Spaghetti Junction

No Country For Old Men

2007-11-19T15:44:00.000-05:00

After a long and eager wait, I finally caught No Country For Old Men at the movies yesterday. I liked Fargo, loved Blood Simple, but this one is something else. The ending might leave you a little dazed/unsettled/perplexed/shortchanged/ etc. depending on your predilections and the Southern drawl might make it difficult to take in everything the first time, but I have got only two words for you, Watch It. As a violent thriller, this is a movie that will not rank very far behind The Silence of the Lambs.

Back from my holiday

2007-09-08T19:48:00.000-05:00

Actually, I was back about 3 weeks back but couldn't find the time to post an account of my travels. Well, I don't have time even now! However, I shall post a few pictures of my trip so that you blokes know what you missed out on. I will try and make each post about a specific part of the trip and also write out a few lines where relevant.

My Itinerary went something like this:
Day 1 - Day 4 London
Day 5 - Day 6 Munich
Day 7 - Hohenschwangau
Day 8 - Day 9 Berlin
Day 10 - Trier & Bernkastel Kues
Day 11 - 13 Amsterdam

I flew from London to Munich but all the other journeys were in my spanking new car. More about the car later. I tried finding some online tool where I can draw out my Itinerary on a map but failed. If any of you know of such a map do let me know.

PS: Did I tell you? I had an awesome time on the trip. More later.

Added Later: A sudden idea, a few minutes on google maps, then MS Paint & finally powerpoint and Voila! a little tacky but effective, no?

It seems a little crazy on the map. The Trier & Bernkastel-Kues trip was on a sudden whim and hence all the criss-cross lines. Originally, we are scheduled to drive straight to Amsterdam from Berlin.

I remember everything....

2007-07-08T22:16:00.001-05:00

I love the Bourne movies, The Bourne Supremacy in particular. And Bourne is back with The Bourne Ultimatum on the 3rd of August in the US. The trailer looks great (don't they all you might say..) and I am rubbing my hands with glee. If you haven't watched the trailer yet, here goes....

http://www.thebourneultimatum.com/
(I had to remove the in-line video I had earlier because the damn thing would run as soon as the the page loaded)

Added later: There is an even an Online game, from google, to promote the film. It starts July 16th. Go Play

Wimbledon Mens final

2007-07-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

I remember all those five set tennis matches between Sampras-Agassi, Sampras-Ivanisevic, Agassi-Ivanisevic at Wimbledon and the other majors. And if anything has been lacking in Roger Federer's career so far has been the fact that seldom has been pushed into a corner and had to battle it out.

As I wait for the wimbledon final to start, I am hoping today will be the day.

Post match update: What a game! My wish came true and how! Hope we get to see a few more such Federer vs. Nadal finals.

More evidence...

2007-07-05T09:17:00.000-05:00

of the last great communist conspiracy. Super pretty Ana Ivanovic from serbia who won todays quarterfinal against also super pretty Nicole Vaidisova. Actually, Ivanovic has been around for a while but that's no excuse not to put her pretty face up on my blog, is it?

FSJ..

2007-05-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

or Fake Steve Jobs is definitely one of the funniest bloggers I have come across in a while, particularly if you are keen follower of happenings in the valley. And the best thing, no one knows who the real FSJ is!

Beer Banter

2007-04-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night last week, in a bar with a friend...

Waiter (to friend): Can I get you another beer, sir? Another 'Flying dog in-heat wheat' maybe?
Friend: Hhmm no. Maybe I will try something domestic
Waiter: How about a Stella, Budweiser or.....
Me: (As always, I have to correct him) err.. Stella is not exactly a domestic beer..
Waiter: Sir....If you were in Belgium it would be a domestic beer, but here maybe it is not...

Rock/Metal & Me

2007-03-25T19:21:00.000-05:00

I started listening to Rock & Metal when I was a teenager. Since then I have always been asked as to why I listen to Metal (in particular) and how I can endure the 'noise' etc. My answer always was that I listened to it because I liked it. Now research has revealed that there was a much deeper reason behind my liking for Metal. It was because Metal was a comfort for the bright child in me. Apparently, being a Metalhead was my way of coping with the pressure of being smarter than all the boneheads around me. The things us smart people have to do......

Cricket

2007-03-24T03:19:00.000-05:00

I decided I won't be just another cricket crazy Indian fan after the 1996 world cup semifinal in Calcutta. That day Srilanka scored 254, a modest total on a good wicket, after star batsman Jayasurya was caught on the boundary playing a lazy shot. In reply, India collapsed for less than 200. Oh wait...that was what happened today, world cup 2007, wasn't it?

I remember thinking that day, that the Indian team will never dominate the game unless structural changes happen in domestic cricket. And I think that is true even today. However, at the end of the day, it is just a game of cricket we have lost! Structural changes or not, it is just a fucking game.

The better team most often wins. And the Indian team would not need reminding that they were not the better team. They tried and failed, like all of us have at one point or another in our lives. But in our cricket crazy country, I guess we can fail but our cricket team cannot.

Are you listening?

2007-03-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

Finally...there is some new material from one of my most favorite vocalists, Dolores O'Riordon of the Cranberries. Though the band is still on their hiatus, they have been at it since 2003, Dolores is coming out with a solo album called 'Are you Listening' in May. The first video from the album called 'Ordinary Day' surfaced on the Tube yesterday. Enjoy!

PS: I will comment on the video later, when I have had a chance to listen to it a few times. Right now I am just looking forward to listening to her awesome vocals on a brand new song.

Nooyi & Nandan

2007-03-20T13:46:00.000-05:00

I found this fascinating interview of Indra Nooyi by Nandan Nilekani on the Economic Times. I had come across this last month, but only found time to read through it now.

Having been associated with the beverage industry for more than 2 years now, I found Indra Nooyi's story of how Pepsico transformed itself very interesting. You can also find some very interesting tidbits about Nooyi's personal life in the interview.

However, the interview is quite long and the terrible format of the interview on the Economic Times website doesn't help. Things might be easier if you hit print and then read the print preview pages.

Thanks to Sambhar Mafia where I found this interview.

Added later: Forgot to mention that Nooyi says she only sleeps for 4 hours a day. And here I am, complaining that I can manage only 6!

BANNED

2007-03-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

all talk about football in general and Arsenal in particular, for the next 200 years. Applies to conversations in person, on the phone, chat and emails. And did I mention my dreams (more appropriately nightmares)?

It hurts....

Yatha Shishya Thatha Guru

2007-02-27T17:32:00.000-05:00

Saw Ekalavya over the weekend and felt exactly what I had felt after seeing Black, that when a filmmaker goes in trying to make a great great movie, he might end up making a decent movie but the effort shows on screen. So many scenes look contrived and you end up almost feeling sorry for how hard the dude tried.

And then I remembered that Sanjay Leela Bhansali(Black) was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's (Ekalavya) assistant.

Music: Delhi Heights

2007-02-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

I hate punjabi music. Ok, make that noisy balle balle stuff thats on TV in India all the time. I remember that all through college it was impossible to escape the Punjabisation of India in general and Bhangra music in particular. Only one thing could have saved us, Daler Mehndi should have been shot or at the very least jailed, immediately after Bolo Tara Ra Ra. If that had happened the Bhupis and the Mikas wouldn't have dared to come out and inflict their music upon us. Someone in the punjab police, who was surely as frustrated with balle balle as I am, made a valiant attempt to frame Daler in an Immigration scandal. Alas, the frameup didn't work and even if it did it would have been a case of too little too late

The saving grace for punjabi music is Rabbi 'Bulla ki Jana' Shergill who has composed the music for 'Delhi Heights'. If you haven't already come across the music on TV listen to it here. In particular I liked the title track 'Dilli' as well as 'Tere Bin' & 'Kitni Der Tak'. Like in 'Bulla Ki Jana' the fusion of Indian/punjabi/sufi music with rock elements in this album is really neat. A rediff article rightly points out that some of the riffs seem inspired by popular western music (Deep Purple and Mark Knopfler to name a few) but I couldn't care less because the music is so fresh. If, only if, Rabbi had been born before Daler.......

Economist Screensaver

2007-02-19T16:14:00.000-05:00

The economist has come out with a screensaver with most of the key info you would need about 66 of the most important economies in the world. Its terrifc and best of all is absolutely free. You just need to complete a registration form. Download the screensaver here.

A midday snooze...

2007-02-13T16:09:00.000-05:00

... is very healthy according to a recent study done in Greece.

People who take at least three daytime naps a week lasting 30 minutes or longer cut their risk of dying from a heart attack by 37 percent, according to a study by a team of U.S. and Greek researchers.

Read the full article here. As people who know me well would vouch, I am nothing if not a visionary and almost always enjoy my afternoon siesta every saturday and sunday. Now I only need to figure how to take one more nap during a weekday. Any Ideas?

Am I in the wrong job? - Eepybird.com

2007-02-07T20:57:00.000-05:00

If you are a tube freak you might come across these guys already. I came across these guys from eepybird.com today. These guys do shows all over the world, have been written about by the WSJ and BW and have appeared on the The Letterman Show.

The first video on their website drew more than 1,000 hits an hour(even though they told only one person about it) & the video of experiment #137 drew 7.5 million hits. Today I saw them do expereiment #214. And what do they do? drop mentos into diet coke bottles!

Thats what they do for a living. Drop frigging mentos into frigging diet coke bottles! If you are a latecomer like me, dropping mentos into some sodas (particularly diet coke) makes the soda splash out like a fountain.

Using this, the guys perform spectacular fountain experiments and even choreograph them to music. The fountains are very impressive. Below is one of their more popular videos on the tube.

Super Bowl Ads 2007

2007-02-07T17:38:00.001-05:00

I have always held that american ads seriously lack humour. For all their hype the superbowl ads this year did nothing to change my impression.

The saving grace were a few ads from Budlight. Expectedly they topped all the ad rankings including the one by TIVO (based on actual viewership I think). Here is one of them.

Wandering Thoughts

2007-01-30T00:19:00.000-05:00

......Cause in my head there’s a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts
to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they’re far more suited than here.....

'Where Soul meets Body' - Death Cab for Cutie

Movie: Bin-Jip

2007-01-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

On sunday night, quite by accident, I watched a Korean movie called 3-Iron. And I can't stop talking about it! The original is called Bin-Jip (literally meaning Empty Houses). The english title refers to a Golf club which plays a small part in the movie.

The movie is about a drifter, a person who breaks into peoples home eats, sleeps and leaves without stealing anything. He runs into this woman with an abusive husband and they run away. What happens then forms the crux of the movie.

I saw only 2/3rd's of the movie, and in all of it the couple do not exchange a single word. Yet, their silence speaks more than all the words in most of our movies. The movie is subtitled but you hardly need them to understand the movie. The actors are very good as well. Finally, one may have differing view points on the way the movie ends etc. but what I am sure everyone will agree on is the treatment of the film. Its so simple yet so different from what you normally see. It's just brilliant.

I have heard a lot about the South Korean movie industry being one of the best. Going by this movie, I can't wait to see more korean movies. Thank god for Netflix & Blockbuster.

PS: For more about the movie, this is the IMDB link and this is the Rotten Tomatoes link

...Miss Sharapova leads Miss Williams by 0 sets to -1

2007-01-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

I had high hopes for the Women's final at the Australian Open. With Sharapova & Vaidisova (who I wrote about here) in the final, It could have been the sexiest tennis final since Sabatini & Graf. And maybe a decent tennis match too. Instead we now have to suffer the insufferable, a grunting, panting Serena Williams.

I think Women's Tennis should take a leaf out of Golf and introduce a handicap system for Serena. Maybe she should be made to start all games with a set deficit. What say?

Added later: Before you guys label me rasict, let me say in my defence that I can't stand Amelie Mauresmo either!

Added even later: I have nothing against women of any colour. It is just that I can't handle the fashion sense of Miss Williams, the blinding green outfit, the oversized earrings, outlandish hair and of course the grunting.

The Ice Squad

2007-01-24T16:36:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday night I was at a Ice Hockey game in Atlanta between the Atlanta Thrashers and the Montreal Canadiens. The game was expected to be a good one, played as it was between two of the better teams this season, but fizzled out into a one-sided contest with the Canadiens winning 4-1. However the game was much more exciting compared to your average baseball game and maybe even American football because there were far fewer interruptions.

But what I liked best were the Ice Squad. These are the women who come out skating during the breaks to clean up the arena. You have to give it to the Americans for introducing pretty women everywhere possible in any sport. The squad were so hot the ice was literally melting beneath them. My mate from work Rob had this to say about them, "they are hot, they practically wear nothing and they clean. they are every man's dream!". Agree with you One Hundred percent buddy

PS: I did some digging up and found pictures of the squad on the Thrashers site. But I think the pictures were taken in Siberia or something because they are wearing a lot more clothes than they were on the Ice hockey Arena!

Sweetest weekend ever....

2007-01-21T20:39:00.000-05:00

...Has to be! Football at this level is what you live and die for. Coming back from 0-1 down to beat the league leaders 2-1. 12 points behind in fourth place and beating the leaders in both encounters of the season. I think am going to be high for a week!

PS: If you still don't know what I am talking about read this.

Funny

2007-01-12T14:20:00.000-05:00

Found at the end of the credits of Hot Shots Part 1,
"if you had left when the credits began you would have been home by now!"

The second one I had come across a while back and forgotten.I saw it today when I was browsing through Confused's blog.

The day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn’t, a female news anchor in michigan apparently turned to the weatherman and asked, “So Bob, where’s that 8 inches you promised me last night?”

Did you know about the american ways of love?

2006-11-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

If you don't... listen to this. An Indian guy in the US caught cheating on the radio. Absolutely hilarious.

Even if you have listened to this already I am sure you will agree this is worth hearing several times over. It's the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.

Link through Vantage Point.

Lesson for the day

2006-10-19T23:57:00.000-05:00

Wash them, Dry them, but your cards will still work. Atleast my Debit card does as I was able to buy coffee using it at work. If my debit card works I assume my credit cards will work too. But then, as they say, assumption is the mother of all......

Clean Money

2006-10-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

My absentmindedness, rather carelessness, reached absurd heights today.

I left my wallet with all my credit/debit cards, money, bills and so on in my trousers while washing them. No one can say I have dirty money anymore because all of it is washed, dried and squeaky clean! I guess I must be thankful that all the paper bills etc. in my wallet didn't catch fire in the dryer. After being under high temperatures in the dryer I doubt if any of my cards will work, which means a lot of telephone calls to the banks etc. trying to order replacements and shelling out fees! This most definitely is not my week I must say...

Years ago when I was still in college, I carried around a learner's license for my bike for a long time because I was too lazy to apply for a permanent one. In those days the learner's permit was an A4 sized piece of paper on which the RTO folks would put a renewal seal every 6 months and after about 3 years there was virtually no space to put another seal. One day I put my trousers to wash with the license still in my back pocket. As it happens with these things, my license was almost immediately up for renewal. Partly because I was busy and mostly because I couldn't face the RTO folks with that washed, smudged piece of paper, I sent Lover Boy to collect it back for me. The smart alec at the RTO told Lover Boy, "Nim friend ge heLi license clean aagi itkoLodhu oLLedhu aadre thoLyodella bekilla antha!" Translation: "Tell your friend that keeping the license clean is a good thing but he doesn't need to wash the license for that"!!

Moscow Chill

2006-10-17T13:52:00.000-05:00

Just when you think life can't get any worse....

The way Arsenal have played in the past few weeks has been a real reason to smile. Not anymore. A 1-0 defeat to CSKA Moscow, our first defeat in the Champions league since February 2005 (barring the pain of paris of course). The pitch was poor but so was almost everyone in the team.

Arsenal are a real confidence team and our perfomance in Europe has been the source of confidence for the gunners all through 2006. Only hope this doesn't affect us back in the premiership. Finger's crossed...

'Traditional' Address System

2006-10-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

Last century, 1996 to be precise, myself and The ladies man worked at a market research agency called Mode for 3-4 months. We would 'put' half a litre of petrol (for less than 10 rupees) in his Hero puch and go hunting for homes of people we were supposed to interview. Even with the Ladies man's excellent sense of direction and knowledge of Bangalore's bylanes finding the right addresses was a nightmare. House numbers would jump by hundreds without warning and streets would end in dead ends just before we found the number we were looking for! I was sure that a more chaotic address system woudn't exist anywhere.

Well I may have been wrong. A few weeks back my company had to send an invoice to a client in San Jose, Costa Rica. So my teammate wrote to the client for their office address. The client replied with the address in Spanish. It read, Frente a edificio Siemmens, La Uruca (edificio de marmol beige). San José - Costa Rica.

My resourceful teammate googled for the translation and came up with this, In front of Siemmens building, The Uruca (beige marble building). San Jose - Costa Rica

I surmised that, for some reason, she had given us directions instead of the address though I could not fathom why she would do that. So I called her to clarify. Imagine my surprise when the client said that it indeed was their address! She explained that was how addresses were in Costa Rica and that you would find addresses like next to the pink house or in front of the mango tree and so on! She didn't say what would happen when the neighbour painted his house red or if the mango tree died. Boy, I sure would hate to be a postman in Costa Rica!

Added later: A google search reveals that the Costa Rican postal department is providing some relief to their postmen through their revamp of Costa Rica's 'traditional' address system

Added even later: Found a blogger who lives in Costa Rica with the following address. 500 meters West of the Municipality of San Pablo, 50 Meters North, House Number 5, with Brown Fence, San Pablo de Heredia, Costa Rica

As a bonus check out the photos of awesomely sexy Costa Rican women the dude has on his blog . Costa Rica here I come...

Pictureblog: The Virgin Music Festival

2006-10-08T19:20:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago a colleague at work told me about the Virgin Music Festival at Baltimore scheduled for the 23rd of last month. I checked out the lineup online which included, among others,

The Raconteurs
The Killers
Keane (Who finally didn't turn up because of, what else, drug problems)
The Who
and above all RHCP

and needless to say I was hooked!

So Ze Rock (Yes, he still insists on being called that!) flew down to Atlanta on the thursday before. I left work at around 4pm on Friday. RM took off from work earlier than me. By the time we finished lunch, packed, rented a car it was close to 6pm. We started on the 700 mile drive to Baltimore. Expectedly we got caught up in the infamous Atlanta weekend traffic and with the mandatory breaks it was close to 5AM on saturday morning when we finally reached our motel. Mr.B had already come in from NY the previous night. We caught a few quick hours of shut-eye and were at the venue around 12PM.

The festival was at the spacious Pimlico race course grounds in Baltimore. There was one grand stage where the all big guns were playing and two smaller ones. We were pretty excited but I thought getting a little more excitement in before we start off wouldn't do us any harm. So we went to the bar and gulped down a round of tequilas. We then scouted for a good place, spread the bedsheets that RM had thoughtfully brought, as close to the mainstage as we could, and settled down. We were right behing a couple of excited teenagers who were trying to peddle some dope. And they tried selling some of it to Ze Rock!

A view of the main stage from where we were

Two really hot women who were settled right behind us. Oh and that's the four of us in front!

Wonder why the teenagers thought Ze Rock would be interested in their dope?

It was pretty different from the handful of concerts I have been to in India. A lot of the people here were not bothered about the music and were just spread out on the grass and having a good time. But still it was quite mellow compared to the usual stories you hear of these shows - girls weren't fainting and being passed out over people's heads and unfortunately they weren't girls flashing either!

Wolf mother were playing when we came in and they were followed by The Raconteurs and later Gnarls Barkley (dressed like characters from Chariots of Fire). The four of us made quite a few trips to the bar in between. The Killers came on later in the evening as it was getting a little dark. They were pretty good and managed to get quite a few of the sleepers up & jumping to their music.

The Who were the penultimate act for the evening and they were surprisingly good for their age. They played with gusto and put on a great show. In fact their performance was better then even the Peppers who followed them. Part of it could be because the peppers played a lot of their relatively lesser known numbers. But it still was fantastic to hear one of my most favourite acts live. The show finished with a very energetic perfomance of 'Give it Away' by the Peppers.

A general idea of what was happening around

The Who on stage. That's Pete Townshend on the screens

Now you can see both Townshend and Roger Daltrey on stage

The Peppers on stage. Thats John Frusciante on the screen

We woke up the next day, had lunch at an Indian place in Baltimore and dropped Mr. B off to catch his bus. The drive back was pretty fun and Ze Rock and myself were reminscing about all the fun trips we had back in India. The entire trip was great fun and inspite of the drive really relaxing. It was very much the kind of getaway that I was talking about here. The only flipside was the amount of money I blew. Well... good times don't come cheap, do they?

Just Watch

2006-10-01T10:29:00.000-05:00

Unbelievable! Don't know what else to say. Just watch it. Again and again.

"Special" Appearance

2006-09-28T21:23:00.000-05:00

I always thought Abhishek Bachchan was one of the better and more sensible actors around. And since the Senior bachchan was always my favourite actor it was natural that I liked Abhishek too.

But not anymore! not after he is playing a die hard Chelsea (yes the russian robots who play in english premier league) fan in his next movie Jhoom! This article says John Terry and Frank Lampard are making an appearance and according to the Guardian the self titled "Special One" is making, what else, a special appearance too! Tch. Tch.

PS: If Shah Rukh Khan were to appear in a movie as a football fan who would he support?

West Ham United or Fulham or the scum from Tottenham?

A Decade of Wenger

2006-09-28T07:27:00.000-05:00

It is 10 years to the day the professor took charge of Arsenal. There are lots of coaches who have transformed a team and brought trophies but there are few who can claim to have done that and transformed the club and the league for the better in the process. Thanks for everything Arsene.

PS: Go here for lots of articles on his achievements and tributes from stars, including a very generous tribute from Roy Keane.

One Nil to the Arsenal.............

2006-09-17T16:51:00.000-05:00

sweet f*$%in god, am I drunk or what?

away at Old trafford
not having beaten them in the premiership since we won the title at OT in 2002...
first 3 games of the season and we have just 2 points, from 2 draws and one loss
our worst start to the season in 10+ years...
manure coming in to the game having won all 4 games and leading the premiership pack
their best start to the season in a while...
lose and we are 13 points behind them with just 4 games down in the season...
we have lost henry and persie to injury midweek
and they have got rooney coming in after missing 3 premiership games...

and we win! we fuckin win 1-0. One nil to the Arsenal.........

it's unbelievable! it's what you watch all the football for. Right now, you don't care if you lose all your games from hereon. It's what makes life worth living, isn't it?

Pictureblog: Grand Teton & Yellowstone

2006-09-10T18:46:00.000-05:00

Last weekend (the labour day weekend) I was in Idaho/Wyoming visiting the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National parks in the rockies. I flew from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, Utah. From there it was a three hour drive to Pocatello, Idaho where I joined three of my friends.

We left early in the morning on a three hour drive through scenic roads on our way to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. We reached Jenny lake campgrounds at around 9:30 and started looking for campsites. We found one of the last few camping spots in the camp ground and started pitching our tents. Having having stayed out on a few treks/hikes in India, pitching tents in the wild or staying at Bhatr Mane's (the priest's house) I must this say was a very different experience. The camp in the 'wilderness' had neatly marked out campsites with a table, a fire grill and space to park one car! Not to mention the toilets which could be found every few campsites!

Once we were done pitching our tents we walked to Jenny Lake where a ferry would take us across the lake to the trailhead.

Jenny Lake and the ferries

Getting down from the ferry we began hiking up the trail. Again this was a US style neatly laid trail including signposts with directions and distances every now and then. The first few miles were crowded and felt a bit like walking up the mountains in a queue. Back in Atlanta, in my apartment complex, sometimes I spend days before I run into someone who lives in the same complex and talk to them. In contrast, this outing in the wild had dozens of people who were hiking with us and were quite willing to say hello and start a conversation. And this being a long weekend there were more people then there would have been usually.

Our destination was lake Solitude which was 7.2 miles away and an elevation gain of 2500 feet. You can see many small streams of water flowing down the mountains all along the hike. The most significant of this was Hidden Falls. Unfortunately this was barricaded and you couldn't take a dip in the water India style.

Hidden Falls, One of the better Water falls along the trail

The trail was quite steep until we reached Inspiration Point. Inspiration point was a mile into the hike and a major attraction in the area. Inspiration point overlooked Jenny lake and offered a breathtaking view. Thankfully many hikers came only to see Inspiration point and hence the trail become a little less congested beyond here. But still there were too many people for my liking and every few minutes you had to stop and move out of the way to let people pass.

Inspiration Point

Another view from Inspiration Point. You can see the water leading to Hidden Falls among the trees

From Inspiration Point, it took us almost about 3 hours to walk upto Lake Solitude. For large parts the trail was flat. But it was quite hot and due to the elevation we were feeling the sun a bit more. Along the route we had to pass/walk around several mountains (or peaks?) .

The view along the trail. You can also see some of my fellow hikers ahead

About 2.7 miles before Lake solitude there is a fork in the trail and the hike becomes quite steep. The trail also becomes a little more rugged (probably due to less use) and for all my 'this trail is too easy' bravado earlier, my totally unfit body started feeling the strain. From here I was stopping every 15-20 mins until we finally reached Lake solitude about 3 hours after we began the hike.

A view of the Grand Teton mountains around Lake Solitude

We finally reached Lake Solitude just around the time my legs were ready to fold up and all my Powerade supplies were nearly over! Compared to Jenny lake, Lake Solitude is quite small. It's importance probably arises due to the fact that it is a good turn back point for a day long hike and gives the hiker a sense of having reached somewhere. Nevertheless it is very serene and offers a nice view of the Grand Teton Mountains.

We were there for about 45 mins. Sandwiches for lunch and a power nap followed. One of my fellow hikers, mike, entertained us with his eerie snoring while lying down on the rocks under the hot sun! Though the Sun was hot the water was quite cold and even the idea of a dip froze me up. But there were several Americans around who dived into the frigid waters.

Finally around 3:30 we started back for the Trail head. The last ferry across the lake back to the campground was at 6:00 and if we missed it we faced an extra two miles of hiking.

Small but Serene, Lake Solitude

Even at the start of our return we knew it was a big ask to make the 7.2 mile walk back in 2.5 hours. My legs were already hurting from the climb up and the initial 2.7 mile hike down is quite strenous. I kept twisting my ankles while trying stop myself from running down too fast. By the time we reached the aforementioned fork, 2.7 miles down from Lake Solitude, We had less than 1.5 hours and walking back to the ferry by 6 appeared increasingly tough. But the prospect of having to hike an extra 2 miles motivated us. We walked pretty much non-stop and had to literally run for the last half mile and made the ferry at about 6:15 PM. Boy! were we glad to make the ferry!

After that it was back to the campsite. We cooked some good old maggie for dinner, warmed ourselves around the fire for a while and put our tired bodies to sleep in our tents at about 9PM. The temperatures dropped close to freezing in the night and I had to go out to the car to get warm reinforcements. All through the night you could hear people walking out of their tents and car doors opening, presumably for the same reason.

The next day we woke up quite early, folded our tents and started towards yellowstone. We had a nice breakfast at a scenic restaurant on the way. Our destination was The Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park. We stopped at a few places along the scenic Yellow stone river.

Yellow Stone River

Small water fall enroute to The Old Faithful

Our drive was further slowed down because the roads were crowded. Traffic slows up every now & then and people stream out of their cars to catch a glimpse of the wildlife on the sides. By wildlife I mean Moose, Bison and the occasional Elk/Deer. I even saw squirrels being counted as wild life on one of the park information boards!

While there were a lot of people in the Grand Tetons, it was surprising that we hardly encountered any Desis. Obviously the Tetons do not qualify as a Patel Point (Tch. Tch. I am afraid writing about the Tetons on my blog, with its millions of Indian readers, will make it one!). However, Yellowstone and The Old Faithful in particular, is quite the Patel Point. For those not familiar with the area, there are a lot hot natural springs in this park. The Old Faithful is one of the bigger, more regular (though not the biggest or the most regular) and most popular geyser among these. It shoots up about 17 times on an average day. You can watch a live webcam image updated every 30 seconds here and a recorded video of it here

The Old Faithful

From there we headed back to base in Pocatello, Idaho where my friend lives. I slept there for the night there before starting on my long and eventful journey (including one plane which refused to take off and a change of airline) back to ATL.

Overall, I needed the break and the mountains were definitely rejuvenating....only my legs were complaining, even two days after I was back!

Perfect Vacations

2006-09-05T21:58:00.000-05:00

I am just back from my 5 day break in the rockies. The mountains were rejuvenating. It was good. All vacations are good. But some are just perfect. and it's been a while since I have had one of them.

The last one was more than a year ago back. I remember the best ones - Goa, Karwar, Pondicherry, then Chennai-Pondicherry, Goa again, then Karwar again. And of course that eventful one to Dandeli where we had the most horrible yet the luckiest accident ever. But that story is for another day.

No rules. Big Ideas but little planning. All we did was drive, eat, drink, make fun of each other, argue, stay awake the whole night, sleep through the morning in seedy hotels, drink, discuss the world's problems and then come up with solutions for them, dream about vacations with women we liked instead of each other, drive more, drink again - you get the idea. At the end you think you didn't do anything worthwhile. But looking back now they were totally worth it. Those were the best vacations of my life.

Go Snakes!

2006-09-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to catch Snakes On a Plane last sunday. Though I wanted to write about the movie right then the pressure of wrapping up my work before my 5 day break kept me from doing it till now.

**Spoiler Warning**

And here is the verdict, It's not just so bad it's good, its so bad its awesome! It has some real cult moments - the snake dropping down on the naked woman in the loo and taking a bite out of her boob (priceless), another opting for man's you know what when he is taking a leak (I guess this snake was female unlike the first one), yet another dipping it fangs into a fat dudes ass and a few more. And they even have a solid logical reason for the snakes behaviour, they are sprayed with pheromones which makes them sexually aggressive! Classic!

The cast and characters are along expected lines for a movie like this but with some interesting additions like the rapper dude and his flunkies. Despite being probably the most hyped movie in recent times, SOAP totally delivers on its promise. It has its audience heckling, whistling, clapping and totally rooting for the snakes! The theatre was in raptures (the theatre had all of 20-25 people in it which meant only connoisseurs like me were watching) by the time Samuel Jackson delivers his cult line towards the end.

I can't wait for this to be remade in Hindi. Cast Sunny deol in Samuel Jackson's role, Mallika sherawat as the sexy airhostess, throw in a couple of songs, a couple of fights between frustrated passengers and call it Zehreela Udaan or, true to the original, Hawai Jahaz mein Saanph (or whatever the plural of saanph is) and you have a classic on your hands!

Update: R tells me that it should be Zehreeli Udaan not Zehreela and it's Saanp not Saanph. Points noted. Typical south indian inability to comprehend hindi and its rather complex gender asssignments. However even R didn't know the plural of saanp. What about all the other millions who read my blog? Do any of you know? or is it one of those words that don't have a plural?

D-Day Drama

2006-09-01T16:46:00.000-05:00

I was traveling pretty much the entire day yesterday on my way to Utah and hence caught up with the action only after it had all ended. and thankfully I feel much better now than I was feeling day before

Gallas is truly world class and Baptista is an interesting buy, particularly because he can play both as an attacking midfielder and a striker. If he can recreate his Seville form of 2004-05 he will be a priceless addition. We also bought Denilson from Brazil who is their U19 captain and a defensive midfielder. Reyes and Cashley Cole out along with the disaster that was pascal cygan. Some day it must have been for DD and AW.Read an indepth analysis of the transfers here.

Interesting to note the impact on Chelsea of Gallas leaving on the last day. With Huth also gone they have no suitable alternative if one of terry or carvalho get injured. They have boulahrouz but I am sure Mourinho would have preferred gallas as cover anyday. They let in a lot of goals last season even with Gallas so it is interesting to see what this does to them. Also while there is no doubt that Cole is class he thrived at Arsenal because he, pires and henry almost had a telepathic understanding. I doubt if he will click so well with the other Cole at Chelsea.

Coming back to Arsenal, the signings will ensure that we have some top class alternatives on the bench in most matches, something that we lacked all through last season. Central defence, again a problem last season, looks top class. Hopefully the signings will lift the whole team.

PS: Moral of the story? Arsene knows.

Hopefully I will proved wrong again...

2006-08-30T14:58:00.000-05:00

and we will do unexpectedly well like last season. But just 24 hours to go for the close of the transfer window and there is still no news. Reyes and Cole still here with no talk of replacements. And no sign of the much needed defensive midfielder or the central defender.

As things stand, we are going to be as inexperienced as last season (the departures of Pires, Bergkamp and Campbell more or less balancing the maturing of Fabregas etc.)and have an unhappy dressing room on top (courtesy Cole and Reyes). Add our worst start in years and I am all jittery.Whats on your mind Arsene?

Insanity

2006-08-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

I've got a bad disease
But from my brain is where I bleed.
Insanity it seems
Has got me by my soul to squeeze.

Well all the love from thee
With all the dying trees I scream.
The angels in my dreams (yeah)
Have turned to demons of greed that's mean.
.
.
.
.
Where I go I just don't know
I might end up somewhere in Mexico.
When I find my piece of mind
I'm gonna keep you for the end of time.

Soul to Squeeze by RHCP

Its not F in funny anymore!

2006-08-26T13:35:00.000-05:00

No, it is not. It was funny for a while betting on the number of corners we would get or the number of passes we make in front of goal. But drawing with Aston Villa and losing to Manc, yeah Manchester fucking city who hadn't won a game since february, is depressing. I know its too soon after the game for me to react rationally, I know I have had one beer too many for 2:30 in the afternoon but surely some of the blame for this has to fall on Arsene Wenger? I am grateful for all things he has done for the club but you would have to be blind not to notice that we need to work on our corners and more importantly shoot when we are in front of goal! He is paid all those millions to notice precisely those things isn't it?

Finally

2006-08-19T08:39:00.002-05:00

real football is back. GO GUNNERS!

Update:and...the first points of the season dropped! Henry and a few others were rusty. But some of last seasons issues were still evident - a zillion corners wasted and over elaboration in front of goal. Hopefully things will get better as the players get more match practice.

The best movie title ever

2006-08-18T00:08:00.000-05:00

Think. And come back to me with your choice for the best title. I bet you can't beat my choice. It's F in brilliant. I tried but I couldn't describe it better than Josh Friedman, a hollywood screenwriter. So i quote him,

Holy shit, I'm thinking. It's a title. It's a concept. It's a poster and a logline and whatever else you need it to be. It's perfect. Perfect. It's the Everlasting Gobstopper of movie titles.

Snakes on a plane. Has to be Mutha F ing Snakes on a Mutha F in Plane! You can't beat that! That's the title of New Line Cinema's latest movie. It was originally one of New Line Cinema's smaller releases this summer. Now it is quite the rage in the US ahead of its release tomorrow. Unprecedent interest on the internet has led to this movie being billed as one of the most anticipated movies in recent times. The movie was intially rated PG-13. But scared that the movie would not match the huge expectations, the producers shot a few more days of blood curdling scenes to move the movie into an R rating.

Much of the internet interest was a result of this quite funny blog post by Josh Friedman who was initially approached to write the screenplay. Guess why he didn't do the movie eventually? Because the producers were at that time contemplating a name change. I agree, I wouldn't have either. The morons did actually the change the name to Pacific Air 120 or some such. Thankfully better sense prevailed and it was back to the glorius Snakes on a Plane.

See some awesome trailers of the movie here. Here you can get Samuel L Jackson to call you or your friend and say his cult line "Enough is enough! I have had it with these mutha F ing snakes on this mutha F in plane!". Read more interesting trivia about the movie here.The movie was apparently inspired from a World War II report about the Indonesian brown tree snake jumping onto cargo planes. One snake jumping onto a cargo plane is fine but how did the writer manage to get a busload of killer snakes onto a passenger aircraft when you can't even carry toothpaste? Well..I am off to find out tomorrow!

Women on pop

2006-08-16T23:10:00.000-05:00

Now we know curd rice is what took her to the top. We just have to find out what is her secret.

For years Coke and Pepsi pursued the Male consumer successfully to drive their flagship brands and were, like most other fortune 500 companies, always led by men. Now with signals of an impending consumer shift towards seemingly more healthy beverages it is interesting to note that the Cola kings have turned towards women to lead them. In a business where it is really difficult not to be obsessed with highly profitable Colas, both women have a track record of daring to look beyond the obvious. While Minnick earned her spurs driving innovation in the Japan and Asia, Nooyi is credited with pushing many of the aquisitions which have given Pepsi such a broad portfolio. Read more about them here and here

Thanks to Kaps at Sambar Mafia for the interesting story and nice photograph.

Killer Liquids

2006-08-11T17:30:00.000-05:00

No, I am not referring to the liquid explosives that were apparently part of an al-qaeda plot to blow up planes. Here is an extract from this story in the Indian express about the Kerala government banning killer Colas in the state.

Kerala ban only covers MNC’s colas
KOCHI: The state health department today asked its personnel to prevent sale of Coke and Pepsi in the state, after the government issued formal orders banning both their production and distribution. The ban order covers only colas of the two MNCs, and none of their their other carbonated drinks. The ban also does not extend to the many other cola brands in the state.

Well, the wonders of communism never cease. Maybe now that the colas are banned I guess keralites will stop running to the gulf to escape being killed by fertilizers. Of course, it's ok for Desi colas to poison consumers with fertilizers in their sodas. Only the Americans aren't allowed to because they are evil. Anyway, read Bibek Debroy do a much better job of talking about the brilliance of the Kerala government here.

The poisonous cola story on the CSE website, with its heroic tone and the barbs at the NDA govenment, reads more like an article in the Ganashaki. Don't get me wrong. The CSE could be right and if they are I am all for banning Coke and Pepsi. But till now no other organization (governmental or otherwise) has validated CSE's results. But who cares? It's manna from heaven for the communists and they can now go after the evil MNC's armed with a new stick to beat them with.

Seasons Greetings

2006-08-09T15:41:00.000-05:00

The football season that is! After almost 3 months of boredom it's a relief to have proper football back. Ok, truth be told, the World cup made close season a little more bearable. But beyond that I am not sure. For me the World cup seems dull compared to the intensity of club football. For Arsenal, the season pretty much began yesterday with the Champions league qualifier win against Dinamo Zagreb, which brings me to the topic of Cesc Fabregas.

Amidst all the gloom of transfer window inactivity from Arsenal and the news of the imminent departures of Cole (or not!) and Reyes, Cescy Cesc is definitely a ray of sunshine. Is there a more mature young player than Cesc in world football today? Read his views on Reyes and Cole after the game yesterday.

If Cesc takes off where he started yesterday and contributes ten goals or more for the season we could have a very exciting season on our hands. I think Cesc chipping in with goals is going to be vital since for the first time in several seasons our flanks, from where we normally get a lot of our goals, will be full of fresh faces. With Pires gone and Reyes & Cole on the verge, it will pretty much be a new left wing. Hopefully Rosicky will continue the excellent service hitherto provided by them. On the right, it will probably be Helb and Eboue who are relatively new though last seasons champions league experience will be priceless for them. Lauren is due back only in a few months and I guess Ljungberg will never again be as fit and devastating as he was in 2002.

With Cesc chipping in, Henry staying and Van Persie better off because of his world cup experience hopefully the goals will start flowing. If Adebayor has improved his touch he could get a handful too. Most importantly the experience of last years champions league will have toughened our young guns. Throw in a sparkling new 60,000 seat stadium and it makes for an exciting season to look forward to. We probably need players in a few positions definitely but I will not go into details of where we need people and where we don't. You can read about all that and more from more informed gooners here and here. And I guess more than any gooner, Arsene Wenger is the best judge of whether we need more players. I remember last year I was sceptical of our kids (like lots of gooners were) and Arsene took us to the final of the Champions league. After all, Arsene Knows.

I am back...(hic)

2006-08-04T17:53:00.000-05:00

after a nightmarish week. Perhaps the worst in quite some time. Was buried under tons of work and so much of it seemed not doable early in the week.

Well all is well that ends well. By the time I left work today afternoon things were actually looking up and I am all ready for the weekend.

Now which one of you is ready to drive my drunk ass back home tonight?

It's always good in life for this

2006-07-24T00:27:00.000-05:00

How many times can you watch a movie? I must have watched The Bourne Supremacy a few dozen times in the last couple of months and never seem to tire of it. A few reasons why I think it is so cool, in no particular order;

1. Matt Damon - Matt Damon IS Jason Bourne. Damon was Bourne to be Jason (Sorry, couldn't resist that).

2. The editing - I can't find one scene which is redundant and the story moves at a blistering pace

3. The camerawork - The camera moves so quickly and never stops. Almost shaky at times, the emphasis is on style rather than on the details of the action and it adds to the air of uncertainty.

4. Photography - Some of the photography is breathtaking. All the classic shots of world cities and I remember one stunning shot of an expressway curving around the snow covered mountains when Bourne is driving from Naples to Berlin

5. The background score - Fantastic. Fits the movie perfectly. I love all the tracks. Moscow Wind Up in particular

6. Extreme Ways - The awesome song by Moby at the end along with the credits. Can't think of a better song to end the movie with.

The title of this post is a line from Extreme Ways. And like it says, it's always good in life for this because it's one fantastically cool movie.

Preethi maade figure andre thogomba anthaLe pulsar

2006-07-23T10:50:00.000-05:00

One of the many classic one liners you can find on the back of Bangalore auto rickshaws. See more gems like this on this awesome blog focused on Auto rickshaw art. Haven't seen a more focused blog in a long time! Tantrik is that you writing under a pseudonym?

From the same blog I came to know of the The Indian Auto Rickshaw Challenge. Crap! Someone organised it before I could! The Challenge takes place Aug 21-28 in Tamilnadu. Such a shame I won't be going.

Thank You, Bergy

2006-07-21T18:03:00.000-05:00

DB10's glittering career comes to an end with his Testimonial on saturday at our sparkling new stadium.

As Football Commentator puts it very nicely, "there have been players more prolific than Dennis Bergkamp, but few scorers of greater goals". Very few had such an eye for the killer pass as well.

The greatest non englishman to wear the Arsenal Red&White, he is also definitely one of the game's greats. See one of his magic goals here. If you want to see more of his brilliant goals buzz me.

Thanks Bergy, Thanks for the memories.

Update: Read a nice article from the Guardian here about the influence of DB10 on Arsenal and how what he started is now culminating in the opening of one of Europe's best stadiums. DB10 didn't just bring success to Arsenal, along with Arsene Wenger, he brought a revolution.

Update2: Here is a brilliant montage of DB10's goals and skills. Genius.

Whats all this hullabaLOO about?

2006-07-19T16:10:00.000-05:00

How about a loo that pretty much does everything itself except maybe clean your behind? The AJC reports about the Space age toilets at Five Points station on the Atlanta Marta (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transport Authority if I remember right).

These things withdraw into the wall after use for an automatic wash & dry session. The toilets welcome you in a female voice, inform you that it was disinfected after last use and even bid you goodbye when you are done. Here is the best part though - the doors automatically open after 20 minutes with a warning sign after 17!! The paper quotes the authorities as saying they will soon reduce the duration to 10 minutes. If they do, I am sure quite a few people (including some my dear friends here) will be caught with their pants down !!

The German engineered (but of course!) toilets cost 1.1 Million quid for twelve toilets but apparently still end up saving some maintence costs!! Makes you wonder how much the people who presently clean the loos earn!

The article says these things are popular in Europe but are just beginning to be used in the US. The Marta is supposedly the first transit system in the US to install them. Read this AJC article for a detailed description of the Loos and the first day experiences of users!

Warszawa

2006-07-18T22:39:00.000-05:00

All you hundreds of readers (ok ok the 4 readers) who want to know the details of my Warsaw trip last month, read this on The Other Side. This includes some of the 'interesting' things that happened when Mr.D and Mr.M were in Atlanta before flying with me to Warsaw.

Update: Do I still have to clarify who the 'Hero' is?
Update 2: Some photographs from Warsaw here.Thanks again to Mr.D. I will try to post some of them here very soon.

Road Mirage

2006-07-18T14:37:00.000-05:00

I read an excellent article on the problems plaguing the Ahmedabad - Pune stretch of the GQ project post its construction. I came to know of this article through Ajay Shah's blog and you can read his views on this here

Already beset by delays and huge cost overruns, quality issues post construction is not really good news.

Bengalooru special

2006-07-14T13:55:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post this several days back but didn't because I did not have a camera with me when I went to work. Anyway TOI beat me to it day before.

This is a photograph of 100 Feet road in Indiranagar, Bangalore where my company is located. The wonder that is the BDA built a flyover, asphalted the road leading upto it, and then promptly dug it up to put up the Shamiyana (Pandal) for the inaguration of the same flyover!

Yes, the same airport road flyover which has been under construction for more than 3 years now. For almost 2 years the flyover was in a half constructed state and Tantrik used to joke that the powers were in the process of declaring it an Archeological heritage site in India.

Update: I just read that quite appropriately even the inaguration was delayed by over two hours. And guess what the flyover seems to have created more problems than it has solved. While the traffic jams were not a surprise the flood angle is new. Bangalore never ceases to amaze you, does it?

Update 2: I removed the photograph because I didn't want to get into any copyright issues. Waiting for the denizens at TOI to give permission to use the photograph..

Rhyme time news

2006-07-14T02:14:00.000-05:00

I came across this hilarious post by Sidin who has to be one of the funniest guys in the blogosphere. read and enjoy!

More discussions on the blasts...

2006-07-12T14:09:00.000-05:00

An interesting piece by Amit Varma on the Guardian blogs . A good read in general except that he comes across like he is blaming only the BJP and the Shiv Sena for the present situation. I am not sure that was the intention though. Part of the problem is also policies and pronouncements which serve to accentuate the differences between people. I think the "secular" parties who are only interested in the minority vote are equally culpable.

Another point, While there can be no justification whatsoever for the likes of Narendra Modi, it is important that we do not turn a blind eye to divisive acts and pronouncements by others. Bigotry needs to be frowned upon regardless of the faith of the bigot. Gaurav Sabnis makes a similar point in his comments to Amit's article, some of which you can read on his blog

Dispirited

2006-07-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

We live in troubled times. Delhi, Varanasi and now Bombay. And of course countless blasts and killings in Kashmir which I am sure no one bothers about.

I am sick of hearing about the Spirit of Mumbai on every channel today. I dont think there was anything ever wrong with the Spirit of Mumbai or any other city for that matter. I am sure New Yorkers and Londoners would have similar stories about their citizens. But what is different in Mumbai and India in general is the fallout from these incidents.

The media doesnt seem to be ask the most pertinent questions. While the US hasnt seen a repeat of 9-11 in 5 years why have had 3 major blasts in 1 year? After 9-11 there was a complete overhaul of the Intelligence and Security set up in the US. While there is scepticism about the results of the overhaul the important thing is that someone was willing to admit there might have been mistakes and look at corrective measures.

Given our security and police infrastructure, I think it is a great credit to our intelligence agencies that such attacks are not more common. But I am sure there is tremendous scope for improvements in coordination among the different agences. There is definitely a case for reviewing our security infrastructure. But all we will hear about is increased alert levels in other metros, Metal detectors at Mumbai stations and so on for the next few days and then silence until the next such incident.

Case in point - baggage screening at most Indian airports. Most baggage is screened by Airline staff before checkin. How difficult is it for people to distract these untrained staff and sneak in stuff? Security checks are not very thorough. Seldom are your wallets etc. scanned. Instead you just dump them in a bowl which is never scanned. In the US security checks are done by a trained dedicated agency (TSA) and are very thorough with everything including your shoes being screened. Still a recent review of the US airport security measures said this was not good enough because the technology employed for screening is dated. If this is the case with the US what can we say about the checks in India?

While at the earliest opportunity every DGP & commisioner bemoans that his police force is understaffed how many of them have a plan to overcome the shortage? In a city like bangalore which is growing at a phenomenal rate how come we still have the same number of policemen? I am sure the revenues of the city are growing too from all the economic activity but has the security spend grown at the same rate? If it has grown at all where are we spending the money?

Why is there no replacement for Pota or Tada? Maybe these laws were draconian but should we be reforming them or doing away with them completely?

Why dont I hear Rajdeep Sardesai ask these questions instead of gloating that the whole world is seeing the blast images on CNN-IBN? Why isn't NDTV talking about these issues instead of showing slick ads saying Salaam Mumbai? It is a huge disrespect to the courageous people of Mumbai that all we can talk about is their spirit while ignoring the real issues.

The last grand communist conspiracy

2006-06-09T00:25:00.000-05:00

I have watched documentaries about several communist conspiracies on Nat Geo and History and have always been amazed by their audacity. Now I think I know what the last grand communist scheme was before the Iron curtain fell. It was a brilliant scheme to enslave all the men in the west using their two principal weaknesses - women and sports.

The choice of the sport was brilliant too - Tennis, probably the one popular sport where women are as respected as men. Also a sport where the women's tennis skills is just one of the many interesting things on show .

How else can you explain the non-stop flow of stunning women who also wield a mean racquet from the ex-communist assembly line?

Anna Kournikova
Anastasia Myskina
Maria Sharapova
Elena dementieva
Svetlana Kuznetsova
and the latest Nicole Vaidisova

Starting Trouble

2006-06-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

I have pondered about starting a blog of my own for a long time now. Why do I want a blog and who would read it? Would my blog be as funny or popular as some of the other blogs around? I decided that the best way of answering these questions would be starting the blog. Then I was looking for a name. How can I start a blog unless I have really cool name? and what about the first post - shouldnt it be something cool and funny? well... screw the questions! For better or for worse I have decided to blog and this is my first post.

Why Spaghetti Junction? Spaghetti Junction is an traffic interchange on the I-85 a few miles from where I live in Atlanta. It is one of the more impressive interchanges on the east coast and probably in the country. Spaghetti Junction Atlanta's official name is The Tom Moreland interchange. There are a few other 'Spaghetti Junctions' in the US and in Europe. Here is a picture of Spaghetti Junction in Atlanta. Impressive eh.?

As a lover of roads and freeways the name appealed to me and more importantly a google search did not throw up any blogs with this name!! Also Knowing myself my posts will be pretty twisted and confused anyway. So its an apt name don't you think?