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I recently had the opportunity to try out the evdo broadband service. I was not expecting wonders and hence am not disappointed. Also as it was just a free trial I did not pay anything. Anyways I used it side by side with wateen and the verdict is crawling slow. Your mileage may vary but this being center of the capital and all other services fly here.

For all Wateen WiMAX users out there in Pakistan, this small desktop utility will keep you logged in without having to relogin or to find out that your connection was down while you were trying to do something and gave up on it. It is very simple and just uses the web interface to log in and check uploaded and downloaded bytes which are shown on the screen, the green / red square is a status check to see if the connection is up or not. You have to define preferences for username, password, always autologin, and refresh time in seconds. Tested on Windows XP, Ubuntu 7.10, MacOS Tiger.
I also have a J2ME version to be used on WIFI enabled cell phones / PDAs but currently no preference changes are implemented so can not make it available for download, if I get more than 10 comments here asking for it, I’ll take out some time to implement it.

Download the desktop version here:

Screenshot for eye candy (click on image for full version):

Short on ideas got this one from a kids show. Evidence of blending wrong colors is obvious but that means I learnt something
- Taken at 9:20 PM on March 03, 2008 – cameraphone upload by ShoZu

Well its a different feeling when you paint for any other reason than getting a grade. Oil pastels is the medium of choice here. Just recieved my shipment from amazon.com with the books I think will help me in getting acceptable results for this hobby.
- Taken at 12:12 AM on February 29, 2008 – cameraphone upload by ShoZu

Sad affair, a training military jet crashed in a narrow corridor between buildings at my graduate school.

Another interesting work with simple brush strokes in an abstract kind of way. Although one part looks like a bird to me.
- Taken at 5:51 PM on January 05, 2008 – cameraphone upload by ShoZu

My 3 year old daughter, Aisha, experimenting with wet colors and folding paper along imaginary lines created this piece of art.
- Taken at 5:57 PM on January 05, 2008 – cameraphone upload by ShoZu

There are so many things to check in a modern car that it does not makes sense to put in a post, anyways I was planning to buy a new car a “Suzuki Liana Eminent 1.6 A/T” to be precise, so I prepared a list of things that I want to check before I sign any papers or at least check them during warranty to avoid any costs on things that should have been working in the new car anyways.

For the convenience of others I am making this sheet available for everybody to download. Sheet1 has some Finance / Leasing figures specific to Pakistan and Sheet2 has a list that should cover all features available in this car, the car has so much to offer that the list should suffice for other vehicles of the manufacturers that need this kind of checking. Obviously Lexus, BMW, Ferrari and the likes have a kind of Quality Control which does not leave room for broken equipment to reach a customer anyways. Suzuki maybe a reliable name for two wheelers but we are talking about a car and that too assembled for a country where we are learning to spell “Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y”.

Download the spreadsheet (excel) here:

I had a mountain bike for some time, sparsely used and a shifter broke on it, while I figured the frame was too heavy as well. So I went shopping for an upgrade and ended up with this. Installed my accessories from the old bike and good to go.

This one comes with Shimano derailuers and index twist shifters. Brakes are normal MTB ones, but rims and frame is good light weight, fork and frame shock absorbers make the ride comfy in offroading as well.

I put on a computer for speed, odometer, tripmeter, calories burnt, etc. Stop / night lamp with turn signals and siren, a halogen lamp for front and holders for cellphone and GPS navigation system. Unfortunately the frame has no holes for mounting a water bottle stand and I am on the look for a clap like system to fit on the frame, right now I have to use my backpack for that.