Americaa Americaa !!

For a first timer in the 'most economically advanced' country on planet earth, there are a few things, that might catch attention and even put 'm shocked.

Had a written out-door items here.

Well, if you step in, there is more interesting things that you get to find! A few of 'em...

1. Get these three items programmed into your mind - "Sorry", "Thank You", "Hi"
Bump into any TDH, you are bound (by the APC) to say "Hi"
2. They have designed a nice facial exercise, for stress relieving and to maintain proper blood circulation on the arteries sitting beneath your cheek. Its very simple. The moment you see anyone around (even if he is the person tipped to finish you off), stretch your lips left to right, compress your cheek ensuring that no teeth is visible. Studies have proven that for best result, this act should be preceded by a "Hi"

3. All water taps out here are dual - turn this way, u get cold water. turn the other way, its hot! I think, its for this flexibility that, they have done away with sensor-enabled-automatic water taps.

4. The rule book might say, "Dont Allow Tailgating", but if you happened to open the door to get in/out, and see someone at a mile and a half, destined to the same door, you would stand 'attention' at the door, and keep the door wide open for him. Even if its a 'her' you do the same, w/o getting into any scare of a feminist attack.

5. Inside the office, you may find all nicely spoken gentlemen/ladies. But outside the doors, you may find ppl, who are so used to 4-letter words, and age is no bar for using 'em.

6. Dont be taken aback if you find a beggar in this 'economically advanced' country! You might have seen those funny fwds, where u find a beggar with a placard in hand. Thats for real! I have seen a guy who had this written in his placard "Help me with anything!". A more catchier line would be "Forget all sh*t, I need beer"

7. A short-term US trip would make you a mobile multiplication table. I am lucky enough to not break my head too much - coz I got the number '40' as one of the multipliers. i pity those who got 45 or 43 as the multiplier !!

8. And not to forget, distance is in miles. Weight would be in pounds (lbs - wonder what it is.... Lal Bahadur Shastri?). Keep the conversions handy :-)

9. The cars on highways run on gas (not petrol - okay, both are same. but these morons call petrol, 'gas' !) and on google maps.

10. 'Soda' means anything that comes to you thru those vending machines. Not necessarily carbonated.

(My creativity has gone to sleep. I tend to write serious stuff. See that point 10! Time to go after my creativity.. Zzzz....)

OPT: Boys !!

Can you believe it ? It took so many number of years, and so many more number of miles, to watch the movie Boys :-S

Not an OPT in the strict sense - coz we watched the movie on laptop. An original rented DVD. Digital stump stuna print.

The movie was laudable in many senses. For a change, the boys in the movie are real boys, and not oversized overaged overacting super heroes. The combination of boys was very well planned. The director seems to have hand picked one piece from each of the foundry. But the common thing that binds them together is music. But this part of the story evolves only when the seekbar has gone half the way thru the screen.. Music, in fact, for them was a matter of survival - rather than any passion. But the same music binds them together in the end...

Vivek is the ubiquitous comedy helping character, in this film too. He works for a bank, but manages to rope in a lot of funds for all the ventures of the boys (plus a girl). Wonder how :-S

The film gets a little filmi, with an earthquake, an untimely demise, unwantedly stretched parental advice sessions etc... But for a tamil movie, this is nothing. And is highly forgive-able :)
(A tsunami would have been a nice bet. But that was an unfamiliar word, when the movie hit the theatres first)

Nice music. And that ayyappa song (never heard it on cassette!) is good too. Rahman's ayyappa bhakti gaanam. Sounds highly contrasting :-D

The movie has a Rat in it. So I'm the happy :-))

Over and Out

PS: Junction ilottu kettiyeduthittu payyannu vere paniiyonnumille ?!! - very valid question :D

Light Rail

My Mode of transport !


Interior..


(Too lazy to write anything)
:-D

Santa Cruz and 17 Mile Drive Over the Weekend

Thinking of lines....to fill up this space.

Till then, this line will hold true:

"Coming Sooon..."

:)

Trip to SFO Golden Gate Bridge

Destination Golden Gate Bridge.
Saturday the 15th was a busy day. I think I slept alongside the laptop, and when I got up music was still playing. That day, did some local trips. Been to the furniture super bazaar - IKEA. Thats a Swedish store, and that name too is Swedish, I guess.


SFO plan got deferred to the next day, due to want of time on Saturday..

Kir had some touch up work to be done in office. Hence the trip starting point was his office. And the official start time : 12.26PM (proof given below)


First to a filling station to top up fuel, and to do a car wash. I heard him murmuring on the rising fuel prices.. But I opted to keep quiet rather than spitting out stupid lines like " This time, I'll pay for the gas ". At times I like my low-profile-ness a lot :-D


The car wash is too hi-fi! Sit in the car and drive thru the car wash area, and at the other end of the tunnel, you have a clean glowing color coming out! Awesome. It takes hardly 2 minutes, but it takes 6 dollars :-)

Then comes the 51 odd miles stretch to GG Bridge. Out here, people are familiar only with miles. If you say 82.0765 km, they will stare dumb at you. (Seeing this magic number, are you doing the same?!!).

Kiron was behind the wheels. And I was the navigator, trying to read out strange names that are have no vowels in the second part of it (Marina Blvd, 19 Av and the likes). Kiron went mad, listening to my directions. But he was kind enough not to kick me out on to the highway :D


Closer to the destination, there was heavy traffic. And a lot of signals. In the end, we reached the Golden Gate Bridge toll gate by 1.55 PM. Northbound trip is free! No toll. So as long as you are going to make a tent and stay on the other side of the bridge its a free trip. But if u wanna go back home, and sleep cozy, then you need to shell out 5 $ , for a return trip thru the bridge.

When the bridge was right in front of me, 3 thoughts ran into my mind:
1. Wowwwwwwwwwwww
followed by...
2. Voila, its not golden! Gimme back my money!
3. And where the heck is the Gate ?! Dont tell me that the 'toll gate' is the gate !


A little study revealed the fact behind the name of the bridge. If you wanna know go find it for yourself :) I found this page very simple and informative..

Drive over the bridge was such a feel. The bridge is 6 lanes. With ample space on both sides for pedestrians. The lanes are adjustable. Read somewhere that in the peak hours when south bound traffic is more, the lanes will be 4 south, and 2 north. Its not a hi-fi automated adjustment, but manual one :-)

We parked the car at the 'Vista Point'. Not a perfect view point for the bridge, but its a nice place to get a view of the bay and the yachts in the bay, and the long view of the city - peeping sharp into the bay.






After a round of left-right photography, we decided to have the feel of walking on the bridge. The driving lanes were crowded and so were the pedestrians lanes. Most of them tourists, some jogging, some walking 'just for a horror' and a few cycling. Walking gives the real picture of the enormosity of the bridge. It has got two huge towers, on which the entire bridge is supported. From the base of the tower, u can have a feel of the size. And the stretch between towers is also a lil too much. Walking over it to and fro will definitely burn some useless calorie from the body..








Had some snack at the other end of the bridge. That was Kir's lunch. I had a brunch, not much ago. I too joined him for company. While eating we saw some gathering not far from there. There was a man floored, and cops all around him. Lotza a police cars too. Dint go any close to it. I dint hav any proof of identification with me. No passport nothing. Big risk :)




Roamed around the places on the south end of the bridge, and started the walk back. After a few minutes of walk, when I saw the pillar, I thought 'thank God, we have reached'. Thats when Kir asked me to turn back to check for the other pillar. It wasnt there !! It disappeared ?? Or.. err.. well.. is this the first pillar in the stretch? Yes it is ! :-S
sigh.. its gonna be a long day !

Back at Vista point, we decided to go to Pier39 and find out what it is all about. And by sunset, we thought of returning to the GG bridge to take a nice lit up snap.

Pier39 was close by. Around 10 mins thru the traffic. Its just one of the piers, with a serial number attached to it, and is developed into a tourist/commercial spot.


Lotsa shops, hotels, seafood, carnival like atmosphere, live band, live performances etc... A colorful place.





Sun had set by the time we came out of pier39. Kir fetched his tripod from the car, and did some pro shoots.

Back to GG bridge by around 7.45.
Played around with the exposure time, and got some stump images !






Left the place by 10PM.
Home by 11PM. Tried controlling my sleep, sitting beside the driver. But slept off the last 5 or 10 miles :-P

Some interesing pics:
1. Technical Spec!


2. Oh Mommy Look at That !!


3. Woman at work !


4. Bay Bridge. View from Pier39 foot overbridge



5. Bus Bay in the eve


6. Bus Bay by night


7. Kir with tripod


8. Boats at the pier

Juz For Fun :)

THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. Innovative
2. Preliminary
3. Proliferation
4. Cinnamon


THINGS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. Specificity
2. Anti-constitutionalistically
3. Passive-aggressive disorder
4. Transubstantiate


THINGS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. No thanks, I'm married.
2. Nope, no more booze for me!
3. Sorry, but you're not really my type.
4. Taco Bell? No thanks, I'm not hungry.
5. Good evening, officer. Isn't it lovely out tonight?
6. Oh, I couldn't! No one wants to hear me sing karaoke.
7. I'm not interested in fighting you.
8. Thank you, but I won't make any attempt to dance, I have no coordination. I'd hate to look like a fool!
9. Where is the nearest bathroom? I refuse to pee in this parking lot or on the side of the road.
10. I must be going home now, as I have to work in the morning.

Trying to mimic SRK ?

A crazy fan of SRK, am I trying to imitate him ?
Or at least, his walking style(?) in KANK ?!

A very valid suspicion, coz these days, thats exactly how I'm seen walking. The root cause is not completely identified. But I got this past the SFO trip last weekend. Had sat on a bench to take a pic, and I remember developing a pricking pain in my left knee when I got up. Dint give it much of a thought or attention, but Monday morning was a lil painful. Should be a muscle cramp or a sprained ligament, no idea !

Anyways, it was a stump trip !
To be blogged soon :)

Till then let me try to figure out whatz wrong with the knee...

Golden Gate Bridge

What a sight!
You've to see it in real.
The pic might give you a 20 odd percent of what it really is.
A nice trip to SFO.
Details on the trip to follow :-)
Now its sleep time.
1.23AM !!!!!!!!

Off to SFO !

1pm on a cool Sunday (its cool every day of the week, anyways)
A little less than 5 hours off the targeted time.
And we're off to SFO now !
A chance to shoot Kal Ho Na Ho part II :-)

The agenda includes
1. Golden Gate Bridge (its not golden, by the way!)
2. Coit Tower (donno what that is)
3. Pier 39 (nice fancy name)

There is a Bay Bridge nearby too..
More things to be covered on the fly !
Kiron's network would come in handy here.
Over n Out

Recent Updates

1. It rained here today ! Probably the previous night too. It was dark in the morning at 9.15 when I stepped out to catch train to office...

(Not so much dark in the image - courtesy, image enhancement/stabilization crap)

2. Rain or no rain, its cold out there. Not so cold as to cover you up in thermals. But not to take any chance, I am always in my green jacket (Correction: its not mine, its bhaabhi's. Stole it from her :D )


3. Today's lunch was a sponsored one - from my previous project client manager.
Yesterday's lunch too was a free one - from previous to previous project client manager.
Wish I had been put into more number of projects
:-D

4. More inspiration to our LA/DisneyLand/SeaWorld Trip. A jigdi dost of mine offered to get tickets at discounted rates for me :-) Dost in need !

5. And I thought the most happening place on earth was here. But the fact is, it is here
Chk out the comments section :-D

In Public Interest...

A fellow blogger and a close friend of mine, Geo had a very bad experience recently at a reputed(?) shop based out of marthahalli. Read on to find his agonising story...

Shop safe!

I'm in US. So whats the big deal ?!

Well there are some big deals, I could see over here.
Some well notable 'deals'

1. Pedestrian is the king here! U step a foot onto the road, and the Porsche 911 cruising along at a speed higher than its model number will come to a screeching halt, and the driver would almost come out with aarthi in his hand to bless safe crossing to the other side of the road. So much respect that, once walking along a deserted road, I happened to see a limo backing off and hiding itself behind the bush, so that I could walk freely :-D

2. The cars over here, ohmigosh! One can safely tell 'no two cars are of the same type' unless you are a serious full time car fanatic (Kiron, thatz about you) For normal eyes (i.e. to me) every car was unique. Different shape, different model, different color, different style...


3. Nobody honks! The horn is an unused feature in the automobiles in the US. In the familiar territory of India, every vehicle has it distinctly written in big flashy font on the rear "Sound Horn". And everyone else obliges.

4. Lost your way while going from A to B in car ? Dont worry, we'll ask someone at that junction. Well, there is nobody at the junction. Not a soul on the footpath. Living beings are cuddled - all of 'em - behind a driving wheel, and not one sample to be seen on footpath. No wonder, the fellows in the car give so much of fanfare and respect to two-legged creatures on the road. Its a rare sight, aint it!

5. Well, the roads here are nice and clean, good and wide, smooth and sexy! Feel like driving on it. But then, good that I'm not a master in this art. A few lives are spared - mine inclusive.

6. When Sandy said back in 2005 that "In the US highways, 90% of the vehicles are cars... And the rest 10% is also cars", I thought he was juz getting funny. I was lucky to spot a bike or two..

Feverish !

after a cold evening's walk with no jacket on!
and after a mexican lunch with shrimps and the likes...
Took the dreaded paracetamol pill.
A nice night's sleep shud get me back on track..
Over to sleep!

My experimentation with Food

Extending the Plutonian tradition into the US, here is what I could come up with on Tuesday for dinner :-)



Cooking rice in microwave oven was a little tricky. We werent sure about the logistics requirements behind the process - whether to heat for 10 mins/whether to keep the lid closed etc. But in the end, a mix of closed-lid and open-lid activity, in batch of 10min, 5min, 5min helped us get a sight of something that closely resembles a cooker-made bowl of rice !

Daal was just a cake-walk,what with all the prior experience, and due to the fact that we had packed a cooker from back home..

Altogether, it came to a yummy delicious serving of rice and curry :)


The experiments will continue!!

Reporting from SJ !

The UA1172 flight took us safely from LA to SFO.
The flight took off at 7.14PM and reached the destination by 8.30PM
Got a taxi (A fiji-ite named Arun) that took us to the hotel by 10 in the night.

The view from the front side of the hotel is below:



An eventfully nice trip.
Details later :-)