Like I mentioned in the previous entry, it took me nearly three days getting back into routine. I spent few hours in writing a very useful script - to prepare initial files for a 231-step calculation. Other scripts I have written so far for this project were simple in the sense that they required either rotation or translation of co-ordinates while this one needs both. New script takes about 55 seconds to run - comparing this to tedious labor of figuring out rotated/translated co-ordinates for 50 atoms using a calculator and repeating it 200+ could very well be a nightmare. Now that calculations have started, it will be about 5 days before they get finished.

Thursday had quite a bit of surprises in store - much of the day went smooth in research and filling up travel re-imbursement form and so on. I walk into the LUG meeting and it’s election day. Guess what, fellow LUGites had nominated for me President as well as Vice President for 2006-07 term! I had to politely turn the nominations down. I couldn’t believe - a person who didn’t know ABCD of Linux three years ago, gets nominations to the LUG Office. That’s an honor in itself. Well, being in or not-in office, will not stop me from doing what I normally do and if I don’t do something, then I cannot be blamed

After discussing with Dave Kraus (CEC, MTU) on Friday, I decided to update my resume. Dave gave me his CV/resume and that was pretty helpful. My resume grew (and grew) and became a CV of 5 pages. Dave (Kraus and Bezotte) have been going through it and I should be getting their comments so that I can work on them. Friday also had some shocking news for me. It has been about a month since I started displaying Google Ads in my website, helping advertisers get some clients (and in turn helping myself a bit too). I did all the required paper work and everything had been going on smooth. I am just waiting to receive a PIN number from them so that I can get my $$$. When I try logging into my account, it turns me down and asks me to refer to an email. When I open the email, it reads…

Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:54:28 -0800
From: Google AdSense
To: xxxxxx.xxxxxx@gmail.com
Cc: Google AdSense
Subject: *Google AdSense Account Disabled

Hello xxxxx xxxxxx,

It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interest of the AdWords advertisers.

A publisher’s site may not have invalid clicks on any ad(s), including but not limited to clicks generated by:

- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason

Practices such as these are in violation of the Google AdSense Terms and Conditions and program polices, which can be viewed at:

https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_US
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US

Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected advertisers.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

I tried explaining to Google! that my site gets about 250+ visitors everyday from different parts of this world and that I have much better work to do than violating their Terms & Conditions. But Google! is probably too proud to understand and re-enable my account. Well, this is another strong proof that nothing — knowledge, $$$, … — comes easily and that I must be on guard when something contradicts the above (a good reason to stay away from casions and gambling). Just because it did not work out for me (or because they screwed up in my case), it does not mean that I don’t like them - Google! will still be my favourite Search Engine and default page in all my browsers. Though it’s hard to believe that of all, Google! too did something like this, I will get over it soon.

For the first time in a long time that I can remember, weekend has been bright and sunny when I am relatively free Having decided to make good use of this opportunity, I went around Houghton taking some very nice pictures (there are here). I picked 15 best pictures of Houghton to be printed (in Studio Pizza, Houghton) for a special occasion coming soon. Amongst other things, March Madness is growing and Pistons are playing well, I have managed to get Kannada in Mozilla Firefox (instructions are here) - all I need to get over this not-so-good week greys is some (more) sleep, tasty B³ (Bisi Bele Bhat - it’s not the greatest but still the best in town ) and watch Pistons beat NJ Nets…