Vacation

Came back last night from a 9 day vacation to Sunny Florida. The vacation was long overdue. Between my Qtr ending and Kids school starting, there was exactly 1 week gap and we decided to go for it. We landed in Fort Lauderdale, FL on a Monday afternoon. Checked into a nice hotel (Hyatt). Went out to the beach for dinner and "wading" in the ocean water (my son's favorite activity). Took a romantic pedicab ride in the moonlight, with the nice cool breeze blowing on our faces... our turkish (student) driver gave us a guided tour of the ocean front points of interests.

Next day we checked out of the hotel (not before using the awesome pool) and went to Orlando. After Checking in (Hilton), went out to downtown Disney and dinner. Next day, we did Magic Kingdom. It was hot and humid like crazy and we were sweating like pigs.... which made the water rides even more fun. We had a fun day until we were too tired to even stand. Took a ferry and bus ride back to the hotel. Next day, we took it easy and went to the Kennedy Space Center. After a very interesting day filled with amazing information and tours, we took a ride in an actual space shuttle simulator.

Then we moved down to Miami (Hyatt). Spent a couple of days there checking out the beaches (loved the warm waters) and other local attractions (Biscayne, JI etc). Valet parking was a nice luxury. :) For the final leg, we moved to the keys. Checked into the Marriott Resort in Key Largo. The pool was amazing there. Sitting in the pool, we had a wonderful view of the ocean (ocean was 200 ft away or so). Very calm and relaxing. The next day we went out into the Atlantic Ocean in a glass bottom boat and checked out the coral reefs and the fishes. Then we went onwards to Key west and Mile 0. Finally flew back to home yesterday.

Very amazing, fun filled and memorable vacation. Took more than 600 photographs with our brand new Cannon SLR camera. Need to upload them to backup storage.... might post some online.

a race against time...

When I am at work, the time is passing by so quickly. It feels like the day just started and how come it is 5 pm already. This week is special though. I have a few deadlines looming at work, that have to be done this week, plus the finals on Saturday and the vacation starting on Monday.

Had an interesting discussion yesterday with a friend at work (SSK). It was an eye opening experience given what he went through in order to achieve what he has achieved. The dude has some commitment.

Wifey's birthday today. Taking her out for lunch date. :) Got her a IPhone 4 a few days back. I think she likes it. Some subtle clues I have observed to support this - have seen her using the phone late into the night, won't let me come anywhere near me, has stopped using the laptop at home or my Mac etc etc. :)

House remodeling project slowly coming to an end. 99% of the work is done. Couple of things need to be fixed properly and then we will be finally done. It's been a long and expensive journey but the end results look stunning.

More later ... ciao

finals and more

Finals coming up in a couple of weeks. Yikes!!! Its been ages since I have been able to relax - at home, work or school. Each of these three places tries to squeeze the maximum out of me (I really feel sorry for myself ever so often). :(

All this makes the upcoming vacation even more special. We already extended our return date by 3 days. It should be good fun. BTW, the remodeling fun doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. After a $18k credit card bill last month, we had just barely taken a deep breath, that last night our old faithful(refrigerator) gave up on us. It simply stopped cooling. I frantically called the repair guy who pronounced the EOL (end-of-life) for the fridge over the phone itself. So, late in the evening, we rushed to Lowes to look for a new one. Gosh these things are expensive. Hopefully we should have a new one delivered within a day or two. (psst... the kitchen wasn't looking good with the old fridge...so in one way this is good... but where's the moolah going to come from). Dang!!!

ok 2am already now. Need to stop this gossiping and go to sleep. ciao.

Rajneeti

Finally found some free time to watch the Hindi movie Rajneeti. Well, overall the movie was good. At several places it appeared that they were taking some ideas from Godfather. Lack of originality is disappointing but unintelligent copying is stupid (IMO). Kat's role could have been much better - I wonder what made her accept this movie. She comes across as so needy and desperate and then settles for other people making her life decisions for her (who to marry, get into politics etc).

Nana Patekar was good but could have been shown in a even more strategic role. I could go on and on but the bottom line: B+ for the movie from my pov.

More Indian families in the neighborhood. The house opposite ours is sold now and our next door Indian neighbors (Renters) bought it. They got a good deal for the house at the price they paid. Sometimes I feel, why MBA - I should have gotten into Real estate business, made a ton of money and moved on.... :)

We had a case study on Cisco in class this Saturday. Very interesting... :)

more later ...