All this morning, I have been patiently moving concrete blocks from my friends house to mine. It took two trips, one car, couple of chipped nails, cuts and bruises all over my hands (I was wearing industrial strength gloves) & legs and one very tired back, to move roughly 50 blocks.

The process was:

1. Drive to friends house about 10 miles.
2. Crawl under the deck space, sort out broken and unbroken blocks, move them to door. The deck crawl space opened to the lawn and I wanted to take care that I did not mess up the lawn and hostas in the neighboorhood. So, the blocks got moved from all over, under the deck space to just near the door.
3. Move block from door to car. Like a priceless dufus, I parked the wrong way, and had a longer walk to get the initial blocks loaded to the car.
4. Organize the blocks in the car, so it is not loaded on one side and just sufficiently loaded to reduce number of trips without having the car to breakdown.
5. Once loaded, drive back 10 miles.
6. Unload the block to the garage. To get to my garage is a fairly sloped driveway. So, I did not drive the car (it wouldn't climb!) up the slope, but manually lugged it up.
7. Repeat from step 1, for one more time.

After that workout, I took a well-deserved afternoon nap!

Watched The Italian Job (2003) and thought Mark Wahlberg (Charlie Croker) (born in Dorchester, MA) was exceedingly cute. The plot and plan to steal gold bullion by staging a big traffic jam in Los Angeles, and getting away in Mini coopers was incredible. Love those mini-coopers.  Some parts of the movie got really boring and routine and rather out of place when Stella Bridger (Charlize Theron) poses as a TV/Cable repair-woman to get to Steve (Edward Norton). But hey, the car chase with mini-coopers was great.

When I saw this one, I researched to find that this was a remake from The Italian Job (1969). I am such a sucker to see the original and the new. It happened to me when I saw Thomas Crown Affair (1999), with Pierce Brosnnan (my then favorite), and I had to see the original (The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)) with Steve McQueen. But then I have moved away from the point. The original one, starts with soulful song "On Days Like These" (Written by Quincy Jones and performed by Matt Monro). I played the starting song about 20 times before I got sick of it. The movie itself was fantastic. The mini-cooper chase was so much more realistic and hilarious. The stunts were believable and stuck to the british flag colors. Some of the highlights which I simply loved:

• Charlie has just got out of prison and has to break into prison to get financing for his Italian Job. How cool is that idea!
• The chase.... great, hilarious, wacky and loads of goofiness
• Charlie's quote "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off". All through the movie his manerisms were so funny, it cracked me up. Some of them were:
  • "You wouldn't hit a man with no trousers on, would you?", when he thought he was going to be beaten up.
  • "Just remember this... in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road", when the team is just about to start of the caper and their getaway is primarily in cars.
  • "Hang on guys, I have an idea", {spoiler!} when the bus is hanging off the edge of the cliff with the gold on the wrong end, the team on the safe side and Charlie in between and the bus is swaying, threatening to topple over into the cliff. This is also the ending to the movie. I say chaps! what a perfect ending to left hanging.... literally

All in all, I say five stars, and a must see.

Recently, I became an aunt, the nth time over. This brings the count to five: three nephews (ages: 6yrs+1mth, 2yrs+4mths, 2yrs+2mths) and two nieces (ages: 4mths, couple of days). Do the neighborhood kids count? If they do, then add a 2 year old that I frequently baby-sit to the above list. None of these are really mine. 

Maybe I want one kid, but to have one, I may have to be married (well, okay call me really old fashioned, but wouldn't dream of having a kid (or kids) in this world without being married). To be married, I have to find someone who will marry me. And that is loooonnnngggg way off. I think it is a long way off, because, I am too chicken to do anything about it. Maybe I can adopt one.... nah! Not at the moment.

Maybe I want one pet and not a kid. So, it is much easier to adopt a pet, they (pets) are so unassuming and they love back (most of the time). I say this by experience, as I am the official cat sitter for my friends two adorable kitties. Both these kitties are also my 'docs'. When I am sad or unhappy, I have a serious 'chat' with them and they respond with a very vociferous 'MEOW', 'Purr', and 'scratch my tommy, it will make you feel better'. Perhaps the thing about cats is that they are like me; independent most of the times and need loving sometimes. Or maybe get a dog, but nothing short of a Siberian Husky or a German Shepherd would do. I don't have the space that these large dogs need to thrive. I am some ways away from getting a cat because; I want ones exactly like my 'docs' and I know I won't get that

Maybe I want one plant and not a pet, but I killed my indoor lavender (Wah!), but my outdoor yard work is coming along as well as it can. This year is the year of the yard, so it will be done. A yard and plants are not animated as a kid or a pet.

So, maybe I do want one..... something!

I almost did not go, what a wimp. But I did, so I am not a wimp. :) I had a blast, it was fun playing Wise and Otherwise. And then Caylus.

Wise and Otherwise: This game involves completing obscure phrases and having people vote for your pharse. More the votes, more the points you get and first person to get to 20 points wins. It is pretty funny what people come up with to complete a phrase. Some of the weird, funny and insightful ones were:

A nose does not know..... what smells beyond the door

For every fool that has a stick..... a wise man has a gun

For every fool that has a stick..... there is no firewood

He who does not work in summer.... steals

A dogs god is a.... master of the universe

PS: I came in close second.

Caylus: A game of strategy to help build a castle on on the way build production houses, stone houses and others. Me and creatively building things do just fine and dandy. I came in close second, but according to the players, if I had played the last hand a bit defensively, I may have won. Oh well, considering the number of rules that the game had, I think it was great fun. I did love the game.

How time flies with good games and great company! I could not believe it was 5 hours since I stepped into the play zone. It was incredibly fun and relaxed. Must do more of these board game nights, simply because the fun-factor is really high.

At the First Parish Church, in Lincoln, MA, the bells were rung around 6:30pm to announce to the world that Terry and Laura are married. The ceremony was just the right length of time without being butt numbing boring. It started just past 5:30pm, with a processional of the groom, grooms parent, and grooms men, followed by the brides maids, brides parents and the bride. The reverends speech was a welcome change from the dull, old and drab blah, it was really very modern, so refreshing.  After the exchange of vows and rings, we all filed out of the church amidst church bells being rung (I really really loved that, something about church bells ringing makes me very happy). We hung outside the church for a while.

I wore for the first time my Ann Taylor little black dress with burgundy stole, outfitted with bunch of glittering jewelry, felt for the first time very comfortable. I walked up to old friends from Agency.com, and most did not recognize me. (Hee hee!) I met Qian Ma and his wife, Chris and Laura, Raj and of course Dan and LiSing. None other than Dan and LiSing recognized me (but then Dan and Li see me more often than anyone else). I had to introduce myself again to folks, when I saw little lights go off in their eyes, as they remembered me. We chatted a bit and then all piled into cars to get to dinner celebrations. It was a less than half a mile away from the church in fantastic house converted to reception place. I loved the layout the house and that is really my million dollar home. The drive way was long and winded back to parking lot from where you can see the main house entrance, but between the lot and entrance, there was pond with ferns and a small bridge, then a walkway, then a stepped up manicured lawn with bushes around, and low fence and then the main entrance. The house itself was sprawling and open verandas. Past the house there was a large tent that sat around 60 people and then the yard expanded into further lawn, and trees and bushes and ponds. Wow, what a place.

As we got to the house, I finally got to congratulate Terry and Laura, and I could see that it took couple of secs for Terry to recognize me too. I also walked around and met Terry's mom, his aunt, one of his many uncles and his family. I made my way around meeting and greeting people, eating and drinking a nice red wine. Dinner was great, with filet mignon, masked potatoes, cake and more wine. Perhaps I should not have had all that wine, as getting home was a tad hard. I should know better. Along with dinner, there was dancing with a live 3-4 piece band.

All in all, it was a lovely wedding and lovely day.

Its the season for strawberries, and this year, I had planned for months in advance to go strawberry picking and learn the art of freezing in dry pack and in honey. One of my friends in the neighborhood joined me in picking around 20 lbs!!

We travelled to Smolak Farms early this Sunday morning, when the weather promised to hot, hot and humid. We reached early and picked enough to fill a tray, and it did not look too much, so we decided to double it and fill another tray. Thats me picking a ripe one for the tray. What do you think, is that enough strawberries? We did not think so, so we filled another one.

              

Tell me they don't look delicious, mouth watering little red treats!!! I kept roughly 12-13 lbs and most of them are in process to be frozen as full berries, and some are sliced and coated with honey for making sweet preserve. Drop on by for a tasty treat in strawberries.

Next month Cherriess..... and Peaches..... oh boy! oh boy! oh boy! hmm. 

   

Trip to Atlanta, home of the Peaches, Olympic Park and Whales!

I was in Atlanta, Georgia from Friday, June 9th to Wednesday, June 14th. This trip was mostly for staffing the International Summit held by my company. The event did not start till Sunday morning, so going a few days earlier, enabled my team mates and me to organize the space, setup computers, printers, organize the team assignments, schedules and at the end of the day have some fun and enjoy being in the peach state.

We stayed at downtown Hyatt Regency, which is walking distance from the CNN building, Centennial Park and of course the Atlanta Aquarium. My friend and me spent an entire afternoon wandering in the Aquarium. It is one of the best I have seen thus far. The glass walls were not just from floor to ceiling, but also turned upwards to stretch over the ceiling to allow visitors to wander under the fish. The aquarium is divided into five sections; Georgia Explorer, River Scout, Cold Water Quest, Ocean Voyager and Tropical Quest.

Georgia Explorer features horseshoe crabs, large white shrimp, sting rays and many of them in open tanks which allowed visitors to touch them fishes. (I love the fish, but I rather fry 'em and eat 'em, rather than just touch them, hee hee).

River Scout features some really exotic fish from Africa (Cichlids... my favorite), South America, and Asia. This section also has those dangerous piranhas with their razor sharp teeth, and the worlds largest freshwater fish called Arapaima. It was fun to see playful otters too.

Cold Water Quest, features the Beluga Whales, California Sea Lions, African Black foot Pengiuns, Sea otters and much much more. There were giant Sea Spiders and Octopus, scary enough to give me nightmares.

Ocean Voyager, is indeed a Voyage under the sea, with thick acrylic tunnel under 6 million gallons of salt water and hundreds of thousands of fish of all sizes and variety (hmm, I wonder, if some of them get eaten by others in the tank!!) This tank is a representation of the Great Meso American Barrier Reef of Central America. It was definitely one of the highlights of the visit, with giant Hammerhead Sharks, Goliath Grouper, squadrons of large and Small Sting Ray, Snappers, Trevally Jacks, just to name a few.

Tropical Diver was simply great with all tropical fish of all colors, shimmering in the huge tank of cool blue waters. It was mesmeriszing to see the tropical coral reefs in all their vibrant colors and the jelly fish, garden eels, delicate and brilliant seadragons.

Sometime, when you visit my place ask me to show you all the pictures I have taken. Surprisingly, they came out pretty well. Here are some really nice ones. From left to right, and top to bottom the pictures show, African Cichlids, Some random fish whose name I don't know, Piranha, Giant Sea Spider, Sea dragon, Whale, and Tropical Yellow fish.

Pink Lacette and Gillactic yarn scarf in a pattern from my friends 1000 Patterns book. Lovely isn't it! It is soft and fuzzy and has sprinkles of silver glitter. It was too tempting not to knit with this yarn mix. It has become a personal favorite. I am sure there are other colors waiting for me. :) The 1000 Patterns book is really fabulous, I want that!! It went on my list of wants...... :)