Check out the video of implosion of a hotel building here in Dallas. The implosion happens towards the end of the video. Drag the cursor to up to 2 min. and then watch the video. Its a matter of few seconds and the building is on the ground. Watching it happen was a goosebumpy experience.... :)
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Diwali 08
Celebrated Diwali India style this year.
Started off on Saturday night with Maharashtra Mandal, Diwali Dandiya.
Sunday night went to Nilam-Sarven's house for a big Diwali bash. They had a beautiful house, just perfect for parties. Really large back porch/sitting area and yard. The first picture is from their house. Lady next to me in light blue punjabi dress is Nilam.
On Tuesday, we celebrated Lakmi Poojan at Vishal-Janki's new house. Together they had cooked a lot of food. Janki had set up pooja, her mom had sent her a lot of pooja sahitya (accessories) from Atlanta. Below is the whole setup by Janki the superwoman of that day. She worked half day at IBM, setup this pooja and cooked a whole lot of delicious food in the other half of the day.
Side note(so that Vishal doesn't get mad at me) - He made the puris.
We started off the pooja at the 7:40PM muhurta. For Lakmi Poojan, hindus pray to the godess Lakmi i.e. the godess of money/prosperity. We started off with Chopda Poojan by writing names/prayers etc. on the front page of each book. Chopdi is a book in Gujarathi, they use these books for accounting for the rest of the year.
I remember as a kid we used to perform this pooja at my dad's office on his table. I dont remember doing such an elaborate lakmi poojan in a long time, thanks to Janki got this opportunity.
Below is a snap during the pooja. As you can see all the blank books have god names on them in Kunku in this picture.
Right after the pooja before attacking the food...
And finally the real reason for celebrating Diwali......
Started off on Saturday night with Maharashtra Mandal, Diwali Dandiya.
Sunday night went to Nilam-Sarven's house for a big Diwali bash. They had a beautiful house, just perfect for parties. Really large back porch/sitting area and yard. The first picture is from their house. Lady next to me in light blue punjabi dress is Nilam.
On Tuesday, we celebrated Lakmi Poojan at Vishal-Janki's new house. Together they had cooked a lot of food. Janki had set up pooja, her mom had sent her a lot of pooja sahitya (accessories) from Atlanta. Below is the whole setup by Janki the superwoman of that day. She worked half day at IBM, setup this pooja and cooked a whole lot of delicious food in the other half of the day.Side note(so that Vishal doesn't get mad at me) - He made the puris.
We started off the pooja at the 7:40PM muhurta. For Lakmi Poojan, hindus pray to the godess Lakmi i.e. the godess of money/prosperity. We started off with Chopda Poojan by writing names/prayers etc. on the front page of each book. Chopdi is a book in Gujarathi, they use these books for accounting for the rest of the year.
I remember as a kid we used to perform this pooja at my dad's office on his table. I dont remember doing such an elaborate lakmi poojan in a long time, thanks to Janki got this opportunity.
Below is a snap during the pooja. As you can see all the blank books have god names on them in Kunku in this picture.
Right after the pooja before attacking the food...
And finally the real reason for celebrating Diwali......
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Garba night....27sept08
Our evening started off with awesome South Indian food cooked by Rani. Rani invited all of us at her place for dinner and after the dinner we hit the Gujarati Samaj Garba celebration as you can tell from our get ups in the pics.
The pics start with fresh looking faces in Rani's house and end with sweaty, tired but still smiley faces...Enjoy!!
Rani (the girl behind me in blue dress)Behind Rani; Shrikant and Bhanu
On my left sitting on the couch; Vishal, Janki and Sachin
Couple behind Sachin; Nilam & Sarven
On the left side of Sachin in Black dress is Mayuri.
Going back next week too...will post the pics!! :)Monday, September 8, 2008
Ganpati Bappa.......Moraya!!
Me and some of my friends celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi on a very small scale at my place last week. Please see the pictures attached.
Pooja made some Ukadalele Modaks as well, I am so glad that atleast one of my friends knows how to make modaks... :)
Pooja made some Ukadalele Modaks as well, I am so glad that atleast one of my friends knows how to make modaks... :)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Had to take the chance...
On my way to Lubbock from Dallas......hit 100miles/hour 4 times and did not hear the cop siren go off on me........yoooooohooooooo!!
Sped like a maniac but had to do it just to set a good record for myself...
I had to speed the forth time to set the GPS records right....now it shows Max Speed 100mh and am happy......
and just for the records I blame my dad for all the speeding .....hihihi.......he loves speeding and so it runs in my blood.......
Sped like a maniac but had to do it just to set a good record for myself...
I had to speed the forth time to set the GPS records right....now it shows Max Speed 100mh and am happy......
and just for the records I blame my dad for all the speeding .....hihihi.......he loves speeding and so it runs in my blood.......Sunday, July 13, 2008
5 days of Alaskan summer
Our trip to Alaska was kind of a hasty decision, all we knew was we wanted a getaway for the 4Th of July weekend. We had been to talking about Alaska for the longest time but were having hard time finalizing it, I guess due to the high cost. Once we made the decision we were ecstatic.....
The biggest, strangest, weirdest thing was daylight 24x7. You only read that in the geography book in school but to experience it was one hell of a deal.
Day 1, July 3rd: We were traveling light so as to make our life easy while going places within Alaska. We started our day by checking out of the hotel in Anchorage and heading downtown to the Anchorage Museum of Art & History. We were to catch our bus for Denali from this location in the late afternoon. The Museum was very informative and worth a visit.
The bus ride from Anchorage to Denali was amazing, the driver knew her stuff inside out, very talkative, funny and nice old lady. The enthusiasm with which Alaskans do their job is something very impressive.
We stopped over at Talkeetna Resort mid-way for a beautiful surprise. We enjoyed the view of the snow clad mountain ranges from the back deck of the Talkeetna Resort. But we did not see the Mount Mckinley, the tallest mountain in the US from here due to the cloud cover. Clicked a lot of photos sipping coffee, enjoying the weather and view. That night after reaching the Hotel, we had some fresh Salmon, it was amazing. I have never had Salmon that tastes so good. Also had a Reindeer hot dog, donno if that was true but had it anyways.
Day 2: After the spending a night at the McKinley Chalet Resort, we were fresh and excited about seeing some wildlife in the Denali National Park.
We stepped out of the Hotel at about 9AM and headed out for some breakfast. After breakfast, went for a walk into the forest, walked for good 2-3 hours and headed for some souvenir shopping. After buying lot more than just souvenirs, went back to the hotel to catch the bus for the Denali National Park wildlife tour. This tour went on forever........it was good but extremely tiring. We spotted foxes, heirs, Moose, Caribous, Grizzly bears etc. it was pretty exciting as we had not seen any of these animals before. Wish had seen some more bears though... :(
The biggest, strangest, weirdest thing was daylight 24x7. You only read that in the geography book in school but to experience it was one hell of a deal.
Day 1, July 3rd: We were traveling light so as to make our life easy while going places within Alaska. We started our day by checking out of the hotel in Anchorage and heading downtown to the Anchorage Museum of Art & History. We were to catch our bus for Denali from this location in the late afternoon. The Museum was very informative and worth a visit.
The bus ride from Anchorage to Denali was amazing, the driver knew her stuff inside out, very talkative, funny and nice old lady. The enthusiasm with which Alaskans do their job is something very impressive.
We stopped over at Talkeetna Resort mid-way for a beautiful surprise. We enjoyed the view of the snow clad mountain ranges from the back deck of the Talkeetna Resort. But we did not see the Mount Mckinley, the tallest mountain in the US from here due to the cloud cover. Clicked a lot of photos sipping coffee, enjoying the weather and view. That night after reaching the Hotel, we had some fresh Salmon, it was amazing. I have never had Salmon that tastes so good. Also had a Reindeer hot dog, donno if that was true but had it anyways.
Day 2: After the spending a night at the McKinley Chalet Resort, we were fresh and excited about seeing some wildlife in the Denali National Park.
We stepped out of the Hotel at about 9AM and headed out for some breakfast. After breakfast, went for a walk into the forest, walked for good 2-3 hours and headed for some souvenir shopping. After buying lot more than just souvenirs, went back to the hotel to catch the bus for the Denali National Park wildlife tour. This tour went on forever........it was good but extremely tiring. We spotted foxes, heirs, Moose, Caribous, Grizzly bears etc. it was pretty exciting as we had not seen any of these animals before. Wish had seen some more bears though... :(Don't miss the directions pole from the picture below....checkout the Npole distance...
Day 3: After the exhaustive day2, we had river rafting scheduled for the next day. Got up at 6:30AM as we had to leave for the rafting at 7:15AM. We want rafting in the Nenana river, the temperature of this river was close to freezing. We were suited up in the rafting costume from neck to toe. The rafting guides said the water was so cold that if some one was to fall in the river would get a Hypothermia attack within 1 to 1.5 minutes and with costume on, that time would increase to 5-7 minutes...and that's not very helpful......
Day 3: After the exhaustive day2, we had river rafting scheduled for the next day. Got up at 6:30AM as we had to leave for the rafting at 7:15AM. We want rafting in the Nenana river, the temperature of this river was close to freezing. We were suited up in the rafting costume from neck to toe. The rafting guides said the water was so cold that if some one was to fall in the river would get a Hypothermia attack within 1 to 1.5 minutes and with costume on, that time would increase to 5-7 minutes...and that's not very helpful......Nenana means No river river. This river got this name because it is formed from glacier waters and carries a lot of silt, it is an American Indian name.
Then we went to the Train Depot to catch the train for Anchorage. This train journey was beautiful but got very boring in the later part only because it was long. The highest point of this journey was appearance of Mount McKinley, we had finally seen the tallest mountain in the US, 20,320Ft. It had been hiding behind clouds for 2 days but finally decided to come out of its veil for us.
Day 4: We knew from before that the drive betn Anchorage and Seward was going to be spectacular. With the intentions of not missing out on any picturesque frame on the way, we left the hotel at 6AM. Half of the drive was along the side of a river, on the left were mountains with lush green trees and on the other end of the river were mountains with snow peaks. It felt like best parts of Konkan and Himalayas were added to create this route. Almost every 2 miles was a road widening for people to take pictures. Driving on the roads of Alaska is sheer bliss....
Day 4: We knew from before that the drive betn Anchorage and Seward was going to be spectacular. With the intentions of not missing out on any picturesque frame on the way, we left the hotel at 6AM. Half of the drive was along the side of a river, on the left were mountains with lush green trees and on the other end of the river were mountains with snow peaks. It felt like best parts of Konkan and Himalayas were added to create this route. Almost every 2 miles was a road widening for people to take pictures. Driving on the roads of Alaska is sheer bliss....On the way, we stopped at Girdwood at a Bake Shop and had breakfast. The Bake shop had a beautiful garden with gigantic flowers, many were as big as an adults face. Girdwood has a very famous resort Alyeska Ski Resort. They say vegetables and flowers in Alaska get so big during summers due to the excessive photosynthesis process as there is sunshine 24x7.
We reached Seward about an hour earlier than required time to catch our 8hour day cruise without knowing that this cruise was going to turn out to be the pinnacle of our trip.
Day 5, July 7Th: We went back to Girdwood to Alyeska Resort to take a tram ride which is used by Skiers in the winters. This tram drops you at 2,300 ft on top of the Alyeska Mountain. We got to touch the snow here. We just relaxed and enjoyed being at that height for a few hours and headed back to Anchorage to catch a flight for Dallas.
We reached Seward about an hour earlier than required time to catch our 8hour day cruise without knowing that this cruise was going to turn out to be the pinnacle of our trip. On the cruise, we saw 4-5 humpback whales, 2-3bald eagles, at least 10 Stellar sea lions few in the banana pose (they sit on the rocks with their body shaped like a banana), 2-3 Otters, 1 Dolphin (don't remember what kind), few Puffins (cute lil fella with a colorful beak). I am sure I missed a few. Saw some birds but cant remember their names anymore. To get a glimpse of this wild life, you have to enter rough seas, really deep.....half the people on the boat were busy throwing up....hahaha :)
When we saw the Blackstone glacier the feelings were beyond words, they stop the boat few feet from the glacier, switch off the engine and let you listen to the glacier talk. Every time the glacier breaks forming an iceberg, it makes a sound like thunderstorms and then a chunk of ice comes crashing down and falls into the sea. This experience is something unique to Alaska, it is one of the very few places in the world where you will get to experience this. The cruise ranger told us the glacier looses about 5' from its face everyday but gains 5' as well. The falling of the ice is not due to global warming, it is a natural process which is on for ages. We got back to the shore by 7:30PM and drove back to Anchorage.....again vvveeeerrrrry tiiiiiiiireddddddddd!!!
Day 5, July 7Th: We went back to Girdwood to Alyeska Resort to take a tram ride which is used by Skiers in the winters. This tram drops you at 2,300 ft on top of the Alyeska Mountain. We got to touch the snow here. We just relaxed and enjoyed being at that height for a few hours and headed back to Anchorage to catch a flight for Dallas.Friday, June 27, 2008
Limousine drive
Last Tuesday we treated ourselves to a rich man's experience, a limo drive. A chauffeur driven car in the US was fun. I hired the limo on Monday to surprise Soumitra but could not keep the surprise as I was extremely excited about it.
Sunsets in Dallas at about 8ish. The limo was hired from 8:30 to 10:30PM. We went around Dallas downtown for all two hours. We were allowed to drink in the limo but not eat. I had to attend an office dinner so dinner was taken care of. Enjoyed the entire journey sipping white wine. It was fun to sit parallel to the window instead of perpendicular... ;)
Enjoy the pics... :)
Sunsets in Dallas at about 8ish. The limo was hired from 8:30 to 10:30PM. We went around Dallas downtown for all two hours. We were allowed to drink in the limo but not eat. I had to attend an office dinner so dinner was taken care of. Enjoyed the entire journey sipping white wine. It was fun to sit parallel to the window instead of perpendicular... ;)
Enjoy the pics... :)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Chicago trip
Went to Chicago for a long weekend from 24-26Th May. Summer is the perfect season to visit Chicago as the weather is very comfortable. Chicago weather is known for unexpected changes and severe temperature drops.
We were staying with our friends Mrunmayee & Gaurav. They had a nice apartment outside the city in Arlington Heights, very close to O'Hare International Airport.
We started our Chicago trip with the obvious, DOWNTOWN. It was pretty windy and chilly that day. Arlington Heights was about an hour away from downtown with traffic. The Photograph below is outside Jay Pritzker Pavilion in the Millennium park designed by renowned Architect Frank Gehry. This structure holds various music concerts throughout the year. I have heard from people that the acoustics of this place is so good that even though it is open air, the sound does not go outside the lawn area. Don't know if that's true but that's what they say.
Next to the Pritzker Pavilion is a jelly bean. The jelly bean is clean shiny bean shaped metal sculpture that sits in this big open area reflecting the entire city downtown. Like those convex/concave mirrors, you see yourself in various different shapes & sizes. Its fun.
After the Millennium Park, we started walking towards the Hancock tower. Chicago downtown is very beautiful. I felt like, if you put New york & Washington DC in a blender the mixture could be called as Chicago. Chicago river flows through the downtown surrounded with high rises. We walked about good 2-3 miles to get to Hancock tower. Did some shopping on the way, I bought a Chicago T-shirt and Mrunmayee bought a pair of shoes.
The snaps below are from Hancock tower, 96Th floor - Signature Lounge. John Hancock is best remembered for his signature on the declaration of independence, in US. That's the reason the lounge is called Signature Lounge. The view from the Signature lounge was fabulous. We ordered some margaritas & wine and settled there till sundown. On one side from the lounge we could see lake Michigan almost like a sea and on the other side we could see entire Chicago downtown. One advise from me, when you visit Chicago, DO NOT go on top of the Sears towers or to the observatory on top of the Hancock tower. Instead, go to the Signature Lounge. It definitely is a better experience.
Next day, we dragged our non-architect friends to a 20Th century modern architecture icon building in Plano, Illinois. Visiting Farnsworth house designed by the famous architect Mies van der Rohe was an experience. The building you have forever seen in the books, stepping into it was a overwhelming. We spent good 1-2 hours over there. The guide had been staying over there taking care of the house for years and was really passionate about the house and had good knowledge about the house.
We were staying with our friends Mrunmayee & Gaurav. They had a nice apartment outside the city in Arlington Heights, very close to O'Hare International Airport.
We started our Chicago trip with the obvious, DOWNTOWN. It was pretty windy and chilly that day. Arlington Heights was about an hour away from downtown with traffic. The Photograph below is outside Jay Pritzker Pavilion in the Millennium park designed by renowned Architect Frank Gehry. This structure holds various music concerts throughout the year. I have heard from people that the acoustics of this place is so good that even though it is open air, the sound does not go outside the lawn area. Don't know if that's true but that's what they say.
Next to the Pritzker Pavilion is a jelly bean. The jelly bean is clean shiny bean shaped metal sculpture that sits in this big open area reflecting the entire city downtown. Like those convex/concave mirrors, you see yourself in various different shapes & sizes. Its fun.
After the Millennium Park, we started walking towards the Hancock tower. Chicago downtown is very beautiful. I felt like, if you put New york & Washington DC in a blender the mixture could be called as Chicago. Chicago river flows through the downtown surrounded with high rises. We walked about good 2-3 miles to get to Hancock tower. Did some shopping on the way, I bought a Chicago T-shirt and Mrunmayee bought a pair of shoes.
The snaps below are from Hancock tower, 96Th floor - Signature Lounge. John Hancock is best remembered for his signature on the declaration of independence, in US. That's the reason the lounge is called Signature Lounge. The view from the Signature lounge was fabulous. We ordered some margaritas & wine and settled there till sundown. On one side from the lounge we could see lake Michigan almost like a sea and on the other side we could see entire Chicago downtown. One advise from me, when you visit Chicago, DO NOT go on top of the Sears towers or to the observatory on top of the Hancock tower. Instead, go to the Signature Lounge. It definitely is a better experience.
Next day, we dragged our non-architect friends to a 20Th century modern architecture icon building in Plano, Illinois. Visiting Farnsworth house designed by the famous architect Mies van der Rohe was an experience. The building you have forever seen in the books, stepping into it was a overwhelming. We spent good 1-2 hours over there. The guide had been staying over there taking care of the house for years and was really passionate about the house and had good knowledge about the house.
The day after that we went around in a neighborhood in oak park by train. This neighborhood has Frank Lloyd Wright's house and studio on display and you can walk around the neighborhood looking at the various houses designed by him as well. We were fortunate enough to have seen the Unity temple from inside. One piece of advice, book your trips for the Frank Lloyd Wright house & studio walk way in advance. It gets full very fast.
The last day we spent at the Navy Pier by the lake Michigan, ate the best Italian food ever. Great deep dish pizza, lasagna. Deep dish pizza is Chicago's speciality. We sat in a huge Ferris wheel, which gave a good view of the navy pier and the downtown. At the end of the Navy Pier, was a a beer garden with classic rock played by a live band. That was a great atmosphere, people dancing, sipping beer, relaxing & enjoying. We sat there for a while but had to turn back as we had to catch flight for Dallas.
The last day we spent at the Navy Pier by the lake Michigan, ate the best Italian food ever. Great deep dish pizza, lasagna. Deep dish pizza is Chicago's speciality. We sat in a huge Ferris wheel, which gave a good view of the navy pier and the downtown. At the end of the Navy Pier, was a a beer garden with classic rock played by a live band. That was a great atmosphere, people dancing, sipping beer, relaxing & enjoying. We sat there for a while but had to turn back as we had to catch flight for Dallas.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Lake Lewisville - Boating & Tubing day
Mayuri's mom was visiting her from India, & we wanted her Dallas visit to be memorable. Other than cowboys, Texas is famous for its lakes & activities like boating & fishing as well. After a sumptuous chicken lunch cooked by Mayuri's mom we stepped out of the house for the exciting tubing experience.
We rented a boat & Priyanka was our designated driver as she was the only one not drinking. Just like Seban in this pic we all posed in the driver's seat. He is the one who eventually ripped the tube cover apart from the tube. So freakin...competitive would not let go of the damn tube....
Here are the pictures of everyone with funny expressions on the tube before experiencing the Great Final Fall. First you tie the rope attached to the tube to a hook on the boat, then let the person tubing down from the boat and give him/her time to lie flat on tummy on tube holding the handles on the tube. Then you start driving the boat, the person really enjoys the first slow gliding experience on water.....and just when he/she is thinking "this is not too bad..am Totally good at this" raise the speed of the boat tremendously... take sharp twists & turns till the person on the tube falls off the tube.....THE GREAT FINAL FALL..haha
The weather was so perfect that we chose to hang around in the park by the lake talking, taking pictures, eating chips etc. Here are some really stupid group photos that we totally enjoyed posing for....
We rented a boat & Priyanka was our designated driver as she was the only one not drinking. Just like Seban in this pic we all posed in the driver's seat. He is the one who eventually ripped the tube cover apart from the tube. So freakin...competitive would not let go of the damn tube....
Here are the pictures of everyone with funny expressions on the tube before experiencing the Great Final Fall. First you tie the rope attached to the tube to a hook on the boat, then let the person tubing down from the boat and give him/her time to lie flat on tummy on tube holding the handles on the tube. Then you start driving the boat, the person really enjoys the first slow gliding experience on water.....and just when he/she is thinking "this is not too bad..am Totally good at this" raise the speed of the boat tremendously... take sharp twists & turns till the person on the tube falls off the tube.....THE GREAT FINAL FALL..haha
The weather was so perfect that we chose to hang around in the park by the lake talking, taking pictures, eating chips etc. Here are some really stupid group photos that we totally enjoyed posing for....
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Fortworth Stockyards
Fortworth is a city to the West of Dallas about 30-40 mikes away. There is a small area called as the Fortworth Stockyards. This place is very cool, absolutely chilled out... people wearing cowboy hats & boots, drinking beer on the roads, bands playing music really loud in open top wooden bars....really crowded & fun. There were a lot of roadside bars, Texan boots, hats & souvenir shops.
We had food in an open air wooden bar with live band and some beers. Then with our beers in hand, we started walking on the street. We walked into one of the shops and happened to walk through a door which said 'Employees Only' & to our surprise landed up in the rodeo show arena. The show had started about an hour before we got there and still we caught a good amount of the show.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Infomaniacs are beyond me!!
He collects information about something or the other all the time. I worry thats the reason he is the way he is.
His office is pretty strict about the usage of internet and so obviously he cant stream anything, cant check his personal mail for too long, cant keep any internet window open for a long time. So all he does when he wants to get a break from work is go to some website and read various articles, collects & stores random data in his brain database. I thought he does this cos he has no choice.. turns out he would do the same thing even if he had a choice. Thats strange for me.....I fail to understand. Dont get me wrong I am not against any good reading, I read newspaper almost everyday myself but my info collection pretty much ends there on daily basis.
Even when he can watch fun stuff, like at home, he would rather watch information aquiring stuff, it could be trip to europe, construction or history of a RV truck, cookery show, news, construction of a building, some show about some historical place but never/vvvvvvvery rarely would you find him watching comedy, game shows, stupid tv shows. Very rarely would you find him looking for just funny videos or ads or movie clips on youtube. Instead, you always find him reading about some random information. Thats wierd because I cannot read or watch these kind of things all the time, I will definitely read/watch something that interests me.
I wonder what he does with so much information. It worries me that someone has the capacity to collect such kind of information all the time froma ll directions and doesnt need a break from that. I dont want to say its bad its just beyond me!!
He is not a boring person at all. He loves going out, having fun with friends & family. Freaking out at parties, getting drunk with friends, watching movies, loves travelling and I just cant link the infomaniac & the fun guy. I believe some part of it is hereditory. Good thing about this nature is that he is an extremely good planner but sad part is, he plans absolutely unnecessary and irrelevent things sometimes and anxiety about random things eats him for no reason.....as I said its beyond me!!
His office is pretty strict about the usage of internet and so obviously he cant stream anything, cant check his personal mail for too long, cant keep any internet window open for a long time. So all he does when he wants to get a break from work is go to some website and read various articles, collects & stores random data in his brain database. I thought he does this cos he has no choice.. turns out he would do the same thing even if he had a choice. Thats strange for me.....I fail to understand. Dont get me wrong I am not against any good reading, I read newspaper almost everyday myself but my info collection pretty much ends there on daily basis.
Even when he can watch fun stuff, like at home, he would rather watch information aquiring stuff, it could be trip to europe, construction or history of a RV truck, cookery show, news, construction of a building, some show about some historical place but never/vvvvvvvery rarely would you find him watching comedy, game shows, stupid tv shows. Very rarely would you find him looking for just funny videos or ads or movie clips on youtube. Instead, you always find him reading about some random information. Thats wierd because I cannot read or watch these kind of things all the time, I will definitely read/watch something that interests me.
I wonder what he does with so much information. It worries me that someone has the capacity to collect such kind of information all the time froma ll directions and doesnt need a break from that. I dont want to say its bad its just beyond me!!
He is not a boring person at all. He loves going out, having fun with friends & family. Freaking out at parties, getting drunk with friends, watching movies, loves travelling and I just cant link the infomaniac & the fun guy. I believe some part of it is hereditory. Good thing about this nature is that he is an extremely good planner but sad part is, he plans absolutely unnecessary and irrelevent things sometimes and anxiety about random things eats him for no reason.....as I said its beyond me!!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
TV shows
F.R.I.E.N.D.S - Evergreen comedy show. 6 friends staying in the city of New York, going through the ups n downs of love affairs, marriages, divorces, babies and managing to be good friends all throughout. I have watched this show million times but still catch 2-3 episodes every week on TBS. Its a good dose of laughter after work.
Family guy - As the name suggests, this is a cartoon show revolving around one American(supposedly) family from a fictional town named Quahog. Peter, Lois the parents, & the kids are Chris, Meg & Stewie (most interesting character of the show) and of course a dog, Brian (who almost always talks and behaves just like humans). This is my favourite show these days. The writers of this show crack jokes on blacks, whites, browns, disabled people, babies, sex basically anything and everything. I donno if theres anything in this universe that these writers think they cannot make fun out of. They can take any situation that could be serious, turn it around and make it HILARIOUS!!!!!
America's funniest home videos - I don't know the timings of this show but I land up catching it at least once a week by accident. In this show the host presents various hilarious home videos. These videos are sent by the viewers of the show. Some land up winning $10,000 for these clips. I guarantee, at least once every show everyone drops off their chair. The presentation of the show is really good. Well put together show.
Top chef - I haven't managed to catch a lot of episodes of this show but its pretty interesting n delicious. Well qualified chefs cook to impress a panel of judges. The food is judged by the taste, appearance, presentation and many other aspects. I want to be a judge on this show.....Dream job!! :)
Rock of love, parental control - Rock of love airs on VH1 & Parental control airs on MTV. Those are THE MOST CRAPPY shows I have ever seen. Rock of love is a show where a group of whores or almost whores are competing for a guy who they believe is the love of their life. The drama, politics & stupidity overall is........am out of words........IDIOTIC. Parental control -I dont even wanna write about it.
Sex & the city - A show about 4 New York based women in mid 30s discussing their reationships, sexlives, constantly changing boyfriends and involving complications. This show on the whole has no substance but for some reason I have seen all the seasons more than once. The drama in the show keeps u glued to the seat. The fashions and shoes in the show are fab. (sorry, m a shoes freak!!). Many of the supposedly socially relevent issues catered to in the show were absolute bull according to me....being a non-american I couldn't relate to those I guess.....Enjoyed the drama!!
Family guy - As the name suggests, this is a cartoon show revolving around one American(supposedly) family from a fictional town named Quahog. Peter, Lois the parents, & the kids are Chris, Meg & Stewie (most interesting character of the show) and of course a dog, Brian (who almost always talks and behaves just like humans). This is my favourite show these days. The writers of this show crack jokes on blacks, whites, browns, disabled people, babies, sex basically anything and everything. I donno if theres anything in this universe that these writers think they cannot make fun out of. They can take any situation that could be serious, turn it around and make it HILARIOUS!!!!!
America's funniest home videos - I don't know the timings of this show but I land up catching it at least once a week by accident. In this show the host presents various hilarious home videos. These videos are sent by the viewers of the show. Some land up winning $10,000 for these clips. I guarantee, at least once every show everyone drops off their chair. The presentation of the show is really good. Well put together show.
Top chef - I haven't managed to catch a lot of episodes of this show but its pretty interesting n delicious. Well qualified chefs cook to impress a panel of judges. The food is judged by the taste, appearance, presentation and many other aspects. I want to be a judge on this show.....Dream job!! :)
Rock of love, parental control - Rock of love airs on VH1 & Parental control airs on MTV. Those are THE MOST CRAPPY shows I have ever seen. Rock of love is a show where a group of whores or almost whores are competing for a guy who they believe is the love of their life. The drama, politics & stupidity overall is........am out of words........IDIOTIC. Parental control -I dont even wanna write about it.
Sex & the city - A show about 4 New York based women in mid 30s discussing their reationships, sexlives, constantly changing boyfriends and involving complications. This show on the whole has no substance but for some reason I have seen all the seasons more than once. The drama in the show keeps u glued to the seat. The fashions and shoes in the show are fab. (sorry, m a shoes freak!!). Many of the supposedly socially relevent issues catered to in the show were absolute bull according to me....being a non-american I couldn't relate to those I guess.....Enjoyed the drama!!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Beginning work @ Beck
I am currently working for a construction company by the name of Beck Group in Dallas, Texas. Within Beck we have a group of people who work for At&t - Beck alliance. Currently, I am working on an Internet Data Center for At&t. First day at work was insane.....My boss walked me the whole site and showed me how the data center works. Only thing that I caught out of the whole process was that, these are the servers for various clients At&t wants to sell this space to and the electrical and mechanical system running these servers can NEVER go off. This whole week felt like a bad dream where everyone else except me understood everything that was going on at the data center. I attended the subcontractor and owners meetings in the first week itself and all I had in my meeting minutes were 10-15 words that I didnt know the head or tail of.
Next week, Monday, my boss explained the meanings of all those terms that I did not understand in the meetings and dropped a bomb on me saying that I will be responsible for meeting minutes for the subcontractor meetings here onwards. I haven't forgotten to drink coffee on Fridays since then. :) Soon I found myself responsible for Request for Information from Architects and Engineers, transmittal, many small project coordination. Taking down the meeting minutes was a good task. It gave me a gist of things happening on the site and introduced me to different subcontractors performing various duties on the site.
Within the 1st & 2nd week I was put through a lot of training. Beck believes in continuous training and cross training. This gives every employee an opportunity to learn something new constantly.
Now I am two months old with Beck and feel much better about the job. I have great amount of faith in my boss and I think he has a plan for me in mind. This gives me a direction to work and keeps me moving up the progress ladder.
My boss always told me that our job is never 8-5 type, its always 7:30 to whatever it takes. I am starting experience that now. Tomorrow will be my first duty beyond midnight all by myself. Pretty exciting!!! :)
Next week, Monday, my boss explained the meanings of all those terms that I did not understand in the meetings and dropped a bomb on me saying that I will be responsible for meeting minutes for the subcontractor meetings here onwards. I haven't forgotten to drink coffee on Fridays since then. :) Soon I found myself responsible for Request for Information from Architects and Engineers, transmittal, many small project coordination. Taking down the meeting minutes was a good task. It gave me a gist of things happening on the site and introduced me to different subcontractors performing various duties on the site.
Within the 1st & 2nd week I was put through a lot of training. Beck believes in continuous training and cross training. This gives every employee an opportunity to learn something new constantly.
Now I am two months old with Beck and feel much better about the job. I have great amount of faith in my boss and I think he has a plan for me in mind. This gives me a direction to work and keeps me moving up the progress ladder.
My boss always told me that our job is never 8-5 type, its always 7:30 to whatever it takes. I am starting experience that now. Tomorrow will be my first duty beyond midnight all by myself. Pretty exciting!!! :)
Saturday, April 12, 2008
NY,DC, Boston 2006
I came to Texas A & M, College Station to study construction management in the fall of 2006. I travelled a whole lot during these 18months of masters course. My first trip was to NY, DC, & Boston in the month of December 2006. We travelled the NE USA with a bunch of friends. We went to NY to experience the cold and snow. It didnt get as cold as we expected though. During that time Texas was cooler than NE.
We wanted to be present in NY for the 31st night to experience the crowds and the most famous NY ball drop at the Times Square. We spent a lot of days in NY, stayed with some old friends. Times square, NY bull, Stock exchange, Statue of liberty, Madame Tussads kept us pretty busy.
Times square is an experience of a lifetime and is a place that should be walked in the day and in the night.
We travelled to DC in the cheap Chinatown buses from Manhattan, it was amazing to see this surprisingly big Chinese setting in the heart of one of the most expensive cities.
The downtown DC has numerous museums, historical buildings and of course the White House. None of us were really impressed by the White House. Expected this powerful building to be much better. DC is a city one should experience walking as much as possible. You come across a lot of historical landmarks all along the way. I went to DC again in the month of December of 2007 with my dad. We have walked & walked & walked & walked & walked...............ppphhhh....
Towards the end of trip we went to Boston. Boston is also a pedestrian city. We went to Boston only for 2 days. The main intent of the trip was to visit Harvard and MIT. Harvard has a very nice campus, worth visiting. Clicked a lot of pictures of the CS & Artificial intelligence center designed by the famous architect Gehry.
We wanted to be present in NY for the 31st night to experience the crowds and the most famous NY ball drop at the Times Square. We spent a lot of days in NY, stayed with some old friends. Times square, NY bull, Stock exchange, Statue of liberty, Madame Tussads kept us pretty busy.
Times square is an experience of a lifetime and is a place that should be walked in the day and in the night.
We travelled to DC in the cheap Chinatown buses from Manhattan, it was amazing to see this surprisingly big Chinese setting in the heart of one of the most expensive cities.
The downtown DC has numerous museums, historical buildings and of course the White House. None of us were really impressed by the White House. Expected this powerful building to be much better. DC is a city one should experience walking as much as possible. You come across a lot of historical landmarks all along the way. I went to DC again in the month of December of 2007 with my dad. We have walked & walked & walked & walked & walked...............ppphhhh....
Towards the end of trip we went to Boston. Boston is also a pedestrian city. We went to Boston only for 2 days. The main intent of the trip was to visit Harvard and MIT. Harvard has a very nice campus, worth visiting. Clicked a lot of pictures of the CS & Artificial intelligence center designed by the famous architect Gehry.
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1st post
Since 2005, I have been wanting to create a blog and be regular at it. Even created 1 or 2 but never managed to be regular at posting. I guess this is my last attempt.
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