A few days ago, N was working late into night on some stuff. It was 2 am in the morning and N wasn’t home still. I tried calling him and could not reach him and panicked and raised quite some hue and cry and then some more. We own only one car and it was with N. I was kinda handicapped which is when I called Naveen (a friend of ours, you will hear a lot about him) and bawled to him; sweetheart that he is, he went to N’s office to check if everything’s alright. Turns out N was busy in a hallway conversation over some work related emergency. So, turns out everything’s fine. Phew!
But then, this got me thinking… before I met N, I wasn’t a panic freak.. I wasn’t so vulnerable. I *thought* I was strong. Or, may be I am just getting old. I guess when one tugs at something one does become weaker. It shouldn’t be like that, no? Don’t they say that love is all powerful? That you become stronger as a person?
But then again Naveen also commented that Superman (who btw, I think is the best superhero.. if there were a Superhero Olympics, I think Superman would give Michael Phelps a run for his money) was not impregnable too.
So, what is your kryptonite?
Tags: Family, introspection, superman
Not many realize the importance of their actions. The act I am talking about is something that people do as part of their regular lives affecting the lives of everyone around them. Involved or not, these actions carve the personality of the individual in the minds of others.
Actions are not like liking which can change with time. You dislike someone initially but eventually end up losing that emotion on them. Actions on the other hand, once performed will remain forever. They cannot be erased from the past and hardly be predicted to happen in the future. Such unpredictability is what makes it important to keep one’s actions in check.
There was this story a good friend of mine once used to express his thoughts on the subject. There was this young guy who was always full of rage and anger. He was abusive and destructive and everybody around him disliked him. His father one day got him a wooden plank and asked him to drive nails into the plank whenever he was angry and pull the nail out when he was happy. The guy started doing that and eventually ran out of space on the first plank. His father asked him to start adding wood to the plank and continue with the plan. The guy never got to finishing the second one but as he grew up ended up pulling out half of the nails on the first one. By that time people around him had already taken a liking to him and he was well respected. His father then using the plank as example explained to him, how his actions have made a mark on everybody and everything around him. Although not filled with nails, the wood still has holes caused by nails the guy put in them. People around him like him for what he is now but the damage he caused by his actions and their reactions cannot be reversed or repaired. He got his lesson.
By nature humans aren’t good. They are full of greed and want. If we let our actions be derived by these and not really controlled or checked by mind, we will end up with acts that will cause a bad reaction. Good actions have better reactions and bad stuff brings in the worst. Controlling our mind and actions and working towards a positive society is what we should be striving for.
Rattlesnake trail is just off of I90 at NorthBend. To get to rattlesnake, get off I90 at exit 32, keep right after the exit and just follow the 436th street till it becomes Cedar Falls road which will take you right to the Rattlesnake trail. The distance is about 3+ miles for those who want to watch how far the trail is from the highway.
Rattlesnake hike is not your regular everyday trail. The slope is very steep at places and is not recommended for folks with injuries and definitely not for firsttimers. There is a small 5 mile roundtrip hike to the top of the mountain to begin with and goes upto 20 miles for people who want to go all through the snoqualmie valley.
The trail zigzags through muddy pools of water and takes you on rocks, though cut trees, wooden bridges and to astounding beauty of nature. I stopped at the Rattlesnake ledge, that gives an overlookpoint to look over the Rattlesnake lake down below. You can spot your car from teh top of the ledge that gives you a sense of achievement and makes the hike worth all the trouble.
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes-of-the-week/rattlesnake-mountain-trail
Tags: Hiking
Some years back, well let me put it this way, some thousands of years back – remember when man wasn’t fully erect, could eat anything he could spear, cut and chew, did not care whether it had enough sugar, calcium or protein in it, did not mind the cholesterol levels in his blood and only obeyed his hunger. Lots of good times.
Everything we eat now has to be calculated for calories, I hate to say it but I do mind munching on the fourth slice of that extra cheesy pizza. Not because I do not want to eat it, only because it wouldn’t do much good to my health. I dont add extra sugar to my coffee, well actually cant afford normal coffee, only decaf. Reason, my folks wouldn’t appreciate me staying up all night just cause I can’t get sleep with all the caffiene in my blood. Its not like I could use that extra energy to go out and hunt down some extra food for the winters. I calculate the calories in the snack bars, I eat lotsa greens, ration’d proportions of dairy, well you get the idea.
I still envy the folks in pre civilization times when they used to eat everything. I did not want to evolve to stand erect and worry about my spine. I did not ask to be civilized to cook everything I eat and get used to digesting dairy. I am not for evolution and civilization if it makes me work extra hard to earn my meals and makes me watch my diet. But then again I am evolved and civilized so I will follow the rules and norms of the society. Time to go finish off my fifth slice of that extra cheese pizza only after I peel the cheese off of it. 
This is the checklist for camping for amateurs. The list is very exhaustive and is not in the order of importance.
Sleeping:
- Enough tents
- Tarp, foam pads or air mattresses
- Sleeping bags / comforters
- Extra tarp to cover cooking area
- Basic toiletries
- Swimming trunks/suits, hiking shoes, Hats
- Quarters – for using the showers at the campsite
Essentials:
- Flashlights/ Lanterns
- Extra layers of clothing
- Insect repellents
- Stoves
- Propane cylinders -
- Matches, lighters -
- Grilling pans/Sauce pans/other cooking utensils
- Paper plates -
- Paper cups -
- Paper Napkins -
- Spoons -
- Ladles –
- Skewers
- Can openers -
- Knife/peeler -
- Sun screen -
- Coolers/campers (ice pack) -
- Trash Bags -
- First aid kit -
- Ice for the icepack -
- Firewood/Starter wood
- Games – Catchphrase, Dodgeball, Frisbee -
- Boom Box / Zune/ FM Transmiiter & CD’s
- Foldable chairs
Food
- Water (big jerry cans) -
- Veggie/Meat burgers/Hot dogs -
- Bread/ buns-
- Cheese/Butter
- Grease (Pam Spray) -
- Soup cans /2 minute Noodles-
- Tomatoes, Onions, Cucumber
- Salt/Pepper/bbq and other seasoning
- Chips/Soda/beer
- Whole corn
- Lime/Lemon
- Scrub (for utensils)
- Egg Beaters
- Pancake mix/Other cereals
- Milk
- Coffee/Tea Powder
- Sugar
Tags: Hiking
The long weekend holidays for me are always boring. I usually end up working or sitting at home watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Not that watching TV is not good but hey its long weekend and I am expected to make some sort of long road trip. So this long weekend we set out to explore some wilderness of Glacier National Park.
To begin with, we have no experience watsoever with hiking, camping, biking, swimming, horse back riding, rafting or boating and this is what we wanted to do in GNP. The day started out with exploring and site seeing some of the local falls along the highway US-2 in western Washington and through Wenatchee. Talking about Wenatchee I will have to write another post to talk about Wenatchee alone. But for now back to GNP trip. Then we went as far as Spokane and still wanting more adventure we decided on the fly to head out to GNP. We immediately pull up information on our Win-Mo phones and make a few phone calls. Got ourselves a room on the bank of Lake McDonald in the Village Inn in Apgar Village.
The drive took about another 5 hours, total 9 hours to get to Apgar Village. The room we got to spend the nite opened into the lake, the view was the best and the feeling was just out of this world. We spent the night in the Village Inn and set out on the Road to the Sun which was a 50 mile drive filled with scenic beauty. The Chief Mountain, the Triple Arches, Mt. Clemens, wild fauna and flora just keep you engrossed all through the drive. We then camped at Rising Sun Motor Inn near the lake St.Mary for the night and then traced our way back to the city the next day.
By far this was the most adventurous trip I have had and makes me want to go there again very soon.
Here is what Wikipedia has on GNP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_%28U.S.%29
This is the complete list of Tintin titles so far.
- Land of the Soviets
- Tintin in the Congo
- Tintin in America
- Cigars of the Pharaoh
- The Blue Lotus
- The Broken Ear
- The Black Island
- King Ottokar’s Sceptre
- The Crab with the Golden Claws
- The Shooting Star
- Secret of the Unicorn
- Red Rackham’s Treasure
- The Seven Crystal Balls
- Prisoners of the Sun
- Land of the Black Gold
- Destination Moon
- Explorers on the Moon
- The Calculus Affair
- Red Sea Sharks
- Tintin in Tibet
- Castafiore Emerald
- Flight 714
- Tintin and the Picaros
- Tintin and Apha-art
- Tintin and the Lake of Sharks
Most of these are available in English, French & Spanish. Yesterday I was browsing through the Half price book store and the assistant there told me Tintin was one of the most difficult books to get our hands on, esp the used ones. That made me feel good and bad. Good coz, its Tintin and there are others like me 
, bad coz I would love to get my hands on some of these.
First of all WOOHOO XBOX. Please let me repeat it again, WOOHOO XBOX.
Now to explain the WOOHOO. During one of my recent trips to Andhradesam, I visited one of these big video stores. Seeing the dirt cheap prices of the DVDs sold there I couldnt resist myself and got a handful of good old Gult movies. Its not everyday that I shop for such movies and so I did not check to see the video format of these movies. Its not until I came back to US that I realized I got PAL video which none of the DVD players in here would play. I was restricted to watching them on my tiny screen laptop.
Not anymore though.
The other day when XBOX scratched my GEARS OF WAR, I knew I needed something to put XBOX back on my fav list of musthave. So I started experimenting with all sorts of discs that I had and was trying to figure out what scratches the discs the most. During one of these experiments I accidentally popped in one of my movie discs and to my surprise, XBOX started playing the movie – the one in PAL format.
I am a happy man again.
XBOX – You totally rock but for the occasional disc scratching and oh ofcourse the loud noise of your fan. You are back on my fav 5.
‘Too human’ – the new XBOX game that is scheduled for August 19th. Definitely looking forward for this.
Check the trailer out.
Gears of War – probably the best game in XBOX so far, probably better than Halo IMHO. I bought the XBOX elite only for this one game and that damn thing scratched my disc the other night. I mean whats the use of bringing in a kick-ass game if the console is just going to scratch and destroy it anyways. I hope someone from the XBOX team is actually keeping track of how much they are losing because of issues like this in their console.
I am just waiting for the sequel to Gears Of War to come out in November. The trailor looks awesome. I hope the game is atleast as good as its predecessor if not better.
