Google, you can do better..

Last week, I was trying to look up old posts to link to something I was writing.

Three for three, the Google ads on the right sidebar were something like this.. 

My first thought was "hey, don't I know the woman in the top picture? have seen her somewhere before!"

Then realized that it is exactly the same ad where I had seen her before. the mind is a funny thing. It makes these associations.

Yes. I agree. There IS a "sweet Asian Woman I should be with" and she has a name already.. Sangeetha! 

If Google was smart enough, it would have figured it out. 

On the bright side, they have figured out the right demographic based on my travel habits.  For a good six months they were showing ads for the "sweet Russian woman I should be with". Sooner or later they will zero in on "Indian woman I should be with", then figure out I am already with a sweet woman and finally pitch me something else. Or so one hopes.. 

For crying out loud, there are very few things that are interesting to me right now Google. My life is an open blog!

Work, Home and Bikram Yoga

If it is work, pitch me things that will make travel a breeze (doesn't have to be sweet Asian women.. that is taking it to an extreme)

If it is home, it has to be "back to school" related.. pitch me something that I will be tempted to buy for the kids or for myself, which is restricted to food and photography (don't bother with the Nikon ads either. You should have figured out that I am too deeply invested in Canon to move now after 25 years). As for buying things for the "sweet girl", she would rather buy it herself. So you have to work a little harder and pitch me those things based on what she is checking out online. A little help there would be nice!

If it is Yoga, then you know what you can pitch.

It IS really that simple!

Copyright shoppyright..

On our recent India trip, we were in Chennai going from Mylapore to West Mambalam when the little one kept saying "I think I just saw Jr.'s photo on a big banner ad for fireworks store". 

Given the noise level in the auto rickshaw and traffic and also given the improbable odds of something like that, we promptly ignored the little one.

Today BB sent us a photo saying "we were driving through Doraisawamy subway when we saw a picture of a girl who looks just like Jr. in a fireworks ad! Wanted to share it with you". 

Guess what?! It is Junior bursting fire crackers and it is a photo from this blog that someone copied without asking for permission! At least sending us some free fireworks would have been a decent gesture. 

Now here is the irony. The original photo is of Jr. celebrating with sparklers in Cupertino and the sparklers were purchased in the local Chinese store. They defiinitely did not come from Sivakasi. 

This is turnign out like the Nikon camera ad that was shot with Canon cameras. 

Needless to say this capture has created some issues at home about blogging, photos of the kids on the internet etc. etc. 

Jr. is happy that she has become a posthumus child model given her childhood has become a thing of the past. 

The little one is claiming she is a genius for pointing this out right. She is also upset that Jr's photo was copied while she is "much cuter" as a child with fireworks. 

San and MIL are just getting on the lecture train..

You know what they say.. 

When life gives you fireworks... just enjoy them!

Been away too long...

It has been almost a month and a half since the site saw a blog post. There is so much to write about.  Spent two and  a half weeks in India over four states, TamilNadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Went straight for a business trip from the vacation that turned out to be quite interesting. Flying back to the US and back within 48 hours... memories of people, places, the sights, sounds and smells that may or may not resonate because of all the hectic travel.. 

July came and went and a lot happened without me even getting to the blog. For the most part I chose not to check emails or Facebook during this time. Just let everything soak in.

For the first time exhausted the entire 32GB card taking pictures and started over! 

This trip also saw me go through 7 major airports in a span of 5 days, lugging suitcases on a business trip, navigating baggage rule incompatibilities on international flights on different routes, trying to figure out what day and time it was at any given moment.

Will start posting pictures and share some stories of experiences that truly touched me.. but first, more work!