The “How’s Your Thesis Going?” Post

It’s going good thank you very much. So what am I doing? Read on to find out…WARNING UNADULTERATED GEEK TALK FOLLOWS!

I had to ask myself what interests me enough to take on such a challenge? The answer lies in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Currently the boundary that separates us from our computers is the User Interface (UI). The most popular example of a UI is Window’s start button. It allows us to access our programs quickly and easily (most of the time). Otherwise we would have run them using a command prompt, yummy!

So what could I do in this area? Help out HCI designers of course! They have to follow a set of heuristics when designing an Interface. They may not be aware that their design may be violating this set of guidelines. That’s where I come in; I’ll be creating a tool that analyzes end user behavior when using a UI. After the analysis is complete the tool will generate a report stating which guidelines were violated. As any marketing expert will tell you a good product is only as good as its name. So I am asking you the “I Don’t Know” reader to help me think of an exciting and relevant name for this tool. Because frankly speaking, I can’t think of one.

As always this post will be updated and reposted when new information is available about this project, so here’s the low down:

Aug 22: After making changes to the design I started development work. I had to refactor a database management class. It was becoming overburdened with too many tasks. Luckily Netbeans makes this process a piece of cake.

Aug 10: Working on the proposal. One section has to do with current research going on in this area. Luckily my IEEE membership helps me stay up to date. End of ringing endorsement.

Aug 04: Got registered for the Fall 2008 semester. No need to apply for classes just the Thesis! yay.

July 15: Finalized an advisor today he’s the patron of research group, plus the dean of my university. He also liked the idea but gave some suggestions to make it better. I’ll have to figure out how to incorporate those changes.

July 03: Met with a research group (check out their website) at my University. They too are working on HCI. I got a kick out of sharing my ideas with them. Plus they coaxed my ego by telling me how wonderful my idea was. Which makes me feel shiny. They ask that I write up an abstract, which can be pitched to potential advisors.

June 22: This week was spent wrestling with the backend. I have SQL server installed on a server class machine the client machine which is connected to the server via a network switch was suppose to interface with the databases on that machine. However I had trouble creating a data source that could do the job. Still wanting to work with SQL server. I tried downloading MySQL. The download was pretty painful thanks to DAP, which would go over the file size and continue downloading eventually delivering a corrupted .msi file. I had to do a direct download from the server to get it right.

Then I spent two days installing, configuring and connecting to MySQL. Online documentation is extensive and you can easily get sidetracked with all the nitty gritty details they throw at you. I managed to get my IDE connected however when I created and compiled a sample CRUD application the thing wouldn’t run. I kept getting an “access denied” message from MySQL. Apparently the IDE wasn’t using the correct password. I used the console to take a look at the grant tables the password for the database was long and convoluted. I tried changing it but that didn’t work. I got so frustrated I finally decided to drop MySQL for the backend. That decision was tough, as I had already invested so much time into it. However if I stuck with all progress would have ended, so I settled on derby. Its already integrated with Netbeans. Aside for a few minor hiccups the thing works fine.

This is just one step on a long list of milestones that I have to complete. I am reminded of a Will Wheaton blog post in which he is anxious about finishing a writing project by August. He to has to overcome several milestones before the project comes under control. That’s the same with me and I hope we both accomplish what we have set out to do.


read older updates

The wait is over

I know you've been eagerly awaiting my announcement. And that you're about to burst with excitement. Since I don't want you bursting and messing up the carpet, I'll come clean.



I got a job! You're looking at the latest addition to the SQA department of an up and coming tech company. They create software for banks. And have their systems running in all major banks of Pakistan. Plus they have clients in the middle east.

I sent in my resume thinking nothing of it. But then I got called in for an interview, then another and another. After an exhaustive round of interviews (these guys aren't the tag team) I was finally extended a job offer. "Are you interested?" they asked


"Most definitely!" This morning I inked a deal with their HR department making it official. I start monday and can't wait. I met a lot of buddies from college during orientation. Everyones really friendly and happy. Which is great I can carry their positive energy home with me, making me less snippy.

Now to send some positive energy your way. In celebration I am taking everyone out for a round of yummy milk shakes!!! mmm...minty.

zippty doo-da!

When I am in an exceptionally good mood, I tend to imagine myself in a music video. Today I pulled off a killer guitar riff, with psychedelic special effects. I'll let you know what the excitement is all about as soon as possible...stay tuned.

food dude

I was reading smug puppies today and came across a fun activity. Inquiring minds want to know the foods you eat. My preference for food is defined by Islamic guidelines. Naturally all alcohol and pork products were crossed out. It was fun to see some dishes from the sub-continent. Sweetened lassi is an absolute delight however the salted variety is a bit harsh. I hope to try out sushi, lobster and caviar some day. You can play along too:

Here’s what I want you to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (i have these in italics)
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.


1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5.Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Free range

The thing I love about Pakistan is that you have complete freedom. Freedom to do as you please, how you please, when you please. There are no government restrictions, the only thing you have to worry about is if you get caught an angry mob might come for you. No kidding. Let’s say you get into a car accident. The normal course of action is to exchange numbers and send the other guy the mechanics bill. No can do. With a crippled legal system such niceties are a luxury. It’s more likely that a group of bystanders will gather around to watch as you duke it out with the other driver.

If you manage to establish who’s at fault it’s an uphill climb to get any money out of the guy. A lot of badgering and threats have to be made before any headway can be made. And this is only in the case of a fender bender. Should you happen to maim or even kill someone. Those passive bystanders turn into an unruly mob who needs sweet revenge.

This is an extreme example of how lawlessness is affecting Pakistan. More subtle happenings have changed the country’s landscape. Could you imagine a 10 foot high advertisement plastered across your wall? This guy can:


Now this is private property, somebody’s home to put a finer point on it. But that didn’t stop the good folks at Nelson Paints to send over a guy and mess up their wall (done under the cover of darkness, no doubt). Now the homeowners could track down the people who did this. But what good will it do? They won’t offer any compensation the best that they can do is promise not to advertise on his wall again. They will have to spend their hard earned money to white wash the wall and hope they get a break from free-wheeling painters.

Now this all sounds pretty awful. But I am just getting started. Pakistan has laws against the piracy of intellectual property. Inventors and artist can in theory register their newfangled products and get them copyrighted. However all of this is on paper. There’s no way to enforce this. The courts can’t do it because they’re impotent, the police aren’t interested until you grease them just right (even then they just mosey around for just a bit). The result of which is wanton piracy. Not just movies and software but internationally recognized trademarks are also fair game:

(the top banner reads: “Try our quality products at least once” while the bottom portion reads: “McDonalds French Fries, delicious finger chips”)

What does this mean for Pakistanis? It sends them the message that they shouldn’t invent or create anything original because even if they do they won’t be able to survive solely on their creation. Let’s take the software industry. They NEVER make software for the local market. Their creations are made for exporting to other countries, where they’re guaranteed an ounce of IP protection. Which is a sad state of affairs.

That’s why the nation went nuts when Musharraf announced his resignation. I was listening to his speech live. At first I thought it would be business as usual (him keeping an iron hold on his seat while the world collapsed around him) however in the last few moments he shocked the world by announcing his resignation. I know that his words hit me like a ton of bricks. Nine years of botched leadership was coming to an end. Now we could focus on getting the Supreme Court in order and rehabilitate the courts.

However the euphoria was only to last for a few days. A wide chasm formed inside of the coalition set up to defeat Musharraf. The PPP led by Bhutto’s “grieving” husband Zardari insisted on making him president. This did not go well with PML-N led by Nawaz Sharif some say he preferred to be president. So now there’s a veritable cat fight between these two. In the meantime ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudry, the only guy who had the guts to stand up to Musharaff, sits on the sidelines with his lawyer buddies wondering when he’ll be reinstated and get back to pulling Pakistan out of its current crisis.

Meanwhile terrorist bombings are plaguing every corner of the country. Militants or covert operations? Only time will tell. The army manages to drop bombs on innocent villagers and always miss the bad guys (by just this much). While US forces are camped out on the Afghani border ready to “help out”. It’s all pretty crazy and I don’t know where it’s going, but I think there’s a rock song in here somewhere.

Writing

This whole heartache episode has done wonders for my writing. It has more emotional depth to it and the characters are much more darker. Writing like this has helped me vent my frustration which feels really good.

The way of the web

I ran into some more HS acquaintances on facebook. Glad to see they still remember me. Everyone is doing well, one guy became a cop and has a baby on the way! Old nemesis have grown up and we've forgotten what we fought about. Hopefully we won't remind each other. It was fun catching up, made me feel happy. This newfangled internet is pretty awesome.

Heart ache

I had my heart broken. People I trusted played with my emotions to get their way. It's a stab in the back that hurts immensely. As much as I don't want to, I feel depressed. I tell myself to snap out of it but can't. I need to grieve only then can the healing begin.

I won't go into the specifics but let's just say innocence has been lost. I've been antiquated with the ways of the world. I hope I don't become cynical because I am an optomist and always look for the silver lining. I came out of this experience stronger and wiser. I've taught myself how not to let some one control me like that again.

Holy Cow!

I had my headphones plugged into the wrong jack. I switched jacks and now I am getting surround sound. Need for speed never sounded this good!

A beautiful story

--This showed up in my inbox, it's a very sweet story and I wanted to share--

An old American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentuckywith his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at thekitchen table reading his Qur'an. His grandson wanted to be just like himand tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to read the Qur'an just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon asI close the book. What good does reading the Qur'an do?" The Grand father quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water."

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show hisgrandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into the river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was empty again. Out of breath, he said, "See Grandpa, it's useless!"

"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out. "Son, that's what happens when you read the Qur'an. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be Changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives."

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) says: "The one who guides to good will be rewarded equally"

Chai, Coffee?

Depending on how a strong of a caffeine fix I need, I either go with tea or coffee. A mug of unsweetened tea with milk is good for low intensity fixes. Then I take it up a notch with coffee, cream and sugar please. On occasions when I need to be startled awake a cup of coffee straight does the trick. The other day I strayed from my regular doses and tried some Earl Grey. This tea has a lemony taste to it and really doesn’t need cream or sugar. It was pretty good, no wonder why Capt. Picard liked it so much.

Incidentally the blog title was inspired by air hostesses on PIA flights. They need to serve dozens of passengers quickly. And ask one after the other about their preferred hot beverage. When I was first asked I didn’t comprehend what they were saying all I saw was a lady holding a kettle of boiling hot water. This made me nervous and I just sorta sat their dazed and confused. She asked again I think I managed to say huh? But by then she was thoroughly annoyed and moved on.

Happy independence day!

This is a shout out to all former British Colonies. Let's hear it for Self-Determination!

Kids don't try this at home

Face plant!

Nothing but...air!

Crunnnnnch!

I don't know how this happens

Springfield Punx

Be sure to check out this blog. It has some great artwork of "simpsonized" versions of celebrities and popular characters. My favorites Lion-o,The late night gang, Neo and the turtles.

Also my favorite CNN Alert so far "Bush ends Olympics" hahahaha!!!

Tough crowd

Oh man did I have a tough interview the other day. From a technical standpoint it was the most grueling. It was conducted by a tag team of very competent people. I was on the ropes for most of the time but I think I was able to charm them enough that they will consider me. After all they spent an hour quizzing me. If they didn’t see any potential they would have asked to me leave much earlier. And on occasion they were pleased with my responses. So there is a chance they might take me in but I won’t know until they get back to me.

To tell you the truth it was a bit weird me not being able to wow them. In all my other job interviews people would come right out and tell me that they like my stuff. Which is why I also suspect the tag team had their poker faces on; an effective strategy that had me second guessing my responses. It also lets you dig a grave for yourself if you’re not careful.

Gearing up

The sub-continent is gearing up to celebrate Independence Day. Unlike India, Pakistan not only gained its Independence from the British Empire but it also gained a separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent. Homelands are great, gives everyone breathing space.

Today was the last weekend before August 14 (Pakistan's Independence Day), so it was a good time to climb up to my roof and plant the national flag:

Of course festivities are marred by the Dr. Afia Siddiqui episode. Indeed it's a sad chapter in the US led "War on Terror", I just hope that justice is served.

UPDATE: here's the latest info

spooky stuff

I once scared myself silly by walking into my bathroom in the dark. I was half asleep and wasn't expecting to see the outline of another person standing by the sink. My half concious brain was startled awake, it was still deciding to "flight or fight" when I realized I was looking into the mirror. After that I felt stupid and was reminded of the bloody mary dares we did as kids.

I thought nothing of it until I saw an ad for a new movie. It turns out other people are scared of mirrors to. Enough to inspire a feature length film. Of course my encounter was nothing like the scary scenes in this movie. Now that I think about mirrors have played a centeral role in a lot of scary stories. I remember this one film where a woman walks past her hallway mirror and sees herself as this scary old hag. It freaks her out and she covers up the mirror. One day a burglar breaks into her house and tries to manhandle her. They struggle and the cover falls off. The scary old hag is revealed which scares the burglar so much that he falls off the balcony and dies. Since that day the hag never returns...too doo doo doo doooo

Also Constantine traps demons from other worlds in mirrors. So yeah staring at your own reflection can get a bit freaky. My advise knock it off. Have someone else tell you where to stick that toothbrush.

new routine

Good news to report I've completed all required courses at my college and now I only have my thesis left. This is great as I can do that on my own time. This gives me the freedom to get a real job that pays well (getting published just wasn't working out). That money will go towards the "get saqib his own car" fund. Then I can contribute to the energy crisis by adding another gas guzzling machine to the road! yay.

My bodies been adjusting to a new routine I set up for myself. I get up at six get ready for the day (which includes exercising, showering, breakfast). If I have a job interview later in the day I prepare for that. Otherwise I work on my thesis for about an hour. I have a feeling I'll have to ramp up the hours on that as the deadline draws closer. Luckily I already did most of the background work during the summer semester. Then its off to bed by 11.

This works out great for me. I noticed that I am much more alert and can get more work done this way. Which will come in handy when I finally land a job. Which I hope will be sooner rather than later.

A new look

I got a new pair of glasses. Their by Chanel and feature a trim black frame. I am told they look "hot". When I put them on for the first time everything looked so shiny and new through the freshly minted lenses. Like everything was in Hi-Def or something.

I packed up my old glasses the lenses had become pretty scratched up. My friends that don't wear glasses were worried about me. They often asked how I managed to see through the scratches. I told that it wasn't a problem and that I can see past them. That's also why I delayed buying a new pair for so long.

What did you do to change your look?

Four rules...

...for when you're lost.

1. When you reach an intersection and don't know which way to go, always go straight
2. If you think you should get on a bridge, highway, tunnel you probably do
3. Don't stop for directions in creepy neighborhoods
4. Road signs are our friends

If you have an idea of where you should be heading these rules will get you there. That's coming from experience.

Of course if all else fails you need to swallow your pride admit that you're lost turn into the nearest gas station and get some help.

Desi Beats

Just plain funny...