Smile a while

Whitehouse on rent

2010-10-27T00:06:00.004-07:00

A friend of mine travelled to Washington recently. I got to chat with him online , a few days after he flew.
Friend: Hi Suma
Me: Good Morning! How was your first week and weekend in washington? caught a glimpse of Obama taking a walk???
Friend : Good Evening. First week was ok, not great. went to whitehouse but on the night .. so not able to see him
Me: oh ok... very soon he'll be here in India.
Friend: i know, thats why i haven't taken an apartment yet !

Doubt on Yoga advice

2010-01-26T10:56:00.002-07:00

With great difficulty, we finally managed to start attending the yoga classes early in the morning. Second day of the class, the teacher was giving us tips on simple life style. One of the advices he gave was 'Take bath in normal water. Avoid hot water.'

My husband looked at me and asked ' How about mineral water? ' :-)

Darwin's theory

2009-06-10T02:08:00.002-07:00

Manager: You haven't started using the common website for sharing documents of latest version
Team member: I am frustrated and confused. A few months back it was a shared folder, then it was VSS and then subversion and now it is the common website. By the time I stabilize the usage of one, it is decommissioned and a new one is in place. Why does it change so often?
Manager: It is like evolution. If not for it, you would have just remained a monkey even now.

Reaching for the stars - Part 2

2009-06-08T07:06:00.002-07:00

Manager: Hey, for the next three days, there will be a delay in my response to your emails
Onsite Counter-part: Oh! How come? Taking off?
Manager: Nope. Attending a personality development training for 3 full days called 'Reaching for the stars'
Onsite Counter-part: What? Is it ,by any chance, conducted by NASA??

Reaching for the stars - Part 1

2009-06-08T07:02:00.003-07:00

Wife: I am thrilled to go to work today
Husband: What's up ?
Wife: I will be attending a three day personality development program called 'Reaching for the stars'
Husband: Oh! 'Reaching for the stars' ! and it is conducted during the day????

Oldest Animal

2009-06-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

While watching an ad on TV, of a car driving amidst giraffes, panthers and zebras in Africa ,
Husband: Do you know which is the oldest animal?
Just a smile but no response from wife..
Husband: Well, I'll give you the answer. It is Zebra. Now tell me why is it the oldest?
Yet another smile from the wife but no response..
Husband: It's because it is still black and white !

Refrigerator...

2009-01-02T07:47:00.002-07:00

I pinged a friend of mine who returned from a visit to Scotland over the Christmas long weekend.

I: Tell me, how was Scotland??
Friend: Huge Giant Picturesque Refrigerator !

Maths teacher interview

2008-08-09T07:46:00.003-07:00

The status on an instant messenger is set to display 'Be what to you want to be' whenever I am online. One day:
Friend: 'Be what you want to be'... What do you want to be?
I: Maths Teacher
Friend: What is 4*4?
I: 44
Friend: Thats just one possible answer...it can be 44, 444, 414, 41234......* is a wild card

A true 'Family' Movie

2008-08-09T07:37:00.004-07:00

Good Friend: Let's all watch 'The Mummy 3' tomorrow

I: I don't like scary movies. Not my cup of tea

Good Friend (trying desperately to convince me): Well, it's actually a family movie. Even the name of the movie suggests it..

Kid's liking...

2008-04-27T01:23:00.004-07:00

Lil Gal: Hey, huvz ur kid doing?
Big Boy: He has been very notorious. He is all the while busy pulling things down to the floor.
Lil Gal: Wow ! Your kid loves ' Down to earth' things :-)

Perishable items on internet

2008-03-30T08:25:00.004-07:00

Suma: Good Morning Sir
Dave: Good Morning. Have you been to yahoo or gmail?
Suma : No sir. I haven't been going home at a good time to go to the cyber cafe
Dave : Oh. Some of the stuff I sent you on your birthday is perishable.

Few days later when I checked my emails, I saw a note from 123greetings.com, an e-card from Dave which said, "Your ecard will be available with us for the next 30 days."

The troublemaker

2008-02-20T02:13:00.003-07:00

On the eve of my last day in Brighton, I sent a farewell note to all my colleagues at work and signed off with a Irish Blessing - " May good luck be a friend in whatever you do and may trouble be a stranger far away from you"
After a few hours, I got a reply from my manager " Madam, please have lunch with us tomorrow so that good luck stays with us and trouble goes away to India"

Confusing names...

2008-02-13T08:18:00.001-07:00

I: I got my tickets. I am travelling back home.
Dave: British Airways?
I:Jet Airways
Dave: Well I was sure it was on a Jet. What airline?
I: It is called Jet Airways :-)
Dave: Clever name

My first encounter with Dinosaur !

2008-02-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was enjoying the beautiful scenery of Pantagonia in South America and was amidst a group of paleontologists (Group of people who study the fossils to reveal ecologies of the past and human evolution). We came across the fossil of the largest animal to have ever walked the earth, 'Argentinosaur'. Even before I could imagine how huge the animal could have been , I saw it walking in front of me and before I realised it was walking straight towards me looking straight into my eyes !! Lord !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My heart skipped a beat ! or may be a couple of beats.. I wanted to scream out loud ! I found a kid beside me trying to touch the dinosaur that was walking towards me. I almost wanted to pull the kid's hand away from the huge giant ! I looked at my friend, Ashok, sitting beside me, for some help ! But all I could see was that he was quite thrilled and was just grinning at me. He seem to be having fun at the sight of me just about to be swallowed by the huge monster !!!! I turned and saw that the giant had now opened his mouth and was ready to swallow me ! I was so damn scared.. My fists tightly clasped.. Nobody around me seemed to be bothered..Tears trickled before I realised.. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer. The scene changed ! :-) We were back in the desert where paleontologists were excavating something else.. It took me more than 5 minutes to recover and realise it was just a 3D show...I was thrilled.. I couldn't stop smiling at my self but tears just trickled down out of excitement...

This was my first encounter of dinosaur at an IMAX theatre ! :-)

For the first time, today I watched a 3D movie in an IMAX experience. Thanks to my friend, Ashok, the first experience was truly the best one because we watched it in the UK's biggest cinema screen at BFI (British Fil Institute) IMAX London Cinema Hall. The huge screen is more that 20 metres high and about 25 metres wide with a 11,600 watt digital surround-sound system. To make the most of the show, we decided to watch the 40 minutes movie called 'Dinosaurs: Giants of Pantagonia 3D'. We were seated almost at the center of the hall. Since I didn't have a clue of how the show would be and was very curious to see a 3D, I sat back and relaxed in my seat waiting for the show to start. At the start of the show, they showed a one minute trailer of sea monsters 3D movie. And the very first thing that appeared was a weird looking sea monster resembling a whale that was swimming towards me ! I sat upright ! and the next thing that happened was I was eaten up by it !(or rather, I felt so) Oh my ! I was shocked. The trailer came to an end and by now, I had a fairly good idea of what I would experience especially in a 3D show of Dinosaur..

We saw how 'Argentinosaur' came out of the egg and grew up to a full size HUGE MONSTER. As the monster walked, it crushed the huge stones on its way and I could see the stone pieces hitting my face. The show went on for about 40 minutes with many such nail biting experiences..

After the show, it took me couple of hours to get my heart beat back to normal....Truly an experience of a life time !

Since use of cameras was prohibited inside the theatre, I got some pictures from the BFI website itself to give you a glimpse of my experience..

Image 1: Argentinosaur just about to swallow me !

Image 2: Inside London BFI IMAX theatre

Image 3: London IMAX theatre structure from outside

Lil gal & Gigantic man

2007-11-22T01:54:00.000-07:00

Dave's humurous one-liners for a lil girl when she meets a gigantic man....

1) Lil gal : Huvz the weather up there?

2) When in an argument with the Gigantic man, lil gal says 'Get Down Here ! I need to have a face to face conversation !'

Modern prayer !

2007-09-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

To: toalmighty@anywhereintheworld
CC: My colleagues in the project
Subject: NNTO: Hi.Pls make this first migration successful. You know the trouble we hav gone thro with this prj. Thanks in advance ! Cheers,Suma

It worked for me ! Despite some exceptions, we did not have to back out the migration changes !

Birthday wishes...

2007-09-02T10:27:00.001-07:00

To my mom....

& To my friend who introduced me to inkscape..

Amusing Fridays

2007-07-27T12:35:00.001-07:00

A few one liners on the Friday T-shirts that I noticed today...

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it !

I have only one nerve left and you are getting on it !

Beware ! Here comes trouble !

Keep staring at me ! I may do a trick !

Out of My Mind ! Be back in 5 minutes !

The art of snoring...zzzzzzzz

2007-07-22T09:41:00.001-07:00

I had taken a day off so that I can spend a long weekend with my parents in Mysore. The moment I stepped into the house, I received a call on my cell phone - call from my work place! It was not one of the admiring looks that I saw on my parents' face as I was answering the call.Then on, I decided to take zero official calls and only personal calls on my cell phone, that too, strictly on priority basis. To make things better, I put the cellphone in vibrate only mode so that even on receiving calls, the ringtone would not disturb my parents.

Since the call on Thursday night, my cell phone had been really quiet throughout the day of Friday , with all these precautionary measures.Everybody was happy with this abnormal quietness, though, I would secretly keep checking my cell phone, if it had got discharged or had stopped working:-)

On Friday night, I was enjoying a movie, dad was walking towards his room and suddenly came back to me.He had my cell phone in his hand.He handed it over to me and said "It was snoring !!"

It took me a moment to realise that I had received a message and so the cellphone had vibrated instead of beeping, due to my precautionary settings !!!! :-)

Fire extinguisher

2007-07-02T18:36:00.002-07:00

After a long and hectic day at work, Shijit (already mad at me for making him wait for more than 15 mins) and I (in a ligher mood trying to make him forget the wait) walked towards the car, on our way back home. As we stepped inside the black beauty,

Shijit: I have a new album today !
Me: WOW ! New Album ! Of which trip?
Shijit: Dumbhead ! I am talking about a music album on the CD and not a photo album. I burnt it recently, in fact, last night !
Me: No wonder I still smell smoke inside the car :-)

Man and Machine

2007-06-19T18:10:00.002-07:00

Dave was at his desk, eating his usual brunch-box of baby carrots, box of grapes, box of cut zucchini, a banana. My eyes were stuck on the new entry there -a box with something green inside. He noticed that it had caught my attention, opened the box for me.

Dave: Doctor asked me to eat green leafy vegetables. So, I have added Spinach to my list !

The box had fresh Spinach leaves and I saw him go "munch" at one of the raw ones !!! I was horrified by what I just saw !

Me: Dave, cave man were eating things this way. We are in an advanced era and now we have recipes to turn these raw leaves and vegetables into something yummy.

Dave: But in the grocery store that I picked these leaves from, there were no 'instructions on method of use' like boil for 10 minutes or cook 3 leaves with 2tsp of salt or so, printed on any of these items. However since the doctor insisted that I should eat these, I am eating them raw, as I didn't find those instructions !

My first vector diagram....:-)

2007-06-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks Shashi !

Store with Patience :-)

2007-06-15T22:27:00.001-07:00

On a busy Friday morning, walking down the aisle, towards a meeting room to talk about the plans for the rest of the year, I said, "Paul, Do you know any store where I can find a lot of patience ? "

Paul said " Yes, Just across the road, you'll find lots of them"

Well, right across the office was Mayo hospital with patients ! :-)

2007-06-13T00:22:00.000-07:00

Here's my favourite from Pravsworld, for a few years now...

After reading the previous post...

2007-06-11T17:41:00.001-07:00

Paul read out aloud, the phrase "Technologically challenged guy" in my previous post and asked without any delay, "Is he a PM? "

An episode with Self timer...

2007-06-06T18:30:00.002-07:00

An episode on May 31st , 2007- Memorial day
Place: Sedona, by the side of a stream
People at the scene: KB, Samba, Jack & Me

Action !

Jack taking pictures of the remaining 3 beside a stream, suddenly feels that he too should be part of the picture.

Jack: I want to be in the picture with the rest of you. How do set the self timer in the camera?

Samba (to the remaining 3 of us) : Technologically challenged guy !

Me: Get the camera here and I'll tell you

Jack: No. Let me figure this out myself.

(He set smthg and click! )

(snap was taken without self timer -incorrect setting! Jack, after couple of minutes figures out how to set it)

Jack: Ok ! I found it !

Samba: Jack, it's already set ! the 10 sec count down has started ! Rush !

Jack : But where do I keep it ??????????

(Click ! One more photo! this time with the self timer but too late in finding the place to keep the camera)

Jack : I found a place. Once more guys !

(all set, perfect poses, found a place to place the camera, information exchanged on where who should stand and jack places the camera on a small rock, starts the self timer and runs to take his position..made it just in time and CLICK ! )

KB(reviewing the snap): Now I'll show you how an expert takes a photo with a self-timer !

Rest of us: Let's see...

(KB finds a suitable place to keep the camera, adjusts the zoom. )

KB: Alright, found a perfect location, all set ???

(After a second..)

KB: Hey ! How do I set the self timer !!!!!!!

(CLICK!! a photo taken with camera in the perfect place for self-timer, but no self timer set :-) )

(After some research)

KB: Ok. I am all set now. Take positions...

(Places the camera in the perfect spot he found, sets the timer and rushes to his position. CLICK!!! )

Finally, a perfect photo with self-timer !

Moral of the story:

Failures are stepping 'ROCKS' to success ! It takes team effort for a successful project execution ! :-)

C & H to smile...

2007-06-05T23:49:00.000-07:00

One of my fav comic characters...Calvin & Hobbes...it always brings a smile..

An inspiring 'Good night' poem from my friend

2007-06-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

Here's an inspiring good night poem I received today, from my dear friend in Mysore...

Go girl go..
Use all your might
And sleep tight..
Whenever you snore..
You should sound like a roar...

ha ha haaaaa....Thanks friend...I simply loved it ..:-)

Smile A While....

2007-06-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

Dave and Paul are my leads at work. Dave is kind of serious, no-nonsense person. Paul is chatty with whole bunch of ideas..

Today morning,
Me: Paul, why do you look so serious?
Paul: I always look like this
Me (with a smile): That's not true...
Paul: Oh well, I am filling in for Dave since he is on vacation for the next two weeks

It definitely was nothing technical that he was filling in for...:-)