Zahid Shahid

As usual, I don’t actively write anything here even after promising multiple times. Just to give a glance on what am i doing these days, I just summarized my schedules and on-going activities.

Studies
Went through the toughest semester at IU, finished it up with 3.3 GPA at last. New semester has just started yesterday.

Travel
I have not been able to go anywhere for past couple of months. Its been a long time since i saw the beach!

Photography
Don’t ask! Shot few photos at cousin’s wedding last week. I can’t find myself enough time to test my new D90 thoroughly. Might plan a trip coming sunday

Work
Oh, I never mentioned, my latest project is Zaiqa.com, which is passing through a tough emergence period. The site covers daily Pakistani Recipes aired on Geo TV, Masala TV, and ARY Zauq.
For past couple of hours, I have been trying to integrate current user database and login system with vBulletin 4, which is quite a headache, and unexpectedly driving me crazy with little, complicated, Fatal errors.

Future Plans
Since Blockstatus.com is declining, and I don’t see any growth opportunity, I’m trying to divert its current visitors to a related, new website, which could at least help me cover server expenses and other projects development and marketing cost.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007, My Luckiest day on Google Adsense, earned me US$ 667.65

Result Update: I got 3.5 GPA A in IT for Managers and Self Management Skills. B+ in Accouting and Managerial Communication. And C in Management(ruined my expectations)

Having done with Managerial Communication final last week, I will be appearing in Self Management Skills and Account exams on Thursday, Management is on Saturday, and IT for Managers on Monday!

I would be done with 8 courses in total.. and 2nd Semester at Iqra University (including summer) I hope to do good in exam!

Thank you for reading this post and remembering me in your prayers

Photo Gallery – Updating Daily

I am back here is the date-wise detail of the tour:

Aug 06, 2008: Left Karachi at 4:00 AM; reached lahore in about 18.5 hours.
Aug 07, 2008: Left Lahore via GT Road, had lunch with a friend in Gujranwala, Reached Murree, and slept.
Aug 08, 2008: Left Murree, Drove through Ayyubia, Nathiagali, Abottabad, Mansehra, and Balakot.. Reached Shogran at night and stayed there.
Aug 09, 2008: Visited Siri and Payye in Jeep, and left for Naran. Reached Naraan in the evening and visited Lake Saif-ul-Maluk via Jeep.
Aug 10, 2008: Visited Jalkhud and Lulusar. Could not visit Noori Top due to bad weather and heavy rain. Left Naran in the evening and reached Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu Kashmir through Balakot, in the night.
Aug 11, 2008: Visited Pir Chinasi in a Taxi, and left for Multan in the evening
Aug 12, 2008: Reached Multan in the morning, stayed there till night..
Aug 13, 2008: Left for Karachi at 3:00 AM, Reached Karachi in 12 hours

Total cost incurred Rs. 38000, divided among 4 persons We travelled approximately 3600 KM in our car. About Rs.9000 of CNG and Rs.2500 of Petrol used.

The tour was awesome, we enjoyed alot.. will be uploading photos very soon.

I, along with my brother and 2 cousins, Leaving for Murree tonight Plan is to go Muzaffarabad, Naran, Kaghan, Nathiagali etc.. through Murree and Islamabad..

Will hopefully update with my tour and add pictures very soon

Did this all in just 30 minutes.. i know its not perfect! but thats was my first try of this type!

2 Self portraits uploaded as well:

After 1.5 years of great life of Systek UPS, it has denied to accept my computer load, which is only a CPU, 19-inch LCD, Wireless Router and a DSL Modem. It didn’t work even after sending it for service several times it, while Systek guys just deny that there is anything wrong with the unit.

Alright thats fine i also needed to upgrade the UPS and was just about to order 1000VA Saltec UPS, a friend of mine referred Mr.Adnan, Owner of Memon Associates, for an imported and more reliable UPS. Mr.Adnan seemed to be so friendly on phone and everything was looking so perfect that I paid Rs.12000 for 1000VA UPS and got it installed on May 21, 2008. Unluckily it was not a real UPS and started rebooting my system and Wireless Router every time the electricity failed(or power shifted to battery). So I unplugged it within 2 hours of using it and called them to check whats wrong with the unit.

At first they refused to accept that theres anything wrong with the UPS and kept forcing me to accept that my pc has some problem. Later they decided to modify a chip in the UPS and left it on testing(at their office) for 15 days, but it didn’t work for them as well! (did you notice? they refused to admit there fault first, then realized it cant be fixed) so they decided to deliver their Local assembled UPS which was supposed to work fine. All those days were spent with Systek UPS without any problem except the quick shutdown was needed to protect against abnormal shutdowns.

On Friday, June 6th, 2008, their employee came up with a New Local Assembled UPS, installed it, but the problem was still there. I had told them that if i would not get it fixed Saturday evening, i would be asking for a refund and order Saltec UPS. They refused to give any refunds but promised to replace another chip and also promised that if it is not resolved they may consider refund then. Alright, they sent another guy on Saturday who replaced the chip but i had no electricity at home at that time. It was supposed to work perfectly this time, but it didn’t! It just didnt convert the power to MAIN and left it on battery. I called Mr. Adnan agan, a lady picked up the phone and told that Adnan has left for Dubai for 3 days.

On Monday, they picked up the UPS in the morning, and delivered it in the evening after repairing it, but it was still faulty. I called them up again, their guard picked up the phone and said only Mr. Adnan is here at office.. i was shocked!! Guard confirmed it that he hasn’t gone anywhere! He lied! and refused to talk to me on phone! And then I ordered Saltec UPS and waiting it to be delivered.

On Tuesday their employee picked up the faulty UPS, and asked me to contact the management for further details. I called them up again and talked to Mr. Salman(Mr. Adnan’s Brother) and he said that Mr. Adnan has just left for some other city for 4 days Which was again a lie! While they are refusing refunds, claiming that its not the company’s policy! They are there to provide full support and repair the UPS only. Does it make sense?

I just don’t need their UPS anymore.. why would I pay for the thing that didn’t work for a single hour? They didn’t even provide me any backup for 22 days, they lied and Refused to admit their fault. Why would I care for them? I am still waiting for them to issue a refund! else i have no problem in giving them that UPS back as charity

To The Readers: If you’re willing to deal with Memon Associates or Mr.Adnan, please think thrice!

I just noticed and captured it this is usual, i usually have more people online at night

My UPS battery had already stopped wokring properly, On monday morning when I had electricity outage(quite common in Karachi) i hurried to shutdown my pc.. while it was shutting down windows, the battery gone dead! After 3 hours when i finally got the electricity back, turned on my PC and while windows was loading I saw some heavy spark in power extension and current supply stopped!

After replacing wires i finally managed to turn my PC on, but it didn’t let me load the windows, instead it started to reboot after showing windows XP logo. I tried everything, booted from XP CD, repaired it, but nothing worked! I then Bought External SATA-to-USB Kit and attached the hard Drive to my laptop and noticed that im no more able to access C: Attached backup drive and it wasn’t working either, at first it showed up as empty but after trying several times i finally could access a month old backup!. Came back to my desktop, Booted with Acronis True Image Bootable CD and I was able to see all files in C: …. Took a deep breath and felt a bit relaxed! Then I created Acronis True Image Backup file from my old Backup HDD for all windows and system files in C:, transferred it to Flash Drive, Restored to my Desktop HDD, Rebooted, and it worked after running some strange scanning processes and fixing some Disk I/O errors for half an hour.

After all this I at least slept well at around 2:00 AM, Next day early in the morning I got a new battery, attached it and UPS stopped working.. I just can’t explain how i felt! after contacting Systek they sent a repair guy today in the morning who repaired the UPS and its finally working perfectly!! Everything is UP now!

Arrived August 19, 2007. 10:30 in the Morning

Had a great time and enjoyed alot! I got some problem with my Canon Powershot A85 CCD a week before my departure, and had to buy Canon SD850 IS / IXUS 950. Loved the camera.. took 1560 Pics, totaling 4.8 GB… will upload the pics very soon

Though, i planned to go Gilgit but i didn’t Gilgit was just one-day/two-night stay because of land sliding and airline tickets were not available!
then Where did I go? heres the list

Aug 10: Karachi
Aug 10: Islamabad
Aug 11: Skardu (by Air, tried twice but couldnt get seat on gilgit flight)
Aug 11: – Upper Kachora
Aug 11: – Shangrilla
Aug 12: – Sadpara Lake/Dam
Aug 12: – Deosai
Aug 12: – Shosar Lake (had to move back because of bad weather, had snow fall there, couldn’t see Nanga Parbat )
Aug 13: – Shigar
Aug 13: – Menthoka (did i spell it right?)
Aug 13: – Khaplu
Aug 14: Hunza (drove through Gilgit)
Aug 15: – Karimabad
Aug 15: – Borith Lake
Aug 15: – Passu Glacier
Aug 15: – Duikar (whole karimabad was visible from there, also Rakaposhi, Diran and Golden Peak {Glaciers} were viewable)
Aug 15: Gilgit
Aug 16: – Naltar
Aug 17: Islamabad
Aug 18: Lahore
Aug 19: Karachi

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Upper Kachora, Skardu, Baltistan (Northern Area of Pakistan)