Flying and Photography
- Image via Wikipedia
(This was meant for posting on the 10th of July. Somehow I never got around to posting it till today)
Sitting at the windows seat of an aeroplane after years has been a fun experience since I normally choose the aisle seat or fly in the dark when not much is visible outside.
But flying in daytime, sitting at the window has been a gorgeous treat. A literal visual feast for the eyes.
White clouds all around me, patches of blue sky above and the sun making occasional appearances through the cloud had me constantly wishing for my camera. Not that it would make any difference since it is literally impossible to take half a decent pic from a commercial aeroplane.
Anyway, that got me thinking – perhaps go in an open aircraft/glider (do they even exist? Is it even possible?) and get some photography done. But it would probably be shit expensive. Ah well one can dream can he not.
Anyway, I digress. So watching the clouds fly by made me want to see how they behave when they get near the plane’s turbines and when the exit (probably the geek in me thinking) and I thought it would be so cool to have two aircrafts flying at slightly different altitudes and photograph the effect of the turbines of the lower craft (you know, you can’t really make out the effect from inside the aeroplane because there is no point of reference) and of course photograph the scenery as is, flying on a floor of clouds, walled by clouds under a cloudy roof.. BEAutiful.. :)
All these musings made my childhood dream of flying planes resurface making me feel so terribly underachieving in life. Ah, I digress again so I’ll stop here.
(written on my phone a few thousand feet above the ground while blasting through empty space (thank god for that. Wouldn’t want the space to be non-empty ;) ) in a pressurised metal tube)
My Terry Pratchett Obsession, Reading and TV
(Warning: A lot of links in this post. Proceed at the peril of your own time. Or someone else’s if that rocks your boat ;-) )
So I finished Jingo, book 21 of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It’s my 3rd book in from the series in 2 weeks (Pyramids and Unseen Academicals. I am not reading the series in any particular order but then they only vaguely refer to previous books so it’s not a big deal). So yeah, I’m sort of obsessed with Discworld. The series combine two of my favourite genres of stories: Humour and Fantasy. Well I like SF too but it’s been so long since I read SF that it’s been long. So yeah.. But I digress.
Anyway, the best part about the Discworld series is the combination of real world issues with an astonishing blend of humour and poignancy. The humour, in many cases is straightforward but on so many occasions, it just creeps up on you and you’re like, hah, that’s so funny. And then the subtle underlying message hits you that you do a double take.
In addition to reading, I’ve also been trying to watch some TV shows. Primarily The Big Bang Theory which is a brilliant comedy sitcom by the makers of Two and a Half Men. It’s about a bunch of scientists and a cute blonde who is their neighbour. The “scientists” are hardcore nerds and the many of the episodes are themed on “nerdy” concepts. I get a lot of the nerdy jokes and can’t decide if that is a good thing or a bad, I mean with many folks considering me to be a nerd on first meeting (I don’t think I am a nerd because I’m not intelligent enough :-( )
Coming back to reading, I have a huge pile of books left to read (sadly no Discworlds left), a lot of them from Devanshi, and a lot others that I’ve been picking up obsessively but haven’t gotten round to reading. The problem, as I see it is, that whenever I look at a book I want to read, I just want to read another Discworld book and that just evaporates my mood to read. So now I’ve decided, no more Discworld (I plan to eventually own all the Discworld books) until I reduce the unread pile by at least a significant amount (let’s see how long this “resolution lasts.. Hah). Oh and I need to buy a couple of books:
(The second before I watch the movie with the lovely Rachel McAdams)
I think I should dedicate a shelf in my bookcase to all the unread books and then finish them off one by one. An upcoming trip should provide sometime for reading two of the books. Perhaps I’ll also make a list of all the pending books in a next post.
Lastly, I’ve been vaguely following all the iPad hype and thought it would be nice to have one to read my comics (electronic format obviously) but then thought it might not be so nice because of a few reasons:
- Too expensive
- Probably does not support CDisplay
- It’s still the first version so will have a lot of limitations/bugs
- It’s ecosystem is too closed for comfort or usage
- It’s too expensive
Well, that’s a long post. Long by recent standards so I’ll close this now. More coming later.
Ps. Yes, I use a lot of parenthesis.
Who art thou 2009?
Yep, 2009 has come and gone, for good. Not a particularly good year, both professionally (in part) and personally.
No major highlights except growing older. And…
Left GE Healthcare. I think the team is imploding literally, almost like a repeat of Applibase. Heh
Joined SPML-Semitech, with responsibilities in an entirely different industry and segment. Heck, I don’t even code for a living anymore. Don’t know if that is good or bad…
Work has been a killer in my new job (which does not have Saturdays and also some questionable policies but then the company is managed by my uncle and cousins so can’t complain :) )
Traveled a LOT. Visited Xi’an (Sian), Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong (All in China), Bhopal, Mumbai, Jaipur, Delhi (about 4 times this year) Pondicherry, Assam, Calcutta.
My Grandmother died this year and I was really close to her. That was the worst of the year. I miss her.
Well 2010 is here now and I have a lot of hopes for this year. Hopefully a lot of change in my outlook, life and work, a lot more travel and clarity about myself, future and my thoughts.
Here’s to a new year and bye bye to the year past :)
Don’t you wish…
That some songs were longer than they are? That they would not end and keep going on and on?
And no, looped repeat is not what I am talking about!
So…
A lot of updates.. Quickly
- Changed jobs in September. So I’m not with GE Healthcare anymore. I’m with an organization called SPML-Semitech and a different profile. No more into development (at least for a living)
- 4 trips after changing jobs. More trips possibly in the pipeline
- Just completed THE MOST intense task I’ve worked on professionally. And to think it was preparing a document. (I wanted to use just a document but then it really wasn’t *just* a document)
- A lot of other stuff that I need to remember ;-)
More coming.. This time for real..
Quick Trip
- Image via Wikipedia
Just returned from a quick trip to Hong Kong and China (Visited Xi’An, Guangzhou and Shenzhen). Very hectic and busy trip. Did not get too much time for sightseeing or shopping but for half a day in HK.
China is a very nice country with pretty good infrastructure but very clean cities but food is a HUGE problem for people like me. There is barely any vegetarian food available at all and that also is quite rare and usually fixed (like a cheese pizza or white rice etc..)
The people in China are exceptionally polite and nice to talk to. Almost every is very courteous and more than ready to help. It really was a different experience from the Europeans (experienced during my visit to Paris). In a way the culture is similar to India since the people are very friendly and homely. Overall a very nice experience and an enjoyable trip.
Thus speaketh