A street in downtown San Jose filled with rides and lights, two dozen mini Christmas trees decorated with everything from lights, ornaments to music CD's, twilight giving bright hues and saturated colors..
Here are a few photographs..
Did get to practice motion blur shots and pulled off one with San and the little one on a swing ride. All the ideas not tried this year or ideas that came to my head only after reviewing the photos at home will be tried at the next opportunity.
When you see a Ferris wheel after dark, one should at least take one shot with long exposure times with a high f number and a curtain flash. Try it.
Here are some HD videos..
If you live in the bay area, X-mas in the park is definitely worth an evenings visit!
Walking around is free. The rides cost you tickets. An arm band for 13 bucks gives a kid unlimited rides. However, the kid has to be at least 42 inches to ride alone. If shorter an adult has to accompany the kid.
That costs you a lot of tickets or a screaming kid... your choice!
Every year this blog has a retrospect post looking back through the archives..
This year was not worth the blog archive search.
We got memories worth a lifetime during a two week stretch in our India trip, first when the little one agreed to do her mottai with Daddy and came back to the USA to brave abuses like "you are a boy girl"
and this was followed by a spiritual connection at Manikaran and Manali in the Himanchal, a one of a kind experience!
There were sicknesses in the family that pretty much want us to forget this year and they pretty much made us feel that there are things that are way out of our control and made us ponder spirituality to a higher level.
The blog and blogger have not strayed significantly from the usual routine, save for the MAJOR upgrade to the Photo/Video department. This blog has seen the photographer learn new tricks (and hopefully show others that anyone can take pictures by following instructions and practicing), show a few cooking tips that show that if I can do ladoos, mixture and mysorepak, you can too.. and chronicle the kid raising experience with day to day tidbits that make us reflect and go "what were we thinking". Sure those tidbits make you LOL!
On the camera front, just like how a bachelor got married and decided to have kids as he realized that there was a progression to things, the point and shoot was replaced by a DSLR over time and the DSLR changed to a full frame camera this year. The only thing that beats having kids is to get them married, but usually there is a long gap between having kids and getting them married!
So someday this blogger might make a short film or documentary, but that will be a long long time from now!
Blogs have gone the same way as Temples. I know.. I know.. you are thinking "what the !!!" Let me explain. Today there was a conversation with my brother about going to temples. When we go to Kabali temple (in Mylapore) or Padmanabhaswamy temple (in Adyar) you find that 90% of the population in the temple is 50+ age group. Why?
A theory was that thirty years ago(when we were kids) there was not that much TV, internet, cell phones. The temples were not just a place to worship god, pray for your sins to be absolved, wishes to be granted, illnesses to be cured, feel closer to god, but also to meet your friends, find matrimonial matches for that nephew or niece of cousin, get up to date on neighborhood gossip, movies worth watching, etc. etc. or just plain get some exercise going around a large temple or walking to it.
Today the traffic and pollution have made that exercise an oxymoron. The cell and internet give you the gossip and info. Google, Youtube, Facebook, Bharat Matrimony and Shadi.com have made the rest of the temple visit unattractive. My parents listen to Velukudi Swamy on Jaya TV or Vijay TV. For all we know, even Velukudi Swamy is probably happy to spend more time explaining Bhagavatam in a studio than be stuck in Mount road traffic!
This blog is one such place. Facebook and Twitter have changed the way blogs are read. Ever since Blogrolling.com was hit as a virus site and blocked by browsers like IE and Firefox, the links to your favorite blogsites on the sidebar are all gone! It is like losing your phone book.
Still there are folks who visit the temple whatever be their reasons! Blogging has become like going to the temple. A place to revisit your thoughts, shout into the ocean, make new friends, have a conversation with everyone and no one in particular, just like talking to god!
So, on we go with more pictures, videos and words!
This is our fourth year at the annual IBM Christmas party for Children. Those of you who have been reading this blog long enough know that each year we put a caricature comparison of the kids done by the same Artist year after year..
This year is no exception!
Big Al actually remembered the kids this year! This year they have finally outgrown those same tee's they wore three years in a row. Both of them have mature faces now!
We also did the usual face painting, cookie decorating, getting balloons etc.
For the first time we attended the magic show and it was a ton of fun. Have never seen the kids this animated or happy in public in a long time. At Disney it was awe and wonder struck faces. Here is was pure glee!
Jr. gave me a nice pose. The little one erased part of her X-mas tree and was refusing to pose.. she is turning into a mini me. Cannot stay still in any place for more than a few seconds... she was just whizzing through the whole thing!
They do a really great job of decorating the place each year with a different type of tree (one year is green, one year is white, etc.) and the whole thing is extremely well organized!
We are all aware of the real Santa. Still the allure of sitting on Grandpa Claus and getting a picture is fun! The kids loved it.
If you do look at the youtube video link in this post, have tried to explain the issue on the video in the Youtube description. If you have any pointers towards the real problem or a fix, please let me know...
Another year has almost rolled by and is coming to a close. It has been a tough year that is coming to a close. Counting days at work, at home, over the phone with relatives..
Hope we count down the remaining days without any major issues!
First upload of a HD video taken at home using the Canon EOS 5D Mark ii.
The playback using quicktime gives me a headache (30 or 24 fps videos both do this, give me a headache that is..)
However the Youtube uploaded video does not have this issue. Have some homework to do to figure this out.
Have been sick with a bug the last 36 hours. Have been sleeping through the afternoon and evening. The kids were getting depressed seeing me down. Shot this video just to show them that daddy is getting back to his usual self. They are not convinced. Heard the little one tell Jr. "he is still sick. he is just trying to act normal". Kids are very very perceptive.
Hopefully the bug stops with me. Every December, irrespective of taking flu shots, I get sick with either a flu or a stomach bug. The old blog posts show that it happens with such consistency, it is sickening!
A tamil nursery rhymme, which happens to be the little one's favorite and she keeps playing it on the iPhone.
She was mad because I yelled at her for adding all those videos into my favorites and signing out of Youtube every time it pops a "do you want to merge this into your existing favorites?" diagloue box. She does not know that one you favorite it, you are done..
Girl needs her own account! She is taking over my iPhone and Youtube!
Monday, January 3, 2011 at 12:10AM 
