Amazing Federer!

This is one of the questions Federer answered in an interview (after his match with Hewitt in Australian Open 2010). The answer would amount to be arrogant if anybody else had said it. It is only Federer who can give such an answer and sound modest!! Check it out:

Question: You mentioned tonight you played some amazing shots. How often are you genuinely surprised by some of the shots you come up with?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, quite often. Even though I know I can play really good shots and come up with great backhands, forehands, serves and volleys, and stuff, when you can really produce them in the most important stages of a match it's so rewarding and such a good feeling that all the hard work you put in in the off‑season is so like ‑‑ it's just a beautiful feeling, you know.

Then if you can start to hit a dropshot or dig in the corner and get the ball back that you think you would never get, but it's a match situation and the adrenaline is there and you just got that extra speed and you get the ball back and end up winning the point, it does still obviously surprise me even today.

Desi Observation

Just today we were watching a show on HGTV where an Indian girl was looking for a house. She was using the word "like" in almost each sentence! It seems inocous when you don't pay attention, but it is funny once you expect the word to be used. For example, some of the sentences she used were:
- This is like, pretty nice
- I can like, use it as a guest bedroom
- Can you like, show me something closer to downtown

It drew my attention that we do use to tend this word a lot! This along with "you know". Obviously we use them because for a second we are at a loss of words. But what I am not sure is why ALL of us end up using these two words specifically! I mean why can't we use something like, you know different? ;-)

Top 20 Movies of all time

Hello Friends,

As you all know I am a big time movie fan. Just yesterday I saw Avatar. I loved the movie. There are lot of good movies, but very few "different and good" movies. This was one of them. I loved the way James Cameroon has used his imagination and created a whole new world for us to fall in love with. The movie is a beauty to watch, and has a good story.

I also saw District 9 a week back. Loved this movie as well. It is again a different take on alien movies. In this movie instead of aliens tormenting humans - humans are torturing aliens. Must see movie. So does this two movies fall in my top 20 (out of 670 I have seen)? Check out my Top 20 so far:

1. Matrix
2. Forrest Gump
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Dumb and Dumber
5. Schindler's List
6. Les Miserables
7. Philadelphia
8. Dr Strangelove
9. The Kite Runner
10. The Hangover
11. The Lord of the Rings - 1
12.Seven Samurai
13. The Godfather - 2
14. Pulp Fiction
15. Rocky
16. The Gladiator
17. Chariots of Fire
18. Malcolm X
19. The Godfather
20. Gods Must be Crazy

Loving the HGTV programs

Reena and I are watching a lot of HGTV programs now. We just love them. It is so exciting to see how so many people are buying houses and making them homes. We also love the shows where they renovate part of the home into something spectacular. Sometimes it is hard to believe that it was the same place! The interior designers of HGTV are just awesome.

Some of the shows we watch regularly are:

1. Holmes on Homes
Here Mike Holmes takes on projects that have been screwed up by some other contractor. It is amazing to see how some of the contractors cut corners, deliver low quality product, and worse work without permit and swindle innocent homeowners. Holmes on the other hand is a professional, and the pride he takes in his work shows!

2. House Hunters
This is our favorite show. It shows families looking for a house in a particular location. They see several houses in their budget and finalize on the one. The suspense at end of the show (which house they select, and will they get the house they bid on) is nice.

3. Carter Can
Carter Osterhouse renovates part of a house as per the owners taste.

4. Property Income
Scott McGillivray changes basements to habitable apartments. This is a really nice show and the transformation he brings is just awesome.

5. The Outside Room
This is a new show on HGTV. Jamie Duree is a genius!! He transforms the outside space of homes into something spectacular. In one of the episode he transformed the space to a Bali inspired garden. The final result was just so beautiful that you dream of having such a space for yourself someday!

6. Property Virgins
This is another show where first time house buyers try to find a house and bid on the one they like. It is pretty informative and shows what are the things to watch out for when buying a house. But I don't like the host Sandra Rinamoto. She is at many times too aggressive, and pushes the buyers into making a bid. I think she should give more space to the buyers and be less intrusive.

Is anyone else out there HGTV freak like us? :)

Update on Colorado Trip

It has been few months since we went to Colorado, but the trip definitely deserves a post. Colorado is unbelievably beautiful. If Kashmir is heaven on earth, then Colorado is definitely heaven on US. As you already know our trip was short (just 3 days), so very hectic. We covered the following places:

Day 1: Colorado Springs (Garden of Gods, Pike Peak)
We reached Denver airport early morning on Friday. We headed straight to Colorado Springs and made our way to Crystal Lake. Its serene beauty was really what set the mood for the whole trip. The lake with its crystal clear water is safely enconsed at the foot of mountains. The excitement we felt could not be described. We were literally jumping around and clicking pics.

We didn't feel like leaving, but we went on to Pike Peak. I don't know if it was the height or the zigzagging road, but I got terrible headache. The view from the top as well seemed just OK. Or maybe it was just too cold (32 degrees below zero). Anyways, we soon retreated and came to Garden of Gods. The weather here was pleasant 50 degrees. We all just loved the rock formations. Plus the color radiated from the rocks/hills was very pleasant. The pictures seemed to come alive in their hue. I was acting like a monkey and trying to climb various rocks :-). I hadn't seen great reviews about this place, but I thought it was a must see.

It was evening, and we were famished by now. After eating stomach full of Indian food, we started for Longmont for our night stay.

Day 2: Rocky Mountains (Trail Ridge Road, Bear Lake, Alpine Visitor Center, and Mountain Shadow lake)
We started for Estes Park early in the morning. We had heard lot of good things about Rocky Mountains. Today was the day to see them. First off we went to Bear Lake. It was beautiful!! The lake is big and surrounded by mountains. We did a trail around the lake and saw different shadows in the lake. The trail itself was nice and easy. We then trekked to see the Alberta Falls. This place is also a hidden beauty. I will be posting pics for all the places I mentioned in separate post. We also saw Sprague lake but didn't like as it is not well maintained.

After Alberta Falls, we went towards Alpine Visitor center (via Trail Ridge Road). The route is very scenic and we stopped several times to click pics of the amazing views. The best though was the view from the highest point. It looked like gateway to heaven. I am at a loss of words to describe the beauty of all the scenery. After a short stop at the visitor center we headed for Shadow mountain lake. The lake was nice but not as beautiful as we had expected it to be (maybe because it was not sunny). It was nice regardless.

The main surprise for us was the route to Dillon for our night stay. We didnt take the main highway I70. Instead somehow we got routed through a local highway. We couldn't believe how beautiful the route was! Small lakes, railway tracks, hills and mountains were scattered all along the route. This made it one of the high points of the day. It is rightly said, some of the best moments are the ones that are not planned.

Day 3: Independence Pass and Maroon Bells (Aspen)
For the last day, we again left early in the morning to Independence Pass (via Vail and Leadville). We were releived to know that IP was open. The route was very nice and we had some nice clicks on the way. The highest point of IP was again the highlight. It was very gorgeous. We even had a snow fight! I still can't believe why Colorado is not a must visit place for my friends. Anyways after this we went straight to Maroon Bells lake in Aspen. This lake again was very beautiful. It is famous for the shadows the mountains cast, but we couldnt see that as it was not very sunny. Still the lake was worth the drive and we loved playing near it. I guess another good part was that it was not at all crowded.

We were sad that the trip was over and we had to leave for Denver. But the biggest surprise came in the form of the route from Aspen to Denver. The initial 2 hours of the journey was drop dead gorgeous. It was better than all the sight seeing I had done. And amazingly no one talks about it! The curving roads with tunnels, and a river running alongside the road was awesome! If you come to Colorado, you must absolutely come to Aspen and take this route. I hope this post helps people plan their trip better.

Lifeline for GOP - the attempted bombing of NW Flight

I am so relieved that the attempted bombing of NW Flight (Amsterdam - Detroit) didnot materialize. I feel glad for the safety of travellers who had a ride of their life. There is no question that many pointers were missed which should have alerted the authorities. Still I feel the attacks on Obama are unfounded.

Just because Obama is focussing on issues like economy and healthcare, that doesnt mean that he is lax on security. The attacks are especially ridiculous in the light that the flight boarded from Amsterdam. I am surprised that democrats are not pointing out that it was a failure on Amsterdam's part. Yes, American bound flights are responsibility of US Govt too. But you cannot simply overtake control of airports all over the world.

One fact that absolutely needs to be addressed is that the suspect was on US terror watchlist! Still he was not subjected to special screening. This is a big loophole that can easily be fixed. You just need to run all the reservations against the terror watchlist. It is already happening in domestic flights. It needs to be implemented for US bound flights as well.

All this being said, I still think that Fox network and GOP establishment will do their best to milk this issue. Obama had a close call on this one. One only hopes that no other attack is successful in the future -- else I dont see how Obama can win a second term. And we do need Obama for full 8 years!!

Obama and bipartisanship - An idea

It was sad to see a key procedural vote on Health Bill being passed without a single republican vote. I was watching the live coverage on CNN. Both Democrats and Republicans had some very good points on the bill. In the meantime stats say one American dies every 10 minutes for lack of insurance. Why can't the senate form a consensus on such an urgent issue?

I remember Obama promising bipartisanship in his administration. He cited how he worked with republicans in Chicago to pass many bills. But those promises have taken a backseat since he became President. I am surprised on how naively he invited republicans to some dinners at White House, and expected them to become his fans! That's not how it works!! I totally agree that it is not an easy task to make your political opponents agree with you. But the lack of effort to win them over is what concerns me.

For example, we have not seen any overtures to Republican side to get their support. As per their interview even they admit health care system is broken. I would have loved to see Obama asking both Democrats and Republicans to table a bill on Health Care. Each with their take on how to fix the issue. This would have produced a common theme around which the bill could have been built. It would definitely had been more constructive way to go!

Barack Obama and Nobel Peace Prize

Well well well. Why am I not surprised?! This is something the Nobel Peace Prize awardees have excelled in doing. Awarding it to someone who clearly doesn't deserve it, atleast as of now. I am just glad that other prizes like for Chemistry and Literature etc are not given on the same basis.

Can you believe that Gandhi did not receive Nobel prize, but Yasser Arafat did?? This particular award is something thats totally political and lacks any rationale whatsoever. I am not discounting the efforts Obama is making for peace, but what has he achieved? How would you feel if award for literature was given based on speeches instead of actual books? What if prize for science were given based on just theories but no actual evidence and inventions?! Obama has NOT achieved anything related to PEACE as of now. Trying to change US perception by giving speeches and pulling out of Iraq that was already planned by Bush doesn't qualify him. The only achievement I can think of is pressurizing Israel to pull out of Palestine. But that too was not followed by concrete actions against Israel. US even refused to support UN in investigating Israel war crimes. How can then Obama be even nominated, far less winning the award?

It is high-time the Peace prize committee gets its act together. The award should be given not to soothe someone's ego or in hopes that person will achieve something. It should be given to someone who has something to show for the award. This actually puts Obama in an unwelcome position. I am sure he would be thinking - "Why did they give the award to me?! Now, I will have to face crticism for something that is not even my fault!". I sympathize with him :-)

But anyways, I do hope that he does achieve something concrete. He does have the right attitude. Given a second term, he might be able to bring some kind of peace in Israel and Afghanistan. I will welcome a second peace prize for him when that happens.

Observe and Report - AWFUL movie

Yesterday, we saw Seth Rogan's movie - Observe and Report. I like Seth's movies and thought that it would be a good timepass. Was I wrong or what?! It was one of the most crappiest movies I have seen. There is no story, no acting, no concept.. I don't know if the person who wrote the script was high or something when he wrote it! Not to mention the producer who put his money into it!! I would give it negative rating if any rating site lets me!

Anyways, please avoid this movie at all costs. You will have saved yourself 2 hours of your time. I am writing this post at the request of my wife and brother, who suffered along with me.

Upcoming trip to Colorado

Hi Friends,
The planning is done, hotel/car and flights are booked. Colorado, here we come! We are going to this gorgeous place for a three day trip.

We searched the net a lot to comeup with a good itinerary. Finally, this is what we decided:
See Colorado Springs (Garden of Gods, Pike Peak) on day 1.
See Independence Pass, Maroon Bells (Aspen), and Lake Dillon on day 2.
See Rocky Mountains (Trail Ridge Road, Bear Lake, Alpine Visitor Center, and Mountain Shadow lake) on day 3.

I will let you guys know how the trip went. Do pass me if you have any suggestions! I wanted to see Denver and Aspen for a long long time now, finally it will come true. I am so excited! The only worry is weather as Colorado is already getting chilly. We will be there from Oct 2nd-Oct 4th.

Adsense Update 2

Hello Friends,

I have crossed the $20 limit finally!! In total there were around 42 clicks on ads on this blog, which translates to 50 cents per click. I have also updated my account information etc with Google. So I should be receiving money into my account soon.

I have also created Google Analytics account. The information that I can generate from here is just awesome!! I can see from which city page access came - to what kind of internet connection the person is using! Isn't that just awesome? It is mind boggling and puts the whole privacy issues to perspective.

Anyways, I am thinking hard to create another blog or site that can generate actual money for me. Any ideas are most welcome! This is real deal!! If you have not tried it, please do! Micro blogging is the way to go, and adsense can help you generate good revenue. It has really impressed me, so give it a try :-)

Barack Obama and George Lopez?!

Is anyone else annoyed by the fact that Obama is appearing in a commercial to promote Lopez's latenight show? I have been reading left's criticism of Obama - sometimes genuine and many times outright ridiculous. But no one seems to be talking about how inappropriate it seems when President of US is attempting to promote Lopez's show.

It's not that I don't like Lopez or Obama. I love 'George Lopez' show, and support Obama as well. Still, enough is enough. I have seen Obama appear on ads for Stephen Colbert, Conan O Brian, and now George Lopez. On top of that his dialogue is as lame as it can get - "George, you need to change to LateNight. That's the change I can believe in". I think a president needs to maintain a certain sanctity of the office, and needs to project an image of authority. With ads like these, no wonder many critics are treating him just like any celebrity. That is trashing his image whenever they get a chance.

It is time Obama puts his time into more pressing tasks at hand - stopping the divide that seems to be developing after his election, healthcare and ofcourse economic uncertainity.

Apple picking!

On Sunday Sep 13th, me and Reena went for apple picking trip. It was not just us, there were atleast 25 of us!! The place we went to was Joe Huber's farm near Louisville. It was a nice way to meet, have pot-luck and basically have a good time. As you can see in the picture, the food was awesome!


I thought that apples will not be good, but I was mistaken. The apples were just so delicius that we ended up buying some. Our friends were not as fruit shy as us. Many of them bought FULL packets. Well good for them, but I love paranthas in the morning :).. Anyways, one pic to end the post (courtesy of Shyam).. pls dont ooh and aww... :)

Adsense Update

As promised, I am updating the findings of adsense experiment. I received a total of 110 page impressions so far - which basically means my blog was viewed 110 times. There were 10 clicks on ads which generated revenue of $3.73. If you look at the revenue per click, it is pretty impressive. This definitely means that incase you are able to built a site which keeps people interested and has fair amount of clicks - you can get some green dollar bills in your pocket!

I will keep you all posted.

My Achkan

Hello friends, I wanted to share pics of my Achkan (also called Sherwani) with all of you. So here it is - the traditional Indian groom attire!!

Here is another pose with full Achkan:

The Adsense experiment

As you can see, my blog now has some ads. I just wanted to know how the ad model works in internet. What better way than to enrol in the same? Plus it would give me an incentive to write more, something that I have been thinking of doing anyways.

Obviously, I don't expect to earn much (or anything) from the ads in this blog. But it has the potential to give me some ideas on how to use the model in some way. Maybe I can come up with some good idea for a website and use it. Who knows, right? So start clicking on the ads my friends, and I will keep you posted on how these things work :-)

Spelling Bee 2009

Kavya Shivashankar won the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee competition. It was her fourth appearance in the Bee. I couldn't help but feel good that someone of Indian origin won the competition. Last year it was Samir Mishra, this year Kavya. The fact that 7 out of 11 finalists were of Indian origin gives you something to think about! The competition itself was extremely tough. I couldn't believe that these kids (12 or 13 years old) were able to spell the words that I couldn't even pronounce!! To make matters worse more often than not the words pronunciation is very different from its spelling. Hats off to all the participants, and special congrats to Kavya for her sheer hardwork and perseverance!

Another interesting point - Kavya is the seventh Indian American to win the contest in the past 11 years!! Go Indians!!

Guantanamo Bay

I don't understand all this hoopla surrounding the closure of Guantanamo Bay. I say enough with the political posturing! GOP and even many democrats are against closing it down on the grounds that detainees pose security threat to US. While security is a legitimate concern, some of the concerns raised are pure ridiculous. I almost laugh anytime I read that senators don't want detainees to be held in US prisons. Since when is US afraid that it's current law enforcement and judicial system is sub standard?

Going by the same yardstick, suppose Osama Bin Laden is captured. Unarguably he is THE MOST dangerous terrorist, right? Would the same senators say that he should NOT be brought to US for justice?? Just think about it. They send soldiers to fight in foreign countries surrounded by terrorists. But they wont allow suspects to be held in high-security prisons in their state. How preposterous!

The issue is black and white. The detainees should be tried in US. If it is believed that a prisoner is dangerous, evidence should be provided! Else they should be released back to their home country. If the home country doesn't accept them, it is US responsibility to accept them. The allied countries should not even come into picture. On the other hand, prisoners found guilty should be held in US prisons.

In this Obama era, too many politicians are invoking our fear of danger to US. It is really pitiful that people who authorized wars against two COUNTRIES are now afraid of INDIVIDUALS.

My Marriage!!

It all seems so unreal sometimes! Here I was few years back talking about what I felt about marriage. And today, it is my turn. Time sure flies fast.

Most of you already know that I would get married to Reena on Aug 9th. For those of you who don't, here are some details. I got Reena's number through my family. Yes, it is arranged marriage. I talked to her for the first time on October 17th. It seems so long ago!! We really connected well. We met a few times and we knew that we were right for each other. Our partners in crime were my brother and bhabhi. Monika, Kishore and Rishu were the ones helping Reena.

Roka ceremony was held in Cleveland on Dec 14th. I got to meet Reena's mom and brother also at that time. It was fun.

So 7 months and thousands of pics later, it is time to go back to India and lose my bachelor's degree!! I am getting really excited as the D-Day is approaching.

Over the past few months we have shared so many beautiful memories and trips. Hope that our journey together is as much fun as it has been so far.

Movies Review/Rating

Hi All,

Click here to view the ratings of movies I have seen

I have seen hundreds of movies over time. And I am also maintaining an excel where I list my personal rating. Sometimes, I even write some review for the movies. I am just sharing this list with you all incase you want to see some movie and want to get my opinion on the same!!

I might have missed many of the movies in the excel. But believe me, if you know some movies name, most likely I would have seen it!! SO you can post a scrap or drop me an email if you want my review. I will try to reply asap.

Enjoy!!

(Update -- Excel is also embedded below for easy reference)