Sunday, January 10, 2010

Life in Nov22-Jan 10

Wow, what a time interval this one has been. Welcome to first Life in series of 2010 which mostly covers events that happened in 2009 end. Without any further delay, here are the highlights -

Travelogue
1. Trip to San Diego with Aman, Nandini, Gursharan, Ritesh and Aseem Batla. Fun trip! Visited Point Noma, La Jolla beach, seaport village, downtown and Seaworld at San Diego. And played a lot of cards - Literature (probably the best non-betting style game) and played lots of literature (at hotel, in car). We drove from San Jose to San Diego during night and drove back also during night. And we were playing the game in car during night as well :) Overall a great reunion and fun trip.

2. Trip to Seattle - Just 2 weeks after San Diego, i went to Seattle. Did a cool 3 hr hike. Visited Boeing factory and ate at Travellers restaurant (impressive!). And ofcourse played poker. And good discussions, meetups etc in Seattle weather. Saw snow flakes! Met Aman, Nandini, Nirmal And Piyush.

3. Trip to Napa valley - With Amit Bhaiya, Babhi and Annika. Went to Sterling Vineyards and tasted white and red wines. Due to lean season, there were no grapes and no active wine brewing but did a pseudo tour anyways. One day trip.

4. Trip to Monterey - With everyone here at Fremont. Day trip.

5. Trip to LA - With Amit Bhaiya, Bhabhi, Annika, Buaji and Uncleji. Went to DisneyLand (1.5 days), DisneyLand adventure park (0.5 days), Universal studios (1.5 days), Santa Monica Pier and downtown (0.5 days), Kodak theater and hollywood (0.5 days). Fun trip but too many things to do. But good experience - been there done that kind of a thing. Hate to admit but driving the SUV was fun!

6. With Harsh - Spent Jan 1 and 2 with Harsh. Starting off with a wonderful brunch, we visited Wisherman's wharff, Civic center, Mountain view castro street :), Santa cruz, highway 1 drive from SC to SF. Met Venkar, Nishant and Manas in the process. Awesome time. Loved the way how leisurely the trip was coming along and how normal walks in the city were enjoyable just to know the city. This can only happen with Harsh and people like him.

7. Japanese tea garden - with family. Chilling cold in SF ; the tea garden is ok. Also peaked into De Yong museum - looks very good.

Movielogue
1. Invictius - Loved it. Here is the deal - it is not the best movie ever but it is the kind of movie that makes watching movies a joy to watch - powerful story telling and acting at a slow pace. And yes this reviewer is a big fan of Eastwood and Morgan Freeman.

2. Avatar - Loved it in the first half. Hated it during second. It had the potential of being a brillaint movie. Everything was believable except the way the ending was done. Good innovation in CGI/animation but sorry Mr. Cameron, i need story!

3. Up in the air - Again a good movie by Jason Reitman (Juno fame). Technology is coming and it is taking jobs - where all can you apply this construct. Jason applies to an absurd area and makes a movie out of it. Ending was little bit let down but all in all a good movie.

4. Delhi 6. On a random morning, after briefly chatting with Gurshi (who is in delhi), readin facebook scraps of people in Delhi, in order to fill my Delhi nostalgia, i thought that i should watch Delhi 6. It is sufficient to say that after watching the movie, i no longer have the nostalgia, i no longer wish to watch any bollywood movie for a long time.

5. Chocolat - Chinese action movie about an autisitc girl who can learn martial arts moves by watching them on tv. ok movie - considered good in its genre.


Bookologue -
1. Snow - In progress
2. Untouchables - In progress.


Worklogue -
1. My mentor decided to form his own company and hence quit his current one. I wish him all the best. Exciting times for me ahead!
2. White elephant gift exchange - Had this on a friday. Idea - Every participating member will bring a gift wrapped in wrapping paper. All gifts are placed on a table. One can either choose to take a gift from table and open it or steal it from someone else. That someone else can again steal or open a new gift. Interesting game and lots of fun!

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