tennis...speeding and more...

So my blog has finally decided to behave itself and not give me any trouble. I am sure the minute I write this its gonna start its tricks again. I can safely admit that I play tennis now it looked like it might just be a passing fad but I have stuck on to it and we have been playing almost every day to give my heart a good workout. Not that I am improving or am ready to take this sport professionally but it is a good way to get some exercise.

Last night after the tennis session a friend of mine dropped me back home...on our way we were pulled over by a cop. The whole time about 9-10 odd minutes its such an intimidating experience first there are these lights which would make even a blind man go for shelter, then you are in such a compromising position, you with the hand on the wheels (in my case my friend) and the cop standing almost towering over you. This followed by the realization that you would have done something wrong makes up for a pretty jittery experience. The only good news is when the cop cuts you some slack and lets you off with a warning.

This got me thinking if a cop any cop pulled an average man on the road and just put some charge down how would you be able to deny that you were not in the wrong. In our case although we were going at 5 miles over so he was right. But what would stop a cop from pulling anybody and just say that. How would one know? I guess thats where the concept of integrity of each individual comes into play. Lets hope the cops are in a good mood all along and dont pull people over.

Got my Flickr badge working but I aml still thinking of a good name for that section eventually will get around to rename most of the sections. This temporary one will have to do for the moment.

looking for apartments!

The reality has finally sunk in have 17 more days in my current place need to find a place to live pronto had a mild panic attack and then pulled myself together hopefully things wqill turn out ok.

Quote of the day:

People know you by what you do not by what you are capable of!

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Quote of the day:

Life is a bubble and everyday is a bonus

blog in trouble!!!

Now I am getting really ticked off the stupid template is playing tricks with me and keeps evolving itself without me doing anything to it. My Flickr badge has disappeared all my links have vanished too! I dunno what to do. Dont want my posts to disappear too will wait till I sort this mess and then post again.

Update: Found a website and I am hoping someone there can help me.

so they say...

Last night was fun, got to eat Dal Bati after a really long time its made a little differently in the Rajasthani style but it tasted delicious. After the sumptous dinner it was time for conversation. One of the things I liked is the way our conversation kind of hyperlinks you start on one topic and you end up discussing a various set of things. Last night we ran through from what I can recall

• various cusines among which I think Indian was chiefly discussed
• the art of persuasion and a book called Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Deals available on the internet for cell phones and why 2 year contracts suck
• Financial dealings of Major companies like GM etc.

Now that I look at the topics I cant think how we managed to connect them, what was great about the discussion was that it was not planned however there was a certain segregation of genders that happened. Hence the topic stayed on more materialistic things and did not venture into everyday things like "how much weight one had gained" ;-) We finally left the place and reached my house where we enjoyed some fun with Burnout 3 on my PS2. Just the kind of mindless yet fun game to play in the wee hours of the morning.

Today was just usual things got a little work done roamed around on my bike to look for good photo ops but dint find any so that has to wait :-( Only productive thing done was to get grocery for myself.

Feeling good...and its just Saturday

A friend of mine invited me over for a movie at his place last night so stayed over at his place. Dint sleep too well due to a clogged nose but managed to get some rest. Had a very laid back morning with things happening at their own pace and taking their own sweet time. For some reason even I was not interested in forcing the pace of the day and was happy with what took place. Ran a couple of errands played with a friends dog named Casey. Got laundry and cooking done, cleaned the house which was due for a while and felt damn good about accomplishing something.

Then I got pissed off at Blogger I don't know what is wrong with the templates it keeps changing without me doing anything about it, I liked my previous template :-( will have to figure out a way to change it again. Have to customize the links etc. as well that's a pain. Also realized the shortcomings of posting photos on the blogger site so have decided will post photos only through Flickr check the sidebar for the latest images I have uploaded. Chances are images related to what I write might show up there.

Looking forward to meeting friends and having some well cooked Indian food and just chill out. Cant think of a better way to spend a Saturday.

Quote of the day:

Life is a game...lets play!

confusing time?

Short hand or long hand?

Surprisingly it doesn't look that odd now that I have a picture of it, but I swear if you were to walk in the corridor outside my office you often get confused what the time is unless you happen to know a ball park. I found this amusin hence captured it. Now it doesnt look that funny. On the other hand it could be just because I got this new digicam and wanted to experiment with it.

As for the rest of the day had lunch with a friend of mine Patti after a long time...was nice to catch up and we promised to stay in touch more often. Got some small errands out of the way and found some new ones for the weekend. If all goes as planned then I should have a productive weekend.

Quote of the day:

There is just one word that separates friends from strangers Trust

odd thoughts

The place I currently stay in I have to vacate and am searching for a new roomie and a place lets hope things turn out before time. Out of the blue got in touch with another friend of mine Erika she had moved to Boston and after the initial couple of days had lost touch with her. So that was a pleasant surprise...these and other mundane things occupied the day. Had an average day not very productive and need to start pushing harder for things to be in place. Oh well tomorrow is another day and a fresh start.

Quote for the day:

If Life were an emotion...then I would be denial

Bus ride to driversville!

Finally after staying three years in the US I got my drivers license, well the temporary one the plastic card will arrive in the mail.

Let me see it took a friend helping me for a couple of weeks in his car to teach me how to ride, me in return smashing it up, a couple of other friends also pitched in with their cars (although they were pretty nervous!) took a couple of lessons and a dry run of the road test route and spent close to 3000 bucks to get the damn thing!!! Was it worth it? I dont know I dont have a car to enjoy my priviledge. What could be more ironic then the fact I had to take a bus to the place where they conducted the test?

camping in Michigan...Indian style

Every once in a while you do things that come close to enjoying life the way Americans do! I think camping in summers is one such thing. This weekend a bunch of friends (5 to be precise) decided lets go camping.

It was quite an adventure, between the GPS software getting confused whenever we took a road that was a little smaller than the usual (meaning had only one lane on each side) and the number of people trying to navigate in the car we had our own share of "driving" fun. The campsite was good but could have been located at a better place this one was right next to the freeway so if you thought sleeping at night you could only hear sounds of the wilderness you were suddenly stirred up by trucks and cars zooming on the freeway. Not that everything was a total disaster.

Being an impromptu decision (on thursday before we left) we were kind of underprepared for the trip and that is an understatement. We went to lake michigan beach and my intelligent friends forgot to carry swimming trunks, I have made a similar mistake in the past so from now on I just throw the damn thing in my bag to be on the safe side. We decided to have a barebeque and ended up spending a fortune for last minute shopping at the local grocery store. But it had its own charm making things work and more importantly spending time with friends who I had not met for the last four months was good. Two of them driving up from Kentucky and Ohio, I just hope they got their drivers mileage worth of fun.

Of drivers and driving

I am not a great driver but I can afford to be that way I dont have a license, not here anyway, and more importantly I dont have a car. But what scares me are people who drive on the road with driving licenses and the blatant way they mess with the basic safety rules of driving. The other day in a short ride I took we counted close to 10 odd people who did not have thier headlights on...it was evening the sun was almost gone and these people want to save on battery.

Today as I was taking a driving lesson was talking to the instructor all the time while I was driving and saw so many people breaking rules that would have failed you in the drivers test, but the rule seems to be follow everything till you give the test after that who cares as long as you dont get pulled over. I guess I can just follow the rules for a few more days once I get my license I can forget them too :-)

I dont know how to talk!

Well the title is kind of incomplete it should end with the words "on the internet"

Why do I say that well for starters I have been trying to configure this template so that I can personalize it, but I just did not make sense out of the tags maybe I need to delve more into it.

I think the way people use English to communicate with each other as a common language html is the language of the net and I just realized I dont know how to talk in it or at least when people speak in a sophisticated manner (you know Shakespearean) I dont understand what they are saying. So I have decided enough of this illetracy I am gonna make myself literate in it and mess around with the innards of this template.

sharing culture and knowledge

Yesterday was a momentous day for me, in my almost three years stay in the US I had my first meal in McDonalds. Ya I know its unbelievable, but the fact that I am a vegetarian has a lot to do with it.

I got myself a Ceasars salad without the chicken and that was lunch, however it got me into an interesting discussion, back home the McDonald Veggie burger used to be one of my favorite and I would have it quite often. Its surprising (well not that surprising) that they dont have it here. Especially with the number of people trying to lose weight or just switching to a veggie diet for health reasons increasing. Just got me thinking a company of that size which has branches across several countries and continents has the unique opportunity to learn from the various cultures it comes in touch with. Do employees of McD from one country (or continent) share their knowledge and learning with others? If they do then why havent they introduced veggie burgers.

To be fair not many food chains have veggie burgers and the ones that do either serve a bocca patty burger, which I am afraid to say tastes really really bland or the black bean burger which in comparison to the veggie burger that McD makes back home is absolutely nothing. I hope they get those burgers here soon :-)

life...ah life

Riding on my bike on the way to the campus where I work I was just thinking about the choices we have in life and the things we do. I have had friends who have been globe trotters and people who have lived their entire lives within a small fixed radius of a city and never moving out of that. I cant help wondering who is missing out on life the earlier or the latter. I am constantly being pulled on both sides I like to call them the Romantic/Adventurer and the Practical. Not everybody has the liberty to select between the two some are forced to choose one for whatever reasons family committment being one of them. Thats where I cant decide am I a Romantic or Practical person (I dont like using the word cynic it has a negative connotation). With these thoughts I reached my office and I get a mail from a good friend of mine with this image kind of solved the whole thing for me...