tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69959398342600544562012-01-27T22:25:26.353-08:00These are my personal ramblings on issues that are of interest to me. Mountaineers, Lakers, Diversity, History, Women Rights are some of my interests.Peddanoreply@blogger.comBlogger801100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-71982513151248317182011-12-26T19:44:00.000-08:002011-12-26T19:46:29.508-08:00

The word nerd has negative connotations and is applied derisively to describe people who focus on academics then on oh so important social matters like partying, drinking and everything that is wasteful. The Wikipedia search for Nerd  suggests "...the word is derived from "knurd" ("drunk" spelled backwards), which was used to describe people who studied rather than partied.". For better

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-57957270286596823002011-12-02T20:46:00.000-08:002011-12-18T14:05:38.301-08:00

I am not a stock trader, but I occasionally burn my fingers attempting to do just that. This post is a look into the rearview of my experience with trading in the stock market. It has been a while since I bought or sold into the market. I incurred severe losses in my attempts to make money in the stock markets during the years 2008 and 2009. I was long in 2008 and short in 2009. Yes, stupid right

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-78430878322366436412011-07-28T15:46:00.000-07:002011-07-28T15:46:00.826-07:00

While the USA senate is waging a debate on debt ceiling (more details here), I am working on resolving a crisis of my own with my debt . To some it may be small and to some a matter of ridicule, but to me this is gaining big on the guilt land. Please continue to read as I narrate my story. Recently in one of my evening commute back home, I was involved in a fender bender accident. I wont go into

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-45578490230914374812011-06-19T10:08:00.000-07:002011-06-19T10:08:28.138-07:00

I am not into celebrating days like Father's day. It always felt corny. There are so many generations that have been parents and went on with their lives without celebrating this day. It just feels like another day for marketing and selling products. This year is however different and cant help but think what I could done differently last year on this day. This is the first Father's day without

Peddanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-12959963003953182052011-06-17T20:17:00.000-07:002011-06-17T20:17:04.713-07:00

Yet again an Indian wins the spelling bee. Give it up to Sukanya Roy from Wilkes-Barre, PA. 7out the 13 finalists in 2011 contest were of Indian origin. It has become astereotype of sorts for a kid of Indian ancestry to win the US National Spelling Bee championship. About a year ago, in an article titled Indian Buzz at the Spelling Bee, I pondered on the success of Indians at this competition. In

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-90392696069194296002011-04-01T08:05:00.000-07:002011-04-01T11:23:40.012-07:00

The twelfth season of the reality show Dancing With The Stars currently on TV now. I follow it for reasons more than just the entertainment. A bunch of celebrities(mostly B-grade) are brought together, paired with a professional dancer to compete with one another dancing to western classical ballroom dances like cha cha, fast step, foxtrot etc. My aim in this post is to find a pattern and

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-20272694699569125792011-03-12T22:38:00.000-08:002011-03-12T22:39:12.272-08:00

This Tuesday morning was like any other. I woke up, rushed to work, came home and slept. But something happened on this day that got me thinking. My colleague had scheduled a meeting 30 mins ahead of the normal business hours and you know how difficult it is to squeeze in 30 mins early in the day when your day is scheduled way ahead. I had made myself tentative to the meeting. The meeting however

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-46897027765127555422011-02-06T13:15:00.000-08:002011-03-08T16:49:30.172-08:00

Its been sometime since I last blogged. I have not been living under a rock and have been following what has been happening around me. For all those not living under the rock, this story by Amy Chua, a professor at Yale  Law School, on Wall Street Journal must be familiar. This story titled 'Why Chinese Mothers are Superior' has caught the web and traditional media abuzz. The article, somewhere

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-7613912307582978622011-01-06T21:13:00.000-08:002011-01-08T16:48:20.319-08:00

I was an avid re-cyclist, till about two months ago. I would diligently put all that is recyclable in the recycle bins. I recycled plastic and glass bottles, plastic bags, milk and juice containers, soda cans, paper, batteries and even used electronics like cellphones. I did this for almost 4 years. And something happened that altered my behavior. My previous residence of three years had a huge

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-74256853547399495512011-01-02T14:39:00.000-08:002011-01-02T14:44:22.828-08:00

My Niece is 12 years old and during my last visit to India, I found a hand written letter from her to my Dad. ********************************* On the outside opening fold, she wrote -------------------------------- I want reply. Come well soon.  :-) Open with smile. ------------------------------- The contents of the letter were ------------------------------- To, Grand Pa,

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-13182269373230265742010-12-07T20:38:00.000-08:002010-12-08T18:05:25.543-08:00

It was long time ago, time when I was in middle school. My class teacher narrated a scary story from Greek Mythology - 'The story of Proscrustes'. It is the story of an evil guy named Procrustes, son of Poseidon, who had a iron bed. He would invite innocent bypassers to spend the night in his den, provide them good dinner and have them sleep on his iron bed. He was somehow obsessed with fitting

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-44990162528084474802010-10-05T21:00:00.000-07:002010-10-05T21:00:33.123-07:00

Last month(September 2010) in the myriad of dreadful events like the floods in Paksitan, one news caught my attention. It was about a guy, James J. Lee who took a few employees of Discovery Channel Hostage. According to the news, he hated the shows like "Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting." on the Discovery Channel. He had protested against them and had served some jail time. He demanded that

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-73409062559405091152010-08-08T00:22:00.000-07:002010-08-08T12:37:12.674-07:00

Abstract: This post will chronicle a moral dilemma I faced after filling my car at a gas station. I have some questions answered while raising some to myself as I always have.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before I begin, I have to confess of my bad habit. I wait for the yellow empty gas indicator to come up on my car to refill and it has

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-42041753080174448272010-07-23T17:02:00.000-07:002010-07-23T17:02:30.693-07:00

What's Happening at Brownsville, TX I was watching a show on HBO called 'Real Sports with Bryant Gumbell'. It is a show covering various social issues in the sports world in our society. On the episode I was watching, there was a feature on Chess in a small town called Brownsville in Texas. Synopsis of episode can be found in text here. Brownsville is a very small town bordering Mexico with a

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-82304063288480415342010-07-18T20:51:00.000-07:002010-07-18T20:51:14.181-07:00

I was watching a movie 'Dim Sum Funeral' on HBO couple months ago. The movie is about a Chinese-American family that meets for the funeral of the mother. The kids have nothing but bad memories of her. But it turns out that the old woman had a better side. The grand daughter who has been watching the drama unfold says this to her mom 'In just few hours there were hundred people who came to see

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-59924192719817550472010-06-25T17:16:00.000-07:002010-06-25T17:16:00.426-07:00

Scripps Spelling Bee is an annual competition for kids who have neither turned 16 nor passed beyond the eighth grade. I have been following the competition since 2000 and it has come to become lot more popular now than in 2000. Kids of Indian origin tend to win the competition beyond comparison and there leads to a lot of stereotypes and spite. I will address them in this post. I started this

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-62171185847686002912010-06-13T11:05:00.000-07:002010-06-13T11:05:01.957-07:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about blaming the culture. I felt that it was incomplete without some more questioning as to why people do that. This post will outline some thoughts on why people blame culture. I conclude this post with what an individual can do without falling into the trap of blaming culture. In the wild, most animals stick to their own type. It is mutually beneficial for

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-83541917871343356602010-05-25T20:24:00.000-07:002010-05-25T20:24:38.789-07:00

A few months ago there was a discussion about safety recalls by Toyota with some colleagues of mine. I shared an information with them about finding the safety recalls and coincidentally I wrote an article about Toyota's trouble at that time. This lead to an intriguing comment from a colleague of mine who was European. This is what he said "I do not trust Toyota. I don't think they are revealing

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-70712773223334826512010-04-25T10:25:00.000-07:002010-04-25T17:54:27.257-07:00

It was a Saturday morning and I was having breakfast, muffin and cold coffee, at a franchised coffee shop. I sat there reading a newspaper and saw out through the glass wall, a local cemetery. I always felt strange about cemeteries. They are spooky at once, all the dead people buried there for ages among other dead people. But somehow they had an allure for me with the all the grand tombstones,

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-6422451533498527432010-04-07T15:11:00.000-07:002010-04-12T09:04:22.144-07:00

On March 17th, 2010, I attended the Closing Event celebrating the One Book, One Philadelphia project conducted at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Per the handout given at the event 'One Book, One Philadelphia is a joint project of the Mayor's Office and the Free Library of Philadelphia. The mission of the program is to promote reading, literacy, library usage, and community building thoughout

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-15037779119124224142010-04-03T08:28:00.000-07:002010-04-03T08:28:43.407-07:00

Not Every Sea Has Pearls O my heart, sit with someone who is enlightened with the matters of the heart. Sit in the shade of a tree that is alive with the blossoms of spring. Don't go around aimlessly in the market, like those who are lost. If you are after sugar, go to the one who sells sugar. If you don't possess a scale to weigh the merchandise, the shopkeeper will cheat you. Someone will

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-31704588554205915692010-03-23T15:20:00.000-07:002010-03-23T15:20:15.598-07:00

The last couple of weeks, there was heavy activity at my home. The day was coming close for the return of my sister-in-law to our hometown in India. I am not a big fan of airports which I disclosed with ample detail in my previous post here. International travel causes a lot of stress to me, with the shopping, packing, weighing bags with no end until the departure of the flight. My

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-5951003838310119012010-03-12T22:20:00.000-08:002010-03-13T10:41:37.038-08:00

Recently NPR, the much revered Public Radio Station, ran an article titled Bee Vs. Car: Who Gets More Miles Per Gallon?. You can listen to it on the embedded mp3 link below. The article states that the new VW prototype will be giving a mileage of 170 mpg. I was very much surprised and felt happy that someone out there is working on creating better cars with vastly improved mileage. The sad

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-14363377776742707232010-03-01T19:25:00.000-08:002010-03-04T12:31:47.794-08:00

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is an american classic movie starring James Stewart. It is about a boy ranger who is appointed to the senate by his state's governor who wants a puppet in that post. James Stewart character named Jefferson Smith(cleverly deduced from Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith) goes to capitol hill and ends up fighting the evil political machinery of US Senate through filibuster

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-34258978454490472182010-01-26T17:04:00.000-08:002010-02-02T15:00:33.105-08:00

I used to watch a lot of movies during my days in graduate school. I still do but a lot less than I used to. But I do keep in touch with the current movies and their trends. Recently I was driving and listening to NPR where the host and guest were discussing a hypothetical thought-if aliens would somehow get to see today's movies, TV drama or any literature, what kind of opinion would they form

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-8868175413748303472010-01-13T17:16:00.000-08:002010-01-17T18:56:58.050-08:00

I have this habit of listening to a song over and over again until it bores me out. There are times when some songs just linger on in the inner corridors of my brain. They make me sing voluntarily, involuntarily and repetitively to the point of embarrassment. There are several songs that got stuck in my head some that I passed the fever to someone else to my own detriment.It was probably 1996 and

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-33823275479906456082010-01-04T17:44:00.000-08:002010-01-24T09:31:08.762-08:00

Way back in April of 2009 I posted a piece about the economic conditions at that time and how I came up with my own signal. I wanted to revisit that signal and see if it is giving any indications of the current time. Here below you can see the same image I took at that time.April 2009 As we can see, the cold container was packed with all sorts of items. I revisited our signal in September 2009.

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-30748902515574936222010-01-03T16:35:00.000-08:002010-01-04T10:08:01.646-08:00

Holiday season is the worst time of the year for me. No, I am not a cynic, scrooge like person who hates holidays and the merriment that goes around in the society. But it is that part of year where I indulge myself in freeloading myself with junk. The fact that these junkies are right there in front of you and that they are free only makes it that much easier. If they are not in the work kitchen

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-37855371470893413892009-12-28T09:09:00.000-08:002010-01-04T17:57:37.060-08:00

James Chartrand is what one can say a successful author in a very competitive field of freelance writing. He is a regular contributor at copyblogger and his own blog Men with Pens is listed in the top 10 blogs for writers. But the success did not come easy for him. Not too long ago he was struggling to make the ends meet. He just came out of a bad relationship and has two daughters to care for as

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-36628525045379148652009-12-05T10:59:00.000-08:002009-12-05T12:07:42.493-08:00

This Thursday when I reached work, on my port replicator was a small package. I was pleasantly surprised and quickly opened the lid on the cylinder box. I was about to open the contents in the see through polythene bag inside the box when my manager came to my desk. He talked about some project I was working one. Without thinking much, I had assumed it was a gift from him for the holidays.I

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-57942694521112825942009-11-14T10:17:00.000-08:002009-11-20T14:35:30.226-08:00

The last four games I have watched of my Team's have been continued disappointment. Is it my timing or just a coincidence? Of course when you are follower of teams like those I do, disappointment becomes an acceptable part of life.Game 1: India Vs Australia 5th ODI, 2009. Australia set 351 as target and India were bundled out for 347 in the last over. Yet another grand display by the greatest

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-84929377854944595032009-11-08T02:29:00.000-08:002009-11-13T21:17:17.509-08:00

The haircut I get from the franchise stores in US have been unsatisfactory and never made the cut(get it, hair'cut' did not make the 'cut') to the standards set by the barber from my hometown. The hair is either cut too short, too long, not uniform, not blended leaving steps between the sides and the top or a combination of all. One of the things that I miss from my childhood is a good haircut

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-57642419188990863392009-11-07T10:23:00.001-08:002009-11-08T17:02:56.379-08:00

Few months ago I took a short two and half week vacation to India. My visit to India has come after a long gap of about four years. The changes that came about in my hometown caught me my surprise. The country and my hometown are undergoing a transformation and there are huge infrastructural changes in works. New roads, underground drainage, flyovers construction, new telephone lines have made

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-32736273887095044012009-11-02T16:10:00.000-08:002009-11-03T18:49:46.429-08:00

Last week as part of our colleague birthday celebration I was at a restaurant with about ten colleagues. The group consisted of people from three continents - North America (USA-5), Europe (Britain-2), Asia (India-2, China-1). As always when such a big and diverse group meets, there are bound to have multiple discussions and questions about the other persons country and culture. One discussion

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-36308753480507007692009-08-06T22:10:00.000-07:002009-08-07T12:07:41.108-07:00

I spoke about the reduction in workforce at my workplace here. The decision has been made and few people on our team were unfortunately on the wrong side of this process. One person on this list was Mrs.K who I was getting to know. I began to think about my own tryst with these kind of events and could only think of Sisyphus. I heard the myth of Sisyphus recently from a good friend of mine while

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-18651297029031296042009-07-31T21:53:00.000-07:002009-08-03T20:44:48.038-07:00

Here is the list of my Top Ten Hindi Party Dance Songs. The list below is only in Chronological order. It does not represent my preference of one over the other.Mauja Mauja(Mika Singh) - Jab We Met(2007). I have a funny story about this song. I was at an event in a Children's library where a group of Indians were presenting to a class of kids and interesting locals about Indian Classical Dance

Peddanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-39892550983381021672009-07-16T13:38:00.001-07:002009-07-17T08:22:47.016-07:00

I was huge fan of his music and dances. I think he was single most icon of western pop music to the world. Every where on earth his name is synonymous to western pop music and crazy dance moves. R.I.P. King of Pop. He came alive in Philadelphia recently. Check these videos below. He is good but not as good as he was when he was alive. These are short 16 second videos clipped taken from my

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-29527411132099629282009-07-10T22:06:00.000-07:002009-07-19T22:08:33.907-07:00

After a not so humble beginning to which I had a modest outcome last year, I set out a far more outreaching goals this year. I went nursery style, from seeds with lot more varieties and increased the footage. I was lucky to have a about 50 sq. ft. of land in front of my apartment that I could use for gardening. I will detail later on why this luck resulted in back breaking work for me.I decided

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-580456143735433032009-06-20T13:26:00.000-07:002009-06-22T21:25:55.222-07:00

The events that took place last week could be summed up by the idiom 'When it rains, it pours'. It was the first time, I was leaving home after the birth of our cutie pie. That was slightly depressing enough, but I brushed it aside as a mere part of life where we have to do things leaving our loved one's behind. For some reason the two and half hour drive that morning was exhausting and I

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-83226560337865279942009-06-15T14:11:00.000-07:002009-07-04T19:52:11.272-07:00

A few days ago a couple of our friends who happen to be my spouses' co-workers visited us. Here is a conversation that happened."The patient had tidal volume down. BP in control, prone ventilation, atrial fibrillation. On epinephrine, pco2 from 60 to 70. Oxygen in monitor at 50. ativan drip, saturation 50, heart rate 100, levofed 150. ARDS and can nothing if she is not responding. She has bed

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-49944565369855274272009-06-08T08:49:00.000-07:002009-06-09T07:31:12.219-07:00

Should I Have one?One of my friends posed this question 'Why have Kids?'. I could not answer it then, I don't have a right answer yet. That question never occurred to me. I just thought of it as a natural part of life. It was always a matter of when if not now. The question of when was answered with our planning of finances and career position. 'Should we?' was never raised. There was pressure

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-46475045938972920792009-06-04T14:55:00.000-07:002009-06-09T07:21:12.118-07:00

June 2, 2009 12:41:12 PM. That is the time when our precious little one was born. I want to share some of my experiences and old wives tales of the wise people in determining the sex and others. I will also try to answer some of the most commonly asked question from friends and folks at work.We were hoping to have a baby a little later in the year when my wife would be in her last year of

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-21147570029139564402009-05-17T18:06:00.001-07:002009-05-19T18:13:07.754-07:00

I have a lively bunch at work that I lunch together with. The Philadelphia Metro was running a full page on the last page on a local Flea Market in Philadelphia. This lead to a discussion about Flea Markets. I have been to several of them in Pennsylvania and these markets could be a good pastime with a bunch of people selling their used wares and folks bargaining with them. One of my lunch mate

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-54455450705471370062009-05-08T14:56:00.000-07:002009-05-09T10:25:44.015-07:00

The basic law of physical distances is that 'the distance between x and y is the same in either direction'. Like from the image below, if a person say Mr. K moves from Z to A, the distance to go back to Z (from A) should be same.But that is true only when the all the basic conditions (environment) of Mr. K's homecoming to Z (from A) are same as they were before going to point A (from Z). But

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-13230777637991445022009-05-03T18:00:00.000-07:002009-05-03T18:45:36.464-07:00

I had invited a bunch of our friends with their families to the Baby Shower of Seshu on April 25th, 2009. Seshu is due in 5 weeks time. Hopefully things will go well. The mother and baby are doing fine for now. Some of my colleagues had asked me if I was having the Baby Shower in the Indian tradition or American. I tried to make it a mix of both traditions as I know neither of them completely

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-73895741957034596742009-04-14T06:07:00.000-07:002009-04-20T13:05:16.755-07:00

Times have changed definitely in the last year or so. I have been reading a lot of stories on how the current crisis has affected people's behavior and how businesses are struggling. Below are some links to news that show the signs of our current times.A 99cent store goes bust by a 98cent store across the street. More Here.Increase in Vasectomies as couples find it difficult to raise kids. More

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-78597246442435337042009-03-12T05:32:00.000-07:002009-05-17T18:06:15.297-07:00

Someone decided to go green at my workplace a few months ago. So, they cut the disposable cups for coffee/tea completely and distributed reusable plastic mugs instead. The underlying thesis is that this would reduce the carbon footprint. I am not in agreement with that thesis to which I will get to later. But the story goes beyond green here and took some funny turns. The lady who distributed the

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-26972161608018947702009-02-22T16:42:00.000-08:002009-02-23T06:36:18.197-08:00

Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank was asked on CNBC what is so different with micro credit from the current credit crisis that makes it a success. To them Micro credit can also lead to something similar to the current credit crisis. Micro credit gives credit to non-traditional (high default risk) credit seeking people in a more tradition way (the other way for Grameen's customers is to go to Loan

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-76722144337771320862009-02-19T07:33:00.000-08:002009-03-01T17:07:08.049-08:00

In lieu of the 3 Oscar nominations to AR Rahman, I compiled for my colleague at work a list of some of my favourite AR Rahman songs from over a period of time. Here is the list. Click on the song name to open the video in You Tube. The Oscars are live on ABC at February 22nd, 2009 at 8 PM EST.Rang De Basanti - Roo Ba Roo Jiya Jale - Dil SeTaal - Taal se taal mila Rangeela - Mangta hai kyaDil Se -

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-21241329489073561082009-02-04T18:37:00.000-08:002009-03-01T17:07:27.578-08:00

This is a concluding part of my previous post - Why I hate Airports.Also one has to deal with one or all of the following people - 1. Indifferent, 2. Meddlesome and 3. Moody. To fully understand my case, I have to explain my recent experience where I had to deal with all three kinds (Indifferent, Meddlesome and Moody) of people and the other baggage (pun intended) that comes with it. We reached

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-88364537778409649652009-01-24T16:42:00.000-08:002009-03-01T17:06:29.599-08:00

I had the Telugu movie bug in me since child hood. I was not an avid movie goer, but movie songs were a different story. I literally grew up waking up to the AIR Bhakti Lahari at 8:00 in the morning and Commercial movie songs at 9:00AM. My mom is a big fan of AIR even today when TV is a big thing. So I had listened to a lot of good Telugu movie music during those days.While there definitely was a

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-52564009607080297362009-01-09T13:11:00.000-08:002009-03-01T17:08:01.456-08:00

Last Wednesday I had to drop my Mother-In-Law off at the airport. I should tell you upfront that I am not a big fan of airports. I am nervous as hell going to the airport. And that's wether it's me or my family or friends. I am not afraid of flying. I have other reasons for disliking it. The process begins 2-3 days before the day of journey, in packing the bags. I pride myself in packing bags,

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-21579726987822038802008-12-27T19:41:00.000-08:002008-12-29T10:03:15.330-08:00

While I was watching the LifeTime made for TV movie 'A Kiss at Midnight' with Seshu (my wife), I decided to post something on my blog. Yes, it is a great chick flick and I was giving her company doing my own thing. While the movie was going and Seshu was deeply engrossed in the trivial travails of romantic misgivings of a mother and daughter, I began to think about the get together with my

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-38514006252636020052008-12-19T07:13:00.000-08:002009-03-01T17:08:39.357-08:00

One day at work, a bunch of our colleagues were going to a restaurant for lunch. I was waiting at the elevator lobby for a long time with them. Right when it came, I remembered that I had forgotten something. So I got excused and went to my desk, picked my wallet from the drawer. One my way back to the elevator lobby, another good colleague friend asked me, what is happening. I said I am losing

Peddanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-58481741964119326522008-12-17T18:44:00.001-08:002008-12-28T10:33:17.275-08:00

Coincidence or not, I meet Bummerman every time I post a blog about him. My first post on him can be found here and the subsequent one here. I met him this time under the same bridge he used to live few months ago. I was on my way home to my car on a chilly Thursday evening. I said 'Hello'. He remembered me quite well and said 'Hello, I haven't seen you after we met at the park'. I was pleasantly

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-71091375286226902532008-12-12T11:43:00.000-08:002009-05-22T09:09:51.518-07:00

Being prudent with your life and your lifestyle is the single most thing I learned from my parents. There are times I felt if I am like a dinosaur among the easy credit user folks around me. As they say, for every question, time provides an answer. Sooner than I expected, I found the answer in the current financial crisis. As most of us know, the credit based lifestyle is what caused this mess

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-90629136172835324772008-12-07T19:17:00.001-08:002008-12-07T20:18:25.295-08:00

This is a follow up previous post dated 06/28/2008 on my experiment with indoor gardening. My goals were really simple. I was hoping to see some flowers in my wife's hand and atleast a pepper in my food. I think I have achieved both the objectives but at a small steep price of $10/pepper. That pepper must be priciest pepper. The cost of flower in my wife's hand - priceless.There is space between

Peddanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-49658861314814640262008-11-05T12:30:00.000-08:002008-12-10T17:21:49.769-08:00

We are in historic times in all aspects. The last decades have been stagnant across the world with conservatism growing by leaps and bound. Tolerance to incompetence and acceptance of mediocrity went hand in hand. It was high time that a change was in place. Infusion of yound blood into the age old era of politics has always energized a sleeping nation. I believe Obama is that change and USA was

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-6654549155525557732008-10-05T20:23:00.000-07:002008-12-07T20:20:32.745-08:00

If you are an Indian, you need your food to be hot. Hot not in the sense of being 100F or 120F, but in the sense of being spicy. We need it as hot as it can be. If you are new to US of A the closest fast food that would satisfy an Indian’s appetite for spicy food is Taco Bell. I have no doubt when I say, that the best way to curtail Indian Immigration is shut down all Taco Bells in USA.An Indian

Peddanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-3092579748617392272008-09-28T16:58:00.000-07:002008-09-28T17:33:43.015-07:00

Mountaineers and Football are inseparable. Any guy with who calls himself a Mountaineer would follow Football ardently. I am big fan of Mountaineer Football. I try to watch every game that the Mountaineers play with a religious fervor. I hate seeing them lose, and am overboard when they win. You can say when it comes to Mountaineers Football, I can't hide my emotions much.Mountaineer football can

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-45556207689416112032008-09-10T10:18:00.000-07:002008-09-28T16:58:44.202-07:00

I hate forwards. Forwards are emails sent to you by your friends or colleagues about something supposedly for interest to you. 99% percent of these forwards are junks/myths/urban legends twisted. These forwards talk about the character of the person forwarding them. This ofcourse is my classifaction and none of this is personal. It is just a character assessment based on the forwards and many

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-21198692480168699762008-07-21T15:14:00.001-07:002008-12-09T13:56:45.559-08:00

A couple days after I wrote about this social Bummerman, I found that he was no longer under the bridge that I saw him until then. I guess the Clean Philadelphia program by Mr.Nutter is the mysterious hand behind this guy missing. I spoke to my colleagues a week later about him and they said they saw him a couple blocks south of our building. I never saw him myself.I met him near the Von Colln

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-32633186368205682062008-07-16T10:18:00.000-07:002008-07-16T11:19:57.555-07:00

'Long way from Home, Boy', I thought to myself several times the last couple of years. It has been 10 years since I left home and 9 years in USA. I have been to different places like a wandering Samurai - Baroda, Morgantown, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Philadelphia. But nothing has come close to home, never felt the same like h0me. Morgantown and then Philly come close but they are as close as horizon.

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-75829921045341702112008-07-02T06:54:00.000-07:002008-12-07T18:44:44.038-08:00

I have read this story a long time ago about the smuggling of coins made with silver in India to Bangladesh. It was fascinating to me because the story told me that the metal that these coins were made is worth more than the face value of these coins. So why do I revisit this story after decade and half? I have a friend who is 76 and never fails to pick up a penny if he sees one on the street. He

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-90398907992348929872008-06-28T16:47:00.000-07:002008-06-28T19:25:24.804-07:00

A few weeks ago, my wife had this crazy idea that she wanted a garden just like her home in India. I am like there goes another case of 'Just like in India'. But not the one to say no, I agreed. The experience that followed was an eye opener.(Please read eye as wallet.)So we went to Home Depot and began looking for flowers and pots to hold them. I almost fainted at the price of each flower plant

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-83600415640650408942008-06-13T09:27:00.000-07:002008-06-28T19:38:38.333-07:00

Last week my wife received a phone call from a friend whom she invited to visit us for dinner. My wife’s friend gave a courtesy call to confirm that her husband and herself will not be coming on Saturday but can make it on Sunday. My wife makes her favorite chicken curry and biryani on Sunday which is a customary habit brought over from her family. So she asked casually if they eat chicken. That

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-16791688371302267772008-05-21T16:54:00.000-07:002008-07-16T09:05:24.830-07:00

I have been thinking of writing about this man that I see several times week ever since I joined my current client. I park my car about 4 blocks from the building that I work now. About a block north of my work building is a Bridge and underneath the bridge, which is part of a huge parking lot, is the home of this middle aged man I had mentioned earlier.Imagine this - The story is that of a comic

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-19909869324491658292008-05-06T18:05:00.000-07:002008-05-11T08:46:08.510-07:00

This is the story of how I turned from using regular sugar to natural sugar aka honey. Here is how it went.Once upon a time there lived a gentleman who was happy having his occasional coffee with regular sugar. He was healthy and had BWI of 21 so to say he did not need artificial sugars nor did he like them. In fact he hated the taste they had and also the fact that they had side effects.His

Peddanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-68342355665164772272008-04-23T20:56:00.000-07:002008-05-19T19:38:47.263-07:00

Here are some of the questions that I am frequently asked that I am amused by, peeved at and most often than not, I do not have answers to. These are typical questions asked mostly by people who do not know me well but do ask me. I categorize them into 2 categories.First Category: By Indians (@Work, general acquaintance outside, in India during vacation etc)1. How long are you in US? They ask

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-85982133526756064542008-04-17T21:32:00.001-07:002008-05-19T19:42:32.334-07:00

I try to visit Morgantown whenever I can or at least once a year. Last year I was in Morgantown for a Football Game when my parents were visiting us and before that casually to meet friends. The latter time I took a couple of our (actually my wife's undergraduate friend and her cousin) friends, my brother and my wife to Morgantown. We had fun time and my friends liked it Morgantown a lot. Why

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-99509808455440802008-04-17T20:31:00.000-07:002008-04-23T16:45:20.264-07:00

These are some pessimistic days. You are afraid to talk to strangers or to provide help to a strange. There are always news about shootings by strangers barging into a store or a school. The parents are always telling their kids never talk to or trust a stranger. But there are few people out there that are willing to provide a helping hand in times of need.Why I am so preachy about helping hands

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-2680299755770488312008-03-27T20:53:00.000-07:002008-03-28T18:15:00.382-07:00

I was talking to a friend of mine recently and he mentioned that he postponed his visit to India. The reason being he want to go when someone in his family gets married so he can have a fun time. Nothing wrong with that but the fact that all the eligible people being guys. Apparently it has become difficult to find suitable girls for these guys. It looks like he has to wait a long time.Gone are

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-67426159642488658422008-03-22T09:09:00.000-07:002008-05-19T19:45:28.767-07:00

I recently visited my Dentist for a dental clean. I wish I did not make that visit. The doctor visits me and says 'Hey Kiddo Sit down here'. At first, I thought I did not hear well. She must have said something in her accent that I could not understand or did not know.People have said to me that I look younger than I am. I have frequently been asked what school am I going to or Do I go to school.

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-56896130672777201802008-02-20T21:17:00.000-08:002008-03-01T17:29:58.284-08:00

I drive a lot. For work, for pleasure and therby contributing my 2 cents to green house gases. Of course that was pun intended. I carry a lot of maps in my car, infact I am kind of obsessed with maps to being on the brink of OCD. I rather not have a GPS on my car, if I do I keep fiddling with it until a get shout from co passenger who is scared hell out of their life at my erratic driving and

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-82441691235356822392008-02-08T21:12:00.000-08:002008-02-09T15:42:29.727-08:00

It is that time of the year, I dread. It is the fast approaching Valentines day that has me in utmost confusion and guilt. Confused for what to get and guilt because of missing it last time as well.I have never been good with gifts and my poor wife can vouch for it. Why do I lament now? I was told that a Husband should give gifts to a wife on Valentine's Day, Marriage Anniversary and the Birthday

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-34143561628645762652008-02-01T12:54:00.000-08:002008-02-01T13:47:07.618-08:00

The following are the component & costs associated with getting gasoline to the pump.Crude oil: This is cost of the crude obtained by drilling which is later refined.Refining: The process of turning crude oil into a product that is ready for consumer use is called refining. This is done in refineries.Distribution and marketing: This is the cost of bringing Gasoline from refineries to gas stations

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-18477596828132880122008-01-29T16:16:00.000-08:002008-01-29T17:54:41.894-08:00

Some of memorable days have been my days at WVU. Every time I think about those days, they bring an involuntary smile over my face especially certain events. Here are some of the events that I experienced first hand and some heard on hearsay.Recycled Rasam - If you are from South India, you must know what rasam means. It is a common practice among student roommates to share the chores especially

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-43855919574658872312008-01-14T15:31:00.000-08:002008-01-14T16:21:13.916-08:00

It is that time of the year which is the most auspicious for the Andhra Community. It's in essence a harvest festival when the farmers celebrate for the harvest abundance.It is a four day festival that begins with Bhogi. On Bhogi a bonfire is the major activity of the day. As kids we were anxious to create the bon fire. We would gather woods, leaves whatever that was waste in and around the house

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-56121507877650049812008-01-13T20:30:00.000-08:002008-01-13T20:48:17.026-08:00

It is not my normal practice to have New Year Resolutions and talk about them. To me they are just plain cheesy. But then, being a Libran, I am cheesy sometimes. So I decided to have a resolution. Not many just one. I am afraid I am not going to stick to them, and I said before have resolutions is just cheesy.The resolution was to create a trilogy of blog that encompass the different facets of me

Peddanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6995939834260054456.post-33829748680033476172007-08-21T07:46:00.000-07:002008-04-26T08:32:52.086-07:00

I have been thinking of a blog for quite a while now. I had this urge to write about things that I feel passionate about, about things I like, about where I come from and where I am. Of course I hope to write about things that I like and I do not like absolutely.It must also be my wish to express out my ideas. Being a listener, I am mostly on the receiving end of a discussion and this is my way

Peddanoreply@blogger.com1