Ma look! No internet!!

Beginning October, i.e. two days from now, we're losing our current internet service. I procrastinated about researching which one to go with. I had whopping 3 choices and I did not decide on one. Nor did I call any of them to find how soon they can come over and setup the new service.

Yikes, looks like it's going to be a few days with NO INTERNET. OMGWTFBBQ. IDK MY BFF JILL? Will the world end? Will I vegetate?

*Reminder to self* Make the call tomorrow!!!

Feeling old....

Was in a meeting at work today with a room full of people, when suddenly the topic of age came up out of the blue. This guy asked the question to the folks in the room "Who do you think is younger of us, him (me) or me (him)?"

Pretty straightforward but it's full of irony...

-- The guy asking this question was a bald guy - not that there's anything wrong with that and he's a pretty nice guy.... (just saying that in case he ever reads this blog)

-- The only person who said I was younger said what she said because she already knew how old I was...

-- The guy asking this question was 42...

-- When asked how old I was, I couldn't remember my age...

-- After doing a quick math, I said I was 36 or 37...

-- I am not even 35 (yet)!!

Damn, I feel old!

2001 Infiniti i30 for Sale.....

Putting our car on the market hoping to sell it in the next couple of weeks. It's a nice car that has served us well for over 5 years. I washed the car and cleaned out the interior this weekend and took some pics.

Some of the pics are a bit over-exposed. The lighting conditions were not optimal and I only had 15 mins to take the pics (excuses, excuses). I'll be post the ad online sometime today or tomorrow...

Thought I'll post them here so that I can hotlink the pics from here instead of imageshack/tinypic.

^z ^z ^z ^z

Undo Undo Undo

Wouldn't it be great if undo'ing stuff in real life was as easy as as hitting ^z ^z ^z?

Overslept? Undo undo undo...
Missed an appointment? Undo undo undo...
Forgot about the PTA meeting? Undo undo undo...

Over-sped?  Undo undo undo...
Turned the other left? Undo undo undo...
Took the wrong exit? Undo undo undo...

Overspent? Undo undo undo...
Bad investment? Undo undo undo...
Bounced check? Undo undo undo...

Overstressed? Undo undo undo...
Laid off? Undo undo undo...
Fired the wrong guy? Undo undo undo...

Overcast sky on your day of golf? Undo undo undo...
Take a shot and miss the ball? Undo undo undo...
Caught sleeping with 15 of them? Undo undo undo...

Overweight? Undo undo undo...
Overate? Undo undo undo...
Let go a stinker with your boss behind? Undo undo undo...

Overpost and bore the most? Undo undo undo?
Boring posts and clunky prose? Undo undo undo?
Discard post or publish post? ^z ^z ^z ^y ^y ^y

Hey Fatso!

I've been gradually gaining weight over the last 9 months - around 10 lbs from my then stable weight of 183 - 185 lbs. Over the last couple of years, I have been as low as 180 (+/- 2) to a recently recorded high of 195 lbs. Although it's gone down a couple of lbs since then, it's still above 190 at all times.

I think I know the reasons...
- Remnants of binging on sweets and snacks from back home
- Decrease in exercising to almost zilch
- Late night snackings
- Reaching for the candy jar at work
- Bad sleep habits
- Other changes in lifestyle

I would like to lose the gained lbs and then some. The plan is to get to the 175 - 180 lbs stable weight range by end of this year. This way, it would be more of an mid-year resolution as opposed to a new year resolution and hopefully have a better chance of success!

The plan is to use a somewhat scientific and somewhat disciplined approach in order to achieve this goal.

Some of the things I don't plan on doing....
- Won't follow any "named" diet regime (Atkins, South Beach, low carb, cookie!!)
- Won't go overboard with either diet changes or exercise (e.g. exercise 2 hrs a day, 7 days a week and consume only bananas for breakfast, lunch and dinner)
- Won't do anything that's not sustainable

What I plan on doing? Few small, simple things I start doing from today for starters...
- Drink more water - try to keep track of qty drunk - Target: 1 gallon/day
- STOP late night snacking
- Wean away from reaching for the candy jar (I have a sweet tooth and I know I cannot completely give up on it)
- Build an exercise routine - at least 3-4 days a week - cardio, weights
- Exercise portion control and attempt to consistently count calories - plan on using caloriecount.about.com
- Sleep at least 6 hrs/night
- Weigh in every Friday and monitor the weight gain/reduction on a weekly basis

I know I'll probably reach a plateau after losing around 5-10 lbs. I'll have to re-visit my plan then and possibly add/restrict additional stuff.

Until then, good luck to me and let's see where this goes!

Chasing the rising sun - HDR edition

HDR'ed and heavily edited version of the previous pic. Generated by merging 3 exposures 0, -1, +1 EV in Photomatix. Do I like it? Kinda. Is HDR super overused? Betcha. Will I keep messing with it? Sure. Do I like it better than the original? Noppa.

What the font? Google Instant!

So, Google introduced Instant a few days back. Seemingly a progression of Suggest, Google now not only tries to auto fill your search phrases but it also attempts to automatically execute the search for the most likely phrase you are going to search on.

One interesting thing I noticed about Google Suggest and subsequently Google Instant is their censorship of search phrases while suggesting. What the....Font??? Even if I turn off "Safe searching", the results are still censored. If they are trying to save milliseconds off my time, then should they really perform a search on "What the Font"?? Do they really think that's what I'm searching for? Really? Really Really?

Pondering away further...what might be the natural progression to this feature?

Open up gmail, click compose mail...
Bing! Suggested To person: Mom  --- Last email sent 2 years back
Bing! Suggested Subject: I miss you Ma! --- Last 23 emails from Mom had keywords "miss you son"

Wake up in the morning, Google dress suggestion via SMS...
Bing! Wear the purple polka dot shirt today. You got 112 Facebook likes the last time you posted your pic in that shirt.

Google seems to be a really interesting place to be. Sometimes I wonder about the extent of information google has about me. If they dig through the info they have about me, they probably can write up my biography better than any person.

My emails (GMail)...My recently visited places (Maps)...My likes around entertainment (Youtube)....Stocks I'm researching (Finance).....News I'm interested in (News)....Pics I've been clicking (Picasa)....Stuff I've been searching/researching/exploring/sites I've been visiting (Search).....and above all.....CRAP I've been posting (Blogger).

Loading the dishwasher

The wifey loads the dishes as if they are traveling first class on Sunday. I make them commute second class in a Mumbai local train at 5:00 PM.

Talking of local trains, it's been over 5 years since I've traveled in a local train in Mumbai. I wonder how the crowd on the local trains are these days? Exponentially grown? Stayed around the same? Getting better?

Chasing the rising sun....

Went shooting today after many months. It's been quite a while since I woke up early morning to do something by myself.

Not many months back, it used to be like clockwork - wake up by 6:45 every Saturday and Sunday, leave home by 7:10, play an hour and a half of tennis and be back home by 9:00 AM. It was almost a ritual, only difference was that this was not a forced one; it was something I liked doing. Something I used to look forward to. It went on for almost a year and a half until it stopped cold. Man, I miss it.

I digress, but the point I was trying to get to was, along with the tennis, gone was my drive to wake up early morning on weekends. Photography could've take its place, so could've golfing or running. Only thing that took it's place was an hour or two of extra sleep. Well, I still continue to digress.

Today, I was woken up by one of the kiddos desire for a 5:00 AM snack. This granted me an opportunity to leave home before sunrise and go shooting.

Tampa might have quite a few places to capture beautiful sunsets, but not many places offer clean views of the sunrise. Only place close to my home that offers it is Safety Harbor and nearby areas.

The pics here are from the Safety Harbor Marina. This is a place I visit quite often when I am in the mood for a quick shoot. I think at least a third of the landscape pics on this blog are from a 2 mile radius surrounding the Safety Harbor downtown area.

As luck would have it, we had a completely overcast sky. I knew it when I left the house but I was hoping for a glimpse of the rays from the rising sun escaping between the clouds. Nope, no go The clouds were too dense; only a few streaks of orange sun managed to get past.

I still managed to get a few decent pics (or so I think). More than anything else, this inspired me to get out of bed in the dark more often and go chasing the rising sun...

Knowledge v/s Skill v/s Creativity

Read a ton of books and magazines and I'll gain a ton of knowledge...

Take a lot of pics and I may think I've gained a lot of skill....

I look at some of these pics and I realize...

A ton of knowledge and a lot of skill cannot make up for lack of creativity.

Photos from: http://www.fubiz.net/2010/07/27/milas-daydreams/
(A lot more very neat pics of this baby there)

I saw this posted on one of the forums. I have no idea on the background of the photographer, equipment used, years of experience, etc. etc. It might as well be a mommy shooting her peacefully sleeping kid with her $60 point and shoot.

As wifey said when she saw these pics, "It’ll make the child feel so special when she grows up and looks at them."

Zen and the art of Omelette creation...

Was on a forced vacation a couple of days back (which is getting to be too old now!)...spent some open time cooking and clicking.

Outcome of the cooking turned out to be pretty good; outcome of the clicking, not quite.

Earthy Omelette...

Mushrooms, Scallions, Tomatoes, Thai peppers, Corn

Sauteed in a pan with a lil bit of oil...

Two eggs beaten with salt and a tsp of oil poured on top and spread around for coverage....

Medium Low heat until eggs are cooked per taste preference and then a liberal sprinkle of shredded cheese...

Cooked until cheese is melted...

.Tri-folded.on the pan with a little bit of finesse

A few mins spent appreciating the texture...

Off the frying pan and onto onto the plate with a couple of slices of bread...

Devoured...

Not a big fan of HDR....

But I like to mess with it out once a while just for grins....


Original version (with normal exp)looks like this... (Note the washed out skies...)


I probably could have gotten a better picture without HDR'ing if I had taken it at the right time/light

Care for some....

Care for some Biryani??

(Might post the recipe some day if I get to it...)

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

DND DND DND DND

Sign outside this guys' cube....

DO NOT DISTURB. Get the message? No? How about now? No?? How about now? How about now? How about now? How about now? How about now?

I sit pretty close to him and I whisper all the time...just to make sure I don't disturb him. I remove my shoes and walk on my socks just to make sure my steps are not too loud to grab his attention. More so, I don't even get to gurgle on my straw when I sip on my coke!

May be one of these days,  I just take the kiddo's toy horn and walk by his desk tomorrow and honk. Wonder he will actually get disturbed?

May be everytime I pass by his desk (his cube is at the end of the aisle), I say *Beep Beep* and run away. Wonder he will actually be disturbed?

Disclaimer (in case he ever reads it and comes to beat me up) - He is a pretty decent guy...he is just a collector of fine things and has probably been collecting these Do Not Disturb signs from every person who has left this place over the last few years)

Magnolia blooms

We have this huge mature Magnolia tree outside our house. It's around 30 feet high and around 15 feet wide and has large green leaves. The tree is beautiful and dense with large dark green leaves.

All year long, it bears no flowers, its just a huge leafy tree. However just for 2 weeks every year, the Magnolia flowers blossom. It's that time of the year now. The whole tree is filled with these beautiful white Magnolia flowers.

These flowers are HUGE in size ...in fact HUGE in everything....size, perfume and  of course pollen. The sad part is once the blossom they don't last very long. They wither and fall off within a day or two, three at max.

The kiddo likes to pluck the flowers from the low hanging branches and bring them home and set them in a cup of water. Within half a day or so, they open up and bloom completely.....exposing the entire anatomy of the flower. May be our science teacher should have used these flowers to explain Calyx, Corolla, etc..etc...instead of the black and white pictures of our science text books.

The second pic has my blackberry resting against the flower...just to give a sense of size. The flower in it's full bloom is more than twice the size of my blackberry. Now, that is huge. Imagine wearing one of them on your head; or a garland of these around your neck!

Unfortunately, it's just a matter of days before all the flowers wither and fall...and in a month after that, they bear fruits (I think they are fruits, or seed pods or something). That's when comes the task of picking the remains - of the flowers, the leaves and the fruit. Until then, it's time to enjoy nature in it's fragrant glory

When things are just not going your way....

Saw this pic somewhere and found it funny yet true at times...made me wonder...

There are those days, weeks and months...
When no matter how hard you try and no matter how you turn...
You do all the right things and press all the right buttons...
You plan the next steps and make the right moves...
When things start to pile; they never seem to relax...
You are looking for a break; all you get's a breakdown...
You wonder what you did and ponder what you didn't.
Then you realize and then you awaken;
Twas just a game of tetris and the floor wasn't even

How many engineers does it take...?

How many Engineers does it take to replace a Ceiling Fan?

-- One to go buy a nice new fan on sale from Costco 

-- One to click some pics of the old fan in attempt to post them on classifieds

-- One to take down the old ceiling fan

-- One to try mounting the new Costco fan only to realize it uses a different mount

-- One to further realize that the Costco fan once assembled couldn't be easily dismantled

-- One to pack up the round peg of the fan  in the square hole of the box with the rod hanging out

-- One to go to Lowes to buy the same brand fan as the existing one

-- One to try mounting the Lowes fan only to realize it uses a third kind of "slightly" different mount

-- One to consider replacing the outlet box after realizing it took almost 4 hours the last time

-- One to give up on the supposedly mini project and decide to call an electrician

-- One to call the electrician.....the Electrician who comes and installs the new fan in less than 30 minutes start to finish

-- One to have his ego seriously hurt, smashed and hung over the new ceiling fan

-- One to pay the electrician more to install than it took to purchase the fan

-- One to post this blog post and go to sleep.

Oh by the way...

Oh by the way, Hi! Been quite a while....

Silly Bandz

"Do you like these silly bandz"
"Yes"
"Why do you like them?"
"Because they are cool"
"Why are they cool?"
"Because everyone has them"
"You remember we had talked the other day about not copying others blindly?"
"Yeah................but I really like these bands"