From 2012 to 2013

2011 had its ups and downs but overall it was a year that saw things turn around for us in a good way! 

2012 came and went and we can sincerely say it has been a great year! There were challenges but the good stuff made up for it!

At the end of the year one thing that stands out is the support of family and friends and the people we interact with throughout the year who make a difference to our perception of the previous 365 days.

We had my parents visit for almost six months and we had an "uneventful" visit. They got to see their grand daughters in the natural habitat and enjoy the interaction which is very different from the dazed jetlagged kids they get to see once a year for a week. The kids enjoyed the interaction as well. If we had to summarize their trip in one photo.. it would be this..

My dad constantly chiding the little one and she responding the way she does. Unforgetable moments!

We visited a lot of friends, attended birthday parties, celebrated Navarathri, Janmashtami, Halloween, 4th of July and visited places like Joshua Tree National Park and a host of theme parks in Florida during the 5 1/2 months. They attended the kids birthday party before leaving and it was Jr.'s 10th birthday and that made it all the more special!

Shortly before they left, Daddy Narayanan's company imploded and there was a job change which can only be described as a positive. All things happen for a reason and while we never understood fully how the company imploded, it was taken as a sign in this family to "move on" and "move on" we did.

One of the biggest drivers for Daddy staying at the old job was not the money or the position. It was truly the people. That said, the people in the new job are great! Going to work every morning is refreshing. There are changes when you go from a 250 people company to a 25 people company and in this case they are all good! The new job is great and brings a different type of challenge.

The travel to Austin has been replaced with travels to longer distances but so far no major sickness! Also feel like I work for Master Yoda of Air travel and he gives me the most amazing travel tips which are great! Someday, when I have tested these tips time and time again for myself (read that as "when I have enough miles to me a Travel Yoda myself), will share those tips in this space.

We wrapped up the year with a fantastic trip to Death Valley to celebrate my 40th Birthday, a lot of quality time with the extended family during the Christmas break, a lot of local trips to round up the year and a nice 60th Birthday celebration for my MIL last night! 

San switched groups within IBM again and is happy with her new gig. The kids are a handful and have become more addicted to electronic devices like the PS and the iPads but we expect apple to roll out a new App to detox kids in 2013. Daddy is searching for programs that will automatically cut the wifi network in the house between certain hours or have the iPads black out automatically at set hours .. kind of a severe version of parental control...

2012 is over and we can look back and say "It was a great year for us! We took things in our stride and made the most of what was handed to us!" 

Have also realized that in today's world of facebook activism, all those "social minded posts" don't make a difference. While the two places in the wolrd we love the most are fighting gun control and men control respectively in opposite sides of the globe, we are internalizing it differently and will do something.. but something that actually counts!

A big thanks to all our relatives, friends and well wishers for making 2012 the year it was! 

 Here's to a great 2013! 

2012 - A great start !!!

It is no secret that the biggest change in this household is that Daddy is now doing okay when it comes to being healthy!

When my MIL and myself started doing Yoga we set ourselves many personal goals. My personal challenge was to do the standing head to knee pose before March 10th, exactly within a year after starting yoga. Teachers told me that some folks take two or three years to do this and some who are strong and flexible to start with, can pull it off a few weeks or months after starting Yoga.

We had an emotional farewell class to the old yoga studio at BYSJ yesterday evening. It was an event we will not forget! 70 people came to celebrate the closing of the old studio which enables starting 2012 in a huge new studio right next door! It was an emotional farewell as this place is a temple of sorts, where people make their dreams come true and push themselves to bring out the best in them. Michelle, the owner of BYSJ was the one teaching the class and she coaxed, cajoled and blackmailed in her sweet voice, the 70 people in that class, to do every pose without sitting down. She even managed to tell us old stories of the creation of this studio during the breathing breaks! Somehow in the middle of all this, managed to do the pose that has been eluding me all this time..and once you know how to do it once, voila, you can do it again for a photo session in your backyard!

2012 is indeed being ushered in with a sense of accomplishment!

While showing the kids the pose they also wanted me to show them the other two standing poses as the little one clicked the snaps! Seriously, she is turning into one fine photographer..

The best gift to oneself is a sound body and a sound mind. The family is now convinced about the sound body part. They have not yet confirmed the sound mind part. In fact they think Daddy Narayanan is seriously getting unsound. More on that later..

For now, this is a happy blogger and a happy blog!

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Happy New Year 2012

2011 is done with in a couple of minutes..

A year that started off badly but also a year where all things bad have turned around.

My mother was diagnosed with a life threatening illness. She survived. For that alone the last year was positive.

We also had me going through a very rough patch physically and mentally in Jan/Feb and March brought in Bikram Yoga. Something that has been in my backyard since 2002 but was destined to find and appreciate only this year. I recovered enough to have another surgery on the right hand and recovered from that as well and can now lift the little one, throw her up and catch her.

This from a guy who needed help to open the refrigerator door or carry more than one gallon of milk using the right hand! The rest of the year has been sickness free and filled with happier moments.

Work has brought me new challenges and the joy of dealing with those challenges. This year also saw me travel back and forth to Austin, something that will be a continuous process over 2012. Have learned to appreciate folks who travel for work since this started.

The kids have been good and San has been doing well with home and work.

What more can one ask for in a year?! Well, another year of turning things the right way!

Here is to 2012!

Our entire family wishes you all a Wonderful 2012!!!

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Happy New Year 2011

We had another week that was a close approximation of the practically every week last year...

Some ups, some downs, but never a dull moment!

The internet connection got terminated yet again with no AT and T person capable of even figuring out why it was cut. We finally decided that enough was enough when an AT and T representative said "even I go through the same thing with AT & T because our systems are too big and they store information in multiple places and it is difficult to get answers". We then paid a hefty price and got a U-Verse connection.

It is fast and we do get 11.43 Mbps on a test, so all is well that ends well.

Watched the latest Kamalahasan movie "Man Mathan Ambu". Not sure if that space was a font mistake on the Tamil title or an intended gap. It makes sense if you think of it as Mannar, Mathanagopal, Ambu. The movie gave such high hopes of being classy by intermission time only to be a dud slapstick.

Considering this was not your run of the mill movie, but a premium price movie, it failed to make a special impact that even off beat movies are able to create these days. Kamal has his flashes of brilliance, but he continues to insult the intelligence of his audience.

Note to Kamal: If you want to make a slapstick comedy, keep it light throughout the movie. A scene or two where you show the audience you can do the crying bit like nobody's business is okay. Anything more and you are misleading us.

If Kamal ever makes porn, there is a good chance we will see the heroine use glycerine instead of massage oil... anyways, I digress. No point venting on Kamal. Hopefully he continues to make movies along the lines of PKS or Panchatantram if he intends to do slapstick!

The year did round off on a great note. We went to downtown San Jose for Christmas in the park with the cousins. It was a great evening with well lit streets, rides of all kinds for the kids, smiling faces all around..

One thing 2010 seems to have taught us is to take things in our stride and fighting over silly things is not worth it. We still start fighting and drop it before it escalates. Guess one has to be married for 10+ years to hit this stage!

The kids have grown a year older and have figured out new ways to taunt us. The good news is we are growing older as well and are figuring out counter strategies with equal gusto.

2011, here we come!

Older and as the little one would say "wiserer"!

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Wishes

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