Change in weather

There were no clouds in the morning. The scorching sun generated enough heat on the surface. People were roaming around with no jackets.

Towards evening, dark clouds engulfed the M-mountain.

Men at work

The men on top of my office roof pose a formidable challenge to my sang-froid on a busy Monday morning. The noise of thumping and scraping right above the roof is a little irritating. This reminds me of the band STOMP, only visually though.

I hope they cordon off the area as a hard-hat. So far only 2-3 small pebbles have fallen; maybe I am all wet. They won’t hurt anybody. I tried to tell them about the falling rocks. But, my holler was lower in decibel than their cacophony.

Pictures time

With the regular school/work week in place, I have little time to blog. So, I had been peripatetic within the campus and took some pictures.
The newly constructed student union building:


A rock found on the rugby field, which had some holes in it

No Snow

It was cloudy and drizzled in the morning. I was hoping to see some snow by evening.


A good quote from Nobel Laureate:

Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.
- Albert Einstein

Leafless Trees

Here are some of the trees on campus. Since there are no leaves, the cover that this tree provides from the sun has reduced. Also, no one is looking for shade in this winter. Everyone wants to be under the warmth of the sun. Nature works in weird ways. No matter what, it adapts itself to various conditions and does what is best for everyone.

Saddest Day of the Year

According to Cliff Arnall, today is the saddest day of the year 2006.

Sky

A clear blue sky is not beautiful by itself. Its excellence is portrayed well when shot with stars, clouds, birds, celestial objects, mountains, buildings, or trees. I took these pictures yesterday. It was pleasant to the eyes watching the evening sky through the leafless trees.

Did you finish?

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.
That will be the beginning.
— Louis L'Amour

CATEGORY: Quote

Seasonal Flu

Last week seems to be widespread activity for flu in my state, New Mexico.

CATEGORY: Health

Mind

People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by
starving the best part of the mind.
-William Butler Yeats

CATEGORY: Quote, Nobel Prize

Sick

I am suffering from fever. The war fought by the antibodies with the virus seems to be using advanced technology. My body is aching too. I had nightmares yesterday night and could not sleep. I called in sick today. What did I do staying home? I drank hot tea, ate noodles, read books, and felt like Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector. Here I am lying on my bed, browsing the Internet with my notebook in my lap, listening to KMXQ on the NIKE radio/alarm clock to my left, controlling the sun light using the window blinds to my right, browsing the books that my dad sent lying beside me on my bed, resetting the thermostat for the bed heater, and turning on the table lamp if it gets dark. But, damn, I still have to get out of my bed and go to the bathroom to pee. :(

I hope that the antibodies win the war soon. I am bored at home.

CATEGORY: Health

Tempus Fugit

The school reopened after the winter break, which passed like a breeze. The campus is sprawling with earnest students. New students look puzzled, lost, and look upon the senior students as arbiters of the course and instructor based on the senior’s quondam experiences. The computer network is having an intermittent outage. The catharsis of many graduate students after receiving their contracts presents an all too familiar setting. Many students are eagerly looking forward to their new confrere. Being the start of the semester some students resolve to get good grades and study regularly.

CATEGORY: School

My umbrage

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.
— Maori proverb
CATEGORY: Pictures, Quote

Sunport International Airport

For the first time, I availed of the cell phone waiting area in Albuquerque airport yestreen. I realized it is a very important service. Earlier, we had to either drive around the Sunport loop waiting for a call from the arriving passengers or park the car and enter the airport. This resulted in waste of fuel or money. We could avoid all this hassle by just waiting for call on the cell phone while waiting in the cell phone waiting area. This place is just by the aircraft observation area. You can simply park the car and read a book or something. It is safe at nights too. They have flood lights installed. Coming to think of it, I think Sunport International airport at Albuquerque seems to be encouraging the use of wireless technology; it consists of a free wireless Internet service and the free cell phone waiting area.

Before heading for the airport, I made a pit stop at Dunkin’ Donuts. I loved their donuts and is open 24 hours.

CATEGORY: Cell Phone, Albuquerque, Airport, Parking

Lunch Buffet

It was a cold day on Friday. I did not cook at home and had a craving for pizza. I and two of my friends were looking for a warm place to eat quickly. All the fast food restaurants in Socorro appear to be on the degringolade. Pizza Hut is considered as the best among vox populi. So, we decided to go to Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet. Little did we know that we were in for a stark contrast to our expectations.

We entered the premises. Without wasting our time, the waitress asked for our choice of drinks and escorted us to our seats. Two of us were vegan, but wouldn’t mind eating Chicken. The buffet table consisted of all forms of copious pizzas except for veggie or chicken. We requested the waiter for veggie or chicken. He said it is coming out. We waited for more than 45 minutes. It never came. The waiter and waitress were unbeknown of what was happening in the baking pan. The heater was turned off. Here, I was shivering and eating the appetizers while waiting for a hot veggie or chicken pizza. But, we got the check quickly charged with an extra Pepsi.

I am not being a fussbudget over this incident. I came out poorer, snarky, and esurient. It was a good lesson for me and I decided to cook and not rely on fast food restaurants.

Man on Fire

I watched Man on Fire on HBO. The dawdling beginning, irascible Denzel Washington, and recondite dialogs made the movie mundane. I would like to visit Mexico City; it was portrayed beautifully in the movie. I was surprised to see Green Volkswagen Beetle (Vocho, Vochito) being used as Taxi.

CATEGORY: Movie

Indian Harvest Festival

This time of the year people living in different parts of India celebrate harvest of crops. They christened the festival in different ways. It is called Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Makar Sankranthi in Andhra Pradesh, Uttarayan in western India, Lohri in Punjab and Haryana, and Bihu in Assam. Typically the festival is noted from January 13th to January 15th of every year.

In 1966, Maulana Karenga created a new holiday after traditional African harvest festivals, Kwanzaa (Swahili – ‘first fruits’), which is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st. It was originally intended as a nonreligious celebration of family and social values. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

It is interesting to see how two different countries and cultures follow the same pattern of holidays, festivities and nonreligious celebrations.

CATEGORY:
Harvest Festival, Kwanzaa, Pongal, Makar Sankranthi, Uttarayan, Lohri, Bihu

Emergency Room

Emergency health care is sine qua non in any county. But, the American Emergency health care is in dismal condition. The state map gives the individual rating of each state in the USA. This is quite alarming, especially with the bird flu outbreak.

CATEGORY: Health

Welcome to Earth!

On 8 Jan 2006, Pranav came into this world. He is a baby boy born to Shiv and Preety. Today, we welcomed Pranav home and congratulated his parents. We celebrated his nudiustertian entrance on earth with a surprise party in the presence of a little crowd.





CATEGORY: Newborn, Pictures

Bushisms

Global Language Monitor has ranked the top bushisms for 2005.
My favorite:

"I think I may need a bathroom break. Is this possible?"
A note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a U.N. Security
Council meeting.
September 14, 2005

CATEGORY: Language, Bush

Construction

Here are some pictures of condominiums that are under construction in Socorro. They appear to be like building construction kit for kids.





CATEGORY: Socorro, Pictures

Poodle

I saw this playful poodle at Los Pueblos apartments.


CATEGORY: Pictures

Disorderliness

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
— A. A. Milne

Air Quality Red Alert

It was not windy today. Personally I feel that it reduces the chill factor a lot. But, that caused a red alert to be issued by the City of Albuquerque.

Excerpts from the alert:

“A high pressure system has settled over New Mexico and will keep our air stagnant through tonight. Multiple inversions will trap any wood smoke and reduce visibility. High pressure will break down Saturday and winds will increase by Sunday which will make conditions more favorable for burning over the weekend.”

I faced the inversion effect first hand when I drove to Albuquerque today. The smoke coming out of chimneys of some of the houses did cause problem of visibility in the vicinity.

Today in 1912 New Mexico became the 47th state of USA.

CATEGORY: Inversion Effect, Red Alert

Mazda 626

My gas-guzzler is driving me crazy; the mileage is 14 mpg i.e., it runs 14 miles for every gallon of petrol it consumes. On an average, the cars here give 30 mpg mileage. I have to look into the tune-ups to make it more efficient. Then, I have to make a cost-benefit analysis of fuel savings vs. tweaking costs. Maybe fine tuning is not really worth the effort.

CATEGORY: Car, Mazda

Working day after New Year

All offices of the school reopened today after New Year holidays. It was abuzz with activity. The parking lots were getting filled soon. Some of the workers were working on the roof of my office building. I guess they were fixing shingles. They didn’t even demarcate the hard-hat area. I noticed some shards below. Anyway, I am not able to concentrate on my work with the banging sound right on top of me.

Day after New Year

I spent the day of New Year and Hogmanay watching a guilty pleasure of mine, Leave It to Beaver, on DVDs.

The New Year is a time of lagniappes from all stores, even though most of them were in the form of discounts. I went to the shopping mall on Friday and availed some of them.

Coming to think of all the New Years so far, I miss auld lang syne when we used to go outdoors on a drive, when living in Jamshedpur, India. This New Year, I actually wanted to go into the Cibola National Forest and camp overnight. The forest fires season was not really encouraging. Nevertheless, I went up to the foothills of the mountains. The drive to the mountains was drafty. I went to the couloir near Water Canyon thinking of trekking for a while, but it was very cold and windy. Trekking alone was neither fun nor safe. One has to be always on the qui vive for bear and other wild animals.

Last week has been a complete blooming week for this plant. It flowered every day of the week. This is the flower hodiernal.

CATEGORY: Pictures