No posts in a looong time!

I realized how time had flown by & how i had completely forgotten even the existence of this blog :-(
Its been more than 18 odd months since my last my post i guess!
Why is it that there is always an opposing force that succeeds in disrupting your routine?
Why is it that i always tend to get lost in the daily grind & often ignoring things that bring joy to your inner mind? Why is it that there seems to be a cumulative spike in background processes in your brain with time passing by? How do truly great people ignore the routine stuff to focus on great things? Just some random blurps runnin thru' my mind while i try to kick back my blogging routine!

Moments!

This morning the Home Title folks had dropped by my place for completion of Refi paperwork... This is a new trend since they anyway charge the customer for these royalties! My babes had just woken up and was clinging onto me while we signed the paperwork which is when the Refi lady made a comment...'She's a Daddy's Girl uhhh, for the next 15 yrs jokingly with a smile...' and this got me thinking, Time does fly off sooo fast! Soon before u realize, 10-12 yrs will fly by... How i wish, i can change the course of time only on this one thing and have my cutie babes be the bubbly beauty she currently is trying to utter new words, grasping ne'th n everything they get to hear n see! How i wish, these 15 yrs this lady was referring to is the equivalent of 1500 yrs of calendar time!
  I am reminded of some of the things my parents say about how i continue to be the small kid for them even today.

Yaaro Ivan!

Another song with good lyrics, this one is from the current musical heartthrob GV Prakash... who says, talent isn't ingrained via blood, this youngster seems to have the same genes as his uncle AR Rahman!
yaaro ivan yaaro ivan
en pookalin vero ivan
en penmaiyai venran ivan
anbanavan

yaaro ivan yaaro ivan
en pookalin vero ivan
en penmaiyai venran ivan
anbanavan

un kaadhalil karaiginravan
un paarvaiyil udaiginravan
un paadhaiyil nizhalaagave
varuginravan

en koodaiyil mazhaiyaanavan
en vaadaiyil veyilaanavan
kanjaadaiyil en thevaiyai arivaan ivan

enge unai kooti sella
solvai enthan kaadhal mella
en penmaiyum elai paarve
un maarbile idam pothume
en inru idaiveli kuraigirathe
methuvaaga idhayangal inaigirathe
un kai viral en kai viral ketkinrathe

yaaro ivan yaaro ivan
en pookalin vero ivan
en penmaiyai venran ivan
anbanavan

un swasangal enai theendinal
en naanangal yen thookutho
un vaasanai varum velaiyil
en yosanai yen maarutho
nathiyinil oru elai vizhugirathe
alaiganil mithanthathu thavazhgirathe
karai seruma un kai seruma ethirkaalame..

enakaagave piranthan ivan
enaikaakave varuvaan ivan
en penmaiyai venran ivan
anbanavan

en koodaiyil mazhaiyaanavan
en vaadaiyil veyilaanavan
kanjaadaiyil en thevaiyai arivaan ivan

Nenjodu Cherthu from Yuvvh

I would have been bored to death if not for the all of the fabulously talented musicians all around the world... Music relaxes me like nothing else, revitalizes, gives energy & so much more!
Of late, i am totally hooked onto the lyrics as well...definitely raises a question when someone tells me the new age lyrics aren't all that good!
  This one is from a recent album that's one of my current favorites... Lyrics below!

Nenjodu cherthu Pattonnu paadaam,
Pattinte eenam neeyaanu…
Kaanathey kannil Ariyathey nenjil
Viriyunna chithram Neeyaanu..
Nee Varoo..
Ee Paattin raaghamaai
Nee tharoo.. ee chithram varnmaaai..
Hridhayam Thookum paranayam
Nalki njanum nila sandhye..
Thirike nanayum mizhikal
Nalki neeyum engu maanju
Nenjodu cherthu Paattonnu paadaam..
Pattinte eenam neeyaanu..
Kaanathey kannil Ariyathey nenjil
Viriyunna chithram Neeyaanu..
Kaannaanayi Mohangal chirakadikkumbol
Snehathine kataayi enne thalodi
Mizhiyile mozhiyilum nin mugham maathramaayi
Kanavile kannilum nin niram maathram
Maayallae akale akale akale..
Nenjodu cherthu, Pattonnu paadaam,
Pattinte eenam neeyaanu…
chollaanayi kaavyangal ezhuthiyathellam
nin chundil pokkunna hinddholamaayi
Aazhiyum maariyum nin swaram maathrameki
Ninavile nizhalilum nite nishwaasam
Thedunnu arikil, Nee innu evide…
Nenjodu cherthu, Pattonnu paadaam
Pattinte eenam neeyaanu…
Kaanathey kannil oo hoo ho ooo
Viriyunna chithram oo hoo ooo

Beautifully picturized... song video link:

Can't think of a better representation...:-) :-) :-)

This is from the website link below
       http://nosql.mypopescu.com/post/2955078419/origin-of-nosql

SQL, NoSQL or KaunsaSQL ??

Just amazed at the pace at which new tools, technology continues to outpace each other... Never did i imagine the fact that i would need to juggle sooo many jargons especially when we are talking about an application space and not all of sofware!
MongoDB
CouchDB
Cassandra
Vertica
Hadoop
Neo4j
NoSQL
HBase
Hive
Pig
CQL
vSQL
Solr
REdis
MemcacheDB
BerkeleyDB
MapReduce
RavenDB
VoltDB
Netezza
Greenplum
Asterdata
Storm
Kafka
Drill
Dremel
Gremlin
Giraph
& so many more... I don't think i can ever ever dream of mastering majority of these:-(
 

R A G U S... Didn't know u were this deadly:-(

Of all things that came out during my session with trainer, the guy who contributed to most of the objections was 'ragus' who had a free ride at my place for almost the last entire yr... Just reverse the word to get the original word! I am so glad der's an natural alternate out der like Stevia... I have so much of hopes resting on Stevia now, almost as if my whole life is dependent on this from now on! How does man make these just-in-time discoveries? The last time i downsized on sugar was during the Splenda revolution only to later bite the bullet tat this isn't tested enough bla bla... Does my trainer have a vested venture in Truvia? Is he a sales rep for them? No way, not at all... After he just wants to see me in good shape!

Der goes my...

Every beginning has an end... Capitalizing on the remaining 107 days to go, i had made up my mind to get myself a trainer with the dreams of shaping up my not so shaped up body... When u r in the planning state, ambitions run higher than what u can think of... This helps because when realistic execution sets in, makes it real easy to get it all back on the ground!
All excited for my first session, was pleasantly surprised with his knowledge on food habits and diet... He kept goin thru' the long list of things that need to stay far away from my mouth & i had to ask him this Qn out of curiousity (how i wish i hadn't asked)... Is one drink a week bad at all from a diet standpoint and what if that's a Margarita? He gave a nice looking smile, nice enough to get me thinkin tat's totally fine...but the answer was faaar from what i wanted it to be... A resounding NO, with a justification that it had enuf sugar as in an ice cream etc... Life does come at u fast, very fast i guess!

Pure Beauty!!!

Some moments are just worth capturing totally... A friend drops by our place and we get to see their baby after a long time...in the midst of spending time with them and playing with both cuties, i attempt to take my friend's son by saying 'Come'...the first realization of how much my babes is hooked onto me...the first realization of how much my babes doesn't want me to get close to another baby in her presence... The first realization of the innocent cute eyes shrinking... The first realization of how much it pains in me even for the slightest shrink in her eyes, though happy that its me in context and yet sad that my babes also needs to go thru' these worldly emotions:-(.

I would...

What would i do if i were to contest in Mr.Universe? My answer to this Qn would be... I would eradicate Cold and Cough from this world for infants and if not the world atleast in USA, because these pediatricians aren't giving my babes any medicine and the flem is just too much in love with my babes:-(.

Vishu Kanni

This Vishu almost got started off on a wrong foot...my babes {actually singular but the intensity with which she drives me makes it a plural:-)} was happily wide awake an hr before midnight and we were visiting a friend's place we hadn't met in a long time. In the midst of my conversations, s'th struck me that my babes who was playing upstairs with resident kids is upto yet another mischief...few seconds later, got to realize that she was licking a capsule that was an adult's medicine!

        I remember a friend of mine quoting this to me about kids... its either 3x the excitement or 3x the sadness when u deal with your kids, couldn't agree more. There's never a steady state, the moments of joy aren't contained in a positive way and the whole world comes crumbling down when they are down with slightest of the pain!

Luckily, this was only a scare that made us realize how much more careful we need to be while dealing with a bubbly, mischievous, naughty little babes... I am hoping i don't upset this babe someday 10 yrs from now when she skims thru' daddy's blogs!

Rest of the day was in high spirits{nothing to do with the C2H5OH, i am not that type:-)}... skipped my usually most important activity of the weekend to be next to my babes while she wakes up to handhold her and show her what's referred to as "Vishu Kanni"... its a tradition, its a practice followed by Mallu's worldwide.

Had a fantastic lunch at Red Chillies not because of the Mallu influence or the auspicious day... just a sacrifice for a friend who loves to eat Beef and this restaurant had one such dish! Life is all about these simple givings u see:-) and here's a precious snap just outside the restaurant with my other favorite baby macho boy!!!

110 days to go...

Another good day comes to an end...Had a good dinner at AppleBees to kick start the weekend. Looks like my love for AB isn't reducing ne'time soon, food just continues to taste as good as it can be:-)  The good thing is that the ambience is encouraging even for my baby to enjoy the settings compared to any other restaurant!

Aunty reached here this afternoon and my baby is already making the most of it:-) In more ways than one, i think she's made up of the same genes as me...To see this happen, observe and just have the sheer joy of letting your little one have a ball of a time is s'th that makes u blissfully forget the hundred odd things that run thru' your brain constantly.

and then, the Boston Marathon fiasco is a such a pathetic shame to mankind...Why would someone ever do such a thing to anyone? The more mankind advances, the more idiotic are some of the resulting actions. We all should pray to almighty that may such things never happen to anyone ever and never give human beings such a brain that could be misused like this!  We got to leave behind a beautiful, warm, friendly, loving society for our kids and future generations to come!

Hurray!

Got to share this... After 3 yrs in a row where i barely managed to get my taxes filed on the last day after getting an filing extension, this year was a welcome break where i didn't have to file for an extension or atleast i hope so!  Done with my paper work, handed it over to the tax consultant and hopefully he has filed it in time!
  
This tax consultant made me realize an important lesson... DO NOT disrespect the things that are easily available at your disposal! Not only did he not make me do a dozen visits to his office but also goofed up so many things in the process of filing... I was lazy enough to sit and enter the details into Turbo Tax but was made to do a whole lot more work as a cost attributed to my laziness! Thank you Turbo Tax for making our lives easier, i am sure u will forgive my ignorance this year of not using you and i am sure you will still let me use you for next year :-)

BTW, just so that no one else goes thru' the same pain i had to go thru'... if u need a word of advice, please do not use Jackson Hewitt tax services. I had seen a few ads that looked impressive and fell for that but realized that these guys are no expert tax consultants and use an antique software that isn't any good and their customer loyalty is below average!

I am baaack!!!

   At the spur of a moment few mins back, not only did i remember somewhere at the back of my mind that i do have a long forgotten blog but also to imagine how wonderful it would be to get back with some updates... so here we go once again!

Time flew by, its been a little less than 3 yrs since i wrote...Life has really changed since i returned back from Cancun:-)  Time is 3x more precious to me now than it was then, i am super busy and have a wonderfully amazing 2 yr old cutie who mesmerizes me every second i spend with her!

Tommorrow is a big day... we have our most anticipated guest arriving by Noon! More than me, my wifey has been dreaming of this day for the past few months...May be, the excitement isn't contained which probably contributed towards me getting back to blog:-):-)

My review on Great Parnassus Resort @ Cancun

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best and 1 being worst...

Resort room cleanliness - 9 on 10

Resort room size, setup - 9 on 10

Restaurants - 9 on 10 (this is overall rating as there are more than 10 restaurants in total)

Bars: 10 on 10( there is practically a bar in every corner of this resort which is great)

Bartenders: 10 on 10
This place is 200% customer focussed. Anytime, any drink is made possible by these guys... Just awesome!!!

Chef / waiters:
9 on 10 at Magnus restaurant (this is the best restaurant that is open all thru' the day)
4 on 10 at manhattan restaurant
8 on 10 at other restaurants

Pool / activities: 9 on 10
Great pools facing the beach, great ambience overall

Beach side music:
8.5 on 10

Cons:
1. Sometimes u hear kids screaming wen u r inside ur room.
I wud say for room noise, rating of 6 on 10.

2. Timeshare guys:
These guys r a pain to deal with. They r there in ALL resorts in Cancun and this place is NO exception. Be aware and stay away from them!
There is one guy called Franco who is a complete Fraud!!!

Tips based on my experience:

1. I was inclined to book an Adults only resort, but u shud think it thru before u do so. ( i eventually booked a family resort)

The reason i say this is, any resort is as good as the amount of energy/buzz/ activities happenin at the resort... In these terms, great parnassus resort was very very good, because there was lot of stuff happenin all the time and der was good crowd even with kids!

On the contrary, Golden parnassus resort which is Adults only, was way too dull and boring and looked like a senior citizen's retirement home which is not where i wud prefer to b on vacation!!!

Cancun deserves the hype!

We started our journey on Friday morning...we flew to houston from san jose, reached houston on time...all this while was not sure what was happenin to the Rafa vs. Murray semi final at wimbledon. Once in Houston, was texting Giri back n forth about tennis. Rafa won the match in straight sets and now the finals shud just b a formality to be completed. Co-incidentally, giri is flying to india from Houston on Sunday evenin while i am in the same airport 2 days prior to that and then 1 day after...felt really bad at loosing this opportunity of meetin Sahiti n all:-(

The drama had just begun to unveil at this point for our dream vacation... So, we now board on the flight to Cancun and the gates are closed as well...the pilot tells us that we are just 1hr 47 mins away from Cancuuun and i am more than eager to fast forward the time and here comes the next announcement - der's a lightenin alert and r flight is goin to b grounded till we get a clearance! It's a unique experience to b on a flight not anymore at the Gate, ready to take off with destination being less than 2 hrs away, about 100 metres from the run away, but parked due to an alert.. You are tempted to think tat the alert be called off on one end while u still r not sure if u will end up partying with the so called 'lightn'ing' up in the air!!! Long story short, we spent a whole lot more than 1 hr 47mins parked next to the run way and finally reached Cancun late evenin.

We checked in to resort and were impressed with the room, design, food and most importantly, the bartenders n umpteen choices of drinks!!!
Like with any good tourist places, one of the pain points u got to go thru' is dealin with the hundred odd timeshare guys approachin u n tryin to convince u to attend der presentation inspite of ur complete lack of interest! One of the reasons behind this is tat these guys who tailgate u get their commission based on the distinct headcounts they can manage to get to a presentation!!

we had our breakfast at Magnus restaurant..this place is awesome given the number of different cuisines, choices and ability to make a custom order of Pretty much anything from Omelette, french toast, burrito, sandwich, fresh juice and so on. Given a chance, i would bring this restaurant somewhere closer to my home in CA!

After breakfast, we take stroll around the resort and find a lot of inrerestin stuff.. The best realization personally for me was the fact that der were 8 different bars in the property and 2 of them were next to the 4 pools facing the beach... I must admit tat i have not slept properly since the time i got to see a bar that blends sooo nicely into a pool tat makes it pretty much accessible only from the pool!!! I think this is probably any man's dream to be in a beautiful pool facin the beach with the comfort of a bar next to u tat has unlimited supply of drinks just for u...

Also, forgot to mention, as an added bonus, all the gorgeous women in the pool were one more good reason for u to stick around:-) that brings up another interestin point... The more exotic the vacation town happens to be, the better ur chances to see the most gorgeous women! Now, u could derive few theories based on this-
1. Rich women tend to be more beautiful!
2. Richest of the men get the most gorgeous women!
3. gorgeous women prefer the most exotic vacations! :-)

Back to the point, we had a great lunch and then headed to the pool. The bar besides the pool was named 'Samoa' and had a superb setting. I was already drunk on so many different things that it's hard to recall when i was not actually drunk:-) my routine here at this resort followed a few simple principles-
A. If u r walking by and see a bar, grab 2 drinks!
B. Never get the same drink, always pick a different drink u have not had!
C. When u start feelin that u r not walking straight or the head spinning, grab Coconut Rum with Diet Coke as this is a light drink!
D. If ur stomach feels too bloated, u shud grab s'th to eat and then grab a drink!
From what i remember, these r some of the drinks i had-

1. Kiel
2. Laguna Izul
3. Sex on the beach
4. Long Island
5. Zombi
6. Miami Vice
7. Coconut rum & Diet coke
8. Smirn off & soda
9. Absolut Vodka & soda
10. Planters Punch


We then strolled on the beach for a long long walk as this is one thing Shanthi just loves to do... As we walked on the beach, i could see all the resorts one after the other and each one looked different...i must say, none of them looks as lively and full of energy as the one we were stayin in. Grand Oasis and Gran Melia Cancun looked huge as they had wide span across the beach. Finally, we reached Golden Parnassus resort which is a sister concern of the resort where we were stayin. While pickin the resort, i had almost narrowed it down to the this one before changing my mind. I am glad i picked Great Parnassus as it was well worth the money and much better than their sister concern and many other resorts i got to see there!

Labor Day Weekend @ Austin

Blog : End of labor day weekend!

As with all the wonderful things in this world, time flies by and u r left wondering if u spent all this time doing things u wanted do! One more Austin trip is over and we r now on r way back to SFO... Tennis and photography were the agenda I was thinking about while on my way to Austin and I am Glad trying out both of these with Giri who seems to mastering the art of being a guru in most things he does! BTW hats off to Gayatri's mom, food was always abundant and soo tasty that I ended up hogging a whole lot all thru' the day!

Sahi is becoming more and more cute by the day and is following her dad's footsteps well... She made sure that I put on my seatbelt while on the back seat in the car... She emphasizes the win factor and how to take a loss by the stride and also knows to imitate Lahari well :-)

As this labor day weekend comes to an end, I am reminded of the labor day last year... We had driven to Vegas as my parents were here and v had a ball of a time there! I stil remember the laughter series all thru' Bellagio with the uncontrollable fun my parents had... The 60 minutes break on r way back with Siva and all to figure out an emergency cure for Shanthi's dental problems... The Buffett feasts where there were so much stuff to eat and my dad not liking ne of it except some deserts!

The quote "Life is not determined by the number of breathes u take, it's the moments that take ur breathe away" is sooo true!!!

On our way to Austin...

On our way to Austin... Reached LAX and looking for a good breakfast place around... Der is a Mexican place, cold sw place and Mc D here... Not in a mood for the big burrito's as the day begins... Cold sw are not my choice ne time of the day! Left with The only choice Mc Donalds... Hoping to settle down for a nice hot chicken sw with the limited options available here, go and wait in the long queue... Never Thot I would wait in a Mc donalds line on a nice bright sunny Saturday morning that happens to be a long weekend as well... How does it always happen that the lines I am not in end up moving fast? Finally as I make it to the counter, I realize the fact that Mc D sells only mc muffins for bfast... Why does it seem like u have every thing at ur fingertips with the most coolest gadgets all around u and still find it almost impossible to find one not so out of the ordinary choice of bfast the moment u embark on a vacation trip for long weekend???

The LAX flight was decent, except for the fact that I had to sit far away from my wonderful wife with whom I want to spend as much time as possible and except for the little harsh landing which almost makes u think if this happens to b the first flight trip for the pilot on a commercial plane... Ok, tat was a liitle bit of an exaggeration, I must agree!

V r still waitin for r boarding call for r next flight to Austin... As I told my lovely lady after gettin down at LAX, there were only 2 things in front of my eyes all along on the flight - Flood lights & tennis court... Yepp, waitin to get to Austin and play some good tennis with my old buddy / tennis coach... The only thing I can wish and earn for now is y in the world did I hardly go for tennis when I spent a good 18 months in Orange county... Was i acting More of a rebel wen Giri used to call me for Tennis... to be frank, I really don't know and looking back now, it's a huge huge loss that I am now trying to overcome..

BTW, little did I realize that I have not been keepin a tab on the time factor and it's already 10:40am.., time for departure of my Austin flight! The boarding gate printed on my pass seems to be incorrect and I can now see the fine prints reading "subject to change"... Thankfully, we did board the flight and are now about 60 mins from reaching Austin!!!

Principato is Smoooth!!!

I had never heard of this wine till a friend suggested this one in a B'day party @Olive Garden... The wine belongs to a class of its own and is one of the better wines i have had in the recent times! The only sad part was the fact that this wine is exclusively made for this restaurant and not sold retail.

For all those curious wine lovers out there, here is how "Principato" is described as on the manufacturer website:

Principato, meaning “Princely Realm” or principality, is named for northeast Italy’s Tre Venezie, a region embracing the majesty of the snow-capped Dolomite Alps and the picturesque beauty of Italy’s romantic Lake District. For wine lovers, the Tre Venezie is also source of Principato, one of Italy's most popular and affordable wines. Introduced in 1978, today it encompasses a contemporary range of the most popular varietal wines and blends.

One Good thing leads to another...

Sometimes, its not about what you know and what you don't... Its about just applying the hard earned facts you already know of all along the way! Its the facts you talk about with all your friends but missed out on executing them in one's own life :-)


Things got to happen when they are bound to happen...Why else would i never touch a salad all thru' 07, 08 and 09 (Yes, i am referring to the year!) till now and then request my wonderful wife not to pack any lunch for the coming Monday... Did the guilt feeling in me wake up one fine moment since i ate the delicious "Double Crunch shrimp" few hours back at Applebees while i watched my friend have a Salad?
What ever it be, i am glad the moment of awakening happened atleast now than later.

As i have my favorite Chinese Chicken Salad for lunch, a ray of thought runs thru' my mind... I am good at restraining myself only when i establish a hard line of control! This would mean that i establish a lunch pattern for the next few days and set expectations for my brain not to wander around at lunch time as to what i should be ordering for lunch... As i continue to chew my salad, i let the controller in me know that i will stick to a Salad lunch for the next 41 business days! A break on weekends would ensure that i don't get fed up soon enough... I will have to wait and see if i can really stick to my plan this time.

Still Pic

I really like this one... S'th about this pic gets me to think that this is from a mafia movie!!! Like, the person in black t-shirt in the middle looks the dashing leader of the gang. The young lady behind almost looks as if is about to pull a pistol out as seen in movies...

Now back to reality, Only if i hadn't known who these people were. They are all very dear to me and few of the sweetest people in the world. The person in the middle is my wonderful dad and the young lady behind is my lovely wife!

What makes Prez. Bush the Smartest Guy on Earth!!!

The most conventional approach of a politician is to 'Do Your Job' and be on the hot seat .

Clinton screwed one girl, Bush screwed 2 countries and managed to get help from 2 other countries to do this!

Clinton not only ended up making Monica Lewinsky richer, but also got charged under perjury and was impeached!

Which other president can even dream of changing election results after they were announced?

Which other president can come back to power after a movie has been made and has been mocked upon for all his actions?

Which other president can get Washington to lie about WMD and go on a war to Iraq?

and a lot many more such stuff from a great man of our times!!!