2010

Every year this blog has a retrospect post looking back through the archives..

This year was not worth the blog archive search.

We got memories worth a lifetime during a two week stretch in our India trip, first when the little one agreed to do her mottai with Daddy and came back to the USA to brave abuses like "you are a boy girl"

and this was followed by a spiritual connection at Manikaran and Manali in the Himanchal, a one of a kind experience!

There were sicknesses in the family that pretty much want us to forget this year and they pretty much made us feel that there are things that are way out of our control and made us ponder spirituality to a higher level.

The blog and blogger have not strayed significantly from the usual routine, save for the MAJOR upgrade to the Photo/Video department. This blog has seen the photographer learn new tricks (and hopefully show others that anyone can take pictures by following instructions and practicing), show a few cooking tips that show that if I can do ladoos, mixture and mysorepak, you can too.. and chronicle the kid raising experience with day to day tidbits that make us reflect and go "what were we thinking". Sure those tidbits make you LOL!

On the camera front, just like how a bachelor got married and decided to have kids as he realized that there was a progression to things, the point and shoot was replaced by a DSLR over time and the DSLR changed to a full frame camera this year. The only thing that beats having kids is to get them married, but usually there is a long gap between having kids and getting them married!

So someday this blogger might make a short film or documentary, but that will be a long long time from now!

Blogs have gone the same way as Temples. I know.. I know.. you are thinking "what the !!!" Let me explain. Today there was a conversation with my brother about going to temples. When we go to Kabali temple (in Mylapore) or Padmanabhaswamy temple (in Adyar) you find that 90% of the population in the temple is 50+ age group. Why?

A theory was that thirty years ago(when we were kids) there was not that much TV, internet, cell phones. The temples were not just a place to worship god, pray for your sins to be absolved, wishes to be granted, illnesses to be cured, feel closer to god, but also to meet your friends, find matrimonial matches for that nephew or niece of cousin, get up to date on neighborhood gossip, movies worth watching, etc. etc. or just plain get some exercise going around a large temple or walking to it.

Today the traffic and pollution have made that exercise an oxymoron. The cell and internet give you the gossip and info. Google, Youtube, Facebook, Bharat Matrimony and Shadi.com have made the rest of the temple visit unattractive. My parents listen to Velukudi Swamy on Jaya TV or Vijay TV. For all we know, even Velukudi Swamy is probably happy to spend more time explaining Bhagavatam in a studio than be stuck in Mount road traffic!

This blog is one such place. Facebook and Twitter have changed the way blogs are read. Ever since Blogrolling.com was hit as a virus site and blocked by browsers like IE and Firefox, the links to your favorite blogsites on the sidebar are all gone! It is like losing your phone book.

Still there are folks who visit the temple whatever be their reasons! Blogging has become like going to the temple. A place to revisit your thoughts, shout into the ocean, make new friends, have a conversation with everyone and no one in particular, just like talking to god!

So, on we go with more pictures, videos and words!

.

A long break..

The blogging break was not intentional. AT&T cut our internet by mistake last Thursday.

We have had no phone or internet at home for the last 7 days. We finally got it back tonight.

San went insane as she dealt with AT&T customer service, that too on a no school for kids week. That ruled out any option for us working from home even for a few hours.

Incidentally our phone is a Vonage phone (VoIP phone) and no internet means, no phone.

My cell phone as 0 bars or keeps dropping calls (it is an iPhone with AT&T!!!).

The only working phone was San's cell which is fortunately not on AT&T.

San has spent 240+ minutes of her cell plan to be with AT&T customer service in the last 7 days, most of it listening to elevator music as she was handed over from one incompetent service rep to another.

They asked her to call back after 7PM on one day.. only for us to realize their office closes at 7PM. So much for customer service!

Lessons from this..

a. even though you do not need a land line, if you live in an area where cell signals are flaky, pay that 12 bucks a month and keep that land line alive or move to an area with a good cell signal

b. never take the internet for granted! it affects your life more than you know it....

There are smart folks who work at AT&T who know what is going on.. but getting to them is luck of the draw. 8/10 reps fail you miserably.

That is really sad.

.

Buzz ain't bad for a bumblebee like me..

Ok, there is a lot of negativity these days around anything Google.

Since I am not employed by google, am a self proclaimed techno nerd (not the software type though), and have had an open love-hate relationship when it comes to the products they dish out, here is an open heartfelt feedback of why this is actually a good thing..

1. Now that they fixed this contact business, it is no different from facebook. You can share all info to all public or choose to share your info with select people. You do have to invest some time and effort to set up the group lists for friends, family, etc. etc.. then what you share gets viewed by different people. Have checked it out and it works nicely. (it also tells you which items you shared with the world and which ones with family).

see the example shot below..

2. if all your buddies put their accounts and share it in the buzz stream, you get to see their feeds, tweets etc. just like you see blogposts on reader. the look and feel of a reader is maintained.

3. You don't have spam on this yet with stuff like "so and so took the How much do you know Shah Rukh Khan quiz and scored 13%. would you like to take the quiz?", in a quiz where even Shah Rukh would score only 5%.

4. the picture viewing is great!

5. It is almost a blogger and reader combined into one.

Now, if google makes you selectively embed links and images into the text box.. in other words, integrate the blog editor into buzz status updater, and have the ability to selectively show only my posts in the buzz stream, then will I even use blogger? highly unlikely.

So when people say Buzz is trying to replace facebook, twitter etc.. it also seems to be trying to replace blogger and blogreader as well!

They should have done this two years ago!

Just look at who are on your facebook list. Friends from school, college, work, friends you make thanks to who your kids go to school with, friends you make because of your hobbies and that is pretty much it.

It is usually the same bunch of people you email the most. I fundamentally had an issue with Facebook calling everyone a "friend", be it an acquaintance or a thick pal and almost stopped using it because of how it had security issues. Facebook fixed those issues and have a way to send your status updates to select folks only and have a way for you to say "NO" when it comes to information on your profile going out.

Buzz is doing the same thing.. It does surprise me that they didn't learn from the mistakes of Facebook before launching Buzz! The good thing with Google is that the react fast when you point out things to them.

Looks like someone heard my plea for a one stop shop with one login!

The second impression on this one is "I could get used to this!"

.

A break

in my right arm forces a blogging break.

Will be back in six weeks.

Ps. Happy to be alive and recovering.

.

Posting will resume

When you get a new gizmo that fascinates you, it might take a few days or even a few weeks to get the gadget and all its controls at your fingertips.

That is what is going on now..

Have spent 8+ hours in the last week to learn how to do things the i-way!

Still figuring out interesting things, when the kids will stop playing tic-tac-toe or memory games.

This small piece of electronics has shifted life and focus in the household significantly in the last week. The novelty will wear out in a few days and that is when blogposting will resume..

Till then...

.