4:45AM: Me, asleep, all cuddled up under fall blankets, catching all the ZZZZ's possible
4:50AM: MEOWW! Purrr! MEAOWWW!
4:50AM: I open my eyes, I see two sets of gleaming eyes staring right back at me. WHOA!! Right over my  head, two cats, sitting and looking down at me, staring at me, commanding me to get up. What a fright!
4:55AM: Ahhhh! After a few mins of catching my breath, being startled out of some dream or the other, into a reality of two gorgeous cats trying to get my attention. I remember, oh yeah, Veebs and Bunny, of course, oh, they are here, so sweet. I think I can retire my alarm. Hmmm, talking of which, how do they know, I will be up in a few mins? I did not tell them. Hey, they seem to be morning people. :) We'll get on just fine and dandy.
5:00AM: Some where in the house my alarm goes off to blaring music from Mike FM (93.7 FM). It was loud enough for all us to jump. And we are all up!!

6:20AM: I am still at home, (usually leave to catch 6:00-6:10AM bus to work), the two meowing their headoff, knowing (I like to think) that I will be gone for the day (I like to think they are going to miss me). I felt my heart thumping with just the thought that they will be alone. Finally,  after a good conversation with them (call me loony!), I head to work.

(Couldn't wait for 3:00PM), ran home (not literally, took the bus), and played with kitties.... :) 

Partners in crime, this is how I find them..... when I get home. Do they really care that I was not home? Why was I worried?

They are here! Oh! My house guests have arrived.

Prep work: I tried to get my house presentable for my guests. This is first time they are seeing the house, and their approval means a lot to me. I cleaned and scrubbed some parts, but could not get to vaccum the carpets. I hope they wouldn't mind. Around mid-morning, I got the initial checkin to see if I was ready for them. I think I was, and conveyed that the house is ready for them and it will be great to have them over. I just hope I live up to their expectations.

They arrive: They arrived will little fan fair, as royality do. I drove over and got some of their luggage and then they arrived. Initially they were tentative about the new space, and needed to acclimatize, and inspect every nook and cranny. But, soon they were up and about the house. Within few hours, they were home, it took me a little longer, to have them around (having two more souls in the house, is an adjustment for me too).

I think this is great! Welcome Veebs and Bunny!

   <== Baxter (Bunny/Sweetie)

   <== VanBurren (Veebs/Pumpkin)

What a perfect day to be working! Labor Day. Yeah, yeah, labor day is to celebrate as a holiday for the laborers, to take it easy and rest before the chaos begins again. But, I look at it as a day, for me to catch up on my work, with no one bugging me every few minutes for, "can we do this?", "can we do that?", "how about this?", "how about that?", "fix this!", "fix that!", etc. etc. 9 hours straight of getting organized for the next set of projects, planning for the team and milestones and getting requirements documented, design and prototypes generated. All in all, a very productive and very satisfying day. Bring on the next set of deliverables!

Enigma (as defined by dictionary.com) is a) a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation, b) a person of puzzling or contradictory character, c) a saying, question, picture,  etc.,  containing hidden meaning and finally d) a German-built enciphering machine developed for commercial use in the 1920s and later adapted and appropriated by German  and other Axis powers for military use throught the WWII.

Over the weekend, I saw the movie Engima and fell in love once again with ciphers and codebreakers. It is good movie, not a great one, simply because, I would have liked to see more of the codebreakers work. But the story line is good, and of course the music was a tad haunting, but great.  I saw the movie once and then again with the subtitles on as I really wanted to catch all the codebreakers logic. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it, it is good one.

It has been a while since I blogged something or the other, regards something or the other interesting things going on in my life. But the past week has been rather hectic and frenzied at work with a major deadline for four interconnected projects that I manage. All four projects were in flux and under developement for enhancements for the past 8 months and finally I see the light at the end of the tunnel. After endless iterative design, changes, developement, testing and managing multiple projects, these all were delivered. I am proud to say that my 'babies' have grown into well behaved (well, most of the time!) 'toddlers'.  I should be blogging more this month.

Day to celebrate!!!

Allegra front completed. It was a test of patience, counting and courage to believe that I could complete this one. The front as described before (Stage 2) consisted of the piece which starts of being similar to back and then goes into a fancy miter and the two sides like flappy wings, and then a twist and great V-neck. 

I think it is stunning!! I still need to complete the seaming and finishing the edges, but I love it and cannot wait to wear this one.

I am trying to recover from a major sore throat, cold, runny nose, sneezing and high fever. From past Monday onwards, a miserable summer cold set in and was finally able to shake it off Thursday afternoon. This was a weird illness; I was relatively fine in the mornings (although fever was high), but towards noon it went downhill fast and stayed there till next morning. I could get some work done from home, chatted with team to get them on their merry way, and then afternoon slept like a log (thanks nyquil!).

During this time, I did a lot of thinking of why I don't like being ill. Some of the reasons are:

1. I don't like being ill, because it makes my todo list grow longer as nothing is being taken off. The list has a habit of growing exponentially when I am ill. So when I am recovered, I have twice the amount of work and half the time to get it done in.

2. I don't like being ill, because it means I have to take medicines. And I hate dumping medicines into me, which have more side effects than curing or preventing anything.

3. I don't like being ill, because I any given time, I am not sure, if I am really hungry or thirsty, should I be eating or drinking. Maybe I should eat, but then that may make me more ill. Perhaps drinking will help, but my nose and head is already swimming. It is all so confused.

4. I don't like being ill, because my house is a mess and it takes a week or two get it back in order. Under the guise of being ill, I tend to neglect good housekeeping principles.

5. Lastly, I don't like being ill, because there is nothing good on the idiot box (TV).

You think I have a future in non-computer related jobs like.... the army, or pressure washing, or for that matter anything else that needs hands on expertise. (This was taken by my uncle, when I was being hypnotised with the power of the pressure washer)

This past weekend, my uncle from Washington DC, paid us a visit. He was in town for a conference and stayed over the weekend to meet up with family. He is indeed a wonderful guest, as he takes so much interest in what is happening in his nieces (one of them being....me) and nephews lives. And far more, knows so much about home improvement and not only suggests what to do, but gets down and lends a helping hand to get it implemented. One of the major tasks for my yard was to get the deck and fence cleaned. It would have probably stayed on the todo list for another season and another year, if it had not been for him, suggesting and helping me to find a good power pressure washer and help me wash the deck.

For about the same price as renting, I am now a proud owner of a 1000psi Pressure washer, a one-gallon sprayer and experience of pressure washing deck and fence (Got tools, have deck, will clean for a lunch/dinner/movie!). Both the deck and fence were is dull gray and grimmy. After washing the deck, the gray is lessened to expose some wood grain and also some stain/paint in dark mahogany color. The plan was to wash and clean the deck and apply a sealant. But, now I am thinking of doing some stripping (maybe) and then applying a amber tinted transparent sealer. Hmmm..... did my one task of cleaning the deck, just blossom into a multi-step project. But I am jazzed with it, so, I think I will continue down the path. Couple of more trips to Lowes or local hardware store will do it. But I think my good deck will be great. Along with the deck we also pressure washed and cleaned the fence to completely brighten it from the dull, crappy gray to warm glow of pine. The plan is to use the same amber tint on the fence. It will look awesome. Thanks Uncle, love it when you are here. Thank you so very much for helping me along my home improvement & maintenance projects.

It truely feels being an home owner this summer, with so many items to do and more importantly done for the home. Interestingly, everytime a project is done, three more get added to the list. In one way I am happy as, this keeps me busy with the home and hearth. I dread the day, if I have nothing to do for the place.