Crumpled Nothings!

I have had one hell of a bad day so far and its only 4PM. Most of it involves my modus transporti, which is pretty much eating me alive. I have to do something about it, and I will. Its just a matter of time.

Although, I think that from here on out, things will be okay. Atleast for the next few days until Monday. I am off to go visit Chicago. I am meeting Tams and Pari there. I have been talking endlessly about my passion for NYC, that Paresh finally said: "Chill dude! Chicago's better". So he's gonna be the guide and I am going to follow his lead. For the next few days, I am going to forget all about Dallas and the rut I have to deal with here.

I will be posting pictures here soon after the trip, and if I get a chance to, I shall post some during the trip. Alright - time to sit back and wait for a voice to blare from the gate speaker that says "Ladies and Gentlemen, we shall be boarding now".

Humid day outside. Tired at work. Nothing refreshes the day better than a cold glass of fresh squeezed Sugarcane juice with ginger and lemon.

Ever wonder what images say about you. I was recently forwarded this from a co-worker and I thought it was pretty slick. Imagini lets you create widgets and that tell you about, well..You. Follow this link to read all that it has to say about me, or just view the following highlight.

The idea is that you click on a THIS LINK, and a series of 12 pictures will appear under a category. You start by clicking on the picture that is most appealing to you, and that will lead into the next category of 12 pictures. All you do is keep clicking on the pictures that follow, and you will have yourself a profile. Mine looks like THIS. Read all the tabs.

You can also upload a profile photo and upload it on the 'FaceWall'.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Labels: journal

The following video is an advertisement for the Washington State Lottery, but based on a REAL 911 call.




and then there's this one - a call made to 911 for a cheeseburger crisis. Simply hilarious.

Labels: Funny

I got lunch from Potbelly's today. This is the first time I have ever tried this place. I got a Vegetarian sandwich which was really good. But that's not what this post is about. I picked up an old-fashioned bottle of cola. I thought the taste wouldn't be much different than any other cola, since that's what I have all the time, but no no no. This had my taste buds going nuts. It's called "Cricket". It does away with the astronomical use of phosphoric acid, high-fructose corn syrup and high amount of sugar that other major Cola producers use, and substitutes it with Kola Nuts and Green Tea. Sounds odd doesn't it, but the taste is just so mm-mm-good. To quote their website,

"Lots of doctors, writers and researchers think that Cricket's ingredients may:

Reduce risk of heart disease and stroke, Reduce blood pressure, prevent cancer and arthritis, aid in weight loss, reduce cavities, gingivitis and bad breath, strengthen bones, reduce cholesterol, enhance immune system, improve digestion, improve memory, calm, relax and create a sense of well-being"

So if you have a store near where you live that sells Cricket, then try it. Its really good. Otherwise you can order it from this 3rd-party website.

If you can get your hands on it, then do so.

Labels: Random

The entire Dallas/Ft.Worth metroplex was lashed with heavy thunderstorms and sheets of slapping rain with wind gusts at over 80mph. There were a few tornado forming funnel clouds that mixed with the storm to break tree limbs, uproot trees and lift anything off the ground that was light enough to be debree.

Electricity in most counties have knocked out. There will be no power in some areas for atleast a week. Floods have actually taken over some major areas. Terrell city has been advised that tap water is absolutely not safe to drink until further notice since the filtration plant has been damaged - AN ENTIRE CITY! Traffic signals in almost 70% of the intersections in the entire DFW area have been without power, so there is a LOT of traffic commotion.

I knew the storm was approaching and wind was picking up speed. I got ready to go home before the storm hit. I was driving on the road and in just a matter of seconds, I heard really heavy droplets on the windshield. The rain was really strong and the wind didn't make it any better. This wasn't a 5 minute passing of the storm. Sheets of rain from every which direction was slapping the ground pretty damn hard. Visibility went from 100% to flat-out 0%. I couldn't see anything beyond my car's wiper blades trying to take as much as water away from the windshield as they could. A pack of cars that I was driving with pulled over at the gas station and I did the same. We couldn't drive anymore. The gas station had no lights or electricity. The clerks let all of us in. That's when I first felt the wind move me, when I opened the door to get out of the car and run into the gas station along with the others.

About 8 of us are packed indoors looking out at the storm and the wind blowing stuff off. Roads were flooded. Then we heard a loud BOOM. This was louder than the loudest noise of a thunder you have ever heard. There was a few really bright flashes that followed. We all looked and had noticed that the house about 300 feet away from the gas station was hit on the roof by a knocked off electrical pole. We saw sparks flying off, and also noticed that a small fire had started. The gas station clerk called 911 and couldn't get through because there was no signal. The second clerk tried and got through and let them know that a nearby house was on fire. While it took the fire department about 15 minutes to get there, and I don't blame them because you really couldn't see anything out there if you were driving, we watched the flames get stronger and stronger. The wind made the fire even worse and the entire top floor of this house was engulfed in flames. We could see that the fire had taken away some room on the second floor. Firefighters got there and for the longest time couldn't get the flame out. Nobody was injured though. Managed to get a few shots (everyone was taking pics!):





Following is a slideshow of a few photographs (source:nbc5i.com) taken by the general public of the storm as it passed by over the entire north texas region, including DFW. Most of the times, storms last only about 5-10 minutes. This one hung on for about 25-30 minutes and it sure was furious.

Labels: weather

I haven't been this excited about watching a professional boxing fight since, well...never. I am stoked about the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight this Saturday in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. I haven't seen this much bickery and so much hype about these two going against each other. Oscar De La Hoya is the people's favorite here, and I am rooting for him as well. I mean c'mon...this guy has fought with the best in the business. His punches are lethal. I have watched a couple of his fights and he is one hell of a fighter. He's been in 38 fights so far, out of which he has won 30 (all knock-outs) and lost 4. Simply amazing.

His opponent this Saturday is worth every cent of the big marketing machine his publishers and agents have put together. He is a tough fighter too. Floyd Mayweather is FAST. He keeps moving around the ring. He is NEVER been defeated. He has won ALL 37 fights he has been in thus far, out of which 24 were knock-outs. That's a superior record to beat.

Get this: Floyd Mayweather's father, Mayweather Sr., was Oscar De La Hoya's trainer since 2001. He declined to train his own son depending if De La Hoya can pay him more money. De La Hoya hired Freddie Roach instead, and so Mayweather Sr. is training his son for this fight.

Oscar De La Hoya has the belt. Mayweather wants it. Again, I am hoping for Oscar De la Hoya to win. HBO has been airing a series special about the fight this Saturday to build up the hype. Well. They succeeded. I am watching it.

Labels: Gossip

Work has been extremely busy, and it gets busier everyday. Some days go by where there is hardly any time spared for a breather. But no regrets though. I'd rather be busy at work than just sitting around. I do get frustrated if I can't finish a task and have to put it away for later. I like to finish what I start (atleast at work) and get over with it. I hate putting things on hold, but sometimes I have to do it.

When at home and away from work, I attend to my second job...the store. I'll have to say the same for Sayeed as well. The store is constantly on our mind. How to improvise? What should the next move be? How to generate more sales? While I think we are doing way better than we expected, a LOT more has to be done to get where we want to. We all have our goals, don't we?

One thing that's annoying Sayeed and me, and also shocking, is how many people are out there that try to benefit themselves using stolen credit cards. I won't say anymore. But we really watch for those. And we know what to look for. I will just say this. Keep your credit card to yourself. You lose it, you call your bank/cc company and cancel it. If you find it later, that's fine. Atleast it wasn't abused. And PLEASE for heaven's sake...use CASH when you're traveling abroad. Credit Card companies have no way of calling authorities on a person who lives abroad that used your card to make a purchase. There. I had to vent that out.

I think the store is doing very well though. Sayeed and I are getting smarter about handling the business everyday. Sayeed, if you're reading this, hats off to us!

I also want to thank Tams for helping out with the store. Sayeed and I recently offered her a thankless job to help us out with the store and she delivered on time. Sayeed and I would have spent a LOT of time doing what Tams did for us in about half that.

Labels: journal

I have always wanted to stay away from sites that are geared toward social networking. I didn't want to sign up with Hi5, Orkut, Hikut, Facebook and NEVER MySpace. I have met, and know, many people that have a profile on almost each and every one of these sites. If they spotted any more, they would join those too. Why? Is it an obsession to have their photographs and headshots and friend lists, with all their IM contacts and all their email addresses displayed? Some go as far as placing their CELL PHONE numbers...to the public??! I never got that.

I have received invitations from Hi5 before and Orkut before...I don't think I signed up, and even if I did, I never did go back. Especially, when Tams and Paresh got me hooked on Blogger, I decided to keep it that way. ONE blog for my thoughts and that was it. I didn't want to be stretched all over the WWW. But along came another site I had heard of, but never wanted to be a member. Once I rec'd the invite though, I was sucked in before I even knew it.

Facebook doesn't "creep up" on you..NO. It's sorta like you're the fuel and Facebook is the flame. Once you sign up, you are engulfed in fire. You have tons of emails in a single day of friends that have requested to be a part of your profile, of different "Wall-to-Wall" posts, regardless of whose wall it is. It takes all your contacts from your personal email client(s) and lets you know who has a Facebook profile, and the ones that don't can be sent an invite to join. Then, of course, when your friends send you messages and notes, you want to respond to it...you want to let them know you acknowledge what they have to say.

Sounds like I am complaining, doesn't it? I am not. I actually like Facebook sans the mass email alerts (which I disabled). I found friends or friends found me that had almost forgotten that either of us existed. It is a good way to keep in touch I guess. I have to admit I have been logging on to my profile atleast once every other day or so. Everyone that's a member, says its an addiction. I have to agree. But that's it! Blogger and Facebook. No more. (Oh yeah, I have LinkedIn profile for professional networking, but that's different).

Labels: journal