Raju Alluri's Personal Blog

Google Priority Inbox

Raju Alluri — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:01:50 +0000

Started using Google Priority Inbox for my personal email. This looks really cool and makes me spend much less time skimming through all the emails I get to this specific email id. I think the heuristics used to identify important or priority email is very cool. Feel like a dog trainer

Weekend Trip

Raju Alluri — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:23:21 +0000

I traveled to Godavari Districts over the weekend. The main purpose is to attend wedding of a cousin. Narasapur express is late by an hour and half on that day, disturbing the logistics a bit. Disembarked the train at Bhimavaram on Saturday to visit relatives and then drove to Poolapalli. From there, visited Sakhinetipalli in East Godavari district. Once back in Poolapalli, took a few hours of rest and went to Amalapuram to attend the late night wedding.

Sunday is a relatively slow day. Bought some sea food for kids, met GVPR (HoD of CS Department at SRKR engineering college) and came back to Poolapalli. Boarded Narasapur express in the evening and headed back to Hyderabad.

That is a couple of hundred kilometers of nice and pleasant drive during this weekend. Nice views of green paddy fields and full canals, reflecting the good monsoon during this season.

Busy Cores

Raju Alluri — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:09:15 +0000

A nice picture of all the six cores on my OpenSolaris desktop being 100% occupied.

From Screenshots01

This is my new desktop and I stress tested the system over the weekend. Installed it with OpenSolaris 2009.06 version. Still need to patch it and install some software on that…

Traffic Deadlocks

Raju Alluri — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:00:14 +0000

Wedensday evening is another traffic nightmare in the city. It took me more than an hour to reach home from work. In fact, I parked my car in an empty parking lot a couple of blocks away from home and walked home. By doing so, I might have saved at least another 30 minutes.

Rakhi 2010

Raju Alluri — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:43:10 +0000

We celebrated Rakhi in a big way this year. Instead of each one of us roaming around for Raksha Bandhan, we did a breakfast get-together at our place. With about 35 visitors on the day, it is a good gathering after a long time. We all felt it is very convenient to celebrate the festival this way, so that we can meet everyone at the same place. Here are some pictures:

Rakhi2010

Breakfast menu is simple (Idly, Upma, Vada, Puri with Chicken Curry) but has a decent range. With quite a few varieties of sweets, the breakfast session is heavy. But it is worth it…
Thanks everyone who visited! It is a great day.

Xylo: Post service update

Raju Alluri — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:52:10 +0000

On Sunday, I took my Xylo out for a highway drive. I wanted to get a feel of the vehicle after its 2nd service a couple of days ago. Took it over different types of roads: smooth, rugged, water clogged, etc. I felt that the driving experience improved. The stick shift (gear shift) is a bit smoother now. The vehicle handled the potholes on the roads well: I guess the key is to maintain the 35psi air pressure. If it is higher, then the ride is a bit bumpy. 35+psi was okay during summer, because the roads are relatively smooth. But on roads damaged with rain water, I think the inflation of wheels should be a bit on the softer side.

Still having a few questions about the ABS. The ABS got engaged even when I applied sudden breaks at 40kmph speed. May be it is due to the traction (or lack of) on rain hit roads. Felt that ABS to be a bit noisy when it gets engaged. Need to check it again one of these weekends.

I need to top up the fuel tank later this month and recheck the fuel efficiency. I don’t think it is going to change drastically from its 10kmpl levels (with AC, semi highway, semi city.)

Overall, I think the vehicle is running very good.

Xylo 2nd Service

Raju Alluri — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:37:29 +0000

We got the 2nd service (due at 8months or 8K km, whichever is earlier) done for our Xylo. It roamed around 3500km only. The vehicle is bought about 8 months ago and hence I got the 2nd servicing done, irrespective of the odometer reading. One problem that is not fixed for a few months is the external temperature sensor. Looks like the add-on chrome package is occluding the external temperature sensor on the right side mirror. The service consultant flagged this issue with the company and he says he will get back to me.

The other major issue is delay in service. The vehicle is held up at the service center for two full days. Any issue with the digital drive assist seems to take long time (just like the last service.) That process blocked one of my weekend days.

The total cost (only for parts; the service is free) is about 1000 rupees. They changed the gear oil, differential oil and topped up fluids like coolant and windshield wash fluid.

The vehicle made only about 1000km in the last 4 months (since the last service.) That is a very low usage.

ఆ కథలు అయిపోయాయి

Raju Alluri — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:54:16 +0000

ఈ రోజుతో స్వాతి వారపత్రికలో వంశీ వ్రాస్తున్న “మా దిగువ గోదారి కథలు” అయిపోయాయి. ఆఖరి ముద్ద కొద్దిగా పెద్దది పెట్టినట్టు కృష్ణలీల గురించి కొంచెం ఎక్కువే వ్రాసాడు. బాపు ఇంకో బొమ్మ ఎక్కువే గీసాడు. ప్రతీ వారం ఉత్సుకతో చదివించిన సగటు గోదారొడ్డు పాత్రలకు (సారీ, జీవితాలకు) ప్రస్తుతానికి సెలవ్!

IRCTC and Verification Code

Raju Alluri — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:06:58 +0000

Today I have seen that the IRCTC web portal (the portal where Indian Railways tickets can be booked online) introduced human readable verification codes as part of the ticket booking process. This is a new change in their portal, which already allows only signed in users to book tickets. Unlike many other sites, the readability of the verification code is better here…

India, Blackberry and Interception

Raju Alluri — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 04:36:19 +0000

There is a potential way out from the standoff between India’s Government agencies and RIM. Read here and here. A potential interception capability might end the standoff here, but Government agencies getting a “Master key” is a distant possibility.