Steve Wynn destroys Le Reve by Picasso and loses $130 million (link).
Guess what punishment was given to a sex offender (U.S. citizen) by a judge in New York. He was sent to Canadge. WHAT??? . Read this
And Canada is now allowing Sikh's to carry a dagger in public. Read this
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Invisible Cloak
US-British scientists have developed an invisibility clock. Read this
What is more interesting is what you would do if you had an invisibility cloak. I can think of quite a few things..nothing legal however ;)
What is more interesting is what you would do if you had an invisibility cloak. I can think of quite a few things..nothing legal however ;)
Monday, October 16, 2006
Analog Slogans by Cadence
Check out some of the slogans for the "Share your Analong Pride" campaign by Cadence . Some area very cool..esp the " 1010 0111 1100 1zzz zzzz"
Check this
Check this
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Books and Movies - September 2006
Have not watched too may movies ..spend most of the time watching TV I guess. However, the past couple of weeks, I have gotten back into the habit of reading some books. So here goes my thoughts on the ones I read.
Books
Angels and demons by Dan Brown
This is more of a mystery/thriller book than Da Vinci code but unlike da vinci code, angels and demons doesn't have all the interesting symbology/puzzles It is like any other mystery novel..ofcourse one of those where you do not want to put the book down. I personally preferred the Da Vinci code
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
This is the story of a girl in Chile who comes to San Francisco during the gold rush in search of her love. The story of the main character is very interesting but what is much more captivating is all the thing happening during that time period in Chile, china and in the bay area. I really liked the book.
A traveller's history of England by Christopher Daniell
Very concise way to understand the history of england. Has all the details one would like to know without discussing it for pages and pages. Another good thing was though this is a book with just facts, it still did not feel like a history lesson...probaby there was something in the way it was written or just that the story of the royality was so spicy :). Thinking of getting the one on France and reading it.
Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
Did not read the book but listened to the audio book. It was good, esp the examples he uses to illustrate a point. So I have gotten myself his other book Blink to listen to now.
I am getting hooked onto these audio books lately. Something useful to listen to/from work instead of switching channels to catch some music instead of ads. Even if I retain 10% of what I listen, it still is worth it :)
Movies
Wedding crashers
Awesome movie. Just absolutely hilarious all the way till the end. Vince Vaughn is amazing. A must see movie
Merchant of Venice
This was the one with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Amazing movie. Really well done. And shakespeare ofcourse rocks :)
Fun with dick and jane
I wouldn't recommend watching it unless it is being shown on TV and there is nothing extremely interesting to watch. There are few funny moments like when they escape from mexico and the first robbery but overall it is pretty dull movie.
Omkara
Another shakespeare saga. This is an adaptation of Othello. This was a very good movie. The acting and the sets was fantastic and that is what makes it worthwhile to watch the movie. It is ofcourse not a fast paced movie. One recommendation would be to watch it at home with subtitles on and ofcourse having the ability to rewind. The language is impossible to understand otherwise. Also a lot of foul language.
Golmaal
This is the new one with Ajay Devgan and Arshad warsi. It is pretty fun and light movie. Worth watching. Tushar kapoor as the mute guy is too funny.
Chup chup ke
The first half before the interval is berable to some degree. But after that they just repeat the same kind of stuff and ofcourse it just gets unbearably melodramatic with kareena kapoor praying to god with the diya in her hand and all...ahh..just too painful. Do not know why even in this day they need to do such bizarre stuff.
Books
Angels and demons by Dan Brown
This is more of a mystery/thriller book than Da Vinci code but unlike da vinci code, angels and demons doesn't have all the interesting symbology/puzzles It is like any other mystery novel..ofcourse one of those where you do not want to put the book down. I personally preferred the Da Vinci code
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
This is the story of a girl in Chile who comes to San Francisco during the gold rush in search of her love. The story of the main character is very interesting but what is much more captivating is all the thing happening during that time period in Chile, china and in the bay area. I really liked the book.
A traveller's history of England by Christopher Daniell
Very concise way to understand the history of england. Has all the details one would like to know without discussing it for pages and pages. Another good thing was though this is a book with just facts, it still did not feel like a history lesson...probaby there was something in the way it was written or just that the story of the royality was so spicy :). Thinking of getting the one on France and reading it.
Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
Did not read the book but listened to the audio book. It was good, esp the examples he uses to illustrate a point. So I have gotten myself his other book Blink to listen to now.
I am getting hooked onto these audio books lately. Something useful to listen to/from work instead of switching channels to catch some music instead of ads. Even if I retain 10% of what I listen, it still is worth it :)
Movies
Wedding crashers
Awesome movie. Just absolutely hilarious all the way till the end. Vince Vaughn is amazing. A must see movie
Merchant of Venice
This was the one with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. Amazing movie. Really well done. And shakespeare ofcourse rocks :)
Fun with dick and jane
I wouldn't recommend watching it unless it is being shown on TV and there is nothing extremely interesting to watch. There are few funny moments like when they escape from mexico and the first robbery but overall it is pretty dull movie.
Omkara
Another shakespeare saga. This is an adaptation of Othello. This was a very good movie. The acting and the sets was fantastic and that is what makes it worthwhile to watch the movie. It is ofcourse not a fast paced movie. One recommendation would be to watch it at home with subtitles on and ofcourse having the ability to rewind. The language is impossible to understand otherwise. Also a lot of foul language.
Golmaal
This is the new one with Ajay Devgan and Arshad warsi. It is pretty fun and light movie. Worth watching. Tushar kapoor as the mute guy is too funny.
Chup chup ke
The first half before the interval is berable to some degree. But after that they just repeat the same kind of stuff and ofcourse it just gets unbearably melodramatic with kareena kapoor praying to god with the diya in her hand and all...ahh..just too painful. Do not know why even in this day they need to do such bizarre stuff.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Change of guard ceremony @ Buckingham Palace
| Guards playing the star wars title track. We were first shocked and then thrilled that they were playing Star wars..so it took long to react and hence the video is only the ending of the performance | |
Monday, September 18, 2006
LONDON
Just came back after a wonderful week in London. We had a "lovely" time. Lots of pictures even though they do not allow you to take pictures in most of the places and tons to write and talk about.
The best part about london is that it has still maintained the beauty of the Victorian/Georgian ages..Infact sometimes when you see the taxis going on a street you feel like you have gone back in time to the early 1900's or something.
(Click on images for larger view)
Can you believe this is London today??
Instructions/Warnings in Hindi :)
Here are the most memorable ones (our favorites)...
Burger King: the veggie burger and the spicy bean burger absolutely rocks!!!...Kind of weird to start with this as the first highlight but we do not get any good veggie burgers here :(
Afternoon tea: Cream tea and freshly made scone with clotted cream and jam..umm..umm!!
Greenwich: The city of Greenwich is really nice..about 30 mins from London. There are lots of nice shops and ofcourse the Greenwich market which has small stores with fantastic food, fresh food, clothes, art, etc.etc. Ofcourse the reason we went to Greenwich was to visit the royal observatory and the Prime Meridian (zero deg Longitude). It is situated on top of a hill in their main park. There is also a museum that explains how they came about with the concepts of latitude and longitude..very nice. It was also fun to just sit on top of the hill with a view of greenwich and london in the distance.
Greenwich Prime Meridian (Zero deg Longitude)
DP and me hemispheres apart but still together!!
Houses of Parliament: For about a month in summer (Aug-Sep), they open the palace and the mews and the houses of parliament for public viewing. So we got lucky and could actually go inside them. The Parliament building along with the Big ben are absolutely breathtaking from the outside, day or night. Inside too, it is really nice. It was a palace originally, so it still retains all the grandeur of one. We could visit the Westminster hall, the house of commons and the lords. There is a stark difference between the house of lords and commons, one very grand with intricate golden carvings and the other more like a working parliament. We sat one row away from where Tony Blair sits...Oh..so cool!! (Irrespective of what the brits say, he is pretty cool..not sure why he got involved in the war. But if you ignore that ..). The tour guide explained the history and the working of the parliament and all about the state opening of the parliament ceremony. Their parliamentary system is still undergoing changes. The house of lords was their supreme court equivalent till now, but now they are going to separate the judicial system from the house of lords. Really fantastic tour overall.
Houses of Parloament and Big Ben
Lord's: This was the best tour I have been on. We took the 10 am tour that takes you to the pavillion from where the players come out and the dressing room for the teams and where the players watch from. The tour is very comprehensive and you cover the entire stadium and the press box and also get to go till the edge of the field. And we got lucky to even watch a game between two local teams. It was a lot of fun. Absolutely loved it. The stadium is really lovely. We also visited the museum that had scorecards from the world cup India won, the ashes trophy etc. etc. a haven for cricket lovers.
Cricket match in progress at Lord's with pavillion in the background
Scorecard of the 1983 World Cup that India won
Oxford and bollywood ;) A really nice university city. We didn't go inside any of the colleges, just walked around the city. The architecture is very lovely. But the highlight of the trip was a bollywood movie shooting. They were shooting the movie Salaam E Ishq which is apparently a remake of Love Actually. Saw Priyanka Chopra getting ready to start dancing ;)
Priyanka Chopra during the shooting of Salaam-E-Ishq at Oxford
Bath: This is a Georgian/Roman town about 1.5 hours away from London. The town is very unigue, it has still preserved all the architecture. As the name suggests, it is famous for the Roman baths. The Bath Abbey is also really amazing..very similar to the Westminster Abbey. It was the hometown of Jane Austen (I bought the entire collection of Jane Austen for a really good deal :). One more unique thing to Bath is the Roman Crescent. Building shaped as a crescent...extremely lovely. We just walked around exploring the city and enjoying what we saw. And ofcourse, who can forget Sally Lunn Buns. Oh such soft melting in the mouth bun. Really nice.
The Roman Crescent in Bath (unable to capture the entire building in one picture..such a massive crescent shaped building)
Bath Abbey at Night
Bath
Changing of the Guard: It is so crowded. People line up and hold places to watch it over 3 hours before it starts. We got there about 15 mins before it started..so we did not have the greatest unblocked view. But it was fun neverthless. It went on for about 45 mins. In the middle they also had a music peformance by the guards...and guess what they played (besides other songs)...THE STAR WARS..!!! How cool!!
Change of Guard at Buckingham Palace
Some other highlights:
Notting Hill Carnival: It is a carribean festival and happens once a year and is attended by over a million londoners. Very cool..they had a parade and food stalls with carribean food..corn, tamale type veggie patties and ofcourse coconut water/nariyal pani..authentic style and they would even remove the malai once you are done drinking the water. They also had different "sound stages" for music..rap, techno and the carribean style music (reggae ??)and the amazing part was junta dancing carefree on the streets...something very uniquie to london/europe..:)
Entire london at beautiful Notting hill for the annual carribean carnival
St. Paul's Catherdral: Very impressive cathedral by Christopher Wren. The cathedral was destroyed many times - fire/war. The amazing part is the concept of a dome within a dome. this was the church where Diana married Prince Charles. And the views from the top are great. You get to see the tower bridge.
Tower of London: Really huge. We walked through the various towers. Understood the history of the various kings. Man.... their lives were ghory..with kings killing young princes, imprisioning their own sister and mother, etc..etc..for the sake of becoming the king. We also saw the crown jewels and the famous kohinoor diamond. It is so funny, they have a moving walkway in the room storing the jewels..so you can't really hang around for long around them. So we did the pradakshina multiple times :) And ofcourse ..no pictures!!
Tower of London from the South bank
Tower Bridge: Absolutely gorgeous..looks even lovelier at night.
Tower Bridge
Buckingham Palace and the royal Mews: It is absolutely breathtaking - The grand staircase, the huge staterooms, the high ceiling, the large windows overlooking acres and acres of well manicured gardens, the ballrooms etc. And the amazing part is that unlike a lot of other palaces, this one is a real working one with a real queen. They also had on display some 80 gowns and jewelry worn by the queen over the last 60 years. The royal mews was nice too..We saw the various horse carriages used by the royal family and their guests and ofcourse their rolls royce.
Buckingham Palace backyard
Westminster Abbey: The place famous for the coronation of the monarchs, their weddings and ofcourse where the royal burrials. The place is huge and is gothic style. We saw the coronation chair that looks really sad but it has been used since 1066. This is also the place where famous poets, writers, scientists, etc are buried or have their memorial eg: newton (Da Vinci code fame ;), jane austen, shakespeare, william wordsworth...etc...etc
Westminster Abbey
Harrods: This is the famous store by Mr Al-Fayed. It started as a grocery store and now you get anything and everything there. They have an entire floor on just sports stuff. Pretty cool. They had a memorial for Diana and Dodi since we were there around the anniversary of their tragic accident. The grocery section was really cool and we bought tons of things. The other memorable part of Harrods was the cars parked around it..bentleys, the most expensive mercs, rolls royce, etc. etc..(and ofcourse all chauffer driven)..
London Eye: The giant wheel on the Thames installed by British airways. The views are nice..but disappointed that you do not get to see the tower bridge or tower of london. The ideal time would be as the lights are just about to turn on.
Windsor Castle: This is another working castle used by the monrach for staying, hosting state events and functions like the "Order of the Garter". The castle is huge, kind of like a self-sufficient village. Saw some artifacts from India and ofcourse Queen Mary's doll house. WE missed the St. George's Chapel because they were conducting an event for a real Knight.
Windsor Castle
Stonehenge and Avebury henge: What can I say.. a bunch of stones lying around since 3000 BC ;). A lot of the stone circle has been destroyed but the amazing part is how they dragged such huge heavy stones from so many miles. Another thing is how they used these stone structures to figure out eclipses etc..lot of progress in astronomy. The drive was really nice since we went through towns/villages in the famous Cotswolds. It was a true british countryside experience with sheep and all..Reminded us of Jeeves and Wooster.
Stonehenge
Wimbledon: The tour is really nice. It would have been much nicer if we had gotten to see the centre court. It has currently been stripped completely for renovation to add a new much needed retractable roof. The courts were looking really lovely...with the grass all green and lovely. We visited the cafeteria where the players eat, the changing rooms, press box, etc. The museum is ok..not as great. The highlight of the museum was seeing the trophy with the names of the winners on it.
DP in the official press conference room at Wimbledon promising to beat Roger Federer next year :)
And more....
Madame Tussauds: Interesting..some of the models are very good while some not as great.
DP with Captain Jack Sparrow
221b Baker Street: The home of Sherlock homes. Did not visit the museum..just checked out the shop
British Musem: It is amazing..very huge. Some very nice exhibits on greece, italy and egypt. We spent about 2hours there...and one can clearly spend a whole day and still have things to explore.
Inside british museum - amazing all natural lighting
Library at British Museum. The ceiling is a beautiful dome
Trafalgar square: They had some musical performances but missed. Aweseome place to just hang around and just watch people...
Piccadily circus: Again just a place to hang around/shop etc. There was a spanish festival on Regent street on Sep 3. We got to catch that as well. And ofcourse this was where we had the Burger king where we ate like pigs....
Covent Garden: Not really a garden..a happening place like Quincy Market in Boston (or rather quincy was probably based on covent garden)
St. James Park: One really nice thing about London is the presence of huge parks (Hyde park, green park, kensington gardens, st. james park and ofcourse regent park) in the middle of the city. We need to thank the monarchy for not letting the city convert all this green area into concrete buildings. St. James park is lovely with a pond in the middle. There are about 30 different kinds of birds that you can see there. They have chairs for people to relax on. We just chilled on the lawns....
Was a great trip..but feels good to be back to water fountains and dollar prices ;)
The best part about london is that it has still maintained the beauty of the Victorian/Georgian ages..Infact sometimes when you see the taxis going on a street you feel like you have gone back in time to the early 1900's or something.
(Click on images for larger view)
Can you believe this is London today??
Instructions/Warnings in Hindi :)
Here are the most memorable ones (our favorites)...
Burger King: the veggie burger and the spicy bean burger absolutely rocks!!!...Kind of weird to start with this as the first highlight but we do not get any good veggie burgers here :(
Afternoon tea: Cream tea and freshly made scone with clotted cream and jam..umm..umm!!
Greenwich: The city of Greenwich is really nice..about 30 mins from London. There are lots of nice shops and ofcourse the Greenwich market which has small stores with fantastic food, fresh food, clothes, art, etc.etc. Ofcourse the reason we went to Greenwich was to visit the royal observatory and the Prime Meridian (zero deg Longitude). It is situated on top of a hill in their main park. There is also a museum that explains how they came about with the concepts of latitude and longitude..very nice. It was also fun to just sit on top of the hill with a view of greenwich and london in the distance.
Greenwich Prime Meridian (Zero deg Longitude)
DP and me hemispheres apart but still together!!
Houses of Parliament: For about a month in summer (Aug-Sep), they open the palace and the mews and the houses of parliament for public viewing. So we got lucky and could actually go inside them. The Parliament building along with the Big ben are absolutely breathtaking from the outside, day or night. Inside too, it is really nice. It was a palace originally, so it still retains all the grandeur of one. We could visit the Westminster hall, the house of commons and the lords. There is a stark difference between the house of lords and commons, one very grand with intricate golden carvings and the other more like a working parliament. We sat one row away from where Tony Blair sits...Oh..so cool!! (Irrespective of what the brits say, he is pretty cool..not sure why he got involved in the war. But if you ignore that ..). The tour guide explained the history and the working of the parliament and all about the state opening of the parliament ceremony. Their parliamentary system is still undergoing changes. The house of lords was their supreme court equivalent till now, but now they are going to separate the judicial system from the house of lords. Really fantastic tour overall.
Houses of Parloament and Big Ben
Lord's: This was the best tour I have been on. We took the 10 am tour that takes you to the pavillion from where the players come out and the dressing room for the teams and where the players watch from. The tour is very comprehensive and you cover the entire stadium and the press box and also get to go till the edge of the field. And we got lucky to even watch a game between two local teams. It was a lot of fun. Absolutely loved it. The stadium is really lovely. We also visited the museum that had scorecards from the world cup India won, the ashes trophy etc. etc. a haven for cricket lovers.
Cricket match in progress at Lord's with pavillion in the background
Scorecard of the 1983 World Cup that India won
Oxford and bollywood ;) A really nice university city. We didn't go inside any of the colleges, just walked around the city. The architecture is very lovely. But the highlight of the trip was a bollywood movie shooting. They were shooting the movie Salaam E Ishq which is apparently a remake of Love Actually. Saw Priyanka Chopra getting ready to start dancing ;)
Priyanka Chopra during the shooting of Salaam-E-Ishq at Oxford
Bath: This is a Georgian/Roman town about 1.5 hours away from London. The town is very unigue, it has still preserved all the architecture. As the name suggests, it is famous for the Roman baths. The Bath Abbey is also really amazing..very similar to the Westminster Abbey. It was the hometown of Jane Austen (I bought the entire collection of Jane Austen for a really good deal :). One more unique thing to Bath is the Roman Crescent. Building shaped as a crescent...extremely lovely. We just walked around exploring the city and enjoying what we saw. And ofcourse, who can forget Sally Lunn Buns. Oh such soft melting in the mouth bun. Really nice.
The Roman Crescent in Bath (unable to capture the entire building in one picture..such a massive crescent shaped building)
Bath Abbey at Night
Bath
Changing of the Guard: It is so crowded. People line up and hold places to watch it over 3 hours before it starts. We got there about 15 mins before it started..so we did not have the greatest unblocked view. But it was fun neverthless. It went on for about 45 mins. In the middle they also had a music peformance by the guards...and guess what they played (besides other songs)...THE STAR WARS..!!! How cool!!
Change of Guard at Buckingham Palace
Some other highlights:
Notting Hill Carnival: It is a carribean festival and happens once a year and is attended by over a million londoners. Very cool..they had a parade and food stalls with carribean food..corn, tamale type veggie patties and ofcourse coconut water/nariyal pani..authentic style and they would even remove the malai once you are done drinking the water. They also had different "sound stages" for music..rap, techno and the carribean style music (reggae ??)and the amazing part was junta dancing carefree on the streets...something very uniquie to london/europe..:)
Entire london at beautiful Notting hill for the annual carribean carnival
St. Paul's Catherdral: Very impressive cathedral by Christopher Wren. The cathedral was destroyed many times - fire/war. The amazing part is the concept of a dome within a dome. this was the church where Diana married Prince Charles. And the views from the top are great. You get to see the tower bridge.
Tower of London: Really huge. We walked through the various towers. Understood the history of the various kings. Man.... their lives were ghory..with kings killing young princes, imprisioning their own sister and mother, etc..etc..for the sake of becoming the king. We also saw the crown jewels and the famous kohinoor diamond. It is so funny, they have a moving walkway in the room storing the jewels..so you can't really hang around for long around them. So we did the pradakshina multiple times :) And ofcourse ..no pictures!!
Tower of London from the South bank
Tower Bridge: Absolutely gorgeous..looks even lovelier at night.
Tower Bridge
Buckingham Palace and the royal Mews: It is absolutely breathtaking - The grand staircase, the huge staterooms, the high ceiling, the large windows overlooking acres and acres of well manicured gardens, the ballrooms etc. And the amazing part is that unlike a lot of other palaces, this one is a real working one with a real queen. They also had on display some 80 gowns and jewelry worn by the queen over the last 60 years. The royal mews was nice too..We saw the various horse carriages used by the royal family and their guests and ofcourse their rolls royce.
Buckingham Palace backyard
Westminster Abbey: The place famous for the coronation of the monarchs, their weddings and ofcourse where the royal burrials. The place is huge and is gothic style. We saw the coronation chair that looks really sad but it has been used since 1066. This is also the place where famous poets, writers, scientists, etc are buried or have their memorial eg: newton (Da Vinci code fame ;), jane austen, shakespeare, william wordsworth...etc...etc
Westminster Abbey
Harrods: This is the famous store by Mr Al-Fayed. It started as a grocery store and now you get anything and everything there. They have an entire floor on just sports stuff. Pretty cool. They had a memorial for Diana and Dodi since we were there around the anniversary of their tragic accident. The grocery section was really cool and we bought tons of things. The other memorable part of Harrods was the cars parked around it..bentleys, the most expensive mercs, rolls royce, etc. etc..(and ofcourse all chauffer driven)..
London Eye: The giant wheel on the Thames installed by British airways. The views are nice..but disappointed that you do not get to see the tower bridge or tower of london. The ideal time would be as the lights are just about to turn on.
Windsor Castle: This is another working castle used by the monrach for staying, hosting state events and functions like the "Order of the Garter". The castle is huge, kind of like a self-sufficient village. Saw some artifacts from India and ofcourse Queen Mary's doll house. WE missed the St. George's Chapel because they were conducting an event for a real Knight.
Windsor Castle
Stonehenge and Avebury henge: What can I say.. a bunch of stones lying around since 3000 BC ;). A lot of the stone circle has been destroyed but the amazing part is how they dragged such huge heavy stones from so many miles. Another thing is how they used these stone structures to figure out eclipses etc..lot of progress in astronomy. The drive was really nice since we went through towns/villages in the famous Cotswolds. It was a true british countryside experience with sheep and all..Reminded us of Jeeves and Wooster.
Stonehenge
Wimbledon: The tour is really nice. It would have been much nicer if we had gotten to see the centre court. It has currently been stripped completely for renovation to add a new much needed retractable roof. The courts were looking really lovely...with the grass all green and lovely. We visited the cafeteria where the players eat, the changing rooms, press box, etc. The museum is ok..not as great. The highlight of the museum was seeing the trophy with the names of the winners on it.
DP in the official press conference room at Wimbledon promising to beat Roger Federer next year :)
And more....
Madame Tussauds: Interesting..some of the models are very good while some not as great.
DP with Captain Jack Sparrow
221b Baker Street: The home of Sherlock homes. Did not visit the museum..just checked out the shop
British Musem: It is amazing..very huge. Some very nice exhibits on greece, italy and egypt. We spent about 2hours there...and one can clearly spend a whole day and still have things to explore.
Inside british museum - amazing all natural lighting
Library at British Museum. The ceiling is a beautiful dome
Trafalgar square: They had some musical performances but missed. Aweseome place to just hang around and just watch people...
Piccadily circus: Again just a place to hang around/shop etc. There was a spanish festival on Regent street on Sep 3. We got to catch that as well. And ofcourse this was where we had the Burger king where we ate like pigs....
Covent Garden: Not really a garden..a happening place like Quincy Market in Boston (or rather quincy was probably based on covent garden)
St. James Park: One really nice thing about London is the presence of huge parks (Hyde park, green park, kensington gardens, st. james park and ofcourse regent park) in the middle of the city. We need to thank the monarchy for not letting the city convert all this green area into concrete buildings. St. James park is lovely with a pond in the middle. There are about 30 different kinds of birds that you can see there. They have chairs for people to relax on. We just chilled on the lawns....
Was a great trip..but feels good to be back to water fountains and dollar prices ;)
Friday, September 15, 2006
Random thoughts - Sep 15
My dad sent a picture of the 1994 pulitzer prize winning photograph a couple of days back. I have seen this before, but seeing it again just made me realize that how some people are deprived some of the most basic necessities in life while we spend hours depressed and cribbing about high house prices, falling stocks, etc..etc. We should realize how fortunate we are and be thankful that atleast we don't have to worry whether we will get anything to eat within the next week. Secondly we should all take a vow that we will not waste a single morsel of food. I also always wondered why someone would even think about clicking a picture in such a scenario instead of just going and picking up the child and giving some food.
Last week the americans celebrated Katie Couric hosting the evening news. It is the first time that a woman is hosting solo, the evening news on the national channels...oh my god how can a woman report news in a crisis situation. Such a pity..makes you wonder how much more longer it will be before the country will even consider (let alone vote) a woman as President.
The governator signed a bill today banning the use of cell phones while driving. It took them 5 years...5 years, to create the bill. My God...is it lack of common sense or just a way of ensuring job security. And it is going to be in effect only 2 years from now (2008).
On the funny side:
- A man was forced to marry a goat in Sudan ;)
- Read this article about elephants and birth control ;). If only they could enforce it on humans !!
Last week the americans celebrated Katie Couric hosting the evening news. It is the first time that a woman is hosting solo, the evening news on the national channels...oh my god how can a woman report news in a crisis situation. Such a pity..makes you wonder how much more longer it will be before the country will even consider (let alone vote) a woman as President.
The governator signed a bill today banning the use of cell phones while driving. It took them 5 years...5 years, to create the bill. My God...is it lack of common sense or just a way of ensuring job security. And it is going to be in effect only 2 years from now (2008).
On the funny side:
- A man was forced to marry a goat in Sudan ;)
- Read this article about elephants and birth control ;). If only they could enforce it on humans !!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Law & (Dis) Order
Lots of changes in Law & Order this fall. Alana De La Garza is going to be the new ADA with Jack McCoy. She is replacing Parisse. I can't believe it....She is so pathetic.. I couldn't watch CSI: Miami because of her (actually that is not the only thing that is bad in the serial..there are worse). Absolutely no class. Miss Angie Harmon. She was the best.
Another change is going to be Milena Govich who replaces Dennis Farina. What is Dick Wolf trying to do - hire great looking (not in my opinion :) brainless women to increase the viewership??
Read this
And then ofcourse Connie Nielsen replacing Mariska Hargitay while she is on maternity leave. Who can replace Olivia benson ??
So more time to read books and do something useful this fall instead of watching TV.
Another change is going to be Milena Govich who replaces Dennis Farina. What is Dick Wolf trying to do - hire great looking (not in my opinion :) brainless women to increase the viewership??
Read this
And then ofcourse Connie Nielsen replacing Mariska Hargitay while she is on maternity leave. Who can replace Olivia benson ??
So more time to read books and do something useful this fall instead of watching TV.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
Summer of 2006
(click on images for larger view)
My sister visited us and we also had a mini-family reunion - a lot of my cousins and uncles. It was a lot of fun. Suddenly our home feels very empty and lonely now that they are all gone.
Below are some pictures of all the things we did over summer.
Summer of 2006...Ohhh...what a lovely time
Our song...Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Muir woods, PCH and Half moon bay
=====================
Half moon bay...what a foggy day. The Ritz carlton and golf course.
You, me and Dupree :)
San Francisco Golden gate...could it get any more foggy...!!
Stinson beach and Muir woods...we did a part of the Dipsea trail (3.5 miles hike) got lost in the middle, fortunately found some other hikers with a map...
Then drive along the pacific coast to Stinson beach..oh what a lovely beach. I wish it was not that foggy that day.
Los Angeles
==================
Getty Museum is amazing and definitely worth visiting. They have sculptures and paintings from Europe - Monet (and his water lilies), Rembrant, Van Gogh, etc. The museum is also very open and all natural lighting. Mr. Paul Getty has really brought the feeling of a European museum to LA.
Beverly hills and Rodeo drive - ofcourse fantastic houses and shops. Unfortunately we did not spot any stars.
Hollywood boulevard and sign - For the first time we saw the hollywood sign clearly from the Hollywood and highland mall. We also walked along hollywood boulevard and met Elvis, spiderman, marilyn monroe..etc, etc. Saw the hand impressions at Chinese Gruman theatre
Universal studios - No visit to LA is complete without a tour of the universal studios. We saw the sets of war of the worlds, bourne identity and fast and the furious and ofcourse the famous Desperate housewives. Can you believe wisteria lane is actually in LA. We experienced an earthquake, psycho, mummy and jaws all in a day..Amazing...
Getty Museum, Rodeo Drive
Hollywood, Universal Studios (War of the Worlds set)
Las Vegas
=========
Was absolutely great. This is the best trip to vegas of mine. It is kind of amazing how they have built up a city just for entertainment. We saw the show "O" which was fantastic..it is absolutely impossible to describe it..you just have to have to watch it.
Also this was the first time we roamed around in the casinos during the day and I think it it much nicer than in the nights because all the shops are open, good food at various cafes, lots of people and free live entertainment
Some of the other highlights are:
- Watching some live performances at the Venetian
- The chocolate fountain at Bellagio
- Going up the Eiffel tour and seeing one of the Bellagio fountain show
- Food at Venice
- Live music at New York New york..the band was pretty good.
New York New York ;) , Venetian
Chocolate Fountain @ Bellagio (yummm) , Sugar & Spice @ Wynn
Stratosphere
Yosemite
=======
Well no visit to the bay area is complete without a weekend at Yosemite. No matter how many times you go, it just gets more and more beautiful. We covered the usual suspects - El Capitan, Bridal Veil falls, Yosemite Falls, Glacier Point, Tenya Lake, Merced river and vernal falls.
The most memorable were sunset at Glacier Point, the trek upto the top of vernal falls and dancing on Tenya Lake :)
Glacier Point sunset (Half dome..Gorgeous!!)
At end of the trek to the top of vernal falls, Tenya Lake
Napa Valley and San Francisco
====================
Napa valley - Beringer
Visited the wine country at Napa. Took the tour at Beringer. The tour was an extended tour including the cellars, the leaning oak, the demo vineyard :). the mansion and ofcourse tasting of some of their premium wines. Have been to other wine yards but this was very interesting and nice. The wines tasted were pretty bad. The leaning oak chardonnay was the most decent.
Cellars @ beringer, the mansion
Oh such lovely grapes on the demo vineyard. Had to resist real hard to not pluck a few :)
San Francisco - II
Went to San francisco a second time. Absolutely perfect day with lovely views of the Golden gate, the city and ofcourse the crooked street
Golden gate, San Francisco city
Crooked street (Lombard)
Lake Tahoe
========
The final weekend we went to Lake Tahoe. It was a lovely trip. We spent tons of time in the water. We took the Gandola ride to the top and visited Emerald bay. The highlight was jet sking in the lake.
Lake Tahoe from the top, Emerald bay
Jet skiing, Me water Skiing ;) (Just Kidding!!)
My sister visited us and we also had a mini-family reunion - a lot of my cousins and uncles. It was a lot of fun. Suddenly our home feels very empty and lonely now that they are all gone.
Below are some pictures of all the things we did over summer.
Summer of 2006...Ohhh...what a lovely time
Our song...Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Muir woods, PCH and Half moon bay
=====================
Half moon bay...what a foggy day. The Ritz carlton and golf course.
You, me and Dupree :)
San Francisco Golden gate...could it get any more foggy...!!
Stinson beach and Muir woods...we did a part of the Dipsea trail (3.5 miles hike) got lost in the middle, fortunately found some other hikers with a map...
Then drive along the pacific coast to Stinson beach..oh what a lovely beach. I wish it was not that foggy that day.
Los Angeles
==================
Getty Museum is amazing and definitely worth visiting. They have sculptures and paintings from Europe - Monet (and his water lilies), Rembrant, Van Gogh, etc. The museum is also very open and all natural lighting. Mr. Paul Getty has really brought the feeling of a European museum to LA.
Beverly hills and Rodeo drive - ofcourse fantastic houses and shops. Unfortunately we did not spot any stars.
Hollywood boulevard and sign - For the first time we saw the hollywood sign clearly from the Hollywood and highland mall. We also walked along hollywood boulevard and met Elvis, spiderman, marilyn monroe..etc, etc. Saw the hand impressions at Chinese Gruman theatre
Universal studios - No visit to LA is complete without a tour of the universal studios. We saw the sets of war of the worlds, bourne identity and fast and the furious and ofcourse the famous Desperate housewives. Can you believe wisteria lane is actually in LA. We experienced an earthquake, psycho, mummy and jaws all in a day..Amazing...
Getty Museum, Rodeo Drive
Hollywood, Universal Studios (War of the Worlds set)
Las Vegas
=========
Was absolutely great. This is the best trip to vegas of mine. It is kind of amazing how they have built up a city just for entertainment. We saw the show "O" which was fantastic..it is absolutely impossible to describe it..you just have to have to watch it.
Also this was the first time we roamed around in the casinos during the day and I think it it much nicer than in the nights because all the shops are open, good food at various cafes, lots of people and free live entertainment
Some of the other highlights are:
- Watching some live performances at the Venetian
- The chocolate fountain at Bellagio
- Going up the Eiffel tour and seeing one of the Bellagio fountain show
- Food at Venice
- Live music at New York New york..the band was pretty good.
New York New York ;) , Venetian
Chocolate Fountain @ Bellagio (yummm) , Sugar & Spice @ Wynn
Stratosphere
Yosemite
=======
Well no visit to the bay area is complete without a weekend at Yosemite. No matter how many times you go, it just gets more and more beautiful. We covered the usual suspects - El Capitan, Bridal Veil falls, Yosemite Falls, Glacier Point, Tenya Lake, Merced river and vernal falls.
The most memorable were sunset at Glacier Point, the trek upto the top of vernal falls and dancing on Tenya Lake :)
Glacier Point sunset (Half dome..Gorgeous!!)
At end of the trek to the top of vernal falls, Tenya Lake
Napa Valley and San Francisco
====================
Napa valley - Beringer
Visited the wine country at Napa. Took the tour at Beringer. The tour was an extended tour including the cellars, the leaning oak, the demo vineyard :). the mansion and ofcourse tasting of some of their premium wines. Have been to other wine yards but this was very interesting and nice. The wines tasted were pretty bad. The leaning oak chardonnay was the most decent.
Cellars @ beringer, the mansion
Oh such lovely grapes on the demo vineyard. Had to resist real hard to not pluck a few :)
San Francisco - II
Went to San francisco a second time. Absolutely perfect day with lovely views of the Golden gate, the city and ofcourse the crooked street
Golden gate, San Francisco city
Crooked street (Lombard)
Lake Tahoe
========
The final weekend we went to Lake Tahoe. It was a lovely trip. We spent tons of time in the water. We took the Gandola ride to the top and visited Emerald bay. The highlight was jet sking in the lake.
Lake Tahoe from the top, Emerald bay
Jet skiing, Me water Skiing ;) (Just Kidding!!)
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Oh what lovely yarn and no FO
Bought a lot of yarn in May hoping to knit some new things like a sweater, some party purses, shawl etc..but so far have not made much progress...
Below is a picture with all the yarn accumulated :). I have some :
- Noro Kureyon (#52) with a dark brown cascade 220 for DP's sweater from Sally Melville's color book.
- I have a Laura shciffer variegated yarn (extremely gorgeous) for an opera scarf and ofcourse
- my favorite Tahki New Tweed (in dark red) for the anthroplogie capelet and/or the circular shrug and
- a dark maroon acrylic yarn to make a shawl and some wool and fancy yarn for some party purses.
(Click on image for a larger view)
The only FO in the last two months has been a corkscrew scarf (pattern) in blue....Pretty lovely..I underestimated the length..so it is quite long and not as wide and ruffled..I would have prefered it to be a little wider..anyways looks nice..
So what have we been upto all summer ??? See the next post
Below is a picture with all the yarn accumulated :). I have some :
- Noro Kureyon (#52) with a dark brown cascade 220 for DP's sweater from Sally Melville's color book.
- I have a Laura shciffer variegated yarn (extremely gorgeous) for an opera scarf and ofcourse
- my favorite Tahki New Tweed (in dark red) for the anthroplogie capelet and/or the circular shrug and
- a dark maroon acrylic yarn to make a shawl and some wool and fancy yarn for some party purses.
(Click on image for a larger view)
The only FO in the last two months has been a corkscrew scarf (pattern) in blue....Pretty lovely..I underestimated the length..so it is quite long and not as wide and ruffled..I would have prefered it to be a little wider..anyways looks nice..
So what have we been upto all summer ??? See the next post
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