Merry Christmas

Heres wishing everyone a happy and cheerful christmas. Christmas over here reminds me of Diwali in India. The glowing stars in every household, the ligthted trees, the shopping spree, jam packed traffic, crowded airports and train stations, those yummy sweets and chocolates. The only difference is the enormous noise of crackers thats missing here :). As the year comes to an end I will put down a few points about how the year went by for me.

Self-improvement: Learnt to be more patient and listen to people before bieng judgemental. Experienced one of the most blissful moments of meditation in Hornaadu temple. Learnt that having negative feelings towards someone/something will actually have its delirious effect (this realization literally shattered me and thereby bringing in more compassion).

Fitness: Was pretty much regular at the gym but for the travelling and managed to gain considerable strength ( am no hulk hogan though ).

Travel: Travelled to a lot of places within India and in the US. Fulfilled my dream to visit Wayanad, Alaska and Montana.

Career: Switched 2 jobs from a US multinational to a desi bodyshopper, moved to US as a contractor and again switched to a fulltime position in another US multinational This was more like a dream job for me ( bieng in customer support ) and today feels good to be the primary support/deployment manager for one of our largest customers.

Photography: Was satisfied with my progress in photography, learnt to shoot appropriately in low light and got introduced to landscape techniques. Could manage some decent shots. However I could'nt satisfy my craving for the Nikon D70 owing to financial situations.

Finance: Realized the importance of money in a foriegn land and knowingly or unknowingly landed into one of the worst ever financial crisis of my life. Breaking the contract with my desi consultant cost me a month's salary and relocation to the bay area from Boston turned out to be a rather expensive affair than I had imagined.

Thats pretty much it, we are having a week's shutdown and mostly will be heading to the grand canyon/las vegas region for the new year. U guys have fun, party and have a blast. Adios

Sunset over Salt lake, Utah

As I was flying over salt lake city, Utah noticed this magnificient sunset and fortunately had my camera handy just in time to take this snap.A little information about Utah. It is supposed to have the best powder snow and some of the world's best ski resorts. So any die hard ski or snowboard folks, mark Utah on your winter travel list.