premal's bl'ah'g

2010

2010-01-21T14:57:00.002-05:00

Cant believe I didn't post a single blog in all of 2009!
Facebook has taken over my free time :)

random updates...

2008-08-22T14:26:00.003-04:00

so a lot has happened since i last updated this blog...

07-20-08 : diya turned one! (wow!)
07-21-08 : mom-dad went back to india
07-23-08 : neha went back to india
07-24-08 : diya started daycare again
--somewhere here diya started walking--
08-09-08 : samaj picnic was fun
08-18-08 : i turned 31 (huh?)
08-21-08 : i officially was sworn in as a US citizen (yey!)

well, not much of a blog entry, but thats the best i could come up with my busy work schedule... more next time.

..and to the Republic for which it stands...

2008-06-06T09:30:00.003-04:00

Guess who passed his citizenship interview....Mr. Premal Shah!!! Congratulations, hun!

His oath ceremony is on August 21st after which he will officially be a U.S. Citizen and we will be a 100% American family.

Knowing Premal, I'm sure he is looking forward to being able to vote and getting security clearance for many more naval ship yards. On the down side he probably won't like having to get a new passport and require an Indian visa. He plans on applying for dual-citizenship so hopefully it won't be an issue for long.

puzzled?

2008-06-04T13:09:00.003-04:00

The Isthmian Games

The ancient Greeks tell of a man named Sisyphus, a once mighty king of Corinth, who founded the Isthmian Games in honor of his fallen comrade Melicertes. Homer was fond of saying king Sisyphus was the wisest and most cunning of the mortals.

Today’s Isthmian Games are a series of difficult puzzles that some say solving is not unlike Sisyphus’s legendary struggle to roll a rock up a hill, only to see it fall before reaching the peak. Most who compete in the Games push their rock uphill only to see it fall back time and time again. Only the tireless few will eventually triumph and win the coveted Melicertes Award.

Each puzzle created for the Isthmian Games is painstakingly crafted, taking months—sometimes years—before it’s completed. The puzzles produced for the Isthmian Games are unique and complex challenges created for that narrow strip of humanity that enjoy burning a little fat off their souls through adventuresome puzzling.

Time is only a factor in that you’re racing against the world’s most devoted puzzlers to be the first to successfully solve the challenge. Some challenges end quickly; others may take years before they’re solved by a single individual. In the absence of an official winner the challenges remain open in perpetuity.

Wanna try?

so what do i do anyways?

2008-05-05T14:24:00.004-04:00

too many people have been and still are astonished when i mention that i'm an engineer but not IT or software or hardware.... its almost like them asking me "then why are you in the US again?" guess a 'structural marine engineer' just aint cool enough...

so this is for those people who are really interested in what i do... click!

my company Heger Dry Dock, Inc., designs floating docks, like the one you see in the video, with the 2 cranes on it, the one that floods down to launch the submarine.

Added 05-06-08

Floating Dry Docks are steel structures (sometimes massive) that consist of machinery (pumps, valves, controls) and ballast (water) tanks. By flooding the ballast tanks the dock can be submerged to dock a ship and then dewatered to lift the docked ship out of the water... vice versa to undock the ship.

Dyson Slim DC18

2008-04-02T09:23:00.004-04:00

so, our old vacuum cleaner (Bissell Cleanview II) has been on its last leg for a few months now... after half a day's worth of vacuum cleaner research, i quickly realized that there are the cheap vacuums that work mediocre and last 2-3 years and then there are the good vacuums that cost 3 times more but last like 10 years... i also realized that Dysons though very expensive have the best reviews and seemingly are worth every penny you spend on 'em.

last night i found a good deal on this Dyson Slim DC18 and decided to take my plunge into the expensive but good vacuum cleaners... assembly was a breeze and a trial run on our rug resulted in collecting dirt and fuzz i didnt even know was in the rug... especially after my Bissell had been on it just few days ago.

this thing is pretty light and fancy looking for its performance, power and price... check it out online here

i will probably post a better review after a year or so of using it, but for now its most expensive vacuum cleaner i've ever bought!

new camcorder!

2008-02-21T08:32:00.007-05:00

so, after months of brain racking, hair splitting and price tracking, i finally bought a camcorder. behold my new Canon HG-10!
its pretty nice, small size, easy to handle and some very cool features... a big upgrade over my Sony Hi8 version. this one's got the famed Canon Digic DV II image processors, cool 40GB hard drive to store almost 10 hours of video in the latest AVCHD format! oh, did i mention its a full HD (hi-definition) camcorder? yeah! 1920x1080 resolution HD baby! other cool features include 24p cinema mode, one of the very best optical image stabilization, 2.7" LCD display, and ofcourse still photo grabs from video.

haven't shot any real video clips yet... deepa and i are still tryin to figure this gizmo out along with all its bells and whistles. will upload some, hopefully soon. some more pics and reviews here.

photos & videos

2007-12-17T09:26:00.000-05:00

now that I'm done buying digital cameras for a while after my latest acquisition Nikon Coolpix S50c, i look forward to splurge into the digital camcorder world... hard disk drive or DVD, hi-def or standard def... intriguing and expensive propositions. Sony's HDR-SR5 (review) , and HDR-SR7 (review) seem like the best bets so far with all their bells & whistles, although Panasonic SDR-H18

for its price and reviews is also seeming like a good deal, except its not hi-def... so my search for the right camcorder goes on as the prices keep dropping and the "time-to-buy" keeps coming back every few weeks... any inputs and experiences on hi-def video and/or hard disk recording from ye faithful readers?

random updates...

2007-10-22T09:40:00.000-04:00

its been a while since i blogged, why? mainly cos i think it has lost its allure... everybody and their brother has atleast one blog. its like fantasy football... when i started playing it about 5 years ago, there were only a selected few internetters-also-sportfans who knew about that, and now... folk-seemingly-uninterested-in-sports-till-late have multiple fantasy sport teams! people who mostly talked with me about social mumbo-jumbo now ask me who i have on my fantasy roster! impressive what internet and a little spare time will do to you!

anyways, back to things that matter...

- the Red-Sox are enroute to their 2nd World Series in 4 years! woohoo... behold the new Yanks.
- the Patriots seem unstoppable at their 7-0 record! woohoo... behold the new Yanks!
wait, how many Yankesque-teams can there be in one town?
- diya is now 3-months+ old and she is just adorable... learnt new things lately, like discovered her hands, started sucking on her left thumb, attempts communication (mainly by cooing) etc. did i say she's gotten easier to handle? no? ofcourse not!
- deepa is still at home taking good care of the little one... appreciate that very much!
- fall is here, its my favorite season of the year... not cos the leaves are falling, but cos of the comfy temperatures and everything looks and smells 'fally'

well, so much for now... life is busy as usual, so may not blog again for a few years... so just hang in there all ya premal's-bl'ah'g-readers!

new phone...

2007-08-16T10:11:00.000-04:00

so, I've been with Sprint PCS since 1999... why not, never had a problem with their service (atleast for the areas that i frequent) and they have been pretty nice to me as far as calling plans and phones go...

they've been so nice that i recently had a chance to take advantage of their own "upgrade" system flaw... i had gotten a Samsung phone (A640, i think) from Radioshack in November 2006, and the phone was free cos I used their "upgrade" scheme that allows one to get $150 off a new phone every 2 years.

so I used the phone, no problem... but during a recent visit to my account page online, i noticed that my "upgrade" page had not been updated with the right date and i was eligible for an upgrade again! in less than a year... so, i went and got myself another phone... for FREE! again

here it is...

not absolutely the latest and greatest, but satisfies my craving for a motorola... yes, it is my first ever motorola and i am excited... mp3 player, 1.3mp camera, bluetooth, expandable memory slot (upto 2gb), and ofcourse 'cool' :) hopefully this will last longer than my other phones, cos unlike the rest of the phones i've had in the last 6 years, this one takes a little bit longer to explore!

did i tell you that they threw in a car charger and a protective sleeve for free too?

oh and apparently i also helped the "fight AIDS in Africa" cause with this 'red' phone...

my first born!

2007-07-27T18:16:00.000-04:00

meet my daughter Diya!

born 20th July, 2007 11:13 am
7 lbs 11 oz
20.5 inches

so it begins, a new chapter in my life... fatherhood has been exhausting so far, but everyone (with free advice) tells me that it only gets better... i know that! i aint complaining as i fully expected this :)
i am just overjoyed right now as my bundle of joy brings a new smile to my sleepy face everyday...

free DivX software...

2007-06-08T11:07:00.000-04:00

What is DivX?

If you like it, download it... and use Serial # SMYCU67X83BBA68TIT48 (open DivX Converter to enter #) to activate it for free... to activate the MPEG part use Serial # RZ2K5WN2V6V92PGKN2PU after you've actiavated the main program.

are you "classy" enough?

2007-06-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

interesting little graphic from the New York Times....

click here

wonder how accurate this is.

to philippines and back...

2007-04-11T13:08:00.000-04:00

03/29/07 - Found out I had to goto Manila, Philippines for work... hmm, cool! thats about half way around the world, 4:00PM here, 4:00AM there... wow! 4 days travel, 1 day work... what?

03/30/07 - Of the 145 countries that don't need a visa to go there, India ain't one, damn! Board a train at crack o' dawn from Boston to NYC. Go to the Philippine Consulate for my Visa, get my visa after few hurdles, back home for dinner... long day, phew!

04/03/07 - Flying business/first class all the way... woohoo! Fully reclinable leather seats, 4 course meals, super service - nice! 27 hrs journey - not nice! dont matter what class you fly :(

04/04/07 - Land in Manila, after short halt at Hong Kong. Take taxi-cab to hotel, driver informs us that the whole city is closed till Easter. 98% Catholic population will do that to a country... the whole place incl. restaurants, offices, banks just shut down for a week before Easter. Great! just my luck, as it is I was gonna have a problem with being a vegetarian... and all of 27 hrs each way to see nothing!

04/05/07 - Work. boring, accomplished little... owing to the miscommunication between client and his broker... great! half way around the frikkin world for this? atleast, on the way to the shipyard we got a glimpse of the country capital (claimed to be the most polluted city in the world) hmmm, not much different from semi-metro towns in India... small concrete houses everywhere, with large areas of 'slums', people everywhere u look, bikes, little cars... people just look different... and ofcourse the jeepneys! dinner at hotel restaurant... ah, ok, so so.

04/06/07 - back on the plane... 27 hrs and another short halt at Hong Kong later, back home! tired, exhausted... but back home!

I dont think I'd go back to Manila.

gps or not?

2007-03-13T17:14:00.000-04:00

last black friday we woke up at the crack of dawn (maybe earlier) and joined the gazillions of 'sale-thirsty' folks in pushing up the american economy... i have done this almost every year since i got here in 1999, but i think thats gonna slow down a bit now... well, anyways, the main reason we went shopping last bf is cos my father-in-law wanted a certain gps device from cc. so, we bought the "mio c310x digiwalker" for $150 ar. i thought that was a pretty good deal, but doubted the name/reputation etc. cos all you hear in the us these dayz is garmin, magellan and tomtom (which is really european).

almost 6 months and multiple experiences later, i kinda like that device and now that deepa and i are thinking of getting our own i am in a dilemma... should i go for the reputation, price or name? mio c310x is the only gps device that i've really experienced and cant really compare it to a similar priced (maybe a lil higher, say around $250) garmin or tomtom... anyone got any suggestions and/or reviews for me?

my new PC

2007-03-05T09:02:00.000-05:00

Acer Aspire 9410-2597

Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor 2060

(1.6GHz, 533 MHz bus)

1GB DDR2-SD RAM

120GB Hard Drive

17-inch WXGA+ TFT Display (1440 x 900)

8X DVD+/-RW SuperMulti Drive

Windows Vista Home Premium

$599.99+tax

new office...

2007-02-21T15:53:00.000-05:00

so finally after 3 weeks of packing, moving and unpacking my company has finally moved... only about 2 miles from where we were before, but still a hectic move! why move 2 miles, u ask? well, my boss(es) finally made enough $$$ to go buy their own office building, thats why.

anyways, the new office is actually a downgrade for me :( i used to have my own room before, now i have to share one with another guy :( overall, it aint too bad, but i miss my own space.

the only good thing about this new office (from my point of view) is that its brighter and slightly nicer looking... hopefully, with all the extra dough my boss(es) make with saving on rent etc., i can get better bonuses ;)

on the bad side, its farther away from home (commute increased from 10 min to 15 min), bathroom aint as nice, aint any good lunch places in walking distance like before, and its hot! i mean for some reason our offices (2nd floor) heat up to almost 78 degrees although the thermostat is set to like 68... none of us have figured out why, but hopefully someone will find a solution before i melt.

US citizen (to be or not to be?)

2007-01-03T14:57:00.000-05:00

Well, after 7 years in America the US government has finally decided to 'remove the "conditions" on my greencard' and thereby allowing me to apply for my US citizenship as soon as Feb-07.

So, now the question becomes, should I be a citizen of India, a citizen of US or both?

The Consulate General of India is pretty vague about the whole dual citizenship issue... so I dont know if I want to go thru the hassle of doing that yet as I can always do the 'dual' thing later on 'after' I am a US citizen... but what are the real benefits of being a US citizen?

What VoIP?

2006-12-19T11:07:00.000-05:00

I guess I'm kinda late on this technology as well... but think I finally understand what VoIP is now :) Why the blog then, u ask? hmm, although its obvious by the nice picture on the side that the VoIP phone adapter uses your internet broadband connection to your phones, its not very obvious to me how one can use this VoIP thing without having to use a 'base' phone at the adapter site... get me? no? well, what i mean is do they have 'wireless phone adapters' yet? ones that would just sit near the modem/router and just 'wirelessly' power your (multiple) phone lines?

A little googling will tell you that the answer is 'yes'... VTech and Vonage have come up with their "IP-8100" model, which is exactly what I'm looking for... but $150 for the phone system (2 handsets + adapter) and $15/month for their basic service... worth it?

orkut

2006-12-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

anyone heard of orkut.com?

it's one of those websites kinda like yahoogroups and your contact list together... confused? :) well, let me explain... you sign up with this service (u need a gmail account or a referral, ask me) and u start building your 'friends' list, if u will. for someone who has a lot of friends in india or from india (or brazil) this is a pretty good way to find your lost (or not so lost) buddies, all the way from middle school to maybe college.

you can create your own groups, categorize your friends into various lists, send messages etc. its pretty cool... try it.

countdown to BF!

2006-11-09T16:57:00.000-05:00

Black Friday is 2 weeks from now and I think its time for us to start an unofficial BF-Blog :)

here, you can post any good BF deals that you come across on the web or in the newspaper/flyer etc.

here's one good website I found : http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/

Black Holes!

2006-10-19T16:21:00.000-04:00

Several billion years after its life starts, a star will die. How long a star lives depends upon its mass. Oddly, the bigger they are, the quicker they die cos the more mass a star has, the hotter it gets... and the hotter it gets, the quicker it exhausts its fuel supply.

A star expands as it grows old. As it's core runs out of hydrogen and then helium, it contracts and the outer layers expand, cool, and become less bright. This is a "red giant" or a "red super giant" phase (depending on the initial mass of the star). It will eventually collapse and explode.

A star will become either a "black dwarf", "neutron star" or "black hole", depending on how massive it was to begin with...

Sun-like Stars (with mass under 1.5 times the mass of the Sun) : Red Giant > Planetary Nebula > White Dwarf > Black Dwarf
Huge Stars (with mass between 1.5 to 3 times the mass of the Sun) : Red SuperGiant > Supernova > Neutron Star
Giant Stars (with mass over 3 times the mass of the Sun) : Red SuperGiant > Supernova > Black Hole!

think u r smart enough?

2006-10-17T16:02:00.000-04:00

World's Smartest Person Challenge
Contest ends Oct. 31, 2006

Fishing trip with work buddies

2006-10-17T09:33:00.000-04:00

Some snaps of when Premal went fishing with his co-workers in Martha's Vineyard.

"Flashy Lady"

Jack, Bob and Mark

"a 30-poundah monstah striped bass!"

to be or not to be...

2006-10-11T13:00:00.000-04:00

Check this out... is it really worth becoming a member? I mean, its good to know that I'm nerdy enough for this society (cos to qualify, u gotta score in the top 2 percent of the general population on an accepted standardized intelligence test) , but what's the point in being a part of it if there are more than 100,000 members worldwide, and an estimated six million Americans eligible for membership... what big difference can a 'regular' nerd make anyways?

thought i'd create one too...

2006-10-05T15:57:00.000-04:00

i saw one on biren's blog... then tulan made one... so i thought why not give it a shot...

so now, you can download this and put it on your blog.... see? ;) and then start bloggin' "officially" on my blog!

ha!

money matters...

2006-09-26T10:58:00.000-04:00

yesterday at the local deli, where i get my lunch, an elderly woman, probably in her mid-70s, bought a $100 worth of scratch lottery tickets… and she does that every week! i don’t think she has ever won anything big cos if she had i don’t think she’d be spending her time scratching more lottery tickets. i have seen her at the deli for almost all 5 years that i've been a regular there. now, that to me is a lot of money spent on something as uncertain as lottery tickets, especially for someone her age… odd people like that don’t make sense to me, and the weird thing is that she is probably not the only one.

what would u do if u won a big lottery or a jackpot? do u really buy lottery tickets or gamble at the casino cos u 'need' to 'win' or cos u 'want' the money? when does the need for a decent living turn into a want for ‘better’ living?

these are probably tough questions with multiple answers but i still seem to be probing in the dark... survival of the 'richest' seems to be the new belief these days, and 9 out of 10 people (young and old) think that they can live better only if they had a bigger bank balance.

that may be true to some extent but one has better chances of getting into a car accident, plane crash, or being struck my lightning, than to win a lottery (where the odds of winning a jackpot are around 1 in 200 million) and yet 33% of people in the america think winning the lottery is the only way to financially secure their lives.

strange how money matters to different people in different ways and yet we all go through the same exact cycle of life and death…

random thoughts...

2006-09-11T10:38:00.000-04:00

after multiple requests from desert fox, i finally decided that 9/11 was a good time as any to update this blog...

not that i've given up blogging (yet) but its got to a point where there aint much i feel blogging about... i dont have any exciting stories to tell, nor do i feel like blogging crap (like desert fox) so i think i'm gonna slow down on my blogging entries.

as far as random thoughts go...

today is the 5-yr anniversary of 9/11. hope this means something to people who cant seem to get enough of terrorizing others, for reasons that shouldn't matter anyways...

on a totally different note, went to amherst (cos some wimps bailed out on our planned camping trip) during the labor day weekend, was a pretty nostalgic feeling mixed with excitment and awe cos of the few things that have changed since i moved outta there in '01. was nice to eat at one of my top 5 places - bueno's!... also drove up to greenfield and toured some parts of the mohawk trail, was fun.

well, summer's almost over - all that means for me is that mowing season's coming to an end, leaf picking's next followed by snow shovelling... not that none of this is fun :)

cant believe disha's married :)

redsox are done for the season :(
go pats! :)

5 years!

2006-07-12T14:37:00.000-04:00

Just realized that Monday, July 10th 2006 was my 5 year anniversary at my current job! that's amazing! dunno if its good for my career or not, but I've been having fun here and hopefully I'll be here for another 5.

random thoughts...

2006-07-07T11:04:00.000-04:00

everyone seems to be blogging these days...

work is kinda boring... mainly cos there's no one in the office. Bob's in Italy, Mark's at his lake-house, Jack's gone camping, I'm sitting here doin u know what!

summer's tryin to kick in... still rains now and then, hopefully this weekend turns out good.

Nisha's wedding is comin up quick, and so are the guests... will be a huge gathering, should be fun :)

need to do stuff around the house, but dont think i'll get to it till late august

Normal is 'Quiet'

2006-06-20T09:09:00.000-04:00

Deepa and I went back to a quiet home last night. Parents must be on the plane from Frankfurt to Chennai as I write. We are back to our normal routine and for the first time in 2+ months, i feel relaxed!

Parents' company was really good... dad did some good work around the house, took care of the lawn/garden, mom cooked some real good stuff, Neha usually kept the house noisy but cheerful. All that we will miss... but hours of cooking, oil splashes everywhere, smoke filled rooms, hours of shopping every week, rooms filled (flooded, rather) with their gifts, luggage and random clutter: all gone! and I wont miss that.

Normal might be boring, but getting 'back to normal' certainly is not.

N'orleans...

2006-06-12T08:54:00.000-04:00

Work trips down south are never too much fun for me... mainly cos its too hot pretty much all the time and I get decent vegetarian food only if i'm lucky... well, the last trip down south was slightly different. Landed in New Orleans and drove to Pascagoula, MS for a week long trip... N'orleans looked much different from the last time I'd been there... saw the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina (even after 9 months)... looked nasty! Rows and rows of houses destroyed, hundreds had blue tarps on roofs and hundreds being worked on... trailors and RVs every which way you looked. Was like a ghost town... Interesting sight, sad, eye-opening...

Well, anyways, work was allright... too much sun, tanned myself quite a bit :) food was decent too... hotel manager turned out to be a 'really enthusiatic' desi guy... offered to make me gujrati vegetarian food ("can i make you some bateta pohwa?") almost everytime I went to the reception area :) wanted me to come over to his house (part of the hotel) and meet his family and everything... scary.

Back home now, parents leave (back to India) in a week... its gonna be hectic next few days with them doin their final shopping (never ending, if u ask me) and packing...

New 'caaah', sorry 'SUV'

2006-05-30T08:55:00.000-04:00

Slightly late on the post, but recently bought a 2006 Honda Pilot EXL... loaded with all the major goodies 'but' the navigation system.

Was a real quick deal... looked it up on 05/24/06 morning and bought it that evening! even traded away my old buddy the '1998 Civic' :( (was a sad moment). Anywayz, my new slick black SUV (almost a ghetto 'supahcaah') is a nice ride... drives like a bully on the road with some vague kinda authority over other lil caahs, atleast I like to think of it that way ;) hopefully it'll serve me well over next 5-7 years. I know its gonna cost me dearly on the gas/mileage aspect, but hey, u gotta give up something for 'da big bully'.

back home... again!

2006-05-08T09:09:00.000-04:00

well, this time its from a vacation trip to grand canyon, lake powell, zion national park and vegas... so its not that exciting to be back. could have surely spent more time around those places (except vegas ;))

grand canyon, sedona, lake powell and zion national park was a lot of fun... lot of walking around, bit of hiking, lots of driving in 4 days... but still, lot of fun. vegas was also fun, but a different kind of fun... no hiking (phew!), but certainly a lot of walking... man, they got a lot of casinos down there worth checking out. not for the slot machines et al but for the decor and themes they throw at ya... new york new york, paris, mandalay bay, mgm grand and the list goes on... didnt lose a lot of $$ but had a good time :)

hope i can get back to that part of the country again and spend more time with nature... not vegas!

back home...

2006-03-28T11:01:00.000-05:00

back from my loooong work trip to Mobile, AL and Seattle, WA... was a fun but tiring trip. Hopefully, no more 10-day trips...

Ready? Start!

2006-03-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

Its year 2006. Seems like I'm a little late entering into this 'Blog'ging world... but hey, I'll give it a shot!

So, the previous Blog I created for the yahoogroup, that my close friends are part of, didnt really work. I think my buddies aint really 'blog'gin yet :) Then my sweetheart started bloggin and I got re-inpired to try this 'internet savvy' and 'ever growing in popularity' technology again... hopefully I can keep up with my new blog and keep blogging for years to come.

Here we go...