Astrovelo

Update: We learnt about the real storm when we got home around 7:30 pm. It seems that we had 95 MPH wind gusts in our area and a lot of hail. One of our neighbor’s trees came down. It was a big tree and it took down a couple more on its way down. The roads were all littered with leaves and branches. The hail litterally made holes in all the leaves of the trees. They really look sad with drooping leaves. There was so much hail that all of it didn’t melt in 3-4 hours after the storm. Thankfully, no TORNADO. The dead tree near our house was still standing. Should get it cut soon.

2:00pm Friday, May 21st: Something strange with the weather. We have big thunderstorms moving through. At 2pm, the clouds are so thick that it almost feels like sun has set already. The wind is blowing fiercely and the sky looks green. I have never seen this color. Hope it is not a Tornado.

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This appeared in one of the articles about Indian elections in NYTimes today.

For India, his swearing-in will be historic, and not just because of the extraordinary political drama of the last week. A Sikh, Mr. Singh will be India's first non-Hindu prime minister. In a milestone that says much about this vast nation's diversity and capacity for co-existence, Mrs. Gandhi, an Italian-born woman raised a Roman Catholic, is making way for a Sikh prime minister who will be sworn in by a Muslim president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Just ordered something from Amazon.com. In their customer service section, you can list everything that you ever ordered from them. Found out that my first online shopping experience at Amazon.com was in December of 1997. Wow! That was a long time ago. Here is what I had bought:

Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids

I have been hooked on on-line shopping ever since. These days, I only go to a store for groceries.

Finished reading ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger last night. A very well-written book. It took Mr. Salinger 10 years to complete it. It is probably hard to think and write like a teenager when you are not one.

It is a first-person narration by Holden Caulfield, a 16-year old boy, who was kicked out of prep school. He spends 2-3 days in New York city on his own rather than going home to face his parents. The book shows us Holden’s view of the adult world, his likes and serious dislike of ‘phoniness’ in a very distinctive language. This coming-of-age story is a must read for everyone, especially yougsters who are in the teenage years. I wish I had read it when I was in my teens. I would have found someone I could identify with at that time (well, why deny it, even now): the way Holden’s thoughts go every which way as he gets distracted and his overactive imagination about the future.

For those familiar with Marathi literature, I found some similarities with writings of G.A. Kulkarni, who wrote in a very non-judgemental way presenting a story many times without an ending. It is left upto the reader to figure out what happens next.

Watching the thunderstorms rumbling last night, reminded me of this photo that I took last year. Some of you may have seen it before.

I had noted previously that Ashwini was not very happy to be on the grass. It used to tickle her feet and hands. So, we slowly started to take her out with her shoes on and then, only socks on and now, she has gotten used to the touch and feel of grass and likes to walk/run in it. A couple of photos showing Ashwini happily running around in our front yard.

If you don’t know what Setiathome is, visit this site

Today, Ashwini is 14 months old. We are tired from running after her all around the house.

Ashwini :
• walks freely by herself and that is all she wants to do all the time.
• can make turns, go from carpet to tiles to hardwood floors without falling. Goes in circles all around the house.
• is learning to help her mother and teacher at daycare to pickup her toys and cleanup.
• still prefers books over toys.
• knows when a book is upside-down and can turn it correctly to read. Can entertain herself by looking at books.
• knows how to operate TV remote control. Keeps pushing the buttons till there is static on TV.
• still loves her piano. Wants to climb up on it to dance.
• enjoys listening to stories. That is the only way to keep her in one place. Falls asleep while listening. It is easy to put her to bed these days.
• says 'uh-oh' when a toy falls down on the floor.
• says 'out-aai' which means 'i want to go outside'.
• calls a cow a 'moo' and all other 4-legged animals are 'bhoo'.
• knows actions to accompany many rhymes such as 'so big', 'when you are happy' and 'wheels on the bus'.
• can point to her hands, toes, and nose (which according to her, is on the side of her head).
• loves all kinds of fruit: pears, pineapples, oranges, bananas. Will try mangoes soon.
• wants to eat everything by herself. Picks up pieces of fruit, cereal, pasta, crackers and feeds herself. Wants to hold a spoon to eat form a bowl, but not very good at it.
• holds her own bottle or sippy cup to drink milk or juice.
• 's third tooth (first on top) is making an appearance.
• likes her baths. Doesn't want to come out of water.

Today, Ashwini is 14 months old. We are tired from running after her all around the house.

Ashwini :
• walks freely by herself and that is all she wants to do all the time.
• can make turns, go from carpet to tiles to hardwood floors without falling. Goes in circles all around the house.
• is learning to help her mother and teacher at daycare to pickup her toys and cleanup.
• still prefers books over toys.
• knows when a book is upside-down and can turn it correctly to read. Can entertain herself by looking at books.
• knows how to operate TV remote control. Keeps pushing the buttons till there is static on TV.
• still loves her piano. Wants to climb up on it to dance.
• enjoys listening to stories. That is the only way to keep her in one place. Falls asleep while listening. It is easy to put her to bed these days.
• says 'uh-oh' when a toy falls down on the floor.
• says 'out-aai' which means 'i want to go outside'.
• calls a cow a 'moo' and all other 4-legged animals are 'bhoo'.
• knows actions to accompany many rhymes such as 'so big', 'when you are happy' and 'wheels on the bus'.
• can point to her hands, toes, and nose (which according to her, is on the side of her head).
• loves all kinds of fruit: pears, pineapples, oranges, bananas. Will try mangoes soon.
• wants to eat everything by herself. Picks up pieces of fruit, cereal, pasta, crackers and feeds herself. Wants to hold a spoon to eat form a bowl, but not very good at it.
• holds her own bottle or sippy cup to drink milk or juice.
• 's third tooth (first on top) is making an appearance.
• likes her baths. Doesn't want to come out of water.

Yahoo! News - Oil Hits $40, First Time Since Gulf War

Oil is getting so expensive and consequently, gasoline is getting expensive too. This really hurts Americans that are used to really low gas prices.

I filled up my gas tank yesterday, and it costed me thirty f***ing eight dollars. The gas prices have gone up by 100% in last 5-6 years. This is ridiculous. US should make a move on Saudi Arabia after Iraq is subdued, to get more cheap oil. ;)

Fortunately, our cars are not gas guzzlers and give pretty good mileage (25city-30highway mpg). I have been making my mind up over the last year or two, that my next car is going to be a hybrid or a hydrogen powered one. Initially, it was for environmental reasons, but, now with a big hit on my wallet every time I pull into a gas station: screw the environment, I really need to save some money.

Tonight is the last ever episode of ‘Friends’. Thank God! I just get this primal urge to hurl the nearest object I can find, towards the TV everytime I see Jennifer Aniston on it.

It is sickening how NBC is milking ‘Friends’ while it is on its way out. Last night there was a 2 hour special ‘Dateline’ about friends. I didn’t watch that and have no intention of watching tonight’s 2 hour final episode either. Can think of a million better things I can do in those 2 hours.

Update: If anyone manages to survive through the first hour of ‘Friends’, switch to your local PBS station at 9pm for Frontline. Tonight’s program is on Cyberwar. Should be interesting.

Although it was chilly outside, we spent some of Sunday in the yard. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

“Bollywood, here I come.” She is practising the “running around the tree” routine.


These toys are all mine. Don’t even look at them…


Finally, the day ended in the bathtub.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, and author (1872-1970)

So true….

Signs of spring have been around for quite some time. But, it took 2 days of almost 80F heat to coax these redbud buds to finally bloom. We planted this tree last year after Ashwini’s birth. It is good to see that it survived the winter successfully and growing as well as Ashwini is. The redbud flowers are so pink and delicious, but, unfortunately, they don’t have any fragrance.

I hope all of you NPR fans listened to “Morning Edition” this morning. Today was Bob Edwards' last day on the show. Here is a nice article in the Washington Post about him moving on with life after “Morning Edition”. I sure will miss Bob, who has been a part of my mornings for a long time. Hopefully, this doesn’t drive me to listening to Howard Stern every morning. ;)

In automotive world, today marks the end of an icon. Last Oldsmobile ever will be rolled off the assembly line today.

Here are some pictures I took in the same session. A closeup of Moon.


Jupiter with two of its Galilean moons.