2/28/2012

Encounter with the Bath tub

While planning the trip itself I knew that this is meant to be a bit more painful than the rest of the holidays. In this post, I am not gonna talk about the emotionally disturbing times which are going to occur soon when my little nephew leaves, and then later when we return to Singapore. But, only the physical ache.
My pain tolerance level is so high that I start feeling the pain when I see someone else is bleeding. I am scheduled to undergo wisdom teeth surgery today afternoon! So, everyone in the family is quite convinced that the night time fits and sleeplessness I have these days are mainly coz of the thought of the surgery. We planned to reach home 2 days before the surgery to spend some pain free, happy time with the family. Sadly, it is not that pain free any more.
In India, it is quite common for us to walk bare foot, especially in religious places. So, by the end of the first day, my feet are quite dirty. Not out of habit, but out of necessity, I had to scrub my feet clean
I clearly remember leaning over the bathtub to reach for the scrubber. And then the Bam!#*! Next thing I know is that I am on the floor with the pain shooting from my face. As I try to scan a mental image, the first thing that hit me was, Wow, the bathroom is quite big. I am laying whole length on the floor and still the door is sooo far away. I am not even inside the bath tub! As I opened my eyes, I saw the blood gushing out of a small deep cut in the knee. I could see the deep red marks on the shin bones and feet where it had hit the tub and eventually the floor. I had to take a minute to compose myself to lift up and take a look at the mirror. I saw the unexpected. The right side of my face is bloody!! The corner of the eyebrows is the origin and I could not feel the pain from the cut coz of the impact my face had on the floor.
My right cheek bones are prominent now. I have heard that having prominent cheek bones is a sign of beauty, but am sure itz not the case with my face, especially clubbed with the purplish blackish ring around my eye. I hate the fact that in a single moment, I did so much damage to my body that it hurts from the Feet to Leg to Neck to Face!
The only fun I am having out of this is when people visit and enquire about my unsightly face. I make the most dramatic expression possible and sadly tell them that my husband is beating the hell out of me! As they turn and stare unbelievably at Manu, I enjoy the startled look on his face!

2/23/2012

My Update - It might be motivation to you :-)

Guys & Gals ...
I have a wonderful news to share. After 3 months of dedicated work out & almost sticking to my diet, I am starting to see results.
My face has become smaller.. My chubbier cheeks have returned to being just chubby ;)
I can run a bit faster and I don't need pause to catch breath while running to catch the bus. So, I get to be on the same bus as my friends
:-)
Well, (Here you have to imagine me jumping up & down) The scale is showing 4 Kilos less.
Another point to note here is that the scale is static for the last 2.5 weeks. Stupid thing is not tipping down! But somehow I can fit into few of my old clothes! Maybe my muscle mass went up!

People at work have started noticing & the ladies are coming to Me for weight loss tips and Motivation. Since I have done whole load of research on this area, this is one thing I can help everyone with.
Major fact - I have not gained weight during any of the 3 vacations I had this year. I plan to keep the strategy on for rest of the year :)

I am going to India tomorrow for multiple reasons.
Thatz where I should be wearing my Salwar suits and maybe Saree too. Hopefully, I can fit into the clothes which I had from 2011 beginning. Then, I can escape shopping, especially for bigger clothes. If I do not go shopping, I will get to spend more time with my li'l nephew ..

See, I knew there were multiple benefits in losing weight ;)

If you were thiking about starting work out & getting fitter, just start on it right now !
Get Moving !!  

2/21/2012

The App that revived my heart beat

Last evening, the power button of my phone stopped responding, and so did my heart. How it happened is still a mystery. Who is responsible for the destruction is still questionable. I am still working on the case.
My phone almost always remains in silent mode. Mainly Coz I believe the phone is for me to contact people, when am in need. I am quite popular for not picking up calls (I don’t realize it is ringing 95% of the time) and not responding to messages. Even Manu does not list me as his emergency contact.

Poor Manu was contacting me for emergency (Read - To locate me and pick me up from wherever I was lost). I had reached home earlier and conveniently forgot to inform him. Itz customary of me to carefully place (dump) the phone somewhere, as soon as I reach home. The phone kept ringing & as part of silent mode, this thing kept on vibrating until it finally plunged to the floor. My visualization involves the phone diving deep with head first & the power button absorbing the impact of the fall. End result: The display is not cracked, but the damage is done. The Power button does not respond.

The suspects:
• Manu – The guy who kept on calling. Shouldn’t he realize that I am not picking up for a reason?
• Nexus I – For the irresponsible jump it had with head first.
• Me – Since I was sick & tired, I made the mistake of forgetting about the phone & Manu!
• My carelessness (Manu insists this), which I clearly don’t see anywhere in the picture!

Anyways, later when Manu reached home and helped me to locate the phone, we found it in a coma state. It wasn’t responding to my multiple desperate attempts to turn on and bring it back to life.

The major problem, which I have never given a thought about, is that there is only one interface to wake up the display And/Or power up the phone. Through the night I prepared myself to spend a fortune on a new hand set. Which means, I will have to give up on the next travel plan :-(

But, over the past year, Winson has taught me ask as many questions to a problem as possible. Here goes my line of thoughts -
Am I the first person encountering this problem? How did others fix it? Do everyone spend money for that? Do everyone go back to HTC and get this repaired? Well, are the spare parts even available? Google had stopped production of this handset almost a year ago. My last hope was colleagues who frequently travel to China. Later, my faith in Android developers beckoned me to search the net.

And Yaay !! Engineers are awesome! Thank you Guys!

You can trick the nexus one to boot up, by following the below steps:
1. Plug the phone into the USB attached to your computer.
2. Then pull the battery.
3. When the charging light goes off, reinsert the battery
4. If it doesn't work the first time, don’t panic (like me) Keep trying.
5. It took me 4 tries to see the result – ultimate wakeup.

Once it is boot up, go to the Market & search for the apps which will tweak other keys to do the power on. I tried these 2 on my Nexus One & they are great, no-nonsense apps which serves the purpose.
Fix Broken Power Button (I love this name, so I am sticking to this)



AnyUnlock
also seems popular.

Apparently, this problem will hit the Nexus users eventually coz of the design. This final revelation adds a major candidate to our suspect list.
• Google! Coz of the poor design.

Did the cable between the power button circuitry and Main board get damaged yesterday?
It could just be a coincidence that maybe I had just kept it down on the floor, of all the space in my home!

2/20/2012

Bangkok Bang !!

At the very first thought, Bangkok is so far the most interesting destination I have been to. A reasonable argument could be that I am doing a recollection just within in 12 hours after the trip.

For a friends trip, the expectations were set very high, after our last ‘expedition’ to Surabaya. But Bangkok has reset those levels & have raised it to a whole new all-time high satisfaction index. This is definitely a place to re-visit & wish I could get more than a weekend, next time.

The city lives just for the reason that tourists can enjoy. The effect of multiplying the potential of this city with the untamed corruption is explosive. The channels the Thai Bahts can open is endless! Shopping is so amazing out there. The more you want to buy, you just need to walk a bit more. There is almost nothing that you can't get in BKK.

People, Bangkok is definitely the best which Asia can offer to compete with the Vegas phenomenon! Some guys from the trip were so adamant to rename it to the “City of Angels”.

As and when I get time, I will be writing about how much I hated this city the moment we stepped out of the airport. And later how quickly we could learn the system & it transformed almost magically to an enticing destination. Due to privacy protection laws, I will not be writing about a few happenings ;) 
But for guidelines, please do e-mail me & I can direct you to the experts!

2/15/2012

Why Singapore always Busy ?

Majority of the people living in Singapore are always busy, always in a rush.
To attain something unique, to reach the sales first, to grab the first row in the gym class, To grab the free seat in the train .. I have been amazed at the crazy pace at which Groupon sells and the flight tickets get sold out .. In Minutes!!
This is what I deem as Singaporean culture.
I never agree with people who say that Singapore, being a relatively new found land and a multicultural city state, does not have a culture of its own! We are a highly competitive, aggressive and pro-active nation. Singapore, with just the man power, has struggled a long way to be deemed as a major Metropolis. Proud to say that Singapore has earned it place and respect in the world!
These are the up sides of it. But, I wonder at times, has the bad sides of this started showing? Can this small place handle this much population and aggressiveness? The increasing number of mistakes and accidents I witness these days is seriously concerning.

Why couldn't this guy wait a few seconds more until the bus goes by?


2/14/2012

See where the evening walk is leading us to!

A few weekends back, on a Saturday afternoon we were out for the customary "long walks". One of our favorite targets for such walks is the Queenstown library. Perfectly far from home, vast space to relax, cushioned chairs and BOOKS !!
The travel section is a must-stop. But then, the next trip was (not the tense) gonna be Bali and that's quite far away. The guy came around with the gleaming eyes and kept ogling at the SE Asia section. It took me a second to set eyes on his subject. And then a second more to say Okay!
Couple it with the weekend cycling at Ubin with a crazy bunch, I got busy very soon, booking 7 tickets to BANGkok !

2/12/2012

The Joy of childhood

The bliss and carefree moments of childhood ..
Am afraid I do not have good enough words to write about it. Even the pictures aren't doing any justice.
These are from my nexus, promise I will go on a photo shoot later on ..



2/10/2012

I CAN Run !! So can you ....

People! Remember, yesterday night I was quite disappointed with the self.
After writing, I thought I should really go on that walk. There is a 2k trail right beside my place. The guy was busy with something else, so I went walking with music. Well.. After a while I got bored with walking and thought maybe I should run so I can reach home early. So, I started running….

And for the first time in my entire life, I ran 2.5 K without stopping! I did not have to take my customary stop every minute!! I couldn't believe myself! I realized, running ain't that bad as I thought before. This set me to thinking.. Why I used to hate running. I have so many friends who share with me, the extreme dislike towards running.

I have BIG news for all of you who hate running.

Actually, we don't hate running! None of us! We just dislike it because we are unable to do it. Itz the very basic human nature to get away from things which make you feel negative about the self. For me, running was a topper in such a list. But, with the regular hourly work out in the gym, somehow my stamina has built up. After yesterday, I am not anxious any more about running.

The secret for running/jogging is to build up your endurance beforehand. I never had this approach before and no one gave me this tip. Maybe there are a set of people who build up their stamina through running. But, for us who are demoralized by the very act, this isn’t the way. Our path is a bit different. We just need to pick our favorite work out, slowly increase our own threshold & then try running on a highly motivated instance. Just remember to stretch before and after, so that you don't injure your legs.

I am looking forward to have a good run over the weekend, in some new park or so..


2/09/2012

O' Coffee Club

I left work today with plans to go shopping. But, then both of us were hungry. We just wanted to go to a quite place for dinner and we headed to the coffee club in Holland V.
The place is good & food is delicious, but the service is too late.


I ate the two whole pita pockets & side salad by myself!
Thatz okay but,  Do you notice the fries in the picture ??
I finished them too :-(
And the worst thing is I hadn't even wanted it! I kept talking and eating and didn't realize until the end.  
Forgot about the no fast food thing !!
Even today's workout was not that intense.

May be I should go for a late night walk, just to ease my guilt!

2/08/2012

Singapore outings - Pulau Ubin

I have this impression that if you live in Singapore for a couple of years, it is lame if you did not spend a day in Pualu Ubin. So, during the last long weekend, when it was a not-so-sunny day,  I geared up with a set of friends to explore Pulau Ubin. 
The bumboat starts from the Changi ferry terminal in the Changi village. Its a $5 boat ride, return. There ain't any schedule, the boat leaves as and when it gets to 10-12 people. For $2, you can take own bikes to Ubin, on the boat. As you reach the island, you can see many bike rental & surgery (whatever it means) shops. The bike rentals range from 7-20$ for a day's rental.
Did you notice the board in Hindi?
Should I specially mention how glad I felt :-)

The major thing you get to do there is cycling through the blue, black and doube black diamond trails.

The quarries on one side of Ubin are quite a sight and a windy place to catch your breath.
It is worth to lug your cameras and tripods over, as well.

Since we live in the west end of Singapore, I had no intentions of going all the way back to Ubin. But, how can I leave Singapore without seeing what the Chek Java Wet lands are?
So, I started forcing the guys to ride to the other end of the Island. We didn't plan to cycle for so long, but we spend a good 4 hours on the bike. We were pretty famished, but had nothing in stock except a couple of calorie bars. There is an old shop-house on the way, where they serve lunch. It was well into the afternoon when we reached there. So, they were out of food. But, their canned beers are cold enough to fuel the cyclists :-) The old uncle is kind enough to give you free biscuits as well.

As we reach the wetlands, there is an information office. You are not allowed to take your bikes after this point. You can just leave it out there with the rest of the bikes and walk the rest of the distance. There is a viewing tower at the start of the wet lands. You can see all the way up to Pulau Tekong from up there. While some of us went up, few guys stayed back and peeled a coconut and finished it.
All over the wetlands, there are thousands of teeny crabs and other tiny little creatures over there, lots of shade to relax.


By the time you reach the Jetty, you would be hungry and tired, but I recommend you to curb your hunger for a little while more with the drinks. As you reach back at Changi, walk a bit further after the car park to the Changi village food court. End the wonderful day with the Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani or the Penyet stall next to it. People! believe me!! it is worth the wait!
I am planning to go all the way back there just for the food ;)

If you aren't that hungry, head to the food court at ECP for Chilli crab, to finish the Singaporean day.

Have you been to Ubin ?
If yes, Let me know how your day was.

2/06/2012

I love this picture as a postcard

I took this picture when I was in Detroit during 2010 Autumn.It always feels like a post card to me..


Among seasons, I love Autumn the most !
The auburn colors entice me ..

A few more clicks from the set.


Have a good week, Folks !

2/05/2012

TOM N TOMS

A small cafe tucked in the inner streets of the city. On weekends, Tom N Toms is a quiet place for coffee and fresly baked pretzels. People can peacefully get their work done, or catch up with their reading and people like me can enjoy the food and drinks & be content by watching other people ;)
Oh, by the way, we get free wifi there.

Originally from South Korea, their Singaporean outlet is in the Icon building in Gopeng street. We stumbled upon this place on a sunday morning exploration.



The staff says the place gets busy during the week and on evenings.
Coffee is the same as we find in other spots. But I ain't any connoisseur & I was drinking regular cappuccino.
The pretzels are what make the people come back here.They have a hand full of variants. You can have either normal pretzels or stuffed ones.
We chose almond pretzel & wanted caramel on top. The caramel dipping sauce comes as an extra, for a Dollar. The quantity and price is a bit too much to pour on a 5$ pretzel.

Love they way they prepare the pretzles right in front of us.
Try the Cinnamon apple for the sweet tooth!

2/02/2012

Motivation

During a lunch hour, we were discussing food, diet and work-out. Eventually the discussion led to the question.

What motivates you to lose weight?

Instantly my pictures when I was in Japan and the time back in India were flashing in front of me. Oh wow ! I liked how I looked those days. I really really wish to be looking like that.
I remember a lot of those clothes stashed in the corner of my wardrobe.
So, yeah.. The goal is set. I wanna start wearing those.
My biggest challenge related to work-outs or Gym is "When to"?
I am not a morning person & Manu finds a zillion interesting things to do every evening! So, decided to hit the gym in the lunch hour. I signed up for the nearest gym (painfully realizing that the monthly fees is expensive than some of my air-tickets!)
So far, it is going on pretty good for me. One month plus & I am already feeling fitter!
Who doesn’t? After the amazing dance moves, body combat and the body pumps :)
Only side effect is, on the days when I take combat classes, I tend to keep punching in the air for the rest of the day!
I am famous for getting hyper-excited after work-outs. As far as I gauge, my productivity has increased for the second half of the day.


What’s your answer ? And how are you achieving it ?
Feel free to share your answers and motivate the rest!

2/01/2012

Lunar New Year Gift

Being so close to Chinese community has its own benefits.
Learning few of their traditions, getting to eat dim-sum, getting public holidays on Chinese New year, enjoying the sales are a few of them.
At the start of this Dragon year, my kind neighbours gave me this gift .


I was so touched by the gesture & so happy :-) During the new year, people exchange oranges and tangerines as they symbolize luck and prosperity.

We have this whole big box of Mandarin oranges . We will be drinking fresh orange juice, sorbets and interesting salads a lot.

If you know any interesting, easy recipes to do with oranges, please do let me know ..