Vanpooling, Gas Prices, Traffic and Precious Naps

I ride the vanpool everyday to work. Thank God for small mercies! If it wasn't for the vanpooling I would be spending atleast a 5000 bucks a year just on gas! Currently gas prices in and around where I live average at around $3.00 per gallon...and my car requires around 9-10 per tank...thats around 30 bucks everytime I fill it.If I drive to work, I would have to fill the tank atleast twice a week and that would cost me 60 bucks a week...So you do the math for a year...Ofcourse, I don't even have to add the miles to go with it...I would obviously spending too much money just getting to and from work...

Vanpooling has some other social benefits...They say that Vanpooling can reduce accidents significantly - it reduces the number of drivers on the road!Which was the idea behind building only 3[2+1(commuter lane)] lanes on I-405 WA...They wanted to reduce the number of single drivers,increase carpooling/vanpooling (to conserve gas) and reduce the traffic atleast by half...

And then ofcourse You would imagine when the government comes with such a bright idea people would automatically jump to it and start carpooling, right? Wrong! Well contradictory to the idea of encouraging car poolers by reducing the number of lanes on I-405, the whole plan has actually made driving a nightmare for carpoolers & vanpoolers!! People continue to drive alone everyday, they cheat by driving in the carpool lane, when there is no cop in sight...And I have listed just some of the day to day tug of wars that car poolers have with single drivers...what is worse is the lack of foresight (on part of the government) in planning the exit ramps that is seriously discouraging. Lack of commuter lane exits pushes all the traffic to the right most lane when heading towards an exit creating traffic jamps for carpoolers while trying to exit. There are numerous such impediments that commuters face on a day to day basis that can cause frustration. Phew!!! There goes all that pent up anger~

I-5 I-405

I am not saying that everyone should carpool...I understand that people that drive short distances, namely 5-25 miles do not necessarily need to carpool or vanpool. For that matter, it totally depends on what route one takes too. But, if you know you will be on I-5, I-405 or even I-520 during peak hours and you know atleast a couple of others that do that take the same route, what does it take to get together and car pool??? It only takes a little discipline and some accommodating on your part to save all that gas money and reduce traffic!!! Anyway, I feel like I am beating up a dead snake!

Alright, now to my most favorite part about "Precious Naps"... So, I take a nap when I am on the Van...mornings and evenings...thats my most looked forward to and special moment in time....I will squeeze out some time to sleep wherever possible given the fact that I have to get so freaking early to work everyday!

But lately, I have been missing out on my sleep sessions...Reason is this new chick who sits right besides me and cleans out her purse!!For crying out loud!!! The non stop sound of paper crinkling noise just annoys the hell out of me...She is apparently collecting all her bills and bits of paper and folding them constantly to throw them away? Ofcourse I lose my sleep for the next 1/2 hr or so...She is the most inconsiderate rider and if I do it by ranks....another guy in my van would win the 2nd place! He is obnoxiously loud and is constantly on the cell phone when we are riding back home...Jeez!! Dude, where are your van pool etiquettes?

Anyway, I guess I have poured out all my distress about vanpooling...If it isnt for blogging, I would be suffering with heart attacks at a premature age!!! I hope to have a good ride back home today...hope I catch a little nap while I do...

-HD

20th or 21st?

Well this thought came to me a couple of days ago with respect to which century I belong to. Why now? Why this existential question? All this talk about India becoming a huge Global Power and the US of A trying to dovetail with India, since India is the world's largest democracy. I mean all this news, media coverage, Bollywood cinema and all this talk about India! And where am I? Not in India, but in the US... Dont, get me wrong, I am not regretful, but I am pensive.

So the question, do I feel like I belong to the 20th century or the 21st century?In the 20th century, we got our Independence, Gandhi happened, liberalisation happened, Y2K happened, (mostly) arranged marriages happened, Kashmir (and all the sad things to go with it) happened, etc., but, majority Indians did not feel quite proud of belonging to the Indian Origin, they wanted to come to the US and be a part of another democracy.

In the 21st century, something radical has changed in those majority Indians...The same people that left the country for jobs and a better standard of living are now wanting to go back, wanting to be a part of the New India with the 4th largest in Purchasing Power Parity, where (mostly) Love marriages or (arranged) Marriages of convenience happen, where Bollywood cinema is the world's 2nd largest film industry.

Although the economic situation has immensely improved from 20th to 21st, the political system actually has only worsened (it might have improved in parts, but I am speaking for the overall country) .But, there is a union that has come about right now and a new sense of patriotism that is springing that was absent during the 55 years post independence in India.

So the question...

I was born in the 20th century and spent 20 years there...and now having spent only 6 years in the 21st century, I dont know if it is a fair question to ask myself. I see myself meshing through the 2 centuries seamlessly, just to realise - whether it is the 20th century or the 21st - I am just proud of where I came from! If it wasn't for the movement in time, I would have never got where I am today...and I like where I am, not in place, just in time.

Biking at Alki~

Last Sunday, PJ, MC, B and I went biking at the Alki Beach Park in West Seattle. It was awesome! It was about 65* farenheit and perfect skies and the sun was out and all that good stuff that makes Seattleites go crazy and create traffic jams everywhere...I've heard that there are only 2 types of days that can increase the number of accidents in Seattle - A lovely Sunny day and A day on which it snows...cos both are unusual for Seattle.

Whats usual? Take a guess - its known for its pluie (French for ya) people! So it rains all the time here...except for the few months starting April, ending September. These 6 months make up the most awesome season in Seattle...It starts with the beginning of Spring and ends with the onset of Autumn and you can see everything in nature from the new blooms to the leaves changing into wonderful riotous colours!

Don't mean to digress here, I meant to actually put up the Alki pictures and I got carried away by the beauty of Seattle...cos Sunday was a truly beautiful day!

I saw tons of people on the road, with their bikes, their dogs, their children and their partners - all outside, walking strolling, laughing, taking pictures...It was nice to see everyone bask in the sun...I did too, except I forgot to put sunscreen on and my skin started peeling later! But, I didn't mind that since we had sunny skies after a series of real crappy weekends...

So here are some of the pictures for you guys -

Above, 2 scuba divers about to jump into the water, behind them is the skyline view from Alki...

And then the bikers...

It almost looked like Bombay, Carter Road or Chowpaty....PJ and I kept talking about Bombay all the time we were there...:) I am nostalgic....

Alright, got to go!

More Later~

Spelling Bee




















There was never so much nationwide emphasis on winning a spelling contest in India, growing up. There have been a series of advertisements and documentaries on the Spelling Bee last couple of months in the US and it facinates me to see how this country can do wonders in motivating a little kid to participate in something that could be so academic as learning to spell! Nothing wrong with the academics, its just that US doesnt necessarily rank high on it compared to the schooling/education system in other countries.

There is a new movie Akeelah and the Bee based on the spelling contest, aka, Spelling Bee! Apparently there have been other movies such as Spellbound, musicals such as Spelling Bee, the musical on this subject. Quite interesting!

Last year, Anurag Kashyap was the top finisher in the contest. Of Indian origin...FYI-

So I will leave you all with a little tongue twister that we all once learned in school

Hmmm, SuperCaliFa...
No, SuperCaliFragelis?
No no, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ?
Yes Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !!
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidociuos!

You have to spell it too :)

* This is the program I am working on - 787 Dreamliner *

Happy Easter!

The Telegu Love Story....

This is the heroine ......................................................................and this is the hero

They met in the local bus...

and painted the town RED!!!

End of Story :)

Well I am back...I know these occasional once in a while ramblings do not account for good blogging but I only have my work to blame. My new job...ah less said the better...one word- STRESS- if that makes sense?

So lets move on, life has been pretty busy, I mean one has to work so hard to even plan a damn vacation! Oops for my use of words like that...well what the hell...may as well talk my head...its not like these words don't surface there?

So I was planning on going to Greece and Turkey in the month of May for about a week to 10 days...Booked the tickets, booked hotels...arranged for the visa papers PHEW!!! the process killed me. It was easier to get my Green Card compared to getting a damned Greek Visa! Talk about pathetic customer support, Greek consulate customer support is a Class A example of how not to support a customer! They can be used for a bad case study...Anyway while I am still waiting for the visa....I thought Id say a little about Turkey...

Arranging for papers for Turkish Visa wasn't so bad...B and me talked about some of the places that we wanted to see in and around Istanbul...We totally fell for the city after looking at these pictures....














The pics above are of Haghia-Sophia and Bosphorous.

Above are pictures of Bebek - a part of the coast with ancient homes and a cross section of the Spice market at the Grand Bazaar....

Ofcourse there is much much more to Istanbul than this...which is what I am going to explore when I go there...:)

As for Greece, one of the most commercial tourist places in Europe...I did look at tons of pictures but none of them I want to put up right now cos they are all the same on almost all the websites I saw. I want to click some of my own married to my experiences there and then put them here...

So anyway, I cant wait to go to these places in May!!! This is the beginning of, what I hope is, my globe trekking...I hope to go to one new place on the globe each year...I dont know if i would be able to or not, but this is a good start!

On another note, PJ moved....to her gorgeous new apartment on the 16th floor...in the heart of Belltown... and there is something to explore on each end of her apartment- South - Downtown, North- Seattle Space Needle, West - Puget Sound and Pike Place Market and East - Capitol Hill ....

As for the view, its only the gorgeous skyline, looking down into 4th Ave! I should let her write about her apartment in detail as I am sure she would like to do that...I dont want her to feel like I have stolen her thoughts and "Intercepted her brain waves!"

I am waiting for one of those nights I'd be spending at her apartment (sorry PJ I invited myself to your apt.) to drown in that view :)

So alright, almost done here...looking forward to Being Cyrus this coming weekend...Heard its a fabulous movie...Movie autopsy and analysis will be done after P-M-G discussion forum has happened, post-movie.

Will meet again with some good writes :)