Time to be thankful..

Thanksgiving as a festival always eludes me. The whole Indians-Pilgrims-Turkey-Corn thingy doesn't strike a chord. 

Since getting married though it has been a means to celebrate Sangeetha and my birthday at nice locations as this holiday falls between our two birthdays. 

People tell me "this is a time to say thanks and be thankful for the good things in your life". If there is one thing to be thankful for in this life, it is family!

For the last 16 years we have mostly spent this long weekend with the cousins family at parks, theme or national..

This year was no different. We went to Yosemite Falls for two days. Got to see some wondeful sights, get way more exercise than we bargained for and had some fun times playing board games in a cozy cabin!

The pictures are promising so far..

San turns 29 again today! I am thankful to her parents for their first creation, who gave me a second chance in life and has made a better person out of me than I would have thought possible.

Here's to San, second chances and family!

Conversations at home

Have been helping the little one with her school project. It is a timeline on Amelia Earhart which involves making a timeline, drawing pictures and doing a speech. 

She is using a 100 page book from the Biography series. Tonight we were talking about this at bedtime ..

LO : I really tried reading the Auto-Biography Appa. The first section was sooo boring. Only the last few pages were interesting where she sets records and then gets lost!

Me : It is not an "auto" biography.. it is just a biography. Auto means "self" as in someone wrote about themselves

LO : I could totally write an autobiography of 100 pages

Me : seriously?! 

LO : Yes. It is going to be awesome. It will be all about how awesome I am!

Me : Really?!

LO : It better be awesome if I am going to brag about myself for a 100 pages!

Me: !!!!!!

This is a very special girl.. 

Someday I really hope she gets to write her "auto"biography and all the 100 page bragging has some real stuff behind it.

Electric car facts

It has been almost 2 years of driving the Nissan Leaf!

So far it has lived up to its promise. A quiet ride in carpool lane for local commuting. 

Given my kids tell me that I drive like an old grandma, it is no surprise that the leaf has 5 miles/kwh. Leaf forums tell me that this is a pretty good record for a car that has since seen 15k + miles

One intersting thing is that the Leaf gives you an estimated miles left as you drive.. and that can sometimes be like the Windows File download or copy dialog box "time remaining" prediction!

You drive 3 miles and get back 5 more.. then you drive back 4 miles and lose 9! Net result is that the car was driven 7 miles and it shows 4 miles consumed. These numbers are also a function of recent trips and who knows what logic?!

One gets used to this after some time. Also if you remember which routes have roads that slope down vs. roads that slope up, you can optimize your mileage!

Only downside this year is that the Leaf is behind on the 10k mile per year we signed for in the lease. So far the dealership is getting a better deal. 

The charger is now fixed and the car is back on the road! These photographs were taken few weeks ago on a route that always makes me laugh when looking at the dashboard.

Here is to more fun!