An Idea can Change the World!

Yipeee!!  Nolan managed to pull off his miracle yet again.  Inception is awesome.  For me though, nothing beats The Dark Knight, but still, Inception did impress me in its own way.  I'm not gonna talk about it just yet.  Sathyam Cinemas ruined the whole experience by including subtitles in the movie.  When I called their customer service about it, they said its in the hands of the distributor.

Fortunately though, thanks to my friend Ashwin, I found out that Devi Cinemas is not playing any subtitles.  So, I've booked four more tickets for the noon show this time.  I'll watch the movie again and then talk all about Nolan's magic.

About the site, I added a couple of more tournaments and I've mailed a couple of people asking for information and co-operation to cover their tournaments.  No updates from the new content writer Raj.  I didn't feel like working on more boring stored procedure based security fixes.  So, I went through my list of To-Dos for the site.  Nothing seemed that important except the videos section but Shiva anna is working on that. 

Therefore, I've decided to work on a system to track the number of users online.  The site seems rather static and so, adding this feature might help.  Besides, this is a platform which once laid can act as a basement for a lot of major updates to the way users are handled in the website.  The best thing about this is that I'm completely new to it and hopefully I'll enjoy the adventure..

For now though, looking forward to a day filled with Inception and DotA with Atl..

Almost missed my mark!

When I reached home today, it was 8.15pm.  And to further complicate things my cousin needed the system for some time.  So, I barely had any time to work on the site.  I thought I was gonna fail my plan after just two days.  But luckily, Raj saved me.  He is a gamer who is interested in writing articles in my website and helping me out in general.  He mailed me one of his previous articles and I gave him some feedback.  That is the best I can do and so, I'm gonna count that as today's work for the site.. :D

By the way, I don't think I'll write either work on the site or write an article tomorrow.  Let me give the excuse in advance.  My man Nolan's movie Inception is releasing tomorrow and I've got tickets for the night show.  So, I'll post all about it later in the weekend..  Can't wait for the movie...  Yippeeee!

Uneventful B'Day..

Haha!  Just yesterday I said to myself that I will make at least one addition or change to my website every day and also post the change here.  I didn't want to go back on my word on the very next day.  So, I've made some minor changes to the website by fixing some loose ends with the PHP5 conversion.  But I don't have time to test it thoroughly, so, that's that.

Besides that, I had an uneventful Birthday today (my kinda B'Day, I guess).  I was pleasantly surprised with the number of Facebook wishes.  I'm starting to realize that it does feel special to be remembered by people whom I haven't met for months or even years now.  Anyway, thanks guys.

I'm down with cold, so, off to bed..

My Next Step!

I have been complaining for a while now that I'm getting no help from my friends and that its hard to stay motivated when I'm alone.  Well, there is no point in complaining and so I decided to take some action.  I went through some articles on staying motivated and I'm planning on trying them out.  First thing is to take at least one step a day towards my goal.  That basically means, I will some addition or change to my website every single day.  No point in working for 3 days together and then getting burnt out for a 2 weeks (which is exactly what I was doing earlier).

The next thing is to keep a record of the work that I complete.  I have always been keen on writing down my thoughts, actions and accomplishments.  Every time I watch a movie, I rate it in imdb.com  Every hour I play a game, I keep track of it through xfire.  I have decided to do the same with my site.  I'm going to post every day about the change that I make to the site.  That might not interest you, yes, but it might motivate me and that is all I need.  If you feel like helping me out, then do try out the change that I post every day and give me a feedback right here.  Just post whether you like the change, or whether you have any other better idea etc.  Any comment is welcomed.

I'll start it off with the change I made today.  Incidentally, I made a major change to the site today but none would even notice it.  I upgraded the site's back-end from PHP4 to PHP5.  I tested the site a little after the change but it was far from a thorough test.  I solved the issues that I came across but there might be more.  I also made some changes to the way comments are added to the news section.  It is much more user friendly now and has better error handling.  If you wanna see the difference, compare it with the comments in the replay section.

That is it for now..  Gonna sleep early so that I can wake up and book the tickets to 'Inception' if the tickets get released..  Take care...

The World Cup is Over! Yippeee!

Yep, the World Cup Finals is over and the Chinese have yet again proven that they are the best in the world.  Oh wait!  I hear someone shouting 'China didn't play in the Finals, you idiot!'.  Well, they did win the World Cup that I care about.  I'm a DotA player and to me, ESWC is the World Cup and China did win it hands down.  If you are asking 'Whats DotA?', then you better skip this post.  If you are asking what's ESWC, then this post was a dedication to you.

Let me make it clear, I have nothing against FIFA.  Its a sport that millions love and I'm fine with that.  But lets not forget that we spend around 2 hours a day playing DotA.  Why then aren't we following the DotA World Cup with the same enthusiasm?  Football is a game that we have rarely played.  But DotA is something that we play on a daily basis.  Why then isn't this interesting to us?  Of course there is no Shakira dancing for the theme song of ESWC, but come on..

I think this is why Computer Games are still a childish thing in India.  If the players who play it don't believe in it, then who will?  We see DotA as time-pass, not as eSport.  When was the last time you saw your own replay?  We complain time and again that there is no tournament but how would there be a tournament when there is no competitive spirit?  Sometimes I feel like I'm all alone in a battlefield surrounded by kids instead of soldiers.

Why am I so melodramatic all of a sudden?  Well, its pretty simple actually.  Every time there is a conversation in my office or cafe about some football match, I have to pretend to be interested so that I don't seem out-of-place.  But when I enthusiastically go out looking for someone to speak with about ESWC, there is no one and that really upsets me!  I might get flamed for this, but I'm glad that the FIFA World Cup is over.  But I wonder how long it will take for the buzz to die down.  Coz every time someone mentions the word FIFA, the only thought that comes to my mind is 'Why isn't DotA good enough for you?'!!