The vacation ends

yes , I would be lying if I were to deny that I wasn't feeling elated at the fact that I need to get back to work tomorrow after a fairly long break. The last I can remember is that I had worked on  checking in a major part of the code on the  18th , when half of the day was devoted to other extra curricular activities such as watching a company sponsored James Bond Movie. Half of 19th too was consumed with a rock band competition at work. 

The week earlier , I had managed to plan a short trip to San Diego . We were set to travel on the 22nd ( Monday). This weekend ( 20-21) was spent in a boisterous mood , planning for the trip. I also managed to get my room a little more organized by getting a filing cabinet from Pacifica. I managed to catch a glimpse of the ocean from the Pier at Pacifica . 

I showed up to work on Monday not really expecting to do much. The only thing that i remembered was fixing a file with extra lines that day ! . I decided to take off a little earlier, needing to purchase some last minute necessities such as toothpaste, cream etc. 

I reached home and started finalizing the packing for the trip that we were set to embark in a couple of hours. We have arranged for extra transportation ( thanks to an obliging neighbor) . I had to drive to the airport with the baby. Everything worked out fine  including unloading luggage , except for the part where there wasn't enough space to park at SFO long term parking. However i managed to secure a spot in the parking lot outside. In all of this and un-doing the car seat , I  must have accidently switched on the light inside the car. Bad and costly mistake that I realized later. 

Checking in was straightforward, although I was overwhelmed with the amount of pieces that had to pass thru security. laptops , cellphones , shoes, jackets , folded stroller , car seat , backpack . 

We proceeded to our boarding gate , where we had sufficient time before boarding began. One of the privileges of traveling with a baby is that one gets boarding priority . The airline(Virgin America) looked plush and we managed to settle into our seats. Slowly the plane was full to capacity and we were ready to take off. Jillu ( our baby) was feeling a little un-settled and was crying all through the taxiing stage of the take-off. Between the point where the aircraft rapidly accelerated and was in mid air , Jillu was asleep which left me and Arthi astounded.

The flight was a short 1.5 hr journey that was spent between consuming the free beverage and using the on-screen entertainment system. We landed and headed towards baggage claim. I decided to proceed to the rental car location to pick up a car . 

I was disappointed by the car that was initially handed over to me , a Pontiac grand prix that would have not fit our requirement of  carrying 4+ pieces of luggage and massive baby stroller. I decided to upgrade and we were fortunate to get a Mazda - 5 ( a small sized Mini-van).

I finally managed to get back to the terminal to receive my party after which we headed to our hotel. It isn't fun driving around at 11:30 pm in a new city. However we managed to reach our hotel . I was a little shocked to see the old-style ambiance of the location and some extra weirdity associated with the hotel. I was not a big fan of the old-style environs of the hotel but was too tired to really complain that nite. 

After all the hotel was not all that bad. The saving grace being a roof-top restaurant that served free( there isn't anything as free lunch in this world)  continental breakfast that was pretty sumptuous. 

Our first day at San Diego , we decided to visit seaworld ( aquatic amusement park). It was strange that this place was very close to the hotel ( <>

I did enjoy seaworld , notable are the pacific-whale ( Shamu) , dolphin and not to miss the 4-D Sesame street  animation show which we used to give our tired legs a little rest to find that the seats ahead of us sprayed water to create a realistic effect. At the end of the day we struggled to find a suitable place to eat , but managed to stumble upon this thai restaurant which was inexpensive and served some delicious thai food. Later we came back to our hotel and hit the sack ! 

The second day , we decided to visit the San Diego zoo , with our fears of a rainstorm the next day. Its a lot of walking but some really interesting exhibits including elephants , giraffe's , double humped camels, panda bears etc. In the evening we decided to meet one of my childhood friends over dinner. 

The next day was rained out ( 25th dec) and we were forced to see TV(not to mention the non-existent wifi connection) where we were a silent party to the numerous countdown specials going on. Had to go to a nearby neighbourhood to get some lunch. For dinner I had decided to do some cost-cutting by having some soup and maggi . 

The next day ( our final day at SD) , we decided to check out and drive to downtown to see USS Midway the aircraft carrier. Its an awesome place . I wish that I could have spent more time there . We were on a tight schedule and had to fly out of SD to SFO that same afternoon. 

I returned to the airport where i dropped off my party and drove to the rental place to return the car. There was a possibility that we could fly on an earlier flight. We barely made it that day to an earlier flight . This trip was fun-filled but for the last part where I had to jump start the car and that the billing system broke down where i entered my ticket. Somehow I managed to return home. 

27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 

Weekend of 27 28 was spent visiting our friends in Fremont. 

On 29th I decided to get my Corolla serviced. Replaced the front rotors and brakes, replaced the wheel that was bent due to spin-out that had occured in snow in March 2008 in Chicago and also got my wheel alignment done. Also after handing over my car for service, I decided to walk back home from San mateo. It was a nice , carefree walk that lasted a good 1 hr . Also had a haircut at the end of that walk. I was car-less all this day as the car would be available only the next day -30th . Spent rest of the day collecting documents / photographs for Jillu's PIO Card.  

30th 

After understanding individual pieces of my $600 car repair bill , i proceeded to the Indian consulate at San Francisco to apply for Jillu's PIO. I came back and listened to a few iphone development lessons. Later I went to see Jillu at his day care. I came back to prepare from awesome Jeera aloo Curry. 

31st - Wednesday 

Arthi decided to work from home. Jillu had gone to daycare. I managed to go to Redwood city early in the morning to service the Subaru. This was the 31st and we had invited our friends from Fremont for some simple year-end dinner and a sleep-over. I had made some Chole. The rest of the day was spent cooking, seeing a new movie and Life in a metro. 

1st - Thur 

I woke up really late around 10:00 AM. It took everyone a long time to get ready as we had decided to go the Vaidiga Ganapathi temple in San Jose. We reached there around 3:30 . Later we decided to stop by Arthi's cousin's place to hand them a gift that was long overdue. Also I decided to stop by another friend's place in Cupertino to pick up a gift for Jillu that was handed over by my cousin aunt in Columbus Ohio. 

2nd Friday 

Didn't do much for the whole day except go for a stroll in the bay trail and cook some chana dalwada and some awesome pav-bhaji for a dinner at a neighbor;s house. 

3rd Saturday 

Its getting sadder, the long big vacation is almost over.  I decided to go to the tennis courts to move my arms. I managed to play with an elderly gentleman . Also manage to see a lot of TV.  

4th Sunday

Last day of my big vacation. get up around 9:30 . I go for a wall -practise session that didnt last all that long. After a well cooked lunch by Arthi , I take a siesta , after which I played some tennis with a friend . Finally saw this movie "A Wednesday" after which I am penning this blog . 

Ahh the long break is over. I have to work now and hopefully there arent any big issues to fix tomorrow. 

These are remnants of the PC that i had been using for the past 4 years. This is what remains of it .
An ATX case
48o W power supply
52 X CD drive
256 mb RAM .
Selling the case and PS should alleviate most of my space woes !

This is found all along the bay trail ( especially in Foster City, CA). Never knew that it bore flowers too.

bored as hell !

I write this blog with a mind-frame of doing it for my satisfaction and to record this passage of time. Its only at the end of a weekend that i reminisce about the last two days which were meant to be times for relaxation . I can say with confidence that I have never been able to say that this weekend was spent relaxing.

This weekend began with me waiting to collect food from a local restaurant to pick up dinner and then driving back home . The dinner is delicious and extremely greasy . After dinner, I immediately rush to tune into the cricket match between India and Australia being played at Mohali.

India are in a dominant position. At the face of it , it may seem sound boring to view a game for 5 days , but its extremely intriguing and presents a new perspective to the game.

I sleep around 2 AM and get up at 10 am on Saurday. I am still reeling from the greasiness of the previous nite's dinner.

I decide to spend some time with my baby and later decide to play some tennis ( or show up at the tennis courts and hope that i can find someone to play with ). i drive my bicycle to the tennis courts and am not surprised to see a bunch of soccer moms play their recreational weekend game ( with breakfast - of course).
The next thing on my mind is to grab the wall to do some wall-practice. Even there my luck isnt favorable , however i request to share the wall .

I was able to hit the forehand with relative ease with my ncode nsixone but the backhand is posing some problems and i fail tohit backhands with the same ease as forehands.

Even wall-practice gets boring after a while and i decide to ride back. on the way back i decide to stop by the other courts ( just out of curiosity) and am delighted to see that 2 courts are free. I decide to stop-by to get some serve practise. Serves are coming out ok . i am approached by someone who requests to have a hit. its a decent hit , he lacks a backhand however at this point in time , i shouldnt be complaining . It seems that I would be prepared to play with anyone who would be able to spell "tennis".

I return home to have lunch. We just get a call that our friends would be visiting. They arrive a little late . I offer to cook dinner for all of us. I end up making two dishes
capsicum rice and aloo sabzee. it wasnt all that bad.

Sunday is spent, visiting a friend and doing some grocery shopping. Have some nice tea in the evening and do some house cleaning.
im back again watching cricket .

Goodbye Chicago

today was the day when I finally bid adieu to 7+ years in Chicago. We definitely have our hearts heavy with only memories of Chicago , its cold snow and all these years of excitement , new opportunities, struggles, examinations , job - interviews and some good tennis.

Siddhanth also has bragging rights to have lived in Chicago.
I still feel that I will return to this great place , during a time when things are more stable in life and I will have more time to own some piece of real estate.

Just to recap, Wednesday was a darn hectic day. I was just seeing a glimmer of the end of day at around 11:30 PM when an idea struck . The idea was to take the first flight in the morning to Chicago after completing work.

My work eventually ended at around 2:30 AM. I reached my apartment being dead tired. I called up American Airlines to check the booking status for the earlier flight. They offered me a confirmed standby to board. I didnt have time to sleep , so i took a shower , looked up the address for the parking at San Jose airport and head towards the airport. The roadways were empty and I managed to reach the LTPL . Took the shuttle bus to the terminal and was able to check in pretty fast.
The wait at the airline gate wasn't too ardous. We finally started boarding at around 6 20 AM . I was a little disappointed to find that I had been assigned a middle seat.
The seats were very crampled . I had not managed to sleep a wink that night , but I managed to get some sleep.
My only other concern at this point was that I wouldnt be able to pick up a car rental from budget as the deal from hotwire.com was finalized and that no changes were permissible.

I took a chance to go to Budget and make a last-ditch effort to still manage the car rental. The queue at the budget location was long , slow and terribly irritating with the agent having a chit-chat session with two lady customers. Very unproffessional . I finally managed to speak a more brisk and professional representative. I started off the convo by explaining to him that I had a booking from hotwire and that I had to fly in due to an emergency that morning .

Luckily he obliged and I didnt even whimper when he offered me a Toyota highlander.
Very nice SUV and decent space. I gathered some strength to drive cautiiously and reach our house in Palatine , where Arthi was overseeing the move.

Everything was moved before I reached. I parked the Toyota in our garage and drove back with Arthi to her cousins house where we were to spend the rest of our time in Chicago.

I was very tired , however I was glad to see Siddhu-kutty whose personality is growing each day. When he isnt irritated, he almost always obliges with a cute smile and often reciprocates with an exclamatory sound.

We have Pizza to dinner and end the day by spending some time in Arthi's cousins room .

Friday July 25th .

I get up around 8 30 AM and am glad to be woken up to some good coffee. Its exciting to see Siddhu-kutty in the morning as he is very energetic , happy and eager to communicate with you.

Somehow I get back to getting a hold of a few errands for the day . I drive to get the oil change and the brake inspected on the subaru.

Its a long wait at the dealership, however they manage to get everthing done. To kill time , I managed to strike a convo with a middle-aged American lady.

Then I proceed to get a car-wash for the Subaru. Then I drive to the Palatine house where the cleaner has started cleaning the house and Arthi was there. Somehow we manage to get the house cleaned, the subaru shipped and meet our house-owner who writes us a check for the security deposit that I later deposited.
I drive to Circuit city to get a logitech remote control for Arthi's cousin as a gift.

Bala arrives in the evening . Again I pose the standard set of Motorola questions about everything and everyone there. I had promised the kids to take them to a movie. Bala agrees to join us.
We have a nice homely dinner cooked by Arthi's cousin. the last act of the day was to see the movie .
We had decided on Wall-E but go there to change our minds and opt to see a 3-D movie - the journey to the center of the earth. This would be my second 3-D movie after Chotta Chetan.
The movie is definitely not a bore and I manage to see the movie. We come back home and the next day is the day we have to fly out of Chicago to San Jose.

Well the day does come and Siddhanth cooperates very well in the flight . Kudos to Siddhu Kutty for behaving so well and not crying ( with anger , Kova azhyuga) inspite of all the new sensations that he would have experienced in the flight.

We are received by Anu and Balajee and I was glad to find my car intact at the airport.
A long day but no surprises today.
Yes we have left Chicago. We have just turned a new page in our lives. I will still miss Chicago for sure. Go bears ! Go cubs ! Go Sox

Life is a matter of choices

We make friends with whom we shares common interests , ideologies , joys and sorrows 

There comes a time when we cannot be there for each other. Its unfortunate but its a conscious choice that we make. 

its strange that its deemed as unfortunate coz its avoidable ! 

All of us embark on our own life journey and move to protect our interests. 

We make a conscious decision to  renounce the constant companionship of our near and dear ones ! 

Free but nothing to do

How many times does it happen that you have a weekend thats free but things/circumstances work out such that the weekend is wasted .

ahh how many times that it happens that you need to get something done but it does not happen and that you are fixated with it

How many times does it happen that you are looking forward to do a tonne of stuff on the weekend but nothing materializes and you end up just farting around.

ahh how ungrateful can you be. Always tending to look at negatives and not the blessings around.

Thinking of the days at Mot , seems that there has been a huge paradigm shift. Its been a pleasant shock to see a shift in the culture @ the workplace. I hope that this vibe persists.

Its weird that sometimes people place ur schedule at the last of their priorities.

Which is why it makes sense to stick to one's agenda and keep oneself engaged.

Expectations ! Next time someone tells u that they have plans for the weekend and that you need to mod ur plans for theirs , do not take it at face value..