A good camera or its sensor is your engine under the hood
A good lens are the 4 wheels you drive on
Change any of these, and you do not improve as a driver
but change any of these, and your drive has a potential to improve
if you are a bad driver, does not matter you drive a Maruti 800 or a Mercedes SLK, you are going to fkk them up equally bad! SLK might just last a li’il longer though!
Enjoy some views from my test drive today!
I want to create a wish list… of things I do not know exist or not, and I don’t know will ever…
One of them is a
mind printer!!!
This is going to be a device that would help me a lot…How? Read on!
1. I handle multiple projects together right now and a mind printer would help me print whatever I am thinking at the time when I am thinking… if it works from a distance, then I can print things while I am in the shuttle or walking or driving or doing whatever! So none of my brilliant solutions and ideas and strategies would go unregistered…I can then reflect on them and come up with some better ways to work and solutionize stuff!
2. It would print reminders for me… I remember a birthday 7 days before it, and forget the day it finally comes… I need that reminder
3. It would help me do my quarterly analysis better… I can visualize graphs and charts and bullet points in my mind and lose them in the process of every day dhanda-paani… a mind printer would keep them safe
4. I would be able to compose music and paint and sketch better… I can paint in my mind, but get limited by my knowledge of brush and paints… a colored mind printer would eliminate the need of a brush and paint! I might just become a better cook too 🙂 I would be able to write better… I think about play scripts a lot… this way I would have a place to keep them! and the songs and poems that I think about and forget! and maybe I can be a choreographer too!!! because I am thinking about how would I dance to some songs when I listen to them!
5. It would ease out my brain a bit… (brainbit : Subbu’s blog; see connected thoughts… I really need a printer 😛) because now I would be spending less time in thinking what was I thinking when I was thinking about something that I thought I was thinking about!
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And I have taken a big leap in my camera equipment today! The lens, I have been eyeing for a while, was delivered today! It took away almost all of my leftover savings, but I am glad I got it… Enjoy the first few straight from the camera (except the watermark) pictures from it below…
Color, Sharpness, Bokeh, Contrast… everything looks tasty with this new lens.Its not expected to improve my photography, but would improve my photographs for sure… in case you are interested, this is the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L USM lens.
That’s Cidade du Deus or City of God for you!
If you have not seen it, find it and watch it!!! you will not regret spending the time!
I will not spend any lines talking about good the movie was and how I did not move for 130 minutes from in front of the Television.. if you want to know more, google it or read about it on IMDB!
Its a teenage love story which has “some” magic as well! that’s it! I doubt if the thickest of all Harry Potter books has such a weak story…. Please please please someone tell me that the book is way better than this movie!
I am not really saying that I did not like it… I did… Hermione is beautiful, and Harry looks smart(er) feels a bit smart(er) too; the teenage love story was sweet! but c’mon I want to see some magic… not what I saw!
It was a 10 minute story ok 20 min tops, that was showen in 2.5 hours! Half blood prince? really!
now I want to read the book!
I have recently started liking the Irish and the British accent a lot., call it “being in America effect”.. That was another reason why I liked watching this movie…
1. You have a coffee cup or its holder in your car, in your bag, on your desk, in your kitchen, on your dining table, on your “Coffee” table, next to your wash basin and in your hand
2. If you reach office early, let’s say before 8 or at times 7:30 am and also leave early
3. If you, when it gets hot, walk around with your t-shirt on your shoulders instead of wearing it
4. If you feel that a horn is an unnecessary part of an automobile
5. If you wear a t-shirt (polo style) with trousers and a formal leather belt and formal shoes
Or if you wear a tshirt(polo style) with short(formal looking) with a formal leather belt and sports or casual shoes
6. You wonder how people live in these countries every single time someone talks to you about India or China or Sri Lanka. And would have a never ending list of things which are not good about India and a longer never ending list of how everything can be resolved
7. If you do not associate Asia with India and visa versa! Asians are Chinese! Indians are Pakistani! and Pakistani are Indian! Bangadeshi and Sri Lankans ! well, Indians again!
8. If you fail to understand why the traffic moves at an average of 50 kmph in countries like India
9. If your footpaths are now called CURBS, if your washbasin taps are now called FAUCETS, if the policemen are now called cops! oh no! not cops, but KHAAPS (read it like PAAP in Hindi), if your taxis are now called CABS
10. If a burger or a sandwich can be treated as lunch
11. If you look for a fat free sign on almost everything that you buy from the grocery store. And one thing that you will always find in your fridge is “I can’t believe its not butter”.
12. If your kitchen does not have a door
13. If you have a panic attack if you cannot find a tissue roll in your bathroom even though there is a perfectly nice and shining mug kept there
14. The only way to take a bath that you know is a shower. You don’t know what to do with a bucket and a mug
15. If you don’t know that touching elder’s feet is a way of expressing respect like nothing else
16. If you don’t stare at cleavages and legs in aww
17. If you don’t look around before a lip kiss and after
18. If you start living in today, and not the past and not the future
19. If your requests for credit cards are getting rejected because of a bad credit history
20. If you are ok with paying for incoming phone calls and text messages
21. If you have a pair of running shoes, a pair of walking shoes, a pair of hiking shoes, a pair of office shoes, a pair of casual shoes along some specific running shorts, swimming shorts, walking shorts, casual shorts, short shorts, long shorts and so on…
22. If you have a mp3 player “with” an arm band
23. If you like to eat a cheese burger with diet coke
24. AND, if you stop missing a Chai ki Dukaan at the road side on the highways, or shall we call them Freeways!
What is the relevance of the picture? nothing! I just happen to like the color in there!
I had an amazing musical, festive weekend with a second dose of Transformers 2. Needless to say, I have a few pictures from the weekend but I need to post about the East Coast tour as well… So here we go… there was not much happening wrt to writing so this is going to be post with photographs and some relevant text around those… Enjoy !
I was initially thinking of driving to Niagara and back, but a friend at work recommended a tour that he knew was decent… I checked out the site, discussed with mom dad, took a few days off, got the flight tickets, booked the 3 days tour and was all set! The last thing I booked was the hotel, because I was in double minds about staying close to the airport and saving time in traveling to the pick up point, or staying a bit away from the hotel and saving some money! Chose the latter, and it turned out to be a nice idea as our flight out of Milwaukee was more than a few hours late and that meant that would get just about 4 hours to sleep before we were to leave for the 3 day tour.
Gotobus is a travel firm owned and managed by the Chinese and operates with some local travel shops attaching their buses with the central operator. Our pickup point was in Flushing, a small china town in NY suburb. From there a shuttle bus took us to China Town, Manhattan from where we were to board our tour bus.
Early morning experience on the otherwise very busy streets was interesting… It was like a city trying to wake up… about half an hour on that road was good enough to see how the number of people and speed of movement changes…
Does not look like NY does it? 🙂 This is in front of LL Travels. The travel firm which manages most of these east coast tours starting 2 days to 7 days! 
I really liked the yellow phones… Against the morning light and otherwise a few dull colors they were really visible and looked attractive…
Some street pictures from where we were waiting for our bus.1. No using of the bathroom in the bus (I wonder why did they have one in it anyway, if the clear instructions were not to use it)
2. Don’t be late at any visiting place, as the bus is not going to wait for anyone who is late
3. Keep Mr. King’s phone number handy so that in case you are lost, you call him and he finds you.
4. Keep the bus clean
5. Absolutely no open drinks in the bus, not even coffee in lid cups! Strange rule though! It was told that this irritates Mr. You !
Our first stop was the Liberty Bell memorial in Philadelphia. For someone really interested in history of the cracked bell and its relevance to America, there is much available on Google, so let me stay from the details here. This is where I first felt like a tourist 🙂 in a controlled group lead by a tour guide with a red umbrella! Was not sure at all if this is the kind of traveling that I like, but I was sure that this was probably the best way to get a taste of America and be at places, which I would not visit otherwise… so here is how the enjoying part of this trip started!
Mom dad in front of the Independence Hall and at places around the same grounds!
An interesting no parking signage!
Milwaukee has most of its traffic lights on poles and these lights on wires always catch my attention! The first stop was the National Air and Space Museum! We got just about 30 minutes at the place which needs atleast 1 day to absorb! We did enjoy those quick 30 minutes though, quickly walking around two floors of the huge huge huge museum and then rushing back to the bus!
This is the place where Sam meets one of the decepticons!
This was another amazing collection of artifacts! One place where you should spend atleast 2 days!
These are jaws of a white shark! Real ! yes !
Next was a dinner stop and then we moved for a 2 hour night tour. It was getting very tiring now, and thankfully the sights made for most of it. The first stop, Washington Memorial, was worth sitting around for a while. The breeze was nice and the weather comforting… we just sat around the place for a while before we drove to the World War II memorial.
The Washington Memorial…
World War II memorial…
Mr. King had a typical line he used to say everytime we boarded the bus, worth mentioning here 🙂 He used to say “welcome be back to the bus!” and for a photo opportunity he would say “chak chak chak chak” and for a nice place or expression his standard dialogue was ” OOOO la la”! fun guy !
The next day was easy… We were to go to Hershey’s Chocolate Factory and Corning Glass Museum! Will write about that day later!
I am now officially in love with Mikaela, specially after she took off her biker clothes (no wait, its not about taking off her clothes) and stood in front of Sam in that white dress with Purple, or mauve (whatever!) flowers in her hands!!!
For the people who have not guessed it so far, I saw Transformers II, and I am not sure what to say right now! I am in a state of AWE! For a number of reasons
1. I saw it on IMAX (Even that 60+ feet high screen is smaller for a movie like Transformers)
2. It had Egypt
3. I have always respected the machines that I use, and with movies like Transformers, that respect only increases (Yea, I like to live in a bit of fiction, thought it works for me well! I love my car and she loves me back! I feel it)
4. I saw Bumble bee crying like a baby, and it was a beautifully funny scene
5. and that scene was followed by what made me realize that I am in love Mikaela
6. I felt very very very bad and something inside me felt like sinking when Optimus Prime dies 🙁
7. I might rate this at my number 1, if I compare the graphics and the action with any other movie that I know ! And the level of detail that is present in it (which one will surely miss on a small screen) is AMAZING… Each and every body part of the Autobots and Decepticons has been so well thought of ! and the transformation of some of the new characters !!! Oh boy !!! Mind fukking blowing !!!
People in the US have to feel very very proud of their army and defense when they see movies like this… no wonder the feeling of being “American” is so strong in most people ! Its shown to them in every possible way, probably that is the reason why most aliens (in movies) decide to attack the only the US and think that if they have taken over the US, the earth is theirs… and the US is able to mobilize its resources so fast that they can manage anything that comes to them! Not really like India, where it takes 17 years, SEVENTEEEEEEEN !!!! years to come up with a bloody report (does that report really matter right now?)
Anyway, back to the movie ! I loved it period. I don’t know if I will buy a DVD because its not going to be worth it, watching it on a small screen….
Please do not miss it when you get an opportunity! watch it at the largest screen possible !!!
I also saw Ice Age 3 today… and loved it too!!! it was such a nice feeling to meet the characters again!!! there are new twists and characters in the movie!!! will write about it later, or maybe not. I am still in AWE with Transformers !!! WHAT a movie !!!
And enjoy the source of the title below
and here is what I was talking about about the taking off of the clothes…
p.s. This post was written on Saturday, 4th of July
I am out of here for a few days !
I might see some mountains (really want to), and some beaches, and enjoy some nightlife in a city downsouth !!!
Will see you guys on the other side of the weekend !!!
Will see you with some new pictures and some new stories to tell !!!
चाय की चुस्कियों के साथ मिलेंगे एक बार फिर !
हम लोग !!!
और हाँ, ये टाइटल वाले शब्द कौनसी पिक्चर के हैं, वो भी ज़रा बताओ!
1. I got a bonus day with Ma Papa
2. The sudden low that I was feeling yesterday was much less today… it was relatively easier seeing them off
3. I know for sure that most things that one asks for, would happen… I wanted to go for a long drive yesterday and it happened…
4. I finished one of the nicer books I know, in about 3 hours… for a 200 page thick book that is not a bad deal at all! (Read the paragraph below…. loved it)
5. I went to a new Indian Restaurant
6. My second opportunity to drive a new Ford Fusion. Don’t confuse it with the Ford fusion in India. This one is a 2.5L 16V I4 175BHP engine… driving at speeds over 80mph is such a breeze!
and now time for the not so brighter side…
– The flight mom dad were to board to Delhi was overbooked and they had to stand at the gate for well over 2.5 hours before the staff gave them some vouchers for the night for a stay at the hotel and food. Though things worked out fine at the end, however this was an absolutely ridiculously handled episode.
– I was about to reach home, a distance of 80+ miles from the airport when mom called me and told me what happened, and I took a U turn to reach the airport again… They felt much better after I was there…
– I was stuck in a traffic jam on the freeway for over 90 minutes on my way back home today! uff !!! This long a jam on the freeway in the US, unbelievable… and what is more surprising is that this was because of two cars involved in an accident which was ridiculously irrelevent.
– It’s very difficult to stop crying when you are in a empty house, and there is no one to even attempt to make you stop crying. (And no wise comments on this point please… I am feeling much better right now)
– Silence is not going to be easy to manage with for the next few days