IT Picnic

14th August was our IT picnic day. We all had been planning from some time now about the IT picnic. Everything was planned, from food to music. The picnic was to be held at our IT CIO Nashat's house which boasts a 25 acre land and 11,000 sq. ft house!

We reached there around noon and cranked up ourselves by drinking some cola. Then came lamb kabobs specially prepared by our hostess and then we had the burgers. Oh! Did I mention a few more colas and a huge candy-floss?

4th July Weekend - 2005

The much-awaited July 4th weekend finally came. I had planned this trip way back in February and we all were looking forward to this trip from so long. This is typically the case when one doesn't get to go out, like in my case.

This trip was a sort of a reunion. All three of us studied together in St. Xavier's High School, Surat. We met each other on and off in the past few years but didn't get the chance to be all together. Then 2004 happened! We all had kids in 2004 and we decided that it would be a very good idea to meet at least once a year so that not just us but our kids too can stay in touch and get to be a bit social.



After my daughter was born last September, we didn't get much chance to go around much. This was her first air-travel and I must say, she impressed both of us tremendously. Usually parents are vary about traveling with young 'uns but my princess made both of us a bit bolder, we are already planning our next travel!

We went to Hollywood, Laguna beach, downtown Disneyland and the Little Gym this time we went there. Oh, by the way, just for those who are wondering where and what this Little Gym is, it's not a tourist place, just a "school" to help better develop the motor-skills in kids, which our friends own!



We also got to meet Princess Fiona and Puss 'n Boots while walking in Hollywood. Wohoo!



We saw the 4th July fireworks in Fullerton where we went and sat on the top of a public parking, rather than queue up in a stadium amidst 15,000 people. This way we didn't have no traffic going in or out and we saw the same fireworks.

The ladies had more fun than us, I guess. They got to leave the kids with us and go shopping and we were left with the little ones!

We had a 12:15 pm local-time flight back to Chicago (which got an hour delayed) on Tuesday 5th July. Although in a way, we were glad to back home, we suddenly felt very lonely. I just realized that I won't be seeing my friends for a long time and it reminded me how something seemed to be missing in life without them. I know this feeling will fade away in the hectic routine, and more important thoughts (like how to sleep longer and still get to work on time; or how to make and save more money!) will take their place, but I still wonder how it would take the loneliness away...

Excitement before the holidays

I don't know about everyone else, but I always get excited about holidays, specially the day before or the morning (if I were to travel in the evening). This excitement varies depending on where I am going (or who I will be meeting!).
I am flying out to LA today evening for the 4th July weekend and there I will be meeting 2 of my very good friends. Also, all 3 of us had kids last year, so we are all in the same boat when it comes to experience with them. After we had kids, we all decided to meet *at least* once a year so that the kids get to be in touch. Only time will tell for how long we can keep this promise, but from my part I would very much love to do so.

I am travelling by Southwest airlines, dep. 5:40 pm arriving at LA 7:55 pm local time. I have been to LA before and I enjoyed my stay there. This time I am expecting double the fun since my friend from NY will be joining us there. We all will be seeing the other kids for the first time and I am sure it will be a lot of fun.

The best part is, I will be leaving the 96s weather here and will get to enjoy the 70s weather of California.

LA, here I come...

a new camcorder

Have been researching for over a month now for a decent digital camcorder. I wish there were a website for digital camcorders as there is www.dpreview.com for Digital cameras. I wanted to have a side by side comparision of a few cameras with the actual image shown so that I can decide by myself.

The problem with most sites which tend to do a "comparision" is that there is a huge amount of inconsitency! One site would show a Sony as number 5 and the other would show is as the numero uno!!! I can handle a little margin of error; but geez...

I finally picked www.camcorderinfo.com as the one I could trust (for no obvious reasons) and then started researching. I realized that the rankings were based on about 15 features and I wasn't concerned with most! I chose a few that made sense to me and based on that, I chose the Canon ZR300 as the "chosen one"!

No one seemed to match the prices I saw online and since it was almost $50 difference, I decided to buy it from www.buydig.com . It's a great site and can be compared to www.newegg.com when it comes to buying digital cameras/camcorders.

No shipping, no tax, and wohoo! the purchase was finally made today from Royal Oak. Now we wait...