Thursday, November 10, 2005

Elevators

One of the quietest times during my entire day is when I am in the elevator.

Elevator People Classification:

People looking at the ceiling of the elevator. These are generally standing in the middle.

People looking at the floor of the elevator. Generally these are people at the back side of the elevator, they know they have a long way to go so why bother.

People looking straight at the *closed* slide doors of the elevator.

Well enough of stupid classifications.

This is the time, where you don’t have anything to do, I mean you have nothing to do (physically), besides looking up, looking down or just a blank stare at the sliding door.

If by chance you are in one of those intelligent elevators, probably a good voice will keep you entertained while the sliding doors open and close on floors. (Something to learn from Hitch Hikers Guide To Galaxy)

Then there are people like me, When I am in a lift/elevator I spend my time looking around for something to read, hmm probably the instruction list of the elevator or some scratched graffiti, if you are in India. (“Raju loves basanti” kind of messages).

I can read the instruction list again and over again every time, I just don’t know why?

I know that this elevator cannot carry more than 600 kilos but I still want to read it again.
I know in case of emergency hit the RED button but I still want to read it again.
I guess I am reading it just for the sake of improving my score. The score of how many instructions can i read completely before my floor arrives.

This scoring system will not make sense for people who are from New York or like cities where you have a zillion stories to go, then probably you can try scoring for number of times you can read the entire instruction list :) .

What else one can do in an elevator

1. Talk on your cell phone.
2. Try to be friendly with your neighbor.
3. Try to read graffiti. (Jai Hind)
4. Try to make graffiti. (Jai Hind)
5. Poke your nose.
6. Try to learn voice over acting by mimicking the intelligent voice.
7. Read instruction list, maximize score and try to get you name in Guinness Book.
8. Solo Brainstorm about another point to add to this list.

Enough of wasting your time, reading this.

But before I end.

Don’t you think that intelligent elevators should add another piece of code to its fuzzy logic.

How many times have you seen a person repeatedly pressing the elevator button, he is trying to think that his tap..tap..tap..tap..tap..tapping the button will make the elevator understand….”Some one really wants me fast, and override everything and reach his floor” That would make an intelligent elevator really intelligent.

If you are a hardcore gamer read on otherwise this is the end of post.

Recently I have played lot of games which uses repeated button tapping as a form of game play.

God of war’s repeated tapping to make your killing move
King Kong’s repeated tapping to make the T-Rex not eat your neck.
Prince of persia’s repeated tapping to over power sword battles.

How about an elevator game ? Multiplayer real life elevator game.

One guy on the 10th floor, elevator on the 5th and the opponent on the ground. Ready, steady go..tap..tap..tap..tappp.ttapp..tapp.

Happy tapping and Cheers till next time.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

31 days

31 days to go…..I am all excited, if computers could feel then I am probably feeling just like one fresh installed computer.

I got formatted, re-installed all the software in my brain, properly allocated correct directory structures and all set to test my new graphic card. (duh!)

31 days to go…. For me to start my new job as Program Manager, Microsoft – Games Division, I will be working out at the state of art campus as Gachibowli, Hyderabad.

Its is the largest development center of Microsoft outside of USA.

31 days to go….

I cannot talk much about the nature of my work, as there are bunch of papers stapled to my lip. (NDA) but all I can say I will be making GAMES.

Also wondering if I can get a role in the new upcoming Halo Movie, I was always confident about my acting skills :) , it would be great if I can convince Alex Garland to add a character to his script. Anyways jokes apart, I am really looking forward for my job to start at MS and a new journey into the mysteries of good gameplay.

Other things that i am looking forward for are:

1. Indian Game Developers Guild to start.
2. My sister’s wedding in December.
3. Permanent license plate for my new car that I bought 2 weeks back. (See)
4. My new Nostromo™ SpeedPad n52.
5. Peter Jackson’s King Kong – Both the movie and the game. Demo looked very impressive.
6. Coming weekend’s Italian cooking session with family.