Through My Window

Me = Vegetarian

keekthegr81 — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:45:32 +0000

Vegetarian? Vegan? Lacto-vegetarian? Lacto-ovovegetarian? Pescatarian? What the hell!!! I didn’t know there are so many options to being a vegetarian. It was an unknown territory till I suddenly decided that I want to QUIT eating meat. You may ask what’s the big deal? It is a big deal when you give something up you’ve enjoyed for 25 years, give or take a few . What? Why? How? I know your probably about to burst with all these questions.

I came across a documentary that changed my whole life in 1hr 20min. After watching 2 movies back to back, I was browsing through some documentaries that K had, and found one on shark-finning. I know very well what shark-finning is about, but watching it, took it to a whole different level. It was horrible to see people catch sharks, cut off their fins and throw them back into the sea to let them die. I don’t blame the fishermen, but I do blame the people who demand to have shark fin soup on their table. It is cruel, brutal, barbaric and inhumane. Its not just about sharks, but every animal that we kill to eat. I agree that I am no saint, and that every animal I have ever eaten probably went through the same rigor before it ended up on my plate. Maybe I was too immature and selfish to see how much bloodshed there is just to keep my belly happy. I don’t know what it was about that documentary, but it struck a chord. Why do we think we are so superior to everything around us that we can do whatever we want? What gives us that right? How would you feel if you were gagged, tied up and thrown in the ocean? These were some of the thoughts that went through my head. I am not doing this to change the world or stop globabl warming or because it is the “in” thing. Its simple – I don’t want to be a cruel and brutal barbarian anymore.

It is actually not as hard as it is chalked out to be. I may have grabbed a fried shrimp or small piece of chicken from Ks plate in a moment of weakness, but for the most part it’s going really well. Now if I think of it, its amazing to see the turn of events in 24 hrs- from having a large juicy spicy cajun burger with bottomless fries (can you believe unlimited fries?) at Red Robin for lunch to becoming a vegetarian for dinner.

This video is not the documentary I talked about, but gives a good idea too.

keekthegr81 — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:31:37 +0000

I am back! I know..I know..it has been ages since my last post. I started a few posts in between but never got around to actually publishing them. So where do I start? After Las Vegas, I started graduate school in August and went to India in Dec. So, 2009 was a year I probably wouldn’t have missed. Nothing to blow my trumpet about. Anyway, I will be back more often from now on.

July 4th Weekend – Las Vegas

keekthegr81 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:57:56 +0000

It’s been 2 weeks since we got back from Vegas. It was everything I thought it would be and more. You have to admire the the work that went into making those hotels and casinos magnificent. It felt like going to Egypt (Luxor), Venice (The Venetian), Rome (Caesar’s Palace), New Yorn (NYNY) and Paris (Paris Paris) all in a single day. I couldn’t stop admiring how beautifully they were all decorated. The Mirage, Mandalay Bay ( loved the interiors), Belaggio, MGM, Rio were all very nice too.

The highlights of my trip were definitely the fountains at The Bellagio, rides on The Stratosphere, Fremont Street Experience and Hoover Dam. The 10 min fountain shows were breathtaking. The Stratosphere was an entirely different story. We saw a show on Discovery Travel many years ago, where they showed us the top 10 scariest rides in the country and we thought we should try this one for sure. Of course, they have rides everywhere but what made this stand out was the fact that they were 1100 ft up in the air, literally hanging off the side of the hotel tower..what a view! It was a beautiful sunny day and since we went there before lunch, they wasn’t a long wait. I won’t describe the rides now, I’ll just post a photo so you get the idea.

Fremont Street is downtown Vegas, a few miles away from the Strip. They have a light show all evening with live bands and artists. It was very nice. I’m no engineer and I might not appreciate bridges and dams as much but Hoover Dam was very impressive. The size of it and the fact that it was constructed so well in 1930′s just made it even more impressive. If you ever go there, be prepared for a long walk at 105F .

Overall, the trip was fun, new place, bling bling every where and great food. Food..try the buffet at Rio,..great food and an amazing dessert section.

It’s a nice place to visit once..maybe twice but if you look beyond the facade, it was tacky and had no speacial character to it.

The rides are on top of this buiding.

Sin City baby!!!

keekthegr81 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:09:57 +0000

That’s right, we are going to Las Vegas today. I’m so excited, more so after watching “Hangover”. Not that I’m going to get drunk and gamble all 3 days, but it’ll be a nice change to see lots of bling after all our camping trips. More on that after I return.

The last 3-4 weeks have been fun. K’s sis and family were here and it was a great trip. It was nice to be with family and playing “attha” to a super excited adorable 5 year old. We went camping (again), to Chicago, lots of shopping at outlet malls and of course ate a lot . Alright got to go and pack now. Have a good weekend!!!!

RIP MJ :(

keekthegr81 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:04:45 +0000

“Rock with me” was my introduction to Michael Jackson and english music. I was five years old and we were driving from London to Bangor, Wales. It was a long drive and my dad popped in the MJ medley cassette. 4 minutes later we (my brother and I) heard “Beat it” and we’ve been his fans since then. We taped all his concerts when they were aired on TV and watched them over and over and over again. We knew the lyrics to his songs and my brother could do the moonwalk – or so we thought. I also remember his Dangerous tour in 1992 to Dublin, Ireland. My uncle lived very very close to the stadium, so we sat in his balcony the whole evening singing along with MJ. That was the closest I ever got. Despite all the false accusations, botch plastic surgeries and screwed up personal life, he has been my favorite for 2o years and will remain that way. I hope he’s at peace, at least now.

I’m back!

keekthegr81 — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:22:52 +0000

It has been so long since I blogged. Every time I start something, I end up saving it for later, but never get back to it. First off, with my updates..we went camping at Peninsula State Park, which is 180 miles north of Milwaukee. The drive was beautiful, we took the county roads so almost all of it was along Lake Michigan. This park was spectacular..location..location..location! As the name suggests, it’s a peninsula in Lake Michigan, so beautiful blue water all around. The views were breath taking. We hiked around 8-9 miles, the trails were moderately easy, even the “difficult” ones. We also went kayaking. It was our first time and I will definitely try it again. The only complaint I have was the weather. It was perfect during the day, but the nights got chilly, down to the late 30′s (F) . We are actually going back to the same park next week. This time we might rent some bikes and try the bike trails instead.

Another thing I’m really excited about is, my SIL (K’s sis) and her family is visiting us next week. I can’t wait!!! I’ve haven’t seen them since our wedding, so it’s been nearly 4 years. The kid could hardly speak back then and now he has this weird Aussie accent. They’ll be here for around 9 days, so I’ve been busy planning our agenda.

Did I mention that I’m signing up for a 5K run? It’s in September. If I think I’m ready even before that, I might try the one in July as well. I’ve pushed K in to doing it with me, so he’ll be my water boy .

Awright people, I got to go now!

Happy Mother’s Day!!

keekthegr81 — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:56:46 +0000

I just want to wish all the Mothers- the veterans, newbies and moms to be a very Happy Mother’s Day !

On a special note, I want to thank the two mothers in my life -my mom and MIL, for being such a great influence. My mom for being so patient, caring, strong and understanding and my MIL for being the superwoman she is and for raising an amazing son .

My Mom with us

My MIL with her 3 kids

My new love

keekthegr81 — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:59:02 +0000

That’s right people. I’ve fallen in love again. That’s the only reason I wake up at 6:30 am, make my husband breaksfast, pack his lunch and send him off to work, so I can sneak off 15 min later to have some fun . I can see your dirty minds imagining all kinds of sick stuff, shame on you people ! Anyway, I sneak off to the gym for my Zumba class. I have completely fallen head over heels for it. Zumba is a high energy, well choreopgraphed dance routine, mostly to latin music, as well as hip-hop. It’s a lot of fun, like going to a party everyday. Our class is for 45-60 min and we usually do 13-15 songs. That’s my only motivation to go to the gym 5 days a week.

Here’s a video of what it looks like.

A little creativity

keekthegr81 — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:00:28 +0000

I wanted my 150th post to be about something else, but I had to do this instead. I entered a “Trash to Treasure” competition recently, in an online community I’m a member of. I decided I wanted to do something with newspaper, but I wasn’t sure what. After a lot trials and googling, I came up with this.

Some people wanted to know the method, so here’s a brief overview.

Material:

Basic – Newspaper/ magazines, toothpick, scissors and glue.

Optional-Based on the design you want to make, you can decide what you want. I made flowers, so I chose old beads from a broken bracelet for the center/disk of the flowers.

Method:

1. Cut out papers from magazines/newspaper ads, based on the colors you want.

2. Cut these papers into long tapering V’s.

3. Take a toothpick and roll these V’s around it starting at the widest part (I hope it makes sense)

4. Once the entire V is rolled onto the toothpick, stick some glue at the end and make sure it’s stuck properly.

5. Pull the toothpick out. There, you have your first petal! Repeat till you have enough for your design.

DIY

NOTE:

For the “window”, I used old cardpaper from 2 photo frames I bought for another project.

This a very easy, but time taking project, perfect for a rainy afternoon. Hope you have fun trying it out!

Swine flu- serious or overreaction?

keekthegr81 — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:11:56 +0000

If you still haven’t heard of it, then wake up! It’s everywhere you go. The media is having a feast. First, it was the elections, recession,then came the bailout, “Octomom”, Somalian pirates, torturing POW, “Craigslist Killer” and now Swine Flu. It’s spreading like a bush fire and they have shut down many schools across the nation…yada..yada.

It makes you wonder, is it really as serious as they make it sound? According to the Center for Disease Control, 36,000 people die very year due to flu. Despite all the flu shots people take, I think that’s a huge number for something as simple as the flu. If you think of it, that’s approx. 100 deaths a day. Why is it that nobody cares about that?

They are slaughtering 130,000 pigs in Egypt. 300 schools have been shut down in the US. I guess I’m just sick of hearing about all the overreaction. Whatever the case maybe, be careful and “wash your hands”. Oh ya, keep your babies away from pigs.

Origin of Swine flu