A credit card story

You would have heard of several horror stories about Credit Cards. How the banks cheat you, over charge you, abuse you etc. Here is a nice story of a Credit Card.

I got a HFDC Card 3 years back. I used it to pay monthly utilities like phone & internet and used it for other purchases as well. Once I started using it, the advantage of Credit Card is apparent. My billing cycle of mobile is 26-25. So I get a bill sometime around 30th of every month and the last date is somewhere around 15th. I pay it by 10th with my Credit Card. My credit card's billing cycle is 10-9. So the transaction will come only in the next month's Credit Card bill. I've to pay that only 20th of next month. So I talk in August and actually spend for that only in October!

Big purchases are another good thing. I usually convert them into EMIs. I get them after 10th and convert them into EMIs. When you convert into EMI, the transaction will appear in the current month's statement but the EMI will start in the next month's statement. I don't know whether its a feature or a quirk in their system, I don't want to complain anyway. So I don't get to pay a single paise out of pocket for two months, yet enjoy watching my TV.

I always pay before the due date, so I never went into any sorts of troubles. The good part is I get reward points for all my expenditures. HDFC Bank has a huge list of items to redeem your points for. Last month I opted for Tata Sky. I've to pay a Rs 1,700 extra, but I'll get gift coupons worth of Rs 1,500. That effectively means, I pay Rs 275 (adding the shipping charges) for the Tata Sky. Thats a good deal. Tata Sky guys came in, installed and said that I got 6 months subscription free (its a new deal from Tata Sky for every purchase of Tata Sky), so I have to pay only the Rs 1,000 installation charges (which I can use the gift coupons). Adding  the remaining Rs 500 gift coupon, I get a Tata Sky hardware + 8 months of free subscription. All for using your Credit Card ! Wow! Man you got to love Credit Cards :-)

Last few shots of from my film camera

My Canon D350 should be in my hands by mid Jan. So finished off the roll that I had. Few shots from that roll.

First snap is taken during my daughters first birthday and the rest of them are taken in my wife's home during this Diwali. I've not written much about my wife's place recently, but one of my very first blog entries was about that.





I touched one of the photos with GIMP. Is it looking good?

Before:


After:

Finally ...

I know how much I love bike and enjoying traveling long distances. But now traveling within the city is become difficult for me, reason being my daughter. I was thinking that I should purchase a car sometime in next march, but then preponed it. I was looking for pre-owned cars, but the rates are too much. A 2002 model Wagon R costs me somewhere around 3 Lakhs + 2% commission to the broker. Its not worth it. So decided on a new car. I've booked a Wagon R today. The delivery will be only in the end of Jan/first week of Feb, but the waiting is worth enough because I'll get a 2008 model car with 2008 registration and still get a 20k discount which is available only till 31st Dec :-)

Toughest time

My daughter is one of the very active kids I've seen. We usually don't restrict my daughter from doing something. If she tries to open the door or pull down something from the sofa or throws the onions and potatoes all over the kitchen, she is always allowed to do so. As soon as she started crawling, I taught her how to get down the steps from the hall to my room and to climb up the stairs from the ground floor to our house in the first floor. What I didn't teach was how to get down safely from the cot. Last week she tried by herself when we were not around. She fell down and broke her collar bone.

Though she is not feeling the pain now, its the very toughest time for her. Because of the arm sling she can't use her right hand and now she is pretty much restricted in doing most of her normal mischiefs . It would take around a month to get back to normal, but one month at this age is really too long. Call me a optimistic, but the good thing about this is, since she finds it very difficult to crawl with one hand, she is now more inclined to walk and trying hard. With in a week or two she should be able to walk without any support.

Now for the lesson learnt, never let a kid alone in the bed/sofa.

Telling it the right way ...

No blah blah blahs, straight to the images to tell you the story.

An error in Google Doc:



An error in VSNL website:

Browser Wars !

Meanwhile, Microsoft has said that an internal build of IE 8 now passes the Acid Test. Wow! Thats an achievement. I think its the second browser after Opera to pass the test. While IE 8 is expected to be released in an year or so, Firefox 3 is close to release. Its already in Beta 2 and it rocks!

Its based on Gecko 1.9, pages now loads really fast, UI is cool, Proto theme blends well with Mac and so on. If you ask for my favourite feature, it is the auto complete feature in the location bar. No longer you have to type from the beginning. Type any character in the URL/page name you want, Firefox shows all the results. See the screen shot:



In another related news, Mozilla Prism isn't exciting as I thought earlier. Its just creates a short cut and nothing else. I thought some nice integration such as Application Menus are on the way, but nothing of that sort. If all I want is a short cut on the desktop, I don't need an application, all I need is the upcoming version of Google Gears!

Eclipse Demo Camp, Bangalore

[Cross post from my Eclipse blog]

Eclipse Demo Camp is coming to Bangalore on 10th Dec. Looking at other Demo Camps, Bangalore might be the one with highest number of registration (around 50) - and its still growing. In case you wish to attend, do register here.

Yup, I'm working on a presentation on GEF. Meet you all there.

Go Digital !

I'm switching to a digiatal camera. Finally :-) When I decided to purchase a camera, I know it has to be an SLR. But the only "affordable" DSLR was  Canon's 300D. It was around $1000 and the exchange rates were close to 45.  I decided for a film camera. For 8k, Canon's K2 came to my rescue with a nice 28-90mm lens. I've been using it for years and taken nice snaps like these.









Many of them looks really good in photos, not-so-good in digital form (I should blame the scanners).

Now that the exchange rates are falling down below 40, the DSLRs are much more affordable and Ravi will be back from US in a month or so, I decided to switch to a digital Camera. The choice was simple. Canon's Digital Rebel XT. I purchased body only version so that I can reuse the lens that I already own.I would have gone for the XTi, but I was not ready to go pay $250 for extra 2 Mega pixel and bigger LCD. The camera has been delivered to Ravi and eagerly waiting for his arrival sometime in Jan.

In other unrelated news, Ravi also bought a MacBook. Then Dinesh, Jaiku. Surprising thing is none of these guys are hardcore Mac fans. All they wanted was some laptop for personal use and after analysing the options, they found the MacBook to be the better than Dell/Compaq. No, I didn't press any of them, I knew only after they decided. Mac penetration is increasing :-)