That will be $5 for using the lavatory, please!

American airlines has started charging passengers $15 for their first checked bag. They already charge for snacks.. and some airlines give a teeny tiny bag of pretzels that is so paltry, it is not even funny.
I wonder what's next..a fee for using the toilet?


check out the news article here.

Jugalbandhi

A big fan of shivamani..he rocks! Check out this video that I came across in utube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNSt46AfIG8

Blogger updates

I am still very much alive and kicking. I just have been lazy and haven't had the time to sit down and get a blog update done. What's been happening in my life worth telling after the kayaking trip? Umm, lets see..

• Went to this flower and garden show in Sf.Awesome gardens, some super duper talented people.
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• Did a total touristy thing.. rented a bike from fisherman's wharf and biked across the golden gate bridge to sausalito(my old office) and came back by ferry. I cannot describe enough the simplicity and beauty of northern California.
• Went to visit my friends in Minneapolis..I think I might have mentioned at least half a dozen times how much nicer it is just to visit a place that has snow and not live there...seriously. Right when I was flying, a big storm was predicted but luckily my flight landed ok without any delays and I was able to spend a wonderful time with my best buddies. We visited this waterfalls (I forgot the name) and parts of it was still frozen! in the middle of march!!yikes!!!
• San Francisco, we have arrived! My office has finally, finally moved to the city and the commute is soo sweet..ohh..can't tell you how much better it is. The new dig is close to downtown, many more options on places to eat, it is right at the water front, close to the pier buildings and my apt. is just a 45 min BART ride away. Yaay!!

Well, that's it folks. See you soon and thanks for sticking by for so long to read my posts. Either I have truly annoyed you to the extend that it has driven you to check out my blog just to shut me up or that you are totally vetti. Anyhoo, no complaints :).

Kayaking in the bay!

Yaay, Kayaking! Clear blue sky, cool breeze, silence, the sun glinting off the water and not to mention the seals...its fun :). I was initially apprehensive about kayaking in the sea coz I don't know swimming and I did not want to embarrass myself in front of my team mates. But..well, it all turned out good and I am glad I went for it. Check out my activity on the right (you gotta click on the pic).

Other updates this week- (same old commuting woes): Chased after a book given by my boss that I so thoughtlessly left on the bus (thank you iphone), woke up at a god forsaken hour in the morning to get to work early..only to sleep on the train all the way to daly city and end up taking my usual bus to work..grrgh! I am seriously hoping my work situation improves by the end of the month when my company moves into the city for real. for real, real.

My Hero!
When I look back and reminisce on my childhood, one of the most lingering memories that come to my mind is watching tennis matches with my dad and in particular, watching Pete Sampras dominate the world of tennis. It was my dream then to watch him when he was at the top of the game at Wimbledon. Although I haven't been able to achieve that, I did go see him last weekend at the San Jose stadium for the opening night of SAP open. Aging and retired though he was, he did beat Tommy Haas in two straight sets. Just seeing him on court brought back countless memories...the time when I sat in a particular seat for hours until he won the game just coz I thought that was lucky, of secretively watching late night matches, but finally giving myself away by yelling for him to win (:D), the nail biting prayers, the jubilant victory dances and the immense sadness when he announced his retirement.


Thank you, Pete, for the memories.

How to spend a week with 80 bucks

Of Break-ins, thieves and bike races....

So here's the story, for those interested. (No worries, I am not Kate Hudson and this is no movie.)

Friday (2/15/2007) : Had a hectic day at work but later enjoyed the peace and calm of Muir beach while the sun was still out..the scene was straight out of the "Dhom dhom" song; movie: Sindhu bhairavi. Tucked in a corner along CA-1 N, this beach is just perfect for someone seeking silence and calm. It also had a small hill that you could easily climb and you get a bird's eye view of entire beach and the horizon...gorgeous.



Well, coming to the more adventurous part of the evening, came back to the parking lot, only to see that my friend's car was broken in (passenger's side window) and my handbag, which I had so unthinkingly left in the car, missing. Yikes!



Saturday (2/16/2007): So, spent the good part of yesterday canceling all my cards, trying to get my duplicate id, changing locks of my apartment and car and basically berating myself again for being so careless.
Now I have an emergency stash of $80 at home, with which I need to get by until the end of this week, by which time, hopefully, one of the card companies send me a replacement card.

Sunday (2/17/2007): Attended the Tour of California- prologue at University of Stanford at Palo Alto. Put on my best sales voice to talk to customers about their upcoming products at one of my company's booths.



Mabbe I should just stick to code development :D.

And V for..?

Another valentine's day rolled by. Nothing great to report this year either..oh well!

• Found this pic of the google logo for V-day. I love google art.



• San Francisco had its annual pillow fight at the ferry building yesterday. Hitting perfect strangers with pillows??..oh this city is nuts! :)



• Heard that most restaurants were totally booked in the city and if you did manage to make a reservation, you would end up spending on an average around $89 per person! Sheesh..A romantic dinner at home has gotten a whole new meaning, hasn't it?

• Had a busy day at work yesterday but stopped by Twin peaks on the way home. Blessed with a clear sky, I was able to see the entire city spread out below me. It was just gorgeous. Nice way to unwind :).



• Came across this article on the web: Seven-day weekend? Count me in!

Kali.for.ni.cation

My kalifornication is almost complete now. I finally (finally!) got my California driver's license and vehicle registration done. I've been postponing it for so long. So, I can now legally drive in the sunny state. Yipee!

Other updates this week:

# Wait a minute...I signed up for some sunshine..please!!
It has been raining nonstop for a week now and although I am a big fan of rain, this is depressing. It would be really nice to see the sun once in awhile. Fact: Did you know that Seattle has the highest number of suicides in a year in the country?

# Had to play the role of Florence Nightingale this week..glad to see my friends getting better. I don't have the world's greatest immunity system but it was good to know that its doing its job..bad weather and germ factories withstanding :)

# iPhone galore!
I was super undecided on whether I wanted to spend my moola on an iPod (since I definitely need some muzik), an iPhone or an iTouch(which is just an iPhone without the phone). Although I still think that an iPhone is a completely unnecessary device, in the end I decided that I need to enjoy the product while the product would garner a response like "Oh wow, you bot an iphone..ooh!".
Its a nice feeling :).

Picture time once again..
These are some of the pictures I took of the lovely San Francisco. This link will get constantly updated as I don't intend to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs :)

Cheers!

Taare Zameen Par

Am sure there are much better and more deserving reviews out there for this movie so please don't consider this as one. I simply enjoyed this movie, a sweet, heartwarming story of a little boy who suffers from dyslexia. The focus stayed on the little kid, as it rightfully should have, the story moved seamlessly with small hints on how parents should understand their children's problems. There were some scenes that were very moving...esp. the 'Maa' song (great lyrics). Ofc, me being me, I was bawling the whole time. But seriously, kudos to Aamir Khan. Also I should add, the graphics at the beginning were very nicely done. The whole movie gave me a feeling of a painting...all soft and subtle brush strokes and in the end, a beautiful picture (pun intended :)).
If you haven't seen it yet, do so. You'll come out with less cynicism and more appreciation for such movies.

Tahoe Fun-2

As I had promised to myself, here's the secod part to my Tahoe fun blog..the one where I talk about my actual trip. I went with a bunch of friends all of whom I did not know bar one. We all knew this mutual friend, whom at that time, I barely even knew but then I was bored and I really wanted to go to Tahoe and my friend convinced me that it would be fun.

Day 1: Got up bright and early next morning for my first skiing experience. Woohoo! Alrite..I was gonna have somme fuun. So lots of enthusiasm and just a bit of nervousness. But being the Christmas weekend, there was a huge crowd everywhere we went and we had to wait in the line for about two and a half hours, and I could see my enthusiasm dwindling, but then we finally got to where the ski shoes were..and it was pretty slim pickings, I tell you. Well, got the shoes on, one foot and many hands at a time (:D)..sheesh, have you ever tried on those shoes? they are so hard to get on and they weigh a ton! I had such a hard time balancing and I hadn't even stepped out on the snow yet. Yikes! I was like one of those air puppet-balloons that you normally see at the car dealers...the ones that keep bending over.

Anyways, I am digressing..so we finally hit the slopes and it was soo much fun. I just loved it...ofcourse I sucked at it, being my first time n all, but still, it was great! After many tumbles and several dents to my pride later, I finally learned how to stop and even ski a bit. Our instructor was this 80 year old lady, totally fit and so full of energy, she put me to shame. Wow, unbelievable lady.

Day 2: We felt we hadn't had our fill of snow yet so we decided to stay back one more day. And this time, we tried Snow Mobiling. Wow. It was just, for the lack of a better word, great. To feel the wind on your face, see the scenery rush past you..it felt good. Altogether, a very nice trip. Lots of first time experiences for me.
. First time going on a trip where the majority of the group were complete strangers, only to make new friends.
.First time skiing.
.First time snow mobiling.

Oh, it is so nice to just visit a place that has snow.

Lake Tahoe

Phew! Finally the holidays are here..woohoo!! I am definitely looking forward to this break. Going to Lake Tahoe tomorrow for a weekend of skiing and fun. Very much looking forward to that. I've never skied before, heard that the 1st time is pretty bad, with a lot of falling and aches n groans the next day...but bah, it'll be fun.

And I can't get over the excitement of the fact that I am actually going to visit a place that has snow instead of living there. Simply Am-a-zing. Especially in the light of the huuuge ice storm that hit Oklahoma recently. But that a different story and it needs is own blog post. For now, it is Snow Time!

Bus, BART and Beyond!

Don't get me wrong. I really like this place but I think I have definitely earned the right to crib about my commute. I live in Fremont but my work is in Sausalito. So that is basically a 2.5 hrs commute one-way. Here's the lowdown on my daily schedule:

6ish(6.00AM-6.15AM) -drag myself out of bed

7.12AM- Leave home. With a lot of enthusiasm, I bought myself a bicycle to bike to the BART station but then, apparently a connoisseur of bicycle seats decided that he HAD to add mine to his collection and so now my bike is without a seat. I take the bus to the BART station.

7.36AM- BART. That's when I catch the train to SF. And my latest skill? sleeping in trains. I am quite proud of it :). I close my eyes, pretend that I am still tucked in bed, all that rush of waking up at a god forsaken hour, getting ready n the dash to catch the train was just the nightmare it really is and Voila! it works! Zzzzz...

8.30AM- Beyond. This is the last phase of my epic journey that I undertake everyday where I go beyond SanFran, beyond the lovely Golden Gate bridge. Gripe : I get to wait in a stinking rat hole they call a bus stop. Seriously, someone needs to do something about that place. It is very close to the Civic center, basically in what they call the tenderloin district but even so, this is nuts! There is a public toilet right across the street. I guess when you are drunk, everything appears as what you want them to be. It is probably like being in a "happy potty" novel.

9.20AM- Yeah, it takes almost an hour to get from downtown san Francisco to work.

So basically almost 2.5 hrs of commute. Yikes! And I do the same in the evening.

Today was the most frustrating day. It was raining pretty heavily...I was completely drenched. I missed my train, the bus did not show up, had to run 2 blocks up and down in the rain trying to hail a cab and reached work sopping wet...and late.

Anywayz, I still think I got a good deal just living in the bay area. No complaints. Just minor rants.

Stay dry.

My Big Move

For awhile now, I had been feeling very restless and frustrated. I felt that there were a lot of things one could do to make everyday as interesting and enriching as possible and I wasn't taking complete advantage of that sitting in Oklahoma. I mean, don't get me wrong..it wasn't that I was miserable there only that I felt I could do better. My colleagues were great, wonderful people so work was something I looked forward to but apart from that..nada..zilch. That's it..there ended my friends circle right there. And even with these good set of friends from work, we din't have much to do...

Anyway, the long and short of the story is that I decided its time for me to move on. and the place I had in mind? gorgeous California. The weather is great, the food's awesome and there is just so much to do.

End result: Here I am. Every time I look around, it comes back to me exactly why I picked this place. For a nature lover..this place is a paradise and am lovin' it. I can't wait for the weekends to explore more of this place.
If you have actually read this far, keep a look-out for my posts on my adventures in CA.

Peace.

Picture Time !



And this time, they are mine! I had recently uploaded a few pictures that I had taken in the past. If you are bored and/or have the time, do take a look at them. Needless to say, I would appreciate any suggestions/comments :-)

Hello! Guten Tag! Geia sou! Vanakkam!

Not that I have German or Greek readers, it just looked cool, so there! :-)
Anyway, it’s been a long time since I updated my blog since I got to know from a very good source (translated as blog count) that hardly anyone visits my page, so I got pretty dejected and saddened by my lack of popularity in the blog world.
Buuuut, in the end I have decided that boredom is inevitably a more powerful prodding force than I gave it credit for and here I am again, typing lame things which most probably I'll shall have to read time and again, if not for anything else, just to keep my blogspot alive and at least an inch away from complete shamedom.

Just to keep my meagre, handful of readers (who, btw, wud prob be my close frnds and wud already know most of this..)updated...and just so that I like being redundant (yea, right!) and either way, it helps waste time, lemme wrinkle my brain, squeeze it hard and see if I can come up with something to write about....


To be continued...

Pici Wiki
Check out these pics I came across on webshots.
What an explosion of colors! Gorgeous.
What I really liked about these pictures was the choice of different colors.
I have been ruminating about the kind of camera that I should buy this time. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really welcome them :-)

What not to wear

Last evening, after work, 3 of us at work were pretty bored , so we decided to go to the mall and do a bit of shopping. Went to the mall, just roamed arnd a bit..then my co workers( my imm. boss and a sr. colleague) decided that they were going to help me shop. I felt like I was suddenly pulled into an episode of 'What not to wear'( not that I got 5000 bucks to spend *sigh*) with Stacey and clinton- lookalikes advising me on what would be good on me and what would make me look like a total dump etc. It was a lotta fun. My colleagues were very sweet and they helped me choose 2 shirts, wich I got for a steal, btw.
It was a good nite....getting 2 shirts for inside $20 is not a bad way to end a day, in my books :)

roomie trouble ??

got problems with your roomie?look no further...i recently read this blog and gosh..its hilarious...I wish I had seen it when I was with my old roomie...ahh..the things I could've done!
do chk it out though...its a good laugh. click here

Blank Noise
I know the only visitor to this corner of cyberspace wud most probably be myself..but on the offchance that someone , unbelievably bored, happens to look at this blog and good gosh, even take the time to read it, there is a topic that is close to my heart that I would like to mention here. Blank Noise Project. Please visit http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com. That site was created to bring awareness about sexual harrasement on women in India and how rampant it is. If you are in India and the various blogs posted on the blank noise project blog-a-thon move you enough to want to participate or if can just spread the word...either way, it makes a difference.
Do look it up if you get some time.
oh..and if u r reeeallly interested, this one too :-)
Thanks!

You are not looking decent, I mean you are looking fat, you are not looking very nice, I think you should change."

“ It does not suit you, this dress does not suit you.”

“ Wear what you want! You just want to be leched at right?”

“ Gosh! Look at her, she’s so cheap, why does she bother wearing anything, she would rather be naked.”

“ Dressed like a slut man! Total slut!”

“ Lipstick? I think it’s too much. People will think you’re a slut!”

“ But I was wearing something completely normal and it had frills on the top.”

“ Tie your hair. You must look neat.”

“ Please wear a slip over the bra. Your school uniform is transparent. It does not look nice.”

“ The skirt is too short. You can wear shorts if you like, but not a skirt.”

“ How come you wear only salwar kameez these days?”

“ I was in school, I remember my green pt uniform and the stranger in the bus put his dirty hands in my clothes.”

“ I started dressing more androgynous. People didn’t know whether I was man or woman.”

“ I wear what I want, nothing happens to me, I don’t know why you make such an issue out of this, I mean , why do you want to travel by bus anyways?”

“ This girl is crazy! She is screaming!”

“ Don’t talk back! Don’t you dare answer back!”

“ It was just an accident.”

“ “ What law can stop a man from talking to a woman? Take me to the police station, let me see what anyone can do. I just asked you out for coffee”

“ I think you are beautiful. I have two eyes. I will stare at you.”

“ Why do you look at them in the eyes. Best is to look down and walk. Avoid it.”

“ I carry a safety pin.”

“ I put my huge knapsack in front of me and walk in peace.”

“ But it was only a crush. I was staring at you because it was a crush.”

“ Please don’t do this to me, I am a father of two children. I am sorry I wont do it again.”

“ I am allergic to women in pants. It is against our culture.”

“I have a dupatta?”

I ask for it because I have a body with breasts that I should feel ashamed of?

I ask for it because you think there are good girls and bad girls, decent girls and indecent girls?

I ask for it because you think I am attractive?

Eve teasing it is, a joke, a prank that designs, shapes, structures our daily lives:

Who we are, where we go, what we wear, how we sit, stand, talk, walk in our very own cities. When we demand the need to make our cities non threatening , I don’t expect anyone to think of me as their sister or mother, but to really look at women as citizens who have every right to be out on the streets, without any explanation. Sometimes we just love to walk, stand around, hang around, without looking ‘avaliable.’

- Courtesy Blank Noise Project