this saturday

I wil lbe here :)
http://www.leavenworth.org/06%20ice%20fest%20schedule.html

candle making and creative wisdom

Yesterday spent the day making gel wax candles at bama's place .. it was so fun and so much nice.. we have clicked the pics someday i will have it here (wishful thinking)
on the way back i stopped at redmond library ..there are two things that i like - the gym and the library - US provides library cards and you can take upto 100 (basically unlimited) number of books ..and there is non ending collection of books there ..
i got 6 books among which there were collections of o henry short stories for my night reading and also pg wodehouse collection (which incidentally anshu don't like)... also got lots of philosophy and psychology books and for a change they turned out to be good ..
one of the books that i started (its a small one) is crazy wisdom- its on philosophy that is centered around the following zen thinking:
"If you do not understand, things won't change
and if you do understand things won't change"
Basically the funda is to be chillaxed in life ..that and similar such interesting quotes on it and the book is centered around them.it takes inspirations from kabir to gautama buddha to charlie chaplin and evolves in its philosophy - this is my lunch time book and have just read 19 pages.will post more stuff on it as we go along.
yesterday I felt i have finally started belonging to the city bcoz i got lots of calls from pple in seattle just catching up and finding out about me :) ..caught up with vaidehi and sid (who is back in US and has offered me his nokia charger) and talked for long with saubhy and mom... felt good :).

should have gone for this car

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lexus-LS-LS-400-LS400-BILL-GATES-OWNED-FULLY-DOCUMENTED-1990-MICROSOFT-25pix_W0QQitemZ4600815037QQcategoryZ14240QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

yest..

well i finally went to gym and took my shower there..damn those construction workers they havent yet finished their work and it has already been 10 days since they started..for the first time in my gymming history i sweated while gymming..met Petr and his pretty wife miho there...
then again shopped a lot ..got some shrimps too and lots of salad dressings(garlic caeser) and all the stuffs to make the salad..i wonder however how much i will use it though... but those damn avacados were very expensive so i better use them...
met mary yesterday..had invited her for dinner.. we chatted till like 12 at night and it was nice :).. nothing can beat a nice 1:1 conversation with someone around your age, with similar issues and with similar background and ofcourse so real and informal....

a great game - the correct link now

http://www.nationstates.net/
where you get to form your own country and you face real issues one everyday like "shld abortion bbe legal" with people from various sections of the society coming with the various view... you decide the govt the policies etc...the game is just fantabulous.

holiday diary

Dec 30 - went pub hopping in downtown seattle(while my parents were visiting shirdi) - man this is real US

Dec 31 - went to a party..had made and taken kheer for it (it was not too diff than gyan vaishnavi's divine kheer i ate in iitk)... slept once at 11.30 pm and then many a times from 1 -2 on their sofa..finally at 3.30 in my apartment

1 Jan - was so much better- went berseck shopping in the morn...bought some gifts and activewear.. talked to vids for a long time ...talked to saurabh too and listened to him boasting about his long jogs :)! went to gym - jogged < mile , had a nice relaxing steam and jacuzzi ...came back, spent the eve reading a novel - Innocence - and looking out of my glass wall, listening to good jazz music, sipping tea and munching cereals..total absolute bliss....

2 Jan -8 in the am i hear some earth shattering noises- i come out of my bedroom into the hall see three huge men waving at me ....one of them (a russian from accent) says " Good morning miss we are renovating your apartment"..gosh how cud i forget..its going on since 1 week...so here i am today on a holiday - made(while listening to them complaining about their boss) and packed my lunch and came to office...caught up with pathak after a long time..it was nice ... well i invited one of my seniors for dinner at my apartment so will leave at 3, goto gym and then to safeway- buy some stuff and then to my apartment..hope the workers will be gone by then ...

other news - i have taken to champagnes and white wines ... havent taken bath today....

tickets to india from seattle

Sites:
---------
makemytrip.com
priceline.com
Justfares.com, ask for Safi
http://msindians
http://msindians/selector.asp?Category=Travel
http://www.seattleindians.com

Agents:
-----------
- Travel Experts.Amol (425) 368 2462

- Royal Air Travel (909) 396-5500
Divakaran

- Just Fares (206) 223-3600 x 107
Neeraj

- Nova Travels 1-800-646-6682
Sudha, (503) 697-4460 Fax: (503) 697-4475

- Travelnet (206)652-2500
Seema, Fousia,


- All Places Travel (425) 643-8680
Katheryn Young (in Cross Roads--Bellevue)


Tips:
--------
Look for travel agents which will be local to Seattle area. 2/3 months in advance is more than enough. Also if you happen to visit any desi video/grocery stores, pick a newspaper called IndiaWest or IndiaAbroad which has plenty of travel agents offering great deals. You don’t really have to book from a local agent. It can be anyone. Its just that local folks are convenient to reach. If you are spending more than 1250.00 including taxes/fees I wouldn’t call it a good deal.

entering a bar

Okay how many of you knew that we need to have an ID to enter a bar ? Well there was a get together of msn srch dev bugs in the lincoln square - upscale bar and pool table in bellevue downtown (http://www.lincoln-square.com/entertainment_one.php?cidx=14) and I went there with Michael -( he is a racer and well lots of peopel wished me good luck because he was driving me there and he later claimed that since I just sqealed once I did a good job :).
It is funny his car has a cop detector so that he can reduce his speed when cops are around :). )
So coming back to the point, I went to the bar with my MS id and and credit card and the guy won't let me in! "I need to see your id ma'm" "I need to see your id ma'm" - that's all he kept repeating. So we had to call up Ed who was coming in late to pick up my bag from office that had my driver's license. Meanwhile I had to wait and I almost bought an expensive queen size bed from thomasville - a furniture shop downstairs :).
Once I entered it was fun - I played pool (i am stil learning) with dave, ankur and the 4th guy whose name I didnt know. Dave did show me a lot of cues. And then I stuck to my orange juice - which incidentally looked like beer from outside. Ate the appetizers and some guy in office would explain me every time what they were and esp their contents. Was there for a couple of hours and came back.
Met rahul bhagat - he came in the apartment last night and chatted with him for long. He is in LA contemplating a PhD. It was good. The way he talks, the content of his talks, they were all so American - but well his PJs and laughs still remained the same characteristic Nagpurian one :).

code and munich the movie

nothing can be more frustrating than a huge program's successful run hinging on a piece of code that should ideally work but is not working ... what is the issue permissions - no, typos - no, bad luck probably yes. i just needed a break from it so thought of updating the blog...

anyways met someone over the lunch today - a guy originally from mumbai - who is around same age as mine and is being nominated for Godell prize next year - he works in game theory in MS joined 8-10 months ago. something like the youngest nominee ever..interesting personality with lots of philosophical books and serious movies and does real sketching of people (told me that he funded half of his europe trip by sketching for people).. he lives virtually inside pike place market in downtown seattle and is a movie reviewer as well so gets invited to free movie shows 1 month before movie's release and get to authoratively brag about it :). he was pitying me coz i live in east side .. I dont mind switching to west side if I get the free movie shows. anyways i personally like the bellevue downtown more than the seattle downtown..even my redmond area is not bad ..its very peaceful..and may be in my heart i am still a country girl... its funny i almost feel i am living in India coz there are indians above me and besides me..i don't know who is below me...before i came in my apartment, it was occupied by indian couple - dushiant and ruchi - i stil lget thier letters - i dont like the name dushiant though isnt it a villian's name?

anways this guy recommended me a movie called munich and the more i hear about it the more i want to see it. the movie is about israili soldiers who were sent to secretly kill people in retaliation for attack in 1972 olympics..its about their pysche how would you feel if you are in a diff country for 2 years away from friends family just getting a list of people and killing them...
more on http://www.empiremovies.com/movies.php?id=3551&munich.htm
anyways time to get back to work :)

sometimes i feel

having a public blog is not a good idea ..i need my privacy man!...but well who cares ....

who makes the best aloo gobhi mutter in the world ...

arati :)