First off, my iPhone died. Well, not exactly died as in dead. It’s more like it got crippled. The phone is working. I can answer incoming calls and take out going calls as well. But, that’s about all I can do. Because the HOME button, is dead. Ok, so it’s not that the phone died, but the HOME button died.

I am not complaining. It’s an iPhone 3G (not even a 3GS). So, I think it lived its life cycle. I’m sure nothing is made nowadays to last decades. 3 years or so is probably the maximum for a consumer electronic device. Otherwise how can they sell their new models, which they churn out every year.

So in short, it was time for me to get a new phone. So I switched to WP7.

I know! Why not a new iPhone or even a droid. Well, let’s just say I liked WP7. I liked its tiles. I was never an Android fan. I think they try to copy the iOS too closely. At least it seems like it. And besides, I wanted to start writing phone apps again. And the shortest learning curve for me is for WP7.

But it wasn’t easy finding WP7 devices here in SL. The choice was like 25 Androids for 1 WP7. But I settled for the HTC Mozart. It’s a pretty neat phone. More or less the size of my old iPhone 3G. Nicer display. And I’m impressed with the features too. Both on the Phone and the OS.

Everything seems very much more responsive. Hopefully it’ll remain the same as it grows older. And Im particularly impressed with the voice recognition on the device. It’s pretty much spot on with the SMS responses. Too bad there’s no way to use it on other apps like Twitter! Time to buckle down and get to writing that app!

My attempts at working out at home had been sporadic. I own three exercise machines, but they lie around, unused. I’ve attempted to walk, which kind of worked while I was working from home, alone, but after I moved to an office, it fell by the wayside. I’ve attempted to go for a walk during the weekends and that too was never regular. One thing, which I have picked up is cycling on Sundays with the Pedal Pushers, which has been somewhat regular.

With my weekly cycle rides one thing I came to realize was how unfit I was! All this time my fitness was not an issue as I hardly engaged in any physically demanding activities. But cycling 25-30km’s just showed me how unfit I was. And secondly, my wife become pretty interested in staying fit. She took up a Zumba class twice a week. I joined her once a week and and it was an eye opener to my fitness level.

With all this when my wife wanted to join a neighborhood gym, I tagged along and joined too. So now, I’ve committed myself to working out three times a week.

I was asked to define my goals of joining a gym and here’s what I came up with:

• Lose 10 kgs of weight
• Lose 2″ on my waist line
• Generally improve my fitness and stamina

Both these companies own pretty extensive IT infrastructures. Both of them have their own server farms. And I reckoned this was one of the reasons they are still sticking with classing ASP. They have invested heavily on hardware, software and platforms and it is not an easy task to keep updating them with the latest and the hip things that come out year in and year out!

I’ve not been a great photography fan lately. I remember when I was in my early teens I tried my hand in photography. I had an old 35mm Yashica film camera, which was my fathers, and the cost of the films and the development never really worked for me.

When the digital camera’s came along, I was a late entrant to the scene. I just used a point and shoot digital camera to capture occasional family gatherings and functions. And I never really pushed the cameras to its limits. I would mostly use it on the ‘auto’ mode and would switch to other modes rarely. I went through an Olympus u700, which died on us soon after the warranty expired, and then a Cannon Ixus.

Ont the other hand my man, Rukshan’s was into photography. I always used to think he was addicted to photographs (and honestly he looked very good on them). And since he lives overseas, he always used to pester me to take photos around the house, and people and share them with him. But I was too lazy to do that on a consistent basis and after a while he stopped pestering me for photos.

My interest in DSLR’s picked up when I was asked to pick a DSLR for Rukshan from Malaysia. Just before the trip and soon after I returned with the camera (which was a Nikon D3100), my general knowledge about DSLR’s were greatly enhanced, thanks to him. During that trip I was compelled to pick the same camera for myself, but instead, being the computer geek I am, I picked up a laptop. This was about an year ago. And I thought my interest in photography will subside.

But it was not to be. So I started to put small sums away with the idea of getting myself a DSLR. And by last month, I had saved enough to afford one! So I got myself a Nikon D3100 with a 18-55mm kit lens and a 55-300mm lens. So, equipment-wise, I am content. There are only two more items I would buy in the foreseeable future and those will be a 50mm f/1.8 lens and a flash.

So now I am in the process of experimenting with my camera and finding out what I can do with it. So far it’s been mainly used as a point and shoot, but I am trying my hand at manual focusing and other manual settings. And hopefully, I would come up with photographs that I would be proud to show off (other than those of my family’s!)

1. I was disturbed – either I was required to sort something out, answer a question or manage something. Then I lose the thought train and I end up saving it as a draft, but never get to finishing it later, as it is very difficult to figure out what I was going to write previously.

2. So many things were running through my head I could not zoom in on one thing to write. So many things on my plate and trying to do more than one thing at a time and the stress of running a business.

Even right now, I do not have a specific subject to write about. I am staying online for a client meeting, and thought of mumbling something to keep me from falling asleep.

I think I need to focus on doing some meditation to bring about some serenity to the chaos going around me. In a way I am used to the chaos in my life. I walk into the office fully expecting a lot of things to fall into my plate when I open my inbox. And then I go about sorting them out and getting things out of the door. And usually on such days I end my day with a sense of having had a productive day.

I am pretty used to that and if it is a slow day, I become quite lethargic. I think a little stress keeps me going. Like a race car needs to be driven hard!

Oh, my client is calling. SO this post is getting published!

I am not sure what I will end up writing on this. I wasn’t planning to make a post. Basically I have nothing specific to say. But I had a mail from wordpress.com because someone had tried to reset the password for my username and I just came to the blog to make sure that it was not hijacked by anyone else.

In the process I discovered a few things about my blog. I’ve had this for almost 7 years now. And there was a time when I used to be pretty active (in this blog). There was a time when my family used to comment about my posts. People who didn’t know me that well discovered about me through this blog.

Then I got pretty private. I think it happens. I got cold feet about shouting out everything in my mind. And also, Twitter came along. I started to tweet more than I blogged. But then again, I am not a consistent tweet either. I can go for months without a single tweet.

Well, that’s about it for now I think. I don’t know when I will post back here again. There are some things that I would like to talk about. But still my thought train is not complete. So, maybe someday, I will get to those on this blog.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 14 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 260 posts.

The busiest day of the year was February 4th with 153 views. The most popular post that day was moBlog.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were w3avenue.com, ryeblog.wordpress.com, wordpress.org, speckyboy.com, and dead-pixels.co.uk.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for moblog, proactive language, fancybox close, clear print spooler vista, and moblog windows mobile.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

moBlog December 2007
548 comments

Running ASP.NET 2.0 Applications on IIS 5.1 (Win XP) March 2006
16 comments

Installing Blackberry desktop software on Vista March 2008
8 comments

Connecting to SQL Server Express from a Pocket PC application March 2007
9 comments

Tyre expiry date July 2006
7 comments

I can’t imagine the last 6 years. Its been a bliss. I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but hey, we’ve stuck through things together and I don’t think we’ve done that bad!

I have a lot to thank you for, besides the unconditional love you shower upon me. To start off with, thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for putting up with my weird work schedules and un-godly hours. Can’t thank you enough for understanding my urges to do somethings differently.

Thanks for giving me the courage and the strength when I needed it most. I wouldn’t have started a business of my own by stepping out of a full time job, if it wasn’t for your courage. Thanks for standing by me and letting me choose freely. Pretty soon we will be reaping the fruits of all that labour.

Above all, thank you for the two wonderful kids you’ve given me. I know I’m not doing much for the kids, though I am physically there at home most of the time, because most of that most of the time is spent in front of my computer. And trust me live, you’re doing a wonderful job!

Here’s the the last 6 years and for the rest of our lives!