R-Rated

We finally moved to our own apartment by mid-April. Everything should be hunky-dory right. Well, partly. Great trail behind the house, with a huge lake and a beautiful setting. Just picture perfect. Had a major incident last week. As you might have guessed from the title, we had a fire break out in our home. Blame it on the garlic bread or the fact that we had a container with a plastic lid in the broiler. In fact, it had nothing to do with the garlic bread. Thick black smoke blowing all over the cooking range and a contained flame had me and Kirti running for cover. To make matters worse, the smoke detector in the apartment didn't go off. Rather it was the alarms in the hallway that signaled the fire brigade to pay a visit. Did call 911 for the first time and the response time was great. Couple of cops showed up with a fire extinguisher and quieted the fire. Fire personnel made sure that we won't be using the existing cooking range anymore. Just that we have been eating out si...

What is it with me and the Koreans, I mean Samsung, LG and then Hyundai. Loved the Samsung 19" monitor, 50-50 on the LG Chocolate and the EnV Touch cell phone & finally the Sonata. 'Nuff said. Became the happy owner of a 2009 Sonata last night. Got a good deal and couldn't resist. After all, the research did come in handy. But again, with strict instructions from wifey, "Maharani" is only allowed out when "Rani" is not available for use. (Maharani = Sonata, Rani = Corolla). The Sonata is actually bigger than I thought it would be. Quite a comfortable ride and per the manufacturer, great on great mileage (like I would buy one without a decent return on a gallon of gas). I am also pleased with the 5-star safety rating and the 6-standard airbags and of course, the looks. Soon enough, by the looks of it and the general trend that I am following, I am going to be in with the Koreans and out with the Japanese. There was a time in 2006, I was sure I was go...

Tax season is upon us and the due date for filing is quickly knocking on the doorsteps. Thankfully, got ours done this week and got a good tax consultant to help us out with it. Every year I think, we can get this done on our own and then reality strikes when I know someone can bail me out better. Same story this year as well. Past years' consultants never recommended opening an IRA or a 401(k) account, but this year, our consultant insisted we open one for atoning for past years' lost money :) More than ever, I am relieved that we finally got our house that both of us liked, its close to work and that rent is affordable. The 'hunt' was very frustrating and ironically we ended up in a locality where we had already checked out quite a few apartments. A dangerous situation occurred last night. For all the right reasons, the temperature in Chicago was 80 degrees, the house started heating up and we ended up sweating all evening. So after dinner we start watching a movie an...

Watched the Filmfare Awards for 2009 last night. Was so disappointed that I wanted to let it out in this post. Past years' awards used to be long and never ending but the excitement and the performances were something the whole family used to look forward to. Javed Jaffrey used to be tremendously funny and confident as a host. Missed him doing his usual routine. In the recent years, the performances were 'taped' prior to the awards at YRF studios and then shown 'live' to the audience. 2003's Kal Ho Na Ho set the trend for homosexual jokes between Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) and Saif Ali Khan (SAK) and that further spilled onto insulting the film industry folks with their sometimes witty and sometimes crass humor. SAK and SRK indeed put up a slightly watchable performance and their take on Shiv Sena was brief but funny. Karan Johar, who seems to be everywhere, doesn't seem tired to host these shows but fails to give a good movie everytime. I don't understand af...

We are exactly where we were 2 weeks ago. That is, no house yet. Got the DL, paycheck etc. All good there but severely lagging behind on the most important thing. Watched the Oscars last night and no surprises that The Hurt Locker swept all the major awards that it was nominated for. Saw the movie while I was in India, thought good movie, no big whupp!! Avatar was a major disappointment but at least it made a gazillion dollars. Madam Sidhya turned 4 this past weekend and the birthday party awaits next week. With the antics that she is up to now, God knows what's in store during the party on the 14th. A major search is underway for a nice car as the Corolla is on its final legs. For those who know me, know that I was hooked on to a Hyundai Sonata then, am hooked on to it now too. Sooner or later, a Sonata is going to be standing on the driveway. Work becomes heavier and the schedules tighter than ever before. Lots of responsibilities handed over and as usual with anything, Failure i...

Got the (work) engine restarted last week and the 4 work days just breezed past me. Looking at long work hours for the next few months. Absolutely want this to happen after months of futility in India. House hunting going on at a very slow pace. Nothing affordable and convenient at the same time available to zero in on. Taking things lightly as moving out is not an issue currently. Got the first glimpse of falling snow on Saturday and surprisingly, it felt good inside. Missed this environment a lot while on the sabbatical in India. Now that I am back for long, the cold winter is also a pleasant sight. Short one for today. Will be back to my monster-blogs sooner than later. Cheers!!

Exactly 7 months have passed since I reached India with a mind full of uncertainties, anger and a sense of desperation to get back to the US; just any part of the US would do. As luck would have it, I made it back to Chicago this past weekend for a long-term assignment with a client of ours. Lots of people would say I am darn *lucky* to make it back to the US to be with my wife, not realizing the heartbreak I have experienced in those 7 months that I have been away from her, *unlucky* to have my visa denied when things seemed hunky-dory. I would gladly trade away my 3 trips to Bombay and 1 month in Europe to being in the US continuously without a break in between. But, at the same time, I am sort of clear in my head now, with my standing in my company and the exposure that I have received since being at the nerve center of the organization, Bangalore. Equally importantly, being in Bangalore has given me the opportunity to look at the way my company operates and this India experience ha...