Just a note to let you all know that I am alive. ….. Its getting more hectic with every day passing by. Not sure when I would be able to get out of the kind of schedule that I am in!
I know that I have lot of postings/pictures to post … but just not finding the time.
By the way… wishing all the readers a Very Happy New Year - 2007!
4 comments | January 11th, 2007 at 10:06am
Today, its 3 years since we got married!!!. Can’t believe it :)
Love you Chitra, my best friend forever!!!
16 comments | December 15th, 2006 at 12:00am
Did some research over the weekend for some tool to generate web-based photo albums, and finally zeroed in on JAlbum. So far, I am happy with what it does, but I will get to know all the Pros and Cons only after I use it for a while.
BTW, the Photo Album is password protected. If you know me personally, feel free to request for a userid/password using this link.
3 comments | October 2nd, 2006 at 11:42am
Oh yes. I am very much alive :) but almost buried in work….. haven’t done much in Houston yet. But I think now I am quite familiar with the places around, and the important roads in Houston.
Last Sunday (24-Sep), we had a Infosys hosted party at a private Ranch called Buck Horn Ranch. It was fun. The Ranch itself was pretty scenic, and it had a pretty huge lake within. There was a toy train too, which took us around the lake. And then there were other fun stuff. The HR folks organized some games tooo. So, it was kind of fun and a good break from the hectic work.
On the work front, lot of things piled up. The month or so has been very very hectic. But things are taking shape slowly. But its definitely taking more time than I expected it to! Oh…and I am learning lot of lessons too.. and I guess, that’s what gaining experience is all about ! :)
Hoping for the best.
1 comment | September 26th, 2006 at 10:33pm
Yes, it has been a long time since I posted. I think more the two weeks! I think I have never blogged soo infrequently !!. And the reason for the same is ………… yes, you guessed it right……. work.
The past three weeks have been very very hectic. Kind of in meetings all day long. There have been days were I was in meeting for the entire day with a 45 mins lunch break. And then, during non office hours, I need to catch up with my mails, do some documentation stuff, co-ordinate with the team back in India and…. setup my home. We did have a long weekend in between(Sep 3-5), but we were at home, setting up things. Bought quite a lot of stuff for our house, and it took quite a lot of time and effort to assemble and setup things.
Well, Houston as such is a much bigger place compared to Kingsport. Lot of places to go around, but so far, I haven’t got a chance to do much of exploring around, except for Walmarts and Targets around :).
The weather at Houston is pretty decent. Its not as hot as I expected. Or, may be I am lucky to totally avoid the Houston summer. The weather is comparable to the weather at Mangalore, my home town. And…………..no hurricanes too so far! (touch-wood!!)
Extremely sorry to all the people who have left comments on other posts. I was just not able to reply. Will try to catch up with it soon.
6 comments | September 10th, 2006 at 10:51pm
Yes.. I am alive :) long time since i posted. Will post some updates soon. Actually kind of busy (and lazy too!). … Weekdays were kind of pretty hectic. And then now we have a long weekend. Thanks to July 4th, US independence day. So 4 day holiday!. … and that’s were I kind of got into the lazy mode. Kind of relaxing after some hectic work days!
We had been to a nearby state park called the Natural Tunnel State park on Saturday, and today (i.e, Monday) we had been to the Smoky Mountains .. So, updates/photos coming soon! Stay tuned………!
1 comment | July 4th, 2006 at 01:23am
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.
5 comments | February 12th, 2006 at 05:41am
Its nearly six days now since I landed up here in US. And everyone seems to be asking just one question. How are you finding US ?. Quite natural!
Well, my answer is… so far so good. Its a nice and different experience all together. Everything is new to me. The culture, the society, the system, the food…..everything is different and new. But, the best part is, its good.
The place that I am at is very scenic, but its not a place for youngsters who would like to have fun etc… But its a very peaceful and beautiful place.
Here are some pics that I managed to take…
Kingsport itself is a very small place in Tennessee. Actually there are 2 more towns close by. One is called Johnson City, and the other Bristol. These three cities together are known as “Tri-Cities”.
Well, talking of change… its a totally different lifestyle out here. But its not a shocking change for me. May be I was kind of ready for it and had heard about this lifestyle from multiple people. Its only that I am experiencing the change now!
Ok. Somethings I would like to make a note of in random order…
So, thats about it for now! More as and when I find time! :)
10 comments | February 3rd, 2006 at 08:02am
Ya, I know. It’s been quite sometime since I posted out here. Like I had mentioned in my previous post, the race against time has begun, and it’s on. The past couple of days have been very very very hectic. Did lots of shopping and shopping and shopping. The checklist is almost clear, except for a couple of items, which are pending.
I also have to setup my computer, and make my parents computer literates in a couple of days, and the lessons have already begun :)… teaching them some basics… so that they can use skype, yahoo and gtalk so that they can communicate with me. And its not a easy task!
I also have to move/copy the data I need to carry along with me. What I am planning on doing is, taking my 160GB hard disk along with me with all the required data in it. I already have an IDE to USB converter and an external HDD case. So, I just need to plugin the hard disk to USB to use it! I felt that this would be a better option then carrying lots of CDs and DVDs. What say? I hope that carrying HDD in luggage is not a problem (didn’t have any problems when my wife bought the HDD from US!).
In the mean while, I hosted a couple of parties. One for the project team and the other for some friends and colleagues. The project party was at Kadal (at Nalapad residency). The food quality and service at Kadal was bad. I did not enjoy it. It was bad. Repented for hosting the party at Kadal. :( But the next party was fun. Hosted it at Cherry Square today. The food too was good, and it was fun! Enjoyed it.
The other aspect is travel papers and documentation…. and that’s almost done, but need to have a final look at it. …. But lots of small small jobs still pending.
Wish me luck! :)
16 comments | January 24th, 2006 at 12:53am
This week seems to be kind of hectic. Lot of things going on parallel! So, kind of multi processing in office. Project work is kind of slowly coming in. Not major work as such. But i am kind of involved in lot of extra-or… may be you can call it secondary work, which has kind of kept me busy for the past few days. Should be ok in the next couple of days.
My news aggregator clearly shows how occupied i am :) Around 800 posts unread. Normally it will be in the range of 10 to 30!
Add comment | July 13th, 2005 at 09:05pm
