5K run for the cure

This weekend I did a 5K (3.5 miles) at central park, race for cure (of breast cancer). The race had a huge turnaround. I was quite confident that I will make it, thanks to the Seattle marathon run, and I did. I can't say without breaking a sweat, my t-shirt was drenched! But that was from hot weather. It was amazing to see myself sail through it, and later ready to get going without 30 min of rest and bottle of vitamin water! I have got to keep it up!

Bear Mountain Hike

ok, so finally Bear mountain. Its probably one of the closest hiking trail picnic spot to NYC and accessible by bus. So this weekend we decided to go for the hike. This was a total grab stuff and go hike, no planning, no maps nothing. Once there, first we were little surprised by the area of this place, there is a small lake and picnic spots round it, and there is also large area for more picnic all around. There was absolutely no sign of trail head. Then we spotted someone with hiking poles, kind of ob she was here for hike. Asked her about trils, she showed her map, told about few trails she did, and told about the trail we were looking for, steep hike up to the tower and back in a loop. Then rahul brought some maps from somewhere, and we started applying budhhi and decided on a 6.5 mile trail. The trail head was somewhere hidden between highways, to get to the trail head, we had to cross a bunch of freeways, very adventurous. Somehow we managed to find the trailhead and it was immediately evident that its mostly an abandoned trail. Like most of the trails here, there were good signs to guide, but it was not a maintained trail from Seattle standards. So anyway, we started, it was more like a jungle walk and that made me nervous immediately. Then after a while we started hearing traffic noise and realized that the whole trail is close to the highway, we were never away from sound of the cars which was in a way comforting, but then not what I was looking for. I was quite frustrated for a while, wasting time on walking. Then we reached this junction which seemed to be leading to the Applacian trail. The trail map showed that if we took the diversion, it will take us directly to the tower and back.
Decision point, we had about 3 hours before the last bus back, and no idea how long the trail would be, and its suppose to be a steep hike up and steep down, meaning slow both ways. Somehow we decided to take it. More apprehension. Then we met someone who said yes its far, but its good. Ok, move on. The trail immediately climbed few hundred feet and we were at a good open spot with good view, exactly what I was looking for. Then we hit a paved road and lost the white AT trail marker we were following. Met a few more lost people, looking for the tower. We kept walking, more apprehension about missing the bus, and then finally found the trail again. Later I realized that we had taken a bike path shortcut to cut across the hill and meet the trail which we were suppose to take to go back. Anyway, we headed up, it was a steep climb, but view from the top was worth it all. The top of tower is accessible by car also, so it was very crowded. We sat, had lunch, enjoyed the view, took photos and then started back. The hike back was ok, reached in comfortable time. Must have covered a total of 8 miles or more, and good thing is we hit almost every trail in the area in our little adventure. We still had almost an hour to spare before the bus, spent sitting by the lake and of course dunking feet in the water.

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

ah, fianlly watched the movie :) It was a good surprise, after last movie I did not have big expectations from this one. The last director just did not seem to understand the essence of the book and had totally messed up Dumbledore's character. But this one was much better, Umbridge who is sort of the main character here (apart from the kids) has acted well. But as usual for me, snape just steals the show all the time, he is simply the best! Though he has a very small part in this movie, but his just 2 words ("no idea") are amazingly snapily delivered. One point they totally missed in the movie is that he is part of the order, and whatever Harry mumbles to him in Umbridge's office is the message Snape took to the Order and that's how they finally appeared at ministry of magic. Of course with the fast pace of the book it was probably hard to notice. And this movie also had a really sad ending, Black is dead!

Heroes

This TV series by NBC deserves a special mention on the blog :). The first time I heard about it was when some people started a fan club in office. Honestly at that time I thought that its probably some freaky american violent show, maybe full of some stupid scifi theories given that engg were so much interested in it, sort of like the horror movies here. Then suddenly few days back Rahul brought it up and I started to watch the first episode. And then suddenly I see this south Indian guy with that typical acquired english accent saying something and some Indian music in background and then sanskrit shloks started in the background. That totally got me hooked, so its got to do something with Indians! But well, its not, though there is lot of Indian music in background and scenes of chennai, where Indian talk in the same irritating acquired english accent and a street boy who looks like never been to school also speaks flawless english!. Well crapy direction and acting aside, the series is really good. The whole thing is based on theory that random DNA mutations cause some people to get some special powers, and the Indian scientist is working on them trying to find a cause, a cure etc. And there are couple of very cute Japanese guys who can do time travel and keep jumping all over the place. And of course everyone else is American and they are trying to blow up New York. I found it quite ironic that a Japanese guys is giving up his live, trying desperately to save a nuclear bomb from exploding in New York. In all this series totally got us hooked!

NY is green too!

Today I was sorting through my photos, looking for the lush green nature. And guess what, the greenest and most beautiful photos I found were from the recent finger lakes trip, up here in New York! Not in Seattle, not at Rainier, not even in Columbia river gorge. Its surprisingly beautiful how the finger lakes area so close to NY city is so green and beautiful. It can almost compete with the lush tropical green of Western Ghats. In fact now that I have seen what beauty NY can hold, I can see the signs of it being butchered everywhere in the city, mountains cut, forests cleared, and still wherever nature is left alone, it flourishes in NY like the Central Park. This place could have been so beautiful, its such a shame that people here spend their time snapping at each other in the concrete jungle.

Journey to Ikea

This sunday finally I made my trip to IKEA. I wanted just one thing, a big green lead canopy to put over my office desk. In NY, IKEA runs a free shuttle from downtown to its store in Elizabeth, NJ. So I came from my apartment in NJ to NY, then took the shuttle back to NJ, and then back to NY and then went back to  my apartment in NJ :) Interesting journey. The leaf was easy to find once you know that its actually in the kids section. They also had a huge collection of plants, reasonably priced, and I went totally crazy trying to decide what to get. Surprisingly the artificial plastic plants were more expensive than the real ones, have no idea why. With the amount of care and manual labour real plants need, you would expect them to be twice as expensive. But this is america afterall, nothing makes sense here (like why would u eat double cheese burger with diet coke). I finally settled on a tiny real plant and a artificial one (in case the real one died).

मानसून कि बारिश

कल यहाँ बिल्कुल मानसून कि बारिश हो रही थी। एक मिनट में मौसम इतना बदल गया। बहुत तेज़ बारिश और तापमान बिल्कुल गरमी वाला। एइसा Seattle में कभी नहीं होता था। New York में कुछ तो अत्चा है।

summer has arrived

So summer has finally arrived. We have already made a trip, to Niagara Falls and planning for other smaller hiking adventures, whatever are available here to poor carless ppl like us. And we are also spending days and hours on phone planning the "big" trip of the season. And well, its not going to be on any long weekend this time though. Because we are planning to go to this extreme place called Grand Canyon. Not now, not next month, but in October!! And there is a big IF before the trip, not because its so far in advance, we don't know etc. But because everything there already seems to be booked! Can you believe it, people actually plan 6 months or more in advance. Its so hopeless. I don't know where I am going to be tomorrow, how can I tell about 4 months from now. But there got to be something in that place that millions go every year and some hikers seem to go again and again.

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

हिंदी का blogger

गूगल ब्लॉगर का नया हिंदी का ब्लॉगर। आज से हम सभी पोस्ट्स हिंदी में लिख सकते हैं। और इससे पता चलता है ही पिछले दस सालों में हिंदी कितनी खराब हो गयी है। एक एक शब्द सोच सोच कर लिखना पड़ता है !! आज से हिंदी का अख़बार पढेंगे और हिंदी में ब्लोग करेंगे।

are we just ghosts of our past

In lot of my interaction which lot of different people about lot of different things, I have been noticing that most of the behaviour and discussion is driven by a person's past experience. On a very simple topic, people will have totally different opinion, just because they have had different experiences in past. So are we just the ghosts of our past? It seems that we always assume that what happens once will get repeated given similar circumstances. Do we always forget to take into account change, that people change, things change, earth changes, nature changes, everything is constantly changing around us. So given the same circumstances, there is no guarantee that same pattern will be repeated. So, at that time, do we cause the same pattern to repeat because we 'think' and 'believe' that it will repeat? I know its really really hard to break away from your past experience and look at the world from a new eye, from a different prospective. And then what will happen to learning from your mistakes, if the patterns get repeated and we forget our past, we may just end up repeating the same mistake again and again. So how does one break out of it, how does one know when to look at everything with a fresh eye and when to recognize the pattern from past and not repeate a mistake. Is that what we call maturing? knowing the difference? So we stop being ghosts of past when we grow up, or we just become deeper ghosts as there is a lot more past from which to draw behaviours from!

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

only in India!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/regionalnews/story/2007/05/070517_rail_pushing.shtml
This is something which can happen only in India. And these are the things which make life fun in India, every day something bizzare will occur, someone drags and leaves a airplane on the road, common people start getting off the train and pushing the train. Can you imagine something like that happening here! people are so dependent on having everything made all prefect and goody goody, all they can think of is cribbing about their perfect lives and stuffing themselves with food to kill time, haa haa haa

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

Finally MyMaps!

ok, so I finally decided to use MyMaps and see how easy it is. And wow, its easy!!! Its like putting pins on a wall map, and it will also locate the places for you. Of course so I created the MySeattle and MySanFrancisco maps. This is now my latest weekend projects, create maps and then link them to photos and what not and then print them in big glossy poster paper and use them as wallpaper :)
MySeattle! http://tinyurl.com/22m4wu

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

perfect end to a perfectly stupid World Cup

I do not even want to say anything more here, and I also do not doubt that Australia is the best team and probably deserved the cup for the 4th time! But still given the tragic and miraculous history of this world cup, Sri Lanka should have gotten a fair chance at performing a miracle. Instead rain, and a set of technical errors gave Australia a easy win.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/TOIonline/Cricket_/ICC_apologises_for_farcical_final/articleshow/1981473.cms

How to deal with happiness

Couple of days back at lunch we were having this conversation about moving to west coast, CA in particular. So somone mentioned that she cannot move to CA (from NY) as she won't know how to deal with so much happiness. She said anytime you talk to people there, they are so happy, weather is great, people are all nice, there is traffic, but you can still drive the car, and park it without paying an arm and a leg for it. And that is so true. Since I moved here, I have seen the general level of tension rise around me. Most people are always edgy, angry, snap at everything. And same for me, there is this cloud of anger, depression, all negative feelings around me. Why would someone want to live in such a place!!

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

ok, so its SL vs AUS again

Its almost final that WC07 final is going to be Sri Lanka vs Australia again, and I have little doubt that Australia is taking the cup for the third time in a row. SL has been doing well, and they certainly have the capability to defeat AUS, but aussies have just been brutal in the whole series. I am just happy that this stupid WC is finally coming to an end. Hopefully ICC will find a way to make the next one interesting.

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

World Cup Super 8, just a joke!

World Cup 2007 super 8 is such a joke. No doubt that Bangladesh and Ireland are performing great. Afterall they knocked out India and Pakistan. But as the matches progress, these teams just collapse in one sided totally uninteresting seeming like a practice tour matches.
http://www.cricketworld.com/world_cup_2007/article/?aid=10969
Can you imagine, a WC Super8 match, over in total of 37 overs, not even 50 over played combined!!
I hope for 2011, they get rid if this rediculousness and qualify teams into Super 8 based of at least some consistancy in last 3 years. ( Of course that would again mean that India will be the first team to be thrown out of Super 8!! )

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

Another 1/2 marathon?

hmm, so its time to start training for Seattle marathon again. How 1 year just flew by. But alas I am not in Seattle. But NY offeres its own set of oppties, flatter landscape and more predictable weather. So I am thinking, just playing with the idea of running some more, complete another 13.1 miles and add them up to make a full marathon :)

Australia 25th straight WC win

http://www.rediff.com/wc2007/2007/apr/16aus1.htm

Now that is what we call 'form'. Aussies have not lost a single match in the World Cup since their 1999 defeat against Pakistan. However boring it may be, but they definately deserve the cup. The team has again and again shown great team-work, not leaning on any single player, performing great with bat, ball and on the field. If 'may the best team win' is true, then they ARE the best team and will take the cup home for the 4th time!

Top 10 places to visit before EOL

(in no specific order)
1. Peru - Inca Trail
1.5 Hiking in Grand Canyon
2. Italy - Cinque Terra, 1 week in Italy absorbing the langauge, culture.
3. Galapagos
4. Greece- Athens
5. Egypt - the pyramids (of course) (F)
6. France - Paris, South of France, Nice, everyone goes there, got to be something special (F)
7. Hiking / backpacking thru Europe
8. Indonesia for its volcanos
9. Hiking in New Zealand
10. Sydney, Australia, Kangroo


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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

Dreaming the dream

There is one thing about dreams, if you had a dream for a long time, something big, and when it finally comes true, it just does not seem to mean anything or give the amount of happiness you always thought it would, over all it just looks like a flop show. Its like you hike a really difficult trail, moving as fast as you can, ignoring anything and everything on the trail, and finally when you reach the top, there is absolutely nothing great to see! Well, ok, that's not exactly what I meant by the dream thing, but it was a good analogy to support the fact that you need to enjoy the jouney of life and not go thru life running to achieve something far away. Getting back to dream, I think its like all your life you wanted a BMW, well, that's not that tough, so let's say a ferrari. You want it, but you know that you cannot get it, so you spend lot of time convincing yourself why your stupid boring corolla is so much better than a ferrari (believe me, I can give you arguments for that). And then one day you get a windfall and boom, there is a ferrari parked in your driveway (and its yours). But at that moment, when you always thought would be the happiest of your life, you suddenly realize that its not, its just a normal second, and it just passed, and you are still thinking how surreal it is, and part of your mind is thinking that its just a dream, other part is thinking of the arguments you gave for the corolla and rest of it is thinking of the price you paid to achieve the dream and if its really worth it, and whatever tiny part is left to enjoy the moment is just trying hard to convince the rest of it that you got your dream, and its real, and its here, so shut up and be happy. What's the point. So I think if you had a really ambitious dream like owning a ferrari, or a 6 bed room house on the lake, you should just let it be in the dreams, and do not destroy rest of your life to get it, your corolla or the 2BR apartment is probably going to give as much happiness if your try to concentrate on the happiness part :)

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tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com

"If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do." - Bertrand Russell

taking train in reverse

Today morning when we reached the train station as usual, the train was jam packed. Rahul came up with this brilliant idea, that lets take the empty train in reverse direction and then come back. So we hopped on the train sat nicely to the last stop of the train.

Reading too many books!

These days I have just been reading too many books and wanting to read too many books all at the same time. Currently open books are:
1. Early Ayn Rand
2. Rama Revealed
3. Taxomony of Barnacles
4. History of the 2nd world war
5. Best stories of time travel (just couple of pages)
6. The Dilbert Principles (sometimes in office for fun)
7. In an Instant (got it couple of weeks back, read some pages then left on the shelf)
8. Eat Pray and Love (read more than a couple of pages, but never finished, still keep opening)

and of course do not have to mention that none of these have been read to completion and there is lot of confusion going around in the stories, once I manage to read anything, you will find its review here - http://bookreviewsbyus.blogspot.com

woohoo!!

ok, New York is not all that bad and its possible to run here :) (for pleasure and not just as part of daily commute). I finally went out running from office today. Needless to say there was no calm green trail as in Seattle, but at least there was a trail and water. And also were absent the endless hills of Seattle which was good, make it so much easier when you can run for miles on flat ground. We probably ran 2 miles and walked some almost 45 min altogether. Hopefully I would be able to continue this through the summer.

reading books

For almost a month now, I am obcessed with reading books, every moment of free time I get, I just read, and almost all of it is nonsense, useless fiction which has no association with reality what so ever. Of coruse Sci-fi is useful as it tells you what is possible in future, and gives you more ideas. But all those James Patterson's, Michael Chrichton's are simple waste of time. Why do we spend our precious time reading them? Now I have started this big book about WWII, hopefully I would be able to finish it and get some insight into history.

H2G2 - Douglas Adams

What can I say about these books, just read them (with open mind), and then re-read them, and then once more to make any sense out of them, just read them as many times as you can!!

Douglas Adams

So much as Douglas Adams has impressed me with his writing, he definately deserves a mention in my blog. I recently heard the BBC radio series of H2G2, and I am really speachless, blown over after listening to it, its just, lets say out of the world wonderfully entertaining, I think I liked it almost at par with Harry Potter. And everytime I read or hear the books, there is something new and different that you understand, which is like you are reading a totally new book. The first time I read the books, it was like a series of random sentences put together. The second time I read it, I could see the amazing way these random sentences / events are put together that they almost make sense. This time when I heard the series, I noticed that he actaully mentions microsoft and windows, of course making fun of them, absolutely witty. I really wish this is one person I could meet or at least hear speak.

Carless in NYC

and thank God for that. Its been raining / hailing / snowing (make up your mind clouds!) all day today, literally non stop. There is almost 2 inches of snow outside. And while I was waking my 2 blocks on fluffy, velvetty, snowy side walk, I was looking out on the street at all that mud, snow, messy road condition, and if I had to depend on that road to move from one point to another, no, I don't want to think about it. Its such a relief to know that you don't have to drive around anymore, don't have to worry about petrol prices or the blood sucking insurance compaies. So something good did come out of it :). But ya, i do miss getting into that car, which is like a second home, complete will full and empty waterbottles, shoes, a set of clothes, umbrella, sometimes a pillow, bunch of books and what not, putting the car in gear and then driving away at 60 on that almost empty freeway (its clear that I am not talking about 405, or for that matter I5 or 520 either), switching lanes, feeling happy about overtaking that guy in his fancy BMW, switching CDs and then switching it back to Indian Ocean, thinking if its insane or what ! But today I am happy that I don't have a car, and I am inside the 4 walls and nothing of value is outside that I am worried about ( well, of course maybe Rahul, but then he can worry about himself or he is probably also inside some 4 walls, and then India is a safe place anyway, indoors or outdoors ).

Summer is upon us

There was a time when temp in single digit was suppose to be cold, and warm or comfortable would be in 20s. Time have changed, now anything above 0 is classified as warm! After almost a week of sub-zero temperatures in NY, its finally getting above freezing here, inface its getting into double digits not. The wind chill is gone, and sun still feels good. And that reminds me, yesterday when I was sitting, doing nothing (I do that a lot these days), staring out of my window (we are very very lucky that we have a window which looks south and from which we can actaully see a couple of trees and a piece of sky). So when I was staring out of my window, it felt like something was wrong, something is missing (apart from the sun, the moon, the wind, the horizon etc. etc.). And then it hit me, clouds and rain, there is absolutely no sign of rain here, and cloud just come and go, and the sky is mostly blue, and I don't like it much (among the 1000 other things about this place). After spending 2 years in Seattle, if I do not hear the sound of drizzle, cloudy skies, it does feel that something is amiss, the constant sunshine and clear blue skies just look out of place and boring.

Chronicles of .....

Narina or Narnia ?
Do you know that its actually Narnia and not Narina. I
I read the first 2 books of series always assuming and reading that its Narina, maybe because its easier to say, seems like a more natural word. But when started the 3rd one, the name suddenly became Narnia! Well, I of course need to go back and check what the first 2 said, did they make a huge type in the first 2 books, or did Lewis suddenly decided to change the name in 3rd book. Googling for both the names result in proper references to the books with both names! So its not just me, but the whole world is confused.

Rama II by Arthur C Clarke

After a long time I have read a book which made me get back to my blog and write a review for it. Its a really good science fiction book about visitors from outer space. The first book of the series Rendezvous with Rama did not impress me so much, but this book is full of surprises. For me it was a good change after reading lot of Asimov. The two authors are really different in their approach, while Asimov believes in spreading human race everywhere, Clark (at least in this series) confines human race to solar system and created very highly intelligent extra terrestrials. If you are into scifi, its a must read, reading the first book might help understand this, but if you haven't you are not missing much.

41

ok, so what is so fascinating about the number 41 (other than that its sort of beginning of mid-life crisis). I was reading Rama II by Arthur C. Clark and came across this great fact about the number 41. Starting from 41, you can create a series of numbers, 41, 43, 47, 53... which are all consecutive primes. The series ends at square of 41, containing exactly 41 numbers!! Numbers just never fail to surprise you.

views, views, views

This weekend was about views. First we went to Raj's 17th floor apartment with its great view of New York skyline and statue of liberty. Ya, on a summer day or night when you can open all windows, it would be a amazing view, and then the river just below the apartment would make a great place for evening walks in summer.
Sunday I made another excursion to a newport 30th floor apartment. This place had amazing view of New York city streets, you can see the 'new york grid' roads going to infinity. Of course this place did not have a view of the river or manhattan skyline, but it reminded me so much of the view from the SF bus when it would be on top of the hill, looking down at the endless downtown streets.
Its amazing how just a couple of streets down from where we live the view and scenery changes so much. I am looking forward to running in that area in summer.

settling in

well, I can never really use the word "settled" "me" and "new york" in same sentece without a lot of nots and nevers. But anyway, as the fate has thrown me here, I am trying to make the best of it. Went for a walk in the neighbourhood yesterday, not bad, ok place, no Indian store nearby though. Anyway, settling in a bit, at least most of the things are unpacked and I do not have THAT much stuff, it mostly seems to fit in the apartment, given that we don't have any furniture and I don't want to aquire any to save myself trouble of disposing it off when we leave here (wow, what a day that would be). And I also realize that I am a really creative person, using packing boxes to make all sorts of shelves and cabinets etc. Works ok.

Seattle vs New York

and the score is 5000 : 1

uuh, so what did NY do to earn that point, its fabulous, great progress!! Well, it snowed here and life did not stop, roads were not a mess and side walks were walkable, train was running on time. I may be celebrating too early, as we still have a full day of snow to go thru and the story could be really different by EOD. Still, it was nice walking on the snow in the morning, despite the wind and falling wintry mix. Sidewalks were supposedly warmer as there were pipes and trains running under them. That probably made the snow not stick to the ground, but become like a powdery mix, and then there were people clearing the paths in front of their shops, great! The road was ok as it seemed to have been sanded, plus plowed or whatever. It seems that since there was not much snow this winter, all the winter road maintenance crew was charged up to keep the show going thru this storm, at least that's why they said in the news.

No change

in my feelings for NY, still hate it.
Settling down in the apartment has never been more difficult, there is of course just no space to keep everything, I guess everything just needs to sit in boxes till eternity or till I am ready to throw it all out and move back and then start the process of collecting it all again. Ya collecting it all again, so I dispose off everything back in Seattle and now I have to collect everything again or at least some basic things and without car and friends, its just impossible.

still hate it

ok, we found a palce and it looks good, tiny, but ok, there is scope for some light and air sometimes, what more do you want! There is also a closet wow! Now comes the big headache of moving, unpacking. I used to think that unpacking is so much fun, but here, with no space anywhere to keep anything, I am almost dreading taking out my clothes and stuff from the boxes. Maybe this is the time to give everything away that I have been so dearly holding on to.
anyway, so ya, I still hate it here, and even though I am so sick of moving, I sure will be happy to move out of here and back into the dreamland of west coast.
well, after all you do not always get what you want, and sometimes you get it all and just throw it away.
well, what's done is done, there is no point crying over spilled milk, its like another lesson in life for me, never move when you are happy! Now I can just try to make the best of whatever is there, spend the next year or so and look forward to the day when I can leave from here.

something to look fwd to

well, now that we have fixed on the apartment (well, almost, money has not exchanged hands yet), and the apartment has gas stove, I can look fwd to making good rotis on the gas, boil the milk and heat food on the gas which was impossible to do on the electric stoves. neat. Of course I do not have to mention that the apartment is very odly shaped, like a railroad, like you are living in a rail dabba. Kitchen is looong, with little slab space and we might have to keep our shoes in it, or clothes, still deciding on that. Living room is almost unlivable, it will just be a passage to get in and out, its going to need lot of deco skills to make this place nice and to stow away all our belongins in drawers and boxes.

I hate NY

ya, its official, I hate this palce, 1 week of stay and there is not one good thing that I can find here. Its like living in Bombay or Delhi on a low income, without the familiarity of home and convenience of social life and meeting parents, celebrating festivals.

in New York

ya, left Seattle and moved to NY, and its like a dream, a bad one. I agree that NY sort of grows on you, like a fungus, the fast life, running for train, then running to catch the slow elevator, just running running all the time. There is no realization of when one day ends and other starts, because of course you cannot see the sun set or rise, not because its cloudy like Seattle, but because sky is all covered with concrete, sun does not rise in the east, it may show up somewhere overhead if you can get out into a slightly open space and will disappear overhead too. Like fungus I want this to get off me as soon as possible. Given that I just started here, there is a long way to go. I really miss my 'american' life in Seattle, the boring american way of living with car, wall to wall carpet in apartment, dishwasher, microwave, washer and dryer, closets :) Here everything is tiny, old, you need to use all your interior deco skills to stash away your belongings from plain view. The concept of kitchen slab space has not touched this place yet, with so many restaurants, I guess people do not cook here. Microwave, which I thought was as important here as stove, is absent and so is any place to keep it in kithchen. All in all, I still hate it here.

on second thought

Not about leaving Seattle, that would be 100th, but in favour of moving to NY. ya, who am I kidding, I still feel almost the same. But as the clouds of packing tension are clearing, it does not feel that bad, I am almost feeling good about starting out again at a new place, a totally new and different life, and of course living with Rahul again. I think I am sort of done with Seattle, hiked lot of the hikes around here, visited everything drivable from here, even ran the marathon. So now its time to discover the east coast. And I can see dropping of the ball next new year, all the great museums, and Niagara Falls and enjoy some extra sunshine, other bright side, get to wear really good clothes. The way people are dressed on NY streets and even in office, you automatically feel like dressing well. Here it starts seeming pointless after a while. So I can take out all my cute little dresses from box and wear then everyday without feeling over dressed :) And not that I am fond of it, but we can eat out at different place, and good food. After all I loved living and working in SF, so NY should be fun too.

Its time to say goodbye

...to Seattle. Its finally sinkingin that all the fun and masti I had in Seattle is going to be over soon. I always thought myself as a dynamic person who loves to go places and experience different lifestyle. So I should have been super excited to move to a big city, well THE big city. But even after thinking about it for a month and from every angle, I still cannot feel excited about leaving Seattle and living in New York. I had great time here, had almost everything I wanted, car, nice apartment (untill August at least), good friend circle, parties, dancing, hiking, camping blah blah. And to my surprise I am scared to leave it all behind and enter that unknown life like a commoner, no car, crammed living space, no friends, just commute into dirty crowded locals and walks through unsafe streets. At least that is my impression of my future life in New York, and I hope it turns out all wrong. Maybe I am just getting old and resisting the change!! Maybe I just got too comfortable here. Its definitely been one of the best times in my life , and I am going to miss everything about this place, 9 months of rain and cloudy skies, views of Rainier, cascades, olympics, trip to St Helens, 3 months of hiking, camping trips, game nights, pioneer square, saturday night dancing plans, wednesday night salsa plans :), AllGos, marathon, hiking after marathon practice ........ its a long list and probably I am going to miss some of the friends. I consider myself lucky to find good company here for everything I wanted to do, be it running marathon, playing 29, or sneaking off dancing, saturday dinner at temple..... and I don't believe that I am going to get anything even close to this in NY, it just does not happen in this country, people who live in big cities are busy, mean, selfish and what not! Well, the decision is made and I am leaving on Friday, maybe 6 months down the road I will be writing another blog saying how wrong I was, and how much I love NY and I cannot believe I wasted 2 years of my life in Seattle :). Ok that last part is not going to happen, Seattle is going to be my second best city and I am going to miss it for a long time, like I still miss Pune.

The tune of Don

Yesterday finally I watched the new Don. Not that I really wanted to watch it, I am not a fan of remakes and remixes, still the DVD was there and time was also there, so might as well just watch it. The movie was not too good, SRK did not really seem himself. And they tried to copy lot of scenes from the original which did not at all fit in today's context, it really seemed like a patch up work. So now what about the tune, well SRK urf Don stole my cell phone ring tone!!

blogger and google accounts

So one more google service integrated into my google accounts. Right now the integration seems like just able to sign into blogger with my Google account, which is great as i don't have to keep typing my password and remember my numerous user names. Of course there are some other Googly features like lables, which I am yet to use. And I love the new UI where I can create a new post right from the dashboard. I guess we will see more coolness here, like integration with Talk etc.

29

well, inspite of all the problems with power outage and stuff, we all managed to have lot of fun over the weekend. Sunday night we (Sree, Srijan, Eera and I) finally got down to playing 29. Sree and I were a team, and totally won the game!! Srijan's total bluff over bidding for points on random cards showed me a new side of the game. We had always played it mostly truthfully.

This totally reminded me of the time years back when Ankit, Parul didi, mummy and I used to play 29 late at night during the summer vacation. It was such wonderful time. Parul didi and I were always a team, because I think Ankit believed that mummy is the best and he will win in her team :D. I don't really remember who used to win, and anyway we have played so much, maybe there was no pattern. I remember how we used to open sheets after sheets of reds and sometimes blacks., how Ankit used to be in crying mood once they had too many blacks and how mummy used to tell him, its ok, they will close them all in one game!! how sometimes the partners used to fight over putting the trump, and we used to make even 29 points.

The other game we used to enjoy so much, and I am yet to play here is कोट-पीस. There were coats and gu-coats!! Those were really some of the best memories of childhood I have.

Power outage - day 2 & 3

Saturday morning as usual we got up really late, though still not rested well, who could sleep well with full bright light outside and Palani's snores inside. We had a good breakfast of noodles, then heard that light is back at some places in Redmond, specifically at Eera's and Palani's places. So we packed our bags and headed back to our side of the lake. Coming back to Bellevue seemed like coming back to a ghost town, everything was still in a mess, and there was no light and no signals anywhere, and by now as people had settled in their places, there was very little traffic also. There was no sign of any progress near Srijan's place, though power was restored at some of Microsoft blgds, of course they were the top priority!!

So we decided to have a good hot bath in MS bldg 50. There were a bunch of people with same mission there. After bath all poor homeless 4 of us (Sree, Srijan, Aparajita and me again) went for a very late lunch. The restaurant was as usual packed, with lot of people not able to cook. Our schedules were so off by this time and I was really tired from lack of sleep Friday night. So after dinner when we setup our camps at Eera's place, I went for a nap. Got up, still no power, no idea of time, no e-mail, nothing, we played more, watched movie, cooked more food and just had fun. It was turning out to be not so bad a weekend, like camping in winter, inside a house :)

Saturday night sleep was good, got up around 9:00 on Sunday, still wanting to sleep more. More late breakfast, late lunch, more lachcha and time pass. I made a round of my room with Sree to pick up some clothes. On the way back we decided, its time to burn some calories. So we went to Marymoor park to run the washington river trail. Ran for 4 miles, it felt really good. Back to our adda at Eera's place. I took a nice long refreshing bath. Then we played Clue, it was ok. Then finally my landlord called me to tell that we got power back! It was such a sign of relief. But anyway I stayed for a game of 29 before finally heading back to my room.

Well, it did not turn out to be that bad afterall!!

Power outage - Friday night

While we were having the late lunch, Sree and Aparajita also finally arrived, all powerless homeless people. We were all packed with clothes, sleeping bag, blancket and pillow, ready to just camp anywhere, roaming like nomads. From Swati we heard that there is power at Shayon's place, who was conveniently in India. The logical thing to do was camp at his place where there was at least heating. So we all headed out there, joined by Palani, Swami and their gang. We had also packed bunch of games, all prepared for a night out.

In Seattle, Swati and Ravi also joined us. It was kind of fun with everyone there, no worry about work or anything. We made some great dinner at Shayon's place, and had another hearty meal. After dinner we started on a game of Sleuth with some vodka, tequila and orange juice. Sree was thankfully away at another party (he hates the game). The game was as usual fun. After the game, we all headed to Pioneer square to have some fun, and of course dancing. More surprises, Srijan actually danced, and with a gori!! I am still to get a photo of that and upload it here. it was so nice to finally hit the dance floor after long time.

After dancing, all exhausted, we came back to Shayon's place. People were still not done though, there was more card playing and it was judgement again. I played a game and then gave up and went to sleep.

The power outage

Nature is not happy with Seattle and I don't blame it. Thursday (12/14) we had another big storm here, this time it was not snow, but water and wind. It was pretty much predicted, but I guess as in case of snow, we were not at all prepared for the aftermath. The storm brought down lot of trees and with that power lines. Power went out in most parts of King County (Bothell, Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue) and some of Seattle on Thursday late night. The seriousness of the situation had not hit me yet, so I got into my rajai and thought we will just sleep it off. The morning brought a surprise, no power yet. I had a 7:00a.m. meeting, so inspite of what my head told me , I won't believe that there is no power in office. So I got into my car @6:30 and headed to office. On the way, no lights, no signals. Once near office, I could clearly see that it was a lost cause, no power there also. Missed the meeting. Back home, thought it will come, and then I will have maggie for breakfast.
10:00a.m., still no light, it was time to get worried. The house was getting colder, and there was nothing to eat. By this time it hit me that there is no power anywhere. So I started calling friends to figure out what to do, or at least just get some food. More surprise, the phones won't work!! The call to anyone just won't go thru. Finally after more than an hour of trying I could talk to Sree, I had never been happier to hear his voice. Finally we synced and decided to meet at Srijan's place, he after all had gas stove, so we could cook! I packed my bag for 2 days, grabbed my blanket and pillow and left my room not knowing for how long.

In the absense of signals, it took me more than 45 min to get to his place, and it was so nice to see their cars parked outside. Inside it was different story, the stove will not start without electricity, well it needed matches, which Srijan did not have. So after some time we walked to crossroads to find a shop which is open and get some matchboxes. There were trees walken everywhere, and the walk reminded me of the walk I took in snow storm after abandoning my car on road. Only this time thankfully I was not alone and not nervous. We found matchboxes at sports authority. Back to Srijan's place, we heated some food, and ate it. It was pretty good food.

Another record breaker

We are not done with record breaking storms yet, and this time its wind and rain and it is indeed serious, not just a American style storm. Sitting in office it was feeling nice, all the rain splashing on my window. Then power flickered and a mail came that parking garage is flooded! I could not believe it, first snow and now water! Rushing out, I was met with another swimming pool on the road. Thankfully rain had turned into a drizzle by now, but it was so windy that my umbrella had no hope. Where was the fancy rain coat when I needed it!!
So anyway I braved the water filled road in my new like high heel leather boots, found another river flowing with the speed of a mountain river near office. Reached office to find almost knee deep water in the garage, flooded lift. Someone dropped me into the garage in his Jeep.
Stepping into the very filthy water bare feet reminded me of the monsoon time in school, we used to walk through that water, splashing, enjoying the dirt! Thankfully today also I did not flinch at the thought of putting my feet in it, good to know that I am still not civilized enough :) If I was not worried about my car, I might have enjoyed it.
So anyway I got into the car, drove it real slow out on the street. Then also decided to drive back home and not leave the car there, and not take the freeway. It turned out to be a good decision. As soon as I got out of the downtown area, road and traffic was almost normal. There were some puddles of water on the side, but it was much easier to drive thru them slowly than it is on the freeway. I was home without incidents this time and in less than 20 min :)
Now at home, the power is flickering and threatening to quit. Well, now that I am home safely, I am not that worried about it, will just get in my rajai and sleep it off.

More snow

Tuesday and Wednesday were snow days in Seattle. Roads were still icy, temperatures broken all records and below 0. -7 in Bothell on Tuesday night. And wednesday night brought in more rain and more snow. Though the temperatures have moved above 0, so hopefully some of the snow is going to start melting now. Today too is a snow day, everything is still white, and staying at home I have totally lost track of the time. It still looks doubtful that I would be able to go to office today either, though I am going to try for sure.
And since the temperature has gone up a couple of degrees, the meltdown has also begun. I went out to see a few patches of black driveway, side street. Its somewhat sad as the snow was indeed beautiful, but I am not going to go down in tears seeing the dry or at least ice free road.

The snowstorm of november 2006

I am sure that is how this snow storm is going to be remembered. Monday morning started as usual, snow from yesterday somewhat melted, but the streets were good as usual. So I drove to office. Around 5:45, when I was about to leave, heavy snow started falling. When I started I was not too worried about it, its falling, and as usual it will go away, just have to drive slow. I had no idea what lay ahead of me. The traffic on 405 was less than a crawl, inching along at less than 2 miles per hour, my speedometer never ticked above 0. It took me almost an hour to reach the 124th St exit. That is where I decided to ditch the freeway and take internal roads thinking that there will be traffic, but it can't be worse! I was so naive. First I almost missed the totem lake blvd turn as the road was covered in snow and the turn looked deserted. Reached the signal, took left on totem lake blvd. The cars were moving ever so slow. One car had blocked the road, so once I passed it, I thought, good now we can move. But 132nd St was worse, its a uphill drive, and I was so scared of the car skidding back everytime we start. But super slowly I managed that, even managed the final hill to 124th Ave and the left turn. After that I thought its going to get better. It had already been 2 hrs since I left office. But it just kept getting worse. The storm got stronger, dumping even more snow and it was really really cold. I slowly kept moving moving. After I crossed safeway, I thought good, another 1 mile and probably 30 min I will be home. I also cursed myself 30 times for leaving the freeway. Then the 30 min passed and I was still at the 160th st signal. Inching along reached 164th, and guess what, I experienced my first skid in the snow. The car was total out of control, tires going somewhere, I tried breaks, but then realized I should not, for a moment I was in total panic that I am going to hit the car in front. Then sobered up, moved the tires towards the curb, applying breaks every so slowly. The car hit the curb, and came to a stop. That was a huge relief, I did not care what happened next, but I was not moving the car, I put it in parking, applied the hand break and got out. The scene on road was a total mess, all the cars were skidding like anything, even the 4x4 trucks were going everywhere out of control. People had started leaving their cars on the way and walking home. I decided to do the same, then a very nice lady came along. She said she and some of the guys there can help me push the car out of the road, I was so so thankful. very scared, I got behind the wheel again, very slowly moved the car forward, got it out of the road, parked it and left it there to walk home. A big part of the ordeal was over. As I was walking home, downhill from 165th, all the cars there had the same story, skidding in snow, not able to move. Some were about to turn around and get back, others skidded along and turned from 169th. I again cursed myself for leaving the freeway, thinking that maybe I could have reached the brickyard road or something and parked the car somewhere nice. More naivity.
Of course I was worried about the car all night. Then I came back and heard the news and the nightmare of drivers on 405. Since the traffic was not moving and snow was falling hard and temperatures were below 0, the freeway had become icy too. Drivers were stuck near by exit and further north for 6-8 hours, lot had to abandon their cars on freeway, like I did. Now I was almost thankful for leaving the freeway, who knows in what condition I would have been. The cars on freeway were also towed away, that would have been a real nightmare to me. I think I was really lucky to get his close to home without any incidents, I thanked God a 100 times and also the people who helped me get the car out of road.
Finally Tuesday morning I went to look at the car. The 124th Ave was looking like a graveyard of cars, all abandoned by owners, walk up to the car was also not easy. Anyway I reached my car, saw it safe, felt better, but still no way to drive it back to the house. AAA was no use here, the roads were just too dangerous. I came back, feeling a little better that there are too many cars and they are not going to tow. It was a sunny day, though temp was still below 0, but some ice was melting from sun's heat. The road was also sanded a couple of times. So I decided that its time to get some help and get the car back before things for worse. Then Ekta came along, she very generously agreed to come and help me get the car along with her husband. They were real help, they came in the cold, Kartik drove my car to its safety, and it finally seemed to be over.

Birthday 2006

Another birthday, now it no more looks exciting and special day,it should just go by like any normal day. But this year I had decided to run the Seattle half marathon to make the birthday special. Finished the race well inspite of the nasty weather. And then came back and Rahul and I had lunch at Spice route. I don't think that I had ever eaten so much in one sitting and that too totally guilt free. Maybe when I came to Redmond for Microsoft interview, ate a lot as I was eating alone, had a big budget and eating Indian food after long time. Anyway, so had a really good satisfying lunch. Then we came back, and I tried to get some sleep. Woke up to find out a snow stom in Seattle. Lot of snow falling, collecting on the ground. That got me worried how I am going to be able to drop Rahul to airport, my little car and not so good driving skills cannot handle the snowy conditions at all. So we requested Bash to drop him. I somehow managed to go to office slow slow. Luckily the flight was not delayed. Can back around midnight, still raining, drove back slowly, very scared on the freeway and big trucks were passing by in full speed. Drive up the hill on 169th was a little difficult, but in the end managed to get my car safely in parking.

Seattle Marathon 2006

Its finally over, and was quite a eventful run. The day started with some light snow flakes falling mixed with rain. I had to change the attire couple of times to need the changing weather. Finally I decided on synthetic socks, same green cotton pants, green chuckit inner t-shirt and while Asha outer t-shirt, cisco cap to safe the face from rain and my pink raincoat's cap to save the cap, head and ears from getting wet. On top of that I also made a (not so successful) rain ponchu out of a trash bag. Dressed in all this paraphernelia, we were standing outside EMP, looking at everyone else also cold and dresses in same silly way. Magically the snow stopped just before the race, and rain also turned into light drizzle.
We started with lot of enthu and some apprehension of cold. My ponchu was gone by the end of first hill, but the pink cap worked like magic, kept the head dry and saved the ears from getting cold. When we got on I90, it was some sight, whole ramp was covered with runners, it was like a stream of colourful water flowing along it.
The first 6 miles passed quite peacefully, I was not that tired also and the course was mostly flat, so that helped, also what helped was few gulps of gatorate. Then I reached the Asha water booth, had some Gu and water. I had left my dry clothes there for change. But this is where I made a mistake, my hands were really cold from wet t-shirt, so I thought I can just get rid of the top long sleeve thing, since I am running so much, its not going to get cold! And wet sleeves just make the hands colder. So from there I started in just the half t-shirt. It seemed to be a ok decision, as though my hands were getting wet, I could wipe off the water and they were dry again. I met the 2:45 pacer at mile 7, overtook her a little on the downhill and then fell behind her on the hills of Galer and Madison. But then I ran hard on the downhill (not a very good idea though), and again overtook her. This filled me with more enthu that I can possibly make it in 2hrs 45 min or less. It went well on the hills of interlaken too, they were hard, never ending uphill, but I managed it. But as we came down the hill by I5, I realized what a mistake half sleeves was. My hands started giving problems, loosing blood circulation or something from being very wet, cold and in just one position for long time. So I had to shake them and move then constantly. This costed me lot of misery and few min in running time. I was so much wishing that Rahul will meet me soon and give me a rain jacket. The hills of downtown were the worst, killing. Finally I met Rahul at mile 12 or something, got the rain jacket from him for hands, and after that it became a little easier. Finally finished in 2 hrs 40 min. At the end, all I was thinking of being warm and dry again.

Its tomorrow

So the big day is tomorrow and there are predictions of rain and snow, what fun. Today I walked on that new machine for 15 min and then did yoga, mainly to relax all the muscles. I think doing yoga the day before long runs really helps.

Day 64

This is turning out to be a perfect week with 4 short runs. Today I decided to run a little longer outside to make sure that this cold is not going to kill me, and the amount of clothes I am wearing is sufficient etc, kind of like a dry run. Started from my place towards 405 and then Juanita-Woodinville drive till the first signal, must be close to 3 mile round trip. Discovered that I definately need something to cover my ears, else they just start paining so badly and wearing spects makes it worse.

Day 63

Another very cold day in November, after lot of yes and nos, decided to run outside for 15 min. The run was ok, hills are indeed somewhat easier to cross now, even in the cold. The marathon is right around the corner, keeping my fingers crossed for no rain.

Day 62

Ran another 15 min on the treadmill, outside is just too cold. The variable speed treadmill run has become easier or at least possible now.

Day 61

Since this is slowing down week, ran just 20 min near the house only, nothing remarkable, trying to get used to the cold.

Amazing Rainier

It seemed like a perfect day, cloudless skies, sun trying to give some heat, and to top it all off, Rainier was looking just perfect from 520. In fact I could also see it clearly from 405 in morning, but the view from 520 was flawless. I wished I was not driving and could look at it some more. They should make a view point there for the people to just sit and take in the view.

Day 60 Week 22

So its been 2 months of running (60 days). Today we ran about 8 miles near Greenlake. It was a good run, the day turned out to be perfect, cloudless sky and not so cold. The last couple of miles were on the BurkeGilman train we used to take in the initial days of running. While at Red Square, we were recalling how we used to be dead by this time, and today we ran 6 miles before this and still had the energy to finish the last stretch smiling. Though today we were running quite slow, it took us almost 2 hrs to complete 8 miles, at this pace, I won't be able to finish 13 in under 3 hrs. Hopefully that day I would be able to run faster, at least I am getting more confident that I can run the whole 13 miles.

wettest november

its mid-nov and we have already seen record rains for nov, about 11.6 inches. This has been the wettest nov so far, but I think that has also prevented this from being a very cold one. If you ask me, I prefer the cloudy skies and higher temperatures, than the freezing sunny days.

Day 59

Did not go for practice this Wednesday, just lazy, and made the bahana that its not a good day to run !!
So anyway, to compensate, ran 2 miles today, speeds from 4.5 to 5 to 5.5. As I have always noticed, the first 1 mile is really hard and its always hard, when outside, you cannot quit in the first mile, but when on treadmill, I always quit at that time. But today I decided, I had to run, I had to get past my 10 min barrier. Varying the speed helped, I started out with 4.5, which did not make me too tired, after that moved up to 5, again reducing the speed when I thought of quitting. After the first mile, I ran a bit at 5.5 also, seemed like a good strategy.

Day 58

As part of preparing to run in the cold, I decided to run outside. The hills do not scare me that much now, but the cold does. And it was a very cold sunny morning. I started out real bad, the first hill was the worst to climb, but after that warm up, rest was not that difficult. Ran for 30 min, uphill downhill, about 2 miles I guess, so really show. Next time will try to go out on the woodinville road.

seattle is beautiful

when everyone seems to be complaining about rains, flodding, gloom, I think its beautiful. Looking out it feels like that 'after monsoon rain' time of the year, everything is so clear, washed, there is no bright sun, just right amount of clouds in the sky. Of course the story is very different when you go out and the harsh cold wind hits you, it may not look that beautiful. Still I think it feels good to see the green and the yellow and the wind blowing......

Day 57

Ran 20 min on treadmill, run / walk. I think treadmill is a horrible place to run, I get tired so easily, cannot even run 10 min without feeling when will it get over. Maybe outside I keep varying my speed and that's why can run. Anyway, my target is to complete the 13 miles in less than 3 hrs, beyond that it does not matter. Have to start running outside to practice running in cold.

Day 56 Week 21

Today thanks to Aparajita, I decided to do a long run, 13 miles actually. I started with lot of apprehension as I have been out of practice for weeks now. And in the beginning it was hard, it was cold, and then the 83rd St was all uphill-downhill. The route to golden garden park was all downhill and that made it easy. After that seaside was almost flat, I was really cold at this time as being along the water, there was cold wind coming. Then we decided to head back instead of doing the 13 miles loop. The way back was really tough. The 32nd Ave was all uphill, gaining all the height we lost when going to the seaside drive. This was I think the toughest part. Then we reached 80th St, which was again uphill-downhill, but after crossing 32nd, it did not seem that bad. We took quite a lot of breaks. mostly on signals. But in the end we finished 11.8 miles, it was great. The bottom line, I am again confident that I can do it :) Here is a link to our route, I will upload the image soon.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=537492

Day 55

Don't know why I did not run yesterday, guess was just lazy. Today decided to run on tradmill. Ran for 15 min at 5, little bit of elevation too. After that walked on the new machine for 20 min. Looking forward to tomorrow's big run, I hope it does not become a disaster too.

non stop rain

its been raining non stop for last 1 week at least, and I don't know for how many days before that, and this is just the beginning of rainy season. Looks like we are set to break last year's record of max days with no sunlight.

Day 54

Wednesday practice, did not go well, I was totally out of form and it was raining too. I made the mistake of wearing light cotton t-shirt, which was wet and sticky in just couple of rounds. We were support to do time trials and my time sort of went down. I managed to do just 6 track rounds and run back and up to the tracks. Hopefully next weeks practice will make it better.

Back after vacation in India

back to rainly seattle after the short vacation, 2 weeks seem almost nothing. And this time of the year in Seattle is really cloudy and rainy, though its still not that cold, the cloud cover keeps the chill out, or I am getting used to the cold climate. The rain started about mid-October, and is going to take us straight into winters.

Day 53 Week 20

Back in Seattle after more than 2 weeks of out of practice. Ran a little bit, like 30min or less last to last week, but not much.
Today after thinking a couple of times, decided to go out runnin in rain near the house only. It was usual uphill downhill story, ran for about 30 min, it was drizzling mildly, so not that bad.

Day 52 Week 19

Finally got to run the Sammamish River train again. Today was the big AllGoRhythms day, so decided not to go to madison park, Aparajita and I ran the trail starting at Redmond Library. We must have ran about 6 miles, its a very flat trail, and as close to nature as you can get in Redmond, so I always like it.

Day 51

Wednesday hills training, was support to run 6 hills, but ended up with only 4, they are still hard, can't imagine they will ever get easier!

Day 50

Ran on the treadmill in gym, the usual 20 min now.

Snowqualmie!!

This season's snowqualmie trip also happened. We went today, it was not a ideal sunny day, but a dry day, which is pretty good for October. We went down to the falls, sat on a rock near water, enjoying the mist coming in from the fall. Surprisingly it was not as cold as I though, I could sit on a stone, right in front of the falls, enjoying the water coming on my face without having to wrap up in layers of sweater and without my hands getting super cold. It was a nice, unremarkable, satisfactory trip like most of the others to the fall. I should have pictures up soon.

Day 49 Week 18

The training is almost coming to an end, and I am somewhat satisfied with it. I wanted to run upto 15 miles, but my max is still around 10, though after running 10 a couple of times, I am confident that I can run 13, and I also know that I could not have run 26 without working really hard. It was probably a conservative but good decision to shoot for half only this time.
So anyway, this weekend I ran another 10 miles. This was along the marathon track, upto steward park, it was a good run, though I do not seem to be getting any faster :)

Harvest Moon

Tonight's full moon has a special name--the "Harvest Moon." It's the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Long ago, before electric lights, farmers relied on the Harvest Moon to light up their fields at night, allowing them to harvest autumn crops even after sunset.

When the Harvest Moon rises tonight, go outside and look around. You might see some strange things.

This particular Harvest Moon is unusually big--almost 12% wider than some full Moons we've seen earlier this year. Why? Because the Moon is near perigee, the side of the Moon's lopsided orbit that comes closest to Earth.

The weather prediction here is clear skies (for a change), so I might be able to look at it thru the telescope. What would be cool would be to see the snoqualmie falls in this moonlight, it would be all glittery and shiny!

Day 48

Ran on tradmill for 25 min, 20 of which @ 5:00 and elevation 2.0, it was a piece of cake, I cannot stop being amazed at the progress I have made in running. I have always been quite active, hiking a lot, but running was never my thing, it was the most difficult thing for me to run even from door to bus stop. Now it has become so much easier, though I would still say that its a lot of effort for me.

Day 47

Wednesday practices. We did time trials today, ran 8 lapses, 2 miles on the grounds. I did it in < 21 min!! Great progress for me, though I was dead after it was over, but it felt great to see that I have indeed become faster.

Day 46

Ran for about 25 min in my neighbourhood. This area is the worst for running I guess, the uphill downhills never stop, they are just killing, but I guess good for training for that final section of marathon. Last few days for training for me!

Day 45 Week 17

As chuck said, running is cummulative, and so are all the other activities you do over the week. This week was I guess especially hectic, not just workouts but other running around and driving too. So I was not feeling very enthued about running today, it started in the morning itself when I did not want to wake up. So ran only about 6.5 - 7 miles today. After that as a little compensation, Shankar and I also ran a little uphill on the marathon route. It was a good preview, not very discouraging though as the hill was steep, but small. This week I need to take lot of rest, and want to run at least 11, and hopefully 12 miles next weekend. After that I can call it a day to my practice.

Day 44

Wednesday hills day, and they are killing. We first ran to the tracks and then ran back to 124th St. We were suppose to run up a not to steep but very long hill 3 times. First one was the worst, second little easier, third little more, and then I decided to just run another one, it was difficult, but did not kill me. Everyday I am amazed at how much progress I have made in my fitness since the day I started training. Its a life style changing experience!

Burrough's Mountain trail

I was suppose to write about this in the last blog entry, but I got totally carried away by the thought that this may as well be my last hike in the north-west.

So anyway, it was a perfect way to end the summer. We started around 11:30 from Srijan's place after my 10 mile run in Kirkland, with the apprehension that we are not going to get a campsite. But of course I could not start early, needed to run. The trip was especially great for me as I got to carry my telescope out to Mt. Rainier. 405 was as usual quite crowded, once we were on 167, it got better. On the way we called the campground, and a lady told us that its full. What a disappointment. Still with some hope we continued onwards, checking out a campground on the way. Once at White Water Campground, to our surprise it was quite empty, and to more surprise, Palani and party who were ahead of us were no where in sight. After pondering over what to do for 30 min, we decided to take a campsite and then go looking for others. We drove to sunrise point, and there it was, the magestic Rainier, standing there with all its beauty, unobstructed view. If I was not so tired, I would have enjoyed the view much better. But I just wanted to get back to the camp and relax and eat something. Still no sign of Palani and party, so we decided to go back to the campsite and wait for them there. Luckily on the way back, we met them. Then started a discussion about which campground to take, Shayon and Palani were much taken by another one outside the park, but I wanted to stick to White Water, not wanting to waste time driving up and down. So ultimately we stayed there only. ( I AM a control freak, as Palani mentioned twice later. )

Once all back at the campsite, we setup the tent. Shayon leant his first lesson at setting up the tent and did quite a good job of it. Srijan was as usual busy being the cook. Palani and Aparajita got firewood. Perfect example of teamwork, I should suggest this for our next team offsite. After lot of effort and usual shouting from Palani, the fire started. For some reason unknown to me Aparajita got the credit for starting it ;). Maybe because she was most excited about grilling potato. Khichdi was also ready by then, and we all ate happily. Potato grilling never happened though.

After dinner was the best part, start gazing, finally after a long long time, looking at the stars thru the telescope without light pollution. It was a moonless and planet less night, which sort of disappointed others I guess. But I was thrilled to see so many stars again, being able to read in star light again, brought back lot of memories of nights spent on top of clock tower gazing at the stars. After spending some 1/2 hr there, we came back to the campsite. Fire was burning heartily and it was time for cards. We again played judgement, Shayon winning the game, sometimes I get the feeling that he is indeed smart :), not that winning at judgement is any measure of smartness in real life. We finally slept at about 1, deciding to get up at 4:30. The burden to wake everyone up was on me.

And I did a great job :), everyone was up by 4:50. We quickly paked up a bit and then started for sunrise point in Palani's car. On the way I saw Orion and Venus, nothing like the site of planet of love first thing in the morning. We were at sunrise point while it was still a bit dark. First we tried to cook maggie, but there was no matchbox to light the stove, Srijan's planning, huh. So we had a breakfast of bread, jam etc. And we also saw the first rays of sun falling on Mt. Rainier, making it all colourful. It was a amazing site, beautiful!!
...from dark to dawn...

Once Mt Rainier was fully lit, and our stomachs were full, we started on the 7 mile hike. The hike was quite good, very steep uphill in the beginning, but the distance was not too much, about 3 miles. The sight on top of burrough one and two were very rewarding. On the way we crossed very windy paths, wind blowing thru its full force, nothing to bind it, something I just love. Makes you feel so free, away, connected to the nature. All my tiredness was gone, it was lovely. One of the things on my TODO list is to kiss on top of a mountain with wind blowing all around us, muy romantico!
On top of burrough two, we were as close to Rainier as you can get, unobstructed view, just wow! The trail reminded me so much of Inca trail, partly as I was very tired, leg aching, and the uphill hike, looking at further uphill trail ahead, reminded me how it was climbing Dead Woman's Pass. And then the steep descend in the end.

Then was the difficult decision, go up to burrough 3 or not. It looked very steep intimidating. If my leg was not aching so much, I would have loved the challenge. But after 10 mile run on Saturday, I did not have the courage, and well, had to drag everyone else also with me. Feeling pretty bad about that, it does not happen often :(
Anyway, we stared 4 mile downhill trail, loosing about 3000'. By the end I was totally exhausted, just moving moving moving. Finally reached the campsite. Packed really fast. Decided to cook hakka noodles after a lot of arguments. People actually wanted to mix hakka noodles with maggie, can you believe it, dilute the taste of maggie with something else!!
Anyway, we made noodles, ate, packed and then started back to civilization. I was dead tired by the time we came back in Redmond and all I wanted to do was put my head down and sleep sleep sleep.

2006 hiking season

As the summer is coming to an end, we set off on the last hike for the season (and possibly my last one in the north-west if I decided to move) at Mt. Rainier. We started the season with 4 day Inca trail in Peru, other than 2 practice hikes before that in April, and now ending in September with 7 mile Mt Rainier hike. And what a season it had been, with marathon practices every Saturday morning, and after that rushing out for a hike. Thanks to Srijan and all who accomodated my can't leave before 10:30a.m. limit, not that they would anyway have got up and left before that, there had been some really nice and relaxing (mentally only) trips.
1. Little Si - literally this was the first hike in April to practice for Peru, just Rahul and I, there is no need to say how nice it was.
2. Some Lake, another practice hike, just Rahul and I again.
3. Inca trail - the big one, this I would say was the practical beginning of the season, and the most difficult and at the same time most rewarding and memorable hike I have done and will be doing in near future.
4. Surprise Creek - first group hike, and a kela as snow was still packed on the mountains blocking our path altogether.
5. Cascade Pass - nice, moderate relaxing hike, highlight was snow sliding when we suddenly came upon a patch of snow near the top.

6. St. Helens - windy ridge, after a long time, it was as amazing as ever. We again walked down to the spirit lake, and walked up to the windy ridge look out. St. Helens.
7. San Juan camping - no hiking, just ferry ride and camping with Srijan, Subo and his friend.
8. Burrough's mountain trail and camping at White River campground in Mt. Rainier


Can't say what 2007 has in store for me, if I am still in the north-west, I have a wish list -

• mailbox peak
  
• lake 22
  
• surprise creek (actually reacing the lake this time)
  

Day 43 Week 16

Ran around 10 miles near the house only, ran on the Woodnwille-Bothell road towards the office, it was a nice run, quite tiring, lot of uphill and downhills, but doable. Did not go for th group run as wanted to go hiking on rainier over the weekend. It feels nice to think that I can actually just go out of the door and run 10 miles, I would not say that it was easy or getting any easier, but its still doable, running for 2 hrs, who could have thought 16 weeks back that I would get there, and not just running 2 hrs but also go out and hike 7 miles next day, I am amazed at my own abilities.

Analog - SciFinFa magazine

I have always enjoyed SciFi, though till now most of what I have read is Asimov, and I always want to read magazines. So when browsing in the library my eyes fell on this magazine called Analog - Scientific Fiction and Facts, I immediately grabed one. Read a couple of stories from it, very interesting. Short stories are quite different from novels, they have to move fast, and don't drag and usually have one cohesive topic to talk about. I am going to try reading more of them.

Day 42

Since I missed running yesterday, went today morning. Tried to run at high elevation on the treadmill, it was ok, very tiring, I could not run for long without holding on to the side rails. Need lot of practive.
27 min, run / walk - 1.85 miles.

The Client - John Grisham

Read John Grisham after a long time, and it was as thrilling as ever. Though I found this book a little less surprising, I guess after reading so many books from the author, I can kind of guess the twists and turns in his story. Still it was a very pleasant read and I could not put the book down before reading it from cover to cover. Very interesting story of a man who first plots to steal lot of money and then plots even more to free himself of all the charges, does he succeed and then end up living the life of a rich man? Does he get away with it? The story is full of crosses and double crosses.

Dandiya!

No, I don't know Dandiya or garba, but that does not stop me from being enthued about the event and to plan to drive all the way to Sammamish for that. Last weekend we tried real hard to go, I got up from my sleep at 10:00 (I had slept at 5:00, guess was just very very tired), then thought for 30min about what to wear, weather to wear any jewellery or not, and then do I have any jewellery!!?? Of course I should have thought about that one before wasting 10 min on thinking to wear or not :). So anyway doing simple math, it was already 11:00, and it would have taken me another 1/2 hr to get dressed in the absense of a full length mirror. So in the end it did not seem worth. Hopefully this Saturday will be planned better :)

I have already taken first step and looked up the info on web.
Dandiya
Event Summary:
This year, our annual navaratri garba dance is organized for two weekends in SEPTEMBER. Everyone is cordially invited to this colorful traditional dance event. This is not a Gujarati only event, we have plenty of non-Gujaratis and non-Indians coming to Garba every year.Events are on 22nd Sep, 2006 (Friday),23rd Sep, 2006 (Saturday),29th Sep, 2006 (Friday),30th Sep, 2006 (Saturday)

Where:

Sammamish High School
100 140th Ave SE
Bellevue, WA

When:
Sep 22 2006 8:00PM
to
Sep 30 2006

No. of Admission : $5/members per evening,$7/non-members per evening,Free for kids below 11,Free for seniors above 62

Contact :
Sammamish High School
Phone : 425- 456-7600

what is the message in Hindi movies

I finally watched Parineeta today, took off from office early as not feeling well and then sat and watched the movie. And it got me thinking. The guy, Shekhar here, was a totally jealous jerk to his beloved, calling her names, not trusting her, and leaving her when she needed him. Then there was Devdas, same story, Devdas, total coward, Fanaa, Amir Khan did the same. And in all these stories the girl just waits, accepts the guy in the end, forgets everything, why? Are all these stories of one sided love? Can you love someone, and still not trust them? Then what does it really mean to love someone. Haven't we always heard that marriage is built on trust, and love is not?
These movies are sending such wrong message, showing the women as devis of forgiveness, setting unrealistic expectations from them, showing that its acceptable for a guy to be a total jerk and then suddenly open eyes one day and be forgiven, just do his manmaani. This is 21st century for God sake!

simplifying the english language

Today we were talking in office about British and American english, and I made a statement that except US and Canada, everyone else follows the British English as most of the countries started on english from british colonial rule. So someone pointed it out to me that even Americans learnt it from there, so I wondered why they chose to do it differently ( like everything else they do differently!! ). And the same person pointed me towards this -
Do a search for "daniel webster" ("webster's dictionary" is named after him). He "simplified" (and I use quotes liberally) the English language for the US and Canada so that it was more "consistant".

yes, quite a funny sentence, words consistant and english are used in the same sentence without the word "not". And of course I do not understand how taking the u off from colour can do anything to simplify english language. If this Daniel person really wanted to simplify and consistify the language, why did he not change "but" and "put" to be pronounced in the same way, and why not take the "p" off pneumonia (or however its spelled). Or maybe what he did was redefined "simplify" and "consistant"!!

Asha Seattle presents AllGoRhythms 2006..be there!!

Come and enjoy a night of bollywood music -

Asha Seattle presents AllGoRhythms 2006 - featuring our very own Pankaj Kakkar ( drum rolls!! )
Dates

Saturday, October 14th 06, 5:30pm
Sunday, October 15th 06, 3:00pm
 
Venue

Mercer Island High School
Performing Arts Center
9100 SE 42nd Street 
Mercer Island 
 
Ticket Category

Front Rows- $20
Back Rows- $18

Kid (2-12 yrs)- $5
UW Students- $15
At Door- $22 / $20
*Kids under 2 yrs (on the lap)- Free

 
*Dinner Box coupon (Available Saturday)- $6 ( at the venue $7 )
*Snacks & Chai available on Sunday for purchase on the spot
 
For Tickets, you can either buy online or let me know, I will keep some aside for you:
http://www.ashanet.org/seattle/events/allgorhythms/

Please feel free to forward this e-mail to anyone who might be interested.

--
tuls

http://tulika.blogspot.com - Life is Beautiful
http://tulika-run.blogspot.com - Marathon log
http://bookreviewsbyus.blogspot.com - Book reviews
http://rahulandtulika.blogspot.com - Travel blog

Day 41

Ran for 20 min - 2 miles on treadmill at 5.5, it was hard, felt like giving up a lot of times, but still could make it, running for 20 min at 5.5, can't believe it!! Feeling just great and enthued.

Day 40 Week 15

Back on my feet. After running for 10 miles last 2 weekends, I decided to cut back today. Ran at the madison park trail for first time, its mostly flat, did 7.4 miles. Because of the inactivity of last week, my legs started paining quite a bit, left leg calf muscles seem to be in little trouble.

fallen sick :(

Just when things were going great, and I was thinking that maybe I can shoot for a full marathon, I went and got myself sick!! No practice this week at all, might be able to run on Saturday, but probably not too long.

Why you should read HHGG

My conversation with a non-believer.

Urvashi: he heee [nose smile]
have you read hitchhiker's guide ? you must have...
did you like that ?
मेरे द्वारा: of course I have read them
and love them
Urvashi: hmm.. I put it down after 2 chapters...
must read it again.
it didn't make any sense at all !
मेरे द्वारा: u need to open your mind to understand them
Urvashi: haaahahahhaha [nose smile]
मेरे द्वारा: and also accept the fact that they are non-sense
Urvashi: haaan - thaaaaaaat no-one told me earlier...
so I was wondering whyyy it wasn't making any sense !
what's the point then ?
मेरे द्वारा: just to open your brain to some radical thinking
out of the world sorts
add another dimension to your thinking
Urvashi: hmm [nose smile]
मेरे द्वारा: very imp things u learn are -
how to fly
what is the importance of a towel
Urvashi: [nose grin]
okay - I didn't get that far...
maybe should just press on.... (like running [straightface] )
मेरे द्वारा: ur knowledge is imcomplete without knowing these things
Urvashi: he hheee..
मेरे द्वारा: though u will need to press on a lot
so it also teaches u to be patient
Urvashi: haaahha [nose smile]
goood....
मेरे द्वारा: to have faith that in the end u everything will start making sense
Urvashi: but doing a PhD also teaches patience !!!
yes - precisely [nose smile]
मेरे द्वारा: it will train u for PhD
Urvashi: he heee....

Day 39 Week 14

Woohoo run in central park, ran for 2 hrs, I guess between 9 - 10 miles, the last 1/2 mile of uphill was obviously the worst, but it was ok, its not that unimaginable now :)

second impression of New York

This was my second trip to New York, first one being new years time few years back. This time though I was just a visitor, but was also checking out how livable the place is, and the conclusion - not at all! Nothing unexpected in that, living in Seattle area, I have taken the beautiful greenry, mountains, sunrises and sunsets for granted. And here, you can't even see a simple sunrise and it rises and sets somewhere behind some really tall building. There is no wind coming into the apartment, as there are tall building all around, and of course greenry and mountains are totally missing. Its a real total concrete jungle. Even the central park feels suffocating, its just too much trees and water packed in a small area. The streets give you the impression that you are back in Delhi or Bombay, but of course the familiar Indian-ness is totally missing. As for people, well, its common knowledge I think that people in east coast are not that friendly, everyone just gives an impression that they are really very busy, if you ask something, they just glare at you as if you are the stupidest person in the world !! I can't wait to get back to my peaceful life in Seattle. If it wasn't for Rahul, I won't even dream of moving here.

Day 38

Ran for 20 min in central park again, was a easy weekday run. After that ran up a tiny hill twice, it was not that hard since the hill was small, plus of course I am in much better shape now. Planning for longer run on Saturday, maybe a full round of central park.

Day 37

Ran for 30min today in central park. It looks so flat, but its all up and down with a gentle slope. Aim to do a full round of the park this saturday, its going to be less than 10, maybe 8, can increase it by adding the lake, should be fun.

Day 36 Week 13

Last weekend did not run much, don't know why, work? packing? etc. etc. all excuses
Saturday was on the plane whole day, so of course no running, just flying.
Sunday, no chance again.
Today ran for about 45 min in Central Park, yes the real one in New York. It was ok, very crowded, nothing special, our Kirkland waterfront is much better, at least it gives an illusion of free open clean air.