Party Town

Recently there was a party in town and I wasn't invited.

One day I went to mail the collages to the gallery during lunch. What is supposed to be a 2 minute drive turned into a 15 minute drive. Why?

There were cops everywhere. I mean over 50 cops. On motorcycles, in cars. They were all waiting on the road talking on their walkie-talkies. No one knew how to drive with 50 cops watching them. We were all scared to death. We all drove at 1 mile an hour speed. People actually stopped driving on the shoulder and stopped at the yellow light. Wow.

My friend Carol was with me and we knew something was going on. It couldn't be an accident.

Those of you who don't know, I live in Austin. Celebrities are everywhere.

Was Jessica Simpson getting married?

Was Andy Roddick having a wedding reception?

Was Dubya (Bush W.) in town?

Was Laura Bush getting a mani-pedi?

Were the Bush girls in trouble again?

But no. It certainly seemed bigger than that.

I was with Carol and we saw tons of black SUVs rushing past us. And they were all heading towards one direction.

Micheal Dell's house. His house. Yep the Micheal Dell lives somewhere across from my work. He was having a lunch party. And no one invited me.

So we went and mailed the artwork and grabbed some lunch. On our way back, we saw even more cops. I was driving and terrified of crossing the white line on the road.

I came back to work and asked a coworker if she knew what was going on. She knows what's happening in town. If she doesn't, she can certainly find out.

Turns out the Vice President Biden was having a little fund raiser at M. Dell's place. I know this for a fact because... Oh well... Just trust me on this one. It is a conclusion based on research and what we saw.

Sandra Bullock does not use this much security. Lance Armstrong is just a dude in town. Everyone who lives in Austin already has an autograph from him and leave him alone. It had to be a politician. And Mr. Biden was in town.

So Mr. Biden if you are reading this, use the helicopter pad next time. OK? And invite me to the party. I can be the life of the party. I swear I'll squeeze more money out of the folks.

And Mr. Dell, invite me next time. I have a faux press pass and a decent camera. I used to work for you and I am a loyal stockholder. Call me!

Wordless Wednesday

Escape to Nowhere

The last collage for this project. I hope you enjoyed these. A huge thanks to Mythos for working with me on this fun fun project!

Alex in Wonderland: 3

This one is my favorite. Love the blobs.

Alex in Wonderland:2

This is collage number 2. When Mythos and I started this project, I posted about 10 photographs. He definitely wanted the Alex photo. No surprise there. Everyone is an Alex fan. He also picked photos of veggies, a tree stump, and a photo of this blue window. When I printed these out and snail mailed them to him, I also included some really bad paintings I had done. It was more of a joke to show him what a terrible painter I am.

I never knew what to expect from him. I thought he would paint or doodle over them. But he cut up the photos and my pitiful paintings and created wonderful collages out of them.

He sent me the photos of the collages and I posted them on a blog I created for our artwork. Numerous people gave us feedback. There is no way that I could have made a decision. All of them were exquisite.

So tomorrow I ship these to the gallery. We'll see if we get in or not. I'll keep you posted.

Alex in Wonderland: 1

A while back, I asked my bloggy friend Mythos if he would collaborate with me on an art project. He asked me to send some photos to him. And he created beautiful collages out of them. They are simply stupendous.

Here is the first piece. He created 4 all together and I am planning on submitting 3 to a gallery. If we get in, fine. If not, that would be OK too. I know that sooner or later they will be in a gallery.

It was a very fun project. I am certainly planning on doing more collaborative work with him and other artists. If you are interested in participating, leave a comment.

Stay tuned for more of the collaborative work.

Poker Party

Tonight, I have a poker party at my house. And I don't even know how to play poker. But that's okay. I get to hang out with my buddies.

My friends Alex (da SuperModel) and Carol are coming. So I am happy.

Since this is a weekday, I won't have time to cook. So we are ordering some take out.

I'll be hanging out tonight with lots of engineers and a PhD. in Pharmaceuticals. And I am very excited about that. How geeky am I?

Easter Flower

Old Things 2: Coins

I've had these coins forever. They are old old Indian coins. What should I do with them? Not sure. The one in center is from 1891. I think that's amazing! I have about 30 coins. The market value of all the coins will probably be 100 dollars. If I am lucky. Not sure if I want to sell them. I think I'll save them for later.

Zinnias

Today I took a day off and planted some zinnias.

It was a beautiful day. I had wanted to take a day off to take this month. Just to take care of some things I don't get around doing. So I did it today.

I had so many plans but here is what I ended up doing:

• Planted Zinnias and herbs.
• Cleaned and organized my dresser. Boy I have clothes in every size. I found a size zero dress, looked at it and laughed my head off. It went in the "give away clothes" pile.
• Watched Divorce court.
  
• Watched a ton of depressing commercials. Need a lawyer? Want to go to college? Want an instant loan? Just hand over the title to the car! As easy as that! Look at all the money in your hands!
• Found a bunch of old coins. Where did I get them? How could I clean them?
• Did one hour of yoga. Meditation and all. Relaxed!
  
• Tried another channel on TV and watched the news. It was depressing so turned it off.
  
• With my eyes closed, pondered about world peace and how to accomplish it. No I was not napping.
• Started laundry.
• Started organizing my old photographs.
• Started organizing my garage.
• Took a nap.
• Watched Judge Judy. Yeah! Love, love, love her! I wish there was a Judge Judy marathon. I am always so disappointed when her show is over. More! More! More!
  

So here I am today. With a day off and nothing accomplished. Except the Zinnias. I planted Zinnias and had a great day. Hope you had a great day too!

Old Things: 1

Yesterday I was puttering around the house and ran into this old wooden box in my house. It sits in the corner of my living room. I know that it does not look very pretty. But I love it.

It belongs to my grandfather or great grand father. Not really sure whom. It is at least a hundred years old. It is a portable tiny desk. It is called an Iskotro.

Many many years ago, I fell in love with it. And asked my uncle to give it to me. He had many other heirlooms so he generously gave it to me. And I used it and cherished it for years.

Until I moved to USA. I had to leave it behind with my Mom.

A few years later, when I went back for a visit, I was shocked to find out that it had been gifted to my niece. That did not sit well with me. As much as I love my niece, that was my property. I wanted it back. My niece was probably 12 years old that time. And she was in boarding school. I could have let her keep it but when I saw the condition it was in, I was appalled and outraged.

It had tons of junk in it. Candy, trash, food, and junk. To make the matters worse, someone had used crayon marks on every inch of the box.

I told my Mom, "This is it. I am taking it with me. If anyone is upset about it, just blame me. I with deal with the consequences. I'll be happy to buy her a desk or anything she wants. But this is mine."

I had it cleaned by professionals in India. But they were probably a little reckless. Despite my instructions of "please don't make it look like a new box and only remove the crayon marks" they polished it up and did God knows what with it. But some crayon marks still remained.

I wasn't pleased with the results but brought it home with me. I don't even remember how I did it. Did I pack that huge thing in my suitcase? I certainly would have never shipped it.

And so it sits there in my living room with some crayon marks and a dark dye. I do want to get it refurbished but have no idea what to do about it. I don't trust the professionals.

Meanwhile I always look at it and marvel at what it was. A reminder of times before computers. A reminder of a time when the British ruled India. A reminder of the old times when men fought wars with pens rather than guns. It must have been a part of the Ahimsa movement somehow.

And today, it still sits in my living room.

Man Walks Ducks in Rain

Yesterday morning, it was dark and rainy and as I was pulling out of my garage, I saw that I had some visitors. And they were blocking my car.

Of course I rushed to get my camera and tried to take photos of the ducks who were now lounging in my neighbor's yard.

It was drizzling and I was in my car that's why these photos look grainy.

My hubby showed up with a stick and an umbrella to herd the ducks to a pond nearby. He does this often as those silly little ducks get totally lost. And I thought that I had a bad sense of direction.


Here they are attempting to cross the street. I was giggling so hard by then that the camera was shaking.

And that's how we cross the street.

And there is the pond. Yeah!


And off to work I went. I thought, great... my reason for being late is because there were ducks blocking my car, my hubby had to herd them to the pond nearby, and I just had to take photos.

Who would believe me?

Editor's note: No animals were harmed for this post.

Circular

My entry for Photo Friday.

Picnic Lunch

Yesterday for lunch, a coworker friend and I walked to a deli close by, picked up some food and walked to this spot. Then we spread a blanket and had a nice picnic lunch. It was a gorgeous day.

We talked and talked. We talked about all kinds of stuff. But mostly techie stuff. Blogs, websites, twitter, facebook, tiny url, Content Management Systems etc... etc... We shared ideas and gave each other cool tips. And did what most girl friends do. Gave each other moral support and encouragement.

What baffles me is this. Why is it that my girl friends don't see in them what I see in them? Why don't women recognize their own potential? To be honest, I am the worst example of this. If someone says nice photo, I brush them off. They were just being nice to me. Or even polite. I actually gave up photography for years because I felt that I just wasn't good enough.

Sometimes I don't care. If Mythos looks at my beautiful Sand and Foam photo and comments, "was that halocegenic oatmeal?" I just laugh and send him a nasty email. "Get some new glasses will you?" And then I laugh some more.

And that was my 300th post. Yeah!

Zucchini Sprouts

The zucchini seeds are sprouting! So far, so good. I haven't killed a single plant yet. I think the fact that I am sharing my gardening adventures with you guys, makes me work harder. I do not want to disappoint anyone. We'll see how long that lasts.

There is a lot going on in Austin today.

There is the tea protest going on. It would be a great photo opportunity.

And then I have tickets to a show called Dick Monologues. A friend of mine is a performer and I've always wanted to see the show.

So we'll see where I end up. And I'll keep you posted.

Top 10 excuses I didn't blog

I know you are all wondering why I haven't update my blog recently. So I thought I'd share with you what's really been going on.

Here are the top 10 reasons why I haven't updated my blog:

1. Pirates held me captive and fed me too much rum.

2. I was sitting on the couch watching my friend Darran complete the Iron Man! You are amazing Darran!

3. I didn't get into the flower show so all the flower photos spontaneously combusted and made a huge mess in my house. Seriously.

4. The Global economic pressures. Was the 21st participant at the G20+1 summit. Please keep this to yourself since this is classified information. Oh and if you have a solution for this mess, call me.

5. I was attacked by secret stealth ninjas that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

6. Spend too much time arguing with Carol about frames. Stupid, stupid frames!

7. I hid in the basement to avoid being attack by the aliens.

8. Got to ride the Yahoo Magic Donkey.

9. Was alternating between hurling objects at my printer and whispering sweet nothings to it. My family overheard me and sent me to rehab.

10. I was baking a cake for Ram with a file in it.

Pirates

So what do you think of the pirates in 2009?

And what do you think of the women in Somalia who are flocking on the shores to marry the pirates?

Anyone????

I've had a crush on Johnny Depp ever since Pirates of the Caribbean. But that was a movie.

What do you think of the pirates?

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! I'm sorry I have been a little bit out of the loop. Life takes over sometimes. Right? Thanks for being patient with me.

I'm glad the weekend approaches. It has been a rough couple of weeks. But I see clear skies ahead. So life is good.

This weekend, I begin my process of turning my home into a gallery. A Scriber's Web gallery. I thought it would be an easy task. But nope. I thought I would simply hang a few of my photos on the bare walls. But nope.

There is MATH involved. Ugh! If the wall is 2 feet and you want to hang 6 frames, and if the frames are 8 by 11, how much distance between the frames? Ugh. Double ugh! I haven't started yet but I am already thinking of giving up.

If someone out there can send me instructions, I'd much appreciate it. Oh and also your credit card numbers. This is a much more expensive project than what I anticipated.

And don't worry. I'll have photos of the before and after. Just so you can share my pain.

So what are your plans this weekend? Anything exciting? Bungee jumping anyone?

Adventures

Sometimes gifts come wrapped in a bad wrapping paper.

Yesterday a friend of mine was let go from her job due to the economy. While this makes me very sad, I know that she has tremendous potential. Even more than she realizes. Some days I just want to shake her and tell her, "Do you realize how talented you are? Do you know that you can open so many doors of opportunities?" Every time I try to tell her, she laughs it off. She gets uncomfortable.

But now she has time to think about the possibilities. And pursue them. And I know that no matter what path she seeks, there will be exciting adventures. I am hoping to tag along on a few adventures with her.

I don't know what her next adventure will be. But I do know that she leaves behind a whole bunch of broken hearts. Including mine.

Cold!

I went to work yesterday wearing summer clothes. After all, last week the highs had been in 70s and even reached the 80s. Well... it was cold and I froze my b*** off. It was cold and windy.

So last couple of weeks have been full of obstacles for me. Nothing major. Just everything simple gets overly complicated and just doesn't work. Simple things like printing, which I have always taken for granted, just can't be done. The printer won't print. I've spent numerous hours trying to fix it. There is an international team of helpers. Did you try this? Did you try that? Everyone is trying to help but I simply cannot print.

That's just one example of the obstacles I've run into. Nothing is simple.

Yesterday I went for lunch with my friend Carol. We were going to make a quick stop at a book store and then go have lunch. It took us forever at the book store and then when we went for lunch, it took forever for the food to come. We had fun catching up but ultimately had to ask for to go boxes as soon as the food came.

Sorry to my bloggy friends for not visiting and posting comments. I will catch up soon:)

I am hoping for a warm, calm and uneventful day today. And may my veggie plants survive this cold weather.

And may my friends overcome all the obstacles they may face today.

March Madness

March madness will be over today. For those who don't know, this is college basketball championship. The winners play off today. I know for sure that one team is from North Carolina and the other I think is from Michigan.

Although I am not too much into this, I am rooting for North Carolina to win. A gal pal of mine is into this and she is rooting for them.

I guess I'll watch the game tonight. I'm sure that my hubby who owns the remote control will be watching it. And he is rooting for North Carolina.

So I have 2 interesting stories to tell you about this year's March madness and basketball.

1. The other day, I got a frantic phone call from my hubby at work. I could tell he was super excited because he was shouting and kept repeating, "Guess what? You won't believe what just happened." Over and over again. And I kept saying, "what" with every iteration my heart skipping more and more beats and my blood pressure mounting up. The he said, "Son 2 just call me and you won't believe what just happened!!!!" Now I was panicking. I imagined every possible worst scenario. A mother should never have to go through that. "Will you just tell me what it is?" I yelled back at him. And he said, "Kentucky fired their basketball coach and are getting blah blah as their new coach. Can you believe it? Can you believe it???" Oye. Somehow I mustered up enough self-control and managed to curb the expletives and said, "That's great. But will you kindly stop giving me these minor heart attacks? I have all these deadlines and decisions to make and execute. Basketball is least of my worries." And he said, "Yes but isn't this very exciting?" Oye. Oye.

2. When I came home, my hubby told me that Son2 had called him and there was a lot of hype in Kentucky about the firing. Son2 called my hubby right away and told him to go watch the TV right away. Since was hubby was running errands around the town, he did not know where he could find a TV. Until he happened to spot Hooters. Hooters is a restaurant where the waitresses wear skimpy dresses. So my hubby went there. He told the waitress that he just wanted to watch TV and ordered a coke. She came back 5 minutes later with the coke and... the remote control. Yep she gave him the remote control. My hubby told me that this is why men go to Hooters. They know how to treat men. So many possibilities there but I am not going to touch that one.


So there you have it. I hope that North Carolina wins and this madness is over.

Planting

Gardening, yard work, planting. Same thing. That's what I am planning to do today. It is going to be a warm day here. So off I go. I'll try to take some before and after pictures.

Before: Healthy, lovely plants.
After: Dried up and dead.

But I'll keep trying.

I knew this one guy who set up his web cam near his vegetable garden. I went to his office one day and he was watching a live feed. Of tomato plants. He told me that he loved watching his tomatoes grow. I didn't really know if he as kidding or serious. So I asked him a couple of questions like how did he do that? Could he actually see anything growing?

At that point, he went into a 20 minute explanation about web cams, tomatoes, etc. He even offered to help me set one up. He told me that it was the most relaxing thing to do. I told him that if I had a web cam, all I would see is my tomato plants dying. He got even more excited and lectured me about how important it was to watch my tomatoes grow. And how important it was for me to get a web cam....Blah, blah. Gotto love engineers. Oh well.

On another note, I waited for Ram to show up but he never did. Instead there were throngs of people waiting for him in my back yard. I never knew how popular Ram was. What surprised me more was that at least someone read about this on my blog. Who reads it anyways?

So Ram if you are reading this, the food is gone. I will no longer be leaving food on the porch for you. And oh ... Katie Couric keeps calling me. She wants to get in touch with you.

That's all I have to say about Ram.

Woe is Me

Let's face it. Life can get tough sometimes. Things can get so hectic that it can be overwhelming. I doesn't have to be all big things. Just deadlines piling up. So many emails in your inbox that you know that even if you work 20 hours straight, you won't be able to make a dent. You want a pause button so you can stop time and tackle all your deadlines.

But I am a tough chika.

I can handle all the drama. I can swiftly handle back stabbers in one smooth move and push them out into oblivion. With tons of charm and humor. Piece of cake.

I can handle the fact that I have to work long hours.
I can handle the fact that my brand new printer only prints blank papers.
I can handle the deadlines.
I can handle the back stabbers.

But what fills my heart with woe is Ram on lam.

I found the Ram's blog The Food Here Convenience Store a few months ago. And I was hooked. I spent hours reading about this outstanding, generous, hard working, and well-intention adventures. I read his every post. I forced my friends to read his blog who thanked me all later.

Ram became an essential part my bloggy world.

Unfortunately, because of his good intentions and creative solutions for dealing with problems, he is in a bit of trouble. And on the run. To avoid... I would say some legal hassles.

So... he may never ever update his blog again.

Woe is me.

Ever since I found out, I've been doing nothing but crying and checking his blog. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. But no word yet. The only hope for me is that he knows kinda sorta where I live and I have offered him a refreshment break.

So my generous friends, I know you have huge generous hearts and have financially contributed to the Scriber's Web Plastic Surgery fund. I must ask you all again to contribute to the Ram on Lam fund. Donate generously. You have not failed me in past. I have decided to roll over my Scriber's Web Plastic Surgery fund into Ram on the Lam fund.

Ram, wherever you are, surely you must be reading my blog at every chance you get. I've left some idlis and mango pickle on my porch. Also the 2 dollars and 19 cents from my Scriber's Web Plastic Surgery fund. That's all the money in the fund but I am happy to turn it over to you. I can live with my pooch and a few wrinkles.

I wish you much luck and peace Ram.

Waiting by the porch,

~SW

Broken

Wordless Wednesday