Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Too Cold........

Isnt it freaking cold nowadays....Thanx to being in North America....the suffering continues.....Last year was the worst ever winter i ever saw in my life...To top it all....SNOW....It was a mad mad rush...February 17th...How can i even forget that day...Coz the University was closed due to severe overnight snow and in the morning....I remember myself, Avinash and Ravi trying to help Kiran get his car out of the parking lot...That was crazy....After Kiran left, Sharath came home with his digicam and it was photos galore.....Pictures from that day are in my yahoo album...People can find the link from my earlier blogs..We even made Bhajjiya's that day....It was awesome considering that we got to eat Bhajjiya's and depressing spring classes were CANCELLED...But the weather was HORRIBLE that day.....

No morning class tomorrow so can sleep for more time....But cant afford to relax too much coz have a test coming up on 8th....Fracture Mechanics in the evening....Dr Venkatu's class is one heck of a FUNTIME lecture.....

We had the career fair today and I gave my resumes at the following companies...ROVISYS..PHILIPS MEDICAL SYSTEMS..KIMBERLY-CLARK (Yes..The TOILET PAPER COMPANY)..Nothing more for BME....US AIR FORCE, NAVY and NASA-Glenn Research Center had openings for BME's but...US Citizenship required...what the F%$#....

It was a good experience though...Waiting for the career fair at CWRU in Feb..Hope something materialises there....Time to log off now n get back to studies....naah.....back to HOME SWEET HOME..

Good Night...

Monday, September 29, 2003

CLEVELAND..

The ISA Executive Committee was off to Cleveland yesterday...Executive Committee....hmmm thats a good one...comprising of Madhu (Prez), Hari (Sports Sec)[DONT KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS HE GOING TO DO...], Husna (Orientation Sec), Rajesh (Cultural Sec), Parag and Sheetal (Treasurer and Co-ordinator) and Bhushan (Web Master)..The only absentee was Dhanraj (Co-ordinator)..not that we cared if we came with us...He had to work...

So we left around 5:00 pm and after a lot of confusion between Parag and Husna..we finally managed to reach Lakeshore near the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and from there we were off to the beach...To our disappointment..the beach looked like an isolated place in Juhu Beach in Mumbai..The only other living beings apart from us were a bunch of seagulls...We were walking peacfully on the rocks and reading the carvings written on the them...quite a lot of fun...isnt it...yeah right..

Time for Foto session and we took snaps in the freezing cold weather...It was time to decide where to go next...We all decided that UDUPI CAFE was the place to be...We went there after a short darshan at Shiva-Vishnu temple...We had our stomachs full at UDUPI and some things for the fresher's party were finalised...

Husna and Madhu were kept entertained all the way by ME!!!!!!!!!!!!..dont know about the happenings in Parag's car...Parag being the slowest driver on earth..reached hours later after we (Husna,Madhu and me) reached...It was HIP-HOP music all the way (HUSNA is a big fan of BLACK MUSIC) and some Bhangra for Madhu!!!!!

Was a good outing...Cleveland Downtown was amazing...Unfortunately, the Browns lost....Who gives a shit to Football....

Outta here....

Sunday, September 28, 2003

Dandiya...

Past 2 days had been very hectic....Myself,Avinash and Shirish were helping Sunny and his parents move into their new house at Stow..Its a 4 bedroom house..fantastic interiors and a beautiful view outside...We helped them on friday evening and saturday morning through afternoon....Shit tired end of the day..Sunny treated us at the Thai Gourmet on Friday night and on Saturday afternoon..we were off to Bombay Sitar...Great food to compliment us with some hard work..no complaints....

Saturday evening was GARBA at Akron U....Major disappointment...Hardly any turnout for a 6:15 pm show...Not ready to be disappointed we were off to Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland..It was packed to full house ditto last year when i was amazed to see so many Indians at one place at one time...It was great fun dancing non-stop for 2 hours or so..Specially Dandiya...Lotsa Akron ka Junta too present there....

Have never played Garba and Dandiya in India in my life....now 2 years in a row in America....What Irony.....Missed my whole family and friends and a special person in my life...

Well..am off to India in less than 70 days..so wrapping things up for this semester as soon as i can is my first priority...everything else for later..

Off to CLeveland today for ISA committee get-together...

Later then..

Friday, September 26, 2003

We won.....

For all BIOHAZARDS fans...great news...we defeated WALLYWORLD 15-3 15-2 last night at the Natatorium for the first round robin game... Next game next thursday..It was movie time last night at 425 Sumner..Kiran got 3 movies HAMARA DIL AAPKE PAAS HAI...FILHAAL and THE HERO:THE LOVE STORY OF A SPY...

Filhaal is yet to be seen...we stopped it mid way last night coz no one was in a mood to see a depressing movie at 1:30 in the night...The Hero is a total masala movie with a tinge of patriotism in it...a must watch for Sunny fans...dont make the mistake of reading Sunny as Sunny Teli or Sunny Virmani please.....its SUNNY DEOL for all those who didnt know....

Weekend is here...No plans yet...Hope to do some quality stuff in I-DEAS and get the homework done....Browns Vs Bengals too..but who cares...cant understand a shit about American Football except TOUCHDOWN...

To end on a happy note..for all American Desi Fans...this one's for you...

O COME ON KRISHNA... (sure to have a few smiles for this one...)

Later from me.....

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Wallyball Tonight....

Its a thursday night special featuring BIOHAZARDS comprising of Suneel Battula, Rajesh Anantharaman, Luay Fraiwan, Shadi Sumrain and Matt Oberdier for the Wallyball Intermurals...

Wallyball is a game similar to Volleyball...analogous to Racquetball being a similar yet so different game than Squash...We have been practicing Wallyball since monday and its been fun slugging it on court...Hope to do well tonite...

Yesterday night was Badri's Birthday celebrations and it was as horrible and grouse as it could get....We have a New AND Improved Sayee Santosh in the form of D Shanmuga Sundaram...A brand new horrible version of Sayee in terms of Blasting the birthday boy with what all shit one can imagine....

Time for the depressing class to start at 12:45 pm....Hope i can stay awake for atleast some time...

Garba night on 27th September (Saturday)...This is the first time its going to be organised at Akron U...Hope its fun...

Good luck to Akron CC for the six-a-side in Columbus...

Go Williams-BMW...Ferrari is OLD now.....

A hardcore Williams-BMW fan....

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Happy Birthday HARI...

Yesterday night we celebrated Hari's birthday at his house....People gathered in huge numbers as is the case always...There were few comic events last night...Thanx to Brijesh and Hari himself....Just after the cake was cut..it was time to "BELT" Hari with cake and what-not-shit....

In came Brijesh with a hand full of cake ready to be smeared on the birthday boy's face...Since Val hated any kind of filthy behavior...Brijesh was in for a rude shock....Val shouted on top of his voice in fullto seriousness at Brijesh to do whatever he(Brijesh) wanted outside the house.....Brijesh didnt enter the kitchen after that...People burst out laughing since all of us except Brijesh knew what kinda person Val is....

Hari was getting "Fully Belted"...to heighten his agony it was pouring outside..."Chappar" had to stand out in the rain...Hemant ,to top it all, was pouring sprite on Hari..The scene reminded all of us of a typical hindi film villian pouring kerosene on a sidey actor...it was hilarious to see Hemant do exactly what a villian would do...

After Hari got all cleaned up...Priyanka's sister got the shock of her life...or should i say Hari got the shock of his life...He saw Pooja(Priya's sister) sitting on the couch and Hari shouted in all seriousness "Hey..Who are you??"... was that pretty funny or what....

12:45 am...time to go home...my bad...time to go to the department to do some FEM...

All said and done for today...

Many Many Happy Returns of the Day to HARI....

Monday, September 22, 2003

WHATADAY..

After a long time I got up at 8:15 am on a weekday....Reason...Homework due at 11:00 am...Have been slogging my ass off for 2 problems for the past 3 days..still couldnt get hold of the solution...Finally,unwillingly had to copy from my friends (Avinash and Suneel)......

If that was not enough....On a hungry stomach....planning to go to Wonder Bread to get some Microwaveable stuff...Mother Nature stops us..Its pouring outside preventing us to go out in the open.....What to do...Writing a blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a bad day in Columbus on saturday....After scoring a decent 155/7 in 30 overs (Kiran 55,Suneel 31 and Avinash 25)..we couldnt stop OSU from reaching the target...Heartbreak once again....But Myself,Suneel,Phani and "Hurricane" Hari had a great time on our way back...

We had a sort of BIOMED conglomeration at our house last night....Kiran,Me,Avinash,Suneel,Dhruv,Nikhil,Navdeep and Arjun at one place at one time...Slept at 2:00 am...Thanx to the doubts Navdeep and Nikhil had...

Well..hoping for the weather to change....Hungry as ever..

Later....

Friday, September 19, 2003

Almost half way....

This blog is dedicated to my dear bhabhi..On 21st September, You and Ganesh will be celebrating half a year of your married life...Congratulations to both of you...Its been almost one and a half year since me,mom and dad saw you first at Anita's wedding.....Ganesh was in Germany that time...I was the one who described YOU to HIM with some help from Amma and Appa...Little did we know that few months later...You will be OUR's forever...Its great to have you in our lives...and i am sure that you too are having a great time with us (read GANESH)...

The few days i spent with you in India during the marriage was memorable...Although i was out most times of the day(with FRIENDS)....it was special, sharing few things with you here and there...Specially thank you for being there and giving good advice whenever needed...

Bahut ho gaya senti stuff...Time for some fun....Its going to be CRICKET once again which takes the headlines tomorrow morning as ACC takes on OSU in their own den....Hey Suneel you decide..want to share the BLOG about the match ...each of us writing about a particular innings or you want to take the limelight all by yourself..am looking forward to a serious battle of cricket and hope we come on top on saturday evening....COLUMBUS....Here we come.........

Meet you guys at Adi's place 9:00 am on saturday....

Be there or be squared......

FYI....KIRAN NATARAJ IS NOW DR.KIRAN NATARAJ.....PLEASE ADDRESS HIM WITH RESPECT FROM NOW ON....

Thursday, September 18, 2003

Rafting Pics uploaded

Hi guys..writing a blog so late at night just to inform that the white water rafting fotos from West Virginia have been uploaded...u guys can view them by clicking here...the zoom wasnt working properly..so it looks miniscule...please bear...

Good Nite...
PLANS...

Plans for the day include...BME Colloquium Seminar series Part II...whatabore....Working out in the gym later in the evening and hopefully make it to cricket practice...
Talking about practice...it was a nice training session with Suneel last night in the racquetball court after Fracture Mechanics....Its fantastic to see him play and get few tips from THE CHAMPION...

The fotos of the white water rafting trip in WV has come out beautifully and will be uploading them soon....This was LEVEL 5 Rapids and for those interested there is LEVEL 6 at WV at the LOWER GAULEY RIVER...Come on RAFTING ENTHUSIASTS....

Time to grab some cookies or PIZZA whatever is there at the seminar series....This time tomorrow its the litmus test for Kiran with his Ph.D Defence....

See you folks at OLSON 320..Be ready for some "outta-your-imagination" research done by Kiran...

Time to take off....

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

CRICKET..CRICKET AND MORE CRICKET

The season doesnt seem to end for AkronCC...Mid-West done.... BIG DEAL....Many more friendlies, quadrangulars and six-a-side to follow...Talking about six-a-side, I have very fond memories of that tounament..as I was a part of the six member team that went to Columbus..THE TEAM...Suneel,Phani,Adi,Avinash,Sunny and Rajesh...Guess how me and avinash fitted into the team without even playing a regular season game...Thats because of a "brilliant but least committed off the field" cricketer called RAM who didnt bother to get up on the day of the match..Thanx to him and another regular season player...we were in...

Off we went to Columbus in Suneel's car..5 decently built guys and PHANI....Sunny being the youngest had to duck everytime a cop car went past us...So anyways..after reaching OSU ground...We were all pumped up to play...We lost the first game..or the first 2..cant remember...and then bounced back in fine fashion to reach the finals...only to be beaten by SHIHAB...A not-at-all sporting pakistani outfit...doesnt matter...They won the tournament but I think We won the HEARTS by displaying some brilliant committment and desperation on the field..Suneel broke his jaw in the finals...NO INSURANCE to make it worse...Phani won the MVP award and he just couldnt stop talking about it to his MOBILE FRIENDS...all the way from Columbus to AKRON..clutching the trophy as if that was the only trophy he has ever won...I think thats the only trophy he has won till date.....

There was this guy in the SHIHAB team with long hair and a beard...who was taken into custody by the FBI for alleged links with the Al-Qaeda...Can you believe it guys...We played with a Terrorist....Un"Fuckin"Believable..

Anyways...Talking about long hair...Our own KIRAN NATARAJ is just 2 days away from becoming Dr.Kiran Nataraj...All the Best to him and Congrats on the same...

A BIG Party is due from him..

More to follow......

Monday, September 15, 2003

TURN THE PAGE

Another week... A brand new day...Same old routine of classes...But the only difference between last Fall and this one is...NO ON-CAMPUS JOB....NO 20 HOURS PER WEEK SHIT....Just the money....Have struggled throughout one year searching for FUNDING....No luck...But now...Here I am with the TA (Wrote this sentence with Metallica's TURN THE PAGE playing the background)...Another 11 months and i will be through with my Master's....God is Great...

Talking about Metallica....No introduction required for the Heavy Metal Gods of our era...They have created a great fan following for themselves unleashing brilliant "grunge" metal for the past 22 years since they recorded Kill Em All in 1981....Still ROCKING on with St.Anger...

For those who didnt know....Metallica won a grammy award for the self titled album released in 1991...I cant remember the song....

Back to earth after a cool dose of ROCK MUSIC...homework due soon...

More later...

BiRtH ScHoOl MeTaLlicA DeAtH...

Sunday, September 14, 2003

AKRON CC Vs AKRON II

Time to take the mantle from Suneel for the time being as I am going to write about the match played on Saturday...It was to be a friendly to be played at Mull Avenue....Beautiful setting for a nice warm afternoon...The match was to start at 9:00 am and it sure did start at around 9:30 am... 25 over game...The team for the game....Adi,Kiran,Hari,Avinash,Manpreet,Shirish,Guru,Vivek,Sunny,Rajesh,Mritunjay....Adi was the captain for the first time...But by the time the match started we had 2-3 captains performing their duties.....The pitch for the game...A carpet (similar to the one in my house) laid over the neatly rolled grass till half length of the 22 yeards..

As usual...ACC lost the toss and AKRON II decided to bat first...Kiran and Sunny opened the bowling for us...Sunny was clearly struggling for form with the ball...Kiran bowled a lively spell...Mritunjay got into the game with the first wicket of the match with a run out...Soon it was turn to show my Talent...I got a run out too...

Time for a bowling change...Manpreet and Adi into the attack...both bowled pretty well and with lively pace..Manpreet struggled initially but bowled well...got a "caught behind" too...Hari doning the wicket-keepers gloves for the first time....The next bowling changes were Avinash and Shirish...Bowling was pretty good from ACC...Wickets were falling at regular intervals...but the opposition captain Pratik..was in no mood to give up..

After the break (15 overs)..Kiran summoned me to bowl and it was decent start for me giving only 3 in the first over..no extras...Vivek was called for the next over..He bowled a brilliant over of leg spin...Guru got his chance in the next over...but unfortunately he was whacked pretty bad...Pratik was in great nick that time...Next over me again...2 fours over extra cover in the first 2 balls...bad...i finished the over having given 14 runs...My 2 overs went for 17...Bowling continued with Avinash, Adi and Vivek....Fielding was patchy in parts and brilliant at times....by the end of 25 overs...Score read 126 all out...Pratik (Opposition captain), a very well made...45...There werent too many extras given...

Lunch was Pizza and Pepsi...Everyone HOGGED....

Our Batting started with the unusual pair of Kiran and Guru....Guru started scratchily but soon was in fine knick playing confidently....hit a nice four behind square on the leg-side...Kiran playing with his usual flair was hitting boundaries at will...Hit a huge six over extra cover...Guru was dismissed for 7..clean bowled...In went Manpreet...Both were having a nice time in the middle...Manpreet hit a nice 4...with a flick on the leg side...nicely timed...Kiran got out..LBW..ball staying very low...Played a fluent 26 before he got out..set a platform for the rest of the innings...Next went Adi..Couldnt get the measure of the bowling...Didnt trouble the scorers...But he did his best in the bowling department...Next was Avinash...he looked out-of-sorts in the middle..Manpreet got out..scoring 9..Our batting superstar Hari was next...He and Avinash dont exactly have a great time in the middle together...But yesterday both looked good at times...Hari BELTING a huge straight 6.....Scored 11 before he got out to a top-edge catch...same as Manpreet...In walked a confident Sunny to give company to Avinash...Avinash not looking comfortable got a ball which had him leg before for 3...Guess who walked in to give Sunny the confidence he needed...ME of course...the score read 84..43 required with 4 wickets remaining...Tough job but someone had to do it...I knew I had to play well and i gave sunny as much confidence that i could give...i played well in the nets the day before presenting a straight bat...Score was ticking along nicely when Sunny decided...Time to wrap it up fast...3 huge sixes and we crossed 100!!!!!!! We knew it was within our reach...But alas...Sunny went for a nice cover drive only to be caught clean by the fielder..A brilliantly made 26 of 12 balls...Vivek came in...We needed around 13 runs for victory...Bowling was pretty straighforward...Nothing aimed towards the body..So just had to stick in there...

Less than 10 required i got a juicy half volley outside off stump and i creamed it over extra cover for the first 4 of my life...I will cherish this for the rest of my life...2 required...Vivek got in to the act..He creamed the same bowler for a 4..neatly timed over extra cover..as if he was trying to emulate what i did...

ACC won with around 5 overs to spare..with myself and Vivek each making 8*...A job well done...But the Man of the Match was by far..SUNNY... great knock dude...keep it up...

Time to get back to work after a hard day's play...

Wish I can play few more innings like this...........

Always a Dreamer......

Friday, September 12, 2003

Summer Time

Summer Time...Was that a long vacation for me or what...four years of engineering combined i didnt have that many holidays than this one summer in America...To top it all the places i went for sight-seeing were no less significant...

Started with the great Niagara Falls in June end...the magnificient aura that the Falls had still holds me spell bound....Thanx to ISA(Dont get me wrong...ISA is Indian Students Association and not The Instrumentation Society of America)....Followed it up with a nice camping trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky with Suneel and couple other friends...Suneel for all those in VESIT is our own B.S.R Sai...Doing his Ph.D at The University of Akron...

Come August...went to Pennsylvania (again!!!!!) for the amazing time of my life..White Water Rafting....Its the adventure of a lifetime...August End...Labor day weekend...This time to West Virginia for Camping and White Water Rafting at Fayetteville...

Not to mention the brilliant California and Las Vegas trip during last december to my brother's place....To top it all my personal favorite...the INDIA trip in march end for my bro's wedding...Was that COOL or what....an 8 day dash for the marriage...

Am writing too many blogs but kya karen...Bahut time mil raha hai....No classes..No Research today...sirf time hi time hai...

More from me as Time progresses...

For those keenly interested in viewing my photos...click here

Later then....

Thursday, September 11, 2003

My Birthday...Should be Our Birthdays

Come August-September...it used to be PARTY TIME for me and my folks...Coz all my best friends had birthdays in these months....The birthday season started with Nishit on the 16th August..followed by Samit on the 17th....Then came Neebha on the 23rd...Time for a breather...NO..coz Kirti soon followed with her birthday on the 26th....No respite as Mayank's was just around the corner on the 29th...Then come September with Anu on the 4th and finally Myself on the 10th...

Unfortunately,Nishit and Me were the most unfortunate in the group missing out on the gifts most times since his used to b the first in the line and mine the last...Nevertheless..Had the best time of my life with you guys and missing our group a lot...

See you guys soon in December..

People in Akron wondering who these guys are...Just to let you guys know..Nishit,Samit,Neebha,Kirti,Mayank,Anuradha and Rajesh were part of one solid friend circle in VESIT Instru...

Instru Still ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanx...

To all the people who came to 425 Sumner St for celebrating my birthday..You guys made it special...

I have just started writing blogs..Hope i can stand upto the reputation which my seniors a.k.a Suneel and Hemant have...

Will write more as time progresses..Till then "you guys take care" ..said by a famous engineer in Akron...namely Mr Avinash Baji.

Later then.
First Posting..

Hey Guys..Posting my first blog on the Second anniversary of the terrorist attacks..Lets all pray for the people who lost their lives during this day..