When Blogs attack...

Recent readings have been portraying blogs and blogging itself in a fairly skeptical light. A lot of questions about ethics, ideas reaching the wrong audience, cyber-stalking, religiously provoking posts, etcetera have been filling in the news media.

While the idea of blogging was a revolutionary one to me, to share ideas, get opinions and set it as a stage to improve on my photography, I was one of the late bloomers. But hey, for an amateur, arenas like Blogspot is a golden stage...It's free. Many have been blogging ever since the internet became a public media, evolving continually into growing trends...For many it is a media to express opinions, not just a virtual diary. Opinions that might be as controversial as they are true.

In the present high-tech world, living without the 0s and 1s is unimaginable. With its growth at lightspeed, law and order is trying to catch up too, but just not as fast. Blogs certainly fall under the first amendment (Freedom of Speech and Press in India). But how much and when can/ should law interfere?

A headline in India...The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sent a memo to ISPs ordering it to ban access to certain blogs, that were controversial in nature. (Now remember, this is a country where some states went against the Supreme Court and banned the release of The Da Vinci Code). Now the ISPs took the liberty to block whole domains. For 48 hours blogger.com, Typepad, Yahoo! Geocities, were not accessible in India. This sounded like something that would happen in China, with the Government blocking users' access to websites and information that is open to the rest of the world!

Now back to the apparent 'free'world. This one English woman living in France is a very Bridget Jones kind of a blogger (La Petite Anglaise). A very creative writer who has her book ideas in the oven. A few months back, she was fired from her job, after her blogger anonymity was outed and her Boss was just outraged of her reference to him and the company (neither identities revealed in the 2 years of the blog's life), condemned her actions as 'gross misconduct' and fired her!

As much as it outrages me, I am kind of happy for her. She has got a legal case going against her former company, all the publicity she needed (not that she had it already), maybe a book deal, and she'll be ready in no time to welcome a whole new life. Goodluck to her!

So who'll it be next. One of my favorite blogs (The Company Bitch) from my present home country is typing similar pages...What with a 'perky' colleague, a lousy boss who might be sexually harassing his employees, a boyfriend who becomes an ex-boyfriend and then becomes a re-boyfriend, and ofcourse the very 'Sex and the City' New York life!

But with so much scrutiny on blogs and bloggers, I hope nothing brutal happens to this 'Company Bitch' as happened to 'La Petite Anglaise'.

Now changing hats...Do bloggers really cross the line, relying too much on their cyber anonymity. Is what Gil Schwartz so elegantly put forth as Stanley Bing setting a wrong example or did it open venues for many?

Spear vs Shield

I read this story a long time back. This is about a smart salesman going around kingdoms selling war weapons. He came to one such kingdom that was preparing for a big war and set up his store in the market place.

Day 1: He started selling his spears. He claimed they were the strongest spears in the world, that no shield could stop. He had many onlookers and many buyers.

Day 2: He continued his sales with his shields. He claimed they were the strongest shields that would let no spear pass through.

Now anyone can notice the paradox in this story and the flaw in his sales...

I don't remember how the story ended...But I hope the salesman came up with a witty response explaining the paradox. I remembered the story though today, comparing it to Italy's Football team.

The Spears in Italy's team are the strongest they can get through any goal. (Didn't you see those 2 goals in the last few minutes of the second overtime with Germany???)

The Shield in Italy has not let any ball get through him to the precious goal he is protecting. But now, in this story, we know which is stronger. The spears ofcourse...And the only ball that Buffon let through was from one of his own...The strongest spear.

At least till now. I am watching the World Cup final right now. And the shield is becoming weaker. Man! What a game!!!

Nail biting...Go France...Or Go Italy? I am torn. May the best team win!!!

Let's get outta here

Nearly 8 out of the 10 movies I watched in the last 2 weeks have got at least one actor exclaiming, "Let's get outta here!".

Nothing much to write about it, but seemed really funny noticing it in both old and new movies. And in most categories too...Not just thrillers, but also in romantic comedies, tragedies, historic... :)

Funny, ain't it? A musing...

The Da Vinci Code -the movie

I have never been the movie-crazy fanatic to catch a movie on its first day out. But with this one, it was different. And catch it I did, with a friend.

After its showing in Cannes, and the world wide release on Friday, there were enough reviews to curb my enthusiasm about it. Still, a book that had me hooked even during the third read, when made into a movie....I had to watch it.

This might be just me, but this is what I felt about the film. It was taken for those who had read the book. (ofcourse that is a big majority). The few like my friend who had not, had concepts whizzing over their head. (now she has resolved to give the book a read:)) For those who had read the book, their imagination as projected by Ron Howard was not good enough.

There were some instances though, a few scenes that were just like I imagined they would be...with very little alterations from the book. The expressions, the environment, the faces, it was an image I had while reading the book. Rest, I felt was rushed. Certain characters who needed more emphasis did not get what they deserved. Like Silas, though he was menacing, was not menacing enough and Sir Teabing...there did not seem to be a big let down when there was a twist in his character. There seemed something wrong about him from the start. The trust that I had in him in the initial phase of his appearance in the book was not there in the movie. (again maybe that's just me)

But excellent casting. Especially Alfred Molina as Bishop Aringarosa was the best choice for that role. Also with regard to the costumes and make-up...No! Tom Hanks' hair was not distracting at all. :) It did not pull away any seriousness from Langdon's character and I did not laugh everytime I looked at him...maybe just once!

The grainy flashbacks that were considered cheesy by some, did it for me. It was exactly the way I pictured those scenes while reading the book. Simple and to the point. As with any book-to-movie-conversion, it is hard to fit in a whole novel with intricate details into a 2-2.5 hr movie, but this attempt was good enough.

Ultimately, this movie is a big hit for 2 reasons. All those who read the book would want to check out how Ron Howard projected it on screen. Those who had not read the book at first might opt to get into all the hype (better late than never) the easy way, and after watching it, might feel the need to read the book 'cuz 'it just does not add up!'

Either way, Dan Brown has had his impact all over again.

The Yahoo!Groups Laments

If you are a member of any Yahoo!Group, or any email group for the matter, you'll know what I mean.

• Nearly 20 emails might flood your inbox with single worded replies and smilies, (sometimes with no messages at all) overnight.
• Most of the content of the email would make one think 'why do I care?'.
• From a common email, with a common content, and a common subject line.....one might also receive personal email conversations, with completely irrelevant or totally unintroduced content, BUT with the SAME (!#$@%^&*$#%) subject line.
• The new person who joins a group, somehow feels part of the group if he/she forwards the mails about poor little girl Cindy, who has every organ failed in her body, or the mails stating 'It is True! Microsoft and AOL will pay me $XXX for every person I forward this mail to', or the mail detailing the ill effects of cola, or the one with the wonderful illusions. But one ends up receiving the same set of forwards EVERYTIME a new member joins the group.
• A mail is sent to a Yahoo!Group by John Doe-I. (Due to some setting) When the reply button is hit, the reply still goes to the group and not to John Doe. Here comes the VERY personal response from John Doe-II!!!
• And then comes another mail from John Doe-II, with the subject line: 'Previous mail was personal response to John Doe-I: please ignore: Sorry about the inconvenience'. Now! Not only do I have 2 (may be 3) mails that in no way concern me sitting in my inbox, but John Doe-II has tempted me to open the personal email and see 'What can be SO personal that he will send another mail asking me not to read it'.
  

With all my lamenting, why be in a group at all? And miss out on all this fun and 'mis'communication? No way! 8-)

PS. (Message to my very few loyal readers) There's a reason I haven't been posting regularly lately... I have had a case of severe writer's block, but have been enjoying the 'clicker's flow' and have been very busily updating my Photoblog. Do pop in once in a while 8-)

One Little Tear Drop

One little teardrop has more in it than many,
It does more and destroys happiness, if any.
Stealing its way out of the corner of the eye,
It has the pain more than that of knives brushing by!

One little teardrop kindles more feelings than many,
It agonises and agitates and kills strength, if any.
Rolling down the cheeks, so very slowly,
It devastates the memories of times however lovely!

One little teardrop weighs more than many,
It pierces thru’ the heart and paralyses passion, if any.
Leaping over the chin and disappearing forever,
Makes the time after it’s gone seem barer!

(Not that I am sad now...but this one is from my peotry archives:))

Random Musings...

1. Why does a driver always stammer between the Brake and the Gas pedals on seeing the Orange light at an intersection?

2a. Why do people press the Down/Up buttons for summoning the elevator, always more than once?

2b. Why do people assume the others waiting for the same elevator before them will not have summoned it already?

3a&b. Same thoughts as 2a&b, but this time with the Pedestrian Light...?

4. Why do girls like pink?

5. Why do men decide to pick their nose while stopped at a light? (I saw one even this morning, en route to work!)

6. Why do we hesitate to let people know that they have spinach stuck in between their teeth?

7a. While crying for an emotional scene in a movie, why do we try to hide our face from our friends/ men?

7b. Why do we cry for scenes from a movie?

8. Why do men think women are complicated, while we think they are?

9. Though I always end up with Caramel Macchiato with extra Caramel, why am I ever confused on what to get when I go to Starbucks?

10. Why do women spend so much time and money buying make-up, matching color highlights et all, when some men do not know the difference between Mascara and Blush?

More musings welcome...

In Vanity: Ode to the lost nail

Tears well and visions blurr
To see you break, 'cuz my err
I cared for you
And polished too
But there you go
My sweetheart, NO!

Your neighbours laugh
At your fallen self
Realize, don't they
Cut them too, I may
For without you they're uneven
Oh! rest in peace in pretty heaven!

Mugging Vs. Ticketing

After maintaining a clean driving record for 4 years, I finally did it. 2 AM on a desolate road, and I had the glaring red and blue guide me to pull over. Apparently there was a STOP sign and I had stopped only for 2 seconds instead of 3! It was 2:00 AM!!!

Finally got the 'Courtesy Notice' and have been fined for a whopping $200. (for endangering the fellow invisible nocturnal drivers with my 'rash' driving!). The thoughts that followed after looking at the 'courtesy' notice were out of desperation, out of spite of being violated so. The incident was so similar to getting mugged. Then I thought how is mugging different from being pulled over for a ticket, and which would I rather prefer?!

Similarities:

• One feels robbed at the end of both events.
• Both jump at you at unexpected moments.
• Both the mugger and the Cop hide, sadly, behind a dumpster or a tree, waiting for a prey.
• Talking back/arguing with either never works.
• One ends up losing/ paying up in the end.

Differences:

• If I am being mugged, I know obviously that someone is robbing me. But with a cop, the robber is not so apparent, and hiding behind/as the LAW! Here comes a feeling of being violated. One I can get over, the other not so easily.
• A mugger takes my purse...Cost to me after that? Well I don't carry a lot of cash. So at most I will lose about $20, and then in the next 5 minutes I will be calling my bank and my credit card companies to cancel all my cards. And then another $25 for my Driver license/ ID. That's it. But if I were pulled over and ticketed, it would cost me a minimum $150-200.
• Being mugged has got nothing to do with what I did wrong...Yeah, maybe I should not have come into this alley after-dark. Other than that, I am not guilty of anything. But with a condescending cop talking to you, with a straight face, one feels guilty. One does not find words to even voice that 'there might have been a mistake, for I know I did not speed, officer'. Instead, we shut-up, take the ticket and occasionally ask for a pardon!!!
• At the end of a mugging there is a fat chance the mugger might be arrested. With a pull-over, maybe I will be arrested if I spoke too much. :)
• The pain of being mugged does not last long, the lesson does...Not to go into a dark alley after dark. But the actual impact of it is rather short...Maybe a week. And soon we return back to normal life, with new credit cards and a new driver license with a much better picture (one that I might be so happy with that I would be glad I got mugged!). With a ticket, there's a record that takes years to disappear. Well, for it to disappear quicker, you can ofcourse go to a class, where a customary 8 hours is spent relearning the difference between a STOP sign and a YIELD sign!
• When a mugger jumps at you, there is a possibility of getting hurt, killed even perhaps. With a cop, you are a lot safer, or are you? Seeing some recent news, I think this aspect should rather go into similarities...You can get hurt in both!

So, considering all this I think I would rather be mugged twice in my life than see that red and blue light flashing behind me even one more time.

Snow in the Bay Area

(Panorama view of the Mission Range, Fremont from Mission Peak, 2517 Ft)

Friday March 10: The sight that welcomed me as soon as I entered East bound 237 was breath-taking. There was snow...on Mission Peak! A couple of weeks back when it had snowed in the Bay Area, a few peaks in the Mission Range did have their tops painted white, but not Mission Peak. This time, the most amazing thing had happened.

There it was...The gaping face of the peak...That used to stand so stubbornly not even letting the green grass creep into it's rocky face. But today it was tamed. The ususally brown/black bald face was finally beautified...White.

Ofcourse, I have seen snow before, but somehow, the sight of it in a place where it was the most unlikely, got me into a feverish excitement and I decided right away...I am hiking to the top the next day!

Despite weather.com's forecast (rain all weekend), Saturday was a bright and sunny day. The air was crisp with a fresh smell. A good day for the hike. Hubby was lazy/tired and decided to sleep longer. So I set off on my ~10 miles drive to Stanford avenue, base of the hill. Started the ~3.5 miles hike at 11:35 AM, with my IPod singing sweetly to me.

I was slightly disappointed when I saw the peak on Saturday because it did not have as much snow as the day before, but the surrounding peaks still had a lot of it and I would have killed for the view from the top.

About an hour into my hike, I bumped into Sai. The company was good for the hike. (As usual, I can make use of him to take pictures of me and the background:)) We reached the summit at around 1:15 PM, and WOW!!! Sacrificing a little more sleep on a fine Saturday was really worth it. Felt slight pity of the hubby for he had to miss this.(Later he told me that he would have joined me if only I had asked him one more time...ha...ha...)

Spent about 30 minutes at the summit, most of it spent taking pictures, and then ofourse splitting my only sandwich with Sai. He managed to collect a ball of snow, which stayed intact until we reached the bottom, surprisingly.


A Saturday well spent...pictures and memory worth a life time.

More Pictures Here

Patenting: No limits

Cartoons have taughts us: light-bulb over the head- 'bright' idea! But reality has taught me: Bright idea- Patent.

There have been many a times when the brightest idea popped into my head and I just said, "Well, someone should make that". If only I had thought of patenting a few of those ideas, I would have been much wealthier. Well, I was not sure of the richness after seeing one particular patent; I'll come to that shortly.

My cousin Sai and I have come up with some wonderfiul ideas and everytime he exclaims, "hey! we should get this patented!". And truly, he has come up with some wonderful product and process ideas, but sadly neither of us have done anything about it.

A coffee-sleeve...amazing. The floating cup-holder...awesome. The little-plastic thingy at the end of a shoe-lace...perfectly practical. As glad as I am to use these everyday, I do think, "why didn't I come up with this?". One particular patent made me think, "How did someone even think of that?"

I've seen this on AFV, infact so many of them; a cat or a dog going crazy over a laser light pointed at the wall or the floor. Imagine my shock when I saw this. Someone has actually patented this method of excercising a cat.

Excercising it/ tormenting it, but this is the most absurd thing I have ever seen. Has patenting become no-limits?

Action-Reaction: Theory Vs. Reality

I am sure anyone who either hates or idolizes Steven Covey knows the 90/10 Principle. For those in the blind, 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. Covey implies that one absolutely has no control over en event that happens...well at least 10% of it. The rest 90% of the same event, how it affects one, how it impacts, how it is handled is totally controllable by the individual.

He comes up with quite a few eye-opening examples, which seem so obvious when you read it. 'Wow! Is it that simple!!! A moment's impulse control...and most of my life suddenly seems better'. One situation that hits very close to most is the one about the family having break fast, the kids getting ready for school, the dad for an important meeting, and mom preparing herself for yet another tough day at work. One of the kids accidentally knocks over a cup of coffee on the dad's best shirt. This is only 10% of the whole event. The way the dad now reacts makes up for the 90%. Impulse would be to snap at the kid, snare at the mother if she came to help, and rush upstairs to change. (Might be an exaggeration, but I guess most of the reaction described would be so familiar to most of us)

The kid is so busy crying, she misses her school bus, the mom takes a lot of time pacifying the kid, and is late for work, and dad gets down to see a crying face and now has to drop the girl at school. He has to speed to be there on time. When he does, his daughter does not even say bye. Gets a speeding ticket on the way to work, goes late to office and the rest of his day is ruined.

If only he had controlled his impulse, and did not snap at the girl for what was not her intentional fault, and had quietly gone upstairs and had put on a new shirt and a smile, the day would have turned out to be so different and better no doubt.

Now, this is very appealing...come a new year and another book from Covey, most new year's resolutions would be to follow at least one golden habit. But how close is this to reality? Can one really and totally convert their negative impulses into pleasant ones? Wouldn't the world be just a sweet place to live if everyone woke up to the same thought and resolve?

Thinking on the same lines on my way to work, I observed the both amusing and annoying road habits around me. Someone cuts abruptly into another person's lane. Well, the first person honks. Is that a simple hearted warning honk? 'Hey buddy! I don't think you saw me in this lane. We were pretty close to having an accident. Pls drive with more attention. Let me wake you up with this loud honk' Or is it an arrogant honk? 'How dare you cut into my lane? Such &*^%#@ drivers should be given a ticket right away?' Well everyone might claim to be the first kind, but I know a lot of 'someones' who have the latter attitude.

A simple thing as merging lanes; Let's call the 2 entities, the merger and the mergee :). The merger has no choice but to merge because his lane has ended. But the ones on the mergee lane just wouldn't give way. Do they have a sense of superiority that makes them block the merger from merging and not give way? What do they gain from losing the 5 may be even 2 seconds by letting just one car get ahead of them...but NOOOOOO!!!

Might be a very simplistic, even childish portrayal of the seriousness and complexity of life, but it certainly does make me think. Do I really have control of 90% of what happens to me, or is it just too unrealistic a number.

All this thought on a freeway. Had a rude awakening...not philosophically, but when the driver behind me honked. Did not realize my speed had dropped down to 50 on a 65 MPH freeway. Now what kind of a honk was that? Actually I did not care...I just continued driving, rolled down my windows, and flipped him!

Nostalgia: Familiar and unfamiliar

It is amazing how the mind works. I go about my day...living the present, doing nothing significantly noticeable. But something in the background happens that triggers a chain of emotions, memories and thoughts. Sometimes, it is an old song playing on the radio, sometimes, it is just a scent. Sometimes, it is the lighting, the scene, sometimes it is just the silence. The mind so easily picks up on these events that happen around us everyday and relates to some forgotten memory.

Sometimes, I realize the relation, I reckon the memory, and reflect that emotion. My lips steal a smile, or the eye lets go a tear, or they just look away for a moment reflecting on the memory. All these, when my brain responds to the trigger positively. Other times, my brain senses these triggers, but doesn't know what to relate to, something unknown. Kind of a nostalgia, but unknown, undefined.

The memories that came back usually range from pretty simple events to phases of life. The other day, I was listening to a set of old tracks. Came one particular song that I had not heard in 15 years. The moment I heard that tune flow through my car's speakers, my mind started visualizing the last time I had heard that. In the solitude of my room in my parent's house, when I was in school. A time when I used to like to confine myself in that room on the top, away from the world, with a beautiful view to the sky and the stars away from the glare of the city, when my thoughts were a lot clearer than what they are today, a time when life seemed a lot more simpler than what it is now.

This was a phase of life that was etched in memory and somehow triggered by that music. There was another odd incident, when I was trying a new brand of moisturizer. The moment I opened the cap, there was something familiar. I thought this was the first time I was using this brand. But somehow, the smell was so familiar that it kept haunting me for 2 days. That smell, gave me a happy feeling, yet there was darkness. After a little more than 2 days of letting that eat my head, I finally placed it. It was in 1995. My dad, mom, brother and I were vacationing in the Middle East. It was my dad's place of work.

My dad's friend there, owned a store; a pharmacy. The place smelled the same as my new brand. The smell gave me a sense of happiness; because that was one of the best vacations I had spent with my family, rejoining my dad after a long time, him being away at work. And the sad feeling...we had to come back leaving him there. That was the end of the vacation. We had to go back home, to school, to reality.

Amazing, huh? My brain had actually related to the emotions I had experienced during that time, without reminding me of the exact event. Well, I did have to work on that. At least I was able to pick on that trigger and decipher my brain's secret message.

Then I started wondering about the many such triggers, some very strong and others not strong enough, that evoke a sense of familiarity, an unexplained emotion. Do all of them have an underlying memory? A memory so unique that I might not even recognize the event if someone spelt it to me?

I read this somewhere: A woman with a happy normal life had suddenly developed a severe emotional problem. She would break into tears for no reason. After seeking help, she realized she had started to cry ever since she had walked by one music store where she heard a faint melody playing. The melody was a happy one, one she had not heard before, but when she listened to that again, she would get into depression. She couldn't explain why, no one could. After a lot of explorative study, her doctor found out. She had lost her mother very young; she had no memory of her. Her mother was apparently a piano player, and when the baby was crying, she would play the same tune to soothe her.

Even though her conscious memory did not remember her mother, her subconscious memory had registered that tune, which when she heard decades later, brought the sadness of her mother's death. A mother whom she had no memory of. Triggered by a tune that the mother played when she was just months old.

This is something that happens to us everyday, I guess. The emotion not being overwhelming enough, we do not go great lengths to investigate the memory, the relation, the odd feeling a freak event stimulates.

It is so easy for the conscious to lose course, forget the objective, and not notice the small things in life that have to be savored. The sub-conscious compensates for this in a way. Reminding us at a later time, thanks to some freak trigger, that those times, those events are not forgotten, they do have an impact on the way we live today.

As I write this, I have so many thoughts and memories flooding my head, like a howling tempest. I don't know what to write about, how to finish. I simply smile, shed a tear, and look up at the ceiling reflecting on the faint rustle of memories past.

New Year 05-06 in Tahoe

I think I can write a whole book here when I talk about the weekend getaway to Lake Tahoe and Murphy's Law: When things can go wrong they will!!!

Our group consisted of 10 Poker buddies, who have been planning a getaway together for more than a year now. And somehow anything we planned never got to materialize. Finally someday someone suggested, why not spend the New Year's Weekend in Lake Tahoe, do some skiing, may be casino hopping. Somehow the idea clicked, and planning started I guess during late October.

As it turned out this was the busiest season of the year. After revising out budget numerous times and shopping desperately for deals, we finally got our accommodations and transport reserved. Countdown began... Well this time we were really gonna make it somewhere together! Then came the storm brewing up in the pacific, threatening to ruin everyone's new year, hovering just above California and Nevada. The severity of the storm hit us on Friday the 30th morning at 9:00 AM after we had rented the 4x4s, and were all set to leave in the next hour.

We replanned...Maybe a Vegas getaway in the last minute. Couldn't believe it...But we did not get one place in a 20 mile vicinity to Vegas for that weekend without revising our budget atleast 5 times. And our hotel in Tahoe would not cancel without a fee. So we decided, come what may, let's go to Tahoe. If the weather is bad, let's just lose our skiing money in the Casino, or spend the time in our motel rooms...All that matters is we are together. :)

But getting there to Tahoe seemed like a 'survivor' story. What we estimated to be 4 hrs turned out to be 7 hrs, and both the cars hydroplaned atleast once. Finally we got there, and the place was raining cats and dogs. We still were hoping to go skiing the next day. We woke up on new year's eve hoping to see a white and beautiful day, but it was still raining crazy. All the TVs were turned to weather channels. All the channels were reporting river floods, road closures, new year disaster! We called our ski resort...They were closed. We called another one...They were closed too. Later we came to know that this was the first time all the ski resorts were closed on the same day on a major peak season weekend. Just our luck and the luck of many others who had traveled from Mexico and Texas, to hit the slopes!

Well, Here we are at the casino, hopeful to win some, desperate to salvage our long awaited vacation. While part of the gang was still at the casino the rest head to the landscapes. Guess this was the much awaited first touch of snow for some, though at the end they might have thought they had an overdose of it:) After a few snowfights, some Starbucks, and losing some money, we gottogether again at one of the rooms for some card games, no-money chip-poker, delivery pizza and the countdown to 2006.

The vacation till now seemed like a total wash-out but I would say most of us had salvaged atleast something from the trip. We did have some 'I told you so's from some 'wise guys', but we didn't mind! Came the new year, we hit the bed, ready to travel back the next morning.

Meanwhile, the storm peaked into a snow blizzard some time around the 31st afternoon and around 3:00 PM the sky was blue, the earth was white and it was suddenly the best day ever. When we woke up the next morning, temptation crept in when we saw the clear blue sky. Well, we came here to ski, we can still do it and manage to get home by the night.

We then hit the slopes at Incline Village, took the beginners class, fell, bruised ourselves, even cried, and froze to our heart's content...And yeah ofcourse skied too! Then began the journey of heading home. The weather got bad again. Had some zero-visibility-drive-through-the-blizzard adventure. Got stuck in traffic with the snow and wind howling at us, but finally made it home just a little after midnight.


After this doom-from-the-start yet memorable trip, it sure is going to be a long time before we plan something together. Or is it? We still have the snow-checks from Sunday's ski cut short by the bad weather.

So before this season ends, maybe, we'll hit the slopes once again. Watch this spot to see if that happens!

Atleast we did not have a fight among us to make this a tough trip...or did we dodge one? :)

The Gang:

Anil, Sudeeptha, Prashanth, Chandana, Sangeeta, Ashwin, Davinder, Mohit, Raj and me.

More trip pics here.

Random thoughts on a Monday morning...

What is so sad about a Monday morning?

Assuming one sleeps an average 8 hours a night, 30% of the week is spent in sleep. In the remaining 70%, hardly 24% is spent at work. In a whole week of a little more than what we sleep is spent at work.

Come Friday, most of our emotions peak looking forward to the weekend. When it is Saturday evening already, and we think, "Wow! What did we do the whole day?". Sunday morning, a mournful one. Somehow seems like that last day on Earth. We clutch desperately to our sheets and comforters, like there's no tomorrow. Then comes a very sad Sunday evening, haunted with memories of sad and tragic movies, that relive in our minds for no obvious reason. And then there is that dreaded Monday morning again.

Week after week, the Fridays keep giving us hope and the Mondays keep letting us down. With everything about this being so predictable, why do we still let ourselves be deceived by the hope for a longer weekend? Hoping the weekday never begins...

All this on a Monday morning, at a light that would just simply refuse to turn green. Maybe, it was feeling blue too!

I looked around me. On both the lanes by my side were sad faces reflecting my same thoughts, no matter how interetsing their jobs, sipping away their coffee, hoping the caffeine could wake their spirits, wishing, wishing, and wishing...

The signal just turned green and the row of wheels inched ahead, and right when I was close to the intersection, it turned red again. Well, a little happiness, a few more minutes.

Monday morning...The only time a traffic jam seems to be a bliss.

Thanksgiving '05 in Death Valley

Raj and I took a few days off work this November and made it a very 'long' weekend. Our tour started off with Death Valley in CA/NV, the most natural place of great extremes, then to Las Vegas, the most unnatural place of great extremes, then a short rendezvous with some friends in Southern CA.

An amazing creation of nature-Death Valley. Walk a few miles from Stovepipe Wells and you see the most unusual formation of rocks and canyon. The Mosaic Canyon is being continually formed and polished and changed by the forces of nature.







A few miles from here, we walked up to the Sand Dunes. Interesting ever-changing formations created by the weakened winds that drop the dust and sand they carry at this point. Here, a successful panorama attempt with my prided Nikon.


I guess because of the time of the year, we did not get to see a single bloom. The only natural inhabitant we could spot was this scrawny fox Angry at the touristy invasion of humans, he would not stand still for me capture him on a full frame.


After a few touristy breezing stops at Devil's Golf Course, Natural Bridge and Artist's palette, we came to Bad Water Lake.
Why Bad Water? 'Cause it is very salty...infact these days there is more salt than water. Also this is the lowest point below sea level in the Americas. Another panorama...

That pretty much covers our Death Valley trip. But the highlight was the night under the stars in StovePipe Wells. Heavily blanketed and lying comfortably against the trunk of out rented Saturn, we watched an amazingly cloudless night sky. I could not photograph the stars, but the picture is in my head. Clearly the night finds its way up as the top most romantic times. We managed to catch a glimpse of a couple of cosmic dirt shooting by, and made our secret wishes.

We wanted to lie there forever, but the cruel winter managed to make us shiver up to our roots...just giving us about 45 mins to savor the beauty of it, 45 mins to ponder the purpose of our existance, to form a new respect for the magnificence of the universe, to analyze our relative perspective of material needs...

And then get ready for some Poker in Las Vegas:)

More Death Valley pictures here.