New blog

Sunil and I have merged blogs. Check us out at http://www.fidgetyfoots.com. (Sorry 'bout the long domain names...all the short ones are taken.)

Leap of faith

A young couple from Berkeley walks through India on a dollar a day. Heart's cockles suitably warmed.

Rooting about

Other NRI: “Who’re you rooting for this World Cup?”

Teju/Sunil: “Well…Brazil and Argentina have always been my favorites…”

Other NRI: (nodding eagerly) “…..and…?”

Teju/Sunil: “and of course, USA.”

Other NRI: (Aghast) “You’re rooting for USA! How can you do that??????”

Teju/Sunil: (desperately trying to catch spouse’s eye for help) “Errrmmm….because we live in this country and we like it…….” (trail away uncertainly)

After getting comments like this from two expats I’ve had better responses prepared, but my initial reaction was bafflement. Why are they so outraged? If you clamor for a green card and citizenship, shouldn’t you be willing to share your loyalties?

Deja vu

U.S. Asks Judge to Drop Suit on N.S.A. Spying, since the disclosure of exculpatory evidence will harm the US security interest.

Umm.....I remember this ploy. The Bush government used it when asked to supply evidence of WMDs in Iraq before the war. Since that theory has been soundly debunked, shouldn't they take a different tack?

Nitpicking

"It is important to see that effluent section of societies should not be the only benificiaries of the project. The fruits of the project should reach to poor and deprived also," he added.

From an article on Rediff - Narmada dam creates imbalance between tribals: Varghese which explains why tribals who have received a rehab package from the govt are now better off and the "upper" class of tribal society.

Strange how a vowel can take you from palace to gutter.

The world is your....

Sheesh, not oyster, they're passe. Hard drive - the world is your hard drive.

I signed up for the beta test of Google spreadsheets and turned into a gooshvert (Google Spreadsheet Convert). Having very simple Excel needs, Google Spreadsheets will do for me. The divine part of it is that I can access my sheets anytime and share them with my hubby, my accountant and whomever else I please.

More and more of my shtuff is online now, out there in the virtual ether at god-knows-which physical location. I certainly don't miss carrying flash/floppy/cd disks wherever I go.

I do wonder though, is my information really safe? And private? Cuz Google is beginning to freak me out a little. When I get an email with a street address, it offers to give me directions to the place or show me events in the area where I'm going. When we use Google Desktop, it automatically figures out my favoritest sites and pops up alerts when there's new content on them. I used to like the convenience of it, but it's getting spooky.

Now as a gooshvert, I'm very tempted to put my finances into Google Spreasheets. But will that mean that Google will offer to hook me up with people who have similar income/spending habits? Or scold me whenI put less than the recommended amount into my savings?

Hmmm, maybe it's time to break out the old fashioned ledger book until I figure out how virtual my reality should be.

Computer pros get rough and dirty

Mucho Macho.

Mr. Nice Programmer Guy participates in a brawl every two weeks and goes back to work the next day feelin' great about himself. Apparently, this is what he needs to get over feelings of inadequacy engendered by job, family and life in general.

I can't even begin to explain - read it for yourself here.

I loved Fight Club, but this is riddikulus!

Lilliputian prince

Saw hundreds of frogs crossing the trail when we went backpacking in Sunol last weekend.

They were making their way to a small green pond about 100 feet away. It must have been a gargantuan journey for them.

Sunset on the hills was glorious....a golden creep that turned into smoky haze.

More details of the trip will be on the trip blog. I just had to post froggy pix right away.