Forgot about the blog...

Wow....so I admit, I completely lost forgot I ever had a blog until I was just looking at some pictures and then stumbled on some pics which I thought I had it up somewhere....and then click! My random days & thoughts blog....wonder what’s going on there?

So since my last post, there been a lot of things happening in my life. Well let me try to highlight some key points

1. I switched my job...yup....left Motorola to join Microsoft. And yes, left Chicago to be in Seattle, WA. My initial impression of this gloomy city wasn't too fruitful. But it's grown on me. The weather is debatable but otherwise the mountains, greenery, lakes, the whole out-door scenario is great!! I would rate it just after Denver, CO. As per the job, well it keeps me busy throughout the day, and boy what a complex product to work on - Active Directory (Windows Server). It’s a fairly young team in terms of age but some of the smartest people I have come across. It’s scary to see them all in one place....
   Had a big family re-union (at least from my mom's side) at Chicago for my cousins wedding. Great 4-day event included mehendi, sangeet, wedding ceremony and reception. Probably the biggest wedding I have attended. It was a full house at my aunt’s where I could find myself a lonely couch to call it my bed for a few days :)
2. My cousin's Bachelor party at Vegas was very exotic. Suite at the palms, Party at Moonlight club, A round of golf at Riveria and TPC Canyon (this one had a caddy)....
3. A quick trip to Atlanta and NYC to hang out with friends for the weekend
4. New yrs at Vegas (again) isn’t a disappointment ever.
5. My parents visited me here at Seattle and stayed with me for over a month. My cousin from Virgina was over for a weekend as well. We all went to Mt. Rainer which was fun.
6. Did the Art of Living course for the second time and actually learnt a lot! I highly recommend it to everyone who hasn't done it yet
   

If i had to pick the highlight of my highlights, I’d have to say career change! They say on an average a man changes his job/career several times. On that note, I have begun my quest to achieve my ideal job....we'll just have to wait and see if this is it....

25

June 18th: I turned 25 years old. Several wishes came in from all over. Bought a smile on my face, I liked it! They say birthdays are supposed to be happy events.

I woke up this morning and as usual started to get ready for work as if it was just another normal day. And then I remembered my earlier younger bdays. My mom used to force me to jump in the shower early morning and made me wear all new clothes. And of course there were the bday prayers and sweets shoved into my mouth. Hmm…the good ol’bday days. I didn’t think this one would be the same with my parents far away and me being much older. But I did have close friends with me.

25, the silver jubilee, the quarter century. Some say it's the beginning of a milestone. For me, although it’s just another age, it is also a good time to look back and reflect!

My 'wonder years' -
Year 0: Born in Mapusa, Goa. Saw mom for the first time?
Year 1: Mom and I moved to Kuwait to join my dad. I also started to blabber baby lingo
Year 2: Still enjoyed being pampered, attention grasping was my thing
Year 3: Fascinated with car toys, loved big vehicles like trucks and buses. Got plenty of those but they were never too enough.
Year 4: Cartoons and I couldn’t be separated. It turned out to became my must watch event everyday for many years to come.
Year 5: Started my schooling life by enrolling in lower Kinder Garden. They tell me I cried a lot and didn’t like it much. I believe I made my dad sit next to me as my partner
Year 6: Jumped to Upper KG. Section G. I knew it better as 'KGG'. Nursery rhymes were cool.
Year 7: Didn’t like 1st grade much, the teachers became stricter. School was beginning to get to me.
Year 8: Didn’t like school one bit! Life was simple though - school, HW, play, food, sleep. Visited US for the first time with family.
Year 9: Moved back to India due to the gulf war. Went to St Francis Xavier’s school to complete 3rd grade. This year was quite important, since I was given the real exposure to Indian culture and festivals in India.
Year 10: Bought a new bicycle (streetcat) which I would ride back and forth from my relative's home to mine. This year was the first time I was exposed to real cricket. Took some cricket coaching as well.
Year 11: The gulf war was over; we left India to go back to Kuwait. This year was probably the most significant since the decision to go back made me the person I am. Somehow I felt if I stayed in India, I wouldn’t be where I am now. Enrolled in Indian school Kuwait (ISK), salmiyah.
Year 12: Standard of studies was higher than what it was in goa. Catching up on everything especially Math was difficult.
Year 13: Weird age. I guess it was the teens!
Year 14: Cricket cricket cricket!
Year 15: Switched schools and joined delhi public school. Another great decision which helped me to get into a good college and improve social skills. The next 4 yrs happened to be the best times of my life.
Year 16: Had beer for the very first time in my life. Thought it was the worst thing ever.
Year 17: Concentrated in playing cricket all year round. Had extensive cricket practices in desert heats soaring over 45C. Represented Kuwait’s U-19 cricket team.
Year 18: This year things changed dramatically. Suddenly I could think more efficiently academically and performed quite well in my 12th board exams. I also graduated high school, took the next big step in life - college in US, majoring in computer science
Year 19: Spent first summer in Kuwait after 1 yr up in college. Felt good to be back at home.
Year 20: Spent another summer in Kuwait.
Year 21: Legal to drink. Spend my 21st with family in Chicago. Summer school at Purdue.
Year 22: Graduated BS in CS from Purdue. Took the next big step -- grad school
Year 23: Interned with EchoStar in Colorado. Made tons of great friends. This was one of my best times in my life.
Year 24: Graduated Masters in Science from Purdue. Took up a job at Motorola (my first ever full-ime job). Also bought my first car - Acura TSX 2006.
Year 25: One yr complete with Motorola. Started to invest in stocks and funds.

2007 kicks off - I like it so far!

Its been a while since I posted my last post! Heheh...I can say it was last yr 2006 :) Well when I first created this blog, I had so many ideas... sorta like a vision - many posts, pictures, stories, events etc. Well folks, I have yet again done it :D but this time I have a valid excuse. I was really busy with travel this month. To put it short - NYC for new yrs, Seattle & Vancouver for personal business, Denver to meet up with my good old Echostar intern friends and lastly Vegas to recover all the money I spent! :D Btw that's sajay aka "dumb pog" in the picture on top. We are chilling in a lounge in NYC. On the bottom, I am trying to look cool in stanley park with the Vancouver city showing in the background.

With all the travelling I have been doing in the airplane, I came up with an interesting question: why does it take shorter time to travel from west to east than from east to west? Is it the wind? rotation of earth? or is it just that I cannot read the time on my watch?

Where did it all go?

This morning I woke up, being quite restless. I tried to analyze the situation in my bed! What is it that is bothering me? It's not Notre Dame loss to USC! It's not my tummy hurting! It’s not the flu either. Heck I don’t even think it's my clock going "tick-tick" which bothers me occasionally. Usually one of first things I do when I wake up, is go check my cell phone for either missed calls or perhaps any interesting sms messages. Heck it wasn’t even that! Until my eye caught the date on my phone, it read 26 Nov, 2006.

The LAST day of my thanksgiving break! I remember myself sitting in my cubical Monday morning before thanksgiving staring at the work piling up on my desk. I said to myself, "No one works this week. There are only 2 days left!” I was so looking forward to this break, infact I had planned out a series of events that I would do. I landed up doing none of those. I had slept on my bed so much that I was sick of it and yet I had managed not to get up. Matter of fact, I am still in my bed debating whether I should throw in that extra hour to make it another 12 hour straight or just get up and get rolling on my errands. Something tells me the former will win.