It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

Seneca
Roman dramatist, philosopher, & politician (5 BC - 65 AD)

Weekend #2 in the US

Well folks, this was my second weekend in the US. And it was better than the last, to say the least...

Saturday morning was pretty quiet; I got some laundry done and generally lazed around (actually, spent the entire afternoon playing Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri ...one of the most addictive computer games I've ever played!!) .
Saturday evening was a blast..partied up to 2:00 AM!!! It wasnt a big party or anything...I think there were 5 guys plus a couple of females...but in all a good party! Actually it was one of the guys' last weekend in the US so he threw a party...well, a get-together sort of...barring two (one of the females and me), the rest got totally sloshed; it was hilarious watching them (you know how people act when they have had a little too much to drink)!!

Sunday was ultimate...we went to this fair near Shakopee (about 30 miles from Fridley) called Valley Fair. Pretty good rides but there was one that was absolutely awesome : Steel Venom...
It's a roller coaster but not like your usual run-of-the-mill roller coasters...it's a U-shaped 185 foot high coaster with one end straight and the other twisted...So at the straight end you end up looking at the ground from the top...sort of like looking down from a 16 storey building and hurtling down at something like 65 mph!!! At the other end, the rail is twisted; so you go up twisting and turning before you reach the top, at the same speed and end up looking at the sky!! In all, the ride was absolutely awesome...you gotta experience it to really know how it is!

So far my weekends in the US have been much better than the ones in India :) :)
Let's see how the next one is...planning on a trip to Duluth which is on the edge of Lake Superior...

Finally, as usual, you gotta wait till I get the film developed for the photos!! :(
I guess I will have to buy a digicam soon...

Weird fashion

Got this from Mullos's blog.

People have the weirdest sense of fashion!!

Clothes that make you look naked??!!

Bizzare!

Lesson in Humility

Life is a long lesson in humility.

James M. Barrie (1860 - 1937)

Photos from the Trip

My apartment in Fridley


Our Car for the day :)


At Still Water River Front


The Mississippi!



My roomie Bala

Weekend Trip

Well folks, I am back on the blogging circuit...I had been travelling and am now in Minneapolis...Took 4 whole days to get over the jet lag...I guess that happens to all first-time travellers

My first weekend in the US was pretty good...
I spent Saturday at the "Mall of America" which is supposed to be the biggest mall in America. Well the place is HUGE! Frankly I find everything about America really huge...The places, the people, their cars...even the media paints everything larger-than-life!! I picked up a BOSE® Wave Radio/CD II system there: the clarity of sound that small box throws out is amazing...Absolutely awesome!! Well, I could go on and on about it but words just cannot describe the sound! It's worth every one of the 500 bucks I paid for it!

Started off Sunday pretty late...had a morning brunch (a rather peculiar one at that) of cornflakes, bread and a quarter omelette and some tea...and then some chips and some other junk ...
To top that, I made my first try at swimming (if you can call it that) at the apartment pool ...basically, I was just thrashing about at the edge of the pool trying to stay afloat and hanging on to the edge for dear life (I kept going under!!)...Well, it's going to take time. I can see that.

I had done some searching on the net for places to visit around Fridley (The place where my apartment is) and Minneapolis; so we decided not to waste the afternoon lazing at home and to go to a couple of places: Taylors Falls and Still Water. These are towns along the banks of the Mississippi river and are supposed to be quite scenic.

We left for Taylor Falls around 3:00 and reached there around 4:15...checked out a couple of hiking trails in the inter-state park there...One trail in particular was very interesting: Pothole trail...The trail was a self-guided one and had a lot of directions...It is called Pothole trail because of the many potholes (deep pits really! Wonder why they are called potholes??!) that were created by glaciers millenia ago...Did some photography too...Then we checked out the river itself on one of those old paddle boats. These are pretty old: one of them was about 80 years old; it was amazing to see it ship-shape even after all these years!! It was a 30 minute trip and the boat generally makes a small round trip showing people the different rock formations on the river banks and the crew tell you something about the river's history. A good one but not really very scenic as the websites claim...Pretty soothing though.

We got out of Taylors Falls around 6:15 for StillWater...This was the most eventful part of the trip! We had just gotten out of Taylors Falls when an insect got into the car and my roomie Bala who was driving the car tried to push it out. While doing that, the car swerved and we ran into a ditch. Fortunately, it was grassy and fairly wide and deep; so we managed to get out of it without any damage...it was quite a shock and it took quite some time to get our nerve back!! Now that I think about it, we were extremely lucky that ditch didnt have anything in it...Had there been even a small amount of debris, we would have done extensive damage to the car and our selves!

Anyway, then we got to StillWater and spent some time at the river front there...The place is quite pretty and has some jet boats there...We didnt have much time to actually check the place out properly. It was dusk already and we had to get back to Fridley. I took some photos at this place also; unfortunately, I have a film-camera and the roll still has some frames left...so it's going to be some time before I post the photos...

The journey back home was uneventful; we got back home around 8:00 PM...In all it was a satisfying trip...Not the adventurous kind but quite good for a sunny afternoon.

Tomorrow is the beginning of another week...*Sigh* back to work!

Trust

In God we trust, all others we virus scan.

Interesting Theorems!

LORENZ'S LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR:
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to
itch.

ANTHONY'S LAW OF THE WORKSHOP:
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

KOVAC'S CONUNDRUM:
When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged one.

CANNON'S KARMIC LAW:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire,
the next morning you will have a flat tire.

O'BRIEN'S VARIATION LAW:
If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster
than the one you are in now.

BELL'S THEOREM:
When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

RUBY'S PRINCIPLE OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS:
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with
someone you don't want to be seen with.

WILLOUGHBY'S LAW:
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

ZADRA'S LAW OF BIOMECHANICS:
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

BREDA'S RULE:
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive
last.

OWEN'S LAW:
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you
to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

HOWDEN'S LAW:
You remember you have to mail a letter only when you're near the
mailbox.

Did you know?

Pure electricity, when photographed, shows up as a brightly glowing liquid droplet flowing inside a tiny crystal.