Finally said bye bye to Kingsport yesterday. There are somethings that you never forget in your life. And my stay at Kingsport is one among them. It was my first city in the US, calm and peaceful with very scenic surroundings.
I also got a chance to interact with some really great bunch of people, both at work and otherwise. They were always ready to help, very friendly and full of fun!
My next assignment starts on Monday i.e, 21st of August at Houston for our client (BP). I would be back working on web-based stuff, which I love!. For the last 6 months, I was in more of VB.net and VB6 kind of environment. It was good. Anything to do with computers/Internet is fun for me :).
But, above all, now I get to stay with my wife. So, now we can finally get rid of long Skype/gTalk calls.
On the work front, I am all set for the next challenge!
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August 19th, 2006 at 11:32am
After staying away for more than 8 months now, I would be finally staying with my dear wife!. If all goes well, I would be relocating to Houston soon. My assignment here in Kingsport would end on the 18th of August.
It has been a long wait, and both of us have been looking forward for this to happen since long. Now that its in sight, both of us are really happy and excited about it. Hope all goes well as planned.
Well, that also means that the past couple of days have been very hectic. One of my friends/colleague would be replacing me at work here at Kingsport. Its his first visit to the US too. So, Its kind of a deja-vu feeling for me, when it comes to setting him up, both at work and otherwise. Around seven months back I was in his place……. Anyway, the show goes on!
So, this also explains the why my blogging activity has come down in the past couple of days. :D Should be back to normal in a couple of weeks from now. i.e., once I settle down at Houston.
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August 10th, 2006 at 06:52pm
Picture Perfect Couple - Shot at Virginia Beach (Click to Zoom)
Back from Virginia beach!. The trip was fun and we had a great time. Will write about the trip soon, and post some pics too. Currently too busy catching up with work at office and home. :)
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May 30th, 2006 at 11:36pm
Its Memorial day on Monday and a long weekend….. and we are going on a mini vacation :).
Chitra is coming down to Kingsport from Houston for the weekend, and we have planned a trip to the city of Virginia Beach (Google maps link). We would also be visiting the Busch Gardens (theme park) at Williams Burg, VA.
We plan to start today (i.e., Friday) at around 3.30 PM and reach the city of Virginia Beach by night. Its a 7 hrs drive from Kingpsort. Spend Saturday on the beach. On Sunday, we plan to visit the Busch gardens. Monday morning, start back! So, we should be back in Kingsport by Monday evening.
We are a group of 10. So, it should be fun! Will post photographs once I am back!
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May 26th, 2006 at 10:18am
After months of car search, finally found the right car to buy!!
Its a Tan colored 1998 Toyota Camry LE. Came to know about this car from the tpost.com last Friday. Called up the seller and got the details. Ran a carfax check on the car. It came out clean. We then went to Johnson City to see the car on Friday, did a test ride, and found it pretty neat. Then on Saturday, we took the car to a Auto shop to do a 30 point checkup and found that the Car was in pretty good shape. Closed the deal on Saturday itself.
However, the car needed some attention to its breaks. So, fixed it, and took the delivery today.
Some Specs :
- 1998 Toyota Camry LE
- Automatic
- 4D Sedan
- Tan Colored
- Power Windows
- Power Locks
- Cruise Control
Here are some snaps :
Looking forward for a safe and fun filled driving experience in United States!
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May 8th, 2006 at 11:50pm
Had been to the Watauga lake on Sunday. Its about a hours drive from Kingsport. Its pretty close to Elizabethton. Watauga lake is the highest lake in Tennessee and the third cleanest lake in North America! … and very beautiful too!. This lake was formed due to the construction of a Dam across the Watauga river. The lake is appx 19 miles long with around 106 miles of shoreline!!
Walk to the Watauga Lake - (Click to Zoom)
Watauga Lake - (Click to Zoom)
Watauga Lake - (Click to Zoom)
Sail Boat at Watauga Lake - (Click to Zoom)
Sail Boat at Watauga Lake - (Click to Zoom)
Watauga Lake - (Click to Zoom)
Watauga Lake - (Click to Zoom)
Watauga Lake - Panorama - (Click to Zoom)
The word “Watauga” is supposedly a Native American word meaning “beautiful river”.
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May 1st, 2006 at 04:11pm
One more weekend got past…. Weekdays get over fast, but weekends get over twice the speed. My weekdays are pretty hectic. Specially the past couple of weeks. We have a major milestone ahead of us. So, it would continue to be hectic for the next couple of weeks.
This weekend was fun. On Saturday afternoon, we had been to a near by lake. The South Holston lake is around 1 hour drive from our place. Its close to the city of Bristol, Virginia. The drive was beautiful and quite scenic. The lake itself is very vast and beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me. But my friends have clicked a lot of snaps. Will post them once I get my hands on them.
In US, lot of people in this area (i.e., the area close to a lake) own their own boats (speed boats/small boats etc). They tow it to their cars and come over to the lake to have a boat ride! So, its pretty common to see boats on the roads here! (off-course towed!)
After spending sometime at the lake, we then went to the city of Bristol. Is a small town, but much bigger compared to Kingsport. We went to the Bristol Mall, spend some time there doing some window shopping. Some of my friends did some shopping too. We reached back home at around 8.30 PM. After reaching home, we went to a nearby restaurant called “Riverfront” for dinner. They specialize in sea food. I had a fish called Tilapia. I don’t know what its called in India, but it was good and tasted more or less like the fish we get back home in India.
Sunday was fun.. played cricket for nearly 2 hours. I guess, the last time I played cricket was some 3-4 years back!. I don’t even remember!! So, it was fun. Played four 5 over matches. Fun! And..Since I am not used to these sports activities, i can feel the body pain already :) Specially my shoulders. But that’s fine. Should be back to normal in the next couple of days.
So.. that’s the update. Back to office/work tomorrow!
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March 20th, 2006 at 10:36am
“Houston, can you hear me?
Ground control, can you feel me?
Need permission to land”
- from Robbie Williams › Rock Dj
I would be off to Houston this weekend to meet my Wife who has been there for nearly 3 months now. Would be flying today evening i.e, Friday evening, and would be back Sunday night at Kingsport.
We plan to visit the NASA space center at Houston and some other places around…. …again, its just a plan. Lets see how it goes. Will try to get some snaps and post it here in the next couple of days! :)
And..Because there is no direct flight between Kingsport and Houston, its going to be a long journey!
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March 4th, 2006 at 01:06am
Click to Zoom
Shot this a week back early in the morning at around 7 AM in my apartment complex.
It looks like the snow time at Kingsport is over, and now the weather is pretty good.
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March 2nd, 2006 at 07:03am
Its two weeks since I landed over here, and I am slowly beginning to settle down. The daily normal routine is in shape now.
Work wise, things are pretty hectic. I am here as an replacement for Suroor, who has been here for nearly 2.5 yrs now. He would be leaving back to India tomorrow. We had a two week transition., and most of it went on smoothly. But the past two weeks were kind of very hectic. So, from this Monday, I would be on my own and it would continue to be hectic for the next couple of weeks.
On the home front, the apartment that I moved into was kind of unfurnished. Its an 1BHK apartment. The features available at the time I moved in were :
1. Carpeted flooring
2. Electric Surface heating (something similar to hot plates in India) with Oven
3. Fridge
4. Dish washing Unit
5. Air conditioning (heater and cooler)
6. One fan in the Hall, and a light in the kitchen!
So, that’s about it!. so, the entire house was pretty much empty, and I had to take care of…
1. Electricity
2. Lights, Microwave, Vacuum cleaner, and other household stuff
3. Bed/Mattress
4. Cable + Internet connection
5. TV
6. Furniture - chairs, tables, iron board etc
7. Lot of other small things..
Getting electricity connection was pretty easy. The house was already powered. All I had to do was call up the power company and tell them that I had moved into this particular apartment. And I had to deposit around $160 as security deposit, which is refundable.
Lights…… got two lamps from Walmart. One for the bedroom, and one for the hall. They are pretty much basic, and look good. Also bought a basic microwave oven and vacuum cleaner and lot of other household stuff from Walmart.
Getting a mattress was quite a challenge. I got a very good second-hand king sized mattress. Sriram, one of my friend & colleague knew a person who deals with second hand mattresses. So, we went over to his place, and bought one. The only problem that we had was, moving the mattress into my apartment since its located on the 1st floor! (or 2nd floor if you are in US!). But thanks to Andy (another friend of mine), we managed to move it with no major struggle or may be a little bit of struggle!
The only Cable + Hi Speed Internet service provider in this area is Charter. I had asked them for a connection on the day I moved into the apartment. i.e., on the 31st of Jan. They gave me an appointment for installation on the 8th of Feb. And the time slot given was 10 AM to 2 PM. That was the earliest available one. And the next available appointment was 13th Feb. I wanted the Internet access at the earliest and went ahead with the 8th Feb option, even though it was a Wednesday and I had meetings at office from 11 AM to 12 PM. I requested Charter if they could come at around 12-2PM time, but they said that its not possible, and they can come anytime during the time slot given (ie, 10 AM to 2 PM!). I asked them to give me a pre-call, and I only hoped that they wouldn’t come at 10 AM. On Feb 8th, luckily, they didn’t call me upto 12.30 PM. I came back home at 12.30 PM and waited…..and the technicians did not turn up even upto 2 PM! Called up the local charter office, and finally, the technicians came in a few mins later. It took them around 20 mins to install. So, finally, I was online with a 3 Mbps connection. And, the speed rocks!
I am yet to buy TV and other furniture. May be sometime this week I will have to go out for one more round of shopping. Otherwise I am kind of done with shopping for most of the things required on a day to day basis.
Oh yes, yesterday I applied for my SSN. The process was quite straight forward, and took around 20 mins to complete. I should be getting my SSN in a couple of weeks.
Yesterday being Suroor’s last Friday in the US, around 6 of us went out for a movie named “Firewall“. It was a decent movie. 6.5 on a scale of 10.
And yes…….for almost the entire day today, it snowed.
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February 12th, 2006 at 05:41am
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