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..