Win XP Failure - Long story, not worthwhile ; )

Almost had a heart attack! My laptop froze today! it came back with this message:
Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows
Setup using the original Setup CD- ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

And i did not have the installer! I never received the installer when i got the laptop shipped to me ! Now what? so i went and borrowed the Win XP Pro installer from my neigbor, the web developer. Meanwhile i also searched online for this problem and its solution and came up with someone who faced the exact same thing... and with... a Toshiba laptop at that! [eerie X-Files theme plays at the back].

Being the impatient bloke that i am, i read a bit and saw the message board people saying something about "Repair" and thats what windows told me to do as well... so i loaded up the pro installer and ended up in the first menu and pressed "r" for repair. Some stuff happened and asked me to type "Exit" to reboot. Well, it didn't work. After twice of thrice of the same thing, I thought i should re-read the message board. And then i discover this link:
www.michaelstevenstech.com
There i found written in bold and all caps, and in RED, to not do what i just had done for "n" times! : )

Then following the instructions on that page i went on to install the Pro version. I was mad to see that the installer did not detect that i had windows on it! according to the webpage i was supposed to see a "Repair" command after i pursue installation. Instead, all i got was the list of partitions I had. So i thot, Maybe i wil overwrite the Home version... and pressed enter! Here they only said i had another OS already (not XP, not Windows.. another OS!!! how smart is that?). Then i fell into doubt whether this "overwrite" idea will work. I called up cuz Faisal who did "n" number of windows installations at his previous job as a computer salesman, and he told me he'd never seen overwriting as yet. :)hmmm.. heartbroken i took out the CD to return to my neighbor and then it happened! The screen saying Windows XP Home Edition came up and the Knight Rider styled lights which goes to show that your computer is working. Then came Checkdisk... then restarted and went into Windows! I am soooooo glad. Alhamdulillah.

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Of Violence and Abuse

Word of the day: Vitriol
If i had to guess... i'd say its some kind of medicine.

It IS a chemical however, a sulfate of a metal, or sulfuric acid is said to be vitriol. Anyway, from the context i was reading, it meant: Abusive expression or feelings. The article I was reading was about behaviours of users in mailing lists, especially how people tend to get passionate and emotional about issues and end up in a verbally abusive exchanges!

Phrase of the day: "tit for tat violence". This was from a news article about the killing of a film-maker in the Netherlands and the violence that sprung up as a result of it. they kill one of them... they get back with killing one of them. Thus, 'tit for tat violence'!!!!

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Making Trade Fair

I remembered watching a live DVD of Coldplay's tour (an old one... just after A Rush of Blood to the Head was released I think), where the singer plays piano in a completely different way. I don't mean different as in a matter of style of playing, but the style in which he held his head just above the reeds as if watching closely the notes, the reed he is about to put a finger on. Its almost like he is in a trance. Anyway in the middle of the close ups of him on the piano I noticed he had 'maketradefair.com' written on the top of his hands!

I went to www.maketradefair.com today. And i saw them highlighting some issues of Bangladesh. The issues were garments industry. They talked about Bangladesh being left out a trade act that was aimed at helping the laborers from the third world countries. Thats all good. But with the revelation of this website, I am thinking whether any of these issues actually even cause an atom of concern in the minds of the local business people who run the show! I met a few of the latter and they are all well to do people. I do hope they are honestly concerned about the fate and future of their workers who are bringing in the money that allow them to be 'rich' in this LDC called Bangladesh. I think the workers should be provided health benefits (something that is widely missing), education, and child-care services in the least. Since most of the off-shore clients are pretty, developed countries I think they should also be able to chip in for the setup of funds for this.

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Website for a nonexistent band!

Last night I sat down with the website i had made for the band I have been trying to put together! Hmmm.. life is so interesting! While wondering what color to use ... switching from black to white or brown, brown took the cup. Then me and my cousin Ishti had this brilliat idea to use a series of pics of my hand which we could use. Then we started snapping away with his nokia phone. Anyways the result of that night, which lasted till 3:00 am is here: http://www.parthib.info

The reason that it took so long is partly due to the slow speed my laptop was running with. It kept 'hanging' and just slowing down and being a nuisance. Now i am wondering whether the ram i have now is enough to handle the multi-desktop functionality that my graphics card is offering. I don't think that handles well with photoshop and dreamweaver running along with winamp and whatnot.

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Eid 2004 (Aidul Fitr)

Pizza Hut, with the big boys, from left: Dad, Unc Hasan, Unc Bablu and me.

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Happy Birthday Tahmid! 18 Nov '04. The basketball cake! 

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Host tanm

So i did have my parents come and stay at my flat during eid. Since the other two of my flatmates were in Chittagong for eid, it presented the possibility of doing so. But the very night they arrived, i became ill, and instead of being a host, i was just lying around and basically not doing much. Eid day was worse, my throat was so sore I could not talk by nightfall that day.

We also held my lil bro tahmid's birthday at my place. The walls have not seen so many people inside there before and the evening was rowdy. :)
And 2 days before that we went to Pizza Hut and since my parents stay in Dhaka till Tahmid's birthday was uncertain at that moment, we had the pizza guys sing (maybe should i say scream) a birthday wish to him.

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Holiday Ends!

Well, its over... in a flash. The empty streets of dhaka are filling back with its usual nonsense traffic. Business is back in the order of the day.

Despite the fact that i spent most of the days being sick, i am sad at its (the holidays') demise.

For some reason or the other the arrows of (right, left, up and down) my keyboard are not working!!!! so i'll get back to this blog later. I do feel that i am becoming more and more boring day by day. So maybe i should spare the world anyways.

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Holiday begins.

Today is the final day at work before a week-long holiday is about to start. The occassion: Eid. Eid-ul-Fitr is its complete name and in Malaysia and Indonesia its known as Hari Raya. It comes after a month of fasting and it signifies the end of the days of trials of Ramadan (the fasting month's name).

While I have been successfully abstaining from food, I have not been able to improve my prayers! I am working, entertaining myself, sleeping, and fasting. Thats it. Which reminds me now to go and pray. So... later...

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albums

Two new albums were released from G-Series. Kronic, on the side of alternative music.... and Elephant Road on the side of progressive rock music. Go get 'em.

I know I can hardly wait....

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Epiphone Update

I went to check that epiphone guitar out... it was one of the Les Paul series alright.. but it had bad color and some bad features... damn. Why couldn't they just bring something in black!?!?!

Soon, the album of 'Elephant Road' and 'Kronic' are gonna be released. Looking forward to that. And dreaming constantly of having my own album out someday! SIGH. lol

Ramadan is coming to an end and the traffic is on the rise... make way for the shopping! My parents are gonna come over to stay in my flat for the first time... so should prepare the place... make it neat and stuff... need to plan. hmpf.

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