New Apartments in Mahindra City, Chennai

My uncle is working on new apartment complex development in Chennai.

If you planning to buy land or apartments in Chennai, check the details below.

Royce Ebony – Mahindra City, Chennai

• Ad Scan 1
• Ad Scan 2

Additional Info

Last Update – Jan/8/2012.

If need additional details, leave a comment  below or send me an email.

Sai Krishna Bhavan – New Indian Restaurant in Morrisville, NC is Open.

I had lunch Buffet Yesterday and Here is my quick review

• Lot of  food times in weekend Lunch Buffet
• Cost of Buffet – $8.99
• Good, Fresh Food
• I loved their plates

• Location – On Chapel Hill Road (54) inside Duke Urgent Care Complex (just before I540).
• Address – 10970 Chapel Hill Rd., Suite 108, Morrisville, NC 27560
• Phone – 919.481.0910

Food is tasty. I couldn’t taste all the items.  Food items could be arranged better.

We were wondering how much they will charge for lunch buffet, but 8.99 is perfect price.

My suggestion would be to reduce the menu items for buffet and make it 7.99. For weekday lunch, I don’t think 25+ items is required.

Sai Krishna Bhavan  Indian Restaurant in Morrisville  has good ambiance with tasty food.

While looking at Dinner Menu, Thali price of $19 is way too expensive. I can eat 5 times in McD’s

I came across this Take home Income vs Budget for various monthly expenses.

I really haven’t calculated as per following spending percentages, but it should be easy to pull the data from Mint.com

• Housing or Rent – 20 to 35%
• Utilities – 4 to 7%
• Food – 15 to 30%
• Home Needs – 2 to 4%
• Medical – 2 to 8%
• Transportation – 6 to 30%
• Shopping – 2 to 10%
• Savings – 10 to 15%

Housing or Rent

• Mortgage or Rent
• Property Tax
• Home Improvement
• Home insurance

Utilities

• Water and Sewer
• Electricity
• Gas
• Telephone
• Landline
• Cell Phone
• Internet
• Cable TV (or Satellite)
• Law and Garden

Food

• Groceries
• Dinning Out

Home Needs

• Personal Care
• Laundry
• Toiletries

Medical

• Doctor visits
• Hospital Bills
• Medicines

Transportation

• Car Loan
• Auto Gas
• Auto Insurance
• Maintenance and Repair

Shopping

• Clothing
• Entertainment
• Travel
• Electronics

Savings

• Savings Account
• Stocks
• Fixed Deposits

Did I cover all the expenses? I could have missed few, if you find one that is missing, speak up in comment below.

NC State Fair 2011 Concerts lineup take place in Dorton Arena.

• Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for all concert shows.
• All concerts start at 7:30 p.m.

NC State Fair 2011 Concert Tickets have to be purchased in addition to Admission Tickets.

Where to Buy NC State Fair Concert Tickets?

• Before Fair Start Date – Online Purchase  and Print at Home.
• After Fair Starts – North Dorton Box Office outside Dorton Arena or online.
• Online Concert Ticket Fee – Concert tickets sold online will be charged a 15% convenience fee.

NC State Fair 2011 Concerts

1. Craig Campbell – Thursday, Oct. 13 – $5
2. Skillet – Friday, Oct. 14 – $15
3. Easton Corbin – Saturday, Oct. 15 – $10
4. Tift Merritt – Sunday, Oct. 16 – $5
5. Steel Magnolia – Monday, Oct. 17 – $5
6. George Jones – Tuesday, Oct. 18 – $10
7. David Nail – Wednesday, Oct. 19 – $5
8. Dionne Warwick – Thursday, Oct. 20 – $10
9. Newsboys – Friday, Oct. 21 – $10
10. Kansas – Saturday, Oct. 22 – $10
11. Kellie Pickler – Sunday, Oct. 23 – $15

Buy NC State Fair Tickets through your employer, if your company offers discounts for tickets.

My Company NS State Fair Tickets Cost

Ticket Prices:                    Company Price        Advanced Online      At the Gate            

Ages 13-64 years                   $5.00 ea                    $6.00 ea                $8.00 ea

Ages 6-12 years                     $2.00 ea                    $2.00 ea                $3.00 ea

Ride (18 tickets/sheet)        $10.00 ea                  $10.00 ea                $1.00/ticket (or $18/sheet)

(3-6 coupons/ride)

Children ages 5 years & under and Seniors (65 years & over) are admitted free.

NC State Fair Admission Tickets

Ride Tickets

NC State Fair 20111 Hours of Operation – Gates, ticket booths, Ride Ticket booths, Midway Rides and Exhibit halls.

Hours of Operation

NS State Fairgrounds Gates
Open 8 a.m. – midnight (weather permitting)
Except Oct. 13, when gates open at 3 p.m.
Fairgoer must have advance ticket, or purchase admission ticket prior to 10 p.m., in order to enter gates between 10 p.m. and closing.

NC State Fair Admission Ticket Booths
Open 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Except Oct. 13 when admission ticket booths open at 3 p.m.
Fairgoer must have advance ticket, or purchase admission ticket prior to 10 p.m., in order to enter gates between 10 p.m. and closing.

Midway Ride Ticket Booths (Located inside the fairgrounds)
Open 9:30 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Except Oct. 13 when midway ride ticket booths open at 3 p.m.

Midway Rides
10 a.m. – midnight (weather permitting)
Except Oct. 13 when midway rides open at 3:30 p.m.

Exhibit Halls
9 a.m. – 9:45 p.m.
Except Oct. 13 when exhibit halls open at 4 p.m.

Bank of America announced $5 fee per month to use Debit Card starting 2012. ATM usage doesn’t count.

I’m not going to spend $60 per year to use debit card.

I have looked Wells Fargo (branch is nearby). But, looks like Wells Fargo is testing $3 fee in certain states.

Maybe in few months Wells Fargo might start charging $3 per month for debit cards.

I have 2 options

1. Move to different bank (credit unions, regional banks)
2. Stay with Bank of America and don’t use Debit Card (use Credit cards)

Anyway I have always hated bank of america. Now is the time, but the question is where?

Consumers Union offers advice here, including a link to a PDF guide on how to change banks smoothly in an era when many people rely on pre-authorized debits to pay key bills.

Last night we went to Chakras Indian Cuisine at Brier Creek. Located at same Walmart shopping complex, right opposite to Cold Stone.

Along with 2 other families, we decided to try Chakras Indian Cuisine.

We started reading the menu and we kept looking at the Menu for over 10 minutes. One of my friend was like, do we have to find a different restaurant?

Here is a quick review of chakras indian cuisine raleigh

• Menu – 2 of 10 (Confusing and hard to understand)
• Taste – 5 of 10
• Atmosphere – 6 of 10
• Cost – 3 of 10 (Expensive)
• Quantity  – 1 of 10
• Service – 6 of 10

My wife ordered Lamb Briyani and friend ordered Chicken Briyani.

Looks like same flavored rice was used for both biryanis with chicken and lamb. That  was a huge mood killer.

At Indian restaurants we expect hardcore, properly cooked biryani, not pre-made rice with different meat added to biryani.

Quantity of the biryani for the cost was another major upset factor.

If you are looking for proper chicken or lamb biryani try Laziz Briyani corner. Then you will know what I’m talking about.

Problems with Menu

Chakras Indian cuisine menu

Menu has 2 folds (left and right). Right were he fold marks appear is where food items were displayed. Next the cost per food item was like adding in elementary school math.

You can be creative with me, but certain items have to be traditional. Trying to change people expectations while ordering food is not a good choice.

Keep it simple. List the cost of  the food item next to the food. Don’t make customer add numbers.

After looking at the menu, we figured, cost of the item has to be added to some value. At the top of the menu, they had 2 values 6.25/8.75 ( which was for lunch/dinner).

Indian Fast food in US is good concept, but its didn’t appeal to us. For $35 we spent, quantity of the food was very less compared to other Indian restaurants. We wonder what would be the quantity of the food during lunch.

First impression with chakras indian cuisine was way below our expectation. We will try agian, f we happen to hear better reviews from others who try the food at Chakras Indian cuisine.

Last year for NC tax free weekend (2010) I purchased Mac book Pro 13″.

This year (2011) its time for iPad2.

About 30 days back, we got iPad 1 from Sams (Wi-Fi and 3G). But, after using it for few days, it felt really slow. So, we decided to buy iPad 2 during NC Tax Free Weekend (Aug 5 to 7, 2011).

I went to the Apple store at Southpoint Mall in Durham  yesterday around 7 PM.

We waited for about 45 minutes in the queue.

About 7:50 PM I walked into the store and asked for iPad 2, Black, Wi-Fi Only.

Apple Sales Specialist asked if I my employer have corporate discount? I wasn’t sure and he said did quick search and found 2% OFF for iPad 2. Sweet. That’s $10.

But, I need to show some proof for employer-employee relationship. I didn’t have the badge with me. Ofcourse its Apple, sales specialist asked if I can log into my company email account.

My answer was no. RSA Fab was attached to company badge.

He asked if there is any other way I can prove my employer-employee relationship.

I said “I can log into my LinkedIn Account and show my profile.”

He agreed to that.

He saw my profile for 2 quick seconds and said “you are good to go”.

Bingo!

2% off of $499.

Apple and Awesomness goes together.

So, now 2 years in a row, we purchased Apple product during Tax Free Weekend.

I’m have my eyes set on iMac (but my PC has to die before that).

Yes, you can now you your cell phone to make free calls to India via Vonage World Calling Plan.

Before:

• Login into Vonage account
• Eenable Call Forwarding to number in India
• Call the home number (or vonage number)

Now: (with Vonage Extensions)

• Register non -vonage phone number (inside vonage online account)
• Once registered, calls  from your registered Extensions phone number is the same as making a call from your Vonage home world plan
• Call India directly from Cell Phone

How to Configure Vonage Extensions

• Log into Vonage Online Account (Look for Vonage Extensions on Top Right).
• Click Register.
• Enter Your Cell Phone Number
• Same pin as account security
• Click Register
• Save Extension Number (in favorites)

Once you have registered your extension number, you are able to  make international calls at the same great rates as your home  calling plan.

• Step 1: Dial the special 10 digit access number from your extension.
• Step 2: Enter your PIN.
• Step 3: Dial the international number you want to call.
• To Call India Dial – 011 91 – phone number

Vonage has to make this automates like Reliance (short codes), but that feature should be coming soon.