My Review of Dhoom:2!!!

I saw Dhoom:2 over this weekend... One word of advice: "DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!"
Rating: 1/2

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

My Review of Casino Royale!!!

Well... The movie wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. In fact, I kind of really liked the movie. I have to confess though, I had my reservations about Daniel Craig's ability to play 007. I like him in Munich, but I never thought that he would make a good Bond. And yes, he didn't. In the classical sense. But on his own... He was Great!
Some of the good points of the movies were also the factors which many Bond fans might not like. Bond in this movie is arrogant. That's where he differs from the other Bonds. Bond is over confident! None of the previous versions of this MI6 agent were over confident. In fact, they always doubted themselves. No gadgets! No cars!!! I mean there is no watch with extra fittings, mobile phones with lasers, or briefcases!!! And the Car is just a Car!!! One with just 4 wheels and a GPS!!! And the way the car was destroyed! Well, Sad!!! And to top it off, there is no Q or P and Monneypenny is a He! Bond is more of a fighter than a thinker now!!! Just shoot and kill!!! Just a brute guy, unlike the others, who were sophisticated. That brings us to the last point!!! Bond in this movie likes to kill!!! In fact, he kind of derives some sadistic pleasure from it!!!

As for the Bond Girls!!! Hmmm.... Isn't the title Bond Girl compliment enough?

Over all a great flick and a nice watch. I strongly suggest you indulgence of this new installment of the Bond Franchise.
Rating: ****

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

My antique US Passport!!!

I finally got my hands on the antique US Passport, which I had won on eBay almost a month back!!! I have been collecting old and expired passports for sometime now. I recently came across this one while randomly searching for collectibles on eBay. I had always wanted to add a old US Passport to my collection but never came across one which was, say within my current budgetary limits. So I bid on it and to my surprise won!!! But it would take me almost a month before I got the thing in my hand. Christos, the seller, sent the item to my Los Angeles, CA address rather than my temporary Fremont, CA address. I had told him about it, but unfortunately he only had the address which, eBay sent to him. Christos was really a nice guy. He corresponded with me frequently, even offered to send me a replacement item, even though it was not his fault! It's really hard to find such sellers on eBay now-a-days! Anyways, I contacted Saiyam to check whether he had received my "Package from Greece". He said he will check and then said "Yes". I had wanted Varun to collect it for me when he came back from Los Angeles, but unfortunately he couldn't. Finally, thanks to Aditi, my "Package" arrived in the Bay Area. Everyone knew about the contents by now, as they had seen my previous item: A Australian Passport. A week went by and the Green Booklet was resting in Aniket's place. Varun forgot to pick it up when he went there for the weekend. I had to wait for another 2 weeks for Varun to go back to Aniket's house and collect it for me. Finally, this Monday, Varun came back with it.
The passport is a nice old US Passport, issued to a Greek "Furrier" called Anthony Dolger. It is one of those Cold War Era documents, which forbade you from visiting Communist Regimes. Well, The Document is in excellent condition for it's age. It contains lot's of visa seals from Greece, Italy and Switzerland. And a renewal stamp from US Department of State. I started collecting passports, because of the revenue stamps in them. And this one has lots. The only thing I didn't like was that the person had written some notes in the last pages of the Passport. The seller had warned me though. But they are nothing but some addresses. In fact, they are nice. It tells me about the person and the time in which he lived!!! Anyways, nice addition to my collection. As a bonus, the envelope contained 3 Greek Stamps of Euro Denomination. Great!!! My first Euro stamps!!!
You can read more about passports on Wikipedia.

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

November 07: Election Day!!!

Well... It's election time here in the US and to be fair, nobody really cares!!! People are going around doing their day to day job like nothing special is happening. If it was India, then there would extra "pandus" placed everywhere, and yeah it would be a DRY DAY!!!
But this election is pretty important to the American people. After a long, long time Foreign Affairs tends to dominate the election campaign, rather than the regular issues. That's something new for these guys... 80% of American's can't locate Iraq on the map, yet the War in Iraq is what they feel the most about!!! And who can blame them for it.
Unlike the last elections the following are not, well atleast on the top, of the issues list:

• Gay Rights,
• Abortion,
• Liberal / Conservative Judges,
• Unemployment and
• Tax Concessions.

The things that are dominating this election cycle are:

• War in Iraq,
• Gas Prices,
• Job Losses,
• Low Wages and
• Out-Sourcing.

And you say campaign in India is bad, well, you should check out some the campaign ads on TV. Slander is a milder term for them. They are outright insults!

• "This guy is a traitor!!!"
• "This guy is unpatriotic!!!"
• "This guy works for Special Interests!!!" or
• "This guy is soft on Terrorists!!!"

This would be the 3rd ElectionS after 9/11 yet, al-Quida and terror still tops the Republican aganda. It's less than 24 hours before the Polling Booths open and the DHS is yet to raise the Terror Alert from Yellow to Orange!!! Not that I am cozy with Democrats though. Frankly, I would prefer a Republican Congress than a Democrat one... Who wouldn't want lower taxes!!! And personally, Republican administration is very, very tough on terrorists, I feel. And I do like their Immigration Bill. Also, I don't want a lame duck President or a lame duck Congress!!! Both of them will not get any work done.
It's always surprising to see Indian-American favoring Democrats than Republicans because, culturally and ideologically, Republicans' conservative viewsare pretty close to India thinking.
All in all, I do hope that American's get out and VOTE!!! considering that places like Somalia and Iran has more voter turn out than the US!!!What ever happens tomorrow, it might actually have some impact on me, I guess!!! So lets hope for the best!!!

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

Wells Fargo hires my services!!!

I woke up this morning, not to the familiar "Fab Farm" tone that I have set up for my alarm but to my "Fear Factor" ringtone. I wasn't expecting a call from my dad so early in the morning, so I was kind of surprised to see my phone ringing. The caller ID showed a 415, San Francisco, area code. When I picked up it was Mariela, my Technical Recruiter from IT Ascent. "Hello Neeten! I have some news for you. I just got a call from Wells Fargo and they really liked you! They want you on board as soon as possible. So can you start from the 13th?" Wow! Finally! I got the call I have been waiting for so long. My interview with Wells Fargo, this Tuesday, didn't go as good as I planned it. Sure, I answered all their questions. But I kind of felt that my answers were not satisfactory! You know. The kind of answers you know are right but you still feel that you could have done better. Anyways, Mariela takes my personal details for the background check and tells me to wait 3 to 4 days for the official confirmation of the start date, after the background check in done with. You know the kind of check the employers to do to make sure you are not some drug lord, deliquent or a bail jumper. And what do you expect? Its Wells Fargo... one of the largest banks in the whole of the US. Anyways, I hang up and go to the bathroom to brush and get ready for one of the nicer days I had since a long time! While brushing, I suddenly realise that I had not asked Mariela, where am I actually placed!!! Wells Fargo had openings in both their Minneapolis, MN and San Francisco, CA offices!!! Where will I be on the 13th!!! I hurry back to my phone and give Mariela a call back. "Hello, Mariella, I kind of forgot to ask you. Where am I being placed? Is it San Francisco or Minneapolis?" She laughs "Oh Neeten, its San Francisco." Great! Well I spend the rest of my day calling family and friends, telling all about my project. It will be in their 155 Powell St Office, I will be working as a Test Engineer, Its a Datawarehouse Testing Project, The length of the project is quite long, and so on. I also had to fill out those pesky forms for the background check. Well in anycase, the job sounds really interesting and I can't wait to start. If you already don't know about Wells Fargo, you can know better by clicking on the Wells Fargo logo on the left. Wells Fargo Logo Copyright: Wells Fargo.

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

My Review of Don!!!

Well I finally saw Don this Sunday. For me it was one of the most anticipated movie of the year. Did it live up to its hype.... Not Really. I have come to like Farhan Akhtar's work a lot. Dil Chata hai was amazing while Laaksh was some thing different. So I was kind of expecting something better this time around also. But I was sadly disappointed. To start with, SRK's Don was too arrogant compared Big B's one. And Kareena Kapoor repraising legendary Helen... Well extremely bad. Even though Priyanka Chopra's look were remniscent of Zeenat's look, I can't say the same about her Roma. There some thing that really worked out for the movie though. Inrani was really good as Vardhaan, and the music was kind of ok. I really liked the tune from Laaksh which was used in this movie.
So if you are a nostalgia buff... Go ahead... You might like this one.
Rating: ***1/2

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

Daylight Saving Time ends!!!

Well, Daylight Saving Time ended today!!! This is my fifth DST shift. For Indians, like me the concept of changing time twice in a year is relatively a new concept. Even today, when I tell people back in India about this concept, they are really puzzled. The ask "Why would someone want to do that for?" To really understand this, one has to live in a place which is really, really north of the Tropics. Here you realize the actual tilt in Earth's axis. During summer, the day begins at around 5:30 AM and ends at 7:30 PM, while the nights during winter span from 6:30 PM to 8:30 AM!
Hence, the concept of daylight saving time is really nice to give you a sense of normality.
The idea of DST was first put into practice by the German government during the First World War, between April 30, 1916 and October 1, 1916. Shortly afterward, the United Kingdom followed suit, first adopting it between May 21 and October 1, 1916. On June 17, 1917 Newfoundland became the first North American jurisdiction to adopt DST with the passing of the Daylight Saving Act of 1917. On March 19, 1918, the U.S. Congress established several time zones, which had been in use by railroads and most cities since 1883 and made DST official, effective March 31, for the remainder of World War I. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. The law, however, proved so unpopular, mostly because people rose and went to bed earlier than in current times, that it was repealed in 1919, when Congress overrode President Woodrow Wilson's veto of the repeal.
One of the major reasons given for observing DST is energy conservation. Theoretically, the amount of residential electricity needed in the evening hours is dependent both on when the sun sets and when people go to bed. Because people tend to observe the same bedtime year-round, by artificially moving sunset one hour later, the amount of energy used is theoretically reduced. A 1975 United States Department of Transportation study showed that DST would theoretically reduce the country's electricity usage by 1% from March to April, if implemented during these months. These numbers have been supported in Mexico, which began implementing daylight savings time in 1996. Evaluations show a national savings of 0.7% of national electric consumption (1.3 billion KWh TWh) and reduction of peak load by 500MW.
One of a good practices is that the Fire safety officials in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States encourage citizens to use the two annual time changes as a reminder to check the batteries in home and office fire alarms and smoke detectors.
On a note, this will he the last time that the clock will "fall back" on the Last Sunday of October. Beginning in 2007, DST will start on the second Sunday in March, and change back to standard time on the first Sunday in November.
Some Contents from Wikipedia.

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

New theme for my Website!!!

I, again fiddled with my website and changed how it looks!!! This is not a substantial change compared to the last one, but it now gives my website a newer look! I have changed the theme from USC centeric to India centeric... The website now kind of looks little bit stereo-typical now. Well... I guess, I have to do with it for the time being.
Have a look...

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

Data Warehouse Interview Questions!!!

I just interviewed with a company for a Quality Assurance Position in Data Warehouse. The company was looking for a candidate with knowledge of ETL Processes, DataStage and Databases, in general. Here are the questions from that interview and their answers.

Q1. In 5 minutes, can you tell me about yourself and how are you fit for this position? How famaliar are you with ETL Processes and DataStage?
A: Told them about myself and my famaliarity with ETL Processes, DataStage, Informatica, Databases and programming. Also told them about my interests and my work ethics.

Q2. OK, I see that you have done PERL scripting. So how comfortable are you with PERL?
A: Told them I have done PERL scripting and that I am not extremely comfortable with PERL.

Q3. In have a table called Applicant. I make a copy of this table called Applicant_Old. I use Applicant_Old in DataStage for testing and everything works fine. Now I want to replace Applicant_Old with Applicant in DataStage. Before doing this I would like to verify that Applicant and Applicant_Old are exact copy, record for record. How will you verify this?
A: Told them I would use union to combine these two tables and do a SELECT DISTINCT query on the combined table. If the number of records matches, then the copies are exact.

Q4. While verifying, you found out that there is a mismatch in the tables. So how will you identify the mismatched record and from which table it came from?
A: I said, I would do the following, SELECT * FROM applicant WHERE "" NOT IN (SELECT "" FROM applicant_old). The record this query returns is the extra record.
Q5. So you have worked with OLAP. How famaliar are you with OLAP?
A: Yes, I have worked with OLAP. I know theoritical concepts about OLAP.
Q6. In OLAP, what is the difference between a Star Schema and a Snow Flake Schema?
A: I told them the standard defination of both the schemas.
Q7. Some basic SQL questions. What is the difference between Inner and Outer Joins?
A: Again, I told them the standard defination.

Q8. When will you use Inner Join and when will you use Outer Join?
A: Explained them the standard examples.

Q9. In your own words, can you tell me what is referential integrity?
A: Referential Integrity sees to it that the references between two tables is maintained during the ETL Process.

Q10. I want to use one of the columns as a Foreign Key. What are the constraints, that I have to put on this column?
A: The column should be linked to a Primary Key in another table, can or cannot be unique and can or cannot be NULL.

Q11. How famaliar are you with basic UNIX commands?
A: I told them I am very familiar. I would rate myself 8.5 out of 10.

Q12. What is the UNIX command for RENAME?
A: This is a trick question. There is no RENAME command in UNIX. You use mv to rename files.

Q13. What UNIX command do you use to find a string in files in UNIX?
A: grep

Q14. What do you use to make this search case sensitive?
A: Use the flag -i with grep.

Q15. How do you search for a string in VI Editor?
A: Use /

Some of the other questions to expect are:

Q1. What kind of Datawarehouse was it in your last project?
A: Relational as well as Flat Files.

Q2. How big was your database?
A: You mention the size. Usually in TB.

Q3. Roughly, how many table were there?
A: Usually 100s.

Q4. Record wise, how many records were there in your biggest table?
A: Usually millions.

Well, those were my I answers. I am not sure how correct my answers were, but I really got a good feedback from the interviewer.

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

My mom and sis finally got their US visa!!!

Well, my mom and my dear sister finally got their US visas. I wanted them to get it done as soon as possible, but my mom being a very busy home-maker and my sister busy with her studies, it got postponed a lot. So now its official. Everybody in the Kamath household now has a valid US visa stamped to their Passport! My dad got his B-1 / B-2 visa issued in 2001 and I got my Student F-1 visa stamped in 2004. Lot of people ask me, "Whether it's that difficult to get a US visa?" , to which I usually end up replying "Absolutely Not!" There are lots of mis-conceptions about getting one. Some of them are: "The US doesn't want us coming over to there to visit or study"; "The Consulate Officials are rude"; "The Officials just reject you for no apperent reasons"; "They have a daily quota of number of visas" and "You require to bring along with you lots and lots of documents"

(US Consulate - General in Chennai. Courtesy: www.hinduonnet.com)

Well none of there mis-conceptions are true. The US does definately want people coming to their country for tourism or for higher studies. The only thing they don't want is people staying back in the US after their purpose has been met or start working here illegally. The reason being if they start working illegally, the employer may exploit them, pay them very, very less or get them involved in some illegal dealings to make them the scape-goat. And as for their rudeness... Come On... We Indians are used to be pushed around by our Govt. Officials... Duplicates, triplicates, chai-pani and what not! Comparing this the Consulate workers is like comparing the local tea stall to a 5-star hotel. Yeah, they are very stern, but from my personal experience and that of my family, are really jovial, courtious and good-spirited. Like during my visa interview he asked me "So where are you going?" and I replied, "LA, Sir" He then humoriously replied "LA, Huh, Not Los Angeles?". This made me relaxed. And yesterday the Consulate gentleman said to my sister "Your mom looks more like your sister, how does she manage to keep her looks!".
All in all it is a real present experience going for an interview.
And as for rejecting... No they don't reject people randomly. If you meet the three conditions: Have enough funds to support your stay in US, show your intention to come back and your application forms are in order, you get a visa. Also, they don't have daily quota of visas. The only thing that limits the number of visas issued per day are the number of appointments given out. So, if they receive 100's of application which meets their criteria, all of them get visas. Maybe people have this belief because of the quota system for the H1 visa. But they should know that H1 is totally different from student visa or tourist / business visa.
And as for the documents you need to get... Well you need all the documents to prove the statements you are making. This is just to support the claims you make about your finance or situation. But 95% of the times, they don't even ask any extra documents!!!
I have seen lots and lots of people who have got US visa and then later boast, as to how difficult the whole process was. Just to satisfy their egos and to make them look like a person who has just climbed the Mt. Everest for like the 15th time or so. Some of the statements they make: "The visa officer just threw the documents back at me!", "He asked me what was I doing on 17th October, 1984" or "So show me all your assets documents and tax returns from last 20 years"
Well none of these statements are true!!! Atleast the best of that I know!!!
There is a reason why everybody in my family was scared of the US visa interview. The reason was my father was denied a visa the first time he applied. At that time I was very much unaware of how things worked in the US Consulate worked. Also, partly my father's preparation was not that great as he was busy getting other visas: UK, Dutch and Canadian. My mom was hence was very scared about the interview. To top it off the Travel Agent was trying to market his stuff to them. Now, after the interview, my mom says that the interview was one of the best experiences of her life!
If you like to have more information about the United States Consulate - General in Chennai, click on the Consulate Seal. You can learn more about US Visas by visiting the official site of the State Department. Also, please be adviced that this blog is a collection of my experiences and not the statement of the law.

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

The world is really a small place!!!

I really used to laugh at it when people used to say: "How the world is getting smaller" or "How small the world had become" and then go on telling about the advances in travel, tele-communications or the advent of the internet. Well not any more. Like Grace Murray Hopper said: "If you do something once, people will call it an accident. If you do it twice, they call it a coincidence. But do it a third time and you've just proven a natural law.". It all began one quite afternoon as I was chatting with my friend, Sumit Ambokar. Not many people know where I hail from, until I tell them. And even then not many people realise that I was in Mumbai, when it was still called Bombay, for 6 long years. So continuing with the incident, Sumit and I were talking about our past. Where we come from, where we studied etc... Well at one point I tell Sumit that I was in Mulund, Mumbai and he gets all excited... Really... Where in Mulund... And in the end we realise that we had attended same 10th standard tutorials!!! Mahesh Tutorials!!! Wow, what an accident, I say to myself.
The next time something like this happened to me was in summer. My roomie, Harsha's, buddy Amar Desai moved into our apartment as a temp. Well from the day he moved in I had some kind of deja-vu about him. Couple of days go by and he settles into my place... One night over the dinner, I have same kind of discussion with Amar as I had with Sumit... Well he was from Borvili, studied at SS Ajmera High School, was in 6th Standard A section... What's the point I am getting to? Well even I was in Borvili, studied at SS Ajmera High School, was in 6th Standard A section... Get the Point! This guy used to sit couple of benches in front of me!!! Well what a co-incidence, huh!!!
The next Fall, Avinash Achar moves into my building. Well, I know he was from NITTE in Karkala, but after coming to know him better, I realise that we have like 10 common friends, he is a close friend of Usha, Shilpa and Smitha and we have never seen each other before! Well am I proving a natural law here?
When I went back to India in December, I used to hang around with my bestest buddy Vikram a.k.a. Mastaan. We have been good buddies for a long time. So like always we were talking about India, about the US and so on...
Out of the blue, he says: "Dude, one of my ex-coworker just joined USC"
I say: "OK..." He still goes on, "His name is Shailesh Ramaswamy. He wears glasses and is from Mumbai."
I just stare at him for a minute and then say: "Don't do this to me..."
Well as it turns out Shailesh is a really good friend of mine, stays next door and comes to my place like every other day!!!
Yep, and thus another natural aw is proved. Well after I left USC, I said to myself that this chain of co-incidences has finally ended. Compared to USC the real world is a really, really big place. As destiny would have it, I was again proved wrong. The world is really a small place.
On Friday, I met Kiran. She has also joined the same office where I work. Well As usual, after some nicities, I ask her where are you from? She says: "Bangalore, But I am basically from Mangalore" Myself: "Hmmm, really!!!" She goes on, "Well I graduated from NITTE" Me: "Wow". So I ask her "Where did you do yor PU?" She beams a broad smile, it was actually that fate was smiling at me, and says "Canara PU College"
I stand there, shocked to the core!!! Can this be real? Is the world really getting small? Will people be commuting from India to San Francisco by 2020?
In anycase, unlike Amar, she was one year senior to me. But I might have actually bumped into her couple of times.
So my advice is, Look around guys!!! You don't know when and where you will meet the person you just bumped into, again!!!

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

My New and Improved Website is Up!!!

Finally!!! After working on it for like 30 hours, my website is up!!! Even though, content wise it's the same, I have kind of given it a new look and feel. Also, domain name wise, I have moved from www.nithinkamath.com to www.nithinkamath.net being my primary domain. The reason being that GoDaddy now hosts all my files. I could now upload all my photos, videos and documents. In anycase both domain names forward to same website. Times New Roman is out and Georgia is in. Also, some of the other significant mprovements that are incorporated into what I call the Version 4.0 of my website are:

• Tweaked with the Google search box, to include search within my website.
• The My Photo Album and My Blog links now open in the same page, rather than new window.
• My photos are no longer hosted on Yahoo! Photos. They are now hosted on my own server space. For long I wanted to do this, but was too lazy to write a HTML template for the album. Finally, Picasa solved that problem for me.
• Updated the Academic Information section.
• The Best Part!!! Added Google Maps API to the Contact Me page!!!. Even though, it now just displays my location using the Google Map, I am still learning the API so in the further upgrades to this part, you can just enter your location and the API will give the driving directions to my home. Google Maps Section Coming Soon!

Apart from the visible improvements, so of the other things that have changed in the background are:

• The root directory now includes the XML site map of the website. So its easier for the bots to crawl my pages. So next time you search Nithin Kamath on either Google or Yahoo! my site is the one which should pop up first.
• Also, the HTML code is now more compliant with HTML 4.01.
• Finally got over my fear of CSS and Stylesheets. The HTML pages now have stylesheets for better formatting...

Well the site is far from being done to my satisfaction and I plan to improve on it in near future. Maybe little bit of Flash Animation? Some videos? Add a Youtube API?
Similarly, I want to have a seperate page with all my favourite RSS feeds, from Apple, Microsoft. SlashDot and iTunes. Till then I guess I should be happy with the work I have done. Cheers Version 4.0!!!

Nithin Kamath
www.nithinkamath.net

BCS Rankings are back!!!

BCS Rankings are back again!!! Unlike the last time, I am not surprised that USC was ranked second. Well, then again the question this time around is which team is No. 1. Both the Buckeyes and the Wolverines are heading for a Semi Final per-se when the meet on November 18th. Who ever wins that game is going to Glendale as the No. 1 team. Well who will be they facing come January 18th? USC ofcourse! If USC manages to stay undefeated till the end of the season it would have played more top 20 teams than West Virgina: Arkansas, Nebraska, Oregon, California and Notre Dame (Currently ranked 13th, 17th, 14th, 10th and 8th respectively), Texas has already lost to Ohio State, Florida has lost to Auburn and if USC manages its 3rd straight undefeated regular season, it will mean that Notre Dame will have to loose again. And what about Auburn... Well they lost to Arkansas, a team which USC defeated 50-14. And as for Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville's comments on as to how difficult it is for a SEC team to go undefeated... Well Yes, you need to be undefeated to stake claim for a Championship berth. If you have lost to another team then doesn't it mean that the other team is better than you? Almost all the big conferences are similar in strength so if USC goes undefeated in PAC-10, and Michigan/OSU in Big-10 then yes, they are definately better than Auburn. All in all, the second half of this college football season looks great... All the way till the BCS National Championship. Go Trojans!!!

Nithin Kamath

www.nithinkamath.net

Well... It starts all over again!!!

Well... Looks like I have all the free time in the world and nothing much to do. So here goes my second attempt at blogging!!!

Nithin Kamath

www.nithinkamath.net