIFA releases except FIFA 2005 and a couple of World Cup/ Euro special releases. I do not enjoy playing with the national teams. I find that monotonous and rather dig the manager mode for club footballs. Teams I enjoy playing with (and also support in real life) are- Manchester United (English Premier League), Real Madrid (Spanish League) and AC Milan (Italian League). Most of the football lovers will frown at my choice and ask why I don't like Barcelona, the recent best team both in real life and in FIFA but I cannot explain too much reason behind my choices. They are as they are.

Now I come to the main woe behind this post. Now-a-days I don't have time to play that frequently (may be one match per day or less), so I only play EPL. The recent manager mode is cool and lets you manage the team along with those nerve wrecking matches. Since FIFA 06, I cannot perform well with my favorite club Manchester United any more. As much as I like them, I lose most of the important matches with them playing in the difficulty level as suited for me (most difficult levels I've played are Professional for FIFA 07 and currently Semi-Pro for FIFA 08). Of course you can tell me to play at a lower difficulty level but avid gamers of FIFA series can tell you how boring it becomes to play when you master one difficulty level and score 7-8 goals in every match. To me, the beauty of this game is not how many goals you score but rather how you score.

In an attempt to find an alternative, I started playing with Chelsea for FIFA 06 and 07. I kept myself telling I really like this team while my heart was always in Old Trafford. Since Jose Mourinho left Chelsea I lost all my interest from that team. When I got my hand on the new release FIFA 08, I thought I could finally start playing with ManU. But when I raised difficulty to Semi-Pro from amateur, I found it is impossible to win with this team. As always ManUtd is a 5 star team with the likes of Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs and Ferdinand, but with this team I get beaten very badly by 3 star teams like LA Galaxy and Derby County. After getting lost and humiliated (don't get me wrong, 2-0 loss is my margin of humiliation) by the weaker teams for the umpteenth time, I finally abandoned hopes of playing as ManU.

Who am I playing as now? Have I switched to La Liga? The answer is no. I found salvage and started doing well again with a strong 4 star team- Arsenal, not star-studded as the others but very effective. I am winning most of my matches and last night beat Reading 4-0. This season Arsenal is also doing well in EPL and I think I have started growing a liking to this young squad.

From now on I'll support both the teams with ManU having the preference for head-to-head clashes. Make no mistake this policy is for real life only. When I'll face ManU in FIFA 08, I'll be very happy to tear them apart.

Bottom line of this post:
(in front of tv) Go Red Devils !!!
(in front of pc) Go Gunners !!!

2007 : A Year to Remember

Goodbye 2007. This has been one of the most important years of my life. A lot happened these 365 days in our country and around the world which will bear significant changes in the upcoming future. But for a moment, lets forget about all that and take a quick glance at how this became a pivotal year in my life.

• I turned 25.
• Completed my graduation. For one term at least, I could fight all my mental demons and writer's cramp and faired in the final term. I was finally able to climb the mountain of honors and graduated with exactly 3.75 CGPA.
  
• Appeared at only one interview and got selected. Started job after the very next day of the final exam in the last term. Sitting and blogging from the very same desk after 8 months.
  
• Quenched my thirst of traveling quite a bit. Went to Sundarbans with the whole cse batch. Those 3 days will always be one of the most memorable days in my life.
• Went to Sylhet with 2 very good friends. Learnt one of the greatest truths in my life. I am a coward and step back from danger not because I think of others but because I think of myself most of all.
• I had the great chance of appearing on stage and playing music twice. Had a significant part in arranging cseday'07 which gave me immense metal satisfaction.
• Enjoyed to the limit in graduation concert and SGHS 125 year concert.
• Had the chance to return to my alma-mater and received the same comfort and peace after years.
• Spent a lot in electronics, some wise some unwise. The most important of all the investments was my new laptop.
• Attended marriage ceremonies of a good number of my dear friends.
• I'm still successfully single and I'm happy about being so.

I thank The Almighty ALLAH for all the blessings HE bestowed upon me and made this a merry year for me. Standing at the eve of new year I can rightfully say this was an eventful and successful year for me. I don't know what will happen in the next year. I intend to continue my Masters, appear for GRE and apply for PhD in the upcoming year. Hope the new year will also bring more joys to my life and everybody else.

Goodbye 2007. Welcome 2008. Happy New Year to everyone.

CodeCrafters forever?

For more than 8 months I've been working on CodeCrafters along with my buet mates Adnan, Kajal, Imam, Nazim and Tanzil. After every second week we sit in the office in a meeting about leaving this job and join somewhere else. But so far none of us have done that. I guess the main reason behind this is not our salary or facilities but rather the pack of friendship we six have grown in the office.

A few days ago Adnan gave interview in Ericsson and got selected. He went there with a confused mind and hesitantly joined because of the pressure of their HRM manager. But finally he decided he cannot part from the pack and sent resignation to Ericsson. This is a completely revolting decision if anyone considers the job market of Bangladesh where Telecom is the most coveted industry to join for CSE/EEE grads and Ericsson being the cherry of the icing. I guess s/w junkies like me will be glad with his step but most of the people will scream and shout- WHY ADNAN? :-o

I guess Adnan is in love with his workplace and though he won't admit,to him it's- CodeCrafters forever.

Winter and Work

Many years ago we read in our Social Science curriculum that people living in cooler climate are more active than tropical people. As winter have set in quite well this time in Dhaka, I am finding this statement rather contrary to my present condition.

After quite a few months I found the good opportunity to enjoy some quality holiday time, due to Eid, Christmas and Victory day. But now I don't feel like getting up in the morning for office. Rather I enjoy long hours under warm blankets. Similarly, I don't want to study for my Masters course either. I am fighting hard to regain my typical form playing FIFA 08 in Semi-Pro difficulty and that takes up whatever time I get when I'm home.

Bottom line of this post: It doesn't matter whether the climate is cold or whether you live in the tropics. People like me are always idle :-p

St. Gregory's High School Celebrates 125 Years

Sometimes you feel you have fallen apart from somebody, keep his existence locked in a dark corner of your mind, you think may be you should go back and re-bond but never take the initiative to do so. Years later, when you finally come face-to-face you realize all the inhibition was on your part. There never was any untie of bonds. You kept yourself aloof all the time but still they welcome you with the warmest possible hug and within minutes you realized you're home.

Such was my feelings when I stepped through the wide gates of my alma-mater on Thursday, 13th Dec, 07. Saint Gregory's High School was celebrating her 125 years. I was a humble pilgrim of this temple from 1988-1999. After I had passed I barely went 3-4 times in my child-time second home. But this time I had the chance to spent 2 whole days (13-14) in my old place. I was suddenly seized back to the days I passed a decade ago. But it took me little time to come back to reality when a current student who was serving as volunteer said, "Uncle, please seat in that place instead of standing here". I felt sad realizing I am growing old.

I met lots of friends whom I see once in 2-3 months now-a-days. Specially I was elated to pass time with Niaz who has been friend with me for almost 20 years. Then there was Nadim, Abir, Pavel, Kalam, Imran, Nijhu, Emin and a whole bunch of good old buddies. The best few moments of the whole ceremony was a handshake with the greatest teacher of my life - Syed Sirajul Huq Sir and the same affectionate tap on the cheek by one my most favorite teacher of all times - Nilotpal Sarkar (Lanka) Sir.

The evening on 13th Dec saw the first official concert in SGHS's history - Lucky Akhand, Sunny Jubayer performed before the concert. Cherry on the icing was ex-President and Gregorian Prof. Dr. Badruddoza Chowdhury's song. But when LRB took the stage after a good-but-not-buet-like performance of Shironamhin, the crowd simply got frenzied. I don't remember dancing so wildly since our rag concert. Abir did a commendable job with his chair-top dance and I joined him for a couple of minutes too. When the concert finally ended near midnight, I didn't feel like coming home.

On Friday morning, I was scheduled to appear on a friendly debate. Reluctantly I woke up for bed and finally managed to take my beaten body to school. Niaz, Sushanta and I debated against some junior ex and current students of SGHS. The topic was- Past and Present of SGHS. I debated after almost 12 years but found myself at ease on stage. May be it's the effect that SGHS has on me.

After lunch at Imran's residence, we came to take part in cake auction. Azim uncle (Irfan's father) won the auction bidding 105k and gifted it to batch-99. We were simply overwhelmed. After that we had a grand photo-session on the steps of the new academic building. At a photo-session I realized what a strong batch we are as almost 60 people of our batch showed up after this 9 years. Enjoying the laser show and grand lighting I returned home humming the school theme song- "St. Gregory's boys and brothers are...."