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Sunday, September 30, 2007

WARM WELCOME TO FRISKY!!!

hi all,

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE A NEW MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY...
FRISKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As seen in the photos, Frisky is a 6 month old, male, Welsh corgi pup. who became part of our family on Saturday, September 29, 2007.

BACKGROUND:
On Saturday morning, I was online, checking the local newspaper, when one of its articles said Arizona Humane society is having its pet adoption week. Since Madhu likes cats, we decided to go and see if we liked one, or just pet some animals for sometime, and then come back.

REALITY:
However, reality turned out to be quite different. We went, we saw,and WE WERE conquered. .......by this puppy, who came to us so excitedly, and started licking our hands, and toes. They had a play enclosure, where the prospective owners could see the pet they liked, and get acquainted with them. .And my, was he an active one there. !!!!!

So, Madhu and I both felt, we had never seen a more playful or active puppy, in all our visits to pet shops so far. AND WE DECIDED TO ADOPT HIM. !!!!!

So Frisky, came home at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. We then took him to Pets Mart, a store that stocks all possible kind of pet supplies there, for dogs, cats, fishes, and critters. And that was when we found out that he gets agitated by seeing big dogs there, and made deep growling sounds. All the time, he was in my arms. He growled at the big dogs inside the grooming parlour too, which he had seen through the glass. We bought him a bed, and lots of chewable toys, which he loves,

Saturday evening,itself, Frisky showed us that he can give us a good run. Madhu accidentally took out the leash, and let Frisky out on our patio, thinking he could smell around, and get acquainted. Within 2 seconds Frisky was off like a bolt, and made Madhu chase him all around the block. Result: a very tired, panting, exhausted, huffing, puffing Madhu.. And Frisky???
Frisky came in excitedly wagging his lil tail to no end. :) :)

Now, as i type this mail, I have seen that Frisky loves to chase laser lights, shown as a green or red circle when focused on the ground. Frisky went nuts trying to chase that little green circle on his evening walk with Madhu.
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I have decided to take a break from my volunteering at Red Cross for a month, so that Frisky gets comfortable around our home, Madhu, and me., He also needs to get used to eating schedules, and potty training. Most of all, he needs all our love and attention.

Other TECHNICAL DETAILS:

When he was brought to the Humane Society itself, they gave him a rabies vaccine,a first round of vaccinations, for his age, and had him neutered. In addition to letting us play with him, as long as we liked, the Humane Society had people whom they called pet counselors.

These people help the new owners complete the paperwork, like registration etc, and give an information folder, with the puppy's history ( how it came to be there), and medical history ( how old is he, how many vaccinations, any behavioural problems, any preferences, tendencies etc). Our counselor spent an hour with us, answering all our doubts, and giving us advice.

In addition, they also gave us a 5 pound bag of dry dog food, that they feed at the kennels, and recommend to all their customers. They also gave us a list of veterinarians, who would give us a free checkup for the dog, withing the first five days of us adopting him.

So we will share more news about Frisky, as and when there are some new things he does, which is almost every minute of the day, and hope u like his first pictures.

Friday, September 28, 2007

kerela-fonia

listen to this Mallu adaptation of Hotel California....

the lyricist is a genius.....

hilarious!!!!!! Pricelessssss!!!!!!
visit http://peakday.blogspot.com/2007/06/blog-post.html.
this will lead you to a post on the blog, witha link "click here". click on iot, and
that will take you to another website called goear.com.

Getting babies in India.

A couple of years back, while I was in my third year, and doing M.A., medical tourism was getting to be a very hot topic.people coming to Indian hospitals to have surgeries done, because it costs a lot less than USA. This morning, on the news, I heard a new bit of information.

American couples , who are not able to have children, go to India, and approach in vitro fertility clinics. There the clinics have a number of Indian women, who will carry the baby for them. The sperm and egg come from the American couple, and the embryo is carried to its full term in the Indian woman's womb. The American couple come back to India, to take their baby.

In India, this procedure costs them about US $ 6000. That's equivalent to one year's salary for most people...Rs. 2, 50,000. The same procedure in the US would cost them US $ 15,000. However, the Indian doctor interviewed also said that this is the last thing that people resort to, out of desperation to have a baby.

However, there is a lot of potential for this kind of medical tourism. Also,a ground for new kind of controversies to develop.

Any opinions or further inputs?????

Thursday, September 27, 2007

AAA AND Us

My last post mentioned about our get together at fountain hills. Well, here is the second part of the story.

We got into our cars,ad n drove out of the parking lot, when suddenly we heard a loud thump from the car. We wondered what was wrong, and i asked Madhu, if he had driven over the pavement or something. Just as we turned left, the car gave a warning signal,and turns out, that our car's left front tire had burst. . We pulled into a side lane and called the others tolet them know. Both Balu anna and Muthu's cars came back to where we were. Madhu, in the meantime, had inspected the damage,and called AAA.( Automobile Association of America), of which he is a member. The call was made at 8: 19 p.m. And they promised to send help to change the tire within one hour. They also gave the name of the company whose truck will be coming.

So we waited. By 8: 50 p.m, the truck came. And the driver changed the tire,advised us not to go beyond 40 mph( since the stepny wasn't an actual Chrysler tire), and promptly left. No requests for tips, no money demanded, nothing.

And withing five minutes of his departure, AAA called up again,and asked if assistance had come,and, if the problem had been solved. Madhu replied in the affirmative, and thanked them.

This was a first time experience for us. Madhu had taken membership of AAA, only for such exigencies, since we were planning for a long trip to California. However, having such prompt service and follow-up, by AAA, and the very remarkable thing of no tips asked...was something that made all of us present there, immediately think of how different things would have been in India, if this had happened there.

On Monday, Madhu went back to the place where he had bought his tires from. He asked them to check for defects on any of the other tires, since all four had been changed just a week or so back, after we returned from California. So the guy there asked him to leave his car there, since he didn't have Chrysler tires on hand, and had to order them from another store. By evening, Madhu was able to pick up his car, with the new tire, and paid 30 dollars towards it, which included Phoenix city fees for disposing of old tires, taxes, etc.

Well, so that's one experience for us, where we learnt that all the money we were paying towards AAA, insurance etc, was well spent.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Fountain park

yesterday, saturday 22 september, we had planned to have a pot luck with three other families. My cousin's family,and madhu's colleague's family, and another common friend. So we all set out in the evening to the place called Fountain Park, in a small town just outside Phoenix, called Fountain Hills.

The main attraction of the town is this fountain, which is in operation from 1970 on wards. The fountain shoots water upto 330 feet on normal days, and sometimes to its full height, 500 feet.The fountain shoots water up for 15 miniutes, every hour. The fountain had been mentioned in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the tallest fountain in the world. Now possibly there may be fountains higher than this.

So we reached there, and immediately the kids in the group wanted to go play in the splash area. We women were standing a few feet away, watching, taking pictures, when Madhu( whio had come to the splash area to watch) suddnely came, pulled me in, and made sure I was thoroughly drenched. I wasn't about to let him get off easily. I chased him around,and when he again began to push me towards a stream of gushing water, I turned around and made sure he got drenched too. My clothes were already wet, so didnt matter whether I got wetter. :)

So all this frolicking done, the kids were whisked off to be changed, then sent to the play area, where they had their share of fun,riding cars, dinosaurs, aeroplanes, with me acting as observer for all of them, in turns. Madhu also was slobbered with licks from two shi-tsu's that had come to the park with their owner. One of them was very playful, and totally "fida" on Madhu. :) We also petted another huuuge w hite dog, which was a mix of a german shepherd, and a wolf husky. It was as tall as my thigh.

We then sat down to have our dinner. Menu: was puri-chole, pongal-chutney, veg. biryani-raitha, n paniyaram n kesari. Panuiyaram was finished soon after the kids played in the splash area.

After a nice dinner, and a round of discussions on movies, we decided to get back home. As we moved to the parking lot, taking all our stuff, the fountain shot up again,. This time it was to a great height. We were all thinking, that just when we were leaving, its coming to such great heights.
We were then informed that since all evening there had been a strong breeze, the fountain would not be shooting water to its full height. It was going to such great heights now, since night had fallen, and the strong breeze had died down.

So we all got into our cars and left fountain park, with happy memories.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

bus experience

yesterday, wednesday, sept 19th, on my way to the red cross, i was waiting for the bus...soon, an old man came along with a big bag of soft drink cans... he fished in the trash can for some more cans. then came n sat down next to me ...all the while talking in Spanish...i looked at him, in bewilderment, and told him, "I am sorry. I dont understand Spanish".

He ( in Spanish accent English) :- , You don't know Spanish? Why? You didnt learn it in school?

I :- No.
He :- Why? you do not like spanish language?
I- No, its just that i learnt another language, not spanish.

He then sat down for a couple of minutes, then got up and left with his bag of soft drink cans.

On a previous occasion, i was already on the bus riding to my next stop, and this big tall guy came up to stand near the front of the bus, where i was sitting, posibly in order to get down. Suddenly he turned to me, and asked, Do u know where to get henna, to make tattoos?

Sprung on me like that, it took me two seconds to fully understand what he meant...I said, Its available in powder form, in any Indian Store.

He :- "Do u know how to apply it"?

I :- "Yes. henna is available in either plastic cones, or in powder form in packets. If you buy the cone, u dont need to do anything. Just make the tattoo,and leave it to dry, then rinse it off with cold water. If you buy the powder, soak it in water overnight, then fill in plastic cone, n apply. put a mixture of lemon juice n sugar to make it darker".

He :- "how long does it stay"?.
I :- "Stays for a couple of months, more or less. If you use soap frequently, then it starts fading quickly.

He:- "Thank you. I do a lot of tattooing, and my cousin wanted me to do a henna tattoo for him. Thats is why i asked you where to get the henna. I am glad that you helped me out. "

I :- "No problem".

The bus stopped, and he got off.

I had these very curious experiences on my travels via bus in phoenix.
Any one who has had similar curious experiences???//

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

day at home

well, tuesday today, and i am at home. I just saw Lord of the Rings movies: fellowship of the ring, and return of the king...My god..the latter movie is so long...i never believd. i started watching that at 10:30-ish, and it went on till 2:10 p.m... I never believed it could be so long. On both sides of the DVD. Well, thanks to this movie watching, i never got any of the things done, that i had planned to do. So it must start now , from 3:00 p.m. onwards. Heaven knows, I have wasted half my day today.

well, but the upside is that these two movies were those I had never been able to see properly, and completely. So this marathon was good in that way.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

well, hello again..sorry for the long silence on my part. I had been a bit busy..back from San Diego n L.A..

Time to bore you all. Well,this week long trip had been my birthday treat. For those who forgot, scold yourself for now,and mark it in your calendars for next year.So let's get back to business.

We left Phoenix on Friday, 31st August, by 2:00 p.m...It was a long drive of approx. 300 miles ( convert it into kms. ppl), with one stop in between. A scenic drive, seeing parts of Arizona we had never seen earlier, combined with lovely songs playing on the cd player..hmmm. Of course, its always hard on the person driving, if a chatter box like me is sitting next to him. :)

SAN DIEGO: We reached San Diego, by 10:30 p.m.Our Holiday Inn hotel rooms beckoned us, and we all checked in, drowsy, but excited to be there,and looking forward to 2 full days of fun, excitement. and of course, weary feet!!:). Dinner consisted of venn pongal, and potato sabzi, courtesy Nithya..idlis and chili powder, courtesy Bala, and curd rice, courtesy Anusha. After a filling meal, we chucked our shoes off,and tucked ourselves in.

For those who did not know, San Diego, is Spanish for Saint James. Lots of American states and cities have either Spanish names, or adapted from them. In fact, Arizona, is adapted from Spanish "arid zonia"... Well well, now that's an interesting bit of info rt there.

Saturday dawned, nice , sunny and bright. I, as usual, the early bird, was up at 5: 45 a.m. itself( force of habit you see:)) and had taken my bath, and had put on the coffee maker, by the time madhu woke up.

We decided to do something different..So we told the other two families that we wanted to see more of San Diego,and , we went to a place in Old town, that offered city bus tours all day.Orange Trolley Rides, it was called. We parked our car and got on.

The buses were equipped with city maps,and other pamphlets of interest to tourists,and little paper fans. like we get in Chennai. . The bus operator was also the guide,and told us interesting facts about San Diego. San Diego, was first discovered in 1542, by a sailor, who named it San Miguel. ( since they used to name new places after saints back then). Since he was sponsored by the Spanish governement. he claimed it for Spain, by placing the Spanish flag there.Then the city was forgotten, when 60 years later,another sailor, "re-discovered" San Diego, when he touched Pt. Loma, and named it San Diego. This time around, the name stuck. .

Land was very cheap in those days. An acre went for 35 cents, and an enterprising man, decided to buy some land in San Diego. He invested 100 dollars,and constructed the first hotel, and then went on to expand into other areas of commerce. Now, this very person, I forgot his name now, is known as one of the three founding fathers of San diego. The people who made San Diego a place worth visiting, by attracting government officials to set up a naval harbor there.

HARBOR: Since we are talking of the harbor area of San Diego, let me transgree from history a little bit and tell you what we saw. We got off the bus at the Harbor, and on making some enquiries, we found out that they had 5 ship museums along the harbor area. These ships used to actually sail until a short time ago, when it was decided that instead of destroying them for scrap / junk, they were to be renovated, maintained,and converted into a museum.Out of the 5 ships I mentioned, one was a black Soviet submarine, named Foxtrot.
Going into the submarine via a narrow ladder,and then travelling the whole length of the submarine, made for some very funny pictures( courtesy Madhu), and "oohs and aaahs". Climbing through the various portholes, going into various sections of the ship, seeing through the periscope...was great fun. I mean, how many people would have a chance to wriggle though the narrow spaces of a submarine???Imagine people living in these subs for months together. !!!!! /

Thursday, September 13, 2007


This is a shot taken from our ferry boat as we left the coast of L.A behind...on our way to Catalina Island.
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Friday, September 7, 2007

hey people,

I am back..after a long vacation to San Diego and Los Angeles, California. It was a lovely trip, and we had lods of fun, and loads of pictures were taken. Will upload them and send them across ASAP.