Smoky Train
Looks like a smoky train climbing a mountain? :-) Yes, this is a train that was designed to climb mountains specifically White Mountains in NH.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Sunday, December 11, 2005
USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor
December 7th, 1941 is the "day of infamy" in the US history to describe in the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor is the defining moment for the US to join the second world war. USS Arizona memorial was built on the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it. You can still see the oil seepage from the ship after 60 years.
If you have a little knowledge of the second world war and the sacrifices (remember Sullivan brothers?) made by the US, you get a feeling that is totally beyond the reach of words when you visit USS Arizona memorial. Here are some of the pictures of USS Arizona Memorial!
If you have a little knowledge of the second world war and the sacrifices (remember Sullivan brothers?) made by the US, you get a feeling that is totally beyond the reach of words when you visit USS Arizona memorial. Here are some of the pictures of USS Arizona Memorial!
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Lighthouse in Kauai
Waves from as far away as Japan and Alaska hitting Kauai(Hawaii) shore at Kilauea Point Lighthouse.....
Sunday, September 18, 2005
My music conversion project
Friends,
This time around last year I was getting ready to move from this place. My assignment got over in the company where I am working and I was searching for new projects. Then came the news that my assignment was extended for another year.
Suddenly I faced with considerable spare time after work. I always have few things to do in mind. One of the things I had in mind was to digitize my tape collection. I have about 120 cassette tapes that I collected over a period of a decade. I always wanted to put them in digital format as the whole world was going digital. Eventually I wanted to put them in a mobile music player.
After googling around I found a real good software that can be used on trial basis. I downloaded the software goldwave (believe me this is the best software I was able to find for audio editing needs), borrowed stereo tape player from my friend (BTW I don't have a stereo tape player, I just have walkman and cassette player in my car:-)), bought a cable (which is connected to PC's line-in from the tape player) from local Radioshock and started downloading the songs into my PC as MP3s. The only bad thing in the whole process is we need to play the cassettes real time. I used to setup the settings in Goldwave, start playing the cassette and go away to attend some other business. One thing to keep in mind in this whole process is your MP3s are only as good as your tape player output. So it is imperative that you should have a very good stereo tape player.
On a part time basis it took about three months to convert all of my cassettes into MP3s with my wife's help. I created folders on my hard drive based on the album name and organized my MP3s. At the end, I felt it was worth my time. Then I wanted to backup my three months effort. I purchased an external hard drive and backed up all my MP3s.
Well, the hard part was over. However, I was getting uneasy each day those MP3s sitting idle on my PC. I burned some CDs and tried to listen at work. But I thought handling those CDs was a hassle. Well, Friends, as my wife complained, I was just trying to come up with some excuses to go for a MP3 player:-)
After considerable research I purchased Iriver H340 with 40GB capacity (BTW I like it very much). Now my whole music collection travels with me. My MP3 player also plays a format called OGG. The specialty of this format is it stores music with high sampling and bitrate in relatively small size. Goldwave software converts MP3s to OGG. I converted some of my favorite songs into OGG and I really enjoy the quality (I am not sure if you can convert to OGG directly from tape though).
-DreamsUnlimited.
This time around last year I was getting ready to move from this place. My assignment got over in the company where I am working and I was searching for new projects. Then came the news that my assignment was extended for another year.
Suddenly I faced with considerable spare time after work. I always have few things to do in mind. One of the things I had in mind was to digitize my tape collection. I have about 120 cassette tapes that I collected over a period of a decade. I always wanted to put them in digital format as the whole world was going digital. Eventually I wanted to put them in a mobile music player.
After googling around I found a real good software that can be used on trial basis. I downloaded the software goldwave (believe me this is the best software I was able to find for audio editing needs), borrowed stereo tape player from my friend (BTW I don't have a stereo tape player, I just have walkman and cassette player in my car:-)), bought a cable (which is connected to PC's line-in from the tape player) from local Radioshock and started downloading the songs into my PC as MP3s. The only bad thing in the whole process is we need to play the cassettes real time. I used to setup the settings in Goldwave, start playing the cassette and go away to attend some other business. One thing to keep in mind in this whole process is your MP3s are only as good as your tape player output. So it is imperative that you should have a very good stereo tape player.
On a part time basis it took about three months to convert all of my cassettes into MP3s with my wife's help. I created folders on my hard drive based on the album name and organized my MP3s. At the end, I felt it was worth my time. Then I wanted to backup my three months effort. I purchased an external hard drive and backed up all my MP3s.
Well, the hard part was over. However, I was getting uneasy each day those MP3s sitting idle on my PC. I burned some CDs and tried to listen at work. But I thought handling those CDs was a hassle. Well, Friends, as my wife complained, I was just trying to come up with some excuses to go for a MP3 player:-)
After considerable research I purchased Iriver H340 with 40GB capacity (BTW I like it very much). Now my whole music collection travels with me. My MP3 player also plays a format called OGG. The specialty of this format is it stores music with high sampling and bitrate in relatively small size. Goldwave software converts MP3s to OGG. I converted some of my favorite songs into OGG and I really enjoy the quality (I am not sure if you can convert to OGG directly from tape though).
-DreamsUnlimited.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Grand Canyon of the Pacific......
as described by the great writer Mark Twain, Waimea Canyon in Hawaii with a rainbow....
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Hard to believe...
It's been a while since I actually wrote something here. Lately I have had to deal with the tuff fact of untimely departure of a friend of mine from this world. Actually it's been that way for few months. It was really hard to believe these news. Some very untimely and unfortunate departures......
To reflect my relationships with these souls is tuff. First comes to mind are the times I spend with them. Then a vacuum develops in the heart after thinking about them some time. We think about them less often as time passes by. But it's a vacuum nonetheless.
It's a fact that we all have to leave this world at some point. But I think there are some expectations that we got to meet before we leave. They may be mundane or extraordinary or societal or outright materialistic. The problem is it would be shocking to see someone leave without meeting those expectations. Especially when they leave loved ones helpless behind them and the sudden changes wrought upon those left behind. But again I think that is the nature of life. There are things that are just not in our control.
But can we ever reach a point where we accept these hard facts of life and move on without suffering much? But again as technology is getting better and humans are aspiring to counter-create humans as apposed to natural creation, it only becomes harder to accept some things as uncontrollable....
....then come to mind those philosophical words that there is nothing permanent in this universe. Everything is bound to change and change is the law of universe....you didn't bring anything into this world and cannot take anything back out of this world.....you and I, for that matter existence of any living or non-living thing is so trivial in the very grand scheme of things in this universe that it just keeps moving and moving and moving..........doesn't matter whether or not you and I are here......
To reflect my relationships with these souls is tuff. First comes to mind are the times I spend with them. Then a vacuum develops in the heart after thinking about them some time. We think about them less often as time passes by. But it's a vacuum nonetheless.
It's a fact that we all have to leave this world at some point. But I think there are some expectations that we got to meet before we leave. They may be mundane or extraordinary or societal or outright materialistic. The problem is it would be shocking to see someone leave without meeting those expectations. Especially when they leave loved ones helpless behind them and the sudden changes wrought upon those left behind. But again I think that is the nature of life. There are things that are just not in our control.
But can we ever reach a point where we accept these hard facts of life and move on without suffering much? But again as technology is getting better and humans are aspiring to counter-create humans as apposed to natural creation, it only becomes harder to accept some things as uncontrollable....
....then come to mind those philosophical words that there is nothing permanent in this universe. Everything is bound to change and change is the law of universe....you didn't bring anything into this world and cannot take anything back out of this world.....you and I, for that matter existence of any living or non-living thing is so trivial in the very grand scheme of things in this universe that it just keeps moving and moving and moving..........doesn't matter whether or not you and I are here......
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