Astrovelo

Saw this pot of gold in the backyard this morning. It disappeared by the time I got out to pick it up.

– Out of 100 people hit by a lightening, only 15% are women.

– A pregnant tick gains upto 100 times her non-pregnant body weight.

Heard on NPR yesterday:

Lynne Truss, writer, journalist and advocate of proper punctuation, has come to rescue us from the misplaced comma. In her book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Truss shows how an improper punctuation mark can make all the difference. Unearthing examples of bizarre and careless errors through the ages, this narrative history also shares witty teasers and ambiguous phrases, all entirely dependent on the punctuation.

I couldn’t catch her whole interview, but, this example about missing apostrophes was quite funny. She mentioned that people are losing proper writing skills due to overusage of emails. Here is what happens if you drop an apostrophe:

Those old things over there are my husband(')s.

She wasn’t doing it well just a week ago. Now, she seems like a pro. Click here to view a small video clip (about 1MB).

I know it is a very easy question…

Christmas cactus flowering in April.

Those who wanted to support my walk, but, haven’t made a donation yet, please do so soon. Wednesday, April 21st is the last day for submitting the form. Many thanks to those who already made a donation!!!!

I am walking in the “March of Dimes” walk on April 25th to raise money for research on saving premature babies. My daughter and I both were born prematurely. Thankfully, both of us are doing well but, many premature babies are not that fortunate. Please make a donation at the following website if you wish to support.

http://www.walkamerica.org/paragvs

If you want to participate in a walk in your area, the walkamerica website has all the location information.

Came back from Snowbird yesterday. Still walking on two feet, albeit gingerly, after 4 days of skiing. No broken bones. It was a wonderful meeting. A lot of great science and a lot of fun. Got to meet some old friends and make some new ones. Everyone was happy to see more than a foot of snow that fell over the last two days of the meeting. Perfect skiing conditions even this late in the season.

Was very happy to see Ashwini after 6 days. She has grown in these 6 days. Her second tooth is completely out. She can walk across the room (10-15 steps) without holding onto anything.

Signs of spring are all around the house. Most of the trees are sprouting leaves, even the new ones that we planted last year. All the grass is green and will be ready for the first cut in a few days.

Although, I had a mighty good time in Snowbird, it feels nice to be back home.

skiing is so much fun!

This journal takes one week off. I’ll be in Snowbird, UT attending Keystone symposium on “Frontiers of Structural Biology and Structural Genomics” and of course, skiing. Will update again next Tuesday.

At Tahquamenon Falls from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, winter started to show itself in the middle of fall. It snowed pretty hard that day in October. Red Maple leaves looked prettier than ever with snow on them.

Today, Ashwini is 13 month old. Time is going by faster than ever with Ashwini doing new things everyday.

Ashwini :
• can stand up and sit down on her own, without falling.
• crawls very rapidly and follows us around everywhere. We have to be careful to make sure that we don't step on her.
• walks by holding on to furniture and her walker. Walking freely is in the near future.
• waves 'hello' and 'bye' to everyone around her.
• is also known as "Princess Entropy". She hates any kind of order in any room of the house. All the toys that are standing up are brought down flat on the ground in no time. Books arranged in a pile or in a box get scattered all over her room faster than her mother can arrange them.
• getting a hang of stacking and nesting toys.
• is obsessed with her phone that is seen in this photo. She holds it to her ear and then stares out of the window or at the ceiling as if she is engrossed in the phone conversation. Once in a while she finds the real phone and knows how to press the buttons and sometimes it actually connects to some number. One of these days we are going to get hit with a huge phone bill because of Ashwini's calls.
• knows how to operate a remote control to turn the lights and ceiling fans on and off.
• still loves her piano and all other toys that make music. Dances to their tunes.
• enjoys listening to stories. That is the only way to keep her in one place.
• still loves her books and selects the ones she wants read by pointing at them.
• knows how to make some animal sounds like cow (mooo) and sheep (dada instead of baba). Also says 'uh-oh', but am not sure if knows what it means. Makes many other sounds that we can't decipher.
• knows actions to accompany many rhymes such as itsy-bitsy spider and twinkle twinkle little star.
• knows the morning routhine of getting out of the house. Points to the next thing to do: pick up the coat, pick up keys, turn the alarm on, turn off the light, etc.
• eats a lot of new things like dal, pieces of cooked green beans, toast, cheese, pieces of pears etc. We are losing count.
• drinks cow's milk. No more formula. Drinks her milk from a cup at daycare. Bottles are on their way out.
• points to what she wants to eat. Also knows sign language for 'give me more' and 'all done'.
• 's second tooth is making an appearance.
• sleeps through the night (~90% of nights). In the morning, she sits or stands up in the crib looking outside the window at the trees and birds and doesn't cry out for us to get her.

Click here for another picture.

When I show my photographs taken on a trip, everyone always complains that there are no people in most of those pictures. Upon hearing the same kind of complaint the Master Photographer, Ansel Adams had this to say:

To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs,' I respond, 'There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.'

-Ansel Adams, photographer (1902-1984)

Did my good deed today. Now, I am free to do some bad things to balance things out. Don’t want to be called a ‘good boy’. ;)

My blood pressure was 130/80 today. Much higher than my usual 110/70. Is it Ashwini or just bad habits? Note to self: Cut down on coffee and start exercising again.

Received a notice to renew my Driver’s License a couple of days ago. A note was attached to the forms that said:

The federal Welfare Reform Act mandates that all states obtain Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of drivers to assist in the enforcement of child support laws.

Effective May 1, 2004, you will be required to provide your SSN, or proof that you are exempt under law from obtaining an SSN or from disclosing your number for religious convictions.

What religion prohibits its followers from disclosing their SSN? I would like to join them. Maybe, I won’t have to pay taxes, either?!?

I am walking in the “March of Dimes” walk on April 25th to raise money for research on saving premature babies. My daughter and I both were born prematurely. Thankfully, both of us are doing well but, many premature babies are not that fortunate. Please make a donation at the following website if you wish to support.

http://www.walkamerica.org/paragvs

If you want to participate in a walk in your area, the walkamerica website has all the location information.

First of all, congratulations to the Indian team for a great win. It took 2 overs on the morning of the 5th day to take the last wicket to officially complete the match.

About the first ever triple century (309) by an Indian cricketer in a test match….

• The fact that he scored it against Pakistan in Pakistan made it even better. ;)

• Viru hit a six when he was on 295 to cross the 300 mark. He must be crazy or has balls of steel to try such a bold shot. During the last series in Australia. He got out on 195 while trying the same stunt to hit a six to cross the 200 mark. Amazing…

• Pakistani team missed multiple opportunities (7-8) to dismiss him, twice in one over. Boooo hoooo! Cry me a river.

V and I sneaked out to get lunch at a chinese restaurant near work. At the end, the freakiest thing happened… Both of us got the same fortune in our fortune cookies.

                   You will be travelling and coming into a fortune

Is this a sign of things to come???? Is this a sign that we are perfect together????

How many times does this happen? I have never seen cookies with the same fortune even in a big group of 8-10 people.