iamneo

Yesterday I hung out with Kelly and her sister Katie. I have met Katie before and so this time we were more comfortable and had a very good time. We all had our dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. I had the Caribbean Jerk Buffalitos™ (Two soft flour tortillas packed with grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion, a blend of cheeses, sour cream and signature sauce and served with blue corn chips and salsa). During our converstations, we talked about blogs, I tried very hard to make her (Katie) swtich to Livejournal from her current Xanga blog account because Xanga does not allow annonymous comments. Though she refused to switch accounts, she did provide another way to make annonymous comments. You can read about her version of yesterday here.

Today, May 20, 2005 at 8:05 pm the date (British format) and time (24-hour format) would be written as 20/05/2005 20:05. This moment in time could also be written as – 200520052005!

Dignified members on the stage, respected faculty members and my fellow graduates, it is a occasion of great honor for me to graduate from College of Applied Science and Technology at the Illinois State University, with my dual masters. The past three years have been full of gaining new knowledge in my chosen field of study and others. Besides the knowledge, these years have been a wonderful opportunity to absorb and learn more about the different cultures that make up our campus community. I will forever treasure these wonderful memories.

Before I start my itinerary of thanks, I would like to thank God for the immense blessings He has showered on me and also this wonderful day! I would not have achieved what I have achieved today, with out the support and prayers of my parents. Mom, Dad, I dedicate these masters to you. Thank you so much for everything you guys have done for me.

I would I like to thank my professors for guiding me through these three years. You have been a constant source of inspiration and a mentor to me. Thank you for encouraging and challenging me to do bigger and better things which I thought was impossible to do. Thank you.

I would like thank all my former supervisors during my time as a graduate assistant. I am forever grateful to you guys for providing me the opportunity to use my skills and improve them. Thank you.

Last but not the least – Thank you to my roommates and classmates. We were all in this together and we made it! Congratulations to my friends who are graduating today and I wish you the very best in all your future endeavors. And to those who are yet to graduate – hang in and you will make it too! Good luck!!!

Thank you to all who helped me to graduate with my masters. Thank you.

Go Redbirds Go!!!

Thursday, May 5, 2005, 3:00 pm, Normal, IL

We had to go to another office building on the campus and as we were passing through our office, I caught a glimpse of thick smoke bellowing from some where behind the Watterson Towers. Watterson Towers is the second tallest student dorm in United States and one of the tallest in the world. We on campus take immense pride in this fact. Most of us are now gathered together to see the sight and there is a growing speculation that Watterson Towers might be on fire! We all walked out of our offices to find out what is actually happening.

Once outside it becomes apparent that the fire is at least a few blocks east of Waterston Towers and that brought us some relief. My supervisor asked me to find out more about the fire and come back to the office. I start walking towards the general direction of the smoke columns with maniyard’s camera in my hand. As I was getting closer to the disaster zone, I start to wonder if the fire was in my apartment complex (we did have a false fire alarm a few days back!). With those sickening thoughts in my mind, I increased my walking pace and soon I walk into the clear view of the disaster zone. I was relieved to see that the fire was not in my apartment complex but I also sad for those students who lost their apartment and other valuables to the fire. The fire was in an apartment complex a few blocks across the street from my apartment complex.

To add to the destruction already caused by the fire was the timing of the disaster. The students are having their finals during the next week and everyone is busy getting assignments completed and preparing for the final exam. So those who were affected by the fire are in a very bad situation.

In the evening after work, Kelly and I went to check out the disaster site. It was a very bad sight to see. The building was completely damaged by the fire. The firemen were still trying to put off sporadic flames that were still flaring up at random places on the roof top.

Pictures from the scene

Here are some more links to the story –

Fire Destroys Off-Campus Student Apartment Complex

‘A real tough, mean fire’

ISU quickly aids displaced tenants

This news link has a helicopter shot! Large Fire Destroys Housing Near Illinois State

Google News links

How many hours of sleep does a person need?
I think 13 hours of sleep would be close to the answer!

Yesterday, I came home around 5:00 pm from my office. I then made quick drive to office of FedEx and UPS. From FedEx, I collected my gap and gown for my graduation ceremony (May 14th). From UPS, I collected a package from Amazon. maniyard had ordered a digital camera and put my address as the receiver. No he is not that generous. He is in UK and is coming over to Chicago, IL for some conference and we are planning to meet up. So that time I will hand him his package. Some global operations!

I made it in time to meet my faculty at 6:00 pm considering the school, FedEx and UPS are all on different ends of the town. Chatted with my faculty for 5 minutes, I updated him about my progress with the Microsoft Certification and he said two exams are good enough for the class. So with that two exams I am done for that class.

Generally feeling happy, I head home and the time is about 6:30 pm. I decide lie down for an hour and half and set the alarm on the cell phone to 8:00 pm. The next I get is 9:40 pm when Kelly gives me a call. So much for waking up to the alarm! I also noticed that I missed parineeta’s call. Still groky from the sleep, I decide to sleep again. This time I get up at 7:20 am of the next day!

I could not believe myself – that I slept so much. I think it is good for me because I am feeling so refreshed. I guess since I was denying my body of its quota of sleep, this is body’s way to get back at you.

Since most of my LJ friends (maniyard, code_martial, bluesmoon, dianaparadise, poocha9, weltanschauungs, aneeta_04) did this test, I thought I should do it too. Here is the result:

Your brain: 40% interpersonal, 80% visual, 20% verbal, and 260% mathematical!

Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers. Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious: Don’t date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%. Don’t be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%. Don’t have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.