Bought a LEXUS

All right.. so, its been a very long time since I wrote something to my BLOG. Well, hopefully, I can be regular now. Last week, me and Shalu got a Lexus ES 300. The car was in Lubbock, Texas. The day started with Tony and Prince picking us up from out apartment, for the long drive from Dallas to Lubbock (6 Hours).

Though our plan was to split the drive to Lubbock, our Gym Man, Mr Tony just drove away to glory, and finally, by 5:30 PM, we reached Lubbock. Lunch was a bit disappointing that day, as we ended up in a pathetic retraunt, THINKING, it will be a fantastic one!!! So, end result was, we were ready to dig into food, by the time we reached Lubbock.. and guess what... Kunjamma was waiting for us with all delicious food!!!. We finished off our Linner (Lunch + Dinner).... and then, me and Shalu went test driving the car. WOW... as my friend Dilip rightly stated, Lexus features are "Understated Elegance". We both fell in love with the car right from the first drive.

By 7:00 PM, we started our drive back to Dallas. With the Microsoft Streets and Trips GPS guiding us back to Dallas, and with Tony and Prince, watching closely the Radar Detector, we got back to Dallas by 1:00 PM.

Evening at MEANT

MEANT stands for "Malayalee Engineers Association of North Texas". The evening started with a call to my Uncle, who told me that there was this MEANT cultural evening. I have heard about MEANT for some time now, and was looking forward to become a member of the same. By evening 5:30, I reached my Uncles place, and by like 6:30 PM, we all were on our way to the place where the program was to happen. By the time we reached the place, it was 7:15, and the program had just started. A quick look into the hall told me that I already knew many people in the hall. I had met many of them at different parties and gettogethers at my relatives places. When I entered the hall, there was a group dance going on, and soon, I was tapping my feet with the rhythm. The Kerala environment was verymuch in the air, and felt good to be in the middle of all the malayalees. The evening continued with good songs, and small children performing in the stage, then the typical Kerala "Deepam" which happens in the evening, and then, came the "Strike". When you mention Kerala, you cannot avoid talking about the strikes in Kerala. And, I guess, taht was the reason, it found a place in this all Kerala program too. It was fun, as my friend "Ani Chettan" followed with couple of others, walked into the stage and started calling out slogans... and what funny slogans were those!!!. The whole hall was roaring with laughter, on slogans aimed against the president of MEANT. It was fun, and as I scanned the croud, I found the president himself laughing so much, that he was finding it difficult to sit.

Well, as in Kerala, the strikes come soon, and go soon, and so did that happen here. After the strike program, it was time for another Kerala original program. "Vallam Kali" or boat race today has a special place in keralas entertainment chart. In times of the kings, one of the major entertainment was the boat race.. but the problem was to synchronize 200 pepole in each boat. The solution was a song!!!. Yes, specially composed songs, with rhythemic beats told all the 200 people when to row. And, it worked!!!. All 200 people rows at the same time, and the boat goes forward like a bullet!!!.

So, the song was the next program at MEANT, and though not rowing, we all were enjoying the rhytm in the songs.

Finally, the evening came to an end, and we all headed home. I went to my uncles place first, and from there, to my place. By the time I reached home, it was 11:30, and went to sleep.

Golf - My First Experience

Yesterday, I played Golf for the first time. By 6:00 PM, my friend Rohit called me, and asked whether I wanted to go to play Golf. Till this point, I have no idea of Golf, except the naive understanding that I need to hold a golf club, and then hit the ball. The terms "Driving", "Putting"..etc were out of my understanding. But, as with any thing, there is a begininig, as someone has rightly said... "The journey of a thousand miles, starts with the first step". By 6:30, I was driving to Rohits place, where I picked him and Nikhil Kikkeri. Of us 3, Nikhil was the most experienced in Golf.

We reached the Golf course in like 10 minutes, and as I stepped into the course, it was a totally different feeling. Long patch of grass, with flags at some points gave me an approximate idea of how big a golf course is. Needless to say, my friends helped me with selecting the right golf clubs. They helped me to get educated on the advantages and disadvantages of each of the clubs.

The first step was to learn how to "Drive". Driving is the act of hitting the ball to a long distance... the first shot you see in any golf game. We have cricket, which is something like this, and thought, this is going to be a piece of cake... a thought, I soon found out is very much wrong. For one thing, the ball is much smaller, and to add to it, the surface area of the club is no comparison to the comparitively large cricket bat. Rohit helped me get started by showing me the right way to hold the club, and also, the swing.

While I watched Nikhils and Rohits golf shots go nothing less than 175 yards, mine was hardly making it out of 20 yards!!!. The harder I tried to hit, the lesser it went!!!. And then.... came my first successful shot. Off the ball went, and actually, never saw it, as it was clear sky.

Anyways, it was a wonderful experience, and was a good work out too. Looking forward for this again next week.

Need For Speed!

Yesterday evening, I went to Speed Zone Dallas. This was the first time, I went to a speed zone. It was a wonderful experience, to satiate your hunger for speeding through the turns without being afraid of the cops :). The race that I liked most was "Sleek Race" where in, the Go-Cart wont have much grip. It will slip and skid on the track, if you take too speep turns. Soon, people were bumping into each other, in an effort to over take each other. The turns were especially crowded, as many people just bump into each other, or skid off, only to crash into another person.

Then, back in "Games Room" at speed zone, we danced a bit. It was fun too. The game involved teaching us how to dance, with the music. We then went for air hockey.

Slowly hunger caught up with each one of us. We all were in the mood for some drinks and a good place to hang out. The most popular suggestion that came up was the "Re-union Tower". Its a rotating restraunt, and one of the tallest restraunts. We all had dinner and some drinks there, and finally, by like 12:30, we found ourselves heading home. It was a nice evening.. something different from what I had ever experienced. :)

A New Start

God.. its been long since I updated my BLog. A lot of things happend in between. But then, I guess a new start would be a better idea, rather than trying to update my BLog with all the things that happend between January and this month, May.

Between then and now, I have moved to Phoenix, and back to Dallas. Phoenix was fun, and was different, but then, Dallas is still what I call home. Perhaps because the past 2 years of my MS.. the days of my making and moulding up for the IT industry happened in Dallas. Perhaps its the friends who I so very much cherish...

Last week end, I had been to San Jose, California. A long cherished dream was to come true. Drive in Highway US 1. I lose count on the number of references I have, which says how beautiful the drive is... and what a drive it was!!!. I was amazed at how beautiful mother nature can be... and ofcourse, the air was full of positive strength, poured in with the bliss of people visiting there.

The coming week end is a long week end.... something to look forward to :).

Got my first speeding ticket :(

They say there is always a "First Time". And for me, it was today. I got my first speeding ticket today. As usual, i started off to GEMS at 8:30 in the morning. And by 9:00, I was on 114, just 1 exit away from office. Me and Tony were discussing about different things, when I noticed this cop on the side road. I did try to slow down from my speed of 75 miles per hour, to an acceptable range of 60 - 70 miles. But.. it was too late. The cop started following me with those "Cop Lights" flashing, and at that point, I knew that it was the day something new is going to happen in my life - Getting a speeding ticket. I drove into a parking lot with the cop right on my tail. Finally, he came out, asked for my documents, and gave me a ticket for speeding 7 miles over limit. Well, I have to now cancel the ticket with a defensive driving course.

Bought an IPod

I am a person who likes music a lot. I love dreaming of things, and music compliments my favourite hobby. Just sitting there, listening to music, and letting my mind free is something I enjoy doing any time... especially, when i have lots of time on week ends. I have been thinking about getting the supposedly ultimate MP3 player, the Apple IPod for some time, and today, I finally got it :). This is perhaps the first Apple product I have ever got, but then, I am sure will not be the last :).