Expecting a baby?

We were so excited last year when we found out. I was going crazy, getting impatient. I wanted the baby now...

Towards the end of the pregnancy we started to plan out the baby's room, things she needs. Yes, we found out the sex of the baby, I think atleast for the first child its good to know the sex of the baby.

We decided that she is not going to have a pink room, instead it would be nuetral color, we picked a light shade of green and yellow.

Anyways, god blessed us with a lot of gifts and gift cards at our baby shower and till today I am thankful to every one who gifted us that day.

When we made a list and went shopping, we spent over $2000.00 at Babies R US, and this was only the beginning.

We learnt qucikly, we realized through friends and family that certain things like the recliner can be purchased used at a much lower price. Babies R US has sales all the time and we decided that we would buy the furniture when they have a sale.

We ended up returning a third of the stuff we bought the first time and replaced it with items bought at a much lower price.

My suggestion to you first time parents is to shop around, stuff like furniture in the baby's room can be purchased used. DONOT BUY car seat or stroller USED.


Another thing you can do is to register at SIMILAC, ENFAMIL, etc.. all baby product companies. You will be suprised. Baby product companies make a lot of money and if they know that you prefer their brand over others, they have you for atleast 1 year or more. They send you coupons, samples, etc.

We picked Similac brand for the baby formula. Our daughter is 11 months old and we still get $10 off on the formula. One tin costs $27.99, a $10 off is great.

Again, I cant tell you guys enough about CVS, its free money. We buy diapers, formula, baby food, etc from there. And the best thing is that you get 2% cash back.

Babies are expensive, in no time you will be spending hundreds on diapers and formula. As far as I know, those are the big ticket items for me. CVS has a lot of sales on the diapers and so you need to stock up when you can, BUT Remember, if your baby is too close to the move to the next diaper stage then try not to stockup on that but stock up on the next stage.

Also, Gerber sends us coupons every week for the baby fruit containers. All of this is very helpful and could save you hundreds of dollars.

We are blessed to have family and friends who gave us toys and gifts. Be sure to pass on unused toys/equipment to the next expecting couple.

I plan on posting on this topic and also the best method to handle a crying baby soon..

Halo - The greatest game ever made

Halo is the greatest game I have ever played. Prior to XBox, I used to play a lot of PC Games and some PlayStation Games. Once Microsoft launched XBox, I was hooked.

Halo was the flagship game for the initial launch of XBox. Halo set an industry standard for first person shooters. The game play was awesome. My favorite level was the Assault on the Control Room.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better Bungie/Microsoft released Halo 2. Now this was a whole new world for Halo fans.

First, you can dual wield weapons. Second, Xbox Live. Halo2 Game play was awesome, but I didn't want to play half the levels because they involved the Arbiter (covenant). Of course, everyone know about XBox live. Its awesome, people get to play online, matchups, battles, its just great.

But all this built up the anticipation for Halo 3, the final installment for the Halo series.

I know, I know, I love Xbox, Xbox 360 and I love playing console games. I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

When you work hard, often doing more than 40 hours a week, you need to unwind and relax. This is my way of relaxing.

Making money online..

hmm can we make money online, sure..

is it worth your time... depends....

Sure you can make money online with referrals, pay to click ads, paid surveys. All good sources to make money but you always have to keep in mind one thing, IS IT WORTH MY TIME.

If you dedicate say 10 -20 minutes a day, couple of days a week, it will accumulate and will bring you a decent amount of money. If you want big money from the get go, there is no way.

Here are some of the site I tried out, I will post images of the checks if and when I receive them:

Bux.to
Paid.vg


Technorati Profile

finally some songs

finally, as a developer I have the constant need to listed to music or something while working. I have never been able to find a service where I could listen to music, new music.

Finally I found a site Songza.com where you can find and listen to music.

Free Money at CVS

I love free money. CVS is one of the best store out there which takes care of its loyal customers.

You get $'s off of next purchase coupons where you can save a ton of money. A colleague of mine asked me if their prices are higher as a results of the $ they give away and also the 2% cash back.

We have been shopping at CVS for the past 7 years and I found their prices reasonable. They have exceptional prices on their sale papers. Visit them at cvs.com

Also, I found a blog which has a great deal of information on CVS and Walgreens and what you should be looking for while shopping there.

Here is their link: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/search/label/Current%20Deals

Its Fried Turkey for Thanksgiving.

I am hoping I would have the time and the patience to post our Thanksgiving fried turkey recipe. Its delicious.

Ever since we started frying the turkey instead of baking it, I like it. Its fast, easy and tastes a whole lot better.. Think about it.

Making money off of surveys????

Well, I never had luck with this. Everytime I signup with some site, I would get garbage, spam and nothing good.

This time, I read some blogs, cross checked the site and I think I found a good reasearch site. Its called Vindale Research and the link is below. I made $17 from answering two surveys, it didnt take that long. I will keep you posted though.

Free WebHosting for Registered Non-Profits

www.webdatamation.com offers Free WebHosting for Registered Non-Profits

Best professional profile social networking site.... LINKEDIN.com

I love linked in. This is how I found the job I am in. Its professional, lot of contacts, good resources.

More South Park...!!!

yeap more south park folks... some more sites where you can watch south park:

allsp.com

http://www.southparkzone.com/

Stumble!

Stumble! for firefox is the greatest thing I have seen. Its a great idea. You get to see so many sites, designs.. its cool.

I stumbled upon Musicovery.com Its a great music site loaded with good quality tracks.


So goahead download Stumble! extension and stumble away.

south park!!!!!

Yes South Park.... working long hours.. stressed... you need something to relax. I love watching south park. Its soooooo funny.

You can visit North-Park.net and watch all previous episodes.

NAS?

I installed a Maxtor Shared Storage II NAS box today at my client. Was very pleased with the results. I did my research and found that other NAS boxes had restrictions/licenses for backup software. But this worked out great, Staples has a deal on this item for 399.99

Here is the link

Icon next to your URL

OK, for the longest time I have wanted to see how this is done but never had the time to look into it. Today I found some answers for my self and hopefully others.

If you want to display an Icon next to your URL when the site shows up in the browser (it also shows up if its stored in the favorites) then here is what you need to know:

1. Create an icon 16 x 16 pixels or 32 x 32.

2. Name the file favicon.ico and put it in the root directory. (Internet Explorer automatically searches for this file and places the icon in the address bar, next to all favorites linking to your site, and on page tabs. In Internet Explorer 5 and Internet Explorer 6, the icon will appears only after a user adds the site to the Favorites menu).

OR


<head>
<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="http://www.mydomain.com/myicon.ico"/>
<title>My Title</title>
</head>

if you need more info you can visit MSDN using this LINK

Another neat resource is a website which will create the FavIcon for you, you can find it HERE


Hope this was useful.

Akshay Sura (August 29th 2007)

MyGeneration - dOOdads

First of all let me start by saying that initially I didnt link dOOdads. There is definetly a learning curve, especially if you need business logic.

Once I got used to it, it was seemless. Now I use it on a day to day basis and there is nothing like it.

The credit for discovering and using dOOdads goes to one Mr. Rob Koch, who I have been working with for the past year or so. You can find more info about what he does at seerobcode.com

MyGeneration dOOdads and other useful info can be found at mygenerationsoftware.com

I have always tried to keep tabs on interesting articles which helped me out but never was able to do it. Now I plan to post links/content to the articles I find useful and interesting.

Akshay Sura (August 29th 2007)

I am currently working on a Database Spell Checker capable of finding and resolving spelling mistakes in a database (currently available for Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005, Access, MySQL and Oracle) - August 23rd 2007 5PM EST. If you are interested in receiving updates on this software, please email me at info@seemecode.com

Akshay Sura (August 23rd 2007)

hmmmmmm my first blog entry

hmm let me try blogging... hope its not too late.. got some courage after seeing my friend Rob Koch doing his blog. Will try to make some blog entries, they might be totally unrelated but doesnt matter.


Life Happens!!!! Deal with it.