Life just flies by too fast and you miss out on so many things. There are some major things life has brought in the past few years, and lots of little things. What a sea change. I hope to start making periodic posts going forward.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Hello....Again
Every once in a while, during the week, I compose an "idea" for a post for this blog. I tell myself that over the weekend I will copy the pictures from my camera, write up a grand story related to the "idea," and then finally break out of the blogging doldrums that I've found myself in. As is typical of me, the weekend comes and goes without a post, and I'm left wondering whether whatever "idea" I had would still work for a later post.
Other things have happened as well. I am now an Aunt ("Aunt Khena", how weird is that?) because my sister-in-law Vidya had a little baby girl, Vaidehi, in May. It's pretty exciting, and I look forward to the time that I'll finally be able to meet my new niece.
It turns out that it doesn't really matter because I've forgotten all the ideas. I think they were good, and if they were I'm sorry that I didn't follow up on them.
The irony is that I'm posting something now, and I don't have a grand idea. Instead, I spent an hour catching up on my Uncle Bill's blog and thinking about all the things that have happened to the people I care about and how easy it is to fall out of touch. So, I've decided that I'd post something even if it's not interesting. Maybe I'll come up with something....The last two months have been busy, so I should come up with something...
Ok - first of all, we had two Indian guests visit us for a month and a half. They were of course Vivek's parents, and they were here for a reason that I'll get to in a bit. Initially enthralled by the WWF (World Wrestling Federation for those who don't watch the CW) and Deal or No Deal (that was my father-in-law, and I think the models helped with that), my in-laws quickly became big fans of the Wii, particularly the bowling. By the time they left, they were both pros, and were able to bowl strikes and spares at a rate that I didn't think was possible. Even though I was worried about having two people stay with us in our one bedroom apartment for so long, I enjoyed their visit and was sad when they left. I was surprised at how adaptive they both were and often found myself floored by some of the wise-cracks I heard come out of my mother-in-law's mouth. It was nice having someone other than Fritz to talk to and interact with during the week (Vivek still works out of state during the week). Fritz misses them too, since I don't treat him as well as they did (at most he gets 1 treat from me a day...poor guy). He might be happy to have the extra space though. The apartment was so crowded that Fritz could often be found making a bed out of the toilet seat (closed) in order to get away from all the commotion.
The other thing is that the four of us went on a long road trip to Salt Lake City. This was my in-law's second trip to the United States so we wanted to make sure they got to see the Rocky Mountains and the northern parts of the Midwest. Our trip took us through South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho before we got to Utah. Here's one of my favorite pictures from Yellowstone. I've posted more pictures here.
Once in Utah, Vivek and I got married again. Really. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of that. We had a great time though, and it was great to see our friends from places other than Minneapolis and everyone in my family again (most of my family made it - pretty cool). Sadly, even though we were not in Minneapolis we did not manage to escape the snow...Believe it or not, it snowed during our Memorial Day wedding. I'll grant that we were in the mountains. But still, it shouldn't snow in late May. Not even in Minneapolis. And we were in Utah. Damn snow. Thanks to A though I did have a hat for the weather! Actually, lots of us had hats, thanks to her.
Other things have happened as well. I am now an Aunt ("Aunt Khena", how weird is that?) because my sister-in-law Vidya had a little baby girl, Vaidehi, in May. It's pretty exciting, and I look forward to the time that I'll finally be able to meet my new niece.
I am also now wisdom toothless. During our drive to Utah I started getting horrible toothaches. These were so bad that while we were there and getting ready for the wedding, I often had to stop what I was doing and instead do what I could to not cry and make a scene. Thankfully I was able to get an emergency dentist appointment the day before the wedding. Apparently one of my wisdom teeth was so badly decayed that the root was infected. I was given drugs and I kept my wisdom teeth until after I got back to Minneapolis.
I'm fine now. And even then there was so little pain that I never took painkillers. I think the swelling was never worse than it was here in this picture (and I can't tell if my face was swollen in the picture, though I'd like to think it was). So, a couple days after my surgery, things started to get quiet again. Vivek's parents went back to India and I tried to settle back down into work.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Long time, no post
March flew by! Yikes! And April is already almost half way over. You wouldn't know it by the weather here though. I look outside and the trees are still bare, the sky is gray and, holy crap, there's snow on the ground. What happened to Spring? Will I have to wait until June to see a flower or leaves on trees? This is insane!!!
I've heard that we're not alone though, so I'll try not to complain too much. But, this never ending winter is really starting to get to me. Maybe it's the lack of sunshine and Vitamin D. I don't know. Even poor Fritz is going a little crazy with the extended winter. What's a cat supposed to do in weather like this? Should he shed or shouldn't he? Should he attack the toy, or shouldn't he? He just can't seem to figure it out, and the confusion has made him a little batty.
At least Vivek is still being very positive about it. For some reason he likes the snow and the cold. Crazy man. A couple weeks ago he was worried that the lakes were starting to melt so we went out and took a few pictures before the lakes thawed...This was the end of March and the temperature was finally hitting 50 for the first time. (See how happy we look! Those were the days!) Oddly enough, it snowed two days later, and on April first we had several inches of snow on the ground again.
Even then, I didn't really mind the snow too much. I thought that it was winter's last hoorah and that we were well on our way into Spring. I was wrong....I guess I'll just continue to look forward to May. It should be better, right?
I've heard that we're not alone though, so I'll try not to complain too much. But, this never ending winter is really starting to get to me. Maybe it's the lack of sunshine and Vitamin D. I don't know. Even poor Fritz is going a little crazy with the extended winter. What's a cat supposed to do in weather like this? Should he shed or shouldn't he? Should he attack the toy, or shouldn't he? He just can't seem to figure it out, and the confusion has made him a little batty.
At least Vivek is still being very positive about it. For some reason he likes the snow and the cold. Crazy man. A couple weeks ago he was worried that the lakes were starting to melt so we went out and took a few pictures before the lakes thawed...This was the end of March and the temperature was finally hitting 50 for the first time. (See how happy we look! Those were the days!) Oddly enough, it snowed two days later, and on April first we had several inches of snow on the ground again.
Even then, I didn't really mind the snow too much. I thought that it was winter's last hoorah and that we were well on our way into Spring. I was wrong....I guess I'll just continue to look forward to May. It should be better, right?
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Slow life
Well, I suppose it's time for another post...it's been a few weeks and there are a couple things that have happened.
Topic # 1: Super Furry Animals (not Fritz or Vivek). Yay! My favorite Welch band found its way to Minneapolis! We weren't sure if we would be able to make it, but Vivek miraculously recovered from his fever in time for lab happy hour (a newly instituted, weekly pool and beer event), dinner, and a long night listening to music (that was entertaining, bad, and then fantastic). There were a few memorable moments to the night - the first was an opening act by Jeffrey Lewis. With songs about Top Ramen and the comic book animated Creeping Brain I found myself wishing that his act would go on a little longer. Another, much too loud, act later and we found ourselves staring at five Super Furry Animals. And they certainly were furry! I couldn't tell at first because the lead singer came out wearing a Power Ranger's helmet - as you can see....
He also ate celery as a sound effect at one point.
Topic #2: Fritz goes insane! It seems that Vivek's absence during the work week has confused Fritz. When Vivek's gone, Fritz acts like he's lost and can't figure out what to do with himself. He's always happy to see me when I get home from work, but once he realizes that Vivek isn't coming home he starts yeowling and running around the apartment. Sometimes he even hides in his cat tent (given to him by the parents of his cat buddy Lindy).
When Vivek finally does get home, Fritz doesn't know what to make of it. A couple weeks ago, Vivek was petting Fritz when Vivek tried to amp up the petting with a second hand. Fritz freaked out and went into attack mode as Vivek brought his hand over. For his trouble, Vivek suffered bleeding puncture wounds and scratches all over his right arm. The next day Fritz walked over to Vivek, sat down in front of him, and gave him a mean spirited meow. Vivek stepped around him, and in return, Fritz attacks him again! Thankfully Vivek was wearing pants, so he was fine. That was the end of the misbehaving though, and ever since Vivek sprayed Fritz with water, things have been cool. I guess Fritz just needed to know that Vivek isn't a total pushover (though, it's really really close!).
Topic #3: Vivek and I have been married 6 months....Hooray! To celebrate we bought a cheap bottle of champagne at Costco. I'm drinking it now, in fact. It went well with the frozen pizza we got from Costco, and to me is the perfect Oscar watching beverage.
Slow life indeed.....
Oh yeah, see if you can figure this one out:
Topic # 1: Super Furry Animals (not Fritz or Vivek). Yay! My favorite Welch band found its way to Minneapolis! We weren't sure if we would be able to make it, but Vivek miraculously recovered from his fever in time for lab happy hour (a newly instituted, weekly pool and beer event), dinner, and a long night listening to music (that was entertaining, bad, and then fantastic). There were a few memorable moments to the night - the first was an opening act by Jeffrey Lewis. With songs about Top Ramen and the comic book animated Creeping Brain I found myself wishing that his act would go on a little longer. Another, much too loud, act later and we found ourselves staring at five Super Furry Animals. And they certainly were furry! I couldn't tell at first because the lead singer came out wearing a Power Ranger's helmet - as you can see....
He also ate celery as a sound effect at one point.
Topic #2: Fritz goes insane! It seems that Vivek's absence during the work week has confused Fritz. When Vivek's gone, Fritz acts like he's lost and can't figure out what to do with himself. He's always happy to see me when I get home from work, but once he realizes that Vivek isn't coming home he starts yeowling and running around the apartment. Sometimes he even hides in his cat tent (given to him by the parents of his cat buddy Lindy).
When Vivek finally does get home, Fritz doesn't know what to make of it. A couple weeks ago, Vivek was petting Fritz when Vivek tried to amp up the petting with a second hand. Fritz freaked out and went into attack mode as Vivek brought his hand over. For his trouble, Vivek suffered bleeding puncture wounds and scratches all over his right arm. The next day Fritz walked over to Vivek, sat down in front of him, and gave him a mean spirited meow. Vivek stepped around him, and in return, Fritz attacks him again! Thankfully Vivek was wearing pants, so he was fine. That was the end of the misbehaving though, and ever since Vivek sprayed Fritz with water, things have been cool. I guess Fritz just needed to know that Vivek isn't a total pushover (though, it's really really close!).
Topic #3: Vivek and I have been married 6 months....Hooray! To celebrate we bought a cheap bottle of champagne at Costco. I'm drinking it now, in fact. It went well with the frozen pizza we got from Costco, and to me is the perfect Oscar watching beverage.
Slow life indeed.....
Oh yeah, see if you can figure this one out:
Saturday, February 16, 2008
India Wedding Photos!! - Really!!!!
Well, we got a CD with our wedding and reception photos from the Indian photographers. We've posted them in two public Picasa albums that you can find here. There were actually many more photographs than what we've posted, but most of them were bad at worst, and hilariously funny at best (though not in a good way - see the post called O! for an example of that type of photo).
We may try to add captions at some point....maybe I'll start now. Anyway, enjoy!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Another trip to the symphony
Thanks to a great wedding gift Vivek and I had tickets to the orchestra this weekend. This time we had tickets to the Orchestra's Sounds of Cinema series. Our night included a screening of the classic silent film "The Battleship Potemkin" as the orchestra played a soundtrack compiled from the works of Shostakovich. It was a pretty unique experience, especially since we were allowed to bring our popcorn and drinks in with us. I have to say that it was slightly strange to hear the low rumble of popcorn munching during a live performance of Shostakovich. Even so, I think it was a great experience - the movie was great, the popcorn decent, and the music was outstanding. We were up at the highest levels of the hall this time, so I felt comfortable taking a few shots of it before the concert started. You can see the movie screen in the first shot.
And here's my scotch and popcorn....If you're wondering, the floor here was sticky. I don't think that's standard for the symphony. And it wasn't my fault.
The ceiling and walls in the hall have all these odd cube things in them. Since we were close to the ceiling this time, I thought I'd get a shot. Anyone have any idea whether these should help or hurt sound quality in the hall?
Being camera happy I took a last shot, this time of the mountain of snow along our street. Some very kind person cut a path through it so we can get from the street to the sidewalk. Here's a picture with Vivek's foot in the canyon.
And here's my scotch and popcorn....If you're wondering, the floor here was sticky. I don't think that's standard for the symphony. And it wasn't my fault.
The ceiling and walls in the hall have all these odd cube things in them. Since we were close to the ceiling this time, I thought I'd get a shot. Anyone have any idea whether these should help or hurt sound quality in the hall?
Being camera happy I took a last shot, this time of the mountain of snow along our street. Some very kind person cut a path through it so we can get from the street to the sidewalk. Here's a picture with Vivek's foot in the canyon.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Four years!...geeze it's cold out!....*yawn*
Many of you may not know the story of how Vivek and I met. If you don't I may tell you someday, but the story is not that interesting. The important point is that four years ago, on Martin Luther King weekend, some friends and I drove to Chicago and I met a guy with a fourteen letter last name; first name, Vivek. Even though I'd like to say that it feels like we met yesterday, I can't....I mean, a lot has happened in four years, and I've started living the next decade of my life. Also, being surrounded by 20 year olds all day is starting to make me realize that I'm an old lady. Not that old, but I'm old enough that I have very little in common with the young tikes that come in to be in my thrilling experiments. It's weird. There are of course many other things that make me feel like I'm not like them. I'm married now, for one. Well, mostly married - wedding #2 has yet to happen.
Anyway, to celebrate being together for four years, Vivek and had all these plans in mind. In honor of the good ol' days (I'm old because that's how I now think of them) Vivek and I were going to hit the night clubs in Minneapolis. Then, it got really freakin cold here. Really cold. So I chickened out and refused to go ahead with our plan to tear up the dance floors downtown Saturday night. So we had dinner at a place called Amore Victoria in Uptown (very tasty, though I'm uncertain about the veg status of my food) when Vivek got back from CT Thursday. There we made plans on how we should best spend the long weekend. Because the projected high for Saturday was -3 degrees, we decided that it would be a day spent at home. And, we did not leave. Somehow, it felt like we were giving the weather a big F U by staying inside wearing our sweats all day. I think that Fritz captured the spirit of our Saturday quite well....
Sunday, however, we were forced outside so I could finally go to the Frida Kahlo show at the Walker Museum. As with most things I had waited to go to the show for as long as I possibly could. You see, the show had been going on for months, and was now in its last days. So, Vivek and I had a late breakfast at a nearby diner (also very tasty) and then drove to the museum. We were almost there when we noticed that traffic was much heavier than usual. Then, waiting at a light in front of the museum, I looked inside and saw hundreds of people standing in a very long, and apparently unmoving line. Looking at all the cars ahead of us I realized that this event would be very very crowded. And I hate trying to appreciate art when all I can see is a corner of the painting if I jump to get my eyes above some tall guy's shoulder. Yes, I hate crowded museums....I'll never forget the time that I got to see the backs of people looking at the real Mona Lisa. So Vivek and I decided he needed a hair cut and we could wake up early and catch the show this morning...and off we went!
On our way out this morning I decided to bring the camera along, thinking that the crowd would be worthy of a picture. I especially thought this because I believed that today would be the last day of the show. Funny thing though. As we approached the museum the streets were almost empty. See...
When we got to the light, I peeked inside the window, and there were no people! None! "Are they closed!?" asked Vivek. "They couldn't be," I said, "the show is supposed to end on the 20th, and today is the 20th!" As those last words escaped my mouth it began to dawn on me that even though Saturday was lost to me and Vivek, it still counted as a day. So I checked my watch. And well, today is the 21st. There ended the Frida Kahlo adventure.
If you read this post after reading *yawn* in the title, then you only have yourself to blame for being bored right now. I'll end with another picture of Fritz, this time enjoying a cold afternoon with his favorite human.
Anyway, to celebrate being together for four years, Vivek and had all these plans in mind. In honor of the good ol' days (I'm old because that's how I now think of them) Vivek and I were going to hit the night clubs in Minneapolis. Then, it got really freakin cold here. Really cold. So I chickened out and refused to go ahead with our plan to tear up the dance floors downtown Saturday night. So we had dinner at a place called Amore Victoria in Uptown (very tasty, though I'm uncertain about the veg status of my food) when Vivek got back from CT Thursday. There we made plans on how we should best spend the long weekend. Because the projected high for Saturday was -3 degrees, we decided that it would be a day spent at home. And, we did not leave. Somehow, it felt like we were giving the weather a big F U by staying inside wearing our sweats all day. I think that Fritz captured the spirit of our Saturday quite well....
Sunday, however, we were forced outside so I could finally go to the Frida Kahlo show at the Walker Museum. As with most things I had waited to go to the show for as long as I possibly could. You see, the show had been going on for months, and was now in its last days. So, Vivek and I had a late breakfast at a nearby diner (also very tasty) and then drove to the museum. We were almost there when we noticed that traffic was much heavier than usual. Then, waiting at a light in front of the museum, I looked inside and saw hundreds of people standing in a very long, and apparently unmoving line. Looking at all the cars ahead of us I realized that this event would be very very crowded. And I hate trying to appreciate art when all I can see is a corner of the painting if I jump to get my eyes above some tall guy's shoulder. Yes, I hate crowded museums....I'll never forget the time that I got to see the backs of people looking at the real Mona Lisa. So Vivek and I decided he needed a hair cut and we could wake up early and catch the show this morning...and off we went!
On our way out this morning I decided to bring the camera along, thinking that the crowd would be worthy of a picture. I especially thought this because I believed that today would be the last day of the show. Funny thing though. As we approached the museum the streets were almost empty. See...
When we got to the light, I peeked inside the window, and there were no people! None! "Are they closed!?" asked Vivek. "They couldn't be," I said, "the show is supposed to end on the 20th, and today is the 20th!" As those last words escaped my mouth it began to dawn on me that even though Saturday was lost to me and Vivek, it still counted as a day. So I checked my watch. And well, today is the 21st. There ended the Frida Kahlo adventure.If you read this post after reading *yawn* in the title, then you only have yourself to blame for being bored right now. I'll end with another picture of Fritz, this time enjoying a cold afternoon with his favorite human.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Minneapolis Weather -- January 19, 2008, 9:08 AM
It's nice and warm here, and I'm thinking of going for a walk in my shorts and sandals.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
He's gonna get schnockered!
Happy New Year everyone!!!
Last night Vivek and I decided that we couldn't spend our first New Years in Minneapolis at home, playing video games (Vivek just got a new one - Medal of Honor 2 for the Wii, which, despite his claims, is very violent). So, we had dinner at a place called "The Duplex" and then drove around for about 30 minutes before we finally decided on a place to spend the last two hours of 2007. It's true that we did not have plans ahead of time. I've been recovering from a cold, so our typical New Years celebration, dancing, was out of the question, and we still have no Minneapolis friends to bug on nights like these. Anyway, we eventually ended up at a peanut bar where we found a couple stools at the bar and marveled at all the 80's music that someone had queued up on the jukebox. It wasn't a bad place, and I'd probably go back with a group of friends to chat with over a beer (in fact, their draft beer is served in giant mugs, something I'm finding to be a recurring theme here).
Anyway, besides the 80's music, there were other great things to listen to at this place. Here are a couple phrases that I overheard last night. They're not funny on their own, but imagine they're being spoken by Frances McDormand's character in Fargo (but with a man's voice), and you'll get why Vivek and I were chuckling through the night.
"Jonas! Jonas! .... He's gonna get schnockered!"
"The housing market is still way down?" "Jah"
"Who cares? I gotta seat!"
"Oh! You know goddamn well whose coat that is!"
There's something about the Minnesota accent that just delights me whenever I encounter it. It's so much more interesting than the Missouri and Utah accents. The Minnesota accent, when encountered, is a great thing. And, I swear I didn't hear it, not even once, until it started snowing up here. Maybe the snow brings it out in people, or maybe I'm just looking for it more, but I hope that it doesn't go away when the snow starts melting.
Anyway, that's as interesting as our night got. It was definitely better than watching Vivek shoot at people at home (on the Wii, of course) but may not make for an interesting post. But honestly, if you didn't chuckle at this one, you really need to watch Fargo again.
Last night Vivek and I decided that we couldn't spend our first New Years in Minneapolis at home, playing video games (Vivek just got a new one - Medal of Honor 2 for the Wii, which, despite his claims, is very violent). So, we had dinner at a place called "The Duplex" and then drove around for about 30 minutes before we finally decided on a place to spend the last two hours of 2007. It's true that we did not have plans ahead of time. I've been recovering from a cold, so our typical New Years celebration, dancing, was out of the question, and we still have no Minneapolis friends to bug on nights like these. Anyway, we eventually ended up at a peanut bar where we found a couple stools at the bar and marveled at all the 80's music that someone had queued up on the jukebox. It wasn't a bad place, and I'd probably go back with a group of friends to chat with over a beer (in fact, their draft beer is served in giant mugs, something I'm finding to be a recurring theme here).
Anyway, besides the 80's music, there were other great things to listen to at this place. Here are a couple phrases that I overheard last night. They're not funny on their own, but imagine they're being spoken by Frances McDormand's character in Fargo (but with a man's voice), and you'll get why Vivek and I were chuckling through the night.
"Jonas! Jonas! .... He's gonna get schnockered!"
"The housing market is still way down?" "Jah"
"Who cares? I gotta seat!"
"Oh! You know goddamn well whose coat that is!"
There's something about the Minnesota accent that just delights me whenever I encounter it. It's so much more interesting than the Missouri and Utah accents. The Minnesota accent, when encountered, is a great thing. And, I swear I didn't hear it, not even once, until it started snowing up here. Maybe the snow brings it out in people, or maybe I'm just looking for it more, but I hope that it doesn't go away when the snow starts melting.
Anyway, that's as interesting as our night got. It was definitely better than watching Vivek shoot at people at home (on the Wii, of course) but may not make for an interesting post. But honestly, if you didn't chuckle at this one, you really need to watch Fargo again.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Preoccupying Fritz (& Khena)
Vivek and I are going to Salt Lake City for the holidays, and for the first time ever, I have to leave Fritz in the care of strangers. In the past I always relied on friends to check in on Fritz while I was away. But now we have no local friends to take advantage of. It's sad, but true that in 3 months of living in Minneapolis, we haven't met anyone that we would feel comfortable asking to check in on Mr. Fritz while we're away. Oh well, there are always people who are happy to come by if you pay 'em.
To help assuage our guilt over leaving Fritz in the care of a perfect stranger, whom he only briefly met the other day, we gave him his Christmas gift early. I'm willing to say that he loved it, and if he doesn't forget about it while we're away, he probably won't even notice that we're gone. Why? Well...
In a way, I've also been in need of some preoccupation over the last couple weeks. I've been plenty busy, but when I come home my company is limited to Fritz and the TV. Vivek is now on a project that requires him to travel to Connecticut for four days of every work week. It's supposed to last until July, so I need to get used to our new "part-time" long distance relationship (thanks A, for helping me get the terminology right!). It's pretty funny how old habits return quickly, as in Vivek's absence I've taken to working through the evening and even into the early morning hours again. All of this is of course done with the TV on - it's like caffeine for me, but without the lasting effects.
I bring this up because we don't have cable so I've been playing old episodes of the X-Files. I got through season 2 in about a week and a half! I had forgotten how much I used to love! Love! the X-Files. I still think it's good, and better than a lot of shows out there, but watching all the episodes back to back really makes it clear how recycled the plots of each show are. I mean...it's almost always the case that Scully gets kidnapped and would die except for sheer luck. And if it's not Scully that nearly dies, it's Mulder. It's good that I ran out of DVD's to watch, because I think that if I watched many more I'd start hating the show.
To help assuage our guilt over leaving Fritz in the care of a perfect stranger, whom he only briefly met the other day, we gave him his Christmas gift early. I'm willing to say that he loved it, and if he doesn't forget about it while we're away, he probably won't even notice that we're gone. Why? Well...
In a way, I've also been in need of some preoccupation over the last couple weeks. I've been plenty busy, but when I come home my company is limited to Fritz and the TV. Vivek is now on a project that requires him to travel to Connecticut for four days of every work week. It's supposed to last until July, so I need to get used to our new "part-time" long distance relationship (thanks A, for helping me get the terminology right!). It's pretty funny how old habits return quickly, as in Vivek's absence I've taken to working through the evening and even into the early morning hours again. All of this is of course done with the TV on - it's like caffeine for me, but without the lasting effects.
I bring this up because we don't have cable so I've been playing old episodes of the X-Files. I got through season 2 in about a week and a half! I had forgotten how much I used to love! Love! the X-Files. I still think it's good, and better than a lot of shows out there, but watching all the episodes back to back really makes it clear how recycled the plots of each show are. I mean...it's almost always the case that Scully gets kidnapped and would die except for sheer luck. And if it's not Scully that nearly dies, it's Mulder. It's good that I ran out of DVD's to watch, because I think that if I watched many more I'd start hating the show.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Fun in the snow
Vivek's already posted about all the fun we had with the snow last Sunday, but since then we've had two more snow storms come through our area. Thankfully today's storm was just a dusting. The one last Tuesday, however, wreaked havoc on traffic in the Twin Cities. It wasn't a big storm, but somehow it shut this great northern city down for a couple hours. Click here for an article on it from the local paper.
The basic point of the article seems to be that there were two problems: the missing bridge and misplaced priorities of the traffic cops. Apparently, they were too busy issuing parking tickets and getting cars towed to bother with directing traffic through the first major rush-hour snowstorm without the I-35W bridge. Hmm...I wonder what motivated that decision.
Ok, I can guess. (It's rant time.) For those of you who don't know, Vivek and I have learned the hard way that Minneapolis is a tow-happy city. Early in October we noticed that Vivek's car was missing, and we eventually located it in the city's impound lot. That's when we learned that if you leave your car in the same parking spot for more than three days (and a friendly neighbor complains), they can tow it away. And the cost to you? ~$200. Then, early in November we learned that the city will also happily tow your car if you leave it on the street during street cleaning season. It would be hard to argue with that if it wasn't for the fact that they don't post ANY notices about street cleaning until 24 hours before they clean the streets. So if you don't drive your car to work, and don't walk by your car on your way to the bus stop and back, they'll tow it. Cost to you? ~$200
No wonder there were no traffic cops around to do their job - they had to go make a lot of money for the city and tow companies. Apparently they towed about 1400 cars in the first two days after Saturday's snow storm.
Since I don't drive this meant that I had to wait for the bus for a very, very long time Tuesday. One of the things that I like about this city is that tons of people take the bus. It's great! On Tuesday though it was a bit problematic, because when my bus showed up so many people got on it that there was no room for me (I should have been pushier). This is remarkable because the bus was a double bus - the kind that bends in the middle and has about twice as many seats as a standard bus. By the time the bus left our stop it was packed with people. People were even (gasp!) standing in front of the white line! Anyway, there was no room for me, so I waited another 40 minutes to catch a bus that could get me within a couple miles of home.
When I got to the bus stop there were so many people there that I had to take a picture (thanks cell phone!) I wasn't able to get all of the bus stop, so this should just give you a taste of what it was like. The other pictures are of the crazy gridlock on the other side of the street, and no traffic on my side of the street.
The basic point of the article seems to be that there were two problems: the missing bridge and misplaced priorities of the traffic cops. Apparently, they were too busy issuing parking tickets and getting cars towed to bother with directing traffic through the first major rush-hour snowstorm without the I-35W bridge. Hmm...I wonder what motivated that decision.
Ok, I can guess. (It's rant time.) For those of you who don't know, Vivek and I have learned the hard way that Minneapolis is a tow-happy city. Early in October we noticed that Vivek's car was missing, and we eventually located it in the city's impound lot. That's when we learned that if you leave your car in the same parking spot for more than three days (and a friendly neighbor complains), they can tow it away. And the cost to you? ~$200. Then, early in November we learned that the city will also happily tow your car if you leave it on the street during street cleaning season. It would be hard to argue with that if it wasn't for the fact that they don't post ANY notices about street cleaning until 24 hours before they clean the streets. So if you don't drive your car to work, and don't walk by your car on your way to the bus stop and back, they'll tow it. Cost to you? ~$200
No wonder there were no traffic cops around to do their job - they had to go make a lot of money for the city and tow companies. Apparently they towed about 1400 cars in the first two days after Saturday's snow storm.
Since I don't drive this meant that I had to wait for the bus for a very, very long time Tuesday. One of the things that I like about this city is that tons of people take the bus. It's great! On Tuesday though it was a bit problematic, because when my bus showed up so many people got on it that there was no room for me (I should have been pushier). This is remarkable because the bus was a double bus - the kind that bends in the middle and has about twice as many seats as a standard bus. By the time the bus left our stop it was packed with people. People were even (gasp!) standing in front of the white line! Anyway, there was no room for me, so I waited another 40 minutes to catch a bus that could get me within a couple miles of home.
When I got to the bus stop there were so many people there that I had to take a picture (thanks cell phone!) I wasn't able to get all of the bus stop, so this should just give you a taste of what it was like. The other pictures are of the crazy gridlock on the other side of the street, and no traffic on my side of the street.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Land of the Free(ze)
It is a delightful 9°F outside, which feels like -6°F with wind chill. I have seen these temperatures in the past when I lived in Iowa -- but we've had quite the cold snap here for the past week or so. The recent lowest temperature I think was somewhere around -5, which felt like -15. Anyway.
Khena and I spent a few hours today shoveling snow. We live on a designated snow emergency route, and the City of Minneapolis declared a snow emergency today. (A snow emergency means that there are special parking rules.) First, we dug out our cars so that we could get them off the main street. And after that, we cleared 2 spots on a side street so that we could park there overnight.
All in all, it was good exercise. I am starting to feel like a hardy Minnesotan already. I will soon be ready for ice hockey on Lake Calhoun.
Khena and I spent a few hours today shoveling snow. We live on a designated snow emergency route, and the City of Minneapolis declared a snow emergency today. (A snow emergency means that there are special parking rules.) First, we dug out our cars so that we could get them off the main street. And after that, we cleared 2 spots on a side street so that we could park there overnight.
All in all, it was good exercise. I am starting to feel like a hardy Minnesotan already. I will soon be ready for ice hockey on Lake Calhoun.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Life in Minnesota, Part 1
Since we've got most of the wedding stuff out of the way I've decided to post stuff about what it's like for us up here in Minneapolis. Most people know about the bridge that collapsed here in Minneapolis last August and before we even moved here we were getting questions about how it might effect us. It's of course hard to answer that since we don't know what life would have been if the bridge were still around, but at most the absence of the 35W bridge just makes some of our travel times a little longer. I take the bus into school and even though I have to cross the river to get to my building, the bus takes a bridge that's about a mile south of the bridge that collapsed. In fact, the collapse didn't seem real to me until I drove by where it once was and realized that there was a huge hole where a road should be. It's hard to imagine what it was like for the people who were there during the collapse.
Anyway, several weeks ago I was eating lunch outside and realized that it would probably be my last opportunity to comfortably take some pictures of the area around my building. The psychology building on the East bank of the Mississippi river and is fairly close to the 35W bridge. I thought I'd take some pictures of the remaining bridges over the river and the last vestiges of the 35W bridge. So, I started with the view from my lunch spot. In this picture you can see downtown Minneapolis in the background. You can also see a pedestrian bridge, which is about a two minute walk away from the psychology building.
To get some pictures of where the 35W bridge once was, I walked to the pedestrian bridge and took some pictures from there. If the 35 W bridge were still around, it would be just behind the one that's still standing in this next picture. If you look closely you can see some of the foundation for the old bridge, and construction equipment along the river banks (it's easiest to see on the right side). You can also see Saint Anthony Falls in the background.
By the time I took these pictures the cleanup was complete, and they were about a week away from starting construction on a new bridge. One of the eeriest things about the missing bridge, however, is that it's not really missing - it's just downstream. In the next picture you can see the twisted steel girders that have been pulled out from the river and lined up on the west bank. Although you can't see it in this picture, it looks like the NTSB is making good on their promise to put the bridge back together to figure out why it fell apart. My bus takes the bridge in the back of the picture to cross the river, and from there you can see that some of the girders have been arranged into what appears to be their original configuration.
Anyway, several weeks ago I was eating lunch outside and realized that it would probably be my last opportunity to comfortably take some pictures of the area around my building. The psychology building on the East bank of the Mississippi river and is fairly close to the 35W bridge. I thought I'd take some pictures of the remaining bridges over the river and the last vestiges of the 35W bridge. So, I started with the view from my lunch spot. In this picture you can see downtown Minneapolis in the background. You can also see a pedestrian bridge, which is about a two minute walk away from the psychology building.
To get some pictures of where the 35W bridge once was, I walked to the pedestrian bridge and took some pictures from there. If the 35 W bridge were still around, it would be just behind the one that's still standing in this next picture. If you look closely you can see some of the foundation for the old bridge, and construction equipment along the river banks (it's easiest to see on the right side). You can also see Saint Anthony Falls in the background.
By the time I took these pictures the cleanup was complete, and they were about a week away from starting construction on a new bridge. One of the eeriest things about the missing bridge, however, is that it's not really missing - it's just downstream. In the next picture you can see the twisted steel girders that have been pulled out from the river and lined up on the west bank. Although you can't see it in this picture, it looks like the NTSB is making good on their promise to put the bridge back together to figure out why it fell apart. My bus takes the bridge in the back of the picture to cross the river, and from there you can see that some of the girders have been arranged into what appears to be their original configuration.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
More pictures on their way! (Soon! Very soon!!)
It turns out that it's going to be really hard for us to scan pictures from our print album and post them online. Therefore, I have asked my Dad to get in touch with the photo lab and send us a digital pictures on a CD or DVD. Once we get those, we will create an online photo album and post them online. Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long!
We are also trying to start the planning process for our Round #2 wedding in Utah next year. Due to a complicated mix of reasons, we have not been able to get going on it.
We are also trying to start the planning process for our Round #2 wedding in Utah next year. Due to a complicated mix of reasons, we have not been able to get going on it.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
O!
hello again,
Vivek and I got our Indian wedding and reception albums last week (these aren't from my Uncle Bill - those are still months away) and I couldn't resist scanning a picture from our reception and posting it here.
And...here's a close-up:
Heheh :)...or should I say :o
Vivek and I got our Indian wedding and reception albums last week (these aren't from my Uncle Bill - those are still months away) and I couldn't resist scanning a picture from our reception and posting it here.
And...here's a close-up:
Heheh :)...or should I say :o
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
A half-day version of a Hindu wedding...
All right. This is it. Here's how we got married the first time (as told by K):
The wedding was really really early. And by early I mean that it started at a time of day when I'm normally just barely waking up. BEFORE the wedding I had to shower (essential), travel 40 minutes to the wedding site, drink coffee (more essential than showering), meet the beauticians, and finally, thanks to the beauticians, turn into an apparent stranger. For all of this to happen I had to wake up around 4:30 that morning...so I was tired when we eventually arrived at the wedding hall.
When we got there, we were greeted by the sign in the above picture, which framed the entrance to the wedding hall. This sort of display (I'm not sure what to call it) is standard at Indian weddings (at least Southern Indian weddings). I had no idea what ours would look like and to be honest I hadn't thought about it much. So, it was a nice surprise to see this that morning. In case you're wondering, the sign is made of colored yarn that is glued onto the backboard.
Anyway, I don't have a lot of pictures from the wedding, particularly that morning. However, there are a couple things that I will always remember: the delicious coffee, the amazing view from the wedding hall, the horrible torture associated with having my make-up put on, and witnessing the preparation of a South Indian feast. I wouldn't normally call having make-up applied torture, but this experience was truly grueling. Why was it so bad? Well, I sat in a normal chair, with my head back as far as I could get it, while two women pressed down on my face for what I guess was forty-five minutes. It hurt. I mention this only because this was the first test of my ability to endure painful discomfort for a long period of time that day. The second and third were equally difficult, and involved string cutting into my skin for most of the day (the ceremony is not meant to be sadistic, it was just a consequence of a very heavy garland and a skirt that was tied really, really tight). Anyway, I shouldn't dwell on that stuff....so to move on, here's a picture of Vivek waiting for me during this process - all of these pictures are from my brother:
The wedding started soon after the beauticians were finished with me. I would write more about this, but I was so confused through most of it that I'm afraid that I'll get it all wrong. I do remember that things started when Vivek's Aunt Bhavani came upstairs (where I was getting ready) with garlands and told me that my Uncle needed to put one on me. I seem to remember that he was supposed to put the first one on, but I'm not really sure if that's right. In any case, the garlands were piled on and my uncle escorted me down the stairs to the wedding. I was greeted by apparent chaos. I eventually realized that this chaos was actually the beginning of the part of the wedding where Vivek pretends to decide to become a monk.
Now, you may be wondering what the purpose of this part of the wedding is. I really don't know, except that we were asked to include it since it was the only part of the wedding that is "fun." And, actually, it was kind of fun. Once Vivek pretends to want to skip the wedding, my parents graciously put their pride aside and asked him to consider their daughter's hand in marriage (it took some effort to convince my dad that Vivek didn't really need to be convinced, and also didn't feel like this part of the ceremony was necessary). As a way to convince him to get married, my parents gave Vivek a coconut, and this of course did the trick. (After reading this, Vivek is telling me that I got the purpose of the ceremony wrong, so hopefully he'll explain this part of the ceremony in a later post.) After this, the fun starts. In this next picture one of the priests is pulling a few garlands from around my neck (that red garland was the evil thing that cut into my neck...it left marks that were still there for my defense four weeks later). Behind me is my Uncle Bill. He's squatting a bit because he's just been told that as my uncle, it's his job to hoist me into the air....
Vivek also gets lifted.....and we then throw garlands around each other's necks.
Everyone is having fun - even me and Vivek. After we've exchanged a sufficient number of garlands (three, maybe?) our relatives and priests set us back on the ground. From that moment until the time that we're finally married, Vivek has to hold my right hand in his, in a very particular manner, whenever we're not sitting on a certain mat (again, I'm sure that there's something more to this part of the ceremony, and that the mat itself isn't what's important). You can see that in this next photo. This is right after the garland exchange, and we've been seated for a ceremony in which the married women offer us their blessings.
As part of this ceremony the married women throw ladoos in each of the four cardinal directions around us to ward off evil spirits. Once they've done that we hold out our right hands so they can put three spoons of milk and banana on them, and we're supposed to slurp it up. Here's a picture of my mom doing that for Vivek. My sister Shaela also did this part of the ceremony, but I don't have a picture. (If you're wondering, we're sitting on the mat so it's ok for us to not hold hands at this point.)
All the women do this part of the ceremony, so we actually ate a lot of banana and milk. This was a very good thing, since it was the only food we had until late that afternoon. I actually thought this part of the ceremony was pretty neat. Throughout the women who are not giving us milk and banana are singing something and then at the end they walked/ran around us in a big circle. For that my mom also got to pour water on the floor. Not sure what the significance of that was either, but it looked like it was fun.
From there we moved on to what I believe was the actual wedding ceremony. Inside the wedding hall, on a stage, the priests had started a fire, a holy fire in fact. This fire is the center of the Hindu wedding ceremony and we sat around it and did things. Well really Vivek did things and I watched. Every once in a while I handed something to Vivek and we'd throw it in the fire together. At one point I passed puffed rice from my brother to Vivek. At other points, we'd stand, Vivek would take my hand, and we'd walk around the fire. However, most of what I remember is a lot of chanting and that Vivek repeated a lot of things that the main priest said. The priests would also often take a break in the ceremony to argue (V told me that they arguing about what they were supposed to do next). At one point, my father joined in. Here's a picture of that:
Eventually, I was presented with a gift from Vivek's parents: a 9 yard sari and some gold to wear with it. I was then rushed to a back room where V's Aunt Bhavani and Cousin Bharu helped me change into my new sari. I was very happy in this new sari - not because it was new, but because it is worn is such a way that one's legs are much more free to move. Suddenly, I could walk again! Hurray!
The only downside of the new sari was that sitting down on the floor was a little more difficult. When I got back out it was time for Vivek to marry me. The bride and groom are considered to be married once the groom ties a necklace around the bride's neck (it's a string covered in turmeric and it holds a couple lion pendants). Despite any confusion that I may have had about this, the large crowd that gathered for this part of the ceremony and the applause that followed it made it pretty clear that once that knot was tied, Vivek's family considered us married. Anyway, after Vivek tied the knot, we walked around the fire several times, and after each cycle we had to sit back down again and throw more things into the fire. And, each time I sat down in the new sari, it would somehow catch itself on my leg and reveal too much to the people around me (nothing more than you might see with shorts around here). As a result there was almost always someone nearby to pull it back down for me. It was a bit embarrassing to have someone there, ready to jump at the sight of my calves...I always thought that people didn't really want to see them!
At some point soon after Vivek tied the knot, his cousin put a couple toe rings on my feet. You can see her doing that in this next picture. Supposedly, the toe rings are meant to ease the pain of child-birth, but even though I wasn't in labor, or expecting to be any time soon, I was told that I must never take the toe rings off.....I wonder how many women follow that rule, and how strict it really is meant to be.
Well, eventually the fire died (the holy fire, that is), and we were done. I don't remember the end so well. I do know that we then transitioned to a situation that was very similar to our reception - people handed us gifts and lots of photographs were taken. This also eventually ended, and then we were free to seek the blessings of our elders. To do this, they took some rice from a bowl and we touched their feet - to bless us they threw rice on our heads.
From there we were off to Vivek's house where one last ceremony needed to be performed. Traditionally, wives would move in with their husband and his parents after they got married. The groom's family welcomes the bride into the home by doing something with ladoos and giving her milk and banana. Here's a picture of us during the ceremony outside Vivek's parents home (my mother in law and sister in law are the ones holding a plate of ladoos, and my Uncle Bill is the one with the camera in the back):
As you can see, this is not a part of the ceremony that most people witness, and in fact, there were probably fewer than 10 people there. In any case it was important, and we even delayed our first meal of the day in order to perform it. So, my grumbling stomach was thrilled to have more bananas and milk. More importantly, to me, it represented one important beginning of our marriage - from then on I would be welcomed into his family's home as his wife.
The wedding was really really early. And by early I mean that it started at a time of day when I'm normally just barely waking up. BEFORE the wedding I had to shower (essential), travel 40 minutes to the wedding site, drink coffee (more essential than showering), meet the beauticians, and finally, thanks to the beauticians, turn into an apparent stranger. For all of this to happen I had to wake up around 4:30 that morning...so I was tired when we eventually arrived at the wedding hall.
When we got there, we were greeted by the sign in the above picture, which framed the entrance to the wedding hall. This sort of display (I'm not sure what to call it) is standard at Indian weddings (at least Southern Indian weddings). I had no idea what ours would look like and to be honest I hadn't thought about it much. So, it was a nice surprise to see this that morning. In case you're wondering, the sign is made of colored yarn that is glued onto the backboard.
Anyway, I don't have a lot of pictures from the wedding, particularly that morning. However, there are a couple things that I will always remember: the delicious coffee, the amazing view from the wedding hall, the horrible torture associated with having my make-up put on, and witnessing the preparation of a South Indian feast. I wouldn't normally call having make-up applied torture, but this experience was truly grueling. Why was it so bad? Well, I sat in a normal chair, with my head back as far as I could get it, while two women pressed down on my face for what I guess was forty-five minutes. It hurt. I mention this only because this was the first test of my ability to endure painful discomfort for a long period of time that day. The second and third were equally difficult, and involved string cutting into my skin for most of the day (the ceremony is not meant to be sadistic, it was just a consequence of a very heavy garland and a skirt that was tied really, really tight). Anyway, I shouldn't dwell on that stuff....so to move on, here's a picture of Vivek waiting for me during this process - all of these pictures are from my brother:
The wedding started soon after the beauticians were finished with me. I would write more about this, but I was so confused through most of it that I'm afraid that I'll get it all wrong. I do remember that things started when Vivek's Aunt Bhavani came upstairs (where I was getting ready) with garlands and told me that my Uncle needed to put one on me. I seem to remember that he was supposed to put the first one on, but I'm not really sure if that's right. In any case, the garlands were piled on and my uncle escorted me down the stairs to the wedding. I was greeted by apparent chaos. I eventually realized that this chaos was actually the beginning of the part of the wedding where Vivek pretends to decide to become a monk.Now, you may be wondering what the purpose of this part of the wedding is. I really don't know, except that we were asked to include it since it was the only part of the wedding that is "fun." And, actually, it was kind of fun. Once Vivek pretends to want to skip the wedding, my parents graciously put their pride aside and asked him to consider their daughter's hand in marriage (it took some effort to convince my dad that Vivek didn't really need to be convinced, and also didn't feel like this part of the ceremony was necessary). As a way to convince him to get married, my parents gave Vivek a coconut, and this of course did the trick. (After reading this, Vivek is telling me that I got the purpose of the ceremony wrong, so hopefully he'll explain this part of the ceremony in a later post.) After this, the fun starts. In this next picture one of the priests is pulling a few garlands from around my neck (that red garland was the evil thing that cut into my neck...it left marks that were still there for my defense four weeks later). Behind me is my Uncle Bill. He's squatting a bit because he's just been told that as my uncle, it's his job to hoist me into the air....
Vivek also gets lifted.....and we then throw garlands around each other's necks.
Everyone is having fun - even me and Vivek. After we've exchanged a sufficient number of garlands (three, maybe?) our relatives and priests set us back on the ground. From that moment until the time that we're finally married, Vivek has to hold my right hand in his, in a very particular manner, whenever we're not sitting on a certain mat (again, I'm sure that there's something more to this part of the ceremony, and that the mat itself isn't what's important). You can see that in this next photo. This is right after the garland exchange, and we've been seated for a ceremony in which the married women offer us their blessings.
As part of this ceremony the married women throw ladoos in each of the four cardinal directions around us to ward off evil spirits. Once they've done that we hold out our right hands so they can put three spoons of milk and banana on them, and we're supposed to slurp it up. Here's a picture of my mom doing that for Vivek. My sister Shaela also did this part of the ceremony, but I don't have a picture. (If you're wondering, we're sitting on the mat so it's ok for us to not hold hands at this point.)
All the women do this part of the ceremony, so we actually ate a lot of banana and milk. This was a very good thing, since it was the only food we had until late that afternoon. I actually thought this part of the ceremony was pretty neat. Throughout the women who are not giving us milk and banana are singing something and then at the end they walked/ran around us in a big circle. For that my mom also got to pour water on the floor. Not sure what the significance of that was either, but it looked like it was fun.
From there we moved on to what I believe was the actual wedding ceremony. Inside the wedding hall, on a stage, the priests had started a fire, a holy fire in fact. This fire is the center of the Hindu wedding ceremony and we sat around it and did things. Well really Vivek did things and I watched. Every once in a while I handed something to Vivek and we'd throw it in the fire together. At one point I passed puffed rice from my brother to Vivek. At other points, we'd stand, Vivek would take my hand, and we'd walk around the fire. However, most of what I remember is a lot of chanting and that Vivek repeated a lot of things that the main priest said. The priests would also often take a break in the ceremony to argue (V told me that they arguing about what they were supposed to do next). At one point, my father joined in. Here's a picture of that:
Eventually, I was presented with a gift from Vivek's parents: a 9 yard sari and some gold to wear with it. I was then rushed to a back room where V's Aunt Bhavani and Cousin Bharu helped me change into my new sari. I was very happy in this new sari - not because it was new, but because it is worn is such a way that one's legs are much more free to move. Suddenly, I could walk again! Hurray!
The only downside of the new sari was that sitting down on the floor was a little more difficult. When I got back out it was time for Vivek to marry me. The bride and groom are considered to be married once the groom ties a necklace around the bride's neck (it's a string covered in turmeric and it holds a couple lion pendants). Despite any confusion that I may have had about this, the large crowd that gathered for this part of the ceremony and the applause that followed it made it pretty clear that once that knot was tied, Vivek's family considered us married. Anyway, after Vivek tied the knot, we walked around the fire several times, and after each cycle we had to sit back down again and throw more things into the fire. And, each time I sat down in the new sari, it would somehow catch itself on my leg and reveal too much to the people around me (nothing more than you might see with shorts around here). As a result there was almost always someone nearby to pull it back down for me. It was a bit embarrassing to have someone there, ready to jump at the sight of my calves...I always thought that people didn't really want to see them!
At some point soon after Vivek tied the knot, his cousin put a couple toe rings on my feet. You can see her doing that in this next picture. Supposedly, the toe rings are meant to ease the pain of child-birth, but even though I wasn't in labor, or expecting to be any time soon, I was told that I must never take the toe rings off.....I wonder how many women follow that rule, and how strict it really is meant to be.
Well, eventually the fire died (the holy fire, that is), and we were done. I don't remember the end so well. I do know that we then transitioned to a situation that was very similar to our reception - people handed us gifts and lots of photographs were taken. This also eventually ended, and then we were free to seek the blessings of our elders. To do this, they took some rice from a bowl and we touched their feet - to bless us they threw rice on our heads.
From there we were off to Vivek's house where one last ceremony needed to be performed. Traditionally, wives would move in with their husband and his parents after they got married. The groom's family welcomes the bride into the home by doing something with ladoos and giving her milk and banana. Here's a picture of us during the ceremony outside Vivek's parents home (my mother in law and sister in law are the ones holding a plate of ladoos, and my Uncle Bill is the one with the camera in the back):
As you can see, this is not a part of the ceremony that most people witness, and in fact, there were probably fewer than 10 people there. In any case it was important, and we even delayed our first meal of the day in order to perform it. So, my grumbling stomach was thrilled to have more bananas and milk. More importantly, to me, it represented one important beginning of our marriage - from then on I would be welcomed into his family's home as his wife.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Cut to - last night
I will eventually post about the wedding and the rest of our trip to India. I have even started to write the post about our wedding (it consists of a single sentence, and that will probably be deleted). However, things keep happening that I think would be fun to write about here and then it never happens because I keep thinking that the wedding story must first be completed. Well, no more. Here's a little post about last night, though I'll start it with some unnecessary history....
In June a good friend threw a surprise Preception party for me and Vivek. Even though I hate surprises and I immediately took an oath of revenge against my friend, we had a good time. My mom even flew in and thanks to another friend, we were able to video chat with friends in SF, CO, and RI and type chat with my uncle in NJ. It was great! A couple weeks later we received a gift from N and J - season tickets to the Minnesota Orchestra. It was an awesome gift and we couldn't have been happier.
Last night was our first concert, and it consisted of a short Stravinsky piece followed by Grieg, then a ghoulish composition from Crumb, and finally Debussey's La Mer. A well know and "highly respected" concert pianist, Garrick Ohlsson, performed during the Grieg (I mention all of this because it may mean something to someone - I'm just repeating what the program said). The Minneapolis crowd was very pleased by his performance and cheered until the man came back for an encore. He chose to perform Chopin and his interpretations of Chopin are some of the best (according to the program). So hopefully I've set the scene for you: Concert Hall, well respected virtuoso pianist, pianist is doing what he does best during an encore performance. Vivek and I were sitting there, enjoying as much as we could, when it happened: A 'discordant wind instrument' (Vivek's words) from several rows behind us, well, tooted. I wasn't sure about what I had just heard so I ignored it. However, a short time later I heard a man pleadingly say "Sorry!" And then, again "Sorry!! Apologies! Sorry!!" I can only imagine what was happening behind us. In front of us, however, the violinists started giggling. Much to his credit, the concert pianist continued to play his Chopin, though who knows whether he heard the additions from the audience.
Even if there had been no sideshow we had a great time at the symphony and are looking forward to our next concert. Anyway, that's the story. I hope you enjoyed it.
In June a good friend threw a surprise Preception party for me and Vivek. Even though I hate surprises and I immediately took an oath of revenge against my friend, we had a good time. My mom even flew in and thanks to another friend, we were able to video chat with friends in SF, CO, and RI and type chat with my uncle in NJ. It was great! A couple weeks later we received a gift from N and J - season tickets to the Minnesota Orchestra. It was an awesome gift and we couldn't have been happier.
Last night was our first concert, and it consisted of a short Stravinsky piece followed by Grieg, then a ghoulish composition from Crumb, and finally Debussey's La Mer. A well know and "highly respected" concert pianist, Garrick Ohlsson, performed during the Grieg (I mention all of this because it may mean something to someone - I'm just repeating what the program said). The Minneapolis crowd was very pleased by his performance and cheered until the man came back for an encore. He chose to perform Chopin and his interpretations of Chopin are some of the best (according to the program). So hopefully I've set the scene for you: Concert Hall, well respected virtuoso pianist, pianist is doing what he does best during an encore performance. Vivek and I were sitting there, enjoying as much as we could, when it happened: A 'discordant wind instrument' (Vivek's words) from several rows behind us, well, tooted. I wasn't sure about what I had just heard so I ignored it. However, a short time later I heard a man pleadingly say "Sorry!" And then, again "Sorry!! Apologies! Sorry!!" I can only imagine what was happening behind us. In front of us, however, the violinists started giggling. Much to his credit, the concert pianist continued to play his Chopin, though who knows whether he heard the additions from the audience.
Even if there had been no sideshow we had a great time at the symphony and are looking forward to our next concert. Anyway, that's the story. I hope you enjoyed it.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Reception Day
You may think that I'm skipping the wedding, but....the reception was the night before the wedding. This created an odd experience. At the reception (which I'll describe in a bit) we were constantly being congratulated on our wedding. And yet, we weren't married. So every time someone would walk up to us and say "Congratulations! You got married!" I'd secretly think to myself "Well, really, no. Didn't you know? The wedding's not till tomorrow." Anyway, the reception was before the wedding, not after.
Reception Day started out like any other day. Our hotel was in the center of Bangalore, and every morning around 5 a.m. we were woken by the Muslim call to prayer. There must have been a mosque within a half mile of our hotel. I'm not complaining though. It was pretty, a bit surreal, and it ensured that every morning I was reminded that I was in a foreign place. So... Reception Day started with a Muslim call to prayer. After that the day was very much like the other days in Bangalore. We went shopping...at Commercial Street...again. This time was more exciting though, because for the first time we went on our own, without any one from India to help us out: Vivek and his family were busy with a ritual that I believe was meant to mark his transition from one stage of his life to another (hopefully he'll write about it at some point).
My Uncle Bill arrived early the day before so he hadn't had a chance to see much yet (Amazingly, he spent his first day taking pictures of the mehndi). So we all took a trip for some much needed shopping (it's true that, for some reason, a wedding means that the shopping that's already been done will never be enough). I desperately needed shoes that would be appropriate for the reception and wedding. Vivek had been telling me for weeks that my flip flops would be fine since no one would see them underneath the sari. I had foolishly believed him until I noticed that you can see the shoes that women wear under their saris. In fact they're very obvious. After realizing this, the flip flops were out and some sparkly new shoes were in. Our first stop at Commercial Street was an open-air shoe store where my female counter parts and I spent some time trying on shoes. I bought four for about $15. I even bought a magenta pair of flip flops that I, uh, wore for the reception. But they did sparkle - they had sequins! I might even go so far as to say that they were like an Indian version of Dorothy's slippers, but they weren't covered in rubies, so I won't.
After Shaela and my mom picked up some clothes that they had tailored (salwar kameez that they bought a couple days earlier) we had some time on our hands, so we went into a few stores. There was one shop that stands out quite a bit. And this, among other things, is why:
You see, the shop owner was a very friendly guy (as most shop owners seemed to be). He was also very blatantly trying to sell anything our gaze happened to fall on. I did my best to avoid him and pretended to be an unfriendly person who has no money (ok, I didn't have to pretend much). However, I was with three open, caring, and yes, very friendly family members. He had us you see - and he knew it! So he chatted us up and found out that I was getting married. Nice guy that he is, he offered me a wedding gift (see the picture above). I briefly tried to refuse but met with an extreme look of disapproval. So I thanked him and wondered what this thing could possibly be. He showed me, as I will show you:
My family and I spent a lot of money there that day. And because there was always something else that we "just had to see," it was very difficult to leave. We made it out eventually.
This shopping trip took most of the day, so by the time we got home it was time to get ready for the reception. Vivek's mother had arranged for the two women who had applied the mendhi the day before to come back to the hotel to help get me ready for the reception. Sometime that afternoon one of the women had caught a cold and said that she couldn't do it anymore. This might not normally be such a bad thing, but trying to get someone else to fill in for her at the last minute and with Bangalore traffic was horrible. I wasn't involved, but I say this because I kept getting updates from Vivek about how his mother was on her way over to the hotel, oh no, wait! now she's going out to a distant village to pick up the woman....nope!....she's going home to pick up a relative who will help. And oh - did I mention that she was traveling in an autorickshaw in the rain? That couldn't have been a fun experience for her. She, Pinky, and Renu (Vivek's Aunt) eventually arrived about an hour before the reception was supposed to start. In the meantime my sister Shaela had graciously agreed to start my make-up: By the time they got there I was well on my way to looking much better than I normally do.
Once Vivek's mother and relatives arrived we had to select the sari that I would be wearing for the reception. I had thought that this would be the one that Vivek's parents bought for me before I arrived. However, for the reception I was to wear the most "grand" sari and they apparently thought that one I bought earlier in the week was better. Selecting the sari actually took a bit of time and there was much discussion. In the end I realized that this must have been because they were trying to figure out how I should wear the sari. It seems that there are at least two ways to wear a sari - the one that most people are familiar with, and another way, called Gujarati style. They eventually went with Gujarati style. Here's a picture Thos took once they had it on me. In it, Pinky is putting one of Vivek's mother's prized gold chains on me.
You may notice that my shoes are not visible. Funny. Oh well. The sari ended up being very long and I had a difficult time not stepping on it throughout the evening. It may not be obvious, but for practical purposes, stepping on your sari is a very, very bad thing. Underneath all that cloth there is, thankfully, a skirt. To wear a sari, women tuck parts of the long length of the sari into the skirt and then fold, tuck, drape, and pin the rest of it. Stepping on the sari pulls it out of the skirt and leads to a mess. I never got to that point, but there was a fear in my heart that it would happen, and worse, that it would happen while I was walking to the reception stage. It didn't happen but I shuffled rather than walked the rest of that night. And thinking about those shoes again, this may be why shoes are normally visible under saris....I wonder if the maroon flip-flops (with sequins!) is why they made the sari a little long....huh.
We did finally make it to the reception. As you can see from this picture, our reception was the function of the day at the White House.
The reception was in a ballroom called the "White House" in a hotel ("The Capitol") so it does actually make sense. It was a pretty simple reception - there was a delicious buffet and silver and red velvet thrones for me and Vivek. Vivek and I spent the reception on a stage sometimes sitting in, but usually standing in front of, two large silver and red velvet chairs. While we were there we endured hours of a bright video camera light coming from one direction and an incessant flash coming from a camera in the other direction. In all of that my Uncle Bill also managed to take a picture or two, though sometimes it did look like the other photographer was unhappy about having his turf violated. All of this was done so people could give us gifts and have their picture taken with us. Here's one that Thos took. I believe that most of these people work with Vivek's father at the bank (his father is the guy on the far right).
Those are all of the pictures that I have from Reception Day. Sorry it took so long for me to post them....and that I'm going to save wedding day pictures for another time.
P.S. In defense of my plan to wear flip-flops to my wedding reception - we stood there for a very, very long time. There were few breaks. I needed comfortable shoes and flip-flops mold to your feet. They also pack well. Well, there's that and the fact that I like to pretend that I don't care about these sorts of things....
Reception Day started out like any other day. Our hotel was in the center of Bangalore, and every morning around 5 a.m. we were woken by the Muslim call to prayer. There must have been a mosque within a half mile of our hotel. I'm not complaining though. It was pretty, a bit surreal, and it ensured that every morning I was reminded that I was in a foreign place. So... Reception Day started with a Muslim call to prayer. After that the day was very much like the other days in Bangalore. We went shopping...at Commercial Street...again. This time was more exciting though, because for the first time we went on our own, without any one from India to help us out: Vivek and his family were busy with a ritual that I believe was meant to mark his transition from one stage of his life to another (hopefully he'll write about it at some point).
My Uncle Bill arrived early the day before so he hadn't had a chance to see much yet (Amazingly, he spent his first day taking pictures of the mehndi). So we all took a trip for some much needed shopping (it's true that, for some reason, a wedding means that the shopping that's already been done will never be enough). I desperately needed shoes that would be appropriate for the reception and wedding. Vivek had been telling me for weeks that my flip flops would be fine since no one would see them underneath the sari. I had foolishly believed him until I noticed that you can see the shoes that women wear under their saris. In fact they're very obvious. After realizing this, the flip flops were out and some sparkly new shoes were in. Our first stop at Commercial Street was an open-air shoe store where my female counter parts and I spent some time trying on shoes. I bought four for about $15. I even bought a magenta pair of flip flops that I, uh, wore for the reception. But they did sparkle - they had sequins! I might even go so far as to say that they were like an Indian version of Dorothy's slippers, but they weren't covered in rubies, so I won't.
After Shaela and my mom picked up some clothes that they had tailored (salwar kameez that they bought a couple days earlier) we had some time on our hands, so we went into a few stores. There was one shop that stands out quite a bit. And this, among other things, is why:
You see, the shop owner was a very friendly guy (as most shop owners seemed to be). He was also very blatantly trying to sell anything our gaze happened to fall on. I did my best to avoid him and pretended to be an unfriendly person who has no money (ok, I didn't have to pretend much). However, I was with three open, caring, and yes, very friendly family members. He had us you see - and he knew it! So he chatted us up and found out that I was getting married. Nice guy that he is, he offered me a wedding gift (see the picture above). I briefly tried to refuse but met with an extreme look of disapproval. So I thanked him and wondered what this thing could possibly be. He showed me, as I will show you:
My family and I spent a lot of money there that day. And because there was always something else that we "just had to see," it was very difficult to leave. We made it out eventually.This shopping trip took most of the day, so by the time we got home it was time to get ready for the reception. Vivek's mother had arranged for the two women who had applied the mendhi the day before to come back to the hotel to help get me ready for the reception. Sometime that afternoon one of the women had caught a cold and said that she couldn't do it anymore. This might not normally be such a bad thing, but trying to get someone else to fill in for her at the last minute and with Bangalore traffic was horrible. I wasn't involved, but I say this because I kept getting updates from Vivek about how his mother was on her way over to the hotel, oh no, wait! now she's going out to a distant village to pick up the woman....nope!....she's going home to pick up a relative who will help. And oh - did I mention that she was traveling in an autorickshaw in the rain? That couldn't have been a fun experience for her. She, Pinky, and Renu (Vivek's Aunt) eventually arrived about an hour before the reception was supposed to start. In the meantime my sister Shaela had graciously agreed to start my make-up: By the time they got there I was well on my way to looking much better than I normally do.
Once Vivek's mother and relatives arrived we had to select the sari that I would be wearing for the reception. I had thought that this would be the one that Vivek's parents bought for me before I arrived. However, for the reception I was to wear the most "grand" sari and they apparently thought that one I bought earlier in the week was better. Selecting the sari actually took a bit of time and there was much discussion. In the end I realized that this must have been because they were trying to figure out how I should wear the sari. It seems that there are at least two ways to wear a sari - the one that most people are familiar with, and another way, called Gujarati style. They eventually went with Gujarati style. Here's a picture Thos took once they had it on me. In it, Pinky is putting one of Vivek's mother's prized gold chains on me.
You may notice that my shoes are not visible. Funny. Oh well. The sari ended up being very long and I had a difficult time not stepping on it throughout the evening. It may not be obvious, but for practical purposes, stepping on your sari is a very, very bad thing. Underneath all that cloth there is, thankfully, a skirt. To wear a sari, women tuck parts of the long length of the sari into the skirt and then fold, tuck, drape, and pin the rest of it. Stepping on the sari pulls it out of the skirt and leads to a mess. I never got to that point, but there was a fear in my heart that it would happen, and worse, that it would happen while I was walking to the reception stage. It didn't happen but I shuffled rather than walked the rest of that night. And thinking about those shoes again, this may be why shoes are normally visible under saris....I wonder if the maroon flip-flops (with sequins!) is why they made the sari a little long....huh.We did finally make it to the reception. As you can see from this picture, our reception was the function of the day at the White House.
The reception was in a ballroom called the "White House" in a hotel ("The Capitol") so it does actually make sense. It was a pretty simple reception - there was a delicious buffet and silver and red velvet thrones for me and Vivek. Vivek and I spent the reception on a stage sometimes sitting in, but usually standing in front of, two large silver and red velvet chairs. While we were there we endured hours of a bright video camera light coming from one direction and an incessant flash coming from a camera in the other direction. In all of that my Uncle Bill also managed to take a picture or two, though sometimes it did look like the other photographer was unhappy about having his turf violated. All of this was done so people could give us gifts and have their picture taken with us. Here's one that Thos took. I believe that most of these people work with Vivek's father at the bank (his father is the guy on the far right).
Those are all of the pictures that I have from Reception Day. Sorry it took so long for me to post them....and that I'm going to save wedding day pictures for another time.P.S. In defense of my plan to wear flip-flops to my wedding reception - we stood there for a very, very long time. There were few breaks. I needed comfortable shoes and flip-flops mold to your feet. They also pack well. Well, there's that and the fact that I like to pretend that I don't care about these sorts of things....
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Mendhi! or Mehndi?
Hello, again! I'm back from St. Louis, having successfully defended my dissertation. So I have a couple minutes to post pictures and talk about mendhi day (as I like to think of it).
After my last post from India I was sucked into a whirlwind of beauticians and cameras. There were always at least 2 women working very hard to make me look good for the cameras, and then I'd ruin it all by pulling dorky faces once the flashes started going off. At least that's the excuse I make for myself. Anyway, the first step in my makeover process was the mehndi. One of Vivek's relatives was kind enough to drag her friend over to our hotel so they could then spend many, many hours applying mendhi on me and my mom and sister. It took both women two hours to cover my hands, arms, and feet. Here's a picture my brother took.
Here's what they did to my feet..
And, here's what the mendhi looked like after it dried and I (finally!) got to remove it.
Pretty orange, eh? It did darken overnight.
Anyway, I realize that this mendhi story is probably pretty boring. There was more to mendhi day though. Later on we went back to Commercial Street to pick up the Sari tops from the tailor. But, again, I can't think of a great story to tell. The tailors were pretty cool though. They had basically set up shop in a two-level room that was about the size of two suvs stacked on top of each other. They had a couple old sewing machines and giant sheers. Scraps of cloth and thread were everywhere. And, as we waited for something (I can't remember what), we were able to watch as a new kameez was made by hand - with no pattern, just a guy with scissors. I guess that I can add this to the list of interesting experiences that I have not documented.
Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone. I will try to add more about the next day (Reception Day) soon.
After my last post from India I was sucked into a whirlwind of beauticians and cameras. There were always at least 2 women working very hard to make me look good for the cameras, and then I'd ruin it all by pulling dorky faces once the flashes started going off. At least that's the excuse I make for myself. Anyway, the first step in my makeover process was the mehndi. One of Vivek's relatives was kind enough to drag her friend over to our hotel so they could then spend many, many hours applying mendhi on me and my mom and sister. It took both women two hours to cover my hands, arms, and feet. Here's a picture my brother took.
Here's what they did to my feet..
And, here's what the mendhi looked like after it dried and I (finally!) got to remove it.
Pretty orange, eh? It did darken overnight.
Anyway, I realize that this mendhi story is probably pretty boring. There was more to mendhi day though. Later on we went back to Commercial Street to pick up the Sari tops from the tailor. But, again, I can't think of a great story to tell. The tailors were pretty cool though. They had basically set up shop in a two-level room that was about the size of two suvs stacked on top of each other. They had a couple old sewing machines and giant sheers. Scraps of cloth and thread were everywhere. And, as we waited for something (I can't remember what), we were able to watch as a new kameez was made by hand - with no pattern, just a guy with scissors. I guess that I can add this to the list of interesting experiences that I have not documented.Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone. I will try to add more about the next day (Reception Day) soon.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
A brief hello
You may notice that the title of this blog has changed. Even though we failed to document much of it on this blog, we did get married, so we thought the blog should reflect that somewhere.
Unfortunately life is still crazy and we won't have time to post much to this blog for another week or two. We're now in Minneapolis and settling down, though we're doing that rather slowly. Khena is also trying to prepare for her dissertation defense in a week and a half. Once that's over with we'll try to tell the story of our wedding here in words and pictures. Hopefully at that time we'll still remember it....
Unfortunately life is still crazy and we won't have time to post much to this blog for another week or two. We're now in Minneapolis and settling down, though we're doing that rather slowly. Khena is also trying to prepare for her dissertation defense in a week and a half. Once that's over with we'll try to tell the story of our wedding here in words and pictures. Hopefully at that time we'll still remember it....
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