Good-bye 2012...you will always be remembered

As yet another year comes to an end...and people all around the world get ready to celebrate, party and ring in the new year. I've come to realize there is really nothing to celebrate this year. There is really nothing "Happy" about that 60 second countdown this year which will supposedly clear everyone's canvas for a fresh new start.

Let us hope that with the fresh new beginnings we don't forget all the tough lessons we all learned in 2012 and what all we need to do to bring about change. It was a sad year.

These are just some of the tragic events that scar 2012...and with time tragedies like these are forgotten as the rest of us move on with our lives. But the lives of the victim's families are changed forever and these will remain as scars in their hearts.

August 5th
Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, a suburb of Milwaukee
- 6 killed

December 14th
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
- 20 children killed
- 6 adults killed

July 20th
Movie theater in Aurora, Colorado
- 12 killed
- over 60 injured

October 29th
Hurricane Sandy in the East Coast Atlantic City, NJ area
- 100+ killed
- Tens of thousands left homeless, millions without electricity

December 16th
Moving bus in Delhi, India
- 23 year old woman gang raped by 6 men

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/29/3160550/2012s-top-news-shootings-hurricane.html#storylink=cpy

The lives of these victims should not go in vain. Let their bravery, courage and sacrifice be remembered forever no matter how many new years we celebrate.

With new beginnings, new goals, new memories...let us make a resolution to remember each of these tragic events, the lives lost and the responsibilities we have to society, to the world, to these families, to the next generation to make it a better place.

Thankful for the blessings in our lives. Have a safe new years eve family & friends. May 2013 be a safer and prosperous year for all of us.

You will always be remembered...

Leave your thoughts on what we can do to be the change....what's your resolution?

5 years and counting...

Two days ago (8/25) we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary at ..."the happiest place on earth"...Yes it was magical...from the adventurous rides (Space Mountain is still my favorite!) to seeing all the Disney characters and concluding the night with a beautiful fireworks spectacular...my heart fluttered and my eyes glistened.

Pictures from our trip and below are some of our fondest memories over the last 5 years of being Mr. & Mrs.

2007 - Moving into our first place together
2008 - Being first time home owners...(there are benefits to being 1st timers!)
2009 - An amazing trip to Maui, Hawaii  (I think it was '09 or '10)
2010 - Buying our second (and more permanent) home & first trip to India together
2011 - Picking and buying our first car
2012 - Celebrating 5 amazing years!

We are so thankful and blessed to have wonderful family & friends celebrating all of these special milestones with us every step of the way! 

Starting the day...

Magical ending

All things Disney in between (Rosh, I missed you :)!)

Austin Bunionectomy

The x-ray is back here is what I have to expect on my foot. It's called an Austin Bunionectomy. Recovery time at the least is 4 weeks that does not include the 3-4 months of limited weight bearing activity. Now I need to get this on my calendar...yikes!

SPOILER ALERT: You will need a barf bag and something to settle your stomach if you don't handle incisions/bones/blood well. Also skip to about 4:25 to see the bone being chiseled. Turning off the volume makes it a little more bearable!

Here is an animated one without all the gory details:

Glad you came...

Spontaneous visits from family always leaves my heart feeling very happy.

Reminiscing on old times, catching up on current events and of course how can we not talk about our siblings and hubbies.

Our busy lives keep us on the go with very little time to connect with the many people in our lives. work. family. spouses. friends. self. everything else.

Email, text messages and Facebook has definitely become my primary mode of communication vs phone or meeting in person. It's easier and more importantly, if it wasn't for those modes of communication I would probably lose touch. (Probably common when technology was limited back in the day). So...I'm thankful that with technology we have many ways to keep in touch even though it may not be the most ideal case. It's those little messages here and there that keep you connected.

But in any case...it doesn't matter the time or day...reconnecting face-to-face just has it's own charm.

I'm glad you came :)...!

TGI...

FRIDAY!

Friday's are amazing. They're a gift to the working folk. (I know some of you can't relate but get a M-F/9-5 and you'll learn to appreciate them and not take them for granted).

If Friday was a person I would show my appreciation to Fridays by:

• Inviting it over for lunch. It's the little I can to reciprocate just how much it does for me
• As soon as Sunday rolls around the pressure is on...I would give Friday a break, you know cover for it. Poor Friday has a lot of weight on it because so many people are just sitting and waiting for it ALL week but I don't think people realize how stressful it must be for it to insure it provides a 'TGIF' feeling week over week. 
• Let it switch shifts and be a Tuesday or Wednesday, it may take off a bit of the pressure. But then again who wants to be known as "Hump"day? Tuesday it is. Can you imagine saying...TGIT? Or...I can't wait till its Tuesday!!!
• Give it some ME time...I mean we all get tired of having to plan around others. Friday is always is working around everyones dinner plans, celebrations, movie nights, date nights, do absolutely nothing nights. No one ever asks what Friday wants to do???
• Give it a special day to recognize it...maybe a birthday? We always take advantage of it by making it into a three day weekend but we never honor it and just say...hey thanks for being you! 

Anyways...as always dear Friday...I'm very thankful for your presence and I'm glad I have you to look forward to for the rest of my life :). You've always been there and I know you ain't going no where!

What would you do for Friday??? Leave me a message :)

TGIT...ergh..TGIF :)

PS...there is Good Fridays...but I don't get those off :)!

Happy "ooo"..."aahh"

Growing up 4th of July was about spending the day at CPE (Cerritos Park East) eating lots of food and playing games. All my memories of 4th of July include all the people (family & friends) who I grew up with which sounds just about right because I remember there being a huge group of us taking over whatever small patch of grass was available. The park fields were packed! Lucky for us there were sidewalks between the fields of grass to safely maneuver around the herds of people.

Blankets, tents, sleeping bags, chairs, pillows...you name it we had it with us to insure it was a comfie day. Through out the afternoon all the families were loud, obnoxious and enjoying family time. Whether it was us desi's playing rounds and rounds of Kho, cards, tossing around a ball or people bumping music on their boom boxes - there was very slim chances of you being able to get a nap in with all the noise. The park itself had a band playing somewhere in the distance as well. We always managed to sit far away from that area but always would end up walking past it at the end of the night when the whole park seemed to be exiting through only one area.

The most amazing part of the night was those 15 minutes or so before it was pitch black. All of us cousins found our comfie spots, usually huddled under one blanket (you would think after the years and years of doing this we would bring extra blankets). And then when the first fire cracker was launched into the sky...babies stopped crying, the parents stopped shouting, the kids stopped fighting over the blanket...the crowd went silent. All you could hear was the echo of the last cracker and the spiraling up of the next one.

Oooo....

After each cracker there would be a..."ooooooo" or an ...."aaaaaah" as we voiced our favorites in sync like a choir.  The firecrackers would go on for about 15 or 20 minutes and we anxiously awaited the grand finale when the sky filled with colorful splatters and really loud consecutive "kabooms".

It was funny seeing how synchronous it was to see the grand finale and immediately after the rise in commotion as if that was the pistol shooting into the sky saying..."go!!!" Immediately blankets were folded, coolers were packed, kids were wrapped and it was time to rush through the crowds (who were all going to the same haulted car jam) to get to the cars.

Each year I think...this 4th of July will be just like the one I always reminisce about! But those summer days in the park were because of those little kids huddled under the blankets yanking for cover. Thank you for the memories America...happy birthday!

America...America...God bless....

It's a WFH type of day...

But instead I'm going to work...yes WTH right!

Waking up to warm weather, birds chirping and fresh air from the open window---ah it is summer time!

I remember as kids even during summer vacation we still woke up fairly early. The concept of sleeping in translated to less time swimming, playing outside and watching tv...aka time wasted (maybe that's why I still don't like the idea of naps). Nowadays sleeping in sounds great!

Although I must say, those summer days were jam packed with fun and they felt like they would never end. The day usually started with my brother and I having our mandatory 1 of 4 daily glasses milk. This of course was after we brushed our teeth, showered and did puja in the morning. Some days we found ourselves glued to the tv watching episode of Who's the Boss, I Love Lucy, Saved by the Bell (that was usually on early in the morning) and Mr. Bellvadere. There was also a fight over who got to hold onto the remote control and sit on the soft, comfy recliner. If Roshan and I were not plopped on it together we were fighting over who get's to claim the seat for any given duration. We came up with a way to "claim" the chair and remote. The rules were 1) If you got to the chair or the remote first you have the right to 'claim' it. 2) If you do not claim it and get up or leave the remote it is up for grabs. And by that I mean, the other person usually ran to it to grab it, no joke! So you wonder what do you mean by claim? So once you have possession of the chair and/or remote and you are ready to get up...to get water, go to the bathroom etc... all you had to say is..."Chair reserved with the remote". Then you are free to get up and do whatever you want and the other person can not take possession of it. If you forget to say it...see number 2 above. It worked like a charm :)! The sad thing is that "chair reserved with the remote" became a strong part of our vocabulary and normal language.

When I wake up in the morning...Saved by the Bell

Who's the Boss 

Mr. Belvedere

Classic...

Other days we spent hours upon hours setting up toys and our stuff to play school school (I was the teacher), house house, store store or airplane (just one). We were so creative with each one. For school school we both had summer time "extra homework" assigned to us by the big bad principals (aka parents). So we would try to finish that and also do fake work so we had something to correct and mark up. We basically copied what we would see our teachers do with their fancy red pens...big X's, Smiley faces and all. There were also limited hall passes for the student (my brother) who didn't want to do work and instead wanted a bathroom break every 5 minutes. Airplane airplane was hilarious. We would set up chairs next to each other to simulate an airplane. Then we would take turns going to the kitchen to make cute snacks which we can pass out to the passenger. The best concoction was Ritz cracker with a cream cheese spread topped with fruit loops (or whatever cereal was available that week). It was yummy! Store store was time consuming. One of us would be the store keeper so we would close the shop, meaning we would close the room to the bedroom and setup. Once everything was set up with price tags, a wanna be conveyer belt and a register with Monopoly money the store would "open". The customer would come in and start shopping. The best part of course was ringing them up. The items would be placed on the Sit 'n Spin which was the conveyer belt and the store keeper got to cha-ching everything in and place it in bags. We would then swap roles and start all over.

On the hottest days we spent time outdoors. During the day it would be in the backyard and in the evenings, once our parents were home, it was in the front yard. In the backyard we would take tarp, place it on the grass and hose it down to create our very own slip 'n slide. The nice thing was unlike the actual product we got a lot more space because the tarps were huge! We learned this from our older cousin Sheila. The only real danger was if you didn't soak the tarp enough you would get tarp burn. Otherwise it was great!

Evenings were about going around and around the neighborhood either on our bikes or roller blades. All the neighborhood kids came out to play. On some days we would even play baseball with the red bat across our front lawn and the neighbors lawn and there were plenty of days playing H-O-R-S-E on the driveway. I remember even before we got our basketball hoop installed in our driveway we made our own. It was a bucket with a hole through it which we propped up somewhere high.

I would never trade in those summer days...not for the iPads of today, or the internet or for my 4GLTE phone. Kids today are missed out on those types of summer days. And of course as I now sit in my cube looking out the window...I realize huh...at least those kids still get summer vacation! WTH!

Children with hair loss

Can you imagine a childhood without hair? I can't.

Usually a few days after the chop I start missing the long hair and it feels incomplete. But this time I knew it was for a good cause and someone else somewhere needs it more.

Unlike some other popular organizations, CWHL provides free wigs to those children who need it. Other organizations charge a fee even though all the hair has been donated.
There are some negative reviews about this organization too but nothing that made me doubt or impacts the purpose/goal which is to provide wigs to children who need it free of charge.

Check them out: http://www.childrenwithhairloss.us/

Looking forward to growing it out again. Anyone want to join me in growing out their hair to donate the next time?

Before...!

10+ inches lighter..err later!

The past few months at Moto...erg..Googorola

Motorola Mobility is finally acquired by Google. And life has not changed! No, we don't get free food. And no, I'm not a Google'r now. I'm still a Motorolan and I still have my window seat with a nice view (love the view!).

We waited for 9 months for some exciting news and now one month into the acquisition we still wait for some news (we lost hope for anything exciting, unless it's free food) :).

I did have the pleasure of attending an Innovations Dinner a few months ago. I was recognized for a pending patent.