First Drive in Adverse weather condition

So... I had to drop my friend at the airport early morning at 5:30AM. I took my friends car and headed out. It was snowing heavily with at least 1 inch snow on the road. First the car refused to start because of the cold weather. After 5 minutes, it started and we inched slowly on the road. The sight in front of us, was like a scene taken directly out of Call of Duty:MW2. It was eerie with the road laid out like a white blanket and the rare ominous headlights of oncoming traffic. Trees covered in snow and I could only hear the heater in the car murmuring to itself. The only thing we missed out were guns and Russians to shoot against.

Out in the interstate, all four/five lanes were all blurred into one big lane and all cars were inching slowly. It is not the drive on snow that is dangerous. But the snow turns into a thin slate of ice; when you try to brake, you just skid like a player in ice hockey. At least on loose snow your car would just drift to the sides a bit and easy to regain control only if there aren't any cars near by.

So that is how I bumped into another car today. I had enough distance between him and me. I saw him stop and I braked!! but no traction on the tires. I skid and hit him on his rear bumper and broke my friend's front number plate. Anyways only a dent on the other guys car. So we stopped our cars on the middle of the road, switched on the hazard lights and got out. We exchanged pleasantries and checked both our cars. Nothing major seems to have happened. So I gave him my mobile number and we parted. The kicker is that, there was a cop car right on the side of the road when this happened, but he was busy towing an already out of commission car from the side of the road.

Anyways waiting to hear from the other guy now and I drove back home safely to type this episode. :)

-Alphy

ps: I just got my auto-insurance yesterday!!

So... this goes down in history

It was a grueling 1:30 minute session; my thesis defense. Throat was parched dry with a dry weird feeling down the esophagus. Not due to various long explanations for the committee members, but a vague feeling that persisted in my mind; have I done something incorrect in my research? But once I completed the presentation, I knew that graduation was imminent. All that preparation...phew... it is complete.

It took an entire day for the message to sink in. I am finally an MS graduate. This goes down in the annals of NCSU CS dept, as well as in my history!!

Wow!! I made a fatal decision to pursue thesis exactly 11/2 years back and I live to tell the tale now. It has had its moments, nerve wracking situations, feelings of deja vu, light bulb effect and finally it boiled down to a successful defense.

Came to US with a goal and even though it has been a long journey, that has been pitted with moments memorable and other wise. Busted my laptop; almost took down a public server due to my experiments; gulped down design issues with beer; countless nights of just watching a *ix terminal and various series; procrastination of everything from laundry to taking bath; the goal has been finally achieved.

"Mission Accomplished!!"