(not) sappa matters - #7

NSM1: This India trip is going to be different in every which way. It has been a wonderful 4-5 months till now and as Ian Chappel says: The pacing has been to perfection. That said, I am looking forward to meeting the person who bowled me out with a searing in-swinging yorker!

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NSM2: Perhaps I am just getting the taste of what Seattle really is, but this rain has been too much. It has been raining all this month, a good half of the previous, and at this stage, would be raining by the time WE come back next month. Oh, and there is this small matter of Nov 1933 being the wettest month (15 inches or so) which would be drenched in no time now.

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NSM3: My ironing capabilities are pathetic. Consider this: I started to iron a shirt which was as crumpled as a love-letter with typos at 10 PM yesterday and somehow ended up crumpling it even more at about 10:30. Give me jeans any time; I can iron it in a jiffy!

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NSM4: This is definitely not funny Kramer. What is it with these people who say what they like and then apologize that they are not-racist. I liked him so much in Seinfeld and would wait to watch re-runs everyday. Now, I am not too sure.

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NSM5: Hail storm in Seattle! Perfect!

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NSM6: Perhaps, this one is not as significant as the above ones. ;-) But I had to throw it in.

This could be the last post (as a single guy) of a single guy in the US who lived with almost no cares, no fear and enjoyed bachelor life as much, did several crazy things which he might have to think twice now, sometimes, not even attempt to think about, who is now ready in all ways for getting his rough edges trimmed and (gulp!) mellow down a bit! But he is ready, no doubt.

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Gentleman's game

Wonderful!

First of all, as I feared, Australia won the cup, complete with the team posing with the trophy giving their grinning/winning smiles. Ricky Ponting must be one cricketer everyone loves to hate now. Of course, he has been successful - which was duly acknowledged by the ICC awards. But the smugness, oh the smugness! And his incessant backing of his team-mates even though they talk trash. As RK says, as far as Australia is concerned, humility is NOT a virtue. Seri, ozhinji pogattum! They are winners. That cannot be taken away.

But there were other things which made the past week interesting:

1. Ponting's whine stating West Indies did not come to the awards;

2. Ponting pointing Pawar to step away from the dias;

3. Martyn "ushering" Pawar away!

4. The media's collective gasps of aghast and shock;

5. Tendulkar's statement of Pawar being a dear - what the hell is that? Was that a typo? Maybe it was fear.

6. Pawar attending an un-related and otherwise useless event and cleverly shielding questions on cricket saying, "This is not a cricket meeting";

7. Cricket Australia trying to probe into the incident;

8. Martyn apologizing half-heartedly;

9. Pawar saying that he brushed off the matter, but still goes on to say that Australians were uncivilized;

10. The great man also continues by saying, "Yea, I will take an apology and move on, but no offence meant or taken"!

11. Finally, Ponting's confused apology given with his trademark confused expression not very dissimilar to one Mr. George Duyba Bush's;

I am trying to find out which one of these makes me cry or laugh harder.

Have a good weekend, though!

Wessyde

My friend RK enjoys pulling my leg on account of my "non-IT" area (in the traditional sense). Of course, I give it right back at him saying he spends too much time typing in Word or Powerpoint (kaeyta, saaptware requirements specification nu solluvaan).

Anyway, one of the benefits of being in research are these occasional conferences which we get to attend. The conference venues are selected by keeping the time of the year and likely weather at the place. Canada, Jappaan pakkathula irukura Seattle lerundhu yenga ponaalum better thaan! So, when the venue was Long Beach, CA, it was an added bonus.

The conference was The 5th HUPO World Congress - Human Proteome Organization. I had to take 4 posters from my lab and had a presentation to make on the final day. One of my colleagues also came to the conference.


We had to carry these rocket-launcher kind of tubes in the plane. Had a nice time watching people scampering away in horror!
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LBC: The airport ended as soon as it started. Never seen such a small airport. But the sun! the beautiful bright sunshine! I did not mind the over-exposure (of this picture, that is)
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The conference was at the Long Beach Convention Center. Nice to see wiiiide roads and palm trees of the west-coast again
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Light blocked by the light house
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Congregation of birds with the Queen Mary in the backdrop. The conference banquet was held in the ship. But we had to leave on an earlier flight
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A real beach, at last!
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The downtown area had a lot of places to eat and hang out. Haloween night was pretty interesting. I was looking forward to this trip for another reason too; hometown of Snoop Dogg!

I also attended the conference in between(!). Actually, it was a pretty productive 4 days. There were quite a few nice talks and presentations - certainly learnt a lot. A welcome break after joining the new job and a nice chance to recharge.