Crow's Nest...

Drove to Chicago this past weekend. Short tour and about fourteen hours of driving. It was fun drive through Wisconsin and Illinois. I managed to do 105 on our way back. It was a thrilling few seconds of the drive that I enjoyed a lot. We stopped at random places and enjoyed the trip. Chicago itself was not that much fun as I do not fancy huge sprawled out concrete cities. Food there though was another story and we enjoyed it morsel after morsel.

I have been using Halo Scan for commenting and trackbacks. I have recently shifted to Blogger's new format and had to re-install Halo Scan into my template. The new template from Blogger is working almost flawlessly. But the loading of the page has become very slow. And most of the time it is the Halo Scan servers that are the culprit. When i started with the new template i also opted for Halo Scan's new feature of post rating. I have done away with it for the time being but the page loading is still very slow. It must be a big hassle for any visitor trying to view the blog using a slower connection. I am working towards remedying the problem and if it can be solved by getting rid of Halo Scan then i will do that too. Technorati Tags: Halo Scan , Blogger , Template

This is a test post for testing this new template. I have shifted from a non blogger template to a blogger template. The transition was easier than i had thought. It took me less time than ever to keep my original links and change the remaining template of the blog. I have tried to get rid of coding problems in the page so that it loads faster and acts flawless. For some odd reason the template looks better in FireFox than in Explorer. I had initially made the shift using Mozilla Firefox but when i had a look at the blog in Explorer it had many minor problems that needed to be sorted out. I have sorted out most of them but the one in the external links section still remains. Actually this section is a complete mess. I had to do away with BBC Emergency link and the Emedicine search engine link. Hope you like this new template. It has a feeling of more space and openness as compared to the one i had before. I liked that one too but i like this one more. I have kept the same c...

Ivy league universities are considered the crown jewel of US educational system, worldwide. But the cost of educating children in in these universities has always been very high. Not anymore, says Harvard ; Yale and the rest follow suit . Now through Harvard's new revived financial assistance policies students belonging to the lower and middle income groups will have to pay around 10% of their family income on studying at Harvard. Yale has similar arrangements for its aspiring students. I have little idea if this is valid for international students as well. But then again there is no point in asking this question because i hardly know any international student who is not on financial assistance. Technorati Tags: education , harvard , yale , ivy league Powered by ScribeFire .

Those of us who have been to the old style sermons in the mosques will be able to appreciate the beauty of this video that i found on Youtube . I was especially amazed by the perfection the way the commentator raises and lowers his voice.

This will be my concluding post from the land of Hollywood, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and Silicon Valley. I am leaving California and with it United States of America. This tour had its ups and downs and with them their ebb and flows. For the past three days I have been visiting southern California and its most famous attractions namely Disneyland Resort and Universal Studios Theme Parks and Hollywood. It has been a ride full of adventures and fun and will need a complete post dedicated to it once I am done with leaving the country and arriving in Pakistan. Till then Adios!

I have journeyed across a whole continent, overnight, and am now in New york for my interview. I took a red eye flight out of San Jose into JFK. This time around the check in was complicated because the air line tagged me and thus i had to undergo special security checks. It cost me an extra 5 minutes but nothing much. The flight itself was very uncomfortable on Jet Blue . The check in clerk changed my seat from the exit row to the one in front of it. Jet Blue is a paranoid airline and thus their actions. I had to spend my whole journey crammed in a seat that had minimum leg space and did not recline. It was horrible. And since my boarding pass was tagged i could not complain. Otherwise the journey went well. We landed in New york early in the morning and were welcomed by wind chill temperatures of 19 degrees Fahrenheit. I took the Air train out to the Howard Beach Station and then the A train to 168th street. After this it took me 2 block walk to my very pleasant hosts, FC and AJ. I h...

There are times when making your blog public is exactly not the greatest of all the ideas, in the world. One of my friends has considerably sized down his blogging activity just because all that he writes, is sometimes, not fit for public knowledge. Similar problem has made me decrease the number of posts that i post on this blog. There is a way out of this problem and that is to write anonymous blogs. But then that i think doesn't suit my style. Speaking in principal one should try and carry as little as possible of the information that has to be kept under censor. An open person is a lighter and a better person. Having said this i do not want to undermine the fact that during the course of this life each and everyone of us picks up dust of facts, figures, opinions and stereotypes that has to be kept and not shed. These are to be shared not at will but at discretion _ user's discretion. Therefore I always make it a point to ask my novice bloggers to keep themselves anonymous s...

I have the step 3 videos with me now. I will start watching them from tomorrow. I hope to complete my Step 3 prep by January and take the exam begin February right before i leave for Pakistan. The long weekend has come to an end. Christmas is all closed here. No shops open not even the 24/7 stores. There are a lot of lights and decorations outside the homes. It is just as if Pakistanis celebrate the independence day. The weather has been nice. There has been no rain over the weekend and clouds have been scarce with ample sunshine in the valley. Tomorrow doesn't look nice though. There is a storm coming this way and bringing lots of rain with it. The bay area will be drenched by afternoon tomorrow.

As indecisive as i am i can't get to decide which watch should i buy for myself. I have narrowed down my choices to two watches (it has been a long long search). One is Kenneth Cole Reaction . This is a all stainless steel analog watch with three hands and a date function. It is simple very elegant and i like it for its sheer simplicity. It is silver and has a metallic strap. Is water resistant. It comes with life time warranty for manufacturing defects. No wear and tear covered. It is cheaper than the other choice. The other choice is Wenger Swiss Military watch. It is a round dial. Leather strap. Has elegant date function. Analog chronograph. It has a black dial and luminescent hands. It has a 30 minute chrono function. I have no idea about the warranty though. It is water resistant to 100 meters. UPDATE: Since there were numerous number of suggestions to confuse me i resorted to my own invaluable opinion and have finally bought the watch number two. I like it.

This is what my nephew made for me for the holidays. He is an artist in himself.

The only way to keep my fingers from freezing is to keep on typing on the keyboard. The temperatures have gone down considerably recently. And i am sitting outside the library waiting for my sister to arrive and pick me up. This day marks the first day of my step 3 prep. thus far all the steps i have taken in USMLE's direction have been more or less disasters. Let us see what this steps brings me. More agony and despair? My story of Steps has been one of constant troubles. I hoped to do matter but sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. And it is very strange that after every exam you think for a while that this is the last one in the series i will ever take and life will become the promised bed of roses. It is sad that this never happens. Life is a constant struggle. A struggle in which a battle lost goes a long way in screwing you up than ten won. So many times you are judged by the examinations that you take and sometimes one mistake becomes a black spot ...

The famous British comedy Yes Prime Minister has a website that has a whole lot of information about the programme and its cast and there is even a survey for the fans. All series fans should love to check out the website and i m sure will find the website very informative. Among the many fans of the programme is the then British Prime Minister herself, Ms. Margaret Thatcher. In this youtube video she is seen acting a piece with Nigel Hawthorne and Paul Eddington. It has been scripted by Thatcher herself.