Search Indexer Woes…

Can one imagine an online life without search? Imagine not having the assistance of searching when you are looking for information! Imagine the phrase seek and ye shall find was never coined! Well, my worklife is gonna be somewhat like that from tomorrow onwards!

Why? you may ask…

Coz I was fed up of that pesky little thing that is called Search Indexer and was forcibly foisted upon me as part of XP SP3 The good old search companion was good enough for my needs but this pesky search indexer is one hell of a memory hog! It eats up valuable RAM and also indexes every goddamn file that is there on the PC! Couldn’t it ask me at first which filetypes/folders/drives to index? Yes, there are the so-called advanced options that I can set so that it behaves exactly how I want it to but those settings aren’t shown to me initially! I ‘discover’ them just a few days back when I started getting low disk-space errors and investigations revealed several .mdb files sitting cosily within the search application data folder…each nearly two gigs in size!

Aghast (and swearing under my breath!), I proceeded to uninstall it from the Add/Remove Programs but voila! it was running as a service and not as an installed program! So I did the first thing that came to my mind – fire up services.msc  and stop the search service (and also make the startup as manual)! The full implication of that dawned on me just a while ago and I may yet have to restart it and let it run, just in order to make my computing life easier by allowing me to search…but not before I cut short the list of filetypes & the locations to index. It may not be beaten but at least can be subdued!

P.S: I’m looking for ways to get rid of that pesky thing once and for all and stick to the trusty search companion. Let me know in the comments if you know/come across any helpful information. Tx.

Republic Day Greetings

Here’s wishing all fellow countrymen, wherever they might be, a Happy Republic Day.

2009 Academy Awards Nominations – Rahman, Gulzar & Resul nominated; Slumdog bags 10 Nominations

The nominations for the 2009 Academy Awards or Oscars are out. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is leading from the front with thirteen nominations and as widely expected, Slumdog Millionaire is not too far behind with ten nominations.

Three Indians are in the nominations list – A.R.Rahman (widely expected), Gulzar and Resul Pookutty with Rahman featuring three times, one for Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) and two in the category of Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song). Gulzar shares the nomination with Rahman for Jai Ho in the latter whilst Resul shares the nomination for Achievement in sound mixing with two other sound engineers. The Indian media is already in a frenzy about it all and the excitement is only going to increase with each passing day!

Already, there are a few voices of dissent with The Dark Knight not making it to the nominations for best picture; though Heath Ledger has been nominated for Best actor in a supporting role for his turn as The Joker. Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino also didn’t feature in any of the nomination categories.

The Australian Open is underway

…with no Sharapova innit

 

The First Tennis Grand Slam of 2009 has started off at Melbourne Park and though the first week’s action is not something that I watch regularly, I do keep tabs on the top seeds. The first day’s action saw Roger Federer beat Andreas Seppi – who looked a lot like Lleyton Hewitt, I thought – and wins for Andy Roddick and defending champion Novak Djokovic whereas Spaniards Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero were on the losing side. The biggest disappointment yet was the defeat of local boy Lleyton Hewitt at the hands of Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.

The Ladies’ side of the draw is already dimmed with the withdrawal of defending champion Maria Sharapova and I wasn’t too keen on following the Williams Sisters and the handful of vic’s and ova’s out there! Sania Mirza, however made a comeback to competitive tennis with a win in the first round.

Its still a long way to go (12 more days, to be exact) and I plan to watch the matches more carefully maybe at the Quarter Final or the Semi Final stages but there are a few mouth-watering clashes waiting in the wings in the third and fourth rounds – Safin Vs. Federer & Murray Vs. Tsonga just the two of them. A pulsating end to January awaits…

Australian Open Website

Cinemax Multiplex Opens in Hyderabad

Hyderabad now has another multiplex added into its kitty. Cinemax, which was under construction for almost a year has finally opened to the public on the occasion of Sankranthi yesterday with the release of the Telugu flick Maska. Hindi movie Chandni Chowk to China will be the next to be screened here on 16th Jan. I’d heard this from a friend in Hyd yesterday and today’s news reports indeed corroborate it.

 

Located at RK Cineplex on Banjara Hills Rd #2 (opposite LV Prasad Eye Hospital), Cinemax will have three screens with a total seating capacity of 1001, with 88 recliner seats. The best part – for me, at least – is that the screen is very close to my workplace…within walking distance! So the early-evening dash to catch the latest release on Friday evening will be less of a cumbersome affair

But there’s a dampener: the ticket prices are at a steep Rs 200!

The Andhra Pradesh government has issued a GO to Cinemax India Ltd, which owns a multiplex at Road No. 2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, allowing it to charge Rs 200 per ticket. This is the highest ticket price charged by any theatre in the AP state.

The GO, No 7, allows the theatre to charge Rs 200 per ticket as a special case. The order states that since a huge amount of money was invested in the theatre, the government permitted it to charge more. Cinemax can collect Rs 200 for the Gold category and Rs 100 for Special and Executive Class of the three screens. Other multiplexes in the city can charge a flat Rs 100 and Rs 200 for 3D films. [Source]

Cinemax Website

Bhogi, Sankranthi & Pongal Wishes

Its Festival time again! Here’s wishing everyone a crackling Bhogi, a delightful Pongal and a cheerful Sankranthi!

Bhogi is more common up here than in Hyderabad where kite-flying is in vogue. I’ve touched upon the same information last year as well so pardon the redundancy. Also, I couldn’t find a unique greeting image for wishing you all, so I’ve put together something different…sample this:

The one with the TV left on…

Those who know me well will vouch for the fact that I’m quite a err…ummm…“laidback” fellow on Sundays. I try to ensure that there’re not many household chores, not many visits to folks’ houses, no disturbing visitors etc etc. Main aur meri tanhaaii is my refrain on Sundays (except of course when there’re parties or meets or dinners to attend ). If that’s the case with me on Sundays when I’m on my own in Hyderabad, imagine the scenario when I’m at my hometown with none of the above-mentioned obligations. I can safely say that the err…“laidback-ness” is ^2

It was one such Sunday yesterday and having spent almost the entire day doing…nothing…I settled down in front of the TV in the evening for some soccer action. There were two matches in the EPL and whilst the first one was a passable fare, the second one was not-to-be-missed, for it was Manchester United Vs. Chelsea at Old Trafford. Arguably the second most anticipated fixture amongst the Big 4 (Man U Vs. Liverpool accorded the #1 status), it was one that commanded rapt blink-or-you’ll-miss-it attention. I duly accorded it that unwavering attention and when it all ended – with an emphatic 3-0 drubbing for Chelsea – and the post-match analysis and reactions too ended, I was so excited and exhilarated that I trooped off to my room and hit the sack (mentally chanting Go United Go!)…without remembering to switch off the Television!!!

Now “laidback” I might be but I’m also quite responsible and meticulous in my habits. After late-night-TV-watching, I always turn off the set – not from the remote, mind it, switch off the power, turn off the lights and tidy up before I retire for the night. But yesternight I didn’t do any of that! Not only did it catch my folks unawares but also led them to think that I watch too much TV and there also were some murmurs of curtailing my privileges! A sound dressing-down ensued today morning and no doubt there will be someone to look over my retiring habit tonight…and most probably for the next few nights!

In my defense, I squarely blame Chelsea! Why did they have to lose so badly? Sometimes such happenings disturb one’s routine…don’t you think so?

SouthCo Faux Pas

Spotted today whilst idle surfing:

Galti se mishtek, obviously. They evidently wanted to put “Lighting” (Southco is an electricity company). To put things in perspective, here’re the many definitions of “lightening”.