Hallowwen

I dressed up a Burglar, took a white shirt and PJ and made stripes with black duck tape. The number is a reference to Burgel Beagle from the Beagele Biys gang from Duck tales. Thanks to Dave for the idea! Had lots of fun making the costume and wearing it too. The two bags of cash are pillow covers with magazines stuffed in them.

The complete office pics can be seen here - http://picasaweb.google.com/arvindbatra/HalloweenKosmix#

Halloween - Kosmix

People were very creative and i was surprised by such a big turnout. Almost everyone came in a costume.

Awesome experience!

Belated Diwali

So, i didnt blog on Diwali this year. I wanted to but then blogging requires a frame of mind.

So what did i do this Diwali ?

Went shopping :) Sounds so fictitious. So i thought that i should buy an iphone on the special occasion of Diwali but apple and att go orthogonal to each other. So was unable to convert my t-mobile to att.

Ate lunch at Bhima;s - andhra style cuisine. Ate Thali. Remembered Blore days!

Watched Wake up Sid. Reviewes were posted before.

Went to potluck at Nikesh's house.
Here is how Nikesh invited me to Potluck
Wed ( 3 days before Diwali)
N - Hey Arvind, what are you doing on Diwali?
Me: (Thinks)Nothing.
N - I am organizing a potluck at my house. Would you like to come?
Me: (I am staring at him without giving an answer, this goes for 10 seconds)
N - You do not have to make anything.
Me: (Instantly) Ofcourse! Count me in!

So, good food, samose, gjams, mango lassi ...and many things. And then we played Mafia. A good game and Nikesh discovered that Arvind can talk and argue easily. I dont know why people get the wrong impression when they meet me for the first time.

The pics can be found here - http://picasaweb.google.com/garera/DiwaliPotluck2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCLja3rOKgorcBA&feat=email#

So, all in all a good Diwali as per US standards. Ofcourse Diwali in India takes a different meaning. Cant compare this with that.

Yosemite 2

8 people
6 guys 2 girls,
3 Chinese, 2 Brazilian, 1 Israeli, 1 Hungarian and 1 Indian
3 Math post-docs, 2 Math Phd students, 2 in CS and 1 undergrad

I can dissect the data, combinations in many ways but bottom line is that it was a unique set of people.

Friday night, we left Bay area for Yosemite. Stopped at In-n-Out for dinner ( good milk shakes). We camped outside Yosemite National park, my first camping experience. Tents, sleeping bags, fire, flashlights, marshmallows with crackers and the best - starting at stars. It was quite cold at night.

Next morning, we hiked up to Glacier point on the four mile trail which is of length 4.6 miles. My first strenuous trail, we climbed 900 meters on this trail. From Glacier Point, we took Panoramic trail ( 8 miles total), on which first we went down, 600 metres, then climbed up 500 metres and them came down. The trail covered Nevada falls, vernal falls, ending at Curry village. All in all total 12.6 miles (approx 20 kms). The hike from Glacier Point to Curry village was done in 4 hrs and at a good speed. It was getting quite darker and the trail was quite difficult too.

So what do i get in the end -
aching legs, badly aching legs, a blog post and a sense of achievement and great fun. I am ready for half dome (considered to be the most difficult hike in Yosemite) now!

Notes -
Camping is fun! Need to buy my own tent now!

Wake up Sid

aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh

I wanted to pull my hair many times while watching the movie. 8 months, yes it has been 8 months of not watching any bolly movie and i broke it with this one.....i have no words.

Rated 7.2, starring konkona sen sharma, music by shankaar ehsaan loy, newbie director.... it all looked promising .... but i overlooked one small detail - this movie is produced by Karan Johar. Gosh! if only i had know this info....i would not have gone if someone paid for me.

Why so? Bollywood has i think found out a new formula of success, other such films were Rock On, Luck by chance, that Aditi movie . what is the formula? Show young people rich, clubbing,enjoying life blah blah , then they have a mid life crisis when they run out of money and in some dumb (luck) way they come out of it.... heros are poster boys, houses are either huge or colored with vibrant colors if small.....


man! it was so pain to watch this one..... i can only say - wake up bolly indie.

I now have a car

Yesterday morning when i woke up, if someone may have asked me on a scale from 1 to 10, what are the chances you will have a car, i would have said 1. But it was meant to be i guess.

I bought a Toyota Corolla 2010 model silver color, Sports model.
Why this car?
Ans: - why not? :) Its a decent looking car with good fuel economy. And it is worth for what it is worth. The sports type adds a little jazz but then i was shopping with Gurshi :) (but i confess, i like it too)

And yes, that brings me to Gurshi, there is no doubt in my mind when i say that i would not have bought this car without Gurshi. There is a delta between thinking and delivering, i think Gurshi has the gift of filling the delta with ease.
And call it kismet, or call it coincidence, buying this car has been such a pleasurable experience. With this i come to Toyota Fremont. I have heard many bad things about auto dealers, they intimidate you, harass you etc. But amongst all dirt, there are still people who are professional, understand terms like business ethics and morals. My dealer Gil Zib(...) is one such person and i would recommend anyone to go to him to buy a car.

Even though my process started like two months ago, the real process (i mean with Gurshi) started last sunday and by friday, here i am with a car. So i am still an impulse buyer :)


10 Oct 2009.

In Bruges + Lions for Lambs

Suddenly out of no where i have seen two movies. Both are short 90 min movies and easy to watch.

In Bruges - I didnt knew it was in top 250 in imdb. Anyways.
I have now realized that i like irish movies or atleast irish accent a lot. I liked once, in the name of father and now this one. This movie has got a very unique take on hitmen and about their lives. Awesome acting, direction and creative background score adds the tocuhes to it. The lines are very well written. Bruges, the city/character is beautiful. At the rate of 1.2 times every minute, this movie surely reminds me of Reservoir dogs.


Lions for lambs -
The lesson here is that if you like an actor and he decides to make a movie, you should go and check it out. This was true with Clint Eastwood, Clooney and now Robert Redford. Strong cast, three story lines and a sad ending. Not the best movie but still very creative.

Life in Aug 8 to Sept 30

Welcome to the latest edition of Life in series. This is your host writing some random things and you, i assume, for the lack of anything else are reading it.

What happened?

Two excellent weekend trips - Big Sure and Lake tahoe. A 15 mile hike in a day. Beautiful places, weather, sceneries, forests, lakes, cold water, beaches and driving around in car.

What else?
Work, work and work. But enjoyed every bit of it. New ideas, implementations, and responsibilities. Got another award at workplace.

Is that it?
Knitting - Finished my first project aka wash cloth. Finished making a mug handle pattern. Making another one. Photos will be posted sometime in future.

And some movies as posted before.

Any regrets?
Piano - Failed to practice. Bought the keyboard but not getting time to practice. It will change soon.
David Copperfield is going at a very slow pace

Any thing else?
Car buying - too much of hassle than return - Car buying is not for impulse buyers:)

Something to be proud of?
Playing Mahjong - especially in office :)

Well executed plan

--thass, after a long time.

Well executed plan - A conversation between two enantiomers.

These is no better joy in life than executing a well crafted plan.
Says who?
Says the guy who robbed the bank yesterday.
Well that doesn't count.
Why?
Because another guy like him was arrested last week.

These is no better joy in life than executing a well crafted plan.
Says who?
The architect who designed XYZ building.
aaah, i dont like XYZ anyways.

These is no better joy in life than executing a well crafted plan.
Says who?
OBL
Are you kidding?
No.
Isn't OBL living in an underground cave? He surely doesn't count.

These is no better joy in life than executing a well crafted plan.
Says who?
Says God.
Baby, if this is his plan, he is doing a terrible job.
hehe, Things always go worse before they turn for better.
I anyways dont trust him.

the best of both worlds

the best of both worlds

है मज़ा बस इसी में
हैं एक अलग ही आनंद
जन्दगी अगर जीना है तो
भाग भाग के जियो
तेज़ रफ़्तार से दौड़ो

सुनी थी कहानी हमने
एक खरगोश और कछुए की
कहा था मेरे अध्यापक ने मुझको
कछुआ बनो खरगोश नहीं

अधूरी थी वोह कहानी
गलत था उसका सन्देश
कछुए से सीखो ज़िन्दगी का मज़ा
खरगोश से सीखो जिंदगी की गति
हिंगलिश में कहते हैं
दी बेस्ट ऑफ़ बोथ वोर्लड्स

Movie streak

My last 5 or 6 movie streak has just been awesome! I was even surprised that two of them have been from hollywood.

It starts with District 9. Sci-fi made in documentary style. Its always a gamble to watch movie made by a debutant. Either it could be horribly bad or it could be highly creative. This one falls in latter.

12 angry men. Yes, i have seen it now. If there is a list of movies which are copied the most, this one would be very close to the top. In Bollywood, it was called Ruka Hua Faisla. The whole idea of making a movie in just one room and yet maintaining the tension - genius!

The science of sleep. Thanks to Vivek for the recommendation! Quite abstract, unique movie. A man confused between reality and dreams. And you can do anything now with this plot.

Inglourious Basterds - A Tarantino movie. I love it (yes, i am a tarantino fan!). Make a world war movie in the style of western. The reason i love Tarantino is that he understands what makes things click in all genres of movie making. And he takes those things and uses them in his movies. Plus his dialogue writing is amazing.

Once upon a time in the West. Watched this one in office conference room :) Western by Sergei Leone. A very good movie but i was missing Clint Eastwood. Ennio Morricone music is beautiful as always.

The curious case of Benjamin Button. The idea of a man who is born old and grows to be young is very cool. But there is always the question - what to do with it? Benjamin Button is one of the answers. It is a good movie but not a brilliant movie. It becomes too hollywoody at some points, but at times it there are some great ones too. My best part was the picturization of the old baby, they really did a good job.

Lake Tahoe

I have become quite slow in blogging. Anyways, here is my long weekend Sept 5-6-7 update.
Went to Lake Tahoe with Vera.

Sept 5 - Reached Tahoe at about noon. Had a small stop at Sacramento. Nice small city :). Since it was a long weekend, there were too many people at Tahoe. Tried to go around the lake but dropped the idea after an hr because of too much traffic. Ended up hiking on Emerald bay and taking a dip in Tahoe.

Sept 6 - Did a 15 mile hike (my best so far). Started from Echo lake, passing Tamarack lake, then went to Lake of the woods (one of the best lakes in Tahoe) and then to Lake Aloha and back. While coming back, we took the water taxi for our last 1 mile. It was fun. After visiting all lakes, we went for HorseTail falls. Close to Horsetail falls, there are also Cascade falls which according to me are more beautiful.

Sept 7 - Went for a round trip around Lake Tahoe. Went to King's beach and relaxed there. Terrible traffic on the way back.

I got sunburn while taking a nap along the lake in such high altitude. Very unique experience for me :)

Tahoe has actually become quite a commercial city, there are chain restaurants, big banks, shops everywhere. Somehow, this fact makes the place less attractive.

Lake of the woods - I love the name! And indeed the lake is true to its name. A lake that is surrounded by woods from all sides as if they were protecting it. Awesome place!

Here are the pics -

Tahoe