Citrix Matrix!

Hmmm.... most of the systems in my office have been subjected to this "Operation Citrix" which means that one would work on the Citrix server rather than on the system. And I believe there were security reasons because of which this change has been enforced. Anyway what does "Citrix" mean??? To me it seems to be exact opposite of Matrix! The matrix screensaver or wallpaper usually gives a cool look to the screen.It makes the system ambience more interesting and more appealing. Citrix server just does the reverse. It has been about 30 minutes since it has been installed on my system and I feel so archaic about the whole thing. My outlook looks so pale, like a malaria patient. My windows messenger seems to play hide and seek with me with the irritating RETRY message appearing time and again. Almost all the icons seem to have the deceased look. I realized this just as I did an ALT+TAB. The dull appearance of these icons reminds me of the fact this is office and that I am supposed to work. Huh!!! This is just not on. That's what I feel. But the truth is this is not all. My Computer now just has the basic windows installed on it. To open any kind of word or excel document, i need to connect to the server. The worst thing perhaps is there is no such thing known as a "desktop". One needs to connect the server and then go to the documents and settings folder and then save a file that would have otherwise been saved on the desktop. Finding the desktop folder is surely going to be a "treasure hunt" at least for the next few days. Although I haven't yet experienced it, I have heard that the contact list and the favourites list need to be updated each time the system is restarted. ( Another Fifty first dates effect ? Oh..no!!!). Each time I click an application there, I get a series of messages as if I am travelling to another era in a Time machine. And at the end of all those messages I discover that all that I have done is open a word doc. ( ah.. it's not the Time Machine that has taken off ). Office (Not the microsoft one but the place I work) has only become more boring and cliched.

PS: To get a bit of feel, I have been typing this thing on a notepad which opens on Default windows.. Ah..the native touch!without the wretched server :)

And it's Amenisia now !

Well... I am certainly getting a bit too cliched. Time and again, I don't have anything to write about apart from my computer. That's very surprising considering the kind of techno-callous person that I am. Techo-callous!! I mean I am a kind of person who would not get too excited by a new technology entering the market. Forget the market, I wouldn't even bother if someone in my family was using it. Worse, I still don't know how much memory my Motorazer, that I have been using for since the 2 years provides me. ( And yeah I have the usual sheepish grin on my face.)

Continuing the story of my comp, I bought a new key board and made sure that everything was working fine. The USB is still not ok but at least the mouse seems to working fine. ( Fine.. Did I say? The mouse is not its usual ambidextrous self. It doesn't right click now :)). The Tata Indicom guy took ages ( more than 15 days) to sync his server and my comp. "The last 5 days have been cool. Everything seems to be fine" I told myself yesterday. Touch-wood! I perhaps forgot to utter that word and found my comp behaving indifferently again today.

My comp seems to be suffering from some kind of memory loss or anterograde amenisia just like Drew Barrymore in Fifty first dates. One fine morning when I started my comp, I found that my darling Genelia was missing on my desktop and instead there was the windows default wallpaper. Since then, everytime I log on to the system the a fresh desktop ( the one with the sky n grass) appears as if I have installed windows for the first time. Anything that I save on the desktop is not saved. I try to open the Mozilla browser and each time I re-start it prompts me to transfer the history from Internet Explorer. Memory Loss? Huh! "Seems to be some kind of a virus" exclaimed Kiran and I lost no time in updating the Anti-Virus and scanning my computer. ( Rahul wanted me to do this looong back!!!) . Everything seems to be fine now but I definitely don't think this is THE END. What makes me think so? Well, some of the infected files that I had deleted were system files and I am afraid my system will soon discover that and go kaput again.

Crazy Huva re!!!

Naaah..No girlie effect! The reason for me getting crazy is not a girl. It's the computer. ( Reminds me of the old silly one where a girl starts talking about her crush saying that he is so fast , so sweet, so talkative etc etc and then say "Oh.. I was talking about my computer" with an irritatingly cliched smile). Well, coming back to my computer , I spent a couple of days trying to get it fixed. I even took it to Rahul's place and my good old friend almost did it. Everything seemed to work fine. But as soon as I came home, the keyboard went kaput. I thought I would buy a new one as soon as I got up this morning, but that didn't happen. I hope my computer gets all set in a couple of days.

There were other things happening in India that would drive a Cricket fan like me crazy. Yeah, I am talking about the Indian's team's performance in the second one day against Australia. After reaching the zenith in the 20-20 World Cup, a slump was expected . The only question was how deep the fall would be and the team pummelled as deep as it could . Yuvraj and Uthappa played as if they were still playing 20-20. Sachin hasn't played any 20-20 but the shot that he played makes one wonder if he was watching too much 20-20 on TV . The bowling also left much to be desired especially that of our spinners. Surprisingly ( rather I guess we are used to it now), the Aussie spinners including part-timer Micheal Clarke did a far better job.