ExpertDabbler

Sexy Las Vegas, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

I’m yet to come out of Vegas hangover

I am back to San Jose after a fabulous trip, something very close to perfection, if not perfect. The entire journey worked out to about 2000 miles (not kms) – driven completely by Gopi and Mani. I was sitting next to the driver for the most part.
That means few sleepless nights. All in all, it was amazing fun.

I met a very interesting blogger and an awesome cook in Phoenix. The bisibela bath and payasam I had on Thursday should go down in history as one of the yummiest, ever.

I was a bit let down by Canyon. Maybe I heard too much. Or perhaps it was the thanksgiving weekend crowd. I would’ve enjoyed more if we had spent more time.
But the weather was unbearable - sub zero centigrade without thermal wears for a Chennai guy is not something to relish.

The grandeur of Vegas is to be seen to be believed.
I personally lost close to 100 dollars in the casinos. Don’t ask me how and why.
Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas 
Gopi folded a minute too early in his Poker and lost the opportunity to win a jackpot of $ 2,00,000 USD. That single event was the talking point for the entire Saturday.
We labeled it one of the most expensive fold, ever.

Things not to be missed in Vegas:

Buffet lunch at Tamba Indian Restaurant. I don’t remember how many idlis I consumed along with the green chilli chutney there. That was as authentic South Indian as it gets in an Indian restaurant.
The Buffet Brunch at Wynn
Shows by the top rated performers – I don’t think as many shows would happen anywhere else in the world.We opted for David Copperfield and did not regret one bit for shelling out 97$. The guy was brilliant.
A walk on the LV Boulevard aka Strip during the evenings.

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When I first saw Vegas in the night, my first thought was, “Maybe a giant like Reliance should go ahead and start building cities in India”.
This is not to say Reliance will do a la Vegas. But I am convinced they will do a better job than our city development authorities (BDA, CMDA etc). If there’s one group in India who can think big, it’s got to be Reliance today. From whatever I’ve heard, the Ambanis are very good in execution. Look no further than Jamnagar.

I am really pissed off that there is not a decent portal which sells cinema tickets online in India.

Now people, don’t give me that ‘Oh sathyam sells tickets online’ refrain.
I know Sathyam, Mayajaal and INOX sell tickets online (with their lousy websites).
What I am referring here is the yatra.com or makemytrip.com equivalent for movie tickets.

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I was talking to one of my managers about the pains involved in running onsite-offshore model and he had a very candid comment to make.

“Prabu, If the Indian developer supports US operations by working in US timings, he is getting killed in due course. If the US business person sits late in the night to discuss project issues with the developer folks in India, he is getting killed too.
The alternative is to hire a coordinator who will be in US and works in India and US timings and surprise surprise he gets burnt out and quits soon.
Idhu dhaan niyadhi..”
I could not help but agree.
I am yet to find someone who is entirely happy with the onsite-offshore model but yet millions work on this.

It cooliedom vazhga! (includes me)

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I am writing this even as I am on the road to Phoenix, Grand Canyon and Las Vegas for
thanksgiving vacation. I may not know the history or the background of Thanksgiving fully but 4 days off from work, politics, mails, India dev center calls - I am not complaining.

Thanks to thanksgiving!!

Folks anyone who knows any other interesting and less comercial places to visit near grand canyon and vegas, do drop a line

For dummies, ‘ATM’ - Azhagiya Thamizh Magan.

Dear director,
If only you can cut the movie by half and roll out the title credits by interval, your movie will run twice as long in the theatres!

To Producer Appachan,
Endha saare, ningal ethara valiya producer, idhu pole…..hmmm

But then I dont blame you. In all honesty i’v seen worse movies. And i did watch this one as well.

It would be great if some television guy broadcasts the festivals and the way it’s celebrated in the country of origin to immigrant population. I think they would have a great market especially in countries which has a huge immigrant population. Will not the huge desi poulation lap it up if discovery channel comes up with a programme on the history and the myths surrounding deepavali?

By and large this is a very unique deepavali for me. I am wearing a jean which i honestly do not know when i washed last. The shirt is brand new though. Amma sonnadhu konjamavadhu kekanume. This immediately reminds me of my friend’s mom who felt bad for not getting her son who was aleady in US, a new dress to be worn today!

Deepavali brings back memories of early morning oil bath, new dress, crackers, gulab jamuns, friends from far off places calling home, Solomon Paapayya patti mandrams.

But here i woke up to the usual mayaana amaidi. I decide to call a few friends here to wish them HAPPY DIWALI and sure enough, all three of them forward it to voice mesages.
Oh yeah, I am in America and I need to run to catch by shuttle. The only pakshanam i’ve had since all morning is a can of Tropicana Apple Juice.

Unique Deepavali indeed!

HAPPY DEEPAVALI everyone!!

Here we go…

1. All bay area IT companies are essentially desi companies.

2. Desis in US have this noble habit of listening to the voice message before deciding to return the call, even when they are available. And i kinda know the reason as well. Unlike India, here 900 minutes of talk time includes incoming as well outgoing calls. A few days back, when i had a tiff with one of my friends as to why my call goes unanswered, the reply i got was, “you should’ve said the call was very important/emergency”.

Hello, had I been in an emergency i would be calling 911, not you, velakennai!!!

3. If there is one stock you’d like to buy , i’d say ask any teetotaller which alcoholic brand he knows very well and buy that company’s stock.

4. Weekend travel feels tiring when you travel, but weekend idling feels boring when you are sitting alone in your room.

5. You will truly know how lazy you are when you live all alone.

6. Of the 100 ideas that you can think of, 99 of them would’ve been already implemented by somebody, somehow, somewhere.

7. I was listening to tales of how some desis minted money in the bay area during the dot com boom and all i can say is, the H1B system here is as screwed up and abused a system one could find in this whole universe.

8. If you are aspiring to be a scriptwriter, here is a test. Try to come up with a story which has one male character, a car, a truck and vow to keep the audience engaged till the last minute.
This test holds good for a director too. Spielberg did that long time back.

Thats “brammaandam” in my lexicon and in the lexicon of every thinking man!

A very interesting article on rediff.
More on this hopefully tonight!