Simple pleasures....

The kiddo and I have gone biking a few times over the last month. A couple of times we went out in the morning - around 7:30. Whenever I tell him, let's go biking in the morning (say at 6:30 AM), he probably doesn't sleep in the night. He just waits until it's 6:30 to come and wake me up.

I feel sad that I have been neglecting his enthusiasm to go biking. Like this week....

Friday night:
"Let's go biking at 8:00 AM"
"Coool!!"
"Be sure not to wake up before 8:00 or wake me up before 7:30...ok??"
"OK!" (still very excited)

Saturday morning 8:00 AM
"It's 8:00 let's go"
"Aah come lie down besides me for some time"

One hour later
"Now it's too hot outside...may be we'll go in the evening?"

Very stupid of me. I'll do better next time.

The pics here are from one such early morning biking trip, probably around 7:30. He bikes pretty well (probably got it from his dad). We biked around 6 miles that day and he (we) thoroughly enjoyed it. I had taken my camera with me and I was clicking some pics while biking (yeah yeah shame on me for being so irresponsible!!)

Yahoo in Maliboo or Malibu in Yahu?

Isn't this the dumbest thing ever? An ad of Chevy Malibu occupying the whole background when I try to access Yahoo Mail?

Borderline desperation, IMO. Is yahoo ready to fall? Has it already fallen? According to Alexa, yahoo now falls in a distant fifth position in terms of usage.

Once upon a time, it was THE place to go to for emails, web searches, shopping, news, etc. (at least for me). Now a days, only reason I go there is to check an occasional email that may land there from a contact or an online account that I've been lazy enough not to update with my current id (gmail).

Anyways, my rant was about the background image. Bing always has had one, at least since I started using it (from the Live days)....but it has been some pretty neat photographs which as sometimes very interesting. Google very recently introduced Background images....but they feel very out of place imo. Google looks very neat in plain white background....please please please always keep it option to have a background....and NEVER show me a Chevy Malibu when I go to search for "Underwear sizing guidelines"

Diss-Qualifiers....

I'm sorry........but....
I don't mean to offend you....but....
I don't mean to sound disrespectful...but...

I don't want to start an argument....but...
I will regret saying this later...but...
I don't know how else to put this...but...

Don't take this the wrong way....but...
I don't know how to say this....but...
I don't want to sound difficult...but...

I hate to sound negative...but...
I know you are going to hate this....but...
I know you will not like this....but...

...your shirt stinks more than a sweaty dog
...is that photoshopped?
...why is that so dark?

...it's not you, it's me.
...it's not personal, it's professional.
...I really need that thing done by end of day today.

...do you always add so much oil when you cook?
...is it meant to be this raw?
...why does this taste so stale?

...I don't really care about the issues you have been facing
...are you expecting? (or are you just getting fatter?)
...can you get that kid to stop crying?
...when are you guys planning on leaving?

...is this post done or will you keep typing????

Casting couch....

Drawing a blank.

I have this habit of starting off posts and leaving them as drafts, forever at times. This is one such post - Casting Couch. I'm not sure when I created the post with this title nor can I recollect what this was going to be about. Kinda funny when I think about it - hmmm....casting couch.....Was it about a real casting couch?? (Yeah, I wish!). Was it about some java class casting? (I bet not).... Was it about a pic of our sofa? (Too dirty to display)....

Then, what was it about? How will I ever know? I have been thinking about it even while I have been typing this up....but can't remember. I'm guessing it might be some pic or joke or something I had found somewhere that I was attempting to link to and left it for later.

On a completely off-topic note, I ordered a new lens (well, it's a used lens but new for me) yesterday. I'm pretty excited about it. Am waiting for it to arrive. It's not something I can make any use of inside the house for sure. Now, only if I can find the time to go shooting with it.

Graduation....

Done with the bottles and graduated on to the sippy cups...yay!! As of last month, the kiddos have transitioned to sippy cups. Gone are the days of endless brushing and cleaning of bottles and nipples. Oh, yes, and the countless number of liners!

Sometimes I wish I was in the baby gadget business. Must be quite easy to make money by suckering n00b parents....

- Emotional Blackmailing - Do you really want to feed your first born child from that Made In China bottle?? Is your child not worth the extra $10,000 that you would spend on this Taj Mahal of feeding cups???

It has automatic backflow prevention and it automatically throttles the milk flow - just point the bottle towards your baby's mouth and it's robotic arm will automatically align it with her cheeks and lip. It even has a safety release valve that automatically burps the baby too!

Oh, did I mention, it automatically washes, rinses and dries itself too???

- 72 Million Star Safety Rating - What? You gotta be kidding when you say you have not heard about this ErgoCargo Car seat. It should not even be called a carseat but the federal safety regulations make us call it that.

It's in fact a Fully-automated Oscilloscopic Octahedrally-tethered Logic Enabled Device (FOOLED).
Just drop your baby in it while you are standing. No need to bend and strain your back - the triple gelled and pneumatic shock absorbers gently envelop the baby into the shell. The robotic arms (yes robotic arms again) align all the 8 belts (remember it is octahedrally tethered!) over the baby and lock into place by themselves.

And then the device  legs protrude out and walk by itself and lock itself into the car....all at the touch of a button, of this 829 button full functional remote control!!

- Sleepless in Seattle - Disruptive sleeping pattern? We have the tool right for you. This Nano-Nanny activates itself as soon as you put your baby in the crib. It has a database of 30,000 lullabies to put the baby and her parents to sleep.

These velvet laced belts will keep the baby tied to the bed in case she tries to climb out. The dual robotic arms (don't ask) will gently pat the baby to sleep - it can be pre-programmed with these 58 patting motions.

Those earmuffs you ask? Well, those are for you - sometimes technology cannot do everything for you, can it?

(50mm, f/1.8, 1/40sec, iso1600)

Hissssnake in zeee backyardsssss

Found this snake in our backyard the other day. Although, supposedly, it's very common to see snakes around here, this was the first time I saw one and I was quite startled.

I was in my own world doing some yard work that I did not even notice this guy at first. I was probably around 3-4 feet from him; it was probably a good thing I did not see him then or I might have screamed like a girl. I actually saw him a few mins later when I was walking back with a trash bag. There he was relaxing in the sun, all 5 ft of him, probably had come for some frog for dinner (which we see quite a few of in the backyard).

What did I do? I ran back in to grab my camera to snap some pics of this little guy. I just had my 50mm and I did not bother to change it. I hurriedly came back but he was no longer in his original position. He was ready to go hunting or find a place without a hyper-excited snake noob disturbing his beauty bask. I manged to get a couple of pics before he was all gone. It was not in the best angle - mind you I was scared and did not want to get too close to this guy nor did I have a zoom lens on.

Once I got back in, I tried to identify the type of snake - What's the first question that comes to mind? Yeah, is/was it poisonous? What's the next one -- Does it bite? Duh, yeah it would bite, but I was also aware that most of the snakes found in the urban areas are the non-venomous types. There are some pretty good resources online to help identify the species of a snake. I used this site to help I identify my new-found friend - http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-guide/snakekey.htm

From what I could tell based on this pic and the questionnaire on that site, it was a Southern black racer. I was probably right, it was visiting ys to feast on some of the frogs that we have been seeing a lot of. More info on the racer here