View from the Passenger Window

Two Wheeled Wonders

2012-01-25T19:11:00.002-06:00

In America everything seems to be taken to the extreme. When it comes to building custom motorcycles people spend hundreds of thousands of $$$s to get the machine of their dreams. Here are a few examples...

Upgrade your cellphone, make money and help the environment

2012-01-25T02:00:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cellitused, Inc. for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It is impossible to imagine life in this day and age without the cell phone. Modern cell phones can do everything, talk, text, browse the internet, e-mail, social networking, banking, take pictures, and even videos among others. There are different types of cell phones in the market from basic models to superior smartphones.

In the past several years I have changed numerous cellphones for various reasons. Sometimes it is for better functionality, at other times for improved looks, enhanced features, etc. This resulted in me accumulating a number of old phones. It was difficult to sell the phones or even to give them away... everyone wants a new cell phone.

I am sure there are hundreds of people out there who are facing the same predicament as I am. Now I don't worry about being saddled with so many old phones because I have found out the Cellitused.com where I can sell my old phones.

It is also important to know that cell phones contain several toxic chemicals such as arsenic, antimony, and it is important that unused cell phones are safely disposed or recycled. I used to feel guilty that I was accumulating old cell phones, but not anymore. I just sell them on Cellitused.com.

Founded in 2006, Cellitused is in the business of buying old cell phones and other electronic gadgets such as iPods and other small electronics. If you are looking to Sell Your iPhone and buy a newer model then this is the place for it.

Rock Formations in Swimming Beach - Lake Texoma

2012-01-23T01:16:00.000-06:00

Lake Texoma in North Texas is one of the largest man made dams in the area. The waters are shared between Texas and Oklahoma states and it is interesting to see that there are rock formations here. North Texas is mostly flat plains which were ideally used to grow corn, wheat, cotton, etc. Now of course there is no agriculture happening, only hunting and real estate business.

Same Event: Differing Opinions

2012-01-18T15:32:00.004-06:00

People feel differently about the exact same incident. For instance if there is a severe thunderstorm in TX that blows off a few roofs the home owners will be sad and ruing the incident, insurance providers will be worried how much they will have to pay up for damages if the houses are insured. But the roofing contracter, the roofer and other consturction businesses will be smiling and happy to get the new business. So that is the human aspect of life: One's sorrow can be another's happiness or one's loss can be another's gain.

Anyway the same applies to going back to school. Different people feel differently about going back to school and here is a cartoon that illustrates it effectively:

Image From Internet

Pharmacy Consumers affected due to Express Scripts-Walgreens Spat

2012-01-12T21:00:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you are on regular prescription drugs for any condition then the content of this blog post is very important for you. Did you know that Express Scripts Inc has decided that Walgreens will no longer be in it's network? It means you will have to find a pharmacy that will honor your prescription and dispense your drugs on a timely manner. It may become a little expensive to you as your travel, time and other costs may increase. It is not just you but thousands of other pharmacy consumers have been affected by this move.

Express Scripts has long functioned as a healthcare middleman between the employers and pharmacies. The company's role is to bring the most cost effective prescription drug plan for the consumer and ensure savings for employers. In reality Express Scripts doesn't function that way, instead it enters into separate agreements with employers and pharmacies with each not knowing what the negotiated rates are.

With the agreement between Walgreens and Express Scripts falling apart now consumers who have long depended on Walgreens for their prescription drugs will have to go out and find new pharmacies. They may have to drive longer distances to get the same drugs, they may have to pay more also, depending on which pharmacy they can access.

Another big segment of population affected is our countries most respected citizens - service members of the armed forces. Walgreens wants to support the troops with their healthcare needs but Express Scripts seems to be standing in the way. Tricare which services the military is a client of Express Scripts and now with this decision to eliminate Walgreens service personnel will not have access to Walgreens.

If you are one of those affected by this spat I encourage to voice your opinions. Write to your local newspaper, television channel, radio station and even to Express Scripts to reinstate the agreement. After all Walgreens did agree to match the prices of all pharmacies in the Tricare network for military personnel.

If you are affected by this spat but you still want to continue using Walgreens, don't despair. Walgreens has devised methods to help you fill your prescriptions and still save money. Get the membership into the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens, right now it is discounted. You will save hundreds of dollars on prescription drugs.

If you have been helped by Walgreens in the past and want to support them in this time of crises, go online and like Walgreens on Facebook, follow Walgreens on Twitter and simply shop at Walgreens.

Quotable Quotes from Sam Rayburn

2012-01-12T13:27:00.001-06:00

When I visited Bonham, TX I also stopped by at Sam Rayburn museum. This museum built in the memory of Sam Rayburn, former speaker of the house, and congressman from Bonham, TX is full of his memorabilia. There are books, personal effects, a recreation of his office at the White House and a bunch of pictures. A few quotes were etched in stone outside the museum which were quite impressive, I'd like to share them on this blog.

Win a $1200 Office Makeover!

2012-01-12T11:00:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Contest Factory for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Does your hectic work schedule prevent you from keeping your office neat and tidy? Has your office cube become so messy that you cringe at the thought of going to work every day? If this is your scenario you may be eligible for a $1200 office makeover.

Yes, you heard it right, your messy, pathetic office cubicle could make you a winner! It could be your bad furniture, over crowded desk, antiquated technology, peeling paint on the wall, dusty appliances, etc are the ones that will make you a winner.

All you need to do is to enter the Pimp My Cube Contest by uploading a video of your office space in which you show and explain why your office space should be the winner. Once you upload the video invite your family and friends to log in to Contest Factory and vote for your video. You get points in the sweepstakes for all these things you do on the website.

If you are selected as the grand winner by Contest Factory you will win the grand prize valued at $1200 with which you can update your office with one of the three packages: a high end computer system, new furniture and decorations or a brand new entertainment package. Isn't it a simple way to enter the contest and win $1200 and in this economy every $ counts.

The winners are selected based on various criteria including votes, best video, and story. So put on your creative thinking caps, make your video and upload it online. And don't worry if you don't win the grand prize you could still win the sweepstakes prize of $200 gift cards. The contest is open from 12/5/11 at 12:00PM to 1/31/12 at 12:00PM. So hurry up and upload your video.

Earthy Images

2012-01-12T09:21:00.001-06:00

It is common for to equate the earth to the mother, the concept becomes specially relevant when one examines nature. In nature everything originates and thrives from the earth. My pictures below depict the diversity of the earth in a natural setting. The banks of Bonham State Park lake is a clear example of this kind of diversity.

Sam Rayburn Museum, Bonham, TX

2012-01-09T10:43:00.001-06:00

Fort Inglish Historical Park, Bonham, TX

2012-01-02T15:54:00.001-06:00

I recently visited Bonham, TX. One of the attractions in the city is the recreation of the first few homes built in the city by Bailey Inglish one of the founders of Bonham who brought the first settlers to claim the homesteads in this area. Of course local people i.e. Native Americans who had lived on this land for thousands of years didn't like outsiders coming and staking claim on their lands so they offered resistance and raided these settlements often.

In a bid to protect themselves and their families the newly arrived but more powerful settlers were influenced by the Inglish to build a fort and stockade to provide a safe haven for the families of the area. This place was used until 1843 after which the native Americans were successfully wiped out by invading Europeans. Now there are no Native Americans in this area.

This museum and gift shop is the proud replication of the original fort which helped the invaders establish their reign and destroy and wipe out the Native American tribes. Looking at it from a purely tourist perspective I would say it is a good attraction for families visiting the area. Kids can play around the grounds and have a good time during the day.

Here are some pictures for you to get a feel of what American forts looked like... built of wood and mud not the rock solid forts that we see in India built around the same time or earlier.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T00:51:00.001-06:00

Wishing you all a Blessed and Happy New Year 2012!

A breath of Fresh Air in Abu Dhabi

2011-12-29T01:15:00.000-06:00

I visited United Arab Emirates (UAE) few years ago and was awe struck by the number of green spaces there. The oil-rich nation has invested in beautifying their country by importing everything including dirt and mud and until recently even fresh drinking water was being imported. Every city has several parks and green spaces for the residents to visit and enjoy the outdoors amidst greenery and beauty of nature. The landscape of the entire country is nothing but endless expanses of desert sands in order to create better cities and invite people from across the world to come and live there the government has created these green spaces.

On the contrary in Indian cities which are blessed by nature with fertile soil and abundant water resources all the parks and gardens are being usurped by greedy real estate sharks and being converted into tall concrete high rise buildings. Of course the water resources in the form of ponds, tanks, lakes, and streams have been filled up with mud and now there are homes, offices, shops and other concrete buildings. It is rightly said, those who have the interest in having green spaces don't have the necessary environment and those who have don't have an intention to create green spaces.

Lessons in Discipline!

2011-12-27T09:04:00.000-06:00

Anywhere there is a lot of people gathered together it is imperative that there is a necessity for law enforcement or some kind of group of people to ensure safety and smooth functioning of the event. Growing up in India I would see how people waiting in the Bus stop would forget all civility and rush toward the door when the bus arrived. They would not think even for a moment about forming a line, the priority was to get in first and take their place. The same phenomenon I noticed in America when a sale takes place in any of the super stores. For example during the Black Friday sale people go to the extent of pepper spraying competing shoppers to get what they want. My own experience recently was that even though I was first in line for petrol before I could reverse the car and get it into place for fueling up, another person (middle aged white man) pulled into the bay and started fueling up his car. I had to wait and fuel up after he finished because of his lack of civility.

Recently I came upon a similar scene in nature. A group of water fowl were on the shore of lake at Bonham State Park. They were feeding on insects on the ground in a random group. As I approached them to get a closer picture they sensed my presence and started back towards the waters of the lake. There was enough space for the birds to go in a parallel formation and get into the water, but the birds chose to follow their leader and walked toward the lake in a single file. There was no one to enforce discipline, no limitation of space, nothing but these birds naturally followed the discipline and displayed civility that humans often don't show.

We humans are after all more animal than we think we are, and definitely being well groomed and wearing sharp clothes doesn't make us any better.

Lake Bonham Recreation Area

2011-12-19T23:02:00.000-06:00

Bonham, Texas is a small town with just over 10,000 population, but it has enough attractions to sustain a tourist inflow of many times its population. The Bonham State Park with its beautiful lake; the Sam Rayburn library and museum, the Fort Inglish Park and then the Lake Bonham Recreation Area. Each one of these places attract several visitors during the summer when the weather is nice and warm.

Lake Bonham is particularly interesting because it is a huge lake, with several channels and recreational opportunities. Sprawling over 1,000 surface acres the lake's azure waters are a treat to the eye and its fish are a treat to those who catch them and eat. The of course like every other recreation area there are camping, walking, hiking, boating and other recreational facilities.

Entrance to the Lake Bonham Recreation Area

Picinic area Lake Bonham Recreation Area

Fishing Pier at Lake Bonham Recreation Area

Lake Bonham facade

Swimming beach in Lake Bonham Recreation Area

Bonham State Park

2011-12-16T10:49:00.000-06:00

Last week I visited Bonham State Park in North Texas area. This is a comparatively small park with a 261 acre lake in the center. The park offers the usual activities such as bicycling, walking, hiking, some wilderness, camping, swimming, canoeing, boating, fishing, among others. Anyway now it is winter and coupled with the bad economy, there were hardly any visitors in the park. It seemed as if apart from the staff I had the park all for myself. I drove around the lake, took some short walks along the trails and departed.
Here are some pictures of the Bonham State Park.

Christmas Shopping Made Easy

2011-12-13T13:39:00.002-06:00

The Christmas Season is a time of giving - gifts to family, donations to charity, goodwill presents to clients and business associates, etc. The downside of this season however is that most of us get into debt and end up paying for the gifts we bought all the way until April-May. While we would be satisfied with the fact that we gave gifts to all those whom we care about, it is not so good of a feeling when we start paying bills.
Now you don't have to worry so much about over spending. There is this website which provides amazing discount coupons and promotion codes using which you can get great deals on all the products you want to buy. They even carry Newegg Coupons, deals for Apple products, make up kits, clothing and many more coveted products. The array of online stores and merchants featured on this site is simply amazing.
That is not, one of the biggest doubts that we have about online shopping is whether the products will reach the recipient in time for Christmas. Well this website has a solution for that also. There is comprehensive information about when to order stuff on different online retailers in order for the gift to reach your loved ones. In short there is an entire section dedicated to Shipping Deadlines which gives you this information along with discount coupons.
So if you are worried that you might not be able to make the Christmas Shipping Deadlines 2011. Don't worry just shop online on www.bestonlinecoupons.com and you can be rest assured that your gift reaches your loved one on time and also that you have saved a significant amount of money using the coupons on the site.

Fall Colors in North Texas

2011-12-13T11:53:00.000-06:00

Fall Colors is a beautiful phenomenon that takes place in the entire United States. It is specially beautiful in the east coast region and the northern states where the weather changes are pretty drastic. Texas also has its own share of fall colors but it is not famous for various reasons. One is that Texas has always been promoted as a flat, prairie land full of cattle ranches, cowboys, bars and barbeque places. Well actually that is quite a deceptive picture of Texas. The Lone Star State has several unique attractions such as large fresh water lakes, mountains, deserts, etc.

Anyway yesterday I visited Bonham State Park about 50 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth Metro area. The highly wooded parkland area was truly a riot of color. Trees presented a multitude of hues from pale yellow to blazing red. Here are some pictures of the colors I saw yesterday.

Science and Technology News Portal!!!

2011-12-12T00:30:00.001-06:00

Modern day life is heavily dependent on science and technology. Without technology it is impossible to lead normal life in America. One not only needs to have the relevant technologies at home, but also have access to the latest science and technology news to be able to constantly improve quality of life. For example our gadgets, appliances and other tools around the house need to be upgraded or replaced depending on modern innovations in science and technology.

Working in the healthcare industry I am intimately aware of the need to keep abreast/ updated about what is happenings in the science and technology arena. One of the most reliable sources of my information is the online portal of science and technology news.

I am also interested in this website because apart from providing news the portal is also a source for amazing coupons that enable me to save on my travel, hotel accommodations, flights, etc. The portal features a separate section on Expedia coupons in which there are fantastic discounts to be availed. Then the Travelocity coupons give me an opportunity to buy flight tickets at a low price.

That is not all there are coupons of several online stores that enable me to save. In short this website is a one stop shop for science technology news, coupons and discounts. Stop by and take a look, I am sure you will be impressed.

Dune Bashing and Nautch Gana

2011-12-10T19:35:00.001-06:00

Few years ago I visited United Arab Emirates for a vacation and one of the highlights of the trip was to go on a desert drive or Dune Bashing outing. We started the drive seated comfortable in air conditioned Toyota Land Cruisers. Of course we had an experienced driver controlling the steering wheel and navigating the slippery desert sands. The drive took about 4-5 hours and took us deep into the desert where there are no roads, no civilization, no signs of life, except the occasional tourist who arrives here like we did. I still have some adrenaline-pumping memories of the drive when the car was negotiating the dunes throwing up swirls of sand on both sides. Here are some pictures for you all to enjoy:

Our convoy of Land Cruisers full of tourists

Land Cruiser negotiating the dunes - a sight to watch

And of course at the end of the evening, like Arab Sheiks enjoying the beauty of dancing girls performance

Lake Mineral Wells State Park

2011-12-05T23:17:00.001-06:00

The Park Store at Lake Mineral Wells - The location is great right on the banks of this vast water body (below). The owners are sure lucky to have a location like this...

The Beautiful Ocean

2011-12-04T22:13:00.001-06:00

The Ocean is Beautiful
It is full of water
that can't be put to use
to drink, grow crops or clean homes

The ocean provides life support
for millions of creatures
from microscopic to mammoth size
but for human beings it remains a mystery

Thanksgiving Transformations!!!

2011-11-26T01:22:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving is a season of transformations... for most people it is a period of unhindered consumption - food, media, gas, etc. For millions of poor turkey fowls it is a different transformation - from being alive and gracefully flying to ending up as a carcass coated with oil and spices on someone's table.

Urban Wildlife Sighting

2011-11-23T17:49:00.001-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

Today I had the opportunity to sight a Opossum or Possum one of the most commonly found house critters in Texas. The animal was sitting on the entrance arch of our apartment's maintenance and leasing office. It scared the heck out of the staff members and of course it was my first time sighting and I was quite excited. The picture in this post is not of the animal I saw but one I found online on google. I was not carrying my camera so I couldn't capture the animal. I wonder what the apartment guys will do about the animal. If it were India it would have been promptly killed, but here there are laws against harming wildlife and hence killing this marsupial is out of question.

Enter Sweepstakes Free! Win TravelPro Luggage

2011-11-14T23:01:00.001-06:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TravelPro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Traveling can prove to be a big hassle without strong, easy to handle and spacious luggage. While on the road we pretty much live out of our luggage, be it a suitcase, or a back pack or a tote bag. We need a box or bag or a piece of luggage which is sturdy enough to go the distance.

Recently I came across Travelpro luggage, which is built tough to last. This is one which will go the distance with us and never let us down, not even on the toughest travels. How would it be if we were to travel 500,000 miles and the luggage continued to last? That would be a dream come true, wouldn't it? That is exactly what Travelpro wants to prove to us. So they have organized a huge sweepstakes.

TravelPro sweepstakes are here and they are offering a fantastic grand prize - (i) 500,000 miles from The Delta SkyMiles Program and two (2) Travelpro® Rollaboard® bags! Now that is what I call real sweepstakes. Something of real value is being given away to the lucky winner. Do you want to be one of that gets to receive the grand prize or 500,000 miles of the Delta SkyMiles program? I would love to get it. I'd be happy to travel with Travelpro luggage on Delta to visit family in India and give them a pleasant surprise. I could even use some miles to take my wife on a cool holiday to Europe.

Do you want to enter the sweepstakes and try your luck? It is easy, there is no purchase necessary, just visit their website and fill in the form and you are in. Who knows it may be your lucky day.

380 Green Belt Park

2011-11-10T09:10:00.000-06:00

America is a land of contrasts. On one side there are super highways where people zoom at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour and on the other side there are hundreds of thousands of acres of wild forest area with no human habitation for miles around. There are teeming cities which host lush green forests within their limits. This has been possible for several reasons. The low population and vast land area of this country has enabled the makers of modern America to create the country of their preference. Recently I visited this park sited next to the highway that links two large cities. This stretch has been marked off as the green belt and hence no development of any sort has taken place. This is a green area dedicated for nature and people to enjoy the same. There is a equestrian trail for those who love their horses and want to ride them not too far from the city and then there are walking, hiking and bicycling trails. The trail is flanked by thick forest of tall ancient trees which makes it an ideal place to visit during late summer and early fall. Here are some pictures.