Saturday, November 12, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Welcome Mira & Bhavin's baby-boy ... My 4 days WFH
This week is lots of downs of health. I caught up cold on weather changes. I am not aware weather this was after effects of iPhone losing or weather changes. :)
Monday I was feeling some symptoms of cold and cough.
Tuesday I Worked from Home. Being little sick I could not work much. By end of Tuesday, I had thought to go work next day, but Wednesday was even more horrible.
Wednesday morning, I emailed at work for my non-availability and slept till 1:30pm. Nital had prepared some good food for me and we took little lunch together. I was not in any mood and cold had good control on me to do anything. I slept back at 3pm and got up 6pm. I thought I am wasting time, and thought to help Nital in her house chores. After some dinner preparation, we had nice dinner, a nice and pleasant walk with early sleep at 11:30pm so that I can efficiently go work next day morning.
Thursday, I reached office on time. Mahesh (my manager) gave me news of demise of Steve Jobs(the self-made genius and entrepreneur) on the previous day. I was not aware of the news because of two possible causes 1. I has sick and had slept the previous day entirely. 2. My main news source iPhone 4(the Steve Jobs product) was out of my possession. Yeah it was really a shock to me and my phenomenal love to all Apple products. I started work, but within some time I felt its not good to be in office for my health reasons and others' too. We got news by the building services that some wall street protestors are going to get-together near the 30 Hudson office location. I left the office premises towards home. The rest of the day, I worked from home with some support and enhancement activities.
Friday, I had determined to Work from Home, because I was not feeling that well to go in office and enjoy the Friday environment. I worked from home.
Rajumama gave us news of Mira and Bhavin's baby-boy birth. It was pleasant event and hearty welcome to baby-boy.
Monday I was feeling some symptoms of cold and cough.
Tuesday I Worked from Home. Being little sick I could not work much. By end of Tuesday, I had thought to go work next day, but Wednesday was even more horrible.
Wednesday morning, I emailed at work for my non-availability and slept till 1:30pm. Nital had prepared some good food for me and we took little lunch together. I was not in any mood and cold had good control on me to do anything. I slept back at 3pm and got up 6pm. I thought I am wasting time, and thought to help Nital in her house chores. After some dinner preparation, we had nice dinner, a nice and pleasant walk with early sleep at 11:30pm so that I can efficiently go work next day morning.
Thursday, I reached office on time. Mahesh (my manager) gave me news of demise of Steve Jobs(the self-made genius and entrepreneur) on the previous day. I was not aware of the news because of two possible causes 1. I has sick and had slept the previous day entirely. 2. My main news source iPhone 4(the Steve Jobs product) was out of my possession. Yeah it was really a shock to me and my phenomenal love to all Apple products. I started work, but within some time I felt its not good to be in office for my health reasons and others' too. We got news by the building services that some wall street protestors are going to get-together near the 30 Hudson office location. I left the office premises towards home. The rest of the day, I worked from home with some support and enhancement activities.
Friday, I had determined to Work from Home, because I was not feeling that well to go in office and enjoy the Friday environment. I worked from home.
Rajumama gave us news of Mira and Bhavin's baby-boy birth. It was pleasant event and hearty welcome to baby-boy.
Cirque De Soleil's Zarkhana, 10th Anniversary of 0911 and Himanshu's New York visit
We had booked Zarkhana play of Cirque du Soleil thorugh Living Social. We reached pretty much well ahead of time at the Radio City Music Hall in the Rockafeller Center and entered the hall. The ambiance of the hall was magnificent and it set our expectations to an amazing show. The show started with clawns' entries and photo shoots with audience. The cast was pretty much
Once the show was over, we thought of visiting Central Park.
Once the show was over, we thought of visiting Central Park.
Arjun & Summerstage events
We learnt about summerstage events just a week back, when Nital was looking for good places and events to attend in NYC. NYC is host of unlimited places and stuff to do in US. Summerstage gives good opportunities to rising artists and stage students.
Monday, August 1, 2011
A classic weekend …
Since Nital just finished her training, this weekend we thought of having relaxed time from the busy schedule. We decided to have a classic lazy weekend, so we went out to our favorite video store(Milap Video, Jersey City) and decided to have somewhat old movie. Kaka being a fan of old cinemas suggested us a classic movie of Guru Dutt, named Mr and Mrs. 55. I had heard name of Guru Dutt as one of the greatest directors of Indian cinema, but had never watched one. We decided to have our luck on this movie. The classic movie of my grandfathers time(released in 1955), turned out to be good direction.
A classic weekend …
The movie with classic wine gifted by the landlords while at dinner the previous day was a great add-on to the classic weekend.
We searched more on Wikipedia that Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa and Khagaz ke Phool, Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy and Pather Pancholi and Raj Kapoor’s Awaara are considered top 100 movies of all time.
In all, we did nothing on the day, it was a classic weekend(in fact a lazy one) and a great time for both of us …
Friday, July 22, 2011
Welcome Harry Potter
Last weekend(September 15, 2011), we (Nital and I) went out for Harry Potter. Though as friends know me, I am neither a big fan of SCI-FI nor a fiction.
Since Nital follows the entire Harry charisma very closely since her undergrad days, I thought to join her(Actually she forced me to join her :( ) and know a little about Harry's fame all around the world. Before the movie I had a complete recap of all the episodes of the Harry Potter dynasty since 2 days before the movie release ... I went thorugh all lectures of Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, and the ending 'Deathly Hallows'. The recap was a mandatory one with reverse knowledge transition activities, ensuring the standard of lectures :) ... I passed it with some help.
We had an advanced booking of an IMAX show on the opening day. It was fun, while we reached the theater 30 minutes before the schedules showtime, the theater was almost full and after 5/10 minutes of looking for a seat we found a pair of good seats. The movie was good, and the 3D effects too. Nital's prior explanation of the stories helped me delve more into the story and feel the Harry's charisma on me. ... But Harry was not much successful. :(
This was a start of my following Harry Potter and Harry's last appearance in closing its books and movie series of the greatest hit Harry Potter.
As soon the movie was over, we went out to Hoboken in search of some delicious food. We decided to have our luck on 'Japanese Cuisine' @Illuzion. We ordered vegetarian sushi and sobe noodles, and the food turned out to be good.
Nital had a fantastic start of a weekend :)
And I was happy too, on Lord Voldemort's demise. :)
Since Nital follows the entire Harry charisma very closely since her undergrad days, I thought to join her(Actually she forced me to join her :( ) and know a little about Harry's fame all around the world. Before the movie I had a complete recap of all the episodes of the Harry Potter dynasty since 2 days before the movie release ... I went thorugh all lectures of Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, and the ending 'Deathly Hallows'. The recap was a mandatory one with reverse knowledge transition activities, ensuring the standard of lectures :) ... I passed it with some help.
We had an advanced booking of an IMAX show on the opening day. It was fun, while we reached the theater 30 minutes before the schedules showtime, the theater was almost full and after 5/10 minutes of looking for a seat we found a pair of good seats. The movie was good, and the 3D effects too. Nital's prior explanation of the stories helped me delve more into the story and feel the Harry's charisma on me. ... But Harry was not much successful. :(
This was a start of my following Harry Potter and Harry's last appearance in closing its books and movie series of the greatest hit Harry Potter.
As soon the movie was over, we went out to Hoboken in search of some delicious food. We decided to have our luck on 'Japanese Cuisine' @Illuzion. We ordered vegetarian sushi and sobe noodles, and the food turned out to be good.
Nital had a fantastic start of a weekend :)
And I was happy too, on Lord Voldemort's demise. :)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Honeymoon at Rhode Island
This weekend, we (Nital and I) visited Rhode Island (RI) state, the smallest of all 50 states in USA. Though we planned going to RI not very long ago, we spent some time on what places we should visit and what to plan in our 3 days trip to RI.
Day 1 …
Targets: Travel, South County, and Water Fire event in Providence.
Our trip started on Saturday 2nd July, 2011 … we had plenty of stuff to carry, as most of the people are aware that girls want every damn thing on a trip :)*. We started a little late at 9:30am, finishing up errands here and there for ATM, gas, some grocery. We left Jersey City at almost 10:15am to route I-95 heading north. As soon we started towards I-95 north after crossing the major supposed pinpoint of George Washington bridge, we hit traffic and it lasted almost 2 hours and but only traveled 10 to 15 miles. Soon after the peak traffic, we took a break and started driving again for another longer stretch of approx. 150 miles. During this stretch we hit traffic in bits and pieces. As a lunch pit-stop we took some random exit to an unknown town and an unknown Deli in upstate Connecticut. We had some of the most delicious Panini that we have never had so far.
*Comments by Nital: ironically Amit had a bigger bag then I did!!.....OK i had food (that was valuable on the whole trip) but men just want their whole cupboard!!!
After lunch, we started off again on route I-95 and took some random exits for scenic routes, river views, and beautiful places for our passion of exploring natural places. And we entered Rhode Island at almost 5pm, with a plan to visit South county's historic places and beach before going to the Water Fire event in Providence downtown. We started with South County region for visiting historic mansions which were more than 200 years old on Gibson avenue, Narragansett. The towers had a very long history and are currently being used by the city municipality for big functions like wedding and state-dinners. We then went to the historic Towers on the Narragansett’s old entrance, which was a casino before. We freshened up at a beach restaurant enjoyed the breath-taking views of the sea. This is one of the most beautiful beach I have had ever visited! We walked to nearby mansions of the pre-independence era and enjoyed the building architectures and city plans.
Soon we headed towards the Water Fire event in Providence downtown which was scheduled at 8:22pm at sunset time (this event happens every summer Saturday at sunset time from May till September of every year). When we reached the place, the place was already prepared for the event with wood-fuels sets, light music in the background and an amazing crowd. It was very difficult to find place even to stand. As soon the sun set speed boats. some with fire crew and some with performing crew, came and lit the fire on multiple river bonfires. It was an amazing experience! There were gondola rides during the Water Fire event, but the reservations were full for the night, so we missed the rides, but it sure was a memorable experience.
As the fires were roaring on the river so was our stomach, we started looking for good food, and we found The Melting Pot at around 10:30 …it sure was a great combination for the romantic evening!
Day 2 …
Targets: Newport beach, Cliff walk, Gondola ride in Providence and Providence downtown walking tour.
The morning was very late, we missed the hotel breakfast too. We started the day with landing at my favorite Dunkin Donuts coffee and chocolate muffins with Nital and her favorite hot-milk, muffins and donuts, and started heading towards Newport, the beach town. We reached there and found a place of historic mansions of pre and post independence era, historic homes and an awesome beach at Easton, Newport. We carried some sandwiches from a road side fast food chain and took on the the Newport's famous cliff walk trail, overseeing the wonderful beach. As we had fueled ourselves, we started walking on the the famous "Cliff Walk", a 3.5 miles trail overlooking the ocean. It was a wonderful location and time, but due to time constraint we did not go until the end. We walked down to a small part off the cliff walk and sat there enjoying the view and breeze. While returning we detoured from the trail to visit nearby historic homes and mansions, then we headed towards the beach.
The beach was fun, though it just started drizzling slowly and many people moved away from the beach. Some people like ourselves were still enjoying the beach evening. We kept our stuff lying on the sand and started walking and enjoying the beach towards the other end. Coast guards were still keeping eyes on people to ensure no one was drowning and still having fun. We had a nice time jumping, running, walking along the beach.
We had targets to leave by 5pm as it was a 40 minutes drive to hotel and to allow ourselves time to get dressed for a romantic Gondola ride in Providence downtown at 7:15pm. We missed to take our wine, but the Gondola was a fantastic romantic experience. The gondolier explained the history of the buildings surrounding the river, and the history of the Gondola businesses in Providence and his involvement. The gondolier sang Italian songs for us and also translated it for us. It was an awesome romantic experience. Even though Nital has visited Venice twice, this was a great experience for her too, she said the Gondola services were even better than the ones in Venice.
We had till midnight, so we thought of exploring downtown Providence buildings. Alot of the buildings were built in the pre-independence era during British colonial time and some in the 1930’s great recession. Rhode Island was a major contributor to American Industrialization and Textile industry. We visited historical landmarks of Korean War monument and World War-1 monument for peace. Majority of Providence downtown is built on top of a river, and the bridge is considered the widest in USA. During the 18th century they covered the river to build buildings on top of the bridge and created a small Venice kind of environment but presented its own historic significance.
We ended the night by having dinner at Chicago Uno Bar & Grill - I had an unhealthy burger and Nital a healthy whole wheat pizza.
Day 3 …
Targets: Blackstone valley river ride, Travel back, Independence day fireworks in NYC.
The day started on time, as we had to leave the RI by 3pm to reach home by 8pm and enjoy the Independence Day fireworks. We took a healthy breakfast at the hotel and started towards Pawtucket. Pawtucket is famous for the Pre-industrialization period and have significant contribution towards initiating the industrial revolution in USA. We watched a ~20 minutes movie at the Visitor center and thought of what to do next as the boat ride was only on Sundays. We decided to visit the Slater Mill, which is now turned into a museum. We took the museum tour which gave detailed information of the pre-independence era - how people lived back then, how some fled from England and started to use hydraulic powers which led to the industrial revolution in USA and finally independence from England.
The tour was so detailed, that it was already lunch time when it ended. We got directions from our tour guide to a vegetarian "Garden grill", however as it was the 4th of July it was closed and we ended up in an Indian restaurant next to it.
As we headed back, we thought of driving on route 122 along the Blackstone valley river, to our disappointment it was not very scenic as it was not right along the river. And so we headed back to NY to make it for Independence day fireworks.
To compensate for the scenic route along Blackstone valley and to avoid the jam along route I-95 we took route 15 from Connecticut to New Jersey and Palisade parkway in New Jersey. It was a beautiful was to reach home - Nital enjoyed the ride very much. We reached home at 8:40pm as we hit 4th of July traffic. We checked Google maps traffic report, and it showed all the roads were jammed at Newport, Hoboken, and Exchange Place vicinity. So we decided to park the car near the Path station and take the Path to Hoboken. We reached the park at Hoboken at 9:25pm and the fireworks had just started. It was an amazing crowd and the plethora of fireworks that wont give you an opportunity to see the sky. As soon the fireworks were over, we hung along the streets to Hoboken to let the crowd spill over to the train station and the bus stops. An awesome trip is on an end. We then took the Path back home and reached home barely able to walk and tired to death. Went to bed for a start to a working week ahead the next morning!!!
What we missed:
- Gondola ride during Water fire event, Providence Downtown (only Saturdays)
- Blackstone river valley boat ride(approx 40 minutes), Pawtucket (only Sundays)
- Cliff Walk(approx. 3.5 miles), Newport
Places not to miss:
- Water Fire event in Providence downtown
- Gondola rides in Providence downtown (with Water Fire event, its added fun)
- Providence downtown walk tour – history of providence and new England region pre-independence era
- Pawtucket – history of the starting of the Industrial revolution in USA
- Narragansett beach
- Newport beach and the famous cliff walk
Photographs.....
https://picasaweb.google.com/pnital/HoneymoonAtRhodeIsland?authkey=Gv1sRgCID7gfK_-enn3AE
Literary work by Amit & photographs by Nital.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)