Burning Experiences...

This weekend the following are the achievements

1. Visited Siva Vishnu Temple in Maryland
2. Saw 'Ratatuille' movie
3. Burned my hand in an attempt to extinguish the fire in our kitchen :(
4. Rowing boat with the burned hands
5. Playing shuttle with burned hands
6. Swimming with burned hands
7. Writing blog with burned hands

As of now only this much but I expect the list to grow bigger since my blister is still looking smart. Ok let me talk about the other achievements first.
First of all we have rented a car(KIA); I still wonder what they did? (KYA KIYA?) but then it was a good car. I drove it for some 2 miles. Its automatic but then enjoyable drive it was. kind of driving Activa :)

We had gone to temple at around 12 30; since one of my friend had to monitor one job in production it became late. The traffic was also bit high as there was an accident on I-495 (Interstate which runs around Washington DC known as Capitol Belt way) It was a beautiful temple with full of telugu people, just that what I have expected was not there. The guys came along with me were interested in the Sambar Rice, Idli and Vada. Even I liked them. Got some nice photos from the surroundings.

Coming to second item we had gone to my old favorite place Rio; this time it was very nice with so much people. (Last time I had gone was in winter and then the entire place was empty) This time they had two music bands, so many kids dancing and etc. As usual I had some nice time clicking my Nikon. We had gone for the much awaited Ratatuille movie. Don't twist your tongue pronouncing it, as the movie creater itself has asked to pronounce it like rat-a-tu-yee. From our usual Regal cinemas this time we have tried Lowe's; paying 2$ extra from 7.5$. But not much difference in anything expect the better sound effect. Could be the plus point of the movie. It was a good funny movie.

Then coming to the most interesting achievement; its was a quite interesting experience to have a pan full of oil catching fire and getting an experiment of pouring water into the burning oil. Awesome it was until the fire reached the heat sensor . It started screaming like a kid as if some one had pinched his thigh (I have done that - so I know how it sounds.. ) then me and my friend got panic and in that hurry i bravely grabbed the pan on the bottom. Sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... oooooooooooooooohhhh..... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... my brave heart prevented all these sounds except the first one... ya it burned my 3 figures till the second layer of skin. Which could be called a minor second degree burn. Which makes the most severe pain out of the 3 types of burns - third degree is painless. Ok whatever it may be I have been counting stars for 2 hours; or more don't remember since I have been busy counting stars. My roommate said 4 hours. I have been very helpless; till then I used to think ear infection is the worst pain. but this was the next level man... I had decided not to enter kitchen later. :) I have a statement here to make - my new roommate doesn't have anything to do with the accident; i don't want to make her feel more guilty. I have been trying to make her believe it; till now not successful.

Then on Sunday I have escaped from the room for a small trip with my burned figures; around 40 mile north to Germantown there is an artificial beach (nothing more than a lake with some white sand) Had tried to row an aluminum boat which made a blister over my finger. But then it was nice. Had some nice time playing shuttle, where as my other friends joined 2 American guys for foot ball. Later came ack home and had nice hot dosa with sambar. Thanks to the lovely roommates of mine. They didn't let me touch on anything other than dosa. (As if I was interested in doing something :) )

Oh man my whole body is aching after the adventurous weekend activity. My finger looks scary now. May be it will be fine in 2 days. I will wait for 2 days after that i will poke it without letting any one know :)

Dude take care of your fingures...
Wait for next blog... with more burning experiences ... :))

Above photo is of a crazy gal who was dancing for the band in Rio Mall. The evening light made the photo appear shadowy but then i liked the photo so much.

Rocking Six Flags..

Hey I think I have missed one blog last week, I think I am taking little more time to adjust to the new environment of my new home. Ya last week I have moved from my beautiful hotel to a beautiful home. Now I have started a new life with 2 new friends.
My new life started with another amusement park for a change. Six flags. It was an awesome experience though the big monster King Da Ka was not there in the six flags where we had gone. Ya, King da ka is a monster ride,you will be catapulted to more than 400 feets at 120 miles/ hour straight up and then 90 degrees straight down. I wish it was there in the six flags we had gone. Though the rides we had here itself were adrelaline pumpers. For the first time I had been on a ride in which you will be made to lay facing sky, after that they have done something and all, finally my head was spinning and was paining very badly. It was the last ride I have taken that day. Since it was just another weekend it was not crowded too so I could test my courage so many times. :) Entry fee of 25$ was appealing though 3.5$ water bottles were very much irritating given the fact that it was very hot.
This week me and my roommate made biriyani for the first time in our life, it came out well. It was motivating to have another try next weekend. Then watched Virumandi movie, lot of violence, but then it was ok.
Came to know today that another colleague of mine is moving back to india so he is selling his old furnitures out. Thinking of the financial possibilities of renting a truck. (20$ per hour) Another problem is that I dont have licence. This made me to start (again) towards my driving test. So I have registered right away for online drug course. Since I dont take drugs planning to take the answers from another friend of mine who already has the answer keys. After this online test we need to go there and take the same test. Though they will let you pass in all means. :)
After that there is one more online test which is driving rules and everything. After clearing it, I will get an appointment for the road test. Which consist of parallel parking, 3 point turn and one more thing i forgot. Parallel parking is the challenging one but then should be fine after one or two trials...

The photo on top is one of my friends' after the six flags. The wet trouser symbolizes the effect of rides :P

July 4...

This week I had lot of fun, we had independence day holiday on July 4. Todays Blog is dedicated to US independence day. In 1776 July 4th America has got their freedom from the Great Britain. If you wanna take a look at declaration of independence you can See here. For those who has seen National Treasure movie will know the importance of that. It is located in the National Archives in Washington DC.

We had reached DC by what time, hmm I think around 4. It was supposed to be raining though we didn't take any precautions. We got down at Chinatown Metro since the Smithsonian station was shut down (which is the nearest to the National Mall - the ground in front of capitol which includes all the museums) China town station is located near the Spy museum none of us had taken a look at it till then. So we had gone there saw the entry fee of 16$ and came back. We were not in a mood to spend 16$ to see the enigma, other coding devices, camera's etc which spy's used to use. Of course they won't show what are the devices spies are currently using. These are world war remains. Just like holocaust museum but for that entry was free. From there we have been walking walking, till the check point neat Washington monument. It was nice seeing all the people around. So many weird and beautiful people. It was nice till it started raining, it rained so heavily and we found shelter under a tree. And there was a guy who was selling umbrellas. He had a nice business, he was telling this is the 4th Independence day consecutively in rain. Then some cop came and took us to another place to stand since as per him its not safe to stand under tree when there is lightning. Ok as he wish.

Later when the rain stopped, after the security check, we could enter the ground. It was nice to see all the portable toilets out there. Around 50 of them :) . We found a place in front of monument between Lincoln memorial and and monument, the fire works was supposed to be from the middle of the reflecting pool. you wont believe there were more than 2 lack of people there, and this was my first experience to see this many people together at one place. At the end of the fire works people were moving like ocean. Awesome view it was.

I have got some nice pics of the fireworks, people and kids. The fire works photos though it was not so bad, could have been better. I have identified the mistakes I have done. For people who is interested in photography of fireworks, keep your aperture at 8 or above to prevent over exposure. Also set your ISO low again to limit the exposure. Without tripod you cant get anything out of a firework show. Also set the camera to M mode and set shutter speed to bulb and use a remote to control the starting and beginning of the exposure. If there is wind you may end up with bad photos, like what happened to my photos. That was a mistake I could not prevent. The things i could have taken care were, the Aperture and the ISO to control exposure.
After the fire works we have walked to the Metro Center station; walking in the middle of the road in DC was an awesome experience that too in the middle of beautiful gals :). Of course they have blocked the road from the morning. I have tried to take out my whistling skills. Many were trying to whistle, I think only Indian would have succeeded. We reached back by 12.30. End of story.

Above photo is from my picasa album of Independence Day. For other photos visit my Picasa album.

Another weekend...

It was just another weekend, just that I have seen two movies on a stretch for a change. We saw Fantastic Four and Die Hard. And more than 15 previews of the upcoming movies. I think after seeing movies we have at least 5 coming weekends reserved. Oh man there are awesome movies coming, at least the previews made us feel so. Especially Spielberg produced Transformers appeared to be the best among them, which is due on 4th. And also due for us on next Sunday :) Another one caught my attention was The Bourne Ultimatum, the name gives a kick, isn't it. Though I am not a fan of Mat Dammon, the previous movies were really fast and nice. So thats also due for the next week. Simpson's was also nice, but I don't like cartoon movies. But then there are exceptions like Ice Age, Shrek etc.

Ok I am leaving the movie part to professionals www.fandango.com, here review starts based on the previews even before the release. Thats a nice thing. :P

Then after the movie we just happen to have a look at an American bus stop, our bus service - Ride On - is the company or organization or whatever which does the bus transportation in our Montgomery county - county is something like our districts as far as i understand - which runs between extended stay and Germantown transit center - Bus stand :) - stops at 9 PM on weekends and 11 PM on weekdays. Ha thats why I have to come home early. Other wise I need to pay the blade charge of Regency Cab Service. Ok so where were we, ha at the bus stop there were around 7 black gals - we say karappu - they were making so much sound and were running around and all. More than fun it was scary for me after the Baltimore Effect; oops I will tell that later. And there were some Mexican gals looked like pros to us; then around 4 Mexican guys, and two police cars. This is the typical bus stop at 10 PM in our small town.

The way one Mexican fellow was staring at me was not so nice. I don't know what was their intentions were, if I was alone i would have taken a cab and would have gone. But then its not that I am not brave. :P I have waked to my home at 12 30 alone from 1 mile away to the hotel. No I am not joking it 12 30 AM. It was absolute silence; there was only me and my shadow. It was just like a horror movie. In such situation in America, I will be singing Hindi songs and I was too. So US is not so safe for guys. Some one was saying gals can walk around freely here; may be he was referring that homosexuality and prostitution are more common than normal people ??

By the way I had a look at the iPhone; I admire anything that comes from Apple. And now this awesome piece of art. What ever they are claiming at Apple site was there in my hand. And it impressed me more than the flash video in Apple site. Its small slim, and beautiful. The touch screen does wonders. Typing messages using the Qwerty keypad on the screen is very easy and it doesn't make any mistakes - as far as i have tried. By the way it comes only from AT&T that means you can't use the mobile with any other network. Thats the bad side. Though i am not against AT&T just that I don't like to be bound to something, at least not to materials.

Ok dudes and dudettes on the other end of the keyboard; its time for sleep. Keep reading...

Hope is a waking dream - Aristotle
Dreaming for hope is then what, 'm confused.

The photo on top is from Woodley Park Zoo album of mine. He was begging me to take a snap of him; Which I was loved to do