Pre-Christmas

Lethargy at its best; would be the most accurate description of my blogging mind set at this time. Honestly though, I have been busy. With what? Don't ask, because I don't know.  It is one of those times when nothing much gets done, but you feel busy as a bee. I cannot decide if it is bad time management or just too many appetizers on my plate.

Several significant events occurred since I last keyed in. A complete roller-coaster ride of emotions. We know that these are times of great uncertainty, yet there is hope.

First up. GOBAMA!!! Change has come to America! The Obama story is exactly, what the American dream is all about. Awe-inspiring! So much so, that it inspired a new blog out of DF Viju -- check it out. A few days  before the President-elect's victory, home team -- Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series (Baseball) for the first time since 1980. The team (of course) was felicitated amidst much fanfare, which I managed to partially follow over the Internet at work. DT Eagles (American Football) have had a checkered season and it seems unlikely that they will make it to the playoffs this year. Well, there is always a next time (hope -- remember?).

I turned 28 on Nov 10. The usual suspects were gracious enough yet again, to visit and celebrate with us. Unfortunately, no pictures. I do not know why, but I have not been "my-click-happy-self" in the past month. I did  however, manage to get a picture with the awesome birthday gift that sweetheart DW presented to me -- Rockband (see adjacent picture)! There is a guitar, a drum-set and a mike (vocals) in the package. We absolutely love it! I am now busy buttering her up for the iPhone. Unfortunately (here), DW has a sensible head over her shoulders. This implies that I can forget about getting one until after the economy recovers. Respect.

On Nov 23, we fulfilled a long-time wish -- to see the Lion King (Broadway) at the Minskoff  theater in NYC. It delivered beyond our expectations and totally blew us away. If you happen to visit NYC anytime, I would any day choose Lion King over going atop the Empire State Building. On the same day, in India, DF Sando got married to his sweetheart, DF Riddhi. As expected, the squadians attended it and DF Pallavi shared some pictures. Congratulations Sandrid a.k.a. Kamadhani a.k.a. Madhamath! I wish you both a wonderful married life.

We took a break during the week of Thanksgiving (Nov 24 - 27) and had several exciting things planned. But then, it happened -- the shocking Mumbai terror attacks. We sat glued to the computer and CNN for two straight days, trying to follow latest updates from the horrific event. Two of our family members had close calls. Dear brother (DB) Gautam was at the Oberoi hotel for a meeting that afternoon. Thankfully, he left the premises a few hours before the terrorists attacked. DW's maternal uncle, Roney was an employee at the Hotel Taj. By God's grace, he narrowly escaped a certain massacre. A few of his close colleagues passed away (RIP). People say that the attackers were were Islamic terrorists. I personally do not believe that they belong to any religion. I would not insult Islam by associating these severely brainwashed complete idiots with it. This is another example of how humans take good intended teachings of a religion and misuse it (discussed in my last post, O).

In the past days, few DFs pointed out to me that the "modern-day pictorial Ramayana" links in my last post did not work. Apologies. I have updated the links and they should work this time around -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The other day, I was digging through some old picture folders and found something amazing. Thought I'd to share it with you -- DW enacts Michael Jackson (see adjacent). This picture was taken during a "Mock-Rock" performance at a MIT (Manipal) college festival (undergraduate days). DW grew up loving and dancing to MJ songs, but has mixed feelings about them now (for obvious reasons). I have been reminiscing in my blogs lately. So, this may be a good time to initiate a new section -- "blast-from-the-past" (BFTP). Not a novel name (reminds me of Channel [V] days in India), but it sure does clarify the intent; I suppose.

We watched a couple of good movies in the past month. We started with -- "Slumdog Millionaire", which I thought was a pretty good movie. I need not say much, because its wonderful reviews, several international film festival awards and four Golden Globe nominations should speak for itself. I did have one issue with the movie though. It was an excellent factual presentation of all the unattractive aspects of growing up in India. But then again, it is the story of a "slumdog". I highly recommend that you watch it. More recently, we watched "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" (RNBDJ). I thoroughly enjoyed it. I consider Aamir Khan to be the best actor in Bollywood, but Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) is clearly the best entertainer. I have gotten obsessed with this song from the film -- "Dance pe chance" and now trying to get the "usual suspects" to put together a home video over the Christmas weekend. Watch out for it after the holiday season (early January) in one of my future posts.

DW at last has an OM = DWOM. She is very selective. If a song does not enthuse her into busting a few moves, it will most likely not make the cut. Though I can tell you that she is big on hip-hop. Anyway, the latest DWOM is this song by Kanye West called -- "Love Lock Down". I hope you enjoy it too!

A massive snow storm blasted across the USA last week. Consequently, our area (New Jersey) also got a decent bashing and experienced temperatures as low as -18C. My supervisor was kind enough to allow me to work from home (WFH) during this time and I managed to take a picture of the scene outside our home. Thought I'd share it with you (see below). I heard today that another one is heading our way in the coming days. The only positive that I can see from this whole experience is that we are now assured a "White Christmas" (back in India, I always wondered what it meant, LOL!).

It is Christmas -- the most wonderful time of the  year!! We set up our Christmas tree over the weekend and are hosting a dinner get-together with the usual suspects on Christmas Eve (tomorrow). I plan to be on a vacation starting tomorrow until Sunday, Jan 4. I promise to be "click-happy" again and give you all a detailed update of our celebrations (may be a Live-Christmas blog).

A few weeks ago, DF Hemang (Thank you for the feedback!) pointed out to me that I use a large amount of abbreviations in my blog. He suggested that I introduce a "glossary of terms" in order to accommodate newer readers. I agree. I am currently working on it and it should be up in a few days.

Alrighty all, it is now time to sign out. I wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope you all spend a wonderful time in the warmth and love of your family and friends!