I am watching Coming to America right now and this is a funny movie. I haven't seen this film in such a long time...I've actually never seen the beginning. By now though they are in New York...so this is where it gets good. You know what...I actually didn't remember the story of this. I didn't realize that Eddie and Arsenio were both from Africa and came to America together. Eddie plays 4 different roles in this film, including an old Jewish guy! And Arsenio plays 4 roles as well. Did you know that Cuba Gooding Jr. is in this movie too and so is Eric La Salle (Dr. Benton from ER).

As an aside - you've gotta love the soundtracks of 80's movies!

I was just talking to Amisha and she is back online so go and check her out. Also, Amisha is going to tell me how to make my page look better so I can't wait for that...

Two more things - Christine - have an excellent birthday. You are truely a great friend and I'm so happy that we've become so much closer over the past year. Getting to know you more has been great and I hope that we continue to become better friends.

Also - Kdot - hope that you have had a great day and happy birthday to you as well. Hopefully when I get back to Toronto in May - we can hang out some more and chill at your new crib. Dude - we still have our $100 bet going on so don't forget it!

I've got a volleyball game now so gotta get going...

American Idol. Yep...I watched it tonight. And I must admit it...I watched it yesterday as well. It's kind of interesting. By no means can I sing...but watching some of these people is incredible cause damn, they have talent. They really sound great and together, some of them are amazing in their duets. The show has a really interesting dynamic as well when Simon (the judge that everyone hates) rips into someone that just blows. Paula Abdul is probably a little too nice though. The other observation is that this thing is very much about image in addition to talent. They are going to pick someone that is hot and has a nice body...that is just a given. I haven't been keeping up with Joe Millionaire by the way. I seem to have lost interest...I mean, it was definitely pretty hyped up at the beginning and I was right on that hype bandwagon but now, I can honestly say that I haven't watched the last couple of episodes. I'll find out in the paper or on the radio what happened so I'm not that bothered.

I tried and tried and tried to go home this weekend but I just couldn't get a good price on a plane ticket. I'm pretty pissed off cause I really wanted to go and surprise my parents. It's their anniversary this weekend and it would have been great to see them and surprise them for the weekend. But, I guess it wasn't meant to be. I'll have to keep looking for last minute websaver deals. Air Canada had this huge seat sale last week that ended on Friday the 24th. I didn't know about it until too late and missed out on tickets. And I think cause of that seat sale...there weren't as many good deals this week.

My dad's marathi magazine is finally online...That's right - check out www.ekata.ca. Thanks for the suggestion about www.blacksun.ca Tai. I wanna update that site and make it look better. I guess I would also love to make my site an actual site. I suppose having the blog is good cause it's the most important thing but I would like to have some pictures and such. Karen - maybe you could help me...how do I customize my blogger site? You know how you did for your Asia site? I would love to add a bar along the left side that has links to all my friends pages, I would love to have a link to a pictures site that I will start. All of those things would be great but I need some help.

I haven't talked to some of you in a while...hope you're doing well Chooey...sounds like you had a great snowboarding trip with Waterloo posse including Rachel and JLo. Etch - how is the job buddy? Sounds like it's getting better and you are enjoying it. And what are your thoughts about sales now? Christine - how goes school and of course, how goes things with the boy? Karen - you are so right...I can't believe that you've been in Seattle for 7 months. That is pretty crazy.

Who's seen any of the new ads? You gotta check them out the television spots...they are all pretty funny:

I've been quite a culinary expert the last few days:
Monday: Baked salmon marinated in lemon, coriander and pepper accompanied by a medley of cauliflower and sweet potatoes
Tuesday: Succulent boneless Tandoori chicken broiled to perfection served with a spicey and tasty Indian rice pilaf dish
Wednesday: Chicken (marinated in lime, garlic, habanero sauce and coriander) tacos served with tomatos, lettuce, cheese and salsa

What's on tap for the rest of the week? We'll have to wait and see.

Hello everyone. It's Monday night and it's about 10:20. I have a bunch of work to do tonight and I am only getting to it in a little while (after I finish this blog that is). I got home from Florida last night around 10:00 and must say that I had a fantastic time. I was just north of West Palm Beach for most of the week at the Ultrasound Sales Meeting. When we weren't in meetings and team building activities, we had time to just chill out by the pool, in the hot tub, on the golf course and by the beach. So - it was pretty awesome. My golf game was pretty good. The lessons are slowly starting to pay off - I just gotta practice and I'll be the man soon enough.

On Friday afternoon, I left the hotel around 2:00, picked up my rental car, had some great sushi (as an aside - I really like beef in sushi) and then made my way to Tampa. The drive took just under 3 hours but I was told it would take close to 4.5 so that was great. I was going pretty fast in my Tauras though so I guess I pushed the limits a bit. I arrived in Tampa and met my friend Bina at the airport. It was so excellent to see her and hang out so that was great. We chilled out for a bit on Friday night and then went out for dinner to this restaurant called the Bahama Breeze. The food was good and the "Bahama-rita" beverage was yummy as well. Got home, talked and chilled somemore and then we were off to bed. The next day - we went to this parade in downtown Tampa in honour of the Gasparilla (which is basically about the pirates that invaded Tampa Bay back in the day). I never knew it but there is quite a pirate culture in this part of Florida. So the parade we were at was absolutely hilarious. It was the "kids" parade and the "adult" parade is being held next week. Not sure what will be happening at the adult paratde next week but hopefully it'll be better than the one we witnessed. I must tell you that this kids parade we saw on Saturday was definitely one of the weirdest parades I've ever seen. There was no one in any floats. It was so random. At one point, there were just clumps of people walking down the parade route. It was like "Mr. Smith, his wife and three kids" were out for an afternoon stroll and accidentally stumbled upon a parade route. Very very strange. Finally - some floats began so that made it interesting. The mood quickly changed once it was apparent that everyone wanted one and only one thing. BEADS. That's right - everybody within the parade was throwing beads out to everyone on the sidelines and it was such a phenomenon. People were lunging for beads and really coveting them. At one point, Bina got clocked right above her left eye with some beads...she's fine and after the fact - we were both laughing. This whole bead thing is definitely a southern U.S. phenomenon. I think that the parade next weekend in Tampa is considered "adult" cause it'll take on more of a New Orleans Mardi Gras atmosphere when it comes to beads.

The Superbowl last night was good. My new favourite team - the Bucs were victorious in a very commanding fashion. The kicked the Raiders ass 48 - 21. It was really cool to be down in Tampa Bay this past weekend - everyone in the city was so excited about the game and going nuts. All I saw everywhere was Black and Red for the Bucs. I was embarassing Bina all the time as well because I asked about 4 or 5 different "obvious" Bucs fans...what the big commotion was and who their team was in the big game once I found out about it. Most people just chuckled and didn't really get my joke but I think that a couple did. It was fun nonetheless.

Well, I gotta get to that work I was referring to a little while ago. Can't wait to talk to ya'll soon.

Hello folks. I am in Tampa Bay right now. Got here yesterday evening after a 3 hour drive from West Palm Beach (where my conference was). Tampa is pretty cool and I'm going to see the city this afternoon...just getting ready right now. I'm here with a friend of mine who has lived here for about 6 years. It's been a while since we last saw each other but it's awesome cause we always just pick up wehre things left off. Rarely are there those people that you can share that comfort with. It's pretty cool. The sunset last night was magnificent so I can't wait to see it today. I'll give you a proper update when I'm back in Milwaukee but for now - GO BUCS!!!

Guess where I am off to in about 6 hours? Yep - you guessed it....Florida. I am off to Florida tomorrow morning for an Ultrasound Sales and Applications conference. I am pretty excited and it's going to be a real good opportunity for me to meet Ultrasound peeps from all over the States and Canada. I'm actually in a weird situation cause just in the last little while, I've found out that my mentor is leaving the company and my manager just left the company, or was he fired? I'm not quite sure yet...but I'll get to the bottom of this. Going to be in West Palm Beach all week at this conference and then on Friday, I am renting a car and driving to Tampa Bay to see my friend who's been there for about 5 or 6 years now. I am excited to see her cause it's been a long time since we hung out.

Aside - since when did Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan get to be such a dynamic duo? Check out Shanghai Nights.

I am not in good shape at all. I've been to the gym once in 2003 and I am not impressed at all. I am finally feeling healthy and it's time to make that transition from a lazy, useless lifestyle to something that is more active. I used to be so much more active. I used to love playing any sport and just being out in the sun or running around. Now, I sit with my lap top or watch some crap on tv or just do other stuff...I have to change this. I have to. No questions asked.

Sup folks. It's been about a week since I last blogged but the reason is primarily that I was sick again at the beginning of the week. I finally went to the doctor on Monday and he prescribed me some drugs. I am on Antibiotics now which is slowly going well. They are definitely taking longer to work than I expected but each day I have been getting a bit better. Man, having a cough/cold for almost 2 weeks truely sucks. I got sick in Toronto right around Thanksgiving when I was home (at the end of November). Then, I was RSNA in Chicago and it got worse. I seemed to get better by about the middle of December and for my Europe trip but right when I got back, I got really sick after New Years and for the first week of January, I was brutal. Then, a week went by and I was feeling better and then last week - it came again. So finally, I had enough and I went to a doctor. Guess what - the drugs costed me $106 bucks for 10 pills. Can you believe that? Drugs in America are crazy. With my global health coverage through work, I am only paying 20% but damn, that is pretty crazy. I don't know how people afford that stuff around here.

Work has been good - I've been getting a lot done this past week and that is great. That whole thing I was blogging about a while back (about me spending more time concentrating on work) - it's paying off and I am seeing results. Speaking of which, after I clean the apartment today - I've gotta get some stuff done for one of my six sigma projects.

I'll write more later but just before I forget - Tai, I've got old G.I. Joe's that I can give you the next time I am home and Luen, I haven't seen Lord of the Rings as well! Gotta get on that!

Talk to ya'll soon...

Last blog for the day - I promise. I just came across this site looking at one major difference between North and South Korea. I'm sure some of you may have seen this picture, but if you haven't take a look. It is pretty amazing to see the difference between the two. I haven't really done my research or looked into this whole Korea situation too much. I just know that Bush and the U.S. are worried about North Korea's actions. I was reading a while ago that they are using all enery for the production of weapons and that is why there is no power anywhere for the people to have access to. Is that correct? Can anyone verify?

This is an exerpt from an article I was reading on www.tsn.ca. It's about the newest phenom to interest the NBA. He is 18 year old high school sensation Lebron James. Much is being said about him and whether or not what is happening is correct. I think it is so out of whack. You've got Nike and Reebok fighting over who wants to sign this guy to a $4 Million sneaker deal. I'm sure he's got a tonne of other endorsements coming his way. Soon, all these companies will be fighting over some 8 year old who can spin a ball on one finger and can tie his own sneakers...
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LeBron James is traveling like a professional player these days. And not just on the court. James, the nation's most hyped player and expected No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft, is driving a Hummer H2, a sports utility vehicle popular with many pro athletes, around Akron. James' ride — with a base retail price of nearly $50,000 — has state high school officials wondering if the 18-year-old has jeopardized his amateur standing.

"We have some concerns," said Clair Muscaro, commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. "The thing I'm concerned about is that it was gift from the outside. ... When our schools see something like that, it throws up a red flag. It's different than a parent buying their son or daughter a small vehicle."

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that James, a senior at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, was given the vehicle as an 18th birthday present by his mother, Gloria. The SUV is outfitted with three televisions and a hookup for computer games. Gloria James obtained a bank loan to finance the purchase, the paper said quoting anonymous sources close to the team.
_____

I don't believe that she bought it by taking out a bank loan. I am sure that he got that from some company and they've masked it perfectly...

Who's looking for some travel plans? Check this out...

I would also like to say hello to Mr. Key - your site looks great man and I love some of the mouseovers, etc that you've incorporated. Also, K, are you training for a marathon? That is awesome dude - you gotta keep that up. I think that I would love to do something like that. I think I might start with a half marathon and see where that takes me. You know what - that Harveys in the airport is the only one in Vancouver. I totally see what you've said in your most recent blog about looking at all of your decisions and trying to figure ish out.

It's an interesting script that we all write for ourselves. The hard part at times is continuing to be the author...

I was playing Balderdash with a bunch of friends tonight and I won! In fact, I was kicking ass for most of the game. I don't know how I did it but that was a lot of fun. I wonder how funny that game would be if there were some altered states of mind at work during it.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

How ya'll doing? I apologize for my lack of blogging presence over the past few days. I needed to get away from the computer for a bit and I also ran into some computer issues so that stalled me as well. Damn, we are so reliant and dependent on these damn things. On Friday afternoon at work, I got the fateful "Windows 2000 cannot startup...blah, blah, blah....something something corrupt" message and immediately started shiting my pants. I thought - there it goes - "I've lost everything". After some scrounging around and lots of driving back and forth between my office and the IT deployment centre, I actual got my laptop back, reimaged, and working fine. The upside - didn't loose any data files so that was great. The downside - lost all my customized settings, especially in Outlook where things are now working very much the way I don't like. Slowly, everything is getting back in order but one bummer is that I've had to reinstall a bunch of software and unfortunately, I don't have Adobe Photoshop anymore cause that was from my buddy Phil - gotta get a CD from someone now to get it back.

Aside from computer ish, this weekend and the past few days before it have been pretty good. On Thursday night, I went to a Salsa club called El Babalu. I danced a bit and had a pretty good time. It was a YPM event - Young Professionals of Milwaukee. It's kind of a cool event to go and check out cause these guys who organize have varied events with one thing in mind. They want to have various "yuppies" from around the Milwaukee area mingle and meet each other. The plus side is that I get to meet people who don't work at the same company so I can branch out a bit. The event itself was pretty good - a fair amount of people. One crazy thing was this girl who fainted twice. She was really close to me, or maybe I was really close to her both times. And she even smacked the back of her head right on the floor the second time. It turns out that she was diabetic and her suger levels were too low. I think that everyone thought she was loaded at first but afterwards, we found out what the real deal was. It was really weird though cause both times she fell, I was trying to help her up and I have never had anyone look at me like that before. It was such a blank stare - basically as if she was looking right past me and didn't even know I was there. Very strange feeling - that is for sure.

Friday night, I played volleyball after work for a couple of hours. A very fun sport and damn, the majority of girls that play that sport are VERY fit and hot. There were a tonne of people at the rec centre where I went just playing pick up and it was a lot of fun. After volleyball, I watched the movie Catch me if you Can starring Leonardo Dicaprio (whose career seems to be turning around again) and Tom Hanks. The movie was pretty good and entertaining for the most part. But, there were just a couple of scenes - like the whole applying for medical jobs part that were a little too much. Interesting concept for a movie though - I'd like to find out how much was really true.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went to Chicago to visit my buddy from Waterloo Ravin. We had an awesome time just chilling in Chicago. I almost didn't go actually cause I was being so lazy all afternoon but in the end, I decided to go and I am glad I did. We went to the Funky Buddha Lounge and had an amazing time. The music was fantastic. The patrons, especially those of the opposite sex were great. I was shocked by the amount of brown people there actually - it's funnny but at times, it felt like I was at the Guvernment or Indian Motorcycle or something (because of some of the peeps there). Overall though, the place was great - the best part is that they have four guys who play live African drums while the DJ is spinning house, hip hop, reggae and old skool. It's pretty awesome to listen to the song and then here the drum beat going with it. Very neat sensation. And there is something about live music, and drums for that matter, but I was totally groovin' last night.

This morning - woke up at Ravin's place and his mom made fantastic Indian Chai for us and Uthapa...so good. All those masalas were totally reminding me of home and how much I miss my mommy's cooking. Speaking of cooking, I made some killer stuff yesterday before going to Chicago. I made chick pea dish (chole for you Marathis) and a stirfry with brocolli, mushrooms, yellow peppers and red onions. The trick to the stirfry however was that I started cooking it as an Indian dish with Indian spices and then part way through, changed my mind and made a Thai peanut, garlic, hot sauce for it. So in the end, it's an Indian-Thai fusion stirfry that turned out pretty good.

Last thing for the evening...did anyone catch the Simpsons tonight? Homer made fun of Indian food - it was pretty damn funny. Get ready for Joe Millionaire tomorrow night...
Good night all.

Hey guys,

Who watched Joe Millionaire last night? Man that was funny. Those gold-digging women are really gonna get it in the end...I would really like to see the end of that. Once again, FOX has come up with another winner. Pretty funny actually. The guy has got to be one of the worst actors though...they really gotta work on him. It's a parody of that hit the millionaire but I think that they'll get so many more viewers tuning in for this one. It'll be short (only a few episodes) but man, it's going to be funny.

Just watched Austin Powers in Goldmember - that had some funny movies. I'll say it again though - that opening scene has gotta be some of the best 5 minutes of moving watching ever. All the cameos are absolutely fantastic. Kevin Spacey and Dana Devito are defin

I just got some crappy news so I'm not in the best of moods. Hopefully things will change soon...
Good Night.

Hey all...I am watching the Simpsons right now and it's one of the funniest ones that I've seen in a while. Bart nominates Ms. Krabapul (his teacher) for teacher of the year and the entire family gets invited to Orlando for the awards ceremony. There were so many funny scenes and quotes - man, I haven't laughed that much in a long time. Here's just a taste (this will only be good for people who watched it - the rest of you probably won't really understand what these are refering to).

subheading in the newspaper: Closed pistachio stymies fatso
electric car that is talking once bart and homer get in (paraphrased): I’m an electric car. I drive slow and don’t go far. If you drive it, people will think you’re gay.
on sign outside awards ceremony: Tickets: Very Available
the winner of the teacher of the year: Julio Estudiante - who taught inner city kids that differential equations are more powerful than bullets.

Wow - this has been a very crazy weekend for NFL wildcard games. The two games yesterday were stinkers with the Jets killing the Colts 41 - 0 and the Falcon upsetting the Packers 24 - 7. Michael Vick was absolutely money at QB. I haven't seen a quarterback run that well ever before. I think that I messed up the chi in Wisconsin since I got here. The Packers were supposed to be wicked and all great but they have been playing like crap over the past month or so and Brett Farve was garbage yesterday. Then, there were today's games - The Steelers came back to beat the Browns in a thriller and the 49ers came back from 24 points down to beat the Giants in another great game. Man - the ending of that game was crazy. You gotta read about the end of that game (especially the part about Junkin, the snapper).

And, while you're at it - keep on reading about sports and check out this artticle about Keon's views on Vince. Man, I am glad that he said all this but I'm also not too glad that he said it cause that doesn't bode very well for the Raptors. They are playing like absolute crap right now (almost the worst team in the league) and are definitely not going to get any better any time soon. Whenever Vince comes back (if he decides to actually play hurt once in his life), we'll see what happens but to be honest, I am not that hopeful.

Last thing about sports I promise. (well for now anyway) Congrats to CANADA: 2003 World Junior Hockey Silver Medalists. The lost to Russia tonight 3 - 2 in another heart breaker, the second consecutive year gold medal loss against the Russians.

Switching gears, I just finished watching Outbreak. That was a great movie as well. And man, what a cast! Hoffman, Russo, Freeman, Sutherland, Spacey and Gooding Jr. You can't really get any better than that. And that opening scene...when they bomb the U.S. Army camp - wow that is pretty powerful. I love how they show the oubreak starting. The monkey starts in Zaire. Gets on the Korean Cargo Ship. Is snuck out of the cargo docks in Boston by some shipping boy trying to make an extra buck. He then tries to sell it to a pet store owner who has a customer that is looking for a monkey. The monkey bites the owner and spits on the boy. The owner doesn't want the monkey so he goes back to Boston with the boy. The boy doesn't know what to do with it so he releases it into the wild. He kisses his girlfriend when he gets off a plane. The lab technician in California who is testing the blood gets touched with the infected blood. They think he's okay and then he goes out with his girlfriend to the movies. He starts coughing and they show the germs spreading around the theatre. Slowly he falls and starts convulsing. Then everything goes crazy....The disease just spreads like wildfire and it's really cool to watch the movie unfold. Hope I didn't give anything away (although the movie is from 1995 so too bad if I did!)

So, what else have I done all weekend? A whole lot of resting and movie watching. It has been absolutely great. In the meantime, I have also managed to do laundry, organize my photos, eat soup, toast, oatmeal, tea and OJ for almost every meal, watch some football, sleep and oh yeah, I finally stepped outside this evening after about 2.5 days inside. Time to get ready for bed and finish up some work for tomrorow.

Good luck tomorrow Tchao. Kick some ass!

Sweet. The Canadian Juniors beat the US Juniors today in the semifinals of the World Junior Hockey Championships. Now - it's the golf medal game against Russia tomorrow. I sat at home all day today and I feel much better. Still two more days (Saturday and Sunday) to chill out and come Monday - I should be as good as new.

I was watching the Shawshank Redemption tonight. That is definitely one of my all time favourite movies. I think that I've blogged about this movie before but there is just something about it. It's commentary on life and how we struggle so much just to get no where is really interesting. Showing Morgan Freeman's Character and the older guy "Brooks" not being able to survive on the outside world was really interesting. Morgan Freeman just had an excellent quote..."40 years, I've been asking permission to piss. Now, I can't even squeeze a drop without getting the okay from someone." In prison, I guess you become so reformed to the way things are and you begin to accept it as is. Then there is the story of Tim Robbin's character "Andy Dufresne". He never actually commited the crime he was convicted two life sentences for but he did his time and did little things throughout his stay at Shawshank that made him feel like a man again. The friendship that Andy and Red developed during their time at Shawshank is remarkable - that is true trust and respect.

Some great quotes from the film...

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good things ever die.
Get busy living or get busy dying.

This afternoon, I also watched the Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring. That is another great movie. I really ain't into much of the fantasy movies but there is something about that movie that is absolutely great. It's got everything in it...suspense, love, drama, action ---> so much great stuff. I wanted to see the movie again before seeing the second one - The Twin Towers. Hopefully, I will see it this weekend or during the coming week.

Right now, Cliffhanger is on - that is a real old movie - I think I watched that a long time ago. Actually, Cliffhanger is the first Rated R movie that I ever snuck into. That is my memory of this movie. It's pretty good action but man Stallone is something else. Some day, I'll tell you about the really embarrasing story that happened to me when I tried to sneak into Pulp Fiction back in the day. I'll save that one for a rainy day.

Off to find some grub for dinner and then going to hit the sac.
Have a good evening all.

What's up with me always getting sick? I was sick for 3 weeks before the holidays, lost it in Europe and now have gotten sick again. I woke up on the 31st with a scratchy throat. It got better by this morning but sitting at work all day today - it just got progressively worse and worse. I left early and I've been home since about 3. I slept for about 4 hours. It's almost midnight now and I ain't tired so I'm not sure what to do. Jen suggested that I watch a bunch of movies and I think I am going to do that. The only thing is that I get pretty dizzy when I wear my glasses for a long time. Well, I think that I should get to bed now. I am just going to take it easy and rest and relax for the next couple of days. Thank god tomorrow is Friday!

Good NIght...

2003 is upon us. This new year brings with it a feeling of success and happiness. I can sense it now. This trip that I recently had with my family to Europe was definitely a very eye-opening couple of weeks. I think that it brought us closer together and going forward, it will be interesting how we all are. On the friends side, I look forward to renewing old friendships and further building existing ones. Living in Milwaukee makes me further away from everyone but it's still not far enough to be an excuse. By no means was 2002 a bad year for me. I got a great job, finished school on a high note, traveled to several countries around the world and even bought a car. All in all, I'ld say that it was pretty awesome. I definitely think though that the last couple of months were a lot harder than the first 10. That being said, I think that I am in a great position now to really kick ass in 2003. I blogged about a month ago saying that I really had to start raising my intensity level at work. I don't think that I have been that succesful as yet but that will change very quickly. I am very determined to succeed and I know what I have to do to get there.

2003 will be a special one. One thing I would love to find is someone special to share it with...

Good luck to you all and have a safe and personally rewarding year.