Why did this blog go dormant?

It has been almost two months since any blog entires. It was not intentional. We had a great summer beginning when every weekend saw a new hike, nature photos and happy smiling faces. 

Then things changed, in a fraction of a second. My wife went to Windy hill hike with a friend and did the simple common mistake of not looking where she is walking. In a spilt second her shoe gets stuck in a root on the path and her ankle was twisted. She decided it was "just a sprain" and decided to go on a larger hike during memorial day weekend which made matters a lot worse.

After many X-rays, MRI, bottles of Ibuprofen,Voltaren,Icy-hot,dencorub,CBD oil, etc. etc.. (it is actually a long list), ankle braces, doctor appointments, chiropractor visits, even Bikram yoga with me and my MIL later... she is almost walking normally again within the house and on solid concrete floors. 

Every week was "it will get better in three weeks" and almost three months passed. We are still happy with the progress. If the queen is not happy, the kingdom cannot be happy. Given the blog is usually positive, I just stayed away from it. 

My new job also got interesting. A lot more work came up in the last 6 weeks. After being in startups for 15 years, a big company has a very different feel. Some things work more efficiently. There are systems in place for everything and that is great. Some things are incredibly slow which is to be expected and I had to significantly reduce my internal clock speed to set realistic expectations. Think I am reasonably adjusted now, we will know in a few quarters (you expected me to say "shortly" didn't you! have learned my lesson). 

Then things got interesting everywhere else. We had a flying visit from the BIL's family for three days during the July 4th weekend and more sickness around the house. We are all on the mend now and that is why I decided to catch up on blogging.

First for some small things. My co-sister decided to bring us a gift when they visited. We have a lot of hummingbirds in our backyard. So asked her to get us a hummingbird feeder. I had plans to get a regular bird feeder. We recently had a bird hit our window and die right there. Wanted to give back something to our backyard birds for the hours of entertainment they provide when we drink tea on the swing and watch them.

Got a couple of shepards hooks, posted them inside flower pots and set it all up. As an added bonus set up a water fountain as a project, working with my two nieces. It was an instant success. 

Here are some photos and videos..

I have never seen a baby hummingbird.. we all call it "baby hammu" and it is incredibly cute! 

The rest of the sparrows, finches, crows, doves and squirrels are all gathering around this small area and I just watch the backyard as I work. Making powerpoint slides becomes easier when these critters are around!

Never even got to edit all the photos from the July 4th trip. Will spend an hour a day and get back to blogging and the photo editing! My connection to music also got stronger over the last few months. Will write about it later!

For now, I am happy that the blog saw a post!

The Christmas gift is here at last...

This years Christmas gift was a printed version of my blog in book form. There were only three or four services that do this, that were recommened on the internet. Used Blogtoprint service and found that they allow a maximum of 1000 pictures in each book.

That meant only the first two years of the blog from 2005 - 2007 and it was 300+ pages. 

It was finally delivered today and we all loved it!

The kids have been flipping through this and laughing and crying at the same time. Given the cost of printing this thing, we have to wait for another year to get book2 printed.. 

Should have done this a long time ago.. 

Comments

Till today I never figured out that people were leaving comments in the new website. Was only getting comments on Google+ and Facebook cross posts and thought maybe "blogger" or blog sites were a dying thing.

Saw this comment from GV on old website, went to the new website and saw so many comments over the last few months and felt really bad!

My apologies to all of you who left comments in the new website. Will go over it tonight.

Have finally figured out how to get an email notification from the new site when someone leaves a comment.

Good news is that Blogging is not dead yet!

A new home?

After toying with the idea of getting my own site and free myself from editing constraints on blogger, have decided to check out Squarespace!

They came highly recommended and are also a notch above the rest of the web hosts when it comes to Customer service. In the last 24 hours they have responded to me within the hour every time a query was sent!

Please check out this site and give me your feedback!

It will be a long process to sort out blog posts, entries etc.. but this is one of my hobbies and it is more than a hobby. So who knows, we might put a portfolio of images on this site and start covering Birthday parties and weddings, when time permits.

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When work becomes the "other" woman...

A grueling week at work, not a new thing for this household by any stretch. The adults are both trying to sync every minor detail on their respective calendars which border on the ridiculous.

Who is going to "wipee" kid #2 tomorrow morning? you? okay then, put it on your calendar. Make a commitment and stick to it.. etc. etc.. You know what we mean..

Then Friday afternoon comes and dad is getting nauseous. Four hours of sleep on Thursday night may have had something to do with it, but sleep deprivation doesn't send one to the restroom repeatedly. That must have been the work of picking up germs from doorknobs.

Here is a tip for workaholic husbands who try to do their best at sharing the workload at home in a family where both adults work and take their work a little too seriously.

Never fall sick on Friday afternoon! Never ever!

The perception at home will start monologues from wife and kids like "you gave all your blood sweat and tears to her and you come home and want to lie down on a Friday evening? How dare you? Go ask her to take care of your sick little behind!"

After some time you scratch and wonder who else you are sleeping with and figure out they are talking about your workplace in (fem.)!

Fortunately in this case by Saturday morning after a heavy dose of sleep the body felt as normal as possible and then the wife shows "symptoms".

Note to wives of workaholic husbands who fall sick on Friday evenings?

Lock the dumb dude in the bedroom or garage and make sure the rest of you stay clear of him. If you fall sick, then he just won't be able to handle it. Just thinking about it will make him sick again. Management studies have repeatedly shown that managing 60+ adults at work is easier than managing two children under the age of 9!

Now that the weekend has come and gone without anything out of the ordinary for cold winter weeks in the last few years, we go into yet another week of busy work, sparse blogging, fights that fizzle out even before they start because of other distractions, etc. etc.!

On the bright side we had a great potluck dinner this weekend with a bunch of friends we meet rarely and checked out an iMac at the local Apple store. The videos and photos from a 21 MP camera are not handled by a Lenovo T60 with hardly any memory left. If there are any recommendations for a computer that can be bought on the cheap to handle large image and video files, please do leave it in the comment box.

Having been confined indoors the last few days, have been trying to take videos of the fish in the aquarium with the 50mm f2.5 macro lens mounted on the 5DMK2. You feel like Jack Costeau when you zoom into the aquarium like that and bring out the fins of those little things and project it on a 52 inch monitor! Will try to post a video of the "fishies" shot with real shallow focus range.

One good thing about being a nerd is that you can find ways to amuse yourself within the house. One bad thing is that this kind of amusement will always get you yelled at for being selfish. Your best bet is to make this type of thing an activity to do with the kids.

So starting this week, daddy Narayanan will teach Jr. and the little one a mandatory class on Photography. They are not thrilled with the idea, but hey, who is the boss here?

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