Skydiving - Check

Thinking - I seriously hope this guy on my back is not gay!

Did I feel something poking my ass?

Probably not. Perhaps somersaulting at 10000 ft. should be of higher concern than any poking. Is this even supposed to happen? The world sure seems weird upside down!

Need some orientation... time to get out the drogue (and breathe)

OK, this feels brilliant! I am gonna have spiked hair when I land!

Time to pull the cord. The canopy opened. God loves me!

Ok, so it was a crash land. There are times when having a huge soft padded butt could be an advantage!

Yes, I am DA MAN!

I think everyone should do this once. The 40 second free-fall is absolutely amazing and when you glide underneath your parachute, the world looks surreal! For two weeks, I have been trying to dive and for some reason the weather Gods were against me. Too many clouds. And this weekend was supposed to be no different. We spent Saturday night dancing at a friends wedding all the way to 3 AM and then I get a call at 8 AM asking me to look out of the window. Nice sunny day and not a cloud in the sky. And so we were off for skydiving. I kept yawning as I got into the jumpsuit. I kept yawning as the plane gained altitude. And I think I yawned during the free-fall. The instructor was rather amused at how I was all zonked and not jittery in any way. He actually checked to make sure I was not drunk!

I have a video of the entire free-fall, but am too lazy to rip the DVD. So meantime, you guys can enjoy this little preview of the build-up which a friend shot with my cam. And if I ever get around to it, I'll update this post with the freefall video.

Till then, I think you should skydive. At least once. On a cold Michigan Fall day. And have the wind cut through your skin. Its mind-numbing!

Bull By Its Balls

Current sentiment on Wall St.

My buddy Sharma reflecting on the Dow Jones 777 drop!

The Bull is being kicked on its balls!

What I was not aware of was how the traffic to my blog flows when the Dow Jones fluctuates. On a normal day, my blog will get anywhere between 50-60 hits (yes, no one reads my blog). However, when the DOW goes crazy, everyone runs to my blog. As you can see, the day the Dow dropped, # of visitors to my blog jumped 10 times, and the next day, it jumped by 20 times.

So when the Dow drops, all of Wall St. turns to my blog!

...12 days to go!

Luray Caverns

This long weekend, we decided to head down to Luray Caves. And no, I have not tied the knot or come across kids I never knew I had. The 'We' is Mom, Dad and I. Yeah, parents are visiting, and they have been here for over a month. Dad was rather keen to check out Luray Caverns in Virginia, I had never ever explored them, and so we set out.

The drive was a rather pleasant one, since it heads into the Shenandoah Valley. Lush green fields, horses running around, cows mooing. A clear sky. All in all, a perfect summer.


Now, when I say caves, if you are under the impression that you will be coming across a set of caves as your entry point, think again. The entry point to Luray caves is the building you see below. And after a $19 entry fee, you walk down a stairway, probably 3 levels and come upon your first glimpse of the caves.




The caves are essentially a wonder of Stalagmites and Stalactites. Formed by seeping mineral water, the structures are mighty wonderful.

What you see below is one of the most beautiful sections of the cave. The formations are on the top (stalactites), and what one gets to see below is their reflection in water. And yes, thats my Mom and Dad, and usually, they do smile.




What follows is called Saracens Tent. It appears as a smooth curtain folded by hand, a perfectly formed stone drapery structure. The translucent sheets appear to have been parted, tent-like, for an entranceway.




This was a random snap I took as we walked through the caverns. Yeah, they can get scary. I wonder if there are any snakes or lost civilizations in them?




Observations:

* There were at least 60% Indians. It felt like going to Jersey City, or walking on Oaktree Road in Edison. Minus the food.
* The cavern has a wishing well, which has so many quarters flipped in it, I could do free laundry for a lifetime if I could lay my hands on 'em.
* They have guides at certain points on the tour (the tour is rather like a walk through the caverns). The guides do not walk with you. They will talk about the significance of that particular area in the cave and then you walk on till you come across the next guide.
* If you are not fast enough to get to the next point of interest, you will miss out on what the guide there has to say. Even if you get there on time, but have a noisy kid with an even noisier kids Mom shouting at him to shut up, behind you, you will not be able to figure out what the guide has to say. Both these obstacles can be overcome by asking the Guide to repeat what s/he said :)
* Do not stand behind Indian lady wearing salwar-kameez with dupatta. She will swing the dupatta around her shoulders and it shall land on your head, causing everyone to break into uncontrollable laughter. Exceptions: Lady is a hot chick!
* Ladies, keep your pointy heel shoes back home. The terrain is such that it would take an amateur trekker to task. The temperature is maintained at 54 F, so dress easy. You anyways dont wanna end up looking too good, else some caveman could get desperate! Heh!
* They have a cafe as you enter the ticketing area, or when you get out of the caves, however, nothing in the caves (during the tour). So, if you get hungry, have some mineral formations. They are pretty yummy. Just make sure you are not licking the same one I licked!




And as you can see, my Mom does smile!

Chocolate Balls (Your's Sister's Ball)

Dhapoed from Flickr.






Nasty Delicious? Hmm!


Somebody explain. Please.

NYC Love

250 New Yorkers were bitten by rats
(And 1401 were bitten by humans)

This was photographed near Wall Street. I tell ya, all these finance guys!





And Seaport is always as interesting as ever.

I have always expressed my love for the city. Something or the other is always happening in NYC. Something which is not the norm for the tourists eye, however a Yankee would not even blink.

If I lived in NYC, I would prolly blog more often. If I lived in NYC, I would prolly never head to Times Square. If I lived in NYC, I would prolly sell my car. If I lived in NYC, I would prolly end up paying more tax than my salary. But I love this crazy city.

However, Baltimore is trying to catch up these days. For a change, there is always something or the other of interest when I head downtown. Like they have this new Trapeze school. Little kids, flipping themselves around. I considered enrolling, but my tummy got it the way. And they said the safety net wouldnt hold my weight.

And this ship pulled up in the harbor. Arrrh... Jack Sparrow could not be found ye mates! But there were plenty o' barrel o' rum!

I Should Update More Often

OK, I know - I suck at blogging these days. Somedays I come very close to quitting. Its not like I dont have much to blog, but some things are so personal that I would rather go anonymous and blog with a I dont give a damn about the world, or I continue blogging here and try to be as diplomatic as possible.

Anyhoo - whats new, or rather whats routine is for the last one month I have been doing 12 hour days at work which include weekends (hence the lack of blogging). While at this, my boss is been very helpful in keeping us on a high calorie, high fat diet. However one incident made me realize the dramatic change which can be once you are married. For now, if my we feel - "We want this today", I'll sit till midnight and get it out. However over lunch this Saturday - it was with my entire team at Olive Garden, some had come with their significant other. My boss asked my colleagues wife (they got married few months ago), on how she is enjoying married life? "Enjoy? We are recently married and you keep my husband at work 12 hours a day. How am I supposed to enjoy? I still feel like I am single" Both my boss and my colleague were in shock!

Good I am not married. I would feel so guilty. About not working extra when required (what? you can get a new job with a salary hike - getting a new wife is very expensive).

On a different note, I turned 68 last Thursday. Its ok, you can wish me now. I had anyways forgotten. However, they ordered pizza at work, which was my birthday treat. On regular days we goto Olive Garden and Joes Crab Shack. On birthdays, we order pizza. I think my team does not like me.

I actually managed to look up at the way I have evolved. Working in statistics, looking at data and noticing a trend to predict future models is something I am breaking my head over. So I thought, lemme use moi as a test subject.


1979: The nuisance is born (and someone is fiddling with my private parts). The very happy age where you could pee on any and everyone without getting rapped for it. As a matter of fact, people used to get excited about you peeing on someone!

1981/2: I would have carried on, but I thought, lemme give Sachin a chance and gave up what would have been an illustrious career. The way India has blow its chances in the World Cup, I think I should have continued playing.



I remember starting off left handed, and Dad came and flipped me around. After a while, again I went to left handed and Mom laughed. "Oh, he seems to be left handed". And then I picked up a pencil and started writing my first few letters. And my great grand-mom took the pencil from my left hand and put it in my right hand.

After all that, I now bat left handed and write right handed. And people feel amused. I also play chess right-handed.



1990: My first medal and broken teeth. Picked up a bronze for boxing.





1997: Making my first ever extortion call.





2001: I have no clue why that pose! But the stomach seems to have expanded.




2007: What someone called as 'The Grudge Look'






2011: Lets not forget the main idea of this post - to take all data till now and model it to show how I would look into the future.

Just more bald than he looks!

Hope everyones having a good one!