After almost three months, put in a 10 mile (16 K) run. The most fun part was Nikita joined me in her bike for the first 3.1 miles (5K). At one point we raced going downhill. We both peaked at 5:30 min/mile on the dirt roads. As a result I had to slow down to 10:30 min/mile for the last seven miles. Very sultry day but the constant breeze made it enjoyable.
I am a little skeptical of the name. The source has been reliable in the past though. The drink, in of itself, turned out to be great for a warm day. It is citrusy and caters to my Indian tongue that likes ginger and slightly spicy stuff …
Basil leaves, jalapeño, ginger liqueur, lime, tequila, agave nectar and sour.
Ever since my inlaws have visited us, I have been always thinking of where else can we take them to visit. You always want to show the best of your country to visitors from other countries. They were awe-struck by Niagara Falls, totally mesmerized by seeing the Atlantic Ocean in Hilton Head and so on. Now that my father-in-law’s movement is highly restricted, I have been at my wit’s end where to take them.
Today, I realized how they are totally happy with the simplest of things and simplest of places. After trying a few parks by the River Chattahoochee and finding them to be too crowded and not enough shade, I just took them to a familiar place of mine. It is actually a pretty nondescript spot – it is by the river alright, and there are a couple of parking spots too. But it is right under the highway 400 and nobody is there other than the occasional runner or canoeist. And that is why I know that place. I have often started my runs from there.
But they thought that was the best place in the whole world. They sat in the shade that the overhead highway gave and gazed into the river on either side for what seemed to me like an endless period (it was a couple of hours) completely oblivious of the cars and trucks roaring by just a few yards above their heads. I caught them often talking to themselves and once in a while to each other. They even compared the sights to some places in India they had visited way way back before they had any kids.
I just watched them and took as many pictures as I could. My favorite is the black and white on the right top corner.
The morning, Niki was in our master bathroom getting decked up by Sharmila for her Indian dance performance slated for later in the morning. I happened to swing by to go to the closet and on my way jumped on to the weighing scales to check my weight. As I got off the scales and proceeded towards the closet, the following conversation ensued…
Niki: “So what did the scales say?”
Me: “164.2 pounds”
Niki: “Is that good or bad?”
Me (in an attempt to brush her off): “There is nothing good or bad. Only thinking makes it so”.
Niki (promptly): “Got it. You just don’t want to admit that it is bad” 🙂
After I had my laugh, I asked her seriously “Do you know who said those words – there is nothing good or bad m’lord… only thinking makes it so?”
Niki: “Albert Einstein?”
Me: “Get out! Somebody much earlier than that”
Niki: “Jesus?”
Me (barely suppressing my laughter): “No. Later”
Niki: “American Indians?”
Me: “Where are you coming up with these guesses from? His first name was William and he was born in England”
Niki: “I know. Prince William!”
Finally, I gave up and said “No. It was William Shakespeare”.
“Totally uninteresting dude”, she retorted!!
My current executive team is in Atlanta for our monthly meetings. We pick one of our offices nationwide and rotate our meetings in those cities. One of our common practices is for the local executive to arrange for a networking meeting when we are done with our office stuff.
This time, it was my turn. So, I invited the executive team from my previous job (which was in Atlanta) to join my current team for a dinner. As always, we had a great time. It is simply magical to watch a great talented team meet another great talented team.
The highlight of the evening was as I introduced one of my current team members – Dan – to one of my previous team members – John – they immediately recognized each other from a previous life. Apparently, they played football together for their college (Univ of Wisconsin, Whitewater, I believe).
Who knew that after playing for the same team more than a quarter century back, they would accidentally find themselves in the same place at the same time – connected by a common executive separated by two companies?
I have to admit that it was great watching them catch up on their common friends, families and the time ever since they met last.
Awesome!!
Yesterday I installed one of those counter plugins in my blogsite to see what the global distribution of people coming to my blogsite www.rajibroy.com (“The History of my Future! (First Draft!!) was. If you see my updates on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Tumblr or Linkedin, I actually do not write on any of those sites. I write on my blogsite which is then syndicated out to these social media sites. I was looking only at the analysis of people coming to my blogsite directly.
My guess was that the highest hits would be from USA and then India. Instead, I found out that out of 800 odd visitors in one day, half are from China!! Given the stereotype in this country of the Chinese snooping on us, I got curious and started looking into the details of which posts were the Chinese reading. I was totally floored to see that almost all the hits from China are visiting my Puzzle pages. Hmmmm!!! Now, I am really curious!! Which also reminds me that I have not posted a new puzzle in a long time.
Netherlands being third also surprised me. On the flip side, I was expecting much more from India. Also noticed there were no visitors from Africa or South America!!
