Random Musings

I've Moved

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Ok People, I've officially moved my blog now. You will find all future updates at http://maverikk.wordpress.com.

Adobe Contribute Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:54:00 +0000

I know it has been not just "quite a while", but "quite a long while"!!! We've really been busy here! Anyhow, this entry is just a test entry. Am posting this using a new software called Adobe contribute. Hopefully, this will help me keep the blog updated on a higher frequency (hopefully)!!

Our Trip to Point Reyes

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:03:00 +0000

Last weekend (Saturday), the four of us - Mom, Dad, Mahi and I drove down to the Point Reyes National Seashore near San Rafael in California. It's located about 70 miles away from Fremont, and is West North West of San Francisco.

Point Reyes was originally named Punto de los Reyes ("Kings Point") by the Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino as his ship, the Capitana anchored in Drake's Bay on the Day of the Three Kings (the end of the 12 Days of Christmas), January 6, 1603.

The entire Point Reyes Peninsula is a piece of the Salinian Block transported northward by the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault runs directly under Tomales Bay.

The drive to Point Reyes was quite nice. The last portion involves winding roads, and scenic vegetation. Vegetation native to Point Reyes includes Bishop pine, Douglas-fir, coyote brush, monkeyflower, poison oak, California blackberry, salal and coast redwood, among others.

We landed up at the visitor center to gather information for the local activities. We also so a 15 minute documentary on Point Reyes, local vegetation, things to do etc. Apparently, this is pretty much located right above the San Andreas fault line, and during the earthquake of 1906, the ground had shifted nearly 20 feet !!

January has plenty of activities in Point Reyes. On a nice, sunny day, the beaches and hikes are as pleasant as ever. Though once the sun goes down (which is early), it can get chilly.

January also brings unique opportunities to witness wildlife up close.

One can indulge in Whale Watching from the Lighthouse and Chimney Rock. This event is so popular that the Park Service closes the road to the lighthouse point and runs buses from the Drakes Beach Visitors Center ($5 per person). Apparently once can see the great gray whales on their migratory path. Also later in the year, the same whales migrate in the opposite direction towards Alaska with their calves, and move closer to the coast. We did try our best to see them, but sadly didn't get to see any, though a lot of people at the Lighthouse and Chimney Rock claimed seeing some.

At Chimney Rock one also gets to see elephant seals as at this time of the year, the come to the beach and breed. They are fun to watch as they lie and shift around in the sun. Pretty playful by nature, its fun to watch the young ones and their antics.

One also gets to see Tule Elk while driving from Point Reyes to the Lighthouse / Chimney Rock. A lot more information can be found here.

All in all we had a really good time. Mahi and Mom had also made sandwiches, and we had carried some juice, crackers, chips etc, so we also ended up having an impromptu picnic while waiting for the bus to go to the Lighthouse.

As for the lighthouse, this was definitely worth the visit.

Point Reyes was one one of the most Treacherous obstacles to mariners, solely due to the fact that it is
the windiest place on the Pacific Coast and the second foggiest place on the North American continent. In fact, weeks of fog, especially during the summer months, frequently reduce visibility to just hundreds of feet. The Point Reyes Headlands, which jut 10 miles out to sea, used to pose a threat to each ship entering or leaving San Francisco Bay. The historic Point Reyes Lighthouse warned mariners of danger for more than a hundred years.

The Point Reyes Lighthouse, built in 1870, and was retired from service in 1975 once the U.S. Coast Guard installed an automated light.

Here is a brief history of the lighthouse.

The Point Reyes Lighthouse lens and mechanism were constructed in France in 1867. The clockwork mechanism, glass prisms and housing for the lighthouse were shipped on a steamer around the tip of South America to San Francisco. The parts from France and the parts for the cast iron tower were transferred to a second ship, which then sailed to a landing on Drakes Bay. The parts were loaded onto ox-drawn carts and hauled three miles over the headlands to near the tip of Point Reyes, 600 feet above sea level.

Meanwhile, 300 feet below the top of the cliff, an area had been blasted with dynamite to clear a level spot for the lighthouse. To be effective, the lighthouse had to be situated below the characteristic high fog. It took six weeks to lower the materials from the top of the cliff to the lighthouse platform and construct the lighthouse. Finally, after many years of tedious political pressure, transport of materials and difficult construction, the Point Reyes Light first shone on December 1, 1870.

The Lighthouse provided mariners some safety by warning them of rocky shores and reefs and also helped mariners navigate by indicating their location as ships traveled along the coast. Each lighthouse has its unique flash pattern and mariners recognize them according to the flash pattern. On days when it is too foggy to see the lighthouse, a unique fog signal is periodically sounded to signal the location to the passing ships. Unfortunately, the combination of lighthouses and fog signals still didn't eliminate the tragedy of shipwrecks.

Because of this ongoing problem, a lifesaving station was established on the Great Beach north of the lighthouse in 1890. Men walked the beaches in four-hour shifts, watching for shipwrecks and the people who would need rescue from frigid waters and powerful currents. A new lifesaving station was later opened in 1927 on Drakes Bay near Chimney Rock and was active until 1968. Today, it is a National Historic Landmark and can be viewed from the Chimney Rock Trail.

The lens in the Point Reyes Lighthouse is a "first order" Fresnel (fray-nel) lens, the largest size of Fresnel lens. Augustin Jean Fresnel of France revolutionized optics theories with his new lens design in 1823.

Before Fresnel developed this lens, lighthouses used mirrors to reflect light out to sea. The most effective lighthouses could only be seen eight to twelve miles away. After his invention, the brightest lighthouses could be seen all the way to the horizon, about twenty-four miles as is the case in the Point Reyes lighthouse.

The Fresnel lens intensifies the light by bending (or refracting) and magnifying the source light through crystal prisms into concentrated beams. The Point Reyes lens is divided into twenty-four vertical panels, which direct the light into twenty-four individual beams. A counterweight and gears similar to those in a grandfather clock rotate the 6000-pound lens at a constant speed, one revolution every two minutes. This rotation makes the beams sweep over the ocean surface like the spokes of a wagon wheel, and creates the Point Reyes signature pattern of one flash every five seconds.

I'd like to bring to notice that keeping the lighthouse operational was by no means an easy job - it was tough and then some more. Keeping the lighthouse in working condition was a twenty-four hour job though the light was lit only between sunset and sunrise. The head keeper and three assistants shared the load in four six-hour shifts.

Every evening, a half-hour before sunset, a keeper walked down the wooden stairs to light the oil lamp, the lighthouse's source of illumination. Once the lamp was lit, the keeper wound the clockwork mechanism, lifting a 170 pound weight, which was attached to the clockwork mechanism by a hemp rope, nine feet off the floor. The earth's gravity would then pull the weight, through a small trap door, to the ground level 17 feet below. The clockwork mechanism was built to provide resistance so that it would take two hours and twenty minutes for the weight to descend the 17 feet. And as the weight descended and the clockwork mechanism's gears spun, the Fresnel lens would turn so that the light appeared to flash every five seconds. In addition to winding the clockwork mechanism every two-hours and twenty minutes throughout the night, the keeper had to keep the lamp wicks trimmed so that the light would burn steadily and efficiently, thus the nickname "wickie."

Daytime duties for the keepers included cleaning the lens, polishing the brass, stoking the steam-powered fog signal and making necessary repairs. At the end of each shift, the keeper trudged back up the wooden staircase. Sometimes the winds were so strong that he had to crawl on his hands and knees to keep from being knocked down. The highest wind speed recorded at Point Reyes was 133 mph, and 60 mph winds are common.

The hard work, wind, fog and isolation at Point Reyes made this an undesirable post. Even so, one keeper stayed for about twenty-four years, a testament to his devotion and love of Point Reyes!

The historic Point Reyes Lighthouse served mariners for 105 years before it was replaced. It endured many hardships, including the April 18, 1906 earthquake, during which the Point Reyes Peninsula and the lighthouse moved north 18 feet in less than one minute! The only damage to the lighthouse was that the lens slipped off its tracks. The lighthouse keepers quickly effected repairs and by the evening of the eighteenth, the lighthouse was once again in working order. The earthquake occurred at 5:12 a.m. and the lighthouse was scheduled to be shut down for regular daytime maintenance at 5:25 a.m. Although the earthquake caused much devastation and disruption elsewhere, the Point Reyes Lighthouse was essentially only off-line for thirteen minutes!

To get to the lighthouse, one needs to walk a half-mile from the parking lot to the Visitor Center, and then down 308 steps. The stairs are open 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday through Monday. When wind speeds exceed 40 mph, the steps to the lighthouse are closed for visitors' safety.

Our trip to Vegas

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:27:00 +0000

Well, it indeed has been a while since I last posted, so I decided to dust away the cob webs and get down to some posting !!!
Last weekend was the thanksgiving weekend, a four day weekend for us - thursday, friday, saturday and sunday. Mom, dad, Raja and Chinni had already come to Vegas the week before, and were driving around to Hoovere Dam, Grand Canyon, Page, Bryce Canyon, and a lot of other places in Nevada and Utah. while Raja and Chinni knew that we were planning to come to Vegas, it was meant to be a surprise for mom and dad.
Rather than do the same old boring routine of taking a flight, we decided to drive down in our car. Vegas is about 600 miles from home, and would be approximately a 10 hour journey.

Birthday in Downtown San Jose

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:07:00 +0000

Well, the 14th of October was my birthday - Yay !!!!! Turned 30 !!! Some people would say that I'm growing old, but all I have to say, is that "Hey, I'm 30 and running wild!!!"
Anyhow, more than me, my better half - Mahi had plans for me. As it was the last weekend that parents would be with us, prior to leaving for Minneapolis, we took them to the Livermore temple. Apparently this was built during NT Rama Rao's time. It's a really nice temple, in the city of Livermore, about 40 minutes away from our place.
Post that, we came back home, had lunch, napped a bit, and then left for San Jose. The next stop was the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, in downtown San Jose. This was a really amazing place. They had a lot of mummy's, casks, jewellery, tools, models....the works. All in all a great visit.
This was then followed by good old chaat, at Chaat cafe, and then we went down to this place called "The melting Pot". This is THE place for desserts - primarily a fondue place. We had two chocolate fondues - one dark chocolate and one milk chocolate. We were also joined by Mayur and Purvi there. All in all, a day well spent. By the time we hit home, it was about 1:00 am !!

A quick note

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 23:13:00 +0000

Well, it's been quite a while. Been busy, lazy, tied up....the works!!! Anyhow, just a quick update here, mom & dad are in town, and will be with us till the 15th of this month, post which they plan to visit Minneapolis. We've had lot of fun, while they've been here. Been to several places, such as Lombard (crooked) street, San Francisco, Muir Woods, Monterey Bay, 17-mile Drive, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, etc. to name a few. Here are a couple of snaps!! I do plan to add some more info pertaining to the 17 mile drive, pebble beach and Big Sur soon, so stay tuned...

Fireworks in downtown San Jose

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:39:00 +0000

Hmm, this is a post I've been meaning to put up for a while, but didn't really get down to doing so. Last month, Mahi, Vikas, Kiran and I had gone down to San Jose to see the 4th of July fireworks. In a lot of cities here - Fremont included - buying, selling and using fireworks in illegal. Then again, because of the safety norms, everyone cannot really use fireworks. They have designated areas where fireworks displays take place, and everybody watches.

Personally, I feel this kinds of puts a dampener on the spirit, but then the sheer size, volume and complexity of the fireworks really takes your breath away. Most of these displays are automated, with the person controlling the automation still well away from the display.

We went to a hill in San Jose to witness these, and it was well worth it.

Technorati Tags: fireworks, mahi, san jose, 4th of July

New links section

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:00:00 +0000

Hey People,

so as you can see, I've added a new links section on the right. Yes aunty, before your eyes pop out, it is the link to your blog!! I've been meaning to do this for a while, never got around to doing it !! The second link is www.johnchow.com. This guy is just amazing. I really like the technique he applies to his thought process. Do read through, if you have the time. It's a site brimming with fresh content - always!!!

Technorati Tags: gulshan bamboat, john chow, links, ramesh ramakrishnan

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:28:00 +0000

Just a quick one here. My book came in on Monday, and as usual, I was up till late night - poring over it!! Finished it the second day though. Had ordered it from www.Amazon.com. What was really fascinating, was that Amazon created a separate packaging process for this. Normally, Amazon ships books out in standard brown cardboard boxes. The packaging for HP7 had a completely different print on it - it actually had a owl on it to depict the owl post, and messaging to all Muggles, not to open it before the 21st of July!!! Look at the photo, to get a better idea!

Technorati Tags: harry potter, deathly hallows, amazon, packaging

The Boston Duck Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:13:00 +0000

Boy ! Too many things, too little time!! I seem to hardly have time to write about anything nowadays. Anyhow, here's my earnest effort to try catching up with the latest stuff. Last week, Mahi & I were in Boston, attending Focus 2007, Sierra Atlantic's mid-year sales conference. We were put up at the Marriot, in Norwood - pretty close to our office there.

As part of the recreational activity, we all went out on the Boston Duck Tour. At the outset, let me assure you that it was in no way related to any ducks or birds. The Duck which is actually the DUKW is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was originally designed inside General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks.

Duck tours are generally very liberally spiced with humor, and ours was no less. Our driver was Seargent Meatball, and he had a Hawaiian hula skirt around him, over his clothing. He kept rattling off details about all the places that we visited as part of the tour, and had several anecdotes about each.

The duration of the tour is 90 minutes, in which he took the DUKW through several key landmarks in Boston, including the place which had the infamous Boston Tea Party. Towards the end, he drove into the Charles river, and then continued the tour from there. It's at this time that one also get a chance at navigating the DUKW. A couple of our colleagues did try their hand at it, and it was a whole lot of fun!!

Our 5 mile walk

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:54:00 +0000

Well it's been a while since I updated, and we have been busy. In fact to an extent, Mahi & I have created a sort of reputation in office. We are officially labelled as people who love to go out, explore, be adventurous and generally have a great time. It's kind of reached a stage, where people ask us as to whether we plan to do Mission Peak over the weekend......again!!

Anyhow, a week or two back, we did the 5 mile walk near Garin Park. This was a really nice walk / trek. Unlike the Mission peak trek, where there is a complete lack of shade, this path takes you through wooded areas, over hills, across streams and creeks too. The 6 of us - Anil, Smitha, Joel (their cute little 2 year old son), Dennis (Anil's neighbour), Mahi and I took part in this. We were also joined by Vikas, Kiran and Vamsee (3 of our colleagues). Dennis was the resident pro here, as he and his wife Dana have been over this umpteen number of times.

Garin park is a part of the East Bay Parks association. The Visitor Center displays artifacts from the ranching and farming history of the Hayward area. There is a blacksmith shop, a tool shop and several ranching-related displays to explore. They also have an interesting collection of antique farm machinery outside the barn, which used to be horse driven - though is rusted now. Inside the park, they also have about 200 different varieties of antique apples. I really couldn't figure out the concept of antique apples, but that's what they are. In the months of September, they have apple picking activities as well as apple tasting activities too for the public.

The park also has a pond inside call the Jordan Pond. It's pier was constructed in 1987 by Park District crews using materials provided through the generosity of the Hayward, South Hayward and Mt. Eden Lions Clubs. the Jordan Pond is inhabited by largemouth bass, bluegill and sunfish. The Park District also plants channel catfish in the pond once or twice a year.

The attached map has the major trails marked out. To give you an idea, we started in the bottom left at the Tamarack Entrance, then moved up on the Meyer's Trail, cross the Meyer's Ranch, diverted left onto the Dry Creek Trail, went across the Jordan Pond, across the 4 picnic areas (Cattlemens, Pioneer, Buttonwood, Ranch Side), looped around, went out on the main road across that house icon, then back onto the orange trail, joined up with the High Ridge trail, all the way back to the Tamarack Entrance.....whew!!!

It's been a while

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:59:00 +0000

Yes, it's indeed been a while. I've been quite busy over the last couple of days - working for a change (As Karthik would say). Anyhow, updates wise - both of us plan to go river rafting this weekend (on sunday) along with Mayur & Purvi. It's in a place called Lotus, in California. Will definitely dedicate a post to it, once we are back.
Another update is that parents will be coming over to the US, sometime in September - Yippee !!!!
The third update is that last week we saw a couple of movies - Shooter (Excellent), Surf's up (really nice animated one), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (quite nice), Swami (ok, ok), Hot Fuzz (terrible), Shootout at Lokhandwala (quite gory - but well made). Whew, thats a whole lot.
Nothing else to add on, so will add on later. Take care, people.

Our trip to Monterey Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 22:17:00 +0000

This is going to be one long post - you have been warned!!!!

On Saturday, the three of us - Aditya, Mahi & I decided to drive down to Monterey Bay. In a way, it was one of the longest drives that we have done in the US - about 100 miles each way - a total of 3 hours up and down.

Monterey Bay is located south of San Francisco, and is sort of a semicircular shape. It is home to many species of marine mammals, including sea otters, harbor seals, and bottlenose dolphins; as well as being on the migratory path of Gray and Humpback Whales and a breeding site for elephant seals. Many species of fish, mollusks such as abalone and squid, birds, and sea turtles also live in the bay. Several varieties of kelp grow in the bay, some becoming as tall as small trees, forming what is known as a kelp forest.

The prime tourist attraction here is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is located in a former sardine cannery and a former brewery on Cannery Row in Monterey and is one of the largest aquariums in the world. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million and holds 35,000 plants and animals representing 623 species.

Among the aquarium's numerous exhibits, two are of particular note. The centerpiece of the near shore wing is a 33-foot (10-m) high tank for viewing California coastal marine life. This tank was the first in the world to simulate tidal currents on a large scale, enabling the aquarium to keep live California Giant Kelp (water movement is a necessary precondition for keeping Giant Kelp, which absorbs nutrients from surrounding water and requires turbidity).

The second exhibit of note is a one million gallon tank in the Outer Bay Wing which features the world's largest single paned window (crafted by a Japanese company, the window is actually 4 panes seamlessly glued together through a proprietary process). Besides the above-mentioned million-gallon tank, another of the exhibits included a school of 3000 anchovies (a fish that was once the foundation of Monterey's economy), swimming against the endless current of a toroidal tank.

We had a great time watching all the different exhibits. We also got to see the feeding of the penguins, where 18 different penguins are individually fed by two of the personnel. What is amazing is that if while feeding, one of of the penguins happened to drop it's fish, no other penguin would grab it up. Each penguin is able to identify it's own fish. Each penguin too is tagged with a clip on it's flipper, and that's how the staff are able to maintain a record of their diet.

Incidentally, in the 33 foot tank, which is also known as the kelp forest tank, we also saw the Mahi fish - and you can be sure - Mahi was thrilled to see and hear about it!!! We also saw several different types of jellyfish, including a type which emitted rainbow colored lights. We also saw a type of fish called the sunfish. The largest one that they had weighed approximately 800 pounds - over 360 kilograms.

All in all, the trip to the aquarium was really well worth it. After that we stopped for breakfast, and treated ourselves to an all American breakfast - eggs, muffins, etc.

We then proceeded towards the Fisherman's Wharf, which had a lot of stores to look through, a replica of the customs office from 1859 and a whole lot of seafood. This is where once can pick up tickets to go on whale watching trips. Ideally these trips are about 2 to 3 hours, and one goes a good number of miles away from the shore to see whales. We didn't indulge in this as we had just had breakfast, and the last thing you would want to do after having food would be to go on choppy waters!!!

We then proceeded towards the famous 17-mile drive. This is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions. Entry into Pebble Beach costs US$9.00 per automobile.

The road runs adjacent to beaches and up into the coastal hills, providing scenic viewpoints. There are numerous turnouts along the road to stop, take pictures, or get out and stroll along the ocean or among the trees. Each visitor receives a small map that points out some of the more scenic spots.

There are many spectacular view points along the route; Bird Rock seems to always be covered with pelicans and other birds, seals and sea lions. Seal Rock Picnic Area is a beach area with a view of Bird Rock. Fanshell Overlook attracts harbor seals and is closed during harbor seal pupping season April 1 to June 1. Cypress Point Lookout provides a great view of the dramatic Pacific coastline along with an idea of the view enjoyed by some of the gated mansions along the route. Probably the most famous tree in the United States, The Lone Cypress has clung to its rocky perch for over 250 years and serves as the symbol of Pebble Beach Company—the developer of the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and the Del Monte Forest.

Just outside the lower Pacific Grove gate to the gated community of Pebble Beach is Pacific Grove's Sunset Drive (which becomes Ocean View Boulevard), which follows Pacific Grove's scenic coastline and is called by some the "poor man's 17-Mile Drive."

Pebble Beach has seven public and private 18-hole golf courses. Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, and Spyglass Hill are owned by the Pebble Beach Company and are all public courses. The other four courses in the town are Poppy Hills which is public, the private Cypress Point Club, and the private Monterey Peninsula Country Club's two courses, the Dunes Course and the Shore Course. Several of these courses are widely celebrated, especially Pebble Beach Golf Links, which is the most famous course in the Western United States, and the only course which has even beaten Pine Valley Golf Club to top spot in Golf Digest's biennial list of America's 100 greatest courses.

Aditya was very keen and excited to be at Pebble Beach Golf Links, so we snapped up a couple of pictures of him with the Pebble Beach Golf Links logo in the background.

We finally wrapped up by evening about 4 pm , I guess, and then drove back home. All in all a good trip.

With Aditya in SFO

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:35:00 +0000

Just a quick note here. Aditya is in town, as in - SFO (San Francisco). Met up with him yesterday and the day before. Marriage seems to be doing good for him.

We had him over for dinner last night, and dropped him back. The previous day, we had gone over to SFO to meet him, and did a little bit of sightseeing, post dinner at Chevy's (An all Mexican restaurant). Showed him the Golden Gate bridge - though it was shrouded in mist and thick fog at that time. Also showed him Lombard street, which is the world crookedest street. Here's a photo of how it looks!!! Click on it to see it in detail....

Also, this was the first trip that I was driving in SFO, and it seemed like an altogether different ballgame. Too many one ways, signs, narrow roads, rules, lanes, by lanes.....you get the picture. But I must say, this city has character and it virtually oozes out of each of it's buildings!!!

Anniversary with Sierra Atlantic

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 02:34:00 +0000

Today, I completed 7 years with Sierra Atlantic. It's been a really long and nice journey. On behalf of the company, they sent a basket of flowers home.

It was a nice gesture on their part. As you can see, I went ballistic with the photographs, as I really didn't expect a basket to be at our doorstep when we got home....

In loving memory

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Thu, 31 May 2007 06:32:00 +0000

Today wasn't one of the best day of our lives. Our grandmother passed away in India. She had been ailing for quite a while, and in a way, I feel it was for the best.....sadly, there's nothing much that we can do, sitting here in the US.

Our jaunt in San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 30 May 2007 17:53:00 +0000

On Sunday, Mahi & I made a trip to downtown San Francisco. As she was keen to travel by the B.A.R.T (Bay Area Rapid Transport) the local metro rail, we drove down to the local BART station, parked our car and took the BART. It's about a good 40 minute ride, with the train actually travelling underwater in the tunnel under the bay. Your ears tend to receive the kind of pressure that you would get in a flight. We got down at Embarcadero station, and then decided to walk to Pier 39 - one the the major tourist hot spots.It was a good 30 minute walk - starting from Pier 1 to Pier 39. While walking we chanced opon this strange tree which had one truck, but two tops!!!

Pier 39 has over 110 stores, 14 restaurants and a whole lot of fun activities. Our first stop was at the Aquarium of the Bay. There one can see all the different types of fish that can be found in the bay including the sharks too!! We also saw the clown fish and others too from the film - Nemo. Inside the aquarium, one also gets to walk through a clear plexi-tube, with the fish swimming overhead. All in all a really nice experience.

Post that, we then checked out Turbo Ride. This is a 3D/4D ride, where people are strapped onto seats (with seat belts), have 3D glasses on, and then go on a ride of their lifetimes. Similar to a 3D setup, except for the fact, that the seats rock and roll in sync to the picture. There are primarily 3 rides here - Dino Island II, the Haunted Mine Ride and the Extreme Log Ride. Of the three of them, the Dino Island II was the easiest, while the Extreme Log Ride really rocked and rolled !!!

Pier 39 is also home to a lot of street performers. We chanced upon one of them - a gentleman by the name of Mitch Barret. He was really funny and had a great sense of humor. In fact one of his acts included balancing on a rope while juggling inflammable rods!!

Another attraction here, is the San Francisco carousel. Handcrafted in Italy, and meticulously hand painted,it depicts famous landmarks such as the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz island, California sea lions etc.It has about 1800 twinkling lights and is pretty impressive.

By this time, it was really cold at the Pier, owing tot he wind chill factor and the proximity to the bay - so we grabbed a quick cup of hot chocolate and headed back to the BART station, and subsequently home.

Technorati Tags: san francisco, ramesh ramakrishnan, maheshwari kapoor, pier 39, bayside attractions, aquarium of the bay, fun activities, bart

Santa Cruz

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:55:00 +0000

Last weekend Mahi & I decided to drive down to Santa Cruz, about 50 miles away from our place. It’s a good 1 hour drive. Probably the most famous landmark in Santa Cruz is the Boardwalk. Right next to the Bay, it’s over a 100 years old, and has a lot of fun activities. The world famous Giant Dipper roller coaster (a completely wooden roller coaster), the Looff Carousel built in 1911 and the 125 feet double shot are but a few of the major attractions here. Incidentally, the Giant Dipper roller coaster has been in operation since 1924, and over 50 millions riders have experienced it! They also have rides based on the forces of nature such as the Typhoon, Cyclone, Hurricane, Tsunami. On the scarier side they have the haunted castle, and a ghost hunting ride too. One of the rides that I personally liked was the cave train ride. This took us through an underground cave subsystem, which had all characters from the dinosaur era a.k.a Flintstone style !! It was really hilarious, reading the captions. All in all we had a great time.

Technorati Tags: santa cruz, boardwalk, fun activities, ramesh, mahi, giant dipper, looff carousel
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Mission to Mission Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Wed, 09 May 2007 19:35:00 +0000

Last weekend the four of us Mayur, Purvi, Mahi & I decided to scale Mission Peak, in Fremont. Mission peak - is 2517 feet at it's highest, and the total height that one scales is about 2200 feet, as you end up starting at about 400 feet above sea level. It is quite a steep trail, and is constantly demanding. Once you reach the top, you can see views of Mount Hamilton to the south, the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west, Mt. Tamalpais to the north, and Mt. Diablo and the Sierra Nevada to the northeast.

We climbed up from Stanford Avenue, and took a total of two hours to reach the top. It's a 2.8 mile hike one way, and a round trip is 5.6 miles. Coming down was faster, and that's when we actually realised the distance we had trekked. It felt as if it took ages to reach the entrance gate.

All in all it was a good hike - though we are still suffering from the after effects of the same. Planning to go again this weekend too, if possible.

The picture han't been taken by me - it's one I pulled off the internet, as we weren't carrying cameras at that time.

Pictures!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Thu, 03 May 2007 16:16:00 +0000

Yup, it's definitely official now - it has been ages since I posted!! Thank you Gulshan aunty for politely knock - I know I'm way behind on my postings. Would have loved to do 100 a day (just kidding!!!), but seem to be having trouble doing even one a day!!!

Anyhow, here goes. I did promise that I would upload pictures of our car, so here they are, along with a bunch of bonus pictures. Last weekend, Chinni, Raja, Mahi & I drove down to Napa Valley (famous for it's vineyards and Wineries), Muir Woods (famous for well....the woods & forest), Lake Tahoe which as the name suggests is one huge lake and Reno - a smaller version of Vegas.

In Napa Valley we went to the Rutherford Winery and sampled their excellent wines, as well as dis a tour of the entire facility. Here are some snaps of the entrance to their wine storage area as well as of their barrels and wine bottles.

If you were wondering why I had a photograph of a rose in here - it's because of an interesting thing I learnt. All vineyards and wineries have a lot of rose bushes planted around. While the obvious reason is that they look good, and enhance the natural surroundings, the main reason is that rose plants by nature are very sensitive to the slightest changes. So if the owner notices that there is something wrong with the rose plants - it immediately sends in a warning with the help of which suitable steps can be taken to correct the problem.

These three snaps are from Lake Tahoe. Notice the snow clad mountains in the back - with the icy blue water in the front. We are jacketed as it was pretty chilly at the time of the photograph.

The third snap was later in the afternoon, by when it had considerably warmed up.

As for the rest of the snaps below - they are pretty much a mix-up of the rest - Here are the snaps of the car:

While these are some more of the lake:

A couple of the random shots include the drive to the lake, two dogs in the back of a truck (that's especially for you Karthik), the dense canopy in John Muir woods, moss covered trees, a ladybug in action!! We also saw a Giant Banana Slug as can be seen in the photographs below.

Viva Las Vegas!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 01:11:00 +0000

Well it seems like its been ages since I've posted anything here. Lots of stuff happening. Was in Las Vegas last weekfor the Collaborate 2007 tradeshow. While everyone ooooohhhss and aaaahs about Vegas, they never bring up the topic of sore feet. If you ever happen to visit Vegas, remember to carry comfortable footwear along, and be mentally & physically prepared to walk a lot!!!!

Sleeping & not walking on air!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:15:00 +0000

Well, to continue further, we have now purchased what is known as an AeroBed here. It's this beautiful electric blue inflatable mattress (2-layered), with an inbuilt pump. As part of our home furnishing exercise, we picked this up from Costco (a large wholesale warehouse store).

All one needs to do is to spread it out on the floor, plug it in, into the wall outlet, and as they say proverbially "let er rip"!!!! The bed takes about 60 seconds to inflate to an optimum level, and the best part is that it comes with a built-in safety valve, which prevents overfilling!!

We also setup our comforter set on it, to give it a homely touch. Chinni & Raja, this is going to be your bed once you come here - so you might as well feast your eyes on it!!!

Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 18:49:00 +0000

Right...so continuing where I left off. Saturday dawned nice, bright and sunny....while we did crash out the previous night, it wasn't a very great sleep - owing to the lack of pillows and a mattress!! But nevertheless we did try to grab some shut eye. Got a call from a Kim Hoang from San Leandro Honda, stating that they had a special going on for the end of the month, and that she was really desperate to sell a car.

A quick tip - the trick to buying a car in the US is to pit different dealers against each other to get the best possible rate / deal. Then again, within the dealership too, once can get two different rates for the same car - one from the retail salesman and a different one from the internet salesman. While the retail guy makes his commissions on how much the car is sold for, the internet person makes his commission based on how many cars he sells in the month. So the trick is to talk to the internet guy for the best possible rate as he/she would like to move the car off the lot - irrespective of the price, and then talk to the retail guy to see if he would go any lower than the said price.

Since we do not have any credit history in this country, all interest rates on loans were very high - upwards of 10.5%, which is a ridiculous sum of money. Anyhow, since it was a special (it's all in the timing - end of the month & end of the quarter), we managed to secure a 4.9% which is really good.

We ended up buying the Honda Civic EX with Navigation with the automatic transmission. The color is Beige. Will upload some photographs soon. From start to finish - the entire process took less than two hours - including the financing etc. The actual sale took just about half an hour!!!
While we received delivery of the vehicle, we couldn't take it off the lot, as we didn't have insurance. We finally managed to get insurance on Monday and so drove it back from the showroom on Monday. It was the first time that I drove on the Freeway, and believe me, I was gripping the steering wheel like a dead man clutching straws!!! If at all I am able to drive in this country - it's all thanks to Anil. He has been a tremendous help here.

Technorati Tags: honda civic, freeway, credit hitory, apr, interest rate, car buying tips,

Details....Details.....Details Part #1

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:38:00 +0000

Well, am sure you all have been waiting for the details - so here they are! Am going to split this into a couple of posts for easy readability.

Anyhow, as I had mentioned in my previous post - we moved into our apartment on Friday. Mayur & Purvi came back in their Lexus RX 350 (SUV) and picked us up at 9:45 am along with two of our big suitcases, two pieces of hand baggage and two laptops - boy that car sure has a lot of space. We drove to Ardenwood Forest and there met Emerald at the leasing office. After we managed to get the lease in my name ( as it was originally in Mayur's - since I didn't have a social security number at the time when we signed up originally), she handed over all the paperwork, and asked for a cashiers check(note - it's check here as opposed to the British cheque). Apparently a cashiers check is similar to a demand draft. 'Twas a learning experience for us, as I had no clue as to what a cashiers check was! Anyhow, we went to our bank "The bank of America" (drum rolls in the background!!!), and got that made for the requisite amount, and were back in record time. It was only after that, that she handed over the keys to us, at about 11:45 am!!

With the keys in our hands, we drove up to the apartment, and had the first look.Another learning lesson: Ground floor is known as first floor here, while the first floor is known as the 2nd floor, and so on. So as per US terminology we were on the 2nd floor. Mayur and Purvi help out in moving the luggage in, and then left in a while, as technically, it was a working day for both of them. We started to unpack as much as possible, as Anil, Vikas, and Kiran were due to arrive by 1:30 pm in his Toyota Sienna Van to help us move the remaining stuff.

By the time they arrived we had managed to fill in the cupboards and ended up emptying most of the suitcases from the first trip. We then went back to the guesthouse to pick up the remainder - two more suitcases, the cookwares, dining table & chair, and a couple of cardboard cartons. Stopped for a quick bite at Taco Bell en route, and reached home by about 3:30 pm.

After moving everything in, the first thing to do was the milk boiling ceremony. Mahi carried it out perfectly and then also made some Kheer. As is evident from the photographs, all of us enjoyed it immensely. Anil, Vikas and Kiran, left by 5 pm as Anil still needed to get back to work. If there is one thing that I can say about Anil, it's this: "He goes out of his way to help you out - and it's very hard to come by his kind these days. The amount that he has helped us out is no small feat - I wonder if I would ever go to that extent myself."

Anyhow, once they left, we kind of settled down a bit, and unpacked some more. We finally crashed out in the night, looking forward to Saturday.

Technorati Tags: ardenwood, apartment, fremont, housing, friends, ramesh, ramakrishnan, lexus, toyota, sienna, van, moving

it's been a while....

noreply@blogger.com (Ramesh Ramakrishnan) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:27:00 +0000

...and we've been busy. And I mean really busy!!! We moved into our new apartment in Ardenwood Forest on friday, went car hunting on saturday, bought the car on saturday, left the car at the dealership for the accessories and for lack of an insurance, went grocery shopping on sunday, made mountains of food on sunday, assembled the dining table on sunday, went to office on monday, bought insurance online on monday, brought the car from the dealership on monday back to the office, showed it around to colleagues on monday, drove back in the evening.......and then took a sigh of relief.

If you'd like the details on all these activities, you would need to wait, as I'm still cataloging the photographs, and these posts will be up soon - very soon....so see you soon.