wild fires...

we escaped and survived the wildfires raging in san diego. monday afternoon was spent in anxiety as fires were raging within 5 miles of our place. I hope all the people who lost their homes don't have to spend too much time with the insurance people to collect their dues. It was some experience!

Cogitation

is probably a word that describes what I do all day - I keep thinking. I haven't arrived at many conclusions though. The labor day weekend went off mildly. Nothing big. Just some beach outings. I'm reading an excerpt from "art of start" written by Guy Kawasaki. I really love his approach.

Cinema Paradiso

Is one hell of a movie. One of my all time favorites. I watched it last night properly, after a gap of several years. I had originally watched it in Star TV, but of course at that time I didn't know a thing about anything in the world. I'm able to appreciate it a lot better now. Quite an amazing treat it was.

Some stuff for July

I have somehow been managing to write at least one post per month this year. It is interesting to read previous year's accounts. So blogging is really good after all. Our brains fail us when we try to remember things accurately. Blogging keeps it in place. We came back from a week long trip to washington and canada. We went on a national park tour. Rainier, Olympic, Banff, Jasper and Yoho. I can't say we did any of them in great detail, but we gave it a fair shot. Olympic is beautiful beyond belief. It is totally underrated. People need to visit that place more. Banff - what can I say - it is so beautiful beyond belief. there are no superlatives to describe the beauty of banff. If you create an index - beauty*accessibility, Banff will probably be the number one in the world. The icefields parkway is really a joke. It is almost ridiculous to have so many things splattered along the way for you to see. Too many waterfalls, turquoise green lakes, mountains, rivers, glaciers, etc. It is a visual treat to say the least. Jasper was equally good. I need to write a detailed trip report. I hope to find the time, may be this weekend.

The coming weekend, we will be visiting Coyote Buttes. That should be interesting. I am only worried about hiking without a GPS. A guy said that he will loan it to me, but I haven't heard back from him. Most likely, I'm going to have to do without one. Or may be I'll buy one, we'll see. The hike is 3 miles one way and it is on an unmarked trail. This plus the heat will make it more difficult. I think we need to reach that place early in the morning to get the best lighting for photography. I don't know what all I can photograph there. It will be interesting to explore that region a bit, but I don't know how long we can linger there without water. Taking one gallon of water there should be difficult. I don't know how much we can realistically take. It will be quite an adventure, I'm sure. Plus, there are going to be some isolated thunderstorms. I have never understood what that means, but it can get pretty bad with lightning in a wide open area. So, we have to be back at the car by noon or so. I think we can do it. Let's see. We will know by Saturday afternoon what happened ;) Will update later.

Plus, I am organizing a music show this year too. Actually speaking, a lot of stuff that I had to do last year - I don't have to do now. All the mixing, music AV equipment is taken care of. There is no drummer, so I have sequenced pretty much everything in my keyboard. We just have to do a good job on stage. The singers have to improve a little. I am waiting to hear feedback about the show already. Let me see how far my keyboard takes me.

Sivaji (twice)

as of now, we have watched Sivaji twice ;) what more can I say about this movie. just type sivaji in google and figure out for yourself. I am busy with music program rehearsals. I am also busy with work. I am also busy with planning for a national park tour that we are undertaking next week. Looking forward to it :)

canon rebate

my rebate came in today! finally. I had mailed my stuff on March 14th I think. one can't be too careful these days. I took so many precautions, yet the mail was almost lost and the rebate was almost denied. I really had to earn my money back.

funeral

Today was a heart breaking day for me. I attended the funeral of a friend/aquaintance that I met during one of the tamil sangam's events. Death is the ultimate reality for all of us and it is something that we all understand the exact same way. The funeral was rather quiet, for an Indian one, but I am tempted to think everyone must have wept uncontrollably in the last week. The person passed away last week. It is very hard to come to terms with the fact that the body & soul don't exist anymore. Cancer could be very traumatizing, both for the person and for the family. His wife was one of the bravest in the hall, I guess she must have been through enough. I pray that he rests in peace and his family finds peace.

I sometimes wonder what kind of a life this is and why we all need to go through this, to ultimately end in death. What's the purpose? Why should we all be subjected to this? I guess I won't know.

Bad times.

My day didn't go very well on Monday. It was pretty bad. Though I have now, some additional knowledge of how the brain works, I couldn't help but feel disturbed on that day. My Canon rebate ($620) was about to be declined because of some stupid error "purchase made outside qualifying period". I kept calling them, but got absolutely no response. Timewarner charged us more than what we are supposed to pay for the monthly bill. Their reps started yelling at me for calling, as if they're the one who are pissed. We purchased paneer cheese from a neighboring store that turned out to be stale and we met with a pretty strong attitude when we tried to return it. The guy didn't take it back and suspected us for being careless and let the paneer rot away. I wonder how to deal with such people and what's happening to all the customer satisfaction and service in this country. Work didn't go too well either, can't elaborate on it here. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I thought I'd watch some DVD and go to sleep, but the DVD got stuck in the player. That was the end of the day...I just crashed after that.

Further developments in the last couple of days would be, my canon rebate problem seems to have been fixed and being processed now. The cable company accepted their fault (subtly though) and said they'll waive the downgrade charge and refund the money. The paneer story remains the same, I haven't tried to contact the store again.

Movies that I've been watching

I have been watching some really good movies lately. Movies that even challenge my dream to become a director ;) don't worry, it's only a dream yet. Pursuit of Happyness, Blood Diamond, Mozhi, Last Kiss, Happy Feet and so forth.

Pursuit of Happyness: I don't know how better acting can get! Will Smith has done a terrific job in this one. Very touching, real life inspired story. Highly recommend. I am looking out to buy the DVD sometime.

Blood Diamond: I have become a fan of Dicaprio and he definitely doesn't disappoint in this one. I like movies made in Africa in general, so I did like this one too. Their life seem so different to us, to the extent that it is a different world out there. People kill each other for stuff that people buy outside Africa. Jennifer Connelly was also great in the movie. Lot of violence and good acting.

Mozhi: This was a surprise winner. I really loved the movie and all of its cast and the direction. Prakash Raj has chosen a really nice movie to produce. Highly recommend this one. The beauty of the movie is that they've interspersed comedy throughout to make a heavy subject appear light. Kudos to the director for coming up with a theme like this one.

Happy Feet: I liked it overall, but it wasn't like finding nemo or Monsters Inc. I guess you can't replicate the ingenuity of these two movies anyway.

Last Kiss: Based on Will Smith's recommendation, I picked up another movie directed by the director of Pursuit of Happyness. He is actually an Italian director and directed this movie a few years ago. Last kiss is a fast paced comedy that deals with the intense emotions of men that want to avoid growing up. The movie ends on a high note.

Rebate status

My rebates almost got lost in the 'mail'. I had sent it via certified first class USPS mail with delivery confirmation. I thought I did a pretty good job of it, with the usual paranoia. Only, the paranoia came true in the unexpected channel. The mail was never delivered. I kept calling USPS to figure out what's going on until one angry representative yelled at me on friday saying that it might have been lost in transit and I'll have to file a claim. I was so pissed off. I decided to handle things directly with Canon and called them and made them escalate my rebate matter. I don't know what they have exactly done 'cause I still haven't received the "within 72 hour call" from them. Regardless, I have faxed them my documents. This morning I receive an email from USPS saying that they have delivered it. Funnily, yesterday I had filed a complaint with them. Now, the battle is between myself and Canon's rebate center. Let's see what happens.

Canon Rebate

I am supposed to get back $620 in Canon rebates. And Canon has been very notorious in giving the rebates back to the customers. So, I have been very paranoid and sent in all the materials to canon. I mail everything on wednesday by priority mail (or first class) and have requested a delivery confirmation. Let's see how long it takes for the rebates to come.

5D owner!

I recently bought a Canon EOS 5D, I think I got it on Feb 22nd to be precise. I got a 75-300mm lens with it as well and that's not performing up to my expectations. But the camera is great, with 12.8Mpixels and all those fancy stuff. I hope to seriously take some great pictures and possibly go pro on the side. I have always wanted to be a pro photographer. The definition being one that generates money out of photography. If I can generate enough to buy more and more fancy equipment, that itself would be great. Let's see. There are too many things related to photography. The lens buying experience is one of them. Too many lenses, too many expensive and good ones out there. Too many flash options and too expensive again. I'm trying to get a good external flash, as the camera doesn't come with an internal one. The 580EX is supposed to be a great flash with lots of power. I hope to get it new or used. Then I would need the 50mm f/1.4 EF lens. This lens is really sharp and I love its performance! Lots to learn.

Boring stuff

I don't know if it is just me or everyone else. I think life is generally boring these days. I feel the need to be more creative. I also know that it is somehow possible to be creative in my field. But my interests don't seem to lie there. Or should I take it up as a challenge and go on? There are too many people in the world doing the same thing. I feel the need to be unique, though I am not, in many ways. Most people that I talk to, want to do something great, possibly much sooner than it is practical. I am not different there. Sometimes I think it is easier to just give up and move on in life rather than trying to force things. I also wonder sometimes whether I am good enough for what I aspire to be. That is a doubt that probably many will have. How do you work under such circumstances. I need to reflect on myself more everyday. I have actually progressed at a much faster rate by reading several self improvement books and taking a lot of free courses and self evaluation, personality tests, etc. When people give me suggestions, they don't tell me anything that I don't know.

Also, I feel like I have become a recluse of some sort, having lost some tolerance in dealing with people who can't offer me more insight than I already have. This may sound arrogant, but that is not my intention. I have long struggled with a sense of guilt that I wrap around most of my actions but recently, I have realized that I shouldn't be feeling guilty for what I am. After all, I have not really meant any harm to anybody. I shout and yell occasionally. I feel like I am in a rut. I did a whole lot of research on business schools, other careers, etc. Time is passing by too. I feel like I want to be in many places at the same time. Why does my mind wander like this, I don't know. There is some deep unfulfilled desire, I am sure. It has probably something to do with not contributing enough to the arts. I am interested in music. I have progressed quite a bit since I started playing keyboard. But it is not enough for me somehow. I want to be at a much greater level, but I am not there yet and that kind of demotivates me and puts me on a downward spiral of depression.

I wish to say that I am not usually like this nor do I want to be. I want to be able to create funny sit-coms and so forth. I should lighten up ;)

b'day yesterday

I found out that four other people share the same b'day as me! One of them in fact, has born on the same day as I was and shares the same star! My friends surprised me last night by bringing in cake and some card. that was nice....

The rest of the day went off normally.

Procrastination

I think procrastination leads to a downward spiral of not accomplishing anything. The more you procrasinate, the more you keep thinking about the ones that you've procrastinated and that preoccupies your brain and prevents it from paying attention to other important things, which in turn get delayed. I read this book called Stumbling on Happiness and that says that the brain tends to keep thinking about something that's left unfinished - this can both lead to happiness and sadness. It is upto us to exploit this nature of the brain. It's a great book, BTW.

Me and my ideas

can't believe I've had ideas that other companies have come out with products representing them almost exactly! Firstly, I have had the same cell phone for the last five years (more than five, actually) and I've been looking at all the generations of cell phones without ever getting any interest. Somewhere in the middle, I got an ipod and loved it so much. I have always wanted a device that can combine the ipod and a phone together, with nothing but a display in it, that is touch sensitive. And guess what, Apple has come up with precisely such a thing. I have visited a blog that had all the potential designs of the iphone, based on fans' prediction on how it would look. They all looked great and sweet, but none of them seem to have thought of my idea and much to my disbelief, Apple seems to have made it happen!

The other notable thing - I have always wanted to replicate our house in 3-D model in a software and design the interiors myself and exchange opinions with my family through emails. It has been very difficult to suggest nice interior changes with me living here and my family living in chennai. I come back from my vacation and much to my delight and disbelief, I find this software called "Sketch up" from Google! IT IS A FREE 3-D MODELLING SOFTWARE. Can you believe it? Furthermore, it is just sooo easy to create any 3d design you want using that software. Interior designers have a great tool now.

One more major disappointment - I wanted to shoot a song in just one take, without changing scenes. I really dreamt about this one...but alas, somebody else is doing it before me, in the movie called Auto (Oram Po). I don't know what the hell is happening here.

I've learnt one thing - an idea that's not used today is an idea that's useless tomorrow :)

New Year 2007

I had gone to santa barbara, malibu temple, lake cachuma and solvang on dec 30, 31 with a couple of friends. it was a relaxing trip and we mostly spent time taking pictures and eating unhealthy foods.