I've uploaded a few pics of my travel as well as the city I live in. Head here to my public albums on Picasa. The Raleigh city pics are "Now Playing" on the right pane as slideshow.
More pics in the pipeline. Boy! Its hot in here.. very very hot! We hardly step outta home these days. Its almost daylight bright till 8pm. Waiting for the Fall to completely set in.
Its back to school for me. Fall 2008 semester classes started today. Feels odd attending class after a year!
The university is huge.. take my word, it is insanely huge! The campus is spread over an unimaginable area. ECE and CS departments are given step-motherly treatment by separating them from the main campus. Not that its bad or something but its away from the library which houses Xbox 360s and PS3s :D lol...
Few pics of my university:
Clockwise from top:
1) The ECE/CS building at Centennial Campus where my classes are conducted.
2) The famous tall Bell tower of NCSU.
3) That building is our library. Yes, you saw it right... its 7 floors tall!
Won't be online regularly for a week or so now.. at least till I settle there down. Only thing I'm worried about: non-stop 16 hours journey at a stretch :(
So Mac4Lin, MS Guide and other work would be temporarily under suspension. Will get back soon.
So long folks, see ya soon.....
I needed an external HDD to carry my data and was looking at the options since a week. I'd zeroed in on either Western Digital Passport or the Transcend StoreJet. Went to the electronic market to buy and saw that the WD Passport is almost on its way out. Nowhere was it available. Instead everywhere it was being replaced by WD Elements. The build quality was quite flimsy and somehow it didn't appeal to me. In the end I bought a Transcend StoreJet 25 Mobile 250GB USB 2.0.
I must say that I'm pretty impressed by this device. It has the toughest protection I've ever seen for an external drive (apparently meets the US Military drop test). Speed is impressive; a sustained 28 MB/s. Phew.. Thats fffffffaaaaaaaaast! It also has one-touch backup and sync button (works only in Windows with the StoreJet Elite software). The included Windows software lets you backup, sync, encrypt data etc.
Would I recommend this product? Certainly! :)
3) Post admit work to be completed
This part picks up where Part TWO left off. One important information I forgot to give in the previous part was regarding the Transcripts and Degree Certificate. You will need to apply for at least 20 copies of Transcripts (considering that on an average you are applying to about 6 Universities) and about 4-5 attested copies of your degree certificate (or provisional degree certificate, if you've just completed or will be graduating soon). Your current university may charge you some fee for this. So get in touch with them and apply for your Transcripts/DC/PDC just about a fortnight before your GRE as it may take sometime for the university to process your request.
The universities will mostly start informing the students about admits from mid-March. The latest by which one can afford to get the "admit" news is by mid-June. You need to login to your account on the Universities' Graduate Admissions'/Application webpage and check the admission status. Keep checking this page every now and then beginning March. The varsities will first send the admit status electronically and then thru the conventional way. Before you can get a clear cut admit you need to submit Proof of Financial Status or Certificate of Financial Responsibility (CFR). Most of the universities will mail in an admission letter alongwith the CFR. The CFR can mostly also be downloaded from their website.
This form basically tells the University that you haf the moolah to afford Graduate Studies in the US. Your sponsors' need to sign on the form and submit a statement by the Bank which indicates that you haf sufficient liquid funds to cover one academic term's expenses (which includes the living expenses). The amount to be shown as liquid is indicated on the admission letter or will be mailed to you. If you haf some form of scholarship (teaching/graduate assitantship or if the university is sponsoring you) then the university will indicate that amount and you will hafta arrange a statement for the balance amount. If you are taking statements from different banks (i.e haf the money in different accounts across banks) then be sure to take them all on the same day. The Bank statement needs to indicate the sponsors' name, dress, account details and the amount in Indian Rupees as well as in equivalent US Dollars as on that day (giving info about the date and the exchange rate) on the Bank's letterhead with the signature of the highest authority in the bank (e.g Branch Manager etc.). Some universities will want the same info on a special form provided by them. This amount can range anywhere from $30k-40k USD. Also, no immovable or non-liquid assets would do.
After these documents are sent, the University will mail the I-20 to the student. If the admit has come unusually late then get in touch with the authorities so that your I-20 is sent thru courier. You may hafta pay a fee for this. If it arrives by regular postal services then give it about a month to arrive. The I-20 is the official admission letter indicating your name/other details, name of university, program name, address, fee for an academic term etc. This will also indicate that you haf proved to possess sufficient funds required for an academic term. If you are applying for an education loan then this is the right time as processing will take some time. You will need to produce your I-20 to the bank alongwith other standard documents. Checkout various banks for the loan details.
Also note that some universities will require the students to undergo specific medical tests. Hence look out for an "immunization form" either sent by the university or on their website. Invariably, all universities will want the students to undergo PPD test (for TB). In some cases, you may also be asked to get the immunization form signed by a Registered Medical Practitioner indicating the dates of your vaccination (right from childhood).
If you get multiple admits then you may be in the possession of several I-20s. Weigh the pros and cons and decide on a university wisely. Its better not to sign on the I-20s unless you've made up your mind. Also its wiser not to inform any university immediately that you will not be taking up the admission unless you get VISA with the name of your preferred university printed on it. After the VISA process is over (to be discusses in the next part) you can mail the other universities that you will not be taking up admission there. You may hafta mail them back the "unused" I-20s if they request since the I-20 is generated by SEVIS (discussed later).
In case there are any changes to be made in you Passport (name/address etc.) then do it now. Also keep few Govt. issued photo-id cards handy (like driving license, PAN etc.) as they will help in this process).
As soon as you are issued an I-20 the university will create an account for you on their portal and mail the username/password and other details to you. This portal will mostly be a centralized control center. Almost all the universities haf this. Depending on the university you maybe given a mailbox with the university id, asked to register for Courses for the first sem, update your contact info, book university housing etc. Be extra careful about registration of courses and do it asap as mostly all the good courses are booked by students as soon as they are allowed to register. So make a list of about 4-5 courses by looking at the syllabus etc. You can register a maximum of 4 courses in a semester. You can also drop a course later, in most cases.
It is also the correct time to get in touch with the Indian Student Association of the University and also your department professors, seeking their views on the courses and text books they would be referring to. You can also mail the Graduate adviser/professors asking them about your eligibility with regards to registration of courses as all courses will haf specific prerequisites.
With all these things done, its time for applying for F1 VISA. This would be covered in the next part...
As part of the series of articles on winning projects at FOSS India Awards 2008, Linux for You magazine published about Mac4Lin in their June 2008 issue. An excerpt:
The project kicked off when Anirudh Acharya, a young open source enthusiast from Bangalore, taught himself GTK+ and decided to bring the Mac touch to the FOSS world. "A consistent, beautiful and tightly-integrated user interface is what Mac4Lin is all about", explains Acharya.... A one man army, Acharya continues to put in efforts to enhance Mac4Lin and make it compatible with other desktop systems....."
Its a well known fact that Karnataka Government slaps the highest taxes compared to any other state/UT on petroleum based fuels. Thats the reason why the people in Karnataka pay the highest for a litre of petrol/diesel throughout India.
News that would bring some relief to consumers, at least for the time being: Karnataka government slashes sales tax on petroleum based fuels!
Yes, thats right! The Karnataka government reduced sales tax by 3 pc on petrol and 2 pc on diesel. It has also reduced value added tax (VAT) on domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from 4 pc to 1 pc. As a result of the reduction in tax on petrol from 28 to 25 pc, retail price of the fuel in Bangalore will be Rs.57.15 per litre as against Rs.58.89 and that of diesel will be Rs.39.15 per litre as against Rs.39.80 after the reduction of tax from 20 pc to 18 pc. The price of LPG has been reduced to Rs.348.08 from Rs.358.42.
Time to cheer?? Its just the beginning of the BJP-led Govt. Will this tax relief hold good for long.. or is it just a political gimmick played by UPA at the center and BJP at the state level???
