A good weekend

It all started out with me going for an early morning jog yesterday following the night out. Then we went for a game of TT in Duffield yesterday, following which we went out for icecream at Vivek's insistence. To our dismay, the dairy was closed, and Krishna suggested going to Cornell plantations for a walk. En route, we decided to go to a stream that flows there, and followed a trail there that led us to a dam that supplies water to Cornell. We had a wonderful time playing in the water there, against the strong current; it was amazing to feel the pounding force of water coming at you incessantly. Vivek cooked a wonderful dinner later, and Krishna and I then set out for our routine walk at night at about 1am, returning at around 2.30 am, chitchating all the way along. Later, we went to P&C foods at 3.30 to grab a bite of donuts, only to find that they would take an hour more to be baked fresh. So we ditched that and returned home to cook ourself french toast which we enjoyed while watching 'The Mummy'.

Sunday was even more fun; we visited the mall in the evening where I had a bit of shopping to do. Then we ate Chinese food at the usual place we always eat out there. Coming back home, I tried my hand at cooking Rasgullas from scratch - no precooked mix and crap; started out with plain old milk and came up with this -


Work again tomorrow onwards :( That's all for the weekend..

Plans in Dallas

Trust me when I say I am going to have a great time in Dallas. Neha and Nilesh are having their summer vacations now, which means that I get to spend a lot of time with them. Besides, Sheetal tai told me they are planning a visit to IMAX and Main Event (bowling and arcade games), and also miniature golf and bumper cars. Besides, with plenty of malls nearby, shopping goes without saying. All this in Dallas, a huge and beautiful city. And the fun doesn't stop here; I then go to Washington DC where Ronak would have just reuturned from summer camp, and there would be Gayatri too. Besides, we are planning some sight seeing in Washington DC that weekend. Then I return to Ithaca, via New York city, where I plan to spend about an hour at Times square (I have to wait there for an hour to catch my bus to Ithaca). Man, I am going to have the best time of my life :P

Meanwhile, all's not dead with my project, the primary reason for me being in USA. The circuit that Sylvia and I came up with is working fantastically in our simulations, and Prof. Apsel is also quite supportive of it. We plan to send one of our novel circuits for fabrication on the 11th of June (I won't be here then, but I shall complete that work before leaving), and shall also send a few more differential ring oscillator topologies that I have looked at alongwith.

What more can one ask of an internship? Lots of sight seeing, great work and good results, a happy peaceful life with great apartmentmates and friends.... all this in the calm and serene city of Ithaca... life was NEVER this good.

What should I do after IIT?

Not PhD - that's for sure. I have seen the pros and cons of a PhD student's life here over the last month, and I don't think I am made for that kind of struggle. I am someone who needs a dynamic environment to grow in, and I am not sure a PhD program can afford me a good stage for honing my skills and developing my personality. Also, I believe in a world where new fields can spring up within a couple of years, it would help me to diversify myself as much as possible early on in my career. Till now I have had a look at an Electrical engineer's job (during my internship at Philips Electronics), the work ethics and nature of a job in IPR (during my internship at Pangea3), besides this experience at Cornell. I believe I have seen well, and I can be confident of the decision that I shall make).

I think I should go into a consulting job. Such jobs, as most of us know, offer excellent pay, challenging work and a steep learning curve. The catch in most such jobs though is long work hours and more often than not, lots of traveling on account of client responsibilities. Such a job may help me though in becoming a proficient speaker, and also help me to build strong contacts early on in my career. I believe it will give me the leverage to have a look at a professional life and then decide on long term plans. For a short term job, I believe such a job shall help me more than a technical job, as I get to diversify myself and also earn more.

And so it is - I have seriously started thinking about getting a good job. There are 10 steps in a planned out job hunt. This is stage 1 - Visualising the accomplishment.

To beer

Here's to beer. Beer is simply amazing. Wikipedia calls it the World's oldest and most popular alcoholic beverage. Not till long ago, I used to be totally disgusted just by its mention. But things have changed since. I now respect beer for its sheer power to free you of all tensions, to relieve the mind, to soothe the soul. I have also heard that beer destroys your liver in the long run, but occasional drinking isn't bad I guess. I should advise everyone to try Beer at least once in their life, and try to respect it for what it is. No point cursing it just coz someone you know does so too.

A beautiful sunrise

My first night out in USA; no work, no specific reason for a night out too, just that we all again partied last night (pizza, beer, chips, coke, pakodas (tallur made :P), garlic bread etc etc), partied till 3, after which all the others went off to sleep. I wasn't feeling sleepy, so spent time chatting with folks and listening to music and watching Family Guy. Good thing though, as I got to capture these lovely pics of a beautiful sunrise (5am shots from my window):

















































It's 6.30 am now, and am still not sleepy. I am off for a hike now. No fun as hiking alone in the wilderness here on such a beautiful day. Enjoy the pics meanwhile :P.

~Ta tas.

Texas road trip - US cross country

Yahoo! Take this - A road trip to Texas, 3 days, 1500 miles, and here's how we are going to do it.

I shall leave Ithaca with Krishna on Swati (the Mazda Protege) on the 8th of June. We shall drive over to Cincinnati on day 1, stopping by at Erie, Cleaveland, Columbus on the way. Cincinnati is where we shall stay for day 1 (night 1 actually). Here's our roadmap for day 1:



Cities en route (except some spots that we don't know now, but shall stop by in case we feel like :P - that's the charm of a roadtrip anyways) - Erie, Cleveland and Columbus. Total expected drive time for day 1 - 9 hours.

Day 2 starts at Cincinnati and ends at Memphis. Places en route - Louisville and Nashville. Total expected drive time for day 2 - 7.3 hours.


Day 3 - Memphis to Dallas. Total drive time - again 7.3 hours. No major cities en route, but a great ride through the Texas countryside on offer :P



3 days - States that we pass through: New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. All this followed by a 4 day stay at Arvind Bhaiya and Sheetal Tai's place in Dallas with my cute little nephew Nilesh and my dear niece Neha. Then I go to Washington DC to meet Krishnanand Dada, where my dearest cousin sis Gayatri and Mhavu would have come over too. A good weekend to spend with them all and Viju Vahini and another of my sweet little nephews, Ronak. Then another cross country trip from Washington DC to Ithaca (albeit via bus :P ) en route New York city.

This is how a trip to the USA should be - not visiting big cities and clicking photos of majestic buildings and hot chicks, but carrying out a cross country trip and absorbing the true spirit of American life and getting to learn and experience their culture. Sad that some people do not see this.

~Ta tas.

Some pics from my trip

I always knew I am not good at photography, but never expected myself to be so bad. I tried taking my own pic when I got the camera, and it turned out to be a disaster -



Well, I don't know if the problem is in the way I look or what, but well, maybe a person's looks don't matter- it's what inside him that matters anyways :P

Here's a pic of the place where I live, not a charming little place, but I love it nevertheless (I wasn't able to capture the table, chair and the cabinet, but those don't matter anyways) -



Here's a view from the little window you see there - hasn't quite come out well, today being a rainy day -



The beauty you see there is Swati, Krishna's Mazda Protege, the baby that will take us to Texas. On the right of what you see is a graveyard, where I went for a little walk the day after we partied (my birthday 'celebrations' you see :P ) -



That would be Me, Krishna, Shashikant and Vivek (L-R).

Life is beautiful,
colorful and magical,
throwing up things,
never believable.

Beautiful people,
animals and trees,
earth and the sun,
and the flowing rivers.

Everything is beautiful,
making life admirable,
making us fly,
towards that beautiful sky.

Those wonderful birds,
those beautiful beaches,
those green grasslands,
invite us everywhere.

This beautiful earth,is for us all,
enjoy living here and help others enjoy it!