Pooh's Den: thisnthat

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Almost there

As you might have observed the past couple of weeks, I have maintained minimal activity in the blog and getting away with just posting pictures and updates. I do have a few posts lined up and they'll be up soon. But the reason for the reduction in activity level is that we are moving over to our own corner - our domain. It is quite some work as we are moving not one but all 3 of our blogs there. After days of struggling with SQL and PHP, finally I am confident we will move.

As of now, we plan to have new posts at our new domain from next week. So bear with us while we get everything done and then I'll have more posts coming.

Season of Change

I am a summer person. It seems odd to many people (including my other half) how I can love summers. I live in a city that boasts of 100% humidity most days in summer and temperatures sky-high. But I love it. I enjoy the warm rush of hot air that hits me the minute I step out of my office, I love the slight breeze that brings a respite, I love the sprinklers working overtime to keep the gardens fresh, I love the rare summer rains and thunderstorms, I love the crisp cottons I get to wear, I love the smell of BBQ in the air, the smell of fresh cut grass on a summer day....I could just go on and on. It somehow is me. I relate to summer than any other season.

October is here and with it comes in the chill in the air. Houston is still warm but the mornings are cool - a little too cool for me. I cannot complain about it as the whole of Houston seems to be rejoicing and enjoying the cooler days. I complain and I rant about the missing the dog days of summer and people who know me turn a deaf ear to me.

I have started carrying around a little sweater or fleece to keep me warm in a rather freezing office or store. For some reason, as the temperatures drop outside, the air conditioner thermostat does not increase. It rather stays the same and leaves me cold and longing for summer days. It is going to be a long winter I say. It is just October 1st and I am all set for the next summer.

As the weather changes, the outdoor activities reduce and this year my plan is to visit the famed museums in Houston on those gloomy winter weekends. Something I badly want to do. I am off to catch some sun and warmth before it is too late this year!

Inspired by The Mad Momma

Houston's Ike Preparation Photos

Are here

Ike Weekend

On a different note, I plan to spend this weekend trying to move Poohsden, R's Lightpixels and our travel log - Scary-On to our own server. So hopefully we can get going without hitches.

Translations

We were at Chennai Egmore heading towards Trichy and my dad pointed out to this board and asked us to read what was written in Tamil. Go ahead try reading it if you know Tamil.
We could really not make head or tail out of it and then he pointed to the English version.

Phew! Reading a so easy English sentence in Tamil is quite strange. I strongly recommend Coffee Day to have a tamil tag line instead of writing "A lot can happen over coffee" in Tamil. On the same note, Parfait 3 whose tag line goes "Bistro more than a cafe" sounds really strange when you read it in Tamil.

The writings are clearer when you click on the photos

Monkey Bussiness

I have always seen three monkeys together - the wise monkeys depicting the old Japanese proverb "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" I saw this at an Indian restaurant in Houston - 4 monkeys together. Does anyone know the meaning/ story behind this?

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Mosaic Squares and Answers

My favorite Houston foodie writer tags me to do this wonderful tag! I just loved doing it.

The Rules:

Type your answer to the questions into flickr search
Using only the first page, pick an image
Copy and paste each of the urls in the Mosaic Maker

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to do when you grow up?
10. Who/ what do you love most in life?
11. Choose one word that describes you?
12. What is your Flickr name?

My Mosiac:

1. _7160178, 2. rasgulla, 3. Wide Angle Test, 4. yawn, 5. Saawariya, 6. Strawberry Milk Splash, 7. Galapagoes, 8. , 9. Look out., 10. Showtime!, 11. The Dancing Shiva - Nataraj, 12. Misty Morning

And now to tag,
Homecooked
Lavs
Sementi
Siva
That Guy

Taste of thunder

Growing up, it was the "grown-up's drink". Kids drank milk, fresh fruit juice and at times maaza and frooti. It was way ahead in time, when giants like Pepsi and Coca Cola had not made their way to where we grew up.

Anything prohibited is fascinating and so was carbonated drinks. In the market those days were Thumbs-up, Limca, Bovanto and Paneer Soda and everyone of those drinks I drooled over as I drank my frooti.

I do not remember my first taste of Limca, Bovanto or Paneer Soda but I clearly remember sipping Thumbs-Up and hating it. I later feel in love with Bovanto and Panner Soda but never had the guts to try Thumbs-Up.

Fast forwarding to present day, I regularly guzzle down diet coke and pepsi. And this trip to India I made sure I had my fill of Bovanto (it is available mainly in southern Tamil Nadu but found certain stores in Chennai stocking them up) and panner soda (a Trichy exclusive). I wanted to try Thumbs-up and see if my taste buds had evolved over the ages.

R being an ardent devotee of Thumbs-up started his search in the famous supermarkets and petti kadais in Velachery. No one stocked up Thumbs-Up and finally he hit gold at a small tea kadai. Excited he tasted thunder and was left disappointed.

It seems trademark strong taste of Thumbs-up had been replaced with. a rather washed down taste. Small talk with the shopkeeper enlightened us further. It seems that Thumbs-up is now a part of Pepsi and unlike Pepsi shopkeepers so not get any incentive for stocking up Thumbs-up.

Another bottle down the drain! RIP Thumbs-Up they say you were the best. I regret not trying you and loving you in your heydays.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Classified ads!

If bored and you need something entertaining and fun to do (after checking all the mails, reading all blog posts, commenting, reading n replying to wall posts and scraps) online the best place to be is reading the fun stuff on classified websites like craigslist and backpage. Believe me, they are better the "fair, beautiful, slim, homely" matrimonial classified that grace Indian newspapers and websites.

I just came across this on Houston's Craigslist and doubled with laughter. Here is what the ad reads,

Painting for sale of which that have not yet been painted.

I am not an expert in painting but I have strong emotions. I do not have a porfolio but I have faint memories of what I have created in the past. My mind is creative but is handicapped because I lost the love of a girl and the obsession of my mind may have what caused the lost.

I will paint a painting of your choice and influenced by my handicapped creativity and broken heart for 1 million dollars. After I have painted the painting if it leads to the reuniting of myself and the heart that I long for then she will paint you a painting (she knows not of this).

Anyone got a million dollars to spare to buy the above mentioned paintings?

The "I" Tag

Just as I am trying to sort through my muddled thoughts, Homecooked tags me... so here we go before I forget

I am: currently confused

I think: all the time

I want: World peace (ha! Now I get the crown;))

I have: nothing I asked for but more than I ever expected

I wish: I can take life as it comes without micromanaging

I hate: hate is too strong a word... it is rare that I hate anything... I dislike hypocrites

I miss:being around family.. life seems complete when around loved ones

I fear: losing loved ones

I feel: happy yet worried and worried yet confident (oh yeah! I said I have too many muddled thoughts on my mind)

I hear: almost silence other than my fingers typing away on my keyboard

I crave: family time

I search: for unless trivia all the time...

I regret: not being able to spend more time in India

I love: too many things

I care: about people and causes I am passionate about

I am not: easily content

I believe: in the support of loved ones

I dance: like there is no tomorrow

I sing: very rarely

I cry: for petty stuff

I don’t always: follow my heart and regret it later

I fight: for what I believe in

I write: my emotions

I win: because I want to

I lose: because I lose concentration mid-way

I never: will say no to travel

I always: believe in living every minute

I confuse: myself and others around me

I listen: to lot of unwanted stuff!

I can usually be found: with my laptop

I am scared: of what I fear

I need: alone time every now and then

I am happy about: the fact that I was able to spend nearly a month in India!

Too many muddled thoughts

Tropical Storm Edouard fortunately left us without much damage. Some rains and a holiday were the most we got out of Edouard. There are so many assorted thoughts and things I want to write about but putting it into sentences and trying to make sense of them seems to be a hard work so am taking the easy way out. I am just going to put down a list of things I want to write about least I forget them and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I get back to these topics and write about them.

Trichy memories
Family reunions
Velachery
Gated communities
Horns
Parking
Emirates
Dubai - old n new
Smog in Dubai
Thumbsup
Bomb blasts n mirror!

These are the ones I can think of for now! Some many not be individual posts, some might be linked to our travel blog... but yes I need to get back to blogging!

Back in Houston!

We are back in Houston after a long tiring journey. This trip has left us recharged yet exhausted, happy yet sad.... yeah complicated...

As we get back into routine, we plan to unpack not just the 200 odd pounds we carried back but the baggage each of us personally accumulated during the trip. It will be a journey within ourselves and the lessons we learn and discover hopefully will make a difference to ourselves and others.

India trip was wonderful inspite of spending quite a lot of time, coughing and sneezing! Will have more about our trip soon....

Kuselan - After Dasavataram another ego trip of a different kind!

Strange Sightings

Often I end up observing strange things which make me laugh, cry, and/or groan. This trip with no worries about keeping an eye on the road and time, I had an opportunity to click some pictures of some strange observations.

Share my laugh!

An absolute bad photoshop job on one of the boxes seen around!

I know it is not the clean whiff of air I enjoyed years ago... the fresh breeze wafting from the banana plantations along Trichy-Thanjavur road is no longer there. A mix of construction dust and exhaust gases fill the air. But it is still pleasurable to enjoy July winds in Trichy...

Of Rains and Whys

I watch the sheets of rain slash down the busy lunch hour crowd... Car wipers working overtime, the roll of thunder, hovering crowd of people caught by the unexpected summer shower, a few honking cars, the darkening sky ......

It makes me gloomy! Why I wonder? Why do I find rains depressing on certain days? Why do the incidences pushed to the back of the mind come forefront on certain rainy days like today? Why do I feel disappointed and let down? Why do I not yearn to run out into the summer rains I love and get drenched? Instead why do I sit here moping and typing random stuff? Why do I let the growling thunder create an unrest within me like a earthquake opening up things long forgotten? Why does the water droplets on the tree leaves seem like the leaves are crying? Why does the distorted reflection of the headlights of the car on a puddle of water on the road seem like distorted thoughts on my mind?

Why I wonder? Me the one who loves rains..... the human mind...

So does rains depress you or do they cheer you?

This reminds me of a small incident in school that stuck with me through the years. Bored high school kids around the world sitting through a rather boring history class find tons of fascinating happenings through the classroom window. Anything was a valid enough reason to turn towards the window. The rain being a cheerful event. And often most teachers would find the entire class turning towards the window at the outset of rains. Seems stupid today but it was a fun thing to do those days. And one rather creative teacher, stopped in the middle of a rather boring lecture with 50 odd students trying hard to hide their yawns and said, "Flash news: It is raining, turn to your right take a look and then let us get back to our lecture" It lightened the room better than the lightening on the skies that day!

A memory that stuck with me.. I wonder why?

UPS update and FedEx stories

After all the phone drama, the UPS guy left the package at our garage door without bothering to get an authorization signature! It has really pissed us off... it was quite an expensive item we were expected (yup R's new lens) and if they were going to leave it without a signature why not do it the first attempt itself?

More reasons for UPS to be consistent and check their policies... or is there any clause that says you can leave packages which need authorization on the second attempt at the door step?

Meanwhile, the very learned people at FedEx left us a cardboard package soaked and peeling off in the rain...Luckily none of the contents were damaged. But the urge to sue both these companies are getting higher.

Anyone else had bad experiences with these courier giants?

UPS's policies!

So we are expecting a delivery by UPS - the world's largest package delivery company. We come home after all the drama last night and realize that the UPS guys had come by and left a note. We call the number this morning and enquire about picking up the parcel. And they go "well it is our policy to attempt delivery atleast 3 times before offering pick-up services" WTF! They deliver between 8-4 am when we are happily punching away in our keyboards at work and we have other plans for Saturday which will keep us out of home.

Frustrated we tried to schedule the next delivery attempt on Monday where the probability of us being at home when they deliver is higher... Nada! their 2nd and 3rd delivery attempts must be consecutive days right after the 1st delivery attempt!

What kind of policy is that? I understand customer service and attempting to deliver on time but do they not have options for those like us who have other plans? And this at a time when gas hits $4+ a gallon! Eww! I feel so bad for the delivery guys and for not being at home when they are trying to deliver! Guess we just got to live with it!

Time UPS changed their policy though!

Bad "car" day - Twin trouble

It was one of those days yesterday... first it was the Acura's turn... a flat and then at 9 pm on a rainy, stormy night some 20 miles away from home (and civilization unless you consider a Wendy's fast food restaurant and a bunch of dancers/musicians) we happily lock the car keys inside the car. AAA says they will more than an hour. Thanks to some good friends we were able to get home, retrieve another set of keys and open the car!

Phew! what a day!

The secret behind the smile on our faces

Things at Poohsden is moving at a remarkable speed, new friends, new attempts and new failures that accompany. We are excited with everything that is happening.. and as we race against time, let the wind mess up the hair, there is a perpetual, content smile.

Being content in life is something that is under-rated, unlike some other feelings in the world. Being content is not easy, it takes a lot to be grateful for everything we have, every minute we live, every second we breathe. And yes it is worth every bit of it.

The weekend was a perfect one! So much laughter, so much learning, so much accomplishments - minor ones but still special. The world seems so much nicer when weekends give rise to contentment. We did not sleep in, did not party all night but we did small things that made us happy!

Life is good....is something in the air? is it summer? or something else totally.... might be... may be it is just the countdown to visit loved ones in India making our lives seem perfect! A couple of weeks more at work and then we are off home... what more do you need to make life perfect and content?

Pooh's Den