You spin me ight round baby right round...

...like a record baby right round round round.


As the Manson song goes, I too was a fan of spinning. When it comes to memory devices, that is. I've always been a proponent of Hard disks vis-a-vis solid state. The advantages are obvious. Larger capacity at a cheaper cost. And that is why I purchased a Creative Zen when there were flashier, cooler devices around (Not the evilPod though. I refuse to be a pawn in unca Stevie's plan of world domination. Plus, it looks gay and stuff). 6 gigs for the price of 2(solid state). I loved the chubby little white thing. The sound quality was excellent, the battery life was acceptable, and most importantly, it held music for all 84653832 of my moods. Power Metal, Thrash, Glam(Yay~!), Punk, Classic rock, you name it, it was in there. I couldn't be happier.


...until it fucking broke.


One fine day, for no apparent reason, the player froze like a Brooklyn hoodlum held it at gunpoint. Upon restart, things looked fine. Until it happened again. And again. And.. you get the drift, right? Then it refused to boot. A re-install of the Firmware fixed the problem for a while, but soon, things were back in thissucksacocksville. All this took a heavy toll on the hard disk which sported bad sectors like Britney Spears' midsection has stretch marks. And that's when I decided that I had enough.

I almost bought an iRiver 8Gig.


Which was when i remembered, "WTF am I doing? My phone is a fucking SE Walkman"! Why should I spend three hundred green 'uns on a new MP3 player when my phone can do one better at one third the cost?


So it was decided. A memory upgrade for the phone was due. But first, a bit of research. You see, even at 6 gigs, the Zen didn't hold all that I wanted. Clearly, something higher was desirable. But here was the problem. The W580 was "Officially" only good for upto 2Gig and (in SE speak) Tested with a 4Gig, but no recommendations. No good.


Some forum-trolling later, I learned that some people actually did succeed in gropping an 8gig into the W580, but the success rate was not a hundred percent. So it's gonna be a gamble, then. No matter, I'm always up for a challenge.


Was lucky enough to find a shop selling 8gig M2s for 90 bucks. I was expecting to pay 20-30% more. I'll drop a spoiler in here and say that the experiment was eventually successful. But here's how shit went down:

First up, forget about using the M2's bundled MS Pro adapter for data transfer. The phone simply refuses to accept files transferred this way. Instead, drop the card into the phone and let the phone format it. After that, use the slow as fuck USB to transfer files. You'll use the "File transfer" mode if you know what's good for you. Of course, you can be a smartass and use the "phone mode", but be prepared to confirm every single file transfer. Here's me wishing your thumb good luck.

Anyhoo, be prepared to see an incorrect free space displayed in the phone status. The firmware is incapable of accurately displaying free spaces of cards greater than 4Gig in capacity. A minor irritant, as the files are read without any problems whatsoever.

The biggest question however, is whether the processor can handle this exponential increase in memory size. The answer, thank god, is yes. If there is any lag, It's only when I do alphabetical searches within the walkman. Understandable, since the phone has to cycle through close to two thousand tracks.


Lastly, don't forget to switch off the "Stereo widening" option in the phone. It utterly rapes the mid range and makes the bass boomy. Useful only with (c)rap music.

So that's the lowdown on how to use convergence to a music lover's advantage. Rock on and ride safe.

A brand new start.

Yes, entire civilizations could have risen, flourished and turned back to dust in the time gap between this post and the last one. In fact, so out of touch with writing am I, that I do not know what to type here anymore~!


Let's just say that after a quarter of a century of existence on this planet, I can finally say that I am somebody. The academia is done with (in the best way possible), the career has been kickstarted into high gear and with god's grace, the wheels are arriving soon.


To the half a dozen people who check in now and then to see if there are any updates, a thousand apologies. It feels great to go through a rebirth, and here's me promising regular posts shortly.



Rock on and ride safe.

A little message for my beloved anonymous fans:

(image courtesy: Blueline comics)


As for the more mainstream folk who are not into getting high on "over the net" mudslinging, more detailed, conventional posts coming up soon. And mucho apologies for the long break from posting.

Returning to "The sum of all my synns": Music talk.

Holla amigos...

Been a long time... Been a long time... Been a long, lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time....

...Since we talked music. Right?

Well, screw that, coz music is back, and is here to stay! For starters, here's a little somethin' 'bout the Synner's favorite genre, Hair Metal:

While surfin' around in ye olde interweb, the Synner came across this li'l discussion titled "What will have the most impact on rock history: 80's metal/ grunge or emo"?

...and here's what he said:

I am in my mid 20's, and by popular conception, i am supposed to be one of those kids who'd say, "Kobain felt the pain, man~!". But I don't. I say, 80's metal laid the foundation for a lot of music from there on.

I know I am gonna get a lot of flak for this, but those who had the ability to play the guitar made 80's metal what it is, and those who didn't, covered it up with two and one finger chords, cranked up the distortion, made up senseless lyrics that bordered on the "why me?" question, smashed guitars on stage to generate aggression and so forth.

As a person who is learning something new from his guitar every day, I certainly appreciate the marvels that Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Metallica and a great many other bands of that generation did. If I practice everyday, and darn hard at that, one day i will be half as good as them.

Nirvana? I learned "Teen spirit" in 2 hours.

So, as a MUSICIAN, 80's metal most definitely influences me. And anyone who is half serious about mastering an electric guitar would rather practice the "Sweet child of mine" intro rather than the repetitive intro chords from **insert Nirvana song here**

Now, we come to song writing. 80's bands told a story through a song. Be it "Runaway", "hallowed be thy name" or "estranged", each song had a story unraveling through the course of it. And the solo acted as the turning point in the story more often than not. What story does "Teen spirit" tell again? Analyze the lyrics of this popular "Teen anthem" and one'd see that it's pretty much nonsense. Kobain himself has stated that he was embarrassed to play this song a few years after "Nevermind".

Vocal ability. Apart from Eddie Vedder, I am yet to find a Grunge era singer who can hold a candle to the likes of Sebastian Bach, Jon Bon Jovi, Axl Rose, etc in the area of conveying emotions thru his voice alone. One may point out "Unplugged in New York", but compare that to the pioneers of unplugged, Bon Jovi, and there literally is no contest. And about Hair Metal acts being one trick ponies, just listen to "This left feels right". Any band that can rework all those Anthems and Ballads in this fashion sure has something musically right in them.

Continuing with Bon Jovi, I read someone mention that they are not really "Metal acts". First up, the distinction between Hard rock and Metal is a blurry one, and bands can dilly dally between the two. "In and out of love" is a very metal sounding track, while "Bed of roses" is a classic rock ballad. To me, Bon Jovi was metal, albeit, Pop Metal. And pop, by it's very definition doesn't mean "Cindy Lauper", it means "POPular". I.E. Whatever is getting mainstream attention is pop music. Journey was pop. Bon Jovi was pop(and is pop, as demonstrated by "Lost Highway"). Nirvana, like it or not, was pop. Green Day is pop. And yeah. Britney spears is(was?) pop too. The antonym of pop would be "underground", and a great many of the bands discussed here have made the transition between the two.

Yes, grunge is still being discussed and played. Why? Coz of one solitary reason. Kobain, by the single hearted act of ordering a Bullet Breakfast, made sure that his band and his genre of music will be in the discussion list for eternity. Give me one good reason why Nirvana wouldn't be dissed in the same fashion as G'nR, had Kobain lived a full life, made more music, replaced bandmates, and rehabbed from time to time.

Do I like Grunge? Well yes i do. I listen to it from time to time, and really do like songs such as "Jeremy", "Black", "Better Man", "All apologies", "Penny Royal Tea" etc. But when it's time to brush up my act, i load up guitar pro, and open a Cinderella/Bon Jovi/Van Halen tab.

Oh, and emo? What's that? A communicable disease?

Rock on and ride safe...

The Indian motorcyclist talks about model replacement.

Company one: "We are gonna replace model X with an "ALL NEW" platform in the next so and so months".

Indian motorcyclist: "Ah, as usual, they are replacing models at lightning speed. every single model from them is a flop! what will happen to the resale value?... ...
[ blah-blah-blah-raised-to-a-seven-digit-integer]

Company two: "Here's is our model Y, in "ALL NEW" colors for model year 2008. The same tried and trusted engine, in "Smashing new" cloths".

Indian motorcyclist: "Oh, will this model ever go away? It has been here since the dawn of time and will be here when nuclear holocaust strikes and only cockroaches remain... ...
[ blah-blah-blah-raised-to-a-seven-digit-integer]

Synner: Goddamnit, pick a side already. If you want the market to mature, get used to biannual replacement of models. If you want to buy something that is not an "experiment", get used to restickering.

...and for fuck's sakes, stop talking about the selling price of a bike before you even buy it. What you need is an office in Dalal street. Not a motorcycle.


Rock on and ride safe.

A rebuttal.

Ya know...The Synner doesn't usually follow every backlink to ye olde blog that's reported by his stat keeping thingy. But today, one particular link caught his attention. And that was because his good friend, Hitanshu commented there.

It was a post by someone at one of India's more popular Biking message groups, Bike nomads.

It started out simple enough, with somebody posting a thread about The Indian motorcyclist. And then the shit hits the ceiling.

Somebody named Navendu Singh, quite the scholar, I believe, decides to put words in The Synner's mouth. The guy is simply APPALLED that someone obviously has the time to rant away, but not post a single trip log. Now since The Synner is not a member of the above message group, he decided to post the reply in these parts:

First up sir, good morning, rise 'n shine, here's ye'r coffee. Newsflash! Not all bloggers are trip loggers. In fact, three of India's top accessed motorcycle blogs, Rearset's shack, Payeng's little Joint and Sameer's place have.. er.. em... lemme see... ZERO trip logs by the authors! Whoa! Is it time to call up a witch hunt, sir? I guess so... Stakes, people, we need WOODEN STAKES~!

Different people have different tastes when it comes to blogging. It is not upto you or anyone else to demand what they should blog about and what they shouldn't. Period.

Now comes a more serious accusation. The guy apparently assumes that The Synner has done zero miles on a motorcycle. Again, sunshine, would you like some bagels with that coffee?

The Synner is where he is now, after BLEEDING hard earned money through his nose to pay for the expenses of his education. From his OWN pocket. He is sorry that he couldn't save up a few thousand dollars more, buy a brand new FZ6 and do weekly trips to sepang and back. Hell, if you are seriously concerned, please do forward the monies. The synner guarantees 3 trip logs a month. Capisce?

Lastly, Here's some tissue to wipe your mouth. Yes sir'ee bob, The Synner does indeed know his way around a motorcycle. Amongst the crazy things he has done in the past, there are stuff like riding 160 KMs or so in the torrid Kerala monsoons without a rain jacket and with my faithful steed, that sports a glo-friend for a headlamp (The bike, again bought with his OWN earnings, was sold too BTW, to meet the expenses of his education). And bleeding from the face for one whole night after an accident, coz medical care was not in the vicinity. Ya know why he doesn't talk about those?

Coz a gazillion other blogs do the same shit.

This blog here sir, I am proud ta say, offers something you won't find anywhere else on the Interweb thingy. And that's a witty, unique take on a NUMBER OF THINGS, one being motorcycling. Apparently, it works; so the feedback says. If you don't like it, you are free to use the address bar of ye'r browser and roam away.

Just don't put words into my mouth.

Project 303: Unveiled.

There ya go.

Edit: 50th post. Yippee..!!!!