At last got the confirmation

I just got my TOEFL confirmation mail. My exam is on 11th September at 8 a.m. I am asked to report to the Prometric test centre at least 30 minutes earlier. I have to take a valid passport with me. Though I am relieved now, it would be better if my exam date was after one more week. Being anxious about the confirmation, I was not able to start preparation. Now I have got only 11 days. I have to hurry.

Yummy yummy!!!

Manjur bhai entered the restaurant, rushed to the dishes and brought this plate :D, and guess what, it was not his last one :D.

A memorable night

Busy at Emanuelles

Afzal's farewell party

It was an awesome great party. We enjoyed every bit of it. At first, we took him to some shops in the afternoon. After ransacking them, he chose a shirt. It was a nice one, Afzal was looking great when he came out of the trial room. He looked happy with the shirt. As we had surplus in our budget, we took him to another emporium and bought him a t-shirt for casual wear.

Then we entered Emanuelles (a famous restaurant for buffet dinner), we had a booking for eight people's dinner at 7 p.m. It was 7:15 when we took our seat. As all of us had not arrived yet, we started chattering. After some time, when others arrived, we went to the dishes to get the food. In the first round, we had the appetizers as usual. As everyone of us has visited this restaurant few times before, we were pretty experienced and had devised our own plan to rip the maximum :-). By the time we finished our second round, the people we found sitting when we came left. After that, we took some rest. There were two reasons, Manjur Bhai still hadn't arrived, we wanted to actively accompany him while he eats, and to regain some vigor to devour more :-). About 20 minutes later, we started third round. It was the time the waiters started being astonished. Another batch of people left by this time. The food was excellent. Most of the dishes were of meats. Though I like fishes more, I took all the meat dishes too. The red snapper fish, a fish fry (I forgot the name), moussaka and barbecues were among the most delectable dishes. Zunnun bhai, a renowned gourmet, was the quickest among us to engorge. Manjur bhai came, and guess what, we started the fourth round :D. The waiters were dumbfounded. We gobbled as if we have taken nothing before :D. When we rushed towards the dessert, we were fearing that we won't find anything in the dishes, as many people came and left in the mean time. We were relieved to see the desserts still there, though small in quantity. We had two rounds of desserts. The yummy pudding and caramel custard were our favourites.

After we gorged ourselves enough, we eased ourselves and started chatting again. Everyone was immersed with a sad feeling. We realized that we will miss Afzal very much. We had an excellent year together. Throughout this time, we were like friends and brothers. We were much more than colleagues. This was the first break in our team. We all vented our griefs. In the valedictory, Afzal said that he will miss us too, he will remember this one year forever, he will cherish the time he shared with us.

We came out of the restaurant at 10 p.m. and started for home. I am certain that everyone of us will remember this night. We will treasure the memory forever.

A nice interview of Mikhail Simonov

Mikhail Simonov is the designer of aerodynamics of the legendary aircraft Su-27 (my favourite combat aircraft). Here is a very interesting interview of him. He describes some of his thoughts behind the super-maneuverability. It sheds some light on the Russian doctrine of air combat tactics also.

Afzal's farewell today

We, the employees of Eyeball's Dhaka office are going to give Afzal a farewell today. The venue is Emanuelles, a renowned buffet restaurant. Shantanu, Palash and I are going to gift him something this evening. We will take him to the shops and let him choose something, may be some kind of clothing. He will come to the office tomorrow for the last time :-(.

Haven't got TOEFL registration mail yet

I am very tensed. I called the guy I gave money to use his credit card, he is telling me again and again that I will get the mail. I am being anxious.

A busy day

Yesterday was a very busy day for me. In the morning, I went to a family program, had a savory lunch, came back home at the afternoon. I missed the Jummah prayer. One of my cousins need to visit a doctor as she was very weak. At the evening, I met her in a hospital. She was advised to take a bag of saline immediately. I brought her home and called a paramedic. The saline was still not finished when I started for office this morning.

More disappointment from Google Talk

For last few hours, it cannot even log in to server. I am sure that it is no user's desideratum. I am losing heart in it.

Google Talk

I installed Google Talk beta. It fell short of my expectation by a mile. The audio quality was not very good, though I was talking in a LAN. I also found trouble to get the audio conversation both way. In my first attempts to talk to one of my colleagues, he could hear my voice but I couldn't hear his. The text chatting window is primordial. There is no emoticon, no file transfer, no games or imvironments. I understand that it is just a beta, these very simple features should have been included. Though all google products fascinate me, this one has a long way to go to bedazzle me.

Stuck at office

It is raining torrentially, but I wanted to go home now :-((. I have to go to the tailor's shop on my way home. I doubt I can do it. My wife is sick at home. When shall I be able to see her?

Viewed my blog through mobile

Yesterday, I viewed my blog through my mobile. It was very exciting. I could see the whole page exactly as I see in my browser. I was thrilled. I think I will visit my blog through GPRS quite often.

Sharna is still sick

Though she is not having fever from last night, it cannot be said that she will not have fever again. She is weak now and lost her appetite. She has not called on any doctor yet. Inshallah, she will recuperate soon.

My wife is sick

She has got fever, now her temperature is 101 fahrenheit. I must go home now but I have a lot of works to do in office :-( Anyway, I will leave now. Hope she comes round soon.

Met an old friend

After 8 long months I have met Omar, one of my closest friends, today. We had a chat for 3 hours. I took him to lunch. Though our chat was not fully a retrospective one, we recalled some of our old memories. Omar has been my bosom buddy for about 9 years. He is now working in a great software firm, he is enjoying his work. We exchanged our views to future. We conferred on our future plans. The lunch was great, we had vuna-khichuri with chicken and salad. We also had two Sprites. I relished the time with him.

Sent fax for TOEFL registration

Today, I sent a fax to ets for my toefl registration. My preferred date is 11th September. I am yet to receive any mail. I have bought a book and some cd's containing sample exams, though I haven't opened them yet. I am not finding the vigor to start preparation. Hope the confirmation mail will ignite me :-)

Another good friend is going

Afzal has got the visa of Germany. He has got a scholarship from European union. He will go to Germany first and then Scotland to complete a double masters degree. Afzal was my colleague also. We worked together for last one year. Actually, it is the time when our friendship flourished. We, along with three other friends, had a great time in Eyeball in last one year. We will seriously miss him. His company will be ever memorable to me. We shared many unforgettable events here. I will treasure all his memories till the last day of my life, I am sure. Hope he has a prosperous and successful life.

Had to come at office

Though I am against strikes in principle, I don't hate to take their advantage :-) (Is it a double-standard of mine?). Our office is open in every strike day, so I have to come. But many of my friends' offices are closed, that's what I envy. Had I been at home today .........

Strike

There is a full-day strike all over the country. It is in protest of the bomb blasts called by all the opposition parties. But, these strikes are nothing good, actually they are very detrimental for the economy of our country. I am fed up to see the asinine behaviours of the two major parties of the country. Instead of investigating the incidents, they are blaming each other and letting the original perpetrators escape. When will they leave this hypocrisy?