Rajni Arrives in Canada

Aug 18 dawned bright and clear and the KLM flt , with Rajni on board had no problem landing bang on time at Pearson. Anita was there ahead of time jumping excitedly like a school girl. She had been waiting for this moment for four years-- waiting for Rajni to come to Canada. I was at work but my imagination was accurate. From that moment on it has been a constant chatter , so much so , that last night Anita had a sore throat due to excessive talking ( shows you how much of a chance do i have to get in a word when we are not being visited)
Anyways , its been long walks in the mornings , the CN tower, Niagara and ofcourse the malls at Sqaure one and Heartland that have been visited so far... its Montreal / Quebec city this weekend.

New York- Aug 2008

Some of the places we visited in NY were the Statute of Liberty, Madison Square Garden, Times Square & the Empire State building. We also visited Ground Zero and had some tea right across the street where the WTC towers once stood. The enormity of the colossal damage to lives and property and the futility of such an act shakes one to the core. Times Square was a popular haunt for us for the two plus days we stayed there. Visiting NY is all about history. One can stand on the spot where Mohd Ali was weighed at Madison Sq Gardens, marvel at the Statue of Liberty on which millions of immigrants and visitors have gazed as they entered NY harbour or walk by "Ground Zero".

Heading back to Mississauga on Aug 02 , we made a stop at a Primeoulet Mall. it was a relief to see some decent prices eventually .... gas ofcourse was way out of control.

Washington DC- Jul 2008

After two days at the PMI session Anita and me took a bus tour of Washington DC. The oppressive Washington sun was unrelenting and tanned us thorougly while we rode the open top bus. The bus took us through the famous spots and we debussed at the White House and the Lincoln Memorial. Daph had advised via email that we do the Lincoln theatre and China town but the time/timings were not good & we could not make it there. The White house was another very popular spot and they made sure that all tourists just had a small peek to the structure. While we did the round on the bus Antrix and Aayush took the car down to Gergetown for some shopping. We ended up grabbing a quick lunch at the Union Station before we headed off for New York. I did want to see the NASA museum and the Arlington cemetry -- but perhaps another time.

PMI Item Writing- Washington DC, Jul 2008

PMI hosted a massive item writing event at DC in late Jul 2008. This was new to me but most folks there had attended these events before. Dan Lefsky, Molly Swenson, Marcos Damasceno & I were grouped together for a two day Item writing session. Though I was a bit apprehensive on how I would fare at this event, I actually found the experience very interesting. Judging from the amount they fed us every few hours one would think we were Sumo wrestlers but I am not complaining.
It was fun working with the group in the pic Light hearted banter and work progressed simultaneously-- the hallmark for a good working environment. I believe it was also the first time that PMI had everyone working on a laptop but we were not permitted to connect to the internet on account of security. No Face book, no internet-- how did anyone expect me to work!!!!

BBQ

We eventually got down to some BBq-ing after 4 years in Canada. Anita & me assembled the BBQ contraption while Ant & Aay drove to the nearby plaza to fetch the hot dogs material. Aayush was Grill master for the evening having had the experience from a friends party. Getting the charcoal smouldering was quite a job and while the four of us had our own ideas of what would work-- my method was definitely not the best. I tried to use paper to coax the coal to catch flame and all that i achieved was peppering the area with papaer ash. After about an hour of sustained effort the coal was smouldering and Aayush lost no time in getting the BBQ stuff on. Anita had "bhutta's" and I was informed that this was dinner. Before any of you feel I starved , let me say that it was quite filling -- the unfortunate part was that I was out of beer.

Jose & Glory

Last week we drove to Germantown, Maryland & finally after 4 years in the North American vicinity we were able to meet with Jose & his family. Jose now sports a felon look and that combined with the knowledge that he is now known as "Hos-ey" gave me an impression that he has strayed from the straight and narrow of the Army.. ( that is ofcourse is just in jest-- he is still the same ol' Jose). Jason & Tanya are responsible American youngsters holding respectible jobs & you can see the four "kids" ( Antrix, Jason, Tanya, Aayush) in the pic above. We spent a a great evening together catching up on old times while Glory made sure we kept away from her kitchen lest we find it "messy" -- on the contrary we found their home classy and far from messy.

Interestingly , Jose & Jason both work for Booze Allen ( no! the company does not make booze)-- Jose now makes sure the databases of the US , FDA are ticking the way they should

Pittsburgh Jul 04

Jul 04 in Pittsburgh found us making a trip to a vantage point overlooking the main river in Pitts to see the fireworks. Obtaining a parking was like earning the right to see the show. It was certainly the best display of fireworks I have ever seen.

On Jul 04, Anita , Antrix and me drove down to Pankaj's place at Pittsburgh. I always enjoy the trip and this one was more so as it was almost after a gap of a year. What was shocking was "Terry Fox" look that we got from Shalini. I believe, Shalini spurred on by the Euro 2008 ended up in injuring her knee. She now wears an impressive wrapping on her legs....

Neil/ Varun ( not sure which name is in vouge currently) had added a few inches to his teenage frame and most conspicious was the missing fuzz on his face, indications of Neil having taken on the daily chore of shaving. Also it was great to see his excitement as he handled his new MacPro laptop -- a rightfully earned gift for having cleared the tests for a more challenging course of study in his high school.

During the day we engaged a bunch of activities .. .like bird watching.....

& stepping out with the best foot forward

Antrix with the backdrop of "Falling Water"-- A house built such that it merged with the surrounding nature

& finally lunch at Ohio Pyle where we dug into watermelons/ sandwitche & salad