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.