Ski no more

The first time I went for ski was in Minnesota in 2005, at the end of the day I had promised myself that it would be the last time I would ever go. Well, I broke my promise and went ski again yesterday in Pennsylvania. I made another promise yesterday; this would be the last time I would go ski again

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Down south to east coast

The whole of August I was busy looking for a new job, after two and half years in Lafayette I had decided it’s time to move on now. Looking for new job while working on another one can be a real challenge, it’s hard to focus on both simultaneously. Finally after different interviews I decided to take a new offer. I had two basic criterions for a new job: either it should be much better (in pay, benefits, or work exposure) than previous job or it should be in my preferred geographic location. My new job was more of the second criterion; I now have to relocate to the east coast from down south Louisiana. 

I hate moving, there were two options for me: throw everything I have and then buy new stuff later or pack old stuffs and somehow transport it. After doing cost benefit analysis I decided to take most of my old stuffs. Not all of these could fit into my car so I had to either use service of U-Haul trucks (tow my car with it) or let the moving company transport my stuff while I and my wife travel in my car. The distance to my destination was about 1,300 miles, and I was not confident enough to drive truck with a trailer for such a long distance. Thus I used the services of U-Pack to move my stuff. The contract was to drop my stuff at U-Pack terminal at Lafayette and then pick it up at U-Pack terminal at Baltimore. I had scheduled a drop off on September 4, so we were busy packing our stuff. I didn’t realize that in two and half years I had assembled so much stuff, it was very frustrating to pack them. 

My stuff drop off was on September 4, my last day at work was on September 5, and my new job start day was September 15. I and my wife were working hard to ensure everything goes according to the plan, and then something unthinkable happened. Hurricane Gustav was heading straight to Louisiana and was forecasted to make a landfall on September 2.  

To be continued….

My vacation

I recently concluded my much awaited vacation to the east coast. I hadn’t been anywhere since returning back from Nepal (seven months ago), so this vacation was long over due. I have to confess, this was one of the best vacation for me.

I dropped by briefly at ANA convention at Baltimore. It seems that I don’t enjoy mass anymore, I couldn’t stay there for long. Besides, none of my friends were interested anyways. However, I heard that the convention was a big success (at least attendance wise). Read the rest of this entry »

Nepal Diary: Kathmandu and beyond

Besides a brief trip to southern belt, my journey back to Nepal was confined to wedding preparation, ceremony, and procedures then after. Some suggested my trip was short (stayed exactly 30 days in Nepal), but I am sure even if I had two more weeks I would still be engaged in ‘after wedding’ procedures. There were a lot of relatives I still needed to go visit. If you want to take my advice, planning a month long combo trip (wedding plus other adventures) to Nepal simply won’t sell. I had thought about going for a hike to Ghandruk but I couldn’t even manage a trip to Kathmandu University at Dhulikhel, perhaps next trip I could spare more time for fun factor and natural beauty which we always took for granted while in Nepal.

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Nepal Diary: Gorakhpur Trip 3

The lunch at Ganesh restaurant was good, as usual I was eating like that was my last day on earth. I can’t blame myself; it’s unlikely that I would get similar food back in Louisiana. I ate South Indian dish and lots of sweets, and my preferred drink was ‘Thumbs Up’. The place was relatively clean, and the prices were reasonable too. But I had one issue, I was having trouble communicating with the servers. When I spoke in Hindi they replied back in Nepali, then I see this server who looks like a Nepali and I spoke to him in Nepali, and he has no clue what I am talking about. And when I try to negate this problem by talking in English, no one has any clue. Lots of Nepalese work at Gorakhpur, I being Kathmandu locked bum hadn’t seen the extent of diversity in the features of the people in Nepal and India. That made recognition more complicated, and though there is political boundary between Nepal and India, culturally and physically the people look similar. Wasn’t a big issue at all, but for a moment I almost felt like Bill Murray in “Lost in Translation”. Read the rest of this entry »